“Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.” Officially, America is now bankrupt: financially, economically, politically – and morally. Its criminal aggression towards Iran is just one of many parts of a jigsaw that add up to a clear and grotesque picture of what the United States of America now represents in the 21st Century world. The numbers and pictures for these constituent parts of this odious jigsaw puzzle are well known. But what has become glaringly clear is just how integrated the official image of the US now is. Bankrupt. Terminally in debt, mass poverty at record levels, rampant militarism, draconian curbs on civil liberties, government by the rich for the rich, and lately the reactionary, debased cat-fight that passes for political debate among Republican contenders for the Presidency. Cringing is the sight of super wealthy career politicians throwing sand in each other’s eyes to scrabble up the pole for yet further personal accumulation of capital; disturbing is the easy way that psychopathic targeting of imagined enemies whether at home or abroad is worn like a badge of honour. It is a sign of how depraved the American political mind has become when would-be presidents can so openly talk of conducting foreign policy in terms of unquestioned international aggression. Of course, this kind of political and moral bankruptcy is not just confined to those seeking office. It is the coin of those who are already in office. In a report in the New York Times Monday we have the startling admissions that, taken together, show that the US government should be certified as criminal (if further proof were needed) [1].
Category: Head Stories
In a series of his public speeches Hugo Chaves called an “epidemic” of cancer among Latin American presidents a strange and alarming phenomenon. This hard to cure desease was identified in case of Chavez himself, Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, Dilma Rouseff and Lula da Silva (Brazil), Crisitina Fernandez (Argentina). All of them are known as left of the center politicians struggling to expedite Latin America’s integration process and to get rid of the US dominance in the Western Hemisphere. Chavez let drop words about empires that go to any length to achieve their goals. The Washington’s response didn’t keep waiting. Victoria Nuland, US State Department official spokesperson, said the Chavez’ words were “horrific and reprehensible.” That is they were perceived by the Obama administration as imputation of using special biological technologies to cause cancer among Latin American leaders not friendly towards the USA.
With ongoing war games on both sides, armed hostilities between the US-Israel led coalition and Iran are, according to Israeli military analysts, “dangerously close”. There has been a massive deployment of troops which have been dispatched to the Middle East, not to mention the redeployment of US and allied troops previously stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nine thousand US troops have been dispatched to Israel to participate in what is described by the Israeli press as the largest joint air defense war exercise in Israeli history. The drill, called “Austere Challenge 12,” is scheduled to take place within the next few weeks. Its stated purpose “is to test multiple Israeli and US air defense systems, especially the “Arrow” system, which the country specifically developed with help from the US to intercept Iranian missiles.” In the course of December, Iran conducted its own war games with a major ten days naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz, (December 24, 2011- January 2, 2012). Missile defense and naval war games are being conducted simultaneously. While Israel and the US are preparing to launch major naval exercises in the Persian Gulf, Tehran has announced that it plans to conduct major naval exercises in February.
Russian Warnings against NATO´s War Plans. When then Russian President, and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin stated at the International Security Conference in Munich, 2007, that the world had never been as close to a global war the international media barely took notice. With US and NATO troops amassing in the Middle East, from the Strait of Hormuz via Israel and Jordan, and Turkey, with Special Operations Teams deployed inside Syria and Iran, sanctions on Iran designed to provoke a naval confrontation as a pretext for full scale war, the words of Putin have become more imminent than ever. The article on the ISC website on the speech of Vladimir Putin at the International Security Conference, 2007, in Munich called Putin´s speech inflammatory, a breeze of cold war, and rhetoric.(1) Before his speech the atmosphere was cheerful, business as usual, but the atmosphere changed when Putin instructed the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference Mr. Telschick not to close for his microphone during his speech, announcing that he was going to make clear his real position on international security challenges without any “diplomatic inhibitions”.
On June 15, three months after the NATO bombing of Libya began, the African Union presented to the U.N. Security Council the African position on the attack – in reality, bombing by their traditional imperial aggressors: France and Britain, joined by the U.S., which initially coordinated the assault, and marginally some other nations. It should be recalled that there were two interventions. The first, under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, adopted on March 17, called for a no-fly zone, a cease-fire and measures to protect civilians. After a few moments, that intervention was cast aside as the imperial triumvirate joined the rebel army, serving as its air force.
As international relations scholar Kenneth Waltz said, states seek survival above all else. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is no exception. The DPRK conducted two nuclear tests, one in 2006 and the other in 2009, and despite the huge international pressure it exchanged fire with the Republic of Korea (ROK) over Yeonpyeong Island in late 2010. These incidents worsened the DPRK’s ties with the United States, Japan and the ROK. But these seemingly “irrational” actions by the DPRK were decided by its security concerns, for it lacks a sense of security. On the international front, former US president George W. Bush labeled the DPRK as part of the “axis of evil” and even threatened preemptive strikes against it. Through sanctions and various other means, the US has tried to topple the DPRK government.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been threatened with military action by the US and its allies for the last eight years. Iran has been involved in war games in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy is deployed. Iran’s naval exercises which commenced on December 24th were conducted in an area which is patrolled by the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain. Meanwhile, a new round of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran has been unleashed, largely targeting Iran’s Central Bank, leading to a dramatic plunge of Iran’s currency. Reacting to US threats, Iran declared that it would consider blocking the shipment of oil through the Strait of Hormuz:
Kim Jong Il had repeatedly nullified America’s superior military power first and foremost! It’s still (and will be for a while!) heatedly debatable if Kim Jong Il will and should be remembered as one of the most important leaders both nationally and globally, particularly with regard to the world’s anti-imperialist, self-determination and independence struggles. However, this could-be controversial statement can be undisputedly substantiated by his strategically bold, precise and wise leadership which had repeatedly nullified the nonstop US military aggressions first and foremost. Without any doubts, it’s now a globally-recognized fact that he’d successfully and brilliantly defended his nation from the undisputedly and unprecedentedly most powerful Global Empire’s nonstop military threats and war attempts. However, it’s a well-known and well-documented fact for over 60 years that US has also never given up to invade, destroy and occupy the north as they’ve successfully done it in the south since September 1945.
A cold war has been ongoing between Tehran and Washington. U.S. spies, drones, assassinations, and accusations against Tehran have all been a part of this package. Washington and its minions have been using every means possible, including international organizations, like the United Nations as a battleground against Tehran in this cold war. The destabilization campaign being waged against Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are also a critical front in this cold war… The Obama Administration has used 2011 to unleash Washington’s so-called “Coalition of the Moderate” against the Resistance Bloc, which pins together all the countries and forces united by their opposition to U.S. and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. The two camps that are becoming more and more visible in the MENA region are falling along the lines of what Washington, Tel Aviv, and NATO planned on forming after the 2006 Israeli defeat in Lebanon as a means of tackling Iran and its allies.
As to currency manipulation, the Fed has manipulated the dollar through near-zero interest rates and lax credit policy. The manipulation of interest rates is an indirect manipulation of exchange rates. The US dollar at one point depreciated from roughly $0.80 against the euro to $1.60 in April 2008. Today, the Fed is again forcing a depreciation of the dollar relative to the yen, euro, and other currencies. Yet, these trading partners have not even made a peep in protest.