Let’s Call It…A Police Action

U.S. trainers will travel to Pakistan this year to teach military officials counterinsurgency techniques to aid soldiers along the Afghan border in the fight against al-Qaida and Taliban militants, U.S. officials said Sunday.

Mission Accomplished

(Above via Graham Linehan a Ted Rall cartoon. Below see People’s Geography)

The peace talks have now been sabotaged by Israel as even Abbas will not take the slaughter directed at Palestine and stay on message.

Mahmoud Abbas has formally suspended all contact with Israel over its continuing five-day offensive on Gaza that has killed more than 100 Palestinians.

I get the feeling we are seeing something unfold that was planned some time ago by neocons/zionists. I’m feeling blind-sided and worse is to come.

Update: From Korova–

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet Monday with legal experts in the military and government to examine whether the Israel Defense Forces can legally target populated areas from which Qassam rockets are being fired at the western Negev.

And he asks is this about ethnic cleansing and/or creating the conditions for an attack on Iran. Like they say in the movies, I have a bad feeling about this.

PS. Also see this on the Welch Club by Franklin Lamb-

A stunning blond woman, ‘Rena’ who seemed more European than Arab and appeared to be some sort of military expert explained as though she was a Pentagon spokesperson:

“The US Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group based in Naples, Italy arrived in the 6th Fleet’s operational area three days ago. They may join the Cole and we are expecting eventually six ships. The Cole was re-commissioned in April 2002 and had its first post-attack deployment in November 2003.”

As this observer’s eyes widened, Rena continued:

“We are watching their movements carefully. Besides the Nassau, the group includes a guided missile cruiser, two guided missile destroyers and two additional amphibious ships. The amphibious ships can carry thousands of Marines and can land on Lebanon’s shores at almost any point along 120 kilometers.”

Glorious Victories Of Worshipful Privatisation

Households face an inflation-busting rise in their water bills, the industry regulator Ofwat has said. From April, charges will rise by an average of 5.8 per cent across England and Wales. This will take the average annual household water bill to £330.

The regulator justified the hike by saying that extra cash was needed to fund improvements in supply and leak-prevention: “Any bill increases are going to be unwelcome, but these are essential to enable companies to continue to provide secure, high-quality water and sewerage services, both now and for future generations.”Some parts of the country will be hit harder than others. For example, customers of Southern Water and Wessex Water will see their bills rise by 7 per cent – more than three times the current rate of inflation.

Or y’know use some of the huge profits {Water firms make £2bn profit as drought hits UK} to pay for the infrastructure maintenance (I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to use foul language, I don’t know what came over me. May the Holy Spirit of the Church of the Free Market cleanse me of such impure thoughts).

Thousands of hospital operations are being called off because surgical instruments are dirty, missing or broken. In some cases anaesthetised patients have been woken up and returned to the ward, says the organisation representing many of Britain’s senior surgeons. Problems have emerged since hospitals began outsourcing sending surgical instruments such as scalpels, forceps and microscopes to be sterilised at new cleaning centres.

All hospitals used to clean their surgical equipment on the premises. But fears over hospital superbugs, the possible spread of variant CJD, the human form of mad cow disease, and growing commercialisation in the NHS means about a quarter of hospitals have now contracted out the process to outside firms, and others are planning to follow suit.

Here endeth the lesson.
Amen.

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner

Much of the reporting of this is hysterical and biased towards western military concerns and the Imperial (quagmire’s) health, this is a better account-

The arrival today of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iraq for a visit at the invitation of Premier Nuri Al-Maliki is being widely publicized, in stark contrast to the secrecy surrounding the arrival of President Bush and senior administration members whenever they descend on the country to view their handiwork. 

And it points out this wouldn’t be happening without the US, so the grandstanding by Bush is pure political theatre and as unintentionally blackly funny as ever-

Bush said his message for Ahmadinejad was “stop exporting terror.”

He really is too funny.