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Leader of Syrian Rebel Group Calls For Attacks Inside US

…And he also just happens to be the head of Al-Qaeda Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 13, 2013...

Empire, Hypocrisy and Deflection

According to Barack Obama, the use of chemical weapons is an act that must be punished. If the USA fails to smite the Assad...

Exposing the Financial Core of the Transnational Capitalist Class

IntroductionIn this study, we decided to identify in detail the people on the boards of directors of the top ten asset management firms and...

UN Report Accuses Both Sides in Syria of War Crimes

A four-person United Nations rights panel has released a report citing evidence of war crimes by both sides in Syria. The report comes at...

Giving New Meaning to the Day After 9/11: Why Saying No to Syria...

Once again, we find ourselves at the day after 9/11, and this time America stands alone. Alone not only in our abandonment even by...

US Demands Syria Follow Int’l ‘Norms’ on Chemical Weapons… While Violating Them

As the Obama administration continues to threaten military intervention in Syria unless the government of Bashar al-Assad follows international 'norms' on chemical weapons, the...

US Demands Syria Follow International ‘Norms’ on Chem. Weapons… While Violating Them

As the Obama administration continues to threaten military intervention in Syria unless the government of Bashar al-Assad follows international 'norms' on chemical weapons, the...

What If Congress Says No on Syria?

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/what_if_congress_says_no_on_syria_20130912/ Posted on Sep 12, 2013 ...

Black Jihadist Flag Flies Over Christian Town of Maaloula

Syrian rebels murdered Catholics for refusing to convert to Islam, then joked about it Paul Joseph...

Key Event for the International Arms Trade: WMD For Sale at the London’s Arms...

A key event for the international arms trade is taking place in London this week: the DSEi arms fair which hosts 1500 arms companies...

The Greatest Illusion Ever Performed — 9/11 (new modified version)

The Greatest Illusion Ever Performed – 9/11 (new modified version) No commercial Boeing aircraft hit any building on 9/11   The art of deception – Computer generated images  - Both false      Had you seen the image on the left on TV  then you would have believed it…….. right? You did see the image on the right on TV and  […]

The 40th Anniversary of Pinochet’s Rise to Power in Chile

Chileans observe their own anniversary on September 11, as today marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup that removed the revolutionary Marxist President...

More than a Decade After 9/11, Globalists Openly Embrace Al Qaeda

In case you didn't get the memo — Al-Qaeda, the group supposedly responsible for 9/11, is now our ally in Syria Infowars.com When Infowars made the...

Shocking UN Report Reveals 1 in 4 Men Admit to Raping Women for ‘Fun’...

A disturbing new report on sexual assault released by the United Nations reveals that one in four men have admitted to raping a woman...

Time to Reveal US Intel on Syria

Were White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough not pushing for yet another war based on what look to be false pretenses, one might...

Rand Paul Blasts President’s Call for Syrian Intervention

Tuesday night, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered the response to President Obama's nationally televised speech on his Syrian foreign policy plan. In his address, Senator...

Arctic Ice Expands, Dispelling Myths of Climate Change

According to a report in the U.K. Mail on Sunday, a rapidly expanding ice sheet in the Arctic has definitively refuted the computer models...

THE 9/11 READER. The September 11, 2001 Terror Attacks

CBS News footage of the Rawalpindi, Pakistan, hospital where bin Laden was allegedly treated the day before 9/11. The foregoing CBS report...

9/11 Truth: Who Is Osama Bin Laden?

The article below entitled Who is Osama bin Laden? was drafted twelve years ago on September 11, 2001. I started writing on the evening...

With Help From Rupert Murdoch, Rightwing Leader Takes Reins of Australian Gov’t

Tony Abbott is Australia's new prime minister (Photo: Getty Images)Rupert Murdoch-backed leader of Australia's conservative 'Liberal Party' Tony Abbott was ushered in as new...

Former Bush and Clinton Administration Insider — Nobody is Asking the Basic Question

Infowars.comSeptember 9, 2013 In this MSNBC roundtable discussion, Hillary Mann Leverett, a veteran of both the...

Cooking the Intelligence for War on Syria

All wars are based on lies. Truth is the ally of peace. It's the enemy of war. History repeats with disturbing regularity. It's doing...

Is Assad Being Tricked Into Sacrificing Syria?

Or is the plan to relinquish chemical weapons a geopolitical master stroke? Paul Joseph Watson Is President Bashar Al-Assad being tricked into creating circumstances that will...

Global warming computer models collapse

Arctic ice sheets rapidly expand as planet plunges into global cooling Mike AdamsNatural NewsSeptember 10, 2013...

McCain & Graham Seize on ‘Peace’ Initiative to Push War

Senators claim promise to give up chemical weapons should encourage Congress to authorize attack on...

The UN Has Had Evidence That Syrian Rebels Have Been Using Chemical Weapons Since...

Did you know that the United Nations has had evidence that the Syrian rebels have been using sarin gas against Syrian government forces since...

The UN Has Had Evidence That Syrian Rebels Have Been Using Chemical Weapons Since...

Did you know that the United Nations has had evidence that the Syrian rebels have been using sarin gas against Syrian government forces since May?  This was reported by Reuters and other major news organizations around the world, but there has been an almost total blackout of this information by the big corporate news [...]

With Help From Rupert Murdoch, Rightwing Leader Ascends to Power in Australia

Tony Abbott is Australia's new prime minister (Photo: Getty Images)Rupert Murdoch-backed leader of Australia's conservative 'Liberal Party' Tony Abbott was ushered in as new...

Fukushima workers told to cover detection devices with lead to downplay radiation levels

TEPCO has been caught lying about radiation levels at Fukushima yet again, this time it was reported that people working at the plant were...

Fukushima workers told to cover detection devices with lead to downplay radiation levels

TEPCO has been caught lying about radiation levels at Fukushima yet again, this time it was reported that people working at the plant were...

The Century-Long Challenge to Respond to Fukushima

More than two years after an earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on a Japanese power plant, the Fukushima nuclear disaster is one of the...

Kidnapped Teacher: Rebels Said Assad Not Behind Chemical Weapons Attack

“It is a moral duty to say this” Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 9, 2013 ...

Obama in Desperate Propaganda Push For Attack on Syria

President will conduct six television interviews in bid to beat war drums Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 9,...

‘Flooding the Zone’ with Bullshit on Syria

In philosophy circles, bullshit is a technical term denoting a claim presented as “fact” although its veracity has not been established. The truth value...

Cornel West and the Fight to Save the Black Prophetic Tradition

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/cornel_west_and_the_fight_to_save_the_black_prophetic_tradition_20130909/ Posted on Sep 9, 2013 ...

Hague reiterates support for Syria war

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has reiterated support for the US on a military strike against Syria while claiming that London is not Å“gung...

The Conflict in Syria and Global Resistance: Why Humanity will Prevail

The World is watching how far Washington will go to gain support for an attack on Syria. France is backing the US along with...

The Pivot to Africa

Plans for Construction of the Special Operations or “Task Force” Compound at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti According to a 2012 briefing by Lieutenant Colonel David Knellinger,...

Which Syrian Chemical Attack Account Is More Credible?

Let’s compare a couple of accounts of the mass deaths apparently caused by chemical weapons in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21....

Pro-Israel Lobby Pushes America into War. AIPAC Is A Grave Threat To World Peace

Israeli Ynet reports tonight on AIPAC’s relentless efforts to push America into a war. “Though US Congress is pressured by the American public to vote against a...

Warmongering Republicans Support Obama

You’ve heard the story that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. I guess the modern equivalent is playing poker on your smartphone while debating going...

Syria: Next Chapter of U.S. Shadow War in Middle East

For 12 years strong, US running “counterinsurgency air force” for allies Julie WilsonInfowars.comSeptember 6, 2013 While the...

“Islam threatens UK’s future security”

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has shamelessly attacked Islam as a Å“fundamentally extremist” religion, which could threaten future security of the UK. In...

9/11 Truth: The Mysterious Collapse of WTC Seven

At 5:21 in the afternoon of 9/11, almost seven hours after the Twin Towers had come down, Building 7 of the World Trade Center...

McCain Confronted on Syria at Angry Town Hall Meeting

Woman whose cousin was killed by US-backed rebels pleads with Senator Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 6, 2013...

Britain and Chile 40 Years After Pinochet’s Coup

England Ask anybody from Santiago about the noise heard in the Chilean capital’s skies on the morning of Sept. 11, 1973, and they will probably...

Children and Women for Sale

To be born poor in our world is to be born vulnerable and in danger of exploitation of one kind or another; to be...

Kaiser Obama

When Barack Obama was an inexperienced presidential candidate back in 2008, one question that was repeatedly raised was whether he was qualified to competently carry...

How Ahistorical Journalism Serves Power

Oscar Wilde referred to Western history as a “calendar of infamy.” 1963 should stand as a prominent mark on such a calendar. It was...

Saudi Arabia’s “Chemical Bandar” behind the Chemical Attacks in Syria?

Nothing the US claims about what happened in Syria adds up. We are being asked to believe an illogical story, when it is much...

Video: Syrian Rebel Admits Using Chemical Weapons

“We’ll kill their women and children like Osama Bin Laden said” Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 5, 2013...

Homeland Security’s Suspicious Activities Reporting: “If You See Something, Say Something”

“See Something, Say Something” was a recent fear-based media campaign to popularize an initiative of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) called the Nationwide...

10 Chemical Weapons Attacks Washington Doesn’t Want You to Talk About

Wesley Messamorepolicymic.comSeptember 5, 2013 It lacks the moral authority. We’re talking about a government with a...

Putin: Kerry’s lies ‘Pathetic’

Russian president says U.S. Secretary of State “knows he is lying” Adan SalazarInfowars.comSept. 5, 2013 On the...

Obama Seeks Congressional Approval For Strikes While Insisting That He May Attack Regardless Of...

There is a wonderful scene unfolding on Capitol Hill. In the past, President Barack Obama has insisted that he alone decides what constitutes a...

Ten Chemical Weapons Attacks Washington Doesn’t Want You to Talk About

 by Wesley Messamore Washington doesn’t merely lack the legal authority for a military intervention in Syria. It lacks the moral authority. We’re talking about a...

Alyssa Milano ‘Sex Tape’ Promotes Attack on Syria

PR stunt regurgitates Obama’s “red line” propaganda Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comSeptember 5, 2013 Actress...

2 Congress Members: We Shouldn’t Be “Al Qaeda’s Air Force”

Washington’s BlogSeptember 5, 2013 Politico notes: “We certainly don’t have a dog in the fight,” Cruz said,...

Internet Hackers and the Real Threat They Expose

While certainly not over-shadowing the Obama Administration’s military threats against Syria, the cyber attack that brought the mighty New York Times to its knees last week...

Jordan Invites US Targets for Syrian Retaliation

Located at the crossroads of several regional crises, including the Palestinian — Israeli and Iraqi conflicts, Jordan has been in the eye of the...

U.S.-NATO Should Not Be “Al Qaeda’s Air Force”

Kerry’s Claim that Syrian Rebels Are Not Associated with Al Qaeda Has Been Thoroughly Debunked Politico notes: “We certainly don’t have a dog in the fight,”...

Radiation at Fukushima Soars to Highest Level Yet

Record high radiation levels were detected at the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan's nuclear regulator and plant operator TEPCO said on Wednesday, raising more...

Chinese official Yu Qiyi ‘drowned by investigators’

BBCSept. 4, 2013 A Chinese official who died during interrogation was allegedly drowned by Communist Party...

UK: More workers earning less than living wage

BBCSeptember 4, 2013 The number of UK workers earning below the so-called living wage has risen...

Timeline of Military-Intelligence Operation: U.S. Had Planned Syrian Civilian Catastrophe Since 2007

NBC News’ report, “‘The great tragedy of this century’: More than 2 million refugees forced out of Syria,” stated: More than 2 million Syrians have...

Supporting al-Qaeda a Week Before 9/11

In a twist of irony that has escaped mainstream commentators, one week away from 9/11, the US is considering a course of action that...

India upper house passes cheap food plan

India has the highest percentage of malnourished children in the world after East Timor, 2012 annual Global Hunger Index says.(file photo)Indian upper house of...

Duty to Warn: 9/11 and Cognitive Dissonance

There is an epidemic of a psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance in the world today. Everybody is susceptible to the reality of cognitive dissonance...

Obama says US should attack Syria

Obama with members of Congress in the cabinet room of the White House on Tuesday.US President Barack Obama has called for a prompt vote...

Fukushima: TEPCO deliberately used Radiation Detectors that Provided Low Readings. Radiation Levels 18 Times...

At the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, radiation isn’t the only thing leaking out. Each week, it seems there’s another small leak of the truth...

Bombshell: Syria’s ‘chemical weapons’ turn out to be sodium fluoride used in the U.S....

Mike AdamsNatural NewsSeptember 3, 2013 Natural News can now reveal that the Syria chemical weapons narrative...

Obama’s Syria Attack Resolution Authorizes Boots on the Ground

Plan for military intervention greases skids for war throughout the region, says Harvard professor Paul Joseph...

Syria Countdown

Damascus The morning following President Obama’s decision not to bomb Syria immediately, the streets of Damascus were packed with shoppers and employees heading to their...

Obama's War on Syria: Dissent in the Ranks

Obama's War on Syria: Dissent in the Ranks by Stephen Lendman On September 2, London's Daily Mail headlined " 'I didn't join the Navy to fight...

Climate Change Fueling Spread of Crop-Killing Pests and Disease: Study

(Flickr / jm2c / Creative Commons License)Diseases and pests that feed on crops are increasing at an alarming rate, decimating harvests in larger areas,...

The Unnatural Death of Dr. David Kelly: Template for “Legalised Cover-up” of Political Assassinations

At the time of writing it is September 2013. What would happen if Dr Kelly’s body were to be found today? Or, what if...

Yes, the Syrian Rebels DO Have Access to Chemical Weapons

One of the U.S. government’s main justifications for its claim that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack is that the rebels...

Syria, “Credibility” and Historical Amnesia

My grandfather, who helped raise me, was not a weepy guy. That almost goes without saying for men of his age and background: second-generation...

Syria, “Credibility” and Historical Amnesia

My grandfather, who helped raise me, was not a weepy guy. That almost goes without saying for men of his age and background: second-generation...

Obama in Sweden, the New “Old South”

Dalarna, Sweden Mr. President, on September 4th you will be coming to Sweden, a country I arrived in sixteen years ago. You will be coming...

The Banality of Empire

You have to ask: does Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have a death wish, launching a chemical attack within miles of a U.N. chemical inspection...

US Congress to debate and vote on Syria war

  By ...

Cooked Up Evidence. Trying to Fool the Public over Syria

“Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new...

Truthdiggers of the Week: Skeptics of Obama’s Syrian Weapons Claims

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdiggers_of_the_week_skeptics_of_obamas_syrian_weapons_claim_20130901/ Posted on Sep 1, 2013 ...

UK Chancellor rules out Syria vote rerun

British Chancellor George Osborne has ruled out a new vote on Syria intervention, saying the Prime Minister David Cameron will not make another attempt...

Jabhat al-Nusra Rebels Admit Responsibility for Chemical Weapons Attack

Militants tell AP reporter they mishandled Saudi-supplied chemical weapons, causing accident  Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta have admitted to Associated Press correspondent...

Fukushima radiation levels ’18 times higher’ than thought

BBC NewsSeptember 1, 2013 Radiation levels around Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant are 18 times higher than...

John Kerry on Syria : The Absurdity of Certainty. Is Washington Behind the Chemical...

            “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd”.    Voltaire  In May, 2013, Carla del Ponte, a member of the U.N. Independent...

Obama Reveals His Dictatorship – Paul Craig Roberts

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The post Obama Reveals His Dictatorship — Paul Craig Roberts appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org.

Kucinich: Strike on Syria Makes U.S. "Al-Qaeda Air Force"

As the beat of the war drums reaches its crescendo, one former lawmaker warns that any attack on Syrian government forces will make the...

Who benefits from US war on Syria?

US President Barack Obama receives a gift of gold necklace from Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, June 3, 2009.Someone wants to get the...

French Public Opposes War Against Syria

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UK TV host nabbed over child sex abuse

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has been charged with 13 child sex offences as part of a British police investigation that revealed the prolific child...

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Someone wants to get the United States into a war with Syria very, very badly. Cui bono is an old Latin phrase that is...

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Syria: Obama’s Pretext for War? The “Rebels” are in Possession of Chemical Weapons

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Fooling The Public Over Syria

Photo by Narciso Contreras 


Countercurrents 28/8/2013 and Global Research 1/9/2013

"Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa." Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

Despite the stance expressed by Lukashevich, Russia has been depicted by various prominent Western politicians as an obstacle to ‘humanitarian' military intervention in Syria. As hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries continue to mount as a result of US-led wars in the world, such humanitarian concerns ring hollow.

What these politicians are doing is called trying to take the public for fools.  

‘Their’ politicians

But this is what ‘their' politicians do: the taxpayer-salaried ‘public servants', who do the bidding of the powerful corporations, with the situation over Syria being a case in point (1).

In Britain, ‘public servants', like PM Cameron and Foreign Secretary Hague, dutifully obey their corporate-financier masters and their political bosses in Washington and were keen to lead Britain into a war, at first seemingly with or without the backing of the UN Security Council, with or without evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons.

Cameron said the world should not stand idly by as the Syrian government attacks its own people with chemical weapons. ‘Their' man in the Labour Party, leader Ed Miliband, seemed to be on board too. That was before MPs began to voice dissent and parliament then put a block on the plans for Britain’s involvement in any military intervention – for the time being at least.

Before any independently verified evidence was available, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel was already convinced of the Syrian government’s guilt. US State Department spokesperson Marie Haff also parroted this line on the BBC by saying: “Let there be no question about who is responsible for this.”

She also spoke about the Assad ‘regime' being intent on spreading chaos throughout the region.

Anyone who has been following this conflict (and the one in Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq) will note the rank hypocrisy of this Washington propagandist Haff. She should look very close to home if she wants to talk about spreading chaos (and death and destruction).   

After interviewing Chuck Hagel on TV, the BBC presented a range of military options and asked what would be the objective. Then we were told of the official line coming out of Washington, that the objective is not about regime change and not about intervening in a civil war, when quite clearly it is about both (2,3). The US and its allies fueled conflict and intervened in Libya and then helped bomb a path into Tripoli for the rebels to bring about regime change. And the US and its client states have been helping to stoke conflict in Syria for many months (4).

What Hagel, Cameron and Hague say about this conflict and how the issue of chemical weapons is being presented by much of the media is all based the same type of lie that has taken Britain to war in the recent past. And it is all being cheered on in the British press by the totally discredited Tony Blair, who urges military intervention in Syria on the basis of his foregone conclusion about the Assad government having used chemical weapons.

We should expect no better from such a man, though. The more naive might ask did Blair learn nothing from leading the country into an illegal war with Iraq? But Blair is not in the habit of learning lessons from actions that ended up in the mass killing of Iraqis - because Blair, as with Cameron and Hague, is ‘their' man too. And as ‘their' man, after leaving office, Blair has done very well indeed.

In 2012, The Telegraph newspaper in the UK discussed Tony Blair's jet set lifestyle and his UK property portfolio of seven homes worth £14 million (5). Blair is paid in the region of £3 million a year to advise both JP Morgan, the US investment bank, and also Zurich International, the global insurer based in Switzerland. On top of that he runs his own consultancy firm, which advises the oil and gas rich governments of Kuwait and Kazakhstan.  

Criminality

If we take what happened in Libya as a starting point for the type of events that may now unfold in Syria, we should turn to University of Johannesburg professor Chris Landsberg. He stated that, regarding Libya, the UN was misused to militarise policy, legalise military action and effect regime change (6). He subsequently challenged the International Criminal Court to investigate NATO for “violating international law.” Little if any talk of such matters, or of the 200 prominent African figures who accused Western nations subverting international law, by the gung ho mainstream media at the time though, which merely peddled with the pious narrative that NATO was essentially a civilising force in a barbaric world. It's the same narrative that we now witness over Syria. 

And this moral tone underpins the rhetoric about ‘protecting civilians' (by bombing them from afar – they then conveniently become ‘collateral damage’, not civilians; and that's okay because 'we' are doing it, not 'them'). It also underpins attempts to justify plans that have been in place for years to topple governments, including Assad's. US Vice-President Joe Biden has said there is "no doubt" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons and that it must be held accountable. The situation has been prejudged by the world's self appointed policeman in order to pursue its well-documented wider geo-political agenda (7).

Washington hopes the public will be reeled in by its red-line-in-the-sand ‘look he used them’ ploy. Unfortunately for Washington, the public in the US or Britain has not been yelling for retribution. The public are tired of wars and don’t trust governments or intelligence agencies that cried wolf over Iraq and were found to be liars.

It’s not a case of who will save people from Assad, but who will save us from the lies that fuel the type of terror and instability we have seen in places such as Libya, Iraq or Syria? Who will save us from the depleted uranium or the drones? Who will save us from the aggression and militarism? Who will save us from the suffering brought about by the economic neo-liberalism of the corporate cartels and the financial institutions that dictate policy, whether military or non-military, and salt away profits in tax havens while expecting ordinary people to bear the brunt of their criminality, wars and deceptions?

The arrogance of people like US State Department spokesperson Marie Haff is breathtaking. People like Haff should think very hard before attempting to take the British public for gullible idiots. The public is not ready to accept at face value the deceit from her mouth, or some cooked up PR strategy designed to brow beat people into line. The ghost of Tony Blair’s wrongdoings haunts many British MPs, who have as a result successfully reined in Cameron and Hague, and is a constant reminder to a public that is unwilling to be fooled again.

No public appetite for war

With polls indicating very little appetite from the British public for military intervention in Syria, politicians and their PR people have their work cut to try to convince people that this is a cause worth backing (8). But at least they have a compliant media.

The BBC's depiction of NATO's attack on Libya was woefully one-sided and anti-Gadaffi (9). And thus far its track record on Syria fares little better. Take BBC world news editor Jon Williams over last year's Houla massacre incident. As noted by Chris Marsden (10), Williams admitted that the coverage of the May 2012 massacre in Syria by the world's media and the BBC was dodgy to say the least. Early in June, on his personal blog, Williams explained that, despite the claims by the BBC, there was no evidence whatsoever to identify either the Syrian Army or Alawite militias as the perpetrators of the massacre of 100 people. Indeed, leading German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which had been largely supportive of Assad.

Williams said that the facts turned out to be few and that it was not clear who ordered the killings or why.

But why let facts get in the way of a good story? Kerry, Hagel and Haff certainly don’t. Why let the actual evidence (implicating the rebels) about a chemicals weapons incident (11) or the wider narrative (that disguises deceit and chicanery) about Syria (12) get in the way of a good fairytale? Push ahead regardless. The cooked up evidence will eventually be made to fit the preconceived policy… they hope.  

Cheer-leading from the sidelines, Tony Blair knows about that (13).


Notes














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AP Photo/Narciso Contreras
Countercurrents 26/8/2013

And here we go again. In Syria, things were getting desperate for Washington. It needed a major made-for-TV, cross-the-red-line incident involving chemical weapons. Unsurprisingly, by hook or by crook – probably crook (1) – it got it. The BBC, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and a multitude of other media outlets and politicians now clamour, or at least strongly imply the need, for direct military action to bolster the illegal ‘indirect’ military intervention from the West and its allies that has already been taking place for a long time.


The story being peddled goes that the (axis of) evil Syrian regime has used a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ to help win a war it was already winning, thereby incurring the wrath of the US. Strange logic indeed.


It’s a case of déjà vu. British MP George Galloway in front of a US senate hearing back in 2005 exposed the ‘pack of lies’ that the US-led invasion of Iraq was built on. Similar forms of deceit have been the foundations for shaping public opinion regarding attacking LibyaAfghanistanPakistan and numerous other countries. The presence of WMDs was used to justify attacking Iraq, while ‘humanitarianism’ or ‘fighting terror’ was the excuse used elsewhere.


But what is it about the term ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that provokes a knee jerk reaction from media people and politicians who foam with rage and let seep from their mouths high minded platitudes about morality?


“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people we personally dislike.” Oscar Wilde in ‘An Ideal Husband’.

If in the above quote from Wilde, we replace ‘people’ with ‘regimes’, we may appreciate the nature of the West playing fast and lose with its notions of morality. Supply arms, including chemical weapons, to dictatorial regimes throughout West Asia with atrocious human rights records because, notwithstanding the fact it is great business, they are ‘good friends of ours’ (to coin a highly apt mafia term).  Yes, all friends and good ones at that, as long as they remain loyal to the  ‘Project for the New American Century’ (2).


The PNAC, or the project for world domination, is partly built on gullible, easily led public opinion, which is (often) fanned by the emotionally laden letters ‘W-M-D’. A Pavlov’s dog public and media, which respond on cue to the moralistic bleatings of condescending criminals that masquerade as respectable politicians and who rely on the public’s ignorance to fuel their barbarity in the name of ‘protecting civilians’ from an impending bloodbath, while going on to cause one in Libya, to ‘defeat terror’, while funding it in Syria, or to ‘support democracy’, while undermining it in Egypt.


These politicians and much of the mainstream media confine the narrative about WMD to a military battlefield, or a threat of outright violent destruction. The term is never to be associated with the US dropping atom bombs on Japan, the West using mini-nukes in the form of depleted uranium or the use of white phosphorous to kill and maim (3). From the cancers caused to the environmental contamination, where is Hague’s, the BBC’s or any other number of media outlets’ moral indignation about this type of mass destruction?


Where too is their condemnation of treacherous economic, trade, food or agriculture policies that blight hundreds of millions across the globe? Where is their condemnation over the criminal manipulation of currency markets, commodities, interest rates and derivatives, or the neo-liberalism and the corporate-financial cartels that conspire to shape trade via the WTO, IMF or the World Bank (4,5,6,7,8)?


That’s right, condemnation of these economic and political weapons of mass destruction and suffering are nowhere to be seen or heard simply because such political figures and media institutions with their skin-deep morality are in place merely to serve the interests of fraudulent capital and its fraudulent policies.


This type of mass destruction and mass misery does not involve headline-grabbing, eye-catching episodes of carnage and death. This violence is structural in form, is arguably ultimately just as destructive and is ongoing and all pervasive (9). In Western countries, this is disguised as a need for ‘austerity’. In poorer countries, it is called ‘development’.


Under the ‘structural adjustment’ policies imposed on poor countries, it has become a case of export or be damned, embrace corporate agriculture or be damned, borrow and build dams or be damned. And, in the process, elites – both foreign and indigenous – prosper, while the people and the environment end up being damned anyhow (10). It’s almost becoming a cliché to mention the hundreds of thousands of farmers in India who ‘embraced’ it all and died. It’s no cliché though, it happened.


It’s no cliché that the petrochemical-backed, corporate-driven ‘Green Revolution’ is raping the environment (11). It’s no cliché to say that genetic engineering is a highly financially lucrative ‘experiment’ that is jeopardising our health and the future of humanity (12). Neither is it a cliché that millions, from Egypt to the US, are bearing the brunt of economic policies that result in misery for the many and record profits for the few.


Perhaps we should look at Hague and his ilk and assess whether they actually do care about the plight of ordinary folk in the manner they claim to. Do they really care about the plight of Syrians? Perhaps we might care to ponder that they clearly do not, given the back door deals and wars they have sanctioned for the benefit of powerful corporations (13,14).


Why should they care so much about people in far off places when they show little for those in their own countries? The post-war Keynesian consensus has been gradually dismantled, leading to the offshoring of much of their own economies and leaving millions in debt, in poverty, thrown onto the scrapheap or used as fodder to fight wars for the rich under the banner of ‘humanitarianism’ or ‘protecting our freedoms’. And, as far as ‘protecting our freedom’ is concerned, look to Edward Snowden and especially Hague’s squirming reaction to the revelations to see how hollow this rings.    


Moral outrage within certain influential quarters about the latest happenings in Syria might be enough to fool some of the public, but let the record show that this fake outrage runs skin deep and is extremely selective.

Notes

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There Is An Alternative: reflections on elements of an anti-austerity economic policy.

Poster by freestylee
Similarly to the 1980s, when Thatcher proclaimed that There Is No Alternative (TINA) to her restructuring policies, again we are told in the UK that considering national debt levels, austerity is the only way forward. Up to one million public sector jobs are to be axed, public sector pensions and wages are under attack and welfare services are cut across the board.

Importantly, however, politics is always about choices and deciding on priorities. There are always several possible ways forward. In this post, I will reflect on some elements of an alternative, anti-austerity economic policy.


What would an anti-austerity policy look like?

  • clearly, as a result of government bailout of banks, national debt has significantly increased. Nevertheless, as the PCS has already made clear a couple of years ago, the current national debt level is lower than between 1918 and 1961, when the British welfare state was established (PCS). In short, the gravity of the situation is exaggerated;

  • tax justice – close tax loopholes by employing more inspectors: ‘figures produced for PCS by the Tax Justice Network show that £25 billion is lost annually in tax avoidance and a further £70 billion in tax evasion by large companies and wealthy individuals’ (PCS). Employing more staff at HM Revenue & Customs would allow the government to collect additional billions of Pounds every year;

  • moreover, the PCS further calculates that if the so-called Robin Hood tax, ‘a 0.05% tax on global financial transactions – was applied to UK financial institutions it would raise an estimated £20–30bn per year (PCS). At the European level, it is the UK government which currently blocks moves towards a financial transaction tax;
  • tax justice would also imply that unlike the current government, an anti-austerity policy would not lower the income tax rate for high earners;

  • government investment into infrastructure projects such as the generation of green energy and especially social housing to create employment. This would also help to address the energy crisis as well as solve the housing crisis, with many people finding it impossible to secure affordable housing at the moment (BBC, 8 July 2013). While this would initially lead to larger national debts, the creation of jobs would result in higher demand levels, less government spending on jobseeker's allowances and an overall more positive economic outlook;

  • small companies struggle to raise necessary finance (BBC, 17 September 2012). An anti-austerity policy would imply that the government gives more direction to state-owned banks towards finance for businesses and a more focused industrial policy;

  • emphasising cuts to wages is counter-productive as it takes demand out of the economy. An anti-austerity policy would protect wage levels in line with inflation and productivity increase;
Photo by Eddie Truman

  • spending is always also about deciding on what are the key priorities. Do we actually need to replace Trident? ‘The government estimates renewal costs will be between £15bn and £20bn but anti-nuclear campaigners say the figure will be much higher’ (BBC, 16 July 2013). Is the British involvement in Afghanistan a societal priority? In addition to the loss of human lives, ‘the war in Afghanistan has cost Britain at least £37bn and the figure will rise to a sum equivalent to more than £2,000 for every taxpaying household, according to a devastating critique of the UK's role in the conflict’ (The Guardian, 30 May 2013). An anti-austerity policy would channel finance from war adventures to investment into schools, social housing, the health sector, etc.;
Of course, these are just a range of potential elements of an anti-austerity economic policy. They are not a comprehensive programme. What is clear, however, is that there are alternative policies available. If this is the case, then why does the UK government pursue these austerity policies in the first place?


What is the real purpose of government austerity policy?
 

The government claims that austerity policies are necessary to reduce national debt. However, how much money do these policies actually save?

  • it is highly likely that the new loan scheme in Higher Education will ultimately be more expensive for the state than the past system of financing university education via block grants (see The Great University Gamble). Perhaps the real focus is on opening the door to private providers?
  • in secondary education, finance is moved from comprehensives to academies and free schools. Is this really about saving money, or is the goal ‘to incentivise’ private sector involvement (see  Hands Off Our Schools)?

  • the implementation of the bedroom tax is in all probability more expensive than what is actually saved in the process (see Nottingham Bedroom Tax Campaign). Is the real purpose an attack on social housing?

  • NHS restructuring: is privatising the most profitable parts really about saving money and making service delivery more efficient, or is the objective to provide private investors with profitable investment opportunities (see also Broxtowe Save Our NHS)?
Photo by infomatique
In short, the real objective of current austerity policies is not to save money, but to open up the public sector for private investment. The financial crisis is used as a justification for a drastic transformation of society resulting in a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich and a change in the power balance from labour to capital. Austerity policies are a strategy of class warfare!


And yet, alternative policies are available. Whether they are implemented is a matter of political will and, ultimately, a matter of the balance of class power in society.  



Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK

Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net

23 August 2013

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Europe is haunted by austerity. Public sectors across the EU are cut back and working class gains from the post-war period seriously undermined (see also Reflections on the Eurozone crisis). In this blog post, I will assess the causes of the crisis, its implications for workers and discuss the politics of labour in response to the Eurozone crisis.


The underlying dynamics of the Eurozone crisis

Photo by Gwydion M. Williams
Current problems go right back to the global financial crisis starting in 2007 with the run on the Northern Rock bank in the UK and reaching a first high point with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Two major consequences of the crisis can be identified. First, states indebted themselves significantly as a result of bailing out failing banks and propping up the financial system. Second, against the background of high levels of uncertainty financial markets froze. Banks and financial institutions ceased lending to each other as well as industrial companies. Countries too found it increasingly difficult to re-finance their national debts. The Eurozone crisis, also called sovereign debt crisis, commenced.

Nevertheless, this analysis ultimately only scratches the surface of the causes of the crisis. The fundamental dynamics underlying the crisis have to be related to the uneven nature of the European political economy. On the one hand, Germany has experienced an export boom in recent years, with almost 60 per cent of its exports going to other European countries (Trading Economics, 10 May 2013). Germany’s trade surplus is even more heavily focused on Europe. 60 per cent are with other Euro countries and about 85 per cent are with all EU members together (de Nardis, 2 December 2010). However, such a growth strategy cannot be adopted by everybody. Some countries also have to absorb these exports, and this is what many of the peripheral countries now in trouble, such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, have done. They, in turn, cannot compete in the free trade Internal Market of the EU due to lower productivity rates. Germany’s export boom results in super profits, which then require new opportunities for profitable investment. State bonds of peripheral countries as well as construction markets in Ireland and Spain seemed to provide safe investment opportunities. In turn, these investments led to yet more exports from Germany to these countries and yet further super profits in search for investment opportunities.

Photo by informatique


Who is being rescued?

It is often argued in the media that citizens of richer countries would now have to pay for citizens of indebted countries. Cultural arguments of apparently ‘lazy Greek’ workers as the cause of the crisis are put forward. Nevertheless, this is clearly not the case. Greek workers are amongst those, who work the most hours in Europe (BBC, 26 February 2012). In any case, it is not the Greek, Portuguese, Irish or Cypriot citizens and their health and education systems, which are being rescued. It is banks, who organised the lending of super profits to peripheral countries, which are exposed to private and national debt in these countries. For example, German and French banks are heavily exposed to Greek debt, British banks to Irish debt (The Guardian, 17 June 2011).


What is the purpose of the bailout programmes?

Is the purpose of the bailout programmes to ensure the maintenance of essential public services in Europe’s periphery? Clearly not. On the contrary, the Troika consisting of Commission, European Central Bank and IMF demands cuts in public finances precisely for services such as education and health care. Is the purpose to assist peripheral countries in re-gaining competitiveness? Again, this too is clearly not the objective. The bailout programmes do not include any industrial policy projects.

Photo by HatM


The true nature of the bailout programmes is visible in their conditionality, making support dependent on austerity policies including: (1) cuts in funding of essential public services; (2) cuts in public sector employment; (3) push towards privatisation of state assets; and (4) undermining of industrial relations and trade union rights through enforced cuts in minimum wages and a further liberalisation of labour markets. Hence, the real purpose of the bailout programmes is to restructure political economies and to open up the public sector as new investment opportunities for private finance. The balance of power is shifted further from labour to capital in this process. Employers, ultimately, use the crisis in order to strengthen their position vis-à-vis workers, facilitating exploitation.


Are German workers the winners due to the export boom?

In contrast to general assumptions, German workers have not benefitted from the current situation. German productivity increases have to a significant extent resulted from drastic downward pressure on wages and working related conditions. ‘Germany has been unrelenting in squeezing its own workers throughout this period. During the last two decades, the most powerful economy of the eurozone has produced the lowest increases in nominal labour costs, while its workers have systematically lost share of output. EMU has been an ordeal for German workers’ (Lapavitsas et al, 2012: 4). The Agenda 2010 and here especially the so-called Hartz IV reform, implemented in the early 2000s, constitutes the largest cut in, and restructuring of, the German welfare system since the end of World War II. In other words, Germany was more successful than other Eurozone countries in cutting back labour costs. ‘The euro is a “beggar-thy-neighbour” policy for Germany, on condition that it beggars its own workers first’ (Lapavitsas et al, 2012: 30).  
Hence, while the mainstream media regularly portray the crisis as a conflict between Germany and peripheral countries, the real conflict here is between capital and labour. And this conflict is taking place across the EU as the economic crisis is used across Europe to justify cuts. In the UK, although not in the position of countries such as Greece, Portugal or Ireland, people too are faced with constant further cuts and restructuring including privatisations in the health and education sectors as well as attacks on employment rights. In short, across the EU, employers abuse the crisis to cut back workers’ post-war gains. The crisis provides capital with the rationale to justify cuts, they would otherwise be unable to implement.  


What possibilities for labour to resist restructuring?

Considering that austerity is a European-wide phenomenon, pushed by Brussels but equally individual national governments, it will remain important that trade unions combine resistance to neo-liberal restructuring at the European level with resistance at the national level. To declare solidarity with Greek workers is a good initiative by German and British unions, for example. Nevertheless, the more concrete support is resisting restructuring at home. Any defeat of austerity in one of the EU member states will assist similar struggles elsewhere.

Photo by informatique
When thinking about alternative responses to the crisis, short-term measures can be distinguished from medium- and long-term measures. Immediately, it will be important that German trade unions push for higher salary increases at home so that the German domestic market absorbs more goods, which are currently being exported. Along similar lines is the proposal by the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) for an economic stimulus, investment and development programme for Europe. This new Marshall plan is designed as an investment and development programme over a 10-year period and consists of a mix of institutional measures, direct public sector investment, investment grants for companies and incentives for consumer spending (DGB 2013). Neo-Keynesian measures of this type will ease the immediate pressure on European economies. However, they will not question the power structures, underlying the European political economy.

A victorious outcome in the struggle against austerity ultimately depends on a change in the balance of power in society. The establishment of welfare states and fairer societies were based on the capacity of labour to balance the class power of capital (Wahl 2011). Overcoming austerity will, therefore, require a strengthening of labour vis-à-vis capital. As Lapavitsas notes, ‘a radical left strategy should offer a resolution of the crisis that alters the balance of social forces in favour of labour and pushes Europe in a socialist direction’ (Lapavitsas 2011: 294). Hence, in the medium-term, it will be essential to intervene more directly in the financial sector. As part of bailouts, many private banks have been nationalised, as for example the Royal Bank of Scotland in the UK. However, they have been allowed to continue operating as if they were private banks. Little state direction has been imposed. It will be important to move beyond nationalisation towards the socialisation of banks to ensure that banks actually operate according to the needs of society. Such a step would contribute directly to changing the balance of power in society in favour of labour.

Photo by apasp


In the long run, however, even the change in power balance between capital and labour will not be enough. Capitalist exploitation is rooted in the way the social relations of production are set up around wage labour and the private ownership of the means of production. Exploitation, therefore, can only be overcome, if the way of how production is organised is being changed itself.


This post was first published in Norwegian on radikalportal.noand in English by the Global Labour Column as well as by the Social Europe Journal


Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK

Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net

29 July 2013

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Colonialism and the question of capitalism

It became clear early on that the location of the workshop and the background of the participants mattered. SIGTUR is an initiative of trade unions in the Global South including Australian, South Korean, Indian, Brazilian and Argentinian trade unions in addition to COSATU from South Africa. One of the key aspects they have in common, with the exception of Australian unions, is their joint history of colonialism and liberation struggles. Unsurprisingly, neo-liberal globalisation is not simply regarded as the latest epoch of capitalism. It is viewed as a continuation of colonial policies, characterised by the extraction of minerals and agricultural goods for the industries of developed countries as well as the destruction of home grown industries. These policies continued in the 1950s and 1960s as part of national development projects, devised by the core for countries in the periphery of the global economy, and have been further intensified since the 1970s with the onset of globalisation and the related general deregulation and liberalisation of national policy space. Inevitably, in contrast to similar workshops organised in industrialised countries, frequent demands were made for proposals, which do not only reform capitalism, but provide a transformative path towards socialism in the 21st century.

Photo by Egui_
Second, the fact that the workshop took place in South Africa influenced the debates. Almost twenty years after the first democratic elections in post-Apartheid South Africa, the country is characterised by high level unemployment and enormous economic inequality between the rich and poor. These tensions exploded in the so-called Marikana massacre, when policy killed 34 striking miners within three minutes on 16 August 2012 (see  The Marikana Massacre and The South African State's Low Intensity War Against The People; and The Dance of the Undead - Not only at Marikana, Not only in South Africa ...). In order to overcome South Africa’s triple crisis of unemployment, poverty and inequality, Zwlinizima Vavi, General Secretary of COSATU, demanded at the workshop a second phase of transformation in South Africa. With the political transformation accomplished since 1994, it was now time to tackle rising economic inequality. Counter neo-liberal policies were to include a shift towards state ownership and nationalisation of some parts of the economy, the stop of South African capital exports through capital controls and the punishment of capital speculation, as well as the provision of comprehensive welfare services. What South Africa needed, he concluded, was its own Lula moment, a reference to Brazil’s former President, who had presided over policies of wealth re-distribution towards the poor.

Of course, Marikana is a key example of how the capitalist crisis also fragments workers and induces disunity within the labour movement. While Marikana is specific to South Africa, similar tensions can be noted elsewhere and mass mobilisation against neo-liberal economics was identified as the only possible way forward towards overcoming economic and social inequality as well as fragmentation.


Collective bargaining as a way of transformation?

Collective bargaining is currently under attack in Europe (see How European pressure is destroying national collective bargaining systems). Unsurprisingly, when European trade unionists and labour academics discuss collective bargaining, it is a defensive move. Generally, I am sceptical about this as it fails to recognise that collective bargaining is covering fewer and fewer workers and has already become less relevant as a result. More importantly, in Europe too we should focus on how to organise the increasing informal sector of the economy.

The Global South including South Africa has always been characterised by a large informal sector. Hence my surprise, when Neil Coleman from COSATU introduced a revived system of sectoral collective bargaining as a transformative way forward. He outlined the Brazilian experience, where the state had been successful at boosting domestic demand levels through an emphasis on collective bargaining combined with a national minimum wage policy. Undoubtedly, millions of Brazilians have been lifted out of poverty as a result of state policies. Whether these policies including collective bargaining are, however, transformative or simply reform based was left open. In my view, it is difficult to see how collective bargaining would improve the livelihood of mostly black people living in the sprawling townships around Johannesburg and working in the informal economy.

Photo by RachelIF2SEA


‘Embedded free trade’ or ‘fair trade’?

Against the background of capitalism’s uneven and combined development, it is not surprising that there are tensions over ‘free trade’ policy in the international labour movement. While unions in the North often support free trade agreements (FTAs), as they consider them to secure the jobs of their members, labour movements in the Global South are critical as it leads to deindustrialisation and the loss of jobs (see Trade unions, free trade and the problem of transnational solidarity).

An interesting discussion ensued over how to label an alternative trade regime. While I argued in favour of ‘embedded free trade’ in order to facilitate an engagement with Northern trade unions, which generally view ‘free trade’ positively, colleagues from Southern trade unions opted for ‘fair trade’ in order to indicate a more radical break from current trade policies.

Photo by Alejandra H. Covarrubias
The re-establishment of national policy space is clearly an essential element of an alternative trade regime. It would allow governments to protect infant industries until they are competitive, provide space for capital controls and the regulation of transnational corporations, as well as provide the possibility to emphasise food sovereignty over free trade by agribusinesses. And yet, it is also clear that while this would help to reform the current ‘disembedded free trade’ regime, where the WTO not only furthers the trade in goods, but also pushes trade in services and agriculture, as well as expands regulations into investment rules and intellectual property rights, it would not be enough to move beyond capitalism towards socialism. Ultimately, capitalist exploitation is rooted in the way production is organised around wage labour and the private ownership of the means of production and, as a result, capital maximises profits in the exploitation of workers. Only if the way of how production is organised is changed, can there be a transformation of the current system.


Climate Change and the future of Green Capitalism

Jacklyn Cock from the SWOP Institute made clear that the current focus by capital on the green economy was ‘the wolf in sheep clothing’. The trading in carbon emissions will simply lead to a financialisation and further commodification of the environment. The expansion of the market into all aspects of nature would not protect, but further destroy the environment. On the other hand, the change to a low carbon economy could be change towards a real alternative to neo-liberalism. Here, the immediate task would be the formation of alliances with other movements including especially environmental groups. The immediate request should be for food and energy sovereignty, linking justice to sustainability by empowering people to decide for themselves what to grow and what type of energy to use.

Photo by GovernmentZA
Dinga Sikwebu from the South African metalworkers’ union Numsaoutlined how capital was increasingly focusing on extreme energy generation including fracking, tar sands and further extensive use of coal. Renewable energy was clearly the way forward from a labour perspective. In contrast to Northern campaigns around jobs related to the green economy, however, he pointed out there are actually not that many jobs, which will be created as a result of a shift towards renewable energy. Hence, other arguments for an alternative energy policy, which resonate with workers, are needed. Considering that in South Africa many manufacturing workers still owned a piece of land, which they cultivate when not at work, a possible way forward would be to point out that all citizens will be negatively affected by climate change. In their role as farmers, manufacturing workers too notice the changing climate with different rain seasons than in the past. Unsurprisingly, Numsa, together with the agricultural workers’ trade union, is currently involved in a campaign for land reform linking up different trade unions and social movements. Nevertheless, Dinga Sikwebu also made clear that a shift to renewable energy in itself was not enough. For a real shift towards eco-socialism, it was necessary to move away from market-based incentives towards social ownership and democratic control of all types of energy generation, echoing Jacklyn Cock’s request for food and energy sovereignty.

The key challenge of moving into this direction was, according to Rob Lambert, the co-ordinator of SIGTUR, to find a solution to the question of how to connect trade unions in the workplace with movements of the dispossessed. He identified the limits to liberal representative democracy and demanded that trade unions urgently needed to restructure themselves from hierarchical, bureaucratic organisations into agents, which welcome diversity, direct democracy and independent initiatives by its members. If this is combined with a focus on issues beyond the workplace, as in the case of Numsa and its participation in a campaign for land reform, then the kind of forces may be available, which are needed to push successfully for transformation.


The development of alternatives through experiments in concrete struggles

Clearly, conceptual and strategic discussions are necessary in the search for alternatives to neo-liberal globalisation; alternatives, which are focused on human well-being and development in contrast to capital’s maximisation of profits. Nonetheless, concrete alternatives to capitalist social relations of production can only be developed on the ground in concrete struggles and the interplay between ideas and action. Moreover, alternatives which work in one part of the world may be unsuitable for other parts. No blueprint can be prescribed.

Hence, perhaps the next step in the search for alternatives could be a focus on concrete experiments of establishing a non-capitalist economy? In the area of ‘free trade’, for example, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) is already one practical example in this respect. At its beginning in 2004 was a treaty between Venezuela and Cuba with the former providing petroleum to the latter at very favourable prices in exchange for doctors and teachers from Cuba, working in some of Venezuela’s poorest states. Direct negotiations between the two countries had replaced a reliance on prices set by the market. A more in-depth analysis of this and other alternative economy examples may be the way forward in the search for alternatives by the Futures Commission. 



Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK

Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net

2 July 2013

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“If you are a law-abiding citizen of this country, going about your business and your personal life, you have nothing to fear.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague, responding to the revelations of mass surveillance in the US and the UK (BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on 9 June). 
What does William Hague take the British public for? This bureaucrat politician stands in front of the cameras time and again setting out to mislead with his self righteous platitudes. He did it over Libya and tens of thousands lost their lives. His is doing it over Syria with similar results. And he is doing it over mass surveillance by the state.

Do not believe we have nothing to fear. We have much to fear. Take the case of Stephen Lawrence, for example, who was lawfully ‘going about his business’ in April 1993, when white racists murdered him while he was waiting for a bus. It has now emerged that, after the murder, four London Metropolitan police officers were deployed to spy on the Lawrence family and Stephen’s friends.

The Lawrences were just ‘law-abiding citizens going about their business’. But undercover police were used to smear the Lawrence family’s fight for justice (1). One of those the spies says he job was to hunt for disinformation and dirt in order to stop the Lawrence’s justice campaign in its tracks. Nothing to fear from the state Mr Hague?

And then there are the numerous well-documented cases of the police and/or intelligence agencies infiltrating legitimate campaign and protest groups (2) and ‘investigating’ political parties or prominent figures (3)(4) in order to subvert or discredit them. Let us not forget too (how could we?) the massive police cover ups, none more prominent than the Hillsborough case (5). Still nothing to fear Mr Hague?

But let’s not be too harsh on Hague. The same ‘terror threat/nothing to fear’ script is being read out to the public in the US. Politicians elsewhere are using ‘terror’ as an excuse for spying on the public at large as well. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is convinced that Germany has to protect itself against potential terrorist attacks by using mass surveillance:

“We are dependent on being able to act and not being entirely at the mercy of the terrorists. And today, it’s on the Internet that communication takes place.” (6)
Alexander Dix, data protection commissioner for the city of Berlin, is a lot more sceptical. He calls for more restraint in the collection of data:

“You don’t have to follow conspiracy theories in order to suspect that data collected for fighting terrorism will also be used in other areas.” (6)
It’s all very convenient for politicians to pull out the magic phrase ‘war on terror’ in a futile attempt to stop any discussion on surveillance in its tracks. If the US-led alliance really wanted to stop or drastically reduce terrorism, it should listen to journalist Nir Rosen’s advice: stop committing it (7).


We need more monitoring and surveillance


The likes of Obama, Kerry, Hague or Cameron have become experts in churning out their fear-mongering platitudes by using some abstract notion of ‘we’ to imply ‘the nation’ or the ‘national interest’. But ‘we’ – the ordinary folk – need to hold power to account, to question its legitimacy and to challenge it when it is illegitimate.

We need to do this to help guarantee our safety, our common interests, our freedoms and threats to democracy. How about more but bottom-up monitoring and surveillance in terms of transparency within government and accountability to ensure decisions are properly scrutinized and genuinely open to pubic debate. In the absence of this, we have corruption, profiteering and the revolving door between government and big business, which all ensure that the powerful and wealthy get away with murder, quite literally when it comes to their illegal wars and mass killing.


In the absence of real democracy, we have food safety/regulation authorities being hijacked by corporate interests in order to feather their own nests. We have armaments companies using politicians as their sales lackeys.

We have police and intelligence agencies infiltrating, harassing or subverting legitimate groups that have every right to protest, dissent and oppose. We have a wide range of powerful corporate players that lobby, threaten or buy their way towards casting the world in their own self-serving nuclear, retail, biotech, petro-chemical or pharmaceutical image. And we have banks, industries and whole economies that are undemocratically owned and controlled.

We also have ‘stuff’ being sprayed onto us without our consent (or very often knowledge) and have no power to stop ‘stuff’ from being sprayed onto us (8).

But we are told all this top-down surveillance and all of the increasing unfreedoms are for our own good. We are told that public servants serve us by bowing down to elite interests. We are told that an incredible mass media is credible even though it serves a corporate agenda.


Based on his research for the book Who Killed Diana?, the late journalist Simon Regan stated that it is (paraphrased):


Whitehall that really runs the country with a close-knit Mafia-like clique… made up of a handful of powerful, but low-key, City brokers and financiers; the top brains at the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Ministry of Defence and the Trade Department. Key figures in the security forces… and…at least one key member of the prime minister’s secretariat… the police and judiciary… through the Home Office… can certainly be manipulated. The Super-Establishment’s power is based upon its ability to manipulate the level below it – the individuals that most people believe are governing our country. The elected government is almost irrelevant… The world in which the Super-Establishment exists is a grey and murky world in which sensitive matters of state are planned and executed in gentlemen’s clubs. It is where manipulation plots are hatched, whether it is manipulation of a certain minister towards a certain viewpoint, or the wholesale orchestration of a Foreign Office ploy to bring down a foreign government… It is almost the divine "mission of the secret services to protect the status quo, and hitherto it has been their full intention to thwart anyone who tried to disrupt it. The actual existence of the Super-Establishment is not a flight of fancy. It is entirely manipulative and exercises a great deal of power behind the scenes. (9)


The elite, the oligarchs, the ruling class, the one percent – call it how you will. Yet it is we, the people, who are spied on and monitored by them for their good, to serve their interests and to feather their highly privileged and secretive world, a world built on the stolen wealth of both past and present deeds.


But don’t worry about any of this. There is no need. If that nice Mr Hague says we’ve nothing to fear, he must be right.


Notes



That Which Is Learned vs. That Which Is Not

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“The innocent have everything to fear, mostly from the guilty, but in the longer term even more from those who say things like ‘The innocent have nothing to fear.’" Terry Pratchett (British author), in Snuff (Doubleday, 2011).

For many people, personal privacy vs widespread surveillance has been a major issue for decades. However, some thought mass spying on us has been happening but chose to downplay it. Others didn’t want to know and just didn’t care. Edward Snowden’s recent revelations indicate it is happening and that we should all care.    

Former National Security Agency (NSA) worker turned whistleblower Edward Snowden has now turned his attention to the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British equivalent of the NSA. On Friday, Snowden released documents to The Guardian newspaper in the UK to back up his claims that GCHQ has secretly accessed fibre optic cables carrying huge amounts of internet and communications data. According to The Guardian, the agency is able to tap into, analyse and store data. Snowden told the newspaper that the NSA has a more prolific British ally in GCHQ. (GCHQ is one of three UKintelligence agencies, alongside MI5 and MI6.)

“It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight… They (GCHQ) are worse than the US.” Edward Snowden

Although it is physically impossible for the intelligence agencies to read everyone’s emails, for instance, GCHQ can apparently record phone calls, read email and Facebook postings and review website traffic if they so wish. It can also access entire web use histories on individuals. Although GCHQ can only store certain data for 30 days, the Guardian says the practice is subject to little scrutiny. GCHQ operation can tap cables that carry global communications with the potential to carry 600 million daily ‘telephone events’.

“If GCHQ have been intercepting huge numbers of innocent people's communications as part of a massive sweeping exercise, then I struggle to see how that squares with a process that requires a warrant for each individual intercept.” Nick Pickles, Big Brother Watch director, as reported in The Guardian, 22 June.

This massive interception effort operates under two programmes: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation. GCHQ is tapping 200 internet links, each with a data rate of 10Gbps, and the agency has the technical capacity to concurrently analyze 46 of these 200 streams of data at a time.

The revelations come alongside reports of the NSA snooping on US and international citizens via the metadata held on them by telecommunication companies, and secret data-sharing agreements between the NSA and consumer-web giants, such as Facebook, Google, Apple and others under the PRISM scheme.

GCHQ is able to capitalize on the UK's position at the edge of Western Europe, by tapping into the vast quantity of data flowing through cables around the UK and abroad. Over 300 GCHQ and 250 NSA analysts sift through the data, which they use to identify communications relating to security, terror, organized crime, and economic well-being.

Britain and the US are the founding members of the Five-Eyes intelligence sharing agreement. The Five-Eyes are members of a special club of former British colonies that gather and intelligence with each other. AustraliaCanadaand New Zealand are the three other members.

According to The Guardian, Britain's ability to tap these fibre-optic cables makes it the web eavesdropping powerhouse of the Five-Eyes, with the documents provided by Snowden saying that of the five, Britain has "the biggest Internet access."

The Guardian reports that British personnel on the team of 300 GCHQ and 250 NSA analysts sifting through the data have "a light oversight regime compared to the US"

The newspaper reports that 850,000 NSA and employees and private American contractors have been able to access to the information gathered by CGHQ. One of the documents quotes NSA boss Gen. Keith Alexander as urging British spies to collect everything they could.
"Why can't we collect at the signals, all the time? Sounds like a good summer homework project for Menwith," is written at the top of a slide shown by the Guardian that supposedly quotes Alexander during a 2008 visit to the UK. The slide is titled, "Collect-it-all."
Menwith refers to RAF Menwith Hill, a secret signals intelligence gathering facility in the Yorkshire countryside run by the US.
GCHQ operatives tapped the fibre-optic cables over the last five years at the point where the transatlantic cables reach British shores - these cables move Internet and telephone data from North America to Western Europe.  All of this was done with agreements with the communications companies, described by the document as "intercept partners."
Last week, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Robert Cole defended bulk collection of cellphone data and other business records to US lawmakers:
"If you're looking for a needle in a haystack, you've got to get the haystack first," said Cole during a June 18 House intelligence committee hearing on the matter. "That's why we have the ability under the [FISA] court order, to acquire . . . all of that data, we don't get to use all of that data, necessarily." As reported by John Reed in Foreign Policy on 21 June.
Britain and the US are rapidly perfecting the system to allow them to capture and analyse a large quantity of international traffic consisting of emails, texts, phone calls, internet searches, chat, photographs, blogposts, videos and the many uses of Google.
Writing in The Guardian on Friday 21 June, Henry Porter states:
“Mastering the Internet treats the rights of billions of foreign web users, the possible menace to the privacy of British and American citizens and the duties of their legislators with equal contempt. After Iraq and the banking crash, the world may come to see MTI as further evidence of a heedless delinquency in two of the world's oldest democracies.”
Porter talks about the lack of meaningful oversight in both countries, the use of commercial companies in the surveillance process and the wholesale disregard for the fundamentals of both countries’ democratic principles. Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights organisation Liberty, says that GCHQ are exploiting the fact that the internet is so international in nature and that what's holding them back from going further is technological capability, certainly not ethics (1).

Why it matters, really matters
For too long, the majority in Britain has been led to believe that governments in major western liberal democracies operate with benign intentions, that the government acts on our behalf and in our interests and that only those with something to hide have anything to fear. The belief is forwarded that the loss of liberty and intrusions into our personal privacy are small prices to pay for ensuring our safety in a barbaric world that wants to attack and inflict terror on us.
It’s all part of the dominant narrative. It’s all part of a dominant narrative that seeks to mislead and to mask the real essence of power and the true nature of intent behind notions of patriotism, nationalism, bowing down to the flag, militarism and that ‘we’, ‘the nation’ are in united in cause and belief.   
What Snowden’s revelations illustrate is the unaccountable face of power. And this should concern us because it’s not the greater good of humankind, queen, flag or country that this power serves. It ultimately serves capital and the extremely wealthy, whose interests are diametrically opposed to those of ordinary people across the world (2).

Look no further to see who funds the major political parties or individual politicians to do their bidding. Look no further than the backgrounds of many of these politicians. But, most important, look no further to see who owns the major corporations and banks and who sits on the bodies that hammer out major policies (3)(4)(5). It is the powerful foundations and think tanks headed or funded by private corporations that drive US and British policies, whether at home or abroad, and that includes the Project for a New American Century (6) and the resultant ongoing war of terror waged on countries across the world.

Western liberal democracy has been quite successful in making many at home blind to the chains that bind and which make them immune to the falsehoods that underpin the system. However, with the economic meltdown, ‘austerity’, increasing public awareness of corporate crimes, disillusionment with mainstream politics and the ramping up of wars, paranoia and the stripping away of civil liberties, social control is no longer able to operate on the relatively benign level that it once did. The collapse of the economic system and its propping up has laid bare just who that system is set up to benefit. State violence and mass surveillance is now part of the changing agenda of liberal democracy that is no longer able to hide behind the pretence of being liberal or democratic. The mask has slipped and we are right to be concerned.

“The world has evidence of the totally monitored future that GCHQ and NSA plan for us and that political establishments turn a blind eye to…. fear still trumps everything. On Tuesday, the head of NSA, General Keith B Alexander, and the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, insisted that many terror plots had been stopped by surveillance. In Britain, the foreign secretary, William Hague… was joined by three former home secretaries, Jack Straw, Lord (John) Reid and Alan Johnson, to reassure us that mass surveillance was indeed necessary to make interdictions and… that further powers were needed… The point about these latest revelations is that they show there are more than adequate powers for interception on both sides of the Atlantic and that the terror agenda and, to a lesser degree, the fear of paedophilia, may well have been used to elaborate a huge system of espionage and domestic surveillance.” – Henry Porter, The Guardian 21 June.

Notes

Sources for this article
The Guardian 21 and 22 June

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bbc.co.ukJune 21, 2013 The downturn in the eurozone’s services and manufacturing sectors eased in June as...

5,000 Missing in India Floods: Scientists Say Global Warming is to Blame

(Photo: Indian Army/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images/ Indian security personnel stayed with residents on the remains of a flood damaged road alongside the River Alaknanda...

5,000 Missing in India Floods: Scientists Say Global Warming is to Blame

(Photo: Indian Army/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images/ Indian security personnel stayed with residents on the remains of a flood damaged road alongside the River Alaknanda...

Bilderberg 2013: British Treasury Admits Chancellor Held Discussions In Official Capacity

Taxpayer will foot the bill for George Osborne’s expenses at secret meeting Steve WatsonInfowars.comJune 21, 2013 The...

UK countryside suffers shocking poverty

UK countryside suffers shocking poverty.A rising number of food banks have been set up across the UK to help poor people cope with the...

A Cowboy in Caracas

I met Charlie Hardy, a former Mary Knoll priest and missionary, in Caracas, Venezuela when I was there as an international accompanier of the...

British government moves to censor media coverage of spying operations

D-Notices are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects on the grounds of “national security”. They are issued by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee, which operates between government departments dealing with intelligence and national security, and the media.

Iraq, Libya, Syria, Extensive US-NATO War Crimes. How the Media Buries “The Evidence”:

Last month, a ComRes poll supported by Media Lens interviewed 2,021 British adults, asking: ‘How many Iraqis, both combatants and civilians, do you think have...

Unnatural England: The Destruction of Flora and Fauna

Great Britain is a small island, no more that 600 miles on its longest north/south axis from John O’Groats in Scotland to Lands End...

Toxic Smog Shrouds Singapore in Darkness as Palm-Oil Giants Dodge Responsibility

(Photo: Skylan Kao/Creative Commons/For Decades, Smog Has Filled the Singapore Skyline)As a hazardous pollution fog blankets Singapore, environmentalists charge that the nation's vast palm-oil...

Somalia UN office attack by al-Shabab ‘kills 12′

BBCJune 19, 2013 At least 12 people, including three foreigners, have been killed in an assault...

The U.S. Military and the Unraveling of Africa

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_us_military_and_the_unraveling_of_africa_20130619/ Posted on Jun 19, 2013 ...

Chinese Pro-Life Dissident Chen Booted From New York University

Chinese pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng, who was released by Beijing's communist government a year ago and allowed to re-locate to the United States, is...

‘A Political Ploy’? The Guardian Editors Swallow US Claims On Syrian WMD

Last week, we reviewed the questions and doubts surrounding claims that the chemical weapon sarin has been used in Syria. The Obama administration has since claimed that its ‘red...

The Terror Diaspora: The U.S. Military and Obama’s Scramble for Africa

The Gulf of Guinea. He said it without a hint of irony or embarrassment. This was one of U.S. Africa Command’s big success stories....

G8 summit rent by divisions over Syria

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Chinese Pro-Life Dissident Chen Booted From New York University

Chinese pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng, who was released by Beijing's communist government a year ago and allowed to re-locate to the United States, is...

Brazil Protests Crescendo as Tens of Thousands Take to the Streets

Tens of thousands will march in Sao Paulo later Monday as protests against rising bus fares, soaring poverty, and scant public services in Brazil...

Are the Boston Marathon Bombings Tied to a New American Campaign into the Caucasus?

Many questions remain unanswered about the Boston Marathon Bombings that took place on April 15, 2013. Three people were killed and two hundred and sixty-four others...

Global Systemic Economic Crisis: Devastating Financial Explosion and Social Outburst on a Worldwide Scale

If the months of April-May, with a great deal of media hype, seem to agree with the US-UK-Japanese method of monetary easing (to put...

Washington’s Battle Over Syrian Foreign Policy: Will Hawks Or Doves Prevail?

Like Putin’s policy in Russia, Obama’s Syrian policy is being tugged strenuously in Washington, both by hawks and by doves. On June 13, Obama...

‘Ecuador will continue supporting Assange’

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino (R) and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (L) appear at the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on June...

Ahead of G8 Meetings Protesters Gather en Masse in Belfast

G8 protest in central Belfast (BBC)Global leaders of the G8 are set to begin their two-day meetings on Monday in Belfast, but protesters are...

Ecuador FM due in UK for Assange talks

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino is due to arrive in England to hold talks over the situation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Patino is scheduled...

Ahead of G8 Meetings Protesters Gather en Masse in Belfast

G8 protest in central Belfast (BBC)Global leaders of the G8 are set to begin their two-day meetings on Monday in Belfast, but protesters are...

Winston Churchill: War Hero or War Criminal?

Debate continues to rage about iconic leader Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com June 15, 2013 Winston Churchill led Britain to victory against the Nazi...

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria

President Obama has given the green light to the shipping of weapons from the United States to opposition forces in Syria. In a statement released...

Thousands protest in Belfast against G8 summit

BBCJune 15, 2013 There was a major security presence for an anti-G8 protest in Belfast. The rally...

Senators skip classified briefing on NSA snooping to catch flights home

Alexander BoltonThe HillJune 15, 2013 A recent briefing by senior intelligence officials on surveillance programs failed...

‘Signing Afghan-US security pact difficult’

Afghanistanâ„¢s government says signing a security agreement with Washington is too difficult while the US supports foreign elements of the Taliban. In an exclusive interview...

Millions of Iranians Head to Polls

(Photo: Hossein Razaqnejad/ Nasim Intl News Agency)Millions of Iranians are headed to the polls Friday to vote in the first presidential election since the...

Millions of Iranians Head to Polls

(Photo: Hossein Razaqnejad/ Nasim Intl News Agency)Millions of Iranians are headed to the polls Friday to vote in the first presidential election since the...

President Obama OKs Shipment of Arms to Al-Qaeda in Syria

President Obama has given the green light to the shipping of weapons from the United States to opposition forces in Syria. In a statement released...

Arrest Obama Under NDAA For Supporting Terrorists in Syria

President has violated section 1021 of act he signed into law Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comJune 14, 2013 Under...

UK Protesters to Canadian PM: 'Keep Oil Peddlers' Out of Europe

Greeting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as he arrived at the UK's Parliament Thursday morning was a barrage of environmental activists who came to...

The Fish of Fukushima

On June 4th, 2013, London-based news source the Guardian reported, “Fukushima tuna safe to eat — study.”  The day before, the Los Angeles Times reported, “Scientists to eaters: Don’t...

Brand Greece

‘Crisis’ is a Greek word but so too is ‘Icon’. Picture, representation, sign or symbol: each conveys the same thing. An icon fixes a...

Japan's Nikkei loses more than 6 percent on sharp fluctuations in the yen

Japanese stocks nosedived on Thursday, after the yen jumped to a 10 — week high against the US dollar. The exchange rate gains that...

UK Protesters to Canadian PM: 'Keep Oil Peddlars' Out of Europe

Not crumpets and tea. Protesters with the UK Tar Sands Network rallied outside of Parliament Thursday against the presence of Canadian PM Stephen...

UK Protesters to Canadian PM: 'Keep Oil Peddlars' Out of Europe

Not crumpets and tea. Protesters with the UK Tar Sands Network rallied outside of Parliament Thursday against the presence of Canadian PM Stephen...

Latest in Greek Austerity Sparks Political Crisis

Greek workers launched a 24 hour general strike today after the government's sudden Tuesday shutdown of the country's only public broadcasting station--Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation...

Latest in Greek Austerity Sparks General Strike, Political Crisis

Greek workers launched a 24 hour general strike today after the government's sudden Tuesday shutdown of the country's only public broadcasting station--Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation...

Shock jocks and populist politicos inspiring change in Britain

Max KeiserRTJune 13, 2013 Shock jock Alex Jones exploded on Andrew Neil’s “Sunday Politics”...

Shock jocks and populist politicos inspiring change in Britain

Max KeiserRTJune 13, 2013 Shock jock Alex Jones exploded on Andrew Neil’s “Sunday Politics”...

Shock jocks and populist politics inspiring change in Britain

<!--Max Keiser-->Max Keiser, the host of RT's ‘Keiser Report,’ is a former stockbroker, the inventor of the virtual specialist technology, virtual currencies, and prediction...

Euthanasia for children nears approval by Belgian Parliament

Doctors to mass-euthanize children and Alzheimer’s patients Mike AdamsNatural NewsJune 13, 2013 A proposed law on the...

UK Labour Party pledges cuts in welfare

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Racist UK MEP fuels anger with tweets

Leader of the racist British National Party, Nick Griffin.British National Party (BNP) chief and Member of European Parliament (MEP) Nick Griffin has angered many...

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/guilty_until_proven_innocent_20130612/ Posted on Jun 12, 2013 By Victoria Brittain,...

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/guilty_until_proven_innocent_20130612/ Posted on Jun 12, 2013 By Victoria Brittain,...

Bilderberg Meeting Draws Protests, Media Coverage

The secretive Bilderberg meetings that took place over the weekend at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, England, drew protesters from around the...

Anti-Muslim abuses jump 8-fold in London

The Somali Bravanese Welfare Associationâ„¢s building was razed by an arson attack last week.The London police say the number of Islamophobic incidents in...

TEDGlobal welcomes robot cockroaches

Jane WakefieldBBCJune 10, 2013 A project aimed at creating cyborg cockroaches is being launched at the...

Bilderberg Meeting Draws Protests, Media Coverage

The secretive Bilderberg meetings that took place over the weekend at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, England, drew protesters from around the...

Bilderberg Meeting Draws Protests, Media Coverage

The secretive Bilderberg meetings that took place over the weekend at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, England, drew protesters from around the...

Bilderberg Delegate Speaks On Record

Elite Group members realising that increased exposure means they can no longer hide

Bilderberg Secrecy Exposed During Parliamentary Debate

The secrecy of the Bilderberg Group was blown wide open during a Parliamentary debate in the House of Commons today when Ken Clarke was forced to defend himself against potentially damaging evidence of a conflict of interest surrounding his role as a steering committee member of the clandestine organization.

Taliban Beheads Two Boys for Spying

David BoroffNew York Daily NewsJune 10, 2013 Two Afghan boys believed to have accepted food from...

MP To Quiz Cameron on Bilderberg Attendance In Parliament

Michael Meacher wants to know what was decided during secret confab Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comJune 10, 2013 MP...

MP To Quiz Cameron on Bilderberg Attendance In Parliament

Michael Meacher wants to know what was decided during secret confab Paul Joseph WatsonInfowars.comJune 10, 2013 MP...

UK: Syria successes impact Geneva conf.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague claims the recent battlefield accomplishments by Syrian army forces against foreign-backed militants undermines chances of a planned conference on...

UK: Syria successes impact Geneva conf.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague claims the recent battlefield accomplishments by Syrian army forces against foreign-backed militants undermines chances of a planned conference on...

Britain arming Syrian rebels would face MP vote

Britain’s parliament will vote on whether to start sending arms to the Syrian opposition, the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has said. He also...

Four Years ago Obama Promised to Investigate Afghan Massacre; has Anything Happened Since?

In his first year in office, President Barack Obama pledged to “collect the facts” on the death of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taliban prisoners...

Alex Jones Speaks to thousands at Bilderberg 2013

Infowars.comJune 9, 2013 “The BBC will probably report there was five people here.” ...

Hague confirms Commons vote on Syria

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has vowed that the parliament would be consulted before the UK decides to arm militants fighting against the Syrian...

MSM Joins Alex Jones in Exposing Bilderberg

Infowars.comJune 8, 2013 Reuters, AP, Channel 4 News, the Times, the Telegraph, the Press Association, London...

Alex Jones, David Icke and Paul Joseph Watson Speak at Bilderberg Fringe Festival

Infowars.comJune 7, 2013 From the Bilderberg Fringe site: Every year politicians, royalty and CEO’s meet...

Pakistan drone strike kills seven in North Waziristan

bbc.co.ukJune 7, 2013 Two missiles hit a compound in a village in the North Waziristan tribal...

Bilderberg 2013: Friendly Policemen, a Press Zone and the One Show

Charlie Skeltonguardian.co.ukJune 7, 2013 Watford, sunny Watford, has changed the hitherto secretive Bilderberg conference forever. In...

French banking secrecy investigation spills over into Switzerland

French authorities are now extending their investigation of UBS in France into Switzerland. They are looking at allegations of assisting wealthy French clients with...

No sign Turkey's economy affected by protests – Fitch

Anti-government demonstrations in Turkey haven’t yet caused any significant economic disruption to put the country’s “BBB” sovereign rating at risk. However, the Fitch ratings...

US threatens Iran, Hezbollah for backing Syria

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US threatens Iran, Hezbollah for backing Syria

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