THE NATION– Amid the economic and social upheaval of Greece’s beleaguered capital city, where demonstrators have been protesting government-imposed austerity measures, forty activists from across the United States began training this week to nonviolently confront the Israeli military blockade of Gaza. The Americans are part of a flotilla of ten ships—from France, Ireland, Canada, Norway, Greece, Sweden and other countries—planning to set out for Gaza’s main seaport in the next week to relieve the siege.

With an age gap of sixty years between the youngest and oldest passenger, the diverse group of Americans have taken over a hotel in a trendy Athens neighborhood for days of nonviolence training and preparation.

Israel has stated that it will enforce its naval blockade by any political, military and economic measures at its disposal. This week it submitted an urgent request to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking for international cooperation in stopping the flotilla. Ban embraced the Israeli government’s position, arguing in a public statement that aid should be delivered to Gaza only through “legitimate crossings and established channels,” all of which are controlled by Israel. Ban added that the flotilla is not helpful in assisting the economy of Gaza and encouraged organizers to cancel their voyage.

Read the full article about Israel Attempts To Shut Down Humanitarian Gaza Aid.

© 2011 The Nation

Photo by Flickr user Zingaro

SKY NEWS– Two deaths have been confirmed following an air strike in the east of the capital, Tripoli, in the early hours of Sunday.  Libyan authorities say nine civilians were killed, including a family of five.

The military alliance said the errant strike may have been due to “a weapons system failure”.

“Nato regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care in conducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its own citizens,” it said in a statement.

“Although we are still determining the specifics of this event, indications are that a weapons system failure may have caused this incident.”

Sky’s Sam Kiley, reporting from Tripoli, said the incident was a huge blow to the alliance, whose mandate for military action is to protect civilians by enforcing a UN Resolution against Col Gaddafi.

Reporters were earlier taken by Libyan government officials to the residential area in the Arada neighbourhood of Tripoli and saw a body pulled out of the rubble of a destroyed building.

Following the blast, deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim told reporters at the site: “There was intentional and deliberate targeting of the civilian houses.

“This is another sign of the brutality of the West.”

Read the full article about NATO Air Strike Kills Civilians In Tripoli.

© 2011 Sky News

Photo by Flickr user rafahkid

THE NATION– Contractors for Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and Levi’s worked in close concert with the US Embassy when they aggressively moved to block a minimum wage increase for Haitian assembly zone workers, the lowest-paid in the hemisphere, according to secret State Department cables.

The factory owners told the Haitian Parliament that they were willing to give workers a 9-cents-per-hour pay increase to 31 cents per hour to make T-shirts, bras and underwear for US clothing giants like Dockers and Nautica.

But the factory owners refused to pay 62 cents per hour, or $5 per day, as a measure unanimously passed by the Haitian Parliament in June 2009 would have mandated. And they had the vigorous backing of the US Agency for International Development and the US Embassy when they took that stand.

To resolve the impasse between the factory owners and Parliament, the State Department urged quick intervention by then Haitian President René Préval.

“A more visible and active engagement by Préval may be critical to resolving the issue of the minimum wage and its protest ‘spin-off’—or risk the political environment spiraling out of control,” argued US Ambassador Janet Sanderson in a June 10, 2009, cable back to Washington.

Two months later Préval negotiated a deal with Parliament to create a two-tiered minimum wage increase—one for the textile industry at about $3 per day and one for all other industrial and commercial sectors at about $5 per day.

Still the US Embassy wasn’t pleased. A deputy chief of mission, David E. Lindwall, said the $5 per day minimum “did not take economic reality into account” but was a populist measure aimed at appealing to “the unemployed and underpaid masses.”

Haitian advocates of the minimum wage argued that it was necessary to keep pace with inflation and alleviate the rising cost of living. As it is, Haiti is the poorest country in the hemisphere and the World Food Program estimates that as many as 3.3 million people in Haiti, a third of the population, are food insecure. In April 2008 Haiti was rocked by the so-called Clorox food riots, named after hunger so painful that it felt like bleach in your stomach.

According to a 2008 Worker Rights Consortium study, a family of one working member and two dependents needed at least 550 Haitian gourdes, or $12.50, per day to meet normal living expenses.

Read the full article about WikiLeaks Haiti: Let Them Live on $3 a Day.

© 2011 The Nation

Photo by Flickr user Okinawa Soba

RT– The Bilderberg Group, an invitation-only meeting of the world’s most powerful people, is taking place in Switzerland. Just what the political insiders, media moguls and industry magnates will actually discuss, remains top secret.

­This year the Bilderberg Group has occupied the grand Suvretta House Hotel among the magnificent hills and lakes of St. Moritz resort, Switzerland. The world’s most powerful group of some 150 will be meeting there behind closed doors to discuss whatever they need to in the next few days and, perhaps, carry out decisions that will determine the future of the whole world.

Bilderberg attendees of the past include kings, presidents, captains of industry and heads of the world’s most powerful corporations. Rumors have been spread of Juan Carlos I of Spain, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and board members from IBM, Royal Dutch Shell, and Nokia having attended the Bilderberg Group meetings. Various officials and politicians such as Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have also been claimed to be on the participants’ lists.

Still, there is little media coverage of the group: official lists of participants are not revealed, neither is the agenda publicized. Press releases are not expected to be issued after the meeting.

Since the 1950s, when the group started, there has been much speculation regarding the purposes and possible agendas of the meetings. The group has been accused of plans to crop 80 per cent of the world’s population, of masterminding the global financial crisis of 2008–2010, or even secretly coming up with the original plan to implement the euro.

A dedicated Bilderberg Group watcher Jim Tucker believes this year’s meeting will focus on the Arab Spring. He thinks that the group will want to create a mastermind behind the conflicts in Arab countries to protect Israel. Tucker expects the group to try to prolong the war in Libya, but the increasing opposition to it in the US Congress might curb their plans.  

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the IMF head’s succession will be another topic of the Bilderberg Group this year, Tucker thinks.

© 2011 RT

Photo by Flickr user Sheraton Hotels and Resorts

VETERANS TODAY– The Department of Veterans Affairs, May 2007, Gulf War Veterans Information System reports the following: Total U.S. Military Gulf War Deaths: 73,846

• *Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847

• *Deaths amongst Non-Deployed: 55,999  

• *Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906

• *Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911

• *Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed: 1,212,995

• *Percentage of combat troops that filed Disability Claims 36%

Soldiers, by nature, typically don’t complain.  In other words, the real impact of those who are disabled from all US invasions is not fully reflected in the official Veterans Affairs numbers.  When soldiers are sent to murder women and children, they tend to not be able to live normal lives thereafter.
     
How come the government numbers of 3,777 as of 9/7/7 are so low?  The answer is simple: the government does not want the 73,000 dead to be compared to the 55,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam.  What the government is doing is only counting the soldiers that die in action before they can get them into a helicopter or ambulance.  Any soldier who is shot but they get into a helicopter before he dies is not counted.

73,000 dead amongst the U.S. soldiers for this scale operation using weapons of mass destruction is not high – we expect the great majority of U.S. soldiers who took part in the invasion of Iraq to die of uranium poisoning, which can take decades to kill.

From a victors perspective, above any major war in history, The Gulf War has taken the most severe toll on soldiers. More than 1,820 tons of radio active nuclear waste uranium were exploded into Iraq alone in the form of armor piercing rounds and bunker busters, representing the world’s worst man made ecological disaster. 64 kg of uranium were used in the Hiroshima bomb. The U.S. Iraq Nuclear Holocaust represents far more than fourteen thousand Hiroshimas.

The nuclear waste the U.S. has exploded into the Middle East will continue killing for billions of years and can wipe out more than a third of life on earth. Gulf War Veterans who have ingested the uranium will continue to die off as well. So far more than one million people have been slaughtered in the illegal invasion of Iraq, and just as the birth defects are up 600% for Iraqis – the same will apply to U.S. Veterans.

Statistics and evidence published by the government and mainstream media in no way reflect the grave reality of the situation. Those working for the government and media must wake up and take responsibility by immediately reversing this U.S. Holocaust.

Read the full story about Department of Veterans Affairs Reports 73 Thousand U.S. Gulf War Deaths.

Source: http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/GWVIS_May2007.pdf

© 2011 Veterans Today

Photo by Flickr user Hebe