A Story...The Last Whistleblower

A Victory for the Libyan People? The Top Ten Myths in the War Against Libya

Since Colonel Gaddafi has lost his military hold in the war against NATO and the insurgents/rebels/new regime, numerous talking heads have taken to celebrating this war as a “success”. They believe this is a “victory of the Libyan people” and that we should all be celebrating. Others proclaim victory for the “responsibility to protect,” for “humanitarian interventionism,” and condemn the “anti-imperialist left”. Some of those who claim to be “revolutionaries,” or believe they support the “Arab revolution,” somehow find it possible to sideline NATO’s role in the war, instead extolling the democratic virtues of the insurgents, glorifying their martyrdom, and magnifying their role until everything else is pushed from view. I wish to dissent from this circle of acclamation, and remind readers of the role of ideologically-motivated fabrications of “truth” that were used to justify, enable, enhance, and motivate the war against Libya—and to emphasize how damaging the practical effects of those myths have been to Libyans, and to all those who favoured peaceful, non-militarist solutions.
These top ten myths are some of the most repeated claims, by the insurgents, and/or by NATO, European leaders, the Obama administration, the mainstream media, and even the so-called “International Criminal Court”—the main actors speaking in the war against Libya. In turn, we look at some of the reasons why these claims are better seen as imperial folklore, as the myths that supported the broadest of all myths—that this war is a “humanitarian intervention,” one designed to “protect civilians”. Again, the importance of these myths lies in their wide reproduction, with little question, and to deadly effect. In addition, they threaten to severely distort the ideals of human rights and their future invocation, as well aiding in the continued militarization of Western culture and society...

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Maximilian C. Forte @'Counterpunch'

The Opiates - Rainy Days and Remixes EP

The Opiates
“Rainy Days and Remixes EP”
Digital Release Date: 19 September 2011
Label: Disco Activisto Records
Images: Wolfgang Tillmans
Web: www.billieraymartin.com
Style: dark electronic pop
The Opiates is the latest project from the "queen of electronic soul" Billie Ray Martin, together with Norwegian musician Robert Solheim.
The long awaited taster of remixes and first single from the forthcoming album ‘Hollywood Under the Knife’. For The Opiates, these remixes by such greats as Hercules and Love Affair’s Kim Ann Foxman, as well as all-time heroes Chris and Cosey of Throbbing Gristle, are a dream come true. The results are magnetic. The XHK Mix with its hard Dubstep flavour completes the picture and gives the song a completely new voice and vibe.
With the single ‘Rainy Days and Saturdays’, The Opiates live up to their ‘Carpenters of Electro’ title and hope to conquer airwaves and underground alike. It’s a song about the transvestite Candy Darling who, although leading the wild life and preparing for a sex change, dreams of married life and a house in the suburbs.
The album ‘Hollywood Under the Knife’ will be released on Disco Activisto Records both digitally and as a CD on 17 October, featuring nine unreleased images by Turner Prize winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans, who opened his entire archive, granting The Opiates free choice of images.
Tracklist:
Rainy Days and Saturdays (Radio Edit)
Jalousies and Jealousies (Kim Ann Foxman Remix)
Anatomy of a Plastic Girl (Chris & Cosey Remix)
Silent Comes the Nighttime (XHK Stepford Step Off Mix)
Quote:
“The Carpenters of electro… dark, electronic pop: scalpel-sharp lyrical observations juxtaposed with shimmering production to magnetic effect.”
Ben Murphy, DJ Magazine (U.K. / worldwide)

Released by: disco activisto
Release/catalogue number: darec1104
Release date: Sep 18, 2011

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Blair aide's Iraq war note must be published, says former foreign secretary

Tony Blair agreed in 2002 that the UK and US would take action against Saddam Hussein even without a second UN resolution, according to the letter. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
The former Labour foreign secretary Lord Owen is demanding the publication of a key document revealing the Blair government's private attitude about the need for UN authority for the invasion of Iraq.
He was responding to a report in Tuesday's Guardian disclosing that Britain and the US were secretly planning to take action against Saddam Hussein without a second UN resolution five months before the invasion.
A note from Blair's private secretary shows Blair privately agreed at a meeting with his closest advisers at Downing Street in October 2002 to commit Britain to war while publicly suggesting it would use military force only after seeking fresh UN authority.
The highly classified note, written by Matthew Rycroft, said it was agreed that "we and the US would take action" without a new resolution by the UN security council if weapons inspectors showed Saddam had breached an earlier resolution. In that case, he "would not have a second chance".
The document was released after a freedom of information request to the Foreign Office. It is not clear whether it has been seen by the Chilcot inquiry into the decisions made in the runup to the Iraq war. The inquiry has not published it and does not comment on official documents relating to the invasion of Iraq.
Owen told the Guardian: "If it has not been shown to the Chilcot inquiry it should have been." The inquiry must also publish it, he said. He insisted that the full story surrounding the invasion, and Blair's role in it, must be disclosed.
Rycroft's note was sent to Mark Sedwill, private secretary to the then foreign secretary, Jack Straw. "This letter is sensitive," he underlined. "It must be seen only by those with a real need to know its contents, and must not be copied further."
The note was copied to a number of other senior officials, including Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's ambassador to the UN. There is no indication that it was seen by Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, who at the time advised that invading Iraq without a fresh UN resolution would be unlawful.
The Chilcot report is now not expected to be published until early next year, Whitehall officials have told the Guardian. One of the reasons for the delay, they say, is an argument with Whitehall, notably the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, over the release of official documents.
Read the letter from Blair's private secretary
Richard Norton-Taylor @'The Guardian'

Dan Sicko: Journalist shared Detroit's techno music with world

Before the Motor City became home to Movement, there was Dan Sicko, the pioneering journalist who provided one of the world's first definitive looks at the exploding underground electronic music scene.
Mr. Sicko died of ocular melanoma, a rare form of eye cancer, Sunday at his home in Ferndale. He was 42.
Mr. Sicko worked as a freelance writer for magazines such as Urb and Wired and released the acclaimed book "Techno Rebels" in 1999.
"Really, I know this is a serious statement, but he was the first guy who legitimized Detroit's techno history," Jason Huvaere, director of Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, told the Free Press on Sunday. "Now, the world is drowning in Detroit techno coverage. But before that, there was Dan, who not only understood the history of the city and electronic music, but he was the historian who put it all down on paper."
Mr. Sicko, who wrote "Techno Rebels" after being inspired by the experimental underground scene he witnessed firsthand in Detroit during the 1980s, went back to documenting artists such as techno's founding fathers Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson after the popularity for the genre and its Motor City roots soared to new heights.
In 2010, through the Wayne State Press, "Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk" was released, an expanded and cleaned-up second edition that explored in even greater detail Detroit's role of shaping techno.
John Cathel, best known as DJ Powdr Blu, said Mr. Sicko paved the way for DJs and fans alike.
"He might not have been a programmer, but through his language, as a writer, he played all the right keys," Cathel said.
Sicko's wife, Amy Lobsiger, said that she and her 11-year-old daughter Anabel are extremely grateful for the support that has been shown to them both financially and spiritually through www.mattsicko.blogspot.com . It's there that Lobsiger details the challenges Mr. Sicko and his family faced while fighting cancer, including medical costs.
"I was always interested in Dan's work before, but over these last few days we're now starting to grasp the impact he had," she said.
"This whole thing has been mind-boggling, a real stinker," Lobsiger said of the 2008 diagnosis. "But the community has been so supportive. It's really meant a lot to us."
Lobsiger said the "Dan's Story" Web site will continue to be used to keep people informed and that Dan's co-workers at the marketing firm Organic, where he was an assistant creative director since 2005, are looking into developing a Web page for his book.
As of Sunday evening, Lobsiger said funeral arrangements at St. James Church in Ferndale are still pending. She said visitation likely will be at Spaulding & Curtin in Ferndale on Wednesday.
Hammerstein @'Detroit Free Press'