In the news:

This first article from Debka is very interesting and one has to wonder if we are seeing a build-up to war::

Big U.S. airlift starts Monday

The United States launches a large-scale exercise over the Middle East deploying 41 giant transports of the 22nds Airlift Squadron Monday Oct. 17, the day before the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is scheduled to be released by Hamas.

OK, that certainly tweaks my interest...

The US Transportation Command and its Air Forces Transportation will be testing its ability to provide a rapid strategic airlift response to major crises and contingencies.

Even more interesting. More below:

Tuesday morning, when the Israel and Hamas prisoner exchange is due to be executed, the giant US transports will drill landings in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The aircraft will be packed with command and control elements and fighting units with full equipment.

DEBKAfile's military sources report that during this critical week, the exercise ending Friday, Oct. 21 will keep an American air fleet in Middle East skies ready to land at any moment for any contingency.

"...ready to land at any moment for any contingency."?

What could that possibly mean?

The Israeli, Egyptian and Saudi armies are on a high state of preparedness.

In parallel, The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier is on its way from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Last Tuesday Oct. 11, as the US officials accused the Iranian government of directing a plot to assassination the Saudi ambassador to Washington, the Stennis was nearing the Red Sea.

The missions of the Stennis Battle Group, consisting of an additional seven warships, most of them destroyers and frigates, as well as Air Wing CVW-9, are to provide ground troops with combat support and strike land and sea targets. It is also able to sow mines over large areas around coastal regions and on the high sea.

Sunday, Oct. 16, US intelligence sources warned that the operation for the Israeli soldier's recovery from Hamas captivity (paid for by 1,027 jailed Palestinian terrorists) could touch off a spate of terrorist attacks in the region, most likely aimed at US embassies and Israel targets in and outside the country.

This may or may not have significance, but definitely worth watching.

Also in the news:

Iran's supreme leader calls US accusations 'meaningless'

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denies Washington's claim that Iran is behind plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador to Washington and attack Saudi and Israeli embassies

"A meaningless and nonsensical accusation has been raised against a few Iranians in America, which was made into an excuse to present the Islamic Republic as a supporter of terrorism," Khamenei told a crowd in the western province of Kermanshah.

"It didn't work, it won't work," he said.

Khameni, who is on a nine-day tour of the province, said the west repeatedly made unfounded accusations against Iran.

Israel begins procesing Palestinian prisoners to be freed in Shalit deal

Israel early Sunday began transferring Palestinian prisoners to jails in the south and center of the country to prepare for the high-profile swap which will see the release of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Israel Radio reported.

The swap is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, a week after a deal was sealed between Israel and Hamas to free the soldier in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Those returning to Gaza, will be going to Egypt first, from where they are scheduled to cross into the coastal enclave via the Rafah border crossing.

Over the next two days, the files will be prepared for consideration by Peres. However, the signing of the pardons won't occur until the outcomes of the appeals against the swap deal are decided.

And of course a news cycle wouldn't be complete without an update on the protests that we have been following.

The first article is an interesting overview of the different groups who are involved in this protect/movement and who they represent. I'll just quote the concluding remarks below:

Global Day Of Rage: Reporting Inside NYC's Massive Occupy Times Square March

As I sat down to write about my experiences today, I could hear a group of protestors as they streamed down from Union Square. After spending all day with the Occupiers, it was as if they wouldn’t leave me alone.

“Whose streets?” they yelled.

“Our streets,” in answer, over and over again.

There has always been something militant and unnerving about a group that claims to speak for 99% of the population, and that owns public streets.

The truth is, they are not the 99%.They might not even be the 50%. They are more likely the 20%— which is the estimated number of Americans who self-identify as liberal.

But when they are confronted by that reality in the months ahead, I expect things to get ugly.

They will scream “we are peaceful” as they inflict their will upon others, and give us a taste of what their version of democracy really looks like.

Perhaps more importantly, an anti-Israeli sentiment seems to be a growing aspect of these demonstrtaions:

Anti-Semitism tainting Occupy Wall Street protests

Several anti-Semitic incidents have been reported during "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations in New York as Jews were blamed for the turmoil in America's financial markets. In addition, anti-Israel signs were raised against "Israel's occupation of Gaza".

The "Emergency Committee for Israel" has published a hard-to-watch clip in which Jews are attacked and blamed for the financial crisis and assistance to Israel.

In the clip, a young demonstrator is seen arguing with an older Jewish man wearing a yarmulke. At one point, the young man says, "I work, earn seven dollars an hour. You have the money. You don't speak English? You are from Israel? Go back to Israel."

Another African-American protester accuses the Jews of taking over America. "The smallest group in America controls the money, media and all other things. The fingerprints belong to the Jewish bankers. I am against Jews who rob America.

Occupy Chicago Joins "Destroy Israel" Anti-war Anti-America "Peace" March

In our continuing coverage from last Saturday’s anti-war protest and march organized by the left-wing ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink, and the Gay Liberation Network, we have more alarming video to share. Alarming, but not surprising, given our footage of the same groups’ joint demonstration last March.

Organizers and protesters from Occupy Chicago joined these groups and provided support to last Saturday’s anti-war gathering. The protest carried a strong anti-Israel/anti-America message, a theme that both served as a rallying cry for the day

Hatem Abudayyeh, a local pro-Palestinian agitator, rose to stage to address the crowd regarding Israel and American imperialism.

He referred to Benjamin Netanyahu as a “fool” for his recent address to the U.N. General Assembly, and cheered the effectiveness of the global boycott and divestment in Israel, which he said was successfully putting a “dent in Israel’s indemnity over Palestine and the Arab world.”

...passed out flyers that read at the top, “Be a Passivist (sic), be a Nonviolent Activist, Refuse to Pay Taxes, Destroy Israel!”

This next bit of news is shocking to say the least:

Abudayyeh is not a rookie in the activist business. He is the executive director for the Arab American Action Network, which was founded by radical PLO propagandist Rashid Khalidi.

When President Obama was on the board of directors for the Woods Fund, they gave a $40,000 grant to Abudayyeh’s group, and the group has also received close to $500,000 in federal tax dollars.

Abudayyeh’s home was raided by the FBI in September 2009 along with 22 other radical activists, a few of whom joined him at the march, and were investigated for suspected ties and support to terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Colombian F.A.R.C. Abudayyeh also was a guest in Obama’s White House on April 22, 2010.

And this last story below is very interesting in terms of analyzing the "group-think" mentality that prevails in the midst of a mob gathering:

OWS: Are Mindless Americans Falling Prey to the Collectivist Trap?

A disturbing new trend has quietly taken hold over simultaneous nationwide protests in the United States over the last few weeks.

Visible throughout the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests, is a technique dubbed as “The People’s Microphone”. It has been deployed nationwide, and is becoming the dominant vehicle for group interaction and communication. So what is it?

According to the official OWS wiki page:

“New York City requires a permit to use “amplified sound.” Since Occupy Wall Street does not have a permit, police have interpreted that to mean even the use of an electric bullhorn. As a response to such limitations, a phenomenon known as the “People’s Microphone” has evolved, where a person making a speech pauses while the nearby members of the audience repeats the previous phrase (somewhat) in unison.” The entry adds, “The (People’s Microphone) effect has been called “comic or exhilarating – often all at once.” Some feel this provided a further unifying effect for the crowd.”

But what is this really?

This article is actually fascinating and a good read. Below are just a few tidbits:

OWS’s new People’s Microphone is quite simply a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) application or technique. Its consensus arrival method, also known as “call-and-return”, has now become the audio device of choice- spreading across the country as quickly as the protests themselves.

Crowd participants slowly repeat each phrase the leading speaker is saying to them, with a series of hand signs used to provide the speaker and the group with feedback.

You've probably seen this process in some of the videos circulating. The speaker says a few words and the crowd chants the same words in unison.

To the casual observer, this new system of communication may appear as compelling, as it is metaphoric. It might also remind you of the infamous ‘pass the conch’ scene from the Nobel Prize-winning novel by William Golding, Lord of the Flies.

In this way, such NLP methods can also be used to promote ‘group-think’ and could be described as collectivist mind control education at its very finest.

Successful NLP systems like this are commonly used by sales people in business, as well as in advertising and of course politics, working in restricted bloc of words, and often with restricted vocabularies.

The NLP ‘call-and-repeat’ mechanism can no doubt be used to hypnotic effect.

Often these type of techniques are used in order to filter out the free thinkers, intense self-policing at its most stringent.

Notice that when group members are disagreeing, their hands are much lower, but at their maximum when ‘the bloc’ seems to all be in agreement.

What these protestors are hardly aware of, is that they may be participating a form of modern day group-think.

It is a form of social control whereby everyone in the group believes that they must all agree and must all be of the same mind. Armed with this power new tool, consensus promoters can be bussed into sites around the country, training groups to chant key group-think talking points using mnemonic phrases.

The People’s Microphone can also lead a group to believe by these hand signal votes they can create a law and enforce it.

This can often result in an oxymoronic “totalitarian-consensus”, where a perceived consensus occurs, but in reality, a consensus was only reach because each member of the group was afraid to be ejected from the collective.

This form of mob mentality can be dangerous because the leader of a group is leading their flock towards his or her direction of choice, but still offering them the illusion it is ‘what everyone in the community wants’.

In the classic film Dr Zhivago, scenes appear in which leading “intellectual” group-thinkers demolish the private property of others because, according to the collective, “they don’t deserve to own it”.

Taking this concept is taken to its extreme form, a mob or individual within the mob could intimidate or even physically assault a person, while the mob believe they are just watching what the collective, or ‘community’ wants to happen.

Not surprising really. Exactly what one would expect from this entire movement. This might be a good time to dust off the book "1984" and re-read it - because that is exactly where we are headed.