P.I.D. Radio 2/22/11: Tangled Webs

IT SEEMS another nation in the Middle East erupts with each passing day. Libya has nearly devolved into a civil war, and the Western media seems focused on the protests as struggles for freedom, and maybe they are. There is one aspect that is overlooked, however, which is that the first protests in Tunisia and Egypt were sparked by sharply rising food prices, which are being driven up by commodity traders — most of whom, we'd bet, don't have to devote a big percentage of their income on loaves of bread.Also: Iranian warships in the Med for the first time in 30 years; Saudi/Iranian showdown in Bahrain; CIA agent arrested in Pakistan; and the US paid millions for bogus intelligence software — and now covers it up by claiming "national security".