US Demands Air Passengers Ask its Permission to fly If you're not on the list, you're not getting on By Wendy M. Grossman US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly: Under new rules proposed by the Transport Security Administration (TSA), all airline passengers would need advance permission before flying into, through, or over the United States regardless of citizenship or the airline's national origin.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18549.htm

The Mother of all Pretexts By Uri Avnery A sceptic might ask: How did it happen that the wonderful Western culture gave birth to the Inquisition, the pogroms, the burning of witches, the annihilation of the Native Americans, the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansings and other atrocities without number - but that was in the past. Now Western culture is the embodiment of freedom and progress.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18547.htm

'The U.S., Not Iran, is the Terrorist': In the last two centuries has Iran... invaded any other nation?
http://www.paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=191511

We will dump nuclear treaty, Putin warns: Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that Russia was considering withdrawing from a major cold war arms treaty banning intermediate nuclear missiles unless it was expanded to include other states.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2190321,00.html

Betraying Their Oath of Office

Impeachment, Cowardice and the Democrats
By RALPH NADER

The meeting at the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts on July 5, 2007 was anything but routine. Seated before Cong. John Olver (D-MA) were twenty seasoned citizens from over a dozen municipalities in this First Congressional District which embraces the lovely Berkshire Hills.

The subject-impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney.

The request-that Cong. Olver join the impeachment drive in Congress.

More than just opinion was being conveyed to Cong. Olver, a then 70 year old Massachusetts liberal with a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. These Americans voted overwhelmingly during formal annual town meetings in 14 towns and two cities in the First District endorsing resolutions to impeach the President and Vice President.

Presented in the form of petitions to be sent to the Congress, the approving citizenry cited at least four "high crimes and misdemeanors."

They included the initiation of the Iraq war based on defrauding the public and intentionally misleading the Congress, spying on Americans without judicial authorization, committing the torture of prisoners in violation of both federal law and the U.N. Torture Convention and the Geneva Convention, and stripping American citizens of their Constitutional rights by jailing them indefinitely without charges and without access to legal counsel or even an opportunity to challenge their imprisonment in a court of law.

Forty towns in Vermont and the State Senate had already presented their Congressional delegation with similar petitions.

Impeachment advocates reported the results to Cong. Olver from each town meeting. Leverett's vote was 339-1; Great Barrington was 100-3. No vote in any of the towns or cities was less than a two-third majority "yes" in favor of impeachment, according to long-time activist, Atty. Robert Feuer of Stockbridge, Mass.

With three fourths of reports completed Cong. Olver, who voted against the war, raised his hand and said, "Spare me, I know full well the overwhelming majority of my constituency is in favor of impeachment." He then told them he would not sign on to any impeachment resolution whether against Bush or against Cheney (H.Res. 333 introduced by Cong. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)). He was quite adamant.

In taking this unrepresentative position, Rep. Olver's position was identical to that of the House Democratic leadership and many of his Democratic colleagues.

The Democratic Party line on impeachment is that Bush and Cheney are the most impeachable White House duo in American history (they believe this privately). The Democrats do not want to distract attention from their legislative agenda, and need Republican votes for passage. Moreover, they do not have the votes to obtain the requisite two-thirds of the members present for conviction in the Senate.

Strangely, none of these excuses bothered Republicans when they impeached Bill Clinton in the House for lying under oath about sex and proceeded to a full trial in the Senate where they failed to get the required votes. Can Clinton's "high crimes and misdemeanors" begin to compare with this White House crime wave?

The last question to Cong. Olver was from a young veteran back from Iraq and Afghanistan. "What could we possibly do to bring you around to our way of thinking," he asked?

Cong. Olver's response, after several seconds of silence, was "You have to prove to me that impeachment will not be counterproductive."

Members of Congress should apply the same standard to themselves that they like to apply to members of the Executive and Judicial branches-namely to honor their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. That Oath is supposed to transcend political calculations.

Maybe the Democrats think that Bush and Cheney are such wild and crazy guys that a serious impeachment drive in Congress would provoke the two draft-dodgers to launch a military emergency, strike Iran or otherwise generate a crisis, based on their continual fulminations about the "war on terror," that would engulf the Democrats and throw them on the defensive for 2008.

In short, the Democrats may be viewing Bush and Cheney as being so defiantly, aggressively impeachable on so many counts as to be unimpeachable. That is, with the White House harboring so much political nitroglycerine, don't even try to remove it.

Such a cowardly position would make quite a precedent for future Presidents who want to illegally elbow out the other two branches of government and our Constitution.

Ralph Nader is the author of The Seventeen Traditions

Analysts Find Israel Struck a Nuclear Project Inside Syria
By DAVID E. SANGER and MARK MAZZETTI Published: October 14, 2007 WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 — Israel's air attack on Syria last month was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/washingt...amp;oref=slogin

Clinton's Iran Vote: The Fallout

By HELENE COOPER


SENATORS Joe Biden and Chris Dodd voted against it. Senator Barack Obama said he would have voted against it if he had voted. Former Senator John Edwards implied he would have voted against it if he could vote.

And Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton? She voted in favor of the measure in question, which asked the Bush administration to declare Iran's 125,000-member Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization. Such a move — more hawkish than even most of the Bush administration has been willing to venture so far — would intensify America's continuing confrontation with Iran, many foreign policy experts say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/weekinreview/14cooper.html

U.S. Plan for Airline Security Meets Resistance in Canada

By IAN AUSTEN
Published: October 14, 2007

OTTAWA, Oct. 13 — Canadian airlines are balking at a Department of Homeland Security plan that would require them to turn over information about passengers flying over the United States to reach another country.

The proposal, which appears at odds with Canada’s privacy laws, would mostly involve Canadians who join the annual winter exodus to Mexico, Cuba and the Caribbean. It is also viewed by the Canadian airline industry as a rejection of several costly measures already taken to assuage American concerns.

“I appreciate and respect United States citizens’ concern for their safety and security,” said Fred Gaspar, the vice president of policy and strategic planning for the Air Transport Association of Canada. “But we need to understand what the gap is they need to fix.”

The proposal is part of a broad Transportation Security Administration plan known as the Secure Flight Program. Last month, the agency released rules it hopes to impose when it takes over from the airlines the job of matching passenger names with terrorism watch lists and no-fly lists.

Christopher White, a spokesman for the security administration, said the new program was not a negative comment on Canadian security measures.

“We need a multilayered approach,” he said. “Any security system that relies on one process is a very vulnerable system.”

In June, Canada put in effect its own no-fly list of potentially dangerous travelers. The Canadian program was developed after extensive consultation with the United States.

Mr. Gaspar said that the Canadian airlines’ understanding was that once Canada’s program was under way, the only information they would have to give the United States would be about passengers headed to that country.

“Either the United States places no value whatsoever in the Canadian list, which it helped develop, or I have to suspect what’s going on here is a pure and simple data-fishing exercise,” Mr. Gaspar said.

Among other things, he speculated that the data could be used by American authorities to track Americans who violated the trade embargo against Cuba by flying there on Canadian airlines.

Mr. White, of the Transportation Security Administration, said the rules were open for comment until Oct. 22, “including from our Canadian friends.”

All the "Conspiracy Theories" About George W. Bush have come true
by: UnCommontator
Sat Oct 13, 2007 at 17:46:09 PM EDT

By The Existentialist Cowboy

In the wake of 911, you could count critics of George W. Bush on one hand. Three courageous exceptions to the climate of fear are notable: Gore Vidal (The Enemy Within), Rep. Cynthia McKinney and, somewhat later, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer who proclaimed August 15, 2005 that the 9/11 committee investigation was either a cover up or a cover story. Shaffer charged that his unit had warned the FBI about "terrorist cells" but was ignored.

"There is only one politically serious explanation of this now-indisputable fact: powerful forces within the US military/intelligence complex wanted a terrorist incident on US soil in order to create the needed shift in public opinion required to embark on a long-planned campaign of military intervention in Central Asia and the Middle East. Whether or not they knew the scale of the impending attacks and what the precise targets would be, they acted in such a way as to block the arrest of known terrorist operatives and allow them to carry out their plot."

--Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, Army intelligence officer

In August of 2005, the New York Times, at last, revealed that military intelligence had identified four of the alleged hijackers. They were said to have been Al Qaeda operatives "...working in the US a year before the 9/11 attacks." This should have set off alarm bells but didn't. After all, the CIA created al Qaeda. I would like to know: when did al Qaeda cease being anything other than the "dirty tricks" arm of the CIA? I also want to know why the Military's Special Operations Command prevented an intelligence unit from passing on that information to the FBI.

The best answer is that the new Bush administration, partner to the oil industry, wanted to build a pipeline through Afghanistan and needed a little war to "enhance" the negotiations. Just months before 911, US State Department officials had offered the Taliban a deal: " ...a carpet of gold or a carpet of bombs"! Gore Vidal takes up the narrative, making the only case that makes sense.
Read More at The Existentialist Cowboy

http://worldwide-sawdust.com/showDiary.do?...&view=print

Putin threatens to end Cold War nuclear pact
( Published on Friday, October 12, 2007 )
Vladimir Putin threatened to tear up one of the nuclear treaties that ended the Cold War today as he demanded the US cancel its plans to site more missiles in Eastern Europe

Print this article
TSA Gets Earful on Air Security Proposal
by David Jonas
October 11, 2007 - The Transportation Security Administration through Oct. 22 is collecting public feedback on proposed changes to its nascent Secure Flight air passenger security program. Under the proposed rules, TSA would collect data from airlines on passengers booked on all flights operated within, to, from and over the United States; check that data against terrorist watch lists; and then inform airlines of which passengers should and should not be issued boarding passes. The overall tone of more than 100 comments already filed--as well as the remarks from industry participants during a public TSA meeting last month--was decidedly negative. Some suggested the program violates constitutional rights to privacy and expressed opposition to what they perceived as a requirement to ask the federal government for the permission to travel. Others questioned if airlines and travel agents would have sufficient time to adjust their business processes. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives said TSA had taken "a step in the right direction" by saying it would no longer rely on commercial databases to perform security checks, reducing the number of names on the federal "no-fly" list and shifting the responsibility for checking passenger data from airlines to itself. Yet, ACTE still noted "serious concerns" related to how the federal government would collect, use, store and correct passenger data. TSA in August filed a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on Secure Flight in which it described how airlines would request certain information from passengers at the time of booking and transmit that information to TSA "approximately 72 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time." Specifically, airlines would request a passenger's full name, gender, date of birth, passport information (if available) and "certain non-personally identifiable information such as itinerary information, record locator numbers, etc."--though only a full name would be required to actually make a reservation. "This proposed rule would not compel the passenger ... to provide the majority of the information," according to TSA's NPRM. "However, if that individual elected not to provide the requested information, TSA may have insufficient information to distinguish him or her from a person on the watch list. Accordingly, the individual may be more likely to experience delays, be subject to additional screening, be denied transport, or be denied authorization to enter a sterile area. ... For the vast majority of individuals, a decision to forgo providing these data elements should have no effect on their watch list matching results and will result in less information being held by TSA." TSA said the 72-hour requirement would provide enough time to "prioritize the domestic and international watch-list matching workload," resolve as many "false positives" as possible before those individuals arrive at the airport and allow airlines "to begin issuing boarding passes to passengers 24 hours prior to departure." For reservations and ticket changes within 72 hours, TSA would require airlines to transmit information "immediately." TSA said passenger data "in general" would be compared to the federal government's consolidated terrorist watch list, but in certain circumstances, it would also use "other government databases, such as intelligence or law enforcement databases." The agency proposed to retain passenger data records "for a short period of time," with "the vast majority ... destroyed within seven days of completion of directional travel." In the same volume of the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published a final rule on the Advance Passenger Information System for international flights arriving in or departing from the United States. It requires airlines to transmit passenger data to CBP "no later than the time the flight crew secure the aircraft doors for takeoff." The new rule takes effect in February. "We propose that, when the Secure Flight rule becomes final, aircraft operators would submit passenger information to the U.S. Department of Transportation through a single DHS portal for both the Secure Flight and APIS programs," according to TSA's NPRM. "This would allow DHS to integrate the watch list matching component of APIS into Secure Flight, resulting in one DHS system responsible for watch list matching for all aviation passengers." The revised Secure Flight program would take effect 60 days after the new rules are finalized and published in the Federal Register. Industry feedback In its filing, ACTE specifically questioned whether the program would rely in any way on the federal Automated Targeting System, a screening program that was disclosed late last year, blasted by critics and, according to ACTE, "never fully explained nor dismantled." During TSA's public meeting last month, TSA administrator Kip Hawley said Secure Flight "does not use commercial data. It does not assign a score based on risk." ACTE also stated that it would not support any security program without an effective redress process allowing passengers to correct inaccurate data. "Despite the creation of the DHS [Traveler Redress Inquiry Program], our position has not changed," according to the association. "There is little information on the success of the TRIP program with regard to the number of situations that were resolved, or the number of passengers who have had unrestricted travel privileges restored." Other industry representatives suggested that 60 days would not be enough time for airlines and travel agencies to adapt their processes to the new rules. It is "still unclear to us how the data the travel agents will end up collecting--because they are the front-line sales force for most of the people who end up on airplanes--is going to be passed from the global distribution systems ... to the airlines to the government," said American Society of Travel Agents senior vice president of legal and industry affairs Paul Ruden. "My impression is that there's a gap here that is not being addressed and it is fundamental to the way business is operated. "The travel management companies that specialize in this business ... have invested huge sums in creating systems to keep that information on file so that it could be entered automatically in passenger name records and make the booking process as efficient as possible," Ruden continued. "Those profiles are going to have to be changed. Maybe there will be new programming requirements to accommodate this new information because we don't generally collect people's date of birth today. And the issue of coordination between the GDS systems and travel agency back office systems where this information resides is also a huge cost question. So, this cannot be accomplished in 60 days." Regional Airline Association vice president of technical services Dave Lotterer suggested similar challenges for smaller airlines. "The computerized system needed to support this activity certainly isn't in place" for many RAA members, he told TSA. Lotterer also questioned the logistics of communication between TSA and airlines for reservations and ticket changes made within 72 hours of departure. "You're in effect putting the government into the business process of having passengers denied boarding at the last minute," he said. "And I guess the airlines--I would think all of the airlines--would be very nervous about a government entity so intimately involved in their business process of getting customers on board their [airplanes]." First Amendment rights activist Edward Hasbrouck, working for The Identity Project, during the TSA meeting said that the "core of the proposed rule" is a requirement for "would-be air travelers to obtain permission from the government before they can travel." That, he said, infringes on freedoms of assembly of movement. Hasbrouck also suggested that data collected by airlines--at TSA's request--could be kept, used, sold or shared by the airlines, regardless of the data retention restrictions imposed on the government. In his filing, Douglas Lavin, International Air Transport Association regional vice president in North America, requested an extension for the public comment period, to Jan. 21, 2008. He cited "the complexity and scope" of the NPRM, which he described as "a comprehensive change to passenger data collection, processing and transmission activities of both domestic and foreign air carriers." At press time, the deadline for public comment was unchanged at Oct. 22. Interested parties can submit comments electronically via dms.dot.gov or www.regulations.gov; in person or by U.S. mail to U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor, Room W 12- 140, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590; or via fax to (202) 493-2251. The associated docket number is TSA-2007-28572. Related resource: Transportation Security Administration Secure Flight Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Technology for paperless boarding passes adopted
George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, October 12, 2007

In recent years, the airline boarding pass has gone from a bulky packet of paper you received in the mail to an e-mail that you can print out at home.

But the incredible shrinking boarding pass may not be done evolving. Soon, it may become a tiny digital bar code that sits on your cell phone screen.

So said a trade association for international airlines Thursday. The International Air Transport Association, which represents 240 airlines, said it has taken a step toward allowing passengers to check in for flights using a bar code sent to their cell phones via e-mail or text message, making the process truly paperless.

Passengers would simply show airport officials their phone screen and off they go. A version of the system is being tested by Air Canada, but it looks like it will be a few years before it is adopted in the United States.

Technically, what the airline trade group did Thursday was agree on a global standard for the bar code that would be used.

According to the association's plan, passengers would register their mobile phone, personal digital assistant or smart phone when buying a ticket. They would receive a text message with a bar code, or instructions to download it. The bar code would become the passenger's boarding pass and it would be read directly from the screen of the mobile device, said the association.

U.S. carriers were among those who signed off on the standard for the bar code, but implementation of the plan in this country will require authorization by authorities including the Transportation Security Administration, which requires passengers show a photo identification and boarding pass, noted Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association in Washington.

The association members represent 94 percent of international air traffic, and they have been working on bar-coded boarding passes as part of a larger effort to make the industry more efficient, said Lott. He said the association believes the process will save more than $500 million annually when fully implemented.

"Passengers want the convenience of self-service options in a paperless environment," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of the International Air Transport Association in Geneva. "This standard (bar code approved by members) is an important step in getting rid of paper that bogs down processes and drives up costs."

He said that in the next few months the association staff and its members will focus on guidelines for global implementation.

Jeff Kovick, a spokesman for United Airlines in Chicago, said the carrier had agreed to the bar code standard and is considering the option.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American Airlines in Fort Worth, Texas, said the use of bar codes on cell phones that would serve as boarding passes "is something we will examine closely." He said no decision to use the technology has been made and there is no timeline for that decision.

In Houston, Mary Clark, a spokeswoman for Continental Airlines, said, "This kind of technology is very consistent with our initiative to be paperless." She added, "The plans for (going paperless) are not definitive and work needs to be done before it could be implemented. But for a traveler who is going to be flying with a digital handheld device anyway, eliminating the extra piece of paper can be a benefit."

Air Canada implemented paperless boarding passes for customers who check in using cell phones or devices such as a BlackBerry or Treo on Sept. 21. The carrier's mobile check-in service - mobile.aircanada.com - was enhanced to offer customers the option of receiving an electronic boarding pass in the form of text messages that the customer simply shows to airport security screening personnel and Air Canada gate agents.

The service is available for flights in Canada and departures to international (but non-U.S.) destinations.

Lott, the trade association spokesman, said other international carriers using the technology include ANA in Japan, Air Berlin in Germany and Spanair in Spain.





E-mail George Raine at graine@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...2/BUL7SOJSJ.DTL

[b]Peres, Herzog Warn: Don't expect miracles at ME summit[/b]

[b]Palestinian negotiator Qureia: Solve divisive issues BEFORE M.E. parley begins [/b]

[b]'Abbas to Hold Talks with Hamas after Annapolis'[/b]

[b]Arabs skeptical of U.S. peace effort[/b]

[b]PA Stiffens Demands as Rice Flies to Region[/b]

[b]The right kind of tradeoff: Road to peace includes handing over Israeli territory populated by Arabs to Palestinian Authority[/b]

[b]Peace Virus Is Back: Failure of peace conference in Annapolis could be turning point for the worst[/b]

[b]Israeli air strike was on partially constructed Syrian nuke reactor[/b]

[b]Intelligence which led to IDF strike in Syria sparks debate in US: Is intelligence credible enough to warrant change in American diplomatic policy?[/b]

[b]Conservatives Dismiss 'Anti-Bush Trophy'[/b]

US Officials in Turkey to 'Minimize' Genocide Row

Kurdish Lawmaker Urges Baghdad to Cancel Agreement With Turkey

Turkish Official Cancels US Trip, Cites Genocide Resolution

PKK Has No Intention of Leaving Iraq

Kurdish Dreams Find a Foothold in Iraq

One Turkish Soldier Killed, Two Injured in Landmine Explosion

Armenians Express Gratitude for US Panel's Genocide Vote

Frank RIch: The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in the Iraq war. The longer we stand idly by, the more we resemble the “good Germans.�

How Rahm Emanuel Lost Winnable Dem Campaigns and Helped Elect Worthless Bush Friendly Bluedog Dems

Between Rahm Emanuel, Chuck Schumer and other interfering dem leaders, strong progressives were beaten in primaries by losers or right wing dems who now side with Bush

Jane Stillwater: The Iraqi Book of the Dead

What is everyone talking about in Baghdad? Death. In Iraq, death is the ultimate problem-solver. Death runs the government here. Death is even represented on the UN Security Council. Death is a member of the G8.

Where have you gone, Paul Wellstone?




Paul Wellstone, like the 1960s that forged him, believed the rights of people were higher than the rights of corporations. One has to be darn tough to hold that view! He understood that wholesale deregulation of the private sector would result, as it has, in the excessiveness of the drug companies, Enron and, closer to home, the old Montana Power Company. You know, it’s easier not to do battle with those boys!

Left in limbo, Iraqis wait for refuge in United States: Ahmed Abassi once worked for the U.S. government in Iraq but fled with his family in fear, hoping to seek refuge in the United States.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12245508.htm
Top Shi'ite seeks total US pullout : A key Shi'ite member of Iraq's ruling coalition called yesterday for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent bases.
http://snipurl.com/1s5xp === Al-Sadr bloc rejects federalism : The Muqtada al-Sadr bloc has rejected a suggestion made by another Iraqi Shia politician that the country should be split into regions based on sect and ethnicity.
http://snipurl.com/1s5xr
US, Iraq Negotiate Blackwater Expulsion : U.S. and Iraqi officials are negotiating Baghdad's demand that security company Blackwater USA be expelled from the country within six months, and American diplomats appear to be working on how to fill the security gap if the company is phased out.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/stor...6996070,00.html ===

Preemption, Israeli style
By Joshua Muravchik
The muted reaction to a recent attack on Syria may give new life to the Bush
doctrine.
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/eBa...Io30G2B0I2mk0ES

UN envoy attacks Mid-East Quartet By Tim Franks
BBC News, Jerusalem


A top UN expert has said he will urge the world body to withdraw from the Quartet of Middle East mediators unless it addresses Palestinian human rights. John Dugard, the UN human rights envoy for the Palestinian Territories, told the BBC the US, EU, UN and Russia were failing to protect the Palestinians.

He said the UN "does itself little good by remaining a member of the Quartet".

In his role as a UN special rapporteur, Mr Dugard has been visiting the West Bank and Gaza for the past seven years.

Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the UN secretary general to present reports on human rights to the organisation.

They are advisers and do not decide UN policy.

"Every time I visit, the situation seems to have worsened," he said in a BBC interview.




I will suggest that the secretary general withdraw the UN from the Quartet, if the Quartet fails to have regard to the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories
John Dugard,
UN special rapporteur
"This time, I was very struck by the sense of hopelessness among the Palestinian people."

Mr Dugard attributed this to "the crushing effect of human rights violations", and in particular Israeli restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement.

He said that although Israel did have a threat to its security, "its response is very disproportionate".

He said the purpose of some of the checkpoints in the middle of the West Bank was to break it up "into a number of cantons and make the life of Palestinians as miserable as possible".

'Weak' response

The South African retired professor of international law said the response of the Quartet was weak because it was "heavily influenced" by the US.



The Quartet failed to engage properly on human rights, he said, and was also failing to deal with the current rift between the rival Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas.

The militant Islamist movement Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in June, ousting Fatah, which is led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Dugard said the rift was threatening the Palestinians' right to self-determination, and that the UN "should be playing the role of the mediator".

"Instead the international community has given its support almost completely to one faction - to Fatah," he said. "That's not the role the UN should take."

Pessimistic

For these reasons, Mr Dugard said it might be time for the UN to leave the Quartet.




If [Palestinian] expectations are not met, I fear there may be serious consequences
John Dugard "In my most recent report to the General Assembly, which I will present later this month, I will suggest that the secretary general withdraw the UN from the Quartet, if the Quartet fails to have regard to the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories," he said.

It is a backdrop which makes him pessimistic about the major US-sponsored peace conference between Israel and the Palestinians, expected to be held next month.

Mr Dugard said he saw a greater danger - that of the Palestinian Authority raising expectations too high in the Palestinian community.

"If those expectations are not met, I fear there may be serious consequences," he added.

The consequences include the possibility of a third "intifada", a large-scale, violent uprising against the Israelis, he said.

Mr Dugard said this should be no surprise.

"Inevitably in a military occupation, there are likely to be those engaged in resistance."

These people may be labelled terrorists, Mr Dugard added, but history treats them differently.

He cited the example of the French Resistance during World War II, and those in Namibia who fought occupation by South Africa.

"Now," he said, "they are in government and treated as heroes."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/midd...ast/7044069.stm

Published: 2007/10/15 04:34:42 GMT

© BBC MMVII

Israel attacked unfinished Syrian nuclear reactor: report
Washington (AFP) Oct 14, 2007 - Israel bombed a site in Syria last month that Israeli and US intelligence believe was a partly built nuclear reactor possibly modeled after one in North Korea, The New York Times said Sunday. If the North Korean link is confirmed, that would complicate disarmament talks with the Stalinist state, officials said. Citing unnamed US and foreign officials with access to the intelligence repor ... more

+ US reassures Russia on bases, warns over arms sales
Moscow (AFP) Oct 13, 2007 - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates reassured Russia on Saturday that the Pentagon will not put military bases in ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine, but he criticised Moscow for arms sales to US foes Iran and Syria. Speaking at the Military Academy of General Staff, at the end of a tense two-day visit to Moscow, Gates said there would be no US bases in either Georgia or Ukraine. The Pentagon w ... more


+ US to watch Russia military agenda, reax to offers on Iran, missile shield: Rice
Moscow (AFP) Oct 14, 2007 - Russia's military agenda and reaction to offers brought by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates to Moscow this week will show Washington if Moscow means to fight or talk, Rice told the ABC television Saturday. "We have put some new proposals on the table at the conceptual level. And if Russia is indeed seeking cooperation, not confrontation, then these ... more

+ China's trade surplus scorches into record territory
Beijing (AFP) Oct 12, 2007 - China's trade surplus this year has already scorched past the record 12-month figure of 2006, official data showed Friday, giving further ammunition to critics of the Asian giant's currency policies. On a day of eye-popping economic data, the customs bureau said the accumulated surplus from January to September was 185.7 billion dollars, exceeding the 177.5 billion dollars for all of last ye ... more

trade
Commentary: New global paradigm
battery
<li>Sol-Gel Inks Produce Complex Shapes With Nanoscale Features
gas
<li>Analysis: A pipeline against Russia?
gas
<li>Analysis: Algeria faces attacks on energy

gas
+ Analysis: E. Europe offers transit routes
Washington (UPI) Oct 12, 2007 - In the increasingly fractious scramble for the Caspian's burgeoning oil and natural gas energy reserves, resource-poor but strategically vital Eastern Europe is positioning itself to provide both consumer markets and transit routes to Russia for the former Soviet states bordering the world's largest inland sea. It is a development where optimism may well collide with Russia's current ne ... more

gas
+ Analysis: Hunt, State talked on Iraq oil
Washington (UPI) Oct 12, 2007 - A representative from Dallas-based Hunt Oil Corp. did talk with the U.S. State Department prior to signing a controversial oil deal with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, according to an internal department communication obtained by United Press International. Hunt Oil, whose chief executive officer is connected to the Bush administration by campaign donations and a seat on an intel ... more

[b]U.S. House speaker vows debate on Armenian genocide resolution: Nancy Pelosi vows to bring measure to full House floor - Turkey furious [/b]

[b]Majority Leader Hoyer says House will pass Armenian genocide resolution[/b]

[b]Turkish General Issues Warning on Genocide Debate Bill: Relations with US will be "irreversibly harmed"[/b]

[b]Turkish troops mass on Iraq border[/b]

[b]PKK threatens bitter fight as Turks shell northern Iraq[/b]

[b]Nobel committee expands definition of 'peace': That explanation is only reason Al Gore received the top "Peace" prize[/b]

[b]Threat to kill Putin during trip to Iran: Security agencies say they uncovered bomb plot -- Tehran insists allegations are invention of 'enemies' [/b]

[b]Iran denies murder plot against Putin [/b]

[b]Putin's security team dismisses threats: Saying Putin will face no security threats during his trip to Iran[/b]

India: no nuclear deal with US
Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:34:39
The Indian government has decided to officially inform the US that it will not take the next step on the controversial nuclear deal.

A top government source said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, in the aftermath of the October 9 meeting with the left parties, has decided that it will not approach the IAEA for a safeguard agreement, the IndianTime reported.

The Indian government and the opposition Left Panel are supposed to hold a last round of discussions on October 22.

The government says they will not try to persuade the Left party to allow negotiations with the IAEA.

According to the deal, India has to conclude a safeguard agreement with the IAEA, and acquire a final approval of the US Congress. The process is suspended for now.

After trying to persuade the Left, without success, the PM and Sonia Gandhi publicly gave in, saving the government by jettisoning the nuclear deal.

MEE/MMN

The Dair El Zor Hoax
Why are the Israelis lying about striking a "nuclear facility" in Syria? by Justin Raimondo The great "mystery" arising out of the recent Israeli strike at Syria – purportedly targeting a nuclear-related site near the town of Dair El Zor in the northern part of the country – has been the subject of much speculation, but its real purposes have been hidden behind the veil of obfuscation deliberately thrown over the affair by the Israelis and their media amen corner. The gale winds of another Israeli propaganda campaign are blowing at full force across the American media landscape, perpetrating a hoax of outrageous proportions: namely, that the Israelis knocked out a nascent nuclear facility. In a replay of the disastrous Judith Miller fabrications, the Times makes it look like the Syrians, with North Korean assistance, had constructed a nuke plant that was just about to go online:

"The attack on the reactor project has echoes of an Israeli raid more than a quarter century ago, in 1981, when Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq shortly before it was to have begun operating. That attack was officially condemned by the Reagan administration, though Israelis consider it among their military's finest moments. In the weeks before the Iraq war, Bush administration officials said they believed that the attack set back Iraq's nuclear ambitions by many years."

What a lot of nonsense. The Iraqis had completed a nuclear facility that was fully operational and could have produced weapons-grade materials. The Syrian project has been going nowhere for 40 years, as Joseph Cirincione, author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and a senior fellow and director for nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress, informs us:

"It is a basic research program built around a tiny 30 kilowatt reactor that produced a few isotopes and neutrons. It is nowhere near a program for nuclear weapons or nuclear fuel."

Who cares about facts when you've got a perfectly good excuse to run a sensational headline? In any case, "many details remain unclear," as the Times piece puts it, which gives the editors an out. However, I'd trust Laura Rozen before I'd trust the Times, and she relays the following far more plausible account from Intelligence Online:

"In attacking Dair El Zor in Syria on Sept. 6, the Israeli air force wasn't targeting a nuclear site but rather one of the main arms depots in the country.

"Dair El Zor houses a huge underground base where the Syrian army stores the long and medium-range missiles it mostly buys from Iran and North Korea. The attack by the Israeli air force coincided with the arrival of a stock of parts for Syria's 200 Scud B and 60 Scud C weapons."

The moment this story hit the headlines, the alarm on my bullsh*t meter started clanging pretty loudly. But what, one wondered, was the purpose of this elaborate deception?

First, it was meant as a warning to Iran, a clear demonstration that the Israelis can and will act if Tehran fails to curb its ambition to join Israel as a full-fledged member of the nuclear club. Furthermore, it was meant to show Washington's solidarity with Tel Aviv in this matter: in spite of doubts arising from the Rice-Gates faction within the administration, the Americans gave the Israelis the green light. It also, I believe, prefigures, on a much smaller scale, the sequence of events likely to trigger war with Iran: an Israeli strike, Iranian retaliation via Hezbollah, followed by American intervention, which would be practically inevitable.

Second, the Syrian hoax aims at derailing the recent U.S. agreement with North Korea to dismantle its nuclear apparatus. If North Korea is "proliferating," it's already in violation of the accord, and the neoconservatives in the administration and its periphery are already howling that the deal is off.

Third, and, in my view, most important in the long run, this whole propaganda campaign is designed to make an ideological point. As Joshua Muravchik put it in the Los Angeles Times Sunday morning:

"Law is largely a matter of practice and custom, and it is gradually changing to accommodate new realms of self-defense. Had American forces found nuclear weapons in Iraq, or a nuclear program nearly ready to produce weapons, the international assessment of our decision to invade would be very different today. That we made an appalling mistake about Iraqi WMD shows the risks of the new doctrine that Bush proposes – but it does not diminish the issue that gave rise to that doctrine.

"The evolution of our thinking about these issues will be at the forefront of the debate as Washington moves closer to a preemptive (or 'preventive') strike against Iran's nuclear program."

Yes, "the evolution of our thinking" will be helped along by the Israelis, who, as we know, are always in the vanguard when it comes to pushing the boundaries of prudence, not to mention morality and basic human decency. From "Israel has the right to defend itself," a phrase we've heard with metronomic regularity over the years, the progression to "Israel has the right to preemptively attack whomever and whatever it pleases" – based on "secret" intelligence – is a cognitive leap made easier by Israeli boldness. What it's all leading up to is an assault on Iran that may well be sparked by an Israeli provocation.

It's fitting that the whole propaganda campaign is based on a gigantic lie, one that surpasses their previous record in its brazenness and sheer scope. This is the War Party's signature style. In spite of reports that Israeli commandos landed on Syrian soil and made off with "nuclear materials" – a highly unlikely made-for-TV-movie scenario – one imagines that if this were true, they would have displayed the evidence by now. And what about the IAEA? Surely their scientists would have detected the nuclear emissions from such a bombing raid: yet we have seen no evidence, no announcement, no nothing. What's up with that? It's all verrrrrry suspicious.

As Joe Cirincione put it to the BBC:

"This appears to be the work of a small group of officials leaking cherry-picked, unvetted 'intelligence' to key reporters in order to promote a preexisting political agenda. If this sounds like the run-up to the war with Iraq, then it should."

It's the same gang, with the same agenda, only this time their lies are on a bigger scale – and the stakes are much higher. What's amazing, to me, is that, even with this kind of record, these guys appear to be getting away with it. Once again, the major news media outlets are acting as conduits for war propaganda – and instead of displaying the least bit of skepticism, they're more gullible than ever.

Another example of the New Accounting: all proposed public
expenditures measured by how many months of the Iraq war we'd have to
give up in order to pay for them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naima...th_b_68489.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/15/114732/82

IMPLEMENTING DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE

Upon lawful request and for a thousand dollars, Comcast, one of the
nation's leading telecommunications companies, will intercept its
customers' communications under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act.

The cost for performing any FISA surveillance "requiring deployment of
an intercept device" is $1,000.00 for the "initial start-up fee
(including the first month of intercept service)," according to a newly
disclosed Comcast Handbook for Law Enforcement.

Thereafter, the surveillance fee goes down to "$750.00 per month for
each subsequent month in which the original [FISA] order or any
extensions of the original order are active."

With respect to surveillance policy, the Comcast manual hews closely to
the letter of the law, as one would hope and expect.

"If your [FISA intercept] request pertains to individuals outside the
U.S., please be sure you have complied with all the requirements in 50
U.S.C. sections 105A and/or 105B," the manual says, referring to
provisions of the Protect America Act that was enacted last month.
"Requests such as these can not be honored after one year and must be
dated prior to February 5, 2008, unless extended by Congress."

Comcast will also comply with disclosure demands presented in the form
of National Security Letters. However, the manual says, "Attention
must be paid to the various court proceedings in which the legal status
of such requests is at issue."

In short, "Comcast will assist law enforcement agencies in their
investigations while protecting subscriber privacy as required by law
and applicable privacy policies."

At the same time, "Comcast reserves the right to respond or object to,
or seek clarification of, any legal requests and treat legal requests
for subscriber information in any manner consistent with applicable
law."

A copy of the manual was obtained by Secrecy News.

See "Comcast Cable Law Enforcement Handbook," September 2007:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/docs/handbook.pdf

The role of telecommunications companies in intelligence surveillance
is under increased scrutiny as the Bush Administration seeks to shield
the companies from any liability associated with their cooperation in
what may be illegal warrantless surveillance.

Also, there are new indications that the unauthorized warrantless
surveillance program pre-dated 9/11. The Rocky Mountain News, the
Washington Post, and others reported allegations that the government
may have penalized Qwest Communications for refusing to participate in
a pre-9/11 National Security Agency surveillance program that the
company believed might be illegal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7101202485.html

The Washington Post editorialized yesterday that the telecommunications
companies should indeed be immunized against liability, as the Bush
Administration desires. Even though it is not known exactly what the
companies did, the Post said, they "seem to us to have been acting as
patriotic corporate citizens in a difficult and uncharted environment."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7101301069.html

Writing in Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald disputed that view, arguing that
patriotism lies in compliance with the law, not in mere obedience to
executive authority.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/200..._law/index.html


RIGGING DROPS FOR SPECIAL OPS

Much of the doctrinal literature concerning Army special operations is
restricted from public disclosure, often for good reasons and sometimes
for reasons that are hard to understand (Secrecy News, 01/24/07).

But one new special operations manual has been approved for
unrestricted public disclosure.

As the title indicates, "Airdrop of Supplies and Equipment: Rigging
Loads for Special Operations" (FM 4.20-142, September 2007) deals with
the proper packaging of military supplies for aerial delivery via
parachute. A copy is available here (in a very large 28 MB PDF file):

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm4-20-142.pdf

Also on the subject of new military publications, the Congressional
Research Service updated its report "Defense: FY2008 Authorization and
Appropriations" on September 28, 2007:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33999.pdf

Nobel Al Gore? A Prime Time Hypocrite

by Joshua Frank / October 15th, 2007

Al Gore has returned to the political spotlight in exalted fashion with a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, propping himself up for a potential presidential bid in 2008. Front and center in Gore's new rhetorical entourage is the state of nature, and in particular, global warming. And while Gore may be delivering an important message about the fate of our fragile ecosystems, one must be weary of the messenger's past. For Gore's own environmental record leaves much to be desired.

Al Gore's reputation as the Democratic standard bearer of environmentalism dates back to the early 1990's when his book Earth in Balance outlined the perilous threats to the natural world. Gore also showboated his green credentials at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which garnered the newly minted Senator great respect among Beltway greens who praised him for his willingness to take sides on controversial issues. While serving as vice president under Bill Clinton, Gore was put in charge of the administration's environmental portfolio, but had little to show for it.

As the Center for Public Integrity writes in their book The Buying Of The President 2000, &