By John W Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute

The big deal is simply this: once you allow the government to start breaking the law, no matter how seemingly justifiable the reason, you relinquish the contract between you and the government which establishes that the government works for and obeys you, the citizen—the employer—the master. And once the government starts operating outside the law, answerable to no one but itself, there’s no way to rein it back in, short of revolution.

Scotland Yard came under fire for abusing harsh anti-terror laws at border crossings, British media report. It now faces charges over its refusal to hand over the results of inquiries into the misuse of these practices when questioning people.

Scotland Yard has seven days to hand over the findings of some 18 outstanding complaints against the force, after repeatedly refusing to investigate. The discussion has been on-going for months and questions why officers stop some people by using a tactic that is specifically associated by rights groups with indiscriminately targeting differing ethnic groups.

„Obama is fiercely moving towards war in Syria, just like Bush moved towards war in Iraq. Just like in Iraq, this war won’t be legit and Obama will become Bush’s clone,” Pushkov wrote on his Twitter page on Sunday.

The Air Force has removed the commander of a nuclear weapons unit at a Montana base following a failed safety and security inspection that marked the second major misstep this year for one of the military’s most sensitive missions.

Military leaders say the decision to relieve Col. David Lynch of command at Malmstrom Air Force Base stems from a loss of confidence.

When the TSA in 2010 introduced the swabbing of some passengers’ hands to detect for explosive residue, we got a call from CNN asking if we’d tell them on camera what we thought of it from a privacy standpoint

An affiliate of al Qaeda in Syria has sent a stark warning to aid workers from the West who try to enter the chaotic country: You risk kidnapping or killing.

Will Obama‘s misreading of the „New Normal“ geopolitical balance of power, in which America is rapidly relegating itself from global superpower status and in which Putin most certainly does not see himself as inferior to the US, yet in which there is no actual game theoretical winner if everyone defects (but lots and lots of losers, except for the Fed) force America into a milltary confrontation from which there is no easy and simple way out?

Update: and there you have it – the US „demand“ was nothing but a farce, and the second Syria complied the US says it was never interested in the first place.

Chemical weapons hold a special place in the international psyche as exceptionally horrible and indiscriminate. But the reasons against intervening in Syria are not altered by their use, especially since they represent a small fraction of the atrocities in Syria.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) successfully cracked the encryption code protecting the United Nations’ internal videoconferencing system, according to documents seen by Germany’s Der Spiegel.

The United States was not just busy spying on the European Union, the report revealed, but had its surveillance apparatus trained on the international body as well.

by George Galloway MP
House of Commons London

There is ample evidence that the Syrian rag-tag-and-bobtail insurgency, dominated by the most extreme fanatic franchises of Al Qaeda, has access to chemical weapons, indeed any weapons the rag-tag-and-bobtail coalition behind them can get to them.

The US has a long history of using such weapons – and worse – and not just in SE Asia. In the destruction of Fallujah in next door Iraq they slaughtered thousands with the same kind of cocktails.

Israel regularly shares its own chemical weapons stockpile with their neighbours in Gaza. Check the pictures of phosphorous gas raining down upon the UN schools and hospitals in Operation Cast Lead if you don’t believe me.

Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Reprieve weist heute in einem Artikel auf den an der Londoner Börse notierten Telekommunikationskonzern British Telecom und seine Investoren der verschiedenen Banken wie Standard Life, Blackrock, ING und Lloyds hin. Zuvor hatte die Organisation eine Beschwerde bei der britischen Regierung eingereicht

If you read Techdirt, you‘re almost certainly familiar with Larry Lessig, the law professor at Harvard who (among many other things) has been an avid advocate for copyright reform and campaign finance reform, an author of many books about copyright and creativity, a well-known public speaker whose presentations are stunningly compelling, entertaining and informative, and the founder of some important organizations including Creative Commons.

The President, the Head of the National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Justice, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and the Judiciary, are intentionally keeping massive amounts of information about surveillance of US and other people secret from voters.

Syria has given the “green light” for UN experts to visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb, state TV reports, citing the Foreign Ministry.

Quoth the article:

“the president made no decisions, but the high-level talks came as the Pentagon acknowledged it was moving U.S. forces into position in the region.”

Forgive me, but who the SNAFU made that decision? Does the commander in chief have any say in this? Does he get to make speeches explaining how wrong it would be to attack Syria, meet with top military officials who leave the meeting to prepare for attacks on Syria, and go down in history as having been uninvolved in, if not opposed to, his own policies?

To begin with, Doctors Without Borders is fully funded by the very same corporate financier interests behind Wall Street and London‘s collective foreign policy, including regime change in Syria and neighboring Iran. Doctors Without Borders‘ own annual report (2010 report can be accessed here), includes as financial donors, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Google, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Mitt Romney‘s Bain Capital, and a myriad of other corporate-financier interests. Doctors Without Borders also features bankers upon its Board of Advisers including Elizabeth Beshel Robinson of Goldman Sachs.

Nach Angaben des syrischen Regimes finden syrische Truppen bei ihrem laufenden Vormarsch gegen die Invasoren Chemiestoffe eines katarisch-deutschen pharmazeutischen Konzerns, sowie in Saudi-Arabien hergestellte Chemie-Fässer. Syrische Soldaten zeigen demnach nach ihrem Vorrücken in “Rebellen”-Gebiete Vergiftungserscheinungen.

Derweil lehnen die Einwohner des U.S.-Imperiums einen offenen Angriffskrieg gegen Syrien unter Beteiligung eigener regulärer Truppen ab.

About 60 percent of Americans surveyed said the United States should not intervene in Syria‘s civil war, while just 9 percent thought President Barack Obama should act.

„Die Vereinigten Staaten wollen offenbar einen großen Weltkrieg entfesseln“, sagte Maduro am Samstag nach Angaben lateinamerikanischer Medien. Nach seinen Worten wollen die USA Syrien „in vier Teile“ aufteilen und setzen dafür die arabische Welt unter Druck. „Syrien ist die wichtigste Stabilitätsinsel der arabischen Welt und wehrt sich gegen Invasion und Expansion“, so Maduro weiter. „Jetzt attackieren die Medien aller Welt Syrien.“ Ein offener Krieg gegen Syrien könnte schon in Kürze beginnen.

Deputy Chairman of Iranian Armed Forces’ Chief of Staff Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri has warned the United States of the ‘dire consequences’ of crossing the red line on Syria.

The armed forces seized a warehouse containing barrels with ‚Made in KSA‘ written on them, in addition to a large number of protective masks. Drugs used when inhaling chemicals were found inside a terrorists‘ den in Jobar, with ‚The Qatari-German Company for Pharmaceutical Industries‘ inscribed on them.

The Information Minister cited what happened in Khan al-Assal, saying that those who used chemical weapons there can use it anywhere else, and that the use of such weapons shows that the terrorist groups are feeling helpless and confused as they attempt to halt the Syrian Army‘s progress.

Al-Zoubi affirmed that Syria is cooperating in a significant, transparent and direct manner with the UN committee investigating chemical weapons use, adding that Syria will never permit inspection committees under any pretext and that this is a final position, and as far as the UN committee is concerned, its task is to investigate specific incidents such as what happened in Khan al-Assal as per the agreement between Syria and the UN which has nothing to do with inspection which violates sovereignty.

Iran‘s foreign minister said the Syrian government had told Tehran it would allow U.N. inspectors to visit areas reportedly affected by chemical weapons, Iran‘s Press TV reported on Sunday.

The White House did not provide details about what options were under consideration, and gave no indication about Obama‘s timeline for making a decision on the issue.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Syrian foreign Walid al-Moualem on Thursday and told him the Damascus government should have let U.N. inspectors have access to the site of an alleged gas attack, the State Department said on Saturday.

A Jordanian defense source said the defense chiefs of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Italy were expected to attend, along with those of Turkey, which has already seen the conflict spill over its border, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are both supporting Syrian anti-government rebels.

As natural resources diminish, and as the earth becomes a toxic waste dump—the historical question becomes obvious: How do you control millions of starving, angry people?

The question is when will the world say “enough is enough” to Imperial powers trying to start another world war? The US is now in preparation to strike Syrian military targets if UN inspectors declare chemical weapons were used. If Syria is defeated, then it could become another Iraq or Libya. Then a future attack on Iran is inevitable.

It’s happening again. It’s happening despite no evidence suggesting Syrian responsibility for Ghouta. It doesn’t matter. It remains to be seen whether greater US/NATO/Israeli intervention follows.

At a closed-door event in New York City with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday evening, former President Bill Clinton suggested that President Barack Obama should ignore public opposition to U.S. intervention in Syria and give rebel groups „a decent chance“ of winning their war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.