
Blog Archives
Beyond Orwellian: Liberty and technology today
By: Robert Scheer
For democracy, privacy is the ball game. Without the assurance of a zone of inviolate space, both physical and mental, that a citizen can inhabit without fear of observation by others, there is no guarantee of the essential sovereignty of the individual promised in the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution. That should be clear, as it is to most people who have been oppressed by the tyranny of authoritarian regimes. Indeed, as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell brilliantly established in their classic writing on this subject, the totality of societal observation over the individual is the defining antithesis of freedom, even when that observation is gained through hidden and subtle persuasion.
ISIS militant talks about US funding
Source: tribune.com.pk
By: Naveed Miraj
Yousaf al Salafi – allegedly the Pakistan commander of Islamic State (IS) or Daish – has confessed during investigations that he has been receiving funds through the United States.
Law enforcing agencies on January 22 claimed that they arrested al Salafi, along with his two companions, during a joint raid in Lahore. However, sources revealed that al Salafi was actually arrested sometimes in December last year and it was only disclosed on January 22.
“During the investigations, Yousaf al Salafi revealed that he was getting funding – routed through America – to run the organization in Pakistan and recruit young people to fight in Syria,” a source privy to the investigations revealed to Daily Express on the condition of anonymity.
U.S. General: “We Helped Build ISIS” – Islamic State Obtained Weapons from U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya

Photo: Hillary Clinton with the “Libyan rebels”.
Source: globalresearch.ca
By: Paul Joseph Watson
During an appearance on Fox News, General Thomas McInerney acknowledged that the United States “helped build ISIS” as a result of the group obtaining weapons from the Benghazi consulate in Libya which was attacked by jihadists in September 2012.
Asked what he thought of the idea of arming so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels after FSA militants kidnapped UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, McInerney said the policy had been a failure.
“We backed I believe in some cases, some of the wrong people and not in the right part of the Free Syrian Army and that’s a little confusing to people, so I’ve always maintained….that we were backing the wrong types.”
Then made reference to a Bret Baier Fox News special set to air on Friday which will, “show some of those weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of ISIS – so we helped build ISIS,” said
Study: U.S. regime has killed 20-30 million people since World War Two
Source: countercurrents.org
By: James A. Lucas
After the catastrophic attacks of September 11 2001 monumental sorrow and a feeling of desperate and understandable anger began to permeate the American psyche. A few people at that time attempted to promote a balanced perspective by pointing out that the United States had also been responsible for causing those same feelings in people in other nations, but they produced hardly a ripple. Although Americans understand in the abstract the wisdom of people around the world empathizing with the suffering of one another, such a reminder of wrongs committed by our nation got little hearing and was soon overshadowed by an accelerated “war on terrorism.”
But we must continue our efforts to develop understanding and compassion in the world. Hopefully, this article will assist in doing that by addressing the question “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” This theme is developed in this report which contains an estimated numbers of such deaths in 37 nations as well as brief explanations of why the U.S. is considered culpable.
Why Palestine’s ICC Bid Matters (Video)
President Mahmoud Abbas has submitted Palestine for membership in the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague. Some see Abbas’ ICC move as a desperate attempt to do *something* – especially after a controversial resolution to create a Palestinian state failed at the United Nations Security Council. So why does the ICC bid matter, will Israel be tried for war crimes and what’s next for Palestine?
Palestinian statehood bid fails at UN Security Council as US, Australia vote against
The United Nations Security Council.(AFP Photo / Kena Betancur)
Source: rt.com
The UN Security Council has failed to adopt the Arab coalition’s bid calling for the creation of a Palestinian state and an end to Israeli “occupation”. The veto power US and Australia voted against the move with 5 abstentions.
The draft resolution gathered only 8 votes in favour, so it was automatically defeated. The US however still used its veto power and voted against the resolution. Another veto power state, the UK, along with Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea and Rwanda have abstained from the vote.
Pakistan angered at ‘hellhole’ depiction in ‘Homeland’ – report
Source: rt.com
The Emmy-winning ‘Homeland’ series portrays Pakistan as an ugly, ignorant, terror-plagued “hellhole,” the country’s officials have complained to the New York Post, stressing “nothing is further from the truth.”
The Pakistani authorities reportedly complained directly to the show’s producers at Showtime, noting every detail they found irrelevant to the modern Pakistan, including the lack of green landscapes in the depiction of the capital, Islamabad.
“Maligning a country that has been a close partner and ally of the US <…> is a disservice not only to the security interests of the US, but also to the people of the US,” Pakistan Embassy spokesman Nadeem Hotiana told the New York Post.
Season four of ‘Homeland’ tells a story of a CIA station chief on a mission in Pakistan. The show explores the twists and turns of intelligence operations on the ground, as well as the troubled relations between the CIA and Pakistan’s security services.
The biggest concern of the country’s authorities is that Pakistan is depicted as undemocratic and linked with militants.
“Repeated insinuations that an intelligence agency of Pakistan is complicit in protecting the terrorists at the expense of innocent Pakistani civilians is not only absurd, but also an insult to the ultimate sacrifices of the thousands of Pakistani security personnel in the war against terrorism,” one source said.