http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=united Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:41:29 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=united Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:49:06 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dbf_1371616392 lowerlevels Highlighted Final Outcomes of the G8 Summit Communique. Out of 24 pages of listed final outcomes based on different topics, these are those outcomes relating to Syria. We strongly support the proposal for a conference to reach a political solution to the appalling conflict in Syria through full implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communiqu'e. We will contribute generously to the latest United Nations (UN) appeal for humanitarian help. We condemn in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons and all human rights violations in Syria. We are committed to leading international support for Libya's security and democratic transition and to urgent work for a lasting peace in the Middle East. We call on discussions at the UN on new mechanisms to increase international awareness of the threat of kidnapping for ransom, and propose consideration of further UN Security Council resolutions to address and mitigate the threat. We are determined to work together to stop the bloodshed and loss of life in Syria and to support the Syrian people to establish peace and stability through political means. We are gravely concerned at the appalling human tragedy that the UN estimates has cost the lives of over 93,000 people and led to 4.2 million internally displaced persons and 1.6 million refugees. We acknowledge the vital humanitarian role played by neighbouring countries hosting Syrian refugees, above all Lebanon a nd Jordan, in dealing with the significant economic and security pressures they are facing as a result of the conflict and refugee influx. Given the extraordinary humanitarian need as reflected in the latest UN appeal for $5.2 billion in 2013, we are resolved to make exceptional contributions commensurate with the scale of the problem. At this meeting G8 Leaders confirmed additional contributions of almost $1.5 billion to meet humanitarian needs in Syria and its neighbours. We recognise that further contributions will be needed given the scale of the challenge. Weurge other countries and organisations to make similar commitments. We call for aid agencies to be given immediate access to provide humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need, in accordance with humanitarian principles and international law, particularly in the worst affected areas such as Qusayr. We remain committed to achieving a political solution to the crisis based on a vision for a united, inclusive and democratic Syria . We strongly endorse the decision to hold as soon as possible the Geneva Conference on Syria to implement fully the Geneva Communiqu'e of 30 June 2012, which sets out a number of key steps beginning with agreement on a transitional governing body with full executive powers, formed by mutual consent. As the Geneva Communiqu'e says, the public services must be preserved or restored. This includes the military forces and security services. However all governmental institutions and state offices must perform according to professional and human rights standards, operating under a top leadership that inspires public confidence, under the control of the transitional governing body. Both sides at the Conference must engage seriously and constructively. They should be fully representative of the Syrian people and committed to the implementation of the Geneva Communiqu'e and to the achievement of stability and reconciliation. We will engage actively with the parties in order to achieve successful outcomes. We are deeply concerned by the growing threat from terrorism and extremism in Syria, and also by the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict. Syria must belong to all Syrians, including its minorities and all religious groups. We call on the Syrian authorities and opposition at the Geneva Conference jointly to commit to destroying and expelling from Syria all organisations and individuals affiliated to Al Qaeda, and any other non-state actors linked to terrorism. We will support UN planning for Syria's transition, recovery, and reconstruction needs, in particular by maintaining continuity of state institutions during transition and helping to ensure that the security forces are effective, accountable and able to deal with the threat of terrorism and extremism. We condemn any use of chemical weapons in Syria and call on all parties to the conflict to allow access to the UN investigating team mandated by the UN Secretary-General, and drawing on the expertise of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and World Health Organisation (WHO), in order to conduct an objective investigation into reports of use of chemical weapons. The UN team should make their report and deliver it to the UN Security Council for their assessment. We are determined that those who may be found responsible for the use of chemical weapons will be held accountable. We emphasise the need for the secure and safe storage of all chemical weapons in Syria, pending their destruction under international verification. We also condemn in the strongest possible terms all human rights violations and abuses in Syria, committed by anyone, including indiscriminate attacks on civilians. We call on all sides to respect international humanitarian and human rights laws, noting the particular responsibility of the Syrian authorities in this regard. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dbf_1371616392 lowerlevels Highlighted Final Outcomes of the G8 Summit Communique. G-8 Summit, Syria Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:46:29 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=451_1371616713 marypoppinsonheroin Southeast United States, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=451_1371616713 marypoppinsonheroin yard/garden say, fireflies, blood, bats messing around south, fireflies, blood, bats Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:37:38 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5b9_1371616171 thaer35 Published: June 18, 2013 KABUL, Afghanistan - Four coalition soldiers were killed in an attack Tuesday night, the American military said in a statement. While United States officials did not give any details or the nationality of the victims, a spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, e-mailed a statement claiming they had launched a rocket attack on the Bagram Airfield, the largest base in the country, located north of Kabul, killing four Americans. The base is mostly staffed by Americans. The attack came on the same day that Taliban insurgents announced they were ready to begin peace talks with American and Afghan officials on the conflict. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/19/world/asia/4-coalition-soldiers-killed-in-afghanistan.html?_r=0 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5b9_1371616171 thaer35 4 U.S Troops Ripped Apart by Rocket Attack in Afghanistan 4, U.S, soldiers, killed, Afghanistan, Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:11:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb1_1371610797 Emir-Khattab The Taliban opened an office in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Tuesday to help restart talks and said it wanted a political solution that would bring about a just government and end foreign occupation of Afghanistan. A senior U.S. official said the talks would start in Doha on Thursday, but President Barack Obama cautioned against expectations of quick progress, saying the peace process would not be easy or quick. U.S. officials said the process could take many years and be subject to reversals. "This is an important first step towards reconciliation; although it's a very early step," Obama said after a G8 meeting in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland . "We anticipate there will be a lot of bumps in the road." U.S. officials say they hope the meeting will open the way for the first-ever official peace talks between the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban, which has waged a 12-year campaign to oust him and foreign troops. The Taliban have until now said they would not countenance talks with the government, which they consider a stooge of the United States and other Western states in the NATO coalition fighting in Afghanistan. News of the planned talks comes as the United States and its allies in NATO seek to meet a deadline of December 2014 for an end to foreign combat operations in Afghanistan. This would allow them to withdraw the majority of their troops and wind down an engagement launched after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives. A senior Afghan official said the Taliban was now willing to consider peace talks with the government, having held secret discussions with government representatives. In opening the Qatar office, the Taliban said it sought a political solution, but said no dates had been agreed for talks. Taliban representative Mohammed Naeem told a news briefing the group wanted good relations with "all of the world countries." "But the Islamic emirate (Taliban) sees the independence of the nation from the current occupation as a national and religious obligation," he said. U.S. officials said that in the talks in Doha, the United States would stick to its insistence that the Taliban break ties with al Qaeda, end violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities. For its part, the Taliban is expected to demand the return of prisoners now at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba - a move many in the U.S. Congress oppose - as well as the departure of all foreign troops. The United States says it hopes to keep a force, of as yet undetermined size, in the country after the end of the NATO combat mission. The talks will be the first U.S. meeting with the Taliban in several years. U.S. officials said the initial meeting was expected to involve an exchange of agendas, followed by another meeting a week or two later to discuss next steps. A U.S. official said he expected the initial meeting would be followed within days by another between the Taliban and the High Peace Council, a structure set up by Karzai to represent Afghanistan in such talks. 'PEACE IS NOT AT HAND' The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the level of trust between the Afghan government and the Taliban remained low, and played down expectations that the talks would quickly lead to peace. "We need to be realistic," said one official. "This is a new development, a potentially significant development. But peace is not at hand." Obama said peace would only come through an Afghanistan-led process, and commended Karzai for taking a courageous step toward peace. He stressed that the U.S. military effort would continue in spite of the peace efforts. "We don't anticipate this process will be easy or quick but we must pursue it in parallel with our military approach. And we in the meantime remain fully committed to our military efforts to defeat al Qaeda and to support the Afghan national security forces," Obama said. Despite the accompanying words of caution, the announcement of the planned talks represents a significant step forward in the peace process, which has struggled to achieve results despite years of attempts. A team of envoys from the Taliban flew to Qatar in early 2012 to open talks with the U.S. government. But the Taliban suspended the talks in March 2012, saying Washington was giving mixed signals on the nascent Afghan reconciliation process. Tiny, gas-rich Qatar has been an enthusiastic supporter of reconciliation efforts in a number of crises affecting the Muslim world including those in Afghanistan, Yemen , Somalia, Lebanon and Darfur, often hosting peace talks on its own soil to try to prove it can punch above its weight in diplomacy. Karzai, speaking on Tuesday as the U.S.-led NATO coalition launched a final phase of transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces, said his government would send a team to Qatar. But he said the talks should quickly be moved to Afghanistan. "We hope that our brothers the Taliban also understand that the process will move to our country soon," he said. U.S. officials said the goal was to ensure that Afghanistan did not remain a haven for terrorist groups and to defeat al Qaeda, which was given sanctuary by the Taliban in Afghanistan. "One of the things we will want to talk about from the very beginning is how they're going to cut ties with al Qaeda," a U.S. official said. "How quickly, exactly how they're going to do it, how quickly." A senior U.S. official said Pakistan , which has provided sanctuary to the Taliban despite its professed support for the battle against Islamist militancy, had recently been supportive of the peace process. "There has in the past been skepticism about their support, but in recent months I think we've seen evidence that there is genuine support and that they've employed their influence such as it is to encourage the Taliban to engage," he said. A U.S. official said the talks would be conducted on the Taliban side by its political commission, with the authorization of Mullah Omar, and also represent the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network. James Dobbins, the new special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will lead the U.S. side. The Haqqanis are considered the United States' deadliest foe in Afghanistan and the top U.S. and NATO commander in the country cast doubt on Tuesday over whether it could make peace. "All I've seen of the Haqqani would make it hard for me to believe they were reconcilable," U.S. General Joseph Dunford told Pentagon reporters by phone from Kabul. U.S. officials said they expected detainee exchanges to be discussed in the talks. The United States will ask for the safe return of U.S. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who has been a prisoner since June 2009, the officials said. He is thought to be being held by Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan. Give up America, you have no experience in guerrilla warfare. You failed twice in this mission, you can't even fight in the jungles against the Vietnamese and the mountains with the Taliban. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb1_1371610797 Emir-Khattab US desperately wants to seek peace with Taliban America, Talibans, Afghanistan Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:51:11 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d78_1371602660 Detroit Iron By Brian Resnick National Journal On Thursday, President Obama confirmed what reports had been speculating for a few weeks: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons, notably sarin gas, on his own people, and tripping the president's "red line" that would rouse the United States to greater action. The response includes arming and training the rebels. It turns out that Secretary of State John Kerry also wanted the response to include an air strike on Syrian airfields, according to Jeffery Goldberg at Bloomberg View . According to Goldberg, Kerry's "vociferous" thoughts on the matter were not received well by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey during a meeting in the situation room last Wednesday. Apparently, the exchange got heated: At a principals meeting in the White House situation room, Secretary of State John Kerry began arguing, vociferously, for immediate U.S. airstrikes against airfields under the control of Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime-specifically, those fields it has used to launch chemical weapons raids against rebel forces. It was at this point that the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the usually mild-mannered Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, spoke up, loudly. According to several sources, Dempsey threw a series of brushback pitches at Kerry, demanding to know just exactly what the post-strike plan would be and pointing out that the State Department didn't fully grasp the complexity of such an operation. Dempsey informed Kerry that the Air Force could not simply drop a few bombs, or fire a few missiles, at targets inside Syria: To be safe, the U.S. would have to neutralize Syria's integrated air-defense system, an operation that would require 700 or more sorties. At a time when the U.S. military is exhausted, and when sequestration is ripping into the Pentagon budget, Dempsey is said to have argued that a demand by the State Department for precipitous military action in a murky civil war wasn't welcome. Read the rest on Bloomberg View . http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-wanted-bomb-syria-171055141.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d78_1371602660 Detroit Iron Kerry Wanted to Bomb Syria President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:43:48 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d82_1371601986 Detroit Iron By Samuel Weigley, Alexander E. M. Hess and Michael B. Sauter 24/7 Wall St.com - 4 hours ago After falling for five consecutive years, the number of violent crimes across the United States rose by 1.2% in 2012. Based on data published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the increase was even greater in some of America's largest cities. In 2012, for the third year in a row, Flint, Michigan had the highest violent crime rate in the country. According to the FBI, violent crime includes murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In some cases, the cities with the highest violent crime rate, including Flint and Oakland, had high rates in all four categories. However, most of the most violent cities tend to do very poorly only in a few categories. Yahoo! Homes is publishing the five most dangerous cities, based on the FBI Uniform Crime Report via 24/7 Wall St. To see the rest of the top 10 most dangerous cities in America, visit 24/7 Wall St. online: http://247wallst.com/2013/06/13/the-most-dangerous-cities-in-america-3/ Crime in these cities is typically not limited to just violent crime. Three cities - Birmingham, St. Louis and Oakland - were among the 10 worst cities in the nation for both violent crime andproperty crime. In some of the most dangerous cities, specific types of property crime were especially common. Flint and Cleveland had among the highest burglary rates, while Oakland, Detroit and St. Louis had among the highest rates of vehicle theft. The economies of many of the most dangerous cities have been in bad shape for years, in some cases long before the Great Recession. The populations of many of the most dangerous cities declined, leaving behind highly impoverished urban centers. The loss of economic diversity, explained John Roman, senior fellow at the Urban institute, only serves to exacerbate crime in cities like Detroit, Flint, Cleveland and St. Louis. In fact, all the 10 most dangerous cities had poverty rates above the national rate of 15.9% in 2011. In half of these cities, more than 30% of the population lived in poverty. Detroit and Flint had poverty rates of more than 40%. "It is very clear that poverty in particular is associated with higher crime rates," explained Roman. However, the relationship between the two is less certain. It is "very difficult to say whether crime makes places poorer, or poverty causes more crime," Roman noted. In many of the nation's most dangerous cities, unemployment is also extremely high. Seven of the 10 cities with the highest levels of violent crime had unemployment rates above 10% in 2012, much higher than the national unemployment rate of 8.1% that year. In two cities, Detroit and Stockton, the unemployment rate was more than 18% last year. Low educational attainment also goes hand-in-hand with high crime rates. In all of the 10 most dangerous cities, the percentage of adults with a high school diploma was below the 86% national average. In five of these metro areas, the percentage of adults with a diploma was below 80%. On its website, the FBI instructs readers to avoid comparing city violence because rankings tend to be simplistic and ignore factors that influence crime, as well as the different ways crimes are measured and reported. For this reason, Roman cautioned against directly comparing cities based on their individual crime rates. However, because the cities with the highest and lowest violent crime rates have remained consistent for many years, he believes comparing city ranks was useful. Based on the FBI's Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more with the highest rates of violent crime per 100,000 residents. Using estimated populations and crime incidents from the FBI, which measures incidents of eight types of violent and nonviolent crime for 2012, 24/7 Wall St. calculated the incidence of the four types of violent crime per 100,000 persons for that year: murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. In addition to crime data, 24/7 Wall St.reviewed median income and poverty rates for these cities from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2011, the most recent available year. We also included average 2012 unemployment rates for these cities from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 5. Memphis, Tenn. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,750.0 > Population: 657,436 > 2012 murders: 133 > Poverty rate: 27.2% > Percentage of adults with high school degree: 83.4% Memphis had the third highest rate of aggravated assault in 2012, with 1,151.9 cases per 100,000 residents. This was up from the 1,032.3 cases per 100,000 in 2011. The city'smurder rate of 20.2 per 100,000 people and robbery rate of 514.4 per 100,000 people were also up from 2011. The high levels of crime has people in the Memphis area feeling uneasy. According to a recent Gallup survey, roughly 43% of Memphis area residents reported feeling unsafe walking at night, the highest percentage of all the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country and significantly higher than the 28% across the United States. 4. St. Louis, Mo. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,776.5 > Population: 318,667 > 2012 murders: 113 > Poverty rate: 27.0% > Percentage of adults with high school degree: 83.9% There were 1,120.6 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people in St. Louis in 2012, higher than all but three other cities. Moreover, the murder rate of 35.5 cases per 100,000 was the fifth highest of all cities. Although St. Louis's violent crime was still among the highest in the country, it has improved. There were 80 less violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2012 compared to 2011 - the best improvement of any city on this list, with the drop mostly attributable to 106 less robberies per 100,000 people in 2012 compared to the previous year. Law enforcement officials attributed some of the drop to an increased police presence in high-crime neighborhoods. 3. Oakland, Calif. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 1,993.1 > Population: 399,487 > 2012 murders: 126 > Poverty rate: 21.0% > Percentage of adults with high school degree: 79.9% There were 1,085.9 robberies per 100,000 residents in Oakland in 2012, higher than any other city. This was also significantly higher than the 851.2 robberies per 100,000 just a year earlier. The rates of murder and aggravated assaults also increased in 2012 compared to 2011. Violent crime was not the only issue in Oakland, either - there were 6,594 property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2012, more than all but eight other cities, and up from 5,287.9 in 2011. Crime in the city has increased ever since the city's police department went through a round of layoffs in 2010 due to $30.5 million deficit. 2. Detroit, Mich. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 2,122.6 > Population: 707,096 > 2012 murders: 386 > Poverty rate: 40.9% > Percentage of adults with high school degree: 77.4% Detroit's murder rate of 54.2 per 100,000 residents was the second highest in the country last year. The homicide rate in Detroit, which included 386 criminal murders and an additional 25 justifiable homicides, reached the highest level in nearly 40 years. In addition, the city's aggravated assault rate of 1,320.8 cases per 100,000 people was also the second highest in the United States, although this was an improvement from the 1,333.6 cases per 100,000 residents in 2011. Detroit has struggled economically in recent years. The city's 2012unemployment rate was a whopping 18.6%, much higher than the 8.1% across the nation last year. The median household income of $25,193 was less than half the national median for 2011. 1. Flint, Mich. > Violent crimes per 100,000: 2,729.5 > Population: 101,632 > 2012 murders: 63 > Poverty rate: 40.6% > Percentage of adults with high school degree: 82.9% With a staggering 2,729.5 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, no city had a higher violent crime rate than Flint. The city of just 101,632 people had 63 total murders and 1,930 aggravated assaults, both the highest relative to the city's population. Flint also had nationwide highs in burglary rates and arson per 100,000 people. The sheriff of Genesee County, where Flint is located, proposed a plan to create a violent crime mobile response unit that would cost $3 million. However, Governor Rick Snyder rejected the plan because he believed resources would be better "integrated into the ongoing efforts to make Flint safer." Like Detroit, Flint has suffered economically in recent years. The median household income was just $23,380 in 2011, the second-lowest of all 555 cities measured by the U.S. Census Bureau. To see the rest of the 10 most dangerous cities, visit 24/7 Wall St. online. http://homes.yahoo.com/news/the-most-dangerous-cities-in-america--2013-201732579.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d82_1371601986 Detroit Iron The most dangerous cities in America, 2013 Detroit, Flint, Oakland, Birmingham, St. Louis, Cleveland, et al Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:22:18 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=efe_1371597108 plokiju On Jun. 14, a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey made a landing aboard a Japanese ship near U.S. West Coast. The Osprey landed on a Japanese heli-carrier-destroyer Hyuga, during a 18-day exercise. V-22 Sees Up To 100 Foreign Sales The other news from today's briefing was that the US may sell as many as 100 Ospreys to other countries. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel identified Israel as a buyer back in April. The United Arab Emirates are believed to be keenly interested, Japan may well buy some now that the Japanese public has seen the aircraft does not fall out of the sky. Masiello would not be drawn on specific countries but these are pretty obvious. Masiello showed photos of Ospreys landing on two different classes of Japanese ships last week, the JS Shimokita and the JS Hyuga. What did landing on these ships demonstrate? The V-22 doesn't need "a big flat deck" to operate from, he said. The French might want V-22s for carriers like their Mistral, which trained with the Marines during Bold Alligator 2012. And Masiello said there might well be training done with the French carrier to demonstrate the plane's capabilities and ensure the US could fly with the French and operate from the Mistral. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=efe_1371597108 plokiju MV-22 Osprey makes historic landing on a Japanese Carrier MV-22, Osprey, makes, historic, landing, on, a, Japanese, Carrier Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:11:18 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9d0_1371596767 Rubicon_Cube - - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9d0_1371596767 Rubicon_Cube American WW2 Anti-Tank Weapons Couldn't Even Penetrate 1/2 Inch Steel Plates weapons,anti-tank Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:47:44 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8fb_1371594766 dcdirectactionnews Lynne Stewart is a famed attorney who was imprisoned supposedly for helping a client defeat communications restrictions. Now she is dying of cancer, ever her former judge has cleared her for release-but she is chained to a hospital bed. On the 18th of June, the first-ever protest on behalf of a Federal prisoner at the Bureau of Prisons DC office demanded her release. Suit-and-tie businessmen and yuppies studiously ignored the protest, while Bureau of Prisons staffers ran the gauntlet of protesters to enter or leave for lunch. It is not known how many stayed in for lunch or used the back door. Two different Federal Protective Services/Homeland Security cops showed up, they acted "friendly" but it seemed they were nervous about this issue being raised in front of the BofP office. Nobody running a prison likes it when friends of one of their prisoners show up at the warden's office. On the other hand, chaining someone dying of cancer to a hospital bed because they allegedly defied "special administration measures" to restrict a client's communication with the outside world is beyond outrageous. Most likely prosecutors simply sought any available means to remove a lawyer who was just too effective against them in major cases from the table. That, in turn, is a frank demonstration of the fact that "rule of law," meaning predictable rules of engagement used by government, is dead in the United States. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8fb_1371594766 dcdirectactionnews Protest at Bureau of Prisons demands release for imprisoned atty Lynne Stewart dcdirectactionnews, Lynn Stewart, Bureau of Prisons Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:40:50 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cbe_1371595031 Ahmad Shah Durrani Take a look at this picture. Do you know who it is? Most people haven't heard of him. But you should have. When you see his face or hear his name you should get as sick in your stomach as when you read about Mussolini or Hitler or see one of their pictures. You see, he killed over 10 million people in the Congo.His name is King Leopold II of Belgium. He "owned" the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He "bought" it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. He disguised his "business transactions" as philanthropic and scientific efforts under the banner of the "International African Society". He used their enslaved labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, executions, torture, and his private army. Most of us - I don't yet know an approximate percentage but I fear its extremely high - aren't taught about him in school. We don't hear about him in the media. He's not part of the widely repeated narrative of oppression (which includes things like the Holocaust during World War II). He's part of a long history of colonialism, imperialism, slavery and genocide in Africa that would clash with the social construction of the white supremacist narrative in our schools. It doesn't fit neatly into a capitalist curriculum. Its bad to "say racist things" (sometimes), but quite fine not to talk about genocides in Africa perpetrated by European capitalist monarchs. Mark Twain wrote a satire about Leopold called " King Leopold's soliloquy; a defense of his Congo rule ", where he mocked the King's defense of his reign of terror, largely through Leopold's own words. Its 49 pages long. Mark Twain is a popular author for American public schools. But like most political authors, we will often read some of their least political writings or read them without learning why the author wrote them (Orwell's Animal Farm for example serves to re-inforce American anti-Socialist propaganda, but Orwell was an anti-capitalist revolutionary of a different kind - this is never pointed out). We can read about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but King Leopold's Soliloquy isn't on the reading list. This isn't by accident. Reading lists are created by boards of education in order to prepare students to follow orders and endure boredom well. From the point of view of the Education Department, Africans have no history. When we learn about Africa, we learn about a caricaturized Egypt, about the HIV epidemic (but never its causes), about the surface level effects of the slave trade, and maybe about South African Apartheid (which of course now is long, long over). We also see lots of pictures of starving children on Christian Ministry commercials, we see safaris on animal shows, and we see pictures of deserts in films and movies. But we don't learn about the Great African War or Leopold's Reign of Terror during the Congolese Genocide. Nor do we learn about what the United States has done in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially killing in upwards of 5-7 million people from bombs, sanctions, disease and starvation. Body counts are important. And we don't count Afghans, Iraqis, or Congolese. There's a Wikipedia page called "Genocides in History". The Congolese Genocide isn't included. The Congo is mentioned though. What's now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo is listed in reference to the Second Congo War (also called Africa's World War and the Great War of Africa), where both sides of the multinational conflict hunted down Bambenga and ate them. Cannibalism and slavery are horrendous evils which must be entered into history and talked about for sure, but I couldn't help thinking whose interests were served when the only mention of the Congo on the page was in reference to multi-national incidents where a tiny minority of people were eating each other (completely devoid of the conditions which created the conflict no less). Stories which support the white supremacist narrative about the subhumanness of people in Africa are allowed to be entered into the records of history. The white guy who turned the Congo into his own personal part-plantation, part-concentration camp, part-Christian ministry and killed 10 to 15 million Conglese people in the process doesn't make the cut. You see, when you kill ten million Africans, you aren't called 'Hitler'. That is, your name doesn't come to symbolize the living incarnation of evil. Your name and your picture doesn't produce fear, hatred, and sorrow. Your victims aren't talked about and your name isn't remembered. Leopold was just one part of thousands of things that helped construct white supremacy as both an ideological narrative and material reality. Of course I don't want to pretend that in the Congo he was the source of all evil. He had generals, and foot soldiers, and managers who did his bidding and enforced his laws. It was a system. But this doesn't negate the need to talk about the individuals who are symbolic of the system. But we don't even get that. And since it isn't talked about, what capitalism did to Africa, all the privileges that rich white people gained from the Congolese genocide are hidden. The victims of imperialism are made, like they usually are, invisible. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cbe_1371595031 Ahmad Shah Durrani When You Kill Ten Million Africans You Aren't Called 'Hitler' When You Kill Ten Million Africans You Aren't Called 'Hitler' Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:35:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=841_1371594217 Veni On May 2, 2011, Seal Team 6 infiltrated a terrorist compound in Pakistan and killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. All across the country, Americans cheered the news that one of the world's largest mass murderers had been brought to justice. Unfortunately, there's a tragedy hiding within this story - and it's being ignored by my colleagues in Congress. You see, in the weeks leading up to Osama bin Laden's death, Pakistani Doctor Shakil Afridi risked his life to provide the U.S. with the information that directly helped Seal Team 6 find and kill bin Laden. Dr. Afridi should be rewarded - or at the very least congratulated - for his efforts. But instead he's been imprisoned, brutally tortured, and sentenced to life in prison for treason by Pakistan's intelligence agency. It's a travesty that this hero is being tortured and his family threatened for the crime of helping America. And it's an outrage the United States continues to send over $2 billion in taxpayer money to Pakistan each year! And it gets worse - much worse. Watch the video HERE : <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Fz0L4k7TRU?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Fz0L4k7TRU Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi recently attempted to seize absolute power and impose Sharia Law on the Egyptian people. As a result, massive protests and violence erupted throughout Egypt. And how did the Obama Administration respond? By agreeing to send 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt as part of the $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars that are sent to Egypt each year for so-called "foreign aid." Yes, I will repeat that! The Pentagon handed over $213 million dollars' worth of top-notch F-16 fighter jets to a Muslim Brotherhood-led government hell bent on imposing Sharia Law in Egypt. The sad truth is that our policy of sending billions of taxpayer dollars overseas for so-called "foreign aid" to countries that hate us could end up becoming an international disaster. Should the troubles in Egypt spiral into a regional conflict with Israel, we could find ourselves in the embarrassing position of supplying arms and billions of dollars to both sides of a shooting war. You and I MUST end this madness. I'm will continue to lead the fight to stop taxpayer dollars from flowing to anti-American regimes overseas. And I'm counting on you to stand with me. In Liberty, Senator Rand Paul P.S. The United States is sending billions of dollars overseas in so-called "foreign aid" to countries that are hell bent on undermining U.S. foreign policy. We must stop this insanity! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=841_1371594217 Veni Message from a U.S. Senator Politics World News Other Middle East Conspiracy Propoganda Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:25:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=617_1371588133 simply minded kill gays lesbians in Islam - UN now says its OK United Nations resolution 52 gay men go on trial - Nov, 14 2001 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=617_1371588133 simply minded HOMOSEXUALITY in ISLAM , Videos on Islamic Violence against gays. any liberal supporting multiculturalism and sharia should watch this. think twice gays,hanged,crime,islam,muslim,sharia