Dissent Mag

by Justin Raimondo

The shooting has already started in the Persian Gulf – and chances are we’ll be at war with Iran before President Bush’s term is up. An American ship under contract with the U.S. Navy – the Western Venture – claims it was in international waters when Iranian speedboats approached and failed to answer radio calls. Shots were fired on the American side.

Note - video “”Hostile” Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan” and “False Flag attack on Iran possible - Frm. Senator Gary Hart” below the article

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By Michael Hudson

01 May, 2008
Counterpunch

Against the recommendations of most economists and even the Financial Times of London, the Federal Reserve Board yesterday cut its discount rate by yet another quarter-point, to just 2%. Ostensibly, the intention is to try and spur economic “recovery” – as if a cut in the interest rates would do this. At first glance this seems to reflect the Fed’s ideology that manipulating the interest alone can expand or contract the economy – as if it is like a balloon, with its structure is pre-printed on it, to be inflated or deflated at will to control the level of activity.

Note video - “The Ultimate American Dollar Collapse” below the article

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By Claire Hope Cummings, Beacon Press. Posted May 2, 2008.

Taking a technological approach to agriculture has put the future of the world’s food supply in jeopardy.
The following excerpt is reprinted from Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds by Claire Hope Cummings. Copyright © 2008 by Claire Hope Cummings. By permission of Beacon Press.

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RAND’s New Doomsday Monograph
The Return of Limited Nuclear War?

By DAVID ISENBERG

Recent news has brought nuclear weapons back into the political picture, just as a new report suggests that the United States will have difficulty denying nuclear weapons to regional powers that seek them.

Sen. Hillary Clinton recently confirmed that as president she would be willing to use nuclear weapons against Iran if it were to launch a nuclear attack against Israel. In an interview Mrs. Clinton affirmed that she would warn Iran’s leaders that “their use of nuclear weapons against Israel would provoke a nuclear response from the United States.”

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by Justin Raimondo

The War Party has a reliable strategy when faced with a rising political figure who threatens their monopoly on American politics, one that is time-tested and invariably successful: when all else fails, they bring out the Smear Bund.

This is a term coined by John T. Flynn, I believe, in the run-up to the outbreak of the Second World War: it gives a name to his thesis that a number of pro-war groups had coordinated a campaign to smear and destroy the anti-interventionist America First Committee. Flynn started out his pamphlet, The Smear Terror, with this admonition: “Would you believe that there are in this country several outfits that specialize in the destruction of reputations?”

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Published on Thursday, May 1, 2008 by The Council on Hemispheric Affairs

by Ashley Powda

The Growing Debate on who will Control the World’s Water Supply

The current 1.1 billion people worldwide without access to potable water only opens one of the smaller windows on the injustices and the multiple casualties being wrought by private water-related industries. In fact, many are clueless to the magnitude of the victims — present and projected — of the growing water crisis as well as to the inhumane implications of the role of the private sector in regards to treating water as a commodity that can be owned and sold for profit. As of now, 2.6 billion people are at high risk for not having access to potable and an additional 1.8 million children die each year from water-related diseases.

Note - video “The Corporation - Expansion Plan (Water Monopoly)” below the article

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By Peter Symonds

01 May, 2008
WSWS.org

During a press conference on Tuesday, US President George Bush spelled out the threat to Iran contained in last week’s release of CIA intelligence on an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor. As well as warning Syria and North Korea, which purportedly helped construct the building, he declared that the US was “sending a message to Iran, and the world for that matter, about just how destabilising a nuclear proliferation would be in the Middle East”.

Note video - “Blix says Iran situation reminiscent of Iraq - 27 Oct 07″ below the article

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