Robert Fisk
www.rupeenews.com
Robert Risk is one of the few independent journalists left in the Western world who can dare to say it like it is. He correclty points out the lack of usage of the term Palestinian. He also correctly points to the outlandhish remark by Biden that Pakistani Nuclear missiles could reach Israel. Fisk correctly says that Pakistan has never threatened Israel and that Pakistan is on the side of the West–though having supported the USA for the past six decade, the Pakistanis get “do more’ lectures from “the allies” that keep bombing Pakistan and killing Pakistanis on a daily basis.
- Afghanistan in Peril: Defeat and disaster for USA & India
- Afghanistan: Omar rebuffs weak Karzai. No Saudi lifeline for him
GWOT: Map of possible war with Iran Iraq Afghanistan Pakistan
Robert Fisk’s World: When it comes to Palestine and Israel, the US simply doesn’t get it
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Caribou Barbie's Earpiece
VP Debate - a true "natural" and a wannabe
The New Energy Expert Doesn’t Blink - She Winks.
Tonight, we met the latest version of Sarah Palin. A mix between the RNC pitbull and the brawling Ross Perot.
We’ve been winked at, mavericked, joesixpacked, hockeymummed, heckofaloted,mainstreeterlikemeed, waktawaktaktataked by the new self proclaimed national expert in energy issues.
Tonight, Joe Biden was controling himself (he only managed to lose the gay-lesbian voters, who anyway won’t rush to Sarah Read My Lipstick Palin*). Like Obama the other day**, he missed opportunities on economics (he could for instance denounce the politics of "fear" of her opponent).
But he didn’t blink when it came to put a label on the Bush legacy, "an abject failure", Dick Cheney, "the most dangerous Vice-President in History". And he shed a tear that looked more genuine than Palin’s fake and nervous compassion. His support of Israel sounded more sincere than her AIPAC leaflet... The true "natural" was the one who didn’t have to train clumsily to look and sound like one.
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October 02, 2008
No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates
The Obama and McCain campaigns jointly negotiated a detailed secret contract dictating the terms of all the 2008 debates. This includes who gets to participate, as well as the topics raised during the debates. We speak to Open Debates founder and executive director George Farah. [includes rush transcript]
Guest:
George Farah, executive director and founder of Open Debates. He is the author of No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates.
Rush Transcript
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OPEN LETTER:
To Joe Biden: Time for Confession
by Ray McGovern
September 30, 2008
I don’t have to remind you of the importance of this Thursday’s debate from a political perspective. But as you prepare, I invite you to spare a few minutes to look at the opportunity from a moral and religious perspective.
I don’t have to remind you of the importance of this Thursday’s debate from a political perspective. But as you prepare, I invite you to spare a few minutes to look at the opportunity from a moral and religious perspective.
You may wish to examine your conscience regarding how you have acted on key foreign policy issues and reflect on John 8:32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
The holy days of religious traditions serve a very useful purpose, if we but take the time to pause and ponder. I write you on Rosh Hashanah, the first of 10 days focusing on repentance.
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Nancy Pfotenhauer on Fox, Sept. 29, 2008.
A Profile in Cowardice
by Gene Healy
Gene Healy is a vice president at the Cato Institute and author of The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power.
Added to cato.org on September 25, 2008
This article appeared in National Review Online on September 25, 2008
In Friday's presidential debate on foreign policy (assuming the show still goes on), we can be sure that Barack Obama will hit John McCain hard for supporting what Obama has called a "dumb war" in Iraq. But in doing so, Obama has at least one major handicap to overcome: his running mate.
In October 2002, Sen. Biden voted to authorize the Iraq war. "I made a mistake," he now says - he had "vastly underestimated" how incompetent the Bush administration would be in prosecuting the war.
So has Biden changed his position on Iraq? Not really. In October 2002, when the congressional vote was held, Biden, like most members of Congress, was in favor of avoiding accountability and punting the question of war or peace to the president. And Biden remains firmly in favor of avoiding accountability for Iraq today. That tells us something about Joe Biden's judgment and integrity. More importantly, it tells us a lot about the health of Congress as a political institution, and about the erosion of Congress's power to declare war.
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September 22, 2008
By ROBERT WEITZEL
Mention 9/11 to most Americans and the two numbers are considered sufficient to give meaning to that day. But mention 9/12, the day after when “terror” became our national mantra and the “smoking gun” brandished by a neocon-infested administration for its devilish designs in the Middle East and the numbers are meaningless beyond the platitudinous, “they hate our freedoms” and “God Bless America.”
Such platitudes, hawked ad nauseam by TV “faith-healers” and political snake oil peddlers, may act as a balm to soothe a body politic traumatized by the attacks on 9/11, but they do not explain—only obfuscate—the real causes that brought terror to our “blessed shores.”
Like many Americans on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, I turned to the Bible for an answer, a problematic move for an atheist such as myself. Predictably, I went straight to verse 9:11 in the Book of Revelation—the Bible’s most terror filled text—and found a short blurb about Abaddon the Destroyer; admittedly, an interesting coincidence, but not a “big picture” explanation.
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ccun.org, September 15, 2008
In announcing Joe Biden as his running mate, Barak Obama declared that for decades senator Biden “has brought change to Washington, but Washington hasn’t changed him.” However, Biden is a seasoned politician and would not survive Washington political climate and shifting alliances without profound adjustment in approaches and compromise.
Senator Biden often speaks his mind and does not shy away from openly criticizing the administration’s foreign policy on several fronts. In terms of the Middle East policy, however, Biden’s stand resembles those of hardliners, especially those of the neoconservatives’. Despite his liberal pronouncements, he has been one of a few democrats who has adopted the neoconservatives’ outlook toward the Middle East.
Though neoconservatives have articulated a world view and design, their core belief revolves around the Middle East and the centrality of Israel in the global strategy. They advocate that:
The U.S. invasion of and military presence in Iraq ensures the safety, security, and supremacy of Israel,
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The New York Times
September 21, 2008
Pact on Debates Will Let McCain and Obama Spar
By PATRICK HEALY
The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
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September 18, 2008
By SUSAN ABULHAWA
John McCain eclipsed the democratic convention buzz, gained women voters, simultaneously reassured middle to far right conservatives and may have positioned a female presidential candidate for the Republican ticket for future elections. It makes sense. On the other hand, the best explanations for Barack Obama's choice of Joseph Biden still don't jibe.
It's true that Mr. Biden brings some political experience to Mr. Obama's ticket, but so could many of Mr. Obama's other choices. Mr. Biden also narrows the race gap, which unfortunately still exists in America. But again, so could any of the other choices.
So, what then? Mr. Biden, the self-proclaimed Zionist, assuages Israeli and Jewish American fears that Mr. Obama might not be so accommodating to Israel.
***
Israel killed and maimed thousands of civilians, decimated civilian infrastructure, and littered Southern Lebanon with over 100,000 of the world-banned unexploded cluster bombs. Congress unequivocally approved and supported Israel's actions with this resolution, which AIPAC actually wrote! Even when a post-war analysis by the State Department was delivered to Nancy Pelosi and Mr. Biden, asserting that Israel may have violated the Arms Export Control Act with its use of American-made cluster munitions in Lebanon, bipartisan support of Israel remained unwavering.
This potentially explosive report detailing how Israel may have used American supplied weapons to commit war crimes was ignored by Mr. Biden and Mrs. Pelosi, both of whom have traveled to Israel repeatedly, along with scores of other politicians, genuflecting as they always do to extol the virtues of the Jewish State and profess undying and uncompromising support for a country that is currently in violation of at least 200 UN Resolutions and has been condemned in the harshest terms by human rights organizations worldwide.
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September 11, 2008 - Aaron Passman
America's security is directly tied to Israel's, said U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) last Friday during a stop in Philadelphia. The Democratic candidate for vice president was in the region for various campaign-related events, some dealing with the economy. But, during a break in the proceedings, he spoke in an interview specifically about Israel, Iran and security issues.
"A strong America is a strong Israel," said Biden. "I have a 35-year record of supporting Israel, and Israel's security is enhanced the stronger America is. And right now around the world we're not [respected]."
Biden said that, if he and Barack Obama were elected, their administration's first step in advancing the Israeli peace process would be to "regain the respect of the world -- so the rest of the world follows us in defending Israel."
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| Freedom Rider: Biden = Palin |  |  |  |
| Wednesday, 10 September 2008 | |
Joe "Foot-In-Mouth" Biden and Sarah "Abstinence-Only" Palin are perfect matches for the Twin Business Party campaigns for top executive power. Biden gruffly rejects the "liberal" label by reminding reporters he is from a former slave state. Palin appeals to "white America's reptilian brain." The schlock level at both camps gets thicker by the day. Barack Obama morphs politically into his 72-year-old opposite number, joining hands with John McCain as a new convert to the Iraq "surge" that has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams." Freedom Rider by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley "Biden advocated invading Iraq as early as 1998." Criticizing Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, is easier than shooting fish in a barrel. The governor of Alaska is under investigation for using her office in an attempt to fire her former brother-in-law. This advocate of abstinence-only sex education has a pregnant teenage daughter. The self-proclaimed fiscal conservative left the small city of Wasilla, population 5,500, $20 million in debt after she left the mayoralty there. Palin's shortcomings are many, but are actually no worse than those of Joseph Biden, Barack Obama's running mate. Biden seems to have all the right credentials to run for Vice President. He has been a United States senator for more than 30 years and is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. The political establishment and corporate media gave him unanimous approval, but a closer look reveals that Biden is no better than his Republican rival. |
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley| Obama and McCain campaigns fan ‘war on terrorism’ hysteria By Larry Chin Online Journal Associate Editor Sep 8, 2008, 00:21 | |
In his much-ballyhooed acceptance speech, Barack Obama declared that he would “finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11.” If Obama wishes to be true to his promise, he could begin with his own running mate, Senator Joe Biden.
Biden and the ISI chief Biden was one of several top Washington officials who met with Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmad, the head of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), on and around September 11, 2001. The ISI is a foreign branch of the CIA. “Al-Qaeda” is a covert operation that is managed by Anglo-American military-intelligence. Ahmad, the “9/11 money man” who delivered funds to alleged lead suicide hijacker Mohammed Atta prior to the attacks, met personally with Biden on September 13, 2001. This case, detailed in Michel Chossodovsky’s Political Deception: Missing Link Behind 9/11, remains one of hundreds of smoking guns revealing direct US connections to 9/11, for which Biden has never provided a credible explanation. At the same time that he was meeting with a man directly connected to the alleged hijackers, Biden was among the loudest and most bellicose voices joining Bush-Cheney for the bombing of Afghanistan in retaliation for 9/11. Biden expressed an interest in “personally shooting Osama bin Laden.” Not surprisingly, John McCain expressed the same post-9/11 bloodlust, in his infamous editorial, “War is hell. Let’s get on with it.” Biden’s tune has remained unchanged, to this day. He wants to “finish the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” and (in language that appears to be the new neoliberal “talking point”) “take out the ones who actually attacked us on 9/11.” The fact that Biden and McCain, two major shills for the “war on terrorism” lie, are vying for White House power speaks for itself. When recently confronted by an independent journalist about his meeting with Mahmoud Ahmad, Biden offered a series of non sequiturs, and then had his security guards escort the inquiring individual away. Biden the insider
Last update: 9:29 a.m. EDT Sept. 5, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sep 05, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden publicly chastised the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Accused of not backing AIPAC sponsored legislation, Biden told reporters, "They think they know the Senate better than I do. They don't know the Senate better than I do...AIPAC does not speak for the State of Israel."
The outspoken Senator Biden, often compared to president John F. Kennedy, is wrong. Newly declassified documents reveal that before his death, JFK's most pressing concerns were registering the Israel lobby as foreign government agents and inspections of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.
Isaiah L. Kenen worked as the registered foreign agent of the Israeli Ministry of Affairs in New York until he established what would become AIPAC in 1951. In his words, Kenen left because "Israelis began looking for a lobbyist to promote the necessary legislation...would I leave the Israeli delegation for six months to lobby for aid on Capitol Hill?"
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The story first broke in London's Telegraph newspaper, under the headline "Barack Obama would consider charging Bush administration over Guantanamo." The article described a campaign event in Deerfield, Fla., in which, according to the Telegraph, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said:
"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."
Asked about the comment this morning on Fox News, Biden said it is Congress -- not a potential Obama administration -- that is investigating the White House.
And he denied today that an Obama administration would launch criminal investigations against the 43rd president of the United States.
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Categories: Joe Biden
Joe Biden yesterday took a passing shot at the Israel lobby AIPAC in an interview with Jewish reporters -- he dismissed the notion that they know their way around the Senate, or the interests of Israel, better than he, Joe Biden, does. And in a statement released late yesterday, the campaign tries to clean it up.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden have both enjoyed close and effective cooperation with AIPAC over many years, grounded in their respect for its important mission to support Israel's security and a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. That is a mission they share, and they look forward to continuing to work closely with AIPAC on their common goals," said Obama spokeswoman Wendy Morigi in the statement.
Link
· Biden says criminal violations will be pursued
· Democrats have issued subpoenas to Bush aides
· 3 staffers have been held in contempt of Congress
- guardian.co.uk,
- Wednesday September 03 2008 19:32 BST
Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.
But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.
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By Ali al-Asadi
The expected presence of Biden in the White House has rekindled hopes to transform the Iraq partition resolution into a binding resolution on the American government, and thus the Biden Declaration would take the path of the Balfour Declaration to partition Palestine
Translated By A. Sullivan
August 28, 2008
Iraq - Kitabat - Original Article (Arabic)
A few days ago, Mr. Obama announced in a special gathering the name of his running mate, Mr. Joe Biden. This news might not have surprised anyone in the United States, for the selection of a personality with experience in U.S. diplomacy, or any other field, is considered normal in U.S. presidential elections, regardless of whether he meets the approval of Congress, which will discuss his nomination if Obama enters the White House. And while the opinions of political analysts conflict on Obama’s chances of winning the White House, the struggle is still going strong between him and Mr. McCain, the Republican candidate, who seems too optimistic and will perhaps announce his nominee for vice president.
As for us in Iraq, the issue is completely different, since the arrival of someone such as Biden to the post of vice president renews the hopes of those who want to partition Iraq, and puts them very near to realizing the dreams they long to turn into reality. I am not sure of the intensity with which those circles welcomed and applauded the expected news of Biden’s nomination, but I am absolutely certain that they were overjoyed. As for those wanting an Iraq unified in its lands and its people, there is no doubt that they consider Biden's nomination a bad omen, and are perhaps renewing their campaign to expose the intentions of the man and condemn his disreputable resolution and aims.
And for those who have never heard of this man and his superstardom, he is behind the U.S. Senate Resolution issued on September 26, 2007, which recommended the partitioning of Iraq into three ethnic cantons: Kurds in the north, Shiites in the middle and south, Sunnis in the Western region. The resolution was condemned and its goals disparaged widely in Iraq and in the U.S. itself, while the U.S. administration renounced it through their embassy in Baghdad, protesting that the resolution was non-binding and did not reflect the position of the American government.
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September 03, 2008 7:19 AM
***
Looking to the future but with one eye on the past, Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary.
"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."
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