U.S. Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran
By Gareth Porter
The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.
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Pakistanis Reject U.S. "Aid" Flights
Lawsuit Filed Against U.S. Drone Attacks
By Jeremy Scahill
Damn those ungrateful Pakistanis. After U.S. drone attacks killed more than 600 of their people since 2006-most of them civilians-it seems they think they have some right to say they don't want the U.S. flying its "aid" planes to Swat and other "tribal areas.
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Iraq a Failed Imperialist Venture
By Haroon Siddiqui
America plunged Iraq into chaos, shattered the infrastructure and destroyed the society, reducing human beings to their basest instincts. They turned on each other and found safety only in family, tribe, clan and sect. Shiites and Sunnis, who had lived together for ages, ethnically cleansed each other's neighbourhoods, which to this day remain separated by barricades, walls and checkpoints.
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How to Deal with America's Empire of Bases
A Modest Proposal for Garrisoned Lands
By Chalmers Johnson
The U.S. Empire of Bases -- at $102 billion a year already the world's costliest military enterprise -- just got a good deal more expensive.
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America's Praetorian Guard Is Slowly Crumbling
By Jack D. Douglas
I have a suggestion for other countries that are getting a bit weary of the American military presence on their soil: cash in now, before it's too late. Either up the ante or tell the Americans to go home. I encourage this behavior because I'm convinced that the U.S. Empire of Bases will soon enough bankrupt our country, and so -- on the analogy of a financial bubble or a pyramid scheme -- if you're an investor, it's better to get your money out while you still can.
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Whorehouse On The Potomac
By Paul Craig Roberts
As Americans celebrate July 4th, they can contemplate that the union of "free and independent states," like the former British colonial power, has evolved into its final manifestation--a complete whore house.
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Honduran Coup Tries to Halt Advance of Latin America's Left
By Roger Burbach
A reform-minded president supported by labor unions and social organizations is now pitted against a mafia-like, drug-ridden, corrupt political elite that is accustomed to controlling the Supreme Court, as well as congress and the presidency. It is a story often repeated elsewhere in Latin America, with the United States almost always weighing in on the side of the established, entrenched interests.
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Honduras Under Siege
By Bertha Oliva:
Coup leaders reviving despotism of the 80s in bid to crush participatory democracy.
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The Other 9/11 Returns to Haunt Latin America
It was inevitable that the people at the top would fight to preserve their privileges
By Johann Hari
For the people of Latin America, this is a replay of their September 11. On that day in Chile in 1973, Salvador Allende - a peaceful democratic socialist who was steadily redistributing wealth to the poor majority - was bombed from office and forced to commit suicide. He was replaced by a self-described "fascist", General Augusto Pinochet, who went on to "disappear" tens of thousands of innocent people. The coup was plotted in Washington DC, by Henry Kissinger.
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Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Cynthia McKinney speak from an Israeli Jail Cell
By Free Gaza Team and Democracy Now! Transcript and audio
"This is Cynthia McKinney and I am calling from an Israeli prison"
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Helen Thomas: Not Even Nixon Tried to Control the Media Like Obama
By Penny Starr and Fred Lucas
"I'm not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the town halls, for the press conferences," she said. "It's blatant. They don't give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame."
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Running On Empty
By Mike Whitney
Consumer spending is 70% of GDP, but consumers have suddenly stepped on the brakes. This is a real game-changer. Even if the credit markets are restored and the banks show a greater willingness to lend; there will be no return to the pre-crisis consumption-levels of the past. Those days are over.
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This Fourth Of July Is Yours, Not Mine
By Frederick Douglass
Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"
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Pakistan: 28 "fighters" killed in Khyber clashes:
"At least 28 militants of Lashkar-e-Islam were killed in shelling by helicopter gunships," Major Fazal Khan, a spokesman for the paramilitary unit, said on Thursday.
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Extrajudicial Killing : Pakistan:
At least 17 killed in 'US attack: U.S. missiles struck a "training facility" operated by Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and a militant communication center Friday, killing 17 people and wounding 27 others, intelligence officials said.
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At least six dead in Pakistan bus attack:
At least six people were killed and more than 15 injured on Thursday when a suspected Taliban suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a government bus in Rawalpindi, the military's garrison city just outside Islamabad.
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Suicide blast hits Pakistani city:
At least one person has been killed after a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up near a bus carrying workers from a nuclear facility in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, police say.
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Taliban claims downing Pakistan Army helicopter:
A spokesman for the Islamic militants told Sama television that the Taliban had also captured the pilot of the helicopter gunship.
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Pakistan desperately needs money to resettle Swat residents:
Unless the United States and other allies provide the required money to reconstruct Swat, Pakistan risks losing the "hearts and minds" of those who had to flee the operation that fought the Islamic extremists who'd overrun the region. Islamabad doesn't have the money, Pakistani officials said.
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Pakistan: Millions of displaced people face discrimination and cannot access aid, warns Amnesty:
People who lost everything as a result of the fighting are now being treated as second-class citizens in their own country
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25 dead in 2 days in Somalia, witnesses say:
Fighting in the Somali capital has killed 25 people over two days, leaving corpses in the streets of a city where a bloody insurgency is intensifying, doctors and witnesses said on Thursday.
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Ethiopia: 'We won't send troops':
Somali residents have recently reported seeing truckloads of Ethiopian troops around the country's central regions but Ethiopian officials have repeatedly denied those claims.
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African leaders discuss new mandate for Somali force:
At the moment, the 4,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi in the AMISOM are largely confined to their bases and protect key sites such as the presidential palace, airport and seaport.
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'Fighter influx' for Somali group:
An "Islamist" commander in Somalia has told the BBC there has been an influx of fighters from overseas joining their battle against the interim government.
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Bombings kill three in Baghdad area:
In Baghdad, the violence began when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi Army patrol, killing a soldier and wounding seven other people, police and hospital officials said.
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Anti-US protest marks start of Biden's Iraq trip:
A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
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Roadside bombing kills five road constructors in E Afghanistan:
Five employees of an Indian road construction company were killed as a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Khost province, in east Afghanistan, on Friday, a local official said.
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Marines say 1 killed in new Afghanistan offensive:
Marines say 1 killed in new Afghanistan offensive
The Marine Corps says one Marine has been killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan during a major offensive against the Taliban.
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Taliban captures 'drunk' U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and sells him to militant clan:
He was ambushed while returning to his car and was taken to a safe place along with three Afghan soldiers he was with, the commander said.
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US sees 'fierce' Afghan fighting:
US forces launching a major offensive in the Afghan province of Helmand say that they have encountered fierce Taliban resistance. Brig Larry Nicholson told the AFP news agency on Friday that his soldiers were in a "hell of a fight" and were facing "difficult challenges".
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U.S. Faces Resentment in Afghan Region:
The mood of the Afghan people has tipped into a popular revolt in some parts of southern Afghanistan, presenting incoming American forces with an even harder job than expected in reversing military losses to the Taliban and winning over the population.
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Iran cleric threatens trial for British embassy staff:
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Iran cannot be permitted to be nuke power:
Obama also said Thursday that opposing a nuclear weapons capacity for the Persian Gulf nation isn't simply "a U.S. position." He said "the biggest concern is not simply that Iran can threaten us or our allies, like Israel or its neighbors."
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Report: U.S. to block Iran sanctions at G8 summit:
The Obama administration, according to the diplomatic sources, has discarded the notion of direct talks with Iran. However, the United States is still interested in re-engaging Iran through the renewed discussion of its nuclear program through the six permanent United Nations Security Council member
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Israel's favored IAEA candidate elected:
Israel privately heaved a sigh of relief Thursday at the election of Japan's Yukiya Amano to replace Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
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Israeli occupation forces kill girl in Gaza :
A 17-year-old Palestinian girl has been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire.
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