War Pimp Monday

Always ready to spread Bush administration propaganda especially as the (already fiddled) US troops KIA figure reaches 4,000 (as opposed to over 1 million Iraqis, that’s at least a ratio of 250 to 1 as Nezua says-I don’t personally feel 4,000 Americans’ lives—ones who chose to make the military their business—are somehow more worth my sorrow than the same, or ten or one hundred times that many Iraqi lives. And I think its ugly that we only count and seem to care about our own. It’s right in line with our general talk and stance and will to war and national exceptionalism, but it’s ugly. And this skewed view of human worth is part and parcel of the mechanisms that allow us to do these things in the first place.). The (politically) ambitious General says-

Gen David Petraeus told the BBC he thought Tehran had trained, equipped and funded insurgents who fired the barrage of mortars and rockets.

Also read Yoshie’s post, US Declares War on Iran–

Washington is now making the most ruthless use of its dollar hegemony against Iran. It just declared war on the entirety of Iran’s banking system and will blackmail China, Europe, Japan, et al. to cut off Iran financially.

(1) the March 20 advisory [of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a unit within the US Treasury Department] represents a US declaration of war by sanctions on Iran and a sanctions threat to the international banking community, (2) the US has various unilateral financial sanctions measures at its command in the form of executive orders and Patriot Act Section 311 and (3) the BDA-North Korea sanctions were, at least in retrospect, a test run for Iran.

As Taser Use Increases The RCMP Redact Details

I think maybe authoritarians think of Tasers as like remote controls… for humans. And as their use rolls out across the world by uniformed goons everywhere such lack of transparency is a big red FLAG! Our own trials here at the four month stage lack many specifics, something that should be remedied (*begins researching FOI procedure*). There is much more to the below article and it is worth reading in full (full version below the fold or click link), this is not how a police service should act in a democracy-

A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC found the Mounties are now refusing to divulge key information that must be recorded each time they draw their electronic weapons. As a result, Canadians will know much less about who is being hit with the 50,000-volt guns, whether they were armed, why they were fired on and whether they were injured. Taser report forms obtained under the Access to Information Act show the Mounties have used the powerful weapons more than 4,000 times since introducing them seven years ago.

Information stripped from the forms includes details of several Taser cases the Mounties previously made public under the access law. In effect, the RCMP is reclassifying details of Taser use – including some telling facts that raised pointed questions about how often the stun guns are fired and why.

A Canadian Press analysis last November of 563 incidents between 2002 and 2005 found three in four suspects Tasered by the RCMP were unarmed. Several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use as a handy tool to keep drunk or rowdy suspects in line, rather than to defuse major threats. But the Mounties are now censoring Taser report forms to conceal related injuries, duration of shocks, whether the individual was armed, what police tried before resorting to the stun gun, and precise dates of firings.

Getting Away With It

A long-awaited report into the Northern Rock crash by the main City watchdog is expected tomorrow to reject calls for an investigation of the bank’s directors and their conduct during the crisis that sparked the first bank run for 140 years.

The Financial Services Authority will admit it made a series of errors in its regulation of the Newcastle-based lender. It will also criticise Northern Rock executives for relying on international money markets to raise finance when warning signs of a credit squeeze were flashing.

But it will argue that implementing reforms should be given precedence over looking into past events at the bank. An Enron-style investigation into whether Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth had inside information when he cashed in more than £1m of shares last year is also expected to be ruled out.

Like the Iraq war I think the message our elites are sending us here is as long as it happened in the past, you can and should be allowed to get away with it. Now as time on the whole moves in a uniform forward type way this means…well shit do anything you like. Or…it’s a cry for vigilantism to punish these scoflaws. Either way it’s frightfully uncivilised.

The Peacemaker

Naj was pretty optimistic yesterday and she lays out a very reasoned post on how the US is losing juice in the Middle East region and if it were sensible should engage in constructive diplomatic relations with Iran-

To consider Iran’s economic weight, makes one realize the fear the “real hegemons” feel about Iran’s ENTIRE independence from oil revenue. The urge to stop Iran’s nuclear activities is not because of fear of its military strike against Israel. But about inability of the old powers in holding Iran by the traditional oil leash. An India or China in the heart of the Middle East? That will set a dangerous inspirational example, would it not?

Alienating Iran is no longer a viable political or economic reality! Iran’s not been coercing its neighbors by military threats, she’s been cooing them by economic and cultural consensus. To make an enemy of Iran serves no geopolitical purpose. Iraq’s history has proven that; and I would be surprised if there are dumb enough politicians in the world (minus Bush, Sarkozy, McCain, Clinton and Bin Laden) who want to risk the foreseeable outcome of engaging Iran in any hostile way.

Chris Floyd tonight though seeks to rain on that parade with recent news, saying-

On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council — the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle — is preparing “national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts’ warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactors,” one of the kingdom’s leading newspapers, Okaz, reports. The German-based dpa news service relayed the paper’s story.

Although if an attack were planned would this kind of detail be at large, is it more of the Bush administration’s version of diplomacy- thuggish threats put about through Cheney’s initiatives. Or is it Cheney pushing his preferred attack option, further backing Bush into a corner away from the establishment’s correct consensus- an attack would be catastrophic for the Empire.

Dick also had talks in Israel which regardless of what gets reported, usually only means trouble. I mean, Cheney spreading peace in Palestine? Hmmmmm.