by Asia-Pacific Journal

I. The Hunt for Terrorists and Ethnic and Religious Profiling

In societies governed by the rule of law, what limitations should apply to police surveillance? What protections should be accorded to religious and ethnic minorities who may …

The World Jewish Congress, an international organization that represents Jewish communities and organizations in 100 countries around the world, has written a letter to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church expressing deep concern about the Church’s participation in neo-Nazi ceremonies in Ukraine. …

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply …

Although UN Security Council Resolution 2178 about a global initiative against foreign terrorist fighters was passed unanimously by the UN Security Council, the countries gathered were divided on the role that the US has played in supporting international terrorism. One …

The file is packed, and weighed down by layers of history that unfolded over almost six years of the Obama administration. Eric Holder Jr. may be going, vacating the position of Attorney-General once a replacement is found, but he last …

As the United States continues its shrouded assault on the Syrian government, new targets for the U.S. airstrikes have emerged. This time, it is not oil refineries, but grain silos.

In an airstrike campaign that took place Sunday night, “coalition” …

Jan Dhan Yojana (People’s Wealth Plan) – an ambitious financial inclusion program – was launched amid much fanfare in India on 28th August, 2014. The initial target of Jan Dhan Yojana is to cover 75 million unbanked households by 26th …

Originally published by Who What Why 

by Bryson Hull

The pair of recent White House security breaches was shocking enough in terms of the laxity of the Secret Service they exposed.

But re-examined in light of the revelation that a …

Hong Kong:

Whatever is occurring in Hong Kong, it bears no relation to what is being reported about it in the Western print and TV media. These reports spin the protests as a conflict between the demand for democracy and …

Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water bottles. –George Mikes, How to be an Alien (1946)

So much fuss about nothing, which is the perfect storm for a British political scandal.  Even as the British Prime …

It has become abundantly clear, thanks especially to excellent reporting and analysis by Glenn Greenwald and Justin Raimondo, that the “Khorasan Group” threat used as the pretext for the US bombing of Syria was totally fabricated by the US …

De-dollarization has been an ongoing theme hidden just below the surface of the mainstream media for more than a year as Russia and China slowly but surely attempt to “isolate” the US Dollar. Until very recently, direct trade agreements with …

Since the night of September 22/23, US fighter planes have been carrying out strikes with missiles and drones against targets in and around Raqqah, the city in the Northern part of Syria where are located the headquarters of ISIS’ self-proclaimed …

The “Occupy Central” protests in Hong Kong continue on – destabilizing the small southern Chinese island famous as an international hub for corporate-financier interests, and before that, the colonial ambitions of the British Empire. Those interests have been conspiring for …

Want to know what corporate media look like when they’re reporting for duty?

On the most recent CBS‘sFace the Nation(9/28/14), host Bob Schieffer previewed the guests who would be appearing on the show:

We will

“Build it and they will come. Build a false narrative and people will come in droves.” The Underground, Jon Rappoport

When a researcher or an investigator suspects he is looking at an artificial narrative, a storyline that is floated to …

Daughter of the late Hugo Chavez, Maria Gabriela Chavez is the alternate ambassador to the United Nations for Venezuela. (Presidential Press)

Los Teques – After the failed 2006 bid for a coveted seat on the United Nation’s Security Council, Venezuela …

By Larry Birns COHA Director; Frederick B. Mills, COHA Senior Fellow and Professor at Bowie State University; and Ronn Pineo, COHA Senior Fellow and Professor at Towson University

I) The Washington Post gets it Wrong About Venezuela

The Washington Post…

Several global energy companies are interested in oil resources in Western Sahara (AA)

Kosmos Energy, a US oil and gas exploration firm, along with UK oil exploration company, Cairn Energy, are planning to begin searching for oil reserves off the …

A pair of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria, in this U.S. Air Force handout photo taken early in the morning of September 23, 2014. (Reuters/U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Matthew)

The …

Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem, delivered a speech on Monday at the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly, in which he affirmed that Syria supports any international effort to combat terrorism as long as …

This article was published  in 2005, but is still relevant today, especially in the context of the current military intervention in Iraq and Syria.

In June 2005 I attended the National Media Reform Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. While there …

Do people in Europe want the likes of Monsanto determining policies in secretive meetings in Brussels? Would they like Unilever, Kraft or Nestle determining what is allowed in their food? Do they want big business removing or weakening health and …

The Jerusalem Post reports that an ISIS fighter says that Turkey funds the terrorist group. Turkey is a member of NATO and a close U.S. ally.

A German news program – with English subtitles captions – shows that Turkey …

Illustrative photo of an Israeli settlement’s civilian security coordinator. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

The IDF grants arrest and other powers to civilians in West Bank settlements and outposts but fails to ensure they are held accountable. In essence, the army has privatized …

In a ruling Monday, US bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes threw out a motion to stop mass water shutoffs in Detroit, declaring that city residents had no “fundamental right” to water service. The ruling sanctioned the city’s brutal policy, which has …

As one of its first official acts, the new “national unity” government of President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is set to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement with Washington allowing 10,000 US occupation troops to operate with impunity on Afghan soil after …

The UK’s new Watchkeeper drone has finally been sent to Afghanistan.  Well over three years late and just weeks before UK forces are due to be withdrawn, the MoD announced that Watchkeeper had become “fully operational.” However it is not …

by Ayre

Journalist Giulietto Chiesa is sure that the information about the burial places of civilians’ bodies found near Donetsk, despite its sensational nature, will not go beyond the Russian media. In his article, he drew a parallel between the …

The most populated US state confirmed its first batch of cases of the disease that has been spreading across the country, causing severe respiratory problems in infants and young children, according to the state’s chief health official.

Four children, ranging …

The sudden reversion of Washington to a ‘war on terror’ pretext for intervention in Syria has confused western audiences. For three years they watched ‘humanitarian intervention’ stories, which poured contempt on the Syrian President’s assertion that he was fighting foreign …

As the US begins token airstrikes on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border, the fighting capacity of the “Islamic State” or “ISIS,” has seen no visible setbacks. This is because ISIS is in fact the very proxy mercenaries intentionally …

It’s no secret that the Washington Post editorial page was quite alarmed by Venezuela’s shift to the left under former President Hugo Chavez. The Post–like the rest of elite US media (Extra!, 11/05)–was an unrelenting critic …

On the surface, The Nuremberg Tribunals were a court assembled by the victors which prosecuted the losers.  It is also true Axis war criminals were tried though Allied war criminals were not. But there was a greater concern at the …

The New York State Intelligence Center — a known Fusion Center with the stated purpose to, “collect, evaluate, analyze, and disseminate information and intelligence data regarding criminal and terrorist activity relevant to New York State” — issued a Counter Terrorism …

In 1996 – as major U.S. news outlets disparaged the Nicaraguan Contra-cocaine story and destroyed the career of investigative reporter Gary Webb for reviving it – the CIA marveled at the success of its public-relations team guiding the mainstream media’s …

Photo: Natalie Becker

Israel is exploring ways to “lower the birthrate” of Palestinian Bedouins, its agriculture minister Yair Shamir has stated.

“We have to take all the Bedouin and get them out of the desert a bit and bring them …

For years, many people have suspected that the New York Fed is more or less controlled by the “too big to fail” banks.  Well, now we have smoking gun evidence that this is indeed the case.  A very brave lawyer …

As bankruptcy proceedings enter their final stages in Detroit, Michigan, the historic center of American auto manufacturing, the political establishment is moving to put in place mechanisms to ensure the permanent dictatorship of the banks over the city’s working class. …

Last summer, Tariq Khdeir, a 15-year-old American citizen from Baltimore, accompanied his parents to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat for a six-week visit with relatives. The first friend Tariq made when he arrived was his cousin, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, …

There is a sense of frustration in bringing that unruly and labyrinthine football entity known as FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) into the world of squeaky clean finance.  It resists two terms with an almost tribal enthusiasm: accountability and …

The comments this weekend by spokesmen for the White House, the Pentagon and US Congress are part of an orchestrated campaign to stampede the American people into an all-out war in Iraq and Syria that could spread quickly throughout the …

by Latha Jishnu

As the deadly Ebola virus spreads in West Africa taking a lethal toll with its hemorrhagic fever, curious reports are emerging of the patents the US holds on a certain strain of the virus and the interest …

Canadian beekeepers have filed a class-action lawsuit against two pesticide manufacturers, seeking $400 million in damages for the devastating effects of the neonicotinoid pesticides that have been linked to the destruction of honeybee colonies.

“The goal is to stop the …

by Daniel Pye

Since his early days as a correspondent covering the wars in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, documentary filmmaker and journalist John Pilger has been an ardent critic of Western foreign policy. Following in the footsteps …

One might think that by now even Americans would have caught on to the constant stream of false alarms that Washington sounds in order to deceive the people into supporting its hidden agendas.

Henry Kissinger, Bilderberg kingpin and architect of overthrowing democratically elected governments, is keen to establish a global mercenary army to fight terrorists, according to Fox News big mouth Bill O’Reilly, who has heartily endorsed such a notion on recent programming.…

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had recently announced that a female fighter pilot led the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) bombardment of ISIS on Syrian territory.  According to the UAE’s online news source ‘The National’ based in Abu Dhabi …

It would seem that large agricultural corporations touting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) they claim possess enhanced benefits for farmers and consumers would be proud to differentiate their products on the shelves from organic and traditionally produced food. However that is …

On behalf of Matterhorn Asset Management, financial journalist Lars Schall talked with the Dutch economist / oil analyst Maarten van Mourik about the book “The Misunderstood Crisis: It’s the energy stupid!”

Lars Schall: Maarten, you have co-written a book recently …

In 1990, alarming evidence of NATO-sponsored terrorist attacks came to light.

This is the secret story of Operation Gladio; a tale of espionage, conspiracy and political violence [47mins]

Funded by the US,  trained by Britain and left behind in post …

The UK parliament has voted in favour of British involvement in air strikes on Syria and Iraq. On Saturday 27 September, RAF Tornado jets returned from the first bombing raids on ISIL.

Last week, British PM David Cameron told the …

Britain’s parliament has voted by a massive majority to support British air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL or ISIS).

MPs were recalled from a recess to hold a token debate, as the leadership of …

Alton Nolan, the man accused of beheading a coworker in Oklahoma City, attended a mosque run by an iman tied to Anwar al-Awlaki, the al-Qaeda operative who dined at the Pentagon a few months after the 9/11 attacks.

Suhaib Webb …

Militant Islamist fighters take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria’s northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer)

The US is creating in Syria a perpetual state of war, funding jihadists on one side and then attacking …

In what is more proof that the NATO operation against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is merely Libya 2.0, the Obama administration is now stating that it is open to the possibility of establishing a “no-fly zone” over Syria.

The statements, …

New official guidelines impose strict controls on anyone from the armed forces making contact with journalists, even in a social setting.

The rules state that when a member of the armed forces has any contact with a journalist they must …

The West was racing against the clock – attempting to justify war with Syria by allegedly “fighting” the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) in Syrian before the world fully realized the West and its allies had in fact created ISIS in …

Wall Street wrecked the economy in 2007 due to dealing in shady mortgage securities that were given dubious triple-A ratings and put the entire global economy on the brink.  Do you think those big banksters learned their lesson and decided …

In “WHO: 21,000 Ebola cases by November if no changes” (AP/USA Today), 9/22, there is this:

“CDC scientists…also predict that the two countries [Sierra Leone and Liberia] could have a staggering 550,000 to 1.4 million [Ebola] cases by late January.”

The US fanfare surrounding Washington’s bombing raid over Syria was immense. WIth all the hype, you’d have thought that it was a new Pearl Harbor.

With a risk of popping President Obama and the US State Department’s bubble, we need …

Obama is now – after the fact – scrambling to justify bombing the sovereign nation of Syria without the permission of either the Syrian government or even the United States Congress by saying that we were going after the super-evil …

On the very same day that vaccine maker GlaxoSmithKline is being fined $490 million by Chinese authorities for running an illegal bribery scheme across China [3], the media is announcing the “astonishing” launch of human trials for an Ebola vaccine.…

In 1896, the Viennese-born journalist Theodor Herzl published an influential political treatise entitled Der Judenstaat, which argued that the only way to defend Jews from anti-Semitism would be the establishment of an independent Jewish state. Herzl then convened the first …

In 2012, the US Government authorised a ‘rat line’ through which arms from Libya would be covertly channelled into Syria. Many of the recipients of these arms were jihadists, many of whom affiliated to al-Qaeda (Seymour M. Hersh, London Review …

For those to whom the recent US campaign against Syria seems a deja vu of last summer’s “near-war” attempt to ouster its president Bashar al-Assad, which was stopped in the last minute due to some very forceful Russian intervention and …

The General Conference of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rejected a resolution tabled by 18 Arab nations, to submit Israel’s nuclear program to inspections and for Israel to accede to the non-proliferation treaty. A virtually identical resolution …

Image Credits: Wiki Commons

Monsanto’s experimental genetically modified wheat has been discovered growing in a second US field in Montana, about a year after the discovery of the company’s unapproved crop growing in Oregon disrupted US wheat exports.

The plants …

We can only imagine what scandal is brewing behind the scenes. For someone this high-up the Obama food chain to jump ship before the mid-term elections, means something very damaging for the White House may be coming down the pipeline… …

A view of the Ramat Shlomo settlement from behind a fence (AFP).