Friday, March 19, 2010
the big story
“If these reports are true, it's a very depressing picture, because we are seeing exactly the same build-up as we saw seven years ago with the war in Iraq. The same claims were made about Iran – that it has weapons of mass destruction and is about to attack the West,” claims Alan Mackinnon, disarmament activist.
The US is apparently shipping large quantities of bunker-busting bombs to a British territory in the Indian Ocean.
A Scottish newspaper claims the ordinance, which was widely used in the Iraq invasion, is being sent to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean – and it's raising fears that American forces could be preparing an attack on Iran.
Disarmament activist Alan Mackinnon, who saw the invoice on which the newspaper’s article is based, and believes it to be authentic, has memories of the run-up to the Iraq war.
According to Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, any action on Iran would spell disaster for the US military machine.
“We can bomb them for 50, 60, 70 days and all we are going to do is to solidify 70-plus million Iranians in a very nationalistic feeling of anger and passion against us.”
Meanwhile, Paul Ingram from the British American Security Information Council told RT that currently Israel is far more likely to be quite seriously thinking about a military attack on Iran than the US.
Read more...
CoOlDiGgY news
Watchdog orders publication of former prime minister's payment by oil firm that was kept secret for 20 months
Tony Blair has received cash from a South Korean oil firm in a deal kept secret until the business appointments watchdog intervened, the Guardian has learned.
After 20 months of secrecy, the former prime minister has now been overruled by the chairman of the advisory committee on business appointments, the former Tory cabinet minister Ian Lang.
Lang this week ordered publication of Blair's deal with UI Energy Corporation, which has extensive oil interests in the US and in Iraq.
Blair repeatedly claimed to the committee, which assesses jobs taken up by former ministers, that the existence of the deal had to be kept secret at the request of the South Koreans, because of "market sensitivities".
According to a committee spokesman, Blair's claims of the need for secrecy were first made in July 2008, when the committee agreed to break its normal rules, and postpone publication for three months.
Blair's office went back to the committee in October of that year and asked for a further six months. They promised to let the committee know as soon as the "market sensitivity" had passed.
Committee sources said they heard nothing further and had to "chase" Blair. This culminated in a formal letter from the committee last November. Blair's office responded last month, claiming the deal was still too sensitive to reveal.
Read more...
*Israelis view Obama favorably, mixed on Netanyahu
*Netanyahu, Clinton talk after crisis
*Arizona becomes first state to drop children's health program
*The last anti-war liberal? Cindy Sheehan
*Democrats Push Toward Sunday Vote On Health Care
*Maryland Trying To Secede From The South
the random
Happy birthday to one of our favorite Bond Girls: Ursula Andress. It was always weird that her last name sounded like "undress"
CoOlDiGgY tech & media
Two U.S. senators met with President Obama on Thursday to push for a national ID card with biometric information such as a fingerprint, hand scan, or iris scan that all employers would be required to verify.
In an opinion article published in Friday's edition of the Washington Post, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) say the new identification cards will "ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs" and "dramatically decrease illegal immigration."
Schumer and Graham pitched the idea to President Obama during a private meeting Thursday at the White House. Graham said afterward that Obama "welcomed" their proposal for a new ID card law; the White House said in a statement that the senators' plan was "promising."
Read more...
*California Court Rules Cyber-Bullying Is Not Free Speech
*A computer glitch sent police to the home of elderly couple's home over 50 times
*Pay to Play: Some iPhone App Sites Demand Money for Reviews
*British youngsters prefer online advice to parents
*Sex.com auction takes a cold shower
*U.S. wind power growing fast but still lags
*Palm's future: a vicious cycle
*Tech Equipment Tax Deduction Tips
*Court Slaps Prosecutor Who Threatened Child-Porn Charges Over ‘Sexting’
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