Blair gives away no secrets on 9 11.

Tony Blair's top security adviser, Sir David Manning, was in the USA on 9 11 and admits to seeing the Twin Towers fall.

On 9 11, Manning, was flying over Staten Island. He saw the smoke coming from the World Trade Center. New Statesman - NS Profile - David Manning

Sir David Manning, who is Jewish, was in Washington meeting Richard Armitage around the time of 9 11. US State Department, September 10, 2001 .

Blair fails to mention that Saddam was trained and put into power by the CIA, and that Saddam offered to leave Iraq to prevent a war. aangirfan: Saddam and Belarus

~~

aangirfan: TONY BLAIR AND CHILD ABUSERS

aangirfan: WHO MIGHT HAVE RECRUITED TONY BLAIR INTO THE SECURITY SERVICES.

aangirfan: Opus Dei, Tony Blair, Fascists and Zionists.

~~

Hansen insists he never read most of those documents, revealing though they were. "This is not something that was particularly important at the time. If it had been part of our plan -- when we get through the election we're going to harmonize the sales tax -- I would have read every bloody word and studied it."

Didn't study his own briefing notes. Didn't pay attention to the game-changing developments in Ontario. Didn't have a clue really.

Not much of a defence for his own qualifications to serve as minister of finance. But considering that the alternative explanation would be systematic lies and coverup, I guess it was the best he could do.

Folks, the plain truth is this: Colin Hansen asked for the briefing note more than two months before the election and the issue was not only "on the radar screen", it was well on its way to becoming government policy - a policy that Campbell and Hansen hid from the people during the election.

Here’s the Most Trusted Name in News’ Erickson, explaining why he wants to get teabagged by The Quitter’s cabana boy.

I so totally have a man-crush on this dude. He calls the Democrats ’socialists’, says Barack Obama is ‘bad for America’, and wants to privatize social security.

He says mean things about Democrats! He’s so dreamy!

And in the video clip,

He’s Ron Silver from the ’80s in “Blue Steel” and he sounds like Barry Goldwater.

Sounding like Barry Goldwater is a great way to lose elections. After his little “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice,” tirade at the 1964 Republican Convention, Goldwater won just 6 states. But he sounded so awesome!

By the way, Blue Steel was released in 1990. Also.

Great hire, CNN!

photo: El Tekolote via flickr

There were 72 bodies found on a ranch ninety miles south of the Texas border — obvious victims of a drug cartel massacre. Bullets have been hitting public buildings in El Paso and the Washington Post is reporting that at least $20 billion a year in cash is being smuggled across the U. S. border each year. What is it going to take to convince the Federal Government that current drug policies are not working? The fact is that the current drug laws are contributing to an all-out war on our southern border — all in the name of a modern-day prohibition that is no more logical or realistic than the one we abandoned 75 years ago?

Mexican drug cartels make at least 60 percent of their revenue from selling marijuana in the United States, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The FBI estimates that the cartels now control distribution in more than 230 American cities, from the Southwest to New England.

How are they able to do this? Because America’s policy for almost 70 years has been to keep marijuana—arguably no more harmful than alcohol and used by 15 million Americans every month—confined to the illicit market, meaning we’ve given criminals a virtual monopoly on something that U.S. researcher Jon Gettman estimates is a $36 billion a year industry, greater than corn and wheat combined. We have implemented laws that are not enforceable, which has thereby created a thriving black market. By denying reality and not regulating and taxing marijuana, we are fueling not only this massive illicit economy, but a war that we are clearly losing.

In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced a new military offensive against his country’s drug cartels. Since then, more than 28,000 people have been killed in prohibition-fueled violence, and the cartels are more powerful than ever, financed primarily by marijuana sales. Realizing that his hard-line approach has not worked, earlier this month Calderon said the time has come for Mexico to have an open debate about regulating drugs as a way to combat the cartels. Ignoring this problem, Mr. Calderon said, “is an unacceptable option.”

cont’d

Calderon’s predecessor, Vicente Fox, went even further, writing on his blog that “we should consider legalizing the production, sale and distribution of drugs” as a way to “weaken and break the economic system that allows cartels to earn huge profits … Radical prohibition strategies have never worked.”

Fox is not alone. His predecessor, as well as former presidents of Brazil and Colombia, has also spoken out for the need to end prohibition.

And they’re right. Crime was rampant during alcohol prohibition as well. Back then it was lead by gangsters like Al Capone. Now it’s lead by cartels.

The violence in Mexico is out of control and is destroying the country. Journalists fear reporting the daily shootouts because of threats from the cartels. Some schools are even teaching their students to duck and cover in order to avoid the crossfire. Politicians are being targeted for assassination.

The havoc has spread into the United States. In March, hit men executed three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, an act that President Obama condemned. And the same cartels that are selling marijuana in the United States are destroying treasured environmental resources by growing marijuana illegally in protected park lands. By regulating marijuana such illegal grows would cease to exist. The problem has been out of hand for quite some time, and a new approach is desperately needed.

Sadly, U.S. officials refuse to even acknowledge that such a debate is taking place. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has said repeatedly that the Obama administration is not open to a debate on ending marijuana prohibition. Even worse, we’ve continued to fund Mexico’s horribly failed drug war to the tune of $1.4 billion through the Merida Initiative , while refusing to be honest with our neighbors who are urgently seeking a new direction.

This November, Californians will decide whether to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older. U.S. officials need to welcome the debate on marijuana regulation. It’s probably the only practical way to weaken the drug cartels—something both the U.S. and Mexico would benefit from immeasurably. We need a new solution to stop this violence.

Some specific acts of violence provided by Reuters:

* Aug 18, 2010 – The body of the mayor of Santiago, a colonial tourist town near Monterrey, was dumped on a rural road, two days after he was taken from his home. Calderon condemned the killing of Edelmiro Cavazos, the latest attack on public officials in an escalating drug war.

* July 18, 2010 – Gunmen burst into a birthday party in the northern city of Torreon, using automatic weapons to kill 17 party-goers and wound 18 others. Mexican authorities later said those responsible were incarcerated cartel hitmen who were let out of jail by corrupt officials. The killers allegedly borrowed weapons and vehicles from prison guards and later returned to their cells.

June 28, 2010 – Suspected cartel hitmen shot and killed a popular gubernatorial candidate in the northern state of Tamaulipas in the worst cartel attack on a politician to date. Rodolfo Torre, 46, and four aides from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, were ambushed on their way to a campaign event for the July 4 state election.

GARY JOHNSON is the honorary chairman of the OUR America Initiative www.ouramericainitiative.com – a 501 c 4 advocacy committee. He is also the former Republican Governor of New Mexico 1994-2002 , and has been a consistent and outspoken advocate for efficient government and lowering taxes.

[Editor's note: Today is Al-Quds Day, an international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people that is held annually on the last Friday of Ramadan.]

Al Quds - Jerusalem: The city of martyrs; the occupied city. A city painted a deep shade of crimson with the blood of the oppressed. A city occupied far longer than I have walked this earth; far long than my father has existed.

This city - I have never seen. Its air - I have never breathed. Its roads - I have never traveled.

I am a stranger at Jerusalem's gate; I listen to the wailing passerby clutching the remnants of his home between scarred hands, his screams muffled under the background of a demolition. I hear a mother attempting to wash the blood off the ashen bodies of her children with bitter, scathing tears - the deafening sound of bullets boldly echoing within the confines of the occupiers jungle.

I am a stranger at Jerusalem's gate; My eyes follow an army of worshipers kneeling on occupied ground, impregnated with their supplication, as they raise heavy hands up towards the sky. I watch a rampage emerging in the 'holy land' as a barrage of soldiers lay siege upon Al Aqsa, defiling sacred territory with a curtain of America-brand tear-gas canisters and grenades.

Ya Quds, Ya Qiblat as-Saleheen/ Oh Jerusalem, Oh Focus of the Righteous.

You are the perfume of the occupied territories, you are the fragrance worn around the necks of our women accompanied by a string of rocks from which our children use to throw in the face of occupation soldiers; precious pearls in their soft, dauntless hands.

Ya Quds/ Oh Jerusalem.

The thorns of conquest line your streets; our open wounds - inkwells, the gravestones of our martyrs - parchment.

What does Israel fear in the shouting of your name by the occupied youth? What does Israel fear in the acquisition of your stones?

They rejoiced at our abortion from your treasured womb; we cling to your soil as we yearn to feel our mothers touch, we cry to have you wrap us in your arms - even in death.

Jerusalem: This city - I have never seen. Its air - I have never breathed. Its roads - I have never traveled.

Bury me in your arms o' Jerusalem. If I cannot have you in this life then give me 6 feet of earth wherein I can sleep close to your chest, listening to beating of your heart instead of the drums of war.

Ya Ummi/Oh Mother

I cannot bear to be away from you, an orphan child.

Oh Jerusalem: I am the stranger at your gate, I am the student at your chamber, I am the worshiper at your feet.

Roqayah Chamseddine is a Lebanese-American humanitarian activist. She is a an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science/Pre-Law and Journalism. She was a member of the Gaza Freedom March last December in Cairo.

Two nights back I received the following email from The Israel Project TIP after a long day of watching the Middle East peace circus that has descended on Washington :

Subj: Netanyahu: “We Seek a Peace That Will Last for Generations”

· At White House dinner, Netanyahu tells Abbas, “You are my partner in peace”

· Netanyahu came to Washington to find “historic compromise”

· Netanyahu: “Peace must be defended against its enemies”

.... Abbas’s comments weren’t immediately available.

Of course, PLO Chairman Abbas delivered remarks at that very dinner but The Israel Project, a lobbying shop founded in 2002, wasn’t immediately interested in them. Why is TIP afraid of quoting Abbas alongside Netanyahu’s “yes we can” talking points?

For TIP, the substance of Abbas’ remarks is irrelevant. It’s more important to make it look as if the Palestinian interlocutor forgot to show up to dinner. Here is an excerpt of Abbas’ comments which TIP managed to miss:

It is time to make peace, it is time to end the occupation that began in 1967, and for the Palestinian people to achieve their freedom, independence and justice… We strongly condemned what happened yester day in Hebron . Also we condemned what happened today. We do not want any drop of blood to be shed neither from Palestinian nor Israelis. We want peace between our two peoples. We want to live as partners and neighbors. Let us sign a final peace agreement, and end, forever, a long era of conflict.

The Israel Project’s attempt to make Chairman Abbas appear wholly absent from the re-launch of negotiations is predictable. It’s part of the lobbying organization’s oft-repeated “Palestinian partner” narrative, which sounds something like, "the Israelis have no partner for peace so give ‘em a break.”

It’s difficult to make Netanyahu look like a genuine peace-maker; for TIP, the path of least resistance is to paint Abbas as a peace-rejectionist.

Another example of this: on Friday, August 20, when the White House first invited Israelis and Palestinians to the dinner talks, The Israel Project pulled a similar trick. TIP sent out a mass-mailing to journalists with the subject, “Correction: PA President Has Yet to Respond to U.S. Invitation for Direct Talks.”

It’s no huge surprise that PLO Chairman Abbas did not instantly issue a press release on a Friday during Ramadan. But beyond the common sense of why Abbas hadn’t RSVPed, The Israel Project failed to clarify exactly what they were “correcting.”

The note which they had blasted to journalists just an hour earlier boasted the headline, “Israeli PM Accepts U.S. Invitation for Direct Talks, PA President Remains Skeptical.” Perhaps TIP was only projecting their own skepticism as they neither quoted Abbas nor his office. TIP was either doing a shoddy job of reporting on the latest developments or distributing a press release that bordered on disingenuous.

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of next steps on the peace-processing front. But here’s a tip for TIP – don’t play the blame game before the whistle has even been blown.

Meanwhile, The Israel Project wasn't immediately available to comment.

Jonathan Guyer is an assistant editor of The Middle East Channel and a program associate, of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation.

I learned recently that Avigdor Lieberman’s Foreign Ministry is spending money, and I want some.

Ha’aretz reports that sixty to seventy million shekels will be funneled towards “hosting figures the ministry has identified as having significant influence on public opinion.” The article goes on to say that “the first step in that effort was seen in ministry involvement in coordinating Arianna Huffington’s visit to Israel.”

Cool. I think it’s a good strategy, except they’re targeting the wrong people. Take George Will for instance. He’s been tucked into Netanyahu in Jerusalem for a while now without getting a lot done. He’s not young, or hip, or – I hate to say it – coherent.

But this is about more than just age and Twitter, it’s also about race. The sorry fact is that I possess way more credibility on the issue than Will does. I get to talk about things from the “Palestinian perspective” which automatically deposits credibility points in my hasbara column.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I’m asking Yvet and company to hit me up with an offer. Pallywood pays pretty well I hear Mohammed Dura made a killing , but those of us in the print media get locked out. It’s not very surprising if you think about it; Arabs are barely literate.

I don’t expect my munificent boys on the West West Bank to take me at my word you’ve got to remember that “Palestinians” have a reputation for sliminess . Instead, I’ll offer up a sample of what I can do; I’m the one “Palestinian” who’s willing to work for a living!

I figured I’d rewrite one of George Will’s articles to give my potential bosses the best opportunity for an Uzi-to-Uzi comparison. There was a lot to like about this recent quasi-genocidal screed in the Washington Post, but Will is too cowardly, too cowed by the lunatic left to come right out and say what he means.

So here goes. My edits are in bold:

JERUSALEM 'Twas a famous victory for diplomacy when, in 1991 in Madrid, Israelis and Palestinians, orchestrated by the United States, at last engaged in direct negotiations. Almost a generation later, U.S. policy has succeeded in prodding the Palestinians away from their recent insistence on "proximity talks" -- in which they have talked to the Israelis through American intermediaries -- and to direct negotiations. But negotiations about what? Let's get serious: The so-called 'Palestinians' are an entomologically distinct class of cockroach. No one seriously talks about the rights that accrue to a cockroach.

Idle talk about a "binational state" has long since died, or rather, we intend to kill it. Even disregarding the recent fates of multinational states -- e.g., the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, the former Czechoslovakia -- binationalism is impossible if Israel is to be a Jewish state for the Jewish people. This is the key point. Israel must remain the Jewish state for the Jewish people. There are a few good reasons for this.

The Arabs supported Hitler. Many people don’t know this, but grand mufti Al Husseini was Adolf Hitler’s nanny. He literally fed Adolf Hitler milk from his teat. The whole of the Arab world knew about it and endorsed the practice.

The Arabs also never lived in Israel. For one reason or another, they avoided settling the fertile land. Perhaps they, like other animals, are compelled by unseen geomagnetic forces. Like the geese that fly south for the winter, the Arabs avoided the Jewish homeland and laid their eggs at least one-hundred miles away.

Let’s not forget that the Jewish people are smarter than the Arabs – just look at the number of Nobel prizes they’ve collected. It’s always been true that the smarter party possesses more rights. Just think of the way we treat people with cognitive deficiencies.

Jews are superior in another important way: God chose them. Reportedly, God and Netanyahu exchanged friendship bracelets. Additionally, no significant Israeli constituency disagrees with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: "The Palestinian refugee problem will be resolved outside Israel's borders." God doesn’t disagree, either. He would jeopardize his friendship with Netanyahu if he did!

Rhetoric about a "two-state solution" is de rigueur. It also is delusional and gay, given two recent, searing experiences.

The only place for a Palestinian state is the West Bank, which Israel has occupied -- legally under international law -- since repelling the 1967 aggression launched from there. Furthermore, cookie monster, hubba hubba, inside-out socks and melted ice-cream!

The West Bank remains an unallocated portion of the Palestine Mandate, the disposition of which is to be settled by negotiations between Netanyahu’s left and right cranial hemispheres. Yes, Netanyahu’s brain only communicates with itself through a third-party intermediary – that’s how awesome he is.

...[In Gaza] Twenty-one Israeli settlements were dismantled; even the bodies of Israelis buried in Gaza were removed. After a deeply flawed 2006 election encouraged by the United States

there was in 2007 essentially a coup in Gaza by the terrorist organization Hamas.

So now Israel has on its western border, 44 miles from Tel Aviv, an entity dedicated to Israel's destruction, collaborative with Iran and possessing a huge arsenal of rockets.

Rocket attacks from Gaza increased dramatically after Israel withdrew. The number of U.N. resolutions deploring this? Zero. That’s because the U.N. is full of a******s, too.

The closest precedent for that bombardment was the Nazi rocket attacks on London, which were answered by the destruction of Hamburg, Dresden and other German cities. When Israel struck back at Hamas, the "international community" was theatrically appalled. Screw the "international community." I’ve always said, “Kill’em all and let God sort them out.” That’s if he’s not too busy rubbing Netanyahu’s stiff, tight, broad shoulders… exhaling softly on the back of his neck.

A senior cabinet member -- Moshe Yaalon, strategic affairs minister and possible future prime minister -- says "our withdrawals strengthened jihadist Islam," adding, "We have the second Islamic republic in the Middle East -- the first in Iran, the second in Gaza: Hamastan." He also said that “if Barak Obama is reelected, we’ll have the first Islamic republic in the Americas: Obamistan.” Islam, if you don’t know, is a satanic death cult and Obama is a grand mufti.

...Because upward of a million immigrants have come from the former Soviet Union, today one-sixth of Israelis speak Russian. Israel has Russian-language newspapers and television. Russian Israelis are largely responsible for Avigdor Lieberman being foreign minister. Yoram Peri, professor of Israel studies at the University of Maryland, says these immigrants "don't understand how a state that can be crossed in half an hour by car would be willing to even talk about relinquishing territories to its seemingly perpetual enemies."

These immigrants know that Russia's strategic depth -- space -- defeated Napoleon and Hitler.

...To prevent the importation of missiles and other arms, Israel would need, Netanyahu says, a military presence on the West Bank's eastern border with Jordan. Otherwise, there will be a third Islamic republic, and a second one contiguous to Israel. And like I said, I hate Islam, and you should too.

So, again: Negotiations about what? I mean it. Where am I? What’s going on here? Negotiations about what? What are we talking about? I'm scared of everything...

The BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights recently published Rights in Principle — Rights in Practice, which examines a rights-based approach to crafting durable solutions for Palestinian refugees. The Electronic Intifada contributor Adri Nieuwhof interviews BADIL director Ingrid Jaradat Gassner on the organization’s work and the new book.

Adri Nieuwhof: Can you introduce BADIL and yourself?

Ingrid Jaradat Gassner: BADIL is a Palestinian nongovernmental organization NGO based in Bethlehem, and was established in 1998. Our mandate is to support the Palestinian people, in particular displaced people, to defend their rights, in particular their right of return. I am a founding member of BADIL and I have been its director since the beginning.

AN: What was the idea behind the foundation of BADIL?

IJG: The initiative came to a large extent from a series of popular conferences in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip as well as a conference of Palestinians in Israel in the mid-1990s, following the Oslo peace process, which in a very clear way sidelined Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons. It was unclear how the peace process and the negotiations would deal with this. A strong campaign was necessary so that Palestinian negotiators would take a firm stand against a peace deal that would violate the rights of the refugees. One of the recommendations of the conferences was that there should be a Palestinian civil organization that specializes in this, because this did not exist. There was a group of people working in NGOs who were familiar with the topic and they participated in setting up BADIL, as well as some of the organizers of the popular conferences, among which were many members of the refugee communities.

AN: Can you give a brief overview of Rights in Principle – Rights in Practice?

IJG: It is a special book for BADIL, because it sums up several years of our work. In the first years we had to try to get involved in the peace process, because it could have a huge impact on the position of refugees. We had to engage in this existing peace effort. One way was to work with community organizations, to make sure the voice of the refugees was heard and respected by the Palestinian negotiators. We made a quite sustained effort to engage our international activities on the rights of Palestinians more in the context of the negotiations. Slowly we started to realize that we were the black sheep in these forums — always making the claims on the right of return and restitution for Palestinian refugees. We decided we should create our own forum, because we were no longer willing to participate in these non-rights based forums. In 2003 and 2004 we held seminars on the role of international law, housing, land and property restitution, international protection, and putting rights into practice. At the same time we organized study visits for Palestinian refugees to other places where refugee crises were being or had been resolved in order to see how states and the international community tackle and resolve refugee situations in other contexts. Refugees from the occupied [Palestinian] territory, Lebanon, North America, Europe and internally displaced Palestinians from Israel participated in these visits to Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa and Cyprus. Those who could do so, also participated in “return visits” to their places of origin now located in Israel, in order to assess possibilities for return and reconstruction.

The idea of the book came about when we realized around 2004/2005 that the situation is not one where we could expect a substantial peace process would emerge again. We felt we had learned what states and civil society could do, but there was no longer a context to push for a rights-based process. At some point there will be negotiations. We felt it is important not to lose the knowledge we collected, so that our expertise can be used later.

It is a closing chapter book. At the end of the book we look back and show the lines where we are going from there, which is very different from the technical in-depth debate of the rights-based approach.

AN: How do you analyze the current situation?

IJG: The 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice ICJ on the construction of the wall in the occupied West Bank was a kind of turning point. It made very clear that there was no political will to implement international law, or to be clear about what is right and what is wrong. How could we expect that Israel and other states would respect their obligations, if they can even ignore the highest opinion of the ICJ? We understood that it is basically civil society that creates the political will. We can change the thinking of decision makers, this absolute no-response of states. Many of us realized this in 2004/05. Organizations engaged in collective discussions on how we analyze the situation.

It was clear that this regime [Israel] does not respect international law, but continues to commit violations over and over again. We debated what is needed to change this. At this time civil society organizations in Palestine started to discuss what is today the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign to isolate Israel and to build pressure on other governments to take a position against Israel’s violations of international law.

We also analyzed the character of the regime which oppresses the Palestinian people. We got some help from independent human rights experts. Professor John Dugard helped us understand how colonization, apartheid and occupation can go together in one regime. In 2008 we had extensive, broad discussions and how the Israeli regime combined the three. It has become common to talk about Israeli apartheid today, although it is not yet clear for everybody what this means. Our challenge is to explain exactly why we say it is apartheid, what are the main characteristics of apartheid.

At the same time, we again found a situation where governments and UN institutions and bodies, people in the UN absolutely refuse to recognize that Israel is a colonial apartheid regime. They have the information — there is an unwillingness to engage. Until we reach a situation where powerful actors recognize that we live in a situation of colonialism, apartheid and occupation, not much can be done here. All the international interventions will not protect the rights of Palestinians, because they miss the root causes. All efforts of constructive engagement with Israel, like for example that of the European Union, will not work. What works is to treat Israel like apartheid South Africa was treated. Put pressure on Israel, isolate Israel until it understands there are certain rules they have to comply with.

Right now, [Israel is] building bantustans in the [West Bank], and there is displacement, the blockade of the Gaza Strip. We are moving farther away from a peace scenario. We are deep in a colonial apartheid scenario.

AN: You explained that we are in the post-peace process stage and you have explained that the Israeli regime combines colonialism, apartheid and the occupation. What are the implications for BADIL’s strategy? Or the Palestinian strategy?

IJG: Well, I think the main strategy is to build the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign as broad and as strong as possible. This is number one. It has proven to be very effective and there is potential for a bigger impact. Secondly, we have to raise awareness about this Israeli apartheid regime, even among our friends and campaigners we work with. Apartheid seems to be a bad word. We are convinced we can make a legal argument that apartheid is a crime under international law and that it applies to our situation. Thirdly, as BADIL we have to put effort at the same time into showing that positive scenarios can be developed. While we are struggling against the oppression, we have to develop a vision and show that our vision is practical and achievable.

AN: What type of support is needed in this fight phase from international organizations, citizens and social movements?

IJG: I think maximal activism and involvement in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign is the most important. We would also like to see more emphasis, campaigning, raising awareness on the discrimination of Palestinian citizens in Israel and the Palestinian refugees. There is a tendency to focus on the campaign against the occupation. These other two sectors of the Palestinian people are also very much affected by this colonial, apartheid regime. We want to have solidarity with the entire Palestinian people.

Adri Nieuwhof is a consultant and human rights advocate based in Switzerland.

“Where is the Palestinian Mandela?” pundits occasionally ask. But after these latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington fail — as they inevitably will — the more pressing question may be: “Where is the Israeli de Klerk?” Will an Israeli leader emerge with the former South African president’s moral courage and foresight to dismantle a discriminatory regime and foster democracy based on equal rights?

For decades, the international community has assumed that historic Palestine must be divided between Jews and Palestinians. Yet no satisfactory division of the land has been reached. Israel has aggravated the problem by settling roughly 500,000 Jews in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, eliminating the land base for a viable Palestinian state.

A de facto one-state reality has emerged, with Israel effectively ruling virtually all of the former Palestine. Yet only Jews enjoy full rights in this functionally unitary political system. In contrast, Palestinian citizens of Israel endure more than 35 laws that explicitly privilege Jews as well as policies that deliberately marginalize them. West Bank Palestinians cannot drive on roads built for Israeli settlers, while Palestinians in Gaza watch as their children’s intellectual and physical growth are stunted by an Israeli siege that has limited educational opportunities and deepened poverty to acute levels.

Palestinian refugees have lived in exile for 62 years, their right to return to their homes denied, while Jews from anywhere can freely immigrate to Israel.

Israeli leaders Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak have admitted that permanent Israeli rule over disenfranchised Palestinians would be tantamount to apartheid. Other observers, including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have said that apartheid has already taken root in the region.

Clearly, Palestinians and Israeli Jews will continue to live together. The question is: under what terms? Palestinians will no more accept permanent subordination than would any other people.

The answer is for Israelis and Palestinians to formalize their de facto one-state reality but on principles of equal rights rather than ethnic privilege. A carefully crafted multiyear transition including mechanisms for reconciliation would be mandatory. Israel/Palestine should have a secular, bilingual government elected on the basis of one person, one vote as well as strong constitutional guarantees of equality and protection of minorities, bolstered by international guarantees. Immigration should follow nondiscriminatory criteria. Civil marriage between members of different ethnic or religious groups should be permitted. Citizens should be free to reside in any part of the country, and public symbols, education and holidays should reflect the population’s diversity.

Although the one-state option is sometimes dismissed as utopian, it overcomes major obstacles bedeviling the two-state solution. Borders need not be drawn, Jerusalem would remain undivided and Jewish settlers could stay in the West Bank. Moreover, a single state could better accommodate the return of Palestinian refugees. A state based on principles of equality and inclusion would be more morally compelling than two states based on narrow ethnic nationalism. Furthermore, it would be more consistent with antidiscrimination provisions of international law. Israelis would enjoy the international acceptance that has long eluded them and the associated benefits of friendship, commerce and travel in the Arab world.

The main obstacle to a single-state solution is the belief that Israel must be a Jewish state. Jim Crow laws and South African apartheid were similarly entrenched virtually until the eves of their demise. History suggests that no version of ethnic privilege can ultimately persist in a multiethnic society.

Israeli perspectives are already beginning to shift, most intriguingly among right-wing leaders. Former defense minister Moshe Arens recently proposed in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Israel annex the West Bank and offer its residents citizenship. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin and Likud parliamentarian Tzipi Hotovely have also supported citizenship for West Bank Palestinians, according to the Haaretz. In July, Hotovely said of the Israeli government’s policies of separation: “The result is a solution that perpetuates the conflict and turns us from occupiers into perpetrators of massacres, to put it bluntly.”

Is one of these politicians the Israeli de Klerk? That remains to be seen. Gaza is pointedly excluded from the Israeli right’s annexation debate. They still envision a Jewish state, simply one with a larger Palestinian minority. But their challenge to the two-state orthodoxy, which empirical experience has proven unrealistic, is healthy.

If Americans aspire to more than managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via perpetual and inconclusive negotiations, we should applaud this emerging discussion. Having overcome our own institutionalized racial discrimination, we can model the virtues of a vibrant, multicultural society based on equal rights. President Obama, moreover, would be a fitting emissary for this vital message.

The writer is a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestinian Studies.

The Trades Union Congress is expected to call on its members at its annual conference to strengthen opposition to Israel by extending boycotts and encouraging disinvestment.

A motion on Israel and the Palestinians, backed by the GMB, the Fire Brigades’ Union, the Public and Commercial Services Union and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association, is expected to propose a full boycott of Israeli goods.

The four-day conference begins in Manchester on September 13.

Eric Lee of TULIP Trade Unions Linking Israel and Palestine warned that Israel supporters should “not expect good news” from the congress.

Trade Union Friends of Israel TUFI will host a fringe meeting discussing the role unions can play in the peace process. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has been invited to speak at the event.

Last year, in the wake of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the TUC agreed to support a boycott of goods from Israeli settlements. The move was described at the time as a “profound shift in the culture of the British trade union movement where Israel is concerned”.

Relations with the Histadrut Israeli TUC are likely to be strained further by this year’s proposals. The main motion on the conflict will condemn “Israeli blockades of the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip”.

Specific condemnation will be reserved for “the actions of the Israeli military” during May’s Gaza flotilla incident.

The motion will also criticise the “effective annexation of massive swathes of land by Israel” and call on the government and EU to take “much stronger political steps” against Israel.

The congress is expected to also push for further disinvestment from companies profiting from “the occupation and the construction of the wall”.

Mr Lee said: “Former union leaders would have got up and stopped these things but they are not around any more. Brendan Barber is not a block on such moves. It’s not going to be good news, certainly.”

A report by the TUC’s general council will be presented at the conference and will focus on the federation’s work in the past year.

On the Middle East it will recall that the congress pressed the government to stop arms sales and suspend trade agreements with Israel following Cast Lead, but record that the government’s response fell “well short” of the total embargo demanded.

The summary will also record that the congress supported guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Defra on labelling of goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The TUC worked with the PSC to create a “ban settlement goods” postcard targeting MPs, and a “would you buy stolen goods” card for shoppers. Mr Lee added: “The TUC does not tend to get more moderate about these things. The full backing of the PSC is a major move. It was a terrible shift.

“Several people last year thought it was almost a positive result for Israel, because the motions stopped short of a full boycott. I hope this year people are honest about what happens. If we are defeated, we should say so.”

program: One Land Many Voices
program date: Fri, 08/27/2010

This week, OLMV welcomes Producer Relations Manager for Canaan Fair Trade, Vivien Sansour, and Palestinian-American doctor and professor, Jess Ghannam. Dr. Ghannam has done extensive humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip; he co-hosts the San Francisco radio talk-show ARAB TALK WITH JESS AND JAMAL and is a board member for the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott Campaign. Vivien Sansour is a writer and organizer who has been documenting the lives and work of Palestinian farmers of the Palestine Fair Trade Association.

Click Here to Listen:
* Length: 58:58 minutes 26.99 MB
* Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 64Kbps CBR

Yes on 19 Marijuana Legalization Campaign Poster. Bolerium Books/LA Weekly

This November voters in California will vote on Proposition 19, deciding the fate of marijuana’s legalization, regulation and taxation. According to the latest SurveyUSA poll of likely voters, the proposition still hold a modest lead with 47% of voters saying they are certain to vote yes while only 43% say they are certain to vote no.

SurveyUSA 8/31-9/1
Prop 19
Certain Yes 47
Certain No 43
Not Certain 10

This represents a slight drop in support for Prop 19 compared to the last time SurveyUSA polled the state three weeks ago. Their preview polls taken August 9th-11th and July 8th-11th both found 50% of likely voters certain to vote yes in favor of legalization, and 40% certain to vote no on Prop 19.

Looking at the cross tabs the general patterns of support for Prop 19 and marijuana legalization in general remain little changed. Men support the measure strongly 54% yes – 41% no while women are slightly opposed 40% yes – 46% no . It is still heavily supported by young voters but opposed by older voters. Not surprisingly the Bay Area is the region of the state that most strongly backs the ballot initiative.

There are roughly two months until the election and one month until early voting starts on October 4th. Yes on Prop 19 still has a small lead but that lead has narrowed slightly. With such a close race and relatively few undecided voters the success or failure of Prop 19 will likely come down to turnout. The big question remains: Will the young voters who overwhelming support legalizing marijuana turnout in large numbers to put Prop 19 over the top?

Very strong youth turnout could make the different between a narrow two percentage point loss for Prop 19 and a narrow two point victory for Prop 19.

Television news shows showed Yayi and other top government officials posing alongside the managers of the investment firm. The images were reproduced on T-shirts. While investors interpreted Yayi’s presence as an endorsement, the president did not officially speak in favor of ICC during the appearances.

In this country of 8.7 million people, the average yearly income hovers at $750. Many lost months or years of savings in the scam....

Perhaps the greatest swindle, some say, is the government’s role in the investment company. Many victims say the sight of government officials in the ads reassured them their money would be safe.

“We saw them on television,’’ said Pierre Dossa, a mechanic who lost his savings. “How could we not believe in it?’’

I'm finding that pretty easy these days in AmeriKa.

--more--"

The EU’s trade chief apologized for saying that rational discussion about Israel was impossible with Jews and that the Jewish lobby is the most influential in Washington. Karel De Gucht, a former Belgian foreign minister who is now the EU’s Trade Commissioner, had been asked in a radio interview on Thursday for his opinion on renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks launched in Washington. De Gucht was quoted by AP as telling VRT, a Dutch-language radio network:

That is the best organized lobby that exists there. There is, indeed, a religion, I can hardly describe it differently, among most Jews that they are right. So it is not easy to have a rational discussion with a moderate Jew about what is happening in the Middle East. It is a very emotional issue.

The European Jewish Congress immediately blasted the remarks and said they were part of an increasing pattern of anti-Semitism. Moshe Kantor, the EJC president, said:

What sort of environment allows such remarks to be made openly by a senior politician? This is part of a dangerous trend of incitement against Jews and Israel in Europe that needs to be stamped out immediately.

By Friday, De Gucht was apologizing. In a statement he said:

I did not intend to cause offense or stigmatize the Jewish Community. I want to make clear that anti-Semitism has no place in today’s world and is fundamentally against our European values.

The European Commission, a body of 27 commissioners from each of the EU’s member nations, each handling a different policy area, distanced itself from De Gucht’s comments.

The aid workers are members of a team treating scores of people raped in rebel attacks July 30 to Aug. 4 in villages about 40 miles from Walikale.

See: Resisting the Lord in Uganda

The group's regional director, Miel Hendrickson, said the number of people treated for rape in those attacks has risen to 242 from 192 last week. More survivors who had fled into dense forest have been coming out of hiding each day, aid workers said.

Related: The Quietest Holocaust You Never Heard Of

Oh, they are helping.

--more--"

Also see: UN Gets a Piece

Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack tells William Parry why he is boycotting Israel.

The movement for a cultural boycott of Israel in response to its treatment of the Palestinians, modelled on the boycott of apartheid South Africa, could eclipse decades of disingenuous political charades in engaging western intellectuals, academics and artists. Internationally renowned figures such as Naomi Klein and Ken Loach have supported the call, and now one of Britain’s most successful bands, Massive Attack, is publicly backing the boycott.

“I’ve always felt that it’s the only way forward,” Robert Del Naja, the band’s lead singer, tells me when we meet at the Lazarides gallery in Fitzrovia, London. Del Naja is an artist as well as musician and his face and fingers are speckled with paint. Dozens of his pictures are strewn
all over the wooden floorboards, drying. “It’s a system that’s been applied to many countries. It’s a good thing to aim for because it applies the continual pressure that’s needed.”

Musicians have a history of rallying the public to supporting political causes. The global anti-apartheid movement got the fillip it desperately needed when musicians began supporting it. The single “Sun City” by Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985 and the 70th-birthday tribute concert for Nelson Mandela at Wembley in 1988 catapulted the cause into millions of ordinary homes.

“I think musicians have a major role to play,” Del Naja says. “I find the more I get involved, the more the movement becomes something tangible. I remember going to ‘Artists Against Apartheid’ gigs, and ‘Rock Against Racism’ gigs around the same sort of time. Bands like the Clash and the Specials had a lot to do with influencing the minds of the youth in those days.” Those formative experiences are still evident in Massive Attack’s outlook today. A typical gig by the band is a blistering fusion of music with political messages and statistics flashed up on video screens, while the band regularly lends support to humanitarian causes.

Calls for a boycott were first issued five years ago by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, but a series of developments beginning with the Gaza war in winter 2008-2009 have led to rising support for the campaign. After Israel’s deadly raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May this year, a number of leading artists, including the Pixies, Elvis Costello and Gorillaz, cancelled concerts in Israel. In August, 150 Irish visual artists also pledged not to exhibit in Israel, but it is musicians who have been the most prominent international supporters of the boycott.
Their views are not unanimous, however. Other musicians, from Elton John and Diana Krall Costello’s wife to Placebo and John Lydon, have refused to cancel concert dates in Israel. Some have insisted that engagement with Israel is more productive – a stance that Del Naja rejects. “We were asked to play Israel and we refused,” he says. “The question was asked: ‘If you don’t play there, how can you go there and change things?’ I said: ‘Listen, I can’t play in Israel when the Palestinians have no access to the same fundamental benefits that the Israelis do.’ I think the best approach is to boycott a government that seems hell-bent on very destructive policies. And it’s sad, because we’ve met some great people in Israel, and it’s a difficult decision to have to make.”

Beyond the arts world, an increasing number of trade unions, student unions and churches are signing up to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions BDS movement. Even an Israel-based group, Boycott from Within, backs the campaign, stating that its government’s “political agenda will change only when the price of continuing the status quo becomes too high . . . because the current levels of apathy in our society render this move necessary”.

“We are not going to achieve a quick lib­eration,” Del Naja concedes, but says the point is to apply “pressure, the continual pressure that’s needed”. And the threat of international isolation and economic repercussions is clearly starting to bite: Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, recently passed the first reading of a bill that would impose heavy fines on Israeli citizens who initiate or support boycotts against Israel, and a bill to bar foreigners – like Del Naja – who do the same from entering Israel for ten years.

“The boycott is not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people,” he says. “It’s towards the government and its policies. Everyone needs to be reminded of this because it’s very easy to be accused of being anti-Semitic, and that’s not what this is about.”

William Parry’s “Against the Wall: the Art of Resistance in Palestine” is published by Pluto Press £14.99

"... I don't know whether the Saudi King wanted to attend, but through the grapevine have learned that France's political CEO was miffed not to be included. France takes affairs in the Middle East and what is unfolding with Israel-Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria -- as well as Iran -- very seriously.

An Obama-Sarkozky phone call on the fringe of this renewed effort is probably not enough, and France needs to be built in more directly. Lady Ashton has other affairs to tend to -- and these make sense -- but when there is a chance of securing a new equilibrium in the Middle East, France on its own merits should be a core partner.

One of the realities of the "messy status quo" that was reachieved by restarting direct peace negotiations is that Hamas remains outside the camp of those consulted. Hamas' power and influence have grown with attempts to isolate it -- and ultimately, Hamas needs to be part of the package.

While there are enormous political impediments to the US managing direct discussions with Hamas -- which only contributes to a sense in the Middle East that America's affections in this mess are one-sided -- the US can "remove the veto" on other nations dealing with Hamas to see how its views and parameters can be heard or potentially moved through some kind of engagement.

In my view, the only modern day Kissinger who is operating in European foreign circles today is French national security adviser to the President Jean-David Levitte, former French Ambassador to the United States.

One senior US State Department official I discussed Levitte with and who took mental stock of the various foreign policy hands in important European positions today saw Jean-David Levitte as the only one who had both a granular understanding of equities at play in the Middle East and a good vision of where things needed to go.

There is a behind the scenes veto on our allies dealing with Hamas, and this needs to be lifted. Levitte is the right one to be working quietly and privately to see if Hamas can be brought into a structure largely consistent with that which could be forged by Netanyahu, Abbas and the others in the rather limited group trying to jump start the Middle East peace process."

Stratesec was a company that provided security services for several facilities that were central to the crimes of 9/11. In the years leading up to 9/11, the company had security contracts with the organization that managed Dulles Airport, where Flight 77 took off that day, and with United Airlines, which owned two of the other three hijacked planes.[2] Stratesec had also run security for Los Alamos National Laboratories, where, at the time, scientists were developing super-thermite explosives of the type that have been found in the WTC dust.[3],[4] Stratesec worked at the WTC and was developing the security system for the buildings in the period leading up to, and including, the day of 9/11. These connections are important considering the substantial evidence that insiders were involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Investigation into this company has revealed that the Chief Operating Officer, Barry McDaniel, came to Stratesec from a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group called BDM International, which specialized in “black projects.”[5] The Carlyle Group was managed by several Bush cabal insiders including James Baker and former deputy director of the CIA, Frank Carluccci. Carlyle was funded by investors that included the bin Laden family.[6] Prior to working for BDM, McDaniel had worked as a military ordnance distributor at Fort Belvoir, a facility with many links to 9/11 including the terrorist tracking program Able Danger and the terrorist trainer Ali Mohammed.[7]

McDaniel was not the only former Carlyle Group employee at Stratesec, as the company’s director of information technology was also formerly with BDM.[8] Additionally, the vice president of finance at Stratesec came there from Anadac Molybdenum Corporation, a company where the chairman, Roger Taylor, was also the president of Zapata Granby, a subsidiary of Zapata Corporation. This is the same Zapata Corporation that was founded by George H.W. Bush in the 1950s. George H.W. Bush’s son, Marvin, was a director at Stratesec from 1993 to 2000.

Probably the most interesting person associated with Stratesec was Wirt Dexter Walker III. Despite the “III”, Wirt is actually the fourth Wirt Dexter Walker in the same line. To keep the notations clear, however, in this article we will refer to the Stratesec CEO, Wirt Dexter Walker III, as “Wirt Three.” Given the remarkable connections between Wirt Three and the facilities and aircraft compromised on 9/11, a review of all the Wirts, and where they came from, is worthwhile.

Solomon Walker

Wirt Three’s great-great-great grandfather, Solomon Walker, appeared in Claremont, New Hampshire in the early 1800s. Exactly where he came from, no one knows. The first reports of Solomon were that he was a selectman in Claremont and was married to an heiress named Charity Stevens. Charity was the granddaughter of Elihu Stevens, a justice of the peace who shared in large land grants given to certain people in New Hampshire by the King of England.[9] Charity’s cousin, Paran Stevens, later became a famous hotel mogul in New York City and throughout New England.[10]

Nearly one hundred years after Solomon appeared in Claremont, people were still searching for answers as to his parentage and origination.[11] It is unclear how he came to Claremont and, even today, Solomon’s descendants have not been able to determine where their forefather originated.[12]

Much evidence suggests, however, that Solomon Walker of Claremont was the son of Solomon Walker and Sylvia Delano, of Maine. The recorded history of their youngest son, Solomon, is vague and suggests that he married twice to women much older than him. His second marriage was said to be to Sophia Delano 16 years older , whom he supposedly married a day after his 82-year old father had married her.[13] Although Charity Stevens was 15 years older than Solomon, she was not his stepmother.

For a number of other reasons, it is likely that Solomon “Delano” Walker and/or his father, also named Solomon Walker, made the short journey from Maine to Claremont. Solomon’s father’s hometown was Berwick, ME, which is one hundred miles straight east of Claremont. Berwick is very near Kennebunkport, the long-time home of the Walker side of the Bush family. Coincidentally, Dick Cheney’s great-grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was born at about the same time, halfway between Berwick and Claremont, in Boscawen, NH.

Sylvia Delano, Solomon’s mother, was a cousin of Warren Delano, who was a partner of Russell & Company, a China trading firm whose leaders made fortunes through the opium trade. Warren Delano was also the grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Another reason to believe that Solomon Walker was the son of a Delano is that his wife’s cousin, Mathilda Stevens, married the son of Mary Delano. Mary's dad, Abisha Delano, was also a first cousin of Warren Delano. Abisha and Mary were among the many Delanos who lived in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, where Claremont is located.[14] Banker and railroad executive, Francis R. Delano 1842 to 1892 , attended Kimball Union Academy in Sullivan County.

The clearest indication that Solomon Walker was a Delano is that one of his sons was treated very generously by Warren Delano and his colleagues. When their son, James Monroe Walker, was a boy, Solomon and Charity moved from Claremont to Oakland County, Michigan. James went to college at Oberlin College initially, before moving to the University of Michigan to study law. After that, James’ fortunes grew exponentially.

James Monroe Walker

Solomon Walker’s son, James Monroe Walker, was an attorney who was President and Solicitor for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy C,B&Q Railroad, the Michigan Central Railroad, the Wilmington Coal Company, the Kansas City Stockyards, and the Union Stockyard and Transit Company.[15] James M. Walker ran these businesses for the opium traders at Russell & Company, who invested their money in these railroads and other major infrastructure in the US during the mid-1800s.[16]

Russell & Company was started in 1818 by Samuel Russell, cousin of the founder of the “secret society” called Skull & Bones at Yale University, William Huntington Russell. Samuel had gotten his start through merchant companies like Whittlesley & Alsop of Boston, MA. The Alsops were also major investors in the businesses run by James Monroe Walker, and Russell & Company partner John N. Alsop Griswold was a director of the C,B&Q as well as president of the Illinois Central railroad. Many years later, in the 1960s, Washington Post columnist Joe Alsop, a descendant of the Whittlesley & Alsop owners, convinced President Johnson to create the Warren Commission, which was a cover-up for the assassination of President Kennedy.[17]

In 1828, Russell & Company merged with another drug smuggling syndicate run by John Perkins Cushing.[18] Cushing brought in his cousins, Robert Bennet Forbes and John Murray Forbes. Robert Bennet Forbes was Senator John F. Kerry's great-grandfather. John Murray Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, the alma mater of George H.W. Bush, and his sons Jeb and George W.

John Murray Forbes coordinated much of the US investment of the Russell & Company partners, and he was the one who hired James Monroe Walker.[19] Walker was first hired as Solicitor for the Michigan Central, and later as Solicitor and President of the C,B&Q. While running these railroads, Walker worked with Nathaniel Thayer Jr, a distant relative of George W. Bush, who was general counsel for the C,B&Q and other Russell & Company businesses that Walker was involved in. Walker worked closely with Sidney Bartlett as well, who was another legal representative for the C,B&Q.

At the same time, Bartlett and Thayer were legal representatives for the railroads owned by Edward H. Harriman, including the Union Pacific.[20] Harriman was a director of the Illinois Central, along with Russell & Co partner John N. Alsop Griswold. Harriman is well known for being the father of William Averell Harriman and Roland Harriman, two Skull & Bones members who founded the Brown Brothers Harriman, whose employees included George Herbert Walker and his son-in-law, Prescott Bush. Eugene Delano and his son, Moreau Delano, were partners in Brown Brothers Harriman as well.

The fortunes that Russell & Company invested in US railroads and other infrastructure were the spoils from The Opium Wars, among the most inhumane and socially devastating events in human history. These wars, which occurred between 1839 and 1858, were brought upon the Chinese people by the British government acting on behalf of merchants like Russell & Company, who intended to defy the Chinese government’s ban on opium trading. It was Russell & Company’s business partner, William Jardine of Jardine Matheson, who successfully persuaded the British Foreign Minister, Lord Palmerston, to wage war on China.[21]

As a result of these devastating attacks, the British merchants were able to force Turkish opium upon China, thereby making enormous fortunes paid in silver. By 1906, after several generations of this forced drug trade, opium victims in China were estimated to number 100 million.[22]

China ceded Hong Kong to the British in 1842 as part of an early defeat. Jardine Matheson was one of the opium trading companies that survived for much longer in Hong Kong, being taken over by Chinese tycoon Li Ka-shing in 1980. Li Ka-shing later invested in firms owned by Winston Partners, and has also employed Winston Partners cofounder Marvin Bush's brother, Neil Bush, as a consultant.[23]

As opium traders before, during and after the Opium Wars, Russell & Company were agents of merchant banks like Baring Brothers and N.M. Rothschild.[24],[25] Initially, the merchant banks funded the purchase of the opium, and Russell & Company sailed to make the purchase and subsequently smuggled the drugs into China, making tremendous fees for their work as operatives in the drug trade. The company’s biggest client, Baring Brothers, was agent for the US government between 1843 and 1871, and actually sold the Louisiana Purchase to the US. Baring Brothers was later agent for the British government and had a close relationship with the British monarchy from 1891 to 1995.

The names of the partners of Russell & Company are well known in the history of US power circles. Partner Abiel Abbot Low fathered a mayor of New York City, Seth Low, who was also president of Columbia University. The descendents of the Forbes brothers, Robert Bennet and John Murray, are US powerbrokers to this day, and include the owners of Forbes magazine as well as Senator John Forbes Kerry. The Delanos fathered many powerful people including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt’s grandfather, Warren Delano, was the head of Russell & Company from 1840 to 1842, after which time Russell Sturgis, another relative of John Perkins Cushing, became a partner. Sturgis later became the head of Baring Brothers. Warren's son, Frederic Adrian Delano, eventually took James Monroe Walker’s position as president of the C,B&Q, and was there for twenty years. Frederic was also the first vice-chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank.

It was at the time that James Monroe Walker was president of the C,B&Q, in the 1870s, that these drug dealing investors began to create a vast railroad network that controlled the transport of goods throughout the United States. Controlling the delivery of goods was the same as controlling the price of goods. Additional power over the country was gained through control of the stockyards that fed the masses, and the coal that drove the trains and heated homes. James Monroe Walker was right in the middle of this massive power grab, and served as a trusted operative for these merchant investors from the east.[26]

James Monroe Walker married Elia A. Marsh, of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Elia came from an old New England family as well, as a child of Ransoms and Fletchers and Meigs. Her cousin Betsey Ransom married Claghorn Robinson, who is a member of the Lathrop side of the Bush family. Elia’s brother, Wells Ransom Marsh, was a member of the secret society called Alpha Delta Phi.[27], [28]

James and Elia had a son named James Ransom Walker, and a daughter named Mary Louise Walker. Mary died shortly after her marriage to John Wellborn Root, a noted architect of the time. Root’s uncle was Elihu Root, attorney for prominent Skull & Bones member William Collins Whitney, and early employer of Bonesman Henry Stimson, who later became Secretary of War twice and Secretary of State.

The first child born to James and Elia was the original Wirt Dexter Walker, named for James’ law partner Wirt Dexter, the grandson of US Secretary of the Treasury, Samuel Dexter. Since the original Wirt Dexter Walker was not the “first”, in this article we will call him Wirt Zero.

Wirt Zero

It’s fair to say that Wirt Zero’s family was well-connected. That’s a good reason why Wirt went to Yale and was a member of the University’s second oldest secret society, Scroll & Key. Other notable Scroll & Key members have included the famous statesman Dean Acheson, who in 1969, as one of his final acts, passed along his sophisticated knowledge of Washington and his expertise on American policy to Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle.[29] Scroll & Key members also included a number of famous CIA agents and the founder of WTC impact zone tenant Marsh & McLennan, Donald R. McLennan. President Bush’s relative, Joseph Walker Wear, was Scroll & Key in 1899.

Moreover, Wirt Zero was a member of the Yale fraternity called Delta Kappa Epsilon DeKEs , like George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle, New York City Governor George Pataki, and former President Gerald Ford of the Michigan Omicron chapter . When George W. Bush was president of the DeKEs, he defended the fraternity's practice of branding its pledges with a red-hot coat hanger.[30]

Delano family connections with Yale are strong. [31] Yale graduates among the Delanos include Eugene Delano Jr., William Adams Delano Scroll & Key 1895 , and Moreau Delano Scroll & Key 1898 .

When Wirt Zero was only 21 years old, and had just graduated from Yale, his father died. Young Wirt was made the executor of the estate and he suddenly became a very rich man. Wirt Zero then attended the Union College of Law in Chicago now Northwestern , became a lawyer in 1883, and joined his father’s partner’s law firm. He worked in Chicago and belonged to the Union League Club, and the Chicago Club. Wirt appears to have most enjoyed traveling to the area from where his mother’s family hailed, the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, and he built an estate there called Blythewood Farms.

Wirt began having trouble with his eyesight around 1887. During this time, he and his brother James Ransom Walker had the distinction of having financed the first steel-framed “skyscraper” in history, the 14-story Tacoma Building in Chicago. But by 1890, Wirt was totally blind and had to abandon much if his work. He then spent a number of years traveling to specialists in the east and in Europe. [32]

Despite being blind, Wirt married Marie Winston in December, 1894. Marie was the daughter of General Frederick Winston, an attorney and founder of the Chicago law firm Winston and Strawn. Coincidentally, this law firm is now run by 9/11 Commission member James R. Thompson, and, in a further coincidence Winston & Strawn represented Underwriters Laboratories in its recent legal battle with the author of this article. [33]

Two of Wirt Zero’s bothers-in-law were members of Yale’s Skull & Bones society. Both Dudley Winston and Frederick Seymour Winston were Bonesman. Dudley Winston became a banker and also served as secretary to his father when his father was US Minister to Persia. Frederick Seymour Winston and his father were both lawyers for the C,B&Q railroad and, along with Marie, they are listed as American descendants of the “Magna Charta Barons.”[34]

Wirt Zero died at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel on April 24, 1899, at the age of 39. He was preparing for another trip to Europe when he contracted a sudden pneumonia while traveling from Chicago to New York.

Wirt Zero’s will, drawn up at the time of his marriage in 1894, became something of a national story. That’s partly because Wirt was totally blind as of 1890 and, more importantly, because his fortune was to be distributed based on Marie’s willingness to remain unmarried after his death. If she chose to marry again, the will said that the majority of Wirt’s estate, minus a small annual allowance for Marie, would go to the creation of an art foundation in Chicago. Marie did decide to remarry a few years later, after newspaper stories decried her financial loss, and the Wirt Walker Gallery was born.[35]

Wirt Zero fathered a child that was never again mentioned other than in early discussions over his controversial will and testament.[36] The child was almost certainly Wirt Dexter Walker I Wirt One , and we must assume the mother was Marie Winston Walker.

The commonly accepted history, however, suggests that Wirt One was the son of Wirt Zero’s brother, James Ransom Walker. Apart from the never again mentioned child of Wirt Zero, there are several other reasons to believe that Wirt One was the son of Wirt Zero. First, in family documents created four years after his birth, Wirt One was not listed as one of the sons of James and Louise.[37] Secondly, the other sons of James and Louise were given the middle name “Meeker” but Wirt One was named precisely after James’ brother, Wirt Dexter Walker. Additionally, Wirt One was born eleven days before the sudden and unexpected death of Wirt Zero, and it seems unlikely that James would give his son the exact name of his living brother.

Wirt One

In any case, Wirt Dexter Walker I Wirt One was born on April 13, 1899, eleven days before the sudden and unexpected death of Wirt Zero. Born into in a very affluent, “high society” environment that included regular travels between Chicago and the Berkshires, he was raised by Wirt Zero’s brother, James Ransom Walker, and his wife Louise Meeker Walker. Wirt One was a boy tennis champion in the Berkshires and also played baseball with James and Louise’s other sons, James Meeker Walker and Arthur Meeker Walker.

Like his brothers or cousins , Wirt One attended Williams College.[38] Graduates of Williams College have included some of the most prominent CIA employees in history, including Director of the CIA, Richard Helms 1935 , who later specifically recruited Williams graduates for the agency.[39] Another famous CIA veteran from Williams was former Bush advisor and Iran-Contra conspirator Donald Gregg 1951 . CIA legend Russell Jack Smith taught at Williams until the attack on Pearl Harbor, after which he joined the Office of Strategic Services OSS , and began a lengthy career in intelligence.

Williams College connections to the Bush family include Lucy Woodruff Walker, daughter of Williams graduate and trustee, William Perrin Walker. Lucy was the wife of Judge David Davis, who was the cousin and benefactor of David Davis Walker, George H.W. Bush’s great-grandfather. Another Williams College alumnus, and close associate of George H.W. Bush, is Carlyle Group advisor and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1993 to 2001 , Arthur Levitt.

Brown Brothers Harriman executive, Eugene Delano, graduated from Williams College in 1866. Delano was also a trustee of Williams College, for twenty-five years, and died two years after Wirt One entered the college.

Wirt One left Williams College to join the Army in the summer of 1918, and was located temporarily at Camp Custer. He served in “Base 14” as a private and returned in April 1919.[40] It’s not clear if he ever returned to graduate from Williams, but soon after his return he married Susan Cramer Stephenson, whose guardian was her uncle Ambrose Cramer of Lake Forest, IL.[41] Susan and Wirt lived for the first two years of their marriage in Buffalo, New York and then moved back to Chicago permanently. Susan and Wirt had one son together, Wirt Dexter Walker II, before Susan sued for divorce in 1924 on grounds of “cruelty.”

In 1929, Wirt One married again, this time to Gertrude Reich. While married to Wirt, Gertrude was sued for stealing the affections of another woman’s husband, in a well-publicized scandal. Wirt later sued Gertrude too, for divorce, based on the claim that she deserted him.[42]

Wirt married a third time, in 1937, to Mildred Walker. They were married for twelve years until Mildred sued for divorce, accusing Wirt of cruelty again, and also of nonsupport.[43] At the time, Mildred claimed that Wirt had an income of over $100,000 per year in 1949.[44]

Aside from the ladies, Wirt One’s endeavors included working for the Arcady Farms Milling company, at first as an employee of his uncle, Arthur Meeker, and eventually as president and chairman of the company. Arcady Farms Milling was a manufacturer of feedstock for turkeys and other livestock.

In 1943, Wirt One was attacked by six men after a dinner party attended by political leaders. The motive for the attack was unclear and Wirt was taken to the hospital with a broken nose, a fractured jaw, and internal injuries. No clues to the identity of the attackers were found.[45]

Like his father, Wirt One was a member of the Chicago Club which was, since its inception in 1869, a highly selective and secretive group of Chicago powerbrokers. In fact, the Chicago Tribune dubbed it the “center of power in Chicago.”[46] Wirt One appears to simply have been a lucky, rich kid amongst a membership list that at one time or another included the likes of Marshall Field, George Pullman and Abraham Lincoln. But perhaps there was more to Wirt than we know.

Immediately after his divorce from Mildred, in April 1949, Wirt One married Rosalie Cohen, “former model and secretary.”[47] Rosalie was twenty years younger than Wirt.

Wirt One died August 8, 1953, the week of the CIA’s famous coup in Iran. His obituary lists private services and no report of how he died.

Wirt Two

Wirt Dexter Walker II Wirt Two was born to Wirt One and his first wife, Susan Cramer Stephenson during the two years that they lived in Buffalo.

Like his father, Wirt Two went to Williams College. He graduated and then immediately joined the Army Air Corps during World War II and became a pilot.[48] Just before leaving for duty in 1942, Wirt Two married Margaret Elizabeth Ross, of North Adams, MA.[49] They eventually had three children: Wirt Dexter Walker III Wirt Three , Wendy Margaret Walker, and William Ross Walker. Both Wendy and William, along with their brother Wirt Three, were shareholders in Stratesec.[50]

In 1954, Wirt Two was in a legal battle with three of his father’s four wives, over his father’s substantial estate.[51] His daughter Wendy later remarked on Wirt One’s exploits, suggesting that her grandfather’s work at Arcady Farms was only one of several of his “ventures.”[52]

Wirt Two became a career officer in the Army Air Corps and then the US Air Force, serving until 1962. He flew combat missions with the Eighth Air Force while stationed in England during the war, and was later stationed in Germany. After the war he was assigned to “various government agencies involved in reconnaissance intelligence.”[53] The Lockheed-made U2 reconnaissance aircraft was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, a part of Strategic Air Command, where U2 operations started in 1956 and involved flights over the Soviet Union and the Middle East.[54] In May 1960, while Wirt Two was working on reconnaissance intelligence, an American U2 was shot down by the Soviets, initiating a worldwide controversy over espionage.

Wirt Two is also listed as an ex-employee of the National Photographic Interpretation Center NPIC , an agency of the CIA that analyzed aerial spy photographs.[55] The significance of the NPIC to major intelligence activities during the twentieth century cannot be overstated. NPIC was the agency that was responsible for the intelligence that originated the Cuban missile crisis.[56] NPIC was also central to the analysis of the photographic evidence related to the Kennedy assassination, including the Zapruder film. Whether or not Wirt Two participated in these historic activities is not publicly known.

In his obituary, Wirt Two is listed as having been an employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency DIA , for which it is said he worked until 1977. He died of leukemia in 1997.

Wirt Three

Wirt Three lives in McLean, Virginia, home of the CIA. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1968 and in 1971 he married Sally Gregg White, a Washington DC debutante. Sally is a descendant of architectural ironwork magnate George White, whose son “Doc” White was a World Series winning pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. “Doc” was actually a dentist but his brother, Charles Stanley White, was a famous Washington DC surgeon and grandfather to Sally. Sally’s father, Charles White Stanley Jr, was a surgeon too and, like Wirt Two, he was an officer in the Army Air Corps. [57]

Wirt was fortunate to land a position, right out of college, as a broker for an “investment” firm called Glore Forgan.[58] Originally a company called Field Glore, financed by Marshall Field III, Glore Forgan was renamed in 1937 for its new partner, James “Russ” Forgan. Russ was one of the most influential men in the history of US intelligence, having led the European division of the CIA’s predecessor organization, the Office of Strategic Services OSS . In the OSS, Forgan focused on infiltrating the German intelligence apparatus with the help of William J. Casey. Casey later became SEC chairman under Nixon and the director of CIA under Reagan. Before going back to work in the “investment” business, Forgan helped to write the documents that created the CIA.

While Wirt Three worked there, William Casey was House Counsel for Glore Forgan. It was at this time that the firm was at the center of a near collapse of Wall Street. In 1970, it began to be clear that Glore Forgan had somehow sold many millions of dollars more in securities than what its customers thought they owned. As a result, the company was expected to fail and, due to a cascading effect, its failure was projected to take down dozens of other firms causing a panic and huge losses on Wall Street. [59] These projections compelled President Nixon to ask Ross Perot, through Treasury Secretary John Connally, to intervene and save Glore Forgan. Perot suffered dramatic losses in an attempt to save the company the only business loss of his career and Glore Forgan went bankrupt anyway. The US government created the Securities Investor Protection Corp SIPC in response.[60]

A few years later, Wirt Three went from being a broker at Glore Forgan to running a series of other companies that went bankrupt. Yet somehow, Wirt Three always had cash flow. That could have been due to the fact that, by 1982, Wirt Three was a director of the Kuwaiti-American Company or Kuwam .

Stratesec started off in 1987 as Burns & Roe Securacom, founded by Nelson Rockefeller assistant, Sebastian Cassetta. The company changed its name to Securacom when it was taken over by Kuwam in 1992, at which time Wirt Three became CEO. When Wirt Three was sued by the president of an existing company with an identical name, Wirt became abusive and told the other businessman that he “would bury him financially and take everything he had “ by “filing a barrage of frivolous arguments...in multiple jurisdictions."[61] Wirt lost the case and had to change his company’s name to Stratesec, but this incident suggested that Wirt Three was not only abusive, but that he had the kind of deep pockets that allowed for frivolous lawsuits.

Kuwam also owned two companies called Commander Aircraft and Aviation General, both of which had Wirt Three as CEO, and both of which went bankrupt shortly after 9/11.

As CEO of Stratesec, Wirt Three did business with some shady characters. For example, Stratesec owed money to a company called Bankest Capital, which appeared to be a money-laundering operation or similar fraud. Wirt Three transferred seven million dollars in shares of his Stratesec stock to Bankest as a way to reduce that debt $1.75 MM .[62] Bankest ‘s owners, brothers Eduardo and Hector Orlansky, were later convicted of conspiracy and bank fraud when $185 million went missing due to "hug overadvances."[63] Apparently $2 billion was "flowed through the Orlansky's two businesses from 1998 to 2003 to create the appearance they were healthy and growing."[64]

A company called Hanifen Imhoff was the underwriter for Wirt’s company, Commander Aircraft.[65] This gives further evidence that the companies Wirt Three was running were not only bound for bankruptcy, but were probably CIA fronts all along. Hanifen Imhoff was "nailed for Correspondent's fraud" in December 2000.[66] Hanifen Imhoff also happens to be a division of Stifel Nicolaus & Company, whose long term chairman was George W. Bush’s first cousin, Yale Skull & Bones member George Herbert Walker III.[67],[68]

In any case, Wirt Three has a tendency to show up when airplanes crash into tall buildings. The only other such occurrence since 9/11 led to Wirt Three being interviewed because the plane that crashed was related to his company, Aviation General. [69]

Conclusion

It appears that Wirt Three manages CIA front companies and that Stratesec was one of them. There are many ways to see this, including Wirt’s shady business dealings and his tendency to run companies into bankruptcy while still maintaining cash flow. Wirt is, at a minimum, a child of the CIA and the DIA , but he also worked with William Casey for Russ Forgan’s company, making him an associate of some of the most influential deep state operatives of the last sixty years.

Wirt’s family has been connected to drug money and Yale’s secret societies for over 150 years, and these connections include many links to the Bush family. Of course, George H.W. Bush was a CIA director and other Bush family members were operatives, like Louis Walker Skull & Bones 1936 . Another institution with many links to prominent CIA veterans is William College, where two of the Wirts went to school.

Wirt Three is also a distant relative of the Bush family, through the intermarriage of Ransom and Robinson family members and through the Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke, who is an ancestor of both the Delanos and the Bush clan. Such distant relations are not of importance to most people today, although they are quite important for the Bush family as indicated by how that family chooses its relationships, including its business partners. For example, George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara are distant cousins along four different lines.

Marvin Bush is but one of several Bush family links to Stratesec, in that several of Stratesec’s directors and employees came from Bush-connected companies, and at least one of Wirt Three’s ventures was underwritten by George Herbert Walker III’s company. Add to this the fact that the COO of Stratesec , Barry McDaniel, came from a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group that conducted “black projects,” and Stratesec seems worthy of a detailed investigation.

After 9/11, the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC recommended that Stratesec be investigated for insider trading related to the crimes of that day. Oddly enough, the FBI and SEC never followed through with the investigation, claiming it was unnecessary because the officers of Stratesec had no “ties to terrorism or other negative information.” [70] That assessment does not appear to be valid for many reasons, including that The Carlyle Group was financed in part by Osama bin Laden’s family and that Stratesec director James Abrahamson was the business partner of Mansoor Ijaz, who claimed on several occasions to be able to contact Osama bin Laden.[71]

Maybe the investigation didn’t happen because no one wanted to embarrass the President, who was busy making tremendous political and personal profit from 9/11, and whose family was deeply connected to The Carlyle Group, and whose brother was a Stratesec director. But it’s likely that Stratesec was not investigated simply because it would have resulted in discoveries that no one in a position of power wanted to make. http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2010/09/malaria-can-make-you-money.html Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:40:00 +0200 MSM Monitor http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/ http://rockthetruth2.blogspot.com/2010/09/malaria-can-make-you-money.html donated medication is being stolen and resold on commercial markets.

--more--"

Related: Obama Abandons Africa to AIDS

Also see: Around New England: Cleaning Up in Connecticut

Mozambique’s S-TV said a young man drowned after he ran from police and stumbled into a small pond in Maputo, the capital. Police did not immediately confirm the death.

I read that as a police murder, sorry.

Protesters, most of them young men, had rioted Wednesday over the rising cost of food, fuel, and water. They threw stones and looted shops in Maputo. Cellphone messages late Wednesday and early yesterday called for continued protests.

People will ONLY TAKE SO MUCH!!

You SEE THAT, AmeriKan government?

NOW SHAPE UP!

Protesters appeared to avoid confrontations with police and soldiers, who were on the streets in large numbers. Those gathered would scatter when police and soldiers came near, only to regroup when the patrols passed. Sporadic gunfire could be heard as police fired into the air.

Most people stayed in their homes out of fear of renewed violence and because, with debris from the rioting making roads impassible, buses and taxi vans were not running.

The audio from Ansel’s line in Haiti is not the greatest, but try to hang in there.

JUBA, Sudan — The army of Southern Sudan has been looting food convoys and carrying out other attacks on aid groups, officials of those groups alleged, and a top military officer warned yesterday that the humanitarian groups could be expelled if the complaints get too “harsh.’’

Hey, those are OUR GUYS!

Aren't they keep reading ?

**********

International aid workers are worried that access to needy populations in a region already plagued by hunger may be further restricted as an independence referendum scheduled for January approaches. The vote would determine whether the south splits off from Sudan and forms a separate country.

Just wondering why KASHMIR doesn't get a vote -- and WHY I HAVE NOT SEEN a WORD ABOUT IT in days!

The United Nations says that 4 million people in Southern Sudan — roughly half the population — rely on food aid to survive....

Isn't that what the globalist rulers want?

If not, why has it turned out this way when they run the planet?

Meanwhile, maybe the U.N could have them over for lunch:

"Every table was set with a single fresh rose from the rose gardens outside, I was told and a full complement of three forks, two knives, and two spoons in silver plate..... The buffet tables could have graced a high-end ocean liner. I watched a gentleman in colorful African garb pile his plate with slices of roast sirloin and potatoes mashed with feta cheese. A post-retirement-age couple from the East Side scarfed up most of the egg rolls, though more came out quickly....

I made for the roast leg of lamb with rosemary sauce after I filled my salad plate with chilled asparagus and slices of a duck and pork terrine.... fresh tomato soup and bowls of pasta primavera.... The dessert buffet table practically groaned under a spread of apple and pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, tarts, half a dozen cheeses, sliced fruits, bowls of berries, and, off to one side, three urns of ice cream"

Yeah, I would be feeling pretty high with that spread in front of me.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the former rebel group that now forms the army here, denies it is deliberately hindering humanitarian work....

Translation: We have turned on and abandoned them in the traditional US double-cross. Otherwise this would not make my paper.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Kuol Deim Kuol said the southern army believed one of the staff members who was beaten and detained was supplying food and medicine to elements of a militia the army suspects is allied with an opposition party. The spokesman alleged that this militia has ambushed government boats along the Nile River.

The government of Sudan has been miffed that it cannot get off of the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism. It could be because of the history of arbitrary arrests, killings and torture by the administration of Sudan President Omar Al Bashir, as documented in a recent report by Amnesty International. Or it could be because the Sudanese government is widely reported to back the Jangaweed militia attacks against citizens of Darfur, a campaign that has killed over 300,000 people and displaced approximately three million more. Or perhaps it is Sudan’s political support and possibly military aid to Hamas, foe of the U.S., the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority? In any case, the Obama administration has not seen fit to take Sudan off their list of bad guy countries.

So what is one to make of Jeff Stein’s report today at his Spy Talk blog at the Washington Post that the CIA has been training and equipping Sudan’s notorious National Intelligence and Security Service NISS ?

--MORE--"

And then you find out Blackwater is arming southern Sudan, which is the base
for USraeli weapons-running.

No wonder eastern Africa is in such horrible shape.

Also see: Israeli Oil Shipments Exempt From Iran Sanctions

Well, there are sanctions and then there are sanctions, you know.