I Confronted a Drone Pilot [video included]
by Aaron Dykes
Activist Post
May 8, 2013
Who flies the drones America uses to take out military targets in foreign locales all over the globe? I had the chance to talk to an Air Force drone pilot operating out of Whiteman Air Force Base, and astonishingly, he admitted to me that he took part in strikes on wedding parties in Middle East & Asian countries said to harbor terrorists.
I confronted him with some of the troubling news that has emerged about the secret White House kill list and the apparent readiness to destroy the lives of innocent bystanders in pursuit of a target – women, children and elderly villagers who are all considered nothing more than “collateral damage.” Clearly, he didn’t want to hear it.
Did he, too, find these people dispensable? Did he share the cold rationale of our leaders that it is “worth it” to kill these civilians to target an enemy? I tried to find out when I saw him during a wedding I attended, all while I was deeply aware of the unsettling irony that the celebration we were attending was seen differently than the weddings, funerals and other gatherings that U.S. airstrikes have unofficially declared to be venues of war.
Horrifyingly, the use of airstrikes to kill rescue workers in a “double tap” when they come for the bodies of drone victims has been repeatedly documented, as well.
Perpetual wars spilling across many borders is now a foregone conclusion. The public pays it little mind. Drones take this even further, targeting individuals determined to be combatants – without a declaration of war against their country and without formal charges, allegations or complaints against those individuals.
Due process is effectively dead. The White House, the Pentagon, and the pilots who operate their predator drones have become judge, jury and executioner while the public isn’t even told who is on their kill list, or why.
Drones are coming home to roost, too. Estimates are that U.S. skies will see some 30,000 drones within the coming decade, and surveillance is not their only purpose. While they may not be equipped with missiles to target suspects, the use of tasers and other less-lethal weaponry for law enforcement and border security functions has already been proposed.
How far will things go? And how far removed will their operators be from the situation? Will they retain the judgement to know when things have gone too far? Or will the lives they hover over become mere blips on a screen?
Aaron Dykes is a co-founder of TruthstreamMedia.com where this article first appeared. As a writer, researcher and video producer who has worked on numerous documentaries and investigative reports, he uses history as a guide to decode current events, uncover obscure agendas and contrast them with the dignity afforded individuals as recognized in documents like the Bill of Rights.
VIDEO — Rio police heli opens fire in slum during drug baron car chase
Russia Today
May 8, 2013
A shocking video of Rio de Janeiro police in a helicopter firing on a moving car in a populous slum has sparked a probe. Footage emerged of the high-octane chase a year after it happened, raising concerns over the excessive use of police force – READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/alluai
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VIDEO — How to Watch the Sun [Official Trailer]
Suspicious0bservers
May 5, 2013
HOW TO WATCH THE SUN
Coming May 18th 2013 on YouTube
Stay tuned for More Details!
Original music by Nemes1s
http://Soundcloud.com/Nemes1s
Animations and Visual Effects by Xaviar Thunders [Check him out on YouTube]
3 Emiratis held over Tanzania church bombing: UAE’s Foreign Ministry
PressTV
May 8, 2013
Wounded churchgoers lie on the ground after an explosion at St. Joseph Mfanyakazi Roman Catholic Church in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha, on May 5, 2013.
The United Arab Emirates says three of its citizens are in custody over a recent bomb attack at a Roman Catholic church in northern Tanzania.
“We are following with interest the issue of the three citizens, who are being held in Tanzania,” the UAE Foreign Ministry said on its Twitter account on Wednesday.
It was not clear whether the three were additional suspects in Sunday’s attack or they were among four attackers originally identified as Saudis.
The attack occurred during the inaugural Mass of the St. Joseph Mfanyakazi Roman Catholic Church in the suburb of Olasti in the city of Arusha, with a predominantly Christian population.
According to Reuters, Tanzanian officials initially said four Saudis were being held after the attack, but the government later said they were “foreigners of Middle Eastern origin,” without mentioning their nationality.
According to reports on Tuesday, Saudi Ambassador to Tanzania Hani Abdallah Mo’menah said in Dar es Salaam that one Saudi and three Emiratis had been arrested.
“When the attack happened, the Saudi, his three Emirati friends and two Tanzanian friends happened to be where the explosion took place in Arusha,” he said.
Two people were killed and 60 others were wounded in the bombing, which Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete called an “act of terrorism.”
The Vatican’s ambassador to Tanzania and the archbishop of Arusha were attending the ceremony, but escaped unharmed.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Tanzania has a precedent for similar attacks that have targeted both Muslims and Christians.
NT/MHB
VIDEO — French Whine: Crowds flood Paris to decry Hollande
Russia Today
May 6, 2013
Angry crowds have flooded the streets of Paris piling the pressure on the French president, exactly a year after he was elected. Tens of thousands gathered to denounce Francois Hollande’s austerity drive. According to opinion polls, he’s now the most unpopular French leader for decades at a time of record unemployment and a shrinking economy – READ MORE http://on.rt.com/6i5e4j
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Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP): Corporate Power-Tool Of The 1%
by Nile Bowie
NileBowie.blogspot.ca
April 2, 2013
One of the least discussed and least reported issues is the Obama administration’s effort to bring the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to the forefront, an oppressive plurilateral US-led free trade agreement currently being negotiated with several Pacific Rim countries. Six hundred US corporate advisors have negotiated and had input into the TPP, and the proposed draft text has not been made available to the public, the press or policymakers. The level of secrecy surrounding the agreements is unparalleled – paramilitary teams scatter outside the premise of each round of discussions while helicopters loom overhead – media outlets impose a near-total blackout of reportage on the subject and US Senator Ron Wyden, the Chair of the Congressional Committee with jurisdiction over TPP, was denied access to the negotiation texts. “The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PhaRMA, Comcast and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement,” said Wyden, in a floor statement to Congress.
In addition to the United States, the countries participating in the negotiations include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Japan has expressed its desire to become a negotiating partner, but not yet joined negotiation, partly due to public pressure to steer-clear. The TPP would impose punishing regulations that give multinational corporations unprecedented rights to demand taxpayer compensation for policies they think will undermine their expected future profits straight from the treasuries of participating nations – it would push the agenda of Big PhaRMA in the developing world to impose longer monopoly controls on drugs, drastically limiting access to affordable generic medications that people depend on. The TPP would undermine food safety by limiting labeling and forcing countries like the United States to import food that fails to meet its national safety standards, in addition to banning Buy America or Buy Local preferences.
In the private investor-state that the TPP is attempting to establish, foreign corporations can sue national governments, submitting signatory countries to the jurisdiction of investor arbitral tribunals, staffed by private sector attorneys. International tribunals could have authority to order governments to pay unlimited cash compensation out of national treasuries to foreign corporations and investors if new or existing government policy hinders investors’ expected future profits. The domestic taxpayer in each signatory country must shoulder any compensation paid to private investors and foreign corporations, in addition to large hourly fees for tribunals and legal costs. A good example of how this agreement neuters national sovereignty comes from Malaysia, which was able to recover from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis more quickly than its neighbors by introducing a series of capital control measures on the Malaysian ringgit to prevent external speculation – the TPP’s proposed measures would restrict signatory nations from exercising capital controls to prevent and mitigate financial crises and promote financial stability.
Of the 26 chapters of the proposed TPP draft text, it is reported that only two chapters cover trade issues, related to slashing tariffs and lifting quotas. The TPP would obligate the federal government to force US states to conform state laws to over a thousand pages of detailed stipulations and constraints unrelated to trade – from land use to intellectual property rights – authorizing the federal authorities to use all possible means to coax states to comply with TPP rules, even by imposing sanctions if they fail to do so. According to leaked documents, US standards for property rights protection would be swept away in favor of international property rights standards, as interpreted by TPP’s unelected international tribunals, giving investors principal control over public land and resources “that are not for the exclusive or predominant use and benefit of the government.”
This article appeared on Counterpunch.
Nile Bowie is an independent political analyst and photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com
VIDEO — Sibel Edmonds on the Boston Bombing: The US roots of “Chechen” terrorism
The Eyeopener Report with James Corbett
April 23, 2013
FBI whistleblower and BoilingFrogsPost.com editor Sibel Edmonds joins us to discuss the recent Boston bombing hysteria and the potential geopolitical implications of the American public’s “discovery” of Chechen terror. We discuss Sibel’s work exposing the US/NATO roots of so-called Chechen terrorism, and what the FSB’s involvement in this twisted tale might mean in terms of future Russian-US relations.
SHOW NOTES AND MP3: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=7316
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