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POPSChomsky Says Obama Continues Bush Policy to Control Middle East Oil
“As late as November, 2007, the U.S. was still insisting that the ‘Status of Forces Agreement’ allow for an indefinite U.S. military presence and privileged access to Iraq’s resources by U.S. investors,” Chomsky added. “Well, they didn’t get that on paper at least. They had to back down,” Alabbasi quotes him as saying. Chomsky said Middle East oil reserves are understood to be “a stupendous source of strategic power” and “one of the greatest material prizes in world history.” Concerning Iran, Chomsky said the U.S. acted to overthrow its parliamentary democracy in 1953 “to retain control of Iranian resources” and when the Iranians reasserted themselves in 1979, the U.S. acted “to support Saddam Hussein’s merciless invasion” of that country. “The torture of Iran continued without a break and still does, with sanctions and other means,” Chomsky said. According to Alabbasi, Chomsky “mocked the idea” presented by mainstream media that a nuclear-armed Iran might attack nuclear-armed
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POPSIsrael's Never-Inspected Nuclear Plants and Arsenal "Rogue State" with WMD: Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty either. This is why the IAEA Director, while inspecting Iran's, recently called Israel the Number One Threat in the Middle East , not Iran.
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POPSSaudi Royal Air Force carries strikes against Yemeni rebels
The same dynamic has played out in various forms in Lebanon, where Iran supports the Shiite militant Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia favors a U.S.-backed faction, and in Iraq, where Saudi Arabia and Iran have thrown support to conflicting sides in the Sunni-Shiite struggle. A top Saudi government adviser confirmed "a large scale" military operation underway on the Saudi-Yemeni border with further reinforcements sent to the rugged, mountainous area. "It is a sustained operation which aims to finish this problem on our border," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He said Saudi troops were coordinating with Yemen's army, but Yemen's defense ministry denied the Saudis were inside the country. The northern rebels, known as Hawthis, have been battling Yemeni government forces the past few months in the latest flare-up of a sporadic five-year conflict. They claim their needs are ignored by a Yemeni government that is increasingly allied wit
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POPSUS House: UN report on Gaza 'war crimes' is biased The Goldstone report lambasted both sides in the war, which killed up to 1,387 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, but was harsher toward Israel. It gave Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants six months to mount credible investigations or face possible prosecution in the Hague. Both Israel and Hamas have denied committing any war crimes. Israel has criticized the report as unbalanced and says the 47-nation Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the report, is biased against the Jewish state. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York; editing by Todd Eastham)
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POPSMy Name Is Khan Release date 12th February Shahrukh Khan Shahrukh Khan And Kajol Devgan Upcoming New Movie My Name Is Khan Is Releasing On 12th February.In MY NAME IS KHAN, Shah Rukh Khan stars as Rizvan Khan, an unconventional hero who embarks on an incredible journey across America in order to win back the love of his life. - BollyShare.Com
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POPSObama caves to the Zionist Lobby He was doing so well, but then he backed down on his insistence that Netanyahu freeze all settlement building in occupied Palestine. It seems Obama spoke a good game, but he's had his spine removed. Read the whole story at source.
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POPSReal men don't read D.C. pundits Even worse than Krauthammer's column today, though, was David Brooks in the New York Times. Partly it's because Brooks likes to pretend to be open-minded and reasonable, while spouting neocon talking points, and occasionally liberals get pulled in by him. But today was trademark lazy ideological Brooks. As Glenn Greenwald notes, unbelievably he bragged about "doing what journalists are supposed to do" -- which he defined as talking to a handful of anonymous pro-war sources, who uniformly criticized Obama's inaction to date on McCrystal's troop request. That's some brave shit. Not quite David Rohde brave, but hey, he made the calls! If it was unanimous, that means he didn't call retired Marine Matthew Hoh, who resigned from a civilian post in Afghanistan this week because he said we can't win, and our presense is only fueling the insurgency. Hoh told the Washington Post's Karen de Young he's "not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love" and that he believes
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POPSUN calls on Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes
“The UN reiterates its call for an immediate and unconditional halt to such actions and urges the State of Israel to protect the civilian population in oPt from further displacement and dispossession.” Israel occupied the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, in the 1967 war and annexed the latter in a move not recognized internationally. According to Israeli authorities house demolitions are carried out on homes that have been built without official building permits, rendering them “illegal.” But, OCHA said, “lack of adequate planning combined with strict administrative requirements and high fees makes it extremely difficult for Palestinian residents to obtain such permits, leaving them no choice but to build ‘illegally’ to provide shelter for their families. Palestinian families who move outside the municipal boundaries risk losing their Jerusalem ID cards, and with it the right to live in and access the city.” [/quote}
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POPSIsrael's nuclear capabilities - 25 Oct 09 "While Israel is one of the loudest voices calling for a tougher line on Iran's nuclear programme, its own nuclear capability has never been put to inspection Israel has two nuclear research centres - at Dimona and Soreq. The latest estimates suggest that Israel has produced at least 118 warheads with weapons grade plutonium. The Jericho ballistic missiles are capable of carrying such weapons The Jericho One, which is now obsolete, had a range of 500 kilometres, and could carry a 20 kiloton nuclear warhead - 20 times more powerful than the US bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 The Jericho Two has a range of 1500 kilometres. It could just reach Iran - and is believed to be able to carry a one megaton nuclear bomb, which is 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. It is believed a Jericho Three missile is now being developed - that will be able to travel around 5,000 kilometres, bringing all of Iran and Europe into its range Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports
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POPSCharles Krauthammer: The Three Envelopes 
I suppose, explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan. This compulsion to attack his predecessor is as stale as it is unseemly. Obama was elected a year ago. He became commander in chief two months later. He then solemnly announced his own "comprehensive new strategy" for Afghanistan seven months ago. Obama is obviously unhappy with the path he himself chose in March. Fine. He has every right -- indeed duty -- to reconsider. But what Obama is reacting to is the failure of his own strategy. There is nothing new here. The history of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is a considered readjustment of policies that have failed. In each war, quick initial low-casualty campaigns toppled enemy governments. In the subsequent occupation stage, two policy choices presented themselves: the light or heavy "footprint." In both Iraq and Afghanistan, we initially chose the light footprint. This was the considered judgment of our commanders at the time,
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POPSZinnie to Obama: Time's Up on Afghanistan Decision If Zinni is calling for more troops Now then things are more serious than we're hearing. And I bet he didn't use the word "dillydallying". I just read that 8 US soldiers were killed today by roadside bombs. Either support our people there or throw our integrity to the wind and leave.
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POPSAlternate Iraq War Universe … Obama Won! Never mind that the surge was initiated by President George Bush, and the current withdrawal was negotiated by the Bush administration with a sovereign, elected Iraqi government which his actions allowed to come into being, in place of the prior despot he had deposed, while Democrats, including Obama, were howling for abandonment. Obama deserves some credit, of course. For staying Bush’s course and throwing his own boneheaded pandering demands for a precipitous pullout under the bus. OK, I thought Friedman had got about as weird as he could. Silly me. This next step is particularly important, which is why we cannot let Afghanistan distract U.S. diplomats from Iraq. Remember: Transform Iraq and it will impact the whole Arab-Muslim world. Change Afghanistan and you just change Afghanistan. Fascinating. The big clamor for the last few years of course has been that Iraq was distracting us from Afghanistan, and now every jackanape out there, to include Friedman . . .
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POPSWho Knew? Middle East Conflict Starts World Record Food Fight
I have tongue in cheek to get that last bit of hummus - grin. And here I thought the source of the conflict was over land and past wars. Who knew that you could probably settle conflict in the Middle East by promoting a reality TV show called Food Fight 2010. I can see it now: the Somalis, Sudanese, Ethiopeans fight over who makes the best tef-based bread or add the Kenyans and who makes the best bright coffee! But the ultimate game may be a toss up - sorry salad lovers - between who has the best: 1. Zatar. 2. Noodle 3. Bar-b-que sauce (We Americanss think we invented it but you know people bar-b-que all over the world. Really. Our version probably comes to us from Nigeria and Ghana - Get your red hot Suya sauce! Wars are serious and should be ended and I can't think of a better way to do it than to leave it to the world voting online for the best hummus. And actually, I like the cheese that the Spanish make from sheep's milk better than feta _ OMG! Did I really admi
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POPSThe Washington Post's 2002 "reporting" on Iran The issue isn't whether you believe Iran desires to develop nuclear weapons; it's obviously possible (even rational) that they do. The issue is the painfully reckless, transparently irresponsible, and Iraq-replicating "journalistic" methods for disseminating these war-fueling assertions. In perfect 2002 fashion, Warrwick does not have a single named source for these scary allegations; instead, this is who fed him these claims: "many U.S. and European intelligence officials" and "two former senior U.S. officials" and "intelligence officials from the United States and allied nations" and "a senior Middle East-based intelligence official" (one wonders, in vain, which "allied nation" and which "Middle-East based" country might have whispered these things?). And while Warwick provides a cursory paragraph devoted to denials by Iranian officials of these accusations, he does not include a single expert or named source to dispute these claims. It's a purely one-sided, unquestioning and en
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POPS2012 Is Already Here "It started off same as always; coupla fossils saying how our Banjo Patterson was a better poet than Walt Whitman, how Con the Fruiterer is funnier than Seinfeld, only they're Aussies so no one knows about 'em," recalled witness Kevin Porter. "Then this bloke Martin pipes up and says Australia's main problem is that it's stuck in Australia, and everybody says 'Too right!'" "Well, it made sense at the time," Porter added. By 2 a.m., powered by national pride and alcohol, the 3-million-square-mile land mass was barging eastward through the Coral Sea and crossing into the central Pacific, leaving a trail of beer cans and Chinese take-away in its wake. When dawn broke over the Northern Hemisphere, the continent suddenly found itself, not only upside down, but smack in the middle of the Atlantic, and according to most of its 19 million inhabitants, that's the way it's going to stay.
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POPSArab White House correspondent disses U.S. White House reporters Hmmm, I wonder who are considered third and fourth class citizens. And, why YouTube remove the video? I haven’t read anything from her or from the Dubai-based MBC but I’m willing to bet that they are not sucking up to Obama like the American main stream press is. You gotta play by the rules, baby.
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POPSWorld Atlas List of continents, countries, dependencies, islands, territories, lakes, rivers, seas, oceans, mountains, and the highest, lowest, biggest, smallest, tallest, deepest, oldest, youngest, richest, poorest places on the planet here!
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POPSObama offers millions in muslim technology fund Yeah? Stupid. The results will be : a) 3/4 will be skimmed off by corrupt officials b) the rest will be spent on developing primitive tools to destroy us or prevent us from attacking them effectively. Please understand... muslims are incapable of building or creating anything. They only know how to destroy and kill.
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POPSBalloon Boy Meets the Shopping Mall Vandals? Me jaded? In less than a week after the balloon boy hoax, this seems more than a bit questionable. Two guys who have been talking about maybe attacking a shopping mall for more than 8 - eight - years are charged with plotting the ultimate act of terrorism attacking Macy's or JC Penny's, or Filene's (OMG!) I think about two guys in the old make-believe Friend's Bar talking for eight years on how they might rob a bank - and then they get charged with plotting to rob the Bank of Boston! It could be true but it's a bit hard to take seriously this week.
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POPSEmirates Air Lines Emirates air lines ensure you have the best of the in-flight services and the trademark Emirates air ways flying experience.
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POPSRights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast The organization is expressly concerned mainly with how wars are fought, not with motivations. To be sure, even victims of aggression are bound by the laws of war and must do their utmost to minimize civilian casualties. Nevertheless, there is a difference between wrongs committed in self-defense (Israel) and those perpetrated intentionally (Hamas and Hezbollah).
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POPSMagic Numbers in Politics: Part II by Thomas Sowell Bluntly, it means more severe injuries and death. Many of the same people who protest against "trading blood for oil" when it comes to military interventions in the Middle East seem not to see that higher miles per gallon can also mean trading blood for oil. The magic number du jour is the number of Americans without health insurance. Apparently getting more people insured is another "good thing"-- which is to say, it is something whose costs are not to be weighed against the benefits, or whose costs are to be finessed aside with optimistic projections or a claim that these costs can be covered by eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse." In real life, people weigh one thing against another. But in politics one declares one thing to be imperative, so the issue then becomes how we do it. In real life, all sorts of desirable things are not done, either because of other desirable things that would have to be sacrificed to do it or because of the dangers incurred .
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