contributions

“History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.” - Edward Gibbon, author of “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
It is rare when I agree with an editorial in Rupert Murdock’s rag—the “New York Post.” But, on Aug. 9, 2008, the tabloid got it right when it ranted about John Edwards’ extramarital affair, while running, in 2006, for president in the Democracy Party primaries. The “Post” roared about the fallen political star: “His (…)

by Vladimir Radyuhin
Moscow describes the situation in South Ossetia as a “humanitarian catastrophe”
MOSCOW: Russian forces have foiled Georgia’s plan for a blitzkrieg offensive against its breakaway territory of South Ossetia, said a Russian military spokesman on Saturday.
According to a map captured from a Georgian officer and shown on Russian TV on Saturday, the offensive plan called for the Georgian forces to capture half the territory of South Ossetia, including the regional (…)

Troops pull out of Lowi Sam
By Anwarullah KHAN
Source: "The Dawn"
KHAAR, Aug 9: Security forces on Friday night pulled out of Lowi Sam area of the Bajaur tribal region after fierce clashes with militants. Both sides suffered heavy casualties in the three-day gunbattle.
Eyewitnesses said the situation was chaotic and the area was littered with bodies and burnt vehicles. They said the soldiers, who had been under siege for the past three days, had returned to their base in Khaar, (…)

Une version en langue francaise sera bientot disponible sur la page francaise de Bellaciao; cet article a deja ete publie par le celebre magazine americain ConterPunch
More of the Same, Packaged as Change Barack Obama and Afghanistan
By MARC HEROLD
When asked in Berlin by CNN’s Candy Crowley whether he believed the United States needed to apologize for anything over the past 7 ½ years in terms of foreign policy, candidate Obama responded, “No, I don’t believe in the U.S. apologizing. (…)

Source: Debka (indian intelligence)
Georgian tanks and infantry, aided by Israeli military advisers, captured the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, early Friday, Aug. 8, bringing the Georgian-Russian conflict over the province to a military climax.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin threatened a “military response.”
Former Soviet Georgia called up its military reserves after Russian warplanes bombed its new positions in the renegade province.
In Moscow’s first (…)

A massive US naval armada is heading for the Middle East. Meanwhile Russia and Georgia have engaged forces in what appears to be a major geopolitical crisis and developing confrontation in the region. This is probably as dangerous a constellation of events as has yet occurred. Don’t just wait for it on CNN.
Operation Brimstone ended only one week ago. This was the joint US/UK/French naval war games in the Atlantic Ocean preparing for a naval blockade of Iran and the likely resulting war (…)

Muslims in Kashmir protest against assault: Yasin Malik hospitalized
SRINAGAR, Aug 7: Security forces fired teargas and used batons on Thursday against hundreds of angry people were protesting over assaults in occupied Kashmir, police said.
Chanting “we want freedom” and “Indian forces leave Kashmir,” the protesters hurled rocks at police and paramilitary soldiers at several places in Srinagar, said Prabhakar Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force.
The Muslims say (…)

By Michael P. Wright
Observe that Boren’s response was to play dumb when they asked him if he supported the call for a new official 9/11 investigation. Boren claims that he was no longer involved with the intelligence community after he left the U.S. Senate in 1994. I am quite sure that this was just another one of Boren’s many lies.
At the same time, never able to repress his self-aggrandizing nature, Boren boasts that he was having breakfast with CIA director George Tenet on the (…)

By Nicola Nasser*
Jerusalem, the casus belli of the Palestinian national struggle of liberation and the rallying cry of the Zionist movement for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, was recently described as becoming “a terror hub,” a “hotbed” of violent Palestinian neighborhoods and as being “encircled” by “a security vacuum,” where going into the Palestinian refugee camp of Shuafat “is more dangerous than the (northern West Bank) Jenin refugee camp,” according to the Israeli (…)

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5: In order to boost the morale of police personnel working in Maoist-affected areas, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today announced a state gallantry award of Rs 1 lakh and a special package for them.
The morale of the men in khaki working in the Naxalite-hit areas has been down following frequent rebel attacks. Recently in two consecutive attacks in Malkgangiri, 55 policemen of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh had been killed.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Orissa Police (…)