There was something suspicious about the official triumphalism behind the announcement of the capture of the "Taliban's No 2", Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Karachi earlier this week in a "joint CIA and Pakistan intelligence operation". Now suspicions are growing across the region that this may have been one of the biggest double-crosses at a high level in the long and tangled wars afflicting Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Israeli Air Force has introduced a fleet of pilotless aircraft that can stay in the air for nearly a day and fly as far as the Gulf.

The Eitan drones, which have a wingspan of 86ft (26m), are the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets.

They can reach an altitude of more than 40,000ft (12,000m) and fly for more than 20 consecutive hours.

If someone flew an airplane into a building full of people to protest the Afghan war, it would be called a terrorist incident. However, when Mr. Joe Stack flew his plane into an IRS building and killed people, the news media calls it "the accident," and "the incident." The local Texas prosecutor and even the White House claimed specifically that Mr. Stack was not a terrorist.

The chief of Russia's General Staff, Nikolai Makarov, has warned the US against striking Iran over the country's nuclear program. It appears that the World's attention is again focused on if or when the United States (policeman of the World) is going to engage in military operations against the Islamist Republic. Hillary Clinton recently rattled sabers again when she demanded that Iran stop enriching uranium. Let's take a closer look at that demand and why she had no justification to demand anything of the Iranian government.

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before

 

ANTHONY ACKROYD

For a hard-working comedian, hearing someone else ripping off your material is no laughing matter - and the internet doesn't help, writes Anthony Ackroyd.

from Crikey .....

Garrett fingered over dodgy solar panels, but story 'a beat up'

from the ABC

The BBC has been accused of having a "total sense of humour failure" after banning its political editor, Nick Robinson, and other senior journalists such as Huw Edwards and George Alagiah from taking part in one of the corporation's own entertainment television programmes.

Goldman Sachs is heading for further public opprobrium today following claims that the firm managed $15 billion worth of bond sales for Greece after arranging a currency swap that allowed the government to hide the extent of its budget deficit.

No American leader has done more to advance a clean energy future than President Obama. Nor has any American president done more to invoke a mandate for stricter workplace safety and environmental regulations.

And yet, ever since President Obama first visited my native southern Illinois coalfields in 1997 on a golf outing with a fellow state legislator, he has seemingly failed to grasp the staggering human and environmental toll of coal mining and coal burning on our coalfield communities-and ultimately, the nation.

From Robert Fisk

from John Pilger

Why are so many films so bad? This year's Oscar nominations are a parade of propaganda, stereotypes and downright dishonesty. The dominant theme is as old as Hollywood: America's divine right to invade other societies, steal their history and occupy our memory. When will directors and writers behave like artists and not pimps for a world view devoted to control and destruction?

read more of John Pilger...

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from Crikey .....

Partisan teen becomes conservative idol -- and other Q&A mysteries

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Let me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you're not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.

Abbott remarks draw Salvos' fire

The Salvation Army says it is worried by comments by Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that homelessness can be a choice for some people.

Mr Abbott made the comments to a meeting of social service providers last week.

Major David Eldridge from the Salvation Army says he hopes Mr Abbott was not trying to politicise the issue.