Noam Chomsky and The Guardian's commissars

The commissars at The Guardian must have been really angry when they learned Noam Chomsky had been voted the world's top public intellectual. So they decided to use their "professional skills" and sent Emma Brockes to interview him. The result is a Stalinist piece of violence mitigated only by Ms Brockes's ignorance and stupidity.

There is a half-finished packet of fig rolls on the desk. Such is the effect of an hour spent with Chomsky that, writing this, I wonder: is it wrong to mention the fig rolls when there is undocumented suffering going on in El Salvador?

It's not the first time that these "interviews" are used to delegitimize, ridicule and discredit the interviewee’s opinions and political thought, to please the interviewer’s caste and to better serve the masters and their agenda. Here the hate against Chomsky is such that the "journalist" doesn't mind to lie, to misrepresent the facts and to write about things she doesn't know.

This is, of course, what Chomsky has been doing for the last 35 years, and his conclusions remain controversial: that practically every US president since the second world war has been guilty of war crimes; that in the overall context of Cambodian history, the Khmer Rouge weren't as bad as everyone makes out; that during the Bosnian war the "massacre" at Srebrenica was probably overstated. (Chomsky uses quotations marks to undermine things he disagrees with and, in print at least, it can come across less as academic than as witheringly teenage; like, Srebrenica was so not a massacre.)

Writing to Media Lens' editors, Noam Chomsky says

Begins just the right way for the Guardian. The answer she quotes from me is correct, but it was to an entirely different question, asking whether I regret supporting Diana Johnstone's right to publish when her book was withdrawn by the publisher after vicious and dishonest press attacks, which I reviewed in an open letter, as she knows. Continues the same way. Even when some words of mine are quoted more or less accurately, she concocts a context to fit the Guardian ideology, particularly on the Balkans, where they seem completely hysterical. As for freedom of speech, she obviously didn't understand a word I said, any more than her respected colleagues seem to.

Don't read the Guardian regularly, but my impression is that it's rather typical of the way they deal with people a few mm to the left of what they regard as acceptable. Like left-liberal countparts here, they always seem to be looking over their shoulder to make sure they are respectable enough to be invited to the right dinner parties.

My only joy in all this disgusting propaganda operation is that despite all the money, energy and resources used by the guardians of powers to discredit serious opposition and dissent, Chomsky is very much appreciated and respected all over the world by millions whereas these pathetic loons at the Guardian or the New York Times or all the other sanctuaries of hypocrisy are not even taken seriously within their own caste.

We should never forget however that without these Goebbels’ children, the mass murderers and war criminals such as Blair, Bush (or Clinton for that matter) could never succeed in their criminal “projects”.

About Chomsky, when I met him for my documentary XXI CENTURY, I’ve been impressed by his ability to deal with complex topics, by his talent to communicate without making you feel you are being preached and by his ethical perspective. His intellectual and moral honesty is a powerful antidote against the poison of the corporate media.

I am so sorry for Emma Brockes: she was so eager to obey her orders that she missed a great opportunity. Amazing how some people can pass through powerful experiences without even being touched…

George Galloway

From The Independent

Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister of Iraq, has denied telling investigators that George Galloway personally profited from the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq. Mr Aziz's lawyer, Badia Aref, described claims regarding the Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow as "lies". Republican Senator Norm Coleman used interviews with Aziz as evidence that Saddam's regime granted 23 million barrels of oil to Mr Galloway and his Mariam Appeal fund. The US Congressional report said Aziz, under questioning by the subcommittee, had discussed oil allocations with Galloway. "These are lies ... He [Aziz] denied this," Mr Aref said. "It is part of a media campaign aimed at smearing Galloway's reputation," said the lawyer.

Outrageous Blair

Proconsul Blair against Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change:

We also have to recognise that while the Kyoto Protocol takes us in the right direction, it is not enough. We need to cut greenhouse gas emissions radically but Kyoto doesn't even stabilise them. It won't work as intended, either, unless the US is part of it. It's easy to take frustrations out on the Bush Administration but people forget that the Senate voted 95-0 against Kyoto when Bill Clinton was in the White House. (Read more)

Again, as for the Iraq war, civil liberties and social justice, evidence doesn't count, the truth is ignored and denied. Emperor Dubya and his Proconsul stay their course: mass murder, genocide and global destruction. The question is: Will we let them do it?

Read also:
- Mediterranean and Global Warming
- Global Warming

Bush tells the truth, finally!!!

BBC News reports

"Tyrants and would-be tyrants have always claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision and they end up alienating decent people across the globe" G.W. Bush

He's talking about himself, just he can't realize it!

Mediterranean and Global Warming

Global warming threatens drought for Mediterranean By Steve Connor, The Independent

The Mediterranean region is the most vulnerable in Europe to climate change because of its sensitivity to drought and rising temperatures, a study has found.

Countries bordering the Mediterranean will suffer an increased risk of severe water shortages, forest fires, lost of agricultural land and an influx of potentially invasive species from the south. The economy and landscape of the Alpine regions are also vulnerable to increased temperatures because a warmer climate will cause the mountain snow lines to rise, the study found.

International researchers led by Dagmar Schroeter of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany said Europe would experience large changes as a result of climate change in the 21st century.

"Nature reserve managers will have to cope with substantial changes in the abundance and distribution of plant and animal species," Dr Schroeter said. "Mountain and Mediterranean species are sensitive, and we observe changes already."

The study, published by the online version of the journal Science, tried to assess the wider impacts of climate change on a range of ecosystems that provide vital services for society, such as forestry, farming or tourism. "The Mediterranean appeared most vulnerable to global change," the scientists say.

The study, which included input from 58 "stakeholders" working in government, industry, farming, and charities, covered 14 pre-2004 EU member states, plus Norway and Switzerland.

In 1995, about 193 million people out of a total EU population of 383 million faced water shortages. Several climate models predicted that between 20 per cent and 38 per cent of the Mediterranean population would be living under conditions of "increased water stress".

In this region, water scarcity was likely to be aggravated by greater demand for water for irrigation and tourism. Among the Mediterranean trees threatened by climate change were the cork oak, holm oak, aleppo pine, and maritime pine.

"These changes would have implications for the sense of place and cultural identity of the inhabitants, traditional forms of land use, and tourism," wrote the scientists.

Increasing rainfall was predicted for much of northern Europe, with higher levels of forestation and less land used for agriculture. Mountain areas were also likely to be hit hard by global warming, said the researchers.

Changes to the "run-off" from melting snow and ice would reduce water supply at peak demand times and increase the risk of winter floods.

On the same topic: Global Warming

BBC News: Lancet Report too old to mention!!!

On Wednesday, 26 October 2005 the BBC News website in "US death toll in Iraq hits 2,000" reported:

" Unofficial estimates put Iraqi civilian deaths since the war at about 25,000."

In this article there is NO MENTION of probably the most serious and scientific study conducted on the subject by some of the world's leading epidemiologists and published by one of the most respected scientific publication, the Lancet.

After reading the BBC News article, I wrote to some BBC journalists and I made a complaint through the BBC website.

I didn't get any reply from the journalists but I got this staggering email from the BBC News Website as an answer to my complaint:

Thanks for your email. We did cover this report in detail when it was released - see link below. The figures it details are now around one year old where as those produced by Iraq Body Count are continually updated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3962969.stm

Thanks again for getting touch.

Regards
BBC News Website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

UPDATE. I wrote again to the BBC and once again their answer is outrageous!

Many thanks for your comments and your interest in the BBC News website.

We have reported widely on the Lancet report, at the time of publication of the study and since.

We do not usually use the Lancet's figure in standard news stories because it is so far out of line with other studies on the same issue. There are also some questions over the validity of the Lancet study in the case of measuring casualties in Iraq. The technique of sampling and extrapolating from samples has been criticised because the pattern of violence in Iraq has been so uneven.

In this particular news story, the Iraq Body Count figure is used because it is the most recent study on the issue.

Once again, thank you for your interest in the BBC News website.

Regards
BBC News Website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Blood and oil: Exxon Mobil

BBC News reports

US oil giant Exxon Mobil has posted a quarterly profit of $9.9bn (£5.55bn), the largest in US corporate history, on the back of record oil and gas prices.

To learn more about this mass murderer company, click here

Dozens of Abu Ghraibs

GENEVA, Oct 25 (IPS) - U.S. human rights groups have denounced before the U.N. Human Rights Committee that there are perhaps dozens of secret detention centres around the world where Washington is holding an unknown number of prisoners as part of its "war on terror". Read more

Blair Government and the Tobacco Lobby

From The Guardian

James Johnson, chairman of the British Medical Association, expressed "utter disappointment" at the "wasted opportunity to protect the public's health".

"The government has thrown away the opportunity of a lifetime to protect the public's health. It is astonishing," he said.

"I cannot believe that, after consulting for three months, this government had decided not to listen to the vast amount of conclusive evidence that second-hand smoke kills and what was needed was a total ban."

Professor Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "We are utterly dismayed that the government has not listened to doctors, health charities and the public, all of whom have voiced overwhelming support for a smoke-free law without exemptions.

"The compromised law will be unworkable. It also sends out a terrible message: that the government is prepared to protect the health of some workers while leaving others exposed to the seriously damaging effects of second-hand smoke.

"Sadly, people will die as a consequence of this half-hearted decision."

Remember 'Make Poverty History' ?

From 'Do stars really aid the cause?' By Stuart Hodkinson, The Independent

The coalition's anger has intensified over revelations about Live8's paternalistic treatment of African campaigners and their relationship to corporations operating on the continent. Firoze Manji, the co-director of Fahamu, an African social justice network and a member of G-Cap, recounts how the African coalition had planned a concert in Johannesburg in early July to be held in one of the townships. According to Manji, a meeting of Oxfam GB, Curtis, Geldof and Kumi Naidoo cancelled it in favour of Live8.

Geldof, having excluded African artists from the London concert, eventually gave his blessing to "Africa Calling", a hastily arranged concert in Cornwall. The sponsors included Nestlé, accused of benefiting from the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa by selling more milk substitute products; Rio Tinto, the world's largest mining corporation, condemned for alleged human rights and environmental abuses; and Britain's biggest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems - which, according Mike Lewis of the UK's Campaign Against Arms Trade, is "fuelling conflicts across Africa". Criticism of MPH's celebrity set has particularly angered Oxfam, and insiders believe the agency will lead a breakaway from other MPH members once the coalition disbands early next year, taking Comic Relief and Bono's charity - Debt Aids Trade Africa - with it. Given Oxfam's free-trade solutions to Third World poverty, and - along with Curtis, Bono and Geldof - its leadership's close relationship to New Labour, this scenario could be an encouraging development for efforts to realign MPH with the "global justice movement".

But it will not be enough. The failure of MPH to achieve its political demands cannot be laid at the door of Oxfam, Geldof and co. By being too dependent on lobbying, celebrities and the media, by failing to give ownership of the campaign to southern hemisphere social movements, by watering down the demands agreed by grassroots movements at the World Social Forum, and by legitimising the G8 summit, the campaign was doomed from the start. Ten out of 10 on aid, eight out of 10 on debt? More like G8, Africa nil.

A version of this article appears in the latest issue of Red Pepper

Follow the Money

From The Independent

Tony Blair is to reward a clutch of millionaire Labour Party donors - including the head of the Priory celebrity rehabilitation clinic - with peerages, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. In a move that will trigger a fresh row over "cash for honours", Mr Blair is to elevate to the Lords four businessmen who between them have given almost half a million pounds to the party. (Read More)

From The Guardian

The drinks industry is planning a ruthless campaign of economic incentives and psychological tricks to get customers to drink as much as possible when licensing laws are relaxed, The Observer can reveal. (Read more)

From The Nation

On October 23 an estimated 122 million Brazilians will vote in a national referendum on whether to ban the sale of guns and ammunition to private citizens. The first of its kind in the world, this referendum has divided the population of Brazil, a world leader in gun deaths, along sim or não lines. In 2003 voters here passed what is the strictest gun law in the Americas; now the nation's top leadership is divided on how much further to go. The stakes are high. The United Nations reported in June that between 1979 and 2003 more than 500,000 Brazilians died from firearms, 39,000 in 2003 alone. President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva supports the ban as a way to control the flow of Brazil's estimated 17 million guns, while Vice President and Minister of Defense José Alencar says it will only benefit criminals with guns. (...) Flush with money but short on tactics, Brazil's gun lobby has sought help from northern kin, the National Rifle Association. In 2003, as the Disarmament Statute neared a vote, Charles Cunningham, an NRA lobbyist in Washington, traveled to São Paulo on invitation from the Brazilian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a pro-gun group. He spoke publicly and met privately with gun supporters to discuss strategies, though an NRA spokesman said the association does not discuss the contents of its meetings. The NRA denies any direct funding of Brazilian groups, but activists say Brazilian gun control foes have directly translated NRA materials and used statistics and rhetoric that bear a striking resemblance to NRA's television infomercials aired in the United States. In some cases, the translations were culturally clumsy. One TV spot refers to the "right" to own a gun (Brazilians have no such right) while another argues for gun ownership because "it can take up to seven minutes for police to respond to your call." Jessica Galeria, a former Fulbright scholar who coordinates research on women and armed violence for Viva Rio, a Brazilian gun control group, observed that the "seven minutes" reference was taken from American NRA materials. In Brazil, she said, "it would likely take much longer." (Read more)

From The Independent

The gun lobby in the United States scored a powerful if not unexpected victory yesterday when Congress passed a Bill that bans firearms victims from suing the makers of the weapons. The Bill, which got the green light from the Senate in July, was approved by 283 to 144 in the House of Representatives, and will now go to the White House. Officials confirmed that it will be signed into law by President George Bush shortly. (Read more)

From Media Lens

It should go without saying that a truly independent press would regularly investigate the business activities and interests of its managers and owners. The Times would examine critically the empire of its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch; the Guardian would examine the extensive business interests and establishment links of the Guardian Media Group directors; and the Independent would delve into the affairs of Irish billionaire Sir Anthony O'Reilly. (Read More: Media Lens Alert October 11, 2005 A Special Kind of Independence)

Read also a fine collection of News & Comments: That Deadly Cancer Called CAPITALISM

Reagan, Bush and "Our Freedom"

CNN reports

"We're great fans of Nancy Reagan," said Bush, who spoke while facing the retired Air Force One, which is parked inside a windowed pavilion overlooking Simi Valley. "We admire her strength. We admire the love she has for her husband and we're grateful for her friendship."

Bush noted that the Boeing 707, which carried Reagan and six other presidents, carried "freedom's message" across oceans and continents. He noted that Reagan served at a time when the former Soviet Union was crumbling.

"Our freedom is once again being tested by determined enemies," Bush said, likening communism to terrorism. (Read more)

Who's the terrorist?

From "Indonesian Students Challenge U.S. Envoy in Lively Exchange" By REUTERS

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. goodwill envoy Karen Hughes got a earful from a group of mostly female Indonesian Muslim students on Friday, who expressed anger at the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and attacked Washington's foreign policies.

Tasked by U.S. President George W. Bush to polish America's image overseas, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is in Jakarta to meet leading Muslim clerics and students during a tour of the world's most populous Muslim nation.

"Why does America always act as if they were the police of the world?," Barikatul Hikmah, a 20-year-old student at the Syarif Hidayatullah University asked Hughes.

Lailatul Qadar, a petite 19-year-old student wearing colorful headscarves, added: "It's Bush in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and maybe it's going to be in Indonesia, I don't know. Who's the terrorist? Bush or us?"

Read more

American gun lobby

From "Victory for American gun lobby as victims are barred from legal action" By David Usborne, The Independent

The gun lobby in the United States scored a powerful if not unexpected victory yesterday when Congress passed a Bill that bans firearms victims from suing the makers of the weapons. The Bill, which got the green light from the Senate in July, was approved by 283 to 144 in the House of Representatives, and will now go to the White House. Officials confirmed that it will be signed into law by President George Bush shortly.

Read more

Masters, SAS and the Media

From "British military investigator found hung in Basra" By Julie Hyland on WSWS

A senior British military police officer in Iraq, Captain Ken Masters, was found hung in his military accommodation in Basra on October 15.

Masters was commander of the Royal Military Police’s Special Investigations Branch (SIB), charged with investigating allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers. According to the Independent newspaper, in this capacity Masters “had examined almost every single serious allegation of abuse of Iraqi civilians by British troops,” including “the cases of the fusiliers convicted of abusing prisoners at Camp Breadbasket near Basra and a paratrooper who has been charged in connection with the death of Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist.”

In recent weeks, Masters was thought to have been involved in the investigation into the events of September 19, when Iraqi police arrested two British undercover Special Air Service (SAS) officers in Basra.

According to the BBC, the SAS men were disguised as Arabs and were travelling in an unmarked car containing “weapons, explosives and communications gear” when they were challenged at an Iraqi security checkpoint.

The two opened fire, reportedly killing one person and wounding several others, including police officers, before they were taken into Iraqi custody. In response, the British Army launched a military assault on the facility in which the SAS men were being held, demolishing parts of the building. Several Iraqis were killed and wounded during the attack.

In a statement on Masters’ death, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said the “circumstances were not regarded as suspicious.”

Read more

Terrorism: When Walking is a 'Security Risk'

From "Two wheels: good. Two legs: terrorist suspect" By David Lister on The Times

She was walking from her office in Dundee to her home in the suburb of Broughty Ferry when she was arrested under new anti-terrorist legislation and held for four hours.

She said: “I’ve been walking to work every morning for months and months to keep fit. One day, I was told by a guard on the gate that I couldn’t use the route any more because it was solely a cycle path and he said, if I was caught doing it again, I’d be arrested.

“The next thing I knew, the harbour master had driven up behind me with a megaphone, saying, ‘You’re trespassing, please turn back’. It was totally ridiculous. I started laughing and kept on walking. Cyclists going past were also laughing.

“But then two police cars roared up beside me and cut me off, like a scene from Starsky and Hutch, and officers told me I was being arrested under the Terrorism Act. The harbour master was waffling on and (saying that), because of September 11, I would be arrested and charged.”

Read more

India, Iran, & the United States

From "India, Iran, & the United States" By Conn Hallinan on Foreign Policy In Focus

The Sept. 24 vote was 22 “yes,” 1 “no,” and 12 abstentions. China and Russia abstained but have publicly said that they are opposed to sending Iran to the Security Council. Two of the “yes” votes are rotating off the 35-member IAEA board to be replaced by Cuba and Belarus . And much to the annoyance of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany met earlier this month to discuss restarting direct talks with Teheran. In short, it is unlikely that Iran will end up being referred to the Security Council.

Will an “abstain” vote by India be enough to open the gates for U.S. technology to ramp up New Delhi's nuclear weapons programs? Probably, but that depends on whether the administration can get it by Congress and people like Lantos.

Does this mean India joins the U.S. alliance against China? The answer to that question is a good deal more complex.

Read more

The Jester Bono and the Emperor Bush

You wonder what a 21st Century jester looks like? CNN reports

The rock star and the president had lunch in the private dining room off the Oval Office, ordering from the menu at the same mess hall where White House staffers get their lunch.

Here some gems of the jester's wisdom

"I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. On a spiritual level, I have that with me. I'm throwing a punch, and the fist belongs to people who can't be in the room, whose rage, whose anger, whose hurt I represent. (...) He said he's made it clear that he doesn't support the war in Iraq, but he doesn't campaign against it because his main priority is helping the poor and disadvantaged. "I work for them," Bono said. "If me not shooting my mouth off about the war in Iraq is the price I pay, then I'm prepared to pay it."

Bush Crimes Commission

First Session of The 2005 International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration - Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th Street, New York City - Friday Evening, OCTOBER 21, 6PM & Saturday Morning, OCTOBER 22, 10AM (Click here to know more)

Spain: Judge Orders Arrest for Three US Soldiers

A Spanish judge has issued an international arrest order for three US soldiers over the shelling of a Baghdad hotel that killed a cameraman.

Judge Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for Sgt Shawn Gibson, Capt Philip Wolford and Lt Col Philip de Camp, of the US 3rd Infantry Division.

Jose Couso, of Spanish TV network Telecinco, died in April 2003 when a US tank fired on the Palestine Hotel.

Reuters news agency cameraman Taras Protsyuk, a Ukrainian, was also killed.

The National Court agreed to consider filing criminal charges against three members of the tank crew two years ago, acting on a request from Mr Couso's family.

'No co-operation'

Speaking on Wednesday, the judge said he had issued the arrest order because of a lack of judicial co-operation from the US in the case. (BBC News)

More from The New York Times

There Is No Good War

From "POW Abuse by the US. Nothing New Going On Here" by Mickey Z.

During the Second World War, for example, it required a mouthpiece none other than prominent racist Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. to expose American tactics in the Pacific. His sentiments are summed up in the following journal entry:

"It was freely admitted that some of our soldiers tortured Jap prisoners and were as cruel and barbaric at times as the Japs themselves. Our men think nothing of shooting a Japanese prisoner or a soldier attempting to surrender. They treat the Jap with less respect than they would give to an animal, and these acts are condoned by almost everyone. We claim to be fighting for civilization, but the more I see of this war in the Pacific the less right I think we have to claim to be civilized."

"When Lindbergh finally left the Pacific islands and cleared customs in Hawaii," says author John Dower, "he was asked if he had any [Japanese] bones in his baggage. It was, he was told, a routine question."

While the treatment of Japanese POWs was commonly little more than making sure there were no Japanese POWs, those Axis soldiers captured in the European theater often learned firsthand how good the good guys were.

Corporate Media and War Crimes

Who said this?

"The truth is that the information-gathering machine designed to guide our leaders in matters of war and peace shows signs of being corrupted (...) To my mind, this is a worrisome problem, but not because it invalidates the war we won. It is a problem because it weakens us for the wars we still face."

To know the answer read 'Judith Miller, the Fourth Estate and the Warfare State' By NORMAN SOLOMON on CounterPunch

KILLING WITH IMPUNITY

BAGHDAD, 18 October (IRIN) - Two days of US air attacks against insurgents in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi have caused heavy casualties among the city's civilian population, a doctor and a senior Iraqi government official in Ramadi said.

"We have received the bodies of 38 people in our hospital and among them were four children and five women," Ahmed al-Kubaissy, a senior doctor at Ramadi hospital, said on Monday night. "The relatives said they had been killed by air attacks in their homes and in the street."

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) 18 October 2005

PLEASE READ ALSO MEDIA LENS ALERT KILLING WITH IMPUNITY

You won't believe this!!!

On July 1, the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square — in London's congestion-charge zone — stopped paying the 8 pounds (about $14) daily charge that Mayor Ken Livingstone has imposed on motorists who drive into the city center. Diplomats are exempt from taxes by international law, the embassy says. (...) “It's the view of the United States government that all direct taxes on diplomats and diplomatic operations, including this one, are prohibited by the Vienna Convention,” she [Embassy spokeswoman Susan Domowitz] said. (USA Today)

Totalitarianism, Genocide and the Court of Jesters

Last news from Iraq

Helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi in western Iraq on Sunday, killing about 70 people, the US military says. The military said all the dead were militants, although eyewitnesses are quoted saying that many were civilians. (BBC News)

US warplanes and helicopters bombed two villages near the Iraq city of Ramadi, killing an estimated 70 militants, the military said today. But witnesses said at least 39 were civilians. (AP)

Now, stop! Think of the big picture:

First Gulf war; UN (which is to say USA+UK) Sanctions; USA & UK Illegal Bombings of the (illegal and invented) No Fly Zones; Second Gulf War and Occupation...

How many millions of people have been killed in all this? Do you know? If you don't, why? Why aren't these millions of children, women, innocent Iraqi civilians on the front pages of our newspapers? Why don't they deserve prime time on TV? How is it possible to hide millions of dead in our age of information?

Many millions of innocent Iraqi civilians have been murdered by the US and UK Governments, with our tax money and in our name. The corporate media did their job: working for their masters and controlling the public opinion.

Totalitarianism has never been so easy in human history. Propaganda works!

Capitalism, this cancer that affects all the aspects of our lives as a metastasis, has weakened our spirit, reduced our ability to think, to act and react and makes us live in chains.

We live in one-ideology societies, and those who don’t agree and criticize the state religion are excommunicated and ridiculed by those who control the media and the propaganda system. Intellectuals, academics, experts, writers, journalists: a crowded court of modern jesters.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

London: Another Young Man Murdered in Homophobic Attack

One year after a barman who survived the Soho nail bombing was murdered in an homophobic attack in Central London, another young man was killed in South London for the same "reason": he was gay. When world religions preach hate and governments are allowed to slaughter millions of innocent civilians, what would you expect? Death is what we teach and death is what we get. Amen.

A man has been beaten to death in an attack on Clapham Common in south London which murder squad detectives are treating as a homophobic incident. The 24-year-old victim was found unconscious in the early hours of Saturday but died later in hospital. Det Chief Insp Nick Scola said the attack happened on The Avenue side of the Common and appealed for anyone in the area at the time to come forward. Police are looking for two white men described as being in their 20s. (BBC News)

To know more click here

JOHN PILGER ON HAROLD PINTER

What struck me about Harold's involvement was his understanding of this truth, which is generally a taboo in the United States and Britain, and the eloquent 'to hell with that' response in everything he said and wrote. Almost single-handedly, it seemed, he restored 'imperialism' to the political lexicon. Remember that no commentator used this word any more; to utter it in a public place was like shouting 'fuck' in a covent'. Now you can shout it everywhere and people will nod their agreement; the invasion in Iraq put paid to doubts, and Harold Pinter was one of the first to alert us. He described, correctly, the crushing of Nicaragua, the blockage against Cuba, the wholesale killing of Iraqi and Yugoslav civilians as imperialist atrocities.

Man of Peace: Harold Pinter, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
By John Pilger, t r u t h o u t

Death Angel Rice, Proconsul Blair and the Iran Waltz

Condoleezza Rice, as a Death Angel, is touring the world announcing the Washington Gospel

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to meet Tony Blair at Chequers on Sunday for talks over Iran. They are expected to discuss Iran's nuclear programme and how they hope to prevent it developing nuclear weapons - which it denies wanting to do. (BBC News)

Proconsul Blair has prepared her visit

Specialist bomb-makers targeting British troops in southern Iraq are being trained by an elite arm of Iran's armed forces, UK defence sources say. Insurgents making tank-busting explosives, which have killed eight UK soldiers in recent months, are being trained in Iran and Lebanon, they say. BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood in Basra says the claims implicate the Iranian government. Tehran denies them. (...) Speaking at a joint news conference in London with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani last week, Mr Blair said it was clear "that there have been new explosive devices used - not just against British troops but elsewhere in Iraq. The particular nature of those devices lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah... however, we can't be sure of this," he added. (BBC News)

The Death Angel expressed gratitude

Ms Rice, who arrived in London on Saturday, said: "I have reason to believe that the British are right about this. I trust the British on this issue because the British are operating in the south, they know the situation." (BBC News)

The superb waltz orchestrated by the Goebbels’ children in London and Washington has unexpectedly been ruined

Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched "sting" operation more than a decade ago. This contradicts the British government's claims that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is helping Shia insurgents to make the devices. (The Independent)

... and, as always, the chickens are coming home to roost

The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the soldiers, as well as two private security guards, were initially created by the UK security services as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the troubles in the early 1990s. (The Independent)

The waltz will go on, stay tuned...

ROBERT FISK: HOW TO END THE WAR

What would happen if the American occupation of Iraq ended? Even some opponents of the war argue that the US military is all that stands between Iraq descending into devastating anarchy and civil war. Veteran journalist Robert Fisk, whose new book on the Middle East 'The Great War for Civilisation' is published this week, gave his reply to this question in an interview with Australian television.

THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION: A Referendum for Disaster

- The constitutional process culminating in Saturday's referendum is not a sign of Iraqi sovereignty and democracy taking hold, but rather a consolidation of U.S. influence and control. Whether Iraq's draft constitution is approved or rejected, the decision is likely to make the current situation worse.

- The ratification process reflects U.S., not Iraqi urgency, and is resulting in a vote in which most Iraqis have not even seen the draft, and amendments are being reopened and negotiated by political parties and elites in Baghdad as late as four days before the planned referendum.

- The proposed constitution would strip Iraqis of future control over their nation's oil wealth by opening all new oil exploration and production to foreign oil companies.

- The imposition of federalism as defined in the draft constitution undermines Iraqi national consciousness and sets the stage for a potential division of Iraq largely along ethnic and religious lines, with financial, military, and political power devolving from the central government to the regional authorities. All groups risk sectoral as well as national interests.

- Human rights, including women's rights, individual political and civil rights, economic and social rights, religious rights, minority rights, all remain at risk.

- Instead of balancing the interests of Iraq's diverse population by referencing its long- dominant secular approaches, the draft constitution reflects, privileges and makes permanent the current occupation-fueled turn towards Islamic identity.

Read "THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION: A Referendum for Disaster" by Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Propaganda

"The propagandist's purpose," wrote Aldous Huxley, "is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human." The British, who invented modern war propaganda and inspired Joseph Goebbels, were specialists in the field. At the height of the slaughter known as the First World War, the prime minister, David Lloyd George, confided to C P Scott, editor of the Manchester Guardian: "If people really knew [the truth], the war would be stopped tomorrow. But of course they don't know, and can't know."

'We need to be told' by John Pilger, NewStatesman Read the whole article on Global Echo

Harold Pinter: What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?

The great poet Wilfred Owen articulated the tragedy, the horror - and indeed the pity - of war in a way no other poet has. Yet we have learnt nothing. Nearly 100 years after his death the world has become more savage, more brutal, more pitiless.

But the "free world" we are told, as embodied in the United States and Great Britain, is different to the rest of the world since our actions are dictated and sanctioned by a moral authority and a moral passion condoned by someone called God. Some people may find this difficult to comprehend but Osama Bin Laden finds it easy.

What would Wilfred Owen make of the invasion of Iraq? A bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of International Law. An arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. An act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading - as a last resort (all other justifications having failed to justify themselves) - as liberation. A formidable assertion of military force responsible for the death and mutilation of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.

An independent and totally objective account of the Iraqi civilian dead in the medical magazine The Lancet estimates that the figure approaches 100,000. But neither the US or the UK bother to count the Iraqi dead. As General Tommy Franks of US Central Command memorably said: "We don't do body counts".

We have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery and degradation to the Iraqi people and call it " bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East". But, as we all know, we have not been welcomed with the predicted flowers. What we have unleashed is a ferocious and unremitting resistance, mayhem and chaos.

You may say at this point: what about the Iraqi elections? Well, President Bush himself answered this question when he said: "We cannot accept that there can be free democratic elections in a country under foreign military occupation". I had to read that statement twice before I realised that he was talking about Lebanon and Syria.

What do Bush and Blair actually see when they look at themselves in the mirror?

I believe Wilfred Owen would share our contempt, our revulsion, our nausea and our shame at both the language and the actions of the American and British governments.

Adapted by Harold Pinter - Nobel Prize for Literature 2005 - from a speech he delivered on winning the Wilfred Owen Award earlier this year (The Independent)

Harold Pinter, Lady Thatcher and the servants' show

A good day for literature and peace

Pinter's authorial stance, always radical, has become more and more political in recent years. An outspoken critic of the war in Iraq (he famously called President Bush a "mass murderer" and dubbed Tony Blair a "deluded idiot"), in 2003 he turned to poetry to castigate the leaders of the US and the UK for their decision to go to war (his collection, War, was awarded the Wilfred Owen award for poetry). (The Guardian)

However, his outspoken criticism of US foreign policy and opposition to the war in Iraq undoubtedly make him one of the more controversial figures to be awarded this prestigious honour. (BBC News)

and a bad day for the establishment... Here in the UK, journalists and commentators are really upset... They can't understand! They think:

"Why? We have been kissing the power's a** forever and now they give the Nobel to this 'controversial' writer. Now we, the servants, look so stupid!!! How embarrassing!"

It must be for this reason that News gave the Pinter Nobel Prize so little time, not mentioning why he has been opposing the war of aggression against Iraq for example. Of course, they had much more important news to give, like the party for the 80th birthday of Lady Margaret Thatcher

Lady Thatcher looked frail as she arrived 15 minutes late - aides said she had been delayed by talking on the phone to ex-US President George Bush. But she re-emerged later to welcome the Queen. Current Prime Minister Tony Blair is also at the event. Lady Thatcher was ousted from her post in 1990, after 11 years in No 10. (BBC News)

and the show goes on...

US Barbarism

Two leading human rights organisations have accused the United States of in effect throwing away the lives of more than 2,000 juvenile offenders sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole - a punishment out of step with international law but one increasingly popular with tough-on-crime US legislators.

According to a report being published today by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the United States is the only country to punish juveniles so severely on a routine basis. They counted 2,225 child offenders locked up for life across 42 American states. In the rest of the world, they found only a dozen other cases, restricted to three countries - Israel, South Africa and Tanzania.

Read "America has 2,000 young offenders serving life terms in jail" By Andrew Gumbel on The Independent

Australia: Brave New World

From The Australian:

The Howard Government will have extraordinary powers to ban strike action as part of a concerted assault on union power to be introduced under a new wave of industrial reforms. Employers will also find it much easier to take damages action against militant unions in court, and the Government will severely limit the right of all unions to enter worksites.

October 10th: World Day Against Death Penalty

While George W. Bush was governor of Texas, from 1995 to 2000, his execution chamber was by far the most active in the nation, killing 152 people - more than one prisoner every two weeks.

Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA; from "American Voices of Dissent" by Gabriele Zamparini and Lorenzo Meccoli (Paradigm Publishers, 2005)

"The death penalty in the United States is like a lottery system. It's more a function of race, of politics, of money than it is a function of the severity of the crime. (...) Right now it's about four countries that carry out 90 percent of the world's executions. China is by far the largest offender in this respect. And next are countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Those are the countries that carry out about 90 percent of the executions in the world today."

To know more about 'October 10th: World Day Against the Death Penalty' click here

Global Warming and Greed

From the New York Times

With major companies and nations large and small adopting similar logic, the Arctic is undergoing nothing less than a great rush for virgin territory and natural resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Even before the polar ice began shrinking more each summer, countries were pushing into the frigid Barents Sea, lured by undersea oil and gas fields and emboldened by advances in technology. But now, as thinning ice stands to simplify construction of drilling rigs, exploration is likely to move even farther north. Last year, scientists found tantalizing hints of oil in seabed samples just 200 miles from the North Pole. All told, one quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources lies in the Arctic, according to the United States Geological Survey.

This story says a lot about capitalism, greed and stupidity... Read more about Global Warming and its dangers

'Mr. Blair, it's not a game'

One of the country's most senior judicial figures has launched a damning attack on Tony Blair's record of human rights. Lord Steyn, one of the country's most senior judges until he retired from the House of Lords last month, accused the Prime Minister of mounting measures to tackle terrorism that will fall foul of human rights laws. (...) "Perhaps Mr Blair should know that when he talks about the rules of the game he should know this is not a game, this is a deathly serious and earnest matter and that what we [the judges] do apply is the law."

Read 'Former law lord attacks PM's record on human rights', By Robert Verkaik on The Independent


For 20 years Lord Steyn has observed the judicial convention of not speaking out on government policy. The only clues to what the law lord thinks about Tony Blair, Labour's political agenda or the "war on terror" are buried in the many judgments he has delivered as a senior judge in the country's highest courts.

But now Lord Steyn has retired as a member of the judicial committee of the House of Lords and has won back his right to freedom of expression. Today he chooses to exercise that right.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he left judicial office last month, Lord Steyn condemns the Government for its assault on human rights, declares himself to be "deeply sceptical" of a national identity card scheme and says he shares the comedian Rowan Atkinson's fears that the new religious hatred legislation will criminalise satire.

If only one or two of Lord Steyn's judicial colleagues share even a fraction of his concerns then the Government can expect a rough ride when these policies are finally tested in the courts.

But it is the Government's anti-terror proposals for which Lord Steyn reserves most scorn. His description of Walter Wolfgang's arrest at the Labour Party conference in Brighton paints a picture of Britain as a police state.

"I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy," says Lord Steyn. "So anything that derogates from that must be scrutinised extremely carefully." Then he asks: "What about Walter Wolfgang? Where does that lead us and what about the position of somebody who wants to oppose the Government's Iraq policy and expresses that in vigorous terms. Is he to be at risk of being charged?"

Read "Lord Steyn: 'Judges are not the servants of the Government ... our duty is to the public'" By Robert Verkaik on The Independent

Pakistan earthquake... and money

The BBC reports:

Pakistan says more than 18,000 have been killed by Saturday's powerful earthquake that also hit northern India and Afghanistan. (...) UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the government was sending $177,000, along with 60 medical staff, emergency workers and foreign office staff. The US has promised $100,000 (BBC News)

From the latest news, the victims could be more than 30,000.

Now, let's see how much money the USA and the UK spend for 'much more important things':

USA (Fiscal Year 2006)

- U.S. military budget: $441.6 billion

- PLUS $49.1 billion for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan

- PLUS $41.1 billion Homeland Security funding

(Read also Senate Approves More War Funding by Washington Post)

UK (Fiscal Year 2003)

- U.K. military budget: $37.1 billion

(Read also The Defence Budget by Ministry of Defence)

Solidarity, what a beautiful thing...

Updates:

- U.S.: Aid to Pakistan up to $50m (CNN)

Al Gore: I truly believe that America's democracy is at grave risk

I thought maybe it was an aberration when three-quarters of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was responsible for attacking us on September 11, 2001. But more than four years later, between a third and a half still believe Saddam was personally responsible for planning and supporting the attack. (...)

Are we still routinely torturing helpless prisoners, and if so, does it feel right that we as American citizens are not outraged by the practice? And does it feel right to have no ongoing discussion of whether or not this abhorrent, medieval behavior is being carried out in the name of the American people? If the gap between rich and poor is widening steadily and economic stress is mounting for low-income families, why do we seem increasingly apathetic and lethargic in our role as citizens? (...)

The present executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations: from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. They placed a former male escort in the White House press pool to pose as a reporter - and then called upon him to give the president a hand at crucial moments. They paid actors to make make phony video press releases and paid cash to some reporters who were willing to take it in return for positive stories. And every day they unleash squadrons of digital brownshirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the President. For these and other reasons, The US Press was recently found in a comprehensive international study to be only the 27th freest press in the world. And that too seems strange to me. (...)

And what if an individual citizen, or a group of citizens wants to enter the public debate by expressing their views on television? Since they cannot simply join the conversation, some of them have resorted to raising money in order to buy 30 seconds in which to express their opinion. But they are not even allowed to do that. Moveon.org tried to buy ads last year to express opposition to Bush's Medicare proposal which was then being debated by Congress. They were told "issue advocacy" was not permissible. Then, one of the networks that had refused the Moveon ad began running advertisements by the White House in favor of the President's Medicare proposal. So Moveon complained and the White House ad was temporarily removed. By temporary, I mean it was removed until the White House complained and the network immediately put the ad back on, yet still refused to present the Moveon ad. (...)

... it is television delivered over cable and satellite that will continue for the remainder of this decade and probably the next to be the dominant medium of communication in America's democracy. And so long as that is the case, I truly believe that America's democracy is at grave risk.

The final point I want to make is this: We must ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all citizens without any limitation on the ability of individuals to choose the content they wish regardless of the Internet service provider they use to connect to the Worldwide Web. We cannot take this future for granted. We must be prepared to fight for it because some of the same forces of corporate consolidation and control that have distorted the television marketplace have an interest in controlling the Internet marketplace as well. Far too much is at stake to ever allow that to happen. We must ensure by all means possible that this medium of democracy's future develops in the mold of the open and free marketplace of ideas that our Founders knew was essential to the health and survival of freedom.

American Democracy in Trouble. Our democracy has been hallowed out. By Al Gore, Keynote Speech - We Media Conference in New York, NY - October 5, 2005 Read the whole speech on Information Clearing House

Columbus Day: Nazis and Fascists of Yesterday and Today

Columbus Day: celebrating genocide with the fascists and Nazis of today:

It's stomach-turning enough that this year's Grand Marshal of the New York City Columbus Day parade will be the arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But now the Columbus Citizens Foundation, which runs the Big Apple parade, has insulted all those Italian-Americans who believe in democracy or who are gay by inviting and honoring Mirko Tremaglia (left), an out-and-out fascist and homophobe who fought for Mussolini, as part of the Columbus Day Parade's festivities. (from Direland)

To know more about Columbus Day and what we celebrate, click here...

Bush and God: Please, could someone call the doctors!!!

OK. We are not talking about politics here. This is a matter for psychiatrists:

"I am driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did. And then God would tell me 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq'. And I did." - George W. Bush

Please, could someone call the doctors!!!