South Ossetia a prelude to Iran? Duma Deputy Sergey Markov

Russian analyst points to link between Georgian attack and Iran

A senior Russian military analyst said on Wednesday that the U.S. and NATO by arming Tbilisi used the conflict in Georgia as a dress rehearsal for a future military operation in Iran.

Col. Gen Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, told a news conference at RIA Novosti, "We are close to a serious conflict - U.S. and NATO preparations on a strategic scale are ongoing. In the operation the West conducted on Georgian soil against Russia - South Ossetians were the victims or hostages of it - we can see a rehearsal for an attack on Iran. There is a great deal of "new features" that today are being fine tuned in the theater of military operations."

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Russia missile test heightens standoff with West

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia on Thursday tested an inter-continental missile, heightening tensions with the West as France said the European Union could impose sanctions on Moscow over the Georgia conflict.

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Russia may cut off oil flow to the West

Fears are mounting that Russia may restrict oil deliveries to Western Europe over coming days, in response to the threat of EU sanctions and Nato naval actions in the Black Sea.

Any such move would be a dramatic escalation of the Georgia crisis and play havoc with the oil markets.

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Reuters & Pravda: US naval ships not going to Poti and Saakashvili is finished

Pravda says US embassy sources in Tbilisi say Shakashvillis fate has been decided, and a US helicopter will take him away, then he can live in the USA.

Reuters says US ships will not be docking at Poti.

If true it sounds like behind the scenes negotiating; Weapons to Syria, Oil pipelines, recognition, NATO and probably Shevardnadze again.

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Turkey is refusing US naval ships access to Georgia via the Black Sea

The Black Sea is the back yard of three big players Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Syria’s Assad has been billed as the first Arab leader to publicly support the Russians. And that was after nearly two weeks.

Is Turkey going to surprise the world? And continue to refuse the Americans? Is there is a pax Russia unfolding? And Ukraine for all its vitriol to Russia, transports about 90% of the Russian gas that goes to Western Europe. So there is clearly some interdependency between these 2 Black Sea neighbours. And if Georgia ends up a Russian dependency then Turkey is beholden to Russia for the BTC pipeline.

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Georgia conflict may have been provoked to aid US presidential candidate - Putin

MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prompted an angry reaction from Washington on Thursday after suggesting the Georgia conflict may have been provoked to give an advantage to “one of” the U.S. presidential candidates.

“If my guess is right, then it raises the suspicion that someone in the US deliberately created this conflict in order to worsen the situation and create an advantage… for one of the candidates for the post of president of the United States,” Putin said on CNN.

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Georgia is the graveyard of the Jew World Order

Russia's defiance in the Caucasus has brought down the curtain on Bush senior's new world order - not before time

If there were any doubt that the rules of the international game have changed for good, the events of the past few days should have dispelled it. On Monday, President Bush demanded that Russia's leaders reject their parliament's appeal to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Within 24 hours, Bush had his response: President Medvedev announced Russia's recognition of the two contested Georgian enclaves.

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The coming credit crunch crisis...you can help with your tax free donation!

So, we all know that after the mortgage here comes the credit crunch.

Stating the obvious here...

bankdeals.blogspot.com

"The FDIC released its Quarterly Banking Profile for the second quarter. As expected, the financial condition of many banks have worsened."

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Foreign spigot off for US consumers

As US public attention shifts from the Olympics to running mates and the celebrity "news" de jour, the infrastructure beneath your house is termite-infested. Just beneath the nicely painted exterior and behind all the new appliances, doubt is boring through the beams, gnawing at the studs.

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Missing Links

New movie re: 911. 2 hours long. I watched it last night. The details about how extensively the Israeli dual nationals have penetrated the US government are absolutely damning.

What if they were Saudi dual nationals, or French dual nationals, or Mexican dual nationals? Would it still be ok? Would anyone have a problem with that? This mistake, to let Israel essentially run this country, will be our downfall. Unfortunately, it's already a done deal. - Ed.


Missing Links from missinglinks on Vimeo.

US Airstrike Massacres Civilians in Western Afghanistan

Details. - Ed.

In one of the worst atrocities of the US-led occupation of Afghanistan, as many as 90 civilians were massacred by an American air strike last Friday in the western province of Herat. At least 60 of those killed were children under the age of 15, according to Afghan government and military sources.

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Children killed by US airstrike in Afghanistan were guilty of sleeping

They had come together for a solemn occasion. But they had no idea how solemn the occasion would become.

An old friend, a friend of their families, a friend of the local police, had died some months ago, and they were preparing for a memorial service.

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Obama and McCain: Pawns of the Global Elite?

Will it matter if Obama or McCain are elected in November? Hardly.

Both are rigidly backed by important members of the Trilateral Commission who hijacked the Executive Branch of the U.S. government starting in 1976 with the election of Jimmy Carter.

In Obama’s case, Zbigniew Brzezinski (co-founder of the Commission in 1973) is emerging as his principal advisor on foreign policy. Ex-Fed Chairman Paul Volker has made a once-in-a-lifetime, glowing endorsement of Obama. Madelyn Albright is seen sitting next to Obama in several conferences. Shoot, even Jimmy Carter himself endorses Obama. All are top members of the Commission.

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Money and Politics in America

How are things going at the Democratic Party National Convention in Denver this week?

Are they talking about the fact that the Western world is run by an international financial elite headquartered in London, the financial capitals of mainland Europe (such as Frankfurt, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, and Milan), and, of course, New York City?

Are they mentioning at their cocktail parties that the financial elite exert control over the world’s population through the cartels that make up the world’s producing economies and through the civilian and military bureaucracies who work for the governments that kow-tow to them?

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black helicopters over portland for dod terror drills

Here we go again. Check out the comments under the 'don't worry' link. I must still be a 'paranoid delusionist' because I think this sort of 'training' is a bad sign for Merika. (I was properly diagnosed thus once by a military professional over this very topic.) According to one smug commenter, someone 'in the know,' the 'boys' inside are laughing their asses off at citizens as they buzz around in their helicopters. That's so sweet. I'm so glad they enjoy the 'training' paid for by their fellow citizens. Because there's obviously nothing to worry about, you know? They are protecting our freedom, see?, and we all love each other so much in this country, so there's nothing to worry about, and they'll be laughing and laughing even when they get the actual orders to round people up for martial law, because it's so funny that people are 'paranoid delusionists' and think there's anything wrong with the military conducting 'live training' in cities. It's just TRAINING, you morons! Too fucking funny. I can't believe people get worked up over shit like this. They're just TRAINING for martial law or urban warfare or something like that. Don't you want them to be properly trained to arrest your ass when the time comes, you fucking paranoid assholes? - Ed.

from kgw: Don't worry - Portland is not under attack. Low flying military helicopters buzzing downtown Portland looked like a scene out of a movie. Monday night’s drama was all part of a military exercise. Newschannel8 has learned, the Army and Navy are conducting Urban Military Training in Portland and Salem from August 17-30.

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Credit Crisis II: A World Financial Armageddon?

Where are we now in the credit crisis, and why isn’t the massive Fed and ECB weekly lending working to loosen interbank lending? Why is the credit crisis not really improving? Where is this going next? We describe what may happen next as Credit Crisis II in this article.

Now that the credit crisis that started in 2007 is a year old, there has been a debate about whether the financial system will recover, or will the Western/world financial system end up like the Japanese financial system after the stock and real estate crashes in the 1990’s. In that case, the Japanese banks more or less carried their tremendous losses for ten years, and Japan entered a mild but painful decade of deflation. To this day, Japan is battling some of the deflationary forces from that time.

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War with Russia is on the Agenda

Thinking about the massive failure of the US media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark--indeed brainwashed--about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.

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Warnings to Russia from Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham

What vast resources?????? - Ed.

John McCain's two most loyal supporters and most influential foreign policy advisers, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, have an Op-Ed in The Wall St. Journal today proclaiming that "Russia's invasion of Georgia represents the most serious challenge to this political order since Slobodan Milosevic unleashed the demons of ethnic nationalism in the Balkans." Just as their neoconservative comrade, Fred Hiatt, does in today's Washington Post, Lieberman and Graham demand that the U.S. expend vast resources and assert itself both militarily and politically in order to thwart the New Russian Menace ("This means reinvigorating NATO as a military alliance, not just a political one . . . The credibility of Article Five of the NATO Charter -- that an attack against one really can and will be treated as an attack against all -- needs to be bolstered. . . .The Georgian military should be given the antiaircraft and antiarmor systems necessary to deter any renewed Russian aggression").

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WWTT....WTF!!!

Funny...you know, in that sad way. - Ed.

It's nice that Luke Russert can cash a paycheck from NBC. Nepotism among the Beltway whores is a time honored tradition which should not be confined to the likes of the cretinous Cokie Roberts.

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Greed at a Glance

Know anyone who wakes up every day at five, works without a break until late afternoon, then gets back to work and sticks at it until bedtime — only to have that bedtime interrupted at least a couple times a night? You probably do. Single moms with young children, after all, have been living schedules just this hectic for years. Adam Levinson has a hectic schedule, too. The difference between single moms and Adam Levinson? About $300 million. That’s the bonus Levinson, a 38-year-old Wall Street speculative trader, collected from his employer, the Fortress Investment Group, this past April, the Wall Street Journal revealed last week. The Manhattan-based Levinson runs a hedge fund for Fortress. That fund is currently losing money, but Fortress, a public traded company, apparently feared that Levinson, without a sweet incentive to stay, would jump ship to a privately held hedge fund. How's Levinson defending his lush new reward? He’s emphasizing how long and hard he works. He gave the Journal an hour-by-hour rundown of his busy schedule, starting with his 5:10 a.m. wake-up for 20 minutes of yoga . . .

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America - The Newest Third World Nation

The evil Bush administration has largely completed the process begun years ago of turning America, the most powerful and richest nation in history, into a Third World nation. I remember a lunch, about 21 years ago in Long Beach, California, with the president of an aerospace company, myself, and a senior foreign general. A comment by the general has always stayed with me. He said, "America is a very rich nation, it will take a lot to bring her down". In the twenty some years after this, I am simply amazed at just how far one crooked president after another, with the assistance of our "bought and paid for" Congress has managed to take us.

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NATO-Russian naval confrontation on tap in Black Sea?

Tbilisia/Kiev/Moscow - A NATO-Russia naval confrontation in the Black Sea appeared days away on Tuesday, after American officials announced a US warship would attempt to enter a Georgian port controlled by Russian army and naval forces. US fleet elements will in coming weeks unload humanitarian aid in the Russia-controlled Georgian port Poti, US embassy spokesman Stephen Guice said in remarks widely reported by Georgian media. The American announcement setting the stage for a direct US-Russia naval confrontation came against a background of continuing high tensions in the region in the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict and with both Russia and NATO rushing warships into the Black Sea.

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Bush pushing world toward Armageddon

THE NEO-CONNED BUSH REGIME and the Israeli-occupied American media are heading the innocent world toward nuclear war. Back in the Reagan years, the National Endowment for Democracy was created as a Cold War tool.

Today, the NED is a neo-con-controlled agent for U.S. world hegemony. Its main function is to pour U.S. money and election-rigging into former parts of the USSR in order to ring Russia with U.S. puppet states.

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Applying math: Prices to double in 7 years

Recently I’ve come across a few articles discussing the effects of inflation on the global economy. Many countries are facing rapidly rising prices: Canada, Philippines, Thailand, China, India, Turkey, Israel, South Africa, Russia, Holland, Iceland, Argentina, Venezuela, the United States, and many more.

“Double-digit price rises are about to afflict two-thirds of the world's population … So it is worrying that global monetary policy is now at its loosest since the 1970s: the average world real interest rate is negative…”

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US Media Perpetuates Bush Era

Names in the American foreign policy establishment have already publicly announced that we are living in an “a-polar” world. Others speak of “multi-polarity,” and still others speak of a “post-American” era. The United States, they say as one, continues to be an economic and military power without equal, but it has lost relative power.

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Worthless Money, Worthless Economy

There comes that "Kodak moment" (elsewhere referred to as that "Wile E. Coyote moment" when he has run off the cliff and is surprised to see himself momentarily suspended in mid-air) when burgeoning governments and the dysfunctional economies that grow up around them have grown and evolved into their final, grotesque, bloated maximum by constantly expanding their spending via debt and taxes to the maximum, and then one day they suddenly cannot do that silly crap anymore.

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My Palestinian Wife

Every now and then, the rumor arises that I have a Palestinian wife. Some of my kin were highly amused by a debate on that subject that was being conducted by letters to the editor in their local paper recently.

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The End Does Not Justify the Means

In the many issues facing society, a common rationalization for committing wrong, immoral, unjust or unethical acts is that if the greater good is served the relative harm necessary to gain such a supposed good is justified. In essence, people say doing bad can result in good, thus they assert bad becomes good. This has become commonly accepted in politics (as well as within people's personal and business lives).

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The Tempo of Change

One of the lessons of history is that change, no matter how drastic it appears on the pages of history books, is rarely anything like so sudden for those who live through it. Read an account of the French Revolution, for example, and events seem to follow one another like explosions from a string of firecrackers, from the final crisis of the Ancien Régime straight through to the fall of Napoleon. For the man or woman in the French street, though, these happenings were scattered threads in a fabric of months and years woven from the plainer cordage of ordinary life.

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"You can't be president": The outrageous barriers to democracy in America

As the Democratic National Convention begins in Denver, we speak to Harper’s publisher Rick MacArthur on his new book You Can’t Be President. MacArthur says that the popular notion that any American can become president only reinforces the “destructive national delusion that widespread, up-from-the-ground, truly popular democracy, both political and economic, really exists in America.” To assume that, he says, is equal to believing that Santa Claus exists. [includes rush transcript]

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Is Hillary going for the kill at the Denver Convention?

According to conventional wisdom Barak Obama agreed, for the sake of party unity, that Hillary Clinton should be "put into nomination" at the Denver Convention, on the understanding that when nominated, and before the first roll call, she would release her delegates to him and urge them to vote for him. That, apparently, is how it's supposed to happen next Tuesday evening. But is that the way it will happen?

The key to understanding what could actually happen is in the fact that Hillary did not withdraw from the race. She announced only that she was "suspending" her campaign.

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Obama's Secret Deal with the Neo-Cons on Iran's Nuclear Issue

Tabnak’s reporter in the United States has received some information that shows that a deal has been made between Barack Obama the Democrat candidate and the Republican Neo-Cons on dealing with Iran’s nuclear issue.

According to this report, considering that there will be no new security council resolutions against Iran until the U.S. presidential elections in November 2008, and the Democratic candidate’s policy of negotiating with Iran, it’s now clear for some American experts that Obama will be elected as the next U.S. president. So, he methods used during the rule of the Republicans towards Iran will change.

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Hegemon Hold 'Em

The art of analyzing international affairs is somewhat like discovering new planets. The astronomer notes the behaviors of observable objects; when those objects behave in a manner that other observable phenomena can't explain, the astronomer begins hypothesizing what unseen phenomena may be present whose gravity could have produced an otherwise irrational event.

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Outsourcing Intelligence in Iraq: A CorpWatch report on L-3/Titan

When U.S. troops or embassy officials want to track and investigate Iraqis — such as interrogating prisoners accused of terrorism, doing background checks on potential employees, or even to chat with ordinary citizens on the street — the principal intermediary is a relatively obscure company named L-3, that is just over a decade old. Although it is not as well known as companies like Halliburton, it is now the ninth-largest military contractor in the United States. Based in Manhattan, it is headquartered on the upper floors of a skyscraper on Third Avenue, a few blocks from the United Nations. The bulk of this work is done by a recently acquired L-3 subsidiary: Titan Corporation of San Diego.

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Hisssssss......BOOM!

Jackson Hole got interesting toward the end.

Former BOE Policy Maker Willem Buiter savaged Bernanke; here are a few excerpts:

"``The Fed listens to Wall Street and believes what it hears,'' Buiter said yesterday in a paper presented to the Fed's conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. ``This distortion into a partial and often highly distorted perception of reality is unhealthy and dangerous.''

No kidding? Not to mention Cramer. Oh wait - he's just a mouthpiece for people screaming on Wall Street when they're facing the possibility that they will have to stop lying.

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High Treason: 'Pentagon lied to the 911 Commission'; Bush's theory falls apart

911 Commission co-chairs claim that they were misled, perhaps deliberately, by the Bush administration and Pentagon brass. Because 911 was an act of mass murder overtly covered up by the Bush administration, the many lies by Bush amount to more than mere obstructions of justice or cover ups. They amount to high treason --a mechanism by which this administration seized power unconstitutionally. Holes in Bush's theories are holes in Bush's theories. Lack of evidence in support of Bush does not refute his critics who point them out. Bush's many lies and overt efforts to obstruct justice, it is hoped, will bring about the 'controlled demolition' of this illegal and illegitimate regime.

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Fascism Anyone?

Below is the article titled "Fascism Anyone?" by Dr. Laurence W. Britt that appeared in the Spring 2003 Free Inquiry magazine. Free Inquiry magazine is a journal of humanist thought published quarterly by the Council for Secular Humanism. The link to the article follows the article. The list of fourteen characteristics of fascism is interesting but it leaves unexplained how fascism comes into existence in capitalist countries. The way fascism comes into existence is this. Typically, in capitalist nations that have gone fascist, the capitalist class controls most of the capital. Also, typically, the pro-fascist faction of the capitalist class uses their overwhelming economic power to finance the political campaigns of the pro-fascist politicians, and in some cases the private fascist armies at the service of pro-fascist politicians, in their rise to power. In all cases, the attraction of fascism to the pro-fascist faction of the capitalist class is they deceive themselves into believing that they can retain their enormous economic power, and the political power it can buy, without solving the inherent problems associated with capitalism or the external problems confronting capitalism. That is, they deceive themselves into believing that they can retain their power via a fascist state that crushes all political opposition. Historically, this has been a recipe for disaster. - John P. Stoltenberg, P.E.

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I'm NOT on Putin's Bandwagon

I had as much satisfaction as anyone from the humiliation Vlad Putin dealt the Zionists in Georgia recently. However I'm not joining in the general celebration evinced by articles like "The Zionist West Has Met Its Match" by Karl Schwartz (August 23,2008.)

To equate the New World Order with Zionism is incorrect. Zionism is just one pincer in the NWO. The other is Opposition-to-Zionism, represented by Russia's Putin and Iran's Ahmadinejad. The Rothschilds control them both through MI-6.

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Israel paying the price

Officials at the Kremlin apparently took into account the possibility of a harsh diplomatic response by the West to the Georgia invasion. They were prepared for a verbal clash at the UN Security Council and with NATO, and showed willingness to cooperate with the French president’s mediation efforts. However, the West then adopted three harsh retaliatory moves that the Kremlin apparently did not foresee: The US quickly signed a deal with Poland in respect to the deployment of warning systems and missiles; NATO announced it was suspending its ties with Moscow; and talks were launched on Georgia joining NATO.

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Cheney will head diplomatic mission to Georgia war zone

Exactly. Because as soon as you hear the words 'diplomatic mission,' you think of Dick Cheney. - Ed.

CRAWFORD — President Bush is dispatching Vice President Dick Cheney to Georgia, setting up a high-ranking diplomatic mission to an ally reeling from war.

The White House announced today that Cheney will head abroad on Sept. 2 for stops in three former Soviet Republics — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine — plus Italy.

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Fear of Russia ends Israeli support for Georgia

First off, if you're an English speaker, every story proffered on the Russia-Georgia conflict is 100-proof propaganda. Next, the most important story you haven't heard is that Israel is betting against US success vs. Russia. Paradoxically, and despite Israel's typically overweening, convoluted conceits, this is very heartening, since it means they think the US won't go to the mat and start launching its nuclear arsenal. Apparently, they also believe the Russians can handle US Navy, Air Force, and Army units going into Project Georgia in the names of "humanitarian aid" and "peacekeeping." Israel understandably wants the output of the BP-sponsored Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan whoever controls it, yet until now they've been neck-deep in arming and training the Georgian military. How deep? Georgia's minister of defense, for example, is a citizen of Israel.

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Russian threat to NATO supply route in Afghanistan

Russia played a trump card in its strategic poker game with the West yesterday by threatening to suspend an agreement allowing Nato to take supplies and equipment to Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia.

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The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline geopolitics and the New Cold War

The ongoing crisis in the Caucasus is intimately related to the strategic control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors.

There is evidence that the Georgian attack on South Ossetia on August 7 was carefully planned. High level consultations were held with US and NATO officials in the months preceding the attacks.

The attacks on South Ossetia were carried out one week after the completion of extensive US - Georgia war games (July 15-31st, 2008). They were also preceded by high level Summit meetings held under the auspices of GUAM, a US-NATO sponsored regional military alliance.

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Ward Churchill???? That's all they've got????

If you want a grim chuckle, check out these videos of protesters interacting with some twit from Fox News. He keeps bringing up Ward Churchill. I think it's supposed to be some sort of smackdown for people on the left.

Stheriousthly.

Link to videos.

The Plot Against Liberal America

The most cherished dream of conservative Washington is that liberalism can somehow be defeated, finally and irreversibly, in the way that armies are beaten and pests are exterminated. Electoral victories by Republicans are just part of the story. The larger vision is of a future in which liberalism is physically barred from the control room -- of an "end of history" in which taxes and onerous regulation will never be allowed to threaten the fortunes private individuals make for themselves. This is the longing behind the former White House aide Karl Rove's talk of "permanent majority" and, 20 years previously, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's declaration to the Republican convention that it's "the job of all revolutions to make permanent their gains."

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Very Interesting Items at TBR News

The Voice of the White House:

Washington, D.C., August 21, 2008: “Such heart-warming news! High level Republican associates here are talking about the latest ploy on the part of the State of Israel to gain complete control of the United States government. Their idea is to offer the diseased McCain unlimited support from their papers and television stations in return for his putting Joe Lieberman on the ticket as vice president. As McCain is known to be seriously ill and will soon be unable to function, the plan will be for him to retire “for reasons of health” and then Joe Lieberman, loud and persistent Israeli supporter, will step into the Oval Office and America will have her first (unelected) Jewish president. And a firmly dedicated Zionist at that! Many GOP people say putting Lieberman on the ticket will ruin any chance McCain has at the White House. Why? His obvious mental confusion? No, the American public is becoming seriously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and if McCain attempts to support a universal draft (as he is dead set on doing) and has a rabid Zionist as a running mate, his fall will be great and he will drag the shattered remnants of the Republican Party with him. Thank God!”

Also, the next story: Israel and the Tehran Attack

Vladimir V. Putin: Neo Con

This is such a tremendous article on Russia. Various people in the comments remarked that they have been reading 30 articles a day on this topic and found this article so helpful. I agree. Just imagine how much better off the American people would be if they enjoyed this level of analysis as a matter of course rather than be subjected daily to the rich idiots who spew forth lies in the corporate media. It's sad, but you can know better. - Ed.

About a year ago, the Bush administration and the neocon babble-ocracy began touting Vladimir Putin as America's next Man We Love to Hate. This is odd, since by nearly all standards, Mr. Putin is the most successful neocon on the planet. Or perhaps it's jealousy. Since taking power in 2000, Mr. Putin's Russia has dodged chaos, seen its GDP increase six-fold, its poverty fall by half, average monthly real wages rise by 150% and, with the invasion of Georgia, demonstrated to the world that it can no longer be baited, humiliated or ignored without consequences.

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The great consumer crash of 2009

Great article on the economy. - Ed.

James Quinn is senior director of strategic planning, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“It is easy to ignore the storm if you look at the opposite horizon. When the storm reaches your location there can be no more ignorance.”

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US and Israel will soon be isolated from the rest of the world

At first glance, the title of this article may sound too incredible to imagine and many (in the US and Israel) will dismiss it as pure fantasy. But is it?

In the last couple of weeks we have seen changes taking place that suggest the balance of global power is beginning to move in a different direction.

Despite the "valiant" efforts of the Mainstream Media (mostly controlled by those supportive of the Bush administration and Israel), in trying to "brainwash" their readers into believing that Russia is now the "bad guy" again. It is encouraging to see that their tactics are not working quite as well as they have done in the past, and people are starting to ask questions.

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Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

WASHINGTON — It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute.

Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.

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Israeli troops briefly enter Lebanon

Eight Israeli soldiers entered the south Lebanon area of Mais al-Jabal, but pulled out after 15 minutes, a Lebanese daily reported.

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US troops kill 95 villagers in Afghanistan, 50 of them kids

KABUL, Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned on Saturday a coalition airstrike that he said killed up to 95 Afghans — including 50 children — in a village in western Afghanistan on Friday, and said his government would be announcing measures to prevent the loss of civilian life in the future.

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Readjustments in Pipelineistan

Georgia has long been viewed as an alternative -- indeed, the only alternative -- to trans-Russian transport of Central Asian oil and gas to western markets. To that end, the crown jewel of the movement was the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which saw its opening in May of 2006. Initially, Russia expressed resistance to the BTC pipeline, but viewed it as predictable competition to its near-monopoly on European petroleum delivery, uttering only the occasional diatribe against the project.

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