As Texas Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has often said, when we aren't trying to bomb countries into submission, we are usually bribing them to do our will. And sometimes we do both.

Monday, 03 December 2012 17:52

U.S. Leaning On Iraq Over Iran's Arms Shipments to Syria

Written by  Jack Kenny

NEW AMERICAN

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate who is reportedly under consideration for Secretary of State in Obama's next term, has suggested that if Iraq doesn't offer more cooperation in the effort to stop the transport of Iranian arms to Syria, "maybe we should make some of our assistance or some of our support contingent on some kind of appropriate response."

In a Middle East triangle more dangerous than the romantic affairs of Generals Petraeus and Allen, the United States is leaning on Iraq to stop the shipment of arms from Iran to Syria, while the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is battling to hold power against rebel forces that have the diplomatic backing of the United States and other western nations.

The United States is pressuring the Iraq government led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to forbid the use of Iraq's air space for Iran-to-Syria flights unless Iran agrees to have the planes land in Iraq for inspection to ensure no weapons are being sent to the Damascus government. U.S. officials are concerned that the Baghdad regime is not cooperating in that effort, the New York Times reported. "The abuse of Iraqi airspace by Iran continues to be a concern," said an unnamed American official, as quoted by the Times. "We urge Iraq to be diligent and consistent in fulfilling its international obligations and commitments, either by continuing to require flights over Iraqi territory en route to Syria from Iran to land for inspection or by denying overflight requests for Iranian aircraft going to Syria." A spokesman for al-Maliki, however, denied Iraq is ignoring the U.S. requests.

"We wouldn't be able to convince them, even if we searched all the airplanes, because they have prejudged the situation," Ali al-Musawi told the Times. "Our policy is that we will not allow the transfer of arms to Syria." On the other hand, Hadi al-Amiri, Iraq's minister of transportation, struck a more defiant tone when denying reports that Iraq had been colluding with Iran and tipping off the Iranians about when the supposedly random inspections would occur.

"This is untrue," Amiri said. "We are an independent country and our stance is clear. We will search whichever plane we want, whenever we want. We will not take orders."

There have also been reports that on at least one occasion, an Iranian pilot simply ignored a request to land for inspection. Iraq has no air force with which to enforce the inspection requirement or to deny Iran the use of its Iraqi air space. Iraqi officials confirmed that they have inspected only two Iranian planes since making a commitment to the inspections policy in September, and none since October 27, when they inspected a plane on its return flight from Damascus, something al-Musawi said was an error. But officials in Baghdad also cite both Iran's claims that it is carrying only humanitarian aid to Syria and the expense of carrying out the inspections.

"We can't search every plane because there are so many heading to Syria,"said Nasir Bender, the head of civil aviation in Iraq. "It would be a big waste of money. Each plane we take down we must refill with fuel." The search thus far has turned up only "medical supplies and clothing," he said.

But U.S. officials believe Iran has been a key supplier of arms to the Assad regime, which is Tehran's most loyal Arab ally and a conduit for Iranian support of the militant Islamist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. And the predominantly Shiite government in Baghdad, where many officials have friendly ties with Iran, may be worried that Assad's fall from power would encourage Sunni and Kurdish forces in Iraq, where they could pose a threat to the Maliki regime.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are quietly expressing concerns over intelligence reports of activity at chemical weapons sites in Syria. "It's in some ways similar to what they've done before," an American official told the Times on condition of anonymity. "But they're doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons. It's not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities."

That, together with reports of Iran's arm shipments to Syria, may increase calls in Washington for the shipment of U.S. arms to the Syrian rebels, something the Obama administration has thus far resisted. Washington appears to have little influence on the Baghdad government it brought into power and the classified documents that Bradley Manning is accused of transmitting to Wikileaks reportedly show the Iraqi government in recent years has been no less ruthless in the use of torture than was the Saddam Hussein regime that was ousted nearly a decade ago by a U.S.-led invasion. The American public may have little appetite for anything suggesting another effort in regime change or humanitarian intervention based on reports of "weapons of mass destruction" in the Middle East.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate who is reportedly under consideration for Secretary of State in Obama's next term, has suggested that if Iraq doesn't offer more cooperation in the effort to stop the transport of Iranian arms to Syria, "maybe we should make some of our assistance or some of our support contingent on some kind of appropriate response."

As Texas Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has often said, when we aren't trying to bomb countries into submission, we are usually bribing them to do our will. And sometimes we do both.

NATO to the rescue of al-Qa’ida: “Any deployment would be defensive only. It would in no way support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation,” said Mr Rasmussen.

Nato to order deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey’s border with Syria

Nato will order the deployment of Patriot missiles to Turkey’s border with Syria later today and has warned the Syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons will trigger an immediate response.

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels

11:46AM GMT 04 Dec 2012

TELEGRAPH

Anders Fogh-Rasmussen, Nato’s secretary general, warned Syria that the international community would not stand by if Bashar al-Assad unleashes chemical warfare against the Syrian people.

“The possible use of chemical weapons would be completely unacceptable for the whole international community,” he said. “If anybody resorts to these terrible weapons, then I would expect an immediate reaction.”

Nato’s declaration follows Barack Obama’s warning of “consequences” should Syria’s chemical weapon stockpiles be used by the regime in its bitter civil war with rebels.

“I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and anyone who is under his command... if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable," the US president said.

The West is hardening its response to the conflict in Syria and the United Nations today announced it is pulling “all non-essential international staff” out of the country.

Despite warnings from Russia that deployment of Patriot missiles would add to tensions in the Syria region, Nato foreign ministers will on Tuesday agree to deploy Patriot missiles to the Turkish-Syrian border.

“Turkey has asked for Alliance support and we stand in full solidarity with Turkey,” said Mr Rasmussen.

“I am confident we will demonstrate our determination to deter against any threats and to defend our ally.”

Turkey’s request for Nato to deploy the anti-missile batteries came after intelligence assessments that Damascus was contemplating using ballistic missiles, potentially armed with chemical warheads.

Nato has stressed that under current operational planning the missiles will not be used to escalate a military response to the Assad regime but the decision comes as the West seriously contemplates further measures to aid Syrian rebels.

“Any deployment would be defensive only. It would in no way support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation,” said Mr Rasmussen.

The Patriot missiles will be supplied by Germany, The Netherlands or the US and deployment is not expected for some weeks. Six Patriot batteries, with some 300-400 troops to protect them, will be deployed in support of Turkey on its border with Syria by the New Year.

On Monday, Russia, Syria's staunchest international ally warned against the deployment. "Creating additional capabilities on the border does not defuse the situation but on the contrary exacerbates it," Vladimir Putin, the country president said.

Last week, the European Union gave a “clear signal” that the West is ready to arm Syrian rebels within months, after Britain won a diplomatic battle to ensure that a ban on arming opposition fighters is reviewed early next year.

“Why the Pentagon needs its own spy agency is anyone’s guess. Maybe to keep an eye on its generals when the CIA and FBI do not? Meanwhile the CIA has been taking over Pentagon functions, conducting military strikes with drones all around the world. We have the CIA bombing people and the Pentagon spying on people. Who knows what the other DOZEN spy agencies are up to?

Had enough of this shit yet?

National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney explains how the secretive agency run its pervasive domestic spying apparatus in a new piece by Laura Poitras in The New York Times.

Binney—one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history—worked for the Defense Department’s foreign signals intelligence agency for 32 years before resigning in late 2001 because he "could not stay after the NSA began purposefully violating the Constitution."

In a short video called “The Program," Binney explains how the agency took part of one of the programs he built and started using it to spy on virtually every U.S. citizen without warrants under the code-name Stellar Wind.

Binney details how the top-secret surveillance program, the scope of which has never been made public, can track electronic activities—phone calls, emails, banking and travel records, social media—and map them to collect “all the attributes that any individual has" in every type of activity and build a profile based on that data.

“So that now I can pull your entire life together from all those domains and map it out and show your entire life over time," Binney says.

The 8-minute video, adapted from an ongoing project by Poitras that is to be released in 2013, has footage of the construction of the NSA’s $2 billion data storage facility in Bluffdale, Utah, which Binney says "has the capacity to store 100 years worth of the world's electronic communications." 

The purpose of the program, according to Binney, is “to be able to monitor what people are doing" and who they are doing it with. 

"The danger here is that we fall into a totalitarian state," Binney says. “This is something the KGB, the Stasi or the Gestapo would have loved to have had."

Poitras, who has been detained and questioned more than 40 times at U.S. airports, has been working on a trilogy of films about post-9/11 America.

SEE ALSO: How Post-9/11 Surveillance Has Drastically Changed America [INFOGRAPHIC] >

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-whistleblower-william-binney-explains-nsa-surveillance-2012-8#ixzz2DyJZ5LwT

One there was a Janice Joplin. Hello Alabama Shakes

…And Janice tells us what she really thinks:

The simple solution is for House Republicans to announce that they are enacting their version of the Balanced Budget Amendment by permanently foregoing any increases in the national debt.

As limited government fans ponder where we go next, here is my advice; forget fantasizing about woulda, coulda, shoulda, and how we can revolutionize our approach to government.    

The simple solution is for House Republicans to announce that they are enacting their version of the  Balanced Budget Amendment by permanently foregoing any increases in the national debt.    

If they do so, as long as the Republicans control the House (or Senate),  the executive branch will be forced to eliminate incremental borrowing when the debt limit is reached.   So the federal government will immediately stop borrowing thirty cents of every dollar spent.    

At a four trillion dollar annual spend rate, this will force an  immediate reduction in 1.2 trillion dollar of annual deficit spending.   Republicans should make a Contract with America to force a balanced budget by this approach.    Government spending will plummet below current levels, and the interest rate on the national debt will stay low because there will now be a limited supply of US bonds.   

In the absence of a growing supply, the competition for those that already exist will make them more valuable and therefore a smaller interest rate will be sufficiently interesting to keep buyers in the market.   

The Republicans can say, we are willing to permit an increase after the Constitution is amended to allow a state vote to add a Balanced Budget Amendment, but only after the amendment is voted out of Congress and states choose to ratify or not.  We don’t need a revolution, we just need Speaker Boehner to say no to new debt. 

- Citizen  

Iran is the least of the problems in the Middle East

Top Ten Upheavals in the Arab World Today

Posted on 12/01/2012 by Juan

1. In response to the sting of defeat at the UN, Israel announced it is building a further 3,000 Israel squatter housing units on Palestinian land around Jerusalem. The Israelis had said that the Palestinians should come to the negotiating table instead of going to the UN, but they would be negotiating over this land that Israelis keep stealing. The US State Department deplored the Israeli move. But when Washington deplores the Palestinians’ actions, it cuts off funding, or designates people or parties ‘terrorist.’ When it condemns something Israel has done, nothing happens beyond a toothless tch tch.

2. Egypt’s Constituent Assembly abruptly passed the text of its proposed new constitution for the country on Friday, and likely President Muhammad Morsi will sign off on it Saturday. It then must be voted on in a nationwide referendum. The text of the constitution provoked anger among leftist youth, liberals and secularists, since it was crafted by the Muslim Brotherhood and incorporates religious strictures, nor does it provide firm protection for basic human rights. The Egyptian judiciary, which has been playing a major role in overseeing elections, says it will decline to administer the constitutional referendum. Egypt’s judges are angry at the president because of his high-handed decree putting himself, his senate and the constituent assembly above judicial review.

3. The opposition launched another major demonstration in Tahrir Square, demanding a new Constituent Assembly and a new text. But likely their only hope of derailing this one would be to campaign against its victory in the referendum. The Muslim Brotherhood is much better at campaigning.

Aljazeera has a video report on the protests in Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood draft constitution. (SEE Video ABOVE)

4. All hell is breaking loose in Syria. Revolutionaries have captured at least 7 bases from the Syrian army in just the past two weeks, and they have been mining their depots for arms. They have gotten hold of SA-7 shoulderheld missile launchers and deployed them against the Syrian air force. The regime seems to have lost control of most of the north of the country, and roads north have been cut. The revolutionaries are now attempting to take the Damascus airport, to prevent the regime from being resupplied by Russia and other allies. The fighting near the airport has caused most international passenger airlines to cease flying into it, though it is technically still open and the regime may still be able to use it for resupply. The regime, desperate to disrupt the revolutionaries’ command and control, pulled the plug on the internet and also turned off the telephone service. Muammar Qaddafi turned off the internet during the uprising in Libya, but it did not help him in the end. It is hard to see how this regime can survive, given the kinds of advances that the opposition has been making in recent weeks.

5. Some twenty Lebanese young fundamentalist Sunni men from the northern city of Tripoli were killed on Friday in an ambush as they sneaked into Syria to fight the Syrian government. Tripoli is tense, and has seen faction-fighting between Alawite Shiites and Sunnis in recent months. The Alawites tend to sympathize with the present government of Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite Shiite.

6. Violence continued for the fourth straight day in the town of Siliana southeast of Tunis, as locals protested the lack of jobs, lack of infrastructure, and lack of development, and demanded that their provincial government be dismissed. President Moncef Marzouqi, himself a secular liberal, fearing that the protests could spread, called for a national unity government and a cabinet reshuffle. But so far the prime minister, Hamad Jebali of the fundamentalist al-Nahda Party, has declined to dismiss the governor, shuffle his cabinet or meet any of the protesters’ demands. The al-Nahda is running a minority government, with less than 40% of the seats in parliament, and new elections are scheduled for June, 2013 after the new Tunisian constitution is finished this spring.

7. The US State Department took the unusual step this week of warning the Bahrain government that the country could break apart if the monarchy went on with its heavy-handed repression of protesters. The Shiite majority in Bahrain wants constitutional reform and a greater say in governing, whereas the Sunni monarchy insists on something close to absolute monarchy and Sunni dominance. (There is a show parliament, but the king can overrule it and the Shiites have never had a majority even in the elected lower house, because of regime gerrymandering).

8. In south Yemen, thousands of protesters rallied to demand autonomy from the Sanaa-based government in the north of the country. South Yemen had been an independent Marxist state 1967 to 1990, but was united with the North then, though often uneasily, and the central government has used force to assert itself in the south.

9. The Zawiya refinery in the west of Libya reopened on Friday, after a protest by vets that they weren’t getting paid a pension had closed it. Government mediation with the former fighters succeeded in mollifying them for now. Meanwhile, Libya’s new prime minister succeeded in having his proposed foreign minister pass the integrity commission’s inquiry, so that the new, elected government is gradually being formed. Libya’s government was overthrown and the new one has not succeeded in asserting itself, facing hundreds of armed militias around the country (most of which, however appear to function as neighborhood watch organizations, and militia violence in the big cities is relatively rare).

10. Thousands of Muslim fundamentalist and leftist protesters gathered in downtown Amman, Jordan, on Friday to demand the sacking of the prime minister. The protests have swelled in Jordan because the government has allowed natural gas prices to rise, reducing the subsidy as an austerity measure. Muslim Brotherhood dissidents warned King Abdullah II that if their demands were not met, all possibilities were open (i.e. including overthrowing the king and making Jordan a republic).

How our rulers and masters have made us poorer

By The Daily Reckoning • December 1st, 2012 •

Behold a new damage assessment from the credit crisis: The net worth of the median American household plunged 47% from 2007-2010.

So concludes a study by New York University's Edward Wolff. 'The debt of the middle class exploded from 1983 to 2007,' he writes, 'already creating a very fragile middle class in the United States... [T]heir position deteriorated even more over the "Great Recession".

Remarkably, if you throw out housing, the picture is even worse: Median nonhome net worth dived 59% between 2007-2010 and is indeed substantially lower than it was in 1962 - which is as far back as Wolff dared to look.

In Washington, Wolff's study is prompting a thorough re-examination of policies that larded down the middle class with so much debt over the decades.

Just kidding: The Beltway class is latching on to the part of Wolff's study that noted median net worth among "the 1%" grew 71% between 1983-2010, measured in 2010 dollars.

'Inequality skyrocketed as a consequence of the Great Recession,' says the questionably named Center for American Progress, 'taking resources away from middle class, minority and young families while the wealthy made significant gains.'

The statistic is 'almost ready-made for an Occupy Wall Street banner,' notes a story at Salon.

Like it or not, here's another statistic of that ilk: Student loan delinquencies skyrocketed during the third quarter, according to new figures from the New York Fed.

As of June 30, less than 9% of loan balances were 90 days or more in arrears. As of Sept. 30, the number was 11%. That's bad enough. In the context of the last decade, it's frightening.

'Nearly all student loans - 93% of them last year - are made directly by the government,' The Wall Street Journal points out.

'The real fallout from the student loan crisis will hit in mid-2013, four years after the volume of government-funded student loans surged,' macro strategist Dan Amoss wrote in August. 'Like the infamous option ARMs (adjustable-rate mortgages) during the housing bubble, these loans have precisely timed fuses: Four years after the loans are made, borrowers must start making payments.'

'Within a handful of years,' he amends his forecast now, 'U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for over $100 billion in student loan defaults.'

Then again, what's $100 billion in a "real" national debt of $86.8 trillion?

Officially, the national debt stands this morning at $16.3 trillion. That number does not include future liabilities for Social Security and Medicare.

Different people come up with different numbers when it comes to the true national debt: Former comptroller general and I.O.U.S.A. protagonist David Walker reckons it's $71 trillion. Boston University's Larry Kotlikoff's number crunching comes up with a figure three times as big, $222 trillion.

The $86.8 trillion figure comes from former congressmembers Christopher Cox and William Archer, writing in an Op-Ed posted yesterday at Yahoo Finance.

'Were American policy makers to have the benefit of transparent financial statements prepared the way public companies must report their pension liabilities,' the duo write, 'they would see clearly the magnitude of the future borrowing that these liabilities imply.'

Contra Messrs. Cox and Archer, they do: The Treasury Department issues an annual Financial Report of the United States Government - every year during the week between Christmas and New Year's, to make sure as few people as possible see it.

Regards,

Dave Gonigam
for The Daily Reckoning Australia

Why is the happening?