be just

 Free to Die   :   Information Clearing House News Free to Die By Paul Krugman September 16, 2011 "New York Times" -- Back in 1980, just as America was making its political turn to the right, Milton Friedman lent his voice to the change with the famous TV series “Free to Choose.” In episode after episode, the genial economist identified laissez-faire economics with personal choice and empowerment, an upbeat vision that would be echoed and amplified by Ronald Reagan. But that was then. Today, “free to choose” has become “free to die.” I’m referring, as you might guess, to what happened during Monday’s G.O.P. presidential debate. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Representative Ron Paul what we should do if a 30-year-old man who chose not to purchase health insurance suddenly found himself in need of six months of intensive care. Mr. Paul replied, “That’s what freedom is all about — taking your own risks.” Mr. Blitzer pressed him again, asking whether “society should just let him die.”...

  Taking on Turkey: Israel's 'Dangerous' Game  :   Information Clearing House News However, the anti-Turkish attitude in Israel was not an outcome of the Mavi Marmara incident last year. “The height of humiliation” is how an Israeli newspaper described a scene in which Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz last January to humiliate him before Israeli media. Oguz was reprimanded over a fictional Turkish TV show that was critical of Israel. To ensure that the point has been successfully made, Ayalon “urged journalists to make clear that the ambassador was seated on a low sofa, while the Israeli officials were in much higher chairs,” according to the BBC (January 13, 2010). Ayalon noted that is “there is only one flag here”—the Israeli flag—and “we are not smiling.”

Al-Qaeda’s Project for Ending the American Century Largely Succeeded by Jim Lobe -- Antiwar.com A decade after its spectacular Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City’s twin World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon and despite the killing earlier this year of its charismatic leader, Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda appears to have largely succeeded in its hopes of accelerating the decline of U.S. global power, if not bringing it to the brink of collapse. That appears to be the strong consensus of the foreign-policy elite which, with only a few exceptions, believes that the administration of President George W. Bush badly "overreacted" to the attacks and that that overreaction continues to this day. That overreaction was driven in major part by a close-knit group of neoconservatives and other hawks who seized control of Bush’s foreign policy even before the dust had settled over Lower Manhattan and set it on a radical course designed to consolidate Washington’s dominance of the Grea...

New American Ally in Somalia: ‘Butcher’ Warlord | Danger Room | Wired.com If you thought it was bad that Washington is paying a shady French mercenary to do its dirty work in Somalia, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait to you see our latest ally: an admirer of Osama bin Laden with a gory past. Richard Rouget, a notorious gun-for-hire who uses American funds to train African Union soldiers fighting in the ruins of Mogadishu, has been mentioned in connection with at least one murder. But U.S.-backed Somali government general Yusuf Mohamed Siad, a.k.a. “Indha Adde,” a.k.a, “The Butcher,” once ruled an entire region of Somalia with a bloody fist. The U.S.-led international intervention in civil war-torn Somalia is unlike any of America’s other wars. Where the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are fought by tens of thousands of U.S. troops, in Somalia Washington pays others to do most of the fighting. These proxies include merc firms, regional bodies such as the A.U. and local allies inc...

Walter Fauntroy, Feared Dead in Libya, Returns Home—Guess Who He Saw Doing the Killing | The Afro-American Newspapers | Your Community. Your History. Your News. Former U.S. Congressman Walter Fauntroy, who recently returned from a self-sanctioned peace mission to Libya, said he went into hiding for about a month in Libya after witnessing horrifying events in Libya's bloody civil war -- a war that Fauntroy claims is backed by European forces. Fauntroy's sudden disappearance prompted rumors and news reports that he had been killed. In an interview inside his Northwest D.C. home last week, the noted civil rights leader, told the Afro that he watched French and Danish troops storm small villages late at night beheading, maiming and killing rebels and loyalists to show them who was in control. "'What the hell' I'm thinking to myself. I'm getting out of here. So I went in hiding," Fauntroy said. The rebels told Fauntroy they had been told by the European for...

“Fear, Inc.” Exposes the So-Called Experts and Donors Behind Islamaphobia in the United StatesA new report by the Center for American Progress called, "Fear Inc: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” shows how a small group of self-proclaimed experts backed by a host of donors are spreading fear and hostility toward Muslims in the United States. According to the report, these so-called experts peddle Islamophobia in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted anti-Islam talking points. It also notes that right-wing Norwegian murderer Anders Breivik repeatedly cited these “experts” in his so-called “Manifesto.” Among those the report highlights is Robert Spencer, author of a blog called, “Jihad Watch,” and leader of the group, “Stop Islamization of America,” which coined the term "Victory Mosque at Ground Zero" to refer to a local effort to build a moderate Islamic center in New York City, turning it into an international sp...

Israel deports children to preserve "Jewish character" of state | The Electronic Intifada Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time: “We all feel and understand the hearts of children. But on the other hand, there are Zionist considerations and ensuring the Jewish character of the state of Israel. We don’t want to create an incentive for the inflow of hundreds of thousands of illegal migrant workers.” But many of the undocumented workers lost their legal status simply by giving birth, as Israeli policy formerly stipulated that migrant workers who give birth must either send their babies back to their home countries, or keep their children and lose their work visas. In April this year, the Israeli high court ruled that this law was unconstitutional. “ Forcing a woman to choose between continued employment while realizing her legitimate financial expectations, and realizing her right to motherhood, cannot be reconciled with the normative and le...

Syrian security forces randomly shot open rounds at crowds attending funeral processions in Homs on Saturday, killing at least six people and wounding many others .

US in Mini-Quagmire in Philippines War on Terror -- News from Antiwar.com United States Special Operations Forces are carrying out counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations in the Philippines against an elusive group of so-called terrorists, numbering at no more than 12 individuals. The ongoing mission mirrors the wasteful and misdirected quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Philippines is one of the biggest recipients of US aid in all of Asia, with over $163 million slated for 2012 . US forces have been stationed in the Philippines for a very long time, but since September 11th have been upscaled efforts there under the rubric of the war on terrorism.

Turkish Navy Will Escort Gaza-Bound Aid Ships -- News from Antiwar.com The Turkish navy will significantly increase its presence in the eastern Mediterranean and plans to escort civilian ships carrying aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as part of a “more aggressive strategy” following the release of the UN Palmer report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla . “The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against civilian vessels,” a Turkish official was quoted as saying.

Thousands march at Bahrain teenager's funeral - Yahoo! News DUBAI (Reuters) – Thousands of Bahrainis chanted slogans against the Gulf state's king on Thursday at a funeral of a teenager who rights groups say died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by police. The government denied that police were responsible and offered a 10,000 dinar ($26,500) reward for information on Ali Jawad Ahmad's death. "The coroner's report indicates that the markings on Ali's neck are not consistent with being hit with a tear gas canister or rubber bullet as some have claimed," the government said in a statement on Thursday. About 10,000 marched at the 14-year-old boy's funeral, calling for the overthrow of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the royal family in the small island state which crushed a pro-democracy movement earlier this year, a Reuters witness said. The marchers, many of th...

Libya Rebels Round Up Black Africans -- News from Antiwar.comRebel forces and armed civilians are rounding up thousands of black Libyans and migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, imprisoning them in makeshift jails across the capital and accusing them of being mercenaries for Moammar Gadhafi.

Libya and the Shameless Rewriting of History : Information Clearing House News