Man On Fire: 01/30/12

30 Jan 2012

"Train Song" by Feist & Ben Gibbard

"Train Song" cover by Feist and Ben Gibbard from the album Dark Was The Night. The original was released as a single on Columbia in May of 1966 by Vashti Bunyan.

Occupy London assault: Bailiff plows car through protesters

Police in London have been accused of excessive force in their efforts to clear out Occupy demonstrators. Protesters stood together last night as officers broke down the doors to their camps. Source

As Europe Goes (Deep In Recession), So Does Half The World's Trade

Submitted by Tyler Durden: Following the Fed's somewhat downbeat perspective on growth, confidence in investors' minds that the US can decouple has been temporarily jilted back to reality. It is of course no surprise and as the World Bank points out half of the world's approximately $15 trillion trade in goods and services involves Europe. So the next time some talking head uses the word decoupling (ignoring 8.5 sigma Dallas Fed prints for the statistical folly that they are), perhaps pointing them to the facts of explicit (US-Europe) and implicit (Europe-Asia-US) trade flow impact of a deepening European recession/depression will reign in their exuberance.

'Iran Scientist Murders Expose CIA & Mossad Paranoia'

As Iran braces itself to face the effect of fresh Western-imposed sanctions, we sit down with its Interior Minister to ask how the current standstill is influencing affairs inside the country. "Their deeds do not match their words" Source

Third Aircraft Carrier Group Coming To Iran

Submitted by Tyler Durden: For months now we have been following US naval developments and deployments in the Arabian Sea, which serve one purpose and one purpose only - to demonstrate US military strength in the Straits of Hormuz region and to keep Iranian 'offensive passions' subdued. Yet never has the US had a total of three aircraft carrier groups in the vicinity, always topping out at 2 in the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, most recently these being the CVN-70 Vinson and CVN 72 Lincoln, with a third boat present merely until a rotation in or out of the theater of operations was complete. That is about to change, and with it the prevailing price of Brent, which we are confident is about to take a new step wise price higher as the US makes it all too clear what the endgame is, because as Naval Today reports, the "US navy to deploy third carrier group to Persian Gulf", probably the CVN-77 George H.W. Bush which departed Norfolk two weeks ago according to the most recent naval update.

From Naval Today:

US Navy to Deploy Third Carrier Group to Persian Gulf

Stun Gun vs Occupy DC: Cops Tase Protester in Pyjamas

US park police have used a stun gun on an Occupy protester, whose only crime was tearing down fliers warning demonstrators about a ban on camping in Washington’s McPherson Square.

Breakdown of the Family by Design?

Double Standards: Libya's Chaos After the NATO War and US Bans Shakespeare?

One US presidential contender doesn't want anyone speaking Spanish. The United States bans an author named William Shakespeare. Moeen Raoof, Humanitarian & Emergency Aid Consultant tells us that despite what mainstream journalists may have told you, NATO has not won the war in Libya. These and much more are all reviewed in this edition of Double Standards with Afshin Rattansi. Source

“The FBI has caused incalculable damage" Pirate Party organizing lawsuit against FBI for MegaUpload seizure

Pirate Parties around the world are planning on organizing a lawsuit against the FBI over the seizure of the popular file sharing website MegaUpload.com, according to TorrentFreak. MegaUpload, which had more than 150 million registered users, was shut down by the FBI on January 19 because of alleged copyright infringement. The site allowed registered users to upload files, which could then be downloaded by others.

“The FBI has caused incalculable damage...

Israel ‘master of puppets’ in US Iran onslaught

America’s frenzy over “diabolic” Iran has its roots not on the Potomac riverside, but rather on the banks of Tel Aviv’s Yarkon River: appeasing the US Jewish community has become an inevitable idiosyncrasy of the US presidential campaign.

When America beats the drums of war over Iran, it may not always be driven by the Islamic state's alleged nuclear intentions.

Missiles, Spy Drones and Warships: Here Come the London Olympics

Spy drones are just the tip of the security iceberg for the UK as it readies itself for the greatest sporting show on earth. Taking the danger of terror seriously, London's Olympic preparations are calling on all corners of the nation's defenses.

There will also be warships anchored on the Thames; attack helicopters on standby, and ground-to-air missiles ready to launch. All that, before you even get to the fascist security on the ground. Such measures, however, will complete the turning of the the capital into a city under siege and prove to be ineffective.

Spectators may know for whom they are rooting at the Olympics, but they will not know who is watching them while they are at it. With surveillance drones circling the skies of London and police using spy cameras that will leave no place unwatched, privacy campaigners fear it is the start of a slippery slope.

“I think it'll be an absolute tragedy for Britain if the largest part of the Olympics legacy was a surveillance legacy, where we install all this equipment in the name of national security and when the Olympics are over we keep using it,”