Dubai police say they are seeking the arrest of Israel's prime minister and the head of its spy agency over the murder of a top Hamas militant in a hotel room of the Gulf city-state.

Police chief Dahi Khalfan said on Tuesday he had issued the demand for the arrest warrants as he was now certain they ordered the Cold War-style hit on Mahmud al-Mabhuh.

"I have presented the (Dubai) prosecutor with a request for the arrest of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the head of Mossad," Meir Dagan, said Khalfan.

"I am now completely sure that it was Mossad."

It won't be long before the show trial of the century will be staged in New York.

Yes folks, the creature from the dark side; the most evil man on the planet; America's nemesis .... no, not Usama ..... but the one & only Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Hollywood can't wait.  

from Crikey .....

A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds? A thousand architects and engineers want to know, and are calling on Congress to order a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center.

On January 5, 2010 the U.S. Department of Defense announced the appointment of 39 new members, and 12 senior fellows, to the Defense Science Board (DSB) - a federal panel that provides "independent, informed advice and opinion on scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition process, and other matters of special interest to the Department of Defense."

In a handout accompanying the Pentagon's press release, new members - who serve one- to four-year terms - were identified mostly by their former government jobs and past employers, with only a few current affiliations given.

Here's a story of two countries from the Middle East. One is an ancient civilization with a rich history that goes back five thousand years.

It's a functioning democracy with free elections held at regular intervals. It's a huge country of 70 million people. It has remained within its borders & hasn't attacked any country in the last 100 years. It is pursuing a nuclear power programme, which it insists is for peaceful purposes.

from Crikey .....

Joyce reveals Coalition debt debacle -- will heads roll?

Glenn Dyer writes:

from Crikey .....

Whatever the question, Labor's answer is ASIO

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

If someone flew an airplane into a building full of people to protest the Afghan war, it would be called a terrorist incident. However, when Mr. Joe Stack flew his plane into an IRS building and killed people, the news media calls it "the accident," and "the incident." The local Texas prosecutor and even the White House claimed specifically that Mr. Stack was not a terrorist.

The chief of Russia's General Staff, Nikolai Makarov, has warned the US against striking Iran over the country's nuclear program. It appears that the World's attention is again focused on if or when the United States (policeman of the World) is going to engage in military operations against the Islamist Republic. Hillary Clinton recently rattled sabers again when she demanded that Iran stop enriching uranium. Let's take a closer look at that demand and why she had no justification to demand anything of the Iranian government.

from Crikey .....

Garrett fingered over dodgy solar panels, but story 'a beat up'

Goldman Sachs is heading for further public opprobrium today following claims that the firm managed $15 billion worth of bond sales for Greece after arranging a currency swap that allowed the government to hide the extent of its budget deficit.

No American leader has done more to advance a clean energy future than President Obama. Nor has any American president done more to invoke a mandate for stricter workplace safety and environmental regulations.

And yet, ever since President Obama first visited my native southern Illinois coalfields in 1997 on a golf outing with a fellow state legislator, he has seemingly failed to grasp the staggering human and environmental toll of coal mining and coal burning on our coalfield communities-and ultimately, the nation.

from Crikey .....

Partisan teen becomes conservative idol -- and other Q&A mysteries

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Let me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you're not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.