TAPI price deal closeBy Robert M Cutler  MONTREAL – Great anticipation surrounds next week’s meeting on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project, as press reports from all sides suggest the possibility of a final agreement on transit fees.  The 1,735 kilometer pipeline would run from southeastern Turkmenistan into Afghanistan, then parallel to the highway from Herat to Kandahar and finally via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan to the town of Fazilka in India. Pakistan and India would receive 13-14 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) of gas while Afghanistan’s take would be 5 bcm/y.  The deal would have a … Continue reading Price deal?: Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline

Who’s who at NATO’s banquet By M K Bhadrakumar  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is still printing the invitation cards to its Chicago summit on Sunday. A card was printed for Pakistan President Asif Zardari on Wednesday. Pakistan became “eligible” following indications it will get down from the high horse and reopen the transit routes for military convoys into Afghanistan – despite the stubborn refusal by Washington to either apologize for the massacre of Pakistani soldiers last November in an air strike or terminate the deadly drone strikes on Pakistani villages.  Pakistan will receive US$1 million per day from the … Continue reading NATO’s sexiest banquet!

Why the Occupy Movement Frightens the Corporate Elite Truthout combats corporatization by bringing you trustworthy news: click here to join the effort. Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement during a march in New York, May 1, 2012. (Photo: Ozier Muhammad / The New York Times) In Robert E. Gamer’s book “The Developing Nations” is a chapter called “Why Men Do Not Revolt.” In it Gamer notes that although the oppressed often do revolt, the object of their hostility is misplaced. They vent their fury on a political puppet, someone who masks colonial power, a despised racial or ethnic group … Continue reading Why Occupy scares Corporates?

[For TomDispatch Readers: Point of pride — the TD post a Sunday ago of the last words ofEcotopia author Ernest Callenbach, “Epistle to the Ecotopians,” was chosen as a point of departure for a moving online column by the New York Times’ Mark Bittman.  In it, this website was termed “essential,” a heartwarming word from an admirable columnist. In addition, a couple of reminders: we’re always at the edge, financially speaking, and one good way to help keep us afloat, if you’re already an Amazon customer, is to do your shopping via any TomDispatch book link — like this one for Ecotopia.  As long as you arrive … Continue reading Southern Baptist Republic of America – Predator Nation

The Pentagon is a conveyor belt for hatred and enmity towards Islam By Abid Mustafa “We are not at war with Islam”—President Obama It was only last month that Pentagon officials repeatedly implored Pastor Terry Jones not to burn copies of the Quran fearing that Jones’s inflammatory action could arouse Muslim sentiments and endanger the lives of US soldiers serving in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Yet, a month later the Pentagon managed to outdo the bigotry of Terry Jones and had been caught red handed for spearheading America’s crusade against Islam and seeking its total annihilation. Lt Col Matthew Dooley who … Continue reading THE PENTAGON: How to help Al Qaida WIN!

  By Ejaz Haider Published: May 10, 2012 The writer is a senior journalist and has held several editorial positions including most recently at The Friday Times. He was a Ford Scholar at UIUC and a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution “There are several significant [al Qaeda] leaders still on the run. (Ayman al) Zawahiri who inherited the leadership from (Osama) bin Laden is somewhere, we believe, in Pakistan. So we are intent upon going after those who are trying to keep al Qaeda operational and inspirational.” Thus spake the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to an Indian channel in Kolkata … Continue reading The ball’s in Pakistan’s court

The Corporate Media’s Attempt to Kill the Occupy Movement Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement make their way down Broadway in New York, May 1, 2012. (Photo: Michael Appleton / The New York Times) “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” George Orwell, “1984.”  This May Day brought the explosive global resurgence of Occupy, one of the most significant social movement in decades. In New York City, the heart of global capitalism and center of the movement, the New York Civil Liberties Union estimated that 30,000 demonstrators took part in a massive rally and … Continue reading Media’s Attempts Kill Occupy

Firefox Creators Mozilla Attack Congress; Denounce CISPA Tuesday, 08 May 2012 10:13By Leon Neal, RT | Report   Silicon Valley’s Mozilla Corporation has tasked themselves with extinguishing a fire, and no, it’s not what you have in mind. Mozilla, the Mountain View, California-based developers responsible for creating the hugely successful Firefox Web browser, has issued a statement publically condemning the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA. In a memo sent to Forbes’ data security department on late Tuesday, Mozilla’s privacy and public policy official explains that its newly-publicized stance is not one that encourages online cyber attacks, but merely establishes … Continue reading Mozilla Denounce Congress and CISPA

US admits it lacks evidence to convict $10m Hafiz Saeed: Telegraph By: NNI       The United States has admitted it lacks evidence to convict the Hafiz Saeed of terrorism despite slapping a $10m (£6.3 million) bounty on his head for his capture and conviction, Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. The decision to name Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, on the US State Department’s wanted list has provoked an angry reaction in Pakistan where even liberal commentators fear Washington is acting without proof in order to cosy up to arch-rival India. At a regular briefing, Mark Toner, State Department spokesman, was forced … Continue reading Americans lack evidence to convict Hafiz Saeed