be just

NPR : Hezbollah Calls for National Unity Government Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of Hizbu'llah: Politics and Religion, says that after the war with Israel last year, there is a sentiment that the Lebanese government was complacent about the Israeli invasion and could no longer be trusted. Ghorayeb discusses the status of Hezbollah with John Ydstie. listen it there

Online NewsHour: Conversation | Book Reveals Holocaust Heroes | December 26, 2006 | PBS : "Author Uncovers Stories of Arabs Helping Jews During Holocaust There have been few books written about the Holocaust's impact in the Arab world. Margaret Warner speaks with author Robert Satloff about how Arabs saved some Jews during the Holocaust" Video and or Audio

Online NewsHour: Analysis | Chinese-Made Toys Recalled | August 14, 2007 | PBS : "Toy-maker Mattel recalled over 400,000 Chinese-made toys Tuesday due to 'impermissible levels of lead' and millions of other toys whose powerful magnets could be swallowed by children. The company also said recalls may continue as product testing is stepped up."

Tuesday: 247 Iraqis Killed, 6 GIs; 260 Iraqis Wounded - Antiwar.com America brought terrorism in terror free Iraq and Iraqis are paying for it.

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Real Reason Why Fewer U.S. Soldiers Are Dying in Iraq : "The number of U.S. military fatalities declined to 80 in July after three months of a death toll in the triple digits (104 in April, 126 in May, and 101 in June). The lower death toll has been cited by some U.S. commanders in Iraq and Bush administration supporters in Washington as a sign that President George W. Bush's 'surge' of U.S. troops is working. But the sources told me that the lower death toll reflects not some impending victory but just a slowdown in the U.S. ground offensive after the early phases of the surge, which poured more than 20,000 additional troops into Iraq. The sources cited a variety of factors contributing to the decline in U.S. casualties."

Alive In Baghdad

AlterNet: Oil Companies Are Using a Simple Trick to Bilk Consumers out of Billions : "Oil companies know that gasoline expands at higher temperatures and has less volume at lower ones, but they've refused to upgrade gas stations with a simple tool that would adjust the price of gas according to its temperature."

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs : "Some day, we will undoubtedly discover that, in the term 'surge' - as in US President George W Bush's 'surge' plan (or 'new way forward') announced to his nation in January - was the urge to avoid the language (and experience) of the Vietnam War era. As there were to be no 'body bags' (or cameras to film them as the dead came home), as there were to be no 'body counts' ('We have made a conscious effort not to be a body-count team' was the way Bush put it), as there were to be no 'quagmires', nor the need to search for that 'light at the end of the tunnel', so, surely, there were to be no 'escalations'. "

Obstructing the War on Iran : "- Many military officials, political analysts, and strategy study groups anticipated the war against Iran to be launched at the beginning of 2007, sometime between mid January and late April, when weather conditions would be ideal for aerial sorties and naval invasion. The signs were apparent with the heavy naval traffic in the Arabian Gulf, and the number of the conducted war games on both sides. Yet, we are now in August and war did not start. Did the Bush administration cancel its war plans after all the aggressive war-mongering rhetoric and threats, and after spending millions of Dollars sending American nuclear aircraft carriers with their battle groups to the gulf? Did Cheney’s fiery threats and promises to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities lose their flames? Or maybe Israel and its AIPAC had stopped pressuring the Administration to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities observing the statement of Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, t...

A Disneyland of Militant Ignorance: : "Given the nation's tottering infrastructure, imperial overreach abroad and vandalized constitutional process by a lawless executive branch, what will it take to scare the general public, mainstream press and political classes into immediate action to bring about meaningful change? At this twilight hour of the American republic, there must come a paradigm shift of seismic proportions or else the republic will perish. I'm less than optimistic. Insomuch as, I suspect, that if, during a rare press conference, George W. Bush's face were to suddenly shed its skin, right on camera, live on national television, on all channels, broadcast and cable, to reveal the countenance of a Gila Monster -- the elitist beltway punditry would begin to catalog the merits of his reptilian single-mindedness. Then proceed to an interview with an 'expert' from a right-wing funded, zoological think tank, 'The American Institute for the Advancemen...

Statement of the NSP or FSB? - Kavkazcenter.com : "Kavkaz Center has received from an anonymous address a statement signed by 'the National Socialist Party of Russia, which assumed the responsibility for the brutal killing of two Muslims - Dagestanian Tajik. Let us remind that the video footage of the execution was aired in the Internet on August 13, but a few hours later was removed from the majority of the servers. "

Chechnya Weekly from the Jamestown Foundation Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov vowed on August 3 that the republic’s rebels would be completely destroyed by the end of the year. “I responsibly declare that in the time remaining before the end of the year the problem of the remnants of the illegal armed formations will be fully resolved,” Interfax quoted him as saying at the opening of a military training center in his native town of Tsentoroi. “Not a single militant, or, as we call them, shaitan, will remain in Chechnya.” In what may have been a response, a group of rebels attacked the village of Tsa-Vedeno during the night of August 4-5, killing three people, including a two-year old boy, and burning three homes belonging to policemen. Kommersant, on August 6, quoted Dmitry Nikiforov, the acting head of the of the press center of the operational headquarters in Chechnya, as saying that approximately 10 rebels were involved in the attack and that they split into two groups – one of whi...

Chechnya Weekly from the Jamestown Foundation : "The past month has undoubtedly been one of Dokka Umarov’s fiercest and most productive since he assumed command of the resistance movement. Day after day in July and early August, reports from the North Caucasus have been reminiscent of a chronicle of war. There is only one difference. Whereas in the past, military operations took place in Chechnya, and the heat of battle was experienced in light of the Chechen resistance movement, today, Dagestan and Ingushetia have emerged onto center-stage. In these two regions, armed groups have become so active that they have begun to threaten Russia’s plans for the pacification of the Caucasus."

The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب : "Ayatullah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah called for a dialogue between Shi`ites and Salafi Wahhabis. He said that the dialogue will help undermine US and Zionist designs in the region. Yes, House of Saud is quite keen on undermining US and Israeli designs in the region."

Jeremy Scahill: The Mercenary Revolution : "Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities"

"Let's Make a Deal" Confirmation of previous blogs :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : " An interesting article appeared regarding Putin, Cheney, Iraq and its oil. I'll link to it, first, then, a few qualifications about it. I would agree with this, except, there are a couple of problems with this analysis. First of all, the recent vote to expand UN presence in Iraq was unanimous. That means both Russia and China agreed to it. So, what are they getting in return? I fully expect Lukoil to get a deal in Iraq. Lukoil is partnered with Conoco-Phillips. It is not a state run oil company. It is a private one. Here's a different article which puts the Lukoil-Iraq situation in greater context, One more link, in addition, regarding Lukoil and Iraq, On my previous blogs, as I've repeated many times, China was also offered an oil deal in Iraq. On the previous website is much more information, including the US sending more troops to southern ...

Does Juan Cole consider Iraq US’ territory? :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "But the question is: Does Cole consider Iraq US’ territory? Hopefully Middle East expert Juan Cole will pay more attention to what he posts on his blog or he will not be invited anymore to give talks at the US State Department Below, two more items about the expert"

Juan Cole: the anti-Sunni beat goes on. :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Cole continues, in the spirit of the great journalist/analyst I.F. Stone, writes: 'It is always surprising what you can conclusively deduce just from reading the newspapers without the spin that the administration and the Pentagon manages to implant in the stories.' Indeed, readers of Cole would do well to practice what he preaches. Namely, read Cole very carefully. He, like the administration and Pentagon has a 'spin'; specifically, an anti-Sunni pro-Shia spin. His years of study and living in the Middle East (not to mention, I believe his wife is Shia) has made him a partisan in the events; not just an objective viewer of the events. He is a must read. He provides much valuable factual data. But, he must be read carefully to differentiate his facts from his spin."

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Reporters Killed Amid Concerns Over Human Rights Abuses (Page 1 of 1) : "Press watchdog groups have condemned the 'savage' killing of two prominent Somali journalists, saying it demonstrates the perilous conditions reporters work in and threatens an independent media for the war-torn country. Ali Iman Sharmarke, managing director of HornAfrik Radio, was killed on August 11 when his car hit a remote-controlled explosive device. He was driving from the funeral of Mahad Ahmed Elmi, director of Radio Capital Voice, who had been shot by unknown assailants earlier the same day in the capital Mogadishu."

Aswat Aliraq : "Salah al-Din, Aug 11, (VOI) – Eight electricity workers were killed and two others wounded when a U.S. aircraft fired at their vehicle in southern Samarra's neighborhood of al-Jalisiya, a local police source said on Saturday"