Last night the California Democratic Party kicked off it's annual 3-day convention here in L.A. Professional Democrats of all stripes streamed into town. This morning, one national operative spat in disgust, "Everyone is so slovenly. This place in worse than ComicCon." For me, though, it was a wonderful opportunity for a series of lunches and dinners with old friends.
by Judith Curry It’s your turn to introduce topics for discussion.Filed under: Open thread
MEMO | March 7, 2014
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he did not commit to freezing settlement construction during his meeting with US President Barack Obama and that he will reject any agreement with the Palestinians that does not meet Israel’s security needs.
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 8, 2014
Russian FM: Ukraine Controlled by Ultranationalists
MOSCOW: The head of Russian diplomacy on Saturday slammed Ukrainian post-revolutionary authorities and alleged attempts to demonize Russia’s involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.
Al-Akhbar | March 7, 2014
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman refused to allow a delegation from the European Parliament to visit Palestinians jailed in Israeli prisons, a local newspaper reported Friday.
Yedioth Ahronoth said the European delegation had hoped to evaluate the prisoners’ conditions.
It isn't easy getting credible and dependable Republican staffers on Capitol Hill to speak with me, even off the record. They're almost as bad as Blue Dogs and New Dems. I lucked out the other day-- with a slightly drunk-- and very horny-- one, who took a shine to my companion and was eager to show how well-connected he is. He seemed a lot more certain than anyone else I've spoken to that Boehner won't be running for Speaker again.
RT | March 8, 2014
US Navy destroyer, the USS Truxtun, has crossed Turkey’s Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea. With the Crimea Peninsula getting ready to hold a referendum on independence from Ukraine in a week, the US is ramping up its military presence in the region.
Everyone says that they hate war, and most people really do, yet war has always been a part of human life. Nearly all societies throughout history have engaged in some form of warfare. And for as long as there has been war there have been good people trying to end it. Unfortunately, despite minor successes lasting peace has been a dream that has been impossible to realize. That dream has not died, however, and people continue the fight to end all war. A recent example is the new campaign called World Beyond War (WBW).
The frontrunner to become the next president of the United States is playing an old and dangerous political game – comparing a foreign leader to Adolf Hitler. At a private charity event on Tuesday, in comments preserved on audio, Hillary Clinton talked about actions by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in the Crimea. "Now if this […]
Address to investigative panel of the European Parliament looking into the nature and scope of U.S. surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency and its partner agencies in Europe. Following the statement are answers to written questions posed by the panel to Mr. Snowden. The original statement is available here as a pdf. – Introductory […]
by Uri Avnery
BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is very good at making speeches, especially to Jews, neocons and such, who jump up and applaud wildly at everything he says, including that tomorrow the sun will rise in the west.
The question is: is he good at anything else?
The violence tapered off slightly today, the prayer day, but at least 42 people were still killed and 62 more wounded. Shelling in Falluja and a bombing at a market in the north left the most casualties.
Our guest this week is Dr. Paul Cullen, professor of medicine and head of Doctors for Life in Germany, who joins us to discuss the anti-human agenda in the corridors of power and the abuse of science for political and commercial reasons. Be it the elitist Council of Europe or the bureaucratic U.N., Dr.
Our guest this week is Dr. Paul Cullen, professor of medicine and head of Doctors for Life in Germany, who joins us to discuss the anti-human agenda in the corridors of power and the abuse of science for political and commercial reasons. Be it the elitist Council of Europe or the bureaucratic U.N., Dr.
“Ladies and gentlemen, peace is Israel’s highest aspiration. I’m prepared to make a historic peace with our Palestinian neighbours — – a peace that would end a century of conflict and bloodshed. Peace would be good for us. Peace would be good for the Palestinians” (Bibi Netanyahu before the AIPAC conference earlier this month).
William A. Cook
RT | March 4, 2014
US lawmakers are already threatening Russia with economic sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. Trade, business, investment, and G8 membership closely link the Russian, American and European economies.
While the West is considering going down the ‘sanction road’, here’s a look at what’s at stake for the markets.
Trade
FBI enters the fray, as CIA and Senate intel trade accusations: it’s a full-on, spy vs. spy clusterf**k over torture report….Click here for free audiobook download from Audible, and generate $15 to the PBC Podcast!
–in Gen. Sinclair court-martial, sex assault victim becomes the target
–Chris Hayes reports Crimean Parliament was 97% re-stocked with pro-Russians last week , as Putin threatens to shut off gas to Ukraine
United States European Command
March 7, 2014
Additional Airmen, aircraft to support NATO policing mission in Baltics
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England:- The 48th Fighter Wing has sent additional aircraft and personnel to support NATO’s air policing mission in Lithuania, at the request of U.S. allies in the Baltics.
Why Settle is the name of an ActBlue page that suggests that we do not have to always settle for vile careerist corporate shills as presidential nominees. Alternatives are offered. One of those alternatives is the great independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.
Stars and Stripes
March 7, 2014
USS Taylor heads to Crete for repairs after running aground in Black Sea
By Steven Beardsley
NAPLES, Italy: A Navy frigate moored off Turkey’s coast since it ran aground in the Black Sea last month is being towed to Crete for repairs.
The recent firing of scholar and activist Dr. Anthony Monteiro from Temple University is unquestionably a politically motivated and racist assault on a world-renowned professor and community leader. However, it is equally an attack upon the very foundation of higher education and the place of Black people, Black politics, and Black communities within it.
“Scarlett Johansson is putting a fresh face on Soda Stream.”
If you like this then please check out my sisters art at Faces in Place.
No one knows if South Carolina Republican-turned-Libertarian Thomas Ravenel is floating trial balloons about running for Senate this year-- against his nemesis Lindsey Graham-- as a publicity stunt for his new BRAVO TV show, Southern Charm or if his participation in the shocking TV show is a publicity stunt for his Senate run.
Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the fourth pillar, the Practice of Self-Assertiveness.LIVING CONSCIOUSLY and asking in every applicable situation: Am I being authentic or not?Assertion of consciousness, see, think, be aware, outward and inward-ask questions-challenge authority-think for oneselfSELF-ASSERTIVENESS isn't tested by what we are against, but by what we are forCOMMITMENT: to my ri
Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the fourth pillar, the Practice of Self-Assertiveness.
LIVING CONSCIOUSLY and asking in every applicable situation:
Am I being authentic or not?
Assertion of consciousness, see, think, be aware, outward and inward
-ask questions
-challenge authority
-think for oneself
Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the fourth pillar, the Practice of Self-Assertiveness.
LIVING CONSCIOUSLY and asking in every applicable situation:
Am I being authentic or not?
Assertion of consciousness, see, think, be aware, outward and inward
-ask questions
-challenge authority
-think for oneself
2 updates below: I have spent quite a bit of time reading this morning. First some recent stuff and then some history.Tymoshenko warns of guerrilla war
If someone was systematically writing to journals that had published your work, making false allegations against you, would you be concerned?
Sandy Hook.... After all this time and all the rhetoric, I for one am SHOCKED that the people just do not get it.... This was indeed an operation carried out by the US Government and their own "Department Of Homeland Security" for the goals of striking the psychological effect of fear into the American public so that they will again surrender their weapons as granted to them by the second Amendment to the US Constitution, as well as giving up more of their "freedoms and liberties" in return for a measure of "security".... But the American people still do not get it...
Henry Kissinger, architect of the destruction of Indochina and secretary of state to one of America’s most corrupt leaders, wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post yesterday making arguments that, if uttered on any of the cable news shows, would be condemned as anti-American.
Interfax
March 7, 2014
“NATO factor” to create additional tensions in Ukraine – Moscow
MOSCOW: It is extremely dangerous to add “the NATO factor” to the complicated situation in Ukraine, Moscow says.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
March 6, 2014
NATO reaffirms commitment to assist Libya at Rome Conference
One of the glory days of the progressive movement, led in this instance by the environmental activists in our midst, was when we took down crooked pollution icon Dirty Dick Pombo and elected Democrat Jerry McNerney to replace him.
Interfax
March 7, 2014
Western support for Ukrainian coup led to collapse of intl law – Peskov
MOSCOW: Russian President’s Press Secretary has called the actions of Western countries over Ukraine “a triumph of double standards.”
Russian Information Agency Novosti
March 7, 2014
Ukraine Proposes to Host NATO Council Meeting
BRUSSELS: Ukraine’s interim prime minister said on Thursday he has invited NATO Council to hold a meeting in Kiev over the recent developments in the political crisis in the country.
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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Erich Maria Remarque: Selections on war
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Erich Maria Remarque
From Three Comrades (1936)
Translated by A.W. Wheen
National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel "Special Relationship" today, March 7, on C-SPAN 3 via cable or satellite TV 9 am to 5 pm Eastern Standard Timeor view it online at http://www.c-span.org/live/?channel=c-span-3(PLEASE RECORD IT IF YOU CAN)Panelists include Professor Stephen Walt (author of "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"), and Ernie Gallo, a survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 Americans and injured 174. Schedule (all times are Eastern)1.
By Mark Almond | CroixBlog | March 6, 2014
“All the assumptions on which… this policy [was]
based turned out to be wrong…. British domestic
opinion would prove hard to persuade that seeking
the return… of a fortress on the Black Sea merited
the risk of a war with Russia.”
William Hague on the Anglo-Russian Crisis (1791)[1]
With a little help from the Gray Lady
by Philip Giraldi Antiwar.com
