Stop NATO
February 12, 2014
1) Ukrainian judge who sentenced protesters murdered in Kiev
2) Insurgents reinforce barricades with sandbags
3) Defense minister says army not to intervene, but is not indifferent to developments
4) Russian diplomat: Ukraine is de facto federalized if not fragmented
5) Baroness Ashton says EU ready to sanction Ukrainian government
6) Last time? Ukraine hosts meeting of foreign ministries of the Commonwealth of Independent States

by Judith Curry Perspectives on climate change adaptation from Coca Cola, SwissRe, and Acclimatise. In Part I UK-US Workshop on Climate Science Needed to Support Robust Adaptation Decisions,  we considered presentations  from the ‘demand’ side, presenting perspectives from the UNFCCC, … Continue reading →

By Jonathon Cook | February 12, 2014

Forty-two years late, another Israeli war crime emerges from the shadows. In this case, dozens, and more probably hundreds, of Israeli soldiers kept a decades-long vow of secrecy. One of them is Shlomo Gazit, today a respected (in Israel, at least) academic at Tel Aviv University.

Mike Honda is considered one of the most serious legislators in Washington. He isn't a show horse; he's a work horse. So it probably didn't surprise too many people in CA-17 when the local Democratic Party delegates in his district gave him a stunning 92% of the votes for endorsement this weekend, despite his conservaDem's enormous stash of cash, much of it from Republicans eager to take out Honda. The Party endorsed Honda-- as have President Obama, Senators Feinstein and Boxer and every Democrat in the California House delegation.

Powerful Nations and Companies Fight Back Against NSA Spying

Washington’s Blog

New Telecommunications Infrastructure Is Being Built to Avoid American Spying

One of India’s largest newspapers – The Hindu – reports:

Today we talk to Eva Bartlett of InGaza.wordpress.com, an activist and journalist who has spent much of the past seven years living in Gaza and documenting the plight of the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israeli occupation. We discuss Bartlett’s background and experiences in Gaza, her upcoming US speaking tour where she will present those experiences, and how the Palestinian struggle is kept out of the mainstream media.

Sandy Hook...

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Maritime Command
February 10, 2014
NATO COUNTER-PIRACY WARSHIP VISITS SEYCHELLES
Port Victoria, SEYCHELLES: Last week, NATO Warship TCG GELIBOLU paid a visit to Port Victoria to pursue the ongoing cooperation with the Seychellois Authorities in the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
February 12, 2014
OVER 50 U.S. MILITARY VEHICLES ARRIVE IN GERMANY

Thirty-three U.S. Army M2A3/M3A3 Bradleys arrive at the Grafenwoehr Tower Barrack railhead

International Solidarity Movement | February 12, 2014

Hebron, Occupied Palestine – On the afternoon of February 11, 2014, settlers in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Al-Khalil (Hebron) cut down trees belonging to the Abu Eisheh family. While attempting to film the destruction of the trees, four human rights activists were arrested by Israeli police.

James Corbett of corbettreport.com presents a new weekly podcast series, “The Well-Read Anarchist.” In this series, James will read the major works of the great anarchist philosophers, from the foundational anarchist writers of the early 19th century right through to the contemporary thinkers of the 21st century. Joining us along the way will be a range of guests who will help to explain and contextualize these works.

Press TV – February 12, 2014

Prince Charles, the heir apparent to the British throne, is set to make a four-day official visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar later this month.
According to a statement on the British government website, released on Wednesday, the Prince of Wales is expected to begin his trip to the Middle East region from Saudi Arabia on February 17 and end it in Qatar on February 20.

 
 
 
Or, how to make enemies of people who aren’t
 
 by Stuart Littlewood                      Intifada Palestine
 

By Glyn Moody | Techdirt | February 11, 2014

Yesterday I commented on the fact that the drums of war were beating louder and more insistentlyAnd what seemed like a renewed push for 'humanitarian' war. You know the meme? Kill to save.Last night I came across this rather bizarre oped.

Voice of Russia
February 12, 2014
 

US space wars: Military Space Plane aims for 2017 lift off

Photo: EPA

The US Defense Department is attempting to develop a new unmanned spacecraft that could enter low Earth orbit faster and with more frequency than ever before.

Ministry of Defence of Georgia
February 12, 2014
Chairman of NATO Military Committee visits Ministry of Defence

Minister of Defence of Georgia Irakli Alasania met with Chairman of NATO Military Committee General Knud Bartels. [The] Top military official of the North-Atlantic Alliance is paying an official visit to Georgia.

Sunday, as part of an introduction to Blue America's latest endorsed candidate, George Gollin in central Illinois, we mentioned in passing that the mediocre Republican incumbent, careerist Rodney Davis, has a primary to worry about next month.

Xinhua News Agency
February 12, 2014
NATO military committee on first visit to Georgia

The NATO Military Committee on Tuesday started a two-day visit to the South Caucasus country of Georgia, after postponing it from November 2012.
It is the first visit by the NATO’s highest military authority.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
February 11, 2014
First of four US Navy ships to support NATO Ballistic Missile Defense arrives in Spain

The truth about the criminal bloodbath in Iraq cannot be "countered" indefinitely. Neither can "our" support for the medievalists in Saudi Arabia, the nuclear-armed predators in Israel, the new military fascists in Egypt and the jihadist "liberators" of Syria, whose propaganda is now BBC news.

====
Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
John Galsworthy, 1911: Air war last and worst hideous development of the black arts of warfare
John Galsworthy: The procreative demands of war

French illegal intervention in Africa has led to more instability and violence for the ulterior purpose of gaining a neo-imperialist foothold on the world's richest continent for natural resources.

Two and a half years since NATO’s UN-authorized intervention, Libya is teetering on the brink of failure. The still-transitional government has at best nominal control in much of the country, including the capital, but has been unable to disarm dozens of armed groups.

The furore over Russia's outrageous anti-gay law and Putins offensive remarks on the subject has meant LBGT campaigners have been torn, between a stance on boycotting the Sochi Winter Olympics and supporting participation. There have been calls, too, for Olympic sponsors like McDonalds and Coca Cola (still beggars belief) to speak out about the issue (fat chance! Profit is the bottom line - Coke has even had people murdered to protect it).

Lexie Kahanovitz is the guest on this episode of Trans Resister Radio. Lexie is the creator of Super Fun Show, with Learning!, a half animated half live-action sci-fi kid's show for adults. In this initerview Lexie recounts tales of her work on Season 2 of Xavier: Renegade Angel, and varied details of Super Fun Show are scrutinized with a fine toothed comb that Aaron just so happened to have in his back pocket. Satire, dark comedy, and animation can all be used as tools for learning. Listen to this podcast to find out how.

I was going to write about this very interesting essay by David Rieff in The National Interest today, and weave in another fascinating piece by William Lind in The American Conservative – unfortunately, necessity has dictated another course. The response to our fundraising drive has so far been quite disappointing. If this goes on – […]

Lieutenant General James R. Clapper, Jr., the Director of National Intelligence, recently gave testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on his annual assessment of the threats facing the United States. What little attention was paid by the media – always seeking drama and conflict to get more viewers and readers in order to increase advertising […]

Thirty-five years ago today, millions of Iranians embraced a religious leader promising freedom from a corrupt monarchy and national independence. Now many want a better standard of living and improved civil rights. “Living standards are 50 percent higher today than they were before the revolution, but so are expectations, which is why the average person […]

At least 60 people were killed and 60 more were wounded today. A gruesome attack in northern Iraq left 16 dead at an army base. In Falluja, a doctor was injured when mortars fell on his hospital. Five people were killed and 31 more were wounded in mortar or artillery fire. In Ramadi, seven militants […]

This afternoon, Paul Ryan voted NO on the paying for the bills he's run up as a Member of Congress. Most of the rest of the Republican House leadership team-- Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, even radicals like Darrell Issa and Gary Miller-- voted YES, to make sure the government didn't go into default. The clean debt ceiling passed yesterday 221-201.

By Duane Lester
 Hell-bent on arming opposition forces in Syria—despite strong evidence that they’re run by Islamic terrorists—John McCain displayed behavior unbecoming of a United States Senator during a recent meeting with Syrian Christian leaders touring Capitol Hill.

Why Sochi?

Tens of thousands protest NSA in 15 countries today, demanding real reform of mass surveillance, US return to constitutional rule…Click here for free audiobook download from Audible, and trigger $15 contribution to the PBC Podcast!
–from clicks to street action, here are ways to add your voice to the NSA protest
–8 GOP members of Maryland legislature sponsor bill that would cut off water and electricity to Fort Meade

John Pilger describes how historical memory and investigation have rescued a 'forgotten' war with significance for us all.

Press TV – February 11, 2014

The first of four US missile destroyers has arrived in Europe, an apparent move by Washington to challenge Russia that voiced concerns over the deployment.
The USS Donald Cook arrived in the Spanish port of Rota on Tuesday.

Four Corners | February 10, 2014

Jonathon Cook writes:
I never thought I would see it. A mainstream TV programme, this one made by Australian channel ABC, that shows the occupation in all its inhuman horror.

Ontario energy minister says we should wear sweaters in winter.

So there IS intelligent life on this planet? Let’s control that then….
Is intelligence written in the genes?

Scientists at Kings College, London, have found the first gene which appears to be directly linked to intelligence

London Telegraph

A gene which may make people more intelligent has been discovered by scientists.

The Messenger
February 11, 2014
US Congressmen hope NATO enlargement will become a priority in 2014
By Ana Robakidze
A group of US Congressmen addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry with a query to support Georgia’s future NATO membership at the Summit 2014 and grant the country the Membership Action Plan (MAP).

In the new ad above, the DCCC-connected SuperPAC, House Majority PAC, quotes AARP about the dangers seniors face if conservatives ever get their way in regard to privatizing Social Security. And they point out that the Republican candidate in the FL-13 special election, for the remainder of Bill Young's term, David Jolly, was a lobbyist who worked to privatize Social Security and who still favors that approach. All true.

by James Corbett
BoilingFrogsPost.com
February 11, 2014

By Cory Morningstar | Wrong Kind of Green | August 30, 2013

Appalling.
350.org’s Van Jones (U.S. Advisory Council Board member and NRDC trustee), is calling for airstrikes on Syria. [CNN Video below.]

DC on BFP #28 | Peter Christ, co-founder of LEAP, joins us to discuss the heroin overdose of Philip Seymour Hoffman, how similar deaths could be prevented, the shifting political and cultural landscape with regard to marijuana, and why the conversation must extend to "all consensual adult behavior."

CPTnet |  February 11, 2014

Stop NATO
February 11, 2014
1) U.S. House of Representatives’ vote threatens sanctions against Ukraine
2) Congressional vote backs Ukrainian opposition
3) Ukrainian separatists, Western backers may present Ukraine with Kosovo-style conflict: Russian experts
4) Cityv officials estimate protest damage at $24 million hryvnyas
5) Counter-Terrorism Center alerted over bomb threats to nuclear, other power facilities
6) Interior Minister speaks of anti-government information war

Symbols of New Jersey's transpartisan and all-pervasive corruption: Norcross (D) and Christie (R)One of my personal favorite candidates last year was Barbara Buono. It wasn't just because of her sparkling personality and her warmth and her courage, it was also for her forward-thinking ideas and her amazing platform.

February 11, 2014 (ATN) - What may have seemed like an isolated incident perpetrated by one of the more unsavory supporters of the current regime of accused mass murder, convicted criminal and fugitive, Thaksin Shinawatra, now appears to be more systemic - the abuse, mockery, and neglect of Thailand's handicapped.It was reported in "Senior Reuters Journalist Mocks Disabled Man," that pro-regime propagandi