Doing away with the pretense that US troops in Yemen are exclusively there on a “training mission,” officials are confirming that “about 20 US special forces” are on the ground and engaged in a “focused counter-terrorism campaign.”

With drones pounding southern Yemen on a near daily basis, the confirmation shows that the troops are not just in Yemen, but are actually directing the Yemeni military in their suddenly aggressive offensive against the Abyan Province.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri urged people in Saudi Arabia to follow the example set by popular revolutions in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia and rise up.

The likelihood that U.S. air power will target only those (anonymous) individuals who aspire to attack the United States, while sparing Yemeni rebels, is low. Perhaps more importantly, drone strikes could ultimately unite these disparate groups behind a common banner that opposes both the Hadi regime and its partner in crime, the United States. It would be easy for the U.S. military and CIA to become a Yemeni counterinsurgency air force for the Hadi regime.

Given the marked increase in AQAP's size, scope, and influence, the steady accretion of U.S. intelligence collection and strike capabilities have failed to reduce the threat of terrorist plots from Yemen. The current eliminationist, uncompromising counterterrorism mission in Yemen is not delivering results, but it is unlikely that the Obama administration, in alliance with the Hadi regime, will change course anytime soon. In the words of President Hadi, the "hunting of terrorists is irreversible."

Life is a golden gift from Allah if you're a certified member of the Gulf Counter-Revolution Club (GCC), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can torture, kill, repress and demonize their own subjects - in full confidence the "master" will let you get away with it.

Just as the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty in power in Bahrain is vowing, publicly, to keep arresting, tear-gassing, raiding their homes, confiscating their jobs and forcing pro-democracy protesters to live in non-stop fear, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa is being hosted in Washington by the Barack Obama administration.

Prince Salman - who Bahraini propaganda sells as a "moderate" - showed up at the US State Department side-by-side with
THE ROVING EYE
Long live 'our' Gulf bastards
By Pepe Escobar

"The items that we are moving forward with are those that are not typically used for crowd control and that we would not anticipate would be used against protesters in any scenario," the official said.

With growing fighting in the Abyan Province, the Pentagon is announcing that it intends to send troops to Yemen as part of a “training mission.”

Following repeated claims by US leaders that Yemen’s al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is the greatest threat on the planet,the US has dramatically escalated its drone strike campaign against Yemen, pounding southern towns under the control of Ansar al-Sharia several times a week.

While conceding that there are “a number of serious unresolved human rights issues” in the nation, the US State Department announced today that President Obama has signed off on a resumption of weapons sales to Bahrain.

The statement did not provide a total value of the weapons being sent to Bahrain, but insisted that the new weapons would not be used for “crowd control.” US weapons have been used heavily by Bahrain and allies in cracking down on pro-democracy protesters since last year.

Bahrain vowed on Tuesday to intensify its security crackdown on anti-government protests after Sunni regime terminated negotiations on addressing the political grievances fueling the popular upheaval.

With the support for the United States, the Bahraini dictatorship, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has responded to largely peaceful, pro-democracy protest movement with brutal tactics like shooting at crowds with live rounds, systematic torture and beatings, ubiquitous tear gas shot into residential areas, arbitrary arrests and show trials, clamping down on free press, and more.

Hopes dimmed Monday for staging major nuclear talks later this year between Israel and its Muslim rivals, as Iran and Arab countries at a 189-nation conference piled pressure on the Jewish state, accusing it of being the greatest threat to peace in the region. Because Israel has not signed the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, it was not present at Tuesday's debate. But the United States defended its ally, warning that singling out Israel for criticism diminished the prospect of a planned meeting between it and its Muslim neighbors to explore the prospect of establishing a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

It’s safe to say that foreign policy was not the strong suit of this year’s contenders for the GOP presidential nomination. Rick Perry labeled the Turkish government “Islamic terrorists.” Newt Gingrich referred to Palestinians as “invented” people. Herman Cain called Uzbekistan “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan” and memorably blanked when asked what he thought of NATO’s incursion into Libya. Michele Bachmann pledged to close the US embassy in Iran, which hasn’t existed since 1980. Rick Santorum gave a major foreign policy speech at a Jelly Belly factory in California.

Yet though the candidates and their views were often hard to take seriously, their statements on foreign policy reflected a more disturbing trend in the GOP. Despite facing a war-weary public, the candidates—with the exception of Ron Paul, an antiwar libertarian, and Jon Huntsman, a moderate internationalist—positioned themselves as unapologetic war hawks.

Police in Bahrain regularly resort to beating anti-government protesters, despite officials' pledges to stop such practices, a human rights group said Sunday.

according to Human Rights Watch, beating and torture of prisoners is continuing at informal facilities and in secluded outdoor areas, where detainees have been taken for up to two hours before they're transferred to police stations.

"Bahrain's leaders need to make clear that they will investigate and punish those responsible for abuses when the cameras are off," Human Rights Watch said.

Beyond the moral aspect, which Serious People do not comment upon, since it implies that the U.S. does not have the right to kill whomever it wants: only strategic objections are permitted, it is crystal clear that, as usual, this aggression will only worsen the very problem it is ostensibly intended to solve. A Wall Street Journal article today quotes proponents of this policy as pointing out that "[Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] AQAP has grown stronger since one of its prominent leaders, American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, was killed in a U.S. strike in September." No kidding: it's been the case for a full decade now, as the Pentagon well knows, that nothing strengthens Terrorism more than constant American aggression in that region.

In the gulf states, money and power trump human life.

With over 50 civilians dead and hundreds more imprisoned, the western-backed, ruling dictatorial monarchy in Bahrain sent a clear message to world as to where its loyalties truly are. Despite all of its horrific state-sponsored violence, the client state of Washington DC and Whitehall, still enjoys ’most favored nation status’.

Like with every other Emirate and petro-dictatorship in the Arab League, the Bahrani Royal Family maintain their credibility with western powers, yet their brutal police state continues to act with impunity - in full public view.

As long as the leadership in Bahrain abide by the wishes of Washington and London, the west will turn a blind eye to any human rights atrocities.

The new sanctions target Syrian and Iranian intelligence agencies as well as telecommunications and Internet providers for use of information technology to monitor and repress political opposition. They have been rolled out under conditions in which the United Nations is deploying its monitors in Syria to oversee a ceasefire and as Iran prepares for a second round of negotiations next month in Baghdad with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany) over its nuclear program.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post reports on the White House debate about CIA director David Petraeus’ request for a homicidal escalation of the CIA drone war in Yemen.

It seems Petraeus and his allies in the current inter-agency debate do not want to be constrained by a list. They calculate if the U.S. slaughters a particular crowd of people at an al-Qaida funeral, they are sure to kill men plotting to attack the United States. The logic, if not the morality, is persuasive: If you kill the certainly innocent, you will also get some of the presumably guilty.

This is also the logic of terrorism, which is one reason why the defenders of “signature strikes” prefer that their names not be published in the Washington Post.

The CIA is seeking permission to launch more airborne drone strikes in Yemen, even when there is a risk the victims might not always be terrorists, The Washington Post reported.

The targets would be chosen based on intelligence reports indicating suspicious behavior, such as images of militants unloading explosives or gathering at al-Qaeda compounds.

If President Barack Obama’s administration gives the CIA permission for the strikes, it could represent a politically dangerous escalation of US military activity in Yemen, the Post said.

The United States military has been training terrorists in a military base in Kuwait, preparing them for attacks in the Middle Eastern countries.

The recruits are sent to the “Arifjan” base where they receive military training and learn methods of bombing and terror operations within a three month period, according to reports.

The US military then sends the trained terrorists as ringleaders to countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria to set up terror networks inside these countries and embark on terrorist activities and carry out acts of sabotage with the support of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Yesterday I wrote how Carlos Latuff’s works caused Israel’s Likud Party to issue death threats against him a few years ago.

Here is a piece he just wrote dealing with the reactions to his works by King Hamad’s regime in Bahrain.

Shiite Bahrainis – who make up about 70 percent of the population in the Gulf monarchy ruled by Sunnis – have been protesting for democratic reforms for over a year. The regime’s response was initially bloody, killing dozens of unarmed protesters in February 2011 when security forces shot at them with live rounds.

But the Obama administration has been supportive of the regime’s stubborn repression throughout. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and is considered by Washington as a geopolitical asset in the strategically important Persian Gulf, also serving as a bulwark against Shiite Iran.

A suspected US drone strike in Yemen’s southeastern Shabwa province has killed five Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants, a local government official said on Tuesday.

The defence ministry said Saturday’s raid was conducted by Yemeni warplanes, but a security official told AFP that a US drone was responsible for the attack.

The United States has never formally acknowledged the use of drones against Al-Qaeda in Yemen, considered by Washington to be the most active and deadly branch of the global terror network and a major focus of its “war on terror.”

A mainly covert U.S. role in Yemen relies to a considerable extent on drones which are flown from a base in nearby Djibouti on the horn of Africa. There is also a secret base thought to be in Saudi Arabia.However, there are also special forces on the ground.

Yemeni officials also reported that the capital of Abyan province, Zinjibar was hit by missile fire from the Gulf of Aden. The Yemeni government does not have the capability to mount such an attack so no doubt it was mounted from U.S. warships. Zinjibar is occupied by the militant group Ansar al Sharia.

Hadi has so far thrown his lot in with the U.S. in making a priority attacks upon Al Qaeda and other militant groups such as Ansar al Sharia. Saleh alternated attacks with deals with the militants.

The ongoing fighting between the Yemeni government and a militant faction (either Ansar al-Sharia or al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) depending on the news source) continues to escalate today in the strategic town of Lawder, with locals reporting that the overall death toll of the last four days of fighting is now 177.

The fighting hasn’t just spread inside Lawder either, with reports that the nearby town of Mudia is also seeing fighting as militants clash with locals. The US has also become involved, attacking a stolen army vehicle with a drone and killing 12 “suspects.”

Al-Qaeda, still smarting from the loss of its iconic leader Osama bin Laden, appears determined to capture the south Yemeni town of Loder in a bid to build itself a secure base in the Arabian Peninsula.

Its location between three provinces gives Loder strategic importance, and it can also provide a safe haven from bombardment from the sea, experts say, adding that the militant group is seeking to extend its influence across the region.

Despite the loss of an estimated 152 men in four days of fighting in and around Loder in Abyan province, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is still engaging Yemeni soldiers and local tribesmen in fierce firefights.

It is very common these days to hear supporters of Israel seek to justify ethnic cleansing by saying that You did it-- you Americans. Amira Hass has a fabulous piece up at Haaretz that takes on this model head on. She exposes the Israeli desire to defeat the Palestinian people, as the U.S. defeated the Native Americans, and then only have to deal with the "remnant" (a reference to Eastern European Jewry after the Holocaust). And she explains why this is not possible, and why we are now in the endgame of "the Jewish regime" because Israel did not want a two-state solution.

Late Wednesday, the director of NDI's Dubai office, Patricia Davis, an American, and her deputy director Slobodon Milic, a Serbian national, were stopped at the Dubai airport by UAE government authorities as they tried to leave the country, according to three sources briefed on the incident. Davis was eventually allowed to leave the UAE, but Milic was not. He was detained by authorities, and subsequently released but is still barred from leaving the UAE. The UAE government has also notified NDI that they plan to file criminal indictments against foreign NGO workers in the UAE for foreign interference in political affairs, the sources said.

The activists, who have no chance for a civilian trial, were part of a larger group of 40 protesters detained on Saturday. Twenty-eight of them were released and claimed that Jordanian security forces beat them severely and subjected them to torture while in custody.

“Some of us were stripped naked and beaten in front of other detainees,” said one activist, who declined to use his real name due to security concerns.

The dictatorship ruling Jordan is a strong ally of the United States. Since Obama took office, Jordan has received over $2.4 billion in U.S. economic and security aid and is set to receive another $675 million in 2012.

30 March 2012- the borders of Israel could well be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of NONVIOLENT Arab Springers on their way to UN OCCUPY Jerusalem and unknown hundreds of thousands of Internet activists who will disseminate the facts on the ground as they happen.

America has dramatically stepped up its “secret war” in Yemen with the U.S. ordering dozens of drone attacks on al-Qaida hotspots, which have also killed scores of civilians.

Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at London’s City University has found that as many as 516 people have been killed in the Yemen attacks – mostly suspected members of al-Qaida’s local ally al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). As many as 104 were civilians.

The irony is rich indeed. For the past year, the Saudi rulers have done their utmost to crush the slightest dissent in their country, while at the same time they have backed Western interference, aggression and regime change in Libya and Syria – under the guise, wait for it, of advocating democratic freedom and human rights.

Despite Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth and official GDP per capita, unemployment and poverty are rampant. As with the other Gulf Arab countries, Saudi Arabia’s rulers rely on a slave labour economy recruited from South Asia and Africa. This means that many young Saudis have to endure a life of unemployment.

The U.S. is planning to restart programs for military aid and training to Yemen, reviving its support for dictatorship after a protest movement drove out the former client, President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The Pentagon is considering as much as $75 million in military assistance to be sent to Yemen in 2012, pending authorization from Congress. This would be in addition to the $120 million in economic aid planned for this year. The U.S. has given more than $326 million in security and civilian assistance to Yemen since 2007.

Cheerled by America's major media scoundrels, war looks increasingly likely. Syria and Iran both are targeted.

It's hard imagining the mindset of hawkish policy makers. Grave consequences aren't considered, let alone waging permanent wars against nonbelligerent countries threatening no one.

Yet Obama's fulfilling Dick Cheney's promise about wars not ending in our lifetime. Former CIA Director James Woolsey said America's "engaged in World War IV, and it could continue for years....This fourth world war, I think, will last considerably longer than either World Wars I or II did for us."

Violence is continuing to soar in the Abyan Province of southern Yemen today, with the two day toll of a battle over a Yemeni government military base now over 140 dead, with at least 110 of them soldiers loyal to new Yemeni ruler Major General Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The fighting began yesterday when forces initially termed by the military as “al-Qaeda” but now revealed to have been from the Ansar al-Sharia faction attacked a military base outside of provincial capital Zinjibar.

Several people have been injured as Bahrain regime forces attack protesters in Sehla.

Pentagon officials today confirmed that a “security team” of US forces came under attack from Ansar al-Sharia loyalists in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, but denied any injuries as a result of the attack. Ansar al-Sharia claimed one “CIA officer” killed in the exchange.

The difference in versions from the two sides actually misses the much more serious revelation of the report, that US ground troops are operating inside Yemen at all. There has certainly been no announcement to that effect, and indeed, several times the Obama Administration has “ruled out” sending ground troops to Yemen.

Around 4PM, Saudi officials denied reports of the explosion, according to Dow Jones. That appeared to still the rise in prices.

Nonetheless, concerns remain about Saudi officials' motives for the denials, and given the country's tight control of the media there may be reason to dispute their statements.

An Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program would set the Middle East ablaze, possibly drag in the United States and unleash a conflict beyond the Jewish state's control, the deputy head of Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement said today. Reuters reports:

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said yesterday its security forces would use “an iron fist” to end violence in a Shiite area of the country and defended its tactics against what it called foreign-backed troublemakers. Sunni Muslim kingdom Saudi Arabia has blamed an unnamed foreign power, widely understood to mean Shiite Iran, for backing attacks on its security forces in its Eastern Province. But members of the Shiite minority in the area have accused the kingdom’s own security force of using violence against protesters.

The Arab League Monday condemned a phrase posted in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's facebook page in which he wished death to all Arabs, following a school bus accident that killed 10 children and injured 40 others.

The horrors of Syria, which Washington so loudly denounces, should not blind us to the fact that American policy in the Middle East is itself a reason for the turmoil throughout the region.

I did not like to hear our race called sheep, and said I did not think they were.

"Still, it is true, lamb," said Satan. "Look at you in war -- what mutton you are, and how ridiculous!"

"In war? How?"

U.S. Secretary of State visited Bulgaria on February 5 to discuss that nation's contribution to NATO's war effort in Afghanistan, the intensification of joint military training and exercises, pressuring the host country into dropping Russian-made arms in favor of Western ones and the further sabotaging of energy deals - natural gas and nuclear - between Bulgaria and Russia.

China's Xinhua News Agency wrote ahead of Clinton's visit that, "Analysts believe there is no doubt that Bulgaria will respond positively to Clinton's foreign policy, even if they are related to the issues in Iran or Syria."

They’ve got to sell it to you like it’s good, that’s why they call themselves ‘pro-democracy’ groups, but as this clip lays bare, so-called pro-democracy groups don’t always promote democracy.
*
In fact, stirring the pot in favor of the U.S. government is, more often than not, far from promoting democracy and more akin to stirring up trouble…

Interviewer: Dr. Leonid, do you think that these preparations and very large maneuvers, which will soon be conducted by Russia, are meant as preparation for war, or rather, a military strike against Iran?

Leonid Ivashov:A strike against Syria or Iran is an indirect strike against Russia and its interests. Russia would lose important positions and allies in the Arab world. Therefore, by defending Syria, Russia is defending its own interests.

If a major war does erupt, it could send the price of oil skyrocketing and there is the potential that the war could broaden very quickly. Hezbollah has already indicated that it will side with Syria, and there is always the potential that Hamas could as well. Russia and China have both stated that they are completely opposed to military action by the United States against Iran and Syria, and they have even hinted that they would possibly even help defend those countries. As the nations of the world take sides, there is even the potential that we could see World War III develop. Let us hope that it never comes to that, but with the world as unstable as it is right now, you never know what may happen.

President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal agreed to form a unity government during a Sunday meeting in the Qatari capital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the reconciliation of rival Palestine factions Fatah and Hamas.He says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' agreement to head the caretaker cabinet shows Abbas has “abandoned the path of peace.”

Words by Mark Twain

Illustrations by the United States Government

While quietly casting lines to draw Tehran into talks on their nuclear dispute, PresidentBarack Obama is reported exclusively by DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military and Washington sources to have secretly ordered US air, naval and marine forces to build up heavy concentrations on two strategic islands – Socotra, which is part of a Yemeni archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and the Omani island of Masirah at the southern exit of the Strait of Hormuz.

Do you see how it works now? Do you see why we are always at war? Do you understand that as long as private central bankers control the economies of nations that wars murdering millions of innocents are inevitable?

Bahraini riot police attacked anti-government protesters with teargas on Monday after the funeral of a teenager killed by police last week, as violence in the Gulf state increases in the run-up to the anniversary of the uprising.

The Bahraini government is a long-time U.S. ally receiving continued economic and military support from the Obama administration, despite an extended reign of repression in response to pro-democracy demonstrations. A recent independent probe into the government’s response concluded also that torture was systemic for hundreds of detained Bahrainis.

President Barack Obama's administration has been delaying its planned $53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new and different package of arms sales -- without any formal notification to the public.

We all need to be Joe Wilson right now. We need to stand up and scream, "LIAR!" at every politician and every talking media moron that is pushing this war in Iran. And we need to keep dong it until they get the message that we will not be deceived any more.

Israel wants to send your kids off to die in Iran, and YOU are the only one that can stop them.

China and Qatar have been taking virtually opposite positions apropos events in Libya and Syria. Yet, they do not seem to be deterred by this little difference and are bonding in a big way in economic cooperation to mutual benefit.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who visited Doha last week, disclosed at a press conference on Friday: a) China proposes to invest in the manufacturing of ''downstream oil products, which are most urgently needed by Qatar''; b) China and Qatar signed an agreement to jointly build a refinery in Taizhou, Zheijiang, in China; c) Chinese companies propose to participate in infrastructure projects in Qatar; and d) China and Qatar are discussing a "long-term, stable and comprehensive cooperative partnership" in natural gas.

EU IRAN OIL EMBARGO SAID TO BE LIKELY DELAYED BY SIX MONTHS

Why? Because the world slowly realized that the potential surge in oil prices would tip a world already on the verge of a recession even deeper into economic contraction. Not rocket science, but certainly something the US president apparently has been unable to comprehend, especially if hoping that he would merely transfer exports from Iran to his close ally Saudi Arabia which would cement its European market monopoly even further. Or, perhaps, someone just explained to Obama that Embargo in January + QE3 in March = No Reelection...

don’t necessarily have much to do with fighting terrorism. See this, this and this.

They are, in reality, about oil.

And protecting Israel (and read the section entitled “Securing the Realm” here).

But as AFP reports today, there is another major motivation for the expanding wars:

The latest round of American sanctions are aimed at shutting down Iran’s central bank, a senior US official said Thursday, spelling out that intention directly for the first time.

“We do need to close down the Central Bank of Iran (CBI),” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity, while adding that the United States is moving quickly to implement the sanctions, signed into law last month.

A prominent Israeli professor at the University of Haifa, Arnon Sofer, is urging the government to act fast to ethnically cleanse Palestinian Bedouins lest Israel be "destroyed" by them.

The works of our Associate artist Carlos Latuff were part and parcel of every protest that took place in the world this past year as can be seen in this video produced for the Islam Channel.

The US first Black secretary of state, Dr. Conoleeza Rice 56, is being discussed by GOP to take-on Obama’s possible running-mate Hillary Clinton in November 2012 election. Her selection would certainly mute the long-held views that most Republican leaders are racists toward Blacks and religious bigots against women.

Condi has several other sellable credentials – She is a pro-Israel Christian Zionist. When she visited Israel in 2000 for the first time, she told Israel daily Yediot Aharnot: “Ihave a deep affinity with Israel“.

Tensions are soaring once again in Yemen today, following attacks on civilian protesters by regime forces Saturday which killed at least nine. Opposition figures are pointing the finger squarely at US Ambassador Gerald Feierstein, whose comments they see as encouragement for the bloody crackdown.

Feierstein seemed to indicate that the subsequent violent crackdown was in keeping with US policy toward its own protesters, saying that “if 2,000 people decided to protest against the White House in the US, we do not consider it a peaceful act and will not allow this.”

The violence underlined the continuing turmoil in Yemen even after Saleh signed a U.S.- and Saudi-backed deal last month by which he handed his powers to his vice president and committed to step down completely in return for immunity.

Protesters who rallied by the thousands for the past 10 months rejected the deal, demanding Saleh be tried for his bloody crackdown on their movement.

At the same time, Saleh has seemed to continue to exercise influence through his relatives and loyalists still in their positions, even after Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi formed a unity government between the opposition and ruling party. Forces loyal to Saleh have defied orders to withdrew from the streets of Sanaa after a deadline was reached Saturday to do so.

Rick Santorum is giving the green light to the racial profiling of Muslims at airports.

The former Pennsylvania senator said the Transportation Security Administration should be allowed to target "the folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes," during Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate about national security.

If you've got a strong constitution you may survive listening to a former, long-time CIA psychiatrist, Jerrold Post, arrogantly dissecting Syria's Bashar Al-Assad and other "rogue" leaders. The CBC's interviewer, Anna Maria Tremonti, touted misleadingly as a "hard edged" journalist, laps up every word and asks not a single challenging question.

Just one of a myriad of claims “historian” and Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has made that doesn’t pass the “based on anything other than a wild guess” test, Newt’s allegation that Iran is hiding nuclear weapons facilities under mosques is now being examined and, as usual, experts say that there is zero evidence that any such thing is happening.

Newt’s claim, made during the “Lincoln Douglas style” debate with Jon Huntsman, was meant to argue that simply bombing Iran isn’t enough. ISIS president David Albright says he has no clue where Newt got the idea, and that it “sounds like he is just repeating rumors.”

Will a recent attack on progressive journalists help spark a sea-change in the debate over Middle East policy?

Appearing on CNN last night, Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry expressed his religiously-inspired support for Israel to an extent few politicians or other presidential candidates have: unwavering support for Israel should it decide to start a war with Iran, even if that meant a region wide conflict.

Finally, one cannot ignore the possibility that derogatory anti-Palestinian statements, of which Gingrich provided a good example, could inflame an already stormy Arab world and, by extension, strengthen Iran's regional standing. But of course, this won't upset those who are waiting with bated breath for the war between Gog and Magog and the Apocalypse. It's only a problem for those who still cling to the anachronistic concept that managing a country's foreign relations requires wisdom, prudence and good judgment.

The TLC reality TV show All-American Muslim chronicles the lives of a group of Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan. The show has been well-received for its fair and realistic portrayal of the Muslim American experience in the United States. Watch a trailer for the show here.

But a reality TV show that lets Americans relate to the lives of Muslims in the United States is an offensive idea to those who want to demonize Islam. The Florida Family Association (FFA) launched a campaign earlier this year to get companies to pull their advertising from the program. FFA claims that 65 of the 67 companies targeted have done this, including home improvement giant Lowe’s and megabank Bank of America:

VT contributor and good friend, Imran Khan sets an agenda for peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan, confronts corruption and outlines a new more equal relationship with the United States.

Kuwait and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are discussing plans to open a joint center in Kuwait City, a NATO official revealed to AFP on Monday.

The center – which would be the first of its kind in the Gulf – would help bolster relations and cooperation between Kuwait and NATO under the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI).

The initiative was launched at a NATO summit in Turkey in June 2004 in order to provide Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries bilateral security cooperation with NATO.

Kuwait joined the ICI in December 2004, followed by Bahrain and Qatar in February 2005 and the UAE in June 2005.

Dershowitz is desperate. In a recent TV appearance, in a mere seven minutes the notorious Zionist mouthpiece, manages to exhibit just about every single ugly Hasbara symptom.

And what is Dershowitz so desperate about? Dershowitz, is desperate to stop ‘The Wandering Who’. Why? Because ‘The Wandering Who’ is probably the only contemporary text that offers a complete and comprehensive reading into, not only Jewish Identity politics in general but also into Dershowitz’ own particular psychosis and duplicitous behaviour.

The charge of anti-Semitism is one that Israel flings at anyone who criticizes them. Israel intentionally blends itself with the world's Jewish people in order to be able to hide behind Jewish people. If you ask Israel any question they do not like, you will be called anti-Semitic. It's a real fraud and the irony is that Israel is setting up the world's Jewish people as targets by acting as if they share the responsibility for Israel's actions.

In 1954, Israeli agents working in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including a United States diplomatic facility, and left evidence behind implicating Arabs as the culprits. The ruse would have worked, had not one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to capture and identify one of the bombers, which in turn led to the round up of an Israeli spy ring.

Some of the spies were from Israel, while others were recruited from the local Jewish population. Israel responded to the scandal with claims in the media that there was no spy ring, that it was all a hoax perpetrated by "anti-Semites".

Yes, says Victor Ostrovsky, a former Israeli secret agent. In his book, By Way of Deception: (Published 1990) A Devastating Insider's Portrait of the Mossad, Mr. Ostrovsky says the Israelis had advance notice of the suicide attack that killed 241 Marines in Beirut in October 1983 but withheld the information from the United States in the hope that the attack would poison American Arab relations.

In case you weren't paying attention...

Members of the Moroccan terror group Salafi Jihadi fought for the CIA in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Dagestan, Bosnia and Kosovo

USS Cole Bomber Jamal al-Badawi fought for the CIA in Bosnia

Zacarias Moussaoui fought for the CIA in Chechnya

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

Head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad Ayman al Zawahiri, fought for the CIA in Bosnia

His brother Zaiman al-Zawahiri fought for the CIA in Kosovo

Abdullah Azzam, "one of the ideological founders of Hamas" fought for the CIA in Afghanistan

The Seven Step Mainstream Media Country Destruction Guide

1. First, they start by targeting a country ripe for “Regime Change”, and brand it a “rogue state”; then...

2. They arm, train, finance local terrorist groups through CIA, MI6, Mossad, Al-Qaeda (a CIA operation), drug cartels (often CIA operations) and call them “freedom fighters”; then...

3. As mock UN Security Council Resolutions are staged that rain death and destruction upon millions of civilians, they call it “UN sanctions to protect civilians”; then...

4. They spread flagrant lies through their “newsrooms” and paid journalists, and call it "the international community’s concerns expressed by prestigious spokespeople and analysts…” then…

The trillion-dollar question in the "Arab Winter" is who will blink first in the West's screenplay of slouching towards Tehran via Damascus.

As they examine the regional chessboard and the formidable array of forces aligned against them, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the military dictatorship of the mullahtariat in Tehran must face, simultaneously, superpower Washington, bomb-happy North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, nuclear power Israel, all Sunni Arab absolute monarchies, and even Sunni-majority, secular Turkey.

Meanwhile, on their side, the Islamic Republic can only count on Moscow. Not as bad a hand as it may seem.

Ask yourself: Why aren't Americans shown these honest facts on any of the over 1,700 major media outlets?

and WHAT OTHER INFO IS BEING WITHELD?

Rachel Corrie: 'a true hero' was killed by the state of Israel, and by its brutal regime that practises not only 'mass punishment' but also 'ethnic cleansing'. The same regime that has displaced over 4 million Palestinians, and killed many thousands. The same regime that has denied the right to self-determination to the Palestinian people.

A regime that systematically destroys the lives of innocents every single DAY.

handi spoke of non-violence, but was not passive in his opposition to the British empire in India. Martin Luther King spoke of non-violence but was not passive in his actions against racial discrimination in the U.S. The Egyptians demonstrated non-violence in Tahrir Square and are still under fire from the military regime now controlling Egypt (and why not, for all the billions of dollars they receive from the U.S.?) The Palestinians practice non-violence on a daily basis, protesting against the illegal “wall” that is expropriating their territory, and in a large part by simply existing and being, proceeding with life trying to give it some sort of semblance of civility under occupation.

After rejecting four previous deals over minor quibbles — an obvious stalling tactic — Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh has finally signed a Gulf countries-brokered deal transferring power to his Number Two, Gen. Abd-Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi.

The Yemeni government has killed and brutalized peaceful protesters since the February uprising began and overreacted to regional rebellions for years, all with the support of the US government.

In a move which intelligence officials attributed to “lazy” security and several ignored warnings, two different CIA spying rings have been uncovered in Beirut, Lebanon, with the Hezbollah faction taken credit for noticing them.

Hezbollah noticed that a series of prepaid cellphones used by the informants were only used rarely and only in very specific locations. They used this, along with the fact that the CIA always used the same codeword, PIZZA, to uncover and arrest the informants.