.

Afghanistan: London Pushes U.S. Into New Vietnam By Ramtanu Maitra 10 September, 2009 Countercurrents.org U.S. President Barack Obama is under massive pressure from the American population not only on his two domestic issues—the health-care reform and the cap-and-trade bill—but also on the increasingly dangerous Afghan War. On the Afghan War front, London has become more and more outspoken, advising the U.S. President to commit more troops, using arguments heard over and over again during the failed Vietnam War, which lasted about ten years and took over 58,000 American lives, and more than 1 million Vietnamese. Weakened by his own follies, such as pushing a domestic agenda demanded by imperial financial circles, President Obama has already made himself vulnerable to the British drive for war. On Aug. 17, just before he headed off on vacation, Obama addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) convention in Phoenix, Ariz., and referred to the ongoing war in Afghanistan...

Dr. Shireen Mazari has had the honor of being one of the targets of the US Embassy in Islamabad particularly since 2008 when in her columns she broke the news of US Army's General Hood coming to Pakistan and the 11 conditions that the Pakistani government was quietly planning to accept granting unfettered access in Pakistan for US personnel with no legal restraints .     By Shireen M. Mazari   Wednesday, 2 September 2009.     ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—While US diplomats target their critics in Pakistan with a new ferocity, the US media and politicians target the Pakistan's nuclear and military capability.     Taking the latter first, Dr. Khan had barely gained his "freedom" when that murderous former Vice President Dick Cheney, in a pre-taped interview to Fox News (30 August), declared that the Obama Administration should use the CIA to find out what Dr. Khan was up to! Cheney also expressed pride in the Bush Administration's aggressive use of drones in ...

Israeli hacker Ehud Tenenbaum pleaded guilty in a New York court last week to one count of bank-card fraud for his part in a hacking scheme that U.S. officials say netted some $10 million from American banks, technology news Web site Wired.com reported. Tenenbaum, 29, who is also known as "the analyzer," was arrested in Canada last year along with three other hackers for allegedly stealing about $1.5 million from Canadian banks. But he was put on trial in the U.S. after officials there filed a request to have him extradited. Prosecutors alleged that Tenenbaum hacked into two U.S. banks, a credit- and debit-card distribution company and a payment processor, Wired.com reported. But he was only charged with one count of conspiracy to commit access-device fraud and one count of access-device fraud. Advertisement   "The analyzer" first became known in 1998, when he was arrested at age 19 along with several other Israelis and two California teens after hacking into comput...

A retired atomic scientist who was closely associated with India's 1998 nuclear tests has said they were not as successful as was claimed. By Sanjoy Majumder BBC News, Delhi K Santhanam said one of the tests – on a hydrogen bomb – had not worked, and that India would have to carry out more tests for a credible nuclear deterrent. His statement has been dismissed by the government and his former colleagues. The Indian tests led to similar tests by Pakistan, raising fears of a nuclear conflict between the two countries. Cover-up? K Santhanam is a respected Indian atomic scientist who was project director of the 1998 nuclear tests. He now says that one of the five tests that were carried out, in which a thermonuclear device or hydrogen bomb was detonated, did not perform as well as expected. He also said that everyone associated with the tests immediately recognised that something had gone wrong. If his statement is accurate it points to a massive cover-up by India and also c...

By Khalid Mustafa ISLAMABAD: In clear defiance of two immensely powerful foreign capitals which are fuming over Pakistan's pertinence, Islamabad is going ahead with the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan gas line project and has initiated the process of arranging finances to the tune of $1.245 billion (Rs106 billion) required for laying the 800 km long pipeline from Pak-Iran border to Nawab Shah. This was revealed by the minutes of the last meeting of Steering Committee of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on IP gas line project held in Karachi on August 22. According to the minutes of the meeting, Pakistan will also be importing 1.05 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd) from Iran, at 78 per cent of crude oil parity price. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan and Iran have already signed Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) for importing 750 million cubic feet gas per day (mmcfd), which will be used to generate 4,500 MW of electricity and would be a cheaper alternati...

By Jonathan S. Landay, Mcclatchy Newspapers Fri Aug 28 BAGHLAN-I-JADID, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents have taken over parts of two northern provinces from which they were driven in 2001, threatening to disrupt NATO's new supply route from Central Asia and expand a war that's largely been confined to Afghanistan's southern half, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Insurgents operating out of Baghlan district along the highway from Tajikistan launched coordinated attacks during the Aug. 20 presidential elections, killing the district police chief and a civilian, while losing a dozen of their own men, local officials said. It was the worst bloodshed reported in the country that day. The violence has been on the rise in recent months, however, as the Taliban and al Qaida -linked foreign fighters have staged hit-and-run attacks, bombings and rocket strikes on German, Belgian and Hungarian forces in Baghlan and neighboring Kunduz provinces. The insurgents now control three ...

Posted by Teeth Maestro , August 28, 2009 In a very shocking development a young 32 year old person, father of four kids looses his life during the filming of a reality show sponsored by Unilever and being produced by their advertising agency Mindshare. Saad Khan was a game show contestant and the host/model Amina Sheikh, who also is the model of Clear Shampoo, gave an underwater challenge to Saad and during the execution of the stunt he apparently lost control, struggled and pleading for help could not recover, the inadequate safety personal and the equipment could not react in time and eventually he drowned Saad Khan, 32 year old young man from Karachi and a father of four kids is sadly the victim, his body was returned to Karachi for burial two days back and the infuriated family has been running from pillar to post but it seems for some awkward reason it fails to catch the media attention and apparently no media house is ready to ' run the story '. It is a known f...