North America

Former US Middle East envoy George Mitchell says the idea of launching a military strike against Iran is untenable, as the measure could wreak tremendous havoc on Israel.

At the dawn of the 21st century a new political regime has transformed Canada from global hero – once standing up for peace, people, and nature – to global criminal, plunging into war, eroding civil rights, and destroying environments, says journalist, ecologist and historian Rex Weyler.

The Republican caucuses in Iowa with their cliffhanger ending, confirmed two key political points and left a third ignored. First, Republicans are not enthusiastic about any of the candidates. Second, we have entered a new era in political campaigning after the US Supreme Court decision that unleashed a torrent of unreported corporate money into our electoral process.

All eyes are on Iowa this week, as the hodgepodge field of Republican contenders gallivants across that farm state seeking a win, or at least “momentum,” in the campaign for the party’s presidential nomination. But behind the scenes, a battle is being waged by Republicans—not against each other, but against American voters.

Members of the hacking group Anonymous have claimed credit for hacking into the website of the global intelligence company Stratfor and then making donations to charities using credit card information found unsecured on the Stratfor website. The hacking group also released the information on 4,000 credit cards owned by subscribers of Stratfor’s products.

New York – The UN General Assembly approved a budget of $5.15 billion for all its activities, including mostly humanitarian aid and peace missions, over the period of 2012-2013. Meanwhile, nuclear powers spend more than 90 billion dollars a year on atomic weapons. The U.S. alone spends over 50 billion dollars annually on this weapon of mass destruction.

Accused whistle-blower Pvt. Bradley Manning turned 24 Saturday. He spent his birthday in a pretrial military hearing that could ultimately lead to a sentence of life … or death. Manning stands accused of causing the largest leak of government secrets in United States history. More on Manning shortly. First, a reminder of what he is accused of leaking.

Here we give diffusion to a great song by Mark Lesseraux that has become also a good video produced and directed by Matthew Dimakos:
[http://youtu.be/-b9Bj72qzjg](http://youtu.be/-b9Bj72qzjg)

It is a synthesis of the new spirit that was manifested during 2011 and surely will develop with strenght in the new year to come, since it reflects deep hopes shared by the 99%.

The documents were found among scores of other classified material at a junkyard outside Baghdad as an attendant used them as fuel to cook his dinner

See video: [http://www.nationofchange.org/us-military-discards-trove-documents-2005-haditha-massacre-iraqis-1324477793](http://www.nationofchange.org/us-military-discards-trove-documents-2005-haditha-massacre-iraqis-1324477793)

A survivor of the Hiroshima bombing urged a library full of students at Brooklyn International High School to work towards a world without war.

Setsuko Thurlowtold her tale of survival to a group of about fifty seniors on the 70 th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the U.S. into World War II.