Video: Sun has 'flipped upside down' as new magnetic cycle begins

Video: Sun has 'flipped upside down' as new magnetic cycle begins - Science - News - The Independent: 
""A reversal of the sun's magnetic field is, literally, a big event," said Nasa’s Dr. Tony Phillips.
"The domain of the sun's magnetic influence (also known as the 'heliosphere') extends billions of kilometers beyond Pluto. Changes to the field's polarity ripple all the way out to the Voyager probes, on the doorstep of interstellar space.""

"Entire Solar Systems are Needed to Kick-Start Life"

"Entire Solar Systems are Needed to Kick-Start Life"  
"There is evidence that life on Earth could not have started without the other planets. The conditions on the prehistoric Earth would only have served to inhibit the formation of RNA. Mars, on the other hand, would have been just right. While there was some water on ancient Mars, there wouldn't have been enough to hamper the formation of RNA. Also, while the early Earth was starved of oxygen, Mars would have had enough to create oxidized molybdenum and boron, which are pivotal in the construction of RNA.
Autogenic forms are probably more widespread than life in the Universe as they can be constructed from many different materials. It's a generic type of chemistry which may be similar throughout the Universe, indicating that the process is more important that than the molecules themselves."

Cost of Living In US From 1938 To 2013

J.B.Hutto And The Hawks

How to win friends and influence people

“Bride and Boom!” - The headline - “Bride and Boom!” - was spectacular, if you think killing people in distant lands is a blast and a half.  Of course, you have to imagine that smirk line in giant black letters with a monstrous exclamation point covering most of the bottom third of the front page of the Murdoch-owned New York Post.  The reference was to a caravan of vehicles on its way to or from a wedding in Yemen that was eviscerated, evidently by a U.S. drone via one of those “surgical” strikes of which Washington is so proud.  As one report put it, “Scorched vehicles and body parts were left scattered on the road.”

It goes without saying that such a headline could only be applied to assumedly dangerous foreigners - “terror” or “al-Qaeda suspects” - in distant lands whose deaths carry a certain quotient of weirdness and even amusement with them.  Try to imagine the equivalent for the Newtown massacre the day after Adam Lanza broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School and began killing children and teachers.  Since even the New York Post wouldn’t do such a thing, let’s posit that the Yemen Post did, that playing off the phrase “head of the class,” their headline was: “Dead of the Class!” (with that same giant exclamation point). It would be sacrilege.  The media would descend.  The tastelessness of Arabs would be denounced all the way up to the White House.  You’d hear about the callousness of foreigners for days.

And were a wedding party to be obliterated on a highway anywhere in America on the way to, say, a rehearsal dinner, whatever the cause, it would be a 24/7 tragedy. Our lives would be filled with news of it. Count on that.

read on...

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Greetings of the Season to all readers of Reality Zone, Pan Asian Anchor, Wolves in the City and Afghanistan War. Hopeful that normal service will be resumed on this site early in the New Year with the return of our friend, RZ.

Goodbye To The 'Nazis'

Goodbye To The 'Nazi's' | History Today:



"There are many ways in which the uncritical use of ‘Nazi’ distorts the German reality during the Hitler years. The NSDAP incorporated only a fraction of the German population. Even those in the notorious SA (Sturmabteilung) did not have to be members of the party. The career policeman who was appointed to head the Gestapo, Heinrich Müller, was not even a party member. In 1933 two thirds of Germans had voted for other parties and if they had to pay lip-service to the new regime this did not necessarily make them into ‘Nazis’. There was also a clear line between the NSDAP and the state, though there were many officials, policemen and lawyers who had a foot in both camps. For many Germans who were not enthusiastic for the new regime – schoolteachers, civil servants, businessmen – membership of the party became more or less a requirement." LINK

Netanyama

Know Your Drone

US Turns Blind Eye To Saudi Funding of Syria Jihadists

Humanoid Robots

To see the potential of humanoid bots, you need only look to Atlas, PetMan's bigger brother. Atlas takes PetMan's flexible frame and puts some muscle on those metal bones. Funded by Darpa, Atlas is currently being put through its paces as a possible first-responder in disaster situations. In action here:

1000 Years of War Across The World In One 5-Minute Animation

The size of the explosion is in proportion to the number of dead.

Christmas Merchandise Offer

Cheques payable to Reality Zone. The fake peace laureate decorations are especially appropriate at this time of peace and goodwill to all (cough) men. The mini-drone decorations will be available in red and green from next week.

Chinese Land Moon Probe

Bathe in the ice-cold new light of the Chinese Moon, my friends.

Physicists discover 'clearest evidence yet' that the Universe is a hologram

Physicists discover 'clearest evidence yet' that the Universe is a hologram - Gadgets & Tech - Life & Style - The Independent: 
"The two new scientific papers are the culmination of years’ work led by Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Ibaraki University in Japan, and deal with hypothetical calculations of the energies of black holes in different universes.
The idea of the universe existing as a ‘hologram’ doesn’t refer to a Matrix-like illusion, but the theory that the three dimensions we perceive are actually just “painted” onto the cosmological horizon - the boundary of the known universe."

Pentagon Spending In 2012

Rare Pubic Purge In North Korea

Civilians killed in Yemen drone attack: Witnesses

Maybe the sign-language man at the Mandela Tribute was making a political point about Obama's freedom and justice rhetoric being hollow, vacuous and meaningless.
Civilians killed in Yemen drone attack: Witnesses - Region - World - Ahram Online: "Several civilians were killed and others wounded in a drone attack in southern Yemen in which a wedding party was struck on Thursday, witnesses said.
The witnesses and a tribal source said the attack was carried out by a US drone and targeted Qaifa, near the town of Radaa, but were unable to give specific casualty figures.
The US military operates all unmanned drones flying over Yemen in support of Sanaa's campaign against Al-Qaeda and has killed dozens of militants this year.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remains active despite Yemeni military operations and the drone strikes targeting its leaders.
Yemen is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden and the home base of AQAP, which the United States views as the global jihadist network's most dangerous franchise."

Ronnie and Maggie. When they met - it was murder....

NSA Spying on War Video Gamers

A Short History Of Political Torture - Clive Stafford Smith

During the English Civil War, in the 1640s, the Earl of Clarendon came up with a novel wheeze: rather than allow those presumed to be parliamentarian enemies to claim the benefit of the rule of law, he would establish a prison on an island off the British shoreline. Not on British soil. That way, he reasoned, they could be safely forgotten, buried along with their legal rights. Ring a bell? LINK

Interactive Map: Four Ways to Look at Carbon Footprints

Interactive Map: Four Ways to Look at Carbon Footprints

Cold-Resistant Japanese Cockroaches Invade US

A kind of Pearl Harbour scenario played out in the insect world.

Buddy Guy Classic

The best guitar playing I have heard on a blues track

Death Of Nelson Mandela

The fundamental tenet of Christ's teachings was 'love your enemIes'. In relatively recent times only Ghandi & Mandela, both religious men but members of no churches, lived that ideal. Many tributes so far say he was great because he forgave. But mostly, to my mind, he was great because he fought. Often against those are now making unconvincing tributes.

Leg bone gives up oldest human DNA

BBC News - Leg bone gives up oldest human DNA:
"The Denisovans were a sister group to the Neanderthals, with distinct genetic characteristics. Identified only by DNA extracted from a tiny finger bone and tooth, they are, as some researchers have remarked, "a genome in search of a fossil" because there are no substantial remains representative of this group.
By using missing mutations in the old DNA sequences, the researchers calculated that the Pit of Bones individual shared a common ancestor with the Denisovans about 700,000 years ago."

Where Did All The Freedom Go?

Deep Universe - Two Black Holes Appear 'Dancing'

Astronomers have spotted what appear to be two super massive black holes at the heart of a remote galaxy, circling each other like dance partners.

The two black holes are thought to be circling each other as in this artists impression. Credit: NASA

"At first we thought this galaxy's unusual properties might mean it was forming new stars at a furious rate," said Peter Eisenhardt, at NASA, "but on closer inspection, it looks more like the death spiral of merging giant black holes."

Follow-up observations revealed unusual features in the galaxy, including a lumpy tail of matter, or jet, thought to be the result of one black hole causing the jet of the other to sway.MORE

Protests in Thailand Continue

It is interesting that the Western media report the Thai unrest as violence by radical activists but the protests in Ukraine as a 'Russian Spring' uprising by a population pursuing Western freedoms.

Brightness of Black Hole Baffles Scientists

Rosa Parks Anniversary

Today in History: December 1: Rosa Parks

 "On the evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American, was arrested for disobeying an Alabama law requiring black passengers to relinquish seats to white passengers when the bus was full. Blacks also were required to sit at the back of the bus. Her arrest sparked a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system and led to a 1956 Supreme Court decision banning segregation on public transportation."
LINK

Would You Like Freedom Fries With That?

NSA 'planned to discredit radicals over web-porn use'

BBC News - NSA 'planned to discredit radicals over web-porn use': 
"Privacy International said: "This is not the first time we've seen States use intimate and private information of an individual who holds views the government doesn't agree with, and exploit this information to undermine an individual's message."
The report came shortly after a group of United Nations experts adopted a "right to privacy" resolution.
The UN's Human Rights Committee said it was "deeply concerned at the negative impact" the interception of data "including extraterritorial surveillance" could have "`in particular when carried out on a mass scale"."

US planes challenge China air zone

BBC News - US planes challenge China air zone:
 "China set up its "air defence identification zone" on Saturday.
A US colonel said the two planes had followed "normal procedures, which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead".
The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the two nations.
China is insisting that aircraft entering its air defence zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".
"We have conducted operations in the area of the Senkakus," said US Colonel Steve Warren, adding that so far there had been no response from China."

CIA remains behind most drone strikes, despite effort to shift campaign to Defense - The Washington Post

CIA remains behind most drone strikes, despite effort to shift campaign to Defense - The Washington Post: 
"The emerging plan is likely to allow the CIA to maintain its drone fleet and stay deeply involved in targeted killing operations, even if the final step in any strike sequence is eventually handled by someone wearing a U.S. military uniform, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
U.S. officials said the discussions between the CIA and the Pentagon have involved CIA Director John Brennan; his deputy, Avril Haines; and Michael G. Vickers, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, who previously worked at the CIA."

£1,430,000,000,000: Britain's personal debt timebomb

£1,430,000,000,000 (that's £1.43 trillion): Britain's personal debt timebomb - Loans & Credit - Money - The Independent: 
"Privately, ministers are worried that, while interest rates have been held at a record low of 0.5 per cent, less personal debt has been repaid in the UK than countries like the United States. The Bank of England will consider raising rates when unemployment falls from its current 7.6 per cent rate to 7 per cent, triggering a rise in mortgage rates for millions of home-buyers.
The CSJ said more than 26,000 UK households have been classed as “homeless” by local authorities in the past five years, and warned that the number could increase if interest rates rises. Some 3.9m families do not have enough savings to cover their rent or mortgage for more than a month.
Another timebomb is the number of people retiring before they have paid off their mortgage.  About 40,000 interest-only mortgages are due to mature each year between 2017 and 2032 where the householder will be over 65. Between now and 2020, a third of the shortfalls on endowment mortgages will amount to more than £50,000."

Iran agrees to curb nuclear activity at Geneva talks

BBC News - Iran agrees to curb nuclear activity at Geneva talks:
"President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon".
Iran agreed to give better access to inspectors and halt some of its work on uranium enrichment.
President Rouhani said the interim deal recognised Iran's nuclear "rights".
But he repeated, in a nationwide broadcast, that his country would never seek a nuclear weapon.
Tehran denies repeated claims by Western governments that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium to use in power stations.
The deal will last for six months allowing time for the negotiation of a more permanent agreement."

Largest cosmic explosion ever recorded

'Monster' cosmic explosion capable of destroying Earth captured in distant galaxy - Science - News - The Independent:

"This burst was a once-in-a-century cosmic event," Nasa astrophysics chief Paul Hertz said at a news conference Thursday.
A gamma ray burst happens when a massive star dies, collapses into a black hole, explodes in what's called a supernova and ejects energetic radiation. A planet caught in one of these bursts would lose its atmosphere instantly and be left a burnt cinder, scientists say.

Afghanistan - Karzai To Delay US Deal

40,000 NATO troops to stage massive European war games

40,000 NATO troops to stage massive European war games — RT News: 
"The Western alliance claims this is to test the members’ capability and teamwork, mainly for reasons of matching America’s commitment to the alliance, as well as keeping their edge after the Afghan mission is over.
The exercises, set to start in 2015, will involve 40,000 troops deployed in Spain and Portugal. NATO land forces commander U.S. Army Lieutenant-General Frederick Hodges told Reuters that "this kind of exercise, this sort of complexity, is going to be the norm," so the exercises are just the first in a series.
The major reason given by NATO is that troops need to stay sharp and practice their interoperability, especially after Afghanistan, in times of military inactivity. "

Walmart requests donations for employees in need

Is Walmart's request of associates to help provide Thanksgiving dinner for co-workers proof of low wages? | cleveland.com: --
The storage containers are attractively displayed at the Walmart on Atlantic Boulevard in Canton. The bins are lined up in alternating colors of purple and orange. Some sit on tables covered with golden yellow tablecloths. Others peer out from under the tables. This isn't a merchandise display. It's a food drive - not for the community, but for needy workers. "Please Donate Food Items Here, so Associates in Need Can Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner," read signs affixed to the tablecloths.

The food drive tables are tucked away in an employees-only area. They are another element in the backdrop of the public debate about salaries for cashiers, stock clerks and other low-wage positions at Walmart, as workers in Cincinnati and Dayton are scheduled to go on strike Monday.

Norma Mills of Canton, who lives near the store, saw the photo circulating showing the food drive bins, and felt both "outrage" and "anger." "Then I went through the emotion of compassion for the employees, working for the largest food chain in America, making low wages, and who can't afford to provide their families with a good Thanksgiving holiday," said Mills, an organizer with Stand Up for Ohio, which is active in foreclosure issues in Canton. "That Walmart would have the audacity to ask low-wage workers to donate food to other low-wage workers -- to me, it is a moral outrage."

The bloody disaster of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan is laid bare

The bloody disaster of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan is laid bare | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | theguardian.com:
"In each case – Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan – it was easy to see evil in the prevailing regime. These are bad guys that we need to go after, said the Americans. Yet the removal of law and order from a nation is devastating, however cruel that order may have been. Iraqis today repeat that, whatever the ills of Saddam Hussein, under his rule most ordinary citizens and their families could walk the streets at night without fear of murder or kidnap. Religious differences were tolerated. Iraq should have been an oil-rich modern state. Even the Kurds, scourged by Saddam in the past, enjoyed autonomy and relative peace."

Sun Set To 'Flip Upside Down' Within Weeks

Sun Set To 'Flip Upside Down' Within Weeks:
"Todd Hoeksema, a scientist at Stanford University's Wilcox Solar Observatory, said the polar reversal takes place as the Sun's magnetic field moves north or south from the equator, eroding the existing pole as it does so.
"It's kind of like a tide coming in or going out," he said. "Each little wave brings a little more water in, and eventually you get to the full reversal."
Latest measurements show the Sun technically has two south poles, caused by its two hemispheres being out of sync.
Phil Scherrer, who works with Mr Hoeksema at the observatory, said: "The north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up.
"Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of solar max will be under way.""

General strikes in Libya over armed militias, deaths of protesters

General strikes in Libya over armed militias, deaths of protesters - Times LIVE:
Protesters, including journalists, gunned down in 'liberated' Tripoli by western backed regime. Another story the neo-liberal media won't be covering.
"The city’s Local Council called for the three-day strike “in mourning for Libya’s sons” killed in the violence that began Friday, the state-run LANA news agency reported.
The council, in a statement Saturday, said it “urges everyone to be calm and exercise self-restraint... to preserve national unity and prevent sedition.”  The Interior Ministry said 43 people were killed and some 400 injured when gunmen opened fire on protesters in Tripoli Friday.
Fighting among rival militias in the suburb of Tajoura, claimed at least six lives and left dozens injured, media reports said."

American soldier charged in Iraq killings of deaf, unarmed teens

American soldier charged in Iraq killings of deaf, unarmed teens - Stripes - Independent U.S. military news from Iraq, Afghanistan and bases worldwide:
"The killing of the two Iraqi youths were the subject of a special Trib investigative report, “Rules of Engagement,” published in December. The eight-page special section, which won a national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and other honors, can be found online at TribLIVE.com along with an interactive map at: http://triblive.com/investigative/specialprojects/rulesofengagement/ .
Barbera was a small-kill team leader in Charlie Troop, 5th Squadron of the 73rd Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment out of Fort Bragg, N.C., engaged in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq's restive Diyala province when the killings occurred. Several of the cavalry scouts on the mission said Barbera killed the brothers and then lied to his commanders about how the boys died, a moral wound of war that they could not accept."

JFK Assassination Marked 'Age of Suspicion'

3.5 Billion Year Old Fossil Is Oldest Ever Example of Life

The minuscule remains were found inside a lump of sandstone rock in Western Australia by scientists from OId Dominium University in the US and are thought to be 300 million years older than the previous oldest example of life on Earth. 

Experts believe this basic microbe existed in a kind of cluster, with each cell hosting individual life but effectively living, working, and communicating as a single entity. 

The bundle has been compared to a small human society. MORE

Untold Story Of US War in Afghanistan

This is Part 1. Parts 2 and 3 HERE

Drones - Plumbing The Depths

Care To Join The Military? All This Could be Yours

U.S. Aid To Egypt Irreplaceable, Obama Administration Official Says

U.S. Aid To Egypt Irreplaceable, Obama Administration Official Says:
 "A senior Obama administration official has downplayed concerns over the Kremlin’s encroachment into Egypt as Russia’s foreign and defense ministers get set to visit the country this week with officials from their state arms exporter in tow.
Egyptian leaders have appeared to embrace eagerness by Russia, Egypt’s Cold War-era patron, to step in and make up for some of the U.S. disengagement seen since the military ousted former president Mohamed Morsi this summer — namely, its withholding of part of an annual $1.3 billion aid package."

Reality Zone Blog

RZ is back in America. Somewhere out there on the desert roads, among the pine forests, along the wide Atlantic horizons. Perhaps a cool Pacific breeze is blowing him back home. Normal service should resume soon.

Threat of Peace Terrifies Netanyahu

  Breaking News

Devil Eyes - Tim Buckley

Searching For The Central Super-Massive Black Hole

"Expecting to find a black hole in every galaxy is sort of like expecting to find a pit inside a peach," explains astronomer Tod Lauer of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson. "With this Hubble observation, we cut into the biggest peach and we can't find the pit. We don't know for sure that the black hole is not there, but Hubble shows that there's no concentration of stars in the core." MORE

Asia Times Online :: 'Our' weaponized Wahhabi bastards By Pepe Escobar

Asia Times Online :: 'Our' weaponized Wahhabi bastards

On Anarchism: An Interview with Andrew Gavin Marshall I The Hampton Institute

On Anarchism: An Interview with Andrew Gavin Marshall I The Hampton Institute

The following is a transcript of an email interview withAndrew Gavin Marshall , Geopolitics Department Chair at the Hampton Institute and Project Manager of The People's Book Project . In it we discuss anarchism, trace its beginnings, delve into some of its history in both the United States and around the world, and conclude by discussing anarchism's effect on the Occupy movement.

Devon DB: Could you provide a working definition of anarchism?

Mr. Marshall : Anarchism is difficult to define simply because it is such a diverse political philosophy, with so many different variants. So the definition tends to alter as the particular brand of anarchism differs. However, at is core, anarchism - in its original Greek wording - means simply to be "without a leader." Running in opposition to traditional Liberal thought, such as that articulated by Hobbes' notion of anarchy as a "state of nature" mired in war and conflict, and thus the State was necessary to maintain order, one of the original anarchist thinkers, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon countered, "Anarchy is Order." Despite the connotation of the word "anarchy" to that of "chaos" and "disorder," anarchism and anarchist societies are highly organized and 'ordered.' The central difference between an anarchist conception of order and others is that anarchy removes the structures of authority, so that society is organized through free association and non-hierarchical organization. It promotes both the individual and the collective, simultaneously. This is opposed to Liberal thought, which promotes the individual above all else, or socialist thought, which promotes the collective above all else. As one of the most influential anarchist thinkers, Mikhail Bakunin, described anarchist thought when he stated, "We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and brutality." This has often led anarchism to be synonymous with what is referred to as "Libertarian Socialism," which is where the root of Libertarianism lies, but has strayed quite far from. Ultimately, what underlies all anarchist thought is a heightened and radical critique and questioning of power and authority: if a source of authority cannot legitimize its existence, it should not exist.

READ MORE

Empire Under Obama, Part 2: Barack Obama's Global Terror Campaign I The Hampton Institute

Empire Under Obama, Part 2: Barack Obama's Global Terror Campaign I The Hampton Institute

It’s Time to Put an End to Israel’s ‘Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell’ Nuclear Policy | Common Dreams

It’s Time to Put an End to Israel’s ‘Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell’ Nuclear Policy | Common Dreams

Chris Hedges: The Folly of Empire

By Chris Hedges

The final days of empire give ample employment and power to the feckless, the insane and the idiotic. These politicians and court propagandists, hired to be the public faces on the sinking ship, mask the real work of the crew, which is systematically robbing the passengers as the vessel goes down. The mandarins of power stand in the wheelhouse barking ridiculous orders and seeing how fast they can gun the engines. They fight like children over the ship’s wheel as the vessel heads full speed into a giant ice field. They wander the decks giving pompous speeches. They shout that the SS America is the greatest ship ever built. They insist that it has the most advanced technology and embodies the highest virtues. And then, with abrupt and unexpected fury, down we will go into the frigid waters.

The last days of empire are carnivals of folly. We are in the midst of our own, plunging forward as our leaders court willful economic and environmental self-destruction. Sumer and Rome went down like this. So did the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Men and women of stunning mediocrity and depravity led the monarchies of Europe and Russia on the eve of World War I. And America has, in its own decline, offered up its share of weaklings, dolts and morons to steer it to destruction. A nation that was still rooted in reality would never glorify charlatans such as Sen. Ted Cruz, House Speaker John Boehner and former Speaker Newt Gingrich as they pollute the airwaves. If we had any idea what was really happening to us we would have turned in fury against Barack Obama, whose signature legacy will be utter capitulation to the demands of Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, the military-industrial complex and the security and surveillance state. We would have rallied behind those few, such as Ralph Nader, who denounced a monetary system based on gambling and the endless printing of money and condemned the willful wrecking of the ecosystem. We would have mutinied. We would have turned the ship back. 

READ MORE

Mediastan

The Pan-Asian Anchor: Old game, new obsession, new enemy. Now it’s China...

The Pan-Asian Anchor: Old game, new obsession, new enemy. Now it’s China...:

Israeli-Saudi Alliance Slips into View

Exclusive: The Israeli-Saudi détente is slowly emerging from the shadows, with a media report on a secret Jerusalem meeting and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s oblique reference in his UN speech. But this powerhouse collaboration could mean trouble for U.S. diplomacy in the Mideast, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

On Aug. 29, when I published an article entitled “The Saudi-Israeli Superpower” describing an emerging odd-couple alliance between those two traditional enemies, the story was met with skepticism in some quarters. But, increasingly, this secret alliance is going public.

On Oct. 2, Israel’s Channel 2 TV news reportedthat senior Israeli security officials met with a high-level Gulf state counterpart in Jerusalem, believed to be Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States and now head of Saudi intelligence.

READ MORE

Comparing Obama to Kissinger | Consortiumnews

Comparing Obama to Kissinger | Consortiumnews

One of the first things O did after he became POTUS was to send Dr. Strangelove, excuse me, I meant Dr. Kissinger to Russia of all places.
Or did Kissinger send himself?
How many people died because of his influence on our presidents.
How many soldiers died needlessly in Nam while Kissinger slept in 5 star hotels in Paris.
He was a thorn in my boot when I was a young man.
Now he is a thorn in my slipper as I become an old man. 

Neocons and other war hawks criticized President Obama for not launching a military assault on Syria, but his decision to apply coercive diplomacy instead fits with many other U.S. precedents and showed a much defter touch than heavy-handed tactics used by Henry Kissinger, writes ex-CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman.

By Melvin A. Goodman

President Barack Obama’s deployment of a naval task force to the Mediterranean appears to be working as part of the coercive diplomacy aimed at removing chemical weapons from Syria. He has demonstrated caution and restraint in the crisis that are consistent with his approach to ending the U.S. presence in Iraq; reducing the U.S. presence in Afghanistan; and “leading from behind” in Libya two years ago.

His actions are very different from those of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger four decades ago. Kissinger jeopardized Soviet-American detente and antagonized our European allies in NATO by his reckless actions during the October War of 1973.

Henry Kissinger, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State.

One of the riskiest actions Kissinger took was the unnecessary declaration of a high military and nuclear alert – Defense Condition III – that could have worsened the Arab-Israeli War and provoked a Soviet-American confrontation. In view of our reliance on Russian forbearance in the current flash-point situation in the Middle East, it is important to recognize that Moscow’s restraint also was important to diplomatic success in the end game of the October War in 1973.

The National Security Council (NSC) meeting of Oct. 24, 1973, that created Defense Condition III was a particularly unusual, perhaps unprecedented, event. The National Security Act of 1947 that created the NSC stipulates that only the president or the vice president can run an NSC meeting.

The meeting took place just before midnight, and President Richard Nixon’s military aide, General Alexander Haig, refused to awaken the President. Both Kissinger and Haig believed that the President, preoccupied with impeachment, was too distraught to participate in high-stakes foreign policy decision-making. A new vice president had been named – Gerald Ford – but he had not been confirmed and therefore could not attend the meeting

If neither the president nor the vice president is available, the 1947 Act stipulates that the president has to authorize in writing who will be in charge. There is no record of such a letter in 1973. Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Kissinger ran the meeting, and the participants were Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, CIA Director William Colby, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Thomas Moorer.  Kissinger was the only one present who believed the Soviets were prepared to intervene in the Middle East..

 READ MORE

Noam Chomsky | On Shutdown, Waning US Influence, Syrian Showdown

Noam Chomsky | On Shutdown, Waning US Influence, Syrian Showdown
Noam Chomsky. (Photo: jeanbaptisteparis / Flickr)

Greg Palast | The Golden Dawn Murder Case, Larry Summers and the New Fascism

Greg Palast | The Golden Dawn Murder Case, Larry Summers and the New Fascism
(Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)

Chris Hedges: The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government - Chris Hedges - Truthdig

Chris Hedges: The Radical Christian Right and the War on Government - Chris Hedges - Truthdig

AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, talks to reporters.

By Chris Hedges

Editor’s note: Chris Hedges will speak in the Los Angeles area Oct. 13 on the myth of progress and the collapse of complex societies. Robert Scheer will lead a discussion, with a Q-and-A period to follow. Click here for more information.

There is a desire felt by tens of millions of Americans, lumped into a diffuse and fractious movement known as the Christian right, to destroy the intellectual and scientific rigor of the Enlightenment, radically diminish the role of government to create a theocratic state based on “biblical law,” and force a recalcitrant world to bend to the will of an imperial and “Christian” America. Its public face is on display in the House of Representatives. This ideology, which is the driving force behind the shutdown of the government, calls for the eradication of social “deviants,” beginning with gay men and lesbians, whose sexual orientation, those in the movement say, is a curse and an illness, contaminating the American family and the country. Once these “deviants” are removed, other “deviants,” including Muslims, liberals, feminists, intellectuals, left-wing activists, undocumented workers, poor African-Americans and those dismissed as “nominal Christians”—meaning Christians who do not embrace this peculiar interpretation of the Bible—will also be ruthlessly repressed. The “deviant” government bureaucrats, the “deviant” media, the “deviant” schools and the “deviant” churches, all agents of Satan, will be crushed or radically reformed. The rights of these “deviants” will be annulled. “Christian values” and “family values” will, in the new state, be propagated by all institutions. Education and social welfare will be handed over to the church. Facts and self-criticism will be replaced with relentless indoctrination. READ MORE

Get your fiscal house in order: China warns US as superpower expresses concern for $1.3tn of investments - Americas - World - The Independent

Get your fiscal house in order: China warns US as superpower expresses concern for $1.3tn of investments - Americas - World - The Independent

Pope Francis: ‘I Believe In God, Not In A Catholic God’

Pope Francis: ‘I Believe In God, Not In A Catholic God’


...........................“I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation,” the pope said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, as quoted by the Inquisitr. “Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being. Do you think we are very far apart?” READ MORE

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