Anarchoblogs

News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire:

• Are House Republicans trying to drag the US into the next war in the Middle East? – Jamal Abdi | The Middle East Channel 29 July 2010
• BUSTED: Obama’s New Budget Chief Got A $900K Bonus From Citigroup After It Got A Bailout – Joe Weisenthal | Business Insider 29 July 2010
• Ron Paul on the Fair Sentencing Act | C4L 29 July 2010
• Greek police fire tear gas at striking truckers | The Guardian 29 July 2010
• Court orders Japan government to pay over U.S. base noise | Reuters 29 July 2010
• Philippines to get U.S. precision missiles: document | Reuters 29 July 2010
• Biden says no plans to nation-build in Afghanistan | Reuters 29 July 2010
• Poll: Pakistanis less worried about extremists | AP 29 July 2010
• Why a young Israeli woman spies on Israeli settlements in West Bank | CS Monitor 29 July 2010
• Israel speeds up West Bank barrier construction following court injunction | Haaretz 29 July 2010
• Militants kill 23 security forces across Iraq | AP 29 July 2010
• Kuwait gets $650 mln in Iraqi reparation: UN | AFP 29 July 2010
• White House pushes for warrantless access to Internet records | Raw Story 29 July 2010
• House lawmakers, citing corruption, may block $4 billion in aid to Afghanistan | LA Times 29 July 2010
• US: Drills sent ‘clear message’ to NKorea | AP29 July 2010
• AP IMPACT: Before the CIA, there was the Pond 29 July 2010
• 1st US execution of woman since 2005 set for Sept. | AP 29 July 2010
• BP Details $30 Billion Plan to Pay for Gulf Spill | NY Times 29 July 2010
• Delta’s Black Fishermen Seeking Cleanup Work and Clinging to Hope | NY Times 29 July 2010
• Congress Moves to Narrow Sentencing Disparities for Crack and Powdered Cocaine | NY Times 29 July 2010
• New Militant Alliance Threatens One of Somalia’s Few Safe Spots | NY Times 29 July 2010
• Congress Is Rethinking Its Ban on Internet Gambling | NY Times 29 July 2010
• U.S. Military Scrutinizes Leaks for Risks to Afghans | NY Times 29 July 2010
• Document Reveals Military Was Concerned About Gulf War Vets’ Exposure to Depleted Uranium – Mike Ludwig | Truthout 29 July 2010
• Video: Ethnic cleansing in the Israeli Negev | The Guardian 29 July 2010
• Beltway liberalism in 24 words – Charles Davis | false dichotomy 29 July 2010
• Federal judge blocks key parts of Arizona immigration law SB 1070 | WaPo 29 July 2010
• The ruling and the bill | WaPo 29 July 2010
• Pakistan Pushes Draconian New Terror Bill | Antiwar.com 29 July 2010
• Watered-Down ‘Regurgitated Pulitzer Campaign’ Called ‘Top Secret America’ and ‘Blowback’ in Somalia (mp3) | Little Alex in Wonderland 28 July 2010
• Oakland gives final OK to large-scale pot farms | AP 28 July 2010
• House approves $37 billion war-funding bill | WaPo 28 July 2010
• WikiLeaked ‘Afghanistan War Logs’ Include U.S. Military Whitewashing War Crimes | Little Alex in Wonderland 27 July 2010
• Finkelstein: I don’t want victory over Israel 27 July 2010
• Democrats Split on War Spending Bill – At War Blog | NYTimes.com 27 July 2010
• Blix: Intelligence on Iraq was poor | AJ English 27 July 2010
• Africa readies troops for Somalia; US funds effort | AP 27 July 2010
• Afghans and NATO at odds over civilian deaths report | Reuters 27 July 2010
• Lockheed and L-3 top estimates but outlooks vary | Reuters 27 July 2010
• Barge crashes into oil well in Gulf of Mexico, new oil leak reported | AFP 27 July 2010
• Oil spills into Calhoun County creek that leads to Kalamazoo River | MLive.com 27 July 2010
• Underground city found in western Iran | Press TV 27 July 2010
• U.S. Cities, Counties are Poised to Cut 500,000 Jobs | BusinessWeek 27 July 2010
• UK soldier: Jail better than Afghan war | Press TV 27 July 2010
• That Dismal War In Afghanistan? Here’s How It Costs Compared To America’s 11 Other Wars | Business Insider 27 July 2010

Filed under: Daily Briefing Tagged: Af-Pak War, Afghan War Diary, Afghanistan, Afghanistan War Logs, AFRICOM, Al Shabaab, AMISOM, austerity measures, BP, Bush Administration, Charles Davis, Citigroup, civil liberties, crack cocaine, Death Penalty, Democrats, DPRK, drug war, ethnic cleansing, Greece, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf oil spill, Gulf War, Hans Blix, internet gambling, Iran, Iraq War, Israel, Jamal Abdi, Japan, Jeremy Scahill, Joe Biden, Kuwait, L-3, limited liability, Lockheed MArtin, marijuana, Matt Yglesias, medical marijuana, NATO, Norman Finkelstein, North Korea, Oakland, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Peter Orszag, privacy rights, Ron Paul, SB1070, Scott Horton, Somalia, South Korea, unemployment, US, US Congress, War on Terror, war spending, West Bank, Wikileaks

News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire:

• As Predicted, BP Tries to Pretend New Leak is a ‘Natural Seepage’ | Little Alex in Wonderland 19 July 2010
• Clinton unveils $500 million in aid projects for Pakistan | McClatchy 19 July 2010
• Female Afghan Governor Fears Taliban Deal – The Lede Blog | NY Times 19 July 2010
• Feds: Oil, gas leaking from cap on ruptured well | AP 19 July 2010
• Report: 196 indicted in alleged Turkish coup plot | AP 19 July 2010
• Sudan’s ‘brutal’ war on dissent | AJ English 19 July 2010
• BP signs major offshore gas deal with Egypt | AFP 19 July 2010
• Jem to sign ‘child soldier’ deal | AJ English 19 July 2010
• Iran urges US to drop ‘cowboy logic’ over nuclear issue | BBC News 19 July 2010
• In US cities, HIV linked more to poverty than race | AP 19 July 2010
• Biden: Pelosi ‘most powerful person’ in politics | The Swamp 19 July 2010
• US troops to deploy on Mexico border in August | AFP 19 July 2010
• ‘Torture diary’ logs charges of police abuse in Egypt | McClatchy 19 July 2010
• BP’s Scheme to Swindle the “Small People” – Dahr Jamail | Truthout 19 July 2010
• FinReg’s Biggest Problem: It Gives More Power to This Man – Marshall Auerback | Business Insider 19 July 2010
• Did The U.S. Just Oust Russia And China Out Of Central Asia? – Gregory White | Business Insider 19 July 2010
• Israeli ‘loyalty oath’ approved | MWC 19 July 2010
• Report: Kandahar drive to backfire | MWC 19 July 2010
• Howard Zinn’s ‘The Bomb’ – David Swanson | MWC 19 July 2010
• Lawsuit Dropped; Claimed That Copyright-Filtering Violates Copyright – David Kraverts | Wired.com 19 July 2010
• Big Oil Makes War on the Earth – Ellen Cantarow | The Nation 19 July 2010
• Killer Drones Get Stealthy – Noah Shachtman | Wired.com 19 July 2010
• Intelcrats’ Awesomely Bad Pushback to ‘Top Secret America’ – Spencer Ackerman | Wired.com 19 July 2010
• Amiri Told CIA Iran Has No Nuclear Bomb Programme – Gareth Porter | IPS 19 July 2010
• President of the Council on Foreign Relations on Afghanistan: ‘It’s not worth it’ | Raw Story 19 July 2010
• UN’s Big Five Facilitate Arms Transfers to Rights Violators – Thalif Deen | IPS 19 July 2010
• Iran speaker says world bodies misused by US, other powers | AFP 19 July 2010
• China Should Reduce Dollar-Reserve Assets, Yu Writes | BusinessWeek 19 July 2010
• Halliburton Adds Jobs as Onshore Boom Lifts Profit | BusinessWeek 19 July 2010
• Boeing Co. Drones Play Pivotal Role in War on Taliban, Al-Qaeda | BusinessWeek 19 July 2010
• Wikileaks Re-Opens for Leakers – Ryan Singel | Wired.com 19 July 2010
• Sadr Emerges to Call for New Government for Iraq | NY Times 19 July 2010
• Radical Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki Taunts U.S. Military and Obama – Brian Ross | ABC News 19 July 2010
• A Record Number of Drugs Are Being Tested to Treat Mental Illness – Prescriptions Blog | NY Times 19 July 2010
• War on terrorism’s price tag: $1 trillion – Jeff Stein | WaPo 19 July 2010
• The ‘Failed State’ Boogeyman | Little Alex in Wonderland 19 July 2010
• Inside the ‘Class War’ – Danny Schechter | CommonDreams.org 19 July 2010
• Review: Hopes and Prospects, By Noam Chomsky – Johann Hari | The Independent 19 July 2010
• Afghanistan: paths to peace – Muhammed Abdullah Gul | AJ English 19 July 2010
• The Killing Fields of Multi-National Corporations – Vandana Shiva | Common Dreams 19 July 2010
• BP allowed to keep well shut amid concerns about seepage | WaPo 19 July 2010
• South Africa’s ‘dirty bomb’ mystery – Jeff Stein | WaPo 19 July 2010
• Why Failed States Are Not the Real Threat – Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek 19 July 2010
• The Real U.S. Government – Glenn Greenwald | Salon.com 19 July 2010
• Omar Khadr Accepts US Military Lawyer for Forthcoming Trial by Military Commission | Andy Worthington 19 July 2010
• Report: Netanyahu Bragged of Disregarding Oslo and Implementing Terror Strategy | Little Alex in Wonderland 19 July 2010
• Clinton, in Pakistan, Discusses Nuclear Program and Al Qaeda | NY Times 19 July 2010
• Editorial: Forbidden in Russia | NY Times 19 July 2010
• Top Secret America | WaPo 19 July 2010

Filed under: Daily Briefing Tagged: Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, Andy Worthington, Bhopal, BP, class war, covert operations, Danny Schechter, dirty bombs, domestic surveillance, Failed States, Fareed Zakaria, FinReg, Glenn Greenwald, Guantanamo Bay, Gulf oil spill, Hillary Clinton, Hopes and Prospects, illegal immigration, Iran, Jeff Stein, JeM, Joe Biden, Johann Hari, media, Mexico, Muhammed Abdullah Gul, Nancy Pelosi, Netanyahu, Noam Chomsky, Omar Khadr, Oslo Accords, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sudan, torture, Turkey, UN, USAID, Vandana Shiva, Wall Street

The controversial article which led to today’s resignation by the top commander in Afghanistan and David Petraeus as his replacement is discussed as if it was a celebrity gossip column. It actually makes the substantive case that the occupation of Afghanistan is regressively destructive.

Continue reading at Little Alex in Wonderland …

News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire:

[No briefing yesterday because General David Petraeus, commander of CENTCOM, was speaking to The Council and we were both in attendance there and other networking events.]

• Why the U.S. Should Welcome the Nuclear Deal with Iran | Stephen M. Walt 19 May 2010
• Law & Order: Corporate Crime Unit – Amy Goodman | Truthdig 19 May 2010
• South Korea to officially blame North Korea for March torpedo attack on warship | WaPo 19 May 2010
• France to fine women who don full-face Islamic veils in public | WaPo 19 May 2010
• India’s 3G mobile auction raises $15bn | BBC 19 May 2010
• Time to Speak up on Military Abuse in Mexico – José Miguel Vivanco | Human Rights Watch 19 May 2010
• Special Place in Hell / Rebranding Israel as a state headed for fascism – Bradley Burston | Haaretz 19 May 2010
• Mubarak: Terror to spread if Israel continues stalling peace talks | Haaretz 19 May 2010
• Bahrain blocks Al Jazeera team | AJ English 19 May 2010
• Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash | Bloomberg.com 19 May 2010
• 11 Signs That The U.S. Government Has Become An Overgrown Monstrosity That Almost Every American Is Dependent Upon For Economic Survival 19 May 2010
• Lenders Agree to Prop Up Ailing ShoreBank | FOXBusiness.com 19 May 2010
• Zimbabwe’s 700,000 victims of forced eviction still ignored five years on | Amnesty International 19 May 2010
• Pakistani Site: Drones Only Killed One Terrorist in 2010 (If You Don’t Count Taliban) – Noah Shachtman | Wired.com 19 May 2010
• Copyright Lawsuits Plummet in Aftermath of RIAA Campaign – David Kravets | Wired.com 19 May 2010
• Venezuela to Set Currency Trading Band, Merentes Says | BusinessWeek 19 May 2010
• Greek Bonds Rise After European Union Transfers $18 Billion | BusinessWeek 19 May 2010
• Goldman Sachs Seeks Bigger Share of 401(k) Accounts | BusinessWeek 19 May 2010
• U.S. pressure on Pakistan may risk terrorist backlash | McClatchy 19 May 2010
• Times Square suspect due in court after top lawyer objects | Raw Story 19 May 2010
• Pakistan orders Facebook blocked over Mohammed caricature competition | Raw Story 19 May 2010
• Putin Woos Former Republics as Russia Competes With BRIC Peers | BusinessWeek 19 May 2010
• Indian Cabinet torn over sending fighter planes after the Maoist rebels | Times Online 19 May 2010
• Meet Barack Obama’s Favorite Mutual Fund Managers | TBI 19 May 2010
• US Sanctions Announcement Irks Brazil, Turkey | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Drones and Democracy – Kathy Kelly | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Bill for Afghan War Could Run Into the Trillions – Eli Clifton | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Not Another War, Mr. President! – Justin Raimondo | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Rigi: US, Israel paid for assassination | Press TV 19 May 2010
• Thai Protest Leaders Surrender: Army Calls Them Terrorists | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Lethal Force – Charles “Rad Geek” Johnson | Little Alex in Wonderland 19 May 2010
• Judge Orders Release from Guantánamo of Russian Caught in Abu Zubaydah’s Web | Andy Worthington 19 May 2010
• Guantanamo for paedophiles | The Economist 19 May 2010
• Review Cites Flaws in U.S. Antimissile Program | NY Times 19 May 2010
• NATO Urged to Look Beyond Borders | NY Times 19 May 2010
• A Generation Gap Over Immigration | NY Times 19 May 2010
• Insurgents Attack Bagram Air Base | NY Times 19 May 2010
• National security adviser, CIA director to travel to Pakistan | WaPo 19 May 2010
• ‘Sexually dangerous’ inmates can be held indefinitely, Supreme Court rules | WaPo 19 May 2010
• Holdings of US debt rise again | China Daily 19 May 2010
• CACI wins military contract worth up to $1.B billion | BusinessWeek 19 May 2010
• Despite Nuclear Deal, US Sends Sanctions Draft to UN | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• US answer to Iran nuclear swap: Overnight deal on sanctions | CSMonitor.com 19 May 2010
• Decades Later: UN Still Pressing Iraq on WMDs | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Israel Demands Europe Stop Citizens From Gaza Aid Trip | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• President Petraeus? by Kelley B. Vlahos | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Iran’s Uranium Stockpile: A Detailed Analysis – Jason Ditz | Antiwar.com 19 May 2010
• Open Letter to Paul Krugman | Cafe Hayek 18 May 2010
• Noam Chomsky to give Birzeit lecture by video from Amman | Haaretz 17 May 2010
• Planet Chomsky Vs. Dershowitzs Orbit | Gilad Atzmon 17 May 2010
• DIA and the Black Jail at Bagram – Scott Horton | Harper’s Magazine 17 May 2010
• A Road Map to Peace in Afghanistan: Karzai’s Plan to Negotiate with the Taliban | SPIEGEL ONLINE 17 May 2010
• Oil Sands Riskier than Gulf Spill, Say Investor Groups Matthew Berger | IPS 17 May 2010
• Squatters’ movement building in San Francisco | Infoshop News 17 May 2010
• Shahzad and U.S. Foreign Policy – Jacob Hornberger | MWC 17 May 2010
• Baghdad to enclose city with 15ft wall to keep suicide bombers out | Times Online 17 May 2010
• Students, Parents Allowed to View Webcam Scandal Photos – David Kravets | Wired.com 17 May 2010
• FBI’s Pistole Is Obama Pick for Transportation Security Agency | BusinessWeek 17 May 2010
• Afghan report links president’s brother to illegal land grabs | McClatchy 17 May 2010
• Lawyer: Video proves murder of 7-year-old by Detroit police was ‘not an accident’ | Raw Story 17 May 2010
• Goldman Revises Gold Forecast, Now Constructive, As It Sells Gold To Clients | zero hedge 17 May 2010
• Israel warns against Gaza flotilla | AJ English 17 May 2010
• Iraqi Court Rules in Favor of Barred Candidates | NY Times 17 May 2010
• Uranium Deal Further Ridicules Arguments for Sanctioning Iran | Little Alex in Wonderland 17 May 2010

Filed under: Daily Briefing Tagged: 3g, Abdolmalek Rigi, Abu Zubaydah, Afghanistan, airstrikes, Al Jazeera, Alan Dershowitz, Amnesty International, Amy Goodman, Andy Worthington, Bahrain, banking, black jails, BP, Brazil, BRIC, broadband, CACI, Charles johnson, China, CIA, copyright lawsuits, corporatism, David Kravets, David Petraeus, DIA, DPRK, drones, economic sanctions, Egypt, Eli Clifton, Faisal Shahzad, FBI, Gaza, Gaza blockade, Goldman Sachs, Greece, Guantanamo Bay, Gulf oil spill, Hamid Karzai, Hosni Mubarak, human rights, immigration, indefinite detention, India, infrastructure, intellectual property, Iraq, Israel, Jason Ditz, Joe Biden, Jundallah, Justin Raimondo, Kashmir, Kathy Kelly, Leon Panetta, limited liability, Mexico, military industrial complex, munipcal bonds, NATO, Noam Chomsky, North Korea, NSA, Obama, Obama Administration, Pakistan, Paul Krugman, police brutality, privacy, public opinion, Rad Geek, Red Shirts, RIAA, Russia, San Fransisco, ShoreBank, South Korea, squatter movement, Stephen Walt, terrorism, Thai protests, Thailand, Times Square bomb, Turkey, UN, US debt, Venzuela, Vladmir Putin, WMDs, Zimbabwe

Quoteth the New York Times:

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told Iraqi leaders on Friday that he and President Obama were committed to helping them resolve their political differences, but he warned that the United States would be unlikely to remain engaged in Iraq if the country reverted to sectarian violence, American officials said.

First of all, I doubt this is true. Even if the American public would not tolerate another over internvetion in the case of possible secession, I have no doubt that the Obama administration would pick sides and try to throw money and guns at whoever is promising to keep Iraq whole.

But besides that – what kind of message does Joe Biden think he's sending, exactly? I assume he intended it towards Malaki and his parochial interests, but it sounds like something that would please the Sunnis and Kurds (and even Malaki's rivals among the Shiites, like Ayad Alawai).

The reason I think that Joe Biden's promise of nonintervention is hollow is that the secession of the Kurds – who would likely be the first to split if the US declared a hands-off approach – would greatly offend US ally Turkey, which is doing everything it can to keep hold on to its own restive Kurdish region. The US would lose a rare friend in the Middle East, and Europe might lose the opportunity to break Russia's monopoly on transiting natural gas from the Caspian Sea with the Nabucco pipeline (though admittedly the Russians have already all but killed the deal).

I imagine that the inspiration for Joe Biden's remarks are his own personal convictions – back in 2006, when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his play for Iraq was to split it up into three autonomous regions loosely bound into one nation. That was probably the most intelligent thing I'd ever heard Biden say, though I wish he'd gone further and called for three totally independent states, Turkey be damned.