Russia: Talks with NATO over missile system deadlocked

Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s deputy defense minister and chief negotiator with the NATO on the deployment of a missile system in Europe

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225567.html

Russia says its negotiations with the NATO over the deployment of a missile system belonging to the Western military alliance within Europe have reached ‘a dead end.’

On Monday, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s deputy defense minister and chief negotiator with the NATO on the deployment of the missile system, called the missile system a threat to Russia's security.

Antonov pointed out that Moscow may pull out of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed with Washington in 2010.

“New challenges emerge, including missile and nuclear proliferation … That’s why Russia’s military doctrine envisages the use of nuclear weapons in specific cases,” he said.

“I do not rule out that under certain circumstances we will have to boost, not cut, our nuclear arsenal,” the Russian deputy defense minister added.

Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had accused Washington and NATO of pointing the missile system at his country.

US-led NATO has claimed that the missile system is planned to thwart possible attacks from 'rogue' states, and it will go ahead with the plan despite Russian concerns.

However, Moscow says it wants legal guarantees that the system will not be aimed at Russia.

Russia test fires long-range missile

Russian missiles. (File photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/217980.html

Russia has successfully test fired its long-range ballistic missile with a new warhead aimed at developing a domestic missile shield capable of encountering US-NATO missile threats.

On Tuesday, Russia tested its long-range ballistic missile RS-18, known as Stilet (Stileto) to the West, from its Baiknonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

According to a statement by the Russian defense ministry, the missile hit its target on the Kamchatka Peninsula on the Pacific

This is while tension is on the rise between Moscow and Washington over a US-NATO missile system in Europe which excludes Russia's participation.

The US claims that its missile system is designed to avert possible missile attacks by either Iran or North Korea, the two major countries that have fiercely resisted US interference in their respective counties.

However, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he is not convinced with Washington's claims and wants legal guarantees that the system will not be aimed at Russia.

The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.

Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes.

'Russia boosts littoral defense in Syria'

A model supersonic cruise missile (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/213298.html

Russia has reportedly laid the groundwork for heightened defensive precautions along the Syrian coastline amid the potential of a Western-led military attack against the Middle Eastern nation.

On Thursday, an unnamed Russian military source said that Moscow had delivered anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

"This weapon allows coverage of the entire coastline of Syria from possible attack from the sea," the source noted.

In November, Russian sources said Moscow was sending its warships to Syrian waters to block any attack led by the Western military alliance of NATO against the country under the guise of 'humanitarian intervention.'

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both in favor of and against President Bashar al-Assad.

Hundreds of people, including many members of the security forces, have been killed in the unrest.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deadly violence, saying that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

The opposition and Western countries, however, accuse the Syrian security forces of being behind the killings. Damascus strongly rejects the claim, asserting that the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.

On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the US and the European Union to put an end to their threats against Syria.

In October, Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemning the Syrian government.

Moscow said the resolution could have led to a Western military intervention in Syria similar to the one in Libya, where, it said, NATO had overstepped its UNSC mandate

West warned against anti-Iran agitation

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/213296.html

The Chinese and Russian governments have called on Western countries to show restraint over Iran, warning them against escalating tensions with the country.

"We hope the countries involved will keep calm, rational and restrained to avoid emotional actions,” that can aggravate the situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was quoted by Xinhua as saying at a press briefing in Beijing on Thursday.

The remarks came after British Foreign Secretary William Hague ordered the closure of Iran's embassy in London following a Tuesday protest rally staged by Iranian students outside the British embassy in Tehran.

The student rally followed approval by Iran's Majlis (parliament) of a bill aimed at downgrading ties with the UK and in protest at Britain's hostile policies towards the Islamic Republic.

Also on Thursday and in an apparent reaction to the rallies, foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against 180 more Iranian individuals and companies, but failed to bring into force an embargo against the country's oil sector. The ministers, however, claimed that they would keep working on developing additional restrictive means, which would directly affect Iran's oil industry.

Hong added that China had "taken note of" the aggressive responses to the student protests.

Russia has also cautioned Western countries against further souring their relations with Iran.

"We speak out categorically against cranking up a spiral of tension and confrontation on issues linked with Iran. We believe that this ... is fraught with severe consequences," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.

"The increasing tensions in relations with Tehran is essentially blocking the renewal of talks" between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US -- plus Germany (P5+1) over Tehran's nuclear program, Lukashevich added.

On November 21, the United States, Britain, and Canada imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran's energy and financial sectors after a November 8 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tehran's nuclear program, which had alleged diversion in the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities.

The report has been dismissed by Tehran as "unbalanced, unprofessional, and prepared with political motivation and under political pressure by mostly the United States.”

The US, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to push for the imposition of sanctions on Tehran as well as to call for the launch of a military attack against the country.

Iran, however, refutes such allegations as 'baseless' and maintains that, as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, it has every right to acquire and develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

The agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence of diversion in Tehran's civilian nuclear program.

Russia activates military radar facility

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212829.html

Russia has officially activated an early warning military radar facility in response to a planned US missile system in Europe.

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inaugurated the facility in the western exclave of Kaliningrad, the Associated Press reported.

"I hope that our partners will perceive this move as the first signal of our country's readiness to respond in kind to the threats, which the missile defense system poses for our forces," Medvedev said, referring to US missile system in Europe.

Medvedev added that in case a cooperation agreement was made, the massive radar could be integrated in a joint NATO-Russia missile shield.

The opening of the radar facility comes days ahead of parliamentary elections.

Earlier, Russia threatened to block NATO's routes to Afghanistan, if the Western military alliance continued to disregard Moscow's concerns regarding the US-led missile shield for Europe.

The US and NATO have also refused to sign a written guarantee requested by Russia, claiming their system does not target Moscow.

The Russian government has long opposed NATO's disputed plan of deploying an anti-missile shield in Europe, arguing that the would-be system in its "backyard” is not to secure Washington's European allies, but is effectively aimed at Russia.

NATO claims that the anti-missile shield is planned to thwart possible attacks from 'rogue' states, and it will go ahead with the plan despite Russia's concerns.

West must end Syria threats: Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212798.html

The Russian foreign minister has called on the US and the European Union to put an end to their threats against Syria, urging Washington and the European bloc to exercise diplomacy on Damascus.

“Right now, the most important thing is to stop acting by means of ultimatums and try to move toward political dialogue,” AFP quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.

He further criticized a proposal by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to impose a complete arms embargo on Syria.

On Monday, the UNHRC accused Syria of committing crimes against humanity and called for an arms embargo against the Middle Eastern country.

In addition, the Arab League on Sunday approved unprecedented sanctions against Syria.

The sanctions include cutting transactions with the Syrian Central Bank and an embargo on the investments for projects in Syria.

“We are going to view another embargo, this one against Syria, based on the experience that we gained from the Libyan example,” Lavrov said.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both in favor of and against President Bashar al-Assad. Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying that it is being orchestrated from abroad.

President Assad has warned against any foreign attack against Syria, saying the military action will cause instability in the whole Middle East.

Russia threatens to block NATO routes

Trucks carrying NATO supplies to US-led forces in Afghanistan (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/212755.html

Russia has threatened to block NATO's supply routes to Afghanistan, should the Western military alliance continue to disregard Moscow's concerns about the US-led defense shield for Europe, a report says.

Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin warned that Moscow will review its cooperation with the Western military alliance on Afghanistan if the NATO fails to address Russia's objections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that direct actions will be taken if his country's concerns are not addressed.

Medvedev envisioned possible missile attacks on Poland, Romania, Spain, and Turkey as a means to disable the counter-missile batteries, if the United States fails to acknowledge the concerns of the Russian defense officials.

He also warned that the country will deploy nuclear weapons to European borders in response to the move.

Russia's threats to suspend the NATO supply lines to Afghanistan coincides with a similar punitive measure taken by Pakistan on Saturday in retaliation to the US-led alliance's recent airstrikes on Pakistani military forces, which killed 24 soldiers.

NATO started using safer routes in Russia to deliver its supplies to its forces since Washington and Moscow reset diplomatic relations in 2009.

The Russian government has long opposed the NATO's disputed plan of deploying an anti-missile shield in Europe, arguing that the would-be system in its "backyard” is not to secure Washington's European allies, but is effectively aimed at Russia.

NATO claims that the anti-missile shield is planned to thwart possible attacks from 'rogue' states, and it will go ahead with the plan despite Russia's concerns.

Russia will hit US missile sites if no deal

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L) and President Vladimir Putin

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211689.html

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will target US missile defense sites in Europe if Washington goes ahead with the planned shield despite Moscow's concerns.

Medvedev said on Wednesday that he will deploy strike systems in the west and south of Russia, and deploy Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region in order to counter the risk posed by the European missile defense system, Russia Today reported.

“By my order the Defense Ministry will run in a warning system radar station in Kaliningrad without delay,” the Russian president said.

“In the event of unfavorable developments (in regards to European missile defense), Russia reserves the right to halt further steps in the disarmament sphere and, respectively, weapons control,” Medvedev said.

He added, “Besides, given the inseparable interconnection between the strategic offensive and defensive weapons, grounds may appear for our country's withdrawal from the START treaty.”

The new START treaty, signed by Russian President Medvedev and US President Barack Obama in the Czech capital of Prague in April 2010, replaced START 1, which expired in December 2009.

New START went into force on February 5, 2011. The arms reduction pact would limit Washington and Moscow to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each.

Russia fears that the plans for missile shields in Europe, including in Romania and Poland, would undermine its nuclear deterrence, and thus has been seeking legally binding guarantees to check it.

During a meeting in Lisbon in late November 2010, Russia agreed to cooperate with NATO on the US-backed pan-European missile system.

Russia's agreement with NATO, however, raised eyebrows as Moscow had traditionally been fiercely opposed to the missile system.

Moscow has called for the shared control of the system but Washington refuses to share the responsibility for protecting NATO member-states with a third party.

'Bin Laden killing story inconsistent'

Russ Baker, US investigative journalist and founder of the nonprofit website WhoWhatWhy.com

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197701.html

The official story publicized by the US on the raid that supposedly killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden contains many inconsistencies, a prominent journalist tells Press TV's US Desk.

“Things that simply make no sense, in that they contradict what the Obama White House originally told us about the raid. Almost nothing about this so-called official history actually makes any sense,” said Russ Baker, an award-winning investigative reporter and founder of WhoWhatWhy.com, on Sunday.

In his exclusive interview with Press TV, Baker questioned the authenticity of an article published by The New Yorker in early August, which detailed the May 1 raid against the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden had allegedly hidden.

Written by Nicholas Schmidle, the article is titled “Getting Bin Laden: What happened that night in Abbottabad,” and was published on August 8.

He said the article gives the impression that all the details of what took place was provided by the soldiers and the navy seals who conducted the raid, while its author was not even allowed to speak to any of the people who were actually present at the event.

The investigative journalist cast serious doubts on the American magazine's account, saying it seems as if The New Yorker was given the details by an official in the Obama administration while trying to create the impression that this was real information from the scene.

The official story of bin Laden's death caused by a US commando team raid has been seriously contested by many experts and officials alike.

A few days after the alleged incident, Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi pointed to the available “accurate information” which showed that former head of al-Qaeda had died of disease some time ago.

“If the US military and intelligence apparatus have really arrested or killed bin Laden, why don't they show him (his dead body)? Why have they thrown his corpse into the sea?” Moslehi asked.

Analysts have also raised serious questions as to why US officials did not allow for the application of a DNA test to officially confirm the identity of the corpse before its hasty burial.

9/11 was an inside job: 1 in 7 in US, UK

A scene from September 11, 2001

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197140.html

About one out of seven US and British citizens believe that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks, according to a poll recently conducted in the United States and Britain.

The survey interviewed 1,000 people on August 28, asking them, "It is generally accepted that these attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda. However some people have suggested there was a wider conspiracy that included the American government. Do you, yourself, believe that there was a wider conspiracy, or not?"

The Daily Mail reported on Friday that 14 percent of British citizens and 15 percent of US citizens believe the George W. Bush administration actually staged the attacks, with the view most common among young people aged between 16 and 24, 24 percent of whom said they believed 9/11 was an inside job.

Gordon Duff, the senior editor of Veterans Today, discussed the 9/11 issue during an interview with Press TV's US Desk on Tuesday.

It is very distressing for US veterans to know that their own government was responsible for the disaster, and on September 11, 2011 "they are going to come out, parade around, and lie to us again," Duff said.

Missile hit Pentagon on 9/11: Video

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196632.html

On the verge of the 9/11 tenth anniversary, leaked videos confirm eye-witnesses' accounts that the attack was made by a cruise missile rather than a passenger plane, an editor told Press TV's US Desk.

"There were 85 videos; another video was released yesterday (August 29). Now it hasn't been carefully vetted but it appears to be quite genuine that clearly shows a cruise missile from another angle hitting the Pentagon," Gordon Duff, senior editor of Veterans Today, told Press TV's US Desk on Tuesday.

Duff said that CNN reporters at the scene of the 9/11 event in 2001 said they had not seen any plane wreckage after the attack.

According to "reliable reports" from airline pilots, it would be "impossible" for the plane and any pilot at all, including the top air force and navy pilots in the US, to have flown a plane in such a way the Pentagon, he added.

"We have engineers at Boeing -- the company that manufactured the plane that supposedly hit the Pentagon -- that say it couldn't fly that fast, it can't fly that low, it can't make those turns and it couldn't have been there," the investigative journalist said.

The close photographs of the Pentagon also show no wreckage of the plane, although normally remains of a plane wreck sometimes cover a square of a mile.

The plane crash does not create a hole 7 to 8 feet across, but it rather creates a hole where the wing hits over 120 feet across, experts say.

"But none of that had happened," he mentioned.

The video that is available now shows that the missile was rectangular, white, seemingly 17 to 20 feet, supersonic, without wings but with a small tail.

It is still pure conjecture who planned the attack and why he did it, but it is quite clear it was not a plane, according to Duff.

"We're willing to prove it wasn't a plane. We'll prove it in any court of law. Now we have solid evidence that we've put together for ten years," Duff said. "It is our belief that members of the US government and one other foreign government were complicit in the planning and execution of the attacks on 9/11."

It is very distressing for veterans to know that their own government was responsible for the disaster, and on September 11, 2011 "they are going to come out, parade around, and lie to us again," he concluded.

US army base transfer in Japan delayed

(L-R) Japan's Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hold a joint press conference at the Department of State June 21, 2011 in Washington।

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185741.html

The United States and Japan have acknowledged dropping a 2014 deadline for the relocation of an American military base on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

“Completion of the FRF (Futenma Replacement Facility) and the Marine relocation will not meet the previously targeted date of 2014,” the US and Japan said in a joint statement following a high level meeting in Washington on Tuesday.

The meeting involved US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Reuters reported.

The future of the base has been a major source of friction between the United States and Japan.

Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 to shift the US Marines' Futenma airbase in Okinawa to a less crowded area on the island, which is host to about half of the 47,000 US troops in the East Asian country.

But Tokyo has failed to win local backing for its plan to relocate the American base on the island.

Many of Okinawa's residents are demanding the removal of the military base from the island altogether.

Japan hosts some 47,000 US troops under a post-World War Two treaty.

Japan, US drop Okinawa base relocation

US Marines' Futenma airbase in Okinawa, Japan.(file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178664.html

Japan and the United States have cancelled a formerly-approved plan for relocating the controversial American airbase on Okinawa Island by 2014.

According to Japanese media, Washington and Tokyo will discuss a new timeframe for the relocation of US Marines' Futenma airbase, Reuters reported on Friday.

The issue of US military bases on the southern Japanese island has long strained relations between the two countries. Last year, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan promised to implement a 2006 agreement to shift the American airbase to a less populated part of Okinawa.

The failure to implement the 2006 deal sustained a hefty blow to Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, who was forced to resign in 2010 after facing public pressure and outrage over the issue.

The two sides had agreed in 2006 to transfer the facility from the residential district of Ginowan to the coastal and less populated area of Henoko in Nago, Okinawa.

However, that plan is also facing strong opposition from local residents who see the base as a source of crime, accidents and noise.

Former US National Security Adviser James Johns says the best possible choice is the integration of Futenma air base with another US base in Kadena town in southern Okinawa.

Johns said in a Friday meeting in Washington with Mikio Shimoji, secretary general of Japan's ruling party, that the relocation plan was not feasible on account of expected environmental destruction in the area.

US deems 9/11 responders terrorists?

Rescue workers carry fatally injured New York City Fire Department Chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, from one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, early September 11, 2001.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/176141.html

Thousands of Americans, who risked their lives to save lives during the 9/11 terror attacks on US soil, will soon be screened by the FBI terrorism watch list.

A host of 9/11 first responders, who saved countless lives, will now have their personal data put through a government terror database and will be considered possible terrorists under a provision in James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act -- a bill named after an NYPD detective who died of 9/11 -- related illnesses, The Huffington Post reported on Thursday.

They will subsequently be denied treatment for breathing disorders and mental health problems developed in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The provision was added to the 9/11 first responders health care law last May, when Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida tabled an amendment during the intense debate over the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

A letter written by Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, has informed medical providers across the United States that participants from the 9/11 health program will soon have all their information forward to the FBI.

“This is absurd,” said Glen Kline, a former NYPD emergency services officer. “It's silly. It's stupid. It's asinine.”

John Feal, a former construction worker who lost half a foot at Ground Zero and runs the advocacy group Fealgood Foundation, also said, “It's comical at best, and I think it's an insult to everyone who worked on The Pile and is sick and suffering from 9/11.”

US plans terror alerts on social networks

Social media netowrks, Facebook and Twitter and the US five color-coded terror alert

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173809.html

The US government is considering the use of popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to post terror threat alerts, under the country's new terror warning plan.

According to a 19-page US Department of Homeland Security draft obtained by The Associated Press, terror warnings are to only be delivered to the people for a limited amount of time and under certain circumstances.

The five color-coded terror alert system known to Americans, rates the level of terror according to the degree of threat it poses as low, guarded, elevated, high, and severe. The new system, expected to be in place by April 27, is to limit these levels to two: elevated and imminent.

'Elevated' is to warn of a credible threat against the country, not necessarily specifying targets or timing, while 'imminent' is to call attention to a more specific threat. The latter warning may expire after seven days, with a possible extension.

According to the plan, current Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano is to be in charge of the National Terrorism Advisory System.

The draft includes step by step details regarding the sequence of notifying Congress members, state counterterrorism officials, governors, mayors, and lastly the public.

The color coded warning became the country's most crucial program countering terrorism since the September 2001 attacks.

Ex-official exposes US 9/11 plot on Middle East

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/173504.html

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura says the White House allowed September 11 attack to happen in a bid to further Washington's agenda in the Middle East.

"They allowed it to happen to further their agenda in the Middle East," Ventura told CNN on Wednesday.

“I believe [former Vice President] Dick Cheney knew it," said Ventura.

The 9/11 2001 was the day when four planes were used to target the US financial and political hubs.

The attack has become an excuse for the United States to launch its so-called "war on terrorism." Less than a week after the attack, the then US President George W. Bush revealed plans for a US “war on global terrorism.”

In October 2001, the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the pretext to wipe out terrorism from the country. However, the US-led occupation of Afghanistan has failed to establish security in the country.

Violence and terror attacks remain commonplace almost a decade after the US-led invasion of the country bombing and invasion of Afghanistan is still described as a "campaign" against “terrorists”, rather than a war.

Bush also announced the start of the military campaign against Iraq in March 2003, saying “American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger."

The so-called hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, however, yielded no results.

To this date, however, there is no proof that al-Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks. Neither is there evidence that Afghanistan was behind or any way complicit in the 9/11 attacks.

Bush Going to Court for 9/11 Cover Up

Video Source: 91177Info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU8aqx_PxnM

Story Source: Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20110323/pl_usnw/DC70039



NEW YORK, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A December 2010 poll conducted by the prestigious Emnid Institute, and reported in the German magazine "Welt der Wunder," revealed that 89.5% of German respondents do not believe the official story of 9/11.

The issue is heating up in America as well, and will soon be heard in court.

Top Secret Military Specialist April Gallop saw disturbing things up close that have not been reported in the media.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, she was ordered by her supervisor to go directly to work at the Pentagon, before dropping off her ten-week-old son Elisha at day care.

Amazingly, the infant was given immediate security clearance upon arrival.

The instant Gallop turned on her computer an enormous explosion blew her out of her chair, knocking her momentarily unconscious.

Escaping through the hole reportedly made by Flight 77, she saw no signs of an aircraft – no seats, luggage, metal, or human remains. Her watch (and other clocks nearby) had stopped at 9:30-9:31 a.m., seven minutes before the Pentagon was allegedly struck at 9:38 a.m.

The 9/11 Commission reported that "by no later than 9:18 a.m., FAA centers in Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Washington were aware that Flight 77 was missing and that two aircraft had struck the World Trade Center."

Why then were there no anti-aircraft defenses, Gallop asks, or alarm warnings inside the Pentagon?

Gallop was briefed by officials not to tell her story in public; she also received an email from a Fox News reporter who had been told by the Pentagon not to interview her.

Gallop now believes that officials within the Bush Administration conspired to destroy the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and WTC 7 – the third building brought down at 5:20 p.m. that day – with pre-placed explosives detonated after the planes hit.

On April 5th, 2011, at 11 a.m., at the Federal Courthouse at 141 Church Street in New Haven, Connecticut, the case of Gallop v. Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Myers will be heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

Gallop's case relies on virtually all forms of evidence admissible in court, but significantly, on published scientific evidence that residues of these explosives were found in the rubble after the attacks. In its totality the proffered case establishes that the government hypothesis – that the buildings collapsed due to fire in combination with the airplane impacts – is scientifically untenable.

In addition, Ms. Gallop will, through photographic and other physical evidence, as well as the testimony of a multitude of military and civilian survivors, demonstrate the impossibility of her having lived through the attack on the Pentagon if it had taken place as the government and the defendants claim.

German Federal Judge, Deiter Dieseroth, stated in December 2009 that:

"No independent court has applied legal procedures to review the available evidence on who was responsible for the attacks."

Also, that "it is not acceptable for a constitutional state...to declare war, bomb a foreign country, and place it under military occupation," without first identifying suspects.

Dieseroth also said the U.S. "was under burden of proof" that Osama bin Laden was responsible for the attacks, yet the FBI admits it has no evidence presentable in court to back this up.

The stakes in this case are epic, including the possibility of an overwhelming transformation of the world's understanding of history, not to mention American citizens' relationship with their government.

Media contact: William Veale centerfor911justice@gmail.com, 292929@msn.com, 510-845-5675 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 510-845-5675 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, 925-212-3678 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 925-212-3678 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

US demands Chinese action on yuan

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123825§ionid=3510213


A top US lawmaker has threatened China with trade measures by Washington if Beijing does not raise the value of its currency yuan.

Amid speculations about an ensuing trade war, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin says the Obama administration will try to gain global support to pressure China to revalue its currency.

"If it doesn't work, the US will act. I have no doubt about it. I think the administration will act and I think the Congress will act," the Democratic congressman from Michigan said on Monday.

The warning came a weak after Chinese President Hu Jintao told President Barack Obama that the value of the yuan will neither balance Sino-US trade, nor solve America's unemployment problem. Hu reiterated that China will firmly stick to its own path for yuan's reform.

American industry groups have filed a petition saying China is subsidizing its aluminum exporters by depreciating its currency.

They have asked for steep duties on Chinese imports as well, although the US Commerce Department has declined to probe into similar complaints in 10 previous cases.

The Department says it was nearing a decision on Chinese currency probe.

Levin also gave China an ultimatum to increase the value of its currency before the Group of 20 summit meeting in Canada at the end of June or face further measures.

Beijing has frozen the yuan's exchange rate against the dollar since mid-2008.

Beijing's decision not to deviate from its strategy comes in response to market volatility experienced during the global financial crisis and ongoing uncertainty in international markets.

Secret US memo urges war on Iran

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=123635§ionid=351020101


A secret memo by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urges Washington to consider the use of military force against Iran if diplomacy fails to scrap the country's nuclear program.

In what seems to be a new twist in US efforts to tackle Iran's enrichment activities, The New York Times reveals that a three-page memorandum, which has been circulating in Washington since January, has advocated military action against Tehran.

The classified memorandum, according to unnamed government officials quoted by the Times, warns that Washington lacks an effective policy in dealing with Iran's nuclear program and should therefore come up with new options.

One senior official has said that the memo accuses Iran of weapons development and lays out a set of military alternatives to counter Iran's progress in nuclear science and technology.

Some US officials, however, have played down the significance of the report, saying that the Obama administration has always "anticipated the full range of contingencies" against Iran.

"It is absolutely false that any memo touched off a reassessment of our options," AP quoted National Security Council spokesman Benjamin Rhodes as saying.

"This administration has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran for many months," he added.

The memo has surfaced at a time when Washington is trying to garner support for a new set of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to give up uranium enrichment.

For years, Washington has accused Iran of having plans to build a secret nuclear weapons program "in the near future."

Iran has rejected the accusations, saying that its nuclear program is intended for energy production, not weapons development.

'Netanyahu seeks US bombs for Iran attack'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121389§ionid=351020104


As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans a visit to Washington, a report says he will ask the US to release sophisticated bombs needed for a possible strike on Iran's nuclear sites.

Netanyahu will ask Israel's closest ally to supply sophisticated 'bunker-buster' bombs needed to break through to Iran's nuclear enrichment sites, the Sunday Times reported.

The Israeli premier is expected to attend a three-day meeting of the top pro-Israeli lobby in the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC and to meet with senior administration officials.

Despite Tel Aviv's refusal to renounce nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, Israel and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian program — a charge strongly denied by Tehran.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), views the claims as "unfounded and baseless” as the non-diversion of Iranian nuclear materials has been repeatedly verified in unannounced visits by UN inspectors.

Israel, reported to have the region's sole atomic arsenal, has a long-standing tendency to bomb Iran's nuclear sites, arguing that the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Plans for a military attack against Iran have gained momentum in Tel Aviv over the past few months.

On November 7, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned Iran that Tel Aviv's persistent threats of military action were not just a bluff.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Herald has reported that hundreds of powerful US "bunker-buster" bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia located in the Indian Ocean.

Experts believe that the cargo manifest from the US navy is being put in place for an assault on Iran's nuclear facilities, said the newspaper.

The US military used Diego Garcia as a base to attack Iraq in 1991 and 2003.

The developments come as US president Barack Obama on Saturday once again repeated his offer of "dialogue" with Tehran.

Iran says it is hypocritical of the US to call for normalization of ties with the country but does the opposite in practice.

"The new [US] administration and president … wrote letters and sent messages ... saying they are willing to normalize relations with the Islamic Republic, but in practice they did the opposite," Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Sunday in a Nowruz address to Iranians in the holy city of Mashhad.