US Reportedly Poised to Strike at Iran
from Bulgaria and Romania
The Sunday Herald (Glasgow, Scotland)

President Bush is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before the end of April and the US Air Force's new bases in Bulgaria and Romania would be used as back-up in the onslaught, according to an official report from Sofia. "American forces could be using their two USAF bases in Bulgaria and one at Romania's Black Sea coast to launch an attack on Iran in April," the Bulgarian news agency Novinite said… Whether the Bulgarian news report is a tactical feint or a strategic event is hard to gauge at this stage… Sofia's news of advanced war preparations along the Black Sea is backed up by some chilling details. 

Hysteria at Herzliya
Patrick J. Buchanan

…America is on a collision course with an Iran of 70 million, and the folks who stampeded us into Iraq are firing pistols in the air again. At the annual Herzliya Conference [in Israel], U.S. presidential aspirants, neoconservatives and Israeli hawks were all invoking the Holocaust and warning of the annihilation of the Jews… Israel's war is to be sold as America's war. The project is under way. According to Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor of the Guardian, Israeli media are reporting that the assignment to convince the world of the need for tough action on Iran has been given to Meir Dagan, head of Mossad.

Richest Two Percent Hold Half the World’s Assets
The Financial Times

Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two per cent of adults own more than 50 percent of the world's assets while the poorest half hold only one percent of wealth… Adults with more than $2,200 of assets were in the top half of the global wealth league table, while those with more than $61,000 were in the top 10 per cent, according to the data from the World Institute fpr Development Economics Research of the United Nations University… Almost 90 per cent of the world's wealth is held in North America, Europe and high-income Asian and Pacific countries, such as Japan and Australia.

Stonehenge Workers' Village Found
The Associated Press

A village of small houses that may have sheltered the builders of the mysterious Stonehenge – or people attending festivals there – has been found by archaeologists studying the stone circle in England. Eight of the houses, with central hearths, have been excavated, and there may be as many as 25 of them, Mike Parker Pearson said Tuesday at a briefing organized by the National Geographic Society. The ancient houses are at a site known as Durrington Walls, about two miles from Stonehenge . It is also the location of a wooden version of the stone circle. The village was carbon dated to about 2600 B.C., about the same time Stonehenge was built.

Indiana Requires 'Holocaust' Courses in High Schools
Indianapolis Star

Indiana lawmakers voted Friday to make sure the state’s students are taught about the horrors of the Holocaust. The Indiana House voted 91-0 in favor of House Bill 1059, requiring Indiana’s public high schools to offer lessons on the Holocaust in U.S. history classes beginning in the 2007-08 school year. In addition, the bill requires schools to teach the importance of respecting the dignity and value of others. Rep. Clyde Kersey, D-Terre Haute, said the bill is needed because people persist in denying that the Holocaust occurred, and many Indiana classes never get around to teaching about it, even though the state's educational standards already direct history teachers to do so. Under the bill, the lessons would be required by law.

Bush Is About to Attack Iran
Paul Craig Roberts

The American public and the US Congress are getting their backs up about the Bush Regime's determination to escalate the war in Iraq. A massive protest demonstration is occurring in Washington DC today, and Congress is expressing its disagreement with Bush's decision to intensify the war in Iraq. This is all to the good. However, it misses the real issue -- the Bush Regime's looming attack on Iran. Rather than winding down one war, Bush is starting another. The entire world knows this and is discussing Bush's planned attack on Iran in many forums. It is only Americans who haven't caught on.

Germany's Pursuit of 'Holocaust Denial' Resolution Hits Skids
Deutsche Welle (Germany)

Germany's hope of using its European Union presidency to persuade all 27 member states to make Holocaust denial a crime has received a setback in Italy and is expected to run into more resistance. Berlin on Friday won moral support from the United Nations which adopted a resolution urging members to "reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event.” … Hours before the UN resolution was passed, the Italian government published a draft law which proposes penalties of up to three years in jail for inciting racial hatred, but stops short of making Holocaust denial a crime. Some 200 historians had voiced their objection, arguing that it would infringe on free speech, and Justice Minister Clemente Mastella failed to win support for a more explicit bill.

United Nations Condemns 'Holocaust Denial’
Reuters

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Friday condemning denials of the Holocaust, weeks after Iran sponsored a meeting dominated by speakers questioning the extermination of 6 million Jews in World War Two. The resolution, co-sponsored by 103 countries, was approved by consensus, without a vote. But Iran disassociated itself from the action, calling the U.S.-drafted resolution a political exercise. The operative part of the resolution has only two paragraphs. It "condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust" and "urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end."

What is 'Holocaust Denial’?
Barbara Kulaszka

In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to the supposed danger of "Holocaust denial." Politicians, newspapers and television warn about the growing influence of those who reject the Holocaust story that some six million European Jews were systematically exterminated during the Second World War, most of them in gas chambers… Often overlooked in this controversy is the crucial question: Just what constitutes "Holocaust denial"?

The Hidden Cost of Free Congressional Trips to Israel
Jim Abourezk -- The Christian Science Monitor

…What drives much of congressional support for Israel is fear - fear that the pro-Israel lobby will either withhold campaign contributions or give money to one's opponent. In my own experience as a US senator in the 1970s, I saw how the lobby tries to humiliate or embarrass members who do not toe the line… Members of Congress may not be aware just how damaging their automatic support for Israel is to America's interest. At a minimum, US policies toward Israel have cost it valuable allies in the Middle East and other parts of the Muslim world.

Strategic Errors in Iraq: What’s to be Done Now?
Lt. Gen. William E. Odom (Ret.)

You have asked me to address primarily the military aspects of the war. Although I shall comply, I must emphasize that it makes no sense to separate them from the political aspects. Military actions are merely the most extreme form of politics… Any new strategy that does realistically promise to achieve regional stability at a cost we can prudently bear, and does not regain the confidence and support of our allies, is doomed to failure. To date, I have seen no awareness that any political leader in this country has gone beyond tactical proposals to offer a different strategic approach to limiting the damage in a war that is turning out to be the greatest strategic disaster in our history.

Secret War Plans Against Iran Revealed
MSNBC - Scarborough Country - Video

Television report on new inside information about Bush regime plans for war against Iran. With insights from former State Department specialist Wayne White, and analysis by Pat Buchanan. Run time: 8:32 minutes

US Polonium Human-Injection Experiments in 1944
Steven Aftergood -- Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists

The apparent murder of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko through polonium poisoning seemed like an outlandish innovation in crime. But it was not the first time that polonium had been deliberately administered to human subjects. In 1944 at the University of Rochester in New York, "tracer amounts of radioactive polonium-210 were injected into four hospitalized humans and ingested by a fifth," according to a 1995 retrospective account. Four men and one women who were already suffering from a variety of cancers reportedly volunteered for the dangerous experiment. One patient died from his cancer six days after the injection.

Closing Arguments in Germany’s Zundel 'Denial' Case
Deutsche Welle (Germany)

German prosecutors in Mannheim demanded a five-year jail sentence Friday for one of the most high-profile figures in the Holocaust denial movement, Ernst Zündel, in closing arguments at his trial. Zündel, a 67-year-old German citizen, stands accused of inciting racial hatred for disputing the historical fact that Nazi Germany systematically slaughtered six million European Jews during World War II. German authorities say Zündel operated a website from Canada on which he expressed anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi views and presented "revisionist" history. He left Germany for Canada at the age of 19 but was deported in March 2005 on a German arrest warrant.

Britain Mistreated German Prisoners After World War II
The Guardian (Britain)

For almost 60 years, the evidence of Britain's clandestine torture program in postwar Germany has lain hidden in the government's files. Harrowing photographs of young men who had survived being systematically starved, as well as beaten, deprived of sleep and exposed to extreme cold, were considered too shocking to be seen. As one minister of the day wrote, as few people as possible should be aware that British authorities had treated prisoners "in a manner reminiscent of the German concentration camps". …The pictures show suspected communists who were tortured in an attempt to gather information about Soviet military intentions and intelligence methods…

Whose Jerusalem?: Wiesenthal Center’s Museum Project
Daniela Yanai -- Los Angeles Times

Last week, Israel's High Court of Justice ordered Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal Center and the municipality of Jerusalem to explain why they should be allowed to construct a new Museum of Tolerance on the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery… By insisting on construction of the museum at all costs, the Wiesenthal Center assists Israel in its efforts to erase the record of Jerusalem's Palestinian heritage. This not only belies the museum's name, it allows the ideology of exclusivity a victory over one of the world's most precious sites, the holy city of Jerusalem.

 Since its founding in 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has grown to become one of the most important and influential Jewish organizations in the world. … Although it calls itself “an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust fostering tolerance and understanding,” the Center in reality is a propaganda agency whose agenda is to further Jewish-Zionist interests… The Wiesenthal Center has a long record of reckless propaganda for war. Long before the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, it had been pressing for an American attack against the Middle East nation, backing its effort with alarmist “Big Lie” claims about the supposed danger posed by the Baghdad regime.

Japan Must Amend Pacifist Constitution, Says Premier
The Associated Press

Japan must overhaul its pacifist constitution, increase its international security role and free itself of World War II's political remnants, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament in a major policy speech Friday. Setting out his administration's objectives for the coming year, Abe highlighted rewriting the constitution, bolstering Japan's security alliance with the United States and implementing classroom reforms that will instill a sense of patriotism in the nation's youth.

US Presidential Candidates Court Israel
The Washington Times

Presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, John Edwards and John McCain all detoured through Israel on the way to New Hampshire this week, seemingly competing to see who could be strongest in defense of the Jewish state. Speaking in person or by video link Monday and yesterday, the politicians spelled out tough measures they said were necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons… For American politicians, the gathering provides an opportunity to float policy positions and reach out to Jewish voters in the United States.

Presidential Candidates Line Up for Jewish Support
Ron Kampeas - JTA

It’s a Washington ritual as reliable as the cherry blossoms, if nowhere near as pretty: Midterm congressional elections are over and aspirants for the most powerful job in the world are throwing their hats into the race for the U.S. presidency. Another ritual within the ritual is lining up Jewish support, and this year is no different. Some candidates are acting immediately... Sometimes it’s even sooner than immediately:

Israel Seeks to Cut Off Iran From World Markets
The Guardian (Britain)

Israel is launching a campaign to isolate Iran economically and to soften up world opinion for the option of a military strike aimed at crippling or delaying Tehran's uranium enrichment program. Pressure will be applied to major US pension funds to stop investment in about 70 companies that trade directly with Iran, and to international banks that trade with its oil sector, cutting off the country's access to hard currency. The aim is to isolate Tehran from the world markets.

Bush’s State of Deception
Paul Craig Roberts

Bush’s state of the union address did not describe the deplorable state of the union. The speech’s importance consists of Bush’s plea to Congress to please let him fool them one more time in order that he can attack Iran and start a bigger war that Congress will have to support in order to support Israel... The Bush Regime is the first neoconservative regime in US history. Bush hides the neoconservative agenda behind “the war on terror,” which essentially is a hoax. The main purpose of the neoconservatives’ “war on terror” it to eliminate any effective Muslim opposition to Israel’s theft of Palestine and the Golan Heights.

Anthony Kubek: In Memoriam
Revisionists.com

Anthony Kubek (1920-2004) was a nationally prominent authority on American foreign policy, especially US policy in Asia . His published writings included The Amerasian Papers, a two-volume study issued by the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and  How the Far East was Lost: American Policy and the Creation of Communist China, 1941- 1949.  Dr. Kubek addressed the Ninth IHR Conference (1989), presenting a paper, “The Morgenthau Plan and the Problem of Policy Perversion," which was published in the Fall 1989 Journal of Historical Review.

Hillary the Favorite in Race for Jewish Donations
Forward (New York)

New York 's junior senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is expected to snare the lion's share of the Jewish community's substantial political donations in the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Democratic activists and operatives said Clinton will pull in large quantities of cash among Jewish donors not only because of what they described as her strong positions on Israel and domestic matters of interest to Jews… Strategists say that serious candidates will need to raise at least $50 million -- and probably more like $100 million -- by the end of the year. They say that money from Jewish donors constitutes about half the donations given to national Democratic candidates…

No Constitutional Guarantee of Habeas Corpus,
Says Attorney General
San Francisco Chronicle

One of the Bush administration's most far-reaching assertions of government power was revealed quietly last week when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified that habeas corpus -- the right to go to federal court and challenge one's imprisonment -- is not protected by the Constitution. "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas,'' Gonzales told Sen. Arlen Specter during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Growing Worldwide Skepticism of US Global Role
BBC News

The view of the US's role in the world has deteriorated both internationally and domestically, a BBC poll suggests. The World Service survey, conducted in 25 nations including the US, found that three in four respondents disapproved of how Washington had dealt with Iraq. The majority of the 26,381 respondents also disapproved of the way five other foreign policy areas had been handled… The number of those who said the US was a positive influence in the world fell in 18 nations polled in previous years.

Israel Lobby Targets Carter and Iran
Alexander Cockburn

...For weeks now the [Israel] lobby has hurled its legions into battle against [former president Jimmy] Carter. He has been stigmatized as an anti-Semite, a Holocaust denier, a patron of former concentration camp killers, a Christian madman, a pawn of the Arabs who “flatly condones mass murder” of Israeli Jews… The Democratic reaction to Bush’s escalation against Iraq and Iran has mostly been confined to nervous talk of “symbolic votes.” This temperate posture is surely not unconnected to the fact that the lobby’s prime foreign policy task, joined by Israeli hawks like Bibi Netanyahu, has been to rally support for an assault on Iran.

Washington Rejected Iran’s 2003 Offer of Cooperation
BBC News

Iran offered the US a package of concessions in 2003, but it was rejected, a senior former US official has told the BBC's Newsnight program. Tehran proposed ending support for Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups and helping to stabilise Iraq following the US-led invasion. Offers, including making its nuclear program more transparent, were conditional on the US ending hostility. But Vice-President Dick Cheney's office rejected the plan, the official said.

Israeli Billionaire Saban is Biggest Donor to US Politicians
Ynet (Israel)

Israeli billionaire and media mogul Haim Saban is at the top of the list of donors to political campaigns in the US. Fox Network revealed over the weekend that Saban has donated approximately US $13 million to various candidates. According to the report, Saban, a close friend of the Clintons, is one of the major donors to the Democratic Party, though he has also contributed to Republican candidates, including President George Bush and Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Hillary Clinton and the Pro-Israel Lobby
Joshua Frank

AIPAC's hypocrisy is nauseating. The goliath lobbying organization wants Iran to cease to procure nukes while the crimes of Israel continue to be ignored. So who is propping up AIPAC's hypocritical position? None other than Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York. As one of the top Democratic recipients of pro-Israel funds for the 2006 election cycle, pocketing over $83,000, Senator Clinton now has Iran in her cross hairs… Similar to her husband and the current president, Hillary Clinton will never alter the U.S.' Middle East policy that so blatantly favors Israeli interests.

Civil War Legacy Divides Texans
Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

The Civil War ended more than 140 years ago, but on the eve of Confederate Heroes Day, new battles erupted over the meaning of the Old South, statues honoring its defenders and even a stage act at Gov. Rick Perry's inaugural ball. The ongoing flash points this week highlight the raw emotions conjured up by the mere mention of the Confederacy or the iconic red, white and blue battle flag.

Most Britons Reject 'Holocaust Denial' Laws, New Poll Shows
European Jewish Press

A survey illustrating British attitudes to the Holocaust has shown that nearly a third of UK youngsters are not sure if the Holocaust was a myth… The British Jewish community has voiced its concern about the results of the Yougov poll… Another topical question was whether respondents felt that Holocaust denial should be a criminal offence in the UK as it is in Germany, Austria and a number of other European countries. While Germany last week said it was aiming to make Holocaust denial a Europe-wide offence, only 16 per cent of respondents agreed, with 63 per cent specifically coming out against it.

Only Impeachment Can Prevent More War
Paul Craig Roberts

The surge [plan of President Bush] is working, because it is deflecting attention from the Bush Regime's real game plan. The real game plan is to orchestrate a war with Iran and to initiate wider conflict in the Middle East before public and military pressure forces the Bush Regime to withdraw US troops from Iraq… Civil libertarians who have observed the Bush Regime's concentration of dictatorial powers in the presidency expect that war with Iran , especially if fearful nuclear weapons are used, will be accompanied by Bush's declaration of a state of emergency. 

Neocon Strategy Lives
Jim Lobe -- Inter Press Service

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) may have effectively closed up shop two years ago and its key neo-conservative allies in the administration, such as Scooter Libby and Douglas Feith, may be long gone, but the group's five-year-old Middle East strategy remains very much alive… It is, rather, the hard-edged strategy first enunciated in PNAC's letter to Bush published just nine days after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. That document called for the administration to focus its "war on terrorism" on what it considered the main regional threats to the security of Israel, " America 's staunchest ally against international terrorism.”

Holocaust Campaign Fosters Anti-Jewish Sentiment
in Eastern Europe
The Christian Science Monitor 

Six decades after World War II, the once-dormant pursuit of Holocaust-related justice is forging ahead in newly democratic central-eastern Europe. Yet the hunt carries a price: It has stirred resentment among a financially struggling populace, which bristles at the multimillion-dollar property claims by their Jewish communities, and sees the harassment of nonagenarians as unnecessary or even cruel. "I would venture to say Holocaust issues are the major source of anti-Semitism in post-Communist Europe today," says Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as "the world's last Nazi-hunter."

Does the Israel Lobby Set Canada’s Middle East Policy?
Michael Coren Show (Toronto) - Video

A frank discussion on the Jewish role in determining Canada’s Middle East policy. Host Michael Coren and Sid Ryan, a prominent labor union leader, square off in this January 12 session of the widely viewed public affairs program, broadcast on Canada’s CTS television network. Runtime: 8:22 minutes.

Estonia Ignores Russian Objections Over Memorial Dispute
DPA - German Press Agency

Estonia is deliberately ignoring "groundless accusations" from Russia in an increasingly heated row over the fate of a World War II memorial, the Estonian prime minister said on Thursday… Russia has often accused both Estonia and Latvia of "heroizing" Nazism. The two small states were occupied by the USSR in 1940, invaded by the Nazis in 1941 and annexed by the Soviets in 1945… And the fact that tens of thousands of Baltic youths were conscripted into the Waffen-SS, and are now viewed in the Baltics as national freedom fighters, is hailed in Russia as proof that the Baltics are actively supporting a renaissance of Nazism.

Retired Israel General Urges Lobbying for US Assault on Iran
Oded Tira -- Ynet (Israel)

President Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran. As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure. We must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran... The Americans must act. Yet if they don't, we'll do it ourselves, because there are no free rides and our existence isn't guaranteed.   

French Politician Will Appeal Sentencing
Over Holocaust Remarks
BBC News

A French far-right leader has said he will appeal against his three-month suspended jail sentence and fine for questioning the Nazi Holocaust. Bruno Gollnisch, who is number two in the French National Front, questioned the Nazis' use of gas chambers to murder Jews in World War II. On Thursday a Lyon court convicted him of "disputing a crime against humanity" and fined him 5,000 euros (£3,284). He was also ordered to pay 55,000 euros in damages to various plaintiffs. Mr Gollnisch heads a new far-right grouping in the European parliament. He made his comments about the Holocaust at a news conference in October 2004. He said historians should discuss the number of Jews killed by the Nazis as well as "the existence of the gas chambers".

McCain Lines Up Wealthy Jewish Backers
Forward (New York)

Arizona Senator John McCain has scored an early victory in the battle between GOP presidential frontrunners by locking up support from several New York-area Republican moneymen also coveted by his northeastern rival, former Big Apple mayor Rudy Giuliani... McCain’s stable of national finance co-chairs includes Lewis Eisenberg, a multimillionaire financier from Rumson, N.J... McCain’s heavily Jewish finance committee includes Kravis; Mark Broxmeyer, a Long Island real estate magnate; Dr. Ben Chouake, president of the New Jersey-based pro-Israel political action committee Norpac, and Barbara Sobel…

Criminalizing Holocaust Denial Would be a Big Mistake
Timothy Garton Ash -- The Guardian (Britain)

The German justice minister has proposed that all European Union states should criminalise Holocaust denial and ban the public display of Nazi insignia, as Germany itself does. The EU's justice commissioner has apparently supported her. No reasonable person will doubt their good intentions, but this would be a big mistake. I hope and trust that other EU members will put a stop to this deeply unwise proposal... Citizens of the Baltic states, who suffered so terribly under Stalin, will ask why only denial of the Holocaust should be criminalised and not denial of the gulag. Armenians will add: and why not the genocide that our ancestors experienced at the hands of the Turks? And Muslims: why not cartoons of Muhammad?

French Politician Sentenced for Gas Chamber Comments
European Jewish Press

A controversial French politician was given a three month suspended prison sentence by a court in Lyon on Thursday for questioning the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust. Bruno Gollnisch, deputy leader of the extreme-right National Front party and a member of the European Parliament, was also fined 5,000 euros for the statements made during a press conference in October 2004. Gollnisch was reacting to a report denouncing the complacent attitude of the university with respect to the extreme-right. “I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds,” he said at the time.

Germany Seeks Europe-Wide Ban on Nazi Symbols
and 'Denial’
The Guardian (Britain)

Germany yesterday moved to outlaw denial of the Holocaust, the parading of Nazi symbols, and racist speech across Europe, using a meeting of European Union interior and justice ministers to call for jail terms of up to three years for the offences. At a meeting in Dresden in eastern Germany, Brigitte Zypries, the German justice minister, demanded that Holocaust denial and the sporting of Nazi symbols be criminalised across the EU… Europe-wide criminalisation of Holocaust denial would also have meant that David Irving, the discredited British historian recently released from a Vienna jail after being found guilty of denying the Holocaust, could have been imprisoned in Britain.

Hindus Oppose European Union Swastika Ban
BBC News

Hindus in Europe have joined forces against a German proposal to ban the display of the swastika across the European Union, a Hindu leader said.Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain said the swastika had been a symbol of peace for thousands of years before the Nazis adopted it. He said a ban on the symbol would discriminate against Hindus. Germany, holder of the EU presidency, wants to make Holocaust denial and the display of Nazi symbols a crime.

Robert E. Lee at 200
Gail Jarvis

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Robert E. Lee occurs on January 19, and this year the number and variety of Lee celebrations may set a new record. In Britain, the American Civil War Round Table will hold a series of lectures honoring General Lee during the month of January. In America, commemorative events are planned throughout the year… Today’s elected officials have been so intimidated by the politically correct pestilence that has infected our nation that they would never casually express an opinion on any subject for fear that it might offend someone, somewhere. 

An Evil War
Charley Reese

It is definitely an evil war. Let's go over some of the reasons it deserves that adjective. One, it is a war of aggression. Iraq had not attacked us, had not threatened to attack us and lacked the capability to attack us… George Bush launched that evil war ignorant of Iraq, ignorant of the Middle East and ignorant of military strategy. He has no exit strategy. He can't even define what we would consider a victory. If Bush is sane, then he's the dullest blade in the Bush family kitchen. Those are harsh words, but not nearly as harsh as the consequences of his evil war for America and the American people.

Farewell to Pax Americana
Robert J. Samuelson -- The Washington Post

With hindsight we may see 2006 as the end of Pax Americana. Ever since World War II, the United States has used its military and economic superiority to promote a stable world order that has, on the whole, kept the peace and spread prosperity. But the United States increasingly lacks both the power and the will to play this role. It isn't just Iraq, though Iraq has been profoundly destabilizing and demoralizing. Many other factors erode U.S. power... No one can know what will replace Pax Americana, but with time, the people who now celebrate its decline may conclude that its failures were mainly those of good intentions and that its successes were unwisely taken for granted.

Iran: Thinking the Unthinkable
Conn Hallinan -- Foreign Policy in Focus

Is Israel, supported by the Bush administration, preparing to launch an atomic war against Iran? On Jan. 7, the London Sunday Times claimed that the Israeli government is planning to attack Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. While the Israeli government denies the story, recent statements by top Israeli officials and military figures -- along with recent White House threats against Iran and Syria and a shuffling of American commanders in the Middle East -- suggest that the possibility is real.

Neocon Strategy Lives
Jim Lobe -- Inter Press Service

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) may have effectively closed up shop two years ago and its key neo-conservative allies in the administration, such as Scooter Libby and Douglas Feith, may be long gone, but the group's five-year-old Middle East strategy remains very much alive… It is, rather, the hard-edged strategy first enunciated in PNAC's letter to Bush published just nine days after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. That document called for the administration to focus its "war on terrorism" on what it considered the main regional threats to the security of Israel, " America 's staunchest ally against international terrorism.”

Holocaust Campaign Fosters Anti-Jewish Sentiment
in Eastern Europe
The Christian Science Monitor 

Six decades after World War II, the once-dormant pursuit of Holocaust-related justice is forging ahead in newly democratic central-eastern Europe. Yet the hunt carries a price: It has stirred resentment among a financially struggling populace, which bristles at the multimillion-dollar property claims by their Jewish communities, and sees the harassment of nonagenarians as unnecessary or even cruel. "I would venture to say Holocaust issues are the major source of anti-Semitism in post-Communist Europe today," says Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as "the world's last Nazi-hunter."

Does the Israel Lobby Set Canada’s Middle East Policy?
Michael Coren Show (Toronto) - Video

A frank discussion on the Jewish role in determining Canada’s Middle East policy. Host Michael Coren and Sid Ryan, a prominent labor union leader, square off in this January 12 session of the widely viewed public affairs program, broadcast on Canada’s CTS television network. Runtime: 8:22 minutes.

Estonia Ignores Russian Objections Over Memorial Dispute
DPA - German Press Agency

Estonia is deliberately ignoring "groundless accusations" from Russia in an increasingly heated row over the fate of a World War II memorial, the Estonian prime minister said on Thursday… Russia has often accused both Estonia and Latvia of "heroizing" Nazism. The two small states were occupied by the USSR in 1940, invaded by the Nazis in 1941 and annexed by the Soviets in 1945… And the fact that tens of thousands of Baltic youths were conscripted into the Waffen-SS, and are now viewed in the Baltics as national freedom fighters, is hailed in Russia as proof that the Baltics are actively supporting a renaissance of Nazism.

Retired Israel General Urges Lobbying for US Assault on Iran
Oded Tira -- Ynet (Israel)

President Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran. As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure. We must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran... The Americans must act. Yet if they don't, we'll do it ourselves, because there are no free rides and our existence isn't guaranteed.   

French Politician Will Appeal Sentencing
Over Holocaust Remarks
BBC News

A French far-right leader has said he will appeal against his three-month suspended jail sentence and fine for questioning the Nazi Holocaust. Bruno Gollnisch, who is number two in the French National Front, questioned the Nazis' use of gas chambers to murder Jews in World War II. On Thursday a Lyon court convicted him of "disputing a crime against humanity" and fined him 5,000 euros (£3,284). He was also ordered to pay 55,000 euros in damages to various plaintiffs. Mr Gollnisch heads a new far-right grouping in the European parliament. He made his comments about the Holocaust at a news conference in October 2004. He said historians should discuss the number of Jews killed by the Nazis as well as "the existence of the gas chambers".

McCain Lines Up Wealthy Jewish Backers
Forward (New York)

Arizona Senator John McCain has scored an early victory in the battle between GOP presidential frontrunners by locking up support from several New York-area Republican moneymen also coveted by his northeastern rival, former Big Apple mayor Rudy Giuliani... McCain’s stable of national finance co-chairs includes Lewis Eisenberg, a multimillionaire financier from Rumson, N.J... McCain’s heavily Jewish finance committee includes Kravis; Mark Broxmeyer, a Long Island real estate magnate; Dr. Ben Chouake, president of the New Jersey-based pro-Israel political action committee Norpac, and Barbara Sobel…

Criminalizing Holocaust Denial Would be a Big Mistake
Timothy Garton Ash -- The Guardian (Britain)

The German justice minister has proposed that all European Union states should criminalise Holocaust denial and ban the public display of Nazi insignia, as Germany itself does. The EU's justice commissioner has apparently supported her. No reasonable person will doubt their good intentions, but this would be a big mistake. I hope and trust that other EU members will put a stop to this deeply unwise proposal... Citizens of the Baltic states, who suffered so terribly under Stalin, will ask why only denial of the Holocaust should be criminalised and not denial of the gulag. Armenians will add: and why not the genocide that our ancestors experienced at the hands of the Turks? And Muslims: why not cartoons of Muhammad?

French Politician Sentenced for Gas Chamber Comments
European Jewish Press

A controversial French politician was given a three month suspended prison sentence by a court in Lyon on Thursday for questioning the existence of gas chambers during the Holocaust. Bruno Gollnisch, deputy leader of the extreme-right National Front party and a member of the European Parliament, was also fined 5,000 euros for the statements made during a press conference in October 2004. Gollnisch was reacting to a report denouncing the complacent attitude of the university with respect to the extreme-right. “I do not question the existence of concentration camps but historians could discuss the number of deaths. As to the existence of gas chambers, it is up to historians to speak their minds,” he said at the time.

Germany Seeks Europe-Wide Ban on Nazi Symbols
and 'Denial’
The Guardian (Britain)

Germany yesterday moved to outlaw denial of the Holocaust, the parading of Nazi symbols, and racist speech across Europe, using a meeting of European Union interior and justice ministers to call for jail terms of up to three years for the offences. At a meeting in Dresden in eastern Germany, Brigitte Zypries, the German justice minister, demanded that Holocaust denial and the sporting of Nazi symbols be criminalised across the EU… Europe-wide criminalisation of Holocaust denial would also have meant that David Irving, the discredited British historian recently released from a Vienna jail after being found guilty of denying the Holocaust, could have been imprisoned in Britain.

Hindus Oppose European Union Swastika Ban
BBC News

Hindus in Europe have joined forces against a German proposal to ban the display of the swastika across the European Union, a Hindu leader said.Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain said the swastika had been a symbol of peace for thousands of years before the Nazis adopted it. He said a ban on the symbol would discriminate against Hindus. Germany, holder of the EU presidency, wants to make Holocaust denial and the display of Nazi symbols a crime.

Robert E. Lee at 200
Gail Jarvis

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Robert E. Lee occurs on January 19, and this year the number and variety of Lee celebrations may set a new record. In Britain, the American Civil War Round Table will hold a series of lectures honoring General Lee during the month of January. In America, commemorative events are planned throughout the year… Today’s elected officials have been so intimidated by the politically correct pestilence that has infected our nation that they would never casually express an opinion on any subject for fear that it might offend someone, somewhere. 

An Evil War
Charley Reese

It is definitely an evil war. Let's go over some of the reasons it deserves that adjective. One, it is a war of aggression. Iraq had not attacked us, had not threatened to attack us and lacked the capability to attack us… George Bush launched that evil war ignorant of Iraq, ignorant of the Middle East and ignorant of military strategy. He has no exit strategy. He can't even define what we would consider a victory. If Bush is sane, then he's the dullest blade in the Bush family kitchen. Those are harsh words, but not nearly as harsh as the consequences of his evil war for America and the American people.

Farewell to Pax Americana
Robert J. Samuelson -- The Washington Post

With hindsight we may see 2006 as the end of Pax Americana. Ever since World War II, the United States has used its military and economic superiority to promote a stable world order that has, on the whole, kept the peace and spread prosperity. But the United States increasingly lacks both the power and the will to play this role. It isn't just Iraq, though Iraq has been profoundly destabilizing and demoralizing. Many other factors erode U.S. power... No one can know what will replace Pax Americana, but with time, the people who now celebrate its decline may conclude that its failures were mainly those of good intentions and that its successes were unwisely taken for granted.

Iran: Thinking the Unthinkable
Conn Hallinan -- Foreign Policy in Focus

Is Israel, supported by the Bush administration, preparing to launch an atomic war against Iran? On Jan. 7, the London Sunday Times claimed that the Israeli government is planning to attack Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. While the Israeli government denies the story, recent statements by top Israeli officials and military figures -- along with recent White House threats against Iran and Syria and a shuffling of American commanders in the Middle East -- suggest that the possibility is real.

Wiesenthal Center Seeks to Build Museum on Muslim Cemetery
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

At the end of a hearing lasting almost seven hours, the High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered both the state and the Jerusalem Municipality to present documents proving ownership of the land upon which the Simon Wiesenthal Center wants to build its Museum of Tolerance. The museum is slated to be built on part of a 130-dunam (32 acre) plot of land in downtown Jerusalem that served as the city's main Muslim cemetery for hundreds of years. Building was stopped after construction workers discovered graves and skeletons were discovered on the building site and the Al-Aksa Foundation petitioned the High Court of Justice to cancel the project. 

UN Agency Reply to Wiesenthal Center’s 'Baseless' Charges
UNRWA 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA or the Agency) would like to put on the record a formal response to the statement read by Dr. Shimon Samuels, acting as the permanent representative of the Centre Simon Wiesenthal – Europe. Dr. Samuels’ statement constitutes a baseless attack on UNRWA and on its Commissioner-General, Mr. Peter Hansen… The Wiesenthal Center’s attack on the Agency and its humanitarian operations hardly seems germane to the question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center:
A Bastion of Jewish-Zionist Power
Mark Weber 

Since its founding in 1977, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has grown to become one of the most important and influential Jewish organizations in the world... Although it calls itself “an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust fostering tolerance and understanding,” the Center in reality is a propaganda agency whose agenda is to further Jewish-Zionist interests… The Wiesenthal Center has a long record of reckless propaganda for war. Long before the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, it had been pressing for an American attack against the Middle East nation, backing its effort with alarmist “Big Lie” claims about the supposed danger posed by the Baghdad regime.

Evidence Mounts for Bush Assault on Iran
Dan Plesch – The Guardian (Britain)

The evidence is building up that President Bush plans to add war on Iran to his triumphs in Iraq and Afghanistan – and there is every sign, to judge by his extraordinary warmongering speech in Plymouth on Friday, that Tony Blair would be keen to join him if he were still in a position to commit British forces to the field. "There's a strong sense in the upper echelons of the White House that Iran is going to surface relatively quickly as a major issue - in the country and the world – in a very acute way," said NBC TV's Tim Russert after meeting the president… Many military analysts see these deployments as signals of impending war with Iran. The Patriot missiles are intended to shoot down Iranian missiles.

Bush’s Speech: Less Than Zero
Michael S. Lind

On the surface, President Bush’s Wednesday night speech adds up to precisely nothing… The president not only upped the ante with Syria and Iran, he announced two actions that only make sense if we plan to attack Iran, Syria or both. He said he has ordered Patriot missile batteries and another U.S. Navy aircraft carrier be sent to the region. Neither has any conceivable role in the fighting in Iraq. However, a carrier would provide additional aircraft for airstrikes on Iran, and Patriot batteries would in theory provide some defense against Iranian air and missile attacks launched at Gulf State oil facilities in retaliation.

Get Your War On: Bush Presents Pretext
For Strike Against Iran
Chris Floyd

That there will be war with Iran is now virtually guaranteed. The Bush Administration set out a clear casus belli over the weekend in two stories – masterworks of warmongering propaganda – appearing in two major bastions of the "liberal media." The argument for this new war – buttressed with "facts" that as usual went unchallenged by the corporate scribes – is actually stronger and cleaner than the collection of conflicting mendacities that led to the invasion of Iraq. It is vain to hope that the Democrats, who have themselves demonized Iran with such ferocity, will stand against the call for the new war when it comes, in the terms now being established by the Administration.

Germany Seeks to Ban 'Holocaust Denial' Throughout EU
The Independent (Britain)

Germany is to revive plans to criminalise Holocaust denial as well as the use of Nazi symbols in all European Union countries, making them punishable by up to three years in prison. Ministers in Berlin have identified the move as a priority of Germany's six-month presidency of the EU which began on 1 January. Its efforts come against the background of the formation in the European Parliament of a far-right group, Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition. However, the proposal is certain to provoke controversy, particularly in the EU's new members in eastern Europe where politicians have objected to any legislation that would ban Nazi insignia but permit the use of Communist symbols.

Bred to Order: Europe’s Mafia-Run 'Baby Factories'
Daily Mail (Britain)

The Baby Factory is run with brutal efficiency. As soon as an order has been placed, a woman is chosen to produce a baby. Only the beautiful girls are selected to join the production line. The customers will, the owners of the factory know all too well, pay a higher price for an angelic-looking baby. The blue-eyed ones are particularly prized. The woman is impregnated by mafia racketeers and then looked after, housed, fed and clothed for the next nine months… A Mail investigation has uncovered such a baby factory in Athens run by the Albanian and Russian mafias, catering to the demands of wealthy Western women unable to have children of their own.

Why Condemning Israel and the Zionist Lobby is Important
James Petras -- Axis of Logic

No other country, abuser or not, of human rights, with or without electoral systems, has the influence over our domestic and foreign policy as does the state of Israel.  No other Lobby has the kind of financial power and organizational reach as the Jewish Lobby in eroding our domestic political freedoms or our war-making powers.  For those reasons alone, it stands to reason, that we Americans have a necessity to put our fight against Israel and its Lobby at the very top of our political agenda. 

Israel and Neocons Prepare for Attack on Iran
Paul Craig Roberts

The Israeli/neoconservative plan, of which Bush may be a part or simply be a manipulated element, is to provoke a crisis with Iran in which the US Congress will have to support Israel… The US media is totally unreliable. It cannot go against Israel, and it will wrap itself in the flag just as it did for the invasion of Iraq. The American public has been deceived (again) and believes that Iran is on the verge of possessing nuclear armaments to be used to wipe Israel off the map. The fact that Americans are such saps for propaganda makes effective opposition to the neoconsevatives’ plan for WW IV practically impossible… Until the US finds the courage to acquire a Middle East policy of its own, Americans will continue to reap the evil sowed by the Israel Lobby.

US 'American Heritage' Agency Concentrates
on Holocaust Sites
US Commission for The Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad

In April 2002, the Commission’s largest project to date was completed – construction of a memorial on the site of the most horrific section of the Nazis’ Buchenwald Concentration Camp, known as the “Little Camp.” The project was a joint venture of the Commission and the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, a German federal and state agency... Among the Commission's numerous projects that are ongoing are: the restoration of the “Hidden Synagogue” in the former Terezin Ghetto in Prague, Czech Republic; an exhibit at the former Nazi labor camp at Mittelbau-Dora, Germany; restoration of the Jewish cemeteries in Berdichev and Brody, Ukraine…

A Visit in Prison With Ernst Zundel
Dan McGowan

During the recent conference in Iran (Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision) I was in prison in Mannheim, Germany, interviewing Ernst Zuendel. Labeled a "Holocaust denier," Ernst has been in jail for almost four years without being charged with a violent crime or without even being convicted of a non-violent one. He is 67 years old. As a six-year-old Ernst witnessed the Allied firebombing of Pforzheim in which ten to twenty thousand German civilians were killed. As a teenager he became a pacifist; at age 19 he moved to Canada to avoid serving in the post-war German army. In Canada he worked as a graphic artist and publisher, specializing in 20th century German history. 

Who is Ernst Zundel, and Why is His Case Important?
Revisionists.com

Ernst Zundel, a German-born publisher, author and civil rights activist, is a towering figure in the worldwide Holocaust revisionist movement. For more than two years he has been held behind bars, first in Canada and now in Germany, solely for the peaceful expression of non-conformist views. He is the most prominent political prisoner in the western world today. He is the author of countless booklets, newsletters and essays. He is a prodigious publisher, a one-man public relations firm, and an able public speaker and organizer. Energetic, tenacious and courageous, he is dauntless in the struggle against apparently insurmountable odds and seemingly invincible adversaries.

Mission Iran: Israel Considers Launching Nuclear Attack
The Times (Britain)

Israel will not tolerate Iran going nuclear and military sources say it will use tactical strikes unless Iran abandons its program. Is Israel bluffing or might it really push the button? … No nuclear weapon has been fired in anger since the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Should Israel take such a drastic step, it would inflame world opinion – particularly in Muslim states – and unleash retaliation from Iran and its allies. But Israelis have become increasingly convinced that a “second holocaust” of the Jews is brewing, stoked by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president and chief Holocaust denier, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be destroyed.

'Never Again': Israel Means It
Zev Chafets -- Los Angeles Times 

Israel is certainly thinking about how to stop Tehran from getting its hands on nukes. And why wouldn't it? Given the evident failure of American diplomacy and U.N. sanctions, Israel has two basic choices. It can sit and wait, hoping the Iranians do not drop a bomb on Tel Aviv; or it can preemptively attack, hoping to destroy, or at least retard, the Iranians' nuclear capacity… Just last week, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, the former supreme allied commander of NATO and a member in good standing of the Democratic establishment, confided to Arianna Huffington, on the record, that he fears that "New York money people" (by which he clearly meant American Jews) are already pressuring U.S. officials to go to war for Israel's sake.

Clash of the Elites
John Walsh  

A titanic power struggle is being waged within the policy elite or power elite, or more simply the U.S. ruling class. The clash is taking place over the war on Iraq, U.S. policy toward Israel -- and ultimately over the best way to run the U.S. empire… Given this balance of forces, it would seem that the neocons must lose ­ but the outcome remains an open question. If they do prevail, that will be the end of our democracy and freedoms as we have known them… Given the key power of the Israel Lobby, can the peace movement fail any longer to ignore it as though it were irrelevant? Absolutely not. We ignore it at our peril. And we must get rid of all fears of being labeled as anti-semites.

Who Is Planning Our Next War?
Patrick J. Buchanan

Israel's war, says Bibi [former Israel prime minister "Bibi" Netanyahu] must be sold as America's war. We are thus forewarned. A propaganda campaign, using Israeli agents and their neocon auxiliaries and sympathizers, who stampeded us into war in Iraq, is being prepared to stampede us into war on Iran.

Jimmy Carter Speaks Truth to Propaganda
Paul Craig Roberts

Jimmy Carter, probably the most decent man to occupy the White House, received a lot of grief during his term in office, most of it undeserved. His latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, has brought him even more grief, none of it deserved. My own appreciation of Jimmy Carter is new found. It began with his previous book, Our Endangered Values, in which Carter criticized the direction in which George W. Bush was taking America with his assaults on the Constitution and international law. His latest book, currently a best seller, shows that Carter has the courage to match his decency and commitment to peace in the Middle East.

Enough Time Has Been Wasted, Mr. President. Enough!
Sen. Robert Byrd

Last night in his address to the nation, the President called for a "surge" of 20,000 additional U.S. troops to help secure Baghdad against the violence that has consumed it. Unfortunately, such a plan is not the outline of a brave new course, as we were told, but a tragic commitment to a failed policy; not a bold new strategy, but a rededication to a course that has proven to be a colossal blunder on every count… Calling for more troops gives the President more time to hand the Iraq situation off to his successor in the White House. The President apparently believes that he can wait this out, that he can continue to make small adjustments to a misguided policy while he maintains the same trajectory -- until he leaves office and it becomes someone else's problem.

Distracting Congress from the Real War Plan
Paul Craig Roberts

Is the surge an orchestrated distraction from the real war plan? A good case can be made that it is. The US Congress and media are focused on President Bush’s proposal for an increase of 20,000 US troops in Iraq, while Israel and its American neoconservative allies prepare an assault on Iran… The only purpose of the surge is to distract Congress while plans are implemented to widen the war… The US Congress must immediately refocus its attention from the surge to Iran, the real target of Bush administration aggression.

Do America and Israel Want the Middle East Engulfed by Civil War?
Jonathan Cook

The reason is that a chaotic and feuding Middle East, although it would be a disaster in the view of most informed observers, appears to be greatly desired by Israel and its neocon allies. They believe that the whole Middle East can be run successfully the way Israel has run its Palestinian populations inside the occupied territories, where religious and secular divisions have been accentuated, and inside Israel itself, where for many decades Arab citizens were "de-Palestinianised" and turned into identity-starved and quiescent Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouin.

Israel’s Bad Influence
Charley Reese

But let's lay out the undeniable facts. Israel considers Iran its main threat. Israel wants a U.S. attack against Iran . The Israeli lobby does what the Israeli government tells it to do. Anybody who claims the Israeli lobby is just another lobby is either ignorant or lying. The Israeli lobby is the second most, if not the most, powerful lobby in America . So, sit back and watch the Israeli amen corner start the propaganda to push America to war with Iran just as it did in the case of Iraq … Sooner or later, Americans are going to wake up to the fact that Israel 's influence on the American government is detrimental. If Israel wants a war with Iran , let the Israelis fight it. 

Most Americans Ignorant of Bethlehem Reality
Leila Sansour -- San Diego Union Tribune

Christmas in Bethlehem this year was the most difficult in memory… A survey we commissioned reveals that Americans are ignorant of many other basic facts about Bethlehem. Most Americans cannot identify our town's location, its inhabitants, or the cause of Bethlehem's demise according to most of its residents, Israeli military occupation. Most Americans believe Bethlehem is an Israeli town inhabited by a mixture of Jews and Muslims, according to a nationwide survey by top U.S. pollsters Zogby International. Largely unaware of Bethlehem 's historic community of Palestinian Christians, only 15 percent of Americans realize that Bethlehem is a Palestinian city with a mixed Christian-Muslim community, lying in the occupied West Bank.

Israel Plans Nuclear Strike on Iran
The Sunday Times (Britain)

Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources. The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Never Again?: Zionists Press for Iran War
Arnaud de Borchgrave - United Press International

In today's Israel, the overwhelming majority is now convinced Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is synonymous with a second holocaust... In a New Year's Day message, superhawk and former Prime Minister Netanyahu Binyamin accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of the kind of appeasement that threatened Israel's very existence. And if Bush doesn't take on Iran, prominent Israelis are speculating that president Clinton 2 (Hillary) will do so. 

The US is embroiled in an ill-considered occupation of a distant land; an initial welcome turned to violence amid human rights violations; it will be many years before extrication is possible. Not Iraq today, but the Philippines a century ago, an eerie parallel which might have provided valuable lessons. The US took the Philippines in 1899 - part of what its then Secretary of State, John Hay, called 'a splendid little war'. The previous regime (in this case, Spanish-run) was quickly vanquished, with the shock and awe of superior weaponry. War had begun over American claims that a weapon of medium-sized destruction was used by the Spanish to destroy the USS Maine in Havana harbour, an accusation later considered dubious.

Below are the headlines of four obituaries that have run in the New York Times. The first is that of the recent obituary of the Anti-Communist Augusto Pinochet. The next three are those of the obituaries of the Communist mass murderers Mao, Stalin, and Lenin. Please be sure to note how many are described as having ruled by terror.

Scott Ritter Says Israel and Israel Lobby Pushing Iran War
Forward (New York)

A former United Nations weapons inspector and leading Iraq War opponent has written a new book alleging that Jerusalem is pushing the Bush administration into war with Iran, and accusing the pro-Israel lobby of dual loyalty and “outright espionage.” In the new book, called “Target Iran,” Scott Ritter, who served as a senior U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998 and later became one of the war’s staunchest critics, argues that the United States is readying for military action against Iran, using its nuclear program as a pretext for pursuing regime change in Tehran… Ritter adds: “Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else.” 

The Disrespect for Truth has Brought a New Dark Age
Paul Craig Roberts

All societies have elements of myth, untruths that nevertheless serve to unite a people. But many myths serve as camouflage for evil. One of the greatest myths is that “GIs have died for our freedom.”  GIs have died for American empire, for the American elite’s commitment to England, and for the military-industrial complex’s profits… The Nazis were defeated by Russia before US troops landed in Europe. The US never faced any threat of invasion from Germany, Italy, or Japan… The US has entered a dark age of dogmas and unaccountable power.

In Japan, New Nationalism Takes Hold
The Christian Science Monitor 

On a pleasant November morning, some 300 Japanese executives paid $150 each to hear a lanky math professor named Masahiko Fujiwara give a secular sermon on restoring Japan's greatness. Mr. Fujiwara spoke quietly, without notes, for 80 minutes. His message, a sort of spiritual nationalism, rang loudly, though: Japan has lost its "glorious purity," its samurai spirit, its traditional sense of beauty, because of habits instilled by the United States after the war. "We are slaves to the Americans," he said… The new nationalist sentiment is seen in popular magazines that use provocative language to advocate a more militaristic Japan, question the legitimacy of the Tokyo war-crimes trials, and often cast racist aspersions on China and Korea .  

Stalin’s Jews
Sever Plocker -- Ynet (Israel)

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish…  An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name Genrikh Yagoda, the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist.

Fanning the Flames: The Anglo-American Holocaust
Stuart Jeffries -- The Guardian (Britain)

Jorg Friedrich's book, The Fire: The Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945, a bestseller in his homeland four years ago and which now appears in English, is thick with such horror stories. They were hard for him to avoid in meticulously detailing, over nearly 600 harrowing pages, how 635,000 Germans, mostly civilian, died and 7.5 million were made homeless when British and US bombs were dropped on 131 cities and towns.

America’s Original Foreign Policy
Rep. Ron Paul

It is time for Americans to rethink the interventionist foreign policy that is accepted without question in Washington. It is time to understand the obvious harm that results from our being dragged time and time again into intractable and endless Middle East conflicts, whether in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, or Palestine. It is definitely time to ask ourselves whether further American lives and tax dollars should be lost trying to remake the Middle East in our image.

No one who has read the Baker report's devastating if delicately worded indictment of US policy in Iraq could fail to understand that it spells failure. And that without wholesale changes of policy the US is staring at a humiliating defeat in the Middle East. No one, that is, except George W. Bush. The president seems incapable of acknowledging the scale of the disaster in Iraq. He and his coterie blame the Iraqis, and Iran, for US failures… There is a terrifying possibility this administration will raise the stakes and compound the Iraq misadventure into a regional and international catastrophe by attacking Iran - or by acquiescing in an attack by Israel.

Wide Support for Israel Disinvestment, British Survey Shows
Totally Jewish News

Nearly 70 percent of respondents to a survey conducted by a leading Christian publication [in Britain] believe in disinvestment from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the [occupied] territories. The poll of more than 2,800 people, conducted on The Tablet website, pointed to the widespread existence of anti-Israel sentiment among respondents and a suspicion of the Jewish State's actions. Despite a reduction in terror attacks since the creation of the security fence, nearly 80 per cent felt the security fence was not needed to protect the population of Israel from suicide bombers and nearly as many advocated that Churches campaign for its dismantling.

Bush Administration 'Used' Colin Powell, Says Wife
Daily News (New York)

Colin Powell fought the Viet Cong, but he was no match for the Bush administration hard-liners who "used" his prestige to sell the Iraq war to the American people, his wife says… Powell has called his prewar speech to the United Nations accusing Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction a "blot" on his record. DeYoung also writes that Powell believes Bush sees the Palestinian/Israeli struggle in "black and white" terms and called Rumsfeld's team "the JINSA crowd," a reference to the neoconservative Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Keane/Kagan Plan for Iraq Means More Bloodshed
Paul Craig Roberts

On Jan. 2, the BBC reported a leak from a "senior administration source" that President George W. Bush is going to give a speech, whose "central theme will be sacrifice," announcing an increase in U.S. troops in Iraq for security purposes… The BBC reports that "already one senior Republican senator has called it Alice in Wonderland." Bush's proposal, if he makes it, is the work of retired army general Jack Keane and Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute. AEI is the second most important Israeli lobby in Washington after AIPAC.

Slovakia Archbishop Praises Wartime Tiso Regime
BBC News

There has been uproar in Slovakia after the archbishop of Bratislava described life in the fascist wartime Slovak state as "a time of well-being". Tens of thousands of Jews, Roma Gypsies and communists were deported by the Slovak government during the war. Most of them ended up at the Auschwitz death camp. Roman Catholic Archbishop Jan Sokol refused to withdraw the comments, but issued a statement distancing himself from wartime human rights violations.  But angry debate has erupted after the archbishop's interview with the Slovak news channel TA3. Asked for his recollections of wartime Slovakia - a Nazi puppet state led by Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso - he said it was a time of well-being.

Jews in Belgium Bring Suit Against Iran Conference Participants
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (USA)

The Forum of Jewish Organizations in Antwerp has filed suit against participants in a recent Holocaust-denial conference in Tehran. The Belgian lawsuit includes anyone who gave a speech questioning the Holocaust at the conference sponsored this month by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.  Holocaust denial is illegal in Belgium and is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $3,000 fine. The purpose of the lawsuit is to cause legal problems for attendees who might want to visit Belgium, according to a Forum source.

Hitler’s Germany: A Fusion of Ideology and Material Interest
Deutsche Welle (Germany)

In 2005, Götz Aly landed a bestseller with a study of how ordinary Germans, in addition to bankers and industrialists, benefited under Nazism. Now his book is available in English as "Hitler’s Beneficiaries." … Götz Aly: "My book describes one aspect of National Socialism, namely the state’s generous social programs. It tries to answer the question of why most Germans were basically content under Hitler. The explanation is quite simple: Hitler pursued a massive wealth-redistribution program to the benefit of ordinary people… A great many of today’s laws [in Germany] originated in this period, whether we’re talking about legislation protecting the rights of workers and tenants, holiday and overtime pay, or state health insurance for pensioners."

The United States is Insolvent
Dr. Chris Martenson 

The US is insolvent. There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. That is the conclusion of a recent Treasury/OMB report entitled Financial Report of the United States Government… I don't know how that could be any clearer. The US Treasury department has issued a public report warning that we are on an unsustainable path and that we face difficult choices that will only become more costly the longer we delay… The future will be defined by lowered standards of living.

Speaking Frankly About Israel and Palestine
Jimmy Carter -- Los Angeles Times

The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations -- but not in the United States . For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

Jewish Criticism of Carter Intensifies
James D. Besser -- New York Jewish Week

Former President Jimmy Carter has crossed the line into outright anti-Semitism as he promotes his controversial new book, " Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," according to at least one major Jewish leader… “I believe he is engaging in anti-Semitism," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. "For a man of his stature and supposed savvy to hold forth that the issues of Israel and the Middle East have not been discussed and debated because Jews and Zionists have closed off means of discussion is just anti-Semitism." 

In India, Hitler is the 'Trendy Tyrant’
Chicago Tribune

When an Adolf Hitler-themed restaurant opened its doors in a suburb of cosmopolitan Mumbai in August, many were horrified. The restaurant, Hitler’s Cross, changed its name a week later to Cross Cafe, but it is hardly the only example of how some Indians view Hitler and his legacy. Hindu fundamentalist groups praise Hitler's leadership skills. A college poll a few years ago showed he was perceived as an ideal leader. Books and videos of him are top sellers.

Bush Has Created a Catastrophe in Middle East
Timothy Garton Ash

What an amazing bloody catastrophe. The Bush administration's policy towards the Middle East over the five years since 9/11 is culminating in a multiple train crash. Never in the field of human conflict was so little achieved by so great a country at such vast expense. In every vital area of the wider Middle East, American policy over the last five years has taken a bad situation and made it worse… The United States and Britain invaded Iraq under false pretences, without proper legal authority or international legitimacy... We did not need an Iraq Study Group to tell us that resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict through a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine is crucial. 

Britain Never Thought Saddam Was a Threat, Says Diplomat
The Guardian (Britain)

The British government never believed Saddam Hussein posed a threat to British interests and warned the US that toppling him would lead to "chaos", according to a Foreign Office diplomat closely involved in negotiations in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Damning repudiation of the government's public claims in the run-up to the war is contained in secret evidence to Lord Butler's committee on the abuse of intelligence over Iraq by Carne Ross, a diplomat at Britain's UN mission in New York.

US Military Considers Recruiting Foreigners
The Boston Globe

The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks -- including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials. Foreign citizens serving in the US military is a highly charged issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using mercenaries to defend the country. Other analysts voice concern that a large contingent of noncitizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans' willingness to serve in uniform.

What is 'Holocaust Denial'?
Institute for Historical Review

In recent years, more and more attention has been devoted to the supposed danger of "Holocaust denial." Politicians, newspapers and television warn about the growing influence of those who reject the Holocaust story that some six million European Jews were systematically exterminated during the Second World War, most of them in gas chambers.