Mathaba News

Italy Pays Libya With Investment, Apologizes For Colonialism - Peace Treaty Signed

$200 million per year is drop in ocean compared to Libya's $40bn a year in oil revenues, amounts to under $100 compensation per current living citizen over next 25 years. Italy will fund US$500 million of electronic monitoring devices on Libyan coastline to crack down on African migrants turning up on Italian shores in ''battle against slave traders'' (Berlusconi). more... | PDA

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Message to Our Readers

This is where we touch base with you our dear readers, from time to time, usually on a Sunday whenever we can... more... | PDA

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Not Necessary to Recognize Israel for Good Relations With USA

Libyan revolutionary leader Mu`ammar al-Gaddafi has shown that deals can be made with the US without including a required ``recognition`` of the Zionist entity ``Israel`` more... | PDA

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In Focus: Brown`s £1bn power windfall

The British government is likely to face difficult questions over why it is not using some of its own energy profits to help the fuel poor. more... | PDA

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Alexander Cockburn: Iraqi surge bogus success

In an exclusive interview with PressTv, Counterpunch website`s Alexander Cockburn said that Sen. John McCain knows the Iraq surge success is misleading. more... | PDA

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Gold Rush Mentality: Africa Becoming a Biofuel Battleground

A gold rush mentality has taken hold across the entire continent - to acquire vast stretches of African land to meet the world`s biofuel needs. more... | PDA

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Beyond the Worst-Case Scenario in Somalia

The report makes clear that the Bush Administration`s malign intervention in Somalia began well before the Ethiopian invasion in 2006. Indeed, it was an application of the age-old American policy of ``divide and conquer`` - deliberately fomenting violent conflict in the society of a targeted country - that helped radicalize and empower extremist factions in Somalia. more... | PDA

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Leaked Report: US-Iraq Agreement

The pact would govern the future US presence in Iraq. The draft indicates no intent to set a deadline for withdrawal of ``noncombat`` troops from Iraq. It also grants immunity from Iraqi law to US military personnel, no matter where they are located. more... | PDA

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Iran, Russia agree on intelligence sharing

Iran`s Minister of Information, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, on Friday met new head of Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov. more... | PDA

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UNESCO backs plan to build underwater museum in Alexandria, Egypt

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization `UNESCO` announced Thursday that it would help Egypt build an underwater museum in the Bay of Alexandria on the Mediterranean. more... | PDA

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Bob Woodward Documents White House Spy Operation on Maliki

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and others have been targeted, according to the upcoming Bob Woodward`s book: ``The War Within.`` more... | PDA

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Thai PM Samak reflects on possible referendum, resignation

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej suggested Thursday that a new referendum may be conducted for voters nationwide to decide whether or not he should step down as vehemently pressed by the People`s Alliance for Democracy `PAD` which seized and occupied gov`t House since last week. more... | PDA

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Interview with Russian President Medvedev On Euronews

Transcript of the Euronews` interview with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev more... | PDA

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Unprecedented Ice Storms In Kenya

Lack of solar activity in 2008 has coincided with evidence of a cooling trend across the world. more... | PDA

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Qatar warns against attacking Iran

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has warned that Doha will not allow any country to turn the Persian Gulf into a war zone. more... | PDA

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Join world decision-makers in receiving our Daily Briefing so you are informed of what you need to know and not only what the masses are meant to know... more... | PDA

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Where Have I Seen Sarah Palin Before?

Excerpt: I grew up in Iran and immigrated to US to avoid living in a theocracy. Lately though, the trajectory of US politics is something to worry about, not only to me, but also to many others in my predicament. (read more)

Sarkozy: Israeli Attack Inevitable

Excerpt: While the Republicans were nominating Sarah Palin -- who reportedly believes the Bush-Cheney war of aggression against Iraq was inevitable, part of "God's plan" -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy was in Damascus, warning the "leaders of Syria, Turkey and Qatar" that an Israeli attack on Iran also appears to be inevitable. (read more)

Judgment Is More Important Than Experience

Excerpt: In her "I'm just a hockey mom" speech at the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin -- who has rapidly rocketed from an unknown, recently-minted governor of Alaska to Republican Vice Presidential candidate -- questioned, with a straight face, whether Barack Obama has had enough experience and accomplishments to be president. Republican pundits piled on, saying Obama has had no "executive experience." The Republicans then rounded out their attack by claiming that such experience is especially needed now because "we live in dangerous times." (read more)

White House Still Cautious on Georgia

Excerpt: As if the outgoing administration of U.S. President George W. Bush didn't already have enough on its plate, the question of whether and how to rearm Georgia in the aftermath of its thrashing last month by Russia is moving steadily up its increasingly crowded foreign policy agenda. (read more)

Revelations of an Abu Ghraib Interrogator

Excerpt: Few people have thought as much about the morality of the US occupation of Iraq than Joshua Casteel, a former US Army interrogator who served at Abu Ghraib prison in the wake of the detainee abuse scandal there. (read more)

Saturday: 25 Iraqis Killed, 60 Wounded

Excerpt: Updated at 6:21 p.m. EDT, Sept. 6, 2008 A number of bomb attacks occurred in Iraq today, the most significant one in Tal Afar. Overall, at least 25 Iraqis were killed and 60 more were wounded. No Coalition deaths were reported. Also, the U.N. representative in Iraq met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and stressed the need for provincial elections to take place soon. (read more)

Going on an Imperial Bender

Excerpt: Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely... (read more)

Lawmaker's Disclosure May Torpedo Nuke Deal

Excerpt: NEW DELHI -- Chances of the United States-India nuclear deal being completed have greatly receded with the release by a key US lawmaker of a so-far-secret Bush administration document which says Washington will not sell sensitive nuclear technologies to India and will terminate nuclear commerce with it if India conducts a test. (read more)

The Hothead and the Finger on the Button

Excerpt: John McCain believes that he should be president because only he is prepared to meet the inevitable foreign policy challenges. (read more)

Raid May Herald More Confrontational Policy

Excerpt: An apparent raid into Pakistani territory by US forces stationed in Afghanistan has prompted angry denunciations from Pakistani officials and renewed questions about the future of the war against the Taliban in the region. (read more)

Sarah Palin: The Xena of the War Party

Excerpt: The Palin-mania that is sweeping the GOP reminds me of the publicity surrounding "American Idol," the popular American television program that catapults complete unknowns on to the national stage and gives them a chance at stardom: the anticipation, the gossip, the frenzy (and partisanship) of the fans. In the last days of the old Republic, this is what American politics has degenerated into: "reality" TV. (read more)

Friday: 1 US Soldier, 7 Iraqis Killed; 17 Iraqis Wounded

Excerpt: Updated at 7:05 p.m. EDT, Sept. 5, 2008 It is the prayer day, so the number of reported casualties is lower than normal. At least seven Iraqis were killed, including a defense ministry advisor, and 17 more people were wounded. One American soldier died in a non-combat incident. Meanwhile, the fates of an Iranian refugee camp and a Kurdish city, both in Diyala, are among several major concerns that were in the headlines today. (read more)

US government takes over mortgage giants to stave off financial meltdown

By Bill Van Auken | In the biggest government intervention in the American economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the US Treasury Department announced Sunday that it is effectively nationalizing the two mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Timed to precede the opening of the stock markets in Asia, the announcement that the [...] (read more)

US military trained Georgian commandos

The US military provided combat training to 80 Georgian special forces commandos only months prior to Georgia’s army assault in South Ossetia in August. The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vlad­imir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the [...] (read more)

VIDEO: Jon Stewart : On Sarah Palin Hypocrisy

Wednesday night on “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart hit Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. While Rove recently praised Palin’s experience as the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Stewart showed video of Rove trashing Virginia Governor — and former Richmond Mayor — Tim Kaine’s executive experience, [...] (read more)

Global Realignment

How Bush Inspired a New World Order By Ramzy Baroud | The series of unfortunate and costly decisions made during the two terms of the Bush administration, combined with economic decline at home, might devastate the US’s world standing much sooner than most analysts predict. What was difficult to foresee was that the weakening of US [...] (read more)

The deconstruction of a Bush speech-writer

By Dr. Steve Best, Ph.D. | In 2002, arch-conservative Matthew Scully wrote a book called, Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering of Animals, and The Call to Mercy, that was universally and uncritically acclaimed by the animal advocacy movement. Because this movement is overwhelmingly single-issue in its focus, and in most cases doesn’t care about [...] (read more)

Alistair Darling and the implosion of the Labour government

By Chris Marsden | The August 30 Guardian interview with Britain’s Chancellor Alistair Darling was extraordinary in many respects. In the first place there can be few occasions that so dramatically reveal the sense of profound crisis within ruling circles in Britain. Darling admitted to Decca Aitkenhead that the economic times we are facing “are arguably [...] (read more)

Obama: Nuclear Iran ‘unacceptable’

YNet News | WASHINGTON - Iran is a “major threat” and it would be “unacceptable” for the rogue nation to develop a nuclear weapon, Barack Obama said Thursday. Obama: Nuclear Iran ‘unacceptable’ ‘Iran a major threat; I would never hesitate to use our military force in order to protect homeland, US interests, Democratic presidential candidate tells FOX’s ‘The O’Reilly [...] (read more)

IRAQ: U.S. Blamed for Increasing Iranian Influence

Inter Press Service | Haider returned from Iran recently, with enough money to pay for his wedding and a new car. He was trained to join Badr, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. Many more come where he recently came from. Badr is being trained ostensibly to defend Shia [...] (read more)

US Hypocrisy Reaches Critical Mass

By Jyoti Mishra | US Vice-President Dick Cheney has condemned what he called Russia’s “illegitimate” attempt to change Georgia’s borders last month.Mr Cheney added that Russia’s actions during the recent conflict with Georgia had cast doubt on its reliability as an international partner. (Source: BBC News)   This is the same Dick Cheney that said that the butchering of [...] (read more)

FBI’s civil rights initiative: no trials yet

WASHINGTON - Flanked by officials from the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI Director Robert Mueller last year announced with considerable fanfare a new partnership between his agency and civil rights organizations. The goal: To bring justice in long-ignored murders from the civil rights era. The outcome: Not one case has been prosecuted under [...] (read more)