Weekend Briefing—25-27th June 2010

News and views from around the web posted to the Wonderland Wire:

Altered U.S. Missile Shields to Further Aid Israel and Intimidate Iran

The Obama Administration’s new plan to scrap the Bush Administration’s missile shield plan to be installed in the Czech Republic and Poland is not the demilitarization effort that mainstream so-called ‘liberals’ are applauding, but one to setup orders to install “the development of a reconfigured system designed to shoot down short- and medium-range Iranian missiles”, reports Peter Baker at The New York Times (NYT) “Analysts say one country which clearly stands to benefit from Washington’s decision to alter its missile shield plan in Europe is Israel,” Patty Culhane reports at al Jazeera, adding: “The new proposed Aegis system is designed to work together with Israel’s own missile shield system called Arrow and having Aegis equipped ships in the Mediterranean can only be good for Israel.” (2:10):

Daily Briefing — 4th-5th July 2009

Obama interviewed about his executive order to police thought-crime; Saudi Arabia grants consent for a pre-emptive strike on Iran to Israel; U.N. envoy calls Free Gaza aid-delivering activists’ kidnapping by Israel ‘criminal’; Iran clerics declare gov’t illegitimate; Glenn Greenwald notes NYT hypocrisy in classifying Iran’s treatment of prisoners as “torture”; China and India protest the U.S. ‘cap-and-trade scheme’; and more…

Helen Thomas Calls Obama Press Treatment Worse Than Nixon; WaPo Selling ‘Off the Record’ White House Access to Lobbyists

“President Barack Obama answered pre-selected questions Wednesday afternoon about health care sent in from emails, Facebook and Twitter. CBS’ Chip Reid and columnist Helen Thomas thought this reflected a lack of transparency at the White House,” reports The Raw Story, as The Washington Post gets busted selling secret access to the White House and Congress.

Russian President Calls for the End of Dollar Hegemony

Brazil, India, and China meet in Russia as the four contries begin talks to break away from dollar hegemony — an ambition strongly pursued by Russia lately.

Chomsky’s Lectern: Turning Point?

Prof. Noam Chomsky’s extended response to Obama’s Cairo Speech: Palestine-Israel, U.S. presence in the Middle East, U.S. rejectionism, and the Newspeak cover for no change in the U.S. quest for ‘global dominance’.

U.S. Concedes ‘Significant Errors’ in Most Deadly Attack on Afghan Civilians Since 2001, U.N. Seeks to Probe Strikes

Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, demands ‘real accountability’ for the U.S.-led coalition’s mounting death toll of Afghan civilians — notably the May attack on Farah that killed 130-140 civilians, including up to 95 children where the U.S. military concedes to making ‘significant errors’.

Chomsky’s Lectern: Obama’s Cairo Speech

Prof. Noam Chomsky on Obama’s speech in Cairo to the ‘Muslim World’: his intent, his rhetoric, and his actions.

They’re in the Tank… for Obama

A message from AntiWar.com.

The 21st Century ‘Military-Industrial-Media Complex’ (Video)

The NY Times investigative reporter who the mainstream media won’t interview, David Barstow, interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! (DN!) for the first time since winning the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for exposing the corporate war machine’s propaganda wing: the Pentagon.

‘Government’ is Main Threat to a Free Press (Video)

The price of a free press and what hinders it.

Iran: To Attack or Not to Attack?

The multi-trillion dollar global question. Even if we’re going to play pretend and assume that in some Bizarro World lacking morality that pre-emptive war is justifyable, would it be justifyable against Iran? The empirical evidence suggests that such discussions cannot even be taken seriously among such hypocrites.

Moldova’s ‘Twitter Revolution’: Made in America?

Legislative Aide to Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) Daniel McAdams writes on the LewRockwell.com blog that this could very well be a US-funded experiment or display to enhance global obedience to broke — therefore, dwindling — superpower.

Obama to ‘Expand Covert War’ in Pakistan

As promised throughout his campaign, the president will continue to expand violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty to commit drone attacks.

Newsweek is Ridiculous

Mainstream progressives [sic] are blaming responsible individuals. Forget about the fascist protection of corporate risk, corporate welfare, cronyist subsidies for non-viable industries (who wouldn’t need subsidizing if they were viable and useful), our phony economy manipulated by banksters and the fact that Wall St. has hijacked the White House.