Mondoweiss - 12/06/13, Alex Kane

Editor’s note: The eulogies from Israeli leaders in response to the death of Nelson Mandela are pouring in. What goes unspoken in their remembrances is that Israel had a close relationship with the South African apartheid regime. Here’s an excerpt from Sasha Polakow-Suransky’s groundbreaking book that delves deep into the alliance. Titled “The Unspoken Alliance: Israel’s Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa,” it was published in 2010. 

GFP Note: To listen to the podcast,
click on the source link at the top of the story.

Press TV - 12/06/13, MKA/HSN

More: PressTV.ir

Source: Global Research, 12/06/13, By Pratap Chatterjee

How the CIA Bungled the War on Terror
 

Hollywood Without the Happy Ending  

Call it the Jason Bourne strategy.

Think of it as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) plunge into Hollywood — or into the absurd.  As recent revelations have made clear, that Agency’s moves couldn’t be have been more far-fetched or more real.  In its post-9/11 global shadow war, it has employed both private contractors and some of the world’s most notorious prisoners in ways that leave the latest episode of the Bourne films in the dust: hired gunmen trained to kill as well as former inmates who cashed in on the notoriety of having worn an orange jumpsuit in the world’s most infamous jail.

Source: Waking Times - 12/05/13, Michael Forrester

With evidence growing that training the mind or inducing specific modes of consciousness can have beneficial health effects, scientists have sought to understand how these practices physically affect the body. A new study by researchers in Wisconsin, Spain, and France reports the first evidence of specific molecular changes in the body following a period of intensive mindfulness practice.

The study investigated the effects of a day of intensive mindfulness practice in a group of experienced meditators, compared to a group of untrained control subjects who engaged in quiet non-meditative activities. After eight hours of mindfulness practice, the meditators showed a range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene-regulating machinery and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn correlated with faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.