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Switzerland Says Israel is Breaking International Law
The Associated Press

Switzerland accused Israel on Thursday of wantonly destroying Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem and near Ramallah in violation of the Geneva Conventions' rules on military occupation. The Swiss Foreign Ministry demanded that Israel immediately halt the demolitions, which Israel has said are aimed at removing illegally constructed shacks ... Switzerland said it lodged a formal protest with the Israeli Foreign Ministry over recent demolitions, which now bring the tally to more than 600 destroyed homes in east Jerusalem and 1,600 altogether in the West Bank since 2000.



UN Envoy Calls for End to Israel’s Illegal Blockade of Gaza
BBC News

The UN's top human rights official has said Israel's blockade of Gaza deprives Palestinians of the "most basic human rights" and should end immediately. High Commissioner Navi Pillay called for "dignity and basic welfare" to be restored to the 1.5 million people affected by the blockade for months ... Ms Pillay, the UN's high commissioner for human right, issued a statement from UN offices in Geneva criticising the blockade: "This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now," she said.



A New Police Raid on My Home
Robert Faurisson

Today, Thursday, November 13, at 6:15 AM, two investigators from the Police Judiciaire in Paris, having arrived in Vichy yesterday evening, burst into my house accompanied by three uniformed policemen, not without deliberately making a great deal of noise. This caused a severe nervous shock to my wife, who, at 77, suffers from a heart condition ... I refused to answer their questions. For nearly thirty years I've been in the habit of responding to all questions from the police with the words: "No answer", even if the questions are harmless ones. I refuse to collaborate with the French police and justice system in their repression of historical revisionism.



Holocaust's Unholy Hold
Avraham Burg

... The Shoah [Holocaust] is woven, to varying degrees, into almost all of Israel's political arguments; over time, we have taken the Shoah from its position of sanctity and turned it into an instrument of common and even trite politics. It represents a past that is present, maintained, monitored, heard and represented … But the way things are done today -- the absolute monopoly and the dominance of the Shoah on every aspect of our lives -- transforms this holy memory into a ridiculous sacrilege and converts piercing pain into hollowness and kitsch.



America’s Moronic Iraqi Policy
Paul Craig Roberts

According to all accounts the US faces its worse economic crisis since the Great Depression with $2 trillion in near-term financing needs for bailouts and economic stimulus. This is an enormous sum for any country, especially for one that is so heavily indebted that it is close to bankruptcy. If the money can’t be borrowed abroad, it will have to be printed -- a policy that carries the implication of hyper-inflation.



Jews Campaign to Stop Vatican Sainthood Plans for Pope Pius XII
The Associated Press

A New York City-based group of Jewish Holocaust survivors and their descendants has announced a worldwide campaign to lobby the Vatican to suspend plans to make Pope Pius XII a saint. The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants says in Monday's announcement Pius "failed" to "publicly and explicitly" denounce the Holocaust during World War II. The group wants the Vatican to hold off beatifying him until the Vatican releases archives of his record for review. The Vatican hasn't responded publicly to the group's announcement. It has said the pope did all he could to save lives.



Obama's Ambiguity: What it Reveals About Mideast 'Peace'
Ali Abunimah -- The Washington Times

... For Palestinians, long experience suggests that no matter who occupies the White House, their rights and aspirations will always be a distant second to Israel's preferences. The U.S. role as an "honest broker" is in tatters, not just because of Mr. Bush's legacy, but also because the Clinton administration acted, during years of peace negotiations, as "Israel's lawyer," as Aaron David Miller, a former top State Department official, memorably admitted.



Mexican Gangsters Converting America's National Parks Into Gigantic Marijuana Patches
Brenda Walker

Vast tracts of our most treasured public lands, supposedly set aside in perpetuity for Americans, are no longer controlled by the United States government. Instead, they have been invaded and taken over by Mexico’s violent criminal drug organizations to grow marijuana. Even more shocking: Mexican cartels have been growing marijuana for at least ten years in Sequoia National Park, one of the crown jewels of the system. Nature-loving hikers are compelled to accept that parts of Sequoia are "no go zones" during the growing season. These Mexican marijuana messes are an ecological disaster.



Inside Iran's Fury: A Legacy of Foreign Domination
Stephen Kinzer -- Smithsonian magazine

... Few Americans remembered that Iran had descended into dictatorship after the United States overthrew the most democratic government it had ever known. "Mr. President, do you think it was proper for the United States to restore the shah to the throne in 1953 against the popular will within Iran?" a reporter asked President Carter at a news conference during the hostage crisis. "That's ancient history," Carter replied. Not for Iranians. "In the popular mind, the hostage crisis was seen as justified by what had happened in 1953," says Vali Nasr, an Iranian-born professor at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts.



Why Were There So Many Jews in SDS?
Mark Rudd (2005)

I've been thinking about this subject for a long time, almost forty years ... I got to Columbia University as a freshman, age 18, in September, 1965, a few months after the United States attacked Vietnam with main force troops. There I found a small but vibrant anti-war movement ... All of us were Jewish. It’s hard to remember the names of non-Jewish Columbia SDS’ers; it was as much a Jewish fraternity as Sammie. There were probably a greater proportion of gentile women than guys in SDS, and of course I got to know them.



Israeli Officials Fear Anti-Israel Mood in Germany Growing
Ynet News (Israel)

Foreign Ministry officials [in Israel] have recently voices their concern over the growing anti-Israel mood in Germany. Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considered one of the most prominent pro-Israel leaders in the European Union and in the world, the public opinion in her country appears to be completely different. A senior state official told Ynet that although the official Germany remains pro-Israel, the public atmosphere in the country is affecting the Merkel government's attitude, particularly in terms of the Iranian nuclear plan.



Mom Upset Over School’s `Holocaust’ Lessons
WTSP Television (Florida)

Beverly Reynolds says her 11-year-old daughter Shelby enjoyed going to Westlake Christian School [in Palm Harbor, Florida] for seven years. But that changed after a lesson on the Holocaust. Reynolds says 6th grade students wore armbands that said Jude and sat on the floor. "They were told to close their eyes and visualize things that were implications that their family was harmed that they would never see their family again, they were given graphic details on the gas chambers, they were given graphic details on what were done with the bodies," said Reynolds. Reynolds says her daughter was so upset she never wants to go back into that classroom.



In `Eisenhower’s Death Camps’: A U.S. Prison Guard Remembers
Martin Brech

... In Andernach about 50,000 prisoners of all ages were held in an open field surrounded by barbed wire. The women were kept in a separate enclosure that I did not see until later. The men I guarded had no shelter and no blankets. Many had no coats. They slept in the mud, wet and cold, with inadequate slit trenches for excrement ... I encountered a captain on a hill above the Rhine shooting down at a group of German civilian women with his .45 caliber pistol. When I asked, "Why?," he mumbled, "Target practice," and fired until his pistol was empty.



Economic Crisis Is Beyond The Reach of Traditional Solutions
Paul Craig Roberts

... There are no jobs waiting at US manufacturers for a demand stimulus to pull Americans back into work. The problem is not a liquidity problem. To the contrary, there have been many years of too much liquidity. Credit has grown far more than production. Indeed, US production has been moved offshore. Jobs that used to support the growth of American incomes and the tax bases of cities and states have moved, along with US GDP, to China and elsewhere ... The incompetent Clinton and Dubya administrations, unregulated banksters and Wall St criminals, greedy CEOs, and a no-think economics profession have destroyed America’s economy.



Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions by 2012
Paul Joseph Watson

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012. Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week. Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation ...



Beware The Obama Hype: What `Change’ Really Means
John Pilger

... Obama's first two crucial appointments represent a denial of the wishes of his supporters on the principal issues on which they voted. The vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, is a proud warmaker and Zionist. Rahm Emanuel, who is to be the all-important White House chief of staff, is a fervent "neoliberal" devoted to the doctrine that led to the present economic collapse and impoverishment of millions. He is also an "Israel-first" Zionist who served in the Israeli army and opposes meaningful justice for the Palestinians -- an injustice that is at the root of Muslim people's loathing of the United States and the spawning of jihadism.



Political Realignment Sparks Debate on Impact for Jewish Power
The Jewish Week (New York)

Last week’s groundbreaking election of Sen. Barack Obama hints of an emerging political realignment that could bolster Jewish power -- or threaten it. The complex shift includes the movement of Hispanics, women and well-educated suburbanites back to the Democrats, the growing activism of young voters, innovative new modes of fundraising and a growing backlash against the Republican "culture wars" focus of the past two decades. Jews are "well positioned" to take advantage of the change because of their longstanding commitment to coalition politics, said Rabbi Marc Schneier ...



World War I British Commander Would Have Let Germany Win, Says Historian
The Times (Britain)

He is the most pilloried military leader in British history, caricatured as a butcher and a bungler who sent hundreds of thousands of men over the top to their deaths. Now a major new biography pins a further damning indictment on Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig. Late into the final year of the First World War, it argues, he was agitating for a compromise peace that would have left Germany as the real winner of the war.



Conned Again
Paul Craig Roberts

... Obama cannot bring change to Washington. There is no one in the Washington crowd that he can appoint who is capable of bringing change. If Obama were to reach outside the usual crowd, anyone suspected of being a bringer of change could not get confirmed by the Senate. Powerful interest groups -- AIPAC, the military-security complex, Wall Street -- use their political influence to block unacceptable appointments.



China’s Path to World Power
Patrick J. Buchanan

... Great nations do not have trade partners. They have trade competitors and rivals. Trade surpluses are superior to trade deficits. Tariffs on foreign goods are preferable to taxes on U.S. producers. Manufacturing, not finance, is the muscle of the nation. Economic independence is vital to political independence ... Chrysler, Ford, perhaps GM, may be dying. Manufacturing has sunk to ten percent of U.S. employment, a level unseen since before the Civil War. Europeans and Asians are to assemble in Washington this week to impose upon the United States a New World Economic Order like the one we imposed on them at Bretton Woods in 1944.



More Obligatory `Holocaust Education’ in British Schools
The Times (Britain)

Every secondary school [in the United Kingdom] is to get a Holocaust specialist to ensure that the subject is taught comprehensively and sensitively. One teacher from every school will be offered a place on a Holocaust education training course to combat racism and intolerance. One in ten of those who take the course will also be able to take a master’s degree module in Holocaust education, as part of a 1.5 million pound scheme run by the Institute of Education.



Holocaust Remembrance: What's Behind the Campaign?
Mark Weber

... Holocaust remembrance is not, as its supporters claim, a noble effort motivated by sincere concern for humanity. Instead, this relentless campaign is an expression of Jewish-Zionist power, and is designed to further Jewish-Zionist interests ... Jewish death and suffering do not deserve to be venerated more than the death and suffering of non-Jews. The Holocaust remembrance campaign deserves scorn, not support, because it is a one-sided effort that serves narrow Jewish and Israeli interests and bolsters Jewish-Zionist power.



Ancient Pyramid Discovered in Egypt
The Associated Press

Archaeologists have discovered a new pyramid under the sands of Saqqara, an ancient burial site that has yielded a string of unearthed pyramids in recent years but remains largely unexplored. The 4,300-year-old monument most likely belonged to the queen mother of the founder of Egypt's 6th Dynasty, and was built several hundred years after the famed Great Pyramids of Giza, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told reporters in announcing the find Tuesday. The discovery is part of the sprawling necropolis and burial site of the rulers of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt's Old Kingdom, about 12 miles south of Giza.



Palestinians Protest `Museum of Tolerance’ on Muslim Cemetery
The Telegraph (Britain)

Hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Jerusalem to protest against a Jewish group's plans to build a Museum of Tolerance atop a centuries-old Muslim cemetery. Last week Israel's Supreme Court ruled the project could go ahead after two years of delay over the fate of the cemetery's 400-year-old graves, saying a parking lot built in the area more than 40 years ago had then raised no objections. "We have come to tell the world, on behalf of all the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and the diaspora, we will not put up with this," Sheikh Kamal Khatib, a leader in the Arab-Israeli Islamic Movement, told the crowd.



Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries
The New York Times

The United States military since 2004 has used broad, secret authority to carry out nearly a dozen previously undisclosed attacks against Al Qaeda and other militants in Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere, according to senior American officials. These military raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush, the officials said. The secret order gave the military new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.



Seven Pointless Years in Afghanistan
Robert Skidelsky -- The Guardian (Britain)

Seven years after the beginning of the American-led bombardment of Afghanistan the Taliban are still fighting. Some 50 insurgents died recently in an assault on Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Osama bin Laden is nowhere to be found. Has the time come for NATO to declare victory and leave? ... Barack Obama advocates increasing troop levels in Afghanistan above the levels that the Bush administration has already pledged. Obama has that said he would send troops from Iraq as an urgent priority and made it a campaign issue to criticise the Bush administration for neglecting Afghanistan and diverting resources needed there to the misguided war in Iraq.



Obama, Emanuel and Israel
John V. Whitbeck

In the first major appointment of his administration, President-elect Barack Obama has named as his chief of staff Congressman Rahm Emanuel, an Israeli citizen and Israeli army veteran whose father, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, was a member of Menachem Begin's Irgun forces during the Nakba and named his son after "a Lehi combatant who was killed" -- i.e., a member of Yitzhak Shamir's terrorist Stern Gang, responsible for, in addition to other atrocities against Palestinians, the more famous bombing of the King David Hotel and assassination of the UN peace envoy Count Folke Bernadotte.



Zionist Group Blasts Greek Newspaper for `Jewish Domination’ Headline
Anti-Defamation League (New York)

A headline in a mainstream Greek newspaper that declared the election of Barack Obama as "the end of Jewish domination" shows that "anti-Semitism remains alive in Greece today" and that political leaders need to take a clear stand against hate, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today. The headline, which appeared in the November 4 issue of Avriani, a mainstream daily newspaper, declared: "The anticipated victory of Obama in the U.S. elections signals THE END OF JEWISH DOMINATION. Everything changes in the USA and we hope that it will be more democratic and humane."



Auschwitz Documents Not New, Experts Say
JTA (New York)

Auschwitz documents touted as a sensational find by a German newspaper have been known to historians for years, an expert told JTA. Historian Robert Jan van Pelt, an expert on Auschwitz, said he had checked the "so-called ‘new’ material" on the Web site of Bild, a high-circulation daily, and found that "the drawings that are on their site are all old material, perfectly known" and published by himself and others in the 1990s.



Another Hackneyed Auschwitz `Revelation’
Robert Faurisson

The latest issue of the German mass-circulation daily Bild announces the recent discovery of new documents on Auschwitz, writing, in particular, that one of them seems to prove the existence of a homicidal gas chamber in that camp. In Berlin, Hans-Dieter Kreikamp, head of the Federal Archives, thinks that in this 'discovery" he has found the way to silence the revisionists. In reality, there is strictly nothing new about this type of document, and the building plans of the "gas chamber" in question (Gaskammer, fully spelt out) are those of a simple "delousing facility" (Entlausungsanlage, fully spelt out as well).



Between Hope And Reality: An Open Letter to Obama
Ralph Nader

... To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, courage, integrity -- not expediency, accommodation and short-range opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza.



A Revealing New Study of the Influence of the Neocons
Bill and Kathleen Christison -- Counterpunch

... Stephen Sniegoski has had the persistence to ferret out mountains of impossible-to-challenge evidence that this Israel-U.S. connection is the driving force behind virtually all Middle East decisionmaking over the last eight years, as well as the political courage to write a book about it. Sniegoski’s new book -- The Transparent Cabal: The Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel -- demonstrates clearly how U.S. and Israeli policies and actions with respect to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the other Gulf states, and even most recently Georgia are all tied together in a bundle of interrelated linkages, each of which affects all the others.



China’s Great 15th-Century Navy
The Times (Britain)

During the early years of the Ming dynasty, the Chinese eunuch Zheng He was the commander of the greatest state-directed voyages in the age of sail. Zheng’s seven vast armadas, with crews and soldiers numbering about 27,000, included the largest wooden ships ever built. Beginning in 1405, these voyages were the first projection of Chinese Imperial power by sea over vast distances, reaching across the Indian Ocean to the eastern shores of Africa. They were also the last.



Record Number of Jews Elected to Congress
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

Democrats strengthened their majorities in both houses of Congress in Tuesday's US elections, picking up five more seats in the Senate and adding at least 18 more seats in the House of Representatives. The next session of Congress will include 45 Jewish lawmakers, a new record, after Democrats Alan Grayson of Florida and John Adler of New Jersey took two House seats from the Republican column. Jared Polis, also a Democrat, was widely expected to win his Colorado House seat to match the previous record, set in the 2006 elections. The House will have 32 Jewish members.



Holocaust is Over, Prominent Israeli Says
The Independent (Britain)

Benjamin Netanyahu, a front-runner for the Israeli premiership, has been severely criticised by a former Speaker of the Knesset and head of the Jewish Agency for comparing the threat posed by Iran to that of pre-war Nazi Germany. Mr Netanyahu, whose Likud Party is running neck and neck in the polls with Kadima, led by Tzipi Livni, has gone further than his rivals in implying he might authorise a unilateral attack on Iranian nuclear installations ... Mr Burg’s book, in part a plea to fellow Israelis more than 60 years after the Holocaust to stop seeing themselves as "a nation of victims", caused furious debate when the Hebrew version became a bestseller in Israel last year.



West's Silence Towards Israel's Racial Discrimination Unacceptable
Adri Nieuwhof

... Israel is one of the few countries that has no constitution, and has instead adopted a set of Basic Laws. The institutionalized racial discrimination of Palestinians in Israel is facilitated by the country's "Law of Return," which "grants every Jew, wherever he may be, the right to come to Israel and become an Israeli citizen." This right has been extended "to include the child and the grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of the grandchild of a Jew." ... While the Law of Return is generous towards immigration of Jews from around the world, it discriminates against Palestinians who were actually born on the land and their descendants.



Obama Picks Pro-Israel Hardliner For Top Post
Ali Abunimah

During the United States election campaign, racists and pro-Israel hardliners tried to make an issue out of President-elect Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. Such people might take comfort in another middle name, that of Obama's pick for White House Chief of Staff: Rahm Israel Emanuel ... Rahm Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1959, the son of Benjamin Emanuel, a pediatrician who helped smuggle weapons to the Irgun, the Zionist militia of former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, in the 1940s. The Irgun carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Palestinian civilians including the bombing of Jerusalem's King David Hotel in 1946.



Obama Picks Israeli as Chief of Staff
Haaretz (Israel)

A day after his historic election to become the first black American president, Barack Obama stepped into the role of president-elect yesterday, inviting Rahm Emanuel to join his administration as White House chief of staff, Democratic officials said. Emanuel, a former Bill Clinton adviser, is the son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a Zionist [terrorist] group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.



Emanuel's War Plan: The Book of Rahm
John Walsh -- Counterpunch (2006)

... In terms of retired Senator Fritz Holling's statement that Congress is Israeli occupied territory, Rahm Emanuel must be considered one of the occupying troops. And he certainly is a major cog in the Israel Lobby as defined by Mearsheimer and Walt. Nor is the idea that the Lobby exists and has tremendous influence on Middle East policy any longer a taboo in the minds of the general populace. According to a poll just carried out by Zogby International for CNI (5), 39% of the American public "agree" or "somewhat agree" that "the work of the Israel lobby on Congress and the Bush administration has been a key factor for going to war in Iraq and now confronting Iran."



Audio Slideshow: Volcanic City Remembered
BBC News

Events have begun in southern Italy to mark next year's 300th anniversary of the rediscovery of the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. The city was buried in mud when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD - and was only rediscovered by chance in 1709, when a farmer started digging a well. More than 150 bronze and marble archaeological exhibits have gone on show in Naples. Take a tour of the exhibition with the director of the excavations, Maria Paola Guidobaldi.



Luther City Revisits the Reformation
Der Spiegel (Germany)

Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in the German city of Wittenberg 500 years ago. But, today, only ten percent of its population is Protestant. Church leaders have launched a major drive to change that -- but have come up against the city's communist past. It’s impossible to walk through Wittenberg, also known as "Luther City," without stumbling across reminders of Martin Luther.



What About Syria’s and Pakistan’s Sovereignty?
Jacob G. Hornberger -- Future of Freedom Foundation

... In any event, apparently [for President Bush] "the law" and the concept of "sovereignty" don’t apply to Syria and Pakistan. Those are two independent countries that Bush’s military forces have recently attacked, killing scores of Pakistanis and Syrians. Bush says that "the law of self-defense" authorizes his military attacks against these two sovereign and independent countries. He says that people who are trying to evict Bush’s forces from Iraq are using these two countries as bases of operations. There is at least one big problem, however, with Bush’s interpretation of "the law": In Iraq Bush is the aggressor -- the attacker -- not the defender. Iraq is the defender.



The Other Election: Israel’s Decision Will Be Important
William S. Lind

... Those who imagine an Obama victory will see the neo-cons shown the door are in for an unpleasant surprise. Under the guise of neo-libs, they are no less influential in the Democratic establishment than in the Republican. The only way Likud could get shut out of a Democratic administration is if Obama bypasses the whole establishment in choosing his foreign and defense policy appointments. While that is fervently to be wished, it is probably not going to happen.



Hitler’s Austrian `Culture Capital’
BBC News

Adolf Hitler had ambitious plans for Linz, the city where he grew up. He wanted to make the town on the Danube into one of the five Fuehrer cities of the Third Reich, along with Berlin, Hamburg, Nuremberg and Munich. Linz is now examining this page of its past in an exhibition called the Fuehrer's Capital of Culture. Martin Heller, the artistic director of Linz 2009, says there was an obligation to tackle the city's Nazi history. "We want to reflect back and show how cultural and political ambitions went together in the Nazi time," he says.



Australia to Implement Mandatory Internet Censorship
Herald Sun (Australia)

Australia will join China in implementing mandatory censoring of the internet under plans put forward by the Federal Government. The revelations emerge as US tech giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and a coalition of human rights and other groups unveiled a code of conduct aimed at safeguarding online freedom of speech and privacy. The government has declared it will not let internet users opt out of the proposed national internet filter. The plan was first created as a way to combat child pornography and adult content, but could be extended to include controversial websites on euthanasia or anorexia.



Vatican Furious Over Israeli Minister's Remarks About Pope Pius XII
Haaretz (Israel)

Vatican officials are furious over Minister Isaac Herzog's statement in Thursday's Haaretz that the planned beatification of Pope Pius XII, who headed the Catholic Church during the Holocaust, is "unacceptable." Cardinal Andrea Lanza di Montezemolo told the Italian paper Corriere della Serra yesterday that "Israel's interference in the matter of Pius XII must stop. We've had it with this interference. Outside opinions are liable to disrupt [the process], and they look like an attempt to force Pope Benedict XVI to make a decision. The decision to declare someone a saint is an internal decision of the church."



Rethinking Persecution of Holocaust Denial
Isi Leibler -- The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

It may now be timely to rethink the merits of criminalizing Holocaust denial ... By criminalizing those promoting such views, we not only transform them into martyrs posing as champions of free speech, but also enable them to insinuate that "the Jews" are preventing them from demonstrating the truth of their warped and evil doctrines ... Today in democratic countries we face infinitely greater threats than from those promoting the insane proposition that the Holocaust was a fantasy. Prosecuting deniers in court transforms them into victims and diverts us from confronting anti-Semitism, which is still the primary challenge facing us.



The US Empire Will Survive Bush
Arno J. Mayer

The United States may emerge from the Iraq fiasco almost unscathed. Though momentarily disconcerted, the American empire will continue on its way, under bipartisan direction and mega-corporate pressure, and with evangelical blessings.It is a defining characteristic of mature imperial states that they can afford costly blunders, paid for not by the elites but the lower orders. Predictions of the American empire's imminent decline are exaggerated: without a real military rival, it will continue for some time as the world's sole hyperpower.



Is the Sun Setting on U.S. Empire?
Daniel Luban -- Inter Press Service

... Bacevich's new book "The Limits of Power" (Metropolitan, 2008) attempts a deeper historical and theoretical examination of the U.S.'s current woes, suggesting that the excesses of recent foreign policy are far more deeply rooted in the U.S. character than its critics have been willing to acknowledge ... The problems of U.S. foreign policy, he claims, are at root a manifestation of the problems of U.S. identity -- of a notion of freedom defined as ever-increasing consumption and the unlimited satisfaction of desires. This "empire of consumption" both necessitates and undermines an imperial foreign policy.



Biden and Israel
Robert Weitzel

... For all of Obama’s campaign promises of "change," his choice of Joseph Biden as his running mate sends a clear signal to Israel’s lobby in Washington and its right-wing government in Jerusalem that for the next four years there will be no change in the United States’ unconditional support or its annual $6 billion in direct and indirect aid. Predictably, neither will there be a change in the hopelessness and the impotent rage of the Arabs suffering under a U.S.-supported Zionist ideology in Palestine. Senator Biden is the ardently pro-Israel chair of the Foreign Relations Committee.



The Lobby Like No Other Wants a War Like No Other
Michael Scheuer

Having watched John McCain and Barack Obama resolutely pledge their allegiance - and their countrymen's lives and treasure - to the defense of Israel via AIPAC, the media, and personal meetings with Israeli leaders, it is worth asking what could possibly drive these men to so ardently commit America to participation in other people's religious wars. This question is particularly important today as the Bush administration and the Israel-firsters continue to push for an unprovoked U.S. attack on Iran.



Berliners' Love Affair With America Grows Cold
Erik Kirschbaum -- Reuters

There may be no better place in the world to witness the shift in sentiment toward the United States than Berlin. It was hard to imagine a more pro-American city when I first moved here in 1993, yet the wind has changed and the love affair is over. The infatuation with all things American has all but disappeared. Perhaps it will change after the November 4 U.S. presidential election -- even though things will never be the same no matter who wins. As in other countries, America's image has suffered. A June PEW survey found 31 percent of Germans had a favorable view of the United States, down from 78 percent in 2000.



Declassified Papers Shed New Light on Activities of AIPAC Parent
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy

Papers kept secret for 43 years show that the US Department of Justice attempted to register the parent organization of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, as the foreign agent of Israel. Such a registration could have changed the course of Middle East history by giving the president, State Department and American public more insight and leverage over the Israel lobby during peace negotiations to compensate displaced Palestinians and avert Israel's covert development of nuclear weapons. The 1962 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) order was approved by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) and senior officials.



US Motor Industry: The Great Breakdown
The Independent (Britain)

Why stop at the banks? Now governments around the world are pouring taxpayer money in to bail out loss-making financial institutions, it is getting harder to argue against subsidies, loans, guarantees and other forms of government assistance for other industries, too … Which is why Rick Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors, the largest US carmaker, packed his suitcase for Washington and headed to the capital again this week. He is leading a lobbying push aimed at tapping taxpayers and staving off the bankruptcy of the loss-making company. GM's coffers are being depleted at a rate of $1 billion a month, and will run dry by the end of next summer.



Thank You, Mr. President: Behind the Financial Crisis
Eric Margolis

Now that there has been a respite in the financial tsunami sweeping the globe, finger-pointing is sure to begin. The chief culprit for this near-death experience must be the star-crossed Bush administration and its reckless financial policies. The roots of the current financial crisis began before President Bush took office. During the Clinton years, finance had already become America’s primary industry, accounting for 23 percent of all economic activity (GDP) while manufacturing slipping at a mere 12 percent. Finance, let us recall, consists of paper-passing and manipulation rather than creation of anything tangible or productive.



Banged Up: Irving’s New Book About His Austria Ordeal
Focal Point

Free download, in pdf format, of the latest book by the well-known British historian. David Irving tells the amazing story of his 2005 arrest in Austria for the "crime," committed 16 years earlier, of having expressed dissident views about the wartime treatment of Europe's Jews, and of his headline-making trial, and his four hundred days imprisonment. This book includes recollections by Irving from his career, and from his personal and family life. With numerous photos. Ten chapters, including a prologue and an epilogue. With index. Approx.145 pages. Also available for sale for $40.17 from Irvingbooks.com



Toben Wins First Round of UK Extradition Case
AAP - The Australian

Controversial Australian historian Frederick Toben has won the first round of his fight against extradition to Germany from Britain. A London judge ruled overnight that the European arrest warrant used to detain Dr Toben in Britain for extradition earlier this month was invalid because it did not provide enough detail. However, the case appears far from over, with lawyers representing German prosecutors, who want to try Dr Toben for his alleged anti-Semitic views, preparing to appeal to Britain's High Court. Dr Toben's solicitor Kevin Lowry-Mullins described today's ruling as a victory …



Suspected `Denier’ Dr Toben Wins Extradition Fight
The Telegraph (Britain)

Dr Toben, 64, a prominent Australian academic, is wanted to stand trial for material he published between 2000 and 2004. The German authorities claim they are 'of an anti-Semitic and/or revisionist nature'. In the European Arrest Warrant issued in October 2004, he is accused of approving of or playing down the murder of the Jews by the Nazis. But District Judge Daphne Wickham yesterday [Wednesday] ruled the warrant invalid as it contains inadequate detail about the offences. It neither states the name of the website nor where the propaganda is said to have been published from - merely referring to the 'world-wide internet'.



Toben `Holocaust Denial’ Case Shows Flaw in EU Policy
Chris Huhne -- The Independent (Britain)

The case of the odious Holocaust-denier Dr Frederick Toben is destined to become a cause célèbre precisely because such hard cases test fundamental liberal principles … I now find myself oddly defending Dr Toben's right to deny that the Holocaust existed, and to refuse his extradition from Britain to Germany under a European arrest warrant. In Dr Toben's case, the European arrest warrant is being used to detain someone who lives in Australia and who was changing planes at Heathrow, but is accused of the offence of Holocaust denial in Germany. Dr Toben has not committed an offence under British law or indeed under the law of 17 of the 27 European Union member states.



Toben Wins Legal Fight Against Extradition to Germany
The Daily Mail (Britain)

Suspected 'Holocaust denier' Dr Gerald Toben today [Wednesday] won his fight against extradition to Germany where he is wanted for publishing anti-Semitic material on his website. Dr Toben, 64, a prominent Australian academic, is wanted to stand trial for posting the alleged diatribes between 2000 and 2004. The German authorities claim they are 'of an anti-Semitic and/or revisionist nature'. In the European Arrest Warrant issued in October 2004, he is accused of approving of or playing down the murder of the Jews by the Nazis. But District Judge Daphne Wickham [in London] ruled the warrant invalid as it contains inadequate detail about the offences.



The Diplomacy of Lying
John Pilger

... No presidential candidate, least of all a Democrat awash with money from America's "banksters", as Franklin Roosevelt called them, can or will challenge a militarised system that controls and rewards him. Obama's job is to present a benign, even progressive face that will revive America's democratic pretensions, internationally and domestically, while ensuring nothing of substance changes. Among ordinary Americans desperate for a secure life, his skin colour may help him regain this unjustified "trust", even though it is of a similar hue to that of Colin Powell, who lied to the United Nations for Bush and now endorses Obama.



German Movie Puts War Rapes in Focus
Russia Today (Russia)

'A Woman in Berlin', is based on the book of the same title, written by an anonymous 34-year-old woman in the basement of her bombed-out building during the invasion of Berlin by the Red Army in the last months of WWII. It details the way German women were raped en masse by the occupying forces and explains how the same women survived the attacks the Red Army officers felt they deserved in victory ... Although the exact number of women and girls who were raped in the months preceding and following Berlin’s capitulation will never be known, their numbers are likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.



Gun Sales Thriving in Uncertain Times
The Washington Post

Americans have cut back on buying cars, furniture and clothes in a tough economy, but there's one consumer item that's still enjoying healthy sales: guns. Purchases of firearms and ammunition have risen 8 to 10 percent this year, according to state and federal data. Several variables drive sales, but many dealers, buyers and experts attribute the increase in part to concerns about the economy and fears that if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois wins the presidency, he will join with fellow Democrats in Congress to enact new gun controls. Obama has said he believes in an individual right to bear arms but that he also supports "common-sense safety measures."



We Must Start Thinking in Centuries
George Monbiot -- The Guardian (Britain)

... To remain in office or to remain in business, decision-makers must privilege the present over the future. Discount rates ensure that investments made today are worth nothing in 10 years' time; the political cycle demands that no one looks beyond the next election. The financial crisis is just one consequence of a system which demands that governments sacrifice long-term survival for short-term gains ... For similar reasons we are likely to be ambushed by other nasty surprises: runaway climate change, resource depletion, foreign policy blowback, new surveillance and genetic technologies, skills shortages, demographic change, a declining tax base, private and public debt. Politics is the art of shifting trouble from the living to the unborn.



Belgian TV Cancels Show on Hitler’s Favorite Meal
The Associated Press

Amid widespread criticism, a Belgian public broadcaster on Monday scrapped a television show on Adolf Hitler's favorite meal. Belgium's Flemish broadcaster VRT said the episode on Hitler's culinary tastes was "too sensitive" to air and did not fit the series "Plat Prefere," or "Favorite Dish," which profiles the favorite foods of famous people. Other episodes have featured more positively viewed subjects, including British singer Freddie Mercury, opera legend Maria Callas and artist Salvador Dali. "There was a wrong perception that the show about Hitler would humanize or, worse, glorify" Hitler, VRT said on its Web site.



Russia’s Resentment of the West Began With a Broken Promise
William Pfaff

It did not take the clash between Russia and Georgia to reveal that relations between Russia and the West have taken a bad turn. They have been deteriorating since the mid-1990s, when the decision was taken to expand NATO to include the former Warsaw Pact states. At the time of that decision, George F. Kennan, the most eminent American diplomat of his time, said this could be the most disastrous mistake made in American foreign policy in decades. He erred only in underestimating the comparative scale of the blunders that would follow, in the George W. Bush administration.



Napoleon Was Inspiration for Hitler, Says Historian
The Guardian (Britain)

Napoleon massacred more than 100,000 Caribbean slaves and should be remembered as a genocidal dictator and inspiration for Hitler rather than a military genius and founder of modern France, a French historian said yesterday. "I refuse to bow down before the statue any longer, I have opened my eyes," said Claude Ribbe, a respected black academic and part of a governmental commission on human rights whose book, Napoleon's Crime, is published this week.



The French Fuehrer: Genocidal Napoleon
Daily Mail (Britain)

Three days after the fall of France in 1940, Napoleon, lying in his marble tomb in Paris, received a visit from his greatest admirer. Adolf Hitler, on his one and only visit to the French capital, made an unannounced trip to the tomb in Les Invalides. In his white raincoat, surrounded by his generals, Hitler stood for a long time gazing down at his hero, his cap removed in deference ... Until recently, the French would have been incensed by any comparison between Napoleon and Hitler. But to their rage and shame, new research has shown that France’s greatest hero presided over mass atrocities which bear comparison with some of Hitler’s worst crimes against humanity.



Wealth Gap Creating a Social Time Bomb
John Vidal -- The Guardian (Britain)

Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment. In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya Abidjan and Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable 'alert' line used to warn governments ... Race is one of the most important factors determining levels of inequality in the US and Canada.



The Wandering Who?
Gilad Atzmon

... "When And How the Jewish People Was Invented" is a very serious study written by Professor Shlomo Sand, an Israeli historian. It is the most serious study of Jewish nationalism and by far, the most courageous elaboration on the Jewish historical narrative. In his book, Sand manages to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the Jewish people never existed as a 'nation-race', they never shared a common origin. Instead they are a colourful mix of groups that at various stages in history adopted the Jewish religion.



The Sick Man of North America
Eric Margolis

An empire built on debt, is an empire built on sand ... Like the British Empire after 1945, the United States has gone bankrupt thanks to a national orgy of borrowing, the replacement of manufacturing by financial manipulation, two ruinous foreign wars, and a government whose stunning incompetence and ignorance was exceeded only by its reckless imperial arrogance. The financial panic that has gripped the globe, and the ignominious collapse of once mighty Wall Street, proved the American colossus had feet of clay.



One Nation, Under God, Indivisible...?
Joseph Farah -- World Net Daily

... Frankly, I don’t see a way to unite a people as divided as Americans are today. We are trying to pretend we’re one nation when we are really two. One of those two nations clings to the promises and covenants of the past, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, as the guiding principles. The other believes in and lives with no immutable standards ... It’s the only political solution that makes sense for an America that has lost its sense of mission and the original intent of those who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.



How Crackpot Egalitarianism Caused the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis
Thomas DiLorenzo

The main cause of the current economic crisis is the boom-and-bust cycle that was caused by the Greenspan Fed. Years of artificially-lowered interest rates caused trillions of dollars in mal-investment in real estate and other industries, and now we must endure the bust. But crackpot egalitarianism within the Fed and, indeed, in the entire Washington establishment, has made the crisis infinitely worse ... The Fed instructed lenders to ignore traditional measures of creditworthiness when it came to "minority and low-income consumers." Traditional underwriting standards were said to contain "arbitrary or unreasonable measures of creditworthiness."



Holocaust Comics Tested on German Schoolchildren
Agence France Presse

A strip cartoon telling the story of the Holocaust has been tested on hundreds of German schoolchildren, provoking "lively discussions" in class and a desire to find out more, organizers said on Friday. The [strip] was tested on 456 pupils aged between 12 and 15 between February and July in Berlin and in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who then completed a questionnaire about what they thought about it.



European Union Condemns Stalin Era Famine
Russia Today (Russia)

The European Union has recognised the Holodomor - the famine that hit Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 - as a crime against humanity and the Ukrainian people. In a resolution that commemorates the 75th anniversary of the tragic events, EU parliamentarians said the famine was “planned by Stalin's regime in order to force through the Soviet Union's policy of collectivisation of agriculture against the will of the rural population in Ukraine". ... The resolution however stopped short of calling the events of 1932-1933 a genocide of the Ukrainian people – something that officials in Kiev were insisting on. Moscow has strongly objected to Ukrainian and Western accounts of what happened.



Culinary Show on Hitler’s Favorite Meal Draws Fire
The Associated Press

A culinary show on Adolf Hitler's favorite meal to be aired next week [on Belgian television] has come under fire from Jewish, resistance and political prisoner organizations. In his series "Plat Prefere,'' or "Favorite Dish,'' professional cook Jeroen Meus goes to Hitler's haunts in southern Germany to prepare trout with butter sauce, "a succulent festive meal'' and said to be one of Hitler's favorite meals, the program's trailer announced. Michael Freilich, the editor of Joods Actueel magazine, leads the criticism saying Thursday it is worrying Hitler is turned into a banal figure, thus sending "the wrong signal'' to a younger generation.



A Hate With No Name
Edmund Connelly – The Occidental Quarterly

In a recent editorial on this site, The Sandra Bernhard Monstrosity, the editors addressed the vicious attack on Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a practicing Christian mother of five. In essence, Ms. Bernhard, who is Jewish, called Palin a goy whore — certainly not an affectionate label ... I think that most Christians simply do not understand the virulence of Jewish hatred for Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. And, because of media campaigns making “anti-Semitism” the worst sin possible in this society, they are unprepared to stand up to it.



Americans Angry, Worried Over State of Nation
CNN

A new national poll suggests that only a quarter of Americans think things are going well in the country today, while the rest of those questioned are angry, scared and stressed out. Seventy five percent of those surveyed in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday said things are going badly in the United States. An equal portion of those polled said they are angry about the way things are going. Two-thirds of those questioned said they’re scared about the way things are going and three in four said the current conditions in the country are stressing them out.



Gap Growing Between Rich And Poor, New Study Shows
The Associated Press

The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger in the world's richest countries -- and particularly the United States -- as top earners' incomes soar while others' stagnate, according to a 30-nation report released Tuesday. Inequality threatens the "American Dream" of social mobility -- children doing better than their parents, the poor improving their lot through hard work -- which is lower in the U.S. than countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Australia, the report found. The United States has the highest inequality and poverty in the OECD after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000, the report said.



New IHR Site Makes On-Line Ordering Easy
Institute for Historical Review

A new online "shopping cart" website -- www.ihrstore.com -- makes it easier than ever to order IHR books, discs, booklets, tapes and flyers. The attractively formatted and well organized site offers a large selection of informative and thought-provoking items. This new site -- along with the hiring of more capable and productive staff members, and changes in management and day-to-day operations -- is one of several innovations in recent months that lay a foundation for a more effective IHR.



Lovesickness Treated With Sex in Elizabethan England
The Telegraph (Britain)

Dozens of previously unseen doctors' reports, diaries and prescriptions [in England, from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558-1603] show that people visited hospitals with symptoms including depression, inflamed bodies, excessive erotic desire, irrational thoughts, and a loss of self control. The term love sickness would now be considered to be unrequited or forbidden love, or the distress of being broken-hearted ... Doctors believed that the most successful remedy was simply to have sex ... Dr Dawson, whose results are published in the book 'Lovesickness and Gender in Early Modern English Literature,' said that the best cure was seen to be sex - and this would often be recommended to the patient's family.



New Vatican-Israel Tensions Over Pius XII Legacy
The New York Times

Tensions heightened this weekend between the Vatican and Israel after a Vatican official said that Pope Benedict XVI had halted the beatification of Pius XII, the pope during World War II, for fear of repercussions from Jewish groups. The official, the Rev. Peter Gumpel, a Jesuit priest who is directing beatification efforts, also told the ANSA news agency on Saturday that the pope would not visit Israel until a plaque criticizing Pius was removed from the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.



Jailed `Heretical Two’ Brits Hire US Asylum Lawyer
"Heretical Two"

Two fugitive British writers jailed in southern California have hired an American lawyer to make their claim for political asylum in the United States, says Paul Ballard, coordinator of a legal defense fund for the pair known as the "Heretical Two." Bruce Leichty, a San Diego County immigration lawyer with 20 years of experience representing asylum-seekers in California, has met with the "Heretical Two" and has agreed to take their cases. Said Leichty, "This is a vitally important Internet free speech case, where an obsessive security apparatus runs amok and punishes dissidents by making them criminals..."



Toben Awaits Decision in Extradition Case
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

Australian historian Dr Fredrick Toben will remain behind bars in Britain until October 29, when a judge decides whether the alleged Holocaust denier will be extradited to Germany. The academic, 64, was arrested while in transit at Heathrow Airport on October 1 under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Germany, which wants to try him for his alleged anti-Semitic views. On Friday at City of Westminster Magistrates Court, District Judge Daphne Wickham remanded Toben in custody until October 29, when she will announce her decision.



Gotcha, Physics Genius: Einstein’s Mistakes
Review by George Johnson -- Los Angeles Times

... We have all heard that math wasn't Einstein's strong point, and [Hans] Ohanian ruthlessly lays out the details [in his new book, Einstein’s Mistakes]. A 12-page marathon calculation in Einstein's doctoral dissertation, "A New Determination of the Molecular Size," was "a comedy of errors" based on "zany" physical assumptions ... Fumbling ever forward, Einstein went on to commit more errors in the suite of famous papers he wrote in 1905, what came to be called his miracle year. The miracle, as Ohanian tells it, is that Einstein could have been wrong on so many details while coming through, in the end, with some of the greatest insights of the century.



Austrians Praise Deceased Nazi Admirer Haider
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

"He was a remarkable person" and one should "pay tribute to him," was how Social Democratic Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer described right-wing extremist politician Joerg Haider at Haider's funeral ceremony in Klagenfurt, Austria on Saturday. While local Austrian authorities declared an inebriated Haider to have died as the result a high-speed car crash last week, Karlheinz Klement, a former member of Haider's ex-party, the Freedom Party, asserted that the Mossad had assassinated him. Klement's conspiracy thesis is circulating among Austrian neo-Nazi and right-wing internet forums.



Thirty-Six Jews Who Have Shaped the 2008 US Election
Haaretz (Israel)

The John McCain-Barack Obama contest has been one in which the issues of Wall Street and fitness for the presidency have far overshadowed the subject of Israel. But the Jewish vote remains a key element in battleground states, and, playing a wide variety of roles, Jews have helped to shape the campaigns. Thirty-six of them are mentioned below.



What Being Neat or Messy Says About Political Leanings
Scientific American

Researchers insist they can tell someone's political affiliation by looking at the condition of their offices and bedrooms. Messy? You're a lefty. A neatnik? Welcome to the Right. According to a controversial new study, set to be published in The Journal of Political Psychology, the bedrooms and offices of liberals, who are generally thought of as open, tend to be colorful and awash in books about travel, ethnicity, feminism and music, along with music CDs covering folk, classic and modern rock, as well as art supplies, movie tickets and travel memorabilia.



Israel Website in 'Nazi Pope' Row
BBC News

A photo montage which superimposed a Nazi swastika over Pope Benedict has appeared on a website run by supporters of Israel's leading political party. The image was later removed from the Yalla Kadima website, apparently on the orders of party leader Tzipi Livni. The incident comes amid a row with the Vatican over Israeli claims that the late Pope Pius XII could have done more to prevent the Jewish holocaust.



Toben’s Arrest: A New Assault Against Free Speech
Mark Weber -- Institute for Historical Review

... "Denial" laws criminalize even factual or truthful statements that "play down" the wartime treatment of Europe’s Jews, thereby violating ancient and universal standards of justice. Justice applied selectively is not justice. It is a form of injustice ... Germany’s effort to impose its peculiar limits on free speech outside its borders has potentially harmful consequences for Internet freedom of expression everywhere. Because the Toben case has such far-reaching implications, people in many countries will be closely watching how British authorities decide to handle Germany’s extradition request.



Freedom of Historical Debate is Under Attack by `Memory Police’
Timothy Garton Ash

Among the ways in which freedom is being chipped away in Europe, one of the less obvious is the legislation of memory. More and more countries have laws saying you must remember and describe this or that historical event in a certain way, sometimes on pain of criminal prosecution if you give the wrong answer. What the wrong answer is depends on where you are. In Switzerland, you get prosecuted for saying that the terrible thing that happened to the Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman empire was not a genocide. In Turkey, you get prosecuted for saying it was. What is state-ordained truth in the Alps is state-ordained falsehood in Anatolia.



FDR’s Policies Prolonged Depression by Years, Say Economists
University of California -- Los Angeles

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After scrutinizing Roosevelt's record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.



Big Changes Coming in US Foreign Policy, Says Jesse Jackson
New York Post

Prepare for a new America: That's the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week. He promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy ... The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end. Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.



The Reality of War in Afghanistan
Stephen Kinzer -- Boston Globe

Despite their differences over how to pursue the US war in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama both want to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Both are wrong. History cries out to them, but they are not listening. Both candidates would do well to gaze for a moment on a painting by the British artist Elizabeth Butler called "Remnants of an Army." It depicts the lone survivor of a 15,000-strong British column that sought to march through 150 kilometers of hostile Afghan territory in 1842. His gaunt, defeated figure is a timeless reminder of what happens to foreign armies that try to subdue Afghanistan.



Ignoring Palestine: Biden and Palin
Robert Fisk -- The Independent (Britain)

Palestinians ceased to exist in the United States on Thursday night [Oct. 2]. Both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin [during their joint appearance] managed to avoid the use of that poisonous word. "Palestine" and "Palestinians" -- that most cancerous, slippery, dangerous concept -- simply did not exist in the vice-presidential debate ... And, of course, Israel -- a word that must be uttered, repeatedly, by all US candidates -- became the compass point of the entire Middle East, this "peace-seeking nation ... our strongest and best ally in the Middle East" (quoth Palin) of whom "no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend...than Joe Biden" (quoth Biden).



U.S. Federal Budget Deficit at Record $455 Billion
The Associated Press

The U.S. federal budget deficit soared to $454.8 billion in 2008 as a housing collapse and efforts to combat the economic slowdown pushed the tide of government spending to the highest level in history. The administration of President George W. Bush said Tuesday the deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was more than double the $161.5 billion recorded in 2007. It surpassed the previous record of $413 billion set in 2004. Economists predicted a far worse number next year as the costs of the government's rescue of the financial system and the economic hard times hit the government's balance sheet.



Nature Loss 'Dwarfs' Bank Crisis
BBC News

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study. It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion. The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide.



America As Superpower: Shaken, Not Deposed
Howard LaFranchi -- The Christian Science Monitor

The eagle has crash-landed -- or has it? The US financial crisis that has all but certainly thrown the world's largest economy into recession is also prompting pronouncements that what had been dubbed "the American century" is over ... Yet others say, "Not so fast!" and predict the American era will continue -- in part because the world has devised no alternative to it. If nothing else, the need for coordination in the face of the globalized economy's first epic financial crisis will provide a test of where America's power and leadership really stand, they add.



Bush Has `No Right to Lecture About Human Rights’
Ramsey Clark

A price the American people are paying for the failure of the House of Representatives to impeach Bush, Cheney and their cabal for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity -- the greatest assaults on peace and human rights of this century -- is the Bush Administration’s bellicose drum beat for war against a widening circle of chosen enemies ... As Bush's crimes grow, so does our responsibility to act. Please bring your friends and family members into the impeachment movement by sending them to ImpeachBush.org and make a donation today so that the movement to Impeach and Indict Bush and Cheney will keep growing.



Anti-Jewish Sentiment Rising in Europe, Says New Survey
European Jewish Press

Anti-Jewish feelings are on the rise in several countries in Europe, and the situation is "particularly dramatic" in Spain where unfavorable views towards Jews have more than doubled over the last three years, according to a US think-tank study released this week. In the same time, attitudes towards Muslims have become more negative in recent years. Anti-Jewish sentiment was up in six European countries -- Spain, Poland, Russia, Germany, France ,Britain- surveyed for the Washington-based Pew Research Center's 2008 Global Attitudes Project.



Of Generals and Victories
Patrick J. Buchanan

... Now we are about to enter our eighth year in Afghanistan and our sixth year in Iraq. In neither is victory, in the MacArthurian sense, assured. Indeed, "victory" may be unattainable, says America’s most successful general, David Petraeus, who asserts he will never use the word in speaking of Iraq. "This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade." ... Before either a President Obama or McCain sends 10,000 more troops into Afghanistan, he should conduct a review as to whether this war is winnable, and at what cost in blood, money and years.



Afghanistan: An Unwinnable War
Gwynne Dyer

The main purpose of British generals, it sometimes seems, is to say aloud the things that American generals (and British diplomats) think privately but dare not say in public. Things like: "We're not going to win this war." That was what Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the senior British commander in Afghanistan, said last week at the end of his six-month tour in command of 16 Air Assault Brigade. His force saw a great deal of combat and lost 32 killed, but it didn't lose any battles. Regular troops rarely lose battles against guerillas. But there were no lasting successes either -- which is also typical of wars where foreign troops are fighting local guerillas.



Where Did Childhood Go Wrong?
Sue Palmer -- The Telegraph (Britain)

... Now think about children you know today. How often do they go "out to play"? Over the past 25 years there has been an enormous change in young children's leisure experiences ... So for most 21st-century children, the word "play" doesn't mean outdoor, physical pursuits or indoor creativity: it means sitting down at a PlayStation, mindlessly gazing at television, or communicating virtually with friends via Bebo or MSN. Instead of first-hand experiences and real interaction, they have ersatz experiences on screens.



Horrors of War Our Leaders Never Have to Confront
Robert Fisk -- The Independent (Britain)

... I’m not sure of this, but I think -- I suspect and feel -- that the Great War, the war of 1914-1918, is beginning to dominate our lives even more than the terrible and infinitely more costly conflict of 1939-1945. As the years go by, the visitors to the great cemeteries of the Somme, Passchendaele and Verdun grow greater in number. The Second World War may haunt our lives. The First World War, it seems to me, imprisons us all. The statistics still have the power to overawe us.



Upsurge in On-Line Anti-Jewish Comments Worries Zionist Group
Anti-Defamation League (New York)

In the wake of the collapse of major investment banks and the government's proposed bailout of financial institutions, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is reporting a dramatic upsurge in the number of anti-Semitic statements being posted to Internet discussion boards devoted to finance and the economy. Hundreds of anti-Semitic posts regarding Lehman Brothers and other institutions affected by the subprime mortgage crisis have been submitted to discussion boards dealing with finance, with many more arriving by the minute.



Putin’s Spin on History
Kyiv Post (Ukraine)

Russian history now glosses over persecution and hails Soviet-era triumphs The foreign ministries of Russia and Ukraine are not the only soldiers in the ongoing war of words over the countries’ shared Soviet history. The battle over the past is also being waged in the classrooms of both countries. The stakes are high, as the victor may be able to win over the hearts and minds of future generations. The Stalin-ordered Great Famine of 1932-1933, which claimed millions of lives, is a stark example of the conflicting historical views.



Afghanistan Facing 'Downward Spiral,' Says US Report
The Associated Press

The situation in Afghanistan now is the worst since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001 and the country is in danger of a "downward spiral" into violence and chaos, according to an intelligence report draft. The nearly completed National Intelligence Estimate, the work of 16 intelligence agencies, says Afghanistan's deterioration has accelerated alarmingly in past two months. Bush administration officials say privately that Afghanistan is now the single most pressing security threat in the fight against terrorism.



Time To Face The Facts On Afghanistan
Eric S. Margolis

For those who savor historical irony, the Soviet Empire collapsed in the years 1989-1991 because of an implosion of its economy brought on by a ruinous arms race with the United States and the heavy costs of occupying Afghanistan. Seventeen years later came the turn of the world's other great imperial power, the United States ... Both Barack Obama and John McCain are wrong about Afghanistan. It is not a 'good' fight against 'terrorism,' but a classic, 19th century colonial war to advance western geopolitical power into resource-rich Central Asia. The Pashtun Afghans who live there are ready to fight for another 100 years.



Israeli Bestseller Breaks Jewish Nationhood Taboo
Jonathan Cook

No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list -- and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel's biggest taboo. Dr. Sand argues that the idea of a Jewish nation -- whose need for a safe haven was originally used to justify the founding of the state of Israel -- is a myth invented little more than a century ago. An expert on European history at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Sand drew on extensive historical and archaeological research to support not only this claim but several more -- all equally controversial.



German Prosecutor Eager for Trial of 'Denier' Toben
The Australian

The German prosecutor who wants to put Australian citizen Fredrik Toben on trial for denying the Holocaust warned yesterday that he was determined to see the former school teacher face justice. Andreas Grossmann, the Mannheim district prosecutor handling Dr Toben's case, said that despite his attempts to avoid extradition from Britain to Germany, he expected Dr Toben to be on trial early next year. Mr Grossmann also warned that Dr Toben faced up to five years in jail and, although most prisoners in Germany served a third to a half of their sentences, the stubborn refusal of long-term Holocaust revisionists to recant their views meant they usually failed to win parole.



Ehud Olmert Tells the Truth Too Late
Gwynne Dyer

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was well aware that he resembled the generals who join a peace movement as soon as they retire. "I have not come here to justify my actions over the past 35 years," he said. "For a large portion of that period, I was unwilling to look reality in the eye." Olmert, who has resigned but will stay in office until a new government is formed or an election is called, gave a valedictory interview to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on September 29, and said something that no previous Israeli prime minister has said. He declared that if Israel wants peace, it must withdraw from almost all the lands it occupied in 1967. Unfortunately, it's probably too late.



President Johnson: A Good Friend of Israel
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

... President Johnson firmly pointed American policy in a pro-Israel direction. In a historical context, the American emergency airlift to Israel in 1973, the constant diplomatic support, the economic and military assistance and the strategic bonds between the two countries can all be credited to the seeds planted by LBJ.



Americans' Satisfaction Level Drops To All Time Low
Digital Journal

A new survey finds that less than ten percent of the American public are satisfied with the way things are going in the United States; the lowest such reading in Gallup Poll history. Gallup poll results shows many in the U.S. are dissatisfied with the way the economy is heading, and with various issues such as healthcare, war, jobs, education, immigration etc. Respondents were asked whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Only nine per cent of respondents said they are satisfied with the way things are going. There is a steady decline in this trend over the last seven years. This is the lowest in almost 30 years.



Afghan War Unwinnable, Top Brit Says
Reuters

Britain's commander in Afghanistan has said the war against the Taliban cannot be won, the Sunday Times reported. It quoted Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith as saying in an interview that if the Taliban were willing to talk, then that might be "precisely the sort of progress" needed to end the insurgency. "We're not going to win this war. It's about reducing it to a manageable level of insurgency that's not a strategic threat and can be managed by the Afghan army," he said. He said his forces had "taken the sting out of the Taliban for 2008" but that troops may well leave Afghanistan with there still being a low level of insurgency.



Predictions vs. Reality in Iraq
Rep. Ron Paul

... No one predicted the exact course of this war before it started. But to continue to listen to the foreign policy advice of those that were the MOST offbase will only lead to more foreign policy disasters. We need to keep this in mind as we think about Russia, Iran, Cuba and other countries. Keep in mind - the doomsday predictions on the Iraq War from six years ago, sound like a cakewalk today. While what leaders in the administration had predicted, reads like a fairytale. Ask yourself, when listening to the same foreign policy "experts" explaining situations around the world and suggesting policy positions: In light of the facts of today, and the predictions of yesterday, how expert have they shown themselves to be?



In Germany, Mahler Goes on Trial for 'Holocaust Denial'
The Associated Press

A founder member of a left-wing terrorist group turned neo-Nazi went on trial in Germany Wednesday accused of publishing documents on the Internet denying the Holocaust. Horst Mahler, a founding member of the Red Army Faction in 1970, is accused of regularly posting documents online between 2001 and 2004. Denial of the Nazi Holocaust is a crime in Germany. Mahler has been charged with incitement and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.



Israel Indirectly Criticized at U.N. Nuclear Conference
The Associated Press

A U.N. nuclear conference of 145 nations indirectly criticized Israel on Saturday for refusing to put its atomic program under international purview. The International Atomic Energy Agency convened earlier this week in Vienna, Austria. But the Jewish state managed to evade being targeted by Islamic countries pushing for a vote to link it to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. Iran, Israel's most outspoken foe, spearheaded the verbal attack on the Jewish state, as it has done at past general conferences of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Israel is widely considered to have nuclear arms, but has a "no tell" policy on the issue.



'Munich' Shouldn't Be Such a Dirty Word
Geoffrey Wheatcroft -- The Washington Post

Seventy years ago this month, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Germany to meet Adolf Hitler once, twice and then a third time. On Sept. 30, 1938, they agreed that the German-speaking "Sudetenland" of Czechoslovakia should be ceded to Germany. Ever since, the name of this Munich agreement has been used as the ultimate political curse. In truth, the story of the agreement is far from what is usually supposed. Over and again, "Munich" has been willfully misunderstood and misinterpreted, with repeatedly disastrous consequences.



An Amicus Brief for Neville: Reassessing 'Munich'
Patrick J. Buchanan

On Sept. 30, 1938, 70 years ago, Neville Chamberlain visited Adolf Hitler's apartment in Munich, got his signature on a three-sentence declaration, and flew home to Heston Aerodrome ... This was Munich, the summit of infamy, endlessly invoked as the textbook example of how craven appeasement leads to desperate war. That is the great myth ... The seeds of Munich had been planted at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, in the treaties of Versailles, St. Germain and Trianon. Though Germany agreed to an armistice based on Wilson's 14 Points and principle of self-determination, millions of Germans had been consigned to alien rule.



Can a Bailout Succeed?
Paul Craig Roberts

...The US government needs to choose between its financial system and its wars. As the wars serve no US interest except for those of a few powerful interest groups, the government should declare an immediate end to the wars, thus reducing the budget deficit by at least $200 billion annually. The government should then turn to the military budget, which at about $700 billion is larger than the combined military spending of the rest of the world combined. The only justification for such an enormous amount of military spending is a policy of US world hegemony, a policy that financial collapse makes nonsensical.



An Israeli Trojan Horse: Penetrating the US Government's Telecom System
Christopher Ketcham

Since the late 1990s, federal agents have reported systemic communications security breaches at the Department of Justice, FBI, DEA, the State Department, and the White House. Several of the alleged breaches, these agents say, can be traced to two hi-tech communications companies ... Both companies are based in Israel -- having arisen to prominence from that country's cornering of the information technology market -- and are heavily funded by the Israeli government, with connections to the Israeli military and Israeli intelligence (both companies have a long history of board memberships dominated by current and former Israeli military and intelligence officers).



Howard Berman: Profile of a Powerful Pro-Israel Politician
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

Howard Berman likes to joke that he became a Zionist before he became a Democrat. Aside from the moment when he learned that president Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died, the 67-year-old congressman's earliest political memory is of being at a rally at a Los Angeles stadium celebrating the birth of Israel in 1948. Today, as the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he's in a position to do more than wave flags and cheer. He has the helm of one of the most powerful bodies shaping US foreign policy, and he says his decision to run for Congress and focus on international relations while in office was intimately connected to his Jewish background and ties to the Jewish state.



The Rival to the Bible
BBC News

What is probably the oldest known Bible is being digitised, reuniting its scattered parts for the first time since its discovery 160 years ago. It is markedly different from its modern equivalent. What's left out? ... For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's bible. The Codex, probably the oldest Bible we have, also has books which are missing from the Authorised Version that most Christians are familiar with today - and it does not have crucial verses relating to the Resurrection.



Dr Fredrick Toben's Arrest Should Alarm Us All
The Telegraph (Britain) - Editorial

... That is why the arrest of Dr Fredrick Toben at Heathrow airport last week is so disturbing. Dr Toben has not committed a crime in this country. His offence is to have published opinions on his website, which he writes from his home in Australia, that question whether the Nazi extermination of the Jews happened ... Dr Toben's case is precisely the sort of incident which ministers assured us would never happen. They said the warrant was only for terrorists and drug dealers. Now that it is being used to punish opinions, our government and judges have an obligation to throw it out.



British Parliamentarian Rejects Extradition of 'Denier' Toben
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)

A British parliamentarian has said that Gerald Toben, the Australian Holocaust denier arrested and remanded in London last week at the request of German authorities for publishing "anti-Semitic and/or revisionist" material, should not be extradited to Germany ... Speaking on BBC radio on Saturday, Liberal Democratic home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said that Holocaust denial is not a crime in the UK and that British courts should refuse to act on a European Union arrest warrant requesting Toben's extradition to Germany.



Growing Opposition to Extradition of Dr. Toben
Telling Films (Britain)

German-Australian revisionist Dr. Fredrick Töben was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on 1st October, seized from a plane while in transit from the U.S.A. to Dubai. Dr. Töben is being held under a European Arrest Warrant ... After hearing of Dr. Töben's arrest, and that he was at first representing himself, Lady Renouf arranged for specialist extradition lawyers (solicitor Kevin Lowry-Mullins and barrister Ben Watson) to take on this historic case ... A unique ten minute video report made by Telling Films at London's Horseferry Road court, including interviews with Dr. Töben's solicitor Kevin Lowry-Mullins and court observers David Irving and Lady Renouf, is now available below.



California University Faculty Votes Disapproval of Prof. MacDonald
Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California)

The Cal State [University] Long Beach Academic Senate has voted to disassociate itself from the writings of a controversial psychology professor who has been accused of having anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views. "While the Academic Senate defends Dr. Kevin MacDonald's academic freedom and freedom of speech, as it does for all faculty, it firmly and unequivocally disassociates itself from the anti-Semitic and white ethnocentric views he has expressed," according to the resolution Thursday.Responding to the resolution, MacDonald, a tenured professor, said "everyone has ethnic interests."



Mammals Facing Extinction Threat
BBC News

At least 25 percent of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the first assessment of their status for a decade. The Red List of Threatened Species says populations of more than half of mammalian species are falling, with Asian primates particularly at risk. The biggest threat to mammals is loss of habitat, including deforestation.



Russia's Last Tsar Rehabilitated
BBC News

Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were victims of political repression and should be rehabilitated. The rehabilitation has long been demanded by the tsar's descendants. Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their five children, doctor and three servants were shot dead by Bolshevik revolutionaries in July, 1918. Lower courts had previously refused to reclassify the killings, which had been categorised as simply murder. The Romanov family have been canonised as saints by the Orthodox Church, which has enjoyed a post-Soviet revival. For most of the last century, Tsar Nicholas II was officially reviled as a tyrant.



Stalin Makes a Comeback With Russian Teachers
Moscow Times (Russia)

Last year, a Russian teachers' manual described Josef Stalin as an "effective manager." Now, a new teachers' manual says the Soviet dictator acted rationally in conducting a campaign of terror to ensure the country's modernization. The new manual, "A History of Russia, 1900-1945," is part of a series of educational material that the authors say will help promote patriotism in young people. Critics have taken exception to excerpts that they say are attempts to whitewash Stalin's crimes.



Australian Revisionist To Remain in British Custody
The Guardian (Britain)

An Australian revisionist historian wanted in Germany for alleged Holocaust denial will remain in British custody for at least another week, it emerged today. Scotland Yard's extradition unit arrested Dr Fredrick Toben, 64, when he passed through London's Heathrow airport on Wednesday. The district court in Mannheim, Germany, issued an EU arrest warrant that accuses him of publishing material on the internet "of an anti-Semitic and/or revisionist" nature. Toben, appearing at City of Westminster magistrates' court today under his full name, Gerald Fredrick Toben, will appear before the court on October 10 to discuss bail. An extradition hearing will be held on October 17.



Toben Case Sets 'Dangerous Precedent'
BBC News

The arrest and attempted extradition to Germany by British police of an alleged Holocaust denier would set a 'crazy and dangerous' precedent, say campaigners. Dr Gerald Toben was arrested by British police under an EU arrest warrant issued by the German authorities. That warrant accuses him of publishing material online "of an anti-semitic and/or revisionist nature". Dr Toben has been remanded in custody after his extradition hearing on Friday was adjourned, but will face a bail hearing on Friday 10 October and a full hearing on 17 October.



David Irving Offers Help to Revisionist
The Daily Mail (Britain)

Holocaust denier David Irving turned up at court today to support a fellow historian who is accused of playing down