planet
independent
    
               The Underground International News  Site
PRESS TVs WAR ON FREESPEECH
The CEO of the English-language broadcaster Press TV says Britain's ban on the Iran-based news
network's office
in London is the “worst decision at the worst time.”
On Friday, British media regulator Ofcom served Press TV's London office with an order to pay a
100,000-pound fine.
The order came hours after Ofcom decided to revoke the broadcaster's license
and to remove it from the Sky platform under the
pretext that the network had breached its broadcasting code.
In an interview with Iran's Broadcasting (IRIB) channel 2 late on Saturday, Press TV CEO
Dr. Mohammad Sarafraz scoffed at the decision, saying it would not be able to
halt the wave of awakening in Britain and across the world.

He said that the United States and the West have lost their democratic disguise, which benefitted
them for years, and their media outlets are facing a serious crisis because their “hypocrisy” is being exposed.
Sarafraz stated that the “medieval” strategy of banning the Press TV office would not be able to silence
the alternative media outlet, adding that those seeking a “different voice” will find a way    to access the broadcaster.

                                                                                                                             
Allies Killed By Afghan Soldiers
20 January 2012
 KABUL, Afghanistan — American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks
motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to
American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report obtained by The New York Times.
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible
symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other. The ill will and
mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides,
raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.

The problems risk leaving the United States and its allies dependent on an Afghan force that is permeated by anti
Western sentiment and incapable of combating the Taliban and other militants when NATO’s combat mission ends
in 2014, they said.

One instance of the general level of antipathy in the war exploded into uncomfortable view last week when video 
emerged of American Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters. Although American commanders quickly took action and 
condemned the act, chat-room and Facebook posts by Marines and their supporters were full of praise for the desecration.

By  Matthew Rosenberg
IRAN ACCUSES WEST OF COVERT CAMPAIGN
January 15, 2012

Yesterday, Iran's official news agency, IRNA, said the country was holding Britain and the US responsible for the assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan. Tehran has now sent two separate diplomatic notes to London and Washington, in which it claimed that both countries had an "obvious role" in the killing of Roshan. It has also accused Israel's Mossad, the CIA and Britain's spy agency of engaging in an underground "terrorism" campaign against nuclear-related targets, including at least three deaths since early 2010 and the release of a malicious computer virus known at Stuxnet in 2010 which temporarily disrupted controls of some centrifuges – a key component in nuclear fuel production. All three countries have denied the accusations.

Like other Iranian scientists working on Iran's nuclear programme before him, Roshan was killed by a magnetic bomb placed on his car by two men on a motorbike. Tehran swiftly said the assassins were working for Israel, with President Ahmadinejad declaring: "Once again the dirty hands of arrogance and the Zionist elements have deprived our scientific and academic community of the graceful presence of one our young intellectuals."

The accusations coming from the US of Iranian enrichment programs echo the rhetoric on Iraq. Later proven to be falsified intelligence regarding the proliferation of nuclear weapons.


protestEU POLICY CAUSES FURTHER CIVIL UNREST  - THIS TIME IN ROMANIA

14 January 2012

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters during an anti-government rally Saturday, the third consecutive day of demonstrations against austerity cuts and falling living standards.

The protests were the most serious since President Traian Basescu came to power in 2004, and were the result of pent-up frustration against public wage cuts, slashed benefits, higher taxes and widespread corruption.

In 2009, Romania took a two-year €20 billion ($27.5 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund, the EU and the World Bank, as its economy shrank by 7.1 percent. Romania imposed harsh austerity measures under the agreement, reducing public wages by 25 percent and increasing taxes.  
Respective governments throughout Europe have been implementing totalitarian policies handed down from unelected Eurocrats, bearing the brunt of the backlash from European citizens, while the policy makers remain behind closed doors and unaccountable.