Afghan government warns US over 'one-sided' airstrike that killed 18

The Afghan government has hit out at the US for failing to consult with local forces ahead of an airstrike that killed 18 civilians, suggesting future such raids would be viewed as a breach of its pact with Washington.

An investigation into Wednesday's night-time raid found that it was the result of "a one-sided decision, and not co-ordinated with Afghan security forces", President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Aimal Faiz said.

He went on to suggest that a repeat of the unilateral strike would be seen as a violation of a pact between the two countries over who takes the lead in "special operations" in the country.

Signed in April, the agreement puts the Afghan government in charge of such manoeuvres – a move designed to resolve some of the longstanding tensions between the two countries.

The fallout from the deadly strike – alongside news Saturday that four French soldiers in Afghanistan were killed by a suicide bomber wearing a burqa – have reaffirmed fears that Nato's exit strategy will be far from orderly.

As part of the transition of power, more agreements are expected to be signed handing responsibility for security matters to Afghan forces.

But investigators looking into the circumstances surrounding the latest loss of civilian life in an airborne attack concluded that the call was made by US authorities alone.

Wednesday's raid took place at a village in the Logar province in which militants were believed to be hiding.

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ATF Seizes 25 Guns From Collector & Won't Return Them!

It’s been nearly seven years since 58-year-old auto mechanic and gun collector David Bord made a purchase that has caused him no end of grief: a Hatton Industries machine gun, which he got at the Armory, a gun store near Annapolis, in exchange for 10 pistols and $10,000. What Bord didn’t learn until almost three years later—in spring 2008, when agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) visited him—was that the gun was suspected of being part of an allegedly fraudulent gun-registration ring based in Arizona.

In December 2009, as a result of an ATF tip involving Bord’s purchase at the Armory, Baltimore County police raided Bord’s home and business and seized a large part of his gun collection. Bord says they took 25 firearms worth $250,000, nearly all of them 35 to 50 years old, based on a faulty warrant, and that the guns are now in ATF’s possession.

“They said the guns weren’t registered with Maryland or the [United States],” Bord says of the Baltimore County police who took his guns, “but every single one of the guns is—I showed them the paperwork. They know everything is legal, and they still refuse to return them. Every single one of them is legal and registered, but the idiots still won’t back down.”

Bord’s ongoing efforts to have the guns returned to him include a lawsuit against Baltimore County, which is scheduled for trial in September, having survived the county’s attempt last year to have it dismissed.

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Collapse At Hand

Paul Craig Roberts

Ever since the beginning of the financial crisis and Quantitative Easing, the question has been before us:  How can the Federal Reserve maintain zero interest rates for banks and negative real interest rates for savers and bond holders when the US government is adding $1.5 trillion to the national debt every year via its budget deficits? 

Not long ago, the Fed announced that it was going to continue this policy for another 2 or 3 years. Indeed, the Fed is locked into the policy. Without the artificially low interest rates, the debt service on the national debt would be so large that it would raise questions about the US Treasury’s credit rating and the viability of the dollar, and the trillions of dollars in Interest Rate Swaps and other derivatives would come unglued.

In other words, financial deregulation leading to Wall Street’s gambles, the US government’s decision to bail out the banks and to keep them afloat, and the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy have put the economic future of the US and its currency in an untenable and dangerous position.  It will not be possible to continue to flood the bond markets with $1.5 trillion in new issues each year when the interest rate on the bonds is less than the rate of inflation. Everyone who purchases a Treasury bond is purchasing a depreciating asset. Moreover, the capital risk of investing in Treasuries is very high. The low interest rate means that the price paid for the bond is very high. A rise in interest rates, which must come sooner or later, will collapse the price of the bonds and inflict capital losses on bond holders, both domestic and foreign.

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UFO or Meteor: Military Blocking Site

GhostTheory reader JP sent us this interesting piece of information from a Swedish newspaper in which they interview the “Baltic UFO” search team. According to this piece, there is a U.S. and Russian military exercise restricting them from entering the area where this anomalous “structure” was found at the bottom of the sea.

You might recall the breaking news last year when the team released sonar images of a strange structure at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Earlier this month, the team announce a second expedition to the secret site in order to gather more information on what lies beneath the dark waters.

What’s strange is that all this time, the team has kept the location a secret and now there seems to be military interference in the zone.

Here is a google translation from the article:

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Acceleration Of Financial Meltdown Can't Be Stopped / From International Banker Friend

The Iron boot has been firmly planted to the pedal of this runaway tractor trailer that is heading off the cliff. All of the Euro banks including my former associates at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)  are all prepped and ready for the Euro collapse. What we in the inside are calling "Spanish Flue" is now running hot with temperatures that are setting ten year yields sky high. What many do not realize is that Bankia's demise has started a breach in all the firewalls and safety measures that are in place in the Eurozone. This had an immediate effect on the Italian markets as you can now see the pandemonium that is there.

We keep hearing reports of massive bank runs that are occurring across many of the PIIGS but is not just limited to them. As I stated many times the UK and France are the most vulnerable to the Eurozone collapse, many of their populace are cashing out of their equities though there is a massive media blackout about this. European contacts report that there is a flight to German bonds, UK and a mass migration to the US dollar. But these currency life preserver jumps will not help as the contagion in all FIAT markets are affected. It is a game of hot potato that the investors are playing, jumping from one asset to the next and again before the one that they just jumped to burns. A juggling act with fire that cannot be quenched. Gold jumped over $40, it is telling us something.

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Conspiracy theorists join the world's elite

There are things going on at the Bilderberg conference in Virginia today that most of us will never learn about, such as who among the attendees got the sole presidential suite at the host hotel, a faux Georgian Marriott?

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WORLD BANK BOSS: We're Headed For "Impending Catastrophe" -- "A Rerun Of Great Panic Of 2008"

The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, is about to step down after a 5-year term.

That means he can say what he really thinks.

Here, via the Daily Mail, is what he really thinks about what's going on in Europe and the global financial markets:

• financial markets face a rerun of the Great Panic of 2008.

• It's ‘far from clear that eurozone leaders have steeled themselves’ for the looming  catastrophe amid fears of a Greek exit from the single currency and meltdown in Spain.

• ‘Events in Greece could trigger financial fright in Spain, Italy and across the eurozone. The summer of 2012 offers an eerie echo of 2008.... ‘If Greece leaves the eurozone, the contagion is impossible to predict, just as Lehman had unexpected consequences.’

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/world-bank-boss-impending-catastrophe-a-rerun-of-great-panic-of-2008-2012-6#ixzz1wfNjsENR

American Woman

One of the most misinterpreted songs ever, the lyrics were a scathing commentary on America's imperialistic attitude at the time of the Vietnam War. The song could also be looked upon as a commentary on the US's current war policies in Afghanistan!

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Could We Trust Killer Robots?

By TARA MCKELVEY

Northrup Grunmman

The X-47B, the Navy's prototype for an unmanned strike plane. The aircraft may eventually be able to set off on a flight plan, identify targets and fire weapons.

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Provocateurs Entrap Patsies as NATO War Council Plans Mass Murder

On Saturday Chicago police arrested three patsies “accused of making Molotov cocktails” and who were “planning to attack President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and other targets during this weekend’s NATO summit,” according to prosecutors.

Brian Church, Vincent Betterly and Jared Chase are charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism.

The incident follows a familiar pattern. According to defense attorneys, police agents provocateurs are responsible for the Molotov cocktails and the arrests were timed to discredit protests against the NATO war council held this weekend in Chicago.

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WORLD PREMIERE TOUR - 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out Final Edition

Join us in one of 30 cities near you on this tour, which begins in San Diego, CA, and covers 24 states from coast to coast.

Purchase Premiere Tickets NOW at ExpertsSpeakOut.eventbrite.com Watch/Download the Film online Starting 5/21/12 at 911ExpertsSpeakOut.org Order the cased DVD NOW – ships 5/29/12

The official “Opening Night” of the tour will be in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hills Music Hall Theater on May 22. Famed actor Ed Asner, the star of our previous short-film hit, Architects & Engineers – Solving the Mystery of WTC 7, will join Gage at the kickoff Press Conference at 7pm, and will introduce the movie, which starts shortly thereafter.

We will also be joined at the “Opening Night” premiere by veteran Hollywood actors John Heard and Judd Nelson. In addition, high-rise architect Robert McCoy, one of the respected building professionals featured in Experts Speak Out, will be in attendance.

The Beverly Hills Music Hall provides the perfect backdrop for the announcement to the world of this daring documentary which directly challenges our government’s myth of what happened on 9/11 with the credibility of 1,700 architects and engineers

A variety of special guests will appear with Gage at other premiere locations across the country, including experts featured in the film, family members of 9/11 victims and prominent public figures who support 9/11 Truth. For example, mechanical engineer Tony Szamboti and 9/11 family member Bob McIlvaine, who made headlines with their explosive 9/11 interview on Fox News in 2010, will be attending the premiere screening in Philadelphia.

More special guests will be announced in the coming days as the remaining tour dates and locations are finalized, so stay tuned to the Upcoming Events page for the most up-to-date details.

The 95-minute Final Edition of Experts Speak Out is the result of over six months and hundreds of hours of editing and updating the pre-release version. The numerous improvements include:

• The addition of over 100 photos and dozens of compelling video clips that complement the experts’ explosive testimonies
• A gripping introduction that highlights the family members of 9/11 victims and their passionate calls for justice
• Hundreds of edits that eliminate unnecessary repetition and make the interviews more dynamic and engaging
• New filming techniques and refinements that dramatically increase the production quality and viewing experience
• A new musical score that adds depth to the film

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Pentagon researching 'narrative networks' as way to hijack the brain with false stories

If someone - or some government entity - were able to figure out the science behind what makes people violent, what do you suppose they would do with that knowledge? It's a legitimate question, because the Pentagon is trying to find out.

According to a recent report by the BBC, the Defense Department appears to be looking for a way to hijack the mind so it can implant false, but believable, stories - a sort of "like me" weapon, if you will.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA - the division responsible for all of the Defense Department's cutting-edge technology development - is said to be working on brand-new research that focuses on the neurobiology behind the political violence and, specifically, whether such violence can be mitigated before it even begins.

DARPA officials say the research is aimed at looking for ways to generate versions of events that would convince people not to support the enemy. The concept is called Narrative Networks, and in an official solicitation the agency says anyone who submits a proposal "to this effort will be expected to revolutionize the study of narratives and narrative influence by advancing narrative analysis and neuroscience so as to create new narrative influence sensors, doubling status quo capacity to forecast narrative influence."


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035872_Pentagon_narrative_networks_propaganda.html#ixzz1vMMxZqD3

Police Preemptively Raid Apartment & Arrest Activists Ahead of NATO Summit

Chicago police have reportedly engaged in a preemptive raid against activists that planned to protest the NATO summit. The raid is believed to have taken place late last night in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago.

The National Lawyers Guild reports:

…Police broke down a door to access a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one of the tenants a “Commie faggot.” A search warrant produced 4 hours after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge’s signature, according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone…

These kinds of raids are the “hallmark of National Special Security Event,” says Sarah Gelsomino of the NLG and People’s Law Office. Gelsomino is correct. In fact, Michael Ratner and Margaret Ratner Kunstler document the “new paradigm of law enforcement” that is preemptive policing in their book Hell No! Your Right to Dissent.

Kunstler and Ratner call it the domestic version of preemptive war. The doctrine of preemptive policing relies on:

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Ex-Financial Regulator William Black: Austerity is Sinking Economies from Europe to U.S.

Judge Blocks Portion of NDAA

A federal judge Wednesday issued an injunction against a National Defense Authorization Act provision that grants the military the right to detain anyone it suspects of involvement in terrorism. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in favor of a group of plaintiffs, including Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges, who filed a lawsuit against the legislation within weeks of President Obama signing it.

Hedges was joined in the suit by linguist, author and dissident Noam Chomsky, Pentagon whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg and other high-profile activists, scholars and politicians.

Hedges argued in his testimony that his work as a journalist would bring him into contact with terrorist organizations that would, given the scope of the law, qualify him for indefinite detention. The plaintiffs argued that the threat of detention alone would be an unconstitutional encroachment on their First Amendment rights to free expression and association, as well as a violation of the Fifth Amendment right to due process.

Government lawyers and Obama had previously said the provision merely reaffirmed an existing law recognizing the military’s right to perform certain routine duties.

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Are cops drugging Occupy Wall Street protesters in Minnesota?

After footage surfaced of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Minnesota making claims that they’ve been drugged by police officers, authorities in the state have opened up a criminal investigation.

At least one Minnesota state trooper has been placed on paid leave since law enforcement officers began investigating allegations that cops arrived at Occupy Wall Street encampments and drugged protesters.

Independent filmmakers and journalists in the state say that they have encountered members of local Occupy offshoots who say they have been offered drugs by law enforcement officers. Protesters who opt in to the program are stoned for free while, in turn, cops monitor the effects of the intoxicants.

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A Ron Paul Revolution is brewing

Yes, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucuses in February, capturing 50 percent of the vote.

Why then did last weekend’s headlines read that Texas Rep. Ron Paul won almost all of Nevada’s national delegates?

For that, we have the country’s cumbersome and arcane system for nominating presidential candidates to blame. You see, a simple vote doesn’t determine the winner when you’re talking presidential politics.

Here is a six-part primer to help you make sense of the strange results and what it all means once Republicans arrive in Tampa, Fla., for their national convention.

How could Romney win the caucuses but Paul win the conventions?

The caucuses — which Romney won handily — are simply the first step in selecting delegates to the national convention, which in modern times has become a highly choreographed coronation of the party’s presidential nominee.

At the caucuses, delegates to the county convention are elected. At the county convention, state delegates are elected. And at the state convention, national delegates are elected.

Generally, it doesn’t matter who actually goes as a delegate because the nominee is already decided.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76125.html#ixzz1uT15qglk

For the first time the Fed has allowed large Chinese bank to purchase a U.S. bank

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Reserve gave three state-owned Chinese banks its stamp of approval Thursday to expand their presence in the United States.

The central bank accepted an application from Industrial and Commerce Bank of China Ltd. (IDCBY) (ICBC), along with China Investment Corporation and Central Huijin Investment, to become bank holding companies by purchasing up to an 80% stake in New York-based Bank of East Asia U.S.A.

The approval marks the first time the Fed has allowed any large Chinese bank to purchase a U.S. bank, and it could boost merger and acquisition activity "as Chinese banks may look to acquire regional banks in order to establish a U.S. footprint," said Guggenheim senior policy analyst Jaret Seiberg, in a research note.

ICBC entered into an agreement with the Bank of East Asia in January 2011, and has been waiting for the Fed's okay.

Chinese offer yuan to U.S. traders

"The issue [had] been whether the Federal Reserve would bless the Chinese regulatory system," said Seiberg. Now, the Fed's approval means that "the Chinese met the key supervisory standard required for its banks to own U.S. banks and to take U.S. deposits."

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U.S. Army Re-Education Manual: Yet More Chilling Revelations

Army Admits Re-Education Camp Manual “Not Intended For Public Release”

Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs director Tiffany Wood has provided the first official response to the shocking U.S. Army document that outlines the implementation of re-education camps, admitting that the manual was “not intended for public release” and claiming that its provisions only apply outside the United States, a contention completely disproved by the language contained in the document itself.

After a reader sent Wood a link to where the manual, entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF), can be downloaded on the army.mil website (but only by military employees with special credentials), Wood responded by stating that the document should not be in the public domain.

“The document was not intended for public release,” said Wood, adding, “Any other questions regarding the
document, you will need to file a FOIA request.”

This means that either hackers have obtained access to a secure military website and downloaded the manual or it was leaked by a military employee concerned about the content of the document.

As we have exhaustively illustrated, the document is a training manual for U.S. Army personnel that details how to treat detainees incarcerated in prison camps both abroad and inside the United States.

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