World

NOVANEWS Stephen Hawking Disavows God, Is Iran to Blame? Jason Ditz, September 03, 2010 Yesterday’s tortured attempts by US and Israeli officials to make the peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority all about Iran were sort of par for the course, and no one was really surprised when a report that the IAEA tried to convince Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the last Mideast nation that has yet to do so was answered by copious Israeli references to Iran. But something else happened this week. Stephen Hawking, one of the foremost theoretical physicists in history and the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambrigde announced that there was no God that was responsible for the creation of the universe. Surely that has nothing to do wi...

NOVANEWS MOHAMMED ABDULLAH GUL: AFGHANISTAN, PATHS TO PEACE September 1, 2010 by Gordon Duff    By Mohammed Abdullah Gul, STAFF WRITER, Editor CHILDREN OF AFGHANISTAN  HISTORY IS ABOUT TO TAKE A MONUMENTAL TURN IN AFGHANISTAN History is about to take a monumental turn in the rugged, desolate hills and dales of Afghanistan where the world’s sole superpower leads an alliance facing defeat at the hands of the nameless resistance fighters of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The impact of this enormous defeat will be felt across the globe. The bloody conflict in Afghanistan has been going on for almost nine years, since October 2001.  The Taliban, who appeared to have been defeated at the beginning of the war, have since grown from strength to strength, particularly after 2003 when the Internation...

NOVANEWS August 31, 2010 by Michael Leon   Victory in Iraq, U.S. Stands Tall - - 4,416 U.S. military fatalities - 31,911 wounded (official); Over 100,000 (unofficial) - 320,000 veterans’ brain injuries - 100,000s veterans suffering from PTSD -  1,457 contractor Employee Deaths -  338 journalists’ deaths - 437 academics Killed - Iraqi Deaths due to U.S. Invasion – 1, 366,000 (estimated and growing daily) - U.S. and NGOs lack mechanism to accurately track troops wounded in Iraq  – Mission Accomplished – By PATRICK COCKBURN in CounterPunch A few days after the US announced that it had withdrawn its last combat brigade from Iraq, the local branch of al-Qa’ida staged a show of strength, killing or wounding 300 people in attacks across the country.  Its suicide bombers drove vehicles packed wit...

NOVANEWS   30 Aug 2010 خالد برّاج لا زال السياسيون المنتمون إلى هذا الفريق أو ذاك إضافةً إلى الصحافيين و المحلِلين السياسيين (و ما أكثرهم) يُتحِفونا كل يوم بإستعمال تعابير و مفردات هي على الأقل هرطقة من الناحية القانونية و الدستورية و أبرز هذه العبارات التّي نسمع تردادها بشكل يومي على لسان "كبار القوم" من نوّاب و وزراء إلى رؤساء و أمناء " الدكاكين الحزبية " (و هو الوصف المنطقي و الفعلي للحالة و الجسم الحزبي في لبنان) هي عبارة " الموالاة و المعارضة ". فعن أيّ موالاة يتحدّثون حين تكون غير قادرة على الحكم بمفردها بسبب طبيعة النظام اللبناني الطائفي المذهبي و منطِق القوّة الميلشيوي و عن أي معارضة يتحدّثون حين تُصبح هذه المعارضة شريكاً أساسياً في حكومةٍ تُفترض أن تكون حكومة وحدةٍ وطنية, فمنِ الغير المنطقي (في بلدٍ غاب فيه المنطق منذ عقود) تصنيف الأفرقاء السياسيين المشاركين في الحك...

NOVANEWS August 30, 2010 by Michael Leon   Spc. Jeremy Morlock By Hal Bernton at the Seattle Times Last December, Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other soldiers about how easy it would be to “toss a grenade” at Afghan civilians and kill them, according to statements made by fellow platoon members to military investigators. One soldier said it was a stupid idea. Another believed that Gibbs was “feeling out the platoon.” Others told investigators Gibbs eventually turned the talk into action, forming what one called a “kill team” to carry out random executions of Afghans. In one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghanistan war, five soldiers from a Stryker infantry brigade based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are now charged with murder for their alle...

NOVANEWS Indo-US-Israel-Afghan collaborative game against Pakistan August 30, 2010 by Michael Leon   By Asif Haroon Raja 9/11 dramatically converted Pakistan from an international outcast under a military dictator aligned with extremist Taliban regime in Kabul to become a key strategic partner of America ’s war on terror. This change in status brought about by USA did not come about out of the blue but under a well conceived design. While Afghanistan was already on the hit list of USA since 1997, 9/11 gave a ready made excuse to forcibly occupy it and bring a regime change of its liking and to then work upon the laid down regional objectives.    In its pursuit to denuclearize and secularize Pakistan , the US in concert with Israel , India and Britain worked out several contingency plans...

NOVANEWS Maariv: Israeli a significant importer (and re-exporter) of Iranian goods Didi Remez | August 30, 2010  Categories: Diplomacy, Direct Action | URL: http://wp.me/pHlQV-IW This is a fairly wide-raging, if shallow, review. I found the section the section describing a botched attempt by an Israeli company to re-export Iranian marble to the US interesting. Particularly insightful was the justification for an Israeli double standard on this issue, as articulated by Danny Catarivas, head of the Division of Foreign Trade and International Relations in the Manufacturers Association of Israel (emphasis mine):   Catarivas Economic threats are a mainstay of the Obama agenda and fuel the flames between the two countries after every statement on the issue. The Israeli order banning...

  NOVANEWS Rajeesh | August 29, 2010  | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pglpM-1Va Outlook Will Azad become Congress’s Sohrabuddin? His post-mortem suggests he was killed in cold blood Dead men tell no tales. But when the deceased is Chemkuri Azad Rajkumar, the manner of death can speak volumes. The Maoist leader’s post-mortem report, which Outlook has now accessed, categorically establishes that he died in a fake encounter. Read along with the FIR and inquest reports, it exposes the elaborate set of lies drawn by the Andhra Pradesh police to explain his death. The claimed encounter, a much-touted “gain” in the UPA government’s war against India’s “gravest internal security threat”, was in fact a cold-blooded execution by the state. Azad, a key player in the pla...

NOVANEWS Rajeesh | August 29, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pglpM-1Vg azad encounter Death By An Inch... Lies By The Mile Will Azad become Congress’s Sohrabuddin? His post-mortem suggests he was killed in cold blood. Saikat Datta azad encounter Mountain Of Lies Azad’s kin allege it was no ordinary encounter Madhavi Tata law No Point-Blank Justice Jurists say ‘encounters’ must be investigated by an independent agency. But no law makes this binding. Anuradha Raman Question 1 First information report (FIR) says, acting on a tip-off from the state intelligence police, Andhra police were searching the forests off Adilabad on the night of July 1 when the encounter took place, claiming Azad’s life. But then... Azad’s mother had filed a petition with ...