Obama: Terrrorists can still be detained without trial.

Obama did the clever thing and closed down Guantanamo, that has evolved into a kind of symbol of all the wrongdoings of the Bush-administration. Besides Guantanamo itself the President Elect also gave an executive order closing down all “black sites” – basically what is described by parts of the press as secret CIA torture prisons.

However, this might only have a symbolic value, since a closer examination reveals loopholes that basically will allow the detainment of people SUSPECTED of terrorism without conviction or trial at the discretion of the CIA.

Somehow the old administration actually seemed more honest – nobody really doubted that the Bush administration was de facto santioning torture or detainment without trial, but while Obama is perceived to be the antidote to the George W. Bush way of doing politics, these things are actually allowed to continue.

 

Read the exclusive from WASHINGTON TIMES.

The US bombed the Chinese embassy?

Just a quick post to give direction to an overlooked news-story (even if it is about 10 years too late…).

In 1999 Nato bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. It was during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and during the Clinton administrations actions against Serbia and Slobodan Milosevic. That much is certain. 

The Chinese reaction was one of outrage, and the official explanation was something along the lines of “an outdated map” that caused this precise bombing of the embassy.

To get to the funny part: an alternative view was given in several big and well respected newspapers, that it was fully intentional, and that the Nato coalition / Clinton administration had discovered that the Chinese embassy was using advanced radio equipment to help the Milosevic side with “rebroadcasting” and similar military infrastructural stuff.

 

Anyway, I remembered the story and tried to find some useful information on the blessed internet – it was actually harder than I thought.. so this is why I’m adding my two cents, participating in getting some extra redundancy of sources for this story.

The reason why it has gotten so little focus from conspiracy nuts is probably that it really is quite likely – and not really part of any big picture… it somehow lacks the x-factor that make it to the great conspiracy conspiracy… Most of the facts are well-known and not contested, and even the part that is contested (did China help the Milosevic side? Did the US bomb the Chinese embassy deliberately?) does not really change anything about how most people view the world, or fit into some well-formed conspiranoid world-view.

 

The links are HERE:

Article from the Guardian

Wikipedia…