Unspeakable grief and horror


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ANYONE BUT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS
US and UK governments seeking to push Europe into nuclear war with Russia
Many in these two governments, and some European counterparts, do not have knowledge of how in various degrees their governments are now controlled by evil
This is not a joke
Evil is not just devils dressed in horns running around making people do things they would not ordinarily do
Evil is power
Evil in its full manifestation works hard to control government leaders who are weak and susceptible to influence
Evil works with the most powerful cartel — financial elite — leaders who have the ear of government leaders
Powerful cartel leaders have been promised specific rewards should the world experience major nuclear war and extreme death
These powerful cartel leaders and the individual government puppets are cautioned to be aware that evil is evil
They should know who they deal with
They do not!
Kewe                           
Monday, 1 September 2008
Moscow warns EU on Georgia ties
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on 1 September 2008

Mr Lavrov called for an embargo on weapons sales to Georgia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on 1 September 2008
Mr Lavrov called for an embargo on weapons sales to Georgia
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said further Western support for Georgia's present leadership would be a mistake of historic magnitude.
Mr Lavrov called for an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia until a different government was in place there.
He was speaking ahead of an emergency EU summit on the Georgian crisis.
The UK has called on the European Union to suspend talks over a new partnership pact with Russia, to punish the country for its actions in Georgia.
"In light of Russia's actions we should suspend negotiations on a successor to the partnership and co-operation agreement," a spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters in London.
The EU summit is expected to condemn Moscow's recognition of independence for Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said his decision is irrevocable.
Redefining principles
Speaking in Moscow, Mr Lavrov said Russia had returned to the world stage as a responsible state which could defend its citizens.
A Georgian boy on a bike before a poster reading "Stop Russia" in the centre of Tbilisi on 31 August 2008

EU leaders have been divided about how to respond to Russia over Georgia
A Georgian boy on a bike before a poster reading "Stop Russia" in the centre of Tbilisi on 31 August 2008
EU leaders have been divided about how to respond to Russia over Georgia
He warned the US and its allies that supporting the government of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili would be a historic mistake, and called for an arms embargo "while a different government turns Georgia into a normal state".
"To protect the region from the recurrence of violence, Russia will continue taking measures to punish the guilty, so that this regime is never able to do evil," he added.
Mr Lavrov's comments follow Mr Medvedev's redefining of Russia's foreign policy principles.
Russia, the Kremlin leader declared, would no longer accept a situation whereby a single country, like the US, sought global domination.
Mr Medvedev also pledged to defend the lives and dignity of Russian citizens, wherever they are located.
He made it clear that there are parts of the world where Russia sees itself as having privileged interests.
'Fundamental choice'
The EU will also put its relationship with Russia under increased scrutiny, the French foreign ministry told the BBC.
But correspondents say that despite talk of sanctions from the French foreign minister last week, such a tough response now looks highly unlikely.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev warned Moscow would retaliate against any sanctions
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev warned Moscow would retaliate against any sanctions
Georgian demonstrators are planning to hold rallies in Tbilisi and in other European capitals to coincide with the special EU summit in Brussels.
The EU's 27 members are united in their alarm at Russia's action in Georgia, but divided about how to respond, says BBC Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond in Brussels.
Calls for a fundamental change in the relationship with Russia are unlikely to get the support required, he says, as many EU states are wary of alienating Russia, an important trading partner and a major energy supplier.
Monday's meeting is expected to bring a pledge for more monitors on the ground, substantial economic aid, a free trade agreement and easier travel arrangements for Georgians, correspondents say.
The summit comes a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a root-and-branch review of the EU's relationship with Russia, saying no nation should be allowed to exert an energy stranglehold over Europe.
But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Europe would only hurt itself if, as he put it, it were to get emotional and slam the doors.
'Dirty aggression'
"Russia's commitment to a relationship of understanding and co-operation with the rest of Europe is in doubt," wrote French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a letter to EU leaders before the summit, obtained by the Associated Press news agency.
France currently chairs the EU and brokered a peace deal between Russia and Georgia.
"It's up to Russia today to make a fundamental choice and to engage neighbours and partners in settling disputes peacefully."
Mr Saakashvili, for his part, urged EU leaders not to give up in the face of what he called Russia's "dirty attempt at aggression".
Russia's four-day war with Georgia began on 7 August when Georgia tried to regain control of South Ossetia by force, and Russia counter-attacked deep into Georgia.
MMVIII
Do not ignore US and UK governments, pushed by the most powerful of the cartel
This powerful cartel — these shadows of evil — their government puppets spread throughout Europe, are seeking nuclear war
Kewe                           
Arms supply to Georgia must be stopped — Putin Russian FM
September 1, 2008, 12:26
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia, as they might lead to further escalation in the region.
Lavrov was addressing students of the country's top university for future diplomats on the ‘Day of Knowledge’, which marks the start of the new academic year in Russia.
Lavrov told students of the Moscow State International Relations Institute:
“Russia has set a new standard of reacting to [Georgian - South Ossetian] circumstances, in full accordance with international law.”
“For a start, it would be a right step to place an embargo on weapons exports to Georgia until it is run as a normal country.
“We are interested in closely cooperating with the OSCE and the UN in order to guarantee security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as stated in the six principles signed by Presdent Medvedev and President Sarkozy”.
To read Lavrov's full address to students follow the link.
Russia’s FM also promised that Russia will continue to take measures to punish those guilty and to guarantee that the Georgian regime will never do any more harm.
Lavrov vowed that Russia wouldn’t get involved in confrontation in the international arena as its relations with NATO are now entering the ‘moment of truth’ stage.
He also spoke on Russia’s relations with Germany and the U.S., with whom Russia will build relations ‘only on a mutually honest basis’.
“Russian-German reconciliation [after World War II] is one of the most important factors in building a new Europe.
“We will not allow anyone to drive a wedge between our two nations.”
Only when United States intervened in Afghanistan
Unreconstructed cold warriors now fret about Russian expansionism, warning that Ukraine might be next.
But of the numerous myths surrounding the Cold War, "communist expansionism" was certainly one of the biggest.
We have to remember that within the space of 25 years, Western powers invaded Russia three times - World War I, the "intervention" of 1918-20, and World War II, inflicting some 40 million casualties in the two world wars alone.
The Soviet Union lost considerably more people to international warfare on its own land than it did abroad.
To carry out these invasions, the West used Eastern Europe as a highway.
Should it be any cause for wonder that after World War II the Soviets were determined to close down this highway?
Minus the Cold War atmosphere and indoctrination, most people would have no problem in seeing the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as an act of self defense.
Neither does the case of Afghanistan support the idea of "expansionism".
Afghanistan lived alongside the Soviet Union for more than 60 years with no Soviet military intrusion.
It's only when the United States intervened in Afghanistan to replace a government friendly to Moscow with one militantly anti-communist that the Russians invaded to do battle with the US-supported Islamic jihadists.
             William Blum           
           http://globalresearch.ca/ index.php?context=va&aid=10102              
Cooks meal on fire in front of his apartment
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
 Stands in his damaged house by stove cooking food
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
Georgia soldiers fill graves of soldiers killed in Russia prevention of Georgia takeover of South Ossetia
Tbilisi, Georgia
August 30, 2008
Evil feeds off conflict
Evil feeds off annihilation of planets
The present US and UK governments, and some government leaders in Europe, are seeking to push the planet into nuclear war
Kewe                           
 Tries to drive damaged car
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
Walks over former armored vehicle
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 Elderly man stands in front of his home destroyed during Georgian assault
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
Woman walks by destroyed buildings
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
 Places hands on head inside her destroyed house
Ksuisi village
August 26, 2008
Carries water cans in front of houses destroyed by Georgian assault
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
 Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 31, 2008
Walks past his damaged home
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 Wrecked car thrown by blast into house
Khetagurovo, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
Khetagurovo, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
 
Khetagurovo, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
 
Signs reading, 'Unknown Soldier'
Georgian soldiers killed in the Georgia attack on South Ossetia
Tbilisi, Georgia
August 30, 2008
Russian soldier, anti-aircraft gun
Signs reads 'Welcome'
Just inside South Ossetia border with North Ossetia
August 30, 2008
 
Commander of 1st Battalion of
4th Brigade of Georgian Army
Tbilisi, Georgia
August 30, 2008
US and UK governments seeking to push Europe into nuclear war with Russia
Many in these two governments, and some European counterparts, do not have knowledge of how in various degrees their governments are now controlled by evil
This is not a joke
Evil is not just devils dressed in horns running around making people do things they would not ordinarily do
Evil is power
Evil in its full manifestation works hard to control government leaders who are weak and susceptible to influence
Evil works with the most powerful cartel — financial elite — leaders who have the ear of government leaders
Powerful cartel leaders have been promised specific rewards should the world experience major nuclear war and extreme death
These powerful cartel leaders and the individual government puppets are cautioned to be aware that evil is evil
They should know who they deal with
They do not!
Kewe                           
 Villagers in flood-affected Chattapur town
Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
 Saharsa village
Bihar, India
August 29, 2008
Villagers in flood-affected Chattapur town
Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
 Villagers in flood-affected Chattapur town
Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
1.2 million people homeless state of Bihar, India
50,000 homeless Napal
More than 1,000 people have died by flooding since monsoon began in June
In Uttar Pradesh, 785 people lost their lives
Wait to be evacuated Chondipur village, Madhepura
Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
 Murliganj village
Madhepura district, Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Indian floods
A woman weeps amid the floods in Trivanigunj, 70km (48 miles) north-east of Patna

India state of Bihar is seeing some of its worst flooding in years
A woman weeps amid the floods in Trivanigunj, 70km (48 miles) north-east of Patna
Bihar is seeing some of its worst flooding in years
Half a million people in the Indian state of Bihar remain stranded in villages which have been devastated by massive flooding, officials say.
A BBC correspondent reports chaotic scenes as soldiers try to reach those cut off and people attempt to scramble from rooftops into rescue boats.
With 1.2 million people homeless, India is struggling to cope with the crisis.
The flood waters are spreading to new areas, and conditions in relief camps are overcrowded and unsanitary.
The floods are known to have killed at least 75 people in Bihar but the death toll could climb once the situation in remote areas emerges.
Tens of thousands of people have also been displaced in neighbouring Nepal where some of those who have lost their homes are camping under plastic sheets.
Disorganisation
Visiting the Bageecha relief camp in Purnea, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder could find no camp co-ordinator or government official in charge of distributing aid.
Trucks and vans carrying relief material stood parked on the highway as volunteers waited to be organised.
A woman weeps amid the floods in Trivanigunj, 70km (48 miles) north-east of Patna

India state of Bihar is seeing some of its worst flooding in years

Several tonnes of aid had arrived but the volunteers were not quite sure how to distribute it.
The situation was symptomatic of what was happening across Bihar's flood-affected areas, our correspondent says.
The disaster began on 18 August when a dam burst on the Saptakoshi river in Nepal.
The Saptakoshi, which becomes the Kosi when it enters India, subsequently broke its banks in Bihar.
Officials in Nepal say hundreds of people there have been hit by illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia and an estimated 50,000 are homeless.
They say nearly 1,000 houses have been completely destroyed.
Power supplies and transport have been severely affected.
The costs to the economy are now estimated at one billion Nepalese rupees ($14.25m).
MMVIII
Carry belongings Chondipur village
Madhepura
Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
 Woman cries
Murliganj village
Madhepura district, Bihar, India
August 31, 2008
The rich are playing and you are paying
Rich elite setting up derivatives on India Stock Exchange
Cannot get enough of the poison that is causing the rise in food commodity prices and oil prices
The reason your food bill
is going up
The reason your house mortgage is going up
The reason the price of your home is going down
The reason your gas — petrol — oil has gone up
The reason all bills are going up
The reason the price of everything you touch is going up!
It's the rich elite playing the derivative market
The rich are playing and you are paying
 
The international elite cartel running the US government will not make the rich pay for their play
The international elite cartel running Europe will not make the rich pay for their play
The international elite cartel who control everything
They are the one's doing the playing
Watch out India!
That middle class you think is being created
Just like in the US!
Just like in the UK!
Going!   Going!   Going!   Gone!
 Russian armoured vehicle in territory of South Ossetia
heads towards the Russian border
U.S. tells Russia: Give us back our Humvees!
August 29, 2008, 12:56
The U.S. military wants Russia to return five Humvees that were confiscated while being shipped to the Georgian military.
The vehicles were seized earlier this month, with the U.S. claiming the vehicles were taken at a Georgian port awaiting shipment inland.
But the Russian side has suggested the Humvees, which it says were detained near the Georgian port of Poti during a peace-making operation, were carrying “interesting” military equipment.
Now the U.S. wants the vehicles to be returned or at least get compensation.
On Wednesday, General James Conway, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, was asked at a Pentagon news conference what he intended to do about the Russian capture, worth $540,000.
“I think we're going to send the Russians a bill and tell them, you know, 'Either pay up or give us back our vehicles, guys,'” he replied.
But Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia's General Staff, said he is not eager to return the five Humvees.
He said the Russian military had closely examined them and found “a lot of interesting stuff”.
U.S. citizen was among Georgian commandos — Russian Military
August 29, 2008, 12:56
A U.S. passport was found in a building in South Ossetia occupied by Georgian troops, a Russian military spokesperson revealed on Thursday.
After Russian peacekeepers cleared the heavily defended building, a passport belonging to a Texan named Michael Lee White was discovered inside.
Deputy Chief of Russia's General Staff Anatoly Nagovitsyn showed photocopies of the passport to media in a press briefing on Thursday.
Said Deputy Chief of Russia's General Staff Anatoly Nagovitsyn:
“There is a building in Zemonekozi — a settlement to the south of Tskhinval that was fiercely defended by a Georgian special operations squad.
“Upon clearing the building, Russian peacekeepers recovered, among other documents, an American passport in the name of Michael Lee White of Texas.”
Neither the owner of the passport nor his remains were found at the scene, despite a thorough search.
“I do not know why he was there, but it is a fact that he was in the building, among Georgian special forces troops,” Nagovitsyn said.
The briefing was delivered on the same day Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told CNN:
“We have serious reasons to believe that American citizens were right at the heart of the military action”.
Putin said the conflict in South Ossetian may have been planned to benefit one of the U.S. presidential candidates.
          Click here for video of story   
Worker shortage slows Tskhinval repairs
August 31, 2008, 2:12
A shortage of workers is hampering efforts to rebuild the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinval, according to Russia’s Federal Service for Special Construction.
At the moment, the priority for builders and emergency workers is to open schools in time for the start of term on Monday.
Half of the work will be conducted by Russian forces and another part by a Chechen construction company.
Mikhail Tashlyk, a Spetsstroy official said:
“Yesterday we met with the Prime Minister of Chechnya.
“A Chechen construction company will be in charge of construction works in the south of the city.
“They have adequate experience.”
Around 65 buildings have been already completely restored.
Seven out of 14 schools will be opening their doors on September 1 and about 1,500 children will start the academic year.
Official says another four schools will be also completely restored by September 1.
Around 400 people are currently working on restoring schools and locals are being paid for their help.
Tskhinval University
Meanwhile, students are rebuilding Tskhinval University.
Around 100 students from North Ossetia have come to help.
They are also bringing furniture and books.
Furthermore, Russia’s Chief Health Officer Gennady Onishchenko said running water is already available in most of the capital and the water ‘on the whole complies with the norm’.
Onishchenko said that humanitarian aid will be controlled and a vaccination programme will be launched for local inhabitants as the risk of an outbreak of contagious diseases remains.
Many corpses and animal carcasses on the streets
This is due to the fact that as during the first weeks after the attack many corpses and animal carcasses were left lying on the streets.
Power supplies in Tskhinval are also expected to be restored by the end of next week.
Meanwhile, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are ready to officially recognise each other’s independence, according to South Ossetian representative in Sukhum.
Robert Kokoev also said that the two republics may soon sign a military cooperation agreement.
          Click here for video of this story   
Putin: Russia won’t be isolated
August 30, 2008, 0:37
Russia will not be isolated because it protected its citizens and upheld its peacekeeping mission, the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said.
In an interview on German TV, Putin suggested that if Russia had not responded to Georgian aggression, there could have been a tragedy along the scale of what happened in the former Yugoslavia.
Europe and the U.S. are not the whole world
“I think a country like Russia, that protected its citizens, and fulfilled its peacekeeping duties, won't be held in isolation, no matter what our partners think within the limits of their bloc.
“Europe and the U.S. are not the whole world.”
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recalled the Srebrenica massacre, when thousands were killed when Dutch peacekeepers didn't intervene in the Balkan war.
Georgian leadership should resign straight away
The Prime Minister insisted that the Georgian government should be held responsible for its action.
Putin told ARD TV:
“Speaking about the Georgian leadership, people who wreck the territorial integrity and national identity of their country with their actions shouldn't be ruling that country, be it big or small.
“They should resign straight away.”
Ten Ossetian villages destroyed right out
“Of course, it's up to them, but we all remember the precedents that we have in history.
“Let's remember how U.S. troops entered Iraq, and what they did with Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages.
“Here, ten Ossetian villages were destroyed right out.”
Georgia holding a national election during a practical state of emergency
“Aren’t you aware of what’s been going on in Georgia in the last few years?
“The mysterious death of Prime Mnister Zhvania, fighting with the opposition, the violent dispersal of protest demonstrations, holding a national election during a practical state of emergency, and now this criminal action in South Ossetia with many casualties.
“You call it a democratic country, negotiating with it, and thinking it should be admitted to NATO and the EU?”
But we don’t want anyone manipulating international law — playing it one way in one region, and another way in another region
Putin said the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict should be dealt within the frame of international law.
“We don’t have any special rules of our own by which we are going to play.
“We want everybody to play by the same rules.
“These are called international law.
“But we don’t want anyone manipulating them — playing it one way in one region, and another way in another region, to suit their own interests.
“We want to have the same rules for everyone, which would take into account the interests of all members of the international community”.
Putin underlined that Russia wants neighbourly relations with other countries.
“Russia isn't out to aggravate the situation, or to put pressure on anyone.
“We want good neighbourly relations and partnerships with everyone”.
          Click here for video of this story   
Russia TV in English —
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
Leads cow along a ruined street
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 29, 2008
 Russian armoured vehicle in territory of South Ossetia
heads towards the Russian border
For what purpose all this if not to incite a Russian intervention
...The Georgians did none of the things that those staging a coup have traditionally found indispensable.
They did not take over a TV or radio station, or the airport, or important government buildings, or military or police installations.
They didn't take into custody key members of the government.
All the US/Israeli-armed and trained Georgia military did was bomb and kill, civilians and Russian peacekeeper soldiers, the latter legally there for 16 years under an international agreement.
For what purpose all this if not to incite a Russian intervention?
             William Blum           
           http://globalresearch.ca/ index.php?context=va&aid=10102              
U.S. may have staged Georgian conflict — Putin
August 28, 2008, 20:13
In an interview with CNN Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict may have been staged to secure a victory for one of the presidential candidates in the U.S.
He says preliminary reports show that U.S. citizens may have been present in the combat zone.
“We have serious reasons to believe that American citizens were right at the heart of the military action.
This would have implications for American domestic policy.
If this is confirmed, we will have grounds to suspect that somebody in the U.S. has created this conflict to aggravate the situation and create a competitive advantage for one of the presidential candidates”.
A Russian peacekeeper examines ruined school in Ksuis village
20 km east from Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
US control media much better then we do
Russia’s Prime Minister also commented on the media coverage of the recent events.
“As far as the perception of these events by the general public goes, it depends not only on politicians, but also on how artful they are in controlling the mass media.
“And our American colleagues do this much better than we do and there's a lot we can learn from them”.
US trying to present us as aggressors
Putin stressed that Russia did not attack and cannot be portrayed as an aggressor.
“We didn’t attack anyone, we were attacked and therefore we need guarantees that we won’t be attacked again, and that our citizens won't be killed.
“They are trying to present us as aggressors”.
The Prime Minister has given a detailed chronology of the events between August 7 and 10.
Georgia peacekeepers left headquarters of peacekeeping forces under pretext of orders from their commanders to leave their posts
Georgia attack
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
“On 7 August, at 14:42, the Georgian peacekeepers left the headquarters of the peacekeeping forces under the pretext that they'd received orders from their commanders to leave their posts, and they never returned.
“One hour later, heavy artillery shelling began.
“At 22:35 a massive bombardment of Tsklhinval started.
“At 22:50 the transfer of Georgian ground troops started to the combat area.
“At the same time Georgian field hospitals were set up.
“And at 23:30 the Brigadeer General commanding the Georgian peacekeeping forces announced that Georgia has declared a war against South Ossetia.
“They announced this publicly, looking straight into the TV cameras.
“At that point we tried to contact the Georgian leadership, but everyone refused to talk to us.
“At 12:45 AM on the 8th of August the Georgian commander repeated his statement.
“So who attacked whom?”
Mother
grave of son
Ksuisi village
South-Ossetia
The former Russian president reiterated that the country has ‘no intention of attacking anyone, or of fighting a war with anyone’.
“For eight years while I was President I often heard one and the same question — what place does Russia think it should occupy in the world?
“We are a peace-loving state and want to co-operate with all our neighbours and other states.
“But if someone thinks they can just come in and kill us, and that our place is in the cemetery, these people should think of the consequences of such policies”.
          Click here for video of interview   
Russia TV in English —
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
 Russian base in Teklati
near Poti in western Georgia
Visit office building where they used to work
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
 Destroyed building
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
South Ossetia man shoots in the air celebrating South Ossetian independence
South Ossetia
August 26, 2008
 Husband killed during recent Georgia attack on South Ossetia
Refugee camp for displaced people from South Ossetia
Gori, Georgia
August 27, 2008
War victims remembered in South Ossetia
August 28, 2008, 17:02
Memorial services are being held across South Ossetia to commemorate those who perished during the recent hostilities with Georgia.
The day of mourning coincides with a traditional religious holiday on which Ossetians remember their dead.
As the recovery operation continues, emergency workers are getting schools ready for the start of the academic year.
Elsewhere, a mobile hospital set up by Russia's Emergencies Ministry has completed its work in Tshkinval and returned to Moscow.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the South Ossetian Interior Ministry announced that an unmanned aircraft was shot down on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses say the low flying drone approached from Georgia.
Street in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
Responsibility
Two days of celebrations followed Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Tuesday.
Crowds took to the streets in both capitals.
On Wednesday the president of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, came in person to meet with his people, and remind them of the responsibility that comes with independence.
Said Eduard Kokoity:
"Nowadays we face many objectives and since yesterday much responsibility lies upon us, upon our republic and state."
Georgian population inside South Ossetia is now being protected by Interior Ministry
The president denied claims that Georgians are being ethnically cleansed in the territory.
He said it is important to live up to the standards of an independent state and maintained that all human rights are being observed in the republic.
Kokoity added that the Georgian population is protected by the Interior Ministry.
Russia recognises republics’ independence
Ruined apartment
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
On Tuesday the Russian president recognised the republic’s sovereignty.
The republics are now looking to an independent future following Russia's recognition of their status and are calling on the international community to recognise them as well.
The road to this moment was long and hard.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the republic claimed its independence.
Tbilisi on multiple occasions responded with force, claiming thousands of lives.
Its last attack on the republic came in August.
          Click here for video of this story   
Russia TV in English —
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
 Street in Tskhinvali
South Ossetia, August 27, 2008
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
 Young man attends rally
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
Women attend rally in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
 Holding Russian newspaper
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
Georgia breaks diplomatic ties with Russia
August 29, 2008, 18:14
Tbilisi has announced it will sever all diplomatic ties with Moscow within the next 24 hours.
All Georgian diplomats will be recalled from Russia on Saturday, according to the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze.
Woman waves at Russian navy ship in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol
August 22, 2008
Earlier, its parliament declared that all Russian troops in the conflict zone were ‘occupiers’.
Russia has expressed deep regret at the decision.
Andrey Nesterenko, a spokesperson for the country’s Foreign Ministry, said:
“It’s not going to be the choice of Russia.
“And the responsibility will rest with Georgia.”
Georgian Consulate will continue
The Georgian Consulate, however, will continue operating in Russia, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
Andrey Nesterenko:
“This decision does not mean that, for instance, contacts between the two countries’ foreign ministries will be severed completely.
“Such meetings are possible on territories of third countries.”
The resolution issued by the parliament said all military units, except those allowed by the Georgian constitution, are illegal.
Thursday’s sitting of parliament instructed the country’s government to sever diplomatic relations with Russia.
Earlier this week, Tbilisi recalled most of its embassy staff from Moscow.
Cancel all Russian peacekeepers agreements
The [Georgia] parliament has also called on the [Georgia] government to cancel all agreements which allow Russian peacekeepers to remain in the disputed republics.
These include the UN-backed ceasefire deals of the 1990s.
Russian armoured vehicle heads towards Russian border
August 26, 2008
The Georgian military launched an attack against South Ossetia on August 8, 2008.
Shortly afterwards, Russia called an emergency session of the UN Security Council in an attempt to end the Georgian aggression, but it didn’t bring any results.
Taking into consideration that many in South Ossetia had Russian passports, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered elements of Russia’s 58th Army to enter the conflict zone — the move Georgia called an invasion.
On Tuesday Russia recognised the independence of the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Moscow says the decision to break off ties will not have a negative impact on Russia.
Konstantin Kosachev, Head of the Russian State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, said:
“Of course it will be a regrettable step.
“Even though we may have different views on the conflict, Russia and Georgia are still neighbours.
“I’m sure both are equally interested in developing partnership and co-operation.
“Our relationship is not built around this conflict only.
“I’m deeply convinced that even now the relationship between the two nations still remains normal.”
          Click here for video of this story   
Russia TV in English —
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
 Seen through bullet holes
South Ossetia, August 28, 2008
Destroyed apartment
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 28, 2008
 Bullet-ridden wall
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 28, 2008
Carry coffin of Georgia soldier, Tblisi
Georgia Orthodox Patriarch asks God to give Georgia South Ossetia and Abkhazia now self-declared independent and declared independent by Russia
August 28, 2008
 Funeral of Georgia soldier
Killed by madman Saakashvili
The US
The elite international cartel who control the US
Those in Georgia who believe military options will bring them
some kind of benefit
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 27, 2008
Fill the graves of comrades
Tbilisi, Georgia
August 28, 2008
 Portion of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline
at Ceyhan crude oil terminal near Turkey's
southern coastal city of Adana
Women in mourning
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 28, 2008
 Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 28, 2008
Middle East
Aug 29, 2008
Maliki picks a date with destiny
By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS — Generations of Iraqi leaders have succumbed to the "Iraqi curse" — dying violent deaths while in office or soon after leaving it.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's date with destiny could well be determined by his present fixation on another date — when United States troops should permanently leave his country.
This week, Maliki reiterated that he had agreed with the United States that all 145,000 American troops would withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2010.
The negotiations are for a Status of Forces Agreement to govern relations between American troops and the Iraqis after the United Nations mandate expires this December.
Mother embraces son
Killed in crossfire between Iraq resistance forces and Iraq government police still killing for the US
No foreign soldier should remain on Iraqi land
Maliki said there would be no security agreement with the US without an unconditional timetable for withdrawal:
"No pact or agreement should be set without being based on full sovereignty, national common interests, and no foreign soldier should remain on Iraqi land.
There should be a specific deadline and it should not be open."
In early July, Medvedev undertook a diplomatic tour of the Caspian region, covering Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Lying over date
And that deadline is 2010, Maliki said.
The US denies that such a date has been reached, and talks of a 2015 timetable.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad last week to get Maliki to change his position, with no luck.
President George W Bush talked to him via satellite conference, but Maliki was adamant, echoing words heard at every end of the political spectrum in Iran.
The US then told him — in a polite way — that he was lying over the date.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto fired:
"Any decisions on troops will be based on conditions in Iraq.
That has always been our position and it continues to be our position.
An agreement has not been signed.
There is no agreement until there is an agreement signed."
US officials have confirmed there is a draft agreement but said it needed to be put to both governments and the Iraqi parliament for approval or amendment.
Can't give open immunity for anyone
But Maliki sticks to the 2010 date.
He has also heavily criticized the military pact in its current form, because it gives US personnel immunity from Iraqi law on Iraqi soil, noting:
"We can't neglect our sons by giving an open immunity for anyone whether he is Iraqi or a foreigner."
China in league with
International elite world order cartel
hails three-billion-
dollar oil agreement
with Iraq
Iraqis realize their prime minister is either being dishonest with them, to appease rising disgust with the US, or has been fooled by the United States, or pressured into saying something by the Iranians.
One thing is clear — Maliki has strained relations with the United States.
They were never fond of the premier, but worked with him reluctantly despite his relationship with militias like the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, to try and bring security to Iraq.
No longer any sense in obeying the Americans
That failed and under Maliki, the militias — mainly Shi'ite — have grown all the more stronger.
He has walked a tightrope between Washington and Tehran, but with the Bush administration reaching the final months of its tenure at the White House he seems to have chosen sides.
There is no longer any sense in obeying the Americans, Maliki reckons, especially as they were asking him to do things he cannot deliver, like rapprochement with Sunnis and the signing of the controversial pact with the Americans — which Iraqis call the "Treaty of Dishonor".
As a result, he has cuddled up further to the Iranians and relaxed security in Baghdad, to reset the situation ablaze.
The last thing the Americans want in the last months of the Bush administration is a civil war in Iraq.
He is telling the Americans, "It's either me or violence."
Many believe this strategy was drawn up in Tehran, including Wafiq Samarrai, a former security advisor to President Jalal Talabani, who in turn is an ally to Maliki.
Samarrai resigned from his job this week to speak freely about Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs.
"I have found it suitable to play my role writing books or in newspapers, to shed light on what I believe to be the threat by Iranian influence."
Maliki and the Iraqi curse
Maliki is unable to strike a balance between national and sectarian affiliations, nor can he please the international community, the US or the Arab world.
Only the Iranians still seem firmly supportive of the premier.
He too, however, is being damned by the Iraqi curse.
Domestically, his approval ratings are down — not for security — but for basic services that he cannot provide for ordinary Iraqis, such as clean drinking water, sewage disposal, medical care and electricity, which now gets cut 18-20 hours per day in Baghdad.
That reality becomes all the more difficult for ordinary Iraqis when they realize that Maliki has allocated $15 billion of the state budget in 2008 for grand infrastructure projects throughout Iraq.
Queue to buy fuel
Youssifiyah
South of Baghdad
August 28, 2008
Not against US forces but against fellow Iraqis
Stories of internal fighting in Iraq — which used to be front-page news — are now covered on inside pages of major Arab dailies.
That was not the case in 2003.
This is partly due to a feeling that goes, "We cannot help you if you do not want to help yourselves."
The repeated brutality of attacks — not against US forces but against fellow Iraqis — has contributed heavily to the disenchantment with Iraq by ordinary Arabs.
This week, 25 young cadets were killed in a suicide bombing in Diyali, 150 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, while 40 were wounded.
A car bomb went off in Tikrit, badly wounding 13 civilians. Earlier, nine had been killed and 27 wounded in a bombing in Baquba.
Swimmers and picnickers prior to the war of 2003 at a rate of 250,000 on weekends
The greatest tourism achievement this summer in Baghdad has been the reopening of a pool (established in 2002 and named after Saddam Hussein) that used to welcome swimmers and picnickers prior to the war of 2003, at a rate of 250,000 on weekends.
It prompted a Tourism Ministry official to say at the event, "I tell the Iraqis, Baghdad is now safe."
This was followed by festivities, staged by the government, welcoming 250 families who returned to Baghdad, a signal that Maliki's Iraq is indeed "safe".
Meanwhile, Iraqi dailies mocked both events, citing a report from neighboring Syria that revenue from tourism this summer had reached US$2 billion, with 511,000 tourists.
Iraqi journalists angrily asked, "Why not Iraq?   Has the 'Iraqi curse' befallen the citizens as well as leaders of Iraq?"
Kurds burn Turkoman cars
Seek to take over oil-rich city of Kirkuk
Opposition by the Turkomen and Arab population
Ordinary Iraqis hauntingly speak of an "Iraqi curse" that befalls on all those who assume senior government office in Baghdad.
Of all the leaders of Iraq, only one lived a decent life after leaving office.
His name was Abdulrahman Aref, who ruled from 1966 until being toppled by the Ba'ath coup of 1968.
This week, the Iraqi government even authorized a pension for his wife (5 million dinars — US$4,228 — per year), one year after he died in Amman, Jordan, at the age of 91, and was given a state funeral in Baghdad.
Killed in car accident believed to be doctored by British
King Faisal I, the founder of modern Iraq, also died a normal death in 1933.
His son King Ghazi was killed in a car accident (believed to be doctored by the British) in 1939, at the age of 27.
His son King Faisal II was murdered, at the age of 23, along with the entire royal family by Iraqi revolutionaries, on July 14, 1958.
The crown prince was crucified by the mob, while veteran prime minister Nuri al-Said was shot, then dragged through the streets of Baghdad until his body disintegrated.
Abdul-Karim Qasim, architect of the revolution of 1958, was himself shot by his comrade Abdulsalam Aref in 1963 (at the relatively young age of 49).
Aref himself died in an airplane crash (also believed to be doctored) in 1965.
Eight women
suicide bombing
in 2007
29 women
suicide bombing
so far up to
August 2008
He was 45.
The Ba'athist Ahmad Hasan Bakr, who assumed power in 1968, was toppled and humiliated by Saddam Hussein.
Saddam himself came down with thunder and was then executed in 2006, having led Iraq for 24 bloody years.
His two sons received horrific deaths in 2003.
More recently, the "Iraqi curse" has been less severe.
Over the past year, Jalal Talabani has been hospitalized to the United States for heart problems while Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was rushed to London — twice — for medical treatment.
Parliament speaker Mahmud Mashadani was hospitalized to Amman, while vice President Tarek Hashemi received treatment in Istanbul.
Abdul Aziz Hakim, the powerful head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council is being treated for cancer in hospitals in the US and Tehran, while National Security Advisor Muwafak al-Rabei has been taken to London, and is reportedly in bad health.
The Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called in several prominent journalists as rumors circulated that he was on his deathbed, to show the world that he is not in poor health.
All of that has been headline news in Iraqi newspapers over the past few days; all of the nation's "leaders" are out of the country and/or in hospital beds — a perfect time for a coup.
A quick read through Iraqi history shows that if Maliki continues in present behavior he will either be asked to step down, abruptly, by the Americans, or will suffer the fate of Ghazi I, Faisal II, Qasim, Aref, Bakr and Saddam, this being the Iraqi curse.
Sami Moubayed is a Syrian political analyst.
Copyright 2008, Asia Times Online
Jason Bermes one of the creators along with Dylan Avery of the popular 9/11, US terrorist covert action movie Loose Change substituting as host on the Alex Jones show.
Jason is interviewing Paul Craig Roberts August 27, 2008 —
Paul Craig Roberts:   .... And they control United States foreign policy.   So, it means war.   You are headed very quickly into a nuclear war.   Very quickly.
Jason Bermes:   What are we gong to see in this country?   Are we going to see conscription.   Is it just going to be all out...?   I mean...
Paul Craig Roberts:   No, there is not going to be time for conscription, or training, or anything else...
Jason Bermes:   You're talking total chaos.   This is where they bring in their Private Forces, NATO, the whole nine....
Paul Craig Roberts:   No!   I am talking about missiles that are going to launch!
Jason Bermes:   You don't think there will be anything left?
Paul Craig Roberts:   It will be where people all disappear.
Jason Bermes:   You don't think there will be anything?
Paul Craig Roberts:   No, nothing!
Jason Bermes:   Wow!
Paul Craig Roberts:   Because the radiation is just too deadly.   It's just too deadly.
We're not talking about little toy nuclear weapons.
[Not even the weapons] we dropped on Japan.
We're talking about massive...   If an SS18 hit Washington it would probably kill everybody from Boston to Atlanta.
Jason Bermes:   My God!
             War With Russia Is On The Agenda              
             by Paul Craig Roberts            
Russia warns NATO over build-up of warships in Black Sea
August 26, 2008, 15:05 (GMT + 4)
Russia’s military says it is bewildered by the build-up of NATO’s naval force in the Black Sea — and scoffed at claims the warships were delivering humanitarian aid.
Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told a media briefing that there are currently ten NATO warships with cruise missiles in the area, and eight more are expected to arrive there shortly.
“These ships are very seriously armed,” Nogovitsyn said.
“As far as cruise missiles are concerned, they are strategic arms and have a range of 2,500 km.
The Black Sea is just a pool for them.”
The Colonel General added it’s very hard to believe these ships have arrived just to bring humanitarian aid.
He said the build-up was connected with Georgia’s wish to restore its military potential and added Russia will find a way to find out if armaments or military gear are being delivered to Georgia by NATO ships.
Nogovitsyn said Russia may stop cooperation with NATO, including military transit to Afghanistan through its territory, though it hasn’t done it yet.
Number of statements like in worst times of Cold War
“Our Supreme Commander-in-Chief did not say we are stopping cooperation.
“He just made it clear such a thing can happen because a number of statements have been made by the Pentagon and other countries on possible sanctions — like in the worst times of the Cold War.”
Russia TV in English —
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
Alex Jones was interviewed on Russia Today
Alex said very clearly that an international elite cartel was guiding the actions of the US
Alex Jones is correct
This international elite cartel is guiding the actions of the US and also the actions of many western politicians
The people of the world including the people of the west do not seek a war with Russia
We are in harmony
Be aware that war is a possibility now
The international elite cartel will do all in its power to pursue a very serious situation that could lead to war and the loss of lives of an extreme amount of people
There are many influential and powerful people both within the western military forces and in other capacities who have access and knowledge of this site and knowledge of me
This is a message that I am giving you
Kewe                           
Medvedev exclusive: We’re not afraid of Cold War
Aug 26, 2008 20:58:09 (GMT + 4)
With the Russian parliament backing the independence of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, President Dmitry Medvedev gives his views on the issue in an exclusive interview with RT.
RT: Immediately after Kosovo’s independence was recognised, Moscow said this could become a precedent for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Today, you made a decision to support these republics’ independence.
Why did Russia do it?
Does this square with international law?

Who burned down Tskhinvali and made it unfit to live in within just one night?    Who killed people, including children, in their hundreds or maybe even thousands?    Who forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes?    These questions remain unanswered and need to be looked into.

It is absolutely necessary, on the international level, to investigate this problem, to find those responsible and to bring them to international trial.

Maybe an ad hoc tribunal could be set up, just the way it used to be done for other cases of mass genocide

Human Rights Commissioner
Vladimir Lukin
Medvedev: I'll start with your second question.
This is fully in line with international law.
When the case of Kosovo arose, my colleagues said this was a special case, or, as experts in international affairs say, casus sui generis.
Well, each case of such recognition is a special case.
The situation in Kosovo was special, and the situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is special as well.
In our situation, it is quite obvious that we made this decision in order to prevent genocide and annihilation of these peoples, and to help them to come to their feet.
These unrecognised republics have been struggling for their independence for seventeen years now.
Despite all attempts by the international community, no progress was made during this time.
Until just recently, we tried to help restore the state unite of Georgia.
Poster
Russia
emblem
However, it didn’t work.
The decision to launch an aggression buried all hopes of achieving an agreement.
Thus, under current circumstances, the only way to preserve these peoples is to recognise them as subjects of international law, to recognize their state independence.
That is why our decision is fully in line with international law, the UN Charter, Helsinki declarations and other international documents.
RT: Is Russia prepared for a long and tough confrontation with leading world powers that the decision it made today may lead to?
And, in general, aren’t we afraid of the prospect to enter another Cold War?
Medvedev: We are not afraid of anything, the prospect of another Cold War included.
Of course, we don't want that.
In this situation, everything depends on the stand of our partners in the world community, our partners in the West.
If they want to preserve good relations with Russia, they will understand the reason for making such a decision, and the situation will be calm.
But if they choose a confrontational scenario, well, we‘ve been through all kinds of situations, and we’ll survive.
RT: You have signed the six-point agreement.
One of the points says Russia should pull its troops out of Georgia.
Nevertheless, Russia is still being accused of not meeting this obligation.
Is this true?
Are there Russian troops left in Georgia?
Medvedev: That's not true.
Russia has fully met its obligations stemming from the six principles of the so-called Medvedev-Sarkozi agreement.
Young women celebrate independence
Tskhinvali
South Ossetia
Our troops have been withdrawn from Georgia, except for the so-called security corridor.
RT: The presidential campaign is underway in the US.
Both candidates have spoken more than once on Russia’s actions in Georgia.
Don’t you think this situation is being used as an instrument for the political struggle inside the US?
Medvedev: Well, as far as I know, usually during the elections in the United States of America, voters are quite indifferent to what is happening abroad.
But if one of the candidates managed to use this question, well, godspeed him.
The main thing is that it should not lead to international tensions.
I have no doubt that both candidates will try to spin this situation for his purposes.
But such are the rules of the election campaign.
VIDEO — With the Russian parliament backing the independence of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, President Dmitry Medvedev gives his views on the issue in an exclusive interview with RT.
          Click here for video of interview   
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization
"TV-Novosti" 2008, all rights reserved
Statue to Vaso Abayev damaged during the recent attack by Georgia on South Ossetia
Tskhinvali
August 25, 2008
 Tank's turret hurled back into building
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 25, 2008
Cuts apart destroyed Georgia tank
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
 Russian troops help out
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
August 25, 2008
Column of cars celebrate independence
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia
 Russia's Duma lower house of the parliament
stand in a minute of silence to commemorate those who died
in the attack by Georgia on South Ossetia
Moscow
August 25, 2008
Security Council meeting
Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi
 Abkhazian, Russian and South Ossetian flags
People celebrate independence
Sukhumi, capital of Abkhazia
August 26, 2008
Abkhazians celebrate Russian President's Dmitry Medvedev's signing of decree recognizing independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
Sukhumi, capital of Abkhazia
August 26, 2008
 Georgia troops look at Russian helicopter flying over head
as they withdraw from village of Mosabruni, South Ossetia
August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
America Drinks the COIN
Kool-aid...
And prepares for a new surge in Afghanistan that may doom Pakistan
American ignorance concerning Pakistani politics and society is profound.   And, in the matter of the “surge” scheduled for Afghanistan for year-end 2008, it may be fatal.
U.S. observers, both on the left and right, view Pakistan primarily through the lens of the war on terror:
In terms of Pakistan’s role in pumping military forces into its western frontier in order to help George W. Bush burnish his meager presidential legacy by getting Osama bin Laden’s head on a pike before he leaves office in January 2009
And to assist the West in rescuing its tottering political project in Afghanistan, the Karzai government.
Not how the Pakistani see it
As any responsible observer of Pakistan politics would tell you — all the Pakistani media majors all have English-language outlets — the Pakistanis view things completely differently.
They believe that unremitting American pressure on Pakistan is turning a serious but manageable problem — ethnic and Islamist extremism in the border regions — into an existential crisis that is ripping Pakistan apart.
In the days since Musharraf’s departure, Pakistan has been torn by a series of terrorist attacks, including a coordinated assault on Pakistan’s main armory near Islamabad, which left nearly 100 dead.
The attacks represent a highly persuasive demonstration by Taliban extremists that peace inside Pakistan’s central, urbanized core requires accommodation with the Taliban, and not participation in America’s escalating counter-inurgency campaign in Afghanistan’s east and Pakistan’s frontier provinces.
It is a message that Pakistan’s civilian, military, and intelligence leadership are ready to heed.
But it is a warning that America — including both its political and defense establishment and its two presidential candidates — are determined to disregard in the search for geopolitical advantage, multi-national military support, and votes.
For Americans infatuated with the apparent success of the surge in Iraq
Fatally, the supposed success of the troop surge in Iraq — and the desperate optimism and opportunism an apparent military panacea excites in American politics—is fueling calls for applying the same formula to the intractable Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
However, Afghanistan isn’t Iraq.   And, more importantly, Pakistan ain’t Iran.
For Americans infatuated with the apparent success of the surge in Iraq — and its implied vindication of the comforting notion that the scientific application of American military might, brains, and money can succeed in even the most profoundly hostile environment — it is anathema to consider that the relative quiet in Iraq is not attributable to our astounding subtlety in paying off Sunni tribal leaders and malcontents who otherwise would be engaged in a doomed insurgency against U.S. rule and Shi’a domination.
Nope.
Dawa party as well as that cleric al-Sadr off in Qom
What’s probably standing between us and the continuation of our bloody debacle in Iraq is the fact that Iran has eschewed a strategy of political violence through its Iraqi proxies.   Instead, it has decided to outwait the United State and secure its gains through the political ascendancy of the Shi’a.
The Dawa party, obedient clients of the Iranians, have downplayed their military struggle and instead form the backbone of Prime Minister Maliki’s government.
The normally nationalistic and anti-Iranian Shi’a cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr has, thanks to the threats of legal and personal jeopardy deployed by the American occupation, taken up residence in the Iranian holy city of Qom.   Under the influence of Iran’s persuasion and perhaps onerous hospitality, al Sadr has apparently decided to discard armed struggle and endorse the political route to power.
Iranian pressure on Iraqi Shi’a forces to stand down is, in my opinion, why the surge has worked.   (And it’s also the reason why, despite martial chest-thumping from the Right, an armed attack on Iran by the U.S. or even scorched earth economic sanctions targeting Teheran are unlikely).
Escalation of three or so brigades into Afghanistan by years’ end
American politicians look at the Iraqi surge and, by a flawed analogy, expect that an escalation of three or so brigades into Afghanistan by years’ end will tip the scales in our favor.
Barack Obama, eager to burnish his CINC qualifications by boosting our “good war” in Afghanistan, talks about pouring in troops.   John McCain explicitly links a troop increase in Afghanistan with the apparent success of the surge.
The analogies, however, founder, when it comes to the issue of the key western neighbor.
Compare and contrast Pakistan’s attitudes toward Afghanistan with Iran’s desire to stabilize Iraq on its currently favorable terms.
According to the U.S. think tank Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT), favorable opinions of Afghanistan are at an anemic 48% level.
Karzai and Pakistan and the Taliban
Hamid Karzai and his U.S. backed regime simply aren’t very popular in Pakistan.   Pakistani distaste for Karzai is eagerly reciprocated by the Afghan government and relations are pretty much in a deep freeze.
The Karzai government will always be closer the United States and India, not Pakistan.   The route to increased Pakistani influence in Kabul lies through the violent overthrow of the Afghani government by the Taliban, not by ensuring the Karzai regime’s continued survival and success.
The U.S. is responding to Pakistan’s lack of enthusiasm for saving Karzai’s bacon by unilateral military incursions into western Pakistan in order to root out the Taliban havens (and possible bin Laden hidey-holes) that Pakistan’s army and intelligence services have pursued so unenthusiastically.
However, escalating the violence in Pakistan’s border regions looks like a recipe for disaster.
American planners originally hoped that Musharraf’s armies would be the anvil upon which Western forces crushed the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.
Rotten melon that will fly apart
Pakistan is more like a rotten melon that will fly apart under the hammer blows of a U.S. counter-insurgency campaign in west Pakistan.
The political will inside Pakistan to support the U.S. adventure in Afghanistan is virtually non-existent.   According to TFT, opposition to the GWOT clocked in at a thumping 72% in June, with “strongly opposed” at 60.4%.
At that time, admittedly before the recent wave of Taliban attacks, over 50% of Pakistanis blamed the US for violence inside Pakistan; the Pakistani Taliban were blamed by only 4.2% — behind India and Pakistan’s own ISI!
The salient development in Pakistani politics in the last three months has not been the democratization of Pakistan and an increased or even sustained determination to combat terrorism.
Collapse of Musharraf, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif favorability rating of 86%
It has been the collapse of the political fortunes of two would-be American clients — Pervez Musharraf and the leader of Benazir Bhutto’s PPP, her widower Asif Zardari — and the political ascendancy of Nawaz Sharif of the opposition PML-N, whose conservative, non-aligned policies have resonated with Pakistani voters since his return from exile last November.
The general elections in Pakistan in February delivered a clear mandate for removal of Musharraf and the restoration of the judiciary that Musharraf had dismissed in a clumsy attempt to secure his illegal re-election as president last November.
Political deal that Benazir Bhutto [Asif Zardari] had made with Washington
Asif Zardari, head of the main opposition force, the PPP, hopelessly bungled the political endgame and squandered his political capital because he was more interested in executing the political deal that Benazir Bhutto had made with Washington — by which the PPP would act as a political fig-leaf for the terminally unpopular Musharraf and make active Pakistan participation in the anti-Taliban campaign more palatable to the general populace — than he was in following the unambiguous mandate to remove Musharraf.
Six months of ignoble gyrations by the PPP with American connivance on behalf of Musharraf followed, leaving the field of principled opposition leader completely clear for Nawaz Sharif, who unequivocally called for Musharraf’s removal and the restoration of the judiciary.
(And, in a popular move, withdrew his people from the cabinet while continuing to support the PPP government in parliamentary votes).
Fact that is apparently unreported in the West
As a result, Sharif is now by far the most popular political figure in Pakistan, clocking in at a favorability rating of 86% — a fact that is apparently unreported in the West (though not unknown to readers of China Matters) because Sharif also represents the majority strain in Pakistani popular opinion opposed to Pakistan’s participation in the U.S. led War on Terror.
Zardari’s increasingly risible attempts to straddle the roles of U.S. client and popular leader came to head with the disastrous visit to the United States of his hand-picked prime minister, Yusuf Raza Gillani.
In order to demonstrate that Pakistan’s newly-minted civilian government was eager and able to do Washington’s bidding in the War on Terror, Gillani announced that the notoriously independent (and pro-Taliban) Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency was now subject to control by the cabinet — an assertion he was forced to retract within hours.
Observing the collapse of the credibility of his government, Zardari apparently decided to get in step with popular opinion and neutralize Sharif’s appeal by jumping on the dump-Musharraf bandwagon.   In contrast to his previous dilatory behavior, Zardari was able to orchestrate the departure of Musharraf in little more than a week.
U.S. political meddling
U.S. political meddling has yielded the usual unimpressive results.   As planned, the civilian Pakistani government was split and discredited thanks to Zardari’s maneuvering.   But instead of insuring Musharraf’s survival by allowing him to score political points off of a weakened civilian government, the policy led to Musharraf’s political demise.
When the PPP decided to recover its lost political ground by ousting Musharraf, it left Washington with the worst of both worlds:  Musharraf gone and the civilian government too divided and unpopular to act as an effective client.
Since Musharraf’s departure, the pressures on Zardari have only intensified.
Taliban attacks within Pakistan
Nawaz Sharif has threatened a de jure withdrawal from the ruling coalition if Zardari does not reinstate the judiciary; and the bloody Taliban attacks have served notice that the survival of Pakistan’s civilian government, indeed its civil society, may depend on decoupling its tribal policy from the military campaign the U.S. is escalating in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan.
According to Taliban-watcher Syed Saleem Shahzad , the PPP-led civilian government is attempting to remain in Washington’s good graces — and establish itself, post-Musharraf, as America’s indispensable man in Islamabad — by declaring all-out war on militants (despite the TFT finding in June that 58% of Pakistanis wanted the government to negotiate with the Pakistan Taliban) and agreeing to a planned NATO center in Peshawar, capital of the North West Frontier Provinces, that will direct Pakistan’s anti-Taliban operations inside Pakistan.
It remains to be seen whether the Pakistan’s government and Pakistani public opinion will support escalated anti-Taliban operations — under US direction! — in the face of unrelenting Taliban attacks against Pakistani assets inside the heartland.
The fundamental unpopularity is of the U.S.-led GWOT.
And Nawaz Sharif is standing in the wings ready to assume the mantle of Pakistan’s leader and provide an alternative to the close U.S.-Pakistan relationship that a majority of Pakistanis regard as catastrophic.
Expect the Pakistani Taliban to retaliate
As Western forces surge into Afghanistan in an effort to defeat the burgeoning Taliban insurgency by assaulting its havens in Pakistan, expect the Pakistani Taliban to retaliate — against Pakistan, in the Pakistani heartland — in order to demonstrate to Pakistani opinion the unacceptably high costs of providing material support to an unpopular American strategy.
Inside the Pakistan elite, the case for disengaging from the U.S. war on terror will be made forcefully by the ISI, which has never abandoned its support for the Taliban — or its desire for a pro-Pakistan regime in Kabul.
News that implies that the ISI might be ready to take matters into its own hands and assist the Taliban
There has been one piece of disturbing news that implies that the ISI might be ready to take matters into its own hands and assist the Taliban in to redirecting Pakistani security policy — the ISI’s alleged complicity in the terror bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 8, 2008.
The U.S. government has been in the forefront in providing intelligence linking the ISI to the attack, no doubt a sobering reminder to Islamabad that the Bush administration has a pronounced pro-Indian tilt that no amount of enthusiastic water-carrying by Pakistan on Afghan security is likely to reverse.
Karzai’s ties to India — ISI's deliberate provocation?
Karzai’s ties to India as a counterweight to Pakistan have been a source of irritation to the ISI.   But orchestrating the bombing of India’s embassy might not have been a reckless act of brinksmanship; it may have been a deliberate provocation.
If Karzai indignantly broke off relations with Pakistan, and India responded to the bombing with understandable anger, then Pakistan’s army would be free to abandon the thankless project of cooperating with NATO forces in the bloody, border-straddling counter-insurgency campaign in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Instead, while Karzai floundered to his doom, the Pakistani army could do what it does best: deploying its divisions in a conventional order of battle in Pakistan’s east facing India and engage in the crowd-pleasing ritualized hostility that has secured the army’s place in the center of national esteem — and fattened its budget — for the last sixty years.
So, a surge into Afghanistan, instead of adding an emollient sheen to waters already smoothed by an interested regional power, might instead apply a highly flammable coating of gasoline to all of South Asia — with the Taliban and the ISI both eager to throw a match.
  China Matters blog
Contrast the above thoughtful piece with US, UK government propaganda from the BBC below
You think US special ops (assisted by the UK) are going to rig the Pakistan vote count as 'COG' secret government operations do in the US?
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! — Not so easy in Pakistan
They actually have paper ballots in Pakistan you can see and recount
Kewe                           
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Taleban winning war, says Zardari
By Owen Bennett-Jones
BBC News, Islamabad
Asif Ali Zardari (right)

Asif Ali Zardari took over the party leadership after his wife's assassination
Asif Ali Zardari took over the party leadership after his wife's assassination
The Pakistani Taleban have "the upper hand" and should be put on the list of banned organisations in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has said.
He says the world and Pakistan are losing the war on terror.
"It is an insurgency", he said, "and an ideological war.   It is our country and we will defend it.
"The world is losing the war.   I think at the moment they (the Taleban) definitely have the upper hand.
"The issue, which is not just a bad case scenario as far as Pakistan is concerned or as Afghanistan is concerned but it is going to be spreading further.   The whole world is going to be affected by it."
Mr Zardari's strong remarks came shortly after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) put his name forward as its presidential nominee.
The president is elected by the members of parliament and the four provincial assemblies, and Mr Zardari says he is confident he has the numbers he needs to win on 6 September.
Asif Zardari spent more than a decade in prison on murder and corruption charges but he insisted that the cases had failed because they were politically motivated.
He also dismissed reports that the Swiss authorities were still considering whether they should pursue a money-laundering case against him there.
Asif Ali Zardari declared winner

Bhutto's widower wins presidency

Asif Ali Zardari took over the party leadership after his wife's assassination
Asif Ali Zardari says his win was a victory for democracy
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Bhutto's widower wins presidency
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has won a sweeping victory in Pakistan's presidential election.
The election was called after Pervez Musharraf resigned rather than risk being impeached.
Mr Zardari faces severe economic problems and a rampant Islamist insurgency that are threatening Pakistan's stability.
During the voting a bomb killed at least 15 people near Peshawar city.
Poster of Asif Ali Zardari outside parliament

Asif Ali Zardari took over the party leadership after his wife's assassination
Poster of Asif Ali Zardari outside parliament
Security is tight for the vote, which Asif Ali Zardari is expected to win
The president is elected by secret ballots in the national and four provincial assemblies.
Mr Zardari won 481 votes out of 702, far more than the 352 votes that would have guaranteed him victory, leaving his two rivals trailing far behind.
In Sindh province, Mr Zardari won all 65 votes.
In North West Frontier Province (NWFP) he got 56 out of the 65 votes.
In Balochistan province he won 59 of the 65 votes.
By contrast he only won 22 out of 65 seats in Punjab province, the heartland of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party.
The two daughters of Mr Zardari and Ms Bhutto hugged friends in delight in the gallery of the national assembly as the results became clear.
Members of Mr Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) declared the result to be a "victory for democracy".
Controversy
Mr Zardari was thrust into the centre of political power by the killing of Ms Bhutto last December after which he became head of the PPP.
WHO VOTES FOR PRESIDENT?
Total votes: 702
National Assembly 342 votes
Senate 100 votes
Four provincial assemblies 65 votes each
Winner needs simple majority of votes

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says that in recent months Mr Zardari has shown skill by forging a large coalition and using it to peacefully unseat President Musharraf.
Mr Zardari is one of Pakistan's most controversial politicians.
For years he has been hounded by allegations of massive corruption - although he has never been convicted.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took his PML-N party out of the governing coalition last week, accusing Mr Zardari of breaking key promises.
Many in Pakistan fear the country is facing a return to an old-style politics of confrontation at a time when urgent action is needed to improve the economy and deal with a raging Islamist insurgency.
Juggling demands
Mr Zardari is seen as pro-Western and supportive of Washington's self-declared war on terror.
He will have to juggle the demands of the United States, Pakistan's powerful army, and strong anti-American sentiment in the country.
Nawaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif's coalition with Mr Zardari did not last long
Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif's coalition with Mr Zardari did not last long
Our correspondent says Mr Musharraf tried to do that and failed.
She adds that Pakistanis hope that Asif Zardari will have more success, but they see little in his past to encourage them.
The fortunes of the Bhutto-Zardari family have fluctuated dramatically.
Mr Zardari spent years in prison while Gen Musharraf ruled Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at an election rally in December.
Her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was hanged during the military dictatorship of President Ziaul Haq.
A further reminder of the dangers of public life in Pakistan came on Wednesday when gunmen attacked the motorcade of the prime minister.
Two bullets hit his car, although he was not in it at the time officials say.
The other candidates for the presidency were Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui, a former judge who had the backing of Mr Sharif, and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who was nominated by the PML-Q party that supported Mr Musharraf.
In the Islamabad parliament, members of the upper house, the Senate, were due to vote first, followed by the lower house.
Pakistan's four provincial assemblies of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP had a similar schedule.
However, voting in the NWFP capital, Peshawar, was delayed when a 5.6 magnitude earthquake hit the area and neighbouring Afghanistan, prompting deputies to flee the assembly building.
The provincial assemblies are given equal weighting with 65 votes each.
In the three assemblies which do not have 65 deputies, the value of each deputy's vote is adjusted by a mathematical formula.
There is only one round of voting and whoever has most of the 702 votes wins.
MMVIII
Ooooops!   Can't win them all
Maybe Pakistan knows something we don't
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
                                    Kewe
 People take part in a hate protest holding guns up
after a US NATO cowardly air strike on Friday
killed their neighbors and relatives
Remains of homes after US cowardly attack
 Prepare graves for men, women and children
after a US NATO cowardly attack on Friday
The Afghan resisters, in their turn, should write "Jaurès, wake up, they've gone crazy" on the walls of the French barracks in Kabul.
Jean Jaurès was the French socialist leader that dared to say NO to the sacred union for the war in 1914 and who paid for it with his life.
An Afghan woman shouts hatred against the US
August 23, 2008
Hold belongings of loved one after US cowardly attack
 
Now according to the puppet Karzai, 89 people have been killed, not the 76 the media first announced.
Aljazeera has since amended this mass killing by US forces as more than 100 people, most of them children
Karzai who ever since the Americans brought him to Afghanistan has been protesting — Oh! this time he sacked a General and a Major!
American?   English?   Both are killers of children within the last two weeks
Of course Karzai doesn't fire the Amerikan criminals who commanded the killing and pressed the buttons for the bombs, have them jailed for war crimes
It is an Afghan General and an Afghan major he fires — not for killing the children, but for 'neglecting their duties and concealing the facts'
Is there an expletive I could use!
There does seem to be someone who has some backbone
Little luck it will get him
Afghanistan's religious affairs minister, Nematullah Shahrani:
"We went to the area and found out that the bombardment was very heavy.
Lots of houses have been destroyed and more than 90 non-combatants including women, children and elders have died.
So far it is not clear for us why the coalition [NATO murderers] conducted the air strikes"
Perhaps I should have mentioned
Karzai is enjoying the last day of the China Olympic games
Attends the closing ceremony
August 24, 2008
An Afghan homeless boy sleeps on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan
August 24, 2008
You think your life should be extinguished with a missile, kid?
That would be one way to get rid of you wouldn't it!
You think Karzai cares about you!
Karzai cares about the Amerikans!
They let him go to the Olympic games in a big jet!
Then the Amerikans and British can play with their missiles and bombs!
They can kill a hundred of you at one go!
Don't matter!
There is plenty more of you!
Don't worry about the men, women, elders, kids, Karzai!
They're already dead
When was it?   Yesterday!   Day before that the kids got clobbered!
You know!
The American missile bomb out of the sky while they were playing!
Dead!
Dead now!
Over a hundred people killed Aljazeera is reporting
Is there some disconnect!
You think your people might see this!
Have you become as insane as Brown, Cheney, Obama, McCain, Bush and the rest back here trying to take the planet into oblivion
Cowardly British and America forces in a country you should not be in, continuing to kill children by missiles
30 people in Helmand, 76  89  more than 90  more than 100 people in Azizabad, NATO and the US forces disgust the world
76  89    more than 90  more than 100 people killed, mostly children, in air strikes by Americans near the village of Azizabad in the western province of Herat, August 22, 2008
The dead are 19 women, seven men and the rest children all under 15 years of age
Azizabad villagers gather in angry demonstration hurling stones at Afghan troops — August 23, 2008
Shots fired by the puppet Afghan troops wounding two more people
Children, women, men hit by rockets in the Sangin district of Helmand province — August 17, 2008
The deaths just multiply
What do they think the reason is for you creatures who press buttons to kill people, what is your reason to remain on this planet!
Missiles killing children?
Your reason for living is to kill children!
The nausea of loathing for you who do this has no bounds
In your soul you know you have no reason for doing what you are doing
In this deepest part of you, you know you have been tricked, you have been fooled, you are a fool — You are a murderer
I tell you their is no excuse for this action
You supervisors who command this, you men and woman who press the buttons, you men and women who fly on the planes and assist in these killings:
You life is over for doing this
You life on this planet ends the moment that you kill those you do not see
I guarantee you from the moment you allow your mind and body to command and perform this heinous task of killing, you are a walking zombie
This is my promise to you
No excuse!
You have no excuse!
You who press these button, who fly these planes killing people you cannot see, you are workers for evil
There is no explanation!
There is no excuse!
You are war criminals!
You are murderers
And the dumbed-down fools sheltering in their homes in Britain and America, untouched by the missiles and bombs that they work to pay for?
In every way, the life of British and American people, all those who allow and accept this death, in mind, in action, life for you also is ending
Those of you killing in these foreign lands, you must go back where you came from
You must stop
For your nations, for the very survival of your nations you must stop
Your armies and military must return back to your lands
A spiritual law is working here
A law that is exact
That does not deviate
Kewe                           
 Georgian refugees seen in former headquarters of Russian army
Tbilisi, Georgia
August 20, 2008
Vadim Kulimbekov, 62 stands in apartment destroyed by Georgia attack on South Ossetia
Tskhinvali
August 17, 2008
Well, even worse, what’s not covered there is that they covered up the active attack on legal voters
ANYONE BUT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS
NATO as it is doing in Afghanistan
NATO — a formation of industrialized imperialist countries prospering from generations of colonial plunder using military might, nuclear blackmail, economic sabotage, espionage and terror
NATO expansion
For 40 years the NATO military alliance was comprised of wealthy, industrialized imperialist countries that had prospered from generations of colonial plunder.
It was essentially an anti-Soviet alliance to halt the spread of socialist revolutions in Europe.
NATO used military might, nuclear blackmail, economic sabotage, espionage and terror to protect and expand the private corporate wealth of its members.
Using the 1992-1999 war against Yugoslavia to justify its expansion and intervention, NATO has now grown from 16 members before that war to 26 members and 38 nations in four different “partnership” arrangements, as Canadian Gen.
Ray Henault of the NATO Military Committee boasted in his Chairman’s Report in April.
NATO has spread its field of intervention far beyond its original North Atlantic area to Eastern Europe, Africa and Afghanistan.
Many of the new members and “partners” of this military bloc are former socialist countries from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that have become captured ministates—economic colonies of European and U.S. imperialism.
However, the reestablishment of capitalist private ownership over the resources and production of this vast region of the globe did not pacify U.S. imperialism, which sees competing capitalist development in Russia also as a threat.
U.S. corporate power is determined to allow only dependent colonial subjects.
Any country seeking to control its own development or resources, regardless of its social system, is targeted.
This is as true for Russia as it is for Iran, China or Venezuela.
Devolution is a necessary instrument of resolution for those within a larger group who no longer seek to be governed by that larger group
An individual or a grouping of individuals within the smaller assemblage must also, at any time period, have the option of remaining within the group that has chosen devolution or be allowed to move and join some other governing body; should an individual or a grouping of individuals choose to do so that individual or grouping of individuals who take this option must then move themselves and what they are able of their belongings into the territory of this other governing body who have allowed this individual or grouping of individuals to join them
Should there be two groupings in the same territory who seek devolution, but not governed as one, further devolution can, and, or, must take place based upon mutual consent of these groupings with regard to territory boundaries, territory boundaries being a natural formation of the land areas of those who live within those land areas
Should there be dispute of the two groupings in the same territory who seek devolution, then settlement of territory must be undertaken by a third non-involved governing body; this non-involved governing body to be agreed by the parties involved or in last instance to be appointed by a decision of a larger collective of non-involved governing bodies
Devolution is an inherent right for any grouping of individuals who no longer wish to be governed, for whatever reason, by an overseeing larger governing body
Should devolution involve substantial resources not within the larger body, ownership of these resources will be shared upon population count of both territories.   Ownership will include decision of use or not use of resources and payments on the territory choosing devolution as compensation of loss to the larger body based upon ownership of the whole if such resources by the decision of all should be either partly or completly utilized — until such resources are exhausted within the territory choosing devolution
The Greater Galactic Council acknowledges and affirms devolution as an inherent right for all sentient beings
Kewe                           
US Georgia military training
Vaziani base outside Tbilisi, Georgia — July 2008
 
US Georgia getting ready to attack South Ossetia
There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place.
Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy.
George Orwell 1984
 
There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place.
Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy.
George Orwell 1984
  uruknet.info
  اوروكنت.إنفو
    informazione dall'iraq occupato
information from occupied iraq
أخبار منالعراق المحتلة
STEEL RAIN
What you would never guess is that "carelessness" meant a deliberate U.S. policy of waging the war on terror from the air.
Robert C. Koehler, Tribune Media Services
July 21, 2008
"Civilian casualties have been a continuing issue in Afghanistan, and President Karzai has rebuked American and NATO forces for what he has called carelessness in their military operations."
This is the genteel, bloodless language of geopolitics, spoken by the Gray Lady and the heads of state and makers of policy whom she serves.
You wouldn't know that "carelessness" referred to killing a bride (and twenty-some guests) on her wedding day, except that the observation comes at the end of the New York Times' account of our July 6 bombing of an Afghani wedding, which followed a Fourth of July missile strike in that country — look at the fireworks, Mom! — that killed 15 innocent civilians.
Careless superpower indeed.
Careless murdering superpower indeed
What you would never guess is that "carelessness" meant a deliberate U.S. policy of waging the war on terror from the air.
But that has been our policy all along, from "shock and awe" and "mission accomplished" to "the surge is working."
It is undebated, unreported, unquestioned, this policy conceived with the vacuous single-mindedness of serial killers.
The death it has caused has not been calculated and is perhaps incalculable, especially when you factor in the time-bomb effects of depleted uranium and other deadly substances that bombing spreads both locally and around the world.
To my mind, nothing, not even the torture we practice at Guantanamo and throughout the war on terror gulag, exemplifies the disconnect between U.S. policy and the American people like the sanitized horror of the air war.
When the Nazis dropped 50 tons of explosives on the Spanish city of Guernica in 1937, the world called it barbaric.
Today, such a pummeling of some hapless Third World region is routine, transformed by an embedded and co-opted media into "humdrum ordinariness," as Tom Engelhardt has pointed out.
Colin Powell had Picasso's "Guernica" covered up
(You'll recall, of course, that Colin Powell, when he lied before the U.N. General Assembly about Iraqi WMD shortly before we invaded, had the tapestry reproduction of Picasso's "Guernica" covered up to avoid any awkward triggering of conscience.)
That we have lost control of our government, money-dominated and obsessed with secrecy as it is, is less surprising to me than the extent to which we have lost our watchdog media, which can't even rouse itself awake long enough to spot the patterns in its own routine coverage of the war.
Shall we take a stroll down Memory Lane?
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," I recall a colleague of mine saying back in mid-March of '03, as the invasion got under way and the shock-and-awe campaign played nonstop on the tube.
They found one boy's body on the roof of that house
The relentless air assault on Baghdad killed untold Iraqis but utterly failed in its intended purpose of "decapitating" the Saddam Hussein regime, killing not a single high government official.
In April 2003, we got word that Hussein and his two sons were meeting in a building in the Mansur district of Baghdad.
Within 45 minutes, we flattened the building with four high explosive bombs, creating a crater 40 feet deep and killing an unknown number of people, but not Hussein or his sons.
"They found one boy's body on the roof of that house over there," an Iraqi later told a reporter.
"I heard that the father went out for ice cream and wouldn't let his children come with him.
"When we came back, they were dead.
"He must be dying of grief."
Shortly before Christmas 2003, USA Today, in a rare instance of independent war coverage, published the results of its four-month investigation of cluster bomb usage in the first months of the war.
10,800 cluster weapons; their British allies used almost 2,200
"Although U.S. forces sought to limit what they call 'collateral damage' in the Iraq campaign, they defied international criticism and used nearly 10,800 cluster weapons; their British allies used almost 2,200," reporter Paul Wiseman wrote.
Describing the "steel rain" that devastated the central Iraq city of Al Hillah, he noted that images of the aftermath, "including footage of a baby torn in half, were so gruesome that Western television networks refused to air them."
Back to Afghanistan, where Taliban-hunting with bombs and missiles has been commonplace.
University of New Hampshire professor Marc Herold, who monitored the early phases of the war, wrote in 2002 that "the documented high level of civilian casualties" is caused by "the apparent willingness of U.S. military strategists to fire missiles into, and drop bombs upon, heavily populated areas of Afghanistan."
Seven children died
One example, from about a year ago: We bombed a school in eastern Afghanistan; seven children died.
A Pentagon spokesman explained: "If we knew that there were children inside the building, there was no way that that air strike would have occurred."
We can't wage war without a wide moral latitude.
The public has limited capacity for collateral damage even in the abstract, and none at all for actual details, such as babies torn in half by cluster bombs.
But this is the war on terror,
[See comment above and below — TheWE.biz] which we will never win [We cannot win something that never was — TheWE.biz] until we face the truth about what we're doing and stop doing it.
Forever.
For Ever
Robert Koehler, an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer.
commonwonders.com.
© 2008 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Only one comment to add to this article by Robert Koehler himself still stuck in the delusion there is a war on terror
— THERE IS NO WAR ON TERROR
— FROM 9-11 ON IT HAS ALL BEEN FABRICATION
Both in Afghanistan and Iraq, there is a war of resistance — a war of opposition to foreign occupation, to foreign bombing, to terrible and continuing foreign caused death and injury
TERROR COMMITTED BY THE FOREIGN OCCUPIERS
Canada, US, Western rogue governments — War crimes continue
Child killed by Western rogue governments, by Canada, US, UK, Western European nations that have troops in Afghanistan propping up a US imposed puppet government

Photo: www.uruknet.info
Child killed by Western rogue governments
by Canada
US
UK
by all Western European nations that have troops in Afghanistan propping up a US imposed puppet government
  uruknet.info
  اوروكنت.إنفو
    informazione dall'iraq occupato
information from occupied iraq
أخبار منالعراق المحتلة
Afghanistan hit by record number of bombs
Bruce Rolfsen, Air Force Times
July 19, 2008
Air Force and allied warplanes are dropping a record number of bombs on Afghanistan targets.
For the first half of 2008, aircraft dropped 1,853 bombs — more than they released during all of 2006 and more than half of 2007’s total — 3,572 bombs.
Iraq
Almost a million dead
4 million displaced, scattered into other countries
Untold injured
Horror of US UK invasion continuing
Sadriya market, Baghdad, Iraq.

Unknown if any of the explosions were paid and setup by US government and British government special black budget secret cell operations.

Photo: BBC/AFP
Sadriya market, Baghdad, Iraq.
Unknown if any of the explosions were paid and setup by US government and British government special black budget secret cell operations.
Alex Jones End Game.

Photo: prisonplanet.tv
Alex Jones End Game.

Photo: prisonplanet.tv
Alex Jones End Game.

Photo: prisonplanet.tv
Alex Jones End Game.

Photo: prisonplanet.tv
Click on image to help Alex and for high quality video
EndGame — Alex Jones, you have done the world a great favor
It has taken me until now to view this great masterpiece that chronicles the planet's true history
But I am glad for this delay as my awareness of reality, and the events that seemingly must unfold to educate humankind, have come from sentience off planet — now with this movie the circles merge
A movie par excellence, it will likely be considered the most significant in the downfall of the rich and powerful who control the world and rising politicians already in their pocket — the imprisonment of all those who seek to bring forth this horror, this enslavement of 'New World Order'
Kewe
Alex Jones End Game.

Photo: prisonplanet.tv
The aim of TheWE.biz is to make us all aware that the most murderous violence and terror by far, committed by anyone, is done by The West
Violence and terror is the footprint and modus operandi of Western Government and the shadow power that operates from behind these 'elected officials'
This film helps us to focus on that reality
Indonesia's 9/11 — Exposing US government operations in the Bali Bombing
Kewe
Archives only for We The People Radio Network
Questioning War, Organizing Resistance
— Carol Brouillet
Glen Clancy, from Victoria, Australia, created "Fool Me Twice" described as 'A documentary about the Australian government's lies about the East Timor massacres, the cover-up of the Bali Bombings and subsequent anti-terror laws.'
The 25 year old, Clancy is Australia's Dylan Avery (of Loose Change fame).
The work was originally created to be viewed online, but Clancy is working on improving the resolution for larger screen and theatrical viewing.
Glen wrote (at the Fool Me Twice Blog on December 4, 2008)
To all,
After discovering 911 was an inside job, through such movies as Loose Change, Terrorstorm and Zeitgeist, I decided to investigate the Bali bombings.   The evidence was overwhelming.   There had been a cover-up.
As shocking as the truth may be, please keep an open mind while viewing this documentary.   FOOL ME TWICE is 100% sourced.   Please see reference list below.   I tried to produce a documentary as true to the genre as possible, limiting opinion and simply documenting the facts.
I believe that 911 Truth is one of the most important movements of our time and exposing the cover-up of the 2002 Bali bombings can help destroy the "911/War on terror/Al-CIAda" myth.
Please help spread this information.
Kind regards,
Glen
To listen to the March 10, 2008 interview of Glen Clancy by Carol Brouillet broadcast on:
   We The People Radio Network
— Right Click Here    (Save Target As, Link As, File)      MP3 1 hour
Americans are politically paralyzed by both cognitive dissonance and by what psychologists call “learned helplessness,” the result of years of having one outrage after another foisted upon them, without there ever being any real accountability.
So, as many truthers have discovered, the most common reactions of average Americans, when presented with the facts of 9/11, are either, “My government would never do that,” or, “Okay . . . but what can anybody do about it?”
Firefighters for 9/11 Truth
Erik Lawyer is the founding member of  FirefightersFor911Truth.org.
He is currently a full time firefighter, assigned to 3 Truck in the City of Seattle for the last 12 years.
Before that he was with the City of Sacramento as a Firefighter Paramedic.
He first began working in Emergency Services in 1988 in the Sacramento area with a 911 private paramedic ambulance company.
He has 20 years experience in Emergency Services.
He earned my pilot's license in 1987, and have been recreationally flying since.
He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics from the University of California at Davis in 1993, with 2 years of elective Engineering courses, and a Minor in Psychology.
Erik wrote a moving account of his own shift in consciousness regarding 9/11 which prompted him to start Fire Fighters For 9/11 Truth entitled:  
MAYDAY...MAYDAY...MAYDAY.
Here's an excerpt:
I, like most Americans, remember exactly where I was when I saw the attacks and had the overwhelming urge to take action.
I was shocked, outraged, scared and confused.
I called my Battalion Chief and asked if Seattle would be sending any teams to help.
I was a member of the MMST, and figured we would be needed and I wanted to know where to report.
Due to the nature of the incident we were not called up, and instead USAR teams, including Seattle's, were sent.
I first visited Ground Zero in October of 2001 with several firefighters from Seattle.
We went to pay our respect and show support.
We raised money for our brother firehouses and attended the funerals of our fallen Brothers.
I was deeply moved and humbled by the community support, the sheer enormity of the tragedy along with the courage and compassion of the FDNY "Brotherhood."
I vividly remember the anger, the intense desire for vengeance,the feelings of helplessness
Even though I listened to their stories for days, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and tragedy they suffered on that day and the years to come.
I vividly remember the anger I felt, the intense desire for vengeance, and the feelings of helplessness.
I was relieved when the government identified the terrorists and satisfied that we were going to have a swift deliverance of "justice."
I've been a conservative my entire life; a registered Republican since I could vote.
I am a self proclaimed Patriot with George Washington as one of my all time heroes.
So when conspiracy theories quickly surfaced, and "Liberals" cried foul on the erosion of civil liberties, I chalked it up to their political beliefs and bitterness towards the Republican President.
I read many debunking articles — including Popular Mechanics — and watched many debunking videos including, Farenhype 9/11.
I was convinced that these "Liberals" were misinformed and were grasping at straws to discredit the "official" story.
Don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!
Like most people with strong opinions, instead of looking at all the facts, I was specifically looking for anything that supported my own beliefs.
As soon as I discovered any inaccuracy in a conspiracy claim, I wrote it off.
My father, a big city cop and Korean War veteran, loved to say, "don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!"
Well, I had my mind made up.
I told conspiracy theorists like my own Truck Officer, Lt. Earl Emerson, that they were insane if they thought anyone other than the terrorists did this.
Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it
Heck, we have ID cards, security camera videos, Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it?
The years went on and I was satisfied in my beliefs.
I even believed these "Wackos" that doubted the "official" story were distracting our country from focusing on the real threat of terrorism...
Fast forward to March of 2008.
A great friend of mine with a Business degree from West Point, as conservative and non-conspiratorial as they get, came over one night to talk about what he saw happening in the economy.
Began researching such things as economies, who is in control of currencies
He provided some disconcerting evidence that we as a nation are at risk of entering into another depression; he pointed out historical parallels where other countries, such as Germany, suffered economic collapse.
THAT was my eye opener.
I became obsessed researching things such as economies, who is in control of currencies, what causes depressions, who profits during war, etc.
So many things kept pointing to 9/11.
Another one of my dad's favorite quotes was, "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear."
So, I looked at both sides and quickly noticed a pattern.
On one side, the general media ignores some of the most compelling evidence that contradicts the "official" story...
When I voiced my new opinion and concerns most of my friends listened.
Shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift
I think because they were shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift, or because they thought I had lost my mind and wanted to diagnose the cause.
Curiously, some became angry at my new questions and actually thought I was supporting Terrorists with my concerns.
Being a part of that same mindset myself only a few weeks ago, and then having a major shift in consciousness, really shook me to the core.
What has happened to our collective consciousness that we believe anyone who doubts the "official" story or what the government tells us is an enemy?
What has happened to us — are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?
Anyone who asks for the Truth is labeled a "Wacko" or "Terrorist Sympathizer?"
What has happened to us?
Are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?...
To be honest, I was asleep at the wheel, and relied on what I was being told by mainstream media.
The same media whose parent corporations, are some of the largest suppliers of weapons in this war.
Before this "awakening" I had no idea the extent of our civil liberties that had been eroded in the name of Terrorism.
I had never really wrapped my brain around what legalized torture means.
I had always claimed America was noble.
Just look at how we treated POW's during WWII and Vietnam compared to our enemies.
[Ever check out the real story of John McCain as a POW, keep investigating! — TheWE.biz]
That separated us.
We were setting the example of Human Rights to the rest of the world.
[Check out the real facts of US instigations in Central and South America! — TheWE.biz]
Sure, you'll always have individuals that will take things too far, but Government sponsored torture?
[Let's mention CIA activity across the planet since its inception, including inside the US, and other black budget US government special operations agencies! — TheWE.biz]
What has happened to our country?
What kind of example are we setting for our children, and the world?
You would be interested to learn how many of our own rights have been stripped away recently.
Look up the Military Commissions Act of 2006, John Warner Defense Authorization Act, Homegrown Terrorism Act, Presidential Directive 51.
Amazing the rights we have all lost
It is amazing the rights we have all lost in the past couple of years and very little is covered by the U.S. media.
After discovering this, I applied the "common sense" test that my Grandfather always said wasn't so common.
Why would a government so aggressively suppress truth and blatantly destroy evidence if there was nothing to hide?
Why has every testimony from sworn government and military officials that points to "prior knowledge" been stricken from the 9/11 Commission Report?
How did paper business cards, cloth bandanas, and plastic ID's that implicate the terrorists survive so neatly through jet fueled fireballs hot enough to destroy titanium and steel?
I've seen bodies burned beyond recognition, yet I have never found one that was wearing unburned clothing.
These questions alone are enough to make me risk everything for a real investigation and accounting...
When I truly realized the enormity of the effect 9/11 has had on our Rights, our Economy, our Beliefs, our Fears, our Intolerances and our Government — I felt fear, then anger, then the need to take action.
Bill Chickering said it best:
“Anger is a very appropriate and necessary response to an injustice.
“But stand back now; the truth, clearly spoken, is always your best weapon.
“Calmly spoken, it can burn a hole through the hardest heart.”
When I realized the extent of the force and attitudes working to silence those who peacefully ask questions, demand answers, and seek truth, it became clear to me that our Country is in serious trouble and I must now stand alongside those Patriots who seek Truth and Constitutional Restoration.
Richard Gage, AIA is the founding member of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth   ae911Truth.org.
He has been a practicing Architect for 20 years and has worked on most types of building construction including numerous fire-proofed steel-framed buildings.
He is employed with a San Francisco Bay Area architecture firm and has most recently performed Construction Administration services for a new $120M High School campus including a $10M steel-framed Gymnasium.
Currently he is working on the Design Development for a very large mixed use urban project with 1.2M sq.ft. of retail and 320K sq.ft. of mid-rise office space — altogether about 1,200 tons of steel framing.
He has been one of the most tireless speakers on the issue of 9/11 truth, and more specifically on challenging the official narrative of the disintegration of the 3 major skyscrapers in the World Trade Center complex that took place on September 11th.
He has been lecturing widely across the US and in Canada.
Those who see his presentation rarely walk away still thinking that fires alone could have brought down the buildings.
When NIST came out with a report recently that fires were responsible for the destruction of WTC7, Richard and Architects and Engineers were quick to challenge that report.
See NY Times quotes Richard Gage on WTC7 "collapse"
Aside from the NYT's reporter and a media request from Bulgaria, the press has tried to ignore the serious criticisms that Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has raised about their reports.
Richard Gage gives an insightful interview on major points that scientifically do not agree with the official story of 9/11.
Firefighters for 9-11 truth

Image: firefightersfor911truth.org/Click logo for Firefighters for 9-11 truth
Click logo for architects & engineers for 9/11 truthArchitects & Engineers for 9/11 truth

Image: www.ae911truth.org/
For Film: Elephant in the Room
— Click Here
Elephant in the Room is a documentary following British filmmaker Dean Puckett through his journey into the 9/11 Truth Movement: a global movement of 'conspiracy theorists' who believe that the official explanation about what happened on 9/11 is totally or partially inaccurate.
The filmmakers travel from middle England, across Europe and to New York for the six year anniversary of the attacks, where the film takes one final twist as we are introduced to the 9/11 first responders who are suffering from various grave health difficulties due to the toxic dust that they breathed in trying to help their country during the weeks after this tragic event.
Told with a personal hands on approach that avoids advancing any one position, the film asks the question: are these crazy conspiracy theorists?
Or is 9/11 Truth a credible political movement?
9/11
By all accounts, the unprecedented events of September 11th, 2001 changed the way our country functions, and in turn, the world.
It is therefore critical that conscientious Americans, as well as people around the globe, understand these events in detail.
Unfortunately the official reports, including The 9/11 Commission Report and the NIST WTC Report, written by those working under the direction of the Bush Administration, have been proven to be elaborate cover-ups.
Film: 9/11 Revisited
September 11th Revisited is perhaps the most riveting film ever made about the destruction of the World Trade Center.
This is a powerful documentary which features eyewitness accounts and archived news footage that was shot on September 11, 2001 but never replayed on television.
Featuring interviews with eyewitnesses & firefighters, along with expert analysis by Professor Steven E. Jones, Professor David Ray Griffin, MIT Engineer Jeffrey King, and Professor James H. Fetzer.
This film provides stunning evidence that explosives were used in the complete demolition of the WTC Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.
For Film: 9/11 Revisited
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
An excellent documentary about the families of the victims of 9/11 and their fight to uncover and expose the truth about what happened that day.
For Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Mysteries
90 minutes of pure demolition evidence and analysis, laced with staggering witness testimonials.
Moving from “the myth” through “the analysis” and into “the players,” careful deconstruction of the official story set right alongside clean, clear science.
The 9/11 picture is not one of politics or nationalism or loyalty, but one of strict and simple physics.   How do you get a 10-second 110-story pancake collapse?
'Oh!   You don't believe the 9-11 official version,' they say.
'You mean where they want you to accept the buildings were not blown up from below.
'Plane fuel!   Substance never burns higher then a gas stove!   That it caused the inner core steel to melt!
'Steel melting!
'Concrete vaporizing!
' 'No!   I don't believe that conspiracy theory.
'Cheney!   Bush!   Rudy Giuliani!   HA!  HA!
'Tower 7 that never had a plane hit — just came tumbling down!
'You believe that, eh!
'Ever think it had to be blown up because the plane scheduled to fly into it was off getting shot down.
'Thermite in Tower 7's walls, you see — incriminating evidence — impossible to get out without people watching!
Had to be blown up!
'Next you'll be saying Obama is not a Wall Street Illuminati banker stooge?
'Take your pick:   The partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedians.
'Him who allows himself to be used.
'Oh!   I can't really blame you,   Television it turns minds to pulp.
'Turn off the television.   It's the only way.'
'Turn off the television?'
'Get rid of it really.   I mean what else is there to do!'
'Get rid of the television?'
'Don't forget all radio garbage is propaganda, even the songs.
'Then those five minute propaganda hits they send you every hour!
'The ones they refer to as News
'Get rid of all the propaganda from your brain, the only way to do it.'
'Stop being hooked on those Hollywood movies — even those that make you think they are making you think'
'All paid performers to make your brain dead.
'You turn the brainwashing off, you'll begin to become yourself.
'It really is the only way!'
'Oh!'
Kewe — TheWE.biz
Firefighters for 9-11 truth

Image: firefightersfor911truth.org/Click logo for Firefighters for 9-11 truth
Click logo for architects & engineers for 9/11 truthArchitects & Engineers for 9/11 truth

Image: www.ae911truth.org/
Humankind as we know it at the 'End Point'

Don't forget:

Behind it all is the desire for depopulation — by those rich enough to have their islands for temporary residence while depopulation takes place.

Doesn't matter if it is killing in the fight for food when the trucks no longer arrive at your local supermarket.

Doesn't matter if it is tribe against tribe.

Or thermobaric bombs — environmentally friendly compared to nuclear.   Bombs that send ultra-sonic shock waves and searing fireballs to destroy everything in their dropping wake.

Or those special bombs that do not destroy the infrastructure — kill only you and those you love.

You are in the way, folks!

There are too many of you!

This is the plan.

Photo: Internet

Humankind as we know it at the 'End Point'
Don't forget:
Behind it all is the desire for depopulation — by those rich enough to have their islands for temporary residence while depopulation takes place.
Doesn't matter if it is killing in the fight for food when the trucks no longer arrive at your local supermarket.
Doesn't matter if it is tribe against tribe.
Or thermobaric bombs — environmentally friendly compared to nuclear.   Bombs that send ultra-sonic shock waves and searing fireballs to destroy everything in their dropping wake.
Or those special bombs that do not destroy the infrastructure — kill only you and those you love.
You are in the way, folks!
There are too many of you!
This is the plan.
Kewe
Unspeakable grief and horror
ÇáäÊÇÆÌ ÇáÃæáíÉ ááÍá ÇáÃãíÑßí ÇáÍÐÑ ááãÞÇæãÉ ÇáÚÑÇÞíÉ Ýí ÇáÝáæÌÉ (ÇáÌÒíÑÉ)
                        ...and the circus of deception killing continues...
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         — January    
He says, "You are quite mad, Kewe"
And of course I am.
Why, I don't believe any of it — not the bloody body, not the bloody mind, not even the bloody Universe, or is it bloody multiverse.
"It's all illusion," I say.   "Don't you know, my lad, my lassie.   The game!   The game, me girl, me boy!   Takes on interest, don't you know.   T'is me sport, till doest find a better!"
Pssssst — but all this stuff is happening down here
Let's change it!
To say hello:     hello[the at marker]Kewe.info
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