A high speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and this is causing geomagnetic activity around the poles. Zoltan Kenwell of Edmonton, Alberta, witnessed this display on July 27th: "It was a beautiful night on the Alberta prairies," says Kenwell. "Aurora activity was subtle, but definitely present. The full Thunder Moon was lighting up the canola fields and the arrival of a few noctilucent clouds just put the icing on the cake!"

"Apartheid South Africa, as a part of its national security policy, embarked on a nuclear weapons programme. Democratic South Africa sees the international and regional security being achieved by complete nuclear disarmament." - Alfred Nzo These words of Alfred Nzo, the South African Foreign Minister, capture in essence the nuclear policy of the South African government past and present. South Africa represents the world's first instance of nuclear rollback, a state which has unilaterally and voluntarily relinquished nuclear weapons. On March 24, 1993, President F.W. de Klerk declared to a special joint session of the South African Parliament that South Africa had developed a small nuclear arsenal and then dismantled and destroyed it. Mainly due to the secrecy surrounding South Africa's nuclear weapons programme there were a number of questions which were left unanswered, particularly regarding the scope and sophistication of the nuclear programme as well as its rationale. What has been the nuclear policy of the new government led by President Nelson Mandela of the African National Congress (ANC)? Ever since the establishment of the democratic government, South Africa has been making strides in the international arena. It is the present Chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and is set to assume the Chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) this year. Moreover it is actively seeking a position in the United Nations Security Council. Of late, it has shown interest in taking a leadership role in matters related to nuclear arms control and disarmament. As a former nuclear threshold power, it feels it has the technical and diplomatic expertise to play a bridging role between Non-Nuclear Weapon States (NNWS), on the one hand, and the Nuclear Weapon States (NWS), on the other. This paper is divided into two sections: the first section analyses the nuclear policy of South Africa in the apartheid era, while the second, in the post-apartheid era.

In the chaotic wake of another canceled threat to bomb the Iraqi people for Saddam Hussein's transgressions, an alarming report emerged that Israel is developing ethnic weapons. This disturbing news was reported in the Nov. 15 edition of the Sunday Times of London, but was thoroughly drowned-out here by the sound of beating war drums and lingering national chatter about the increasingly irrelevant impeachment inquiry. American pundits of varied stripes and persuasions were demanding Hussein's head for blocking UN weapons inspectors. But while we were busy damning Saddam, it appears that Israel, our closest ally in the region, was busy devising fearsome weapons designed to target specific ethnic groups without any scrutiny whatsoever. "In developing their 'ethno-bomb,' Israeli scientists are trying to exploit medical advances by identifying distinctive genes carried by some Arabs, then create a genetically modified bacterium or virus," the publication noted, citing Israeli military and western intelligence sources. Written by Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin, the article explained that Israel's intention is to "use the ability of viruses and certain bacteria to alter the DNA inside their hosts living cells. . . . to engineer deadly micro-organisms that attack only those bearing the distinctive genes."

Purchase, New York - On this first anniversary of the anthrax attacks, a number of conclusions can be drawn even without an arrest by the FBI. First, the strain and properties of the weaponized anthrax found in the letters show that it originated within the U.S. biodefense program, where the necessary expertise and access are found. Government officials recognized that the anthrax source was domestic less than two weeks after they learned of the letters, and nothing in their investigation has led them to say otherwise since. One can also conclude that, given the origin of the anthrax and the warnings contained in the letters, the perpetrator's motive was not to kill but rather to raise public fear and thereby spur Congress to increase spending on biodefense. In this, the attacks have been phenomenally successful. Paradoxically, however, by breaking the taboo on using biological weapons, the attacks have engendered a threat that could dwarf Sept. 11. Modes of successful attack and public responses have now been demonstrated for the instruction of future terrorists. What's more, it seems to have been easy to hide incriminating evidence, and, after a whole year of FBI bumbling, it looks likely that the attacker will get away with the crime. Although the death toll was relatively low, the strikes crippled business, government and postal services. Contamination in buildings has proved difficult, costly and time-consuming to remove, with some facilities still not restored; the public health system was strained beyond capacity. Although biodefense has gotten a shot in the arm, it is important to understand that the goal of defending against bioweapons is not primarily public protection--which is largely impossible, as last year's attacks demonstrated. It is rather "to allow the military forces of the United States to survive and successfully complete their operational missions ... in battlespace environments contaminated with chemical or biological warfare agents," according to the annual report of the Department of Defense's Chemical and Biological Defense Program.

Just as the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction now seems a neocon-concocted mirage, word has begun leaking out about the spread of bioweapons far more threatening than anything in Saddam Hussein's purported arsenal. A two-part story in the Washington Post on April 20 and 21 revealed that biological agents developed by the South African government during its apartheid days have fallen into private hands. Written by Post reporters Joby Warrick and John Mintz, the piece noted that unique, race-specific strains of biotoxins were available on the world market - for the right price or the right ideology. Wouter Basson, the man who directed South Africa's clandestine bioweapons program, "spoke candidly [to federal officials] of global shopping sprees for pathogens and equipment, of plans for epidemics to be sown in black communities and of cigarettes and letters that were laced with anthrax." The Post said Basson "revealed the development of a novel anthrax strain unknown to the U.S. officials, a kind of 'stealth' anthrax that Basson claimed could fool tests used to detect the disease." The top-secret program that Basson directed was called Project Coast, and it lasted from 1981 to 1993. The South African National Defense Force created it at a time when the white-minority regime was under increasing threat by indigenous black South Africans. Daan Goosen, the former director of Project Coast's biological research division, told the Post he was ordered by Basson to develop ways "to suppress population growth among blacks" and to "search for a 'black bomb,' a biological weapon that would select targets based on skin color."

London - Biological and genetic weapons designed to kill specific ethnic or racial groups are no longer the stuff of science fiction, British researchers said Thursday. A designer plague that would only kill Serbs or a toxin engineered to affect Israelis or Kurds does not exist yet but advances in biotechnology and the mapping of all human genes could be misused to develop lethal weapons within five to 10 years. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the head of health policy research at the British Medical Association (BMA), said genetic information is already being used to enhance biological weapons. "It would be a tragedy if in 10 years time the world faces the reality of genetically engineered and possibly genetically targeted weapons," she told a news conference to launch a new book entitled Biotechnology Weapons and Humanity. "It is not technology and information that is available today, but it is becoming increasingly available. We do have a window of opportunity before weapons of that type are manufactured to make sure we have effective measures of prevention."

US Army documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal disturbing efforts to design crowd control weapons that target people on an ethnic basis. The weapons, a group of foul-smelling chemicals called malodorants, are being developed for US soldiers to use overseas. According to the Sunshine Project, the US has crossed a dangerous line. Successful or not, development of any ethnic weapon is intrinsically racist, and the international community should consider their development, stockpiling, or use by any country a violation of international law. The Research The Sunshine Project has obtained US Army Soldier and Biological Chemical Command contracts that detail testing of malodorant chemicals on human subjects. Malodorant weapons are used to provoke vomiting and psychological effects including fear and panic. Almost sixty years ago, the US developed a nauseating 'bathroom odor' chemical for use as a weapon. But according to the Army, the old malodorant will not work outside of the US and Western Europe, because "it was found that people in many areas of the world do not find 'fecal odor' to be offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis." Therefore, according to the Army, new agents are needed for overseas missions. These new malodorants are to be specifically adapted for their victims. According to a 1998 document: "The objective of this work is the development of a comprehensive set of [malodorants] that can be applied against any population set around the world to influence their behavior."

London (The Associated Press) -- Israel is trying to identity genes carried only by Arabs that could be used to develop a biological weapon that would harm Arabs but not Jews, the Sunday Times reported. The newspaper attributed its report to unidentified Israeli military and Western intelligence sources. It said Israeli scientists are working to create a genetically modified bacterium or virus that only attacks people who carry certain genes. The paper said the weapon is seen as Israel's response to the threat of chemical and biological warfare from Iraq and could be spread by air or through the water supply. The newspaper said the program is based at the biological institute in Nes Tziyona, which it described as the main research facility for Israel's chemical and biological weapons. According to the report, researchers have pinpointed ''a characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab communities, particularly the Iraqi people.'' The idea of such research has provoked controversy in Israel because of parallels with the genetic experiments at Auschwitz by Nazi scientist Dr. Josef Mengele during World War II, the paper said. "Morally, based on our history, and our tradition and our experience, such a weapon is monstrous and should be denied,'' Israeli parliament member Dedi Zucker is quoted as saying. Officials at Porton Down, Britain's biological defense facility, said such weapons were theoretically possible, the newspaper said. If we are to believe a recent AP report culled from the Sunday Times (London) it would appear that the Israelis have announced or intentionally leaked a report that its military was considering the development of so-called "ethnic weapons." The info is credited to "unidentified Israeli military and Western intelligence sources" which generally brings up the red flags with regard to authenticity, and more likely, the motive for such leaks. The article ends with a comment from an unnamed source at Britain's "biological defense facility" that pathogens which can kill on the basis of ethnicity are "theoretically possible." This PR seemingly ignores the fact that this "theoretical possibility" was recognized over 25 years ago, if not before. It was originally brought to the attention of potential customers with the publication of an article in the Military Review of November 1970. This journal for command-level military personnel was published by the US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The feature, entitled "Ethnic Weapons," authored by Carl A. Larson, outlines the history, desirability, and possibilities of engineered biological pathogens which would affect only those races which historically have no natural defense against certain "enzyme inhibitors." Larson is listed as head of the "Department of Human Genetics at the Institute of Genetics, Lund, Sweden" as well as a licensed physician. The Hippocratic oath was apparently not administered in Sweden when Larson received his accreditation.

The Human Genome Project may now open the door to the development and use of genetic weapons targeted at specific ethnic groups. This project is currently being conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Energy Department, which also oversees America's nuclear weapon arsenal. In October 1997, Dr. Wayne Nathanson, chief of the Science and Ethics Department of the Medical Society of the United Kingdom, warned the annual meeting of the Society that "gene therapy" might possibly be turned into "gene weapons" which could potentially be used to target particular genes possessed by certain groups of people. These weapons, Nathanson warned, could be delivered not only in the forms already seen in warfare such as gas and aerosol, but could also be added to water supplies, causing not only death but sterility and birth defects in targeted groups. Current estimates of the cost of developing a "gene weapon" have been placed at around $50 million, still quite a stretch for an isolated band of neo-Nazis, but well within the capabilities of covert government programs. On November 15, 1998, the London Times reported that Israel claimed to have successfully developed a genetically specific "ethnic bullet" that targets Arabs. When an Israeli government spokesman was asked to confirm the existence of ethnic weapons, he did not deny that they had them, but rather said, "we have a basket full of serious surprises that we will not hesitate to use if we feel that the state of Israel is under serious threat."

Tests carried out by an Israeli secret laboratory recently killed four persons and wounded another 25 in the Neis Zayouna district near Tel Aviv, an Israeli daily reported. The Israeli daily Maariv said on Wednesday that the incident at this laboratory, considered the basis of the Israeli program for biological and chemical weapons, was about to force the Israeli authorities to evacuate the estimated population of 25,000 in the Neis Zayouna area before the laboratory experts told authorities that the risks were eliminated. The paper quoted a report in the "Foreign Report" bulletin to be published today that "four fatal incidents took place in the laboratory during the past years. No fixed dates were given." The report added that the laboratory also includes other branch laboratories known as "B 3," where strong poisons are made. Israel flatly denied the report. "No person has ever been killed in a work accident at the Biological Institute since its inception 45 years ago," Prime Minister Netanyahu's media advisor stated today. Activities carried out in the laboratories are under the control of the Israeli authorities as it provides services to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

Israel has abstained from commenting on reports leaked to Western media that it had developed "ethnic" biological weapons which target Arabs and exclude Jews, a British daily reported. Apart from the condemnation of Israeli Knesset Member Dedi Zucker, for processing this weapon which he described as "immoral," the Israeli governmental source kept silent toward these information which were attributed to Israeli military sources and Western intelligence. In its Sunday issue, the British daily "Sunday Times" said that Israel is embarking on developing biological weapons which can affect people according to their ethnic affiliation. The paper reported that Israeli scientists are trying to exploit medical discoveries in order to diagnose "distinctive genes" relating to Arabs and develop according to these genes "microorganisms" that can attack those who carry these "distinctive genes" apart from others through transforming the "DNA system" inside the human cells. The same source quoted scientists working at the Israeli Neis Tasyouna institute which specializes in manufacturing biological and chemical weapons as saying that they faced difficulties in diagnosing "distinctive genes for the Arabs" because both Jews and Arabs are descended from a Semitic origin, while others said they could actually diagnose certain traits "in the profile gene" of certain Arab communities, especially the Iraqi people.

Israel is working on an "ethnically targeted" biological weapon that would kill or harm Arabs but not Jews, according to Israeli military and western intelligence sources cited in a front-page report in the London Sunday Times, November 15, 1998 ("Israel Planning 'Ethnic' Bomb as Saddam Caves In," by Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin). In developing this "ethno-bomb," the British paper went on, Israeli scientists are trying to exploit medical advances by identifying distinctive genes carried by some Arabs, and then create a genetically modified bacterium or virus. The goal is to use the ability of viruses and certain bacteria to alter the DNA inside the host's living cells. The scientists are trying to engineer deadly microorganisms that attack only those bearing the distinctive genes. The secret Israel program is based at the Institute for Biological Research in Nes Tsiona, a small town southeast of Tel Aviv, the main research facility for Israel's clandestine arsenal of chemical and biological weapons. A scientist there said the task is very complicated because both Arabs and Jews are of Semitic origin. But he added: "They have, however, succeeded in pinpointing a particular characteristic in the genetic profile of certain Arab communities, particularly the Iraqi people." Diseases could be spread by spraying organisms into the air or putting them in water supplies.

"I am shocked - shocked! - to find gambling is going on in here" -- Captain Renault at the gaming tables in Casablanca. The much ballyhooed dump of intelligence and diplomatic files concerning the Afghan War has been trumpeted as some kind of shocking expose, "painting a different picture" than the official version of events -- revelations that are sure to rock the Anglo-American political establishments to their foundations. The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel were given 92,000 reports by Wikileaks, including thousands of pages of raw "human intelligence" (i.e., uncorroborated claims and gossip from interested parties and anonymous sources pushing a multitude of agendas), and diplomatic notes passed between the promulgators of the occupation in Washington and their factotums "in country" -- reports which you might imagine also purvey a multitude of agendas ... not least the supreme agenda of all officials involved in a dubious enterprise: ass-covering. Yet these reports are being treated as if they are the "grim truth" behind the shining picture of official propaganda. But what do these stories in the NYT and Guardian actually "reveal"? Let's see:

[with editorial comments by Rowena Thursby] Dr. David Kelly, the top British microbiologist and whistleblower, had close links to the dark world of secret intelligence. Dr. Kelly was not employed by MI5 or MI6 - or any other intelligence service. But He enjoyed an unique access to all the world's top spy agencies. In Britain, France, Germany, North America, Japan and Australia: they all consulted him. Into his office - room number 2/35 - in the Ministry of Defence Proliferation and Arms Control Secretariat in London, came emails and phone calls asking him for his help. More than any scientist he knew about types and strains of micro-organisms, numbers of shells and aerial bombs filled with botulinum toxin. He knew the latest figures for the production of bio-weapons material in China, the gallons of growth material in Syria, Pakistan - and which countries had sold the material. Almost uniquely, he kept a large amount of his secret data in his study at home. There on his desktop computer, were tens of thousands of secret documents and photographs.

It's a tale only the best conspiracy theorist could dream up. Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months. Some of them world leaders in developing weapons-grade biological plagues. Others the best in figuring out how to stop millions from dying because of biological weapons. Still others, experts in the theory of bioterrorism. Throw in a few Russian defectors, a few nervy U.S. biotech companies, a deranged assassin or two, a bit of Elvis, a couple of Satanists, a subtle hint of espionage, a big whack of imagination, and the plot is complete, if a bit reminiscent of James Bond. Comment: Notice how the authors are trivialising the connected murders with repeated allusions to fictional and stereotypical notions in an attempt to preemptively allay readers' suspicions. In all likelihood, these scientists' deaths and the dark underbelly of western military intelligence's operations that connect them, could not be matched by anything portrayed as fiction in Hollywood. The first three died in the space of just over a week in November. Benito Que, 52, was an expert in infectious diseases and cellular biology at the Miami Medical School. Police originally suspected that he had been beaten on Nov. 12 in a carjacking in the medical school's parking lot. Strangely enough, though, his body showed no signs of a beating. Doctors then began to suspect a stroke. Just four days after Dr. Que fell unconscious came the mysterious disappearance of Don Wiley, 57, one of the foremost microbiologists in the United States. Dr. Wiley, of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University, was an expert on how the immune system responds to viral attacks such as the classic doomsday plagues of HIV, ebola and influenza.

In the 50s and 60s, British government scientists carried out secret trials to find out the likely effects of a biological attack. The results, some never published before, reveal how shockingly vulnerable the capital is to an anthrax attack. It was lunchtime on London's Northern line. Deep underground, passengers were getting on and off the tube trains as normal. Two men boarded a train at Colliers Wood in south London. As the train gathered speed towards its next stop, Tooting Broadway, one of them got up from his seat and dropped a small carton of face powder out of the window. He could have been idly throwing away litter. As the train sped on, the carton hit the tracks and burst. Out spewed millions of tiny spores, which began to spread throughout the dark tunnels. Dust swabs taken after three days and two weeks showed that the spores had spread as far up the line as Camden Town station in north London, 10 miles away. This really happened. But the two men weren't terrorists but government scientists. And the spores weren't anthrax spores, but a harmless micro-organism designed to mimic clandestine sabotage with anthrax. This was an official experiment in 1963, and it showed how easily saboteurs could inflict a potentially devastating attack on Britain's capital.

Damage Control: Downplaying WikiLeaks Revelations - by Stephen Lendman

When truths are too disturbing to conceal, downplay them, change the subject, and blame others, not responsible Washington officials and key allies, culpable politicians and media misinformation masters suppressing and misreporting the facts, their well-oiled spin machine counterattacking WikiLeaks - revelations too sensitive to explain, a potential game-changer otherwise, so pundits and reporters duck them.

Above all, WikiLeaks "Afghan War Diaries" are a powerful indictment of wars, their true face, the mindless daily slaughter and destruction too disturbing to reveal, for Julian Assange:

"the vast sweep of abuses, everyday squalor and carnage of war....one sort of kill after another every day going on and on and on....one damn thing after another....(endless) small events, the continuous deaths of children, insurgents, allied forces....(many) thousands" of war crimes needing exposure, accountability, and prosecutions.

The "Diaries" document them, suppressed by the major media, choosing embedded complicity and Pentagon handouts over real journalism, WikiLeaks "high quality material" and solid analysis their antidote, so far not enough to stop Congress.

One day after their release, following the Senate's passage days earlier on top of $130 billion already approved this year, the House overwhelmingly passed a $60 billion supplemental spending bill, including $37 billion for America's wars, mostly for 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. Obama tripled the force since taking office, now around 100,000 and increasing by about 2,000 a month, their numbers exceeded by private military and other contractors, making the annual cost per US soldier $1 million and rising, reason enough to end both wars and bring them home.

Yet more escalation is planned, breaking candidate Obama's October 27, 2007 pledge saying:

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home, We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank," perhaps an insolvent one under FDIC receivership.

A day after the WikiLeaks release, he ignored old promises, evaded indictable war crimes evidence and a deepening unwinnable quagmire, urging the House authorize more supplemental funding, then engaged in contradictory, deceitful damage control saying:

"While I'm concerned about the disclosure of sensitive information from the battlefield that could potentially jeopardize individuals or operations, the fact is these documents don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate about Afghanistan. Indeed, they point to the same challenges that led me to conduct an extensive review of our policy last fall."

Instead of withdrawing as earlier promised, he plans escalation, the same Vietnam misjudgment, force levels there reaching 540,000 in December 1969, yet not enough to win, resulting in drawdowns, withdrawal and defeat, now repeating in Afghanistan, then Iraq no matter each country's troop level. Mindless of history, Obama added:

"We've substantially increased our commitment there, insisted upon greater accountability from our partners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, developed a new strategy that can work and put in place a team, including one of our finest generals, to execute that plan. Now we have to see that strategy through," no matter its illegality and futility, what he and Pentagon brass know but won't say, what Congress and the media won't address, supporting a killing machine in violation of US and international law, explained in this writer's July 28 article, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/07/wikileaks-afghan-war-diaries.html

Deceitful Media Misinformation

Released in advance to the Guardian, Der Spiegel, and New York Times, the "paper of record" collaborated with White House officials to sanitize it, clearing it in advance before publishing. Its Washington bureau chief, Dean Baquet, confirmed that he and two reporters (Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt) "did in fact (tell them) what we had," Obama officials "prais(ing) us for the way we handled it, giving them a chance to discuss it, and for handling the information with care. And for being responsible."

Responding to readers, Times editor Bill Keller wrote:

"The administration, while strongly condemning (the release), did not suggest (we not) write about them. On the contrary, in our discussions....while challenging some of (our) conclusions....thanked us for handling the documents with care (read sanitizing disturbing truths), and asked us to urge WikiLeaks to withhold information that could cost lives. We did pass along that message."

In addition, he concealed daily war crimes, including mass civilian deaths, many willfully committed. Also, Task Force 373, death squad assassins killing suspected insurgents, cold-blooded murder The Times suppresses, collaborating with imperial lawlessness.

Instead, it focused on "Pakistan's Double Game," a July 27 editorial "confirm(ing) a picture of Pakistani double-dealing that has been building for years," saying "If Mr. Obama cannot persuade Islamabad to cut its ties to, and then aggressively fight, the extremists in Pakistan, there is no hope of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan," The Times, of course, supporting the Afghan and Iraq wars.

For many decades, it's suppressed disturbing truths, functioning like a propaganda ministry, masquerading as real news, commentary and analysis - why WikiLeaks gave the Guardian and Der Spiepel its documents for more accurate reporting if three papers, not one, had them.

A wise decision given The Times history of supporting privilege, backing corporate interests, knowingly ignoring CIA efforts to topple elected governments, letting the Agency use its correspondents as covert assets, turning a blind eye to electoral fraud, and promoting imperial wars.

In the run-up to attacking Iraq, its star reporter, Judith Miller, bylined daily Pentagon handouts, scamming the public as a complicit Bush administration agent, a weapon of mass destruction against truth and real journalism by transmitting lies, deceit and agitprop, standard New York Times fare.

For months in 2004, it also concealed the Bush administration's illegal domestic spying program, delaying its report until after the November election, and in 2000 endorsed Bush v. Gore, the first time in US history that the High Court ignored electoral fraud, annulled the popular vote (and final Electoral College count), installing its own preferred candidate over the winner.

The Wall Street Journal is unapologetic about supporting corporate interests, and under Rupert Murdoch the lunatic fringe, neocon extremism, and imperial wars, its July 29 editorial titled "WikiLeaks 'Bastards' " an example, saying:

Julian Assange loves "crushing bastards." We wonder if the 'bastards' he has in mind include the dozens of Afghan civilians named in the document dump as US military informants. Their lives, as well as those of their entire families, are now at terrible risk of Taliban reprisal."

In fact, the Journal ignores Assange's "bastards" - imperial warlords reigning death and destruction daily in Iraq and Afghanistan, unmentioned in Journal reports, op-eds or editorials, focusing instead on supporting the troops and "humanitarian" wars bringing "democracy" to beleaguered people, the kind that slaughters and enslaves them.

The editorial calls publishing disturbing truths "troubling," though revealing "no big lies about the war (but) no small ones either." Exposing details about "the military's methods, sources, tactics and protocols of communication" harms national security." In fact, what harms it is America's presence, lawlessness and imperial agenda.

In a July 27 Journal op-ed, Bret Stephens calls civilian deaths, Special Forces teams targeting insurgents, and Pakistan aiding the Taliban "not exactly" news. "Still, you'd be forgiven for thinking it is, given the Pentagon Papers-style treatment now being accorded" the WikiLeaks release. "We'll see about that," so he focuses instead on a former Khmer Rouge prison commandant's conviction for his role in the 1970s Cambodian killing fields, hardly worth discussing over 40 years too late.

Journal writers Siobhan Gorman and Jay Solomon also dodged the story, diverting attention to "Suspicion (and unproved allegations) of Iranian ties to the Taliban and al Qaeda," alleging Tehran provided them arms, like earlier false claims about Iraq, the writers saying some accusations "stretch credulity," yet they reported them anyway.

On July 27, the Washington Post headlined "Wikileaks' release of classified field reports on Afghan war reveals not much," saying:

The voluminous release "hardly merits the hype (nor) does it provide evidence for war crimes prosecutions - though in making that assertion, Wikileaks' founder revealed his....antiwar agenda," one supported by most Americans and majorities worldwide.

Saying the archives "add detail and texture," the Post downplayed their importance, calling them old news, insignificant, unreliable, unconfirmed, not reflecting current policy - the kind escalating killing by a tripled force level and expanded war into Pakistan, its carnage and daily Iraq violence suppressed, the grim facts too disturbing to reveal, multiplied manyfold in Afghanistan.

On his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh mocked WikiLeaks saying, "In the old days, the definition of winning a war was killing people."

Fox News on-air host/commentator Greg Gutfeld headlined, "WikiLeaks' Crusade Against the US Military," saying its documents are "pure bullpoop times 12. The fact is, their goal is to 'expose' only the people they hate - meaning the US military - and get famous for it. (What) Julian thinks is 'unethical behavior' is only unethical if you're an idiot....and if you disagree with me, you're a racist homophobe who eats oil-soaked pelicans."

Fox News calls itself "fair and balanced," saying "we report, you decide." Its above comments show otherwise - why Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) calls Fox "the most biased name in news," its "extraordinary right-wing tilt" not reality or honest journalism, sadly lacking throughout the major media, cable and broadcast "news" looking more like Fox, racing to the bottom for ratings and profits, delivering a propaganda, junk food news and entertainment diet, their viewers misinformed and cheated.

Overall, the major media downplayed the WikiLeaks story, CNN like others saying:

"American officials from the president on down" minimized the disclosures, Pentagon officials finding no high classification level disclosures. Senator John Kerry said the leaks shouldn't be overstated. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stressed they won't affect congressional support for the war.

Trying to rebrand it, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton highlighted "the new counterinsurgency strategy implemented earlier this year, (a policy) to turn things around," and a July 25 White House email told reporters "Some of the disconcerting things reported are exactly why the President ordered a three month policy review and a change in strategy," in fact, the same one escalated with more troops, more attacks, and more killings.

Others called the documents old news the way Pentagon Papers bombshells were dismissed, the Los Angeles Times saying WikiLeaks reports revealed few, just material "put(ting) the Obama administration on the defensive about its Afghanistan policy (that) may deepen doubts in Congress about prospects for turning around the faltering war effort."

Not easily with major media support, complicit with Pentagon warlords, criminal politicians, and corporate bosses burying the story, calling it unimportant and moving on, backing the war effort by misreporting or silence.

As a result, antiwar sentiment must challenge official policy, enlisting others to resist and back efforts to revive a sick economy, lift living standards, save social benefits, and the remnants of democratic freedoms, fast eroding in America by design, the prospect too horrific to accept, making bad governance essential to change.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If that's not incentive enough, what is?

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Forest fires swept across central Russia on Friday, killing at least five people and forcing the evacuation of thousands during the hottest summer since records began 130 years ago, officials said. Fanned by strong winds, raging fires ripped through woods and fields already scorched by the heatwave, complicating the efforts of firefighters. "We don't know where to go," said Galina Shibanova, 52, standing outside the charred remains of her family home in the town of Maslovka in the Voronezh region, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Moscow. "We called the emergency services, and not one person answered the phone," she said, adding at least 50 homes had been destroyed.

Forest fires swept across central Russia on Friday, killing at least five people and forcing the evacuation of thousands during the hottest summer since records began 130 years ago, officials said. Fanned by strong winds, raging fires ripped through woods and fields already scorched by the heatwave, complicating the efforts of firefighters. "We don't know where to go," said Galina Shibanova, 52, standing outside the charred remains of her family home in the town of Maslovka in the Voronezh region, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Moscow. "We called the emergency services, and not one person answered the phone," she said, adding at least 50 homes had been destroyed.

At least 100 people have been killed by rivers bursting their banks in north-west Pakistan as the country was hit by its worst floods for 80 years. Floodwater destroyed a dam and washed away countless bridges in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, leaving an estimated 400,000 people stranded, after two days of monsoon rains. Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the regional information minister, said the deluge made it difficult to reach people in need of shelter and clean drinking water. "A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to the bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available for rescue," he said. The province's deputy health director, Ali Khan, added that he feared there may be as many as 500 casualties. Medical workers had launched a programmed to immunise people against cholera and typhoid, he said. Ten of the victims died when their homes collapsed in the provincial capital Peshawar.