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.

WTF? Extra?

The Unites States will give an additional USD 235 million to Israel for the development of its rocket and missile systems at a time that Americans are experiencing dire economic situation.

According to Israeli media, a large part of the money is scheduled to be spent for the development of the David’s Sling system, which is designed to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, and the Arrow 2 and 3 systems against long-range ballistic missiles.

The Israeli ministry of military affairs said the additional funding comes on top of the three billion dollars in annual military aid that Washington allocates for the use of the Tel Aviv regime.

In March, Israel declared its ‘Iron Dome’ system operational.

Israel says the system, financed by the US, has been planned to be used to protect areas in southern Israel against “rocket attacks from the occupied Palestinian territories.”

Washington’s three-billion-dollar assistance to Israel has been planned for 10 years, beginning in 2007.

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Flashlights with puke rays. Mobile microwave pain beams. The world of less-than-lethal weapons is filled with exotic and just plain weird devices to annoy and thwart enemies. Now, Israel’s throwing its hat in the ring with another, called “the Scream.”

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli forces unleashed a new(ish) less-than-lethal weapon on stone throwers at a violent checkpoint demonstration on Thursday. The Scream is a vehicle-mounted sonic blaster that shoots repeated pulses of sound at targets, leaving them dizzy and nauseous.

The rollout of the Scream, according to the Post, is part of a new counter-demonstration effort led by the IDF’s Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi. Mizrahi is trying to use more less-than-lethal technology against Palestinian protesters to cut down the risk of an accidental death creating a rallying cry at a volatile time in the region.

While accounts of the Scream’s use at Qalandia pointed to it as a first for Israel, the Israeli Defense Force has actually used a sonic blaster dubbed “the Scream” at least once before. In 2005, the IDF deployed a “Scream” sonic blaster on a protest against Israel’s separation barrier that turned violent. Israel’s Electro-Optics Research & Development Ltd. company makes an “anti-riot system” that it calls “SHOPHAR The scream.” Named after the ram’s horn blown during Jewish religious ceremonies — including next week’s Rosh Ha’shannah services — the SHOPHAR uses a stack of 36 hexagonal horns to blast a concentrated beam of sound at targets as far away as 75 meters. “The system is operational in the IDF,” the company says. It’s not clear whether all these systems are the same, or just have similar names.

Either way, the technology behind these weapons isn’t exactly brand spanking new. The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a farther-reaching sonic blaster, has been a handy anti-pirate and anti-riot weapon for years now. The LRAD, which looks like a frying pan attached to a swivel, fires a beam of 150 decibels worth of noise to rattle skulls at distances of up to 300 meters. Ships like the Maersk Alabama and the cruise liner MSC Melody have used it to ward off oncoming pirate skiffs while transiting the dangerous waters off the coast of Somalia. In the U.S., it’s also been used to ward off rowdy protesters, like during G20 demonstrations in Pittsburgh in 2009. American Technology Corp, the company that makes the LRAD, has also tried to make a bazooka version of its sonic blaster.

Israel less-lethal includes a few choice weapons. The “Thunder Generator” is a sonic blaster so loud you could actually die from it. The thunder machine uses liquefied petroleum gas to make loud explosions — up to 100 per minute — like a repeating flashbang grenade. It works up to 50 meters away, but stand within 10 meters and Thunder’s makers warn it can permanently injure or even kill you.

Other technologies at Israel’s disposal include the “skunk bomb,” effectively a large stink bomb that leaves the affected smelling like sewage. Targets who’ve been skunked have reported that the smell is hard to remove, even after a shower.

But sonic blasters aren’t the only piece of kit that’s getting attention in Israel. Danger Room pal Eli Lake has a scoop on the Obama administration’s secret sale of 55 GBU-28 bunker buster bombs to Israel. The sale is significant because of its implications for an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. For the longest time, it was thought that Israel couldn’t mount an effective strike on the Iranian program because it didn’t have powerful enough munitions to blast underground and reach Iran’s buried facilities. The roughly 5,000 lb. GBU-28s, however, can burrow through 100 feet of ground before detonating.