By Dave Lindorff

Some people are expressing consternation and disbelief at a report
by journalist Seymour Hersh that Vice President Dick Cheney had
discussed the idea in his office of having some Navy Seals dress up as
Iranians, and then putting them in faked Iranian speedboats to make a fake
attack on US ships in the Persian Gulf. The ensuing faked battle, with
fake Iranians shooting at US ships and US ships firing back, he
suggested, could be used to spark a war between the US and Iran.

` I don’t know why people would find it hard to believe that this
vice president would think up an idea like having Americans shoot at
other Americans in the interest of his own warped view of national
security.

After all, this is a guy who shoots his own friends.

US / Iranian rhetoric is at fever pitch. Both sides are claiming to have “evidence” of military foul play. Both sides are holding military exercises in each others faces and the Gulf is so full of warships it must be highly dangerous to navigate. Both sides are threatening a massive military response to any use of force. Both presidents have backed themselves into political corners and neither shows the slightest sign of backing down.

A second US carrier strike group has just arrived in the Gulf bringing the total number of US (and allied) warships there to about 50 and a third group, headed by USS Reagan has just been ordered to rendezvous in the Western Pacific with destroyers from Pearl Harbour before sailing to the Gulf.

Russia's President Putin made a very eye-opening speech at the Munich Conference on Security Policy this Saturday. The speech was widely reported in the media but in most cases was incomplete or inaccurately translated, no surprises there. Amongst other things, his speech contained a scarcely veiled warning to the United States and other NATO countries that they were pushing Russia to the brink of a direct confrontation.

Deploying anti-ballistic missile systems on Russia's border under the ruse of "shielding America from North Korean nuclear missiles" was not fooling anyone, especially as North Korea, if it had such weapons, would be pointing them in the exact opposite direction across the Pacific ocean. He also warned "Simultaneously the so-called flexible frontline American bases with up to five thousand men in each. It turns out that NATO has put its frontline forces on our borders..."

Speaker: Putin, Wladimir W.

The Nation's Ian Williams counts the ways and assesses the damage done by John Bolton during his tenure at the United Nations...

John Bolton's Greatest Hits by Ian Williams
posted December 4, 2006
In a rare midterm election in which foreign policy was a major issue, it is not too much of a stretch to say that American voters put UN Ambassador John Bolton out of office. Bolton's resignation from his unconfirmed recess appointment at the UN removes the residual fear that the Bush team had something up its sleeve to bypass senatorial resistance to his confirmation. The White House had claimed the support of a bipartisan silent majority for his appointment--even though it was vociferous defections from GOP ranks that helped thwart his confirmation... (more)

So how do you like living in Bush's third-world Amerika? Nearly 13% poverty with a third of our children living in poverty. Infant mortality rates as high as Malaysia. "NO" healthcare, let alone health insurance, for tens of millions. Debt Slavery looming for millions more....

(IndependentUK) UN hits back at US in report saying parts of America are as poor as Third World Parts of the US are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking UN report on global inequality. Claims that the New Orleans floods have laid bare a growing racial and economic divide in the US have, until now, been rejected by the American political establishment as emotional rhetoric. But yesterday's UN report provides statistical proof that for many - well beyond those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare. The document constitutes a stinging attack on US policies at home and abroad in a fightback against moves by Washington to undermine next week's UN 60th anniversary conference which will be the biggest gathering of world leaders in history...