contributions

Kidnap and torture: new claims of Army war crimes in Iraq
the independent :: 2007-05-20 :: Tarek Hassan, One of Many Victims of the Occupation Hassan’s Wrist Tag Showing Clearly He was Being Held at BUCCA Camp The British Army is facing new allegations that it was involved in "forced disappearances", hostage-taking and torture of Iraqi civilians after the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein. One of the claims is made by the former chairman of the Red Crescent in Basra, who alleges (…)

More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the conflict started by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to a new survey by a UK polling group.
The report was followed by more violence on Thursday, with five people killed and eight injured in a bomb blast in the Kazimiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
The survey, conducted by UK-based Opinion Research Business (ORB), found that 20 per cent of people in Iraq had experienced at least one death in their (…)

Some important events have taken place that need to be addressed.
First is the news that four major underwater Internet cables have been cut in the last few days, sending large portions of the Middle East into communication blackout. Second is the ‘coincidence’ between these Internet disruptions and the scheduled opening of the Iranian oil bourse, which will establish trade of “oil products in non-dollar currencies”, completely collapsing the US economy.
It has been said by many that (…)

Revealed: British plan to build training camp for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan
By Jerome Starkey in Kabul Monday, 4 February 2008
The Afghan government claims they prove British agents were talking to the Taliban without permission from the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, despite Gordon Brown’s pledge that Britain will not negotiate. The Prime Minister told Parliament on 12 December: "Our objective is to defeat the insurgency by isolating and eliminating their leaders. We will not (…)

POLITICAL BITS AND PIECES
Occasional Collection of Observations on the American Presidential Primaries and Related Matters
John Chuckman
SUPER TUESDAY
McCain has no real competition.
His opponents are both relatively weak candidates and poor campaigners.
Romney is insipid, but rich enough to carry on.
Huckabee is simply an idiot, but an idiot with some strong emotional appeal to the Religious Right.
Romney and Huckabee do have the advantage of pulling the Religious Right (…)

Stamping out the Vintage By David Glenn Cox
I live in Georgia and according to the economic statistics, Georgia is somewhere in the middle of the pile between, not great but not so awful, such as Michigan or California. Of course its all relative, a bad storm that shuts down the airport is terrible if however you’re stranded inside that airport then it becomes the worst storm you’ve have ever endured in your life.
I travel the city of Atlanta calling on customers, through neighborhoods (…)

A trillion-dollar smile
By The Mogambo Guru
Feb 5, 2008
No sooner had I sat down than Jim Willie of the Hat Trick Letter said, "The total of all US$-based mortgage bonds is $10.4 trillion." Well, immediately, I am lost and confused, as I thought that this was a free, "get acquainted" luncheon, and anyway, I cannot conceive of such a large number as a trillion, so let’s move on to another topic, such as "Where is the food and is there an open bar?"
But optimistically thinking that (…)

Lisbon Treaty gets Versailles vote
French MPs have voted to amend their constitution to permit the adoption of the revised European Constitution.
EU Observer quotes Prime Minister Francois Fillon as hailing the decision as "a vote that distinguishes the actors of history from the spectators."
Held in a special session in Versailles, the vote by France’s Chamber of Deputies was passed 560 to 181. Opposition Socialists abstained, arguing that while they supported the Lisbon Treaty, they (…)

Fragile Dollar Hegemony: Iran’s Oil Bourse could Topple the Dollar
By Mike Whitney
Global Research, February 4, 2008
Two weeks ago George Bush was sent on a mission to the Middle East to deliver a horse’s head. We all remember the disturbing scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” where Lucca Brassi goes to Hollywood to convince a recalcitrant movie producer to use Don Corleone’s nephew in his next film. The “Big shot” producer is finally persuaded to hire the young actor after (…)

“An intelligent Hell would be better than a stupid paradise.” - Victor Hugo
Is there a hell after death? The great Dante, one of Italy’s finest sons, wrote about it in his “Divine Comedy.” In Dante’s fiery inferno, Satan, a fallen Angel, is in charge of dishing out suffering to the damned. In light of the current political situation, I am moved to once again reach for my crystal ball, to revisit hell. Let’s see... In one of the deepest Circles of Hell, I watched President George W. Bush, (…)