The video above is available to download free
on Youtube. Please feel free to make comments.
It's a Song of Peace written & performed by
Effran Kaye, a mighty man; an ex soldier:-
and a man with the Soul of Love in his heart.
The collage above is by Michael Dickinson
who can be contacted through his website:
http://yabanji.tripod.com/
TALK PEACE... DON'T ACT WAR !!!
This is part of Obama's "Cairo" speech to Muslims:
"All of us share this world for but a brief moment
in time. The question is whether we spend that
time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether
we commit ourselves to an effort — a sustained
effort — to find common ground, to focus on the
future we seek for our children, and to respect
the dignity of all human beings.
It is easier to start wars than to end them. It
is easier to blame others than to look inward;
to see what is different about someone than to
find the things we share. But we should choose
the right path. There is also one rule that lies
at the heart of every religion — that we do unto
others as we would have them do unto us. This
truth transcends nations and peoples — a belief
that isn’t new; that isn’t black or white or
brown; that isn’t Christian, or Muslim or Jew.
The Talmud tells us: ‘The whole of the Torah is
for the purpose of promoting peace.’ The Holy
Bible tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God. The people
of the world can live together in peace."
Those are such beautiful words! So why is Obama
upping an illegal war in Afghanistan,
ratcheting up wars in several other countries,
& the administration he chose seeking to cow
opposition to US "hegemony" by threatening
Russia with a string of missile bases and by
conducting a fresh campaign of black propaganda,
terrorist bombings, sanctions & threats on Iran?
Why is someone who speaks so eloquently of love,
refusing to even try to stop the Zionists plan
to establish a "greater Israel" on the bodies of
Palestinians, or everyone else who gets in their way?
Congress has now passed - without debate -
the highest "defence" budget in human history.
Is Obama a prisoner, unable to act? Are you?
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHILE JOE BIDEN COLLUDES IN *PSYOPS"
The US is now completey out of control, as news
appears to be deliberately engineered to keep
the US public "happy" that Bajah, that "city of 80,000",
as the warmongers & tame media presented it,
turns out to be a rural area without a town.
In REAL Afghanistan, the fighters of Afghanistan
are launching attacks across the whole country.
A combined suicide attack yesterday (Tuesday) at
a joint NATO-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan
kills at least "two international service members"
and wounds several others, the "military alliance" says.
The attack in Khost province near the Pakistan border
follows a central assault on Monday in Khost City.
No casualty figures at all are "released".
*************************************************
NO KILLERS & RAPISTS WANTED BY JAPANESE CITY
The elected representatives of the city in Japan
slated to take the moving US base, have voted
unanimously to refuse the relocation.
One is quoted as saying: "Since the second World War,
US soldiers have been killing & raping our citizens.
We do not want these killers & rapists here."
*************************************************
FREE WOMEN PRISONERS IN PALESTINE
As the world celebrates International Women's Day,
Iman Muhammad Hassan Ghazawwi
marks her 9th year in Israeli custody.
Ghazawwi, 33, was sentenced to 13 years,
accused of planting an explosive device near
an Israeli military patrol, says Detainees'
Support Committee spokesperson Riyad Al-Ashqar.
Ghazawwi is one of the longest-serving female
prisoners in Israeli detention.
Her two children, Samah, 13, and Jihad, 12, live
with their grandmother, as Ghazawwi's husband,
Shaher Barakat Isheh, is serving 20-years,
having been detained five months after his wife.
Al-Ashqar says Ghazawwi has difficulty moving
and suffers from breathing problems,
as a result of medical neglect.
The spokesperson adds that while the world
marks International Women's Day, "it seems
that all women around the world have rights,
except female prisoners in Palestine."
*************************************************
SIX UK SOLDIERS DIE IN A WEEK - IN AFGHANISTAN
Yet another UK soldier is killed in an explosion
on a foot patrol in Afghanistan, the MoD says.
The soldier, from 1 Rifles, dies following the
blast near the Sangin district of Helmand.
His family have been informed of the loss,
the MoD says. He died on Sunday afternoon.
The soldier is the sixth UK serviceperson to
die in the region in the space of a week.
Task Force Helmand spokesperson Lt Cnl D Wakefield:
"It is with a heavy heart I must inform you
of the death of a second British soldier in
a separate incident yesterday, in the Sangin
area of northern Helmand Province.
"He was from 1 Rifles, serving as part of the
3 Rifles Battle Group, and was on a foot patrol
near Patrol Base Almas, which is to the south
of Sangin District, when he was killed by an
explosion. We have lost one of our comrades and
he will be sorely missed but his boldness and
his selfless commitment to this fight
will not be forgotten."
The latest soldier's death brings the number of
UK military casualties in Afghanistan since the
illegal invasion & occupation began, to 272.
Sunday, the MoD named two teenagers killed in Helmand:
Rifleman Jonathon Allott, 19, from Bournemouth,
and Rifleman Liam Maughan, 18, from Doncaster,
were killed in separate incidents on Friday &
Saturday. Both men died near Sangin in Helmand
& were members of 3rd Battalion The Rifles.
The MoD also admitted on Sunday that a soldier
from A Company 4 Rifles had been shot dead.
The soldier, who was attached to the same
battalion as the teenage casualties, was shot
dead when his patrol base came under attack.
Last Tuesday Cpl Richard Green, 23, from Reading,
was shot dead while at a checkpoint near Sangin.
A day earlier, Rifleman Carlo Apolis of 4th
Battalion The Rifles, serving as part of the 3
Rifles Battle Group, died in a firefight in Sangin.
*************************************************
KILLERS IN AN ILLEGAL WAR
The UK's elite forces (SAS & SBS) are finding
Afghanistan the worst blow to their fighting
strength since the second world war, with 80
members, so far, killed or crippled there.
Serious injuries have left more than 70
unable to fight, & 12 have been killed.
They've lost a sixth of their combat capacity
in Afghanistan, illegally "targeting assassinations".
***********************************************
USING THE LAW FOR GOOD
Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo is asking the
Constitutional Court of Columbia to declare
that the treaty allowing the US exclusive use
of seven Colombian bases, is unconstitutional.
Robledo makes his request during proceedings on
a constitutional claim presented by a group of
citizens. According to the Congressperson from
Polo, the agreement violates the Constitution,
because it uniquely allows a foreign power the
ability to directly intervene in its internal affairs,
and because the Columbian Senate is required,
by Columbia's constitution, firstly to hold a
Congressional vote before it can be adopted.
*************************************************
PEACE HERO GETS 9 MONTHS
A UK soldier refusing to be part of what he
sees as a criminal war of aggression in Afghanistan,
who continues to speak at rallies against it,
is sentenced to nine months in prison.
Lance Cpl. Joe Glenton refuses to report to a
barracks in 2007, after his first tour of duty.
He pleads guilty to being absent without leave.
************************************************
FROM THE REICHSTAG FIRE TO 9/11
Over 1000 architects & engineers sign a petition
which is sent to every congressperson, requesting
a new 9/11 Investigation. Solidly with them,
are over 100 firemen & women, who've signed their
own petition. They say New York's own investigation
manual, calls for a demolition evidence search
in the dust... that is being totally ignored.
If the suspicions of these experts and concerned
US citizens are correct, then 9/11 and many of
the recent terrorist scares, are "false flag"
operations designed to move society towards fear.
************************************************
IRAN SAYS 9/11 IS "A BIG LIE"
Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, adds his
considerable weight to the public's suspicion
that 9/11 was an "inside job", on Saturday.
He states publicly that the official version of
the September 11th collapse of both towers, by
'plane crash only, is a "big lie", being used
by the US, in "The War Against Terror" (TWAT).
Ahmadinejad's accusation is made, during an
address to Iran's Intelligence Ministry staff.
"September 11 was a big lie, and a pretext
for the war on terror & a prelude to invading
Afghanistan," he is quoted by state TV.
He calls 9/11, an act of "complex intelligence."
and says the official scenario is a "big lie."
In 2007, New York officials refused his request
to visit the World Trade Centre site, while he
was in the city for a United Nations meeting.
The president said then, during his lecture in New York,
that the causes & conditions that led to 9/11,
as well as whoever it was who orchestrated them,
still need to be examined properly & publicly.
He also questions the death figure of over 3,000,
saying that the names of only 2,750 victims
were ever read aloud at any memorial ceremony.
*************************************************
RADAR EVADING CRUISE MISSILES CAN SINK US SHIPS
Iran today, launches a new production line of
highly accurate, short range cruise missiles
capable of evading radar, state TV reports.
Iranian defense minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi says
the Nasr (Victory) 1 is capable of destroying
"targets" of up to 1,000 tons in size.
The missile can be launched from the surface
& is being modified to be fired from helicopters
and submarines, he states.
Gen. Vahidi says it took two years for an Iranian
scientist to develop the production line, and that
it strengthens Iran's naval power.
************************************************
BROWN TRIES TO SWING BOTH WAYS
Gordon Brown expresses sorrow for the loss of life
in Iraq, but insists that it was the "right decision"
to illegally invade Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
In an astonishing piece of arrogance, he says
Iraq HAD to be invaded, as it was a "serial
violator" of international law.
This is either arrogance, or unclear thinking.
There are many countries who're serial breakers
of international law. Israel is one. The US is
another. The UK is regularly taken to EU & other
international courts, and to the UN assembly.
Is he saying we HAVE to invade the US? Or Israel?
Or be ourselves invaded by other countries,
who're OUR "moral superiors" & must "police" us?
Yes, Iraq was a serial violator. Just like the UK.
But a war can only legally be launched if there is
a clear DEFENSIVE need. This certainly did not apply.
Were Saddam's troops massed on the US' or UK's borders?
No! So the war was illegal. Brown, now, is trying
to have it both ways. That makes him an accessory
both before, during, and now after, the fact.
He then expresses "regrets" over the supposed
failure to "plan properly for the aftermath"
when we all know the aim was to destroy, not
build, and - by using terror - to enforce the
will of the US & Israel that all opposition to
Israel's hegemony in the Middle East be broken.
He rejects claims that, as chancellor, he failed
to provide the UK armed forces with resources
they needed, when grieving parents of dead soldiers
are currently suing the government for exactly that.
(The fact that it's sub judice doesn't matter !)
"Every request that military commanders made to us
for equipment was answered. No request was ever
turned down," he says, keeping a straight face.
He begins and ends his four hours by praising
the 179 British servicemen and women who lost
their lives in the illegal invasion, and he then
"acknowledges" the huge death toll among Iraqi civilians.
The UK & US acted for the "right reasons" he says,
and important lessons are "being learned".
"Obviously the loss of life is something that
makes us all sad. We have got to recognise
that war may be necessary, but it is also tragic
in the effect it has on people's lives."
Mr Brown says he was "fully informed" about
the build-up to the invasion in March 2003
but was not central to the decision-making.
"I cannot take personal responsibility for
everything that went wrong."
NO. But you CAN stand condemned as an accomplice.
*************************************************
LATEST NEWS
ISRAELI FORCES RAID AL-AQSA COMPOUND
Dozens of Palestinians are injured as Israeli
forces enter East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound following the weekly Friday prayers,
firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets & stun grenades.
*************************************************
Please scroll down to Gaza section for more....
*************************************************
DRONES TO ACT AS NEW US AMBASSADORS
A 700% increase in funding for US drones is passed.
The drone plans include ones which re-land on carriers,
and a new generation able to fly at Mach 7, and
capable of killing all below with huge bombs.
The "best" till last - the US also plans to
have long range intercontinental nuclear drones.
With current US policy to invade, kill, torture
and indefinitely imprison all who cross the US,
breaking international laws, families, & people's hearts,
it now appears to be planning to replace its current
slurry of arrogant diplomats, with a one word answer
- agree with us - or be attacked by our drones.
Does the US seriously believe this will go unpunished?
*************************************************
FALLUJAH BIRTH "DEFECTS"
Health workers in Fallujah are seeing an increase
in birth defects, of hearts & malformed babies.
A community where the bombing was most intense,
is now the main focal point of these defects.
Some are born with one eye, and a baby was born
with three heads. But perhaps this isn't the worst
of it. Imagine your local doctor advising you that
it will be "better" if you and your spouse do not
plan to have any children at all. That's what
many couples are now being advised, in Fallujah.
Thanks to the US.
*************************************************
HALF OF US "MATERIAL WITNESSES" STILL IN PRISON
....AREN'T ALLOWED TO SPEAK !!!
Steven Brill, author of
"After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era",
says US "Justice" is now so corrupt after its
reaction to 9/11, that - not only are they able
to lock you up, "render", or torture you - but
that even the call to be a "material witness"
is now being abused. He says the material-witness
"hook" is being used now in cases in which:
“not even minor crimes could be established,
or where the government was worried that these
people were so important that they did not want
them to get lawyers quickly (as they would be
entitled to if charged with any crime)....
"Ashcroft’s team ...control when, if ever, that
person might be asked to testify — meaning they
..seek to hold the person indefinitely so as to
coerce him to talk."
He also says that detaining people as
material witnesses, means that they can:
"be questioned without lawyers present:
because they're not being charged with any crime."
************************************************
DUBAI MOVES TO ARREST NETANYAHU PLUS MOSSAD BOSS
An arrest warrant against Netanyahu is expected
to be served "later this week"...
Dubai’s police chief Khaifan Tamim today says
Netanyahu will face charges of ordering the
January assassination of a Hamas commander,
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in a Dubai hotel.
Last month when the investigation began, Tamim
warned that he would seek Netanyahu’s arrest
once it was proven that Mossad, Israel’s spy
agency, was responsible for the killing.
Mossad boss Meir Dagan will also face a warrant.
A huge amount of evidence seen all over the world
has since revealed Mossad stealing passport data
from Israeli citizens and forging passports from
the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Australia,
amongst others. It's also become clear to millions
that the 27 suspects used prepaid MasterCards
issued by a US bank using fraudulent data.
************************************************
NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THIS...
Not many people know that Bertrand Russell, that
glorious mathematician, philosopher & peace activist
was Welsh... so it's particularly gratifying to
see that Wales' proud tradition of Peace leadership
is now bearing world fruit, through the
Russell Tribunal's diplomacy & hard work.
The 1st international session of the Russell
Tribunal on Palestine has now ended in Barcelona,
on the Palestinians' right to self determination
and the global responsibility for ending Israeli
crimes against Palestinian civilians.
The participants at the three-day event conclude
that the EU is complicit in aiding and abetting
Israelis to carry out their horrendous crimes.
They point out that Israel is clearly guilty of
major crimes while pursuing expansive aggression
and call on EU member states — especially France,
Germany and Romania — to stop selling weapons to
Israel. They also demand a ban on the import of
Israeli products made in occupied territories.
The Tribunal involves 4 sessions. The remaining
sessions are in London, South Africa & Washington.
Those in London will examine the involvement
of corporations in Israel's violations of
international law. Those in South Africa are to
consider apartheid in Israel, and finally, the
US sessions next year will evaluate the decision-
making processes used to deal with violations of
international law, and reappraise UN actions.
************************************************
HOLDING MARJAH WITH VULNERABLE TROOPS
The Marjah goal, USUK spokespeople say, is to
replace the soldiers now, with Afghan police...
But the NATO goal to train & expand the Afghan
police force continues to fail, because of the
massive attrition rate, according to training
commander Lieutenant General William Caldwell.
Lt. Gen. Caldwell says 67% of police recruits
drop out before they finish basic training.
A "significant portion" also resign afterwards,
disillusioned by the high risks, low pay and
a corrupted environment caused by USUK's "help".
The enormous pre-graduation attrition rate is
made doubly shocking, if you consider the
"training" police are expected to complete.
Many recruits in recent months "graduate"
after about three weeks of training, then
are pushed into a warzone with virtually
no idea of what to do next.
In 2008 German General Hans-Christoph Ammon
predicted that it would take another 82 years
to have a properly trained police force in Afghanistan.
This is why USUK troops will stay & die in Marjah
and all over Afghanistan, for so long. To follow
a "plan" that can only "work", in the sense that
it tries to slow Asia's rise, and produces profits
for immoral bankers and business people. Good uh?
************************************************
AT LEAST SIX NATO TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
At least six NATO soldiers die on Monday
in five separate attacks across Afghanistan.
The nationalities of the soldiers aren't made public,
and the attack locations given, are vague.
The only specific location is the attack against
a NATO convoy in Kandahar, between the airport
and the city. The attacker reportedly detonated
a car bomb near the convoy, forcing a vehicle
into a ravine. One NATO soldier dies, it's said.
Other attacks include a mortar strike in the west,
killing two, a rocket attack in the east,
killing one, a small arms gunbattle in the south
killing one & a roadside bomb in the south killing one.
************************************************
DO YOU GET UPSET ABOUT NEWS OF DEADLY ATTACKS?
Well, don't worry - you won't be upset much longer.
Reports of violence in Afghanistan are to stop.
The puppets who recently made faking elections
a guarantee of US approval, has decided they’re
tired of letting you see any more reports.
Afghanistan’s fake rulers issue a decree today,
that journalists will no longer be allowed to
cover attacks inside the nation. Reporting on
violence after the fact is now only permitted
at the sole discretion of the NDS, the puppet
government’s spy agency.
“Live coverage does not benefit the government,”
warns NDS spokesperson Saeed Ansari, who warns
that journalists violating the new ban will be
arrested and their equipment seized.
JUST LIKE IN IRAQ - where General Petreus, described
by his boss, Admiral Mullen, as an "ass-kissing
little chicken shit", says - once again - that
"violence is falling", just as news comes in that
CIVILIAN DEATHS, SOLDIERS KILLED, BOMB ATTACKS,
& NUMBERS LEAVING THE COUNTRY EACH MONTH (100,000)
................. ARE ALL RISING !!!!
*************************************************
Two UK military personel die in Afghanistan
in 24 hours, taking the UK casualty toll to 265
One, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, is shot dead
on foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand province.
The 2nd, an airman from 2 Squadron RAF Regiment,
is blown up by an IED, while taking part in a
vehicle patrol north of Kandahar Airfield.
The families of both men now know.
***************** *****************
ATTACK US AND FREEZE, SAYS IRAN TO EUROPE
"Iran is standing on 50% of the world's energy
and should it so decide, Europe will have to
spend the winter in cold," Hossein Salami,
deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards,
says at a meeting with war veterans & volunteers
in Kerman, according to Fars news agency.
"Our missiles are now able to target any spot
in which the conspirators are in, and Iran
is making advances in all fields," he says.
*************************************************
US SAYS MUSLIMS "JEALOUS" OF US FREEDOM
The House of Representatives has now passed
a renewal of the "Patriot" Act, supposedly
to stop all these jealous Muslims from attacking,
without bothering to amend its most pernicious
parts - which allow unrestricted access and phone
bugging, despite the "Democrats" promise to do so.
Perhaps they felt the need to show they're "on side",
because these days, in the US, those who aren't,
can be imprisoned now, simply for arguing publicly
for the change Obama said he was bringing....
If they WERE to be imprisoned as genuine patriots,
as political prisoners, they would still be
joining the largest "club" in the world.
Today, one out of four prisoners in the world
is already in a US prison. And every year,
7,000 people die there, many, murdered or "suicides".
And often, those who die quickly are the lucky
ones ! Since US prison guards routinely use
control methods like Taser guns on prisoners.
According to a recent report, 230 US citizens
have died as a result of the use of tasars since 2001.
The report refers to one county jail in Garfield,
Colorado, which regularly uses Taser guns and
pepper spray on prisoners, and then ties them to
chairs in extreme positions for hours at a time.
Sodomy and rape by bullying guards and inmates
means many are dying of AIDs & are not treated.
A report released by the US Justice Department
during Bush’s last term in office, says 22,480
prisoners in state and federal penitentiaries
are now HIV positive or have full blown AIDS.
A 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times reports
that 426 cases of premature death were recorded
in California prisons alone, in 2006, as caused
by "belated medical treatment".
One, a 41 year old diabetic patient, Rodolfo Ramos,
died after having been left abandoned and
covered in his own faeces for an entire week.
Prison officials did not give him medical treatment
even though they were aware of his condition.
In over 40 of the US’s 50 states, courts treat
juveniles of 14 to 18 years old like adults.
About 200,000 minors in the US are subjected to
trials in courts for adults, even though it has
been demonstrated that this proceeding is wrong.
Eve when placed in separate juvenile prisons,
13 juvenile detention centres in the US report
high rates of sexual abuse, and an average of
one out of every three incarcerated minors,
reports being attacked.
Physical, direct forms of brutal treatment and
torture of prisoners are endemic in US prisons.
A UK film released a few years ago, Torture:
America’s Brutal Prisons, features footage from
prison security cameras in Florida, Texas,
Arizona and California, in which guards can be
seen severely beating prisoners – even killing
some – using Taser guns & electric prods, attack
dogs, chemical sprays & paralyzing devices.
The effect of this abuse & prolonged isolation,
is that many prisoners go crazy (if they aren’t
already mentally ill), or commit suicide, as a
result of this inhuman punishment. They are in
restricted segregated units, and many of them
are also in isolation – but the government does
not release that information. The majority of
prisoners in the US in isolation have been so
for more than five years.
Approximately 283,000 prisoners are mentally ill,
FOUR times the number of patients in psychiatric hospitals.
And this is if you belong to a safe ethnic group
and are "unlucky" enough to lose your case!
For blacks and other racial minorities (ie non-whites)
your chance of being aquitted is less than equal.
One out of every 15 black adults is incarcerated;
one out of every 9 is aged 20-34 years; and one
out of every 36 are Hispanics. Two-thirds of
those serving life sentences are black or Latino,
In New York state, just 16.3% of prisoners are white.
And if you, as a Muslim, feel unhappy about
not having these US blessings and freedoms,
relax, warmly comforted by Obama's care for you -
because the US is heavily recruiting now,
from both the prison population guards and
ex-prisoners, so they can "serve" in liberated
Iraq, Afghanistan, & elsewhere.
C'mon, Obama - WALK THE WALK !!!
************* **************
TIME TO STOP SETTLER ISRAEL
"It is time to impose sanctions and an
international boycott on Israel," Secretary-
General of the Palestinian National Initiative,
Mustafa Barghouthi says.
"The Israeli government has proven time and again
that it is a government of settlements & settlers,
and means to destroy the possibility of
establishing an independent Palestinian state,"
the leader says, after being hospitalized for
tear-gas inhalation during protests in Hebron.
Peace is not compatible with the Israeli government's
announcement of 600 new homes in occupied Jerusalem,
"it is compatible with a policy of ethnic cleansing," Barghouthi says.
In order to face what he calls the "racist"
and "vicious" policies of Israel toward the
Palestinian people, Barghouthi calls for the
development of a clear strategy, which includes:
"expanding the role of popular resistance and
supporting the steadfastness of Palestinians
so they can confront the occupation"
knowing that they have firm support.
Palestinians must know they have the support of
the global community, Barghouthi says, calling
for the wholesale imposition of sanctions on Israel
& a comprehensive boycott of Israeli services and products.
"It is time to realize that we cannot achieve peace
with a government of settlers bent on expansion,
there will be no fruit borne of direct or indirect talks;
both are a waste of time if the settlement construction
has not been halted in a way that includes Jerusalem," he says.
***************** ********************
SETTLERS RALLY TO COMMEMORATE MASSACRE IN MOSQUE
Israeli settlers in Hebron rally on Saturday,
to commemorate a 1994 massacre that saw a Jewish-
American open fire on praying Palestinians,
killing 29, Israeli news site Yedioth Ahronoth reports.
"We come here every year to show the Left
that suppressing the Right will be met with
opposition," the news agency quotes one settler.
Following the February massacre, Israeli forces
have decided to partition the mosque & have
installed armed guards at both entrances -
one for Jews, and another for Muslims.
Since 1994, the heightened security at the mosque
and the frequent access restrictions imposed on
Palestinians entering to pray have caused
concern among citizens that Israeli forces
and the settlers they guard in the city
might take over the building.
Last Sunday, Netanyahu declared the place an
"Israeli heritage site." The following Thursday,
Palestinians mourned the death of the 29 worshipers
in a solemn ceremony inside the mosque.
The Israeli settlers who rally on Saturday,
the news source says, are a group that formed
around the veneration of Goldstein.
"He knew that Jewish blood was about to be shed,
and so he protected his own people. Perhaps,
some were innocent – but war is war,"
Yedioth Ahronoth quotes a settler as saying.
***************** ******************
Another attack in the centre of Kabul, Friday,
on several boarding houses, kills many foreigners,
including a top Italian diplomat.
***************** *****************
Israeli troops drag five Beit Ummar residents
from their homes north of Hebron Thursday
morning, and hand papers to nine others,
demanding that they appear in front of
Israeli intelligence officials.
While there, the troops raid a kindergarten.
The Birds of Heaven kindergarten building
is raided & trashed, Palestinian Solidarity
Project spokesperson Muhammad Awad says.
Awad identifies those dragged off by troops:
Ibrahim Awad, 18, Iyad Za’aqiq, 34, Nader Bahar,
37, Muhamad Alami, 17, and Hasan Alami, 22.
He says they are all taken to an unknown location.
******************** *******************
Israel announces a new 600 unit settlement in
Arab East Jerusalem, and the destruction of several
residents' homes. Settlement construction in East
Jerusalem is illegal under international law.
The World Court has ruled that all the settlements
Israel has built in occupied territory are illegal.
******************** ******************
RAFAH OPENS AS UN DEMANDS IT OPEN PERMANENTLY
The Rafah crossing is open & has been for 2 days,
as some prominent Palestinians ask for fuel to be
brought through there, to avoid Israel freezing
Palestinians in Winter's cruel cold - as they are now!
NEVER MIND CHILCOTT - IT'S STILL GOING ON NOW !!*!
Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths
as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to
a NEW study conducted by the prestigious UK
polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB).
Their figures mean that Iraq rivals the mass
killings of the last century,— exceeding the
800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in Rwanda,
and nearer the 1.7 million “Killing Fields”
of Cambodia’s post Vietnam years.
ORB’s research figures can only cover fifteen
of Iraq’s eighteen provinces, and mean their
figures are extremely conservative. Those not
covered include Kerbala, Anbar and Arbil, where
local authorities refused them a permit to work.
In face-to-face interviews with 2,414 adults,
the poll finds that over one in five respondents
have had at least one death in their household
as a result of the invasion & occupation.
Authors Joshua Holland and Michael Schwartz
point out that the dominant media narrative on
Iraq — that most violence is perpetrated by Iraqis
and therefore not our responsibility — is a lie.
Schwartz suggests that 80% of Iraqi deaths
are perpetrated directly by the US.
By the end of 2006, an average of 5,000 Iraqis
had been killed every month by US forces
since the beginning of the occupation.
But the death rate in 2006 was well over 10,000 per month.
The post-surge figures, including RIGHT NOW,
say the researchers, are likely to be even higher.
A US Brookings Institute report says that
for the first four years of the occupation
the US military sent out over 1,000 patrols
each day into hostile neighborhoods, looking
to capture or kill “insurgents” & “terrorists.”
Since February 2007, the number of patrols
has increased to nearly 5,000 patrols a day,
(if we include joint Iraqi/US raids).
Each patrol invades an average of 30 Iraqi homes
per day, with their mission to interrogate,
arrest, or kill suspects, while "taking no chances".
US military statistics reported by the Brookings
Institute, show that these patrols currently
result in nearly 3,000 firefights every month,
(not counting the 1,000 or so involving Iraqi troops).
Thousands of patrols result in thousands of
deaths and detentions, often with torture.
Iraqis trying to escape these killing squads,
have led to 5 million Iraqi external refugees.
Over 2.4 million have fled their homes for
safer areas within Iraq.
Iraq’s refugees ARE STILL INCREASING by
an average of almost 100,000 every month,
and have no legal work options in most
host states & provinces. They are increasingly
desperate and would return if they could.
Yet far more Iraqis continue to flee their homes
than the numbers returning, despite official
claims to the contrary. The hundreds of thousands
leaving, say security is just as bad as ever,
and that to return would be to accept death.
Most who do return... leave once again.
One interviewee: “The US military say Fallujah
is safe now while over 800 men are detained there
under the worst conditions. At least 750 out of
the 800 detainees are not resistance fighters,
but people who refused to collaborate with the
occupation forces and their collaborators."
Is the United States really still killing
10,000 Iraqis every month? Rules of engagement
in Iraq require the approximately five thousand
daily US patrols to respond to any hostile act
with overwhelming firepower, and guarantee that
large numbers of civilians will suffer and die.
But the mainstream media, including Auntie BBC,
refuses to cover it, preferring culpable silence.
The average US citizen, according to polls,
now BELIEVES that under 10,000 Iraqis have died.
This story of US mass ignorance, will receive
and has received, NO coverage in the mass media,
not even by AP, which commissioned the study.
As to the Iraqis forced abroad, internet and
Arab news of the ongoing violence across Iraq,
convinces them all to remain abroad.
"There were four various explosions in Fallujah today,"
says Salam Adel, "and they say it is safe to go back!
Damn them, go back for what? For roadside bombs or car bombs?”
The US administration needs to claim that the
situation in Iraq is improving. This claim
is only possible through a complicit cowardly media.
Millions of Iraqi refugees will tell you
differently. Why do YOU think they stay away?
*************************************************
SOME OF THE WORLD's BEST FRIENDS
Einstein, like many of the world's heroes,
was a Jew, a scientist, and a man of Peace.
Now we learn that another Jewish nuclear scientist,
Mordechai Vanunu, has asked the Nobel Peace Prize
committee to "disregard" his nomination for its
once prestigious award, a Nobel official says.
In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee,
Vanunu writes that he doesn't want an award
previously given to Israeli President Peres,
says Geir Lundestad, the committee's secretary.
"He sees Shimon Peres as the father of the
Israeli atomic bomb, and he does not want
to be associated with him in any way," says Lundestad.
Vanunu, a former scientific worker at an Israeli
nuclear plant, was kept in a cell for 18 years
in Israel, for alerting the world to Israel's
secret nuclear weapons program in 1986.
He was allowed out of solitary confinement in
prison in 2004, but not allowed to leave Israel,
"consort" with foreigners or speak or publish.
Vanunu made public the fact that Israel has one of the
world's largest stores of weapons of mass destruction.
According to the Nobel Web site, North Vietnamese
politician Le Duc Tho is the only previous winner
to have ever rejected the "peace" prize.
He was named co-winner in 1973 with US Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger, a mass murderer.
*************************************************
EU FOLLOWS US TO A HELL ON EARTH
Remember all those billions promised for Gaza?
None of it reached the people there. It was lies.
Instead, EU billions are pouring into the West Bank
to split Palestinians & further divide it for Israel.
Gazans, however, are not being forgotten - by Israel.
In January, lorries carrying food in, almost stopped.
Now, the level of food going in, since the war
destroyed what was left of the Gazans' food industry,
has shrunk to a level that cannot sustain life.
Constant electricity black-outs are meant to lead to fear,
and constant cold in a Winter as miserable as ours,
is designed to crush and terrorise the whole community.
Unemployment is "normal" now, for most families.
The majority of Gaza's population are CHILDREN.
Stunted growth & the diseases associated with malnutrition,
are MUCH worse, but now there's an even more terrible consequence.
Gaza's water is no longer drinkable. High levels
of nitrates (which we ban in baby food in the West),
are present in nearly 100% of the water Gaza's babies drink.
Infant mortality rates are declining in almost
all developing countries, including Iraq (!)
But in Gaza, mortality rates are higher and climbing.
The leading causes of infant mortality are not now
infectious or diarrheal diseases or prematurity,
long associated with a starvation diet, but low
birth weight and congenital malformations.
NOTHING could be worse for the world's soul,
than to know that we're turning a blind eye,
while children die & babies are born disfigured,
all to help violent religious settlers from New York
fill their swimming pools up to the sparkling brim.
UK jews once poured into the Rhondda, believing
that the miners and their families were building
a "Heaven on Earth" - a New Jerusalem.
Most UK jews now, have left Wales for London,
and as the last Cardiff Rabbi left a few years ago -
he turned out the lights.
*************************************************
THIRD INTIFADA STARTS
President Mahmoud Abbas warns that Israel's plan
to nationalize religious landmarks in the
occupied West Bank could lead to war.
He urges Palestinians to protect the Al Aqsa Mosque,
and calls on Hamas to sign the reconciliation
document NOW - then argue details later...
how ingenuous can the "President" get?!!!
The PLO says thursday that if Netanyahu
wants the Palestinians' holy sites, he can't
have peace talks of any kind.
"We will reject any kind of negotiations, even
indirect talks," Secretary General of the PLO
Yasser Abed Rabbo says after a meeting in Ramallah.
Abed Rabbo says the "extremist right-wing government
in Israel is poisoning the climate and working
to destroy any serious steps aimed at the launch
of a peace process."
Palestinians are protesting in the streets,
and popular resistance groups are organizing
rallies condemning the declaration of sites
as exclusively "Israeli." The move is seen as
undermining Palestinian claims to lands that
would be part of any new Palestinian state.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO body, says
all must respond to "discriminatory Israeli decisions"
that threaten Palestinian heritage & holy sites.
Netanyahu's decision, she says, is a
"direct attack on Palestinian heritage
and a crime against Palestinian culture."
The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron is already guarded
by a heavy Israeli military presence. The mosque
is divided, with one part closed off to Muslims.
Tourists can enter the Jewish section,
and are asked on entry, "Christian or Jewish?"
by armed guards as they pass metal detectors.
Netanyahu releases a statement saying:
"Israel is committed to freedom of religion
for worshipers of all faiths at all holy places.
The State is constantly acting to ensure proper
conditions for prayer, for both Jews & Muslims."
Rachel's Tomb, on Palestinian land in Bethlehem,
has already been annexed to Israel, following
pressure from settler groups. A 30-foot concrete
wall now circles the tomb, part of a Palestinian
cemetery, which is no longer accessible to
Palestinian Christians or Muslims unless they
get a permit from Israeli officials allowing
them to pass military checkpoints in the area.
Fatah is calling on citizens throughout
the West Bank, Gaza and occupied Jerusalem to
"escalate confrontations against the occupation
and to confront the settlers."
Hamas is threatening to "strike Israel"...
"Hamas is restricted in the West Bank
but the silence won’t last long.
This is just the silence before the thunder.
The response to these Israeli crimes is coming soon,"
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) bans
Hamas from operating in public in the West Bank,
but the Ibrahimi Mosque lies in an area of Hebron
under Israeli military control. During last year’s
assault on Gaza, Hamas staged demonstrations in this area.
“The Israeli attacks against the Ibrahimi Mosque
and Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque [Rachel’s Tomb]
are simply a preparation for a larger attack
on Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Farahat explains.
Marchers are calling for “jihad” & “resistance”
to what they see as an illegal & sacriligious
grab for holy sites on their land.
Netanyahu’s inclusion of West Bank sites comes
after pressure from settlers, and is already
sparking demonstrations and clashes with Israeli
soldiers in the West Bank, along with angry
verbal condemnations from PA officials.
Settlers are now calling on Netanyahu to include
two more Hebron sites to the list, the Hebrew-
language daily Ma’ariv reports.
According to the report, 2 members of the Kiryat
Arba settler council have now sent a letter to
Netanyahu calling on him to take over the Tomb
of Jesse and Ruth in the city's Tel Rumeida
neighborhood and the Tomb of Othniel Ben Knaz.
Settlers want 150 more sites in the West Bank
added to the list.
De facto Prime Minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh,
calls on Palestinians in the West Bank to launch
an uprising against Israeli forces NOW.
Haniyeh's comments are made during a session of
the Gaza Legislative Council, where he states
that Arab and Muslim countries should respond
by supporting the Palestinian resistance, and not
by offering a political cover for the resumption
of negotiations. His warnings are directed at Egypt.
Egypt, obviously, is acting as Israel's only true
Muslim friend, as it seals the last remaining
hope for Gazans to survive the siege, with a
huge steel wall driven deep underground.
"The Israeli decision to include the Ibrahimi
Mosque in Hebron and the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque
[Rachel's Tomb] in Bethlehem on a list of
Israeli heritage sites, comes at a time when
discussions about the resumption of Israeli-
Palestinian negotiations are in the news," Haniyeh says.
"Israel's policy is to cover old crimes with new ones," he adds.
Haniyeh calls for the release of all detainees
from Palestinian Authority prisons, an end to
discussing the resumption of talks, and a halt
to security coordination with Israel.
Palestinian reconciliation should be achieved
on the basis of Palestinian constants and the
right to resist Israel, he adds.
The de facto prime minister also calls for
practical efforts to end the siege on Gaza
and to open all crossings into and out of
the besieged Strip, where palestinians are
freezing after power supplies are strangled.
In Bethlehem, the birth-place of Jesus, a new
general strike begins, over the "heritage sites".
The committee of Palestinian factions in Bethlehem
declares a general strike tuesday in Bethlehem
governorate, in protest at Israel’s claims on
sites in Bethlehem and Hebron as “heritage sites.”
The factions urge schools, institutions & shops
to participate in the general strike.
The committee also calls on Palestinians to
participate in today's noon prayers close to
Rachel’s Tomb, as it is one of the sites
"designated" as an Israeli heritage location,
despite it standing on Palestinian land.
Palestinians in Hebron clashed with Israeli troops
on Monday, after the Israeli pronouncement.
Israel's psychotic PM Netanyahu's announcement
came during a government cabinet meeting Sunday.
In addition to Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and
Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque, both located in major
Palestinian cities, the list also includes the
West Bank sites of Herodion, Qumran, and Susiya.
Top PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat:
"The unilateral decision to make Palestinian
sites in Hebron and Bethlehem part of Israel,
shows there is no genuine partner for peace,
but an occupying power intent on consolidating Palestinian lands."
*************************************************
JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT IN TURKEY
The Turkish police detains over 70 military
commanders for allegedly planning to blow up
mosques in order to trigger a military coup.
Some have now been released.
The detentions show that the elected government
is using justice against the military, which
has destroyed four governments since 1960.
Monday's detentions, following the gathering
of wiretap evidence and the discovery of
secret weapons caches, marks the highest-
profile civilian crackdown to date.
Police in simultaneous operations in eight cities
detained 21 generals and admirals, including ex-
deputy chief Gen. Ergin Saygun, ex-Air Force chief
Gen. Ibrahim Firtina & Navy Chief Admiral, Ozden
Ornek. The rest were mostly colonels.
They are accused of conspiring to plan the
shooting down of a Turkish warplane to trigger
armed conflict with Greece to destabilize the
Turkish government. The military is strongly
denying all the allegations and charges.
Erdogan declines to comment on the raids, at first,
saying they were carried out on prosecutors' orders.
But on Sunday, Erdogan says the government has
not given "a chance to those who tried to set
a course for Turkey outside the law."
*************************************************
SICK GOVERNMENTS WANT WAR - HOW ABOUT YOURS?
The Canadians are going, the Dutch are going,
and the Australians are refusing repeated "requests"
to "take up the slack", in Afghanistan, with even
Kevin Rudd, Australia's New Labour PM, saying now
that he knows it's an unpopular war... which he
really wants to leave. Honest!
Only lonely Georgia, that poodle of the CIA,
is sending 150 more of its troops and begging
to be allowed to send munitions through its land,
but then, you'd have to have a particularly sick
grovelling kind of government, to insist on staying:
...wouldn't you !!!?
*************************************************
USUK SAY TO WORLD WAR: "BRING IT ON" !!!
Air raids in Uruzgan province, south Afghanistan,
claim the lives of 19 civilians and injure over
a dozen others, head of Provincial Council,
Amanullah Hotaki says.
"ISAF Aircraft carried out strikes against
suspected militants on a road linking Chora
to Kachran district Sunday night, but hit
three civilian vehicles killing 19 innocent
civilians including women & children," Hotaki says.
He adds that 16 other people are injured.
But the airstrike killed FAR MORE !!!
27 civilians, it's now being told us,
while the Afghan cabinet initially put the dead
at 33, but revised it downwards for an unknown reason.
The three buses were traveling along the road
together in broad daylight, carrying a total
of 42 people, all of them civilians.
Then US Special Forces ordered an attack on them,
assuming they were carrying “insurgents”
and called in an air strike.
Afghanistan’s cabinet is condemning the attack
as “unjustifiable” and has promised to launch a
joint investigation into the killings with NATO.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he is “extremely saddened”,
saying that it "might" undermine Afghan civilians’ trust
that NATO is there to protect them.
And as the terror & occupations continue on all
sides of Iran, the pro-USUK appointment as Chief
of the AIEA is told by Iran to change the clear
political bias in his latest (and heavily leaked)
report, saying it is obviously "unrealistic".
The Head of the Iranian Parliament's National
Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin
Boroujerdi is urging the new chief of the IAEA,
Yukiya Amano, to use the next few days to
reconsider his report on Iran's nuclear activities.
Boroujerdi says that "since Mr. Amano is to
present his report to the agency's Board of
Governors next Monday, he'd better use the
chance and change the report," IRNA news agency reports.
In a "confidential" report which was leaked
on Thursday, the Vienna-based IAEA said it
was concerned about possible activities in Iran
to develop a nuclear payload for a missile.
The report confirms Iran has produced its first
batch of 20% highly enriched uranium, but adds
that Iran failed to give inspectors the required advance notice.
Boroujerdi labels the report as the most
"unrealistic" one yet released by the UN
nuclear watchdog, according to the report.
Amano's report is more politicized than technical, he adds.
"Iran's latest achievements in 20% uranium
enrichment have been officially announced
to the IAEA and have been made under the
supervision of the agency's inspectors,"
Boroujerdi is quoted by IRNA as saying.
In their effort to stop Iran's nuclear program,
the US, along with the UK, France and Germany,
are pushing for a 4th round of UN Security Council sanctions.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
reiterated on Friday that Iran does not seek
to develop nuclear weapons, according to IRNA.
In their greed & spite, USUK & the old masters
of this planet, are squeezing the Middle East
to stop Asia's rise, and if we do nothing, this
generation is doomed. How do YOU react to that?
Do you say wearily; "bring it on" too?
*************************************************
NATO LYING ABOUT AFGHAN CIVILIAN DEATHS
People in Marjah district say several civilians
have been killed in addition to those admitted
by the International Security Assistance Force.
They also say the fighting is now causing hunger.
At least 13 NATO troops, one Afghan soldier,
12 civilians and about 120 insurgents have
been killed during the fighting, according to
news reports by AP and Voice of America.
Shortly after "Operation Moshtarak" ("Together")
began, Defense Minister Wardak, Interior Minister
Atmar, General McChrystal & NATO spokespersons,
all hailed the operation as a "success".
Brown, the UK's New Labour "leader", instead of
using his intellect, just parroted the propaganda.
McChrystal says that foreign forces are acting
"in support of Afghan forces" at the front line.
Again, this is a lie. The forward troops are USUKs,
as all observers report, and the Afghan puppet troops
are all held at the rear, obeying ISAF orders blindly.
Although the US says it is avoiding civilian
casualties, people in the area are very angry
at the conduct of the operation, & give details
of incidents in which at least four are killed.
One man, Harun, speaking to the Institute for
War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in a hospital
in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, says two
of his brothers have been wounded in the fighting
and one of their wives has been killed by a shell
from a coalition tank. He had brought the men for treatment.
He says the incident began when fighters opened
fire at the Western forces from a location 100
metres from their house, and his brothers were
shot at and wounded as they ran from the house
because they were afraid it would be shelled.
"My wounded brother Fazel Omar got married six
months ago. When he was wounded, his wife came
out of the house and ran towards her husband,
but they shot at her from their tank and
killed her," he says.
He adds: "That moment was very difficult for me
because I could not go out of the house; I could
not take my wounded brothers to the hospital and
could not bring my dead sister-in-law's body home."
In Qari Sada village, a rocket reportedly fired
by coalition forces hit a house. Relatives
traveled to Bost Hospital in Lashkar Gah,
to accompany the bodies of two young women.
Most were too grief-stricken to speak to the media,
but Gula Jan states, "My two little sisters
were martyred by the foreigners' rocket,
and I will not reconcile with the infidels
until I can avenge my sisters."
There are reports of a 4th civilian fatality in
Karwa Square. A driver there is said to have
been killed by fire from foreign forces, when
he left his home to buy food.
Ahmad, his son says:
"The body of my father was left inside our home
for two days because the foreigners did not let
us out to bury the body in the cemetery.
We were scared of being killed. They are cruel,
& the infidels have no sympathy for us."
Asked re these 4 deaths, an ISAF spokesperson:
"We have no information that verifies these incidents."
Local people are fearful that more of them will
be caught up in the fighting. One resident of
Marjah district, Zaher Jan, says on the phone:
"The governor announces on the radio that
bombardments will not take place, but they
are going on as we speak. If these bombardments
are not stopped, there will be many civilian casualties."
Taliban spokesperson Qari Yosuf Ahmadi says
fighters are resisting the foreign and Afghan
puppet forces, and that more than 2,000 have
gone to Marjah for that purpose.
A regional commander of the Taliban in Marjah
district, Mullah Osman, says:
"We have planted mines everywhere in the area.
We have warned the people not to come out of
their houses. If they have any urgent matters,
they should tell us about it. Our goal is jihad
and the fight against the infidels."
He denies the insurgents are using civilians
for their own protection:
"We do not use civilians as a shield, like the
government and foreign forces. Our task is the
defence of our people's lives & the protection
of their honour."
***********************************************
A TOWN OF 50,000 INNOCENT HUMANS
That month of advance notice of the NATO attack,
gave Marjah’s civilians plenty of time to leave.
But most stayed, apparently reassured by NATO’s
urging them all to “stay put” throughout the offensive.
For many, the now predicted "weeks" of fighting
will mean staying indoors, unable to shop or
search for food or to take care of their
normally productive farms.
NATO's lie to all of us, was that a quick victory
would "liberate" the civilian population & leave
them unharmed.
let us hope that the good people of Marjah can
overcome what increasingly looks like another
deliberate attempt by USUK, to starve people
into obeying their insane "superior" orders.
What "government in a box" can be so good, that
it justifies starving 50,000 people & smashing
a productive farming industry to mud with munitions?
*************************************************
DUTCH GOVERNMENT FALLS OVER NATO "REQUEST"
NATO is losing one of its largest combat forces
in Afghanistan later this year, as Dutch PM
Jan Peter Balkenende concedes that he has no way
of preventing the promised pullout.
The Netherlands have 1,940 troops in Afghanistan,
& had originally pledged to pull out in 2008,
but pushed it back to 2010 after repeated NATO requests.
This time, the troops will begin leaving in August
and there will not be one Dutch combat soldier
left in Afghanistan by the year’s end.
The political ramifications are enormous &
will extend well beyond the 1,940 troops.
The war is just as unpopular in the Netherlands,
as it is in many other NATO member states.
Bos’ decision to keep his campaign promise to
withdraw troops will inevitably lead to voters
in other nations expecting their own opposition
to be listened to and acted upon. Many are now
predicting a “chain reaction” from this move,
with German voters, UK voters, and most others
in the US/NATO asking: if the Netherlands can
do this, then why the heck can’t we?
The Dutch government coalition collapsed early
over yet another NATO request to extend the
country’s military mission to Afghanistan,
Radio Nethelands Worldwide reports.
In a statement announcing his cabinet’s fall,
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said:
"As chair of this government, I was forced to
establish there is no fruitful road for this
cabinet to continue,” after a 16-hour marathon
meeting failed to save the three-party coalition.
The stand-off came after Deputy PM, Wouter Bos,
leader of the Labour Party, drew a line in the
sand, over extending the Dutch role in Uruzghan.
Bos resolutely rejects a NATO "request"
to stay in Afghanistan's occupation.
The leading coalition party, Balkenende’s
Christian Democrats, supports extending the
military role, which will now end in August.
The current government is Balkenende's 4th.
It's also the 4th time he has failed to carry
a coalition to the end of a full four-year term.
Recent opinion polls in the Netherlands show that
many neither support nor understand the continued
troop deployment in Afghanistan, especially in
the wake of the Dutch government's controversial
support for the illegal invasion of Iraq.
*************************************************
FOR MORE AFGHAN NEWS, PLEASE SCROLL RIGHT DOWN
*************************************************
US BACKED KILLERS ADMIT TO 30,000 MURDERS
According to a report published by the Office of
Justice and Peace Promotion, 4,112 ex members
of the paramilitary United Self Defense Forces
of Colombia (AUC) have now confessed to murdering
30,470 people in 20 years - from the mid-'80s
up to 2003 - when the unit began to demobilize.
This death toll puts the paramilitary groups in
Colombia - one of the oldest "democracies"
in Latin America - at the level of dictatorships
in the region like Argentina (1976-1983), where
30,000 people were also murdered or disappeared.
The data obtained by the prosecutor now records
1,085 massacres and 2,520 disappearances.
The Law of Justice of the Peace, sets a maximum
sentence of 8 years for paramilitaries confessing
to their crimes. At least 32 paramilitaries have
surrendered their weapons within this process.
"The country should be appalled by the revelation
of such a high number of systematic killings,"
says analyst Alvaro Villarraga, a former member
of the guerrilla People's Liberation Army (PLA)
and now director of Democratic Culture.
"But the sad thing is that this estimate
may be well below the reality."
Although Antarctica is protected under a 1959
treaty allowing only scientific research, moves
are being made by Australia, Britain, the US,
France, New Zealand and Norway (!), to boost
their presence there & lay claim to territorial
waters, that have proven oil & mineral reserves.
Fernandez de Kirchner is considering sending her troops
to Antarctica and has told Argentina's defence chiefs
that Argentina must be prepared to assert its sovereignty
and protect its natural resources, as others
compete to claim areas of the region as "theirs".
These opposing plans threaten to inflame tensions
between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland
Islands, or Malvinas, which Argentina claims as
its territory and an extension of its continental shelf.
Argentina's fight with the UK over oil drilling
near the Falklands is escalating now that she has
ordered all ships heading to the disputed islands
through its waters to seek permission from Buenos Aires first.
Argentine's Presidential decree:
"All ships that wish to move between ports in
continental Argentina and ports in the Malvinas
islands, or that wish to cross Argentine
territorial waters as they head to the islands"
require prior permission, it states.
Kirchner's chief of staff Anibal Fernandez leaves
no doubt that the move is to clamp down on ships
that might be helping the UK as it attempts to
start "exploring" South America's's oil & mineral reserves.
The decree will achieve "not only a defense of
Argentine sovereignty but also of all the
resources" says Fernandez, adding that a
high-level permanent committee is being
set up to monitor all shipping.
There is no reaction from the UK government, as
Argentina lodges a demand that the UK stop
drilling in the seabed, which contains up to
60 billion barrels of oil, according to
geological studies quoted in the UK media.
A tug boat hauling a UK exploration rig
is expected to arrive any day to start oil
prospecting and the issue came to a head earlier
in February, when Argentina blocked a shipment
of pipes it said was bound for the Falklands.
Argentine authorities boarded the foreign flagged
"Thor Leader" in the southern port of Campana
after learning it was about to take on a cargo
of pipes used in the oil industry and apparently
destined for the Falklands.
Buenos Aires demands that the UK obeys the UN
resolutions calling on both governments to
renew talks on the sovereignty of the Falklands.
The UK in January rejected Argentina's latest
claim to the islands, which it invaded in 1833.
Argentina is urging a solution along the lines of
what the UK agreed for the Chinese lands of Hong Kong.
The last conflict lasted 74 days and cost the lives
of 649 Argentine soldiers and 255 from the UK.
The Argentine president compares her role in
protecting the area's natural resources,
to Brazil using its soldiers to protect
natural resources in the Amazon rainforest.
Mrs Fernández is backed by an increasingly left
wing parliament and people, and an army keen to
show its people that it's on the side of good,
after being used by evil in the years of "the disappeared".
Luckily, we have the Rhondda's very own MP,
Chris Bryant, to look after the UK's plans.
*************************************************
YOUR CHOICE: FOLLOW THE UNITED STATES OR THE UNITED NATIONS
You cannot serve two masters... either you will
hold to the one and despise the other, or you
will let both down and fail both ways.
The UN is clear that starving people or forcing
them to accept aid at the point of a gun is wrong.
The United Nations today opposes NATO for what
it calls its “militarization of humanitarian aid”
in Afghanistan, & says they will not participate
in any reconstruction controlled by the military.
UN officials say that NATO’s military is now
providing all the health care and school building
in rural Afghanistan. Civilian aid groups are now
being pressured to follow a NATO military mission.
Private aid groups are also intensely critical of
this new NATO policy, cautioning that NATO’s
practice of using humanitarian aid as a
“weapon of war” is putting humanitarian workers
in terrible danger, as they are increasingly seen
as being in league with the military occupation.
Remember Somalia? where the US-backed government
controls only a few city blocks around the
presidential palace? UN officials today express
strong public condemnation of US policy there,
insisting that the US government is preventing
millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid,
including food aid, from reaching the Somali people.
The US defends this, saying that they have
evidence that some contractors are being made
to pay protection to militants. They demand
that the UN support a US policy to stop aid.
The Obama Administration is trying to starve
the Somalis into submission. The UN says we
should feed those women, children & old folk
caught up in a war they didn't cause or choose.
Which master do YOU choose to follow?
***********************************************
THE PRICE OF FEAR GOES UP FOR ISRAELI TERRORISTS
In a televised speech from Damascus, broadcast to
a conference in the Gaza Strip, Mashaal calls on
the world to add Israel to the list of terror
organizations. He says "the manhunt for al-
Mabhouh's murderers is in Dubai's interest,
just as it's in Hamas' interest."
Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for Hamas' military
wing, says during the northern Gaza conference
that "the decision to seek revenge has already
been made, and all that's left for the Zionist
criminals is to wait.
"Our mission is to punish you and your mission
is to continue living under the fear of our
response. We will be the one to determine the
appropriate way and time and location. We won't
say when and where, but prepare to absorb the
fire of our rage in our special way and in our
special execution in the chosen time and place."
Abu Ubaida stresses, "and if you carried out your
crime through Mossad, we have the way which will
hurt you. We are not here to eulogize a martyr.
We are here to say that revenge is coming,
coming, coming. Today you hear it in words
and tomorrow you'll see it in fire and actions."
Israeli security measures in the West Bank
are severely impacting Palestinian daily life,
the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) says now. Conditions for Palestinians in
the territory are difficult and "living a normal
life is close to impossible for many people in
the West Bank," the humanitarian organization says.
"The ICRC has repeatedly called for action to be
taken to allow Palestinians to live their lives
in dignity," Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the head
of Middle East operations says.
Checkpoints and roadblocks, some connected to
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are
primary causes of the disruption of normal
life, the Red Cross says.
The organization, considered the legal "guardian"
of international humanitarian law, says in its
view, the Israeli settlements are "illegal."
The barrier Israel is completing in the West Bank
is also "contrary to international humanitarian
law," their statement says.
"Israel must find the right balance between
meeting its legitimate security needs and
safeguarding the basic rights of the Palestinian
population," Megevand-Roggo is quoted as saying.
Palestinians are enduring attacks from Israeli
settlers and are losing land to settlements,
the ICRC charges, saying this too violates
the Fourth Geneva Convention.
*************************************************
BRAINWASHING AS A WAY TO CONTROL YOU
Either Clinton and the US political elite
are delusional, or the US and European public
needs her to re-inforce the more regular brainwashing
they receive. Her recent speeches suggesting that
the US will punish, cripple, and isolate Iran,
and that Iran is moving towards dictatorship,
if they don't bow to the US, run counter to reality...
Punishing through Refined Petroleum Sanctions?:
Iran sits on reserves of natural gas which can
easily be compressed to run all their cars.
China et al, are rushing to help increase refinery
capacity in Iran, as US & German firms withdraw.
Crippling through War?:
Apart from the shiver of "unintended consequences"
which any military attack on Iran could provoke,
Iran can cause the collapse of the US economy
simply by threatening/attacking the straits of
Hormuz, and causing massive inflation of the
world's economy. They promise to do it.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveils
a domestically-built satellite booster rocket
today, part of an ambitious space programme
that Western powers know can be used to deliver
warheads, & wipe out US power centres & cities.
Officials say the light booster rocket, named Simorgh (phoenix),
can carry a satellite weighing 220 pounds (100 kilogrammes)
up to 310 miles (500 kilometres) above the Earth.
The Iranian state television is broadcasting
the launch of the Kavoshgar-3, (Explorer-3) today.
Iran's defence minister says the successful launch
is "for research purposes". General Ahmad Vahidi
doesn't elaborate on this. In the last two years
Iran has put 2 rockets into space, researching
the path, pressure, wind & temperature in space.
Iran sent its first domestically made telecom
satellite into orbit last year.
Isolating?:
Iran, China, Russia, India, Iraq, Pakistan, & Turkey,
plus others, are forming regional co-operation blocs...
so in Asia, the US is being isolated by this itself.
Tuesday, Iran says it's ready to send its uranium
abroad for further enrichment as requested by
the U.N, a decision which signals an apparent
concession in the Iranian position on the issue.
Perhaps the US, which invaded Europe last,
to occupy it for the next fifty years, is
talking and acting big, to force Germany
and an empireless UK and France, to follow
them into their debt-ridden hucksters' decline.
Must Europe's elites follow the US's paranoia
and drag Europe down to the same police state
level with it? Hilary's outbusts look more and
more like projection... where a person's fears
are projected onto those "outside".
The US has suspended Habeus Corpus, spies on
its citizens, openly "disappears" and assassinates
and is allowing a complete "buying" of elections
by its military-industrial corporations.
If Europeans were to be true friends of the US,
they would point out that the US thinking of
"full spectrum dominance" is an obsolete conceit.
Dictatorship in Iran? Only if they follow the US !
The last time Iran suffered a dictatorship, it was
installed by the US, following the delusional UK
in its old drive to control the world's resources.
Those days have gone, but sometimes a cockroach
will keep convulsing and twitching its legs,
long after its brain has stopped functioning.
*************************************************
SAY NO MORE... THE WEST IS NOW CRAZY WITH FEAR
The TSA apologizes for forcing a 4-year-old to
remove his leg braces for airport screening.
The Transportation Security Administration
concedes that the 4-year-old boy heading for
Disney World for his birthday treat, should not
have been forced to remove his leg braces during
an airport-security screening in Philadelphia,
a Philadelphia columnist writes.
The incident occurred last March when Ryan Thomas
flew to Orlando with his parents, Bob & Leona,
but the TSA only apologized last week, after a
Philadelphia newspaper columnist, Rubin, found
out and was brave enough to make it public.
Ryan was born 16 weeks prematurely and started
to walk only last March, because his ankles are
malformed and his legs have low muscle tone.
TSA screeners insisted that Ryan take off his braces
and walk through the detector unaccompanied.
Rubin writes that the TSA, in its apology, say
now that Ryan should instead, have been taken
into a private area and swabbed for any traces
of explosive materials. Welcome to Disneyworld !
**************
POODLES BREAK LAWS TOO !
Full body scanners introduced at two UK airports
after the strange Christmas Day exploding lap,
breach human rights, the UK’s equality commission warns.
In a letter to the government, the Equality and
Human Rights Commission says scanners introduced
on February the 1st at Heathrow and Manchester,
oppose the "right to privacy" in European law.
“While we acknowledge that there is a legitimate
aim for this invasion of privacy … we remain
seriously concerned whether the intrusion is
in accordance with the law,” writes commission
chair, Trevor Phillips.
The right to privacy comes under Article 8
of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The commission warns it is an “ultimate defeat”
to blindly impose them, if it erodes freedoms.
“National security policies are intended to
protect our lives and our freedoms, but it
would be the ultimate defeat if that protection
destroyed our other liberties,” writes Phillips.
The scanners also entail the probable breaking
of UK anti-discrimination laws, designed to stop
racism becoming institutionalised in society,
says the commission.
“Without proper care, such policies can end up
being applied in ways which do discriminate
against vulnerable groups or harm good community
relations,” says the commission.
It feels that it is likely that some criteria
used to select people to be scanned like
“religious dress, destination, nationality
or national origin, would also have an unlawful
- discriminatory effect,” says the letter.
The UK government wants to put the scanners in
other airports, but the commission says it has
“serious doubts” that this would comply with the law.
The Transport Ministry says it tries to ensure
that security measures are “legal, proportionate
and non-discriminatory” and denies that there
are any criteria at all used in selecting who
is to be scanned.
A spokesperson says officials are “absolutely
clear that those passengers who are randomly
selected for screening, will not be chosen
because of any personal characteristics.”
*************************************************
THE WEST'S ACADEMICS ARE TWISTED BY WAR
Psychologists and doctors used to "monitor" torture;
artists and writers paid to churn out war games;
anthropologists acting as racist spies;
CIA plants at the top of "our" universities...
these are the inevitable result of a society
whose priorities are driven by wars of aggression.
From the Rhondda came a female anthropologist
who taught that humans are inherently and historically
peaceful. She lives very privately now, after
being attacked without mercy by war-propagandists.
Read how anthropologists today are being used to kill,
in today's Counter-punch:
Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh was assassinated
by a team of 11 mercenaries in his hotel room in
Dubai, the emirate's police chief says.
"This was a highly sophisticated operation
conducted by people who knew when Al-Mabhouh
would arrive in the country," Lt. Gen. Dhahi
Tamim tells reporters in Dubai.
"We have identified the suspects and will issue
arrest warrants against them and will take legal
action against anyone or any party which will
prove to be behind the murder," Tamim adds,
as police release photos and CCTV videos of
the accused European nationals.
The alleged assassins, 10 men and one woman,
used "advanced technologies" not available in
the UAE to execute their mission, moving from
hotel to hotel dressed as tennis players,
Tamim says. All carried European Union passports
– 6 UK, 3 Irish & one each from France & Germany.
The National, an English-language newspaper in
the UAE, says police have identified the main
suspect as French citizen Peter Elvinger, 49.
He was the logistical coordinator and the one
who booked a room down the hall from Al-
Mabhouh's hotel room, the report says.
The other suspects identified by the newspaper
are Irish nationals Gail Folliard, Kevin Daveron
and Evan Dennings; UK nationals Paul John Keely,
Stephan Daniel Hodes, Melvyn Adam Mildiner,
Jonathan Louis Graham, James Leonard Clarke and
Michael Lawrence Barney. German national Michael
Bodenheimer is also a suspect, according to the report.
The Dubai police chief stops short of directly
accusing any specific party of organizing it.
"Currently we do not have clear evidence that
a specific apparatus has carried out the act,"
Tamim says, adding that he has "not ruled out"
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence group.
Israel has yet to deny Hamas' allegations
that its agents carried out the assassination.
The Dubai security chief says he is "90%" certain
that Mossad did it.
**************************************************
ON VALENTINES DAY
The Union of Arab Doctors announces that a huge
medical convoy transporting 2.5 million dollars
worth of medical aid has entered Gaza.
But this doesn't mean the health of Gazans is now
secure... quite the reverse, as a new report shows
a deterioration in children of all ages; both in
physical & mental health, due to the vile "siege".
**************************************************
For more, please scroll down to the Gaza section
**************************************************
FULL SPECTRUM ARROGANCE
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin says Pakistan
MUST dramatically raise taxes, insisting that
"Pakistanis pay less for their government
than nearly any other country in the region."
Secretary Wolin "urges" Pakistan’s parliament
to enact value-added tax (VAT) legislation.
His "comments" echo those made in September
by the International Monetary Fund.
This, to a country hosting millions of Afghan refugees
fighting its own people for USUK's "war on terror,
and now almost completely reliant on US "aid".
And what is this aid doing? If we are to believe it -
Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman says:
“Priorities for U.S. assistance include
political and fiscal reforms and meaningful
attention to legitimate internal grievances;
better governance through decentralization,
reduced corruption and civil service reform;
human rights protections; jobs-related training;
economic diversification to generate employment
and enhance livelihoods, and strengthened
natural resource management.”
Independent Republican Ron Paul says:
“How can we believe that the US government can achieve abroad
what we know it cannot effectively achieve at home?”
Just days after Wolin's public call, Pakistan
announces both a new Value-Added Tax and a
significant increase in Capital Gains Tax.
The new VAT is a tax on virtually all goods
and most services in the country, and takes
effect in July, barring mass protests.
Officials say they "might" exempt basic food
like wheat flour, unprocessed peas & religious materials.
Capital gains tax, covering profitable sales of
securities, is being doubled over 5 years.
These massive tax increases will be unpopular
with Pakistanis, and fuel more resentment at the
US meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
Airport body scanners violate Islamic law, US Muslims say,
and US-Muslim groups are supporting a "fatwa"
that forbids Muslims using the scanners at airports.
The Fiqh Council of North America — a body of
Islamic scholars — issues their fatwa this week
saying that going through the airport scanners
or operating them, violates Islamic rules on modesty.
"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings
that men or women be seen naked by other men
and women. Islam highly emphasizes haya (modesty)
and considers it part of faith. The Quran has
commanded the believers, both men and women,
to cover their private parts."
The decision "complicates" efforts to intensify
screening of potential terrorists who are Muslim.
US and EU airports are now using the costly
body scanners, which show in graphic detail
the outlines of a person's body, only after
intense US pressure. The US manufactures them.
An option offered to passengers who don't want
to use the scanners is a "pat down" by security
guards. The Muslim groups are urging members
to undergo those instead.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations,
says it endorses the fatwa.
"We support the Fiqh Council's statement on full-
body scanners and believe that the religious and
privacy rights of passengers can be respected
while maintaining safety and security," says
Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR.
A spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Administration
is not, unfortunately, available to immediately comment.
************************************************
THREE US TROOPS DIE IN AFGHANISTAN
NATO says 3 US service members have been killed
in southern Afghanistan, but says they did not
die in connection with the major offensive under
way in the resistance stronghold of Marjah, Helmand.
NATO says the US troops died from "a bombing",
but it provides no other details.
Afghan National Army Maj. Abdul Rahman says
"international troops" are killed when a
suicide bomber on a motorbike targets a joint
foot patrol of Afghan & US soldiers in Kandahar.
NATO will not confirm if it's the same incident, says AP.
*************************************************
DON'T FORGET GAZA !!!
As Hamas organises marches in Gaza to defend Jerusalem,
Egyptian police arrest its fishermen near Rafah,
and the ONLY power plant reports a "total shutdown"
will take place "within hours".
The de facto border crossing administration says
267 people remain stranded on the Egyptian side
of the Rafah crossing, most of whom are patients,
a statement says today (Saturday).
"The crossing has remained closed in both directions
for the last 40 days until recently ... 40 of
those who'd recently travelled were allowed in,
in addition to an UNRWA delegation which was
allowed to exit," the statement says.
Also, the administration says the Erez crossing
into Israel has only been partially functioning
over the past week, with a total of 696 people
leaving Gaza, among them 464 residents, 188
international passport holders and 45 from Israel.
The number of people entering the Strip via Erez
was 703, 201 of whom were internationals
and 48 from Israel.
On the Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza's southern border,
the Gaza administration says that between the
4th of February and the 10th of February,
435 lorryloads were allowed into Gaza, of which,
377 were goods for the private sector, 44 with
humanitarian aid, 38 from the World Good Program,
and 6 were for UNRWA.
The administration adds that 74 lorryloads of fuel
entered Gaza, 30 with 600 litres of natural gas,
39 carrying 133,500 litres of industrial fuel
and five transporting benzene.
AHMADINEJAD: OUR YOUTH ARE OUR GREATEST WEAPON
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says
nations that possess culture & civilization,
do not need to make atomic bombs.
“I have repeatedly said that our atomic bombs
are our youth and athletic heroes. A nation
that possesses determination, intellect, culture
& civilization doesn't need to make atomic bombs.
“Those who suffer from an inferiority complex
& lack a historical background and civilization
are the ones that claim they need atomic bombs."
President Ahmadinejad also asks the Head of
Iran's Physical Education Organization,
Ali Saeedlou, to remove all limitations for
his country's athletes so that they can organize
and enjoy the best coaches and technical staff.
The president announces that "Iran's sports
budget is increasing fivefold over this year."
************************************************
IT TAKES A CHILD TO ASK - & A PAINTED PIG TO LIE
A Saudi girl student condemns US Sec of State
Hillary Clinton for avoiding her question on
Israel's nuclear arsenal during a "town hall"
meeting at a Jeddah college.
"I did not get a straight answer," Mariyam Alavi
says in a letter published in Arab News.
"My question was simple and direct enough,"
she writes, but Ms Clinton's response...
"was very unsatisfying.''
Alavi, a 12th grader at the International Indian
School in Jeddah, attended the meeting at the
elite Dar al-Hekma College with six classmates.
She asked Ms Clinton about the US's stance
on nuclear weapons in the Middle East.
If the US "so vehemently opposes Iran's nuclear programme,"
she asked, "then why isn't the US asking Israel
to give up their nuclear weapons?"
Ms Clinton gave a lengthy answer detailing the US
case against Iran, but did not mention Israel.
Alavi's Arab News letter illustrates perfectly
the US hypocrisy over the issue, confirming
a commonly held understanding in the region.
"Clinton said that the United States, under the
able leadership of President Barack Obama, was
trying to repair and strengthen its ties
with the Muslim world.
"It is high time she realised it can't be done
without answering the questions uppermost in
the minds of the Middle East people.''
Alavi says she was nervous about asking such
a "politically provocative question'' but was
then encouraged by strong applause from the
audience when she addressed Ms Clinton.
Tactical nuclear missiles are not even part
of the START talks. Yet US policy includes
using them on the battlefields of the future.
The US has 200 nuclear missiles in "old Europe",
and now plans to operate its "defence" systems
in Bulgaria, Rumania, Poland etc, to render
Russia's nuclear deterrance useless.
The "Command Centre" is to be in the Czech Republic,
which voted NOT to accept the missiles themselves,
after years of heartbreaking efforts by peace
campaigners. Show what YOU can do to stop the
world being controlled by these new barbarians.
Join the people acting to make the world safe -
by doing NOTHING, you guarantee this US insanity continues...
Join the ongoing Big Blockade at Aldermaston,
which started on
Monday 15th February
Come and join us at the non-violent blockade
of Aldermaston, organised by Trident Ploughshares.
To maximise its impact this will start at 7am,
continuing for as long as possible.
You can sit, lie down, lock-on or simply
provide support for those blockading.
We need as many people as possible
to stop the work at Aldermaston
and tell the government loud and clear:
No Trident Replacement.
See our Peace Events Page for details of
accommodation and transport.
*************************************************
AHMADINEJAD CALLS FOR WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
In an interview with Russian channel NTV,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls
for worldwide nuclear disarmament, declaring
that the era of nuclear weapons is over.
“Today, no one can use a nuclear weapon and we
believe that the US is taking a wrong move by
stockpiling nuclear weapons,” Ahmadinejad notes,
likely referring to President Obama’s call for
an additional $5 billion in funding for the
USA’s nuclear weapons program. Possibly referring
also to the UK's massive upgrading of Trident -
controlled by the US, and with knowledge of the
"secret" nuclear research and development carried
out by the UK for the US, to sneak around the
constraints placed on US nuclear development by
Congress and International treaties.
Ahmadinejad points out that despite the US’s
enormous nuclear arsenal, they have been unable
to achieve victory in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Iranian president also labels nuclear weapons
as “inhumane” and says that the nations calling
for disarmament, should dismantle their own
arsenals - to prove sincerity in their spoken words.
*************************************************
OBAMUSH - WORSE THAN BUSH
Russia’s Chief of Staff, General Nikolai Makarov,
says the new START treaty with the US on nuclear
arms limitation is being killed by the US
still insisting on deploying "missile defences"
right up to the Russian border.
General MakarovGeneral Makarov’s comments echo
those of Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov
who insists: "It is impossible to talk seriously
about the reduction of nuclear capabilities
when a nuclear power is working to deploy systems
against those possessed by others."
Despite these clearly expressed comments,
the US says the missiles are "no obstacle".
The Czech-Poland deal, turned down by the people
of those countries after a monumental struggle,
has simply been replaced with plans to put them
now in Eastern Poland and Romania - even closer!
This Obama presidency is now revealed as
"lipstick on the US pig",
and a cruel attempt to dis-engage as many loving
people as possible from the struggle for Peace.
Obamush's regime is rushing headlong to fulfill
Bush's remit - "full spectrum dominance" - and
to Hell with blacks, Arabs, Iran and the world.
What a shame, especially since the US's
missile "defence" system ...doesn't even work!
*************************************************
GENOCIDAL US (AND "OTHERS") EXPOSED
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili
says the US should be relieved of its veto power
and disarmed, because of its use of atomic bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
"The least penalty for the United States is its
disarmament and disqualifying its veto power,"
says Jalili during his visit to Hiroshima.
"Unfortunately not only was the US not condemned
for the Hiroshima massacre, but it was also
awarded with veto power in the Security Council."
During the final stages of World War II in 1945,
the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.
The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people
in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki
by the end of 1945, with roughly half of those
deaths occurring on the days of the bombings.
Jalili adds that the Hiroshima tragedy shows
that certain major powers such as the US
have no remorse about killing innocent people
when it is in line with their interests.
The non-commitment of the US and other major powers
to the eliminatation of their nuclear weapons
is "the biggest threat to global security,"
says Jalili, who is also the secretary of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
He calls on the international community to put
pressure on Washington to eradicate its atomic arsenal.
Regarding the US military strategy after World War II,
Jalili takes a swipe at Washington for equipping
Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq with chemical weapons,
and for supplying the Zionist regime with nuclear weapons.
He also questions the US military presence in Afghanistan & other countries, as against world peace.
Jalili notes that Iran plans to hold a conference in Tehran
on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
*************************************************
JAPAN WAKES UP
Japan is waking up, to find that their own
Foreign Ministry knew of a secret pact
between Japan and the US, which allowed
nuclear-laden US military vessels and aircraft
to continue to stopover in Japanese territory.
After mounting evidence that such a pact exists,
Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka set up
a task force in September to conduct a "full
and comprehensive" inquiry into allegations.
Documents have now been found that corroborate
the existence of the secret nuclear agreement,
according to sources in the know.
Plus, a former vice foreign minister recently
witnessed to the clandestine understanding,
saying that he was privy to the minutes of
the meeting in which the secret pact was made in 1960.
"I saw them. I remember we looked into them
after something happened," the former top
official says - on condition of anonymity.
The minutes in question are currently being kept in the US,
according to declassified US documents.
"The probe is now in the final stage, and we will
announce the outcome in January," Okada says.
This breaks Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka's pledge
to issue a detailed report on his findings in November.
Under the 1960 treaty, the US is required
to consult with the Japanese, before any
nuclear weapons are brought into their country.
But Japan's Foreign Ministry now indicates how
its own probe reveals that stopovers of US
military vessels or aircraft with nuclear
weapons, are NOT subject to prior consultation.
According to ex-ministers and top Foreign Ministry
officials involved with handling the agreement,
in revising the Treaty in 1960, the two allies
also made a secret deal which Tokyo agreed
would give tacit approval to the US on the
stopover of US military aircraft or vessels
carrying nuclear weapons in Japanese territory.
Washington then knew that "prior consultation" with Tokyo
was only needed for the deployment of nuclear weapons
on land or in the air, and that stopovers of
aircraft and vessels with nuclear weapons
were "not bound" by prior consultation.
According to former top ministry officials of the
administration of ex-Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi,
who signed the revised security pact, the PM
accepted the US interpretation of the new deal.
"Stopovers", therefore, could have been made
frequently by US military vessels, carrying
nuclear weapons, over the last fifty years.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has always
denied the existence of any secret agreement,
saying; "As we have never faced demands for
prior consultations, we have no other choice
than determining that nuclear weapons
have not been brought into Japan."
But the facts, including recent testimony,
suggest that Japan's previous administrations
knew better, for a very long time.
Four former top Japanese ministry officials
have all recently admitted that a secret pact
has been in existence for decades.
Ryohei Murata, ex-Foreign Ministry administrative
vice minister, told the Mainichi newspaper, that
Japanese and US governments had a secret accord,
whereby Japan would tacitly approve port calls
and passage through Japanese territorial waters
by US warships carrying nuclear weapons.
Murata's testimony, opposing repeated LDP denials,
marks the first time an ex-administrative vice
foreign minister has admitted publicly that
such a secret "accord" has existed.
"My predecessor told me to convey
the contents of the secret accord to the minister,
in my capacity as the administrative vice minister."
The Japanese public were, for decades, led to believe,
through the LDP's "cycle of denial," that their country's
three non-nuclear principles were being upheld.
From Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the present day,
the Japanese public has become increasingly
opposed to the presence of nuclear weapons
anywhere on Japanese soil: in its waters,
or in its skies, and are staunch supporters
of global nuclear non-proliferation.
The three principles of not possessing, manufacturing
or permitting nuclear weapons into Japanese territory,
were first outlined by Prime Minister Eisaku Sato
in a speech to the House of Representatives in 1967,
amid negotiations over the return of Okinawa from the US.
The Diet formally adopted the principles in 1971.
Since then every prime minister of Japan has
publicly reaffirmed the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles".
If the newly governing DPJ fail to amend the 1960 treaty,
the party will be seen as Washington's new puppets.
The DPJ is already "re-examining" the 2006
US-Japan Roadmap for Realignment & Implementation.
This plan requires the "repositioning" of US forces at Okinawa.
The Japanese government are seeking to relocate
an air-camp away from Okinawa, or outside Japan,
as the local population will no longer endure
any more criminal acts by US forces.
US officials say this is "testing ties
with Japan's new government."
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa intends to end
the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's
refueling missions in the Indian Ocean,
and is pulling out its two naval ships
as their mandate expires in January.
The US wants a nuclear presence in the Asia-Pacific region
for its own "strategic interests",
and is now loudly calling for a security deal
with Japan, that keeps US interests at its core.
Robert Gates is warning Japan publicly, not to
"undermine" US nuclear deterrence in the area.
************************************************
OBAMA WONT VISIT HIROSHIMA WHILE TOURING JAPAN
President Obama says he is "too busy" to accept
an invitation from Hiroshima citizens to see for
himself what nuclear weapons do to civilians.
In Hiroshima, the invitation to Obama remains open,
but he isn't alone in "not finding the time" to accept it.
According to the city's peace promotion department,
no sitting head of state from any nation with nuclear weapons
has visited the memorial, which lists the names of the dead.
*************************************************
THE GOLDEN WEB
We all are guilty of faults and of criticising
others, yet people are doing their best, and we
have forgotten the wisdom of "there, but for
the Grace of God, go I" !
The removal of US nuclear weapons from Europe,
and a new NATO policy relying less on nuclear
"deterrence", is now being moved forward by
those we've perhaps been guilty of criticising.
This initiative is now being driven
mainly by the German government and the UK,
and they are calling for the removal of
US nuclear weapons from the EU's territory
and for a new Nato strategic rethink.
The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle,
raised this issue during talks in Washington
with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
The Germans, Belgians, Dutch & Norwegians
also call for Nato to revise its basic doctrine,
known as the "strategic concept".
Des Browne, former British defence minister
now chairing a cross-party parliamentary group
on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation:
"These moves bring out into the open
a topic which for too long has been discussed
by diplomats and technocrats only,
& makes possible a genuine debate between allies
about the role of nuclear weapons in Nato strategy,
as set out in the strategic concept which guides alliance generals."
The 1999 strategic concept says:
"Nuclear forces based in Europe & committed to Nato
provide an essential political and military link
between the European and North American members
of the alliance. The alliance will therefore
maintain adequate nuclear forces in Europe."
Most US "tactical" nuclear weapons are now in
Turkey, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands & Germany.
Their future is now being debated within
the Obama administration as it prepares
its new "nuclear posture review" for 2010.
The president has already intervened in
the Pentagon's drafting of the review
so it reflects his stated commitment to
"a world free of nuclear weapons".
So perhaps we're all moving together at last
to a more secure, peaceful world. Let's hope so.
*************************************************
NON-VIOLENT PROTESTERS HOODED FOR HOURS
Five Ploughshares protestors are arrested after
cutting through three security fences to reach
an area where nuclear missiles are stored at
Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
Bill Bischel, 81, a Catholic priest from Tacoma;
Anne Montgomery, 83, a nun from New York;
Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore; Lynne Greenwald,
60, of Bremerton; and Steve Kelly, 60, of
Oakland, Calif., are facing charges now.
The nuclear weapons opponents were "apprehended
in accordance with standing security procedures
for incidents of this nature," according to a
Navy press release. They were turned over to
the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, cited,
and released at about 4 p.m.
"At no time was the safety of Navy personnel,
property, or the public threatened in any way,"
says the Navy press release.
The protestors say they used bolt cutters to
infiltrate the perimeter fence at around 2 a.m.
on Monday and slipped onto the base under a full
moon. They then walked along the ridge above
Delta Pier and the weapons-handling wharf,
then followed a road east to their destination -
the weapons storage bunkers.
"We were in plain sight the whole time," Greenwald says.
The protestors cut through a pair of fences
between the group and Strategic Weapons Facility-
Pacific, where nuclear missiles for the base's
Trident submarines are stored. Then, setting
off an alarm at around 6:30am., they were
surrounded by Marines.
The protestors held up a banner that read
"Disarm Now Plowshares: Trident: Illegal + Immoral."
They put their arms out, gave peace signs and
tried to look as non-threatening as possible
to keep from being shot, Greenwald says.
The protestors say they were handcuffed,
hooded and kept on the ground for four hours.
The activists say they wanted to bring to light
the number of nuclear weapons in the community.
The protestors say they believe the weapons
are instruments of death that prevent peace
in the world & waste money that could be put to better use.
Ploughshares has staged about 100 nuclear
resistance actions worldwide since 1980.
"Our intent in talking to any media
is not to emphasize how we broke through security
or were treated, but the real terror of the
Trident nuclear weapons system," Greenwald says.
Both trespassing and destruction of government
property are misdemeanors, says Emily Langlie,
spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office in
Seattle. The maximum penalty for trespassing
is six months in jail and a $5,000 fine, and
for destroying property, it's a year in jail
and a $100,000 fine. The tickets will be
processed in San Antonio, which takes about
40 days. Letters will then be sent for them
to appear before a judge in Tacoma.
*************************************************
NUCLEAR MEETING IN HIROSHIMA
An international conference on nuclear nonproliferation
and disarmament is held in Hiroshima.
During the three-day meeting co-chaired by former
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and
former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans,
the International Commission on Nuclear
Nonproliferation and Disarmament is discussing
concrete measures aimed at reducing the number
of nuclear weapons and restricting their use.
A total of 25 commission members are present
at the fourth session of the commission, which
is expected to unveil a final report in early
January on a roadmap to the ultimate goal
of a world free of nuclear weapons.
The commission, established on the initiative of
Australia and Japan, held its first meeting
in Sydney in October 2008.
The UN nuclear assembly is calling for Israel
to open its nuclear facilities to UN inspection
and sign up to the non-proliferation treaty.
The resolution, passed narrowly on Friday, marks
a "glorious victory" for Arab states and others
who've pushed for the move for the last 18 years.
Russia & China back the resolution, passed 49-45
by the IAEA's member states, with 16 abstentions.
The non-binding resolution voices concern over
"Israeli nuclear capabilities" and urges the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
the UN's nuclear watchdog, to work on it now.
Israel swears it will not co-operate, saying
the measure "singles it out" while many of its
neighbours remain hostile to its existence.
"Israel will not co-operate in any matter (sic)
with this resolution, which only aims at
reinforcing political hostilities & lines of
division in the Middle East region," says
David Danieli, chief Israeli delegate.
Israel is 1 of only 3 countries worldwide
- along with India and Pakistan -
outside the non-proliferation treaty (NPT)
yet is known to have the Middle East's
only stockpiled arsenal of nuclear weapons.
It refuses to confirm or deny it has the weapons.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador,
whose country's disputed nuclear programme
is under IAEA investigation, says the vote
is a "glorious moment" and "a triumph for
the oppressed nation of Palestine".
"All like-minded, peace-loving countries
have always called for a resolution to take
measures to push Israel to stop their nuclear
weapons programme, adhere to the NPT and put
every nuclear installation under the IAEA.
"All countries in the Middle East are party
to the NPT - the only non-party is Israel.
The resolution addresses the only non-
participant in the Middle East.
Iran's other motion suffers a setback later when
its bid to ban attacks on nuclear sites fails
to win consensus in the Non-Aligned Movement,
so is not put to a vote.
UN Security Council members Russia and China,
back the Israel resolution, passed by 49-45 by
the IAEA's annual member states gathering.
There are 16 abstentions.
Western states say it is unfair & counter
productive to isolate 1 member state, & that
the IAEA resolution passed on Thursday,
urging all Middle East nations including Israel
to reject atomic bombs, makes the vote pointless.
Glyn Davies, US ambassador, calls the resolution
"redundant. Such an approach is highly politicised
& doesn't address the complexities at play
regarding crucial nuclear-related issues..."
Canada tries to block the vote on the floor
with a "no-action motion", a manoeuvre that
succeeded in 2007 & 2008, but loses by 8 votes.
Diplomats from the non-aligned movement say
times have changed now Barack Obama is president.
Reuters news agency quotes one diplomat as saying:
"People and countries are bolder now,
willing to call a spade a spade.
You cannot hide or ignore the truth,
the double standards, of Israel's
nuclear capability forever,"
"The new US administration has certainly
helped this thinking with its commitment
to universal nuclear disarmament and
nuclear weapons-free zones."
************************************************
UK COPIES US TO PUSH FOR GLOBAL DISARMAMENT
A cross-party group of ex-ministers and former generals
is launched in October 2009, in a new UK move
to push for global nuclear disarmament.
Des Browne is chairing the group, which seeks
to rally EU support for a US-led initiative to
work towards the abolition of nuclear weapons
through cuts by existing nuclear states, & stop
emerging powers from pursuing nuclear weapons.
The non-proliferation treaty's review is in May,
2010, & hopes of strengthening the treaty are
lifted by the election of Obama and progress
in talks between the US and Russia.
"There is a window of opportunity, but it is
a limited window of opportunity," Browne says.
"It's a big opportunity for nuclear weapons states
to make a contribution to improving the confidence
the rest of the world has in the non-proliferation treaty."
The parliamentary group's aim is to rally EU
support for a nuclear-free world, Browne says,
and to reach a common EU position on withdrawing
any remaining US nuclear weapons from Europe.
The group is to be called the Top Level Group of
UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear
Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, and brings
together ex Labour ministers Margaret Beckett,
John Reid and Lord Robertson; senior Tories
Malcolm Rifkind, Michael Ancram & others;
plus 3 ex chiefs of the defence staff,-
General Lord Guthrie, Field Marshal Lord Inge
and Admiral Lord Boyce. It also includes Lady
Williams, the PM's adviser on nuclear proliferation.
The UK group is trying to follow the example of
Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry & Sam
Nunn in the US. Their open letter in the Wall
Street Journal in 2007 calling for the abolition
of nuclear weapons started a national US debate,
& their call has been taken up by Obama's team.
Browne says the group hopes for a similar result
in the UK, and some members have consulted US
senators and members of the Obama administration.
"These weapons are so dangerous, their power is
so lethal, that comparatively small numbers,
comparatively small developments will make the
world a much less safe place than it currently is," Browne says.
************************************************
IRAN: ISRAEL MUST GET RID OF ITS NUCLEAR ARMS
Iran's foreign ministry says the US should focus
on making Israel dismantle its nuclear arsenal,
rather than on criticising Tehran's nuclear work.
The comments come after Hillary Clinton says
the US will arm its allies in the Gulf region
if Iran builds a nuclear weapon.
"There is no need for the US to provide a
defence umbrella for neighbouring countries,"
says Hassan Qashqavi a foreign ministry spokesperson.
"It is enough to tell its ally, the Zionist regime
- and convince it on the issue of disarmament -
to dismantle its own 200 nuclear warheads
from the occupied territories.
"This will automatically bring security to the
region and all countries of the region will
feel secure. The solution is not a defence umbrella
- it is removing the nuclear warheads of the
Zionist regime - and there is no other way."
Qashqavi says... "It is our right to have
peaceful nuclear activities. Nuclear weapons
have no place in our defence structure,"
Proliferation experts agree that Israel is
the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.
Analysts estimate that Israel has up to
200 long-range nuclear warheads.
Yet still Israel refuses to confirm or deny
that it has a nuclear arsenal, and continues
to campaign against Iran's nuclear programme.
Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, said in a
documentary aired on Israeli television in 2001,
that France agreed in 1956 to provide Israel
with "a nuclear capacity" as part of secret
negotiations ahead of the invasion of Egypt
during the Suez "crisis", when Egypt was strong.
*************************************************
THE NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT BELIEVES...
The Vienna Chapter of the NAM put this
in a statement made to the IAEA Board
of Governors last month:
"NAM reaffirms the inviolability of peaceful
nuclear activities and that any attack or threat
of attack against peaceful nuclear facilities –
operational or under construction – poses a
great danger to human beings and the environment,
and constitutes a grave violation of international law,
principles and purposes of the Charter of the
United Nations and regulations of the IAEA.
NAM recognizes the need for a comprehensive
multilaterally negotiated instrument
prohibiting attacks, or threat of attacks
on nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
That is what the US, China, Russia, France and
the dear sweet UK agreed to at the 2000 NPT Review Conference.
SOMEONE SHOULD TELL CLINTON AND OBAMA, BEFORE
IRAN IS BLOWN TO BITS & A 3RD WORLD WAR STARTS!
************************************************
CHANGING EVANGELICALS
A lot of us see evangelicals as "on the right"
Now, as "change we find it difficult to believe in"
is pursuing US wars, torture and bullying, comes
a refreshing new development: follow the link below
to discover how "progressive" US evangelicals are
nearing the more "moderate" Muslim position
on how evil nuclear weapons are:
http://twofuturesproject.org/
************************************************
NORTH KOREA & US SQUARE UP - WITH NUCLEAR ARMS
President Obama and his South Korean counterpart
Lee Myung-bak are to sign an agreement to protect
S Korea with the help of US nuclear weapons.
Thousands of North Koreans demand that the UN
Security Council end its new sanctions against them.
N Korean officials say they condemn and reject
the resolution and sanctions imposed by US imperialists.
Over 100,000 people rally to support their
government in Pyongyang, local media say.
North Korea reportedly has enough weapons-grade
plutonium to make at least six A-bombs.
Today, they admit to enriching uranium.
How many flash points leading to World War does Obama WANT?
World spending on armaments increased by 45%
in the last decade. There has NEVER been a time
when this level of preparation for war, hasn't
led us directly into a major conflagration.
If we, ordinary people, hide from this,
our species is doomed.
************************************************
CND CALL FOR RESTRAINT
CND calls on the new Defence Secretary
to delay Trident Initial Gate decision
CND has called on new Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth MP
to recognise how unpopular the government's Trident plans are
and to delay the 'Initial Gate' decision as his first act in the job.
Ainsworth, previously a junior minister at the MoD,
was appointed after John Hutton's resignation on Friday.
The Initial Gate marks the end of the 'concept phase'
for the Trident replacement programme.
A report will be put by the MoD to government
for a decision to go ahead on the next phase
of the replacement process.
This was due to take place in September, 2009,
when Parliament was in recess and MPs were
unable to discuss the report. Over 150 MPs
signed Jeremy Corbyn MP's Early Day Motion
calling on the government to delay the decision
until MPs had returned.
CND Chair Kate Hudson: "The new Cabinet has
to face facts. The Labour government has gone
against the grain of public opinion on too many
issues, one of which is Trident.
Aside from the moral argument, the country cannot
afford to waste public money on replacing Trident,
particularly in the current economic crisis.
The idea that the government will give the nod
to costly new design work whilst Parliament is
closed for the summer is outrageous. This is
not something that right-thinking MPs or members
of the public will accept.
At a time when President Obama is leading new
disarmament initiatives, there is no case
for Trident replacement..."
Military veterans claiming negligence after being
exposed to excessive radiation during nuclear tests
in the 1950s, won a high court case last year.
Winning lets them sue the MoD, exposing the
UK government to a potential compensation bill
running into hundreds of millions of pounds.
A group of 1,000 veterans of tests in the South Pacific
and Australia between 1952 and 1958 launched the case
as they believe radiation exposure caused their
illnesses, including cancer and chromosome damage.
The MoD argued in court that the group had waited
too long to lodge its claim and was therefore
unable to sue through time limit regulations.
It also argued that the cases were certain to fail.
But Mr Justice Foskett rejected these arguments,
pointing to a recent scientific study with New Zealand veterans
which provides new evidence of the health impact
of the tests, which could be "crucial and pivotal"
in any potential case against the MoD.
Five of the 10 lead cases he considered are "permitted",
while the other five are to proceed as well,
on the grounds of fairness, the judge said.
The judge urged ministers to consider a settlement,
rather than wasting time on legal proceedings.
Veterans and their relatives celebrated:
"I'm absolutely over the moon," says Don James,
who was exposed to nuclear tests on Christmas island,
during offshore nuclear tests in 1958.
"We had no special kit. They just told us to turn
your back to the blast and cover your eyes.
You could see the bones in your fingers.
"I have a blood disorder now, and so does my daughter.
I'm still very angry. It should not have come to this.
If they had owned up at the beginning they could have
released documents and let us understand what happened."
************************************************
WORLD NEGOTIATION BEARS FRUIT
The 65-nation Conference on Disarmament breaks
twelve years of deadlock, and opens the way
to negotiate a new nuclear arms control treaty.
Diplomats welcome the adoption of a "program of work",
which recommends banning production of the "fissile materials"
— highly enriched uranium and plutonium —
that are needed to create atomic weapons.
Ambassador Idriss Jazairy of Algeria, chair of the conference
says the breakthrough comes in part because of
support by the US, Russia, the UK, France and China.
Even North Korea, which this week tests a second
nuclear bomb, endorses the program of work.
An Myong Hun, with the North Korean delegation:
"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has
decided to support the draft decision in order
for the conference to be able to start its substantive work."
He says it remains N Korea's policy to achieve
total nuclear disarmament, but that nuclear
weapons states have to "lead the way".
The US has long backed proposals for a fissile materials treaty,
but is praised for shifting to support a verifiable accord.
President Barack Obama: "The US will seek a new treaty
that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials
intended for use in state nuclear weapons."
Obama says the conference decision signals a
commitment to work together on what he calls
a "fundamental challenge".
The Bush administration rejected verification.
Russia and China also join in endorsing the program..
The program also takes into account existing
stockpiles of fissile materials.
Many non-nuclear countries have long wanted the
conference to negotiate nuclear disarmament,
but the US didn't want multilateral negotiations.
It wanted only bilateral negotiations like the
US/Russian talks to reduce stockpiles.
The Conference on Disarmament also sets up a working group
on the "prevention of an arms race in outer space,"
a favorite proposal of Russia and China, who
have raised concerns that the US was trying to "weaponize" space.
Another working group will try to provide assurances
against the use or threat of attack with nuclear weapons.
*************************************************
SIZE REALLY DOES MATTER
Replacing Trident will cost an extra £100 million
this year, as the missiles, now designed in the US,
could be the wrong size.
The UK government is funding all the contract
for a US company to design a new missile compartment
to ensure that they will all fit snugly into
British submarines... designed in the UK.
The revelation is strongly condemned by the SNP and anti-nuclear campaigners.
One problem is that the UK Trident replacement programme,
which depends on the US to design and build the missiles,
is five years ahead of the US programme.
Tenders to bid issued by the US Navy, specify
a missile diameter of up to 120 inches.
But the diameter of Trident's current missile
tubes is 87 inches.
In a parliamentary answer, the defence secretary,
John Hutton, admits that this year's budget for
replacing Trident has risen from £300m to £400m.
"Costs are greater in 2009-10 than previously announced
due to the agreement with the US to design and manufacture
a common missile compartment," he says. This is due to
"re-profiling of funding rather than cost growth".
According to a defence industry newsletter, the
UK government is paying General Dynamics Electric
Boat Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, to
design the Trident missile compartment for both
UK and US submarines. The contract is initially
worth $75.6m (about £50m) but could rise to
$591.8m (about £392m).
Angus Robertson MP, SNP defence spokesperson:
"It is astounding that when the UK government
is demanding cuts in public services that it
would plan to waste even more on Trident.
"Trident is frankly obscene, and in the current
economic climate it is obvious that these resources
should be better spent."
Robertson also denies Labour claims that
replacing Trident isn't costing taxpayers any
more money: "These parliamentary answers,
seriously undermine that claim."
Scottish CND argues that the money could still be
spent on launch tubes that are still the wrong size.
"The work will all be carried out in the US
so there will be no jobs for Scotland,
or for the rest of the UK," says Alan Mackinnon,
the campaign's chair.
"Gordon Brown should not be squandering an
additional £100m on building a new nuclear
weapon system while the economy plunges further
into the red. He should listen to the growing
calls from across the political spectrum,
to cut the Trident replacement programme."
Conservative leader David Cameron, says his party's
support for Labour's £21 billion Trident replacement programme
is "under review".
The MoD says costs ARE rising this year,
but that there is no increase in the
overall cost of replacing Trident.
"The MoD seeks to achieve best value for money
and often this is achieved by collaborating
with other countries," says an MOD spokesperson.
*************************************************
Assistant US Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller,
calls on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. She is ignored for her brave stand.
**********************************************
Campaigners call for immediate UK compliance
with international law on nuclear weapons
Trident Ploughshares has written an open letter
to Prime Minister Gordon Brown reminding him of
the UK's legal obligations to disarm its nuclear
weapons. The letter is also sent to the Defence
and Foreign Secretaries, and to the leaders of
the major political parties in the UK.
Daniel Viesnik, a spokesperson for Trident Ploughshares
and one of the signatories to the letter says:
"All around the world, people from the US President
and former statesmen and military generals
to rank-and-file campaigners are united
in recognising the pressing need for global
nuclear disarmament and ridding the world of
the threat of nuclear war once and for all.
"It is time for the British Government to tally
its words with its actions by no longer deploying
its current Trident nuclear weapons, scrapping
plans for their replacement and signing up to a
Nuclear Weapons Convention - a global ban on
nuclear weapons; only then will Britain have any
genuine credibility on nuclear disarmament.
"The current economic crisis presents the ideal
opportunity for the Government to review the
advisability of wasting tens of billions of pounds
on illegal, immoral and useless nuclear weapons,
and instead focus limited resources on tackling
climate change and meeting the genuine needs of society."
Notes:
1. Trident Ploughshares is a campaign initiated
in 1998 to disarm Britain's Trident nuclear
weapons system in a nonviolent, open, peaceful
and fully accountable manner.
Contact:
tridentp.media@yahoo.co.uk
2. The letter can be seen in full here:
http://www.tridentploughshares.org/article1552
3. Details of 2009 NPT Preparatory Committee, 4–15 May, New York
The naval base at Faslane is exposed now
for a series of safety "breaches", including
radioactive leaks from nuclear submarines.
A report, issued under the Freedom of Information Act,
shows the MoD describing the failings as a "recurring theme".
"Three times" radioactive coolant leaks from nuclear submarines.
Scotland's environment watchdog, Sepa, says
it would close the base - if it had the power.
Formal legal action "can't be taken". . .
because military bases are exempt from the law.
The documents show that the Navy "does not know"
how much radioactivity is discharged.
In 2004, 2007 and 2008, radioactive coolant
leaks from nuclear submarines into the Firth of Clyde.
In August 2007, the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Superb
discharges water, potentially contaminated with radioactive Tritium
and Cobalt-60, directly into Gare Loch.
Sepa's response is a letter expressing its concern,
noting that it isn't told about the incident for six days.
In February 2008, it happens again.
This time HMS Torbay is warming up its reactor,
when a tank "overflows".
Sepa issue an "enforcement" notice, yet say
that the radiological consequences are "minor",
but it is "concerned" that proper procedures
are not being followed.
An MoD spokesperson: "The discharges into the
Gare Loch had no environmental consequences.
The MoD is a responsible nuclear operator and
informed the appropriate regulatory authorities.
We commissioned an independent study into the
facilities and practices at HM Naval Base Clyde
and an improvement plan is currently under way
to ensure modern standards and best practice at the base."
German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier,
now calls for the US to remove its nuclear arsenal.
"If we wish Europe to be made into a nuclear-free zone,
that also applies to the nuclear weapons still left in Germany,"
Steinmeier insists. The US has kept a nuclear arsenal
in Germany since the Cold War, though Germany has
no nuclear arsenal of its own, and is declining
an offer to share control over the French force.
Steinmeier, a member of the Sozialdemokratische Partei (SPD)
is a leading candidate to unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel
in the upcoming German elections and backs
President Barack Obama’s call for a nuclear
weapons free world. Steinmeier says that nuclear weapons
are "militarily obsolete" and that the US should remove them,
************************************************
OBAMA: "I WANT A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD"
Barack Obama is praised as he outlines his plan for a world
free of nuclear weapons in a major speech in Prague.
A statement released before it by the White House
says Obama is committing to reduce US nuclear arms stocks
and aims to secure vulnerable nuclear materials within four years.
Speaking at the just-concluded Nato summit,
Obama says he wishes to pursue "the goal of
a world without nuclear weapons".
"Even with the Cold War over, the spread of nuclear weapons
or the theft of nuclear material could lead to
the extermination of any city on the planet,"
Obama tells world leaders at the summit.
Denis McDonough, US deputy national security adviser
for strategic communications, says Obama's vision
of a world without nuclear arms is an achievable goal.
Avner Cohen, expert on nuclear non-proliferation:
"There is an obligation under the non-proliferation treaty
to move in the speediest way towards disarmament.
[However] this was never taken seriously.
"I think this is an effort to try and give that some concreteness.
"I think it is important if we are coming to Iran
and North Korea,
we need to keep up our part of the obligation."
Thousands of Czechs turn up for Obama's speech
at a square outside the medieval Prague Castle.
In his speech, he says we "may not see this - in my lifetime".
Those reasons for joining CND... have NOT gone away ... yet !
***********************************************
CALL FOR MIDDLE EAST TO BE A NUCLEAR-FREE ZONE
Russia repeats its call for the Middle East
to be made a nuclear weapons-free zone.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:
"The task to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation
regime in the Middle East remains urgent.
We consistently advocate this region to become
a nuclear-weapon-free zone, and eventually,
a zone free from all other types of weapons
of mass destruction," he says.
Why isn't the UK calling SERIOUSLY for this ?
Lavrov also calls for a successor deal with the US
to their Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I),
saying this is a priority in 'resetting' their relations.
*************************************************
BREAKING THE LAW
The nuclear non-proliferation treaty states:
"Each nuclear weapon state party to the treaty
undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever
nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices indirectly or indirectly."
But the US is using UK facilities to develop its nuclear programme.
The MoD admits the two countries are working together,
"examining both the optimum life of the UK's
existing nuclear warhead stockpile and the range
of replacement options that might be available
to inform decisions on whether and how we may need
to refurbish or replace the existing warhead
likely to be necessary in the next parliament".
Congress has stopped funding research into
a new generation of nuclear warheads known as
the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW),
but campaigners believe the US military is using
UK facilities to get around the restrictions "at home".
Kate Hudson, CND's Chair:
"Billions of pounds have been poured into the
Atomic Weapons Establishment over recent years
to build new research facilities. If these are
being used to support US programmes outside
Congress's controls on spending, it raises even
more serious questions about why the British taxpayer
is paying for a so-called 'independent deterrent'."
The 1976 Symington Amendment prohibits most US foreign aid
to any country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment
or technology outside international safeguards.
Israel continues to neither confirm nor deny doing this.
The US - despite Obamush's "no more secrecy" policy -
holds thousands of files on Israeli nuclear activity,
but still refuses to release them to the public,
while propping up Isreal with huge subsidies...
and exporting "advanced" armaments illegally.
These exports are BANNED to the Middle East.
************************************************
EL BARADEI SAYS IT STRAIGHT -
Outgoing IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says that
Israel’s status as the Middle East’s only nuclear power
and its only non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
is the MAJOR obstacle to efforts for global nuclear disarmament.
"What compounds the problem is that the nuclear non-proliferation regime
has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of Arab public opinion
because of the perceived double-standards concerning Israel,
the only state in the region outside the NPT
and known to possess nuclear weapons."
"Above all, we need to halt the glaring breach of
core principles of international law
such as limitations on the unilateral use of force,
proportionality in self-defense and the protection of civilians
during hostilities in order to avoid a repeat of the civilian carnage
in Iraq and, most recently, in Gaza."
*************************************************
NAGASAKI - US "NOT WELCOME UNTIL NUCLEAR ABOLITION"
A US warship docking in Nagasaki leads to protests
by residents and a boycott by local leaders,
who say the visit is in bad taste in a city
obliterated by a US atomic bomb.
The USS Blue Ridge, stationed in Yokosuka near Tokyo,
sailed to Nagasaki with the stated goal of
"promoting friendship between Japan and the US.
But hundreds of residents, including atomic bomb survivors,
chanted "We are opposed to the port call!" as it arrived.
"We don't want to see the US flag flying at this port
and this feeling will not change until the US
takes a policy towards the elimination of nuclear weapons,"
says Osamu Yoshitomi, an official at Nagasaki city.
Nagasaki's mayor and regional governor both
boycotted the "welcome" ceremony, after asking
Japanese and US authorities to cancel the visit.
The US keeps over 40,000 troops in Japan.
Under a 1960 agreement, local authorities
cannot refuse US warships' port calls.
It was the 7th visit by a US military vessel to Nagasaki.
Are they taking the piss?
The US Navy keeps a major base in Sasebo,
part of Nagasaki prefecture.
Nagasaki Mayor, Tomohisa Taue, regrets the timing of the visit,
saying that atomic bomb survivors have been optimistic
that President Barack Obama will move towards nuclear abolition.
"Nagasaki cannot accept a port call which arouses anxiety
in a city hit by an atomic bomb," Taue says.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TRIDENT WEAPONS HIT SERIOUS SNAG.
"PLANS by the US and UK governments to prolong
the life of Trident nuclear weapons have hit
a serious snag because of a dangerous and
mysterious ingredient codenamed Fogbank.
As a result, politicians are likely to come under pressure
to fund the design of new warheads instead.
Both countries want to refurbish the ageing
W76 warheads at the tip of Trident missiles,
to make them safer and more reliable.
But now their programmes face delays due to
manufacturing problems at the Y-12 National
Security Complex at Oak Ridge in Tennessee.
A new $50 million plant built to replace a
facility that had been demolished has run
into teething troubles, suggests a series of
hints from the US National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA), which runs Y-12.
In a bid to the US Congress for 2009 funding last month,
the NNSA said that the plant's operators faced
"a major technical challenge".
This is a preview of an article in New Scientist.
The full article is available free to
New Scientist magazine subscribers.
*********************************************
FRANCE REPENTS AND PAYS UP
France is paying compensation to those who suffered
in their nuclear tests from 1958 to 1998.
France is compensating both the soldiers
who participated in the tests, and
residents of where the tests were conducted.
Firstly to French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.
This makes it much more likely that Washington and London
will also have to pay compensation along with Paris
as the USA and Great Britain also contributed to
polluting this uniquely beautiful part of the world.
On March 26th this year, Paris started paying compensation
to those who suffered from nuclear tests in Algeria (1958-1962)
and Polynesia (1966-1998) France conducted 210
nuclear weapons tests in total. 193 exploded in
Polynesia, in the Pacific Ocean.
Algeria declared independence in 1962, so France
moved its nuclear grounds to Polynesia, which
sparked protests in the countries of Oceania,
especially in New Zealand. French special services
had to deal with strong resistance from Greenpeace.
The troops sank The Rainbow Warrior, in 1985.
The nuclear tests were stopped after an incident in 1996,
when a bomb detonated at a dangerously shallow depth.
The USA also conducted 106 nuclear tests from 1946 to 1962:
100 atmospheric and 6 underwater explosions.
The atmospheric and underwater nuclear tests
were the most poisonous ones, because wind and water
distribute radioactive particles for thousands of kilometres.
England held 21 nuclear tests. 12 in Australia
during the 1950s. About 1,000 British soldiers,
who participated in the nuclear tests, are also
currently filing for compensation. Participants
from New Zealand and Fiji are now likely to join them.
About 2,000 Polynesians, including 600 underage children,
suffered from the explosions. About 15,000 civilians
and soldiers can also claim compensation.
No-one told Polynesians about the danger.
Many of them swam in the ocean after the nuclear blasts,
and no one tried to stop them.
Many of those who suffered from radiation 40 years ago,
are now dead. Nevertheless, Nicolas Sarkozy’s
initiative deserves international support.
SCANDAL OF IRISH MILLIONS SPENT ON US TROOPS.
Almost €10 million has been spent in just three years
on protecting US troops passing through Shannon Airport
on their way to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Irish Department of Justice figures show the cost
of providing garda security at the airport was
€8.6 million between 2006 and 2008. This includes
€2.8 million on garda overtime, over €1 million
in expenses and subsistence claims by the gardaí
and €4.8 million in salaries.
During the same period, the cost of army patrols
at the airport was €964,702, according to
Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, bringing the
total cost of nearly €10 million.
The latest figures show more than 243,000
US troops passed through Shannon Airport
in 2009 — or 665 per day.
This brings to more than 1 million the number of
military who used the airport en route to US wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of 2006.
Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín O Caoláin says the cost
to the taxpayer is a “disgraceful situation”
and that it should be properly debated in the Dáil.
He says the use of Shannon is “totally and
absolutely opposed by the overwhelming majority
of Irish people who do not accept the legitimacy
of the war in Afghanistan”.
"Justice" Minister Dermot Ahern says the annual bill is "justified".
“The deployment of garda resources is based
on an assessment by the garda authorities
of the measures necessary to ensure the safety
and security of personnel, staff, passengers
and property at Shannon airport,” says Mr Ahern.
Anti-war protesters claim the use of Shannon Airport
by US troops undermines Ireland’s neutrality.
But the Irish Government says that doesn't matter,
as the invasion is "covered" by a UN mandate.
***********************************************
MILITARY USE OF SHANNON AIRPORT IMMORAL,
SAYS IRISH ARCHBISHOP.
The Archbishop of Dublin, John Neill, accuses
the Irish government of "moral compromise" by
allowing hundreds of thousands of US troops to
use Shannon airport while on transit flights to Iraq.
Archbishop Neill:
"I feel very strongly that economic links
to America have made us very blind to the
moral issues ... I think as a nation there
has not been sufficient questioning of these
rendition flights and the link of Ireland with
the war in Iraq."
(Photo: catbagan / flickr)
CINDY DEMANDS CIA STOP DRONES
A group led by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan
has protested near the CIA's headquarters and
ex-Vice President Cheney's home in northern Virginia.
They were demanding a stop to the use of unmanned
drone aircraft in Afghanistan & Pakistan.
The group rallied on a road near the CIA compound
on Saturday. About half then marched to Cheney's
nearby street and stayed for 20 minutes. Police
kept them from going down his street.
The group say using drones is cowardly immoral & illegal.
*************************************************
CINDY's BACK FOR A NEW KIND OF PEACE CAMP - IN WASHINGTON !!!
In March 2010, Cindy Sheehan and other activists
from a group called "Peace of the Action"
are setting up a Peace Camp in the heart of Washington.
Sheehan says they aim to be there for
"as long as it takes... that will be
up to the government; we are prepared to stay
until our demands are met."
The Peace Camp demands are:
"troops out of the Middle East,
which includes drones, permanent bases,
contractors and torture/detention facilities."
Sheehan says she has known "for years" that
to really achieve peace requires much more
direct action, so the group are to hold
"multiple" civil resistance actions EVERY DAY,
at the heart of the US political centre of war.
Sheehan says the actions will strictly follow
agreed-upon nonviolence guidelines to resist
the "robber class" and their oily war crimes.
She says the camp will also be reaching out
to the homeless in DC by providing them with
food and clothing. "While there are a lot of
long time homeless people with mental illnesses,
increasingly there are people joining the ranks
of the homeless for purely economic reasons
stemming from the war economy" says Sheehan.
Peace of the Action's web site spells out the new way:
We've marched, written, called and faxed but the wars continue.
It is time for new creative strategies and bolder action.
Peace of the Action will bring forward an
historic escalation of Peace Activism
like we have not seen in the US in a very long time.
We cannot allow business as usual go on
in the Capital of the American Empire.
On a daily basis, Peace of the Action
will perform courageous deeds of civil
resistance until our demands are met.
We will show our righteous outrage at US
militarism by showing our elected officials
that "Peace means Business," by clogging up government business.
We want an end to Empire so we can build a new economy
that is not drained by the costs of Empire and war.
This Empire does not create jobs abroad
while it has the effect of destroying jobs here
on the domestic front. This Empire builds the
profits of transnational businesses while
Americans go further into debt and fights wars
for oil and resources.
It's time to stop using militarism as
the PRIMARY tool of foreign policy.
It's time to start adhering to the US
Constitution and International Law.
The group, over the last two years, has organized
"Our Spring Break," which has gathered students
from all over the country to Washington, to
demand peace. According to The Wesleyan Argus:
"They spent the break sleeping on church floors
and participating in demonstrations such as
Stop Loss Congress, in which participants tried
to prevent legislators from leaving Capitol Hill
in order to protest stop loss, and the March of the Dead."
The Peace Camp have held a conference & announced
that they are not going to depend on the US media
to cover their events, since it will distort.
So the "Be Our Own Media" committee is already
using a web site, Facebook, plus YouTube & other
social networking sites to report their actions.
Camp OUT NOW is to begin building the camp on March 13th,
on the lawn of the Washington Monument,
and direct actions start on Monday, March 22nd.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
The New Crusade: Imperial U.S. vs Political Islam
By Rodrigue Tremblay
http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.html
"I am as intolerant of imperialistic designs
on the part of other nations as I was of
such designs on the part of Germany.
The choice is between two ideals;
on the one hand, the ideal of democracy,
which represents the rights of free peoples
everywhere to govern themselves, and,
the ideal of imperialism which seeks to dominate
by force and unjust power, an ideal which is
by no means dead and which is earnestly
[sought] in many quarters still."
US President Woodrow Wilson, July 1919
"Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you
find them, take them captive, harass them,
lie in wait & ambush them using every stratagem of war."
The Qur'an (9:5), Islam's holy book
"We are fighting them (the terrorists) over there
so that we won't have to fight them here at home."
Former US President George W. Bush's political slogan
“I, like any head of state, reserve the right to
act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation.”
US President Barack Obama, December 10, 2009
“When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest
...and there is nothing to fear from them,
then he is always stirring up some war.”
Plato, ancient Greek philosopher (428/427-348/347 B.C.)
In the political movie “Charlie Wilson's War”
about the Soviet-Afghanistan war, the hero
states “America does not fight religious wars.”
Is this possibly wrong, dead wrong?
In fact, is it not possible that since September
11, 2001, a new type of “holy war” may have begun?
This time, the new crusade with strong religious
overtones pits fundamentalist Christian America
and its allies, against political Islam and the
Islamist al Qaeda terrorist organization.
On September 16, 2001, then President George W.
Bush set the tone when he said: “This crusade,
this war on terrorism, is gonna take awhile.”
On December 1, 2009 Nobel “Peace” laureate Barack
Obama, president of the United States since
January 20, 2009, decided to follow in the
footsteps of his predecessor, President George
W. Bush. He announced a policy of stepping up
the US-led war in Afghanistan-Pashtunistan.
He announced an escalation in the military
occupation of Afghanistan by sending extra
American troops in that Muslim country, putting
the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan
at more than 100,000. Not satisfied in using the
same vocabulary as George W. Bush, Barack Obama
pushed the symbolism by adopting Bush's practice
of announcing policies surrounded by more than
4,000 students dressed as soldiers at the West
Point Academy. This was all too reminiscent of
President Lyndon B. Johnson's fatal decision
in 1965 to acquiesce to the request from US
commanders to enlarge the Vietnam war by sending
scores of additional US soldiers to that Asiatic country.
America seems to be in a constant need of a
foreign enemy. First, it was the British.
Then it was the Indians. Then it was the
Mexicans. Then it was the Spanish.
Then it was the Philippinos. Then it was the
Japanese. Then it was the Germans. Then it was
the Italians. Then it was the Koreans. Then it
was the Cubans. Then it was the Vietnamese.
Then it was the Soviets. Then it was the Iraqis.
Then it was the Islamists. Then it was the Taliban.
And, once the current conflict in Pashtunistan-
Afghanistan-Pakistan is over, it will possibly be
the Iranians, the Chinese, the Russians... etc.!
The reason for such a permanent-war mentality
is most likely related to the U.S. military-
industrial complex, an enormous beast that must
be fed regularly hundreds and hundreds of
billions of dollars, if not trillions of
dollars, to sustain itself.
In the months following the collapse of the
Soviet Union in December 1991, the high echelons
at the Pentagon were busy designing a new post-
cold-war strategy designed to keep the US war
machine humming. Paul Wolfowitz, then
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy under
Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney in the George H.
Bush administration, wrote a memorandum titled
“The Defense Policy Guidance 1992-1994”,
which was dated February 18, 1992.
The new so-called Wolfowitz Doctrine was
a blueprint to "set the nation’s [military]
direction for the next century." This new
neocon military doctrine called for the
replacement of the policy of "containment"
with one of military "preemption" and
international "unilateralism", in effect,
discarding the United Nations Charter
that forbids such international behaviour.
The Pentagon's overall goal was to establish,
through military force, a “one-Superpower World”.
The more immediate objectives of the new US
neocon doctrine was to "...preserve US and
Western access to the [Middle East and Southwest
Asia] region's oil", and, as stated in an April
16, 1992 addendum, to contribute “to the security
of Israel and to maintaining the qualitative edge
that is critical to Israel's security”.
Because of some opposition within the US
Government, the new policy did not become
immediately effective. But the objective remained.
For instance, in September 2000, under the
auspices of “The Project for the New American
Century”, a new strategic document was issued
and was entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses,
Strategy: Forces and Resources For a New Century".
The same goals expressed in the 1992 document were reiterated.
The belief was expressed that the kind of
military transformation the (neocon) planners
were considering required "some catastrophic
and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor”,
to make it possible to sell the plan to the American public.
They were either very prescient or very lucky,
because exactly one year later, they were served
with the "New Pearl Harbor" they had been openly
hoping for. Indeed, the Islamist terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, turned out to have
been a bonanza for the American military-
industrial complex. The military planners' wish
for a "New Pearl Harbor", was fulfilled at the
right time. It is important to remember that
from 2001 to 2005, Paul Wolfowitz served as US
Deputy Secretary of Defense in the George W.
Bush administration, reporting to US Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In this capacity,
he was well positioned to implement his own
Wolfowitz doctrine that later morphed into
the George W. Bush Doctrine.
For the time being, this is the “doctrine” that
newly-elected President Barack Obama continues
to implement in the Pashtunistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan corridor. As a politician, Barack Obama
may be new at the job, but the policy he is
being asked to implement was crafted long before
he even set foot in Washington D.C.
Another possible reason why the United States
is so often involved in foreign wars, besides
its obvious aim of imposing a New American Empire
on the world, may be due to the strong influence
of religion in the United States. Just as for
some aggressive Islamic countries, the US is
also the most religious of all first world
countries. Researchers have found strong
positive correlations between a nation's
religious belief and high levels of domestic
stress and anxiety, and other indicators of
social dysfunction such as homicides, the
proportion of people incarcerated, infant
mortality, drug abuse, sexually transmitted
diseases, teenage births and abortions,
corruption, large income inequalities,
economic and social insecurity... etc.
It is possible that wars serve as an emotional
outlet that allows some Americans to forget
about their nation's domestic problems.
I suppose more research would be necessary on
this issue. Indeed, is it possible that foreign
wars, including wars of aggression, are a way
for the American elites to deflect attention
from domestic social problems and, as such,
are a convenient pretext to direct tax money
to defense expenditures rather than to social
programs? The issue deserves at least to be
raised. This could explain why US foreign policy
is so devoid of fundamental morality.
US politicians who become president understand
this American proclivity for war. They know
that the best way to popularity is to be seen
as a “war president”. A president who does not
start a war abroad or who does not enlarge one
already in progress is open to criticism and
is likely to suffer politically. He must be seen
less as a president than as “commander-in-chief”,
in effect, as an emperor. How could this be,
when the framers of the US Constitution
attempted precisely to avoid that?
Indeed, Article One (the War Powers Clause)
of the US Constitution gives Congress, and
not the President, the authority to declare war.
Since World War II, however, this central article
of the US Constitution has been circumvented
by having Congress give the President a blanket
authorization to deploy troops abroad for
euphemistically called "police actions",
without an explicit or formal congressional
declaration of war. The term was first used by
President Harry S. Truman to describe the Korean War.
This artifice has done a lot to trivialize the
act of war. It also contributed much in the
transfer of the powers of war and peace from
the legislative branch to the executive branch.
In doing so, it has reinforced the role of the
US president as a commander-in-chief or as a
de facto emperor. Only a formal constitutional
amendment could restore, in practice,
the framers' initial intent.
All said, it is easy to understand why when
political faces change in Washington D.C.,
policies do not necessarily change. This push
toward empire on the part of the United States
can also explain why there is resentment and
an anti-Americanism movement abroad.
_________________
Rodrigue Tremblay
is professor emeritus of economics
at the University of Montreal
and can be reached at
rodrigue.tremblay@yahoo.com.
He is the author of the coming book
"The Code for Global Ethics" at:
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For a view of the Table of Contents and for excerpts, see:
"Our interest in Afghanistan is to prevent it
from becoming a haven for terrorists bent on
attacking us. That does not require the scale
of military operations that the incoming
administration is contemplating. It does not
require wholesale occupation. It does not
require the endless funneling of human treasure
and countless billions of taxpayer dollars
to the Afghan government."
Bob Herbert, The New York Times, January 6, 2009
"I don't want to just end the war, but I want to
end the mind-set that got us into war in the first place."
Presidential candidate Barack Obama, January 31, 2008
"If we are strong, our character will speak for
itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help."
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) 35th U.S. President
“No nation ever profited from a long war.”
Sun Tzu, author of “The Art of War”
A solid majority of Americans (54 percent) now
oppose President Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan
War. In fact, among Democrats, only twenty-six
(26) percent support such a foreign war. In other
words, by enlarging this conflict, President
Obama is governing as if the opinion of a
majority of Americans and of his own political
base did not matter. In a democracy, a politician
can do that for a while, but not for very long.
This undeclared war, just like LBJ's Vietnam War
(1959–1975) and George W. Bush's Iraq War, is an
adventure with no clear objective and no clear
exit strategy, but with tremendous costs in
lives and money. Nobody can tell if the U.S. and
NATO are killing people in Afghanistan and in
Pakistan because this is an operation to stop
al-Qaeda terrorists from mounting future Sept.
11-type attacks, or because it is part of a
larger plan to counter a Taliban insurgency and
prevent this Pashtun Islamist party to regain
power. But also, it has been said that it is
a war waged to protect a pipeline crossing
Afghanistan. Such a pipeline would move oil
from the Caspian Basin to the coast of Pakistan
through Afghanistan. Nevertheless, since this is
not clearly explained, the war remains a blur
for most people. The reason why such a war
brings fewer open protests than the Vietnam War
is essentially because it is waged with mercenaries.
That may be a reason why such open-ended war
fought with mercenaries can last for so long.
For its part, Great Britain, a country used to
colonial occupations, says through its incoming
military Chief of Staff, General Sir David
Richards, that it could stay in Afghanistan for
40 years. Even Germany seems to have regained its
taste for military adventures, as its Defense
Minister says it could occupy Afghanistan for ten years.
With this frame of mind, the world could be
back in the nineteenth century, a century
characterized by the anarchy of lawless armed
conflicts, with militarized empires involved
in prolonged wars, if not perpetual wars, with
colonial and imperial military occupations.
If the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991
has simply ended the restraining its presence
imposed on other empires from being lawless and
imperialistic, then the world may be on a very
dangerous course. It will be back to the future.
All the democratic ideals of the second part
of the twentieth century would be gone.
One has the feeling that such badly designed
military adventures as the Afghanistan war,
with no clear objectives in sight, are primarily
launched and expanded to keep the military
establishment busy & the military-industrial complex prosperous.
Mired in financial scandals and plunged into a
deep economic recession, many Americans suffer
from war exhaustion. There seems to be too many
of these endless and costly wars, even though
the professional warmongers relish them. For his
part, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates declares
that the American public is “pretty tired” of
the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, and
he believes that the situation has to be turned
around in a year.
Indeed. Only a few months ago, a substantial
majority of Americans thought they had kicked
the Bush-Cheney neocon warmongering crowd out
of power. Those who favor American-led wars of
aggression had a choice in voting for Republican
candidate John McCain. But, to no avail. The
Obama-Biden soft-neocon crowd seems to be in
the same camp as Bush and McCain. Nothing of
substance has changed, or hardly.
At least in terms of foreign policy, the question
can be asked if the Obama-Biden administration
is anything more than a third term of the Bush-
Cheney administration? The Obama-Biden
administration did not arrive in power determined
to take control of the government apparatus and
to change its direction. In fact, the reverse
seems to have happened: It was pre-empted and
subdued by the entrenched governing nomenklatura.
This reflects a lack of preparedness, dedication and vision.
As soon as it was sworn in, the Obama-Biden
administration began planning to enlarge the
Afghan conflict with more troops and more
mercenaries, and, to make its intentions crystal-
clear, kept in his post Bush's Secretary of
Defense
(Robert Gates) while asking Congress for $109
billion more funds to finance the adventure.
Then President Obama fired Gen. David McKiernan,
who had been in charge in Afghanistan, and
replaced him with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal,
a former Green Beret who lead the secretive
Joint Special Operations Command, an outfit
of commando teams that was involved in
widespread murder and carnage in Iraq.
And, what is strange, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal
proposed to President Obama the adoption of a
Soviet Strategy of building bases and troop
build-up for Afghanistan. With friends like
this, Barack Obama needs no enemies.
As a matter of fact, Obama's political enemies,
beginning with Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street
Journal, but also other right-wing corporate
media, are salivating at the thought. I wonder
how many editorials the WSJ will write
supporting candidate Obama in 2012!
But the die is cast: President Barack Obama
now “owns” the Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) war
and he will have to live with the consequences.
If the British and Soviet examples of foreign
occupations in that part of the world are good
indications of things to come, Commander-in-
Chief Obama is going to be bogged down in this
devastated mountainous land for years to come,
and this may very well cost him his presidency
in 2012. For a while, the Republicans and some
neocon Democrats are going to cheer him. But
later on, most Americans are going to turn against him.
Let's place things in perspective here. Just as
in Vietnam, the U.S. is intervening in a civil
war involving Pashtuns (40% of the Afghan
population), Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Hazara Shiites,
among over ten minority groups sharing a
traditional and often repressive and barbaric
Islamic culture, in a country called Afghanistan.
And it is waging guerrilla warfare in Afghan
villages and towns in order to support a
corrupt and illegitimate Islamist government.
The foreign soldiers are trying to “flush out the
Taliban from villages” just as they were trying
to flush out the Vietcong from villages. Since
such wars cause many civilian deaths, sooner or
later, the entire population will turn against
the foreign military invaders and they are
likely to be kicked out. That was the story in
Vietnam and there is little doubt that this will
be the story in Afghanistan-Pakistan. Sending
more troops to this Asiatic region will only
make matters worse. The advantage for the
military establishment, besides generals getting
a few stars on the shoulder, is that a prolonged
conflict will keep the money flowing in their
coffers and in those of their suppliers.
But wait. Now Obama is enlarging the Afghan conflict,
not only by waging a drone war against tribesmen
in Pakistan, but he also wants to turn the
Afghanistan war into a war against Afghan drug
lords. The logic here, I gather, it to multiply
your enemies: the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Pakistan
tribesmen, Afghan drug lords, etc. The more you
have, the more likely the conflict will endure.
When you forget that the initial objective in
Afghanistan, after the 9/11 attacks, was a
narrow one, i.e. to prevent that country from
becoming again a haven for terrorists, it is
easy to widen a conflict ad nauseam. As a matter
of fact, this was tried before in Afghanistan.
The Soviets tried it for nine years, from
December 1979 to February 1989, and despite
sending in hundreds of thousand troops, they did
not succeed. It was the Soviet Union's Vietnam
War, to paraphrase Zbigniew Brzezinski, President
Jimmy Carter's Security advisor.
Similarly, Obama's war in Afghanistan-Pakistan
would require hundreds of thousands of troops
on the ground. Like the Soviet Union, the U.S.
is building large military bases in Afghanistan
and its commanders think there are never enough
troops. Presently, the U.S. has some 60,000
troops in Afghanistan. Next year, it is easy to
predict it will have more than 100,000 troops
in that remote country, if the current policy is followed.
And under what legal basis? It is stretching
quite a bit the terms of the U.N. Security
Council's resolution 1368 of September 12, 2001,
to justify an open-ended war in Afghanistan and
in Pakistan. That resolution was adopted under
Article 51 of the U.N. Charter that affirms the
inherent right of individual or collective self-
defense. Since the 9/11 terrorists had trained in
Afghanistan under Taliban control, such training
camps had to be dismantled, either by the Afghan
government or by external forces. Since the
Taliban government refused to comply, the U.S.
was in its right to intervene. Thus the
overthrow of the Taliban government and the
destruction of al-Qaeda training camps in that
country. This was done in the fall of 2001.
On December 20, 2001, the U.N. Security Council
(Resolution 1386) authorized the creation of a
NATO-led military international force to assist
the newly established Afghan Transitional
Authority in creating a secure environment in
and around the capital Kabul and to support the
reconstruction of Afghanistan. That's the legal
reason why there are foreign soldiers in
Afghanistan. They operate under the umbrella of
the so-called International Security Assistance
Force (ISAF), whose mission has been expanded,
year after year, to cover most of Afghanistan
(see U.N. Security Council Resolution 1510).
Later, the U.N. Security Council also authorized
a mission of assistance in Afghanistan. In March
2002, the U.N. Security Council organized an
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's (UNAMA) with
the adoption of Resolution 1401. UNAMA's primary
mandate is “to manage all humanitarian, relief,
recovery and reconstruction activities.” That
mandate has been renewed in March of each year,
the last time on March 23, 2009, extending it
until March 23, 2010.
But now we are in 2009, eight years after 2001.
Is there really a legal basis for the U.S. to
drop bombs over villages in Pakistan and to
occupy Afghanistan indefinitely with foreign
troops? There is some play with words here. For
example, the European countries participating in
the NATO-U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan talk
about a “police mission” to justify the presence
of their soldiers in Afghanistan. In fact, this
so-called police mission has turned into a
permanent military occupation of Afghanistan and
into a guerilla war against local militants and
insurgents, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Let's keep in mind that many of the so-called
"militants" or “insurgents” in Afghanistan, the
Mujahideen and to a certain extent the Taliban,
used to be called “Freedom fighters” by
President Ronald Reagan (see the Reagan Doctrine)
when they were fighting the Soviet invaders,
with the help of the American C.I.A., Saudi
Arabia and the Pakistani secret police (ISI).
This shows how such “freedom fighters”
conveniently change names when they switch camp!
They have gone from being called “heroic” to
being called “insurgents”. Such is the propaganda
of war. —An historical fact remains: The
unintended consequence of the Reagan Doctrine is
the current Afghanistan-Pakistan war, and it may
have played an important role in preparing the
ground for the 9/11 catastrophe.
Nevertheless, let us say that this is stretching
the U.N. Charter to the limit to say that it now
permits the permanent military occupation of a
sovereign country by foreign troops. It is true
that the U.N. Charter, under Chapter VII (Action
with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches
of the Peace and Acts of Aggression), can
authorize collective action against a country for
good reasons. But the intent of such a military
intervention is to be short-term and not be
turned into a permanent colonial occupation.
In conclusion, let us say that since the Obama
administration is clearly enlarging the Afghan
conflict and has authorized drone bombings in
Pakistan, it would seem that the U.N. Security
Council should be called to authorize or condemn
such an enlargement of the conflict. It should
also indicate that it favors a compromise
solution to the conflict.
______________________________________
Rodrigue Tremblay
[http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/author.htm]
is professor emeritus of economics at the
University of Montreal and can be reached at
rodrigue.tremblay@ yahoo.com.
He is the author of the book 'The New American Empire'.
Leader calls for unity against cancerous Israeli regime
The Leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution,
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, speaking on the
joyful anniversary of the birth of Mohammad,
underlines the importance of the Palestinian
issue for the Muslim world and calls on Muslims
to unite around the teachings of the holy Prophet.
Ayatollah Khamenei describes the "forged, Zionist
regime of Israel" as a "dangerous cancer tumor"
and says that "the only way to defend against
this severe cancer and its supporters, is to
return to Islam" and unite around the teachings
of the glorious Prophet of Islam.
Addressing a group of Iranian officials, foreign
guests and dignitaries in Tehran on Thursday,
the Leader expounds on the reasons for numerous
problems and shortcomings in the Muslim world
in defending their rights, and he cites the
"tireless efforts by the US, the British, and
other enemies of Islam in sowing discord"
among the world's Muslim masses.
The leader of the Islamic Revolution emphasizes
that such bullying and domineering countries
are well-aware that "discord and duplicity"
can divert the focus of Muslims from the very
important issue of Palestine.
"This is the reason that they resort to any
possible means to flare up the flames of ethnic,
religious and geographical conflict among the
hearts and minds of the Shia and Sunni, as well
as the followers of other Islamic sects."
Ayatollah Khamenei further speraks of the Israeli
oppression of Palestinians, and describes the
occupation of Palestine as a wound on the body
of the Islamic Nation."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution declares
that the "unity of Muslims and defending the
Palestinian issue, are among the aspirations
and priorities of the Islamic Republic."
*************************************************
RUSSIA: IRAN SHOULDN'T BE SUBJECTED TO SANCTIONS
Iran is within its international obligations
as it enriches some of its uranium stockpile
and should not be subjected to UN sanctions
over its nuclear program, its parliamentary
speaker says today (Thursday).
Ali Larijani, speaking in Tokyo, says Iran is
being unfairly singled out for pressure and
threats by the UStates over its development
of nuclear technology, which he says is peaceful
and intended solely to provide energy, AP reports.
Russian President Medvedev says transparency can
resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff with the West.
"I think the way out of this situation is
responsible behavior by Iran itself,"
AFP quotes the Russian president as saying
in an interview with the French magazine
Paris-Match today (Thursday, still!).
"We believe that Iran's nuclear programs
should conform to the demands of international
organizations like the IAEA, and also that
work in this area should be transparent for
oversight," Medvedev goes on to say.
According to RIA Novosti, there is no hard proof
that Iran is working on nuclear weapons, but
Tehran has to clarify several key issues on
its nuclear program to avoid fresh international
action, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"There is no evidence that Iran has made a
decision to produce nuclear weapons,"
Lavrov says in an interview with RIA Novosti.
*************************************************
THE SAFEST PLACE
As war rained down on the 40% of Iraq's population
who were children, cutting them to pieces with
"precision bombs" & driving 4 million of them
into benumbed exile in their own country,
there was, ironically, only one safe place to be
- with those almost incredibly brave souls who
went to Iraq as "human shields".
Although the invaders had little interest in
Iraqi civilian casualties, they were well aware
that bombing human shields could be a PR disaster.
The co-ordinates of sites hosting the shields
had been sent to Central Command. All sites
where shields remained in place during the
bombings survived intact. No shields were hurt.
Unlike George the hapless, the huddle of hopeful
courageous activists who flew to Baghdad in 2003
can truly say - "Mission Accomplished".
*************************************************
KHAMENAI CALLS FOR MUSLIM UNITY...
AS RUSSIA SAYS YES TO S-300 DEFENCE FOR IRAN
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenai, repeats
that his country is forbidden to pursue nuclear arms,
as Israel & the US push for a confrontation
which can only lead to unthinkable disaster
for the world's people, (plus enriching a few).
From the deck of Iran's new guided-missile destroyer,
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticizes
the US' military presence in the Gulf and says
Washington is trying to frighten Iran's Arab
neighbours - so it can sell them weapons.
Khamenei makes his comments during a tour of the
destroyer Jamaran, which is launched at a Gulf
port on Friday. State tv, broadcasting the event,
says it's Iran's 1st domestically built destroyer
and a major technological leap for Iran's naval industries.
Khamenei says the US & Israel, are still trying
to sow divisions between Iran and Arab nations.
"The US & the Zionist regime are trying to spread
divisions to distract the attention of Islamic
nations from the main enemies of the Islamic world,
which are the US & Israel," Khamenei states.
Khamenei says the very presence of foreign forces
in the Gulf "disturbs security" in the region,
& that Washington will fail to achieve its goals.
The US continues to deploy missiles & more US
warships in the Persian Gulf. The entire US'
5th Fleet is based at Bahrain, directly facing Iran.
Clinton is told to visit Qatar and Saudi Arabia
this week to discuss Iran, and she loses no time
to lie - warning that Iran is setting off a
nuclear arms race in the Middle East as it "chooses
to develop atomic weapons..." she knows better !!!
Khamenei has repeatedly said that Iran is not
seeking nuclear weapons, and that it isn't,
because Iran's entire clerical leadership is
bound by a religious ruling that forbids
weapons of mass destruction. Iran maintains
that its nuclear work is for peaceful use,
like energy generation and medical applications.
He says the false accusations by President Barack Obama
and other US officials are prompted by anger
at their failure to achieve their objectives.
"Repeating absurd words about the building of
nuclear weapons in Iran, shows that the enemy
are resorting to repeating propaganda out of
ultimate failure," Khamenei suggests.
"We've said time and again that our religious
principles and beliefs consider such weapons
to be a symbol of destruction that is forbidden.
Because of this, we don't have any belief in
the atomic bomb and don't pursue it."
Khamenei, as the commander in chief of Iran's
armed forces, enjoys his tour of the new craft.
It's equipped with anti-ship and surface-to-air
missiles as well as torpedoes and naval cannon.
The destroyer is launched in Bandar Abbas, a
port in southern Iran on the Strait of Hormuz.
The 94-metre vessel weighs 1,500 tons and has
a helipad and modern radar. The ship has a top
speed of 30 knots and can carry 120 to 140
personnel, Iranian tv says, adding that a 2nd
destroyer is now under construction.
Iran has also opened new air and naval bases on
its eastern and southern borders in recent years.
Most of Iran's 12 air force bases are in the west
near the border with Iraq. Iran understands that
any attacks will come from the US & Isarael,
by air and sea. Since 1992, Iran has produced
its own jet fighters, torpedoes, radar-avoiding
missiles, tanks and armored carriers, plus
successfully launching satellites into space.
************************************************
US CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OPPOSES IRAN SANCTIONS
US business groups are urging the White House
to oppose Congressional plans to expand US
sanctions on Iran, saying such plans
will not serve US interests.
"The proposed sanctions will incite economic,
diplomatic, and legal conflicts with US allies
and could frustrate joint action against Iran,"
the US Chamber of Commerce and business groups
say in a letter sent the White House on Tuesday.
They warn that the Iran sanctions proposed by
the House and Senate "could prohibit any US
company from transacting routine business with
critical partners from around the globe, even
if these transactions have no bearing on
business with Iran," Reuters reports.
US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is insisting
that the Senate pass legislation within weeks,
placing sanctions on companies providing petrol to Iran.
"These provisions could encompass a very large
portion of the global trade community, with
consequences that in our view have not been
adequately assessed," US business groups say.
"We urge you to weigh in vigorously with Congress
to eliminate these highly problematic proposals."
*************************************************
TOP IRANIAN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST MURDERED BY BOMB
An Iranian university lecturer is killed in a
remote-controlled blast outside his Tehran home.
Thousands upon thousands carry his body
in a mass show of sympathy and solidarity.
The Iranian parliament is now debating to cut
any diplomatic ties between Iran & the UK.
That shows exactly whom the Iranians blame !
Officials suggest that the US plus the "Zionist entity
and its agents", have "shown their hand" in this attack.
Iran obviously believes that USUK and the Israelis
are the only countries arrogant and spiteful enough
to illegally murder a top Iranian nuclear academic,
and not mind a bit of "collateral damage" along the way.
But that would make YOUR government criminal.
What do YOU think?
***********************************************
BRAVE IRAN FACES UP TO THE WORLD's BULLIES
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for
the nuclear disarmament of the US and Israel,
the semi-official Fars news agency reports.
"The US government owns nearly 8,000 atomic warheads
and it should be disarmed and its corrupt tail,
the Zionist regime has about 400 atomic warheads
which should be disarmed as well," Ahmadinejad
says when addressing people in Shiraz, the
capital of Iran's southern province of Fars.
Earlier in the day, Ahmadinejad rejects the
US claims that Tehran is making nuclear bombs.
"(You)know that - if we wanted to build bombs -
we would have enough courage to announce
that we were making bombs."
************************************************
IRAN SAYS NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE "FORBIDDEN BY GOD"
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
rejects the West's charge that his country
wants to develop nuclear bombs, saying
Tehran is "fundamentally" opposed to them.
"Accusing the Islamic Republic of seeking nuclear
arms is a blatant lie. We are fundamentally
opposed to nuclear weapons," the English-
language Press TV quotes Khamenei as saying.
"We consider the use and proliferation of
nuclear arms as forbidden," he adds.
The Iranian supreme leader says the US and its
Western allies are promoting Islamophobia, in
a bid to prevent the Islamic world from
maintaining its unity, Press TV reports.
"The U.S. authorities, who consider Iran's
missiles as threats and claim Tehran is
producing nuclear bombs, are well aware
that their accusations are baseless and
contrary to the facts," Khamenei says.
**********************************************
AGGRESSORS EXERCISE
The US holds another "mock" exercise:
defending against a mock Iranian missile
attack, as it reaches US soil!
There are NO Iranian missiles with that range!
The "exercise" can only be seen as propaganda to
condition the US public to see Iran as an aggressor...
yet Iran and the world can clearly see WHO is
waging aggressive war on the Muslim world - the US.
*************************************************
A SMELL OF EVIL
There is a smell of Evil in the air, as USUK
& France say Iran is "a serial offender" (Brown)
and Obama threatens to bomb Iran ahead of what are
supposed to be negotiations to avoid war.
How many lies about breaking the law can the West's
criminal war mongers make, before people throw
them into the rubbish bin of history?
The additional protocol Brown and the other
professional liars quote, is not one Iran has
signed up to. The legally binding laws USUK
have signed, ARE broken continuously... yet
USUK's leaders still illegally upgrade their
nuclear weapons systems, & the media help them
to continue throwing dust in their people's eyes.
Iran has NEVER used nuclear weapons.
The US has, and Winston Churchill
called for the US to drop more, and
"exterminate" the Japanese in 1946.
If you've ever wondered where the idea
for the Daleks came from... now you know !!!
*************************************************
IRAN'S SPIRITUAL LEADER SAYS "FOREIGN AGENTS"
ARE BEHIND TERRORISM IN IRAN, IRAQ & PAKISTAN
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
says openly that the terrorist attacks in Muslim
countries like Iran, Iraq and Pakistan are being
carried out by foreign agents, Press TV reports.
"Perpetrators of terrorist and bloody moves are
directly or indirectly linked to foreign agents,"
Khamenei is quoted as saying.
"Bloody acts in some Muslim countries such as
Iraq and Pakistan and certain parts of Iran
are aimed at creating discord and differences
among Shiite and Sunni Muslims," he says,
in a meeting with Iranian officials in charge
of organizing Hajj ceremonies.
"This is why Muslims should pay great attention
to the issue of their unity," he says, adding:
"During Hajj ceremonies (the pilgrims) should be
sensitive about moves against Islamic unity."
At the end of 2009 a deadly bomb attack
rocked Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-
Baluchestan near Iran's border with Pakistan,
killing nearly 45 people, including a number
of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' commanders.
Iran's high-ranking officials claim that the
explosion was aided by the intelligence services
of the US, UK and Pakistan.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president,
describes an Israeli attack on Iran as
"the worst thing that can be imagined".
"What would happen after that? Humanitarian
disaster, a vast number of refugees, Iran's
wish to take revenge - and not only upon Israel,
to be honest, but on other countries as well."
Medvedev goes on to say that Israel's president
Peres has assured Moscow that Israel is not
planning a military strike against Iran.
Peres apparently made his assurances about Iran
to Medvedev last year, on his visit to Russia.
Israel's president assured Moscow then, that
Israel is not planning a military strike.
"When Israeli President Peres was visiting me in
Sochi recently, he said something very important
for all of us: 'Israel does not plan any strikes
on Iran, we are a peaceful country and we will
not do this'," Medvedev says.
"...my Israeli colleagues told me they were not
planning to act in this way, and I trust them."
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon says
Medvedev “is certainly not authorized to speak
for us & there is no change whatsoever in
Israel’s policy," & the Head of Israel's army
says Israel WILL attack.
So... who's in charge of Israel?
************************************************
IRAN "WILL BOMB ISRAELI NUCLEAR SITES"
Iran signals that, not only is it going ahead
with expansion of Uranium processing plants,
but that, if attacked by "The Zionist Entity",
it will target all of Israel's "dirty" sites.
Meanwhile, Russia says it remains opposed
to any sanctions against Iran.
Russia remains opposed to sanctions on Iran
over its controversial nuclear program,
a Foreign Ministry spokesperson says Thursday.
"We believe any problem should be resolved
through political and diplomatic means,"
Andrei Nesterenko tells a regular press
briefing. "We do not speak the language
of sanctions, as we have said many times."
The spokesperson also says Russia is fully
committed to launching Iran's Bushehr
nuclear power plant on schedule.
"Our cooperation with Iran on the construction
of the nuclear power plant, is being carried
out in strict compliance with our
international obligations," he says.
The delay in launching the Bushehr plant
should not be politicised, or linked to the
ongoing talks on Iran's nuclear program, says Nesterenko.
************************************************
IRAN HOLDING AERIAL DEFENCE MANOEUVRES
Iran launches a huge aerial defence manoeuvre,
to prepare itself against any potential attack,
local English-language PressTV reports.
"The large scale exercise... will be carried out
in three phases over a 5-day period," Brigadier
General Ahmad Miqani, head of the air-defence
HQ of Iran's armed forces, is quoted as saying.
The manoeuvre, dubbed "Asemane Velayat 2",
covers a vast area in the northwest, west,
south and southwest of Iran, Miqani says,
adding that Islamic Revolution Guards Corps,
and Iran's regular armed forces, will jointly
participate in the exercises.
The 5-day manoeuvre is aimed at developing the
country's aerial defence against any potential attacks
- especially on the country's nuclear plants, he adds.
Miqani also notes that Iran has all the necessary
information about the enemies' equipment, and
they will find it impossible to violate Iran's airspace.
The US & Israel have consistently refused to
rule out the possibility of military strikes
on Iran, over its legal nuclear program.
************************************************
TURKEY IS FACING EAST (AND WEST)
Turkey agrees economic and energy ties,
while backing its neighbour's right to
peacefully develop nuclear energy.
Turkey and Iran are to triple their bilateral
trade to $30 billion in the next five years.
The two countries will use the Iranian rial and
the Turkish lira to trade, Press TV reports.
Erdogan says that studies on the currency issue
can be launched shortly, as Turkey has made the
relevant legal arrangements and there are no
legal obstacles from the Iranian side either,
Turkish newspaper Today reports.
Turkey and Iran have agreed to set up banks in
each other's country to give loans in Turkish
and Iranian currencies and an Iranian delegation
is going to Turkey for talks to open the banks,
First Deputy minister Rahimi is quoted as saying
by Anatolia news agency.
Iran's Deputy Oil Minister for Planning, Ibrahim
Radafzoun says Turkey will invest $4 billion
in the South Pars gas field in southern Iran,
which is estimated to hold about 14 trillion
cubic meters of natural gas, or 8% of total
world reserves, Iran's Fars news agency reports.
Under agreements signed during Erdogan's visit,
Iran's natural gas will be carried to Europe
via Turkey, while Turkmenistan's natural gas
will go to Turkey via Iran, Anatolia reports.
Meanwhile, the US Senate Banking Committee, has
voted unanimously to give Obama the power to
intercept shipping to stop Iran importing refined
fuel. This would be an act of war. Luckily, China
Russia and Iran will stop USUK and Israel's desire
to end the world. We in the West could help more,
by putting pressure on our criminal "leaders",
to stop waging war on women and children in the
name of "terror", because their taste for Death
isn't shared by most of the civilised world.
************************************************
CONDEMNATION FOR "USUK TERRORISTS".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he strongly
condemns the weekend suicide attack in Sistan-
Baluchestan province in Iran, which resulted
in dozens of deaths and many injuries:
"The Venezuelan government offers its most
sincere words of condolence to the brave people
of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to the
relatives of the victims of this crime,
which will not succeed in terrifying or
intimidating the Persian civilization,"
says a statement issued by the foreign ministry.
Chavez also expresses his confidence in the
Iranian authorities ability to identify and
punish the masterminds behind the attack,
whom he describes as "despicable":
"Venezuela reaffirms the importance of the
revolutionary ties of brotherhood between the
Islamic Republic and the people of Iran ...
in its historical struggle to attain prosperity
and peaceful development," says Chavez.
Early Sunday, the deadly bomb attack near Iran's
border with Pakistan, killed at least 40 people,
including a number of Islamic Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders & wounded 30 others.
The Sunni rebel group Jundallah (God's soldiers)
has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Expressing his sorrow over the incident, Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the "terrorist
attack" was carried out by foreign criminals.
Most Iranian sources point the finger at the US & UK.
*************************************************
THOSE SHAHAB MISSILES...
Khaled Almaeena, chief editor of Arab News,
describes Iran's tests as "sabre-rattling",
& says they don't pose an additional threat
to Iran's Gulf neighbours.
"I don't think they [Bahrain and Qatar]
should suffer from any sleepless nights ...
because any attack by Iran would result in
total demolition of the whole state by the US,
which has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world."
Almaeena says there ARE real concerns,
that Israel could launch a pre-emptive strike:
"The extreme positions that the Israelis are taking ...
these are signs of dangerous days ahead.
"It is important that the Israelis realise
......that if they try to do something
they will open a hornet's nest.
This will perhaps involve not just the whole region,
but maybe the whole world, in an unnecessary war."
Following Friday's tests, Ahmad Vahidi, defence
minister, warns Israel against any attack:.
"If this happens, which of course we do not foresee,
its ultimate result would be that it expedites
the Zionist regime's last breath," he says,
in an interview broadcast on state television.
*************************************************
NEW US ORGANISED POLL IN IRAN -
SHOWS STRONGER SUPPORT FOR THEIR GOVERNMENT
A new survey of Iranian public opinion shows
majority domestic support for both the President
and Iran’s institutions.
80% plus of 1,003 Iranian respondents interviewed
by WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO), say they believe
President Ahmadinejad is legitimate as president.
62% say they have "a lot of confidence" in the
recent election, which gave Ahmadinejad 62% of
the vote and an endorsement by the Leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Three quarters say
Khamenei reacted correctly in his endorsement.
The poll, conducted August 27th - September 10th
by native Farsi speakers interviewing by 'phone
from outside Iran, also finds that 61% favour
restoring diplomatic relations with the US;
18% "strongly", and 43% "somewhat."
While a majority is still in favour of talks,
these latest results show a drop in enthusiasm.
4 months ago, Terror Free Tomorrow (TFT),
found 40% "strongly favored" talks, and
20% favored them "somewhat."
The new survey finds widespread scepticism
about US intentions. 75% of respondents say
the US "definitely" (57%) or "probably" (18%)
wants to "impose US culture (sic) on Muslim
society". Similar percentages say US goals
include "maintaining control over the oil
resources of the Middle East" & "weakening
& dividing the Islamic world."
60% say they have "no confidence at all"
in the new US president "to do the right
thing regarding world affairs."
60% say they believe he "does not respect Islam."
The new survey, the first since the June 12th
elections by a major US polling organization,
comes at a critical moment.
Talks are now ongoing between Iran, the US,
and the 4 permanent members of the UN Security
Council, plus Germany.
While Iran proposes a wide-ranging agenda,
the US & its most sychophantic allies' priority
is to destroy Tehran’s civilian nuclear program.
The USUK partnership is pushing to impose
"crippling" economic and other sanctions
if talking doesn't make tangible progress
...by "early next year".
Israel says any negotiations are a waste of time.
72% of Iranians, meanwhile, express "a lot" (38%)
of confidence or "some confidence" (34%) in the
Iranian Ministry of the Interior, which ran the
elections; 85% express either "a lot" (64%)
or "some" (21%) confidence" in Ahmadinejad;
and 83% express "a lot" (52%) or "some" (31%)
confidence in the Iranian police. 60% say they
are "comfortable" with Khamenei’s position.
80% plus say they are "very" or "somewhat satisfied"
with the process of electing" officials in Iran
– an increase of 22% over thr WPO survey taken
in February 2008. 67% say they know the June
election was "completely free and fair."
55% of respondents say they voted for Ahmadinejad;
14% say they voted for Mr Hussein Mousavi; and
4% say they voted for the 2 other candidates,
Mohsen Rezaei & Mehdi Karroubi.
Asked for whom they would vote if an election
were to be repeated, 49% say Ahmadinejad;
8%, Mousavi; and 3%, Rezaei & Karroubi.
13% say they wouldn't vote, while 26% say
they don’t know(7%) or don't wish to answer(19%).
69% of respondents say they live in urban areas,
only 20% say they use the Internet at least
once a week or follow the radio and satellite
broadcasts from the BBC or Voice of America.
*********************************************
El BARADEI HITS BACK AT USUK & ISRAEL
The outgoing IAEA chief stands accused of
covering up Iran's nuclear ambitions,
but he calls the nuclear threat from Iran "hyped"
and says there is "no evidence" that Tehran
is soon to have nuclear weapons.
"In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped.
Yes there's concern about Iran's future intentions
and Iran needs to be more transparent with the
IAEA and international community. But the idea
that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have
a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported
by the facts as we have seen them so far."
Iran says it is ready for fresh talks with world
powers over its nuclear programme, which the
West says is a cover for building nuclear weapons.
Tehran insists its nuclear programme
is for purely civilian purposes.
In a new report, the IAEA says Iran is slowing
production of enriched uranium, which can be
used to make a nuclear bomb, and agrees now to
tighter monitoring of its enrichment plant.
USUK poo poos the report, saying Iran is still
not co-operating fully with the UN inspectors;
& Israel's Haaretz newspaper says the report
doesn't include a "classified annex" inserted
by the West to incriminate Iran.
Israel has always called for El Baradei to be sacked
but he - along with the IAEA as an institution -
won the Nobel peace prize in 2005, and says:
"About Iran, I've been told,
'Mind your own business; you're a technician,'
and yet, at other times, on other matters,
I've been told that I'm the custodian of
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -
sometimes by the very people who tell me to
mind my own business when it comes to Iran.
"I don't put much stock in either designation.
I'm neither a custodian nor a technician.
I'm merely someone who is trying to do his job."
ElBaradei steps down at the end of November,
succeeded by Yukiya Amano, a Japanese diplomat.
*************************************************
IRANIAN ELECTIONS "FAIR AND HONEST"
If you were listening to the BBC World Service
in the small hours soon after the 'fraudulent'
Iranian elections, you would have heard a
correspondent who actually lives in Iran, trying
to tell a sceptical anchorman in London that the
Iranian elections were genuine, and that there
was huge support in rural areas for the present government.
This was not at all what the man in London wanted to be told!
*************************************************
INTERFERENCE IS A CRIME
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton gives
US support for protesters opposing the outcome
of Iran's election, & provokes an Iranian reply.
Tehran's interim Friday Prayers leader Ayatollah
Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of
Experts, attacks the US for not understanding
or respecting Iran's position regarding foreign
interference in its internal affairs.
His remarks come after Clinton boasts to CNN that
the US government do a lot “behind the scenes”
for Iranian protesters staging demonstrations.
Ayatollah Khatami says the remarks show that the
Obama administration has not learnt its lesson
regarding Iran, Fars News Agency reports.
"It is for what you have done [in supporting the
protesters] that you are considered a criminal,"
Khatami emphasises, also criticising Paris for
its actions regarding Iran's disputed vote.
He suggests that the “violent crackdown” against
revolt in France, is a sign of human rights
violations in that country. Touche !!!
************************************************
US SUPPORT OF ZIONISTS LEADING TO WORLD WAR
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency
says there is zero evidence that Iran has a weapons program.
The most recent report by the highly respected
US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research
says that there is "no evidence that Iran has
yet made the decision to produce highly enriched
uranium, and INR assesses that Iran is unlikely
to make such a decision for at least as long as
international pressure and scrutiny persist."
It concludes that it could not have enough
fissile material to produce a bomb - even if
it decides to - until 2013. The INR assessment
updates the CIA National Intelligence report of 2007
which concluded that there could not be a nuclear device
until after 2010 - even if an accelerated
program of development was initiated then.
Military analysts note that Iran could not
deliver a weapon on target even if it were able
to overcome the considerable technical obstacles
to building a bomb. Yet US politicians and media
accept without question the Zionists argument
that Iran will have a bomb... "Soon" !!!
Let's pray that US politicians soon wise up;
STOP listening to Zionists, and start reading
the many reports prepared by US intelligence.
*************************************************
WEST SHOULD "CLOSE THE FILE"
As the Western media pumps poisonous lies
by quoting "anonymous" diplomats who say
Iran is "6 months away from a nuclear bomb",
Iran's new atomic head Ali Akbar Salehi says
that the West should close the Islamic
republic's nuclear file and stop its hostility.
"Legal and technical discussions about Iran's
nuclear case have finished ... and there is no
room left to keep this case open," Salehi says
in his first remarks since being appointed
to head Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation.
************************************************
NEWSWEEK REPORTER ADMITS SPYING
A reporter for Newsweek magazine Maziar Bahari, 42,
who is arrested in Tehran, confesses to acting
at the behest of Western governments, Fars News Agency reports.
Newsweek says Maziar Bahari has been reporting for years
without bias and is "beyond reproach".
A Newsweek journalist who keeps scrupulously to the truth? Naaah !!!
Iran is expecting an "imminent" attack on its
legitimate nuclear research centres.
Unnamed sources say they have received warnings
of both Israeli and US plans. So, as the Iranian
revolutionary guards move their defences closer
to the Persian gulf, perhaps it's time to 'phone
your MP? Or kiss your **** goodbye !
************************************************
IRAN V US ON PRESS FREEDOM
The US media goes into ecstasies, as an
Iranian appeals court announces it is reducing
Roxana Saberi's sentence, and ordering her
immediate release. She was convicted of spying
and sentenced to eight years in prison.
But the US practice of imprisoning journalists
- without charges or trials of any kind - continues,
and provokes virtually no objections from US journalists.
From 2001, the U.S. held Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj
in Guantanamo, with no trial of any kind, for six years.
This produced almost no coverage from the US media.
Nicholas Kristof: "There was never any real evidence
that Sami was anything but a journalist.
"The interrogators quickly gave up asking him substantive questions.
Instead, they asked him to spy on Al-Jazeera if he was released.
"American officials, by imprisoning an Al-Jazeera journalist
without charges or meaningful evidence, have done far more
damage to American interests in the Muslim world
than anything Sami could ever have done."
In Iraq, the US imprisons AP photographer Bilal Hussein
- part of AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning war coverage -
for almost two years with no charges of any kind,
after Hussein's photographs from Anbar, directly
contradict Bush's claims about affairs there.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says that
Hussein’s detention was not an isolated incident.
Over the last three years, dozens of journalists
— mostly Iraqis — have been detained by U.S. troops.
While most are released after short periods,
in at least eight cases documented by CPJ,
Iraqi journalists have been held by US forces
for weeks or months without charge or conviction.
In one case, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, CBS,
is detained after being wounded by US military fire.
Hussein is only freed one year later, after an
Iraqi criminal court, citing lack of evidence,
acquits him of collaborating with insurgents.
Right now the US continues to imprison Ibrahim Jassam,
a freelance photographer for Reuters, even though
an Iraqi court, more than five months ago,
found no evidence to justify his detention,
and ordered his release. Yet the U.S. refuses
to recognize the validity of the Iraqi court order
and says it will continue to keep him imprisoned.
The US media loves to condemn the behaviour of
other governments, while completely ignoring
much much worse behaviour by their own government.
In Iran, Saberi receives a trial and an appeal,
three weeks after she is convicted.
Compare that with the journalists put in cages for years
by the U.S. Government, with no charges,
or to the press workers the US continues to abduct,
transport to Bagram, and imprison indefinitely,
with no charges of any kind.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is
urging President Obama to end the US military's practice
of detaining journalists without charges and
is asking for a full investigation into all
killings of journalists by US military forces.
Officials with the group say the detention of journalists
without trial by US authorities in such countries as Iraq,
has reduced America's standing in the world
and emboldened other countries to do the same.
Wall Street Journal editor Paul Steiger notes in
a letter to Obama that 14 journalists were held
without due process for long periods in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
16 journalists have been killed by US fire in Iraq, he says.
"We don't believe that these are deliberate attacks,
but they have not been adequately investigated."
A freelance photographer working for Reuters, Ibrahim Jassam,
is the only journalist known of, who remains gaoled.
Al Jazeera's offices have been bombed several times
by the U.S. this decade. Shouldn't the US media
be interested in covering the attacks on press freedom
by their own government, BEFORE those by other governments?
*************************************************
MILLIPEDE STIRS THE POT
British Foreign Secretary David Millipede calls
for a "united front" between Gulf Arab countries
and global "powers" to "deal with" Iran.
"I know that many countries in the region are concerned
not just about the dangers of Iran's nuclear programme
but also Iranian activities in the region
that cause instability in many countries of the Middle East,"
Miliband tells reporters in Saudi Arabia.
"I think it's very important that there is a
united front between the countries of Europe,
America, Russia and China and countries of the Gulf
in addressing the range of issues that are posed by the Iranian regime."
Millipede makes his remarks after meeting
his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Sly little warmonger !
************************************************
IRAN OPENS GAS PIPELINE TO PAKISTAN
The Pakistan federal cabinet approves the Pakistan-Iran
gas pipeline project under which Pakistan is importing
a billion cubic feet of gas for power generation in the country.
*************************************************
US NUCLEAR SUBMARINE AND SHIP COLLIDE OFF IRAN
A nuclear-powered US submarine collides with
another US vessel in the Strait of Hormuz,
injuring at least 15 sailors, the US navy says.
The incident occurs when the USS Hartford submarine
collides with the USS New Orleans, an amphibious ship,
in the narrow strait south of Iran.
************************************************
PLEASE READ THIS BEAUTIFUL ARTICLE IN "COMMON DREAMS":
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/18-0
*************************************************
FOR IRAN AND CHINA... IT'S A GAS !
Iran and China sign a $3.2 billion gas agreement
to produce liquid natural gas.
A Chinese company is building a line to liquefy gas
in Phase 12 of the giant South Pars Gas Field in southern Iran.
The US is pushing for China to isolate Iran. Some hopes !
The ONLY way USUK can stop China, is by war.
************************************************
JOINING UP THE DOTS
The Taliban didn't blow up the twin towers.
The Afghan invasion was "in place" to secure
pipelines proposed by the US, because the Taliban
preferred to deal with a rival pipeline and cut the US out.
That's why Afghanistan is being bombed into submission.
Iraq was destroyed after signing a similar deal with China.
That is why Iran is threatened.
But attacking Iran openly, will plunge the world
into open confrontation and a probable World War.
To win control of the world and its resources,
USUK have destroyed Iraq, Somalia, and much of the Lebanon,
continue to pump up illegal aggression in Afghanistan,
as well as threatening the Sudan, Libya, the Yemen and Iran.
Iran and Georgia are definitely seen as the next
vital pieces on the board of this "Great Game".
American and Azeri officials say that the focus
of their present discussions is a surface route that could
move supplies from the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea
and overland to Baku, where they would cross the Caspian Sea
to Aktau, Kazakhstan, and then overland across Uzbekistan into Afghanistan.
Placing Georgia and Russia in the front line,
and further enclosing Iran in a ring of steel.
*************************************************
US ALLEGATIONS AGAINST IRAN:-
are "TIRED, UNWARRANTED, GROUNDLESS, BASELESS,
ABSURD, WRONG, UNJUSTIFIABLE AND FUTILE !"
Iran lashes out at the US statement on its nuclear program
and alleged engagement in terrorism, calling
such allegations "baseless and absurd."
In a letter circulated to the UN Security Council president,
Iranian permanent representative to the UN, Mohammad Khazaee:
"It is unfortunate that the Security Council yet again
hears baseless allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran
by the representative of the US in today's
meeting of the council on Iraq."
US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, says the new US administration
seeks to "end Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support for terrorism".
These comments, at the end of an open meeting of
the UN Security Council on Iraq, draw an immediate rebuke
from the Iranian UN ambassador.
"Despite the allegations made by the US representative,
Iran's nuclear program has been, is and will remain,
absolutely peaceful, and Iran has never tried,
nor will EVER try, to acquire nuclear weapons."
"It is unfortunate that, yet again, we hear the same
tired, unwarranted and groundless allegations that used to be
unjustifiably and futilely repeated by the previous US administration."
The Iranian asks Japanese UN ambassador Yukio Takasu,
who holds the council presidency in February,
to circulate the letter as a Security Council document
"since the format of the said meeting did not allow
my delegation to make a statement at the council's meeting."
"The allegation made against Iran on terrorism
is also equally baseless and absurd," the letter says.
"As a victim of terrorism, we have always condemned terrorism
in all its aspects and manifestations."
"Instead of raising allegations against others,
the US had better take concrete and meaningful steps
to correct its past wrong policies and practices vis-a-vis other nations
including the Islamic Republic of Iran," the letter adds.
***********************************************
GAZA "PRE-INTRODUCTION" TO WORLD WAR THREE
Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem,
calls the recent Israeli war in the Gaza Strip
"a pre-introduction" to an attack on Iran
which Israel expects within this year.
Before a camera is turned off, Ambassador Rotem says
"the best thing to do is to have a very open dialogue
if there are no reporters or journalists here.
I am far more reserved on camera in the way I say my things."
However Sarah Cummings, a reporter for Australia’s
Seven News service, IS there, after being "accidentally" invited.
Iran is repeatedly warning that it will respond
by attacking US interests, and this could result
- according to many specialists - in world war.
***********************************************
Below, is a short extract
from an article by Andrew Wimmer,
which appears in Counterpunch.
"The crude reality is that our weapons of mass destruction,
both nuclear and conventional, are prepared for an assault on Iran.
Our warships are in the gulf. Our planes are on standby.
And all of this is consummate human folly.
Some who are knowledgeable say that nothing save pure dumb luck
can change the course upon which the United States government
and its military have embarked. We can’t live with that.
We are taking steps to escalate the appeal,
not only to the pope but to anyone of stature
who’s presence in Esfahan would serve as a real deterrent
to the launching of an assault by the United States."
"To whom else can we make our appeal?
We are going to make the appeal as noisily and
with as much public disruption as we can muster.
And we urge everyone else reading these words to do the same."
To VISIT the IRANPEACESHIELD Website,
PRESS THE LINK BELOW
STOP MARJAH ATTACK - GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW !!!
Activists line the street in front of Senator
Klobuchar’s office, holding signs and banners
demanding an end to the attack on Majah.
They gather at Klobuchar office to demand the new
escalation of the war in Afghanistan, stop now.
Initiated by the Iraq Peace Action Coalition,
organizations participating in the rally
include the Anti-War Committee, University of
Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society
and Women Against Military Madness.
A statement from the Iraq Peace Action Coalition:
"Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians are in
imminent peril as US and NATO military forces
enter the city of Marjah."
Meredith Aby of the Anti War Committee:
"It is important we have a visible and active
anti-war movement that responds to moves to
escalate the war. We need to be in the streets
demanding that the US gets out of Afghanistan
and that all US occupations of other countries,
come to an end."
*************************************************
Peace Demonstrations Demand US Pullout from Afghanistan
The antiwar movement is out in the streets again
demanding the immediate withdrawal of US troops
from Afghanistan, say spokespersons representing
the National Assembly to End the Iraq and
Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.
The actions are held in over 40 cities across the
US and feature rallies, marches, teach-ins, and
other forms of protest (see website for details).
Marilyn Levin, a Boston peace activist and
spokesperson for the National Assembly, says
that support for the actions soared...
driven primarily by events in Afghanistan.
"You hear a lot of talk these days about the
President listening to the generals. We say it's
high time that the President starts listening to
the American people, who have turned decisively
against continuation of the war and occupation.
Eight years is more than enough and the people
don't want another Vietnam!"
She says the largest actions are probably
the ones in Boston and San Francisco.
Among demands being voiced, Levin says, are
the immediate withdrawal of all US troops
military personnel, bases, contractors and
mercenaries from Iraq and Pakistan; money for
jobs, health care and housing, not wars and
corporate bailouts; end US support for the
Israeli occupation of Palestine and end the
siege of Gaza; US hands off Iran and North
Korea; end war crimes, including torture,
and prosecute war criminals.
************************************************
US OCCUPIES 75% OF WORLD's COUNTRIES
According to the US Department of Defence’s quarterly report:
"Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths
by Regional Area and by Country,"
U.S. troops are stationed in 146 countries
and 12 territories across the world.
That's 75% of the world’s countries!!!
**********************************************
YESTERDAY, ALL MY TROUBLES SEEMED SO FAR AWAY...
Thousands of residents of Japan's southern island
of Okinawa Saturday stage a protest against the
presence of the US military on the eve of
a major rally against a controversial airbase.
Some 2,500 people living in Kadena town, which
already hosts a large US Air Force base that
frequently provokes complaints over the noise
of jet planes flying day and night, protest at
a government proposal that the city accept
another US military installation.
The demonstration comes a day before Okinawans
stage a major rally against a 2006 Japan-US
military agreement, ahead of US President
Barack Obama's first visit to Tokyo.
Under the pact, Tokyo's then conservative
government agreed with Washington that the US
Marine Corps Futenma Air Base, which Okinawa has
long demanded be moved out of a residential area,
be relocated to the island's coastal Camp Schwab site.
New Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama - who swept to
power in a landslide and has vowed a less
subservient relationship with Washington -
said during the election campaign he would
review the agreement and wanted the base
moved off the island or even out of the country.
But under pressure from the US, which is demanding
that Japan honour the pact, Foreign Minister
Katsuya Okada is proposing that the Futenma
operation merge with the already existing air
base in Kadena - a suggestion that is deeply
angering Kadena residents.
"No matter what reasons or what explanations are
given, I will never accept it," says Kadena
mayor, Tokujitsu Miyagi, at the rally.
"Let's get rid of this proposal with our unshaken determination!"
More than 30,000 protesters are expected to
gather Sunday against the 2006 agreement
in a park near the Futenma Air Base in
Ginowan city, organisers say.
The Futenma base, in a densely populated urban area,
is a bete noir for local opponents who are
angered by aircraft noise, the risk of accidents
and crimes committed by US service personnel.
"The Okinawan people are ready to shoulder the
burdens of hosting the US military if the rest
of Japan does the same," says Miyagi, whose town
loses 83% of its land for the base, according to
town documents. "But what Okinawa has sacrificed
has been just too much."
Washington and Tokyo have been close "allies"
since the 2nd World War, with the US providing
Japan with all its "security".
Subtropical Okinawa, 1,600 klmtrs (1,000 miles)
south of Tokyo, is a strategic site near China,
Taiwan and North Korea, hosting more than half
of all 47,000 US troops stationed in the country.
*************************************************
US FIRST IN DEADLY ARMAMENT SALES
According to a new Congressional study the US
is now selling 68.4% of all worldwide arms sales.
With $37.8 billion in weapons sales in 2008,
the US is now selling TEN TIMES more armaments
than the next death exporter, Italy.
*************************************************
STUDY SHOWS OBAMA IS HURTING BLACK FAMILIES MOST
Pew Charitable Trust has just published a study
"Black and White families,” which indicates that
black families in the US are experiencing growing
financial inequality compared to white families.
White families enjoy economic progress from one
generation to the next, but for African-Americans,
the report says, the process is often reversed.
Their research shows that 45% of black children
from middle class families in 1968 - with an
average income of almost $56,000 a year, dropped,
upon growing, to belong to families with an
average annual income of just over $23,000
that is, less than half their previous wealth.
This impoverishment effects almost half of all
black men. In whites, it's just 16% of families.
Pew’s research shows pessimism among black men
as to any possibility of true progress.
The domestic and foreign policies of the current
government of the US increases their pessimism,
and increases the difficulties that blacks face.
People questioned also see the massive resources
- 2009 estimate of $800 billion for Iraq alone -
wasted by the occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan.
This money spent on wars could completely change
the economic and social prospects for millions of
black and white poor people in the US.
Just weeks ago, the president of the US vetoed a
law giving medical coverage to millions of North
American poor children who today lack any help.
The financing would have come from an increase
in the tax on cigarettes, but the president
decided not to confront the tobacco lobby.
The wars the US chooses to fight may make money
for bankers and armaments manufacturers, but has
led directly to a very unstable world-wide economy;
to massive increases in fuel prices, bankruptcies
and the loss of millions of homes. Hundreds of
thousands of families - but especially black ones
- are the principal victims, because of their
vulnerable personal and family finances, and this
is leading to family breakdowns. Often suicides.
*************************************************
CALIFORNIA's REAL DEATH PANELS:
INSURERS DENY 21% OF CLAIMS
PacifiCare denies 40%, Cigna 33% in 1st half of 2009
More than 1 in 5 requests for medical claims
for insured patients, even when recommended
by a patient's physician, are rejected by
California's largest private insurers,
amounting to very real death panels
in practice daily in the nation's biggest state,
according to data released today by the
California Nurses Association/
National Nurses Organizing Committee.
CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by
the insurers to the California Department of
Managed Care. From 2002 to June 30th, 2009,
the six largest insurers operating in California
rejected 31.2 million claims – 21% of all claims.
The data to be shown by Don DeMoro, director of
CNA/NNOC's research arm, the Institute for
Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at CNA/NNOC's
biennial convention on Tuesday, September 8th
in San Francisco. The convention will also
feature a panel presentation from nurse leaders
in Canada, UK and Australia exploding the myths
about their national healthcare systems.
"With all the dishonest claims made by some
politicians about alleged 'death panels' in
proposed national legislation, the reality for
patients today is a daily, cold-hearted rejection
of desperately needed medical care by the nation's
biggest and wealthiest insurance companies
simply because they don't want to pay for it,"
says Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president.
For the first half of 2009, as the national
debate over healthcare reform was escalating,
the rejection rates are even more striking.
PacifiCare deny 40% of all California claims
in the first six months of 2009. Cigna, which
gained notoriety two years ago for denying a
liver transplant to 17-year-old Nataline
Sarkisyan of Northridge, California and then
reversing itself, tragically too late to save
her life, was still rejecting one-third of all
claims for the first half of 2009.
"Every claim that is denied represents a real
patient enduring pain and suffering. Every
denial has real, sometimes fatal consequences,"
says Burger. PacifiCare, for example, denied a
special procedure for treatment of bone cancer
for Nick Colombo, a 17-year-old from Placentia,
California. Again, after protests organised by
Nick's family and friends, CNA/NNOC & netroots
activists, PacifiCare reversed its decision.
But like Nataline Sarkisyan, the delay resulted
in critical time lost & Nick ultimately died.
"This was his last effort and the procedure had
worked before with people in Nick's situation,"
says his older brother Ricky.
California Blues reject 28% of claims in the
first half of 2009. In 2008, six days before RN
Kim Kutcher of Dana Point, California, is
scheduled to have special back surgery, Blue
Cross deny authorization for the procedure as
"investigational" even though the lumbar
artificial disc she was to receive has FDA approval.
At the time of denial, which she calls "insurance hell,"
Kutcher notes she has "already gone through pre-
op testing, donated a unit of blood, had
appointments with four physicians."
Kutcher paid $60,000 out of pocket for the
operation and is still fighting Blue Cross.
Kaiser Permanente, which deny 285 of all claims
in the first half of 2009, is one of two systems
to reject options for radiation and chemotherapy
for 57-year-old Bob Scott of Sacramento
after his diagnosis of a brain tumor in 2005.
The reason cited is his age, says wife Cheryl
Scott, RN. "He had been in perfect health all of
his life. This was his first problem other than
a sprained ankle. He died six months later."
Rejection of care is a very lucrative business
for the insurance giants. The top 18 insurance
giants racked up $15.9 billion in profits last year.
"The routine denial of care by private insurers
is like the elephant in the room no one in the
present national healthcare debate seems to want
to talk about," Burger says. "Nothing in any of
the major bills advancing in the Senate or House
or proposed by the administration would
challenge this practice. The US remains the only
country in the industrialised world where human
lives are sacrificed for private profit,
a national disgrace that seems on the verge of
perpetuation," she says.
CNA/NNOC supports an alternative approach,
expanding Medicare to cover all US citizens,
which would give the US a national system
similar to that which exists in other nations.
Data released in late August by the OECD,
which tracks developed nations, found that
among 30 industrial nations, the US ranks last
in life expectancy at birth for men & 24th for women.
The California Nurses Association, and its
national arm, the National Nurses Organizing
Committee, is one of the nation's premiere
nurses' organizations and health care unions.
One of the fastest growing health care
organizations in the US, CNA/NNOC presently has
80,000 members in 50 states, representing nurses
at scores of hospitals, clinics & home health agencies.
************************************************
US LEADS THE WORLD - IN DEATH
Tens of thousands of people die each year in the
United States from lack of medical attention.
Despite high healthcare spending in the United States,
47 million people are without medical insurance
and 108 million insured people have insufficient
medical coverage. As a consequence, between 18,000
(according to the Institute of Medicine) and 100,000
(according to Himmelstein, Harvard University)
die each year because of a lack of adequate
medical attention. The principal cause of this
situation is the enormous cost of prescription
drugs, sophisticated medical equipment,
and private health insurance.
************************************************
WHICH COUNTRY REALLY RULES THE WORLD?
Read this article in Pravda... it will REALLY blow your mind !!!
If the hidden costs of weapon replacements
and compensation for US soldiers are included,
the Iraq war's total costs will be between 2 and 3 trillion dollars
and the economic effect will last much longer than the war itself,
according to the estimates of leading economists.
Human and social costs, although the US casualty rate
has slowed down, are also still adding up.
More than 4,200 US troops have been killed
over the past six years and there will be more,
since the war will not be wrapped up for at least
18 months, a time - Obama says - when US combat
missions in Iraq will end.
The US war machine is now weaker, with worn-out equipment,
low morale and wide-spread "health" problems among soldiers.
The New York Times reports that the Pentagon is rethinking
its long-time strategy of "being ready for two wars"
because of the ruinous effects of the Iraq war.
As many as 20% of all US military forces
could have brain injuries as a result of
the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
*********************************************
TRIPPING THE TRAP
Amir Sultan Tarar, who trained at Fort Bragg,
the US army base where US special forces are stationed,
and who trained Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, to fight,
warns that Nato forces will never win in Afghanistan,
and should start talks, rather than sacrifice more lives.
"You can never win the war in Afghanistan," says "Colonel Imam",
who ran the training programme for Afghan resistance
to the Soviet Union’s occupation, and helped form the Taliban.
"I have worked with these people since the 1970s,
and I tell you they will never be defeated.
Anyone who has come here has got stuck.
The more you kill, the more they will expand."
“When people in Helmand heard the British were coming back,
the cry went up all over: ‘Remember Maiwand?
Our old enemy has come to the same area where
they were once defeated to take revenge’.
Then everyone, Taliban and nonTaliban, joined together.
They told me on the phone, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll
make sure the Brits don’t have an easy time’."
His comments come as the number of UK soldiers
killed in Afghanistan rises to 184...
more than the number who died in Iraq.
*********************************************
AN UNUSUAL CELEBRATION OF NURSES' WEEK
by Eileen Prendiville - USA
In mid May, nurses from six different nursing
unions gathered in Washington, DC to celebrate
Nurse’s Week. A march and rally in front of the
Capitol was followed by visits to Congress to
promote legislation that would enhance our
practice and to push for single payer healthcare.
Senator Barbara Boxer from California introduced
the National Nurse Retention and Nursing
Shortage Act, which includes nurse-to-patient ratios.
Other proposed legislation includes a bill to
prevent mandatory overtime, a bill that would
prevent nurses from being inappropriately
reclassified as supervisors, a safe patient
handling and whistle-blower protection bill,
and the Employee Free Choice Act.
It was interesting to walk the halls of Congress
– we nurses in our red scrubs and years of
experience caring for patients – rubbing
shoulders with the many lobbyists (mostly white
males) in their expensive suits – many from the
insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital industry
– who were there to ensure that Congress doesn’t
enact any kind of single payer plan (such as HR
676) that might threaten their profits.
On the previous day, the anniversary of Florence
Nightingale’s birthday, waves of single payer
advocates, including nurses and physicians, were
arrested at Senator Max Baucus’s Senate Finance
Committee hearing after they stood up and
demanded that single payer be included in the
healthcare debate. This was the second week in a row
that the hearing had been disrupted in this way.
Senator Baucus has consistently stated that a
single-payer system, where the federal government
acts as the nation's sole health insurance provider,
is off the table. On Capitol Hill, Baucus is the
third largest recipient of donations from drug
companies and the for-profit medical industry.
Senator Baucus expects the same people who
created the problem to solve the problem. He has
consulted with executives from Health Net,
Kaiser, AHIP (America’s Health Insurance Plans),
the American Hospital Association, the American
Medical Association, the pharmaceutical industry
and their lobbying groups.
Despite huge public pressure, including vocal
disapproval from his own constituents in Montana,
Senator Baucus refused to meet with advocates for single payer.
Then he caved.
In late May, Senator Baucus was invited to speak
at a Democratic fund-raiser in San Francisco,
where he was again dogged by dozens of single
payer advocates with picket signs. A few days
later, he agreed to meet with single-payer advocates.
We have to keep up the pressure. Healthcare
should not be a commodity, but a human right.
Senator Baucus has received millions of dollars
from the for-profit medical industry:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/31-4%20
Eileen Prendiville is an RN at an acute-care
hospital in San Francisco, USA. She is also on
the bargaining team of the California Nurses Association.
The article above is taken from PEOPLE FIRST !
To subscribe to PEOPLE FIRST! or to join IHWPOP
visit:
www.healthworkersinternational.org
WALES - LATEST NEWS ! ! !
The Tory leaning Vale of Glamorgan council
has just allowed planning permission for
the new war training academy at Saint Athan;
by promising it will "create thousands
of jobs in the future".
£12bn of private and public money is being
poured into the project at St Athan, named
after a peaceful follower of Christ !
It will give "specialist training" on how to
assassinate, and cow civilian revolt to "special
forces" from around the globe. The US one was
closed down by protesters. It was infamous as "the
school of torture" and trained many death squads.
Construction is now due to begin "late next year"
after the scheme was approved by councillors
at a "special" planning meeting on Thursday.
But the final say doesn't rest with the people
of Wales, according to the official media, but
"rests with" (sic, the BBC) the UK's MoD.
Metrix, the consortium behind the scheme
who are trying to build and run the site,
say "around" 2,200 jobs will be created.
Most of the jobs will be for low skilled
security, cleaning and catering workers.
That shuts up those dangerous unemployed plebs, then!
Metrix chairman Charles Barringto:
"It is truly a win-win situation for
all the stakeholders involved in this...
"This decision is a huge step forward in our plans
to reach contract agreement with the MoD in 2010."
Vale of Glamorgan Labour (!) MP, John Smith:
"This ...investment is going ahead here in the Vale
and I want people here to get ready for it.
"Get ready to make the most of the tens of millions of pounds
that'll be injected into the local economy each year."
BBC Wales's business correspondent Nick Servini
says a final decision is unlikely before...
next year's general election. Hmmm.
The Liberal Democrat's Dr Vince Cable says
the "academy" should be scrapped, because
it is "too costly" in this economic climate.
Plaid Cymru members have passed a motion
expressing some opposition at their conference.
So the peace movement in Wales now has a struggle
to stop Wales becoming famous as the place where
torturers & aggressive regimes send their thugs.
From the land of song - to the land of screams?
*************************************************
I've never been an anarchist... was it Lenin who wrote
"Left wing communism, an infantile disorder" ?
Anyway, below is a link to an anarchist website,
which carries an article well worth reporting:
Paste the above into your browser to read Leanne Wood's
latest comments on the Saint Athan monster PFI.
Or see the link below:
http://leannewoodamac.blogspot.com/
***********************************************
Excerpt From Angharad Mair's last Wales on Sunday article !
Y Seren Gwyl Dewi Sant 2009
"THIS is sadly my last column for Wales on Sunday
and I'd like to thank everyone who's bothered to respond.
Having said that, I can’t understand the mentality
of people who feel they have to hide behind pseudonyms.
If you have something that’s worth saying –
then surely it’s worth putting your name to it?
Anyway, since this is my final column I did think of
having a rant against the wind farms proposed for Wales.
But there is one proposed expansion in Wales
which is far more dangerous and risky than wind farms,
so I’ll concentrate on that one – the proposed
multi-billion-pound military academy at St Athan
near Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan.
One article in the South Wales Echo last week
quoted the local MP as saying that Barry could become
South Wales’ 21st century version of the Californian
Gold Rush, and a recession-busting boom town.
And yes, it would be easy – especially in the dire
economic times we are currently experiencing –
to get excited at the thought of 5,000 new jobs
and economic benefits across South Wales.
This proposed military academy will indeed be a huge development
and will bring all the three forces together – the RAF, Army and Navy.
Do you still think this sounds like good news?
Then think again.
Is this the kind of development we really need or want here in Wales?
Thankfully, since the beginning of the horrific,
illegal war in Iraq we have been quite sheltered
here in Wales from having to live with the fear
of a terrorist attack.
Businesses in London now have to pay huge insurance premiums
as protection against terrorism, and that’s scary,
because if such an attack were to happen
the insurance for the building and content
might be nothing compared to the loss of lives.
Any who knew victims of the tube and bus bombings
will know the horrors of living in the shadow of terrorism.
It’s unkind and unfair to the local people to use
descriptions such as a “new gold rush” and
“recession-busting” and “new boom-town” and
“world-leading centre of excellence” without also explaining
that this will be the military centre for the whole of the UK
and that could bring dire consequences to Wales
as well as turning a beautiful and peaceful part of our country
into what would have to be a security-obsessed nightmare.
There would be new jobs – yes. But a high proportion
of these “new” jobs would be relocated work
from existing training establishments around the UK.
In Wales we have a long and proud tradition of peace and pacifism,
and that should be enough reason to condemn this horrific development.
But even if you are a supporter of the military,
Wales will be put at the forefront of the war
in Iraq and Afghanistan with this expansion.
Don’t be fooled or blinded by the prospects
of jobs, and economic growth.
Look at the wider picture, and especially if you
live in the area, start campaigning now against
what could turn out to be the biggest mistake in
the history of modern Wales..."
(Thanks to Jill Gough for passing on the above.)
************************************************
"ESSENTIAL" TRAINING FOR WAR - END OF PEACE FOR VALE
Michael Foster MP, following a number of complaints
from his constituents about noise from low-flying planes
over Worcester, is told that the MOD is "sorry"
for any disturbance caused, but that the aircraft
were taking part in "essential" training.
St Athan may have to put up with noise from low flying aircraft,
helicopters, tanks and additional traffic.
It seems with "essential" training there are NO boundries.
Local residents and councillors may well raise questions
about noise and complain, but if the St Athan Mega base opens,
there will be no "quiet life" at St Athan and the Vale of Glamorgan!
***********************************************
PARTNERS IN TORTURE
"A large portion of the torture, maiming, and murder of detainees
occurred under authority issued under secret rules of engagement
in the Pentagon," writes Scott Horton, contributing editor
with Harper's magazine. "Much of this flowed through
Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone,
a figure who has so far evaded scrutiny in the torture scandal
and now serves as vice president for strategy of QinetiQ North America,
a subsidiary of the United Kingdom-based defense contractor QinetiQ.
Even the Senate Armed Services Committee review fails to
get to the bottom of Dr. Cambone, his interrogations ROEs
for special operations units he controlled, and the death,
disfigurement and torture of prisoners they handled."
QinetiQ are one of the main "partners" in the new St Athan plan.
***********************************************
SODEXO "GIVES A BOOST" TO MILITARY SCHOOL, SAYS MEDIA
A counter-offensive threatens the Peace movement in Wales,
with right-wing loonies lashing out and smearing
those who have no wish to see Wales' main industry
lie in serving USUK war plans.
John Smith insults those who died in two World wars
to "end all wars", by branding voices opposing
the massive development as "simply unacceptable"
and "dangerous and irresponsible nonsense
that should be stopped now".
He flies in the face of the vast majority in Wales
who hate war, and insults the miners, whose slogan
"Peace and Socialism" sits uneasily on the gates
of a publicly funded training school for the world's military.
*************************************************
DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE MILITARY ACADEMY,
The last anti-St Athan march WAS larger than expected.
An activist from the Derry-based Raytheon 9 campaign
spoke at the closing rally. The Raytheon 9 are
currently facing trial following their excursion
into Raytheon's offices in Derry in protest against
the arms giant's involvement in multiple atrocities.
Raytheon are part of the Metrix consortium
who want to build and run the military academy
at St Athan in a glorified HP agreement known as PFI,
which our children and our children's children, would eventually all have to pay.
Other speakers included Jill Evans MEP,
the only professional politician in Wales
to oppose the project.
Great to see Leanne Wood there also !
Anti-St Athan campaigners on the ground
report that the groundswell of opposition to the giant academy
extends well beyond pacifist, socialist and anarchist groups,
particularly in the local areas most affected by
the expected influx of squaddies from half the world's armies.
That opposition will surely grow, now the strength of feeling
against St Athan has started to make itself known.
The demonstration was impossible to ignore -
even by the post-Hutton BBC with its paranoia
at being seen as anti-war and its comfortable
business relationship with Land Services Trillium,
the property outsourcing group who are building its new centres
and who also happen to be fully paid-up partners
in the Metrix consortium.
**************************
St Athan Military ‘Academy’
In January 2007, the Westminster government
announced the "success" of the St Athan and Metrix
bid to establish a new military training academy
in the Vale of Glamorgan. In Wales, the first
Minister Rhodri Morgan and the economic minister
Andrew Davies sprayed Champagne outside the
Senedd in celebration.The impression given in the
Western Mail newspaper was that this was just
about the best thing that had ever happened to
Wales: £15 billion worth of contract and around 5,000 jobs.
But just how will this military academy
contribute to the Assembly’s proud goal of
achieving sustainable development?
What exactly is Wales committing itself to
when it signs on to the St Athan deal?
* a future based on militarism?
* a stand against the international
victims of British military aggression?
* a commitment to selling Welsh youth
for military work?
* an acceptance of ‘green-washing’ over
genuine environmental accounting?
* a commitment to military privatisation?
* a welcome mat for the world’s
largest missile manufacturer?
What will be the impact on Welsh education, and
the social and political values that are taught
to Welsh children and youth?
Those who are committed to a nuclear-free Wales
should be aware that the Royal Navy’s Maritime
Engineering School, which contains the Nuclear
Systems Group, is projected to move from HMS
Sultan to St Athan by 2017. The Nuclear Systems
Group trains the Naval Officers responsible for
operating the nuclear submarines that are the
cruel heart and bitter soul of Britain’s Trident
nuclear weapons system.
If you would like to register your opposition,
PRESS THE LINK BELOW
To sign the online petition,
PRESS THE LINK BELOW THAT
The number of people critically hungry in the world
is now at its highest level since records began,
with more than 1 billion - 1 out of 6 people -
unable to buy enough food to keep alive.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says that
the number of hungry passes 1 billion this year,
just as WFP faces a 20-year-low in food aid.
The WFP says it needs $6.67bn in funds
to help people cope with rising food prices,
droughts and conflicts, but has only $2.6bn.
The programme says the shortage in aid means
it is CUTTING its services worldwide.
In Bangladesh, the WFP reaches barely 1 million,
out of 5 million there without any food.
In Kenya, it is reaching less than half
of those struggling to cope with drought.
Josette Sheeran, executive director of the WFP,
says the crisis is becoming much, much worse.
***********************************************
RWANDA "CELEBRATES" GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY.
The most obvious sign of the West's racism,
is that French troops who aided the Rwandan genocide
...which involved defenceless men, women and
children hacked to pieces with machetes or axes,
and when OVER ONE MILLION HUMAN BEINGS were killed...
are being almost completely ignored in the West.
THEY are not being charged for genocide by "our" courts.
and there's a saying in the West:
"ignorance is bliss" ... !
The International Court at The Hague is exposed as a
poisonous racist body, which - in a good fair world -
would be charged and sentenced itself, for being an
accessory after the fact, and its top officials imprisoned.
************************************************
Survivors of Rwanda's 1994 genocide say they may
stop sending witnesses to the UN tribunal in Tanzania,
to protest at recent acquittals of 2 genocide suspects.
Groups who provide witnesses for the trials,
say they will not cooperate unless the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
reverses its decision to release Hormisdas
Nsengimana and Protais Zigiranyirazo.
"The ICTR should sit down and revise their decision
... if there are no other positive decisions taken,
the relationship is cut off," Freddy Mutanguha,
general secretary of IBUKA, an umbrella group
for survivor organizations says at a protest in Kigali.
The ICTR has convicted 39 of 47 cases heard.
It released Nsengimana this week saying it
didn't have evidence to convict the Catholic pastor
of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Tanzania-based court also freed Zigiranyirazo
citing serious factual and legal errors.
************************************************
US ARMY CYANIDE BOMBS - "NO PLANS" TO MOVE THEM.
Several thousand World War II-era chemical munitions
have been found by deep-diving submersibles
under a joint Army-University of Hawaii team.
The U.S. military dumped some 2,500 tons of weapons
containing lethal mustard, cyanide, lewisite, cyanogens and chloride
at three deep-sea sites several miles off Oahu.
More than 16,000 individual bombs were dumped there.
Over 17 days, a $3 million effort involving remote devices
and the university’s two submersibles found several thousand bombs
at depths of 1,500 feet by using sonar.
The US Army says it has "no plans" to remove the munitions.
SPOT THE LOONY
Milliband says the UK is not interfering in Iran,
as Auntie BBC pours money and effort into pumping
propaganda via new satelites to force insurrection.
Is this what BBC licence-payers want or pay for?
Moloch-Brown says the UK supports Zimbabwe's peace
and its attempts to place unity before war ....
but says that sanctions are to "remain in place"
.... that must be those sanctions that the UK says
"aren't harming Zimbabwe's economy!
If Blair was Bush's poodle, then Brown is Obama's Schitzu...
as he will NOT hold an open inquiry into the Iraq invasion,
despite the Tories saying THEY will !!!
The Georgian armed forces kill demonstrators,
and the US bombs and tortures, yet "our" media
concentrate on criticising Iran. You know what
they say... "give a dog a bad name -
and you might as well HANG him!"
What a cynical spiteful attitude the UK has !!!
For news on Iran, scroll down about halfway...
CHRISTIANS AND "JUST WAR" ...
Western Christian theologians Aquinas and Suarez
laid down that, to be just, a war’s cause must be:
1) To vindicate an undoubted and internationally recognized crime.
2) All peaceful means (negotiations) must have been tried in vain.
3) The good to be done must clearly outweigh the evil that will be done by the war.
4) There must be reasonable hope that in the end justice can be achieved for both sides.
5) The means are licit (weapons must be limited and legitimate).
6) International law must be observed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Daniel C. Maguire, Professor of Moral Theological
Ethics at Marquette University, says modern
international understanding still gives us
six conditions necessary to justify a war.
She states that if we fail on just one
of these conditions, we fail utterly:
1) A just cause.
2) Declaration by competent authority.
3) Right intention.
4) Non-combatant immunity.
5) Last resort.
6) Proportionality: war must do more good than harm.
President Obama in Oslo, she says, spoke of violence
as the surest & final arbiter for a fallen humanity.
It is “a pity beyond all telling”, she comments,
that the “just war theory” Obama invoked in Oslo,
condemns completely the very war policies he defended
as he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Daniel C. Maguire, a Professor of Moral Theological Ethics at Marquette University,
is the author of "The Horrors We Bless: Rethinking the Just-War Legacy".
*************************************************
Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) stated in 2003,
"There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq.
To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons
that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups,
today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit
to admit the very existence of a ‘just war.’"
*************************************************
THE WEAK UK BISHOP - & JESUS, PRINCE OF PEACE.
The new Bishop for the UK's Armed Forces says
he is deeply grieved to have caused offence
by suggesting that the Taleban could be admired
for their religious conviction and loyalty.
The "Right Reverend" Stephen Venner now emphasises
his complete and uncritical support for anything
that UK troops do in their occupation of Afghanistan.
After just ONE MP accuses him of offering
“comfort and succour to our enemies”,
the "Right reverend" Bishop folds & praises war.
Bob Russell, Lib Dem (!) MP for the garrison town
of Colchester in Essex, asks stridently:
“Why did he not talk about the loyalty of our troops?
“The bishop would have been well advised
to concentrate on boosting the morale of our Armed Forces
rather than boosting the morale of our enemy.”
So Bishop Venner now apologises for his comments,
saying that it was just “one small phrase
in quite a long interview. If that has caused offence,
I am deeply grieved by it because that’s
the very last thing that I would want to do.”
The bishop also issues a statement condemning the Taleban’s tactics
and expressing his complete backing for UK forces
actions in their illegal and immoral occupation.
He says: “The way that the Taleban are waging war
in Afghanistan is evil, both in their use of
indiscriminate killing and their terrorising
of the civilian population. No religion could
condone their actions.
“I give my full support to the UK and allied troops
who are engaged in the country, seeking to work
with the Afghan Government to bring stability,
democracy and an enduring peace. (sic)
“I acknowledge that long-lasting peace will not
be achieved without both defeating the Taleban
militants and, over time, by encouraging them
to forsake the path of war and to be involved
in the future of Afghanistan.
“Senior military and civilian leaders have expressed
similar views and I support their position.
“We have also to distinguish between the militant Taleban
and those of their number who are fighting
because they have been coerced into doing so,
and who fear for their lives if they do not.
Clearly, it is only those who reject military
action with whom we could talk.”
Bishop Venner was recently commissioned in his new role
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
He was formerly the Bishop of Dover...
and should have bloody stayed there.
************************************************
US MILITARY MUSLIMS "CONFLICTED"
A classmate of the Fort Hood shooting suspect
says Major Nidal Hasan was an outspoken opponent
of the US war on "terror" and called it a
"war against Islam."
Dr Val Finnell was a classmate of Hasan's at the
Uniformed Services University of the Health
Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Both attended a
master's course in public health in 2007 & 2008.
Finnell says he got to know Hasan well, in an
environmental health class. At the end of
the class, students gave presentations.
Finnell says Hasan's topic was whether the war
against terror was "a war against Islam."
Finnell says Hasan was a "vociferous opponent"
of the US invasions of Muslim countries.
Finnell says Hasan told classmates he was
"a Muslim first and an American second."
Major Hasan felt let down by the US military,
say those who knew him through his mosque.
Duane Reasoner Jr., a substitute teacher
whose parents worked at Fort Hood, says Major
Hassan was told he would be sent to Afghanistan
on November the 28th, and he did not like it.
"He said he should quit the Army," Mr. Reasoner says.
"In the Koran, you’re not supposed to have
alliances with Jews or Christian or others,
and if you are killed in the military
fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell."
Mr Benjamin, who worked as a private contractor
in Iraq and Afghanistan after leaving the Army
in 2000, says the military should have let
Major Hassan resign. "They should take more
consideration of the human beings in the uniform,"
he says, "rather than simply say, ‘We invested
our money in you & need to get our money’s worth.’"
However, Mr. Benjamin adds, Major Hassan overlooked
an important and peaceful tenet of Islam:
"We do have the right to retaliate;
but he who does not is twice blessed."
************************************************
UK CHURCH LEADER CALLS FOR TROOP WITHDRAWAL
The UK government should pull its troops out of
Afghanistan, the Moderator of the Presbyterian
Church of Wales says.
The Reverend Haydn Thomas calls for Gordon Brown
to base his foreign policy on Christian principles
in his final address as Moderator in a speech
at Lampeter University.
He says: “Is a war which is winning us nothing
but enemies the most effective way of preventing
massacres like the one in London four years ago?”
“The world has lost its way. Answering terrorism
with terrorism is not the answer. Four times more
UK soldiers have already died in Afghanistan
than were civilians killed on the 7th of July.”
Reverend Gwenda Richards, from Caernarfon,
is succeeding him as Moderator.
*************************************************
STAY OUT OF US CHURCHES - PEOPLE ARE NICER OUTSIDE!
A majority (54%) of those in the US who attend
church regularly say torture can be "justified,"
while a majority of those not attending church
regularly say that torture is rarely or never justified.
************************************************
POPE CALLS FOR END OF SIEGE
Pope Benedict empathizes with the plight of Palestinians:
"I know how much you have suffered and continue to suffer
as a result of the turmoil that has afflicted this land for decades.
My heart goes out to all the families who have been left homeless."
"The Holy See supports the right of your people
to a sovereign Palestinian homeland in the land
of your forefathers, secure and at peace with
its neighbours, within internationally recognized borders."
The pontiff recognizes the Palestinians’ right
"to contact between family members and access to the holy places,"
and says "It is my earnest hope that the serious concerns
involving security in Israel and the Palestinian Territories
will soon be allayed sufficiently to allow greater freedom of movement.”
Benedict continues: "In a special way my heart goes out
to all the pilgrims from war-torn Gaza: I ask you
to bring back to your families and your communities
my warm embrace, and my sorrow for the loss, the hardship,
and the suffering you have had to endure.
Please be assured of my solidarity with you
in the immense work of rebuilding which now lies ahead
and my prayers that the embargo will soon be lifted."
Among the gifts Benedict receives, is a piece
of the 30 foot high concrete separation wall
that snakes around Bethlehem. The concrete is
presented to the pope by the municipal council of Bethlehem.
He is also presented with carved stones from
Tiberius and Jerusalem with maps of the Holy
Land inscribed on them, calligraphic scrolls
with the Gospel of Luke inscribed on them, and
a traditional Palestinian scarf with symbolic
embroidery covering one side.
***********************************************
FIRST POPE TO ENTER DOME
Benedict XVI becomes the first pope in history
to enter the iconic Dome of the Rock Mosque
in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Before the pope arrives, Palestinian politicians
and clerics meet with cardinals accompanying Benedict
in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which includes the Dome of the Rock.
The pope is welcomed at the entrance to the mosque
by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein.
In his address to the Mufti, Benedict speaks of
the unity of the three monotheistic religions,
and begins with the Arabic greeting
"Asalamu Alaikum!" (Peace be upon you!).
“Undivided love for the One God
and charity towards one's neighbour,
is the fulcrum around which all else turns.
This is why we work untiringly to safeguard human hearts
from hatred, anger or vengeance."
************************************************
POPE APPEALS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
Pope Benedict XVI calls now for Israelis and Palestinians
to live together in peace in the Middle East.
"I pray daily for peace born of justice
to return to the Holy Land and the entire region,
bringing security and renewed hope for all."
Benedict emphasises that justice and security
are inseparable concepts, according to
God's design for the world.
"Jerusalem ... is a city which affords Jews,
Christians and Muslims, both the duty and the privilege,
to bear witness together to that peaceful coexistence
long desired by worshippers of the one God."
Pope Benedict also calls for the establishment
of an independent Palestinian state.
***********************************************
US SOLDIER WINS PEACE PRIZE - IN GERMANY
Andre Shepherd, 31, originally from Cleveland, Ohio,
is awarded the Munich American Peace Committee's annual prize.
The Munich American Peace Committee says it is
awarding the prize to Shepherd for his "courage
and conviction in despite of the possibly extreme
punishment from the US authorities" and "for
publicising your convictions to give other soldiers
the courage also to leave the army and to push for peace."
Shepherd walked off his base in Germany in spring 2007,
and spent 19 months on the run before applying for asylum
in November last year. He is the first US Army
deserter to seek asylum in Germany.
**********************************************
CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS FOR PEACE.
Pope Benedict XVI hosted the first meeting
of Catholic and Muslim leaders in November 2008.
The first meeting of "The Catholic-Muslim Forum"
took place on November 4th to 6th in Rome,
with 24 religious leaders and scholars from each side.
The themes of the first session?
"Love of God, Love of Neighbour",
"Theological and Spiritual Foundation"
and "Human Dignity and Mutual Respect".
In 2007, 138 Muslim scholars and leaders wrote
to the German-born pontiff and other Christian leaders
saying "the very survival of the world itself"
may depend on dialogue between the two faiths.
Now, 225 Muslim leaders have signed the appeal.
Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president
of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, says;
"All religious leaders must renew
a message of peace in their faith."
******************************************
Angelina Jolie, UN goodwill ambassador,
says Iraqi children are suffering too much.
"Of the two million internally displaced,
it's estimated 58 percent are under 12 years old.
It's a very high number of people in a very,
very vulnerable situation and a lot of young kids."
* * * * * *
AWARD FOR PEACE CAMPAIGNER BARENBOIM.
Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim
has been granted Palestinian citizenship.
Barenboim: "Now even not very intelligent people
are saying that the occupation has to be stopped."
***********************************************
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has designated
George Clooney as a UN Messenger of Peace.
Clooney will join eight other world famous individuals
as "messengers", with a special focus on
UN peacekeeping efforts.
*************************************************
UN APPOINTEE'S FIERCE ATTACK ON US CRIMES
An independent UN human rights investigator
says that the US is failing to properly investigate
alleged war crimes committed by its soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Although some cases are investigated and lead to prosecutions,
others aren't or result in lenient sentences,
says Philip Alston, the UN Human Rights Council's
special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.
"There have been chronic and deplorable accountability failures
with respect to policies, practices and conduct that resulted in
alleged unlawful killings — including possible war crimes —
in the US' international operations," Alston says
in a report dated May 26 and published on a UN Web site.
A spokesperson for the US mission in Geneva, Dick Wilbur,
says Alston's conclusions and recommendations will be "reviewed closely".
"We support the independence and work of all UN special rapporteurs
and meet regularly with those who examine issues in the US,
including Mr. Alston," he says.
Among numerous cases mentioned in the report,
Alston cites that of CW Officer Lewis Welshofer,
convicted of negligent homicide in the death of
Abed Hamed Mowhoush, an Iraqi general who had
turned himself in to military authorities.
Mowhoush suffocated after his head was covered
with a sleeping bag and an electrical cord
wrapped around his neck. Welshofer was fined
and ordered reprimanded, with no gaol time.
The UN investigator says he has raised the case
with the US authorities, but says he has not
even received a civil response.
Alston also criticizes the lack of solid statistics
on civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Figures collected by the US military on Iraqi civilians killed
at checkpoints because they were mistaken for suicide bombers
resulted in changes to military procedure that saved lives, he says.
Alston, an Australian, also examines alleged instances
of illegal executions inside the US, and recommends
a "review" of the death penalty in the states that apply it.
US TROOPS EXPERIMENTED ON - GET NO COMPENSATION
Remember LSD in the 1960s? (How old ARE you !?!)
Hundreds of US victims have fought the effects of
US "experiments" on service personnel, after being
conned by promises of, for example, "lighter guard duties".
But they've never even come close to receiving justice.
Compensation for injuries sustained during human testing
of chemical and biological agents isn't unprecedented.
Last year, more than 350 service personnel
who served as test subjects at Porton Down,
the secretive military research facility where
the UK government conducted its own series of
mind-control experiments, were granted millions
in compensation in an "out-of-court settlement"
with the UK's Ministry of Defence.
Likewise, in 2004, the Canadian government began offering
$18,000 payments to eligible veterans of experiments
at its testing facilities. No American soldiers
have ever been compensated. The CIA and the Army
must just hope that they are all going to die off,
and they will - just like Welsh colliery "dust" victims
- unless somebody DOES something.
*************************************************
THE WHITE MAN'S POISON
British military scientists tested mustard gas on
hundreds of Indian soldiers during more than a
decade of experiments. Indians were sent into
the gas chambers wearing no more than "drill shorts
and open-necked khaki cotton shirts".
The experiments to determine whether mustard gas
damaged Indians' skin more than British soldiers'
began in the early 1930s and lasted more than 10 years
at a military site in Rawalpindi, now in Pakistan,
According to newly discovered National Archive documents.
The tests caused large numbers of burns,
some of which were so damaging the subjects
had to be hospitalized.
A medical report said:
"Severely burned patients are often very miserable
and depressed and in considerable discomfort,
which must be experienced to be properly realized."
The Ministry of Defense said it could not comment until Monday.
(And still hasn't).
BRITISH ARMY - TO TEST CHEMICAL WEAPONS -
EXPERIMENTED ON INDIANS !
The experiments in Rawalpindi were part of a much larger program
intended to test the effects of chemical weapons on humans.
More than 20,000 British servicemen and women
were subjected to chemical warfare trials
between 1916 and 1989 at the Defense Ministry's
Porton Down research center in southwest England.
Some of those involved in the experiments later said
they had been tricked into participating,
and claimed they had been exposed to mustard gas
and hallucinogens such as LSD.
An inquiry into the deaths of some of those involved
concluded in 2003 that there was "not enough evidence"
for a criminal prosecution.
Some British servicemen, recruited over time
to take part in similar experiments, recently
won compensation for being duped into being
treated as guinea pigs.
The tests on the Indians, before and during World War II,
are seen to be part of a deadly programme of
identifying the exact amount of poison gas
that could prove deadly on the battlefield.
The British scientists, who recorded in the
documents that several Indians suffered so severely
they had to be hospitalised, reported a
"large number" of burns.
Many of the Indians, who were sent into the gas chambers
wearing no more than "drill shorts and open-necked
khaki cotton shirts" to gauge the effect of
mustard gas on the eyes, also had to be
hospitalised after the experiment.
The revelation is seen to be a shocking postscript
to the lengthy accounts of British colonial "behaviour"
in India, indiatimes.com reports.
FREEDOM IS THE RECOGNITION OF NECESSITY
"It is impossible to maintain the unjust and
irrational patterns of consumption that served
as the basis for the current international order,
imposed by a few and that we have been forced to
respect," says Raoul Castro at the Summit of the
Non-aligned Movement. He goes on to say that:
"It is not legitimately or ethically acceptable
to have a global order inspired by hegemonic
desires and the egotism of privileged minorities.
"A system that destroys the environment and fosters
unequal access to wealth is not an enduring one.
Underdevelopment is an inevitable consequence
of the current world order.
"Neoliberalism as an economic policy has failed.
The myth about the virtues of the market and its
deregulation, the supposed benefits of privatization and
the reduction of the state’s economic and redistributive capacities,
the credibility of financial institutions,
are today profoundly questioned in any objective analysis."
30 years ago Fidel Castro warned of the danger
of spending more than $300 billion on weapons
while the foreign debt of underdeveloped countries
was exactly that amount.
With that money, Fidel estimated, it would be
possible "to build 60 million comfortable homes
with a capacity for 300 million people;
or 30,000 hospitals with 18 million beds;
or 20,000 factories capable of generating
jobs for more than 20 million workers;
or to furnish irrigation to 150 million hectares of land,
which, with appropriate technical levels,
could feed one billion people."
Today, annual military spending is over $1 trillion;
world unemployment could rise to 230 million over 2009;
and in ONE year, 2008, the number of hungry people,
has increased from 854 million to 963 million.
The UN estimates $80 billion annually for a decade
could end poverty, hunger, the lack of health
and education services and housing across the world.
That figure is three times less than the foreign debt
servicing money paid by countries in the South.
30 years ago, the demand of the member nations of
the Non-aligned Movement called for "a fundamental change"
in the system of international economic relations.
Now, such coordinated action, with universal, democratic
and equitable participation by all countries,
is necessary for the world to avoid catastrophe.
No answers CAN be a solution, Raoul says firmly,
if they are "negotiated" behind the back of the UN
by leaders in just "some" powerful countries.
No strengthening of the role and functions of
the International Monetary Fund, whose policies
led to the present crisis and now aggravate it,
can solve the unsustainability of the current system.
The United Nations High-Level Conference on the
economic and financial crisis and its impact on development,
scheduled for June 1-3, 2009, is now the essential framework
for finding consensual solutions to the world's economic situation.
This multi-lateral approach to the world's economy
could also be best used to solve problems of peace, Raoul goes on to argue...
A multilateral solution requires "strict respect
for the sovereignty of states, their territorial
integrity and the self-determination of nations."
It also requires ending both the threat and use
of force in international relations, hegemonic
aspirations and imperial conduct, Raoul argues.
It requires an end to foreign occupations and denies
any impunity for criminal acts of aggression.
LONDON POLICE FACE "WATERBOARDING" ACCUSATION
Britain's police watchdog is investigating claims
that six London officers used torture methods,
including a variation of "waterboarding",
on suspects arrested in drug raids.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission IPCC)
says it is investigating "the conduct and actions
of six police officers during the execution of
two drugs warrants at addresses in N.London on November 4th, 2008".
The probe is launched after UK national newspapers
report that the officers allegedly used brutal techniques,
including forcing suspects' heads into buckets of water
to induce the sensation of being drowned.
London's Metropolitan Police force confirms that
six officers are suspended over their conduct
during the arrests of five people in Enfield.
The Met is refusing to comment on the nature of the allegations.
Boris Johnson, London's mayor, says the allegations
are "extremely serious and need to be thoroughly investigated".
The Times and the Daily Mail, plus UK's Sky News
report that officers allegedly held suspects' heads under water.
The Met says a police employee is raising concerns
about "a small number of officers" in Enfield,
and that the case was referred to a watchdog in April.
The Met says that, if allegations of wrongdoing are proven true,
"the strongest possible action will be taken".
Britain is signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture,
which requires that governments prevent torture
anywhere under their jurisdiction.
************************************************
MET PAY OUT FOR WRONGFUL ARREST
Five protesters assaulted by officers and kept in
police custody for two nights, are paid tens of
thousands of pounds in an out-of-court settlement.
The five receive £85,000 in compensation plus costs
- altogether more than £100,000.
Their detention after a demo in London 3 years ago
is ruled as "unlawful" and a restriction of their
"democratic right to peaceful protest",
the Met say, in a statement released this week.
A peaceful rally outside the Mexican embassy
3 years ago, was part of a worldwide day of protest.
Eight people were arrested that day in London,
yet all eventually had their charges dropped,
or were found not guilty of public order offences.
Tony Murphy, solicitor at Bhatt Murphy who brought the claim:
"This case shows that policing protest unlawfully carries a high cost.
This includes the severe human cost to protestors,
but also the cost to the public purse and more worryingly
to public confidence in the police.
The implications for those I am advising
in relation to G20 are clear."
David Howarth, Lib Dem MP, following the case:
"Given that the Met has admitted liability,
the question now is why the officers concerned
are not being investigated for criminal offences.
This underlines the urgent need for an independent
review of the police's attitude towards peaceful protest."
The apology sent to protesters by Detective Chief Inspector Alex Gibbs,
of the Met's directorate of professional standards:
"It is accepted that your arrest was unlawful
and that any force used on you during your arrest
was therefore an assault and battery.
"I am in no doubt about the significant effect
that this matter has had on you and on your
democratic right to peaceful protest.
I unreservedly regret the upset and distress
that this must have caused.
"The policing of public order events and demonstrations
requires a careful balance of the rights and freedoms
of often conflicting interests and necessitates officers
making difficult decisions under notable pressure.
In this case it is clear that balance was not achieved.
Lessons have been learned."
James Welch, Liberty: "It's always good to see the police
recognise the right to peaceful dissent,
even if it is after an embarrassment
and under pain of litigation."
***********************************************
MET RULING STOPS PERMANENT PHOTO FILES ON INNOCENT
Some elements of police surveillance of peaceful protesters
is ruled unlawful today in a decision that lawyers say
will change the way demonstrations and protests are monitored.
Judges rule that specialist surveillance units
from the Metropolitan police breached the human
rights of Andrew Wood, an arms trade campaigner,
when they took photos and stored them on a police database.
Lord Justice Dyson says there are "very serious
human rights issues which arise when the state
obtains and retains the images of persons who
have committed no offence and are not suspected
of having committed any offence".
Human rights lawyers say the ruling could force police
to delete thousands of images stored on their database,
unless they have grounds for suspecting them of criminal activity.
Anna Mazzola, of the solicitors Hickman & Rose:
"The judgment of the court of appeal should act
as a stark warning to the Metropolitan police
that the circumstances in which they can justify
taking and retaining photographs of members of
the public who have committed no crime is highly circumscribed."
Wood says he is delighted with the ruling:
"The Human Rights Act is part of the essential
checks and balances which help to ensure that we
can properly participate in a democratic society
without repressive state intervention.
The police don't just uphold the law - they must abide by it."
Last year, judges ruled against Wood, but this time
two of the three judges ruled in his favour, saying
that there was a "disproportionate
interference in the human right to privacy".
Lord Dyson: "The retention by the police of photographs
taken of persons who have not committed an offence,
and who are not even suspected of having committed
an offence, is always a serious matter.
"The only justification advanced by the police
for retaining the photographs for more than a
few days after the meeting was the possibility
that the appellant might attend and commit an offence
- that justification does not bear scrutiny."
Lord Collins adds that the substantial police presence
which confronts arms campaigners has a "chilling effect"
on people lawfully protesting. A third dissenting judge
says "the Met'" acted reasonably.
The judgment means the long-term retention of photos
must be justified on a case-by-case basis.
The photographs were taken in April 2005 as Wood
left the Millennium hotel, London, where he was
attending the AGM of Reed Elsevier plc, the
parent company of Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd,
which runs trade fairs for the arms industry.
He had gained entry by buying a share in the company.
He has no criminal convictions and has never been
arrested as a result of any campaigning activities.
The Met says the ruling does not mean it is unlawful
to use "overt surveillance", which it says is
"truly valuable in public order policing".
Chief Superintendent Ian Thomas, officer in charge
of the Met's public order branch, says the judgment
provides a "valuable set of guidelines".
CONYERS FINALLY GOES FOR A PROSECUTION
Now a letter is sent to ask, in a friendly way,
for the US Atturney General to appoint a special
prosecutor to investigate all these torture cases.
You can read more about it, by scrolling down
two thirds of this page, to the US Torture section;
or you can download the original letter in its entirety,
by pressing the link below:-
Just like before the First World War, and just like
before the Second World War, sales of armaments now
are just about the ONLY growth industry.
And these armaments are being sold most, to those
danger-spots where a World War is most likely to start.
The volume of weapons exported to the Middle East
has risen most sharply in the last four years,
threatening to "destabilize" the region further,
a leading Swedish think tank warns.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
says arms exports to the Middle East increased 38%
in the period 2004 to 2008, compared with 1999 to 2003.
The United States is supplying most of the arms
although huge amounts also come from France.
The United Arab Emirates is the biggest importer
of weapons in the region — and the third biggest
in the world, after China and India, SIPRI says,
in a report on global arms transfers.
In 2004-2008, the UAE bought 80 F-16E combat aircraft
from the U.S. and 50 Mirage 2000-9 fighters from France.
"This is of course a big concern in a region
where we see a lot of tension and all-out conflicts,"
SIPRI researcher Pieter Wezeman tells Associated Press.
He warns that growing arsenals in the Gulf
could trigger a response from Iran and
encourage it to pursue nuclear weapons.
"When Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
increase their arsenals there is a risk that Iran
will feel even more threatened and marginalized
than it already is," he says. "This should be
very much taken into account when countries
decide to supply these countries with weapons."
During the four-year period, the UAE accounted
for 34% of the arms imports in the Middle East.
Israel accounted for 22% and Egypt 14%.
Only 5% of the arms transfers to the region
went to Iran, the report says.
"Iran has not been able to, or not been willing,
to procure the same volumes of weapons as its
neighbours," Wezeman says. "One has to wonder
if its capability is not very limited, in fact."
The US remained the world's biggest exporter of arms in 2004-2008,
with a 31% share of the global market, down from
a 35% share in the previous four years.
More than one-third of the U.S. exports went to the Middle East,
including some 207 combat aircraft and more than 5,000 guided bombs.
In total, global arms transfers between 2004 and 2008
increased by 21% compared with the previous four years.
*************************************************
UK LETS LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR
After doing NOTHING for years, the UK government
is now proposing that private military companies
should be "self-regulating"
The proposal is made in a consultation paper
released by the Foreign Office.
Ministers say that self-regulation is
the most "practical" idea.
This is disputed by human rights groups and the Red Cross.
There are about 25 large UK-based private
military companies, and their "trade" is estimated
to be "worth" well over £1 BILLION per annum.
Tim Hancock, Amnesty International campaigns director:
"There are a large number of British-based,
private military and security companies
operating in conflict zones. If the government
does propose a self-regulatory system it would
effectively grant them impunity to do whatever
they like. This is not an ordinary industry,
this is men with guns we're talking about."
"The arms trade has been poorly regulated for far too long
and we have seen the results: weapons getting into
the hands of dictators, criminals and child soldiers.
We should learn from these mistakes, not repeat them.
We need a robust system that is backed-up by legislation."
Simon Brooks, senior representative in the UK
of the International Committee of the Red Cross,
says the key issue is that companies observe
international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
"Our concern is that there are sufficient mechanisms
to ensure people respect and are aware of the law."
************************************************
UNITED NATIONS UNDER ATTACK IN SLOW COUP
Attempts are being made by Western countries
to link UN reforms with granting more powers
to the Security Council - to the detriment of
the General Assembly.
Rodolfo Benítez Verson, counselor, the Cuban mission:
"The Security Council’s agenda is steadily increasing
and is usurping tasks that are the responsibility
of the General Assembly and other UN agencies," he affirms.
Speaking during intergovernmental negotiations on reform
of the Security Council, meeting in New York,
Benítez calls for an immediate halt to this trend
to wrest power from the General Assembly.
He warns that already, matters that are
the responsibility of the Security Council,
are being dangerously expanded.
He points to the Council’s decision to initiate
official debates on the situation of any member state,
or on any subject that does not constitute
a threat to peace and international security.
"Cuba continues to be particularly concerned
at the establishing of rules and definitions
by the Security Council that lie outside
its sphere of responsibility."
**********************************************
FIGHT RACISM ! - CONFERENCE FINAL DECLARATION.
Delegates adopt by consensus a final declaration,
calling on the world to fight "all forms of
racism and racial discrimination".
The declaration is passed without debate by more than
100 national delegations at the Durban Review Conference.
The 16-page document reaffirms the Durban Declaration
and Programme of Action (DDPA), as adopted in Durban in 2001.
It also reaffirms the commitment to prevent, combat
and eradicate racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance.
It emphasizes the need to address with greater resolve
and political will, all forms and manifestations of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,
in all spheres of life and in all parts of the world,
including all those under foreign occupation.
It urges states to punish violent, racist and xenophobic activities
by groups that are based on neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist
and other violent national ideologies.
It recalls that the Holocaust must never be forgotten,
and in this context urges all UN member states
to implement related General Assembly resolutions.
It also calls upon states to ensure that any measures
taken in the fight against terrorism are implemented
in full respect of all human rights,
in particular the principle of non-discrimination.
Amos Wako, the Kenyan president of the meeting,
calls the adoption of the declaration an "historic outcome."
It "shows that one can remain constructively engaged
and reach a consensus," he adds, as a side-swipe
at those Western white countries which tried to avoid the conference.
To ease the feelings of those Western countries,
the final declaration passed does not mention
the name of Israel or the Middle East directly.
***********************************************
PRESIDENT OF IRAN ACCUSES ISRAEL & USUK OF RACISM
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad strongly
criticizes Israel's treatment of Palestinians
and the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
associating them with racism.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the
UN anti-racism conference, says Israel has committed
"crimes of aggression, carnage and other brutalities;
such as the bombardment of civilians in Gaza,"
while the United States and a number of Western governments
"have always been supportive or silent on the
disgraceful acts" of Israel.
Ahmadinejad refers to the Israeli regime as "the
most cruel and repressive racists in Palestine,"
calling for the end of "Zionist domination."
The Iranian president also strongly condemns the
U.S.-led war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Aren't these measures a clear example of ego-centrism,
racism, discrimination, and an infringement upon
the dignity and independence of nations?" he asks.
Ahmadinejad's speech is disrupted several times
by protesters who shout slogans and hold up placards
before being escorted out of the conference.
A number of delegations from European countries,
such as France and Britain, walk out of the
conference as Ahmadinejad gives his speech,
joining a few other countries that choose
to boycott the five-day meeting out of concern
that it might be used to criticize Israel and the West.
The Durban Review Conference is a follow-up meeting
to the World Conference against Racism, held in 2001
in Durban, South Africa. It aims to review "progress"
in the world's efforts to eliminate all forms of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Addressing the opening of the review conference,
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expresses his
deep regret at the boycott of the meeting by the
US, Canada, Israel, Germany, Australia, Italy, etc..
"I deeply regret that some have chosen to stand aside.
I hope they will not do so for long," Ban says.
Ban defends a revised draft declaration to be
adopted by the conference, despite claims by
the US that it contains "remaining concerns."
"The document before you is carefully balanced.
It addressed key issues," Ban tells delegates.
"It sets the stage for concrete action in a
global campaign for justice for victims of racism worldwide."
*************************************************
IF ISRAEL ISN'T RACIST - THEY WON'T OBJECT TO THIS
Undersecretary of the Palestinian ministry
of prisoner's affairs, Ziad Abu Ain,
now launches an initiative for coexistence
between the Arabs and the Jews in Palestine.
Abu Ain proposes we give up the idea of
establishing an independent Palestinian state
and instead stick to the natural growth
and co-existance of Palestinians and Jews.
To explain the initiative a website has been created:
www.return08.com
"Marking 60 years of dispossession and homelessness..."
The initiative calls for all Palestinian
refugees to return to their homes.
**********************************************
PALESTINIANS RETURN !
A Palestinian teenager from Duheisha refugee camp
has launched a new program - "Birthright Palestine,"
mimicking an Israeli program with the same name.
Nineteen-year-old Ahmad Lahham, a business student
at Bethlehem University, launches his website for the program
with the aim of contacting first generation Palestinians
born in the Diaspora and encouraging them
to visit their historic homeland.
In the Palestinian version, youngsters visit Palestine
and learn firsthand about suffering under occupation.
The idea is to organize trips to the occupied territories
but also historically Palestinian cities within
Israel's 1949 borders, such as Acre and Haifa.
Ahmad Lahham, says he sees no difference
between Duheisha camp and Haifa or Acre,
highlighting that the Israelis spend vast
sums of money to bring Jews to Palestine.
He says so far five people have registered to visit Palestine,
and that due to lack of experience the group plans to
host no more than 30 people at this initial stage.
The project aims to strengthen Palestinian unity
and further the struggle for the right of refugees
to return to their homes in the territories
captured by Zionist forces in 1948.
The Maariv newspaper reports that the Israeli Birthright program
has succeeded in bringing 160,000 Jewish youths from
all over the world to visit Israel in the last ten years.
***********************************************
OBAMUSH REFUSES TO DECLARE ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ILLEGAL
Even Nixon accepted that the settlements were illegal.
Obamush's refusal means that Israel can successfully
"twin" the settlements issue with "security",
making any resolution to the Middle East conflict
impossible - one home-made rocket, and pouf !
Obamush is against peace - ACCEPT this as the truth,
dear Americans... or fall blindly into World War.
Unless Obamush is forced to declare the settlements
as illegal under the 4th Geneva Convention,
the US remains a rogue nation, with the UK's tongue
fixed firmly in place... guess where !?!
ARISTIDE SUPPORTERS DEMAND REAL ELECTIONS IN HAITI.
Supporters of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
march through Port-au-Prince on Wednesday
calling for his return from exile and demanding
his party's inclusion in the upcoming elections.
Several thousand protesters join the march, which
honours Aristide's rise to power as Haiti's first
democratically elected president in December 1990.
The demonstrators accuse Preval's government
of planning a fraudulent legislative ballot
on February the 28th, and say they are going
to boycott the latest sham elections.
Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas political movement
is again being banned from participating
and again, on the grounds that it's failed to
"meet the legal requirements" for registration.
Was the legal requirement a brown stained tongue?
"There will be no election in February, there
will be a selection. What the authorities are
planning is really a big farce," Dr. Maryse Narcisse,
a leading member of Aristide's party, tells Reuters.
"The president and election officials are the
masterminds behind the plan to exclude the
majority of the population from the vote."
No one in Preval's cabinet is able to comment.
Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, was
"ousted" in a 1991 US backed military coup,
then in 2001 and again, in 2004.
Obama bangs on about democracy for Cuba,
and then appoints Bill Clinton to change Haiti!
Good ol' Bill is now continuing the longest
racially motivated denial of democratic rights
in history, in the Americas.
San Domingo was the first place where revolutionary slaves
took power, guns, ships and control of the sea.
As a punishment for threatening white supremacy,
the island is still divided into the "Dominican Republic"
(which is really just an American military base),
and Haiti, where the US has intervened over and over
to smash poor people and all their dreams of progress.
In the last "elections", the only party people trust,
was just barred from standing.
Many clear-plastic ballot boxes were nearly empty in those polls'
and Haiti's long-delayed senate elections were marred
by extremely low voter turnout... EIGHT percent !
The polls, delayed since 2007 and held under the
watch of 9,000 UN "peacekeepers", were touted by
the West, as an important step in Haiti's
"return to democracy".
But Fanmi Lavalas, the only party widely supported
by the country's poor, was barred from fielding
candidates, on a "legal technicality".
The party urged the 4 million registered voters
to boycott the elections and vowed to "act"
if the new "government" claimed legitimacy.
Fanmi Lavalas is led by Jean Bertrand Aristide,
the president who was blackmailed into exile
after being ousted in CIA backed coups.
Obama, in sending Bill, played his card.
Did he play an ace... or a dirty joker?
Time is beginning to tell. Ach y fi, Bill !!!
***********************************************
PRESS THE LINK BELOW
TO WATCH WHY WAR... IS A RACKET.
Sudan is calling for cultural relationships
between the two countries to be strengthened.
Sudan's Ambassador to Kenya Majok Guandong makes
the appeal while addressing journalists during
the First Sudanese Cultural Festival in Nairobi.
"Sudan and China have strong relations that can
be strengthened by cultural ties. Both countries
have strong and diverse cultural values of which
each can learn from the other," the envoy says.
The three-day festival, named
"Sudan: Cultural Diversity and Historical Perspective",
is being held in Nairobi to celebrate peace and
highlight co-existence among the Sudanese people
following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement in 2005 that brought peace to the Sudan
after 21 years of civil war.
"Sudan is the most diverse country in Africa
linguistically, culturally and religiously,
comprising of 129 tribe and 500 dialects.
However we find unity in this diversity," Guangdong says.
The event is being attended by North & South Sudanese,
including popular southern Sudan-based singer
John Kudusay and dancers of the Kwato group
that represents all of Sudan.
The Sudanese envoy says Kenya played a major role
in bringing peace to the Sudan, is the custodian
of the CPA and the bringing the event to Nairobi
is a gesture of appreciation and gratitude.
"Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
on January 9th, 2005 in Nairobi, that ended
hostilities between the North and the South
and brought peace to Sudan, the citizens of Sudan
have been striving to sustain peace through
various ways; and one of the ways is the
Cultural Festival."
"Sudan is a vast country of many cultures.
We invite you all to our first Cultural Festival
to see and feel for yourselves the diverse ways
of life of the Sudanese people, for there is
unity in our diversity."
**********************************************
MORALES EASILY WINS ELECTIONS
Peaceful fair honest elections... USUK could
learn lessons from Bolivia, on the difference
between THEIR illegal unfair puppet "democracies",
as in Haiti, & the good people of Bolivia's real democracy.
*************************************************
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL...
Nauru, the world's smallest island state, now
recognizes the independence of the ex Georgian
republic of Abkhazia, and signs an agreement
on Tuesday on establishing diplomatic relations.
Nauru is the 4th country to recognize Abkhazia's independence,
joining Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
"We hope that the establishment of diplomatic
relations between our countries will help
establish stability and peace. I hope that
other countries will follow our example and
will also recognize the independence of Abkhazia,"
Nauru's Keke tells reporters after the signing ceremony.
Abkhazia, on Saturday, held its 1st presidential
election since its independence in August 2008,
after a brief war with Georgia. President Sergei
Bagapsh is re-elected with over 60% of the vote.
The Abkhaz leader hails the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
"The size of a state & the size of its population
have no significance. Nauru is a UN member state.
We in Abkhazia are signing for the first time
an agreement on the establishment of diplomatic
relations on factual recognition," Bagapsh says,
adding that the process of the recognition of
the former Georgian republic "will continue".
Nauru, an island in the South Pacific Ocean,
surrounded by a coral reef, is the world's
only country with no capital. Its population
is 15,000 & it became a member of the UN in 1999.
Czech PM Jan Fischer tells reporters in Prague
Obama has 'phoned him to inform him that he is
shelving the missile defence plan.
Does this mean Russia is about to betray Iran?
The world is watching...
************************************************
NORWEGIANS KEEP LEFT
Norway's government is returned to power.
With 99% of votes counted, the three-party
coalition of Labour, the Socialist Left and
the Centre wins 86 seats from 169 in parliament.
*************************************************
PERU CONGRESS DEFENDS NATIVE RIGHTS
Peru's congress overturns two controversial land laws
which had led to a series of deadly protests.
The offending decrees were issued by Alan Garcia,
the Peruvian president, in 2007 to give him
powers to implement a free trade pact and to
"free" investment in the Peruvian Amazon.
However, indigenous groups say they were not consulted
& the decrees would have affected their ancestral lands.
At least 34 people died in bloody clashes in northern Peru
between police and indigenous Indians over the laws
after police moved in to break up strikes and
blockades begun in April by indigenous leaders.
Earlier reports say as many as 60 people
were killed in the violence.
Yehude Simon, the Peruvian prime minister,
says he would have stepped down over the crisis.
It followed the resignation of Carmen Vildoso,
Peru's women's affairs minister, demanding that
the government stop its crackdown on protests.
The new measure was approved 82-12 after a 5 hour debate
in Peru's single-chamber legislature, attended by
about 30 Amazon native Indians of the Ashanika community.
The protesters say the laws would have made it easier
for businesses to exploit their ancestral Amazon lands
for oil, gas and other "ventures".
***********************************************
From Omar Barghouti
In the first smashing and convincing victory of
the global BDS movement in the field of corporate
responsibility and ethical compliance, Veolia is
reportedly abandoning the Jerusalem Light Rail
project; an illegal project that aims at
connecting Israeli colonies built on occupied
Palestinian territory to the city of Jerusalem.
As the Haaretz article below admits, the BDS
campaign's success in costing Veolia some $7
billion worth of contracts, is the key behind this
decision by the troubled company to pull out of the project.
It is worth mentioning that Le Monde has recently
published an expose, revealing to French readers
and, crucially, to Veolia's stock holders, the
fact that the company is losing a lot of money
because of its complicity in a project that
constitutes a major violation of international
law, if not a war crime.
This great victory comes as a result of years of
hard, principled, meticulous and persistent work
by French solidarity groups, particularly AFPS;
by the growing French BDS movement which was
instrumental in making Veolia lose a huge
contract in Bordeaux; by Dutch activists who
achieved the first success in convincing a Dutch
bank to divest from Veolia and applied pressure
on other banks to follow suit; by Swedish peace
and justice groups, mainly connected to the
Church of Sweden, particularly Diakonia, and
Swedish Palestine solidarity groups who cost
Veolia the heaviest;- a $4.5 billion contract
to run the Stockholm metro; by British
solidarity groups and activists, particularly
affiliated with PSC, who contributed tremendously
to excluding Veolia from a lucrative contract in
the West Midlands; and of course by the
Palestinian BDS National Committee, BNC, which
partnered with all the above in the now famous
Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign to pressure
the company to abandon this illegal project.
The Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign, which
involves activists and groups in many countries
all working to pressure the two French giants to
quit the JLR project, was officially launched at
the Bilbao Initiative conference in the Basque city last November.
Now is the time to pressure Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Iran, Gulf states, among others, to kick Alstom
out, due to its complicity in this illegal project.
Solidarity with Palestine means almost nothing,
if it cannot be translated into BDS action that
can truly cost the Israeli occupation and apartheid regime dearly.
This is the time to DERAIL ALSTOM!
Omar
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091186.html
The light rail projects for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
are both facing difficulties. In a body-blow to
the future Jerusalem light rail, the French
company Veolia, which was supposed to run the
train system after its construction, is abandoning the project.
Moving on to Tel Aviv, the city can't even get a
response to the compromise it offered MTS, the
consortium supposed to build an urban train
system, in order to settle issues in dispute.
It's waited a month and got no answer, causing
not a little consternation in government circles.
As for the Jerusalem system, Veolia not only
wants out of running the future train; it's
trying to sell its 5% stake in Citypass,
the light rail consortium.
In recent days Veolia has been sending feelers
to the Egged or Dan bus consortiums, to
potentially replace it as project operator.
Any change in the ownership structure of Citypass,
or in the identity of the project operator,
requires the permission of the state. Also, the
attempt to add Egged to the consortium could
arouse opposition at the Antitrust Authority.
Veolia has had to contend not only with the
delays and difficulties in building the light
rail project itself, but with political pressure
at home as well. Two months ago a French court
heard a lawsuit by a pro-Palestinian group,
demanding that the light rail project be halted.
The organization based itself on an article in
French law that allows the court to void
business agreements, signed by French companies,
that violate international law.
The political pressure on Veolia has been
mounting in another direction. According to
various reports abroad, the French firm had been
losing major projects in Europe because of its
involvement in the Jerusalem job. Observers
claim that's the real reason Veolia opted out.
Also, for two years the Jerusalem project has
been held up by battles between Citypass, the
city of Jerusalem and various ministries.
(The disputes even include whose fault the delays are.)
Last week the spat between Citypass and the state
reached a new low, after the group admitted it
couldn't meet the new deadline for the Jerusalem
light rail project. It expects to run nine months
behind schedule, the consortium said. The state
then accused the business consortium of deliberately
dragging its feet and of effecting "a hostile
takeover of the streets of Jerusalem."
Sources in Israel's transportation sector called
Citypass's announcement "chutzpah," on the
grounds that it and the state had agreed on a
new schedule only a year earlier. And that was a
month after an arbitration process during which
the new schedule was ratified.
In response to Citypass' announcement, the state
contacted the arbitrators accompanying the
process, asking them to enforce the franchise
agreement and force Citypass to finish the works
as set in the new schedule, by September 2010,
"finally restoring normalcy to Jerusalem."
The state also asked for permission to stop
paying Citypass, including the upcoming
installment of NIS 32.5 million.
Citypass can meet the agreed-on schedule, the
state insists: "This isn't inability to complete
the project on time. At most it's a crude attempt
to squeeze more money from the state,"
wrote the state in its letter to the arbitrators.
"[Citypass] already advised the state and the
arbitrators that it doesn't intend to finish the
works on time, but it doesn't settle for words:
It is making sure to work at a pace that assures
it won't meet the agreed-on deadline for completion."
To sum up, the state accuses Citypass of
making life in Jerusalem intolerable.
Citypass denies the allegations, which it calls
"absurd," and claims the state is indulging in
baseless legal gambits in response to the lawsuit
Citypass filed against it because of the delays.
Sources in the know, suspect that the delays
ruined the project's business model. The cost
of the works grew, and there were delays in the
transfer of state funding for the companies
involved in the project, while the companies
needed the money to return their own loans.
The upshot, if so, has heightened tensions
between the partners in Citypass, mainly between
equipment provider Alstom, operator Veolia and
the Israeli contractor Ashtrom.
After some changes, the partners in Citypass are
Ashtrom (27.5%), Alstom (20%), Polar Investments
(17.5%), Israel Infrastructures Fund (10%) and Veolia (5%).
The Jerusalem project involves building eight
lines. Only the first one has passed the tender
process, which Citypass won. The line is supposed
to start in Pisgat Zeev, pass along Jaffa Street
and end at Mount Herzl. The cost of that line
alone is projected at NIS 2.4 billion. The state
is providing NIS 1.4 billion.
**********************************************
RAFAEL CORREA: HISTORIC WIN IN ECUADOR
Reelected president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa,
leader of the Movimiento Alianza País, achieves
an historic and unprecedented victory.
No other candidate has won in the first electoral
round since 1976. Now Correa can govern until 2013.
EcoDiario quotes the president as saying:
"Socialism, of course, will continue.
The Ecuadorian people voted for that.
When have we concealed our direction?
We are going to emphasize this fight for social justice;
for regional justice. We are going to continue the fight
to replace all forms of workplace exploitation with our belief:
the supremacy of human work over capital.
Nobody is in any doubt that our preference
is for the poorest people. We are here because of them."
Correa ends with a "Hasta la victoria siempre".*
* "Hasta la victoria siempre"
was the signoff used by Ernesto "Ché" Guevara
in the last letter he wrote to Fidel Castro.
It translates as "Keep fighting until victory".
*************************************************
LEFT COALITION GOVERNS ICELAND
Iceland's coalition government wins approval
in their recent general election.
The Social Democratic Alliance, headed by Prime Minister
Johanna Sigurdardottir, gains 29.8% of the vote,
while its partner, the Left Green Movement, takes 21.7$..
Icelanders give a historic win to the minority
centre-left caretaker government, that stepped
in after protests over an economic crisis
toppled the previous administration.
The two parties gain 51.5% of the vote, compared
with 41.1% in the last elections two years ago.
The result is "historic", as this is the first time
leftist parties hold a majority in parliament.
"The nation is settling the score with neoliberalism,
with the Independence Party, which has been in power
for much too long. People are calling for a change of ethics.
That is why they have voted for us," Sigurdardottir says.
Despite its parliamentary majority, the new government
faces serious challenges such as cutting spending
and raising revenues to get state finances back in order.
The two parties have to overcome disagreements
about entering the European Union.
***********************************************
EL SALVADOR RECONNECTS WITH CUBA AND US
Mauricio Funes, El Salvador's new president,
vows to maintain good US ties and unite the country,
after ending a 20-year reign by the right.
His victory brings a party of leftwing former
guerrillas to power for the first time.
Mauricio Funes is inaugurated as President,
and immediately recognises Cuba.
Funes, who reported on the 12-year war that killed
75,000 people, promises to unite the country:
"This is the happiest night of my life,
and I want it to be the night of El Salvador's
greatest hope," Funes says. "I want to thank all
the people who voted for me and chose the path of hope and change."
Funes promises to crack down on big businesses
which he says exploit government complacency to evade taxes.
"The time has come for the excluded,
the opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats,
for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity."
Funes hopes to restart relations with the Obama administration,
promises to respect their free trade agreement
and to keep the dollar as El Salvador's currency.
President Funes, 49, says: "Diplomatic, cultural
and trade relations will be established immediately
with our sister nation of Cuba."
"Integration with central America and strengthening
relations with the US will be the priority of
our foreign policy," Funes says.
Hilary Clinton attends the ceremony, and says
that the election of Mr Funes is testament to
the strength of democracy in the Americas.
*************************************************
CIA IS CLOSING "SECRET" PRISONS
The CIA is closing down its global network of secret prisons,
Leon Panetta, the agency's director, says.
Private contractors will no longer be allowed
to interrogate prisoners held by the CIA,
Panetta says in a letter to CIA employees.
"CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites
and has proposed a plan to decommission the remaining sites,"
Panetta is quoted as saying in the letter by Reuters.
Panetta also says that the CIA has told congress
that it has captured no new prisoners since he
became director in February and that the "black
sites" are now all empty of prisoners.
"I have directed our agency personnel to take
charge of the decommissioning process and have
further directed that the contracts for site
security be promptly terminated," he says.
Is the above REALLY good news - or a US con?
************************************************
DEAR FRIENDS, this is so good (see below).
I am certain that messages of support to Jan or perhaps
hp_list@humanisteurope.org
would be so welcome.
They have worked so hard on this, and taught
non-violence along the way to thousands of people
- how wonderful that they have achieved what they were after !
An inspiration to us all!!
Ever onwards.
Jill
…………………………………………….
Great News From Prague
From: Jan Tamá¹
jan.tamas@humanisti.cz
Dear friends,
I am very happy to announce that the Czech
government has fallen. The Parliament voted
the no-confidence. For us it is a great victory:
we knew that the only way to stop the installation
of the US radar base was the fall of the government
and we worked for more than 2 years in this
direction with permanence and coherence.
A government that represented the interests of
the US military industry has fallen.
Our work has been fundamental in encouraging
the members of Parliament who already were
against the radar and to spread doubts in
the ones who were in favour. And it was just
the change of mind of some deputies that made
the fall of the government possible.
On the other hand, pressed by the hunger strike,
the Social-Democratic Party had to take a clear
position supporting us and this will make it
more difficult for them in the future to change
their opinion about the radar. The collaboration
with the Communist Party, that has always
supported our initiatives, has been decisive as well.
Thanks to all of you for the support you gave us
in many activities, support that was critical.
Thanks to all the pacifist organizations,
thanks to the members of the European Parliament
who believed in our fight, thanks to the mayors
of different countries, thanks to the Humanist
Movement, that allowed this protest to expand to
many European countries and to reach other continents.
A great space should be given to this news.
Now the US must rearrange their plans because of
the protest of a people who don't want foreign
troops on this territory.
And the invading armies should withdraw
from all the occupied territories of the world.
Now it is necessary to develop a strong opposition
to the "Star Wars" and in favour of the nuclear
disarmament also in other countries.
Now in the Czech Republic a new chapter of our struggle begins.
A strong hug
Jan Tamas
Non-violent Movement against the Bases
Europe for Peace
World March for Peace and Nonviolence
US PEACE CAMPAIGNERS DEMAND... PEACE !
Anti-War Activists Arrested Resisting Afghanistan War Shipments
Please help us mobilize activists to resist
invasion of Afghanistan/Pakistan HERE and NOW.
Mass Mobilizing Meetings:
Coffee Strong cafe
Lakewood, WA
Directions: From North I-5 take Exit 122/Berkley Ave.
Take Rt. off of the Highway. Then Take Rt immediately at Union,
Take Rt into Subway Parking Lot.
Coffee Strong is a GI resistance coffee house next to Subway.
Update: Three additional arrests following issue of
May 3 PMR Communication below.
------------------------------------------
From: nsochet@riseup.net
To: olypmr@lists.riseup.net; olympiansforpeace@lists.riseup.net
Protesters are resisting the US Military surge in Afghanistan
by blocking Stryker Vehicles bound for the Port of Tacoma.
Tacoma, WA – Activists stage a series of successful
direct actions in several locations on the night of May 2nd,
blocking stryker vehicles bound for the Port of Tacoma
from Fort Lewis. Blockades halt strykers at several points
along Interstate 5, and 11 activists are arrested.
Demonstrators pledge to continue resisting
the use of the port for war shipments.
The Stryker vehicles are sent to the Port of Tacoma
for eventual shipment to Afghanistan in advance of
the deployment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division,
where soldiers' skills and lives will be exploited
in the name of the "War on Terror."
At times police are using excessive force
against unarmed nonviolent demonstrators.
One woman is choked on the strap of her messenger bag
while another demonstrator is dragged across the road
by his hair, while shouting that he is nonviolent.
Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) is actively resisting
the use of publicly owned ports in the Pacific Northwest,
and has been doing so since 2006.
PMR demonstrators share a common goal to
"end our community's participation in the occupations
of Iraq and Afghanistan by stopping the military use of our Ports."
According to Chris Grande, one of those arrested on May 2nd,
“people in Iraq and Afghanistan are being massacred.
We cannot trust the Obama Administration to do this work for us.
It is up to people in the US to be involved in the process
of military deescalation. If we allow strykers to enter the port
we are complicit in their violence.”
“The police may see our actions as criminal,
but the real crime is the illegal invasions
of Afghanistan and Iraq and their continued
occupation,” adds Ellis, a demonstrator.
In a statement issued on March 18th, Port Militarization
Resistance notes that “as long as US military attacks
continue against the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,
we will continue to block military equipment
from moving through our public port.
Port Militarization Resistance calls for people everywhere
to find a way for their own communities to
participate in ending these wars,
and join together to creatively and peacefully resist.
"We must respect the sovereignty of other peoples
and recognize that US intervention is a primary
source of ongoing human suffering in these countries.
"Resources currently allocated for such imperial endeavors
must be redirected toward urgent domestic needs.
These realities should guide our understanding
as we build a just and sustainable society at home
and better relationships abroad."
Resistance is ongoing.
Demonstrators are available to speak with the press.
More information can be found at:
www.OlyPMR.org,
Please Donate! Donations can be made to the legal defense fund
by visiting that site or by cheque to:
Port of Olympia Legal Defense Fund
PO Box 295
Olympia,
Washington
98507-0295
IMPORTANT: Note in your donation that your funds
are intended for the Port of Tacoma demonstrators.
Contacts:
Kelly Beckham (360) 489-9429
Noah Sochet (510) 325-8138
Shyam Khanna (413) 461-6485
************************************************
Thousands in the US demand PEACE.....
as the US faces either a default and world ruin,
or another ( ! ) war to mop up debt liquidity.
Nether option involves peace.
It really is time for a genuine "third way"
- a better way of introducing human and sustainable
values into the business "world".
And US Peace Campaigners are at the forefront
of this new work, to avoid our destruction.
Our genuine wishes and prayers go out to them.
***********************************************
LATEST US PEACE NEWS
The group United for Peace and Justice
organizes an event, where marching protesters
carry signs and puppets and chant as they march
down Broadway, past the New York Stock Exchange,
and end up in Battery Park.
They walk past companies taking federal money,
including AIG, which draws anger for giving
company executives huge bonuses after receiving
federal bailout money.
Protesters express their concerns about President
Barack Obama's plan to remove troops from Iraq
and relocate them to Afghanistan.
Hundreds of angry New Yorkers protest against
the bailout of Wall Street and banks, urging
the U.S. government to care more about people
who need jobs and medical care, than usurers.
"The March on Wall Street: Bail Out The People Not The Banks,"
protest, attracts huge crowds of on-lookers
although it pours with rain most of the afternoon.
*************************************************
DOHA CALLS FOR PEACE - A NEW WAY
The 2nd Summit of Arab-South American Countries (ASAC)
ends with demands for substantial changes in the world arena.
The repeated call to achieve a "just, durable and comprehensive"
peace agreement for the Middle East
is the first statement in the Doha Declaration adopted this week.
With respect to the Palestine-Israel conflict,
the dignitaries and other representatives of the
34 countries of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)
and the Arab League, deplore Israeli aggression against Gaza
and demand legitimacy for the Palestinian people.
With statements as strong as those made by the G77
and the Non-Aligned Movement, the summit also defends
"the importance of creating a new international financial system"
and a more effective role for developing countries
with respect to the global crisis.
Hugo Chávez echoes the warnings given by Fidel Castro,
with respect to the international economic situation
and proposes the creation of a petro-currency
or "alternative reserve currency" to replace the dollar.
This currency would be supported by oil-producing countries
such as his own and Arab member nations of OPEC, he explains.
Bolivian President Evo Morales calls for profound transformations
in international financial institutions such as
the IMF and the World Bank.
***********************************************
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: STOP IT !
The United States sent a massive new shipment of arms to Israel
despite evidence that US weapons were misused against civilians
in the Gaza attacks, Amnesty International reveals.
The human rights organization says about 14,000
tons worth of arms and munitions were sent to Israel
on the Wher Elbe, a German cargo ship chartered and
controlled by the US Military Sealift Command,
docking and unloading its cargo on 22nd March
at the Israeli port of Ashdod, 25 miles north of Gaza.
Amnesty calls on President Obama to suspend future arms shipments
until there is no substantial risk of human rights violations.
The Pentagon confirms the unloading of the ship,
which left the US for Israel on 20th December,
a week before the start of Israel's attacks on Gaza.
According to Amnesty's report, the ship carried
989 containers of munitions, each of them 20 feet long
with a total estimated net weight of 14,000 tons.
"Legally and morally, this US arms shipment
should have been halted by the Obama administration
given the evidence of war crimes resulting from
military equipment and munitions of this kind
used by the Israeli forces," says Brian Wood,
arms control campaign manager for Amnesty International.
"Arms supplies in these circumstances are
contrary to provisions in US law."
Amnesty International has issued documented evidence
that white phosphorus and other weapons supplied
by the United States were used to carry out
serious violations of international humanitarian law,
including war crimes in Gaza. The human rights
organization provides comprehensive details on
munitions used in the fighting in a 37-page briefing paper,
Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza.
Asked about the Wehr Elbe shipment, a Pentagon spokesperson
confirms that "the unloading of the entire US munitions shipment
was successfully completed at Ashdod [Israel] on 22nd March."
The spokesperson says the shipment was destined for
a US “pre-positioned ammunition stockpile” in Israel.
Under a US-Israel agreement, munitions from this stockpile
may be transferred to the Israeli military if necessary.
A State Department official says Israel's use of US weapons
during the Gaza conflict is under review and
efforts are being made to ensure that Israel complies with US law.
A conclusion has not yet been reached.
"There is a great risk that the new munitions may
be used by the Israeli military to commit further
violations of international law, like the ones
committed during the war in Gaza," says Wood.
"We are urging all governments to impose an
immediate and comprehensive suspension of arms to Israel,
and to all Palestinian armed groups, until there is no longer
a substantial risk of serious human rights violations."
"The US government now has ample evidence from
the Gaza attacks indicating that the arms it is
sending to Israel have been misused to kill and
injure men, women and children and to destroy
hundreds of millions of dollars of property.
It can no longer send weapons to Israel while
ignoring these facts," says Curt Goering, senior
deputy executive director, Amnesty International USA,
who was in the region during the Gaza crisis.
The US was by far the largest supplier of weapons
to Israel between 2004 and 2008. The US government
is also due to provide $30 billion in military aid
to Israel, despite the alleged misuse of weaponry
and munitions in Gaza and Lebanon by the Israeli military.
President Obama, according to published reports,
has no plans to cut the billions of dollars in
military aid promised to Israel under a new 10-
year contract agreed in 2007 by the Bush administration.
This new contract is a 25% increase on the last
contract agreed by the previous US administration.
On 15th January, Amnesty International called on all governments
to immediately suspend arms transfers to all parties
to the Gaza conflict to prevent further violations
being committed using munitions and other military equipment.
************************************************
AMERICA ACCEPTS ALL OUR DECISIONS
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman gives
his first major interview since taking office,
and spells out his foreign policy position, in
addition to making some rather bold assertions.
In particular, Lieberman insists that, despite
America’s support for the “two-state solution”
which the Israeli administration has rejected,
President Obama will not promote any initiative,
unless Israel wants them to. "Believe me,"
Lieberman insists, "America accepts ALL our decisions."
BROTHERS AND SISTERS - UNITING AMERICA !
The government of Costa Rica announces its decision
to reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba.
They were broken off unilaterally on September 9,
1961 by the Costa Rican government.
The Cuban government, mindful of its vocation of
integration and unity with the sister nations
of Latin America and the Caribbean, accepts the
restoration of relations on the diplomatic level
between the two countries, based on respect for
international law and the principles of the
United Nations Charter, which include equal
sovereignty of states, the peaceful solution of
controversies, respect for territorial integrity
and self-determination, and non-interference
in the internal affairs of states.
El Salvador's new president-elect, Mauricio Funes,
promises to do the same, now he is in office.
El Salvador has not recognized the island's government
since 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power.
CONGRESSPERSON Barbara Lee - on a visit to Cuba
with several US politicians - states that 68% of
U.S. citizens are in favour of ending the U.S. government’s
economic, commercial, and financial blockade of Cuba,
according to the latest polls.
***********************************************
ALBA GROWS TO NINE ....WITH CUBA!!!
Delegations from countries comprising the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America
(ALBA) are arriving in Venezuela for a summit in
which the bloc will grow from six to nine members.
A note from the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry
confirms that, during the meeting, Ecuador,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua
and Barbuda are to be included alongside Bolivia,
Cuba, Dominica, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
BAN KI MOON BEGS ISRAEL: "STOP".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon implores Israel
to bring an end to “provocative” actions in East
Jerusalem following the eviction of a third
Palestinian family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah.
In a statement released by his spokesperson,
Ban Ki-moon stresses that “these actions stoke
tensions, cause suffering & further undermine trust."
The UN secretary general says Israel must “cease
such provocative actions” and commit to carrying
out its obligations under the Road Map peace plan
which stipulates a halt to all settlement activity
and the reopening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem.
Ban Ki-moon refers to continued Israeli evictions
and house demolitions across East Jerusalem and
settlement growth as obstacles to peace and
a derailment from the Road Map.
*************************************************
BAN KI MOON LOSES HIS HONOUR - AGAIN !!!
As Ban Ki Moon calls on Afghans to obey USUK,
Norway's ambassador to the UN in a confidential
letter, accuses him of weak leadership, a lack
of charisma and of frequent angry outbursts,
the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten reports.
"At a time when the UN and multilateral solutions
to global crises are more needed than ever,
Ban & the UN are notable by their absence," her letter reads.
Juul writes that Ban shows "weak handling"
of international challenges. She says he was
a "passive observer" to Myanmar's arrest of
Aung San Suu Kyi, and she blasts his
slow reaction to the civil war in Sri Lanka.
Juul's letter is published halfway through
Ban's term as UN secretary-general.
She continues: "In other crisis areas, such as
Darfur, Somalia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and not in
the least the Congo, the sec-general seems irresolute."
"Ban routinely has angry outbursts that even
levelheaded and experienced co-workers have
trouble dealing with," the letter says. Juul adds
that the mood among Ban's staff is "very tense."
South Korean Ban became UN leader in January 2007.
His main supporters were and are, USUK.
***********************************************
BAN ACTS AS FRONT MAN FOR ISRAEL
The UN secretary-general bows to pressure from Israel
and tries to stop dead ANY chance of charging Israel
as a result of the highly critical report -
commissioned by HIM -
which now accuses Israel's military of “recklessness
or negligence” in this year’s Gaza offensive.
The official UN report criticises the Israeli
Defence Forces for breaching the inviolability
of UN premises, causing deaths, injuries and
damage in seven incidents involving UN installations,
and for issuing "untrue statements" about what had happened.
But in a covering letter attached to his own 27-
page summary of the report, now leaked, the
secretary-general rejects its recommendation
that the UN investigate any Israeli breach of
international law, including its use of white phosphorus.
Mr Ban’s ban follows an intensive diplomatic effort
by Israel to minimise the damage of its findings.
The report says the IDF was “involved in varying
degrees of negligence or recklessness with regard
to UN premises and to the safety of UN staff
and other civilians within those premises,
with consequent deaths, injuries, and extensive
physical damage and loss of property”.
The incidents examined in depth by the inquiry
include the mortar attack on 6th January, which
killed up to 40 civilians outside a UN school
in Jabalya being used as a shelter, and the
devastating white phosphorus assault on the UN’s
field office compound on the 15th of January,
which caused extensive damage.
In both cases, says Mr Ban’s summary, the UN is seeking
“formal acknowledgement” by the government of Israel
that its public statements claiming that Palestinian
militants fired from the installations, were
“untrue and regretted”. The report also recommends
pressing Israel for compensation for the families
of dead and injured UN personnel in the attacks.
The report says the co-ordinates of the Jabalya school
had been given to the IDF and that it had been notified
of its use as a shelter before Operation Cast Lead began.
It notes that at the time of the rport’s drafting
a claim that Hamas militants had fired mortars
from within the compound and that the school was
booby trapped was still on the Israeli foreign
ministry website. It adds: “The Board found that
there was no fire from within the compound and
no explosives within the school.”
The report accuses Israeli forces of repeatedly
breaching the principle that “UN personnel and
all civilians within UN premises, as well as
civilians in the immediate vicinity of those
premises, are to be protected in accordance with
the rules and principles of international humanitarian law”.
The report says the deaths of two children and
the injuries caused to 13 other civilians at
another UN school used as an improvised shelter
on the 17th of January, were “undisputedly”
caused by artillery firing 155mm shells,
containing "white phosphorus wedges".
The report also examines many other incidents,
and recommends further investigation of other
deaths, but in his covering letter Mr Ban says
he is “carefully considering” what actions “if any”
to take on the 11 recommendations by the inquiry team.
Mr Ban goes out of his way to thank Israel
for its co-operation in the inquiry,
and makes a point of speaking out against
“continued and indiscriminate” attacks by Hamas.
And he says: “I do not plan any further enquiries.”
Israel rejects ALL the report’s findings and
its Foreign Ministry says the inquiry board
“has preferred the claims of Hamas, a murderous
terror organisation, and by doing so has misled the world”.
Defence Secretary Ehud Barak says Israel has
“the most moral army in the world” and lays
full responsibility for all casualties on Hamas.
*************************************************
BAN - TOUGH MAN ON IRAN
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemns Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the Durban Review Conference on racism.
"I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian president
to accuse, divide and even incite," Ban says in a statement.
"This is the opposite of what this Conference seeks to achieve.
This makes it significantly more difficult to build
constructive solutions to the very real problem of racism," he says.
"We must all turn away from such a message in
both form and substance. We must join hands
and work together to achieve a constructive,
substantive agenda to combat racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."
In his speech to the conference, the Iranian president
refers to Israel as "the most cruel and repressive
racist regime in Palestine."
He also says the state of Israel has been created
"on the pretext of Jewish suffering" in World War II.
Dozens of European diplomats walk out of the conference room
to protest, as Ahmadinejad gives his speech.
The United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and
several other European countries had already chosen
to boycott the meeting even before it started
worried that it would be used to criticize Israel and the West's bias.
In a separate statement the UN high commissioner
for human rights also condemns Ahmadinejad's speech.
"I utterly deplore the speech of the president of Iran
delivered this afternoon at the Durban Review
Conference against racism," says Navi Pillay.
"I condemn the use of a UN forum for political grandstanding.
I find this totally objectionable," she says.
But she repeats her objection to some countries'
boycotting the conference.
"The best riposte for this type of event is to
reply and correct, not to withdraw and boycott
the conference," she says in the statement.
************************************************
BAN - "MAKE OR BREAK" YEAR
Ban tells Obama his support for climate legislation
is "encouraging", but that 2009 is a "make-or-break" year
for the UN and its member countries on global warming,
Darfur and other prominent conflicts.
He then travels to Darfur to meet Arab leaders,
including Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir,
labelled as a "war criminal" (sic) and running
about the Arab world like a fly on billy whizz.
OBAMA DOES SOMETHING GOOD ! HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
President Obama declared on Tuesday that “no
information may remain classified indefinitely”
as part of a sweeping overhaul of the executive
branch’s system for protecting classified
national security information.
*************************************************
THIS IS WHAT OBAMA's COMMISSIONS ARE WORTH
Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld of the U.S. Reserves,
a former prosecutor in the military commissions:
"I am here today to offer a single, straightforward message:
the military commission system is broken beyond repair.
Even good faith efforts at revision, such as
legislation recently passed by the Senate Armed
Services Committee, leave in place provisions
that are illegal and unconstitutional, undermine
defendants’ basic fair trial rights, create
unacceptable risks of wrongful prosecution,
place our men and women in uniform at risk of
unfair prosecution by other nations abroad,
harm the reputation of the United States,
invite time consuming litigation before federal courts,
and, most importantly, undermine the fundamental values of
justice and liberty upon which this great country was founded."
Yet OBAMUSH WANTS TO KEEP THEM !
************************************************
U.S. SURVEY REVEALS DROP IN APPROVAL RATING FOR OBAMA
The popularity of President Barack Obama has dropped
in the U.S. as a result of unemployment and the budget deficit,
according to a survey published today by
NBC and the Wall Street Journal.
According to the survey, the overall approval rating
for Obama’s White House administration stands at
just 56% of the U.S. population, a fall of five
percentage points compared to a similar poll last month.
Likewise, the proportion of those who disapprove
of his efforts so far has risen from 30% to 34%,
according to the survey, which was based on the
opinions of 1,008 adults and conducted between
last Friday and Monday.
According to the survey, the greatest loss of support
was registered among those who described themselves
as "politically independent."
"President Obama’s honeymoon is coming to an end,"
affirms Chuck Todd, NBC correspondent to the White House,
while presenting the results of the survey.
"The public appears to be judging the president
for some of his actions. There is now a growing
concern over the budget deficit, as well as other
government measures with respect to the economy."
************************************************
HIS NAME IS "FREEMAN"... !!!
Here is part of Charles Freeman's statement,
as he withdraws from Obama's team...
"The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails
show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby
determined to prevent any view other than its own
from being aired, still less to factor in American
understanding of trends and events in the Middle East.
The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths
of dishonor and indecency and include character
assassination, selective misquotation, the willful
distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods,
and an utter disregard for the truth.
The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process
through the exercise of a veto over the appointment
of people who dispute the wisdom of its views,
the substitution of political correctness for analysis,
and the exclusion of any and all options for decision
by Americans and our government other than those that it favors."
25% INCREASE IN ILLEGAL ARMS FOR ISRAEL UNDER OBAMUSH
Read the full article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/zunes/?articleid=14356
*************************************************
A good start by Obamush, I thought:- no secret prisons,
closure of Gitmo within a year, every prisoner
to be registered with the ICRC, army field
manuals to apply to prisoner interrogations...
and George Mitchell (of N Ireland Peace fame)
appointed to help obtain a Middle East solution:
the man was doing well !!!!!!!!!
Then comes an apparent acceleration of war in Afghanistan
and the permanent war crimes committed by drones
from thousands of miles away firing at civilians.
Now we all ask: "What about Bagram?"
Lawyers from Obamush's Department of Justice
are adopting the same position taken by Bush –
detainees held at Bagram air base in Afghanistan
HAVE NO RIGHT to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.
The U.S. government holds over 600 prisoners at Bagram.
Many say they are tortured and abused.
Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild:
"The Obama (sic) administration is reportedly sending
detainees to Bagram instead of Guantánamo.
It is alarming that hundreds of people in U.S. custody
in Iraq and Afghanistan will evidently be denied access to courts
to review their 'enemy combatant' designations."
Barbara Olshansky, lead counsel for three Bagram detainees
and a visiting professor at Stanford Law School,
says she is "deeply disappointed" that Obamush is
committed to "adhere to a position that has
contributed to making our country a pariah
around the world for its flagrant disregard
of people's human rights."
A 60-million-dollar expansion is doubling the capacity
of the Bagram Theater Internment Facility (BTIF).
A recent UN report singles out Bagram for criticism.
Red Cross findings are being kept secret and
the U.S. military is denying U.N. requests for visits.
"There are reports that some persons have been in
detention at Bagram for as long as five years.
Some ex-detainees allege being subjected to
severe torture, even sexual abuse. Ex-detainees
also allege that they were held in cages containing
between 15 to 20 men and that two detainees died
in questionable circumstances while in custody."
Amnesty International is urging President Obamush
to stop the "unlawful detention policies" of Bush
and let detainees at Bagram have access to U.S. courts
to challenge their detentions.
"Judicial review is a basic safeguard against executive abuse
and a protection against arbitrary and secret detention,
torture and other ill-treatment and unlawful transfers
from one country or government to another."
"In the absence of judicial oversight,
detainees in Bagram, as at Guantánamo,
have been subjected to just such abuses.
Even children have not been spared."
"Some have been held for years. The U.S. authorities
must now ensure that all U.S. detentions in Afghanistan
comply with international law."
Can Obamush regain his good name, as he calls
a "think again" halt to the surge...?(see Afghan article below).
The Afghan parliament and people are calling
for ALL foreign troops to leave.
Obamush also calls for UN sanctions against the people
of Zimbabwe... something that presaged Iraq's destruction:-
JUST as they form a unity government and the African Union
calls for all sanctions to be LIFTED !
(and as the UK pushes the EU for more pain).
If, as Obama says, "the United States will not torture";
it will still pay, train, equip and guide foreign torturers,
and make sure that they, and their US patrons,
never have to face local or international justice.
For every scream caused by Americans in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Guantanamo and the secret prisons,
there are many times more being torn out of men
and women across the world, by US-sponsored torturers.
Those torturers operate with US help, in Egypt,
Israel, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Jordan,
Indonesia, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Colombia,
Nigeria, the Philippines, Iraq and Afghanistan...
to name just SOME we know of...
and Obama COULD stop this...
Is it Obama - or Obamush - carrying on
with USUK's mission of arrogant hatred?
I leave it to you, gentle reader, to decide.
*************************************************
Fidel Castro's opinion, published in Granma, is called...
"Deciphering the thinking of the new president of the United States"
Fidel believes that Obama is wedded to the same arrogance as Bush.
Two things stand out, he says: Obama's attitude
to Guantanamo military base, and Israel.
"Barack Obama stated that the return of the
territory occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base
to its legitimate owner had to be carefully considered,
in the first place, in terms of whether it would affect
the defense capacity of the United States in the most minimal way.
He immediately added that, in relation to the
return to Cuba of the occupied territory, he
would have to consider under which concessions
the Cuban side would accede to that solution,
which is equivalent to demanding a change in
its political system, a price against which
Cuba has fought for half a century.
Maintaining a military base in Cuba against the
will of our people is in violation of the most
elemental principles of international law."
Fidel goes on to state bluntly that a President
with any claim to moral legitimacy
should respect International law.
"Not to respect it", he says, "constitutes an act of arrogance
and an abuse of his immense power against a little country."
On the Palestine issue, Fidel says proof of Obama's bias
is blindingly obvious, and that:
"It is the mode of sharing in the genocide of Palestinians
into which our friend Obama has fallen."
He accuses Obama of following a policy where
"...the United States converted Israel into
an important nuclear power that annually absorbs
a significant part of the exports of the empire’s
prosperous military industry, with which it is threatening,
with extreme violence, the population of all countries of Muslim faith."
For twentytwo days the small area of 150
square miles jammed with one and a half million
Palestinians has been subjected to the most brutal
military campaign against a civilian population
of this new 21st century, and ranks among the
most heinous of the 20th.
There is absolutely no equivalence between the
limited capabilities of the Palestinian fighters
and the military might of Israel's armed forces,
equipped with the most sophisticated technologies,
delivering death and destruction by air, land and sea.
Their victims are the thousands of defenseless
civilians, men, women and children injured, and
the hundreds killed; victims of an act of
unparalleled cowardice and immorality delivering
death and suffering to our besieged and virtually starving people.
And the numbers speak for themselves: now
over 1400 dead, and over four thousand
injured, many yet to be found in the rubble of
buildings, residences, schools, offices and religious places.
No genuine democracy, a claim to which Israel aspires,
could excuse such violence; its scale wildly disproportionate
to possible harm that our simple homemade rockets
which we fire as a signal of our resistance to
Israel's inhumane and illegal occupation.
We cannot accept the arguments made by Israel
that the reason for such massive destruction and
loss of life is the continued firing of our rockets.
They provoke us with the intention to justify
their actions, while the rest of the world, and
much of the media, continue to operate under the
flag of political correctness; they are inadvertently
but painfully projecting a highly distorted picture
of the respective responsibilities of aggressor and victim.
Hamas governs in Gaza because our people have
elected us. We may not be beloved by Israel for
the moral and religious values we hold. We have
been elected by the majority of Palestinians,
but we were denied the chance to govern.
And this denial has been underscored through
imprisonment of our political leadership under
the guise of "war on terror".
Israel continued to devour our land while
orchestrating with international support an
endless and meaningless peace process. We formed
a government of national unity, but those who
wished otherwise chose to label us terrorists and
worked systematically to isolate us. No honest
and independent observer could interpret our take
over in Gaza as an act of usurpation of power,
when in fact it was an act of affirmation of the
right to govern granted us through an internationally
monitored genuine democratic election process.
From our perspective, Israel withdrew from the
interior of Gaza only to enclose us in a sarcophagus,
intending to suffocate our will to resist.
They claim that if we were moderate and willing
to meet their terms, sadly and unjustly imposed
on us with the support the Quartet, we could
have the privilege of joining the meaningless
Annapolis process, while our lands continue to
be stolen and our people humiliated, all under
Israel's mindless mantra of security for themselves
and their illegal settler populations.
Because we will not submit to such bullying tactics,
their goal was to bring us to our knees
by wreaking havoc and destruction on the whole
population of Gaza. They have not succeeded in achieving this.
We are grateful to those who have understood our
just cause and have shared our suffering. To them
we shall be eternally grateful. In strong contrast
we have been shocked and dismayed by the lack of
either empathy or understanding from the
international community in general.
While seeing the horror of Israel's actions, many
seem to support their goal: the dismantlement of
our popularly supported movement. They call for
a halt in the fighting, but they place preconditions
that all but ensure that the killing and destruction goes on.
We love our country and are willing to die for it.
We wish harm to none. The time has come for a
minimally fair path to the future that restores
to our people their rights to sovereignty and
independence. We shall never be slaves to any
power and our struggle shall continue at
whatever cost until we are free.
We welcome President elect Obama's remarks of
January 11th committing his new administration to
address seriously this much too long neglected
conflict. We call on America under his leadership
to set a new and just course that can bring peace,
fairness and justice to our bleeding land.
Our people have extended their hand in peace;
time and again we have offered a 'hudna'. We are
waiting for the Israeli people to look beyond
the shortsightedness of their present leadership
and to demonstrate their willingness to make the
sacrifices that are necessary for a just and genuine peace.
It is only then that Palestinians and Israelis
can learn to live side by side and to lay to rest
the historical horrors and sufferings of both our peoples.
Thus we can look to cherish the heritage of this
holy territory with which both our peoples have
been entrusted, and to ensure that henceforth it
will again be a place of peace on earth and good will to all.
Ahmad Yousef is deputy foreign minister and
former senior political adviser to de facto
Prime Minister Ismael Hanniyah.
**********************************************
I COULDN'T READ ABOUT GAZA
WITHOUT WANTING TO DO SOMETHING !
Gaza Action in Wales CND Cymru Bulletin
Message from Ray Davies CND Cymru Vice Chair:
At our peace vigils and protest marches on three buses
which Wendy and myself organised on behalf of CND Cymru
and Wales PSC some people asked the question, "why CND?"
First of all I do not think a peace organisation like CND
can turn its head away when children are being killed and maimed where women
are crying and there is tremendous suffering taking place in the war zone
ghetto they call Gaza. What some people fail to understand is that Israel
is a nuclear state and also Iran is well on the way if not already have
acquired nuclear weapons.
Another thing people do not understand is that the rockets being fired by
Hamas into Israel are slowly creeping nearer and nearer to the Israeli nuclear
facility and if ever one of the rockets land on there, it would be a
tremendous nuclear explosion which would devastate the whole region. That
possibility could provoke Israel into a nuclear weapons response in the Gaza
region and also spark off a nuclear war in the Middle East.
For me the pain of seeing the women and children being carried into the over
crowded hospital Gaza is often too much. To see the 45 year old conflict
going on with no peace in sight, with America actively encouraging Israel
and with Britain and the West following meekly behind is obscene to say the
least. If CND have any place on this planet, any place in Wales at all, it
must play a leading role in working for peace with justice for Palestinians
to try and stop the wars which are taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan and
as we work to eliminate nuclear weapons, we must still do all in our power to
prevent the conventional wars which are taking place in the Middle East from
escalating into a nuclear conflict.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Ray T. Davies
Vice-Chair, CND Cymru, South Wales
***********************************************
For more information about Cardiff campaigning
or fundraising events email PSC:
info@palestinecampaign.org
t:Ray Davies: 02920 889514
wendya.lewis@talktalk.net
Ali Ahmed: 07968 165138 aliahmed88@hotmail.co.uk
Middle East Children's Alliance: meca@mecaforpeace.org
IF YOU'RE WRITING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT MEDIA COVERAGE
We e-mailed Welsh MEPs, questioning the action
of EU Commissioner Louis Michel who said
that Hamas bore 'overwhelming responsibility'
for the destruction in Gaza.
We had a swift and encouraging response from Eluned Morgan:
Thank you for your email highlighting your concerns
about the comments made by Commissioner Louis Michel
during his recent visit to Gaza. Please be assured
that I naturally share your concern. My colleague
Glenys Kinnock MEP, has I understand, acted on behalf of us both
and raised this issue directly with the Commissioner’s cabinet.
We will of course keep you informed of the response that we receive.
ALSO
Tim Wakefield has produced the following list of ceasefire violations
by Israel and e-mailed the BBC to ask for
an 'impartial' investigation by their reporters:
American media are reporting violence that took place
along the Gaza-Israel border on January 27th as,
in the words of CNN, "the first incidents of
violence since last week's Mideast cease-fire,"
telling the public that Palestinians broke the ceasefire.
The reality, however, is that Israel had already
violated the cease-fire at least 7 times,
the Israeli military killing 2 Palestinian civilians
and injuring at least 5, at least one of them a child:
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian farmer in
Khuza'a east of Khan Yunis on Jan 18
Israeli forces killed a Palestinian farmer
east of Jabalia on Jan 19
Israeli naval gunboats shelled the Gaza coast line,
causing damage to civilian structures on Jan 21
Israeli troops shot and injured a child
east of Gaza City on Jan 22
Israeli gunboat fire injured 4-7 Palestinian fishermen on Jan 22
Israeli shelling set a Palestinian house on fire on Jan 22
Israeli tanks fired on the border town of Al Faraheen,
causing damage to homes and farms on Jan 24
This list does not include two Palestinian children
who were killed on January 20th by unexploded ordnance
left from Israel's 22-day assault on Gaza.
It might be useful to use this in any letters you write...
With best wishes,
Mike Gatehouse
Brecknock Peace & Justice Group
Jasmine Cottage,
Pennorth, Brecon,
Powys LD3 7EX
Plaid MEP Jill Evans is urging the BBC to
broadcast an appeal for Gaza by the Disasters
Emergency Committee. The MEP raises the possibility
that the BBC's national regions should be given the freedom
to decide for themselves whether to broadcast the appeal or not.
Plaid Cymru has added a link to the DEC Appeal
to its website and is broadcasting the appeal online.
Ms Evans comments:
"This is a shocking decision for a public service broadcaster
and I'm sure many BBC staff are appalled at
the behaviour of their London bosses.
"The Disasters Emergency Committee appeal is not political,
it's about raising money to help the victims of conflict
and supporting the work of charities in the region.
The United Nations has said that the appeal is absolutely necessary.
"The BBC has broadcast similar appeals in the past
so what's different this time?
"I wonder if staff and managers at BBC Wales
share the the views of the Director General?
There is a strong case for giving BBC Wales and
BBC Scotland the freedom to decide for themselves
whether to broadcast the appeal."
Plaid President Dafydd Iwan says:
"I think the BBC is totally out of order in
refusing to televise the Gaza appeal. This surely
is a humanitarian issue, and an appeal for people
in desperate need for help; it is not a question
of taking sides. The BBC is showing a great lack
of judgment as a public broadcaster, and we call
upon it to change its decision immediately.
"It is disappointing to see that Sky News
has also decided not to broadcast the appeal."
For more information please contact:
David Bradley (01824-709700 / 07901-862907
Steven Cornelius (0032-228-41665 / 0032-473-560967
NOTE:
To donate, go to
the Disasters Emergency Committee web site
http://www.dec.org.uk/
Jill Evans MEP represents the whole of Wales
in the European Parliament.
www.jillevans.net
There are many different campaigns going on to
raise money for humanitarian aid and to bring
about an end to the occupation.
Please support them and support the many vigils
and demonstrations around the country. If there
is nothing in your area, what about organising one?
Please get in touch with me if you would like
more information. Everything we do, however
small, will make a difference.
Gaza speech by Jill Evans MEP in the European Parliament
Below is the speech given by Jill Evans MEP:
President,
I was a member of the delegation that travelled
to Gaza last week to see the devastation.
The focus of this parliament's resolution today
is humanitarian action and this is desperately needed.
This is a real humanitarian crisis and it needs
to be addressed urgently. 90% of people in Gaza
are dependent on UN aid. This is not linked to
any negotiations it is an urgent crisis. The key
to providing the aid is the lifting of the siege
and the reopening of all the crossing points.
How can a densely populated area of 1.5 million
people which has been bombed for 22 days - and
in which over a thousand people were killed -
even begin to recover when only 15 categories of
items of humanitarian aid are allowed in -
mainly food, some medicines and mattresses.
You can't rebuild homes and offices without cement
and glass - which are banned. You can't teach children
in schools which have no paper - which is banned.
You can't feed people when there isn't enough
food being allowed in. The aid is there but it
is not being allowed through. We must put pressure
on Israel to end the blockade and open all the crossings.
And any assessment of the damage caused in Gaza
must draw attention to the deliberate targeting
to destroy the infrastructure and the economy -
we saw schools, factories, homes and a hospital
which had been deliberately attacked. Once again
we have witnessed the destruction by Israel of
projects funded by the European Union. Rather
than take action on this we talk about upgrading
trade relations with Israel when conditions on
human rights are clearly being breached
under the current agreement.
Mr. Solana said that pursuing the same policies
can bring us back to the same place. I agree.
The EU refused to recognise the Palestinian unity
government in 2006 which included members of Hamas.
But we are about to recognise the new Israeli
government which may include members who reject
a two state solution - who don't support
a Palestinian state.
What is crucial now is that the EU must be prepared
to work with and recognise an interim Palestinian
national government of consensus that should emerge
from the Cairo talks in the next few weeks - and
give out clear signals of our intentions to the
international community. We have to support the
reconciliation process in Palestine as part of
achieving a long term solution, and that means
ensuring we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.
WEBSITE AND EMAIL Stop the War Coalition
Stop the War Coalition website is down
and the usual email address not functioning.
There is a temporary email address to contact Stop the War:
stopwaruk@gmail.com
Users of the social network site Facebook
may also wish to join the Cardiff
Stop the War Coalition group on the site.
*******************************************
What else you can do:
Petitions to sign
We thought that we should circulate details
of these three petitions, from Christian Aid,
Amnesty International and the Palestine
Solidarity Campaign to make it easy for people
who are as horrified as we are to make their
views more widely know. Do please support.
If you wish to donate money to help those stuck in Gaza,
Oxfam, Christian Aid. Medical Aid for Palestine,
UNRWA and Mercy Corps among many others
have websites where you can do so.
It is not the first time the BBC has refused
to air appeals for the DEC, having refused
to broadcast an appeal for Lebanese victims
after Israel's war with Hezbollah in 2006.
The BBC attempts to justify their decision
not to show a TV fund-raising appeal for Gaza,
by saying it wants to "avoid compromising public
confidence" in its "impartiality". Ha ha haar !!!
DEC says there is "clear evidence" that
the British public WANTS to help.
DEC is an umbrella organisation
representing a number of aid agencies.
Spokesperson Shaista Aziz says it has confidence
in the abilities of DEC members to respond and
that there is "overwhelming humanitarian need".
She adds: "We regret the fact that the message
we wanted to get across will not reach as
many people as we had hoped."
Action Aid, the British Red Cross, Cafod,
Care International UK, Islamic Relief, Oxfam,
Save the Children and Tearfund are among
the agencies affiliated to DEC.
Launching the appeal, DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley:
"We are not proposing to attempt to rebuild Gaza...
with the public's support we can help relieve short-term needs."
Here is a link to ANTIWAR.COM, for further aid lists:
Sign the petition to ask the British Government
to do everything in it's power to impose an arms
embargo on Israel in light of the recent Israeli
offensive in the Gaza strip and to apply pressure
on countries supplying Israel with arms that
breach international agreements with the
intention of restoring lasting peace to the region:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Arms-embargo/
http://www.caat.org.uk/issues/israel.php
Britain arms to Israel
source: Private Eye 9 January 2009:
British arms sales to Israel whole of 2007: £7.5 million
British arms sales to Israel first three months of 2008: £18,847,795 million
These include components for combat aircraft,
military aero engines, helmet-mounted display
equipment for pilots, & Gordon Brown says we
must 'stop the supply of arms to Hamas'.
Please continue to contact your elected representatives
and the British Government. Write to your AMs,
MEP and MP urging them to call for:
* An immediate end to the blockade and siege on Gaza
* An end to Israel's violations of international law
* An end to Israeli occupation
i. Write to your AMs, MEPs & MP
You can find their details on this site
http://www.writetothem.com/
just enter your postcode.
ii. Write to the Labour Party
You can send a message to the Labour Party using this online form
http://www.labour.org.uk/contact
iii. Write to the Conservative Party
Write to David Cameron
camerond@parliament.uk
.
iv. British Consulate Jerusalem
972 (02) 541 4100
Call them asking what the British government is doing.
v. British Embassy Tel Aviv
02 3510 1167 / (0)3 527 1572
vi. Prime Minister - Gordon Brown
Fax PM's office on 02079250918
vii. Foreign Secretary - David Miliband
private.office@fco.gov.uk
Boycott Israeli Goods
Look for the label on food stuffs - Israel or West Bank.
Refuse to buy these goods.
Complain (politely but firmly) to the manager of the store
Find out more at:-
Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign
www.bigcampaign.org
Jewish Boycott of Israeli Goods
Jews4BIG@googlemail.com
*****************************************
Islamic Relief Fund Wales
Over £40,000 has been raised in Cardiff
(on streets and a fund raising supper in Cardiff City Hall)
for the Islamic relief fund currently working
within Gaza to try and relieve the suffering. See more:
www.islamic-relief.org.uk
ONGOING: 24hr VIGIL AGAINST ISRAEL'S ACTIONS IN GAZA
OPPOSITE WESTMINSTER PARLIAMENT
A non-stop vigil opposite the Westminster Parliament:
CONTACTS
Maria Gallastegui 07886 662091,
Emma Sangster 07791 486484
For further information on the vigil,
contact vigilforgaza@gmail.com or see
http://www.vigilforgaza.net.
***********************************************
Boycott Israeli Goods
Join the local protests across the country
(see PEACE EVENTS PAGE)
***************************************
If you know of events or actions in Wales
please email them to CND Cymru heddwch@cndcymru.org
and they can be included in future mailings.
Please pass on this bulletin to any individuals,
groups or organisations that might find it useful.
[All information is obviously included in good faith
– if you find mistakes or can fill in omissions
(especially for contacts) please do let us know.]
***********************************************
What else you can do
Remember to contact your MP and Government Ministers
to express your outrage so they can never say
(or think) that no-one out here is indifferent
to the outrage of what is going on in the Middle East.
www.WriteToThem.com
Since 2006 the Israeli authorities has held the
1½ million inhabitants of Gaza under a blockade,
preventing them from leaving or supplies from entering.
Food, medicine and fuel supplies are running
dangerously low, creating a humanitarian disaster.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands injured
in the latest attacks by the Israeli military.
The way to solve the problems in the Middle East
or anywhere, of conflict, extremism, and aggression
does not lie along the road of bullying,
murder, fear and injustice.
Our government should condemn the Israeli attack,
as well as Israel's ongoing breaches of international
law in its treatment of Gaza and the Palestinians.
********************************************
Follow this link now to sign the emergency
petition and send it to everyone you know:
After eight or more years of ineffective US and
global diplomacy - and now Gaza's bloodiest day
in recent memory - we must issue a global outcry
demanding that world leaders do more than make
statements if they're to bring peace to this region.
The UN, the European Union, the Arab League and
the USA should now act together to ensure a ceasefire
– which includes an end to rocket attacks into Israel
and opening the checkpoints for fuel, food,
medicine and other humanitarian aid deliveries.
With a new US President taking office a real
opportunity exists to breathe new life into peace efforts.
These latest hostilities require a commitment
from Obama and other world leaders that
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
is at the very top of their agendas.
As the whole world is impacted by this ongoing
conflict - we should demand nothing less.
In 2006 we mobilised for a ceasefire in Lebanon.
For years we've worked to encourage a just and
lasting peace, taking out billboards and ads
across Israel and Palestine. Now, in 2009, we
need to come together again to demand a peaceful
and lasting resolution, instead of a further
escalation of violence. Follow this link to put
your name forward for peace:
Supermarkets are still stocking Israeli products,
particularly fresh herbs. Some of these are
actually labelled 'West Bank' in which case they
almost certainly come from illegal settlements
and could be singled out for special treatment.
Ideas for Actions:
You might like to consider any of the following
ways to register your disapproval, and thereby
perhaps to ensure that some kind of message gets
back to Israel. More than half of Israeli fresh
produce exports come to the UK, surely this is
an area where we could send a clear signal?
Supermarkets will stop stocking Israeli stuff
if it is too much hassle to do so.
** Pick up the item, and after it has gone
through the scanner, say you don't want it,
explain why and ask for a refund.
** Take such items to the manager or customer
service desk and complain, explaining why you
don't think it should be stocked.
** Stick boycott labels on the items.
** For fresh produce in particular, pick up the
items, take them somewhere else in the store
and dump them, maybe on the biscuit shelf or in
the freezer or behind a slow moving product.
They will find them eventually and may begin
to get the message.
** Take the items to the checkout, announce that
you are going to walk out of the store with them,
and challenge the store to do anything about it.
** Simply steal some and if apprehended explain
that you were forced into this action by the
Israeli Government (in much the same way as
Israel was forced into the bombing campaign
by the very existence of Hamas).
*******************************************
The strange Pravda article below
DOES have an odd ring of truth:
TO KNOW WHY HITLER ADMIRED THE US, PRESS THE LINK BELOW.
TO READ WHY WE NEED TO TRY HARDER FOR PEACE,
AND WHY BUSH AND CHENEY MUST BE PUT ON TRIAL
PRESS THE LINK BELOW THAT, AND BE AWARE...
BECAUSE YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS WARES !!!
If you don't know - you can't stop it !
Read about the evil (there's no other word for it)
treatment of visitors to cuddly Israel, by pasting
this into your browser;-
http://www.counterpunch.org/weir07292008.html
Queen Rania donating blood to Gaza victims (photo: AFP)
QUEEN RANIA OF JORDAN CALLS HUMANITY "INCOMPLETE"
The Jordanian queen condemns the killing of
Palestinian children in Gaza, and calls on
governments to help refugee agencies, saying;
"Gaza's children are not acceptable collateral damage".
She appeals for urgent aid for the residents of
the Gaza Strip, saying that global humanity
is "incomplete" when children become victims
of military operations.
She calls on governments to contribute to the
Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA emergency appeal
for 34 million dollars (25 million euros)
to meet the immediate needs of Gaza's innocent civilians,
caught up in Israel's onslaught against Hamas.
"Gaza's children, the dead and the barely living,
their mothers, their fathers are not acceptable
collateral damage, their lives do matter and
their loss does count," says the queen.
Richard Falk is Special Spokesman for the Human Rights Council
of the UN for the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
He is Professor of Law Emeritus at Princeton University, USA.
He is a Jew.
You can read what he says in a full statement
about Israel's warcrimes in Pravda at:
Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim
served in the Israeli army and never questioned the state's legitimacy.
But its merciless assault on Gaza leads him to devastating conclusions in The Guardian:
Amnesty International has written to the UN Security Council
calling for the establishment of full accountability
for crimes committed in the Gaza conflict
and for deployment of human rights monitors.
In the letter, Amnesty says it wants the Security Council to
"take firm action to ensure full accountability for war crimes
and other serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law."
**********************************************
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz says Israel is
prepared for international lawsuits; and that
Jerusalem has issued travel advice for IDF officials,
urging them not to visit several European countries.
Tipsy Lala nearly calls off her visit to Belgium
to address the EEC, after false reports she
faces immediate arrest on touchdown in Brussels.
To try to limit any future lawsuits, the defense
establishment has decided to bar the media from
showing the faces of all officers who invaded Gaza.
**********************************************
Last July, a poll from the University of Maryland’s
Program on International Policy Attitudes
found that 71% of Americans want the U.S. government
not to take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
LATEST NEWS
PALESTINIANS RALLY AGAINST GAZA "BUFFER ZONE"
Hundreds of Palestinians & international solidarity activists join the weekly challenge
to the enforced no-go zone in northern Gaza
on Tuesday, walking out towards the border wall,
which has a 150-700 meter 'buffer' zone, which
is patrolled by heavily armed Israeli troops.
The rally, organized by the popular campaign
against the separation fence in Gaza, gathers
at the Agricultural College and all walk
together towards the Erez crossing.
Participants chant slogans opposing the buffer
zone, which uses 15% of available agricultural
land in Gaza, according to the UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The march, usually held each week on Mondays,
was left free on International Women's Day.
Now they're back, determined on justice !!!
According to Sabir Za’anin, campaign coordinator,
the weekly rally is an expression of peoples'
refusal to allow Israel a buffer zone on Gaza’s
land. The rally also unites Palestinian efforts
to focus on the struggle against occupation.
Senior leader of the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, Salih Zeidan, speaks,
stating the need to resist Israeli occupation.
*************************************************
KUWAITI AID REACHES PALESTINE VIA RAFAH
Aid for Gaza civilians was transferred through
the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, the
Union of Arab Doctors (UAD) says.
The 18.5 tons of aid, donated by the Relief and
Emergency Committee of the UAD, includes winter
clothing, formula milk & blankets for children.
Muhammad Al-Majdalawi, UAD project manager, says the aid is sent by the Palestine charity committee
of the International Islamic Charity Association in Kuwait.
Al-Majdalawi thanks those who assisted in the
donation and transfer of the aid & praises
the work of the IICA for its leading role
in supporting the Palestinian people.
The UAD project manager adds that the Relief and
Emergency Committee distributed thousands of
tins of canned meat to Gaza institutions and
charities, to be delivered to residents.
The delivery marks the first to travel into Gaza
via Rafah since early January. Most aid from
Egypt is first handed over to Israel through
the Al-Ouja crossing southeast of the Strip,
then very slowly transferred into Gaza via
the Israeli occupying force crossings.
*************************************************
1,000 DAYS OF SUFFOCATION BY SIEGE
Protests against the vile siege on Gaza
should spread across the world, says
Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Al-Khudari,
as the blockade enters its 1000th day.
"The siege harms people & their environment,
their health, economy and all social life.
It constitutes a serious attempt to suffocate
the people and break their will," Al-Khudari
tells reporters during a news conference.
He says 500 Gaza residents have died as a result
of the siege, most as patients, who could not
obtain appropriate medical treatment.
Al-Khudari points out that one million Gaza residents
live on humanitarian aid channeled by Arab and
foreign countries, as well as the UN.
"The Palestinian economy in Gaza has been
completely destroyed with more than 140,000
people unemployed - 80% of Gaza’s manpower.
"It is a tyrannical siege that violates
international law. Arabs, international
organizations and governments must exert
serious pressure on the occupation, which
accounts for the situation," he says.
A series of April solidarity boats are underway
organised by international activists, he says.
Israel continues to limit severely, all supplies
of food, fuel, medicine, construction materials,
and other supplies. Most of Gaza's 1.5 million
residents remain trapped inside, with work and
travel permits scarcely extended to the
Palestinian population by Israel.
Meanwhile, Egypt enforces an ad hoc policy
toward opening the Rafah crossing into Egypt,
with many patients and students left stranded
on either side as a result.
Few construction materials have been allowed in,
preventing the population from rebuilding after
Operation Cast Lead, with many homeless a year
on. The UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator (ERC) John Holmes visited Gaza this
week, commenting on the immediate need to lift
the blockade and open the crossings fully to
allow Palestinians in Gaza to commence
rebuilding & restart their lives & livelihoods.
Much of the coastal enclave experiences regular
blackouts due to the fuel shortfall.
OCHA describes the situation at the Gaza Power
Plant as "fragile," with only 1.4 million litres
of industrial fuel entering Gaza this week,
compared to an average of 1.7 million litres
since December 2009 & 2.2 million litres before.
************************************************
ISRAELI FORCES RAID AL-AQSA COMPOUND
Dozens of Palestinians are injured as Israeli
forces enter East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound following the weekly Friday prayers,
firing tear gas, rubber-coated bullets & stun grenades.
At least 15 Israeli police officers are also
injured by rocks thrown by Palestinians, Israeli
news reports say. Some 200 police officers
suddenly appear on the scene, clashing with
worshipers in the Haram Ash-Sharif, or noble
sanctuary, which houses the mosque.
Forces are seen striking Palestinians with batons,
injuring a number of elderly worshipers & closing
off gates into the Old City even before any
clashes erupt, preventing worshipers entering.
The number of injuries amount to more than 60,
among them a woman who sustains injuries after
being shot with a bullet in the eye, while
others sustain injuries to the feet, chest and
hands when attacked with rubber-coated bullets.
Israeli forces are also seen preventing crews
of Palestine Red Crescent medics from reaching
and treating those who are injured.
Clashes erupt between Palestinian teenagers and
Israeli forces at several gates leading into
the Old City, most prominently at the Mughrabi
Gate leading to the mosque, as well as the Huta
Gate and the yard of the mosque compound itself.
The compound is the third holiest site in Islam,
believed to be the location where the Prophet
Muhammad ascended to heaven and returned. The
site is the holiest for Jews, who believe it
to be the site of the Second Temple, destroyed
by the Romans in 70 AD, and is referred to by
Jews and Israelis as the Temple Mount.
The compound is a frequent site of clashes, as
tensions run high in the Old City over Israeli
excavations and rumours of settlers amassing
at the site. Seven Palestinians were detained as
clashes erupted last Sunday, with Israeli forces
storming the site and reports of protests
throughout the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police spokesperson "Mickey" Rosenfeld
said then that "tourists entered the Temple Mount
and were attacked by 20 masked Palestinians,
throwing stones. Police responded to disperse them."
Rosenfeld says police didn't enter the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, but surrounded the compound. He added
that "1,000 tourist visits continue" in the area.
At the beginning of the week, extremist groups
called on sympathizers to gather at the Buraq
square, known to Israelis as the Wailing Wall,
and march on the Al-Aqsa compound. Palestinians
spent the night in the mosque to prevent their
entry, it was reported.
In response, national and religious leaders in
Jerusalem and in Israel urged Palestinians to
prevent the anticipated take-over by massing
at the mosque to prevent the entry of extremists.
While Israel places any blame for Sunday's clashes
squarely on the Palestinians, PCHR investigations
affirm eyewitness accounts & local news coverage,
that hundreds of Israeli settlers & supporters,
escorted by Israeli security forces, had entered
the mosque compound, sparking the clashes.
PCHR condmens this in the "strongest possible terms,"
and slams the "use of excessive force" by Israeli
forces against Palestinian civilians who'd
gathered inside the mosque attempting to prevent
"the provocative entry of settlers into the mosque."
"PCHR strongly condemns all disruptive measures
taken by Israeli forces in East Jerusalem and
calls upon the international community to
immediately intervene to force Israel, the
occupying power, to stop such measures."
************************************************
ALL ENTRY TO GAZA SHUT DOWN AFTER UN "PLEA".
No commercial goods or humanitarian aid will
enter Gaza today, Palestinian crossings liaison
official Raed Fattouh says, as Israeli forces
decide to shut all terminals. Rafah is also shut!
Although the crossings are scheduled to open six
days a week, the Kerem Shalom crossing has opened
just once on a Friday in the past seven months,
(for an "emergency" fuel delivery in early February).
The complete closure comes immediately after UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes,
visits the Strip & calls for an end to the blockade.
Holmes says the blockade is failing, because it
isn't cutting the authority of Hamas officials.
"The smuggling industry isn't good at all", he says,
because all it really does is encourage a
smuggler economy, benefiting Hamas financially."
He urges a total end to the blockade to allow
Palestinians in Gaza to begin to "reconstruct
their shattered buildings, and restart their
lives and livelihoods, in particular through
the redevelopment of a viable private sector,"
a UN statement on Holmes' visit says.
A recent UN report also notes the continued fuel
crisis, with blackouts of 8-12 hours a day
in most regions of the Gaza Strip.
The report says only 1.4 million litres of
industrial fuel entered Gaza last week,
compared to a weekly average of 1.7 million litres
since December 2009 and 2.2 million litres
in the months leading up to December.
*************************************************
GAZA FISHING INDUSTRY NOW IMPORTING FISH
Israeli navy guards detain 3 more Gazan fishermen
just off the shores of Deir Al-Balah in the
central Gaza Strip today, the head of the local
Fishermen's Union says.
Nizar Ayyash identifies the 3 fishermen as Nafeth
Al-Aqra, Muhammad Nabil and Muhammad Al-Aqra,
all from central Gaza. He says they've been taken,
along with their vessel, to an unknown location.
An Israeli army spokesperson says naval officers
fired warning shots in the air at the boat,
which was reportedly leaving the three-nautical-
mile fishing zone off the Gaza coast. When the
boat neither halted progress nor returned to shore,
naval boats detained the men for questioning, she says.
The official says the boat was taken to the port
in Ashdod while the men are being questioned.
On Wednesday, AP report that fishermen, "cut off
from plentiful fishing grounds by Israeli patrol
boats — have been sneaking into Egyptian waters
in tiny motorboats to buy their catch and bring
it home," and are "bringing in fish by land, in
ice-packed plastic foam boxes, pulled through
smuggling tunnels from Egypt."
Israeli forces continue to stop fishing in areas
beyond 3 nautical miles from the shore, and have
imposed this since January 2009, the UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
says in its first Protection of Civilians report.
************************************************
ANOTHER DELEGATION LOOKS AT GAZA
A UK delegation of 6 MPs arrives in Gaza through
the Rafah crossing today, which is completely
closed to anyone else. They are received by a
UN convoy which takes the group around Gaza for
their 3-day visit.
The Gaza crossings admin., under the de facto
government, confirms their program, noting
a schedule of visits to schools, hospitals and
homes destroyed during "Operation Cast Lead".
"Observing first-hand what suffering the
Palestinians in Gaza live under" is the request
under which the delegation enters the area, and
is granted entry by Egyptian & de facto government officials.
*************************************************
ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE AT PRESS & "GHANDI" ON WEST BANK
Delegations from the PFLP and the Freedom Theatre
in Jenin join over 100 anti-wall ralliers in
Bil'in today, to mark Global Week Against racism.
As the group finishes Friday prayers and marches
towards the site of the separation barrier, the
group is welcomed with tear-gas, organizers say.
"The occupation forces fired tear gas towards
the citizens of Bil'in, foreign peace activists
and peace-loving Israelis," a statement from
the popular committee says.
First to be hit are actors from the Jenin Theatre
group dressed as figures from the anti-facism
struggle around the world; Mahatma Gandhi,
Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, jr.
The statement alleges that Israeli troops
"deliberately fired tear gas towards crews of
journalists from Palestine TV and other stations
to discourage any footage for the International
Week Against Racism ... from being broadcast."
An Israeli military spokesperson says she is
"unaware" of any specific targeting by troops
at Bil'in, but confirms the use of "riot-dispersal
mechanisms", since some protesters threw rocks.
The Hamas women’s movement staged a peaceful
demonstration outside a Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) building in Gaza on Wednesday, to
demand that Israel stop stealing Palestinian
religious sites in the West Bank.
The group’s spokesperson, Umm Muhammad Ar-Rantisi,
says, "The events in Jerusalem & at the Ibrahimi
mosque in Hebron, show that Israel is planning
to steal Jerusalem & dominate our holy sites.”
She urges the Palestinian government in Gaza
to “remain strong” in opposition to Israel's
occupation and take concrete steps to defend
religious sites from what she calls this
"fierce attack" by Israel.
************************************************
JORDANIANS DEMAND JIHAD & ARABS TO "CUT ALL TIES"
Jordanian politicians together with all strands
of Jordanian society, including trade unionists
and the Muslim Brotherhood, stage a sit-in at the
Trade Unions Complex in Amman on Saturday.
The participants are calling for concrete action
against Israel, the declaration of jihad and the
cutting of ties with Israel by all Muslim countries.
"The response to this crime should not be confined
to the issuing of statements denouncing it,
but needs to go further, & express backing
for the resistance, the cancellation of all
peace talks & the suspension of all forms
of 'normalization' with Israel," Chair of the
Jordan Doctors Association, Ahmad Armouti, says.
Speakers rebuke the US, EU and other world powers
for their failure to condemn Israeli provocation:-
taking over Palestinian religious sites & land.
Hamas on Saturday slams a document prepared by
a senior Palestinian negotiator which outlines
a grim situation due to the suspension of peace
talks with Israel.
"The document reflects the Palestinian negotiator's frustration,"
said Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesperson.
The suspension of peace talks is not in favour
of the Palestinian people, says the document,
prepared by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
As the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)
had desperately negotiated for years to have an
independent Palestinian statehood against Israel,
the interruption of talks will serve "Israel's
idea", that one state with two nationalities is
better than the two-state solution, Erekat said.
Radwan stresses that the PNA & President Abbas'
Fatah movement "are not entitled to make any
fateful decisions related to the Palestinian people."
He also criticizes Erekat for considering Hamas
as an obstacle to peace. "This means the negotiator
(Erekat) sees the Israeli occupation as a partner," Radwan said.
*************************************************
ISRAELI POLICE CLASH WITH DEMONSTRATORS IN JERUSALEM
Israeli police break into the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem today (Sunday), after Palestinian
worshippers throw stones at visitors there,
local daily Ha'aretz reports.
The Israeli police enter the compound when about
20 Palestinians throw stones at visitors. Then
Palestinians quickly take cover inside a mosque,
and the police do not enter, according to Ha'aretz.
Local sources say several Palestinians are
affected by tear-gas during the clash, and
one Israeli soldier is lightly wounded.
The incident comes after continuing protests
in Hebron over Netanyahu's decision to include
Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb,
located in the West Bank, to a list of
Israeli "national" heritage sites.
***********************************************
IRISH FOREIGN MINISTER SNEAKS INTO GAZA
The Israelis refuse him a visa, but he and ten
others join the swelling ranks of European leaders
who all call individually for help for the stricken
children of Gaza, but at an EU level, are failing
to act to stop the genocide.
************************************************
ISRAELI SOLDIER STRIPPED OF RIFLE
Reports are just in of an incident in Northern
Israel, where an IDF soldier is relieved of his
gun. In Nablus, many reports of injuries, as
Palestinians revolt outside a mosque which is
now barred to them by IDF soldiers. Mr Bhargouti,
a prominent politician, & members of his close
family, are among many treated for gas inhalation.
************************************************
ANNIVERSARIES SWELL BIL'IN TURNOUT
Organizers say at least 3,000 demonstrators
marched to the separation wall cutting off
the village of Bil'in from its agricultural lands
on Friday, to mark the 5th year of the mission.
Protest organizers also say the weekly march
celebrated the Israeli military’s decision to
implement a two-year-old court order to move
the barrier back from the centre of the village.
“The Israeli court had already ruled two years
ago that the Wall here should be rerouted, but
it is our struggle, not their court, that forces
the Army to implement this decision now"
Mohammed Khatib, an organizer, states.
"The International Court of Justice in the Hague
ruled that the Wall should be dismantled in its
entirety, and not just partially like the
Israeli court had ordered," he adds.
This time, Palestinian teenagers and young men
successfully pull down a 30-metre length of
barbed-wire fence from the barrier. Israeli
forces in full riot gear use water cannons to
spray demonstrators with a foul-smelling liquid
known as "skunk."
Soldiers also shoot tear gas and sound bombs
in an effort to disperse the group, who demand
that Israel return the confiscated land to the village.
Protesters also carry posters bearing the portrait
of Bassem Abu Rahma, killed in 2009 when he is
protesting - by an Israeli teargas canister.
Organizers say 2 demonstrators are lightly hurt.
One struck with a tear-gas projectile in the leg
and one shot in the stomach by a rubber-coated bullet.
The anniversary protest also draws a number of
dignitaries including caretaker PM Salam Fayyad,
Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha'ath,
and presidential aide Sabri Saidam.
Fayyad expresses his personal support for the
popular resistance activities, as well as
institutional support from the "government"
in ensuring the steadfastness of Palestinians
on their lands. "Freedom is so close," he tells them.
Others include Palestinian Legislative Council
members Abdallah Abdallah, Walid A’ssaf, and
Mustafa Barghuthi; Ministers in the appointed
Palestinian Authority Cabinet, Maher Ghniem
(confiscated lands), Khaled Qawasmi (local
government), & Majida Al-Masri (social affairs).
From the Executive Committee of the PLO, Taysir
Khaled attends, alongside Israeli Knesset Member
Dov Hnein of the Democratic Front for Peace and
Equality, the Mayor of Geneva, Remy Vagani,
the Mayor of Jericho, Hasan Saleh, and dozens of
other dignitaries alongside Palestinians,
Israelis and other international supporters.
Members of the leftist Democratic Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
celebrated their founding anniversary at the event.
*************************************************
A GIFT FROM DOCTORS... LIFE SAVERS!
The Union of Arab Doctors announces that a
medical convoy transporting 2.5 million dollars
worth of medical aid has entered Gaza via the
Rafah crossing. It arrived on Saturday.
The convoy consists of medicine for cancer and
heart patients, 20,000 of fabric for operating
rooms & equipment & supplies for heart surgery.
Muhammad Al-Majdalawi, UAD manager:
"the Egyptian authorities allowed the convoy
into Gaza through Rafah. The convoy was sent by
the Emergency Relief Committee in the Federation
of Arab doctors in Egypt."
Al-Majdalawi says the medical convoy is the
largest Gaza has seen since Israel's war
on the costal enclave in 2009.
The Israeli police department has ordered the
closure of the Sur Baher Cultural Forum and a
kindergarten housed in the former Dar Al-Hadith
Society buidling, saying they are affiliated
with Hamas, community leaders say.
The orders, by Israeli police chief Dudi Cohen,
require them to shut down on the 28th February
for a period of one year.
Head of Sur Baher Cultural Forum Sufyan Jadallah,
says police broke into his home and forced him
to travel with them to the centre and open its
main gate. Police then conducted a search of the
building, ransacked its contents, confiscated a
laptop and delivered the closure order, he says.
Jadallah denounces the closure, saying it targets
a genuine grassroots Palestinian organization
which represents the Palestinian community in Sur
Baher, and no political party.
The organization says it is not affiliated with
any faction, & provides education & sports
activities for children from the East Jerusalem
neighborhoods of Sur Baher, Umm Tuba the Mount
of Olives and Beit Safaffa.
Jadallah says his organization is not related to
the Dar Al-Hadith Society, and that the building
is now used mainly as a kindergarten.
"Dar Al-Hadith stopped paying rent months ago,"
he says, "I don't think its even still
affiliated with the centre."
*************************************************
MASS ARRESTS IN JERUSALEM REFUGEE CAMPS
Dozens of Palestinians including journalists
are injured as fierce clashes break out today
in Shu'fat refugee camp after Israeli civil and
paramilitary police storm it, & detain dozens.
Confrontations erupt near a military checkpoint
at the main entrance to the camp after young
Palestinians pelt Israeli soldiers with stones
and empty bottles. Soldiers respond by firing
tear gas, rubber-coated bullets & stun grenades.
Several correspondents & photojournalists are hurt,
including Samir Abu Gharbiyya, a cameraman with
Al-Jazeera International, Amir Abed Rabbo,
cameraman of Panet news, and Diala Juweihan,
working for Quds Press.
Three Israeli officers sustain injuries.
Hours earlier, a large deployment of Israeli forces
raid As-Salam, Ras Khamis & Ras Shahada in the camp,
north of occupied East Jerusalem & detain over
60 affiliated to Salafi movements & Fatah.
The raid, still ongoing, includes house-to-house
searches to locate weapons, correspondents say.
Among those detained are Fawzi Muheisin, Amir Ad-
Dibs, Mu’taz Ad-Dibs, Hamza Ad-Dibs, Udayy Abu
As-Sa’d, Ibrahim Ad-Dib’i, Hasan Abu At-Tein,
Ali Issa, and more than 20 construction workers
from the West Bank who reside in the camp.
Amir Ad-Dibs is the son of a Fatah member and,
according to locals, his mother is pushed to
the ground during his detention.
Onlookers estimate the number detained as 60+.
Israeli police sources say 11 of the detainees
are "wanted" & confirm that the operation is ongoing.
On Saturday, Palestinian youths protested against
being "inspected", a policy, which they consider
to be humiliating. A number of complaints have
been lodged against Israeli soldiers manning
the Shu'fat checkpoint in recent weeks.
Shu'fat Refugee Camp is home to more than 25,000
Palestinian refugees, most of whom have been
displaced from their homes across Jerusalem.
The camp is now isolated from Jerusalem by
the separation wall, and two military checkpoints
have been erected at the western entrance of the
camp, to "monitor" all Palestinian movement.
Residents have to pass through these checkpoints
on a daily basis, just to go about their lives.
Earlier today, the Anata refugee camp is also
stormed, with a number of detentions reported.
Israeli forces have also stormed the villages
of Hajja and Azzun east of Qalqiliya, and
detained six teenagers.
Locals say Israeli forces raided Hajja at daybreak
and detained Munjid Atif Hassan, 17, and Muhammad
Arif Thiab, 17, after ransacking their homes.
In Azzun, locals identified those detained as
Amjad Jamal Shilo, 19, Ja'far Abdul-Karim, 16,
Adham Shahir Salim, 17, & Mustafa Bilal Hussein, 17.
Soldiers also detained 10 Palestinians in Qalqiliya,
Ramallah, Bethlehem & Hebron at daybreak.
The Mayor of Al-Bireh AND HIS WIFE are now in
prison today, as Israeli forces arrest them
after searching their home in Ramallah.
"Heavily armed soldiers and large numbers of
military vehicles raided the mayor’s home on
Monday early morning breaking the doors and
damaging the house’s interior before they
detained Muntaha Tawil, the mayor’s wife,"
an Al-Birreh Municipal Council statement says.
Mayor Tawil says his wife's detention will not
hinder his ability to provide his constituents
with the services they need, adding that Israel
often attempts to exert pressure on mayors of
Palestinian villages through detentions, forced
home searches and summons orders.
Tawil is a mother of four and her husband has
been detained several time by Israeli forces.
Mayor Tawil previously served 13 years in an Israeli prison.
*************************************************
ISRAEL CHANGES WALL's ROUTE IN BIL'IN
The lawyer of Bil'in local council, Michael Sfard,
says Israeli authorities have informed him of
the new route of the separation wall, adjusted
according to a decision by the Israeli Supreme
Court of Justice in 2007.
Once the adjusted route is implemented,
residents of Bil'in are expected to restore
almost half of their 2,300 donums confiscated
during the construction of the wall's original route.
However, as the portion of the wall already built
is being removed, farmers can expect significant
damage to their olive groves in the area.
The local Popular Committee Against the
Separation Wall in Bil'in says the decision
is too late, and does not change the fact
that the wall in unacceptable, wherever it is.
Member of the committee Muhammad Al-Khateib,
recently released from Israeli custody on bail,
says Israel had not fully respected the Supreme
Court decision, nor does Israel respect
international resolutions condemning the wall.
He adds that hundreds of people have been injured
or detained during peace protests against the wall,
which have been brutally suppressed.
Last year, Basim Abu Raham was killed at one of the rallies.
Nevertheless, Al-Khateib says, the adjustment
to the wall's route is a great accomplishment
by the village, and points out that the Israeli
authorities are failing to stop international
and Israeli solidarity groups from supporting
Palestinians, & the popular campaign against the wall
has now succeeded in retrieving part of the village's land
confiscated by Israel through the wall's construction.
*************************************************
SETTLERS RAISE ISRAELI FLAG ON HEBRON HILL
Israeli settlers are reported to have claimed
as their land, a hill outside Hebron and have
placed a caravan there, reports say from Ma'an.
*************************************************
ALL FACTIONS MEET
The leader of Fatah meets Haniyeh, Hamas' leader,
in his refugee home, & all factions meet in Gaza
for talks on unity, after which, Fatah`s Sha`ath
& Hamas` Al-Hayya both attend a news conference.
Representatives of all Palestinian factions met
in Gaza City late Wednesday at the headquarters
of independents, Yasser Al-Wadiyeh says this morning.
The announcement comes hours after the arrival
of Fatah leader Nabil Sha'ath to Gaza, where
he is welcomed by several of the independents.
*************************************************
BIL'IN: ISRAELI TROOPS ARREST YOUNG US WOMAN
A 27-year-old US woman is detained along with
two Palestinians by Israeli forces during a
night raid in Bil'in on Wednesday. (3rd)
All three are taken to the border police station,
an organizer says. An Israeli military spokesperson
confirms the detentions.
Troops broke into the home of Abed Al-Fattah Burnat, 27,
then surrounded the home of Ashraf Abu Rahma.
International and Palestinian activists were
alerted of the raid and went to the location
to film the event.
Witnesses say the home was declared a closed
military zone by army officials, who demanded
reporters and activists stay 50 meters away
from the door. Organizers say the group moved
50 meters back, but soldiers continued to harass
photojournalist & B'Tselem volunteer Hamdi Abu Rahameh, 22.
The Israeli military say Rahameh is a Palestinian
citizen of Israel, and say he was detained for
failing to move back from the home after
soldiers declared it a "closed area".
As soldiers detain the young man, a US activist
known locally as "Stormy" attempts to intervene.
The military say the US woman "interfered" in
the work of the Israeli army and attempted to
"prevent Israeli soldiers from carrying out
their duty." They also say the actions of the
woman caused rioting in the area. They confirm
her arrest and transfer to the Israeli police.
US Consulate officials say they are
"looking into" the incident.
Another Palestinian resident of Bil'in, Ashraf Abu Ramhe,
is later detained near the village mosque. Upon
his detention, Israeli soldiers handcuff and
blindfold him, ushering him into a car with a
gun pointed at his head, organizers say.
The Israeli army also confirms the arrest of Ramhe.
International peace activists have been staying
overnight in the village of Bil'in since the
Israeli army began night raids into the village,
initially following each Friday's demonstration
against the separation wall being constructed on village lands.
Night raids became more regular during the Autumn
of 2009, and now occur almost nightly, villagers
say. Activists and photojournalists are working
to document the raids and the treatment of
Palestinians at the hands of Israeli forces.
In January, a Czech woman working on solidarity
projects with Palestinians via the International
Solidarity Movement was detained from her home
in Ramallah during a night raid and deported.
Today, (3rd), Israel's beaches are closed as
barrels full of explosives land on the sand.
************************************************
HAMAS PREPARING TO SUE ISRAEL FOR STEALING BODY PARTS
The de facto government in the Gaza Strip has
began collecting the testimonies of families
whose sons allegedly had their organs harvested
by Israeli soldiers, Gaza Minister of Justice
Muhammad Faraj Al-Ghoul (look - it's his name!)
says today (Wednesday).
"We have started collecting documents & information
which prove that the Israeli occupation has
stolen the body parts of martyrs. We intend to
prepare a complete legal file to be used in
suits against the Israeli government in
international courts,” Al-Ghoul tells reporters.
The announcement follows months of accusations
and a growing pile of reports from Israeli
and international reporters alleging a series
of incidents involving the theft of organs
from young men in Israeli custody.
Al-Ghoul says announcements will be printed in
local newspapers asking families and victims
of the alleged harvesting to come forward and
testify at the offices of the ministry.
*************************************************
54 US LAWMAKERS PRESS OBAMA ON GAZA SIEGE
54 US congress members have written to Obama,
urging him to pressure Israel to ease the
siege of Gaza on humanitarian grounds.
"We ask you to press for immediate relief
for the citizens of Gaza as an urgent component
of your broader Middle East peace efforts."
The congress members say the blockade is resulting in
"the de facto collective punishment of
the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip."
The letter, written by Democrats Jim McDermott
from Washington and Keith Ellison from Minnesota
is also signed by several leftist organizations,
including Americans for Peace Now and J Street.
They call for free movement into and out of Gaza,
& urge Israel to allow in building materials
to reconstruct the homes and infrastructure
destroyed during Israel's January 2008 offensive,
which killed well over 1,400 Palestinians.
The response by the Israeli Embassy in Washington?
It says the blockade will stand "as long as
Hamas continues to attack Israel with missiles
and other means."
*************************************************
HAMAS: "RESISTANCE THE ONLY WAY"
Khaled Mashaal, head of the politburo of the
Islamic Hamas movement, blames Israeli's deceit
for the delay in exchanging hostages.
"Gilad Shalit will not return to his home
until Israel releases the Palestinian hostages
according to the pre-agreed conditions." he says.
He makes the remarks at a celebration held in Damascus
for the 22nd anniversary of the founding of Hamas
and the first anniversary of the Gaza war.
Mashaal thanks all the supporters of Gaza from
different parts in the world for their efforts
to help lift the siege of Gaza.
"We will stick to our political responsibility
both inside and outside Palestine. Pressure
will not affect Palestine. Developing resistance
and politics is bonded with our people."
In his speech, Mashaal also urges the upcoming
Arab summit in Libya & Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
to put the Palestinian issue at the top of
the summit's agenda. He mentions in particular,
breaking the siege, stopping the metal wall
being built on Gaza's border with Egypt
and the internal Palestinian reconciliation.
He also demands that the Palestinian authorities
"not cooperate with Israel and backstab the resistance."
"The most important thing which makes today's
celebration significant, is that it comes
after the failure of peace attempts with Israel
and that today's celebration confirms
that resistance is the only way,"
Hamas press officer Zohir al-Khatib states.
*************************************************
UK MP CALLS SIEGE "EVIL" - CALLS FOR WARCRIMES TRIALS
An MP from the UK's Labour Party visiting Gaza
says the blockade by Israel and Egypt is "evil."
Gerald Kaufman also speaks in support of attempts
by pro-Palestinian groups in the UK to have
arrest warrants issued against Israeli politicians
involved in Israel's war on Gaza last winter.
"Anybody who uses white phosphorous should be
arrested and should be tried for war crimes."
Gerald leads a group of 60 parliamentarians from
13 European countries who arrived in Gaza Friday.
Egypt is constructing an underground barrier,
which Hamas call a Death Wall, to completely seal off Gaza.
ElBaradei, the former UN Nuclear Chief, says
Egyptians deserve "10 times better" than the
government they now have, and could help Egypt
and its people regain their honour.
The head of Hamas says: "People build walls
between enemies - not between brothers."
*************************************************
EGYPT DEPORTS GEORGE GALLOWAY
George Galloway is deported from Cairo
despite wanting to return to Gaza to help
members of the Viva convoy reportedly arrested.
Plain clothes police officers "bundle"
the Respect MP on to a London bound plane.
"Mr Galloway had been trying to return to Rafah
after news broke that seven of the convoy members
are said to have been arrested."
Trouble began as Mr Galloway and Ron McKay
arrived at the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt.
"As soon as they emerged on to Egyptian soil,
both men were forcibly pushed into a van,
refused exit and told that they were leaving the country.
They were then driven off in a police convoy."
The aid convoy of 550 people from 17 countries
was caught up in violent scenes, which they
blamed on "heavy-handed policing."
The spokesperson says 55 convoy members
were injured and seven were arrested.
"Mr Galloway and Turkish MPs struck a deal
with Egyptian authorities, part of which
was that the 7 detainees be released without charge.
"On the enforced drive to Cairo, news came through
of the imminent arrest of the seven but, when
Mr Galloway demanded to return to Rafah,
permission was repeatedly denied."
************************************************
GALLOWAY CONVOY GAZA ENTRY
UK MP George Galloway led the long-delayed
aid convoy into the Gaza Strip via the Rafah
crossing from Egypt, at 2pm local time,
the convoy's spokesperson Alice Howard said.
Earlier in the morning, Egyptian authorities
withheld the passports of 157 Gaza-supporters
travelling with the convoy at Al-Arish airport.
Among those whose travel documents were seized
was British Member of Parliament George Galloway.
Those that arrived in Al-Arish were told that the
remaining 400 volunteers due to enter Gaza with
the convoy would not be allowed to transit,
the Viva Palestina organization says.
The passports were stamped with entry and exit
stamps, but were then returned to their holders
with the exit stamp removed, the campaigners say.
Despite the setback, the convoy carrying medical
& humanitarian aid still entered Gaza.
The convoy was left stranded in Aqaba, Jordan
on Christmas Eve when Egyptian authorities
announced that the convoy would not be allowed
to dock in Nuweiba. Following negotiations,
the convoy was told to return to Syria and
send its supplies to Al-Arish by ferry.
Volunteers from 17 countries around the world
are leaving over 150 vehicles they have travelled
in, for the Palestinian population in Gaza.
Galloway led two successful convoys to Gaza last year.
************************************************
NEW YEAR MARCHERS SHOW GAZANS "WHO CARES"
Suzanne Mubarak manages to break past her country's
obviously lick-spittle relationship with Israel,
so 84 international peace activists ARE "allowed"
to pass through the Rafah crossing.
Thank you Egypt - once brave, proud and Faithful.
More than 50,000 people take to the streets
of Gaza for mass marches designed to send a message
to the US, the key supporter of Israel’s army,
that the treatment of Gaza's population
blatantly violates international law.
One of the main backers of the "Gaza Freedom March"
is CODEPINK, the women’s peace group.
Organizers of the March say the Goldstone Report
has shown so many human rights violations
and war crimes by both Israel and Hamas.
It makes clear that Israel's military campaign
was "a deliberately disproportionate attack
designed to punish, humiliate, and terrorize
a civilian population, radically diminish
its local economic capacity both to work
and to provide for itself, and to force upon it
an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."
It describes Israel’s economic blockade as
"collective punishment" against the population
and cite many attacks on civilian targets
for which there was "no justifiable military objective."
"I think we have to recognize that the importance
of the Gaza Freedom March as a way of drawing
attention to the blockade is crucial," says
Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based
Centre for Constitutional Rights.
"But what really changed here is the world’s
understanding of what’s really happening
in the occupied territories in the West Bank,
and Gaza, and in East Jerusalem."
The 3-mile march from Gaza to the Erez Crossing
brought together 51,350 people from 43 nations.
Each participant signed a code of conduct
committing to non-violence during the march.
Ratner says his whole family also wanted to
show the solidarity of US Jewish people
with the people of Gaza.
"I want it understood: Israel does not kill
in my name. I want to follow words with action."
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and also
a Jewish American, visits Washington often
to lobby for a reduction in the $3 billion the
US "gives" to Israel to procure US defence contracts.
She hopes the march will influence the
international community's response to
ALL attacks on Palestinian civilians.
"I think it’s a recognition that Israel can no
longer hide under the idea that it somehow
is exceptional, that it can create and engage
in gross violations of internationally recognized
human rights, and do so with impunity. It can’t
continue to impose collective punishment on the
people of Gaza. It can’t deliberately attack civilians."
"The fact that so many people around the world
are coming really gives heart and inspiration
to the people in Gaza that shows that they
have not been forgotten."
She says marchers include people from all backgrounds.
"We have people in their seventies and eighties.
Quite a large portion of the people are of
Jewish descent. One is an 85 year-old Holocaust survivor."
"We are doing this in the spirit of Martin Luther King,
of Mohandas Gandhi, of Nelson Mandela,
of non-violent resistance worldwide."
Abdeen Jabara, a member of the Steering
Committee for the Gaza Freedom March:
"For centuries, black people in America suffered
from segregation, but it was not violence that
won full and equal rights. It was peaceful and
determined insistence upon the ideals at the
centre of America’s founding. We fervently hope
that this effort in some small way could break
the siege, will register in Washington, and
the other capitals of the world."
The Goldstone report has been accepted by
the UN Human Rights Council & the General Assembly.
Israel dismisses it as biased, and the US's
Ambassador to the UN, Alejandro Wolff
rejects it as "deeply flawed" and "unbalanced."
The Democrat controlled House of Representatives
has voted overwhelmingly to condemn it, thereby
- in its rush to support Israel - defying the
understanding of the rest of the world.
CODEPINK believe that the Gaza Freedom March
is vibrating throughout the entire world,
demanding as it does, that the US help to
stop these gross human rights violations
and end its obviously gross bias towards Israel.
"Israel has no place to hide," says Jabara.
************************************************
Two women and a man are injured by Egyptian police
during demonstrations showing solidarity with
the Gaza Freedom March in Cairo.
Identities of the three injured protesters are
not immediately released. Sources say they were
among the 450 activists from dozens of nations
present outside Egyptian government buildings.
The French delegates had earlier been camped out
on the grounds surrounding the French Embassy
in Cairo, flanked by 2 lines of Egyptian police.
Egyptian security sent back bus-loads of
protesters from the Suez Canal internal
checkpoint earlier in the week.
Another 500 gathered at the Israeli side of
the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip
in support of the Freedom March. The group
call for an end to the Israeli blockade,
and are thanked by de facto Palestinian Prime
Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, by telephone,
for their support for the Palestinian resistance.
ISRAELI HIGH COURT: PALESTINIANS CAN USE ROUTE 443.
The Israeli High Court rules that the Israeli
military doesn't have the authority to declare
a key West Bank highway, Route 443, “Israeli
only” and block Palestinians from using it.
This means that for the first time since 2002,
Palestinians will be allowed to take Route 443,
giving villagers easier access to Ramallah.
The military had insisted that it could bar
Palestinians from the 443 for any reason,
and has prevented them from even using it
in cases of medical emergencies.
Palestinians have had to use a poorly maintained
single lane road that winds through the region
and tunnels underneath the 443.
The court says that the military’s actions are
"contrary to international law" and is giving
them five months to alter their security
before having to allow Palestinians access.
The court leaves open the possibility that
the military can block the road to Palestinian
traffic in the future, as circumstances dictate,
but that it can not issue a permanent ban, such
as the one currently in place.
The military seized the land on which the highway
was built in the early 1980s, arguing that it
was primarily for the benefit of Palestinians.
The judges make clear that claim was part of
their decision, insisting that if the military
had said the road would be “Israeli only”
at the time, they would never have allowed
the land to be seized in the first place.
*************************************************
GAZA AID CONVOY BOWS TO EGYPT - TO HELP GAZA
Activists in charge of the 210-lorry convoy
carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip
say they "decided" to change their route
after Egyptian authorities blocked their way
to the Red Sea port of Nuweibeh.
The convoy instead travelled from the Jordanian
port of Aqaba, to Amman, before heading to Syria,
says Ali Abul Sukkar, a spokesperson for the
Jordanian Professional Associations Council,
which is involved in the campaign.
The cargo was later loaded onto a ship at the
Mediterranean port of Latakia, for another
journey to the port of El Arish, through which,
Egypt insisted, all aid to Gaza should pass.
The decision to change the convoy's route came
after Turkish mediation failed to gain Egyptian
approval for transit to the Gaza Strip's Rafah
crossing via Nuweibeh. The Rafah Crossing is
the only access point into Gaza that bypasses
Israel, Abul Sukkar says.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said
Egypt's insistence on the use of the El Arish
port was a "sovereign decision."
"The convoy has no other choice except returning to Syria
and sailing from there to El Arish."
The convoy was led by George Galloway and staffed
by 450 activists from 17 countries, including
the US, European countries and Turkey.
Egypt and Jordan are now the only two Arab countries
in the world who hold friendly ties with Israel.
*************************************************
ISRAEL'S SETTLEMENTS ARE KILLING PEACE.
As the US & EU condemn Israel's "moratorium"-
breaking new "settlements" in Jerusalem, Abbas
still insists he is "not allowing" another Intifada.
Abbas' comments come as settlers throwing stones
cause a bus to overturn, hurting passengers
and badly injuring both driver & co-driver.
A bus skidded out of control and overturned
after being pelted with stones by Israeli
settlers near Nablus.
The incident was on the road near the settlement of Yitzhar.
Palestine Red Crescent Society medics say the four
were taken to the Women’s Union Hospital in Nablus.
Bus driver Methkal Khaled from Tulkarem, Rifat
Arafeh from Jerusalem, Salam Rabaya from Jenin,
and Bilal Farraj were injured, the medics say.
An Israeli military spokesperson says that four
Palestinians were injured in what the military
terms a "car accident". She says a complaint has
been filed at the Nablus District Coordination
Office, that the crash was caused by stone throwing.
“After an initial search by IDF soldiers in the area
no signs of rock-hurling were found,” she says.
Ghassan Daghlas, the Palestinian official charged
with monitoring settler activity confirms the incident.
Medical officials also say a medical relief
vehicle was stoned on the Nablus-Ramallah road.
Tensions were already high in the Nablus area
after Israeli special forces gunned down
three Palestinian men in the city.
Israel alleges that the three men were "behind"
the killing of a settler.
The fatal shooting of the settler coincides with
reported incidents of settler violence.
How can Abbas survive when his main role appears
to be stopping meaningful resistance AND Hamas?
*************************************************
BIL'IN LEADER CHARGED WITH "POSSESSION OF ARMS"
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a leader of the weekly
nonviolent protests in Bil’in, has finally been
charged after being arrested nearly two weeks ago
by the Israeli military. Abu Rahmah’s arrest is
part of an Israeli campaign against Palestinian
nonviolent resistance leaders - by ANY means.
Below is the Popular Struggle
Coordination Committee press release:
"Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a school teacher and
coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee
Against the Wall, was indicted in an Israeli
military court yesterday. Abu Rahmah was
slapped with an arms possession charge for
collecting used tear gas canisters shot at
demonstrators in Bil’in by the army and
showcasing them in his home.
An indictment was filed in a West Bank military
court yesterday for incitement, stone throwing
and arms possession charges against Bil’in
Popular Committee coordinator, Abdallah Abu
Rahmah. On receiving the indictment Adv. Gaby
Lasky, Abu Rahmah’s lawyer, said that:
“The army shoots at unarmed demonstrators,
and when they try to show the world
the violence used against them by
collecting & presenting the remnants –
they are persecuted and prosecuted.
What’s next? Charging protesters money
for the bullets shot at them?"
************************************************
ISRAEL IS A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
...AND SO IS CREEPING MILLIPEDE !
The UN committee on Palestinian rights
now calls on the international community
“to take urgent and decisive action against
the continued illegal Israeli actions.”
They warn that Israel’s activities in the
occupied Palestinian territories are
"undermining the whole structure of international law".
“Israel’s violation of international law
goes far beyond the context of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict & may affect conflict
situations in other parts of the world,
by discrediting, disregarding and seriously
undermining the existing international legal system,”
On the 30th of January 2008, Israel‘s High Court
sanctioned the Israeli government‘s October 2007 decision
to cut fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip:
thus legitimising collective punishment -
in direct violation of international law.
Israel's courts have also stripped Palestinians
of their civil & human rights, by giving them no appeal.
(That ruling came in response to petitions filed
by several Palestinian and Israeli human rights
organisations seeking to reverse the fuel and
electricity embargo on Gaza.)
Now in the Gaza Strip there is an electricity deficit
& blackouts last 12 hours per day in some areas.
An Israeli human rights organization reports that
"without electricity & without diesel for back-
up generators, Gaza‘s sewage treatment pumps and
treatment plants are pumping as much as 40 million
litres of untreated sewage into the sea each day,
& the supply of clean water has fallen by 30%".
All hospitals are now reliant on inadequate fuel reserves;
reducing services & denying care to non-urgent cases.
Patients continue to die because Israel prevents them
from accessing life-saving treatment outside of the Gaza Strip.
At least 87 people have already died since
last June, including 16 children.
In July 2009, testimony was published from 26 Israeli soldiers
(two junior officers & 24 enlisted personnel)
who took part in the Gaza assault.
In this report, they say that the IDF used Gazans
as human shields, improperly fired incendiary
white phosphorous shells over civilian areas
and used overwhelming firepower that caused
needless deaths and destruction.
There are almost daily reports of attacks by
Jewish settlers:- shooting at civilians;
damaging property; vandalizing places of worship;
uprooting trees; burning farms; destroying harvests.
Palestinians are severely restricted in their
daily movement; for work, education, shopping
for necessities or even growing food.
During the Israeli attack on Gaza, state of the
art weapons were launched against starving children,
including sound bombs and white phosphorous.
Can you think of anything more cowardly & disgusting?
There are 64 UN Resolutions AGAINST Israel,
and what is being done about it? Nothing.
(If it wasn't for USUK interference,
there would be 200 of them - if not more.)
Israel, though you wouldn't think it, is also
bound by the provisions of international law,
including the Fourth Geneva Convention,
which stipulates that “the Occupying Power
shall not deport or transfer parts of its own
civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Israel's main violation of international law,
lies in its use of collective punishment.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions,
collective punishments are a war crime.
Article 2 states that signatories are bound by the convention
in wars, armed conflicts where war has not been declared
and in any occupation of another country's territory.
Article 3 of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949
requires fair trials for all individuals before
punishments; and the Additional Protocol II of 1977
explicitly forbids collective punishment.
Article 33. No protected person may be punished
for an offense he or she has not personally committed.
Collective penalties and likewise all measures
of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Articles 47-78 impose numerous provisions for
the welfare of people in an occupied territory:-
an occupier may not forcibly deport protected persons,
or deport or transfer parts of its own
civilian population into occupied territory (Art.49).
It's because of these crimes that Israeli leaders
are becoming so "hesitant" to travel abroad:
scared that they will be arrested for war crimes.
Israel complains after the "Tipsi" incident,
that the charges stop "Israel's right to defend itself."
They are demanding that our laws be adapted
to "new realities."
What is NEW about genocide, crimes against peace,
illegal occupations, collective punishment,
racism, apartheid, or ethnic cleansing?
The UK's Foreign Secretary David Miliband:
"The Government is looking urgently at ways
in which the UK system might be changed
in order to avoid this sort of situation arising again."
*************************************************
CATHERINE ASHTON MAKES A SPLASH
Catherine Ashton throws clear water on the dust
of Israeli crimes in Gaza in her first remarks
on the Israeli occupation in her maiden speech.
Ashton launches her clear criticism of Israeli
policy in her maiden speech as the EU's first
high representative for foreign affairs.
Government officials in Jerusalem say they are
"surprised, dissatisfied and concerned",
and say her remarks have "cast a pall" over
relations with the EU. They are "particularly
angry" that she hasn't unreservedly welcomed
the "temporary settlement construction freeze".
The UK statesperson, also knocks recent Israeli
attempts to claim Jerusalem as exclusively theirs.
She says in her speech that, in the EU's view,
"East Jerusalem is occupied territory,
together with the West Bank."
Baroness Ashton demands that Israel immediately
lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip, and repeats
that the EU opposes the "security wall", and
firmly opposes house evictions of Palestinians
from their homes in East Jerusalem.
Baroness Ashton says Israel's partial freeze
of illegal settlement construction IS welcome,
but only a welcome "first step."
Baroness Ashton is also speaking to key players
about the role of the Quartet, and of its
special envoy to the region, Mr Tony Blair.
Ashton says she has told Blair personally that:
"The Quartet must demonstrate that it is worth the money,
that it is capable of being reinvigorated."
Many MEPs are now calling for exemplary measures
against Israel, including suspension of the EU's
favored trading Association Agreement.
Irish centre-left member Proinsias De Rossa,
who visited the West Bank some weeks ago,
is publicly calling Israel's discrimination
against Palestinians, a form of "apartheid."
************************************************
JEWISH SETTLERS BURN KORANS IN WEST BANK MOSQUE
Suspected extremist Jewish settlers have attacked
a mosque in the northern West Bank, burning holy
books and spraying threatening graffiti in Hebrew
on the building, Palestinian officials & Israeli police say.
Extremists broke into the mosque in the village
of Yasuf, near Nablus & burnt Korans and copies
of the Hadith, (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad),
& prayer carpets, while spraying slogans on the
floor reading “Price tag – greetings from Effi.”
A pile of ash on a burnt carpet is all that
remains of around 100 holy books.
The so-called 'price tag' is the settlers’ policy
of attacking Palestinians and their property
in revenge for any Israeli government stay on
settlement expansion. Effi is a Jewish name.
The attack may be the beginning of an intensified
campaign of violence by the Zionist settlers.
The attackers "escaped", & when locals found
their mosque desecrated, villagers started
throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, accusing
them of complicity with the settlers. When settlers
carry out violent attacks on farmers and their
olive orchards, the Israeli army often stands
and "watches". This day, 2 Palestinians are hurt.
The settlers believe that the West Bank
– which they call Judea and Samaria –
should be part of a greater Israel,
& oppose the creation of any Palestinian state.
They are tearing up freeze orders delivered by
the authorities to settlements in the West Bank,
and blocking any inspector who dares to try to
enforce a building ban. At Qedumim, near Nablus,
residents stopped inspectors from entering, &
cheered as new building materials were driven in.
An Israeli cabinet minister now says that the
freeze was largely a sham and that the settler
population will grow by over 3,000 people in
the next 10 months; the period of the proposed moratorium.
"This is neither a freeze nor a suspension,"
Benny Begin, the son of Menachem Begin, tells
a conference in Tel Aviv: "Construction in Judea
and Samaria will continue in the next 10 months."
"We are saying that we don't intend to restrict
or suspend new building permits," he adds.
Netanyahu is allocating special development
grants to tens of thousands of settlers.
*************************************************
ISRAEL BARS EU LAWMAKERS FROM ENTERING GAZA
The Israeli army prevents a European Union
parliamentary delegation from entering the Hamas-
controlled Gaza Strip, the delegation says.
The delegation of 9 lawmakers from several EU states,
were in constant contact with the Israeli authorities
to make sure of their entry into Gaza.
"The visit was canceled 3 hours prior to the scheduled visit,"
the delegation says in a statement.
Palestinian sources say the delegation had
already arrived at Erez crossing point in
northern Gaza Strip before Israeli soldiers
turned the legislators back.
The ban comes hours after the EU calls on Israel
and the Palestinians to negotiate on Jerusalem
as the future capital of two states.
According to the statement, the Israeli army cited
"security concerns" in denying the delegation's entry.
The lawmakers were scheduled to inspect areas
struck by Israel's operation in Gaza last winter,
meet officials from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
and members of the deposed Hamas government.
Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reports that
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to
ban high-profile diplomats from entering Gaza
because he believes such visits grant legitimacy to Hamas.
*************************************************
CHAVEZ: VENEZUELA IS PALESTINE & PALESTINE IS VENEZUELA
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announces that
his country is opening an embassy in Palestine
and upgrading ties to ambassadorial level
to help support Palestinians and their struggle
against Israel, Reuters reports.
‘We have decided to designate an ambassador
and open an embassy in Palestine,’ Chavez tells
reporters, after meeting with Mahmoud Abbas.
‘We now have a charge d'affaires; we will name
an ambassador in the coming days as part of
accords boosting our bilateral relations."
Venezuela already provides scholarships
for Palestinians to study medicine in Venezuela.
Chavez lifts Palestinians morale in their daily
struggle against the Zionist genocidal expansion:
"We are on the side of the Palestinian people's
memorable struggle against the genocidal state
of Israel that knocks down, kills and aims to
exterminate the Palestinian people."
"We should devote the entire force of our hearts and souls
toward the creation of a Palestinian state," he says.
"Venezuela is Palestine; Palestine is Venezuela,
we have a common struggle."
************************************************
GAZA WATER "UNFIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION".
Water in the Gaza Strip is now so salty,
it is not fit for human consumption, the
official in charge of water supplies says.
"The water is no longer fit for human consumption,
with analysis and international studies showing
that just 10% of water in the Gaza Strip is usable...
threatening the lives of Palestinians," Munzir Shiblak warns.
He calls in a statement for "the necessary
measures to be taken to end the problem of
salinity in Gaza water supplies, a problem
that is getting worse."
Shiblak calls the water situation "critical."
He says the amount taken from underground
aquifers last year to supply 1.5 million people
with drinking water and for agriculture
was 160 million cubic metres, but that water
replenishment is only 80-90 million cubic metres.
"The ground water deficit rose to more than 80
million cubic metres last year, and if this
situation continues reserves could collapse
in the next few years," Shiblak says.
The UN Environment Programme also says
Gaza's underground water supplies are
"in danger of collapse" following years
of overextraction and the aggressive war Israel
waged on Gazans at the turn of the year.
"Unless the trend is reversed now, damage could
take centuri
