I have reposted this from Atlantic Free Press - and it's quite the tale - as once again Murray is testing Freedom of Speech in the UK (he took the Secrecy Act on last time). He has been shut down by litigation aimed at his hosting company (not himself) which resulted in termination of the account. Thousands of bloggers around the world have united in protest, buzzing not only about the situation but also reposting Murray's original post. This, of course is totally backfiring on Usmanov, his High Street legal team (Schillings) and Fasthost - the hosting company itself.

Plenty more after the jump...

Want to know what's really going on behind the scenes as the American war on Iraq spirals to its fiery conclusion? Ask someone who knows, who moves among the top players, who has been there, on the  bloodstained ground, in the gold-plated palaces: Paul William Roberts.  The intrepid Senior Writer for Atlantic Free Press, is  back with his latest report on the American debacle and Iraq's agony.  His piece, Decline and Fall: America in Retreat, is packed with the insider dope and savage wit that characterizes all his work. Get over to Atlantic Free Press now and read the whole thing, after a taste of these excerpts:

According  to the Iraqi newspaper Al- Quds al-Arabi, James Baker, the Bush  family's Mr. Fixit, recently met with one of Saddam Hussein's lawyers  in Amman, Jordan, and told him that the former deputy prime minister of  Iraq, Tariq Aziz, would be released from detention by December in order  to negotiate with the US on behalf of factions of the Iraqi resistance  movement still controlled by old Ba'ath Party leaders. Sources in  Jordan tell me that the first stage of such negotiations has indeed  already taken place. Two weeks ago, Aziz was whisked from his jail cell  and, along with other representatives of Iraq's Sunni Resistance, taken  for three days' of secret discussions in Amman with senior US  officials. It is heartening to note that this course of action was  advised by the Atlantic Free Press three weeks ago. Aziz and his  colleagues are currently discussing America's proposals with the  divisional resistance leadership, whose response and counter-offers  they will present to Washington early next month.

Jordan's  Crown Prince Hassan tells me, furthermore, that Condoleeza Rice made a  personal appeal to the Gulf Cooperation Council last month to act as  intermediaries between the US and the armed Sunni resistance, not  including Iraqi al-Qaeda leaders. Rice evidently joked during the  closed-door meeting that "if Donald Rumsfeld could hear me now he would  wage war against me fiercer and hotter than he waged in Iraq..."

by Chris Floyd

Did you see her and want her so bad, that young, forbidden fruit? Did she once smile nervously at the checkpoint, and you thought it was just for you? Did you come on strong the next time around, flash a little money maybe, or lay a syrupy line on her that you got from a phrasebook? What did she do – recoil? Look away? Look disgusted? Look blank? What did she do to bring on the big hurt from a big, tough man like you?

We are looking for some talented dissident writers with a unique and strong voice... who would like to be part of the Empire Burlesque editorial team.

No, we can't pay at this time - our site currently operates at a loss. All we can offer is the opportunity to become an integral and internal part of the site as well as offer a byline at Empire Burlesque - and Googlenews - when and if your work passes the editorial eye of Floyd.

We are looking for anyone with a keen eye for the high crimes and low comedy that flies below the radar of the mainstream media. And for people who have a good understanding of journalistic principles. Those who wish to specialize in tracking specific areas would be particularly welcome, especially subjects that are greatly neglected in the public eye -- such as Africa, Latin America, India, China, poverty in the United States, "following the money" behind Congressional legislation and government contracts to dig out fat-cat cronies and beneficiaries of our corporate welfare state, the struggle of women for equality around the world, the Israel/Palestine, human rights and other legal and constitutional issues, tracking the religious right -- anything that you have a passion for exploring. Generalists are welcome too, of course.

But we are looking for news, hard facts, not simply opinion -- although certainly your beliefs in equality, social justice, tempering power with the rule of law and other ideals will and should inform your writing.

If you are interested in becoming a contributor to Empire Burlesque please email the webmaster Richard Kastelein at expatforums@gmail.com

Not Chris Floyd ... no - the other guy.

So far Paul William Roberts and Mike Whitney have signed on. As well as a few other writers.

From 1998 to 2000, Floyd, an American expat from Tennessee, was the editor of Science & Spirit, an Oxford quarterly journal dealing with the contentious relationship between science and religion. His work there included interviews with such thinkers as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker, Frans de Waal, V.S. Ramachandran and others. He also worked with contributors from around the world – Islamic scientists, Jewish theologians, militant atheists, Nobel Prize-winning physicists, and authors such as Freeman Dyson, Paul Davies, Lisa Jardine, A.N. Wilson, John Polkinghorne and others.

Reproduced in full by Floyd's webmaster and publisher, Richard Kastelein - who posts as Ghandi at myleftwing, Eurotrib and here. And no, we don't like being Swiftboated - so I am posting this here as we are not allowed to participate at DK.

Original blog post from Empire Burlesque - www.chris-floyd.com

Last week, I was banned from contributing to Daily Kos, apparently for criticizing the Democratic cave-in on Peeper Hayden's CIA nomination a bit too forcefully. At least I think that was the reason; maybe they just didn't like the cut of my jib, I don't know. This banishment to Kossack Siberia is a matter of no great importance, of course, neither to the wider world nor to me, but as the shunning was accompanied by several ugly and false personal accusations against me (and our webmaster here, Richard Kastelein, who was also banned), I thought I would take this opportunity to respond. I wouldn't want to let swift-boatian slanders enter the public record unchallenged. (Although I suppose I could emulate the exquisite timing of John Kerry, and make a bold stand in my own defense – two years from now.)

Anyway, for anyone interested in this admittedly esoteric subject, the response can be found after the jump.

I thought I might let you know that the ad you are carrying (as are we) is rather dodgy. Atrios noted it as well.

From Chris at Empire Burlesqe

Media Citizen alerts us -- and many other blogs -- to the fact that the ad at the right for "www.dontregulate.org" is in fact a classic piece of astroturf: a fake "grass roots" campaign that is actually fronting for Big Telcoms like AT&T and BellSouth, who are trying to destroy one of the foundations of Internet freedom, "Net Neutrality" and replace it with a two-tier system that puts corporate favorites on the fast track and shunts all the rest of the rabble onto the horsepath to hobble along as they may. (Yes, this is the group that former Cli nton mouthpiece Mike McCurry is shilling for.) So in the interest of free inquiry and all that, feel free to peruse their ad -- but know that they are trying to play with your head in a most cynical fashion. Go to MediaCitizen for the full story: Telcos Seek to Deceive Bloggers with Cartoon.

Though Chris Floyd (American Moscow Times columnist and author) and I from Empire Burlesque are not the most interactive Kos and Booman members and relative newbies - we were struck by the call from STOP George in his diary "ACTION ALERT: Qwest, ALONE, says, "No!" to domestic spying." enough to buy the name thankyouqwest.org on Thursday.

As the technical end of the partnership, my idea was to create an quick Wordpress (Open Source) site that would not only centre as a point of praise in the form of posting 'thank you' comments (such as thankyoustephencolbert.org) but also act as a links clearinghouse for the netroot buzz on Qwest and the NSA story. I was able to purchase the name and get the site up within hours.

Within a day (last night) I was on the phone with Newsday technology staffer Richard J. Dalton Jr.- who interviewed me on the site for a half an hour. He couldn't quite get over the fact he was speaking to someone in Holland who was not American. There are a number of us who participate in the progressive movement online that don't carry the same passport and I suppose we all have our own reasons.

Hideous Kinky: Moral Nullity as Normality in Pentagon Plans

Written by Chris Floyd  

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=615

Imagine growing up in a family where every day, father raped daughter, mother tortured son, brother abused brother, sister stole from sister, and the whole family murdered neighbors, friends and passing strangers. Imagine the underlying assumptions about life that you would adopt without question in such an atmosphere, how normal the most hideous depravity would seem. If some outsider chanced to ask you about your family's latest activities, you would spew out perversions as calmly and unthinkingly as a man giving directions to the post office.

This state of unwitting confession to monstrous crime has been the default mode of the American Establishment for many years now. Government officials routinely detail policies that in a healthy atmosphere would shake the nation to its core, stand out like a gaping wound, a rank betrayal of every hope, ideal and sacrifice of generations past. Yet in the degraded sensibility of these times, such confessions go unnoticed, their evil unrecognized - or even lauded as savvy ploys or noble endeavors. Inured to moral horror by half a century of outrages committed by the "National Security" complex, the Establishment - along with the media and vast swathes of the population - can no longer discern the poison in the air they breathe. It just seems normal.

And so it was again this week when the Washington Post outlined the Pentagon's plan to put dirty war - by death squad, by snatch squad, by secret armies, subversion, torture and terrorism- at the very heart of America's military philosophy. Not defense against declared enemies, not deterrence of potential foes, but conducting "continuous" covert military operations in countries "where the United States is not at war" is now the Pentagon's "highest priority," according to the new "campaign plan for the global war on terror" issued by Donald Rumsfeld.

Promoted by Steven D.

It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.

Why We Fight is a provocative new documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger) and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival which is now posted at Empire Burlesque for viewing (via Google).

Named after the series of short films by legendary director Frank Capra that explored America’s reasons for entering World War II, Why We Fight surveys a half-century of military conflicts, asking how – and answering why – a nation of, by and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a government system whose survival depends on an Orwellian state of constant war.

Written by Chris Floyd   

Thursday, 30 March 2006

Once again we must take up the cudgels for President George W. Bush, who is being increasingly maligned for his alleged lack of strategic vision in Iraq. This chorus of petty carping from partisan dead-enders has been exacerbated of late by all the hand-wringing media reports about "civil war" breaking out among the ungrateful beneficiaries of the president's selfless crusade for peace and enlightenment in the Middle East.

These charges are, as always, pure bunkum. As we have often noted here before, Bush is pursuing a remarkably effective "win-win" strategy in Iraq, a highly flexible vision that is even now ripening to fruition. The savage militias, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, sectarian hatred and gruesome tortures that are turning Iraq into a howling moonscape of fear and chaos are but precision tools in the artful hands of the Leader, as he patiently crafts the ultimate victory.

Written by Chris Floyd   - crossposted at Empire Burlesque

The causes underlying any civil war are always complex, confused, even contradictory -- as one would expect in an outbreak of madness. But those seeking to discover some of the key precipitating factors behind Iraq's furious plunge into chaos and disintegration might find one of them in the records of an obscure Congressional committee meeting on August 10, 2004.

At that meeting, then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, General Peter Pace (now head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and General Bryan Brown, head of Special Operations Command, appeared before the House Armed Services Committee. In a long session larded with the usual rhetorical posturing, mutual backscratching with the committee's rubberstamp Republican majority - and a couple of polite queries from the timid Democratic minority - Wolfowitz announced the Pentagon's plan to give money, arms and training to a network of local militias in trouble spots around the world. These irregular forces - "not just armies," Wolfowitz emphasized - would be used to "counter terrorism and insurgencies," provide greater internal security" in regions of American interest and "deny sanctuary" to America's designated enemies, according to Pentagon transcripts of the testimony.

 

What happened in the village of Isahaqi, north of Baghdad, on Ides of March? The murk of war – the natural blur of unbuckled event, and its artificial augmentation by professional massagers – shrouds the details of the actual operation. But here is what we know.

 

Long influenced by the work of takebackthemedia.com's symbolman - I have always been intrigued the merging of text, images, and sound in a multimedia format. And one of the major reasons I wanted to work with Chris Floyd last year was to explore these territories - as I have always felt his writing style would work well in this kind of scenario.

Last week I decided to take, what can only be described as the Mi Lai (Iraq Lai) of the new war, and turn it into a Flash presentation. All three elements are finite - the number of images, the time span of the song and the length of the body of writing. It was a fairly complicated project - that spanned over an 18 hour period.

Link and more on the flip...

Good evening and welcome to Conglomerate Network News. I'm your host, Teat Hodgkins. Tonight we open with some startling news from Southeast Asia: The United States has won the Vietnam War. Our roving reporter, Jimbo Hooper, joins us from Ho Chi Minh City.

Jimbo?

Thanks, Teat. Yes, long after we all thought the final whistle had blown, plucky Team USA pulled out a last-second miracle to clinch victory in the hard-fought Vietnam War. As our viewers will recall – or maybe not, since it was such a long time ago and it's been years since they made one of those Rambo movies to explain it all to us – but anyway, the North Vietnamese army and their insurgent allies in South Vietnam, the King Kongs, fought for decades to, as they might put it, liberate Vietnam's workers from the oppressive hand of the running dog capitalists of foreign imperialism. Or something like that; I can't get wireless at my hotel here for some reason, so I couldn't Google it to be absolutely sure.

What happened in the village of Isahaqi, north of Baghdad, on Ides of March? The murk of war – the natural blur of unbuckled event, and its artificial augmentation by professional massagers – shrouds the details of the actual operation. But here is what we know.

We know that U.S. forces conducted a raid on a house in the village on March 15. We know that the Pentagon said the American troops were "targeting an individual suspected of supporting foreign fighters for the al-Qaeda in Iraq terror network," when their team came under fire, and that the troops "returned fire. utilizing both air and ground assets." We know that the Pentagon said that "only" one man, two women and one child were killed in the raid, which destroyed a house in the village.