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    • Keep Recognizing Jesus June 18, 2013
      . . . Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he …

stimulator: Super Soak the Olympic Torch

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subMedia.tv
September 3, 2009

Super Soak the Olympic Torch at subMedia

This week:
1. Pilger Smackdown
2. Obama’s Colombian Connection
3. Manta Shutdown
4. Honduran Repression
5. Hillary Twitton
6. Climate Casino
7. G20 Pittsburgh
8. Manu Chao
9. 2010 Olympic Resistance

more about “stimulator: Super Soak the Olympic To…“, posted with vodpod

see

Power, Illusion, and America’s Last Taboo by John Pilger

Colombia passes Uribe third term bill

Rafael Correa on Global Capitalism

Irked by US-Colombia deal, Chavez warns of war

Colombia: US Escalates War Plans In Latin America by Rick Rozoff

Honduran resistance goes it alone

Coup Protestor Gang-Raped by Honduran Police

Go to Pittsburgh, Young Man, and Defy Your Empire by Chris Hedges

from the archives:

The War On Democracy by John Pilger (video)

‘West sought to prompt color revolution after June vote’

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PressTV
Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:17:02 GMT

The Head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Political Bureau, Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, says certain Western states are seeking to turn the ongoing political milieu in Iran to their advantage.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, he stated that the United States together with some Western countries are leaving no stone unturned to benefit enormously from the current political situation in Iran and kick up a velvet revolution in the country.

“One knows that color revolutions like Georgia’s Rose Revolution and Ukraine’s Orange Revolution were US-instigated and meant to make states of the former USSR pursue Washington’s policies and serve its interests,” he said.

The Brigadier General added that great significance should be attached to color-coded revolutions as US officials have sought to prompt one in Iran. He said the national security adviser during Bush’s first term in office, Condoleezza Rice, once commented that all of Washington’s efforts to deal blows to the Islamic Republic, to isolate or even overthrow it have fallen flat.

[...]

via ‘West sought to prompt color revolution after June vote’

h/t: CLG

see

Iran: Whose side are you on continued…? By William Bowles

The Case of the ‘Fatwa’ to Rig Iran’s Election by Jeremy R. Hammond

Iran: Whose side are you on continued…? By William Bowles

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By William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
28 July 2009

Okay, the battle on the ‘left’ concerning who to support in Iran appears to come down to the following:

On the one hand we appear to have those who say that the mass demonstrations are solely the result of the West’s attempts to undermine and overthrow the existing regime, utilizing a ‘colour revolution’ similar to those used in the Ukraine and Georgia. And there can be no doubt that Western intelligence agencies are up to their necks in destabilization strategies (see below). If this is indeed true the question to ask is: Have Western agencies fomented or exploited the opposition and to what degree has it been a success as measured by the mass demonstrations and by elements of the Left supporting the demonstrations?

On the other side as it were, are those who say there is no foreign intervention, the mass movement is wholly indigenous and reflects growing opposition to the theocracy, or at the very least Western machinations are only incidental to the situation. A good example of this approach is advocated by Hamid Dabashi in his essay ‘Left is wrong on Iran’ where he says,

(more…)

Iran: Whose side are you on? By William Bowles

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By William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
27 July 2009

I have been reading, with much despair and a deal of consternation, the torrent of ‘analysis’ coming out of ‘left’ field about which, if any, side to support in the ongoing struggles in Iran and, at the end of the day, a good deal more is revealed about the ‘left’ in the West than the situation in Iran.

Typically, the ‘left’ has much ‘advice’ to offer Iran, yet the real issue for us, here in the ‘developed’ world is what are we going to do about our governments. Yet such arrogance is not new, it has its roots in the ideology of racism which unfortunately permeates all of us here in the so-called developed world. We look outward instead of inward, where the issues we really need to confront, reside. Let the Iranian people get on with sorting out their own ruling class, they don’t need us to ‘guide’ them.

It is imperative to separate the issue of Western involvement in events from the distinctly Iranian issues of class, religion, gender and so forth, that regardless, have their causes (and solutions) in Iran. This is not say that Western involvement/interference doesn’t affect events and end up being part of the process, but then this is precisely the problem we in the West have to confront: How to separate out the effects of our incessant meddling in other countries’ affairs from the indigenous processes? So, whatever happened to analysis, class, economic, social and otherwise?

The election

(more…)

Independence from the Great Satan: The Stakes are High

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ManilaRyceTLM
July 21, 2009

more about “Independence from the Great Satan: Th…“, posted with vodpod

Got international solidarity? Capitalists are vampires – parasites who view us as nothing more than livestock to feed off of and have dominion over.

Corporations have used the government and media as instruments to destroy the US labor movement. We must rebuild it. Organizing is not easy in a capitalist society. Since a capitalist system pits workers against each other, we’ll need to learn how to cooperate rather than compete. Forming an organization, union, or cooperative is a first step.

During the height of our concern over the Iranian elections, Peruvians were being massacred in the name of US free trade interests. In what’s been called “The Amazon’s Tiananmen,” Hundreds of indigenous people blocking Shell Oil from raping the Amazon were murdered by police. However, we were instead focused on Iran because they’re the declared enemy of our capitalist overlords.

Still, I will give credit where it’s due. If the traditional media was correct about one thing during their frenzy over “Iran’s Twitter Revolution”, it was their own insufficience. Unlike the dying corporate media, twitter and the internet in general have proved to be useful, democratizing tools. Never in the history of the world have the proletariat been so connected to each other, AND YET we still lack a strong global movement. The internet can either help us escape reality or transform it.

We must recognize our unique role as individuals within the international movement. As Marx said, “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” When individual workers thrive in the belly of the beast, they can enable that prosperity to translate to the entire global collective. As Americans, we hold a higher level of responsibility since our actions have the potential to dramatically transform the rest of the world.

We live in the Americas where the greatest disparity between rich and the poor exists, yet we are not class conscious. Americans feel more solidarity with Obama than with a so-called insurgent in Iraq.

However, when people push reform to the limit and government won’t concede any further, they realize revolution is needed to dismantle that roadblock. Workers in America must come to that realization soon if international movements of the Left are to succeed. The head vampire must be killed once and FOR ALL.

Beat generously provided by DJ Phatrick
djphatrick.com
facebook.com/djphatrick

and follow me on twitter while you’re at it
twitter.com/ManilaRyce

Independence from the Great Satan: The Stakes are High

see

The Case of the ‘Fatwa’ to Rig Iran’s Election by Jeremy R. Hammond

Inside the Peruvian Amazon

Honduras: Anti-Chavez ‘free speech’ warriors linked to coup by Federico Fuentes

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

The Case of the ‘Fatwa’ to Rig Iran’s Election by Jeremy R. Hammond

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By Jeremy R. Hammond
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
July 21, 2009

The propaganda campaign to paint the victory of the incumbent candidate in Iran’s June presidential election as having been a stolen one began early. Even before the election, the seed was being planted that the election would be stolen to give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a win. This narrative played nicely into the hands of the reformist opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who cried foul following the favorable results for the incumbent. But what evidence is there to support this narrative?

In one prominent example, on June 7, five days before Iran’s presidential election, the website Tehran Bureau reported:

In an open letter, a group of employees of Iran’s Interior Ministry (which supervises the elections) warned the nation that a hard-line ayatollah, who supports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has issued a Fatwa authorizing changing votes in the incumbent’s favor.

(more…)

In an Impotent World even the Bankrupt can Prevail By Paul Craig Roberts

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By Paul Craig Roberts
July 20. 2009 “Information Clearing House

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Japan did not spend years preparing her public case and demonstrating her deployment of forces for the attack. Japan did not make a world issue out of her view that the US was denying Japan her role in the Pacific by hindering Japan’s access to raw materials and energy.

Similarly, when Hitler attacked Russia, he did not preface his invasion with endless threats and a public case that blamed the war on England.

These events happened before the PSYOPS era. Today, America and Israel’s wars of aggression are preceded by years of propaganda and international meetings, so that by the time the attack comes it is an expected event, not a monstrous surprise attack with its connotation of naked aggression.

(more…)

Season of Travesties – Freedom and Democracy in mid-2009 By Noam Chomsky

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By Noam Chomsky
July 14, 2009 “Information Clearing House

June 2009 was marked by a number of significant events, including two elections in the Middle East: in Lebanon, then Iran. The events are significant, and the reactions to them, highly instructive.

The election in Lebanon was greeted with euphoria. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gushed that he is “a sucker for free and fair elections,” so “it warms my heart to watch” what happened in Lebanon in an election that “was indeed free and fair — not like the pretend election you are about to see in Iran, where only candidates approved by the Supreme Leader can run. No, in Lebanon it was the real deal, and the results were fascinating: President Barack Obama defeated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.” Crucially, “a solid majority of all Lebanese — Muslims, Christians and Druse — voted for the March 14 coalition led by Saad Hariri,” the US-backed candidate and son of the murdered ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, so that “to the extent that anyone came out of this election with the moral authority to lead the next government, it was the coalition that wants Lebanon to be run by and for the Lebanese — not for Iran, not for Syria and not for fighting Israel.” We must give credit where it is due for this triumph of free elections (and of Washington): “Without George Bush standing up to the Syrians in 2005 — and forcing them to get out of Lebanon after the Hariri killing — this free election would not have happened. Mr. Bush helped create the space. Power matters. Mr. Obama helped stir the hope. Words also matter.”

(more…)

West’s Afghan War And Drive Into Caspian Sea Basin by Rick Rozoff

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by Rick Rozoff
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Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/40624
July 10, 2009

The Pentagon and its NATO allies have launched the largest combat offensive to date in their nearly eight-year war in South Asia – Operation Khanjar (Strike of the Sword) with 4,000 US Marines, attack helicopters and tanks and Operation Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw) with several hundred British engaged in airborne assaults – in the Afghan province of Helmand.

The American effort is the largest ground combat operation conducted by Washington in Asia since the Vietnam War.

Other NATO and allied nations have also boosted or intend to increase their troop strength in Afghanistan, with German forces to exceed 4,000 for the first time, Romanian troops to top 1,000 and contingents to be augmented from dozens of other NATO member and partner states, including formerly neutral Finland and Sweden.

(more…)

Obama’s Rollback Strategy: Honduras, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan (and the Boomerang Effect) by Prof James Petras

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by Prof James Petras
Global Research, July 9, 2009

The recent events in Honduras and Iran, which pit democratically elected regimes against pro-US military and civilian actors intent on overthrowing them can best be understood as part of a larger White House strategy designed to rollback the gains achieved by opposition government and movements during the Bush years.

In a manner reminiscent of Ronald Reagan’s New Cold War policies, Obama has vastly increased the military budget, increased the number of combat troops, targeted new regions for military intervention and backed military coups in regions traditionally controlled by the US . However Obama’s rollback strategy occurs in a very different international and domestic context. Unlike Reagan, Obama faces a prolonged and profound recession/depression, massive fiscal and trade deficits, a declining role in the world economy and loss of political dominance in Latin America, the Middle East, East Asia and elsewhere. While Reagan faced off against a decaying Soviet Communist regime, Obama confronts surging world-wide opposition from a variety of independent secular, clerical, nationalist, liberal democratic and socialist electoral regimes and social movements anchored in local struggles.

(more…)

Iran’s Fascism, and Ours By Jeremy R. Hammond

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By Jeremy R. Hammond
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Foreign Policy Journal
July 8, 2009

Gary Sick at the Daily Beast explains how the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) have become a formidable power in Iran. “Technically,” he writes, “they take their orders from the leader, but has he ever dared to contradict them? On the contrary, he seems always to court them by granting them ever-greater influence and responsibilities.”

President Ahmadinejad “has appointed his fellow guardsman to positions throughout the bureaucracy” and “The economic role of the Revolutionary Guards has been remarked on in recent years. The Guards themselves and companies run by the Guards have won major contracts in every corner of the economy, from airport construction to telecommunications to auto manufacturing.”

(more…)

stimulator: Twiran

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stimulator
July 03, 2009

http://submedia.tv/stimulator/2009/07…
This week:

1. The King of Cock
2. Twiran
3. Honduras Coup Plug
4. Mayans fight back against Goldcorp
5. The ELF strikes in Mexico
6. Jim Hansens Coal Theater
7. Uribes new boss
8. cOalbamas clean energy plan
9. Really clean CO2 free transport
10. Emergency Broadcast Network
11. Nickelsville USA

more about “stimulator: Twiran“, posted with vodpod

see

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire

Honduran coup resistance growing

Ian Kelly: I certainly would not want to give a green light to any kind of military action

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Dandelion Salad

Propaganda alert

U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing by Department Spokesman Ian Kelly

07.06.09

transcript

excerpt (about 23 or 24 minutes in)

QUESTION: Do you think there could be a peace in the Middle East without Iran’s interference? Because since Iranian president has been calling – wipe off Israel from the map and all those things?
MR. KELLY: Well, this Administration’s approach to the Middle East peace process is a comprehensive, regional approach. And yeah, we would expect all players, all partners in the region, to contribute towards that.
QUESTION: Iran is a player?
MR. KELLY: I’m sorry?
QUESTION: Iran is a player in –
MR. KELLY: Iran is – has, of course, not played a very constructive role with its export of terrorism and with the kind of rhetoric that we’ve seen. We’d like to see it do more to contribute towards Middle East peace.
QUESTION: Yesterday, Vice President Biden said it’s up to Israel to determine whether or not it’s going to strike any targets in Iran. Would Israel let the United States know before they were going to make such a strike?
MR. KELLY: You have to ask Israel that. That’s not to say that Israel’s going to make a strike.
QUESTION: Is that the U.S. Government policy, that it’s ultimately up to Israel to make such a determination?
MR. KELLY: Well, first of all, let me just step back a minute and – our goal here is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. When I say “our,” I don’t mean just the U.S. This is the – it’s the international community. So – and we’re – so our approach right now is to be very engaged with international partners to get Iran to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities and to fully cooperate with the IAEA, as detailed in United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Having said that, Israel is a sovereign country. We’re not going to dictate its actions. We’re also committed to Israel’s security. And we share Israel’s deep concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. But for questions about what they plan to do in response to this, I really have to refer you to the Israeli Government.
QUESTION: What –
QUESTION: Are you concerned at all that by saying Israel is a sovereign country and we’re not going to dictate to them what their actions are, that your words, like the Vice President’s words, may be interpreted as sort of a green light.
MR. KELLY: I certainly would not want to give a green light to any kind of military action. But I mean, what – our policy is that we – that Israel is a sovereign country and we’re not going to dictate its actions.
QUESTION: Well, why do you have to say it? I mean –
MR. KELLY: (Laughter.) Because it is what it is.
QUESTION: Shakespeare or not. (Laughter.) Doth protest too much.
MR. KELLY: Yes.

more about “U.S. Department of State Daily Press …“, posted with vodpod

see

Biden: US won’t stop Israel attack on Iran + transcript

Israeli ambassador to US: Iranian nuke could wipe off Israel in seconds

IAEA chief: no hard evidence Iran seeking nukes

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire

Iran Israel US Nukes

At Least 140 Dead In Chinese Protest

Honduran coup resistance growing

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

from the archives:

Iran’s President Did Not Say “Israel must be wiped off the map” By Arash Norouzi (2007)

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire

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Dandelion Salad

replaced video Dec. 11, 2010

Democracy Now!
July 6, 2009

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire

Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker, John Pilger, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the media, health care, and Obama’s wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pilger has has written close to a dozen books and made over 50 documentaries on a range of subjects including struggles around the world for a more just and peaceful society and against Western military and economic intervention. [Includes rush transcript]

via John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire

***

John Pilger on Honduras, Iran, Gaza, the Corporate Media, Obama’s Wars and Resisting the American Empire (2009)

see

John Pilger Calls UK National Health Service a Treasure + Tell Media: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

William Engdahl: Full Spectrum Dominance and the NWO

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Updated: July 8, 2009 added Part 2

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews
July 05, 2009

Pt 1 William Engdahl on his book Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order

more about “William Engdahl: Full Spectrum Domina…“, posted with vodpod

***

Full Spectrum Dominance and Iran Pt2

more about “Full Spectrum Dominance and Iran Pt2“, posted with vodpod

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Iran’s Fascism, and Ours By Jeremy R. Hammond

“Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order” by Stephen Lendman

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