Putin’s Ruthless Gambit
The Bush Administration Falters in a Geopolitical Chess Match
By Michael T. Klare
 To fully grasp the recent upheavals in the Caucasus, it is necessary to view the conflict as but a minor skirmish in a far more significant geopolitical struggle between Moscow and Washington over the energy riches of the Caspian Sea basin — with former Russian President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin emerging as the reigning Grand Master of geostrategic chess and the Bush team turning out to be middling amateurs, at best.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20673.htm

CNN Interviews Putin
Video – (English subtitles)
Compiled by Sean M. Madden
The following three-part series is an interview, held on August 28, between CNN’s Matthew Chance and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20677.htm

Full Text
US-Iraqi Agreement: Leaked
By Raed Jarrar
This leaked draft is a treasure of information. It’s the first time any document related to this topic is made public. It shows how weak the Iraqi negotiations team is (it is really pathetic to read their “suggestions” on how to fix the disaster of an agreement).
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20671.htm

Palestinian Village Faces Army Reign of Terror
By Jonathan Cook in Nilin
The window through which Salam Amira, 16, filmed the moment when an Israeli soldier shot from close range a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has a large hole at its centre with cracks running in every direction
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20676.htm

“I am a Zionist. You Don’t Have to be a Jew to be a Zionist!”
Biden and Israel
By ROBERT WEITZEL
For all of Obama’s campaign promises of “change,” his choice of Joseph Biden as his running mate sends a clear signal to Israel’s lobby in Washington and its right-wing government in Jerusalem that for the next four years there will be no change in the United States’ unconditional support or its annual $6 billion in direct and indirect aid.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20674.htm

Palin’s Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview
By Nico Pitney and Sam Stein
Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20672.htm

Looking at America’s Police State
By Timothy V. Gatto
Our leaders have no conscience, and hatch their schemes and plan for conquest, while millions of us wait for a chance to change this nation’s direction. Sadly, for all of us that are truly paying attention, we see that real change is only a mirage.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20678.htm

Police, National Guard, Fire Tear Gas Into Protest Group
By Pioneer Press staff – Includes video
Local police and Minnesota National Guard units are using a combination of pepper spray, concussion grenades and tear gas on a group of breakaway protesters gathered on Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St. Paul. The group of about 150 protesters, many thought to be with the group “Funk the War,” had been blocking traffic for much of the afternoon.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20668.htm

Anti War Protester Offers Flower To Police
Pepper Sprayed As Thank You.
Video
Click to view
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20669.htm

Amy Goodman Arrested at Republican National Convention
Video
 Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department. Charged with conspiracy to riot. Footage from Rick Rowley and Brandon Jourdan.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20670.htm

British occupation force soldiers kill 200 Taliban:
British commanders estimate that more than 200 Taliban were killed as they tried to prevent the convoy of 100 vehicles from getting the machinery to Kajaki hydroelectric dam where it will provide a significant increase in energy for up to two million Afghans.
tinyurl.com/5wwaql

Bomb Blasts, Taliban Attacks Kill Seven In Afghanistan:
Overnight, three security guards were killed the south-eastern province of Wardak on late Monday, after Taliban militants ambushed their company’s vehicle, officials added.
tinyurl.com/5aslp5

Foreign troops ‘kill four civilians’ in Kabul :
FOREIGN forces have sparked more mass protests after soldiers allegedly stormed a residential house in Kabul and killed a husband, his wife and two of their children.
quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1503&Itemid=48

Occupation troops kill another 3 children, add to Afghan strain:
At a time of rising public outrage over civilian casualties, Western troops killed three Afghan children and wounded seven other noncombatants in an errant artillery strike on Monday, military officials said.
www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/international/story/428651.html

‘US troops are committing war crimes’ :
AN AFGHAN human rights organisation has accused the United States army of committing war crimes in Afghanistan.
quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1514&Itemid=48

100 die in Shia-Sunni clashes:
More than 100 people were killed in two days of clashes between Shia and Sunni tribes battling for supremacy of a tribal agency on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
www.hindu.com/2008/09/02/stories/2008090256971400.htm

Pakistan air strike kills 10:
Pakistani military jets pounded rebel hideouts in restive Swat valley in the northwest Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens, a security official said.
news.iafrica.com/worldnews/1124920.htm

Suicide car bomb kills seven in northern Iraq:
A suicide car bomber on Tuesday struck an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, killing seven people and wounding seven others, a provincial police source said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/02/content_9757202.htm

Explosion in Baghdad kills five, wounds 21:
Five Iraqis were killed and 21 others were injured on Tuesday when two explosive devices went off near Al-Kindi Hospital in the heart of the Iraqi capital, and in Al-Harithyah district, located western Baghdad, Iraqi security sources said.
tinyurl.com/58ylj8

US-Iraqi Agreement: Leaked :
This leaked draft is a treasure of information. It’s the first time any document related to this topic is made public. It shows how weak the Iraqi negotiations team is (it is really pathetic to read their “suggestions” on how to fix the disaster of an agreement).
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20671.htm

Iraqi MPs to vote on US deal within 10 days: report:
“The government is waiting for an answer from the United States on the Iraqi suggestion to keep the sovereignty of Iraq and the interests of its people. The members of parliament will accept or reject the agreement,” Maliki said
tinyurl.com/6nwfvj

Iraq to take control of Baghdad citizen patrols:
The Iraqi government will take over responsibility from Oct. 1 for paying and directing the Sunni-dominated citizen patrols known as Awakening Councils that operate in and around Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
tinyurl.com/6x5qoy

China to charge $6 a barrel to develop Iraq field:
Iraq on Tuesday cleared a plan to develop an oil field by China Petroleum National Corp. at a service fee of six dollars a barrel, giving Beijing a foothold into the world’s third largest oil reserves.
uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080902/twl-iraq-china-oil-3cd7efd.html

Putin vows ‘an answer’ to NATO ships:
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia will respond calmly to an increase in NATO ships in the Black Sea in the aftermath of the short war with Georgia, but promised that “there will be an answer.”
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26508298/

Georgia mobilizes commando units near S.Ossetia – Russian military:
“According to our information, Georgian security forces are trying to restore their [military] presence in Georgian populated villages in South Ossetia. With this aim, Georgia is mobilizing its special forces from the interior and defense ministries near the administrative border with South Ossetia,” Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, said.
en.rian.ru/world/20080902/116487190.html

Abkhazia Leader Says Wants Russian Military Bases: –
The Moscow-backed rebel region of Abkhazia has asked Russia to establish military bases on its territory to ensure security, the region’s leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said on Tuesday.
tinyurl.com/626wyf

Abkhazia says no plans for new Russian bases:
Abkhazia will not host new Russian military bases on its territory, the leader of the region recently recognized by Russia as independent said on Tuesday. “There will be no new bases,” Sergei Bagapsh said, adding that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will not be based in the republic either.
en.rian.ru/world/20080902/116484291.html

EU showed ‘common sense’ on Georgia crisis: Putin:
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, welcomed the absence of sanctions, saying this showed “EU countries are still willing to further to develop, to broaden the relationship with Russia in general.”
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080902/wl_afp/georgiarussiaconflicteu

Russia Expresses Regret Over EU’s Decision To Freeze New Partnership Talks:
“We regret the [EU] intention to suspend negotiations on the new partnership agreement — although in the past two years Moscow has already become used to artificial obstacles on the path to this document,” he said.
www.payvand.com/news/08/sep/1018.html

U.S. warship leaves Sevastopol after protests:
The ship’s arrival was met by thousands of anti-NATO protesters chanting “Yankees go home!” and waving banners with the slogan “NATO Stop!” Police cordoned off the area around the ship.
en.rian.ru/world/20080902/116477984.html

The Farce Continues:
Despite babbling about “staying the course” and “keeping the process going,” Condoleezza Rice’s latest visit to Israel/occupied Palestine was a belated tacit acknowledgement of the failure of the Bush administration’s approach toward the Palestinian issue.
www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/08/the-farce-continues/

UN warns of Ethiopia food crisis:
About eight million people need urgent food relief and another 4.6 million need emergency assistance, accoring to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
tinyurl.com/5dq22e

World Bank: Two and a half billion people live on less than $2 a day:
The most dire conditions exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. After a quarter-century (1981-2005) that witnessed the most extraordinary advances in technology, the percentage of people living in absolute poverty in that region remained unchanged; some 50 percent of its population subsists on $1.25 a day or less.
www.wsws.org/articles/2008/sep2008/pove-s02.shtml

Iran, Bolivia to stand up to imperialism:
The Iranian president said Tehran and La Paz are determined to ‘defend their nations against the enemy’ and protect their national interests.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=68238&sectionid=351020101

Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo alleges coup plot:
Paraguay’s president has warned of a possible coup plot against his new government, saying that rival politicians summoned a key military figure to gauge support for their political ambitions.
tinyurl.com/6dah79

Bolivian Court Invalidates Morales Referendum Decree: —
Bolivia’s National Electoral Court has invalidated a decree by President Evo Morales calling a referendum on December 7 on a rewritten constitution that is sharply contested by opposition governors.
tinyurl.com/6m5flp

Venezuela moves to nationalize fuel distribution:
President Hugo Chávez said that wholesale gasoline sales by private companies in Venezuela will soon disappear after his congressional allies pass a bill nationalizing the business.
tinyurl.com/5gn7cv

Venezuela and South Africa make energy deal:
South Africa and Venezuela signed on Tuesday a major oil agreement during an official visit by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who invited Petrosa, South Africa’s state-owned oil company, to work together with Venezuela’s state-run oil company Pdvsa at the Orinoco Oil Belt.
tinyurl.com/6kkdkf

Preemptive Strikes Against Protests at RNC:
In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called “Moles Wanted.” Law enforcement sought to preempt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention.
counterpunch.org/cohn09022008.html