Indeed, you found me!

Officially, America is now bankrupt: financially, economically, politically – and morally. Its criminal aggression towards Iran is just one of many parts of a jigsaw that add up to a clear and grotesque picture of what the United States of America now represents in the 21st Century world.

The numbers and pictures for these constituent parts of this odious jigsaw puzzle are well known. But what has become glaringly clear is just how integrated the official image of the US now is. Bankrupt.

Terminally in debt, mass poverty at record levels, rampant militarism, draconian curbs on civil liberties, government by the rich for the rich, and lately the reactionary, debased cat-fight that passes for political debate among Republican contenders for the Presidency. Cringing is the sight of super wealthy career politicians throwing sand in each other’s eyes to scrabble up the pole for yet further personal accumulation of capital; disturbing is the easy way that psychopathic targeting of imagined enemies whether at home or abroad is worn like a badge of honour. It is a sign of how depraved the American political mind has become when would-be presidents can so openly talk of conducting foreign policy in terms of unquestioned international aggression.

Of course, this kind of political and moral bankruptcy is not just confined to those seeking office. It is the coin of those who are already in office.

In a report in the New York Times Monday we have the startling admissions that, taken together, show that the US government should be certified as criminal (if further proof were needed) [1].

First we have the top US military man confirming that long-averred war plans against Iran are indeed going ahead.

The NYT: “When asked on [CBS’s] Face the Nation about the how difficult it would be to take out Iran’s nuclear ability in a military strike, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: ‘Well, I would rather not discuss the degree of difficulty and in any way encourage them to read anything into that. But I will say that my responsibility is to encourage the right degree of planning, to understand the risks associated with any kind of military option, in some cases to position assets, to provide those options in a timely fashion. And all those activities are going on.’”

In other words, the US is preparing for war.

Iran Human Rights, December 24: According to reliable sources from Iran ten prisoners were executed in two different prisons in Iran, early his morning December 24.

One woman and six men executed in northwestern Iran:

According to Mukrian news agency seven prisoners were executed early this morning in the prison of Urmia (Oroumieh), northwest of Iran. Quoting Mr. Masoud Shams, the lawyer of one of the prisoners, the report said that there was one woman among those executed today. Mr. Shams was not informed about the execution of his client said the report. According to the Iranian laws, the lawyer must be notified about the scheduled execution of the client 48 hours prior to the execution.

According to this report all the seven prisoners executed this morning were convicted of drug trafficking and were identified as “Yousef A.”, “Heydar D.”, “Mehdi S”, “Ghorbanali Sh.”, “Saeid M.”, “Sirus M.” and “Nahid A.” (woman).

The official Iranian sources have not confirmed these executions yet. According to reliable sources there have been several executions in the prison of Urmia which have not been confirmed by the official sources.

Two prisoners executed in northern Iran:

According to the “Human rights and democracy activists in Iran” (HRDI) two prisoners were executed in the prison of Rasht (northern Iran) early this morning. Both the prisoners were convicted of drug trafficking. One of the prisoners who was executed was identifies as “Sajjad Tal” (26), brother of “Mohammadreza Tal” who was hanged publicly in Rasht two weeks ago.

Iran Human Rights has previously warned about increased number of executions in Iran during the Christmas and new years holidays.

The IAEA’s comprehensive report is a strong indication that US intelligence in 2007 on Iran’s nuclear program was based on solid evidence that has not been upended by the latest information. Iran’s situation is not static; continuing reevaluation and updated analyses are necessary for any dynamic and professional intelligence process.

Moreover, sharing the information with the public on the conclusions reached is vital to informing ongoing debate. The IAEA deserves credit both for the quality of its analysis and for sharing its expert opinions with the wider public on these critical issues — particularly since no summary of the latest NIE update has been released.

Pundits and politicians who use the latest IAEA report to attack the 2007 NIE are distorting the information, at best — and, at worst, are playing politics with national security.

Here’s a rule of thumb about public relations: When P.R. pros begin furiously spinning a story before it has even come out, there’s a pretty good chance the story is going to be damaging to the reputation of said P.R. pros’ bosses.

And that’s exactly what we’re seeing right now, as an anonymous person or persons in the orbit of the billionaire conservative donors Charles and David Koch try to discredit a forthcoming story in Bloomberg Markets magazine.

Based on the prebuttal items appearing this week in the Washington Examiner, the Daily Caller, and U.S. News and World Report, the Bloomberg story focuses on alleged malfeasance and/or fraud and/or bad behavior by the conglomerate Koch Industries.