President Obama’s naive belief in rationality could turn Israeli cities into cemeteries

The State Department said Friday Iran's announcement that it has a new generation of uranium-enrichment centrifuges is more evidence of nefarious intentions with regard to its nuclear program. The Iranian move came a day after world powers began negotiations on a new U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Tehran.

In what might have been a harbinger of things to come, CFTC announced a week before the hearing that they had had a fire in the room where its gold and silver records are held.

However, the White House gathering suggests that the administration may be searching for a way out before the 2012 elections. With the economic crisis at home continuing, and the bill for the war passing $200 billion, Afghanistan is looking more and more like a long tunnel with no light at the end.

Certainly our allies seem to have concluded that the Americans are on an exit path.

Reports that the WHO is appointing an 'independent' committee to investigate its own conduct in the H1N1 panic of 2009 has been tempered by the fact that one of the committee's members, John Mackenzie, was in fact one of the advisors who urged the WHO to declare a pandemic in the first place. He also has ties to vaccine manufacturers, making him part of the very charge being investigated: that the WHO relied on advisors with a financial interest in declaring a pandemic regardless of the facts on the ground.

The Vatican may have forgiven the Beatles over the weekend for their "satanic" messages -- but Ringo Starr, the legendary band's drummer, says he couldn't care less.

In a tribute published to mark the 40th anniversary of the breakup of the band, who singer John Lennon once claimed were "more popular than Jesus," the Vatican newspaper "L'Osservatore Romano" said it had forgiven them and called them a "precious jewel."

But Starr told CNN: "Didn't the Vatican say we were satanic or possibly satanic -- and they've still forgiven us? I think the Vatican, they've got more to talk about than the Beatles."

Violence in the Somali capital of Mogadishu today killed at least 21 civilians and two government soldiers, and left scores injured. The bulk of the civilian toll came, as it so often does in Mogadishu, with AU shelling against a densely populated residential area.

Two fighters were killed and two others injured in clashes with Israeli forces near the Al-Bureij refugee camp following an Israeli military incursion into the Strip early Tuesday.

Sen. Joe Lieberman says the world is at a "turning point in history," and the United States should begin preparing plans to attack Iran's nuclear program — and use that option if all diplomatic and other means fail.

Every nation in possession of nuclear weapons today has them because they're afraid some other nation has them and they're afraid that if they don't similarly arm themselves, their nation may only exist in the future as an entry in a history book.

Every nation but one of course: Israel. Israel has no nuclear-armed adversaries. To be sure, it has adversaries aplenty, arguably of its own making, but it has demonstrated repeatedly now that its military — as provided for by the U.S. taxpayer — is handily capable of defending against any manner of aggression these adversaries are capable of producing.

NBC has owned up to the practice, reports The Wall Street Journal, as part of its Green Initiative: If “Tina Fey is tossing a plastic bottle into the recycling bin,” the theory goes, audience members will be more apt to do the same.

A New York rabbi was sentenced today to a maximum of 32 years in jail for the repeated sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy, prosecutors said.

One alleged radiation hot spot on Manhattan's east side has the
potential for becoming a political hot spot: A strong radiation spike from the area of the Israeli Embassy. Officials would not comment on why they thought that particular area allegedly showed such a stunning peak in radiation.

An Israeli strike of Iran's nuclear facilities could spark a nuclear conflict, which could spiral into a global catastrophe, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told ABC on Monday

“Titled Strategic communications objectives and dated 11 March 2010, it outlines the key messages that the Obama administration wants to convey to its critics and to the world media in the run-up to the vital UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico in November.” The Guardian reports.

The newspaper says that the document (full text below) was “accidentally left on a European hotel computer” before it was passed to their editors.

The number one item on the itinerary is to “Reinforce the perception that the US is constructively engaged in UN negotiations in an effort to produce a global regime to combat climate change.” (my emphasis)

A limousine was waiting for John Hershey, an Oregon state investment officer, when he flew into New York for a meeting just before Thanksgiving.

So was a $495-a-night room at The Pierre Hotel, which purrs online that "even in a city where exclusive luxuries are the norm, there is one hotel that is far more rare and special."

Following an afternoon meeting, Hershey was offered cocktails and dinner at Guastavino's, which boasts "the highest staff-to-guest ratio in the city."

Hershey was in town to monitor an investment firm, and it picked up his tab for the flight, the limo, two nights at The Pierre and dinner.

That wasn't a rare occurrence among the 13 employees at the Oregon State Treasurer's office responsible for watching over $67 billion in state investments.

On the eve of the meeting, Obama said that nuclear materials in the hands of al-Qaida or another terrorist group "could change the security landscape in this country and around the world for years to come."

The United Nation process is in danger of collapsing unless countries are able to agree on the best way to stop global warming by the end of this year, the outgoing head of climate change negotiations has warned.

Rumours spread like wildfire throughout the GTA's Jewish community last weekend that the supermarket at the corner of Yonge Street and 16th Avenue, had posted a sign saying "We don't sell Israeli products for political reasons," on their front door.

The rumour surfaced last weekend and it reached the radar of the Canadian Jewish Congress, whose mission is, in part, to proactively defend the security, status and rights of the Jewish community.

Len Rudner, Ontario regional director for the Jewish Congress, visited Enzo's No Frills the same day he learned of the rumour, to see the alleged anti-Israeli sign for himself. The store was closed for the Good Friday holiday.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed fears that Israel may attempt to involve the US in a new aggression against Lebanon or the Gaza Strip.

“Because of Israel’s current disagreements with the US, the Israeli side could get the US involved in what is a ‘crazy move,’” Berri was quoted as saying by Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat .

He added that there were no guarantees that Israel would not start another war in the region.

The White House says Ukraine is announcing it will get rid of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, enough to build several nuclear weapons, by 2012.

An $84.2 billion increase in one month, or annualized, a significantly more than 100% run rate?

Something's not right here folks. I can't find the rest of the one-week ramp yet, as the data is not current enough for me to do so, but that's an insane increase.

There are certainly anti-Semites who criticize Israel because they are racist, but these marginal people simply do not characterize those organizations mentioned above, the Palestinian people, or those of us in the international movement to boycott Israel for its long-standing human rights abuses. Indeed, refusing to address fair claims because of the occasional unfair accuser removes the anti-Semites from the margins and sacrifices the entire system of rights and the majority who support it at their altar.

An Infowars reader was stopped and harassed by Kansas Highway police on Thursday night for the crime of displaying political bumper stickers, with cops expressing fears of affiliations with “militia groups,” another frightening example of how police are being trained to treat any form of peaceful dissent as a sign of domestic terror.

As Henry Kissinger once rightly observed, it is often more dangerous being America’s ally than its enemy.

Watching Washington’s growing anger Afghan president Hamid Karzai, one recalls the unhappy endings of such former US allies as South Vietnam’s Diem, Iran’s Shah, Indonesia’s Suharto, Nicaragua’s Somoza, and Pakistan’s Zia ul-Haq.

Washington has been loudly hinting it would like to oust Karzai, but so far it has not managed to identify a suitable replacement who commands any respect or tribal support from Afghans.

While social networks are still massive and generally doing well, there are more more reports of people getting fed up with such networks because they get too many friend requests and are not happy with the new advertising methods the sites use to generate revenue.

State House negotiators last night offered to significantly scale back a proposal to lift general-excise tax exemptions on several business activities and impose a new GET hike, a move that would generate $25.3 million — instead of about $100 million — to help contain the state's budget deficit.

New sales taxes on candy, beer and bottled water would start in June, and on carbonated beverages in July.

This stretch of road is now solely for the use of the settlers, who use it to get to their settlement from the main road. The Israeli army will not allow Palestinians to use the road except on foot or on a donkey.

For a long time many of us have had very serious suspicions that the prices of gold and silver were being highly manipulated. But now, thanks to the mind blowing testimony of one very brave whistle blower, the blatant manipulation of the world gold and silver markets is being blown wide open. What you are about to read below is absolutely staggering. Once the American people learn how incredibly corrupt the world financial system is, it is going to change everything. The government that we are all trusting to guard the integrity of the financial system is failing to do that job. It turns out that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission has been sitting on solid evidence that the elite banking powers have been openly and blatantly manipulating the price of gold and silver.

Analysts say Greece's debt problems may currently be in the spotlight, but Japan is also walking a financial tightrope, with a public debt bigger than that of any other industrialized nation.

Three weeks after Congress passed its new national health care plan, support for repeal of the measure has risen four points to 58%. That includes 50% of U.S. voters who strongly favor repeal.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters nationwide finds 38% still oppose repeal, including 32% who strongly oppose it.

Under the new regulations, any Palestinian, including those born in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, could be classified as an “infiltrator” if they don’t have explicit permission from the Israeli military to reside in the territory.

Karzai is either going to change his tune, or else find himself the victim of an "accident": a military coup is not out of the question. If I were the CIA station chief, I’d release those photos of Karzai toking on a hashish pipe. And if I were Karzai, I’d send my resume to Gucci, and get out of town fast. Because "the chicest man on the planet" wouldn’t do well at Bagram.

Classified documents reveal that the Israel Defense Forces had committed war crimes in the West Bank, Anat Kam, the former soldier indicted for espionage over an alleged theft of top secret material, told the court earlier in the year, according to police documents released allowed for publication Monday at the request of Haaretz.

In the newly released material documenting court hearings surrounding Kam's arrest, the journalist and former IDF soldier said that the motivation behind her removal of sensitive military material was to expose "certain aspects of the IDF's conduct in the West Bank that I thought were of interest to the public."

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has expressed fears that Israel may attempt to involve the US in a new aggression against Lebanon or the Gaza Strip.

"Because of Israel's current disagreements with the US, the Israeli side could get the US involved in what is a 'crazy move,'" Berri was quoted as saying by Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat .

"Iran's leaders are barreling toward developing a nuclear weapon, and openly declaring their desire to destroy Israel. In the face of these repeated pledges to remove the Jewish state from the earth, we encounter in the best case a limp reaction, and even that is fading," he said. "We do not hear the necessary rejection, no harsh denunciation, no outcry. The world is carrying on as usual, and there are those who direct their fire at us, at Israel."

President Obama says terrorists obtaining a nuclear weapon is the "single biggest threat" to U.S. security.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged on Sunday that leaked video showing the 2007 killing by U.S. Army personnel of a gathering of civilians in Iraq is "unfortunate" and "painful to see." But he did not think it would have a long-term affect on U.S. operations in that country.

The US airbase in Kyrgyzstan vital to military operations in Afghanistan has resumed full operations, the US embassy said Monday, after unrest caused the suspension of troop transport flights.

Greece's debt problems may currently be in the spotlight but Japan is walking its own financial tightrope, analysts say, with a public debt mountain bigger than that of any other industrialised nation.

Public debt is expected to hit 200 percent of GDP in the next year as the government tries to spend its way out of the economic doldrums despite plummeting tax revenues and soaring welfare costs for its aging population.

Japan "can't finance" its record trillion-dollar budget passed in March for the coming year as it tries to stimulate its fragile economy, said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.

With the establishment desperate to engender and exploit violence which will be used to demonize the Tea Party movement as an extremist mob, so-called anarchists are now openly declaring their intentions to pose as Tea Party members and stage violence in order to discredit populist grass roots organizations.

As we warned last week, leading anarchist groups have announced that they plan to “crash” the nationwide Tea Party protests on April 15, a promise that should not be taken lightly given the proven history of such organizations being infiltrated and steered by authorities to provocateur pointless mayhem and violence that serves as a justification for oppressing peaceful protest groups.

A retired Italian bishop has sparked a furious row after quotes attributed to him suggested claims of sexual abuse in the Catholic church are a Jewish conspiracy, a British newspaper reported on Monday.

A website quoted Giacomo Babini, emeritus bishop of Grosseto, as saying he believed a "Zionist attack" was behind the criticism, considering how "powerful and refined" the criticism is, the Guardian daily reported.

Babini has denied the comments, which follow a series of statements from Catholic churchmen alleging the existence of plots to weaken the church and Pope Benedict XVI.

The scarily realistic Geminoid F, made with help from robot maker Kokoro, looks just like a twentysomething Japanese woman. The android sports extremely realistic hair and a set of teeth which apparently enable it to produce the most realistic robot smile yet. The android is operated by remote control and can mimic the exact facial expressions and speech of its operator. All of its electronics are hidden inside the android itself, and it can be charged and powered by a standard household electricity supply.

Sen. Orrin Hatch says he's heard Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's name mentioned in connection with the Supreme Court vacancy brought about by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.

The Nuclear Summit is about to start in Washington D.C. and a strip of D.C. between the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the White House is on lockdown.

One rumored item on the agenda of the Summit is an attempt to launch a program to get Israel to destroy its nuclear missiles. This is why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahou cancelled plans to attend the Summit.The cancellation by Netanyahou has led some media outlets to report that Israel is boycotting the event. This is not true. I have it on good authority from a person intimately familiar with the comings and goings in the U.S. of top level Israeli officials that Netanyahou has sent a Deputy to the meetings.

Did you ever wonder why such an alarmingly high percentage of Americans are obese, diabetic, depressed and suffering from cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders and skin problems? Now consider the fact that Americans pay more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world. Americans pay the highest prices, by far, for medications, medical imaging scans, blood work, surgeries, chemotherapy and hospital stays. And yet what does America have to show for it? The most universally diseased population in the world -- and a nation on the verge of bankruptcy caused in part by mainstream medicine.

If your computer is ‘attacked’ by these evil forces, notify HaAretz at contact@haaretz.co.il
Perhaps they might find ways to prevent this from happening….

Goods allowed into Gaza last week mostly destroyed beyond repair after years in Israeli storage.

In the ‘criminal justice system’….. who are the criminals, the ones committing the crimes or the ones exposing them?
This is not a battle for Israel’s image; it’s a battle for what is left of its soul.

This stretch of road is now solely for the use of the settlers, who use it to get to their settlement from the main road. The Israeli army will not allow Palestinians to use the road except on foot or on a donkey.

Yesterday I posted an article by Amira Hass dealing with new military rulings which will permit the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank. Today she wrote an update on this situation, which is followed by an editorial from HaAretz speaking out against this new move on the part of the government…..

There are millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps outside of their country today, don’t allow Israel to increase their numbers. SPEAK OUT NOW AGAINST THIS INJUSTICE.

Include in your demands the RIGHT OF RETURN for ALL Palestinian refugees.

Austrian authorities have launched legal proceedings against a Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography and sharing it with others online.

BELGIAN bishops have failed to punish any clergy over 300 complaints of paedophilia brought to their attention in the 1990s, claims a priest who helped many victims.

''We brought forward between 1992 and 1998 more than 300 complaints from victims of abuse committed by priests, but only 15 ended up with admissions'' of guilt, Father Rick Deville told the Flemish dailies De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad yesterday.

''A priest accused would most often be moved, but was never punished,'' he complained.