The Geo-Politics of the Strait of Hormuz: Could the U.S. Navy be defeated by Iran in the Persian Gulf?

Source: Global Research
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

After years of U.S. threats, Iran is taking steps which suggest that it is both willing and capable of closing the Strait of Hormuz. On December 24, 2011 Iran started its Velayat-90 naval drills in and around the Strait of Hormuz and extending from the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman (Oman Sea) to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

Since the conduct of these drills, there has been a growing war of words between Washington and Tehran. Nothing the Obama Administration or the Pentagon have done or said so far, however, has deterred Tehran from continuing its naval drills. 

The Geo-Political Nature of the Strait of Hormuz
Besides the fact that it is a vital transit point for global energy resources and a strategic chokepoint, two additional issues should be addressed in regards to the Strait of Hormuz and its relationship to Iran. The first concerns the geography of the Strait of Hormuz. The second pertains to the role of Iran in co-managing the strategic strait in accordance with international law and its sovereign national rights.

The maritime traffic that goes through the Strait of Hormuz has always been in contact with Iranian naval forces, which are predominantly composed of the Iranian Regular Force Navy and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy. In fact, Iranian naval forces monitor and police the Strait of Hormuz along with the Sultanate of Oman via the Omani enclave of Musandam. More importantly, to transit through the Strait of Hormuz all maritime traffic, including the U.S. Navy, must sail through Iranian territorial waters. Almost all entrances into the Persian Gulf are made through Iranian waters and most exits are through Omani waters.

Iran allows foreign ships to use its territorial waters in good faith and on the basis of Part III of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea’s maritime transit passage provisions that stipulate that vessels are free to sail through the Strait of Hormuz and similar bodies of water on the basis of speedy and continuous navigation between an open port and the high seas. Although Tehran in custom follows the navigation practices of the Law of the Sea, Tehran is not legally bound by them. Like Washington, Tehran signed this international treaty, but never ratified it.

American-Iranian Tensions in the Persian Gulf
In recent developments, the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) is re-evaluating the use of Iranian waters at the Strait of Hormuz by foreign vessels.

Legislation is being proposed to block any foreign warships from being able to use Iranian territorial waters to navigate through the Strait of Hormuz without Iranian permission; the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee is currently studying legislation which would establish an official Iranian posture. The latter would hinge upon Iranian strategic interests and national security. [1]

The Elite's Military Problem

Source: The Daily Bell

US 'turns page on a decade of war' ... The United States is "turning the page on a decade of war", President Barack Obama said, as he unveiled a major strategic review that will cut $489 billion in defence spending over the next ten years ... As the wars of the September 11 era pass, Mr Obama said America should abandon its traditional capability of fighting two major wars at once and focus on becoming a "leaner and smarter" fighting force with an emphasis on counter terrorism, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and maintaining a nuclear deterrent. In a rare appearance in the Pentagon press briefing room, Mr Obama however insisted that the US military would comfortably maintain its military supremacy, with proposed spending still larger than that of the next 10 countries combined. – UK Telegraph

Dominant Social Theme: We've changed. We're gonna be more powerful but more gentle, too. We're going to emphasize the efficiency of killing rather than its scope.

Free-Market Analysis: The Obama administration has announced a new page in a decade of war. But is this really the case? We would argue that this downsizing is noteworthy because it acknowledges that the pretense of using "citizen armies" to realize the New World Order is actually drawing to a close.

What Obama is enunciating is nothing more than a dominant social theme, in our view. The idea is to indicate to the West and to America in particular that the country's war-fervor is abating. The US will continue to be triumphantly powerful but it won't be so brash or quite so destructive.

But really nothing much has changed in terms of power elite goals. What IS changing is the way force is going to be distributed and applied.

There is going to be a transition to a more secretive military methodology, in our view. It's already happening. The powers-that-be will seek to advance their agenda via mercenaries and intelligence agencies and to fund these activities via drug dealing and various other black ops.

Is there any other choice? The Anglosphere power elite that seeks to run the world cannot likely wean itself from its military methodologies. Its command-and-control agenda rests on the threat of violence and increasingly on its actuation.

Western economies are seemingly almost entirely in the thrall of this elite. Using the wealth of central banking, it has over time created a worldwide economy that is driven by war and directed by a few select, titanic corporations that are basically the handmaidens of Washington DC and the City of London.

SYRIA: British Special Forces, CIA and MI6 Supporting Armed Insurgency. NATO Intervention Contemplated

Source: Global Research
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Several articles in the British media confirm that British Special Forces are training Syrian rebels.

The underlying pattern is similar to that of Libya where British SAS were on the ground prior to the launching of NATO's military intervention.

A Responsibility to Protect (R2P) modelled on Libya is contemplated. The Free Syrian Army is a de facto paramilitary creation of NATO.

The reports confirm that British military and  intelligence operatives are already on the ground inside Syria:

"There has been growing chatter indicating that British Special Forces are in some way assisting forces aligned against the Syrian regime.

 

Reports from late November last year state that British Special forces have met up with members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. The apparent goal of this initial contact was to establish the rebel forces' strength and to pave the way for any future training operations. 

 

More recent reports have stated that British and French Special Forces have been actively training members of the FSA, from a base in Turkey. Some reports indicate that training is also taking place in locations in Libya and Northern Lebanon. British MI6 operatives and UKSF (SAS/SBS) personnel have reportedly been training the rebels in urban warfare as well as supplying them with arms and equipment. US CIA operatives and special forces are believed to be providing communications assistance to the rebels." http://www.eliteukforces.info/uk-military-news/0501012-british-special-forces-syria.php (emphasis added)

These reports confirm unequivocally foreign interference in the affairs of a sovereign state.

This is not a popular uprising.

The insurrection as well as the killings of civilians were sponsored by the Western powers from the outset.

US, UK and Turkish operatives are supplying the rebels with weapons in violation of international law: 

The Ultimate History Lesson: A Weekend With John Taylor Gatto

The Ultimate History Lesson: A Project of TragedyandHope.com and The Peace Revolution Podcast
Source: TheUltimateHistoryLesson.com   
via: Media Monarchy

When John Taylor Gatto resigned from his job, he did so on the Op-Ed page of the Wall Street Journal. At the time, he was NYC and New York State School Teacher of the Year. Herein, with more than 200 footnotes, and more than 30 books references; this 5-hour interview session, memorializing Gatto’s research, publications, and life experiences, forms an impeccable resource and reference library of the Underground History of American Education. Each hour focuses on examining the evolution of ideas; which manifest today in the phenomenon of public schooling. By dissecting the history and presenting you with the references, you’re left at the end of each hour; with a copious amount of information, from which you can continue your own personal journey of discovery.

Activist Encourages Africans To Support Ron Paul

Source: JorYanandBrothers

ACLU trashes Obama Over Indefinite Detention and Torture Act

Source: RT

“He will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law.” 

These harsh words come courtesy of the executive director of the ACLU, formerly a supporter of the president but also just one of the many dissenters who have since have grown disillusioned with an administration tarnished by unfulfilled campaign promises and continuous constitutional violations. 

When he signed the National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve, President Barack Obama said that he had his reservations over the controversial legislation that will allow for the indefinite detention of Americans.

Now some of the president’s pals are expressing their agreement with Obama’s own hesitation but say that the commander-in-chief should have thought harder before signing away the civil liberties of Americans.

Under the bill, which approves all defense spending for the 2012 fiscal year, certain provisions allow for the military detainment and torture of US citizens, indefinitely, essentially allowing for Guantanamo Bay-style prisons to be a real possibility for every American. As the act floated around Congress, an underground outrage erupted and activists attempted to keep the bill from leaving the House and the Senate, although a lack of media coverage largely left the matter hidden to the public. Despite this campaign, the legislation made it out of the Capitol Building and into the Oval Office last month, prompting advocates against the act to petition for the president to veto it.

Initially the Obama administration said the president’s advisers would recommend a veto, but later rescinded the threat. Senator Carl Levin eventually revealed that President Obama had insisted on adding the wording that has made NDAA such a target among activists who are frightened of the civil liberty-stripping capabilities. 

One week after the president did ink the legislation, some of Obama’s old pals are saying they are in disbelief over how a former constitutional law professor could agree to such provisions that crush the law of the land.

"President Obama's action … is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law," ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says in a statement. Such a charge not only carries much clout because it comes courtesy of the head of such an integral and reputable advocacy group, but Romero himself was praising the president three years earlier after he won the 2008 election. Now that same administration is doing everything Romero thought it wouldn’t.

Banking System Crisis - Max Keiser Interviews Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Source: PressTV

In this edition of the show Max interviews Paul Craig Roberts, Economist &Author.

He talks about the rampant and increasingly blatant banking frauds in the US and around the world.

Paul Craig Roberts is an economist and a columnist for Creators Syndicate. He served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration earning fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics.

THE WAR ON IRAN: The Deployment of Thousands of US Troops to Israel, The Integration of US-Israeli Command Structures

Source: Global Research
Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been threatened with military action by the US and its allies for the last eight years.

Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf.  The US Navy is deployed. Iran's naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. 

Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran's Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran's currency. 

Reacting to US threats, Iran declared that it would consider blocking the shipment of oil through the Strait of Hormuz:

 "Roughly 40 percent of the world's oil tanker shipments transit the strait daily, carrying 15.5 million barrels of Saudi, Iraqi, Iranian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Qatari and United Arab Emirates crude oil, leading the United States Energy Information Administration to label the Strait of Hormuz "the world's most important oil chokepoint." (John C.K. Daly, War Imminent in Strait of Hormuz? $200 a Barrel Oil? Global Research, January 3, 2012)

The Globalization of War and the Demise of the American Republic

There is a symbiotic relationship between War and the Economic Crisis.

The planning of the Iran war is being carried out at the crossroads of a worldwide economic depression, which is conducive to widening social inequalities, mass unemployment and the impoverishment of large sectors of the world population. 

Crushing social movements on the domestic front --including all forms of resistance to America's military agenda and its neoliberal economic policies-- is an integral part of the United States' hegemonic role Worldwide.  

Does Constitutional Government in the eyes of the Obama Administration constitute an encroachment to "The Globalization of War"? 

History tells us that an Empire cannot be built on the political foundations of a Republic.

In this regard, it should come as no surprise that the new Iran sanctions regime adopted by the US Congress became law on New Year's Eve, December 31st, on the same day Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2012), which suspends civil liberties and allows for the "Indefinite Detention of Americans". (See Michel Chossudovsky,  The Inauguration of Police State USA 2012. Obama Signs the “National Defense Authorization Act ", Global Research,  January 1, 2012) 

The Obama administration is intent upon crushing both social dissent as well as antiwar protest. The American Republic is incompatible with America's "long war". What is required is the instatement of a "democratic dictatorship", a de facto military rule in civilian cloths. 

Thousands of Troops to Israel

Advanced war preparations are ongoing. Barely mentioned by the Western media, although confirmed by Israeli press reports, the Pentagon is preparing to send several thousand US troops to Israel. 

The Origins of Imperial Israel - Part II

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Andrew Gavin Marshall

Organized Terror & Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine

 

The official Israeli government explanation for the ‘disappearance’ of 750,000 Palestinian Arabs from the land (roughly half the Arab population in Palestine in 1948) was that they left “voluntarily.” The “new history” of Israel emerged within the past couple decades due to declassified documents relating to the 1948 war and its origins, and with a number of Israeli historians recreating the history of Israel and challenging the official story. David Ben-Gurion, who would become Israel’s first Prime Minister, was a leading Zionist at the time. He and other Zionists “accepted” the UN partition plan, wrote Jerome Slater, “only as a necessary tactical step that would later be reversed.” In a 1937 letter to his son, Ben-Gurion wrote:

A partial Jewish state is not the end, but only the beginning. The establishment of such a Jewish state will serve as a means in our historical efforts to redeem the country in its entirety… We shall organize a modern defense force… and then I am certain that we will not be prevented from settling in other parts of the country, either by mutual agreement with our Arab neighbors or by some other means… We will expel the Arabs and take their places… with the forces at our disposal. [1]

In the same year, Ben-Gurion also wrote that, “The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war.”[2] A year later, in 1938, Ben-Gurion told a Zionist meeting that, “I favor partition of the country because when we become a strong power after the establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and spread throughout all of Palestine.” Palestine, as defined by the Zionists, had included the West Bank, Golan Heights in Syria, Jerusalem, southern Lebanon, and a significant degree of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.[3]

For any settler colonies, as the Zionists were, there are roughly four conditions which have to be met if they are to survive. Graham Usher, an Israeli journalist, wrote that:

They must obtain a measure of political, military, and economic independence from their metropolitan sponsors. They must achieve military hegemony over, or at least normal relations with, their neighboring states. They must acquire international legitimacy. And they must solve their “native problem.”[4]

The Jewish state, as defined by leading Zionists such as David Ben-Gurion, was not to simply be Jewish in its sociopolitical structure, explained Ilan Pappé, “but also in its ethnic composition.” Further, this would be made possible “only by force.” To accomplish this task, an efficient military organization was built over several years, with extensive financial resources. The main Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine was founded in 1920 in order to protect the Jewish colonies, assisted by “sympathetic” British officers. Orde Wingate, a British officer, was central to convincing Zionist leaders of the need for such a military organization, associating the idea of a Jewish state with militarism and an army. Wingate was assigned to Palestine in 1936, and had established close connections between the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah and the British forces during the 1936-39 Arab Revolt.[5]

Iowa Caucus 2012: GOP Establishment Steals Votes From Ron Paul, Voter Fraud?

Source: The Intel Hub

Corbett Report Radio - The NDAA and You with Lt. Eric Shine

Source: Corbett Report
James Corbett

On tonight’s broadcast we talk to Lt. Eric Shine of RBN’s “In The Zone” about his case in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and how it relates to the NDAA. We also discuss the next atrocity coming down the legislate pipeline: HR 3166 aka the Enemy Expatriation Act.

Works Cited:

H.R. 3166: Enemy Expatriation Act
Joe Lieberman on the 2010 Terrorist Expatriation Act (HR3166 forerunner)
3 arrested as Occupy protesters march against NDAA
NDAA Flash Mob Protest and Arrests at Grand Central Station – #OWS

The Origins of Imperial Israel - Part I

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Andrew Gavin Marshall

Israel: A Buffer against Arab Nationalism

 

Israel emerged in the post-War period due to a great many complex domestic and international political reasons: to provide a place to direct the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, to allow the British to formally end the Mandate over Palestine which they held as their empire was crumbling, and to serve as a ‘buffer state’ for Western nations in the Middle East, a region of the world which was identified as a necessity to control in order to secure its vast oil resources and strategic position in relation to the East. America in the post-War period, however, was deeply divided in its strategic-imperial circles on whether or not to support the State of Israel, which did not become a stated and strong policy until the later 1950s. The State Department, in particular, full of individuals who were familiar with the politics and changes in the Middle East, were worried that support for Israel would threaten America’s interests in the region by antagonizing the Arab states and ruining America’s good reputation following the War. Others, however, won out in the end, largely by arguing that such a state in the Middle East would be a significant support to American interests, acting as a powerful ‘buffer’ against the spread of Arab nationalism and Pan-Arabism. In its first years, Israel walked a balance of receiving support from both the United States and the Soviet Union. With the rise of Nasser in Egypt, however, America saw its imperial interest in supporting Israel.

 

The notion of a “Jewish State” as a ‘buffer’ for the West had been a long-held desire among imperial strategists and was even a popular means of promoting the Zionist cause from leaders within the Zionist movement. In the early 20^th century, the Zionists, keenly aware of the British and French imperial rivalry in the Arab East, “knew how to convince London of the value of a British-controlled Jewish buffer-state in Palestine for the protection of the Suez Canal and imperial communications to India.”[1] In 1907, the London Colonial Conference emphasized the increasing interest in establishing a ‘buffer state’ for British imperial interests in the Near East. The Conference agreed “to establish a strong but alien human bridge in the land that links Europe with the Old World which would constitute, near the Suez Canal, a hostile power to the people of the area and a friendly power to Europe and its interests.”[2]

British imperial strategists were increasingly alarmed with the growing “Arab Awakening” emerging in the context of Arab indigenous nationalism. These fears of a growing and developing Arab nationalism informed British Prime Minister Campbell Bannerman when he stated at the 1907 Colonial Conference:

Empires are formed, enlarged and stabilized so very little before they disintegrate and disappear… Do we have the means of preventing this fall, this crumbling, is it possible for us to put a halt to the destiny of European colonialism which at present is at a critical stage?[3]

Escobar: US, Iran... 2012 Will Be Hardcore

Source: RT

Iran has been holding naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz since December 23, and has threatened to close the key oil supply route if new US sanctions hit its exports. It later backed down. However, in an escalating war of words, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said that closure of the Strait would not be tolerated.

Pepe Escobar, Asia Times correspondent told RT the year 2012 would be a hardcore one, mainly because of the US-Iran tensions.

Police State 2012: No Need To Wait, It's Already Here

Source: Boiling Frogs Post and Cobett Report

CONTINUE WATCHING: Boiling Frogs Post

TRANSCRIPT AND SOUCES:

A TV station in Boston airs a story about a library that sent a police sergeant to collect overdue library books from a 5-year-old girl.

The Associated Press reports on a 70 year old woman in Utah who was wrestled to the ground and arrested for failing to maintain her lawn in accordance with city standards.

The Auto-Tech blog of MSNBC runs a public interest story about the latest must-have gadget for local police stations around the country: 10-person, 16,000 pound armor plated tanks that are paid for by the federal government.

One of the greatest problems in talking about the police state is that all such discussion of the subject is hampered by the lack of a clear-cut definition.

Given the public’s own ignorance of the true nature and function of a police state, story after story after story of intolerable levels of official oppression, secret illegal surveillance, and increasingly sophisticated technology for tracking, apprehending, incapacitating and even killing dissenters can be dismissed because these stories are reported one at a time, in a contextless and therefore meaningless way that invites the interpretation that these stories are only warnings of what is to come instead of sign posts of a reality that is already here.

Twisted Logic Of Using Violence To Achieve Peace

Source: Eurasia Review
Ramzy Baroud

‘Sooner or later, there will be no escape from conducting a significant operation [in Gaza],’ said Israeli army Chief of Staff Lieutenent General Benny Gantz on December 27, the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead.

Gantz’s chillingly casual remarks were cited as just another nonchalant declaration of war against a besieged, impoverished, overcrowded and routinely bombarded stretch of land. From the Israeli military and political point of view, Gaza merely exists as an opportunity for the Israeli army to test its latest weapon technology and send political messages to Israel’s foes in the region.

As if to validate Gantz’s logic, the ardently rightwing Israeli Jerusalem Post elaborated on December 28: “The Israel Air Force, working with the Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], fired a missile at Gaza terrorists [fighters] involved in recent attacks on Israel, killing one and injuring two others.” They were ‘terrorists’ because Israel has designated them so. There was no due process and none was expected. When it comes to reporting on Israel/Palestine, corporate media largely relies on Israeli lies and propaganda. And one moral crisis begets another. The Israeli propaganda is predicated mostly on racism, not just in its view of Palestinians in Gaza, but of all Arabs.

Let’s examine the curious logic of Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s Propaganda and Diaspora Minister. In a recent talk in Or Yehuda, the man laid out his understanding of how peace can be achieved. “As long as the Arab nation continues to be a deplorable nation, which continues investing in infrastructure for terrorism, education to hate, and welfare for the families of shaheeds [martyrs], there will be no peace,” he said, according to Yossi Gurvitz in +972 online magazine.

Gurvitz further wrote: “I phoned the minister’s office for comment, and asked his spokesman: ‘Are you aware of the fact there are some 80 million Arabs in the world, from Sudan to Syria?’ He replied: ‘Yes, there are — and the minister meant them all.’”

I must admit that cogent political analysis becomes difficult when a country’s foreign policy and military strategy are constructed on unabashed racism, ignorance and a reproduction of 19th century Orientalism. How is one to forecast the possibilities of a just peace in Palestine when a well-regarded Israeli minister places a condition on the ‘Arab nation’ to become less deplorable? How can Gaza avoid another ‘Operation Cast Lead’ if its fate has already been sealed, with the ambiguous timeframe of ‘sooner or later’?

China Wants to Set Up Bases in Pakistan, Reveals Intelligence Report

Source: India Today

China might be allowed to use Pakistan's military facilities, a secret intelligence report accessed by Headlines Today has revealed.

The intelligence report has set alarm bells ringing in the government circles. Moreover, all this is being done without any public announcement.

China has been keen on building military bases in federally administered tribal areas (FATA) in the northwest region of Pakistan. In the last few months there have been several high level meetings of Pakistani and Chinese officials.

The intelligence report says: "China's desire for a military presence in Pakistan has been discussed by the political and military leadership of that country in the recent months. China's deepening strategic penetration of Pakistan and joint plans to set up... oil pipelines/rail/roads as well as naval and military bases are a matter of concern."

According to the assessment report, Chinese presence in this area might enable People's Liberation Army (PLA) to counter the Muslims separatists operating from this part of Pakistan for terrorist activities in its Xinjiang province.

Leaked: US To Start 'Trade Wars' with Nations Opposed to Monsanto, GMO Crops

Source: Activist Post
Anthony Gucciardi

The United States is threatening nations who oppose Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) crops with military-style trade wars, according to information obtained and released by the organization WikiLeaks.

Nations like France, which have moved to ban one of Monsanto’s GM corn varieties, were requested to be ‘penalized’ by the United States for opposing Monsanto and genetically modified foods.

The information reveals just how deep Monsanto’s roots have penetrated key positions within the United States government, with the cables reporting that many U.S. diplomats work directly for Monsanto.

The WikiLeaks cable reveals that in late 2007, the United States ambassador to France and business partner to George W. Bush, Craig Stapleton, requested that the European Union along with particular nations that did not support GMO crops be penalized. Stapleton, who co-owned the Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers baseball team with Bush in the 1990s, stated:

Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.

The Leaked Political Agenda Behind Monsanto’s GMO Crops

The ambassador plainly calls for ‘target retaliation’ against nations who are against using Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, admittedly linked to organ damage and environmental devastation.

Amazingly, this is not an isolated case. In similar newly released cables, United States diplomats are found to have pushed GMO crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative.

The Strait of Hormuz Heats Up - False Flag Possibility Increasing

Source: Corbett Report and RT

Iran has warned the United States it will take action if an American warship returns to the Persian Gulf. It left the area when Iran started its 10-day naval war games, during which they successfully test-fired a number of different missiles. But Russia’s defense ministry says that despite the latest military exercise, the Iranians don’t have the technology to make intercontinental ballistic missiles. Meanwhile France is pushing for stricter sanctions as it says it’s sure Tehran is developing nuclear weapons. It’s urged EU countries to follow the U.S. in freezing Iranian central bank assets and imposing an embargo on oil exports. Tehran has been threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important oil routes – if the West stepped up sanctions. RT talks to James Corbett, editor of the Corbett Report website.

Final Curtain: Obama Signs Indefinite Detention of Citizens Into Law As Final Act of 2011

Source: Global Research
Jonathan Turley

President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the history of our country . . . and citizens partied only blissfully into the New Year.


Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely.

Obama insisted that he signed the bill simply to keep funding for the troops. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by the White House since the law first came to light. As discussed earlier, the White House told citizens that the President would not sign the NDAA because of the provision. That spin ended after sponsor Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) went to the floor and disclosed that it was the White House and insisted that there be no exception for citizens in the indefinite detention provision.

The latest claim is even more insulting. You do not “support our troops” by denying the principles for which they are fighting. They are not fighting to consolidate authoritarian powers in the President. The “American way of life” is defined by our Constitution and specifically the Bill of Rights. Moreover, the insistence that you do not intend to use authoritarian powers does not alter the fact that you just signed an authoritarian measure. It is not the use but the right to use such powers that defines authoritarian systems.

The almost complete failure of the mainstream media to cover this issue is shocking. Many reporters have bought into the spin of the Obama Administration as they did the spin over torture by the Bush Administration. Even today reporters refuse to call waterboarding torture despite the long line of cases and experts defining waterboarding as torture for decades. On the NDAA, reporters continue to mouth the claim that this law only codifies what is already the law. That is not true. The Administration has fought any challenges to indefinite detention to prevent a true court review. Moreover, most experts agree that such indefinite detention of citizens violates the Constitution.

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

Source: GRTV and Corbett Report
James Corbett

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES:

As the drums of war begin to beat once again in Iran, Syria, the South China Sea, and other potential hotspots and flashpoints around the globe, concerned citizens are asking how a world so sick of bloodshed and a population so tired of conflict could be led to this spot once again.

Israel Threatens Gaza After Panetta Signals Green Light for Attack on Iran; More Imperialist Moves Against Syria; Wall Street Faction Seeks Closure of Hormuz to Stave Off Dollar Collapse

Source: PressTV
Dr. Webster Tarpley

In this edition of News Analysis we will examine the possibility of another war on the Gaza strip by Israel and whether this latest threat underlies deeper worries by Israel due to changes in the regional landscape from the Arab Spring in which parliamentary results from different Arab countries show a break from the past with Israel.

Establishment Candidates and Mainstream Media Ridicule Ron Paul for Telling the Truth

Source: Infowars

Editor's Note:

Sadly, the mainstream depends on viewer ignorance of actual facts and history in order to discredit and ridicule the one candidate who actually addresses the glaring corruption of the corporately controlled American establishment.

Inside The Media Assault Against Ron Paul and Independent Liberty

Source: Activist Post
Anthony Gucciardi 

Corporate media talking heads simply cannot admit that the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, along with the inexorable momentum of the liberty movement as a whole, has now soared high enough to shatter the false political paradigm -- even crushing opponents in a wide array of corporate-backed polling results.

Of course so-called 'conservatives' cannot talk about the success of the Ron Paul 2012 campaign on air, and it's steadily becoming impossible to use their favorite tactic from the 2008 elections: pretend it doesn't exist.

Whether you are a radio insider, or the average listener, it is easy to see that a great deal of deception goes into formulating the best way to present the Ron Paul campaign to ignorant radio listeners that are not fully aware of the truth surrounding the campaign and the liberty movement as a whole. Instead of speaking the truth, or even slightly discussing the success of the Ron Paul campaign, it seems that a virtually unanimous decision has been made among mainstream reporters. Mainstream 'conservatives' are now rallying their steadily-declining listener base to vote for the best chance of 'winning', not the best candidate.

Fake Conservatives Urge Listeners to Abandon Morals, Vote for 'Best Chance'

It is easy to hear this rhetoric from the majority -- if not all -- phony conservative talk show hosts. Whether they're sounding the alarm to donate and support Romney for the 'best chance to win and take the House', or discussing the 'experience to win' that Gingrich has, they're ordering listeners to throw what's right to the wind and continue the current left/right paradigm charade for another 4 years. Of course this will simply lead to more of the same, a new face and the same anti-constitutional policies that we have seen for countless years.

Nonetheless, these fraudulent conservative preachers cling to the concept of getting a republican in the White House over anything else. It could be Adolf Hitler, but as long as he's running as a mainstream Republican with a 'good chance' of winning, powerhouse 'conservative' figureheads will say it is the nation's only chance. What the talking heads fail to tell you is the fact that Ron Paul has the best chance of winning the 2012 elections.

If these talking heads were into telling the truth, they would tell you that Ron Paul is achieving major success throughout a number of powerful mediums including social media and networking -- the purest form of news and communication. Within social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, which are absent of political overlords, Ron Paul is seeing the most growth of any political candidate.

In fact, Ron Paul has grown in his number of followers by 30.05% on Twitter in the month of December alone, while Gingrich improved by only 1.79%. In a medium where the dissemination of truthful information is prevalent, Ron Paul simply comes out on top.

Despite the massive smear campaigns and media deception, the most intriguing factor in the war against Ron Paul and independent liberty is the call to disregard morals, conscience, and intellectual integrity. Even if Ron Paul was not crushing opponents in mainstream polls and online presence, it does not mean that voters should send their support over to the 'best chance' regardless of their policies or intentions.

The entire mindset of 'best chance' voting displays how backwards the moral compass of the nation truly is, where simply 'winning' -- regardless of repercussions or consequence -- trumps any form of moral or ethical considerations.

Anthony Gucciardi is an accomplished investigative journalist whose articles have appeared on top news sites and have been read by millions worldwide. A health activist and researcher, Anthony’s many articles on wellness and vaccine safety information can be found by visiting his site NaturalSociety.

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.