BBC: Israel Attacks Gaza Again (Tuesday Night)

Israel has carried out an air attack in Gaza and sent tanks into the Strip, after Palestinian militants killed an Israeli soldier. Palestinian sources said there had been fighting near Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Israeli troops pulled back across the border several hours later. It was the worst violence in Gaza since Israel’s offensive against Hamas ended with both sides declaring ceasefires. Israel is also preventing aid convoys from entering the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli soldier on patrol in a vehicle was killed by an explosive device deliberately planted on Israel’s side of the border near the Kissufim crossing, prompting troops to open fire into Gaza.The explosion was filmed by the militants, as was gun fire and a grenade blast. Three soldiers were injured in the attack.

Israeli troops fired into the Gaza Strip in retaliation, as a result of which Palestinian officials said a farmer was killed.

Opal Moonstone writes: The Israeli military is investigating racist, war-mongering graffiti left by soldiers in Gaza, near the scene of alleged atrocities carried out by its troops.

One reads “Arabs need 2 die”, another says “make war not peace”.

Elsewhere a soldier appears to crow about killing a Palestinian, writing in bad English: “1 is down, 999,999 to go.”

On another wall in Hebrew, is written: “The Only Good Arab is a Dead Arab.”

Others are too offensive to be reprinted.

Israel introduces new weapons

West Bank: New weapons used against demonstrators

Since the start of the war on Gaza (27 December 2009), the Israeli army has been testing new types of weapons in several villages around West Bank. There are two new types of bullets and one new type of teargas canister.

One small bullet, known by its caliber size as “0.22″, does not make a sound when fired. The bullet can only be heard by a low sweeping noise in the air as it passes. The low caliber allows the bullet to easily enter the body and cause internal bleeding. The bullet can enter a body from approximately 50 meters. Until now, 7 people have been shot with the “0.22″ in Bi’lin, Ni’lin, and Budrus. Several from Bi’lin and Ni’lin have this bullet lodged in their knees, one bullet went through a demonstrator’s leg and another demonstrator was shot in the stomach (causing internal bleeding).

The second type of bullet contains an unknown chemical substance. Although the composition of this bullet is not yet known, several protesters have complained of skin irritations.

Media News from IwantMedia.com

News Corp: Who Will Succeed Murdoch? Business Day

News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, who turns 78 in March, is said to have “hazy” succession planning. Murdoch dying in office without an anointed family heir could force News Corp.’s board to appoint a new CEO itself — and that person might not be any of Rupert’s offspring.

NBC Scores Obama for Super Bowl Talk – USA Today

NBC says it has landed the “first television interview from the White House” with President Obama since his inauguration. The live interview, with NBC News’s Matt Lauer, will air during the pre-game show before Sunday’s Super Bowl. More of the interview will air the next day on “Today.”

REVIEW OF PLUNDER

From Drums in the Global Village Blog By Todd S. Burroughs

Danny Schechter is one of my heroes, and I wasn’t afraid to tell him so when I met him. Ever since “South Africa Now” (showing my age here), he’s been a straight-up truth-teller. I used one of his books, “The More You Watch, The Less You Know,” when I was writing my doctoral dissertation.

He continues the tradition here, putting himself in the company of a few journalists who tried to inform America that a serious recession was coming. But, as usual, Schechter is ahead of the mainstream, warning of “a vast CREDIT AND LOAN COMPLEX every bit as insidious as the Military-Industrial Complex. Most Americans have no idea that this even exists.” And you can bet which government it funds.

Schechter blends charts, articles, books, interviews, journalistic observations and even poetry together, walking the reader month by month (almost day by day) through 2007 and 2008 to show it how capitalism unraveled in front of America’s eyes. He explains boldly how it’s actually American democracy that’s threatened by the economic disaster. The journalist-filmmaker-activist-blogger stays in the street and On The Street, and does a very good job of balancing both. Schechter once again earns the reputation he has gained, joining those who proudly stand in the shadow of muckraker legend I.F. Stone.”

YOUR LETTERS

From: Where’s The Interest?

Thanks for making, “In Debt We Trust.”

One thing I’d like to see added to this topic is a discussion on monetary policy. Our money system is built around forever increasing debt from our banks and government. New money is added only as a new debt is created. Likewise, when a debt is paid off, the money disappears from the system. Add to this the idea that the money in our system is only principal amounts of loans, you see that there isn’t any money in the system to pay interest. What’s even worse is if someone pays a loan off with principal and interest there is even less money left for those to pay even the principal amount.

Just telling people to get out of debt doesn’t help. Our economy would contract. We need to change our monetary system first before we can expect this debt cycle to go away.

Frank Meagher — Paris

Congratulations to you and Cherie for making a great blog even greater. After 4, or is it more(?) years of being an active fan, I thought you couldn’t surprise me. Must be Cherie that did it! Today’s blog was over the top. Interesting, as always, thought provoking, as usual, entertaining, music to ease the savage beast, this is new AAAANNND I get to watch videos that I’d otherwise miss! Wish I had some bucks, I’d be sending them your way. Instead, know that you are appreciated, honored and respected in my household.

The flame burns brighter thanks to the newsdissector! Peace

ON CHRIS HEDGES

Cameron McLaughlin — Pensacola, Florida

I’m not exaggerating to say that Mr, Hedges’ bravery and eloquence in his coverage of the Middle East has literally changed the way I view this country and the world. No one else with his gravitas dares to tell the truth about how horrifying life is for Palestinians. I hope he is aware that there are many people like me who literally hang on his every word to understand how thoroughly we are lied to and how disgustingly the mainstream “press” has failed.

I have always wondered whether he quit the NYT or was forced out. Wherever he is, please tell him that he is literally a Cassandra and an oracle whose honesty and powerful narratives are deeply valued by many, many people.

AE Stutor writes:

I am a novice at best but I have been reading for over a year about the sub-prime mess and the coming, unavoidable financial tsunami. I have sincerely thought long and hard about the issue but it’s almost impossible for me to believe that the current world-wide financial market meltdown, let me repeat, world-wide financial meltdown has been brought to the entire world economy to its knees solely because of sub-prime mortgage loans. Using that theory, and I can’t prove that the theory is wrong, sub-prime mortgage loans that were made in the good old U S of A have basically imploded the financial markets not just in our country but in Europe and Asia as well.

Again, please forgive my naivete, but it’s like there is an enormous peanut eating elephant in the room and no one is taking notice of yet another earth shaking reason for this economic meltdown? Perhaps the corporate mergers/acquisitions (always multi-billion dollar deals whereas sub-prime home loans were generally not multi-million dollar loans to individuals) that began in the 1980′s and culminated with just a sweetheart deal that Sam Zell made when he purchased the Chicago Tribune using employee retirement accounts, all with a nod from the SEC, and, the keen business man has since filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy less than 18 months after the deal was consummated. Other corporate mergers and take-overs that occurred regularly over the last fifteen years where the take-over purchasers gained the assets and they then typically quickly sold off those assets and then dumped the debt ridden, non-performing business along with their employees. Is it not possible that these multi-billion dollar debt structured deals might also play a major role in this economic mess? I mean it was common practice for mega-billion dollar deals to pass muster with minimal investment capital, the buyers using the assets of the business they were buying to collateralize the debt.

Perhaps the reason the economic jolt in the economic world has been so cataclysmic is simply because most of those credit swaps and derivatives were sold and resold, and probably resold again,. all without verification of assets, and since no one can put a value on the billions that have changed hands, no one now wants to look too closely at these deals for fear that another, more cataclysmic downturn will result in the brittle foundation of the world economy splitting and collapsing a fact that creates more fear because these deals are inexorably tied to our banking institutions.So, to make our medicine more palatable, we chose a likely culprit to blame, those consumer indulgent sub-prime loans as a reason for world economic turmoil. I apologize again to those more astute and knowledgeable than I, but I cannot believe, and please note that all sub-prime loans have not defaulted, in fact depending on who or what you read, the sub-prime loan disaster makes up about 10% of the total mortgages that exist in this country, I cannot believe that sub-prime loans are the sole reasons for the current world-wide economic meltdown that is gripping millions of people.

Please show me the error of my thinking. I need to start sleeping again at night.

REPORT FROM ACORN

Stop Foreclosures Now! ACORN’s Anti-Foreclosure Campaign Escalates to Include Civil Disobedience

Facing an impending foreclosure, Rosa and Juan Rico of the San Francisco Bay Area have been trying to work with their bank for months to get a modification of their loan. Without that, they could be the next family on the street as a result of the economic crisis facing the country. But the bank just kept giving them the runaround.

So Rosa and Juan, with backing from 40 Oakland ACORN members, moved themselves into a local branch of the bank on January 15th, complete with a cot and sleeping bags in order to press their demand that the bank work with them and ACORN to modify the loan and keep them in their home.

Unsurprisingly, the bank managers immediately called the police and kicked ACORN and the Ricos out pretty quickly. It’s clear that when banks decide to move swiftly they can, but it is sad that with the Ricos they are swift only in saying “No!”

It is not hyperbole to say that the foreclosure crisis lies at the very heart of the broader economic collapse. The glut of foreclosed properties on the market forced housing prices into a tailspin, and banks loaded up with mortgage-backed securities and complex derivatives, unable to value or sell these assets, stopped lending to each other and the credit markets froze up, triggering the broader economic morass. A broad and successful economic recovery is impossible without directly addressing the record foreclosure rate that lies at its heart.

If you missed it: John Stewart interviews Jimmy Carter on the Daily Show

Thats it for us. Keep your letters coming. Welcome your suggestions and stories.

Write to: dissector@mediachannel.org