A group of Communist Party veterans have written a daring open letter calling for the removal of China’s top security official, in the latest sign of disunity ahead of Beijing’s leadership transition.

Security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China’s top nine rulers, is viewed as a hardliner and is linked to Bo Xilai , the charismatic party leader whose downfall earlier this year triggered the nation’s biggest political scandal in decades.

In an open letter to President Hu Jintao, published on a number of overseas websites, the veterans suggest that Zhou is part of a movement to revive the China of Mao Zedong.

Zhao Zhengrong, a retired anti-corruption official from the southwestern province of Yunnan, told the AFP news agency that he, and 15 other party members from the same province, had sent the proposal advocating Zhou’s removal to higher authorities.

Speculation has been growing about the future of Zhou since the downfall of another top politician, Bo Xilai.

Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan said that the letter was significant because it was rare to see this type of dissent in China.

“For the first time in 20 years, we really are seeing a debate and a split in the political leadership,” she said.

Despite this divide, she said the letter was unlikely to have any impact on the national government.

“What’s lost in this entire narrative is that the next president and premier of China are not going to change,” she explained.

Source: Al Jazeera. Video at link.

Back in August of 2011, to the disbelief of some our readers, we reported that one potential Obama administration strategy for the 2012 election would be to Incite Race Riots and Use White Guilt in 2012 , and that they would operate covertly, behind-the-scenes to allow such an event to take place if it served their interests. While no evidence exists that this is what’s happening, it’s become evident that no one in Washington, especially the Obama administration or members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have made any attempts to quell the cries for a race war over the last several weeks. If anything, they’ve been complicit in allowing it to happen.

The following audio recording of a Black Panther conference call suggests that race conflicts in the US may become violent in the very near future, just as we recently warned.

Via The Daily Sheeple:

The race conflict stemming from the Trayvon Martin incident is heating up. Armed Neo-Nazis are actively ‘patrolling’ the streets of Sanford to protect white people, and now the Black Panthers have taken their threats to a new level, even calling for the capture of George Zimmerman ‘Dead or Alive.’

Video follows excerpt:

“If you are having any doubts about getting suited, booted, and armed up for this race war that has never ended, let me tell you something… The thing that’s about to happen to these honkies, these crackers, these pigs, these pink people, these motherfuckin’ turtle people – it has been long overdue.”

CONTINUED at SHTF Plan.

The US believes India will be the only major Asian buyer of Iranian crude to maintain its imports in the first half of this year, according to people close to Washington’s efforts to use financial sanctions to disrupt Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Delhi has so far resisted calls to reduce its energy dependence on Tehran in spite of the rising US and European pressure on Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, to cut supplies. From July, Washington will sanction foreign banks facilitating Iran’s oil trade as part of efforts to curb its nuclear programme by cutting off an important source of revenue.

CONTINUED at the Financial Times.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s best and brightest have an idea on how to deal with Iran’s imaginary nukes – starve the Iranian people to death.

“North Korea is halting its nuclear program in order to receive aid in food, and this is what should be done with Iran as well,” an unnamed official told Ynetnews.

“Suffocating sanctions could lead to a grave economic situation in Iran and to a shortage of food,” the source explained. “This would force the regime to consider whether the nuclear adventure is worthwhile, while the Persian people have nothing to eat and may rise up as was the case in Syria, Tunisia and other Arab states.”

“The Western world led by the United States must implement stifling sanctions at this time already, rather than wait or hesitate,” the official continued. “In order to suffocate Iran economically and diplomatically and lead the regime there to a hopeless situation, this must be done now, without delay.”

Starving a civilian population is prohibited under Article 54 of the Geneva Convention.

The Israeli government honed this brutal practice in the Gaza Strip. “Documents, whose existence were denied by the Israeli government for over a year, have been released after a legal battle led by Israeli human rights group, Gisha,” the International Middle East Media Center reported in November of 2010.

The documents reveal a deliberate policy by the Israeli government in which the dietary needs for the population of Gaza are chillingly calculated, and the amounts of food let in by the Israeli government measured to remain just enough to keep the population alive at a near-starvation level. This documents the statement made by a number of Israeli officials that they are “putting the people of Gaza on a diet”….

The documents are even more disturbing, say human rights activists, when one considers the fact that close to half of the people of Gaza are children under the age of eighteen. This means that Israel has deliberately forced the undernourishment of hundreds of thousands of children in direct violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

CONTINUED at Infowars. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.

Unfortunately for the cyber sleuths, the hackers were in on the call too – and now so is the rest of the world.

Anonymous published the roughly 15-minute-long recording of the call on the Internet on Friday, gloating in a Twitter message that “the FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.”

The humiliating coup exposed a vulnerability that might have had more serious consequences had someone else been listening in on the line.

“A law enforcement agency using unencrypted, unsecure communications is a major fumble,” said Marcus Carey, who spent years securing communications for the U.S. National Security Agency before joining security-risk assessment firm Rapid7.

“What if this event was talking about some terrorist plot to blow up something and ‘they’ were listening in? It could’ve been much worse if it was related to an al-Qaida plot or something … So this is a lesson learned.”

The leak was one of a slew of Anonymous hacks that hit websites across the United States Friday, including in Boston, where the police site was defaced, and in Salt Lake City, where officials said that personal information of confidential informants and tipsters had been compromised.

Anonymous also claimed credit for defacing the Greek Justice Ministry’s website and stealing a mountain of data from the Virginia-based law firm that defended a U.S. Marine recently convicted for his role in the bloody 2005 raid in Iraq that became known as the Haditha massacre.

The hackers’ successful attempt to spy on the very people charged with tracking them down remained the most dramatic coup of the day, with sensitive police conversations broadcast across the world.

The FBI said the communication “was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained,” but added that no FBI systems were breached. It said that “a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.”

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation, told The Associated Press that authorities were looking at the possibility the message was intercepted from the private email account of one of the dozens of invited participants – who hailed from the U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Anonymous published just such an email Friday, complete with the date, time and password needed to access the call.

Graham Cluley, an expert with data security company Sophos, said that anyone with that information could have “rung in and silently listened to the call just like Anonymous did.”

In Paris, a French police official who was briefed on the interception said it could prompt international law enforcement bodies to be more circumspect about sharing information in conference calls. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak on the record.

Scotland Yard said there was no immediate evidence their operations were compromised.

Amid jokes about a teenage hacking suspect (who one officer describes as “a bit of an idiot”) and lighthearted banter about McDonald’s, the investigators on the call discussed whether to delay the arrest of two hacking suspects to give the FBI more time to pursue its side of the investigation.

Updates were given on the status of inquiries stretching from Los Angeles and Baltimore to England and Ireland, with one member of Scotland Yard’s central e-crime unit telling the FBI that British police had identified a 15-year-old with possible connections to a recent breach at U.S. videogame company Valve Corp.

“Yeah that’s fantastic,” an FBI official said in response. “We actually do have a pending investigation looking into that compromise.”

An email to the FBI official leading the call was not immediately returned Friday, while the e-crime investigator referred questions to Scotland Yard’s press office. The press office confirmed it had someone on the call but said it would have no further comment.

Most sensitive appears to be discussion of what legal strategy to pursue in the cases of Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis, two British suspects linked to Anonymous. The U.K. police official on the call said prosecutors were secretly going to court to delay procedures in order to give the FBI more time pursue a related case.

When the FBI official thanked his U.K. counterpart for the favor, the Briton said cheerily: “We’re here to help!”

Karen Todner, a lawyer for Cleary, said the recording could be “incredibly sensitive” and warned that such data breaches had the potential to derail the police investigation.

“If they haven’t secured their email it could potentially prejudice the investigation,” she told the AP.

Anonymous, an amorphous collection of Internet enthusiasts, pranksters and activists, has increasingly focused its attention on law enforcement agencies in general and the FBI in particular.

The hackers’ targets have included the Church of Scientology, the music industry and financial companies such as Visa and MasterCard. It has recently expanded to include government, police and military targets.

Dozens of suspected members and supporters have been arrested across the world.

Source: the Huffington Post.

Newt Gingrich gave his post-primary speech tonight while gracelessly declining to congratulate the man who beat him by double digits. According to the Romney campaign, Gingrich hadn’t called to congratulate the Florida winner as of 9:30 p.m. ET.

The speech was vintage Gingrich, comparing his predicament to Lincoln at Gettysburg and vowing to conduct a “people’s campaign.” He made one small run at Romney, calling him “the Massachusetts moderate,” and then wandered into a rather trite recitation of his commitment to change. He rambled a bit, getting nostalgic about his Contract with America and assuring us he’d been studying “how to do this” since 1958. (He was running for president as a child?) He is going to get rid of White House czars, move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and halt the war on religion. If there was a theme in there, it was hard to spot.

He obnoxiously ended by pledging: “My life, my fortune, my sacred honor.” But he’s not doing any of that. And it’s quite an insult to American patriots who have said that and meant it.

Gingrich has been reduced to a smaller-than-life figure. He’s a guy with a lot of words and very little appeal, whose meanness got the best of him and helped to wreck his campaign on a heap of attacks, insults and downright vile accusations (the latest being his claim that Romney is hostile to religion).

He might go on, as he promised. But, really, how many Republicans will follow him? Fewer and fewer, I suspect.

Source: Washington Post.

Thousands of critics of capitalism meeting in Brazil called Sunday for a worldwide protest in June to press for concrete steps to tackle the global economic crisis.

The World Social Forum wrapped up a five-day meeting in this southern Brazilian city, urging citizens to “take to the streets on June 5″ for the global action, which would be in support of social and environmental justice.

The forum also announced a “peoples’ summit” of social movements to be held in parallel with the high-level UN conference on sustainable development scheduled next June 20-22 in Rio.

The Rio+20 summit, the fourth major gathering on sustainable development since 1972, will press world leaders to commit themselves to creating a social and “green economy,” with priority being given to eradicating hunger.

But World Social Forum participants, including representatives of the Arab Spring, Spain’s “Indignant” movement, Occupy Wall Street, and students from Chile, sharply criticized the concept of “a green economy” that would allow multinational corporations to reap the profit.

“The political and economic elites are the one percent who control the world and we are the one percent seeking to change it. Where are the (other) 98 percent?” said Chico Whitaker, one of the Forum’s founders.

“There are many who are happy because each time they get more consumer goods, but many are concerned and unsatisfied. The challenge for us is to speak with them.”

“If we do not raise the issue of inequality, we won’t solve the problems,” said Venezuelan sociologist Edgardo Lander.

“If the system is not capable of redistributing and deal with inequality, we have to do it ourselves,” agreed Sam Halvorsen, of the Occupy London movement.

The Forum is an alliance of social movements opposed to the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering of the world’s economic and political elites held at the same time in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Addressing the gathering Thursday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff appealed for “a development model that articulates growth and job creation, battles poverty and decreases inequalities,” and advocates for the “sustainable use and preservation of natural resources.”

Candido Grzywoski, one of the founders and a coordinator of the Forum, said the urgency of the global economic crisis and the popular indignation around the world “gave us more unity in diversity.”

The Forum, which drew around 40,000 participants this year, has its roots in 1999 street protests in the US city of Seattle during a World Trade Organization meeting but it settled in Porto Alegre as its regular venue 12 years ago when it drew 20,000 activists from around the world.

Next year, it will be held in Cairo.

Source: Breitbart.

Just when you thought Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was down; like a phoenix, he rises from the ashes.

Tebow and the Broncos were last seen Saturday night walking off the field after getting shellacked by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The former Florida Gators quarterback couldn’t muster any offense in the game and was outclassed on the field by Brady.

But, Tebow has been a ratings draw for CBS and now, the network wants to get Tebow in the studio this Sunday for the AFC Championship game.

According to USAToday.com, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said CBS has had conversations with Tebow’s people and are waiting to hear back from the popular quarterback.

McManus said CBS is hoping to hear from Tebow by midweek.

Source: CBS Miami.

The holidays can be tough. The stress of strained finances. Getting felt up at the airport on your way to be ridiculed by your family. Fortunately, there’s someone you can call. Actually two people you can call, Hall and Oates.

Dial “Callin’ Oates” 719-26-OATES (719-266-2837) to be given the option of listening to one of four glorious Hall and Oates songs. The Emergency Hall and Oates Hotline options are as follows:

Press 1 to hear One on One
Press 2 to hear Rich Girl
Press 3 to hear Maneater
Press 4 to hear Private Eyes

The Verge talked to the creators of the hotline. If I didn’t already have these songs on my iPhone, I’d be using up all those roll over minutes.

Source: Gizmodo.

Lawmakers in Louisiana are calling for National Guard troops to patrol the streets of New Orleans after a toddler was killed in a drive-by shooting. The last time troops were involved in domestic law enforcement in the state, they were used to confiscate legally owned firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Keira Holmes Gordon was caught in the crossfire of two separate groups of men in cars who were targeting another man stood near a B. W. Cooper Housing development on Sunday. The toddler, four days shy of her second birthday, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Citing soaring crime levels, state lawmaker Austin Badon Jr. told CNN he “wants the government to step and help control the violence,” by sending troops to patrol troubled areas, although he admitted that just “a select few people” were responsible for the crimes.

The CNN host makes clear that Badon is just one of several officials calling for National Guard troops.

“I have called on the Governor to bring in the National Guard,” said Badon, asserting that residents were “more comfortable” after seeing the Guard patrol the streets in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina.

“We are at war and when you’re at war, you have to bring in soldiers,” said Badon, describing the situation as “urban warfare,” and complaining about people who own guns.

A spokesman for Governor Bobby Jindal’s office said no request had been made from the mayor to send National Guard troops to patrol the streets.

CONTINUED at Infowars. Written by Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones.