Who rules the world now?

Noam Chomsky full length interview:

Published on 14 May 2016 - Cathy Newman's full interview with Philosopher Noam Chomsky. From Trump and Clinton, to climate change, Brexit and TPP, America's foremost intellectuals presents his views on who rules the world today.

MH17 - may cooler heads prevail :

All Parties Involved to Blame for Malaysian Aircraft Disaster in Ukraine?

Published on 19 Jul 2014 | Larry Wilkerson: Why weren't commercial flights banned over an area where aircraft had already been shot down?

Ukraine Crisis - What You're Not Being Told

Published on 12 Mar 2014 | The European and American public are being systematically lied to about the Ukraine crisis.

Propaganda Watch: War of words amid Ukraine unrest

Published on Mar 5, 2014 | Meanwhile an unprecedented war of words has been intensifying by the day with Western politicians and the media using strong language when it comes to Russia's role in the Ukrainian crisis. And this is after the same politicians gave their backing to violent riots in Kiev less then a month ago. RT's Gayane Chichakyan investigates.

CORPORATOCRACY!

Against Fascism: The Separation of Business and State.

The problem of the corporate/government revolving door is so blatant, so obvious, so out in the open that even its opponents readily admit to its existence. And yet it continues without significant opposition from the public.

Ethnic Cleansing and the Israeli "Center "

Published on 28 Oct 2013 | On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, author Max Blumenthal discusses his new book and traces the rise of Avigdor Lieberman and current policies of ethnic cleansing in Israel.

Published on 29 Oct 2013 | In this episode of Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Max Blumenthal author of Goliath - Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, looks at Tzipi Livni who's support for expelling Israeli Palestinians even surprised Condoleezza Rice.

Madness over madness ? The limitations of the French recent law!

When bilateral agreements between France and other countries prevent gay marriage

Published on 18 Oct 2013 | France's constitutional council, the country's highest court, has ruled that mayors cannot refuse to marry same-sex couples because of what their conscience allowed. The case was brought on by a couple who sued their local mayor for refusing to marry them because he didn't believe in gay marriage. Meanwhile, some gay couples are facing a different legal dilemma. Bilateral agreements between France and 11 countries mean that some foreigners fall under the marriage laws of their home countries. Even if they're in a relationship with a French citizen, officials can't marry the couples.

Trapped & Terrified: Workers' misery 'turns World Cup in Qatar into shame'.

Published on Oct 17, 2013 | Trapped and terrified - migrants in Qatar have been speaking about the desperation they're enduring. There are more than 80 million in the country - many of whom are working flat-out to get the prestigious World Cup event ready. Tesa Arcilla was in Qatar and has more on how the World Cup focus is drawing the world's eyes to migrant suffering.

Madhouse Mess

- Trailer for the 50 minute documentary

Published on 16 Oct 2013 | How Washington stopped working

Watch the full film on Journeyman: http://jman.tv/film/5105/madhousemess

For downloads and more information visit: http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=65969

As a potential US default ominously looms over the nation, this timely doc explores the increasingly bitter divide between Republicans and Democrats. The combined forces of Tea Party conservatism, Fox News' ideological "mystification" and the obstinacy of the Norquist tax pledge have all come to define politics on the hill. How did it get to this point? And whatever happened to the Republican Party?

Cleanup at 505 Toxic Sites Suspended During Government Shutdown

Published on 13 Oct 2013 | The main headlines on Al Jazeera English, featuring the latest news and reports from around the world.

Motorway built around home in China

Published on Nov 23, 2012 by itnnews : A couple from China are refusing to leave their half-demolished house, which has since had a motorway built around it.

DynCorp Gets $72.8 Million Contract Despite Negative Reviews and History of Child Trafficking.

By JG Vibes & Alex Thomas
theintelhub.com | November 8, 2012

DynCorp is one of the most lucrative and infamous military contractors in the world, perhaps only surpassed by Halliburton. They both have a documented history of gunrunning, drug dealing, and human trafficking.

In addition, the actual work that they do on the record is sub par and their rebuilding efforts have gotten terrible reviews, especially DynCorp.

Despite this history of nefarious behavior and poor work, Dyncorp was just awarded a brand new $72.8 million dollar contract by the US government. Not only that, but they have also been given an advance exoneration from any liability.

That’s right, our wonderful government has just given DynCorp almost $73 million to continue what many believe will be shabby work that may only be used as a front for more sinister operations.

According to AllGov.com:

“DynCorp of West Virginia, one of the largest military contractors in Afghanistan, was awarded a $72.8 million contract to train pilots for the Air Force about one week after the special inspector general for reconstruction called the company’s earlier work at the Kunduz army base “unsatisfactory.”

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) wrote a scathing report in 2010 and a followup this year which found “serious soil stability issues . . . structural failures, improper grading, and new sink holes” that threatened the well-being of troops stationed there.

One sink hole was found near an electrical power transformer, whose failure “would result in a loss of electrical power over a large portion of Camp Pamir, causing significant financial loss and increasing the risk of injury through fire and electrical shock,” the report said.”

more here from original >> 

“On Psywar against the Innocent”

When freedom of expression is used to incite the public to hatred of a national, religious, racial or ethnic group it becomes a crime. According to Article 20 of the U.N.’s “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” :

1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.

2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

                This doesn’t contradict rights of freedom of expression. It attempts to constrain agendas of hatred. It is possible that any program of military propaganda or psywar against groups or nations is fundamentally illegal. Attempts to defend extreme hate crimes as within our rights of free speech encourages censorship, which encourages repression.

A video of U.S. origin, “Innocence of Muslims,” the trailer to a film defaming and sexually deriding the Prohet Mohammed, has of course resulted in protest by Muslims worldwide. Why isn’t everyone protesting ? The trailer is intensively offensive to human values, lacks redeeming artistic merit, and is recognizably propaganda. In California a judge refused to ban “Innocence of Muslims” from youtube, on the grounds that suppression would violate U.S. guarantees of free speech.

In France Charlie Hebdo has published on its cover a cartoon caricature depicting Islam’s Prophet naked in a distorted sexual posture. The effect is despicable and intended. The original issue sold out and despite the anxiety of the country’s 4 million Muslims, Charlie Hebdo ran the cartoon again. While France is sensitive to religious laws (abortions don’t appear in French literature), it hasn’t charged the editors of Charlie Hebdo with a hate crime, and instead closed French embassies and schools in twenty countries. Domestically any protests against the Charlie Hebdo cartoon, or against the American video/film, are banned.  In Germany there are debates about whether the film should be allowed at cinemas or not.

original source  >>>

The RM20m country, what a laugh!

September 21, 2012 | ― Jaleel Hameed

SEPT 21 ― How cheap is Malaysia? Power is cheap, labour is cheap, the KR1M shops make sure household goods are cheap. And today, we hear it only takes RM20 million to destabilise the government of the day.

Is this a joke, newspaper and television editors? Is this a cheap joke, even?

That’s all for a government that has been in power since Merdeka? A measly RM20 million in a country of billion-ringgit projects and IPOs?

Cheap isn’t even the word to use if this report is to be believed. That foreign agencies ― and Germany’s RM21,400 ― is all that it takes to make the Najib administration wobbly enough to be taken down.

This, a government that is bullish enough to say it can win all states and its two-thirds majority in the next election that seems further away every day.

How do we believe a report using figures plucked out of thin air and without attribution? How do we believe that there are cheap people out there willing to pay such low rates to people willing to bring down a government for next to peanuts? How, sir?

How is it these mainstream newspapers and television stations even report this without checking their facts, sir? That a government that dispensed RM2 billion in direct cash aid called BR1M can be toppled with just RM20 million?

That SUARAM, Malaysiakini, Seacem, LoyarBurok and Centre for Independent Journalism have such great powers against the might of a civil service and media friendly, if not beholden, to Barisan Nasional?

You know what it is, sir? It’s a cheap shot before the general elections, sir.

It shows Barisan Nasional has run out of bogeymen, and it’s easy to tag these groups as agents of foreign groups either jealous of our success or wanting to put in a liberal, Western-friendly government.

And it shows desperation in getting a coherent storyline to tell to Malaysians to be beware of such groups and their message.

But this is what you get on the cheap, sir. A cheap storyline with a lousy plot worse than a B-grade movie.

And a government cheap enough to resort to such base tactics to remain in power, sir.

Sir, thank you for the cheap laugh today. Tell your journalists to come up with more jokes like this to keep us happy in these gloomy hazy times.

RM20 million to destabilise a government..... What a laugh, sir!

* Jaleel Hameed reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

original source ..>>

Saudi Arabia blocks Syrians from hajj

Saudi Arabia arms terrorists groups fighting against the Syrian government. (file photo)

Saudi Arabia has blocked Syrian citizens from entering the country to perform the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj, Syrian state media says.

"The Syrian High Committee of hajj has announced the halt to the pilgrimage this year, due to a failure to reach consensus with the Saudi authorities," the official SANA news agency reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the Syrian committee "took all necessary steps for the 2012 hajj season, but the relevant ministry in Saudi Arabia did not sign the accord as it does every year".

The hajj to Mecca -- the world's largest annual human assembly -- is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all those Muslims who are able to.

Saudi’s move would be the latest in a string of measures adopted by Riyadh against the government of Syria.

Syria has been the scene of violence by armed groups since March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and several other Arab countries are funding and arming terrorists groups fighting against the Syrian government.

source here  >>>

Daniel Pipes and David Horowitz gave money to anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim politician. Photo: Cynthia Boll/AP

That Geert Wilders, the virulent anti-Muslim Dutch politician, has links with American Islamophobes is well known. But a report in Reuters fills in some previously unknown details, like which people and organizations have given money to Wilders for legal and security costs.

Reuters’ Anthony Deutsch and Mark Hosenball report that David Horowitz andDaniel Pipes, two leading anti-Muslim figures in the U.S., have sent Wilders money. Pipes’ Middle East Forum “funded Wilders' legal defense in 2010 and 2011 against Dutch charges of inciting racial hatred.” The charges were eventually dropped. Horowitz “paid Wilders fees for making two speeches, security costs during student protests and overnight accommodation for his Dutch bodyguards during a 2009 U.S. trip.”

Wilders’ far-right positions on Islam include calling the Koran a “fascist” book and advocating for a ban on Muslim headscarves and the construction of mosques. He has also said he “hates Islam,” which is the “ideology of a retarded culture.”

source here for more | 11 Sept 2012  >>

Obama in a state of denial?

Published on Sep 8, 2012 by AssociatedPress : President Barack Obama says Republicans are "dead wrong" in calling America a country in decline.

Former Guantanamo guards, detainee and lawyer in heated live HuffPost debate.

Almost two and half years ago, I wrote about the murder of Abdul Manan Gul Rehman in a CIA black site facility known as the Salt Pit in Afghanistan. The news that he had been killed was received eight years after the fact.

In 2008, I had been fortunate enough to meet with the family of Gul Rehman in Peshawar as I was conducting investigations into enforced disappearances. At the time I had been informed by his family he had gone missing after having been accidentally picked up in 2002 in Islamabad from the home of Dr. Ghairat Baheer, the son-in-law of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. All the men in that home had been transferred to prisons in Afghanistan, with Baheer having been released three years later. The family wondered why their son/brother/father had still not been released in 2008, despite Baheer having been so many years earlier.

On returning to the UK, I followed up with colleagues from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) to inquire why Gul Rehman had not been registered on any prison lists. At CagePrisoners we had been documenting the names of those detained in US custody in detention centres such as Bagram and Guantanamo Bay, so to find that there was no mention of this unimportant former driver was particularly worrying.

It was not until 28 March 2010, that the world learnt of Gul Rehman's fate. On 20 November 2002, he had died in US custody after only one month in detention. According to the Associated Press (AP) investigation, he died from being left half naked in the cold, after being subjected to continual bouts of freezing temperatures.

At that time, I called to pass on my condolences to the family, only to be informed that they knew nothing of this news or the AP investigation. It turned out that no one had bothered to inform the family that Gul Rehman had died in custody, let alone return his body for them to be able to perform the funeral rites.

In 2008 an inquiry was launched following allegations that the CIA had tortured rendition victims Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah with the use of waterboarding in secret prisons and destroyed videotape evidence of those interrogations to safeguard the identities of the agents involved and, after the release of an internal CIA report which revealed that interrogators had threatened to kill and sexually assault members of prisoners’ families – a practice routinely carried out in pre-revolution Arab states and currently in places like Syria.

Federal prosecutor John Durham then submitted that a full criminal investigation into the deaths of two men – Gul Rehman and Madadel al-Jamedi (who died in CIA custody in Abu Ghraib) – be pursued, despite President Obama’s post (and pre)-inaugural promise of immunity from prosecution for any Bush-era CIA agents accused of breaking the rules whilst fighting terrorism.

Not surprisingly, Durham's inquiry concluded that there was not enough evidence to push for the prosecution of individuals in such cases, so no criminal charges would be brought against those who had been involved in the killing.

A statement released by US Attorney General, Eric Holder, gave weight to these findings,

"Based on the fully developed factual record concerning the two deaths, the Department has declined prosecution because the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."

Thus, according to the Department of Justice, despite there being a well established factual narrative of the murder of Gul Rehman, no charges would be brought against any individuals, thereby whitewashing any wrongdoing involved in the case.

While Eric Holder may be satisfied with the outcome of this investigation, he was very wrong when he said, "I continue to believe that our Nation will be better for it". Such half-hearted attempts at the apparent administration of justice only serve to highlight a hypocrisy endemic within the US justice system, where serious crimes and violations of the laws of war are either whitewashed completely, or result in severely disproportionate under-sentencing when it comes to holding authority to account. This is particularly relevant when juxtaposed with sentences given to Muslims within the federal justice system, such as Aafia Siddiqui who was given an 86-year sentence, despite not having harmed even one individual in an alleged shooting incident.

A maxim of the law states that the law must not just be done, but it must be seen to be done - what people like John Durham and Eric Holder do no understand, is that the US justice system is not seeing with the same eyes as the rest of the world. 

source here  >>

Obama - biggest broken promise?

Thursday, 23 August 2012 : 168 remaining inmates at Guantanamo Bay

RAPE - -- in relation to Julian Assange

Published on Aug 23, 2012 by WomenAgainstRape : Lisa Longstaff on Sky news interview 21 August 2012