REQUIEM
Poet and Efran Kaye's tribute
to everyone killed in wars.
Bless the large numbers of Ethiopians,
the many good people in Indonesia now,
& the folks of Greece who are playing it.
Image: Many more US people waking up
Protesters fill the hallway outside the offices
of US Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) on Capitol Hill
in Washington on December 6th, 2011.
************************************************
WE CAN SEE YOU AS YOUR HEARTS ROT !!!
Egyptians demonstrated yesterday in front of the
UK embassy in Cairo, to condemn London for its
“racism and discrimination,” Press TV reports.
The demonstrators called for justice over the
death of a 31-year-old doctor, Karim Assad,
who, they say, was killed by the UK authorities.
Assad, an anesthetist, worked at the Princess of
Wales hospital in Cardiff, Wales, for six months
where he was mistreated by nurses and hospital
officials for being a Muslim.
They mocked him for not hanging out with girls
or drinking, and described Islamic obligations
as "pathetic and strange."
They also complained to the head of the
department, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
During the Egyptian revolution, Karim was also
criticized by his colleagues who told him "We
don’t want Mubarak to leave, because we are
really worried for Israel."
Assad started to receive death threats when he
decided to apply for work at a new hospital.
************************************************
MORE ILLEGALLY OCCUPYING SOLDIERS DIE
At least three US-led soldiers serving with ISAF
have been killed in an explosion in southern
Afghanistan, Press TV reports.
In a statement released today (Wednesday), ISAF
says the soldiers were killed as their convoy
was hit by a roadside bomb in the south of the
country on Tuesday.
The statement gives no more details.
************************************************
EGYPT's MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: JUNTA MISRULING.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood harshly criticizes
Egypt’s junta-appointed government, charging
that it has failed to address the country’s
security and economic crises.
"Egypt is suffering from escalating economic and
security crises which confirm the failure of
the government," says the Brotherhood’s Freedom
and Justice Party (FJP) in a statement.
"There is a desire that has become clear, to
export more crises to any future government,"
the party says, repeating its demand for the
formation of a new national unity cabinet.
The Brotherhood party also expresses opposition
to the current government's recent request for
a new World Bank loan, saying that “searching
for pain killers to treat economic problems...
raises many questions."
The World Bank announced in early February that
the Egyptian government had submitted a request
for a $1 billion loan.
"We have many financial resources upon which we
can rely before resorting to external borrowing,
be it from the World Bank or others," the
statement points out.
The current Egyptian government is led by PM
Kamal al-Ganzouri, a remnant of the US-backed
Mubarak dictatorship and was appointed in
November by the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces, Egypt’s ruling junta.
************************************************
AFGHAN POLICE KILL MORE OCCUPATION SOLDIERS
Afghan police have opened fire on two Albanian
soldiers near the Pakistani border, killing one
and causing the other to go into a coma...
The incident occurred in the southern district
of Spin Boldak in Kandahar province, and marks
Albania's first fatal casualty in Afghanistan.
Another foreign soldier, whose nationality has
not been revealed, was wounded in the shooting.
***********************************************
IRAN CUTS OIL TO UK AND FRENCH COMPANIES
Iran’s Oil Ministry announces it has cut oil
exports to UK and French firms in line with
the decision to "end crude exports to six
European states".
The move comes after Iranian Oil Minister Rostam
Qasemi hinted at the possibility of Iran’s
halting oil exports to certain European countries.
Iranian Oil Ministry Spokesperson Alireza Nikzad-
Rahbar says today (Sunday) that Iran has no
problem exporting and selling its crude oil.
“We have our own oil customers and replacements
for these [UK & French] companies have already
been chosen, and we will sell the crude oil to
new customers instead of the British and French
companies,” Nikzad-Rahbar points out.
***********************************************
KILLING HUMANITY IS NOW OUR BUSINESS
UK arms giant BAE Systems and French firm
Dassault announce their joint venture to
develop and mass produce armed drones.
The two historical rivals for empire agreed
in 2010 to work together on creating a new
generation of remotely-controlled aircraft,
known as Male (Medium Altitude Long Endurance).
The use of drones by the US and Britain in
Pakistan and Afghanistan has been widely
condemned by human rights organisations,
and by the Pakistani nation and government.
Flying over other lands and spying on them
by using these drones is illegal - never
mind killing and assassinating the people!
Yet earlier this month, the Pakistani High
Commissioner to Britain urged London to help
stop the US "Drone Wars" that are slaughtering
hundreds of the country’s innocent civilians.
"Patience is definitely reaching exhaustion
levels", says Wajid Shamsul Hasan.
“We know the damage - destroyed schools,
communities, hospitals. They are civilians -
children, women, families. Our losses are
enormous,” he says.
Hasan urges the UK's 'coalition' Prime Minister
David Cameorn to explain to the US that the
drone attacks are making the Americans “the most
hated people in the minds of the people in Pakistan.”
But his appeal is to a UK premier who is already
ignoring the illegalities of the Afghanistan
invasion, and who plans, with his new found "pal"
French president Nickolas Sarkozy, to make a
fortune for his immoral city backers, who NEED
wars in order to sell their new drones.
Cameron says the agreement covers not only a new
"command centre" and drone production, but also
nuclear weapons programs.
"Drones are the latest must-have weapon systems
and the big military companies are desperate to
be part of what is beginning to be called 'the
drones goldrush', says Chris Cole of Drone Wars UK.
"While Cameron is keen to emphasise that only
a 'few tens of millions of Euros' are being
spent at this time, early figures from the MoD
indicate that the new drone could cost us £2
billion with some estimates much higher”, he adds.
"The wider legal and ethical questions about
the growing use of armed drones are simply
being ignored by the politicians," says Chris
Cole of Drone Wars UK.
*********************************************
ROGUE STATE CLOSES AL AQSA MOSQUE
Israeli forces have closed the al-Aqsa Mosque in
East al-Quds (Jerusalem) after Israeli settlers
started a fight with Palestinian worshippers.
The clashes erupted this Sunday morning after
dozens of settlers entered the holy site and
scuffled with worshippers there. Israeli forces
intervened and clashed with the Palestinians in
the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Several Palestinians and Israeli forces
were injured during the clashes.
Police detained three Palestinians inside
the compound, Israeli police spokesperson
'Mickey' Rosenfeld says.
Israeli forces also closed all the entrances
to the compound, forcing dozens of worshippers
to remain inside.
Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is one of the holiest
sites in Islam, has been the scene of clashes
between Israeli troops and Palestinian
worshipers over the course of the occupation
of the Palestinian territories by Tel Aviv.
***********************************************
US TRAMPLES ON INTERNATIONAL LAW OVER SYRIA
A new report reveals that the US military has
dispatched a number of unmanned military and
intelligence drones for operations in Syrian
skies, according to NCB News.
All for the Syrians' own good, of course!
**********************************************
ANOTHER HELICOPTER "CRASHES" IN AFGHAN MESS
A NATO-ISAF helicopter has crashed in Laghman
province in eastern Afghanistan, with no
immediate reports of casualties.
************************************************
CHINA SHOWS SYRIA HER SUPPORT WITH VISIT
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun is in
Damascus today, and says Beijing is seeking to
"play a positive role" in finding a peaceful
solution to the ongoing unrest in Syria.
Zhai says he will try to help find a "proper
solution to the Syrian issue.”
The special envoy of the Chinese government met
with President Bashar al-Assad today (Saturday)
after consulting Syrian officials on Friday.
Syrian Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous
says that Zhai’s visit to Damascus is of "great
importance," as Beijing has adopted “a just and
equitable stance toward the Syrian issue.”
After vetoing an anti-Syria resolution in the UN
Security Council earlier this month, China and
Russia say that the current crisis should be
resolved through political channels.
************************************************
THE UK's FUNDING OF WAR AND MASS RAPE
This week's demonstration protesting against the
UK's funding of permanent war and mass rape in
the "Democratic" Republic of Congo, was blacked
out completely by the UK's media.
More than one hundred Congolese protesters
marched in Whitehall on Thursday, to voice
their outrage against the silence of the UK
government and media about the Congo's
corrupt election results, and the worsening
humanitarian crisis in the country.
The protesters condemn the coalition government
and Prime Minister David Cameron for supporting
a "genocidal regime". They shouted against the
UK’s state-run TV BBC for turning its back on
Congolese people, just because they are black.
“Western injustice in Congo must stop”,
“Cameron give DR Congo democracy a chance”,
“War and murder in DR Congo - all for your
laptop and iphone,” the banners read.
For years, the Congo has faced mass poverty,
crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east
that has dragged on for over a decade and left
over 5.4 million people dead.
When it comes to Syria, Libya or Egypt, the
UK media talks about it every day, but it is
turning a blind eye to all Congo massacres.
Killing in the Congo is subsidising the UK and
its allies with underpriced minerals, and due
to the UK "ownership" of mines there, they
prefer to keep silent as women are mass raped.
Congo is rich in diamonds, oil and minerals
including tin, tantalum, and tungsten, which are
widely used by UK firms for producing mobile
phones and laptops. The brutal way in which
these materials are exploited, such as mass rape
and the massacre of children, is an unspeakably
vile crime against humanity...
Last December, hundreds of Congolese protested
outside the Congolese Embassy in London to
oppose the re-election of President Joseph
Kabila against long-time opposition leader
Etienne Tshisekedi. They expressed outrage
at the apparent lack of interest in the West
and its media over Congo’s ongoing agony.
************************************************
THE SHORT SHARP SHOCK OF DEATH
Amnesty International urges US police and law
enforcement agencies to limit the use of Tasers
which have killed at least 500 people in the
United States since 2001.
Their appeal comes just days after a man in
Alabama became the 500th individual in the US
to be killed in the past decade after being
subdued by a police stun gun.
“At least 500 people in the US have died since
2001 after being shocked with Tasers either
during their arrest or while in jail,”
says Amnesty International.
It says the high count of casualty “underscores
the need for tighter rules limiting the use of
such weapons in law enforcement.”
The rights group says scores of such fatalities
within the US could be traced to the unnecessary
use of force by US police officers.
“Of the hundreds who have died following police
use of Tasers in the US, dozens and possibly
scores of deaths can be traced to unnecessary
force being used,” says Susan Lee, US Program
Director at Amnesty International.
“This is unacceptable, and stricter guidelines
for their use are now imperative,” she says.
US police, however, defend the use of Tasers,
insisting that the weapon saves lives and can
be used to subdue dangerous or uncooperative suspects.
Amnesty says security forces should only use the
weapon “as an alternative in situations where
police would otherwise consider using firearms.”
Researchers, citing documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act, have pointed to
dozens of cases of police use of Tasers that
suggest deviations from government guidelines.
On February 13th, 43-year-old Johnnie Kamahi
Warren became the latest victim of police
deployment of stun guns when a police officer
in Dothan, Alabama targeted him with a Taser
at least twice.
Warren reportedly stopped breathing shortly
after being shocked and died in hospital
less than two hours later.
************************************************
THE AMERICAN WAY
Corrections Corporation of America, the largest
operator of for-profit prisons in the US, is
offering 48 US states a way out of bankrupcy
by offering to buy out their detention centres
and run them for profit.
Corrections Corporation of America's Chief
Corrections Officer, Harley G. Lappin, has
sent out a letter in which he explains to
state officials across the US, the "benefits"
of being bought out.
According to Lappin, the CCA has earmarked $250
million for purchasing and managing government-
owned corrections facilities, and describes it
as an “opportunity for federal, state or local
government that are considering the benefits
of partnership (sic) corrections.”
The CCA currently manages over 60 correctional
facilities across the US. With profits high.
Their revenues have quintupled in 20 years, and
the CCA uses part of those profits for lobbying
Congress. While netting $133 million in income
between 2006 and 2008, the CCA spent nearly $3
million lobbying; between 2000 and 2010, they
spent around $17.6 million lobbying Washington.
And what were they asking for? Stricter laws
so that prison cells are more easily filled.
Corrections Corporation of America officers
have been linked to the American Legislative
Exchange Council, or ALEC, which has lobbied
for increased sentencing for inmates convicted
of non-violent crimes across the country and
helped pass the controversial immigration law
in Arizona. Corrections Corp. themselves have
lobbied directly for Arizona's Senate Bill 1070.
Their reasoning is simple: more stringent anti-
immigrant laws means more arrests; and packed
for-profit prisons make much higher profits.
In 2009 reports obtained by National Public
Radio, the CCA wrote that they expected “a
significant portion of our revenues" from the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement office pays
around $90 every day for each detainee that
their work helps land behind bars.
"It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,"
Shakyra Diaz, policy director of the American
Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, tells HuffPo.
"In order to have it at 90%, you need to be
able to make criminals to fill it at 90%."
Ohio sold off a prison to the CCA last year
after learning that they stood to save $3
million each year through the transaction.
Other Ohio State institutions have since
followed suit, and just one prison placed
on the market last year, was sold to the
CCA for $72.7 million.
All 48 states the CCA is appealing to right now
might not have immigration laws that will ensure
that the prisons will stay packed. So perhaps
that's why the Corrections Corporation has an
"eligibility rule" for interested states...
prisons must be able to house no fewer than
1,000 inmates, and guarantee that the facility
will stay at a minimum of 90% of capacity for
the length of their contract.
It’s the privatization of the US’s prison system
and brings a promise: more citizens behind bars.
As states fall on hard times, many facilities
have already been sold off, and the payoff to
a billion-dollar private business comes at the
cost of justice for every person in the US, as
US citizens become just a profitable commodity.
***********************************************
UK's JCB COMPANY COVERED IN MUCK
The UK manufacturer of JCBs sold machinery to
Israel, which is now using them to illegally
demolish Palestinians’ property, bringing
shame to a proud UK company.
UK-manufactured JCBs were used by the Israeli
army to demolish a Palestinian community centre
and a children’s playground in occupied East al-
Quds (Jerusalem), Electronic Intifada reports.
According to the report, the centre was the only
public space and playground for the Palestinian
residents of the Wadi Hilweh area of Silwan, a
neighborhood of East al-Quds next to the Old City.
This Israeli demolition of Palestinian property
in occupied East al-Quds is a violation of the
Fourth Geneva Conventions.
The Israeli regime has denied to Palestinian
children their right to play, by demolishing
the only playground in the Wadi Hilweh area.
Article 31 of the UN Convention of the Rights
of the Child enshrines the right “to rest and
leisure, to engage in play and recreational
activities appropriate to the age of the child
and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.”
By ratifying the Convention in 1991, the Israeli
regime is obliged to obey its directives.
UK-manufactured JCB machines were seen in action
demolishing two homes, a mosque and a barn in
Umm Fagarah on November 24th last year. The
village is located in the South al-Khalil Hills
in the occupied West Bank. On 20 June 2011, JCB
machines were used to destroy the village of
Bir al-Eid in the South al-Khalil Hills.
JCB headquarters are based in Rochester, UK.
************************************************
STOP PRESS: IRAN SANCTIONS TO HIT SIX EU STATES?
The Iranian government will immediately cut off
oil supplies to six European countries, setting
their oil & other sanctions on Iran into context.
Italy, Spain and Greece are included in the six.
(Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece
Portugal), said Press TV this morning...)
But Russia Today says Iran's Oil Ministry has
refuted media reports on the country stopping
its exports to six EU nations on Wednesday.
"We deny this report… If such a decision is
made, it will be announced by Iran's Supreme
National Security Council," a spokesperson
for the ministry told Reuters.
The European Commission has "absolutely no
information" about the news and will check it,
said spokesperson for Foreign Policy, M. Mann.
The initial news from Tehran nonetheless sent
Brent crude prices up nearly $2 a barrel to
$119.28, hitting a six-month high.
Iran’s state Press TV first reported that Tehran
had cut off crude supplies to Spain, Italy,
Greece, Portugal, France and the Netherlands.
That would have fulfilled Iran's threat to
retaliate for the EU’s oil embargo, agreed by
the bloc in January.
But then the news was reduced to the Iranian
Foreign Ministry notifying the ambassadors of
six EU countries of the upcoming oil blockade.
Out of the listed nations, Italy, Spain and
Greece account for up to 68% of Iranian oil
consumed in Europe. Half of Spanish and a third
of Greek oil imports come from that country.
The Spanish ambassador to Iran has voiced
concerns that Tehran’s preemptive oil action
will deliver a "heavy blow" to Madrid’s economy.
The age of bullying is over, says Iran.
Today their scientists load Iranian-made fuel
rods into a main nuclear reactor, as Iran breaks
free of all efforts to cripple its progress.
************************************************
US ASSASSINATION DRONE "CRASHES" IN AFGHAN MESS
The US military says a US assassination drone
has crashed in Nangarhar province in eastern
Afghanistan due to "technical problems".
************************************************
ISLAM FIGHTS BACK
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
says the 57-nation body is against any military
intervention in Syria over the ongoing unrest
in the Middle Eastern county.
"What we really need to do is exclude military
intervention from our side," OIC Secretary
General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in an address
to the National Press Club of Australia in
Canberra on Wednesday.
Referring to the foreign military campaigns in
Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, Ihsanoglu
noted that a foreign military intervention
would only harm the Syrian people.
Military intervention "did not bring any good to
the people of those countries and to the region
... and to the world at large," he said.
Ihsanoglu makes his remarks as the OIC and the
Arab League are set to meet in Tunisia on
February 24 to discuss the conflict in Syria.
Many countries including Russia and China
believe Washington and other Western powers
are trying to replicate a Libya-style
military campaign in Syria.
Recently Syria rejected an Arab League-drafted
proposal calling for the UN Security Council
to deploy a joint force to Syria.
***********************************************
ANOTHER UK SERVICEPERSON KILLED IN AFGHAN HORROR
398 UK troops have been killed in Afghanistan
since the illegal war & occupation began in 2001.
The airman from the Royal Air Force Regiment
lost his life on a routine patrol mission in
the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province,
the UK's defense ministry quotes Lieutenant
Colonel Gordon Mackenzie as saying on Monday.
************************************************
11 AFGHAN CHILDREN MURDERED BY ISAF, SAYS REPORT
An investigating committee reports on Monday
that 17 Afghans, including 11 children, were
killed during two air raids by NATO in eastern
Kunar and Kapisa provinces, Afghanistan.
According to the committee, sponsored by
President Hamid Karzai, nine civilians,
including a woman and three children of
the same family, were killed in Kunar,
and eight children died in Kapisa.
Previously, the provincial spokesperson,
Mohammad Zahir Safi, reported that the NATO
bombing in the Gayawad area, in Kapisa
province, killed eight children aged 6-14.
ISAF, responsible for the killings, used planes
in the January 17th and February 8th operations.
The Afghan news agency Khaama Press reports that
the aircraft fired missiles and machine guns in
the Nejrab district, where several people were
killed while feeding their animals in the
mountainous region of Giawa.
According to the investigating committee, the
bombings were carried out despite opposition
from the district security chief, who certified
that there was no insurgent activity in the area.
************************************************
"STOP BAHRAIN ATTACKING AND KILLING ITS PEOPLE"
Iran alerts the world against the foreign
military intervention in Bahrain as well
as the intensifying use of violence against
the people of the oil-rich Persian Gulf state.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
expresses Tehran’s deep concerns over the
ongoing brutal crackdown on the peaceful
anti-government protests in Bahrain, wher
e demonstrators have demanded the restoration
of their legitimate civil rights and decry
the Al Khalifa regime's discriminatory policies
and its widespread human rights abuses.
The Iranian foreign minister makes his statements
in separate messages addressed to UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, the Togolese President of
the UN Security Council Kodjo Menan, Secretary
General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, High Representative
of the European Union for Foreign Affairs
and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Secretary
General of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi, the
Beninese Chairman of the African Union Yayi
Boni as well as the Egyptian Secretary-General
of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),
Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Dozens of people have either lost their lives or
sustained injuries in Bahrain as a result of
the continuing systematic clampdown on anti-
regime rallies and the persistent deployment of
foreign forces to stifle public demands.
The Iranian foreign minister notes that the
continuation of such events infringes on the
basic rights of the Bahraini people in the
first place, and will additionally pose serious
risks to regional peace and stability.
He states that the deceptive and dubious
approaches of major international decision-
making bodies, coupled with their media
blackout over developments in Bahrain,
have emboldened the US-backed Manama regime
and foreign forces to continue the massacre
and torture of Bahraini protesters.
Given the principles of the Charter of the UN
and the protection of internationally proclaimed
human rights, the Islamic Republic of Iran
strives to prepare the ground for constructive
negations between the protesters & the Bahraini
government, to assist in resolving the ongoing
crisis in the Arab state, Salehi underlines.
The senior Iranian official also calls for the
exploitation of all available means and legal
channels to alert world public opinion to the
humanitarian catastrophe in Bahrain, urging
the international community to adopt measures
to halt human rights violations and foreign
military intervention there.
Since the beginning of Bahrain's revolution in
February 2011, large numbers of anti-government
protesters have poured into the streets across
the oil-rich state, demanding more rights,
freedom and wide-ranging political reforms
in the political system of their country.
Dozens of people have been killed and thousands
more have been arrested or expelled from their
jobs in Bahrain since the revolution started.
The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
issued a report on November 23, 2011, declaring
that the Manama regime had used “excessive
force, including the extraction of forced
confessions against detainees,” in efforts to
defuse the popular protest rallies.
Bahraini anti-government protesters pledge to
march back to the capital Manama's Pearl Square,
the focal point of demonstrations against the
ruling Al Khalifa regime, Press TV reports now.
The Coalition of Youth of the February 14th
Revolution, in a statement, calls on Bahraini
people to start returning to the square in the
early hours of today (Wednesday).
The statement comes after protesters made
several attempts to march to the iconic square
to mark the first anniversary of their popular
revolution, which started on February 14, 2011.
Pearl Square was razed last year as part of
Manama's crackdown on the protests. Protesters
now refer to it as 'Martyr's Square'.
On Tuesday, Saudi-backed regime forces fired
rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the
protesters. More than 30 people, including
rights activist Nabeel Rajab and US activists,
were arrested during the demonstrations.
The main opposition al-Wefaq party says regime
forces also attacked villages, hitting many
houses with tear gas canisters.
Bahrainis have been calling for an end to the rule
of the Al Khalifa dynasty since February last year.
Scores of people have been killed and hundreds
of others have been arrested in Manama's brutal
crackdown on protesters.
************************************************
JORDAN TO LET IN ISLAMISTS?
Jordanian PM Awn Khasawneh says election laws
specifically designed to prevent the country's
Muslim Brotherhood from coming to power...
should be changed.
In an interview with the state-run television,
Khasawneh, a former International Court of
Justice (ICJ) jurist, advocates reforms that
would allow the 2012 early elections to be run
according to an election law similar to the
1989 system that produced an Islamic majority.
'I don't like the way Islamists have been
excluded from the political process,' Khasawneh
says. 'I am against demonizing Islamists as if
the objective of the state is to prevent them
from access to power.'
With increasing pressure for political reforms
in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front (AF), the
political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has
charged that the 2007 polls were 'rigged' by
the government of former PM Marouf Bakhit,
with the aim of crippling an Islamist presence
in the Jordanian parliament.
The Brotherhood boycotted the 2010 elections,
citing the failure of the government to provide
assurances that the polling process would be fair.
Khasawneh vows to go ahead with a 'high-quality
reform process' that involves, among other
things, the creation of an independent panel
for overseeing the ballot process for the first
time in the country's history.
His government took up office in October after
King Abdullah II fired two other cabinets in
2011 under pressure from several months of
weekly demonstrations that found inspiration
from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
In October, King Abdullah pledged that Jordan
would shift to a parliamentary system of
government after the next general election,
under which Parliament, not the king, would
appoint the prime minister.
'We intend to apply this as of the next
parliament, which we want to be the product
of a large democratic transformation process,'
the king says.
***********************************************
THE NIGHTMARE NOW IN LIBYA
The 'intervention' by the West in Libya has left
people in a nightmare as the West's militias try
terror now to cow the Libyan people...
There are HUNDREDS of these armed gangs.
Here's a snippet from a recent report:
"One martial enterprise of some of these
Misuratan militias is to attack a refugee camp
of 1,500 people they had previously driven from
their homes in Tawergha on the grounds they had
supported Qaddafy. Other militias from Benghazi
and Zintan are trying to protect these refugees.
“‘Nobody holds back the Misuratans,’ says Jumaa
Ageela, an elder there.
Bashir Brebesh says the same is true for the
militias in Tripoli...
On January 19th, his 62-year-old father, Omar,
a former Libyan diplomat in Paris, was called
in for questioning by militiamen from Zintan.
The next day, the family found his body at a
hospital in Zintan. His nose was broken, as
were his ribs. The nails had been pulled from
his toes, they said. His skull was fractured,
and his body bore signs of burns from cigarettes.
The article is in full here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/
GADDAFI's SON SAYS 'INSURRECTION COMING'
The West's "government" in Libya lost control of
the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid
last month, after local people staged an armed
revolt, posing the gravest challenge yet to the
NTC's increasingly tenuous authority.
Saadi Gaddafi tells Al-Arabiya: "The Libyan
people should revolt against these militias
and against this deteriorating situation.
The NTC is not a legitimate body ... and is
not in control of the militias," he adds. "We
call on all to be ready for the coming uprising."
"We have to exert pressure to change this
situation and to remove this evil-doing
that exists in Libya."
***********************************************
SYRIA FIGHTS BACK
Syria denounces those countries in the region
behind the "horrific double attack in Aleppo,
as part of an unfair campaign against the
Syrian people," according to a statement by
the Syrian Foreign Ministry.
The Foreign Ministry has sent a letter of
condemnation to the secretary general of the
UN, the Arab League, the UN Human Rights
Council and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, which was published by media in
South America.. and ignored by the West's media.
The message says that the two deadly suicide
bomb attacks were aimed at security headquarters
in residential areas, one near a grocery,
causing a great number of civilian victims,
besides those police hurt or killed.
The powerful bomb attacks yesterday killed 28
people and wounded another 235, but the number
of deaths may increase, because 14 people were
seriously wounded. There are four bags with
human remains yet to be identified.
The Foreign Ministry says that "this horrific
attack is part of the unfair campaign launched
against Syria, supported by some countries of
the region and instigated by several media that
support terrorists and armed individuals who
kill innocent civilians, destroy infrastructure,
trains, buses, schools, oil pipelines and
private and public property."
In its message, the Government "urges those who
give shelter, support, fund and arm those
terrorist groups to extradite those criminals
and comply with international law and
resolutions on the fight against terrorism."
It also urges those countries who are supporting
terrorism in Syria to stop doing it, and abide by
UN Security Council resolutions.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mijail Bogdanov
confirmed on Friday the presence of UK & Qatari
commandos on Syrian territory. He made public
his version, after Israeli DebkaFile website
suggested that Russia had evidence of their acts.
The same source said in December that Qatar and
Saudi Arabia are funding terrorists inside Syria
by recruiting mercenaries from Libya, Jordan,
Iraq, Lebanon and other even more extremist
forces, including Chechens and Pashtuns from
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
************************************************
THE SHAME OF THE LSE
They say that the reward for UK students doing
well at A level... is a frontal lobotomy.
The London School of Economics (LSE) was set up
to help the UK's middle strata research how to
build a better society, by socialists, yet it has
proven lately to be a poisonous mix of rightwing
economic theorists of dubious value.
In the 1960s and '70s it was the reaction of
students to Vietnam and economic policy run
for the top rich elite which triggered revolt.
Now its own students are having to censure their
own university’s collaboration with the Israeli
regime’s war machine.
LSE students say the university is cooperating
with an Israeli university, which has developed
remote-controlled bulldozers to destroy
Palestinian homes illegally.
The project is an EU-funded scheme dubbed PICK-
ME (Policy Incentives for the Creation of
Knowledge: Methods and Evidence), which has a
budget of €2.4 million ($3.1 million) and runs
from 2011 to 2014.
It connects universities and research institutes
from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands
and Poland, with the Israeli Institute of
Technology in Haifa, known as the Technion.
More than two-thirds of the project’s financing
comes directly from the European Union’s multi-
annual scientific research program.
Supporters of the Palestinian call for boycott,
divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel
express dismay that their university should be
collaborating with an institution like the
Technion, which is deeply complicit in the
oppression of Palestinians.
The Technion makes technology to detect tunnels,
developed the remote-controlled “D9” bulldozer
and works with arms companies including Elbit
Systems, who created the notorious electronic
surveillance system explicitly for Israel’s
apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank, ruled
illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
LSE’s cooperation with the Technion is not
the first case in which the London University
has been involved in unethical practices,
according to the students.
***********************************************
ONE MORE SOLDIER KILLED TODAY IN AFGHAN DEBACLE
Another US-led soldier serving with the
International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) has been killed in an attack in
southern Afghanistan. No details given.
***********************************************
AMANO SMILES AT IRAN
The Head of the IAEA, Mr Amano, attends the Iran
revolution celebrations today and says Iran is a
"peaceful nation"... several other IAEA officials
also attend. This, after Wikileaks revealed that
Amano would "follow the US line" on Iran, and
with a new IAEA report due which insiders signal,
will pave the way for war on Iran. Curious !
************************************************
ISRAEL THREATENS IRAN AND IGNORES PALESTINIANS
Israel says on Thursday in the Security Council
that it "keeps all options open" against Iran,
and rejects the creation of any Palestinian
government that includes Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says
he supports the sanctions against Iran in order
to prevent the development of its nuclear
program, which is peaceful according to Tehran.
Lieberman stresses that Israel will not accept
any Palestinian government that includes Hamas,
and adds that the Palestinian reconciliation
agreement does not contribute to progress
towards peace negotiations and the well being
of the Palestinian people.
Last Sunday in Doha, the President of the PA and
head of Al-Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, signed a pact
with the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal.
The agreement aims at creating a unity government
headed by Abbas until presidential & legislative
elections in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are
held in May this year.
************************************************
THE REAL NEWS ABOUT SYRIA
Prensa Latina reports that the heads of the clans
and tribes of Syria gathered in assembly on 30th
of January in Raqqa in the north of the country.
They confirmed what is believed by the Syrian
people - that they face a foreign conspiracy -
and expressed their support for the government.
Speaking on television, Sheikh Saleh Al-Nuemi,
chief organizer of the forum, said that these
communities, which generally live in rural areas,
particularly in the north, are aware of the need
to defend national unity.
The Director of Islamic Affairs and Worship of
Raqqa, Sheikh Abdullah Saleh, warns that an
anti-Syrian campaign is being waged, attacking
the entire Arab and Islamic nation. He describes
as unprecedented, the media harassment based on
offensive lies and falsehoods, as some channels
claiming to be religious, even issue "fatwas"
calling for the spilling of Syrian blood.
The writer Najah Ibrahim says that Syria has
never been divided by racism or sectarianism
throughout its entire history, and calls on
intellectuals to confront the crisis inflicted
on the country from abroad.
Syrian broadcast media today report that the
Conference of Arab Parties held last weekend
in Amman, Jordan, condemns the Arab League for
"being placed alongside the nation's enemies to
attack Syria, and ignoring the true facts given
in the report of the observer mission."
"We see the resolutions of the Arab League as an
encitement to armed terrorist groups in Syria...
who perpetrate crimes against the civilian
population and destroy the infrastructure,"
he says in a statement to the General
Secretariat of the Conference.
With this negative attitude, the Arab League is
complicit in the bloodshed and destruction, and
serves the centres of interest that want to
internationalize the crisis, denounces the forum.
************************************************
A STEP TOO FAR BY UK
An intelligence report reveals that UK and Qatari
troops are leading armed terror gangs in the
Syrian city of Homs in their bloody battle
against civilians and the Syrian army.
According to the Israeli website, debkafile,
well known for links to intelligence sources,
“British and Qatari troops are directing rebel
ammunition deliveries and tactics in the bloody
battle for Homs”.
The report says that MI6 has four centres of
operation in the city, with troops on the
ground paving the way for an "undercover"
Turkish military incursion into Syria.
The debkafile site says that the presence of
UK and Qatari troops in Homs topped the agenda
of Tuesday’s talks between President Assad's
government officials, and the head of Russia’s
Foreign Intelligence Service, Mikhail Fradkov.
This new adventurism in Syria by Cameron comes
as a parliamentary report warns that the UK
government will face huge financial problems
if the military resolve to launch a military
campaign on the same scale as that in Libya.
According to official reports, the UK spent
over £254 million on the military campaign in
Libya... but a publication in The Guardian at
the end of last year, contends that the Libyan
campaign cost UK taxpayers 1.75 billion pounds,
exceeding the planned sum by nearly sevenfold.
MPs are warning Cameron that it will face
“difficult decisions” if it chooses to engage
in yet another campaign. Nearly two billion
pounds spent over six months, could be more
than the military and exchequer can handle.
*********************************************
NO HONOUR AS US STEALS IRAN's CULTURAL ARTEFACTS
A senior member of Iran's Majlis condemns the US
for its “rash” confiscation of some Iranian
cultural artifacts & its bid to auction the relics.
US officials are putting Iran's antiques and
cultural heritage up for grabs, says Chair of
the Majlis Cultural Commission, Gholam Ali
Haddad-Adel today (Thursday).
He says that such bids indicate US officials’
irrationality and uncivilized manners.
Haddad-Adel emphasizes that the Islamic Republic
will bolster efforts to counter such a move,
which attacks all cultured principles.
The senior legislator insists that Iran will not
retreat from its path, despite the sanctions by
the United States and the West, emphasizing
that such restrictions reinforce the resolve of
the Iranian nation and its officials.
The US is threatening to auction Iran’s cultural
artifacts, which include invaluable Persian
antiquities kept at the University of Chicago.
US federal courts ordered the seizure of the
items along with many other Persian antiquities
kept in Chicago’s Field Museum.
**********************************************
ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS WAR IS A CHILD KILLER
A US-led airstrike has claimed the lives of at
least six children in Nejrab district of
Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kapisa,
local officials report today.
Most victims of war are CHILDREN (fact).
************************************************
UNITY IS VICTORY
The Iraqi people have held a huge demonstration
in Baghdad, to celebrate the end of the US-led
occupation of their country.
Millions gathered in Baghdad to express joy at
the withdrawal of US troops from their country.
Influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr says
the West, particularly the US, were “defeated”,
because, even after they “humiliated people,
destroyed homes and desecrated mosques” during
their presence in Iraq, Iraq today stands free.
Sadr calls on all religious groups to unite.
In his speech today, Sadr particularly calls on
Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq to stand united.
***********************************************
IRAN HOLDS WINNING CARD
Some have questioned the Iran government's threat
to close down the Strait of Hormuz, as it would
hurt Iran as it would lose its oil export revenue
and the West could use overland pipelines instead.
But the reverse is true, as experts at Barclays
Capital financial institution say that, although
alternative routes for crude exist, “they are
limited in capacity [and] in many cases aren’t
currently operating or operable, and generally
engender higher transport costs & logistical challenges.”
One possible alternative is to use the export
terminal at the Red Sea port at Yanbu, where
a pipeline carrying the Iraqi oil terminates,
SAFE’s Domjan says.
But, he adds, “From there crude would either
move through the congested Suez Canal… or
through the Gulf of Aden, which would be
putting 2 million barrels of oil through
the most pirate-infested part of Africa,
the costs of protecting it would be massive.”
The remaining pipeline options, according to
experts, are either deactivated, such as the
Iraq-Turkey pipeline to the Mediterranean port
of Ceyhan, or still hypothetical in the case
of the Abu Dhabi pipeline.
“Coincidentally, the [only] oil exporting
country that is in the best position to bypass
the Strait [of Hormuz] is Iran, which has a
pipeline network in place to enable the
theoretical pumping of crude north to the
Caspian Sea, from where there are plenty of
options to export,” Domjan says.
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway
linking the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea
through which some 35% of all seaborne-traded
oil and 20% of all oil traded globally, passes.
***********************************************
MONEY FOR GOD's SAKE - BUT NOT FROM US
Many Egyptians see poverty and lack of opportunity
for their youth's future as the biggest problem,
but still, a majority of Egyptians are against
receiving aid from the United States, according
to a recent poll, which highlights increasing
calls for transparency over the army budget,
since it receives $1.3 billion annually in aid
from the US, reports thedailynewsegypt.com
The Gallup poll was released Monday, just as a
number of NGOs came under fire from Egypt's
government, accusing them of illegally
receiving foreign funding. US officials have
in turn criticized the crackdown and floated
threats about possibly withholding aid from
Egypt, says the same source.
Egyptians favor aid from Arab governments, as
much as they are opposed to help from the US.
Almost 7 in 10 favor aid from Arab governments.
*************************************************
GB MEANS GOODBYE
Few of the UK's citizens knew that most "aid"
to foreign countries was tied to arms sales...
Perhaps they do now, as Indian officials now
call for a suitable reply to the “arrogance”
of the UK government, by refusing to accept
UK aid to India, which they call “peanuts.”
The Indian Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee,
says India does not “require the aid”, and
describes it as “a peanut in our total
development exercises.”
India’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
says the Indian government should reply to the
UK government’s “arrogance” by refusing the aid.
“I will call upon the government to stop this
aid immediately. That will be a proper and fit
reply to the arrogance of those British who
think that they can influence decision-making
in India with the help of a few pennies,” says
BJP MP Balbir Punj.
Although the UK's Development Secretary Andrew
Mitchell has already admitted that London’s aid
to India was part of a plot “to sell Typhoons”
to the Indian government, India refused to buy
the UK-made Eurofighter Typhoon and preferred
the French fighter Rafale as its mainstay multi-
role combat aircraft.
The Sunday Telegraph reveals that major political
parties in India tried to terminate UK aid to
their country, but UK officials begged them to
continue accepting the aid.
The UK newspaper reports that officials at the
UK’s Department for International Development,
told Indian officials that their refusal to
take the aid would create a source of “grave
political embarrassment” for the UK.
*************************************************
Another helicopter operated by NATO crashes in
eastern Afghanistan: no reports of casualties.
*************************************************
HAMAS AGREES TO ABBAS AS "PM" ?
Palestine’s resistance movement Hamas has agreed
to a Qatari proposal that recommends acting
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas as
the prime minister of a future Palestinian
unity government, officials say.
According to Palestinian officials, Qatari ruler
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani made the
proposal during a meeting with the leaders of
the two major Palestinian factions of Hamas and
Fatah in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Sunday.
Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and
Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, discussed
the formation of a Palestinian unity government
during the Sunday meeting.
Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official, said
that the meeting was “positive” and that the
two Palestinian leaders are scheduled to meet
again today (Monday).
On May 4th, 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed a
reconciliation deal to form a joint caretaker
Palestinian government and hold presidential
and parliamentary elections by May 2012.
During today's meeting, Meshaal and Abbas will
discuss delaying the elections to the “end of
the year” because there may not be enough time
to prepare for May elections, officials said.
Hamas and Fatah leaders also met in Cairo in
November and December 2011 and urged cooperation
... with the aim of achieving Palestinian unity.
************************************************
ONE WORD ANSWER
Russia describes the West's reaction to its veto
of the USUK/ArabLeague resolution as "hysterical"
************************************************
VIOLENCE IN EGYPT GROWS
Different areas of Cairo are living with chaos,
as protesters report riot police using shot-guns,
and street protests continue against the Military
Junta in Suez and Alexandria.
Fans from the Zamalek and Al-Ahly football teams
continue to gather around the Interior Ministry.
After clashes during the night and daybreak,
with a few moments of apparent truce, fans and
revolutionary activists returned to the charge
against the institution they blame for its
ineffectiveness, allegedly deliberate, in the
football game massacre at Port Said.
The government has ordered an investigation into
the incidents that resulted in five dead, and
about 2,000 wounded, 221 officers and recruited
police included. On Friday there were 1,051 injured.
Protesters tried to tear down fences and break
through police barriers protecting the
ministerial headquarters on Saturday morning,
carrying flags from both of the most popular
football teams in the Egyptian capital, and
photos of dead youngsters killed on Wednesday.
According to state television, 2,000 uniformed
men were deployed to reinforce the protection
of the Ministry of the Interior, but protesters
remain stationed around the building, many of
them wearing masks to protect themselves from
tear gas attacks by the police.
************************************************
HAITI LOOKING TO GAIN STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY
As William Tell is supposed to have explained;
single twigs are easily broken one at a time,
but bundled together they become unbreakable.
President Michel Martelly of Haiti, wrecked by
the US for decades, confirms his interest in
Haiti becoming a full member of the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA).
"We have verified what ALBA is about, because
our position before was as an observer and to
become a full member, we needed to hear the
proposals, to have a better understanding
and to advance afterwards", he asserts.
Haiti has been an observer since 2007 and will
participate in the XI ALBA Summit to explore
what it means to be a full member of ALBA.
Martelly says that as an observer, Haiti has been
able to verify how good some of the programs are
- like Petrocaribe and other agreements - that
support the initiative to join as a full member.
In his declaration, he thanks, on behalf the
Haitian people, the assistance they've received
from the countries of the region, like Venezuela
and adds that - through Petrocaribe - they could
also benefit greatly if they become an active
member of ALBA.
He confirms the importance of working with
brother peoples for the reconstruction of
the Caribbean nation, devastated by an
earthquake on January 12th, 2010 that left
316,000 dead and 1.5 million victims.
Martelly arrived in Venezuela on Friday to
attend the XI ALBA Summit this Saturday,
with an agenda of 16 main topics, among them
support for the reconstruction of Haiti and
for Argentina in the conflict with the United
Kingdom for sovereignty over the Falklands.
***********************************************
US WRONG TO SAY RUSSIA SUPPORTS LATEST DRAFT
Russia says it does not support the latest draft
UN resolution on Syria, as recent changes to
the draft are "insufficient".
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov
says Friday that despite changes taking some of
Moscow's concerns into account, the country
cannot support the text in its current form.
“Some of our concerns and the concerns of those
who think the same as us have been taken into
consideration but all the same this is not
enough for us to be able to support it in this form."
Both China and Russia have now voted it down.
***********************************************
AS WEST THREATENS, IRAN POWERS AHEAD
US Defence Secretary Panetta is reported Saturday
(in the Washington Post) as saying he believes
that the Israeli apartheid regime WILL attack
Iran... and attack Iran THIS Spring.
The US Senate is about to approve new financial
blocks on Iran's progress by challenging its
ability to make electronic financial transactions.
But 35 years of US hatred have failed !
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has just
put his 2012 budget to the country’s parliament.
Ahmadinejad tells Iran's parliament that the
total budget comes to $443 billion, with the
amount spent on defense more than doubling,
with an increase of 127 per cent.
The president says the public budget for 2012-13
is worth around 90 billion dollars. It covers
items like wages, subsidies and development
projects. Meanwhile, the draft budget proposes
a 5.6 per cent drop in government spending.
It aims at securing a growth rate of eight per
cent, higher than the 7.3 per cent current rate
of growth. The Iranian media says that this
budget is based on an oil price of $85 a barrel,
well below international crude prices.
A wise and impressive budget...
Tension with the West rose last month when the
US and EU imposed the toughest sanctions yet
in a drive to force Tehran to curb its nuclear
program. Iran's leaders actions suggest that
it will fight sanctions with sanctions.
If the Israelis or US continue to attack, there
WILL be a 3rd world war. Stop these warmongers!
************************************************
BAN KI MOON AND QUARTET FAIL PALESTINIANS
The UN General Secretary has shoes thrown at him
a la Bush, by Palestinian families of prisoners
held indefinitely by Israel. But Ban Ki Moon
is refusing to even meet Gaza's rulers, Hamas,
on his visit, so they have little chance of a
fair hearing by the West's puppet.
This, on a day when the Quartet's bribe to the
acting Palestinian President Abbas, is rejected.
The international suggestion that Israel offer a
package of goodwill gestures in exchange for
resuming direct peace talks, sources say, is not
on. Abbas has informed the Quartet that economic
gestures are not enough for the Palestinians
to accept the resumption of negotiations, which
stopped in 2010, the sources say.
To resume the negotiations, Abbas wants Israel
to stop settlement building and commit itself
to the two-state solution, with the borders
including land that Israel occupied in 1967.
The goodwill gestures the Quartet suggested
included expanding the Palestinian National
Authority (PNA)'s control in the West Bank,
allowing more Palestinian to work in Israel,
issuing reunification permits to Palestinian
families and increasing exports from Gaza.
Abbas sees the Quartet's suggestions as Israeli
"obligations," not goodwill gestures, according
to the sources.
***********************************************
GUN-RUNNERS FALLING, FALLING, FALLING
UK PM David Cameron is desperately seeking to
regain a cancelled military deal with India
which is worth more than all UK annual military exports.
India announced earlier this week that it has
chosen not to buy the Eurofighter aircraft
(worth £9.4 billion) from a consortium of
manufacturers including UK military equipment
giant, BAE Systems.
The latest official figures show the UK as the
second biggest arms exporter in the world.
The UK sold £6 billion of military equipment in
2010; which represents 2.5% of the UK's overall
manufacturing goods sales.
Cameron says he is “disappointed” by India's
decision, saying he will 'do what it takes'
to win back the contract, considered vital
for the UK's economy.
"Of course I will do everything I can, as I have
already, to encourage the Indians to look at
the Typhoon (Eurofighter) because I think it is
such a good aircraft," Cameron told parliament.
"The decision is obviously disappointing but it
is about who the Indians have assessed as making
the lowest bid and therefore asked to enter into
further negotiations. They have not yet awarded
the contract," he insisted.
According to UK Trade and Investment, the
government department in charge of exports,
the manufacturing sector accounted for 10%
of UK national output in 2010, with the
defense sector 16% of manufacturing output.
These figures show that the Eurofighter contract
loss could cost London dearly, at a time the
entire economy is staggering into recession.
Cameron keeps calling for a boost to manufacturing
as the only way to help the economy climb out of
unemployment and low growth... with a special
emphasis on the advanced engineering sector.
However, losing the Eurofighter contract will
deal a major blow to such planning... while
threatening to tear the economy into shreds.
2.5 million people in the UK are employed in the
manufacturing sector where defense is a major part.
************************************************
MEXICO TURNS TO ITS GOOD NEIGHBOURS
A treaty between Mexico and Peru, aimed at
fostering trade growth and diversification
between both states, came into effect Friday.
The agreement is aimed at establishing a
framework to further develop commercial
activities and avoid distortions in them.
It is also aimed at facilitating the circulation
of goods and the development of services, as
well as promoting conditions for fair competition.
From 2000 to 2010, trade between Mexico and Peru
grew at an annual average rate of 13%, from $414
million to $1.456 billion, The Economist reports.
Bilateral trade is expected to double with
the agreement - in five years !
************************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN QUAGMIRE
Another US-led soldier with ISAF has been killed
in an attack in southern Afghanistan.
The incident took place when an Afghan soldier
opened fire on foreign troops and “killed a
service member of the International Security
Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan on
Tuesday,” an ISAF statement says on Wednesday.
***********************************************
NO RESPECT
US Air Force officials have participated in
“acts of retaliation” against whistleblowers
responsible for uncovering the practice of
dumping soldiers' remains in a landfill.
A US Office of Special Counsel investigation
reveals that the four mortuary workers who
reported the practice were suspended, and
at least one of them, James Parsons, was
fired, while another, William Zwicharowski,
was labeled “mentally unstable” by officials.
However, such retaliation is illegal under the
Whistleblower Protection Act, a US federal law
that protects federal whistleblowers who work
for the government and report agency misconduct.
According to a Washington Post report in
December, the incinerated partial remains of
at least 274 American troops killed in Iraq
and Afghanistan had been dumped in the King
George county landfill in Virginia.
The US Air Force is reported to have dumped the
cremated partial remains in the landfill
between 2004 and 2008. The practice was brought
to attention after a November report described
“gross mismanagement of soldiers' remains” at
the Dover Air Force base.
According to whistleblowers responsible for the
exposure some body parts were lost, burned, cut
away and even dumped as garbage in the landfill
before the practice came to a halt in 2009.
The employees say their orders were authorized
by 'superiors', who asked them to remain silent.
None of the supervisors responsible were fired.
Instead, two were transferred and the commander
of the unit was given a 'reprimand'.
At least 6,325 US service members have lost
their lives since the 2001 invasion of
Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
***********************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN QUAGMIRE
Another soldier has died in an attack by 'militants'
in southern Afghanistan, ISAF says on Tuesday.
ISAF says in a statement that the soldier was
killed on Tuesday, without giving further details.
*************************************************
THE ETERNAL STAIN - US WARCRIMES TO LAST FOREVER
The US has permanently contaminated the world,
particularly the Middle East, by using massive
amounts of depleted uranium (DU) in its wars,
a respected analyst tells the world.
Vietnamese-American writer and journalist Linh
Dinh describes the US use of depleted uranium
as a “tremendous crime against humanity,”
stating that it will affect innocent people and
new-born infants “for generations to come and
literally, for billions of years to come.”
"Once depleted uranium gets into the environment,
into the water, into the soil, into the air, it
remains there for billions of years and it
doesn't just stay in these countries, although
these populations are the ones who are most
affected immediately, because once airborne it
will spread all over across the globe".
Linh Dinh notes that the use of DU, the
destructiveness of which the US denies,
is 'frankly genocidal.'
"During the Vietnam War, a vast amount of Agent
Orange was used and the US also denied it was
toxic, just as it is denying that depleted
uranium is harmful."
His comments come as a recent report shows that
US forces have used huge amounts of depleted
uranium in Afghanistan - causing a huge number
of congenital deformities and cancers.
Numerous UN human rights commissions have
prohibited the use of depleted uranium on
humans, including during military conflicts.
However, the US government KEEPS using weaponized
depleted uranium on humans, including in the
following instances: 340 tons during the first
Persian Gulf War in 1991; in every missile used
during the 1998 Yugoslavian invasion; at least
1,000 tons in Afghanistan in 2001; and 2,400
tons in Iraq in 2003.
Depleted uranium is radioactive and extremely
destructive to humans. It takes 4.5 billion
years for one kilogram of depleted uranium
to reduce to a half a kilogram.
The United States' use of radioactive munitions
in Afghanistan has destroyed the people's health
and mutilated the genetic future of the country,
says Dr Mohammad Daud Miraki.
The author of Afghanistan After Democracy: The
Untold Story Through Photographic Images, says
that the US has committed horrific crimes
against the people of Afghanistan.
He says the US use of depleted uranium in the
country, has led to Afghan babies being born
with severe deformities.
Exposure to depleted uranium causes genetic damage,
birth defects, cancer, diabetes, immune system
damage, and other serious health problems.
Miraki describes this as genocide. He says he
has seen people die without any physical signs
of injuries to their bodies in Afghanistan.
"And then there were bizarre scenes of birds
melting on trees," he adds.
In his book, birth defects are depicted with
graphic images. He says he was overwhelmed
by the number of these cases.
Miraki notes that the US used a massive amount
of depleted uranium weapons in late 2001.
He says US forces are still using these weapons.
Miraki's book also says that it was a lie that
the war was launched to introduce democracy in
Afghanistan and accuses the US of betraying the
Afghan people using the pretext of democracy
and reconstruction.
**********************************************
SYRIA MOVES DECISIVELY TO STOP WEST
Syrian troops have regained control of some
suburbs in the capital, Damascus, which were
held by terrorist groups, reports say.
The Syrian army on Monday retook control of the
eastern suburbs of Damascus, including Kfar
Batna, Saqba, Jisreen, and Arbeen, days after
terrorist groups fighting the government of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attacked
the area and took up positions there.
A spokesperson for the anti-government forces of
the terrorist ''Free Syrian Army'' confirm the
withdrawal of the terrorists from Damascus.
Activists say armed groups had come as close as
8km to Damascus and that they were launching
attacks on government troops.
Now Syria moves decisively to crush armed rebels
in Homs, as the West growls...
***********************************************
US MOVE INTO ASIA NOT WELCOME
People in the Philippines gathered in front of
the US Embassy in Manila, yesterday to protest
against the expansion of military ties with the
US, and demanding the withdrawal of US troops.
Monday's protest, organized by the leftist New
Nationalist Alliance (Bayan), is being staged
to denounce the ongoing negotiations between
Manila and Washington to deploy more US troops
and ships in the Philippines.
"If we allow more US troops to enter our country,
the entire archipelago will be transformed
into one military outpost for US hegemonic interests,"
Bayan announces in a statement distributed at the rally.
***********************************************
US SENDING SPECIAL FORCES TROOP SHIP...
The US military plans to deploy a large floating
base for commando teams to the Middle East now.
The Navy is converting an aging warship it had
planned to decommission into a makeshift staging
base for the commandos in response to requests
from US Central Command, The Washington Post
reports on Saturday.
The floating base could accommodate smaller high-
speed boats and helicopters commonly used by the
US Navy's Sea, Air, and Land Teams, commonly
known as Navy SEALs.
Lieutenant Commander Mike Kafka, a spokesperson
for the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, declines
to elaborate on the floating base's purpose or
to say where it will be deployed.
But there are "indications" that the Pentagon
will send the vessel to the region by early
summer, and Navy documents show that it could
be heading for the Persian Gulf.
This deployment to the Middle East marks a
return to maritime missions for SEAL teams,
who have been engaged in ground operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past decade.
The US Navy had earlier planned to retire the
amphibious assault ship, called the USS Ponce
(we couldn't make this up!) and decommission
it in March 2012 after 41 years of service.
The warship was sent to the Mediterranean Sea
last year to provide military support to NATO
air strikes on Libya.
The USS Ponce is instead to be transformed into
what the US military calls an Afloat Forward
Staging Base. Trying to scare the Iranians?
As 70 EU oil refineries face closure after the
insane Israeli/US inspired oil sanctions, we all
know who will suffer... and it won't be the US...
just everyone on the planet as we shape up for
a war on Syria, Iran, the Lebanon, Georgia, etc.
If you don't try to stop your politicians from
blindly following orders, it's YOUR fault too!
************************************************
DYING FOR NATO's RICH ELITE
NATO says another soldier has been killed in
an attack in the increasingly dangerous south.
NATO says the soldier died in an attack by
"Taliban militants". Attacks on NATO forces
have continued into the cold season, which
traditionally stops such operations.
The UK's MoD says the soldier is from the UK.
The soldier, from 1st Battalion The Yorkshire
Regiment, was shot on Friday in the Khar Nikah
area of Helmand.
Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Mackenzie says the
soldier was "fatally wounded in an insurgent
attack while on a foot patrol to disrupt
insurgent activity".
His next of kin have been informed. The number
of UK military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001
stands at 397.
Lt Col MacKenzie says the ministry's deepest condolences
are with the soldier's family and friends.
His family have asked for a period of grace
before more details are released.
Afghan officials say three more US-led soldiers
have been killed by two powerful explosions in
southern Afghanistan, Press TV reports.
The incident took place on Friday when 2 powerful
blasts hit a village near the city of Maiwand
in Kandahar Province.
The explosions happened while US forces were
carrying out an 'anti-Taliban operation'.
Taliban sources claim four US soldiers were
killed in the bomb attacks.
NATO has not yet made any announcements
regarding these reported deaths.
The latest deaths push to at least 36 the
number of US-led foreign troops killed so
far, in January alone.
*************************************************
A LACK OF RESPECT
This is what happens when the West invades...
An Afghan man, outraged over a recent video
showing US Marines urinating on the bodies of
Taliban fighters, has killed two US troops.
The man attacked the US soldiers with a knife
as they were walking in a bazaar in Sangin, a
town in Helmand province, the 'Taliban' said
in a statement.
And in Pakistan, subject to daily drone attacks,
the supply lorries which support the invasion,
are STILL stranded on their borders.
*************************************************
WHO CARES?
In Libya there is civil war. In the Sudan, Yemen,
etc, etc, Muslim countries are reduced to rubble.
The West DOESN'T CARE, as long as OIL keeps flowing.
They are murdering Syria by a thousand cuts,
and pouring arms into all areas to cause chaos
while saying they support "freedom".
Yet in Bahrain, colonised by the UK and "home"
to a US fleet, the West keeps silent as Saudi
invasion troops kill, maim and torture...
A Bahraini police car ran over a protester in
Sitra, just south of the capital Manama, which
brings the number of opposition activists who
were murdered at the hands of the regime in the
last 24 hours, to four. Four martyred peaceful
beautiful humans who struggled for justice.
Muhammad Ali Ya'qhoub died from the 'incident'
on Wednesday. Earlier that day, Saudi-backed
Bahraini forcers tortured a protester to death.
Saeed Fakher's body, which bore horrific signs
of torture, was found one day after his arrest.
On Tuesday, two other protesters died due to
teargas inhalation at an anti-regime rally
just outside Manama.
The Bahraini revolution began in February 2011,
when the public, inspired by popular revolutions
that had toppled the dictators of Tunisia and
Egypt, started holding huge peaceful protests.
The Bahraini government promptly launched a
brutal crackdown on the rallies and called in
Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring Persian
Gulf states to assist the suppression campaign.
Dozens of people have been killed in the
crackdown and the security forces have arrested
hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused
of treating injured revolutionaries.
A report published by an independent committee
in November, 2011 found that the ruling Al
Khalifa regime had used excessive force against
protesters, and accused Manama of torturing
activists, politicians, and demonstrators.
Join the demonstrations today & on February 4th.
Stop demonising and slaughtering Muslims
for an Israel which is renegade and breaks
all laws to colonise the most holy places...
while the West continues on the back of this
to suck life itself out of beautiful people.
************************************************
EUROPE TO SUFFER WHIPLASH
Europe's blind following of the US and Israel
is rebounding now. Following the EU's decision
to impose oil sanctions against Iran, an
Iranian lawmaker says the Majlis is now
discussing banning oil sales to Europe.
Iran's Majlis is to debate the issue of putting
a halt to the sale of its oil to EU countries,
says Hossein Nejabat, a member of the Majlis
Commission on Energy.
He adds that energy is a key issue for the world
and notes that many states, particularly those
in Central Asia, have so far made demands for
the purchase of Iran's oil.
The legislator says that those countries which
have the inclination to impose an oil embargo
on Iran need to realize that sanctions will
inflict no damage on the Islamic Republic...
and will only backfire on them.
***********************************************
WEST's PUPPETS TO MUZZLE OBSERVERS
The monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) have suspended, at a plenary session,
their observers' mission to Syria, following
Saudi steps to dismantle the mission, whose
reports do not agree with the bloc's stance.
The Kuwaiti paper Al-Qabas quotes "unidentified
diplomatic sources", who claim that the Arab
states of the Gulf have already decided on the
withdrawal of the Arab League observers' mission
... that they pressured Syria to accept!
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain do not want their
observers to be "false witnesses of crimes
committed against civilians" by Damascus'
security forces, says the source.
Now the Arab League has withdrawn its observers
from the supervisors work, the mission is witness
to a deteriorating security situation, after the
withdrawal of the Arab puppet states.
The chief of the mission, Sudanese General
Mohammed Ahmed Mustapha al-Dabi, affirmed on
Monday in Cairo that the Syrian government has
partially fulfilled its peace commitments, and
admits that his report contradicts the
apocalyptic perceptions by foreign ministers
of the Western-controled puppet 'royals'.
Now Qatar and Saudi Arabia are openly arming
opposition forces, to shoot their Arab/Muslim
brothers and sisters.
***********************************************
FIVE KILLED BY US DRONES IN PAKISTAN
As Obama threatens war on Iran to save the dollar
and bombs and invades half the Middle East to
keep it from breaking the US's unlimited credit,
Pakistan is increasing the pressure by raising
the cost of supplying its troops in Afghanistan
by six-fold and insists on trade with Iran to
gain the energy it needs. This trade is likely
to NOT be conducted in dollars... and unlikely
to be "re-invested" in US treasuries.
China, Russia, Pakistan, India, etc... are much
likelier to re-invest in South-South economies.
The US is a sinking ship, shooting its customers;
recent events in Libya show that its attempts to
disguise its smashing up of those who wish to
trade in their own interests, with talk of
democracy, are sham and lies.
************************************************
EGYPT's NEW PARLIAMENT OPENS
The opening session is held on Monday, two days
before the first anniversary of the start of
the revolution that began on January 25th, 2011
and culminated on February the 11th with
Mubarak's resignation.
On Wednesday, crowds celebrate in Cairo
and demand that the army 'stand back"...
as Tantawi expeditiously drops the State of
Emergency laws as a gracious acknowledgement.
The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), political
wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest
political party in Egypt, has the biggest
share of seats, 47.18. The party, which was
officially banned under Mubarak's rule, has
pledged to guide Egypt to civilian government.
"It will be a historical session in Egypt's
transition to democracy and civilian rule,"
Mohamed Beltagy, a leading member of the FJP,
said before the session, which began at 11am
local time (0900 GMT).
In Monday's session, the parliament elected the
FJP's nominee, Mohamed el-Katatni, as speaker.
The Islamic al-Nour party finished second in the
polls with 29 percent of the seats.
The country's new parliament will also elect
a 100-strong body with the task of drafting
a new constitution.
************************************************
ANOTHER DEATH AS FRENCH WAVER
Yet another soldier is reported killed last
Sunday in Afghanistan. No further details given.
***********************************************
MASS ACTION BEATS US SENATE
A controversial US anti-piracy act was recalled
on Friday: no small victory for hacktivists who
launched history's largest attack on several
websites – including that of the FBI – in
protest at the Stop Online Piracy Act.
Those opposing the controversial law are
jubilant, with many seeing Friday's news
as a real victory in a war for online freedom.
The vote on the anti-piracy legislation, which
was due on January, 24th, has been 'postponed'.
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
Chair Lamar Smith – chief supporter of the Act:
“I have heard the critics, and I take seriously
their concerns regarding proposed legislation
to address the problem of online piracy.
“It is clear that we need to revisit the
approach on how best to address the problem
of foreign thieves that steal and sell American
inventions and products.
“The Committee will continue work with copyright
owners, Internet companies, and financial
institutions to develop proposals that combat
online piracy and protect America’s
intellectual property.”
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-NV):
“There is no reason that the legitimate issues
raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved.”
The bills – PIPA (PROTECT Internet Privacy Act)
in the Senate and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act)
– in the House, target overseas websites that
provide pirated content and counterfeit products
like films and music.
Hacker group Anonymous and its supporters
celebrated after the bill's postponement was
announced, writing “This is victory!” in their
Twitter account following the statement.
However, they realize that the fight is far
from over. “A small battle has been won with
the death of SOPA, but the war has just begun.
PIPA & ACTA are still alive,” and remind
followers of one more significant meeting,
for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
In October 2007, the US, EU, Switzerland and
Japan simultaneously announced that they would
negotiate a new intellectual property
enforcement treaty – Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
Agreement, or ACTA.
‘Bills could censor innocent users’, says Trevor
Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a
US-based international digital rights advocacy
non-profit, confirming that the online protests
over SOPA and PIPA were the biggest in Internet
history, with over 115 thousand sites somehow
altering their webpages.
“A lot of them blacked out completely, meaning
that users couldn’t even get them – including
Wikipedia, which is the sixth largest site in
the US. This was a huge message to Congress.”
“We had here at EFF sent over a million emails
just in one day; Google got seven million
signatures on their petition. By the end of the
day, we had a huge swing in Congress, where in
the beginning of the day 60 congressmen
supported the bill and 30 were against, and by
the end of the day we had a hundred against.”
In the next 24 hours, both houses of Congress
agreed to shelve the bills indefinitely.
Timm says the attacks and online protests turned
the tables on legislation that, if passed,
would have done little to tackle online piracy,
& excessively restricted the average user.
“The overall goal of these bills was to stop
online piracy, but unfortunately the provisions
were written so broadly that they would probably
end up censoring millions of innocent users who
never even thought of copyright infringement.”
Timm adds that the bills' biggest flaw is that
they didn't go directly after site owners, but
after everything around them. Domain names
could be censored or delisted from search
engines on government orders, while
corporations would be allowed to cut payment
processes and advertisers from these sites,
based only on allegations.
“There was going to be broad immunity for
Internet service providers to enforce these
bills, so they could end up over-blocking sites
and capturing innocent users,” he notes, adding
that free speech would have been obstructed on
"a massive scale."
**********************************************
THE VEIL SLIPS
The US has sent 12,000 soldiers to Libya, in a
'first phase' of deployments there. An oil-rich
North African nation... who'd have guessed?
According to Asharq Alawsat, the troops landed
in the eastern oil port city of Brega.
Although the deployment is said to be aimed at
generating 'stability and security', the troops
are there to take control of the country's
key oil fields and strategic ports.
Brega, the site of an important oil refinery,
serves as a major export hub for Libyan oil.
The town is also one of five oil terminals in
the eastern half of the country.
The NTC offices have been stormed in Benghazi.
*************************************************
HOW MANY MORE BEFORE WE GET OUT?
Four French soldiers with the NATO-led ISAF have
been killed after an Afghan soldier opened fire
on them in eastern Afghanistan.
ANOTHER HELICOPTER "CRASHES"
A US-led NATO helicopter has crashed in southern
Afghanistan, leaving six US service personnel
dead, US officials say.
The helicopter, a CH-53 Sea Stallion, went down
in Helmand province, one official says on the
condition of anonymity, early today (Friday).
Another official confirms that all the dead
are members of the US military.
***********************************************
ARAB LEAGUE PURSUES ISRAELI INTERESTS..
Observers concluded their work in Syria
after visiting the 16 areas where they were
deployed, and their final report was the
main topic discussed at a meeting of the
Arab League (AL) in Egypt, on Saturday.
The AL assistant secretary and head of the
Operations Office of the Mission of Observers,
Adnan al-Khoudhir, stressed that the only topic
to be discussed by the AL Ministerial Council
is the comprehensive report submitted by the
team of observers... to be presented by Sudanese
General Mohammad al-Dabi.
Al-Khoudhir notes that the idea of sending Arab
troops to Syria, launched by the Emir of Qatar,
whose country is the current president of the
AL, WILL be debated at the meeting.
This proposal has led to a strong denunciation
and rejection by the Syrian government, and to
rejection by politicians, intellectuals and
society in the Arab world. Countries such as
Russia and China have also rejected it.
The diplomat confirms the release of detainees,
and says that he has spoken with one of them
over the phone, and that the former detainee
has even traveled to Cairo.
Al-Khourdhir says that foreign journalists are
protected by the Syrian authorities.
None of the observers who left the mission due
to personal reasons had trouble when leaving
Syria, nor were they bothered at Damascus
International Airport, says the AL official.
Now the Arab League tells Assad to step down.
A front-line state, firm in its support of
Palestinian resistence to US-backed Zionism,
is betrayed by an organisation it set up!
Truly, the West's backing of Israel is leading
to Armageddon. Happy New Year !!!
*************************************************
MARGARET THATCHER's MAN TO FACE TREASON CHARGES?
Critics of Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Margaret
Thatcher famously described as 'someone we can
deal with', have filed a complaint with the
Investigative Committee, demanding the launch
of a criminal case against the first and only
president of the USSR, for high treason.
“It’s quite possible that in addition to the
complaint to the Investigative Committee, we
will also file a law suit, and we call on all
citizens to join us,” Nils Iogansen, spokes-
person for the Trade Union of Russia’s Citizens,
the organization behind the initiative, tells
Interfax news agency.
He says that a number of activists from the
union have organized pickets on the streets of
Moscow in support of the initiative. All in all,
25 people are involved in three pickets in
different locations in central Moscow.
The rallies, sanctioned by the authorities,
are aimed at informing the public that the
complaint has been filed.
Iogansen says “Following the 20th anniversary of
the disintegration of the Soviet Union we want
to remind people of the role Gorbachev played..”
Despite his positive initiatives for freedom and
democracy, Mikhail Gorbachev is criticized for
economic policies that, among other factors,
brought the Soviet Union closer to collapse.
He is blamed for the dissolution of the USSR,
a drastic move which resulted in economic and
political chaos in Russia and the post-Soviet
space in the early 1990s.
The Trade Union of Russia’s Citizens is a non-
government organization founded in April 2011.
It currently has 3,500 members. Among other
things, they are calling for the creation of a
'social justice' state, the nationalization of
industry, and support for the Russian-speaking
population abroad, who find themselves stripped
of rights throughout Eastern Europe.
***********************************************
NATO - UK - WAR CRIMINALS IN LIBYA
A new report by human rights groups in the
Middle East charges NATO with committing war
crimes and human rights violations in Libya.
The report is published on Thursday by the
Arab Organization for Human Rights, together
with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
and International Legal Assistance Consortium.
Following interviews with eyewitnesses and
victims of the Libyan war and after examining
areas bombarded by NATO fighter jets, the
report states that NATO targeted a number of
civilian areas instead of military sites,
particularly in the city of Sirte, during its
war on the North African country.
The development comes as NATO's Secretary-
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen claims that
“NATO carried out this operation very carefully,
without confirmed civilian casualties."
The independent report also implicates other
warring factions and participants in the war,
including forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and
NATO's armed 'rebels' in its war crime charges.
Meanwhile, Chief Prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo, stated in
November 2011 that an investigation would be
carried out on the role of the NATO alliance as
well as "the two Libyan sides" involved.
NATO launched a major air campaign against
forces of the former Libyan regime on March 19,
2011 under a UN mandate to “protect the Libyan population.”
NATO, however, was heavily criticized for its
failure to protect civilians and for taking
action beyond the terms of the UN mandate.
************************************************
WHO'S TELLING THE TRUTH?
Two bomb explosions in Afghanistan's southern
Helmand province have killed at least 16 people
and injured 23 others, Press TV reports.
Twelve people, including ten civilians and two
police officers, lost their lives, while 23
others, 20 civilians and 3 police officers,
were wounded after an explosive-laden motorbike
blew up in Kajaki village on Wednesday afternoon,
Helmand's provincial governor states.
Meanwhile, 'Taliban' spokesperson Yousef Ahmadi
claims that five foreign forces and 12 Afghan
soldiers are killed in the incident.
Elsewhere in Helmand's Nad Ali district, the
local intelligence chief and three other people
are killed in another bomb attack on Wednesday.
Despite the presence of tens of thousands of
Western forces in Afghanistan, the UN and other
observers say that violence is now at its peak
since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
A UN report on Afghanistan issued on September
28, 2011 says the average monthly number of
security incidents recorded for the year to the
end of August rose 40% compared to the previous year.
The report also says that civilian casualties,
already at record levels in the first six months
of the year, rose 5% between June & August 2011,
compared with the same 3-month period in 2010.
Around 130,000 Afghans were displaced by the
conflict in the first seven months of 2011,
two-thirds on the same period a year earlier.
***********************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER REPORTED KILLED IN AFGHAN MESS
ISAF confirms the killing, saying the soldier was
killed by IED in south Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The US-led military alliance gives no details.
*************************************************
WASHINGTON SEES IRAQ THROUGH BLOOD TINTED SPECS
The Washington Post sees Iraq falling apart in
sectarian squalor, now US troops have "gone".
A Kurdish media source emphasises the new peace.
So far Baghdad Operations Command has managed
to remove 45,000 concrete blocks from the
streets of Baghdad - more than half the total.
Qasem Ata, spokesperson for Baghdad Command,
tells AKnews that the work is being carried out
with the architecture department of Baghdad
Secretariat and under an order from the Iraqi
Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
"These blocks were on the streets for years,"
Ata says. "Therefore, they cannot be removed
within one or two days."
He says there are still 35,000 barriers, which
will be removed in the next few days.
Maliki ordered the barriers removed in November,
along with the opening of all closed streets in
Baghdad & a reduction in the number of checkpoints.
*************************************************
LOVE MOVES TO HAITI
The government of Nicaragua has formed a task
force to strengthen cooperative relations with
the Caribbean, and the first mission left for
Haiti on Friday, according to Sandinista
leader, Rosario Murillo.
Under the instructions of President Daniel
Ortega, the group will carry out various
tasks and is headed by Commander Lumberto
Campbell and the Deputy Foreign Minister for
Cooperation, Valdrack Jaentschke.
The visit to Haiti is intended to produce
arrangements and agreements that will help us
to strengthen partnership programs "learning
from successful experiences among our peoples",
Murillo says.
The coordinator of the Communication and
Citizenship Council states that the new
government team will be permanent, and its
first delegation will be joined by Agriculture
Minister Ariel Bucardo and Deputy Minister of
Finance, Ivan Acosta.
************************************************
RON PAUL MOVES UP
According to recent polls, only two members of
the GOP stand a chance of beating Barack Obama.
Just before the five remaining Republican Party
candidates debated in Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina, the results of a new poll conducted
by CNN in conjunction with ORC International
were released: on the right, Obama's only
opponents now, are Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
And after his strong finish at Monday night’s
Myrtle Beach debate, any more acceleration
could easily put Paul above Romney in the race
to Washington. RT
************************************************
UK SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE IN AFGHANISTAN
Two UK soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been
arrested over allegations of abusing near 10-
year-old Afghan children, the Sun reports.
Royal Military Police are investigating the child
abuse allegation by two soldiers, a sergeant and
a private from the Mercian Battle Group, an MoD
spokesperson admits now.
The soldiers reportedly filmed the separate events,
playing them on their laptops for other soldiers.
The newspaper says that PM David Cameron was
"deeply shocked" when told of the allegations
by defence officials.
"We are aware that an allegation has been made
concerning alleged inappropriate behaviour by
two servicemen in Afghanistan. The Royal
Military Police (Special Investigations Branch)
has launched an investigation into this. We
take any such allegation extremely seriously,”
the MoD spokesperson says.
A senior defence source stresses that the case
is “utterly inappropriate” and will terribly
damage the name of the UK Army in Afghanistan.
"We are determined to get to the bottom of this
ASAP. Any criminal behaviour will be dealt with
robustly and must not be allowed to undermine
the excellent work our armed forces are doing
in Afghanistan," the source adds.
************************************************
UK LAWYERS PROTEST AS WESTMINSTER MOVES PEACE CAMP
Lawyers protest at Westminster Council's move on
Tuesday for its "cynical disregard of the rule
of law", after it orders police to clear peace
campaigners from Parliament Square.
Police officers and council workers removed the
protest camp - set up by the late Brian Haw
over 10 years ago - on Monday evening.
It's just the latest move in a series of attempts
by the council to evict activists from a green
opposite the House of Commons.
But lawyers for campaigner Maria Gallastegui, a
long-standing protester at the site, say now
that it has not ended her protest there.
*************************************************
US MOVEMENT OCCUPIES UNPOPULAR SENATE
Tuesday marks the debut of Occupy 2.0 gathering
on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington.
With some 30 activist groups, supporters from
local movements around the country, as well as
some 10,000 Facebook supporters stating their
intention to show up, organizers hope this will
be the largest Occupy gathering yet.
The significance of the date, according to the
Occupy Congress website, is to welcome the 2012
House of Representatives back to town:
"We need to be there en masse as soon as they
begin their legislative session to let them
know that they're not going to waste another
year. What better way to welcome them back
than to have a huge demonstration that will
drive the conversation on the ground...
and in the media."
csmonitor.com
87% of the US public "disapprove" of Congress,
say the latest US nationwide polls.
***********************************************
FIGHTERS CLAIM ANOTHER NATO CHOPPER
A helicopter operated by the US-led NATO
alliance has crashed in Helmand Province
in southern Afghanistan, leaving at least
three people dead, Press TV reports.
Afghan police officials say that a foreign
military helicopter went down in Nadali
district near Shora area in Helmand, 555
kilometers south of the capital Kabul on
Monday, citing 'technical problems' as the
cause of the incident.
"According to our local police reports, the
helicopter was seen on fire in the air before
hitting the ground," Helmand's provincial
police chief says.
A spokesperson for NATO forces in Afghanistan
confirms the incident, saying more information
would be made public after 'an investigation'.
"What we can confirm is the crash of a civilian
helicopter in southern Afghanistan," the
spokesperson for ISAF says.
"We are aware of an incident in the south of
Afghanistan. We are gathering facts and will
release more details when we have them."
However, this time fighters have claimed
responsibility for the incident in a statement,
saying that they shot down the foreign military
helicopter and killed everyone onboard.
Fighters say they have shot down several
aircraft and NATO helicopters in different
parts of Afghanistan over the past few months.
************************************************
NIGERIANS TALKS FAIL - GOVT CUTS FUEL PRICE
Millions of Nigerians stay away from work today
as a strike over petrol prices enters its second day.
Unions called the open-ended walkout to press
the government to restore petrol subsidies.
Banks, government offices and large company
buildings remain closed with only a few market
stalls and shops trading. Some flights into
Nigeria were cancelled.
Tens of thousands turn out again in Lagos, Abuja,
Kano and smaller towns despite a police crack
down on Monday that reportedly killed 9 people.
Nigeria Labour Congress president Abdulwaheed
Omar says 6 protesters were killed in Maiduguri
& 3 more in Lagos State. He accuses police of
using excessive force.
Petrol prices have risen from 29 pence to at
least 69p since President Goodluck Jonathan's
administration removed a subsidy on January 1st.
************************************************
ANOTHER FOUR TROOPS KILLED MONDAY IN AFGHAN MESS
At least four soldiers with the US-led ISAF have
been killed in yet another bomb (IED) attack in
southern Afghanistan. No details given.
***********************************************
US/ISRAEL MILITARY MANEUVRES CALLED OFF
After receiving signs that a "false flag"
operation by Israel could be hiding in
the joint maneuvres, the US has stepped
back from going ahead with the "exercise".
************************************************
ANOTHER HELICOPTER "CRASH" IN AFGHAN DISASTER
Few details in Sunday's reports, as neither ISAF
nor the "Taliban" have acknowledged the event.
*********************************************
QATAR SHOWS ITS HAND
As Neil Kinnock reminds critics of the critical
importance of unity in politics, Qatar's ruler
advises armed intervention in Syria - a move
which could kill hopes of avoiding a Middle East
(and probably world) war.
The Russians and Chinese are neighbours of yours:
the West is losing economically, and NEEDS war.
The backers of Al Jazeera and those states behind
Al Arabya stand exposed presently as wishing war
to engulf their own people. Arabs and Muslims
need, above all, to unite as one with ALL their
neighbours, against Israel and its backers'
incessant drive towards war.
Patrick Henningsen, an associate editor for
infowars.com states that Qatar is aligned with
the US in destabilizing Syria, as it was in Libya:
“Qatar played a crucial role in the
destabilization of Libya and actually provided
1,600 troops on the ground during the Libyan
uprising. Qatar was also the country that
signed the deal back in February 2011 to market
crude oil from Libya – this is way in advance
of toppling Gaddafi,” he explains. “Qatar hosts
US Central Command. So there is definitely
synergy there with whatever America’s agenda is.”
The present leader of Qatar is a danger to peace.
*************************************************
AL OBSERVERS IGNORE CRITICISM AND "RUMOURS"
The mission of Arab observers in Syria continues
monitoring the situation, and is now deployed
in six new areas, including Deir Ezzor, Sweida,
Qamishli, Palmyira, Tartous and Raqqa, says the
head of the Observer Mission Operations Office,
Adnan al-Khoudhir.
Al-Khoudhir says the observers' work is following
the protocol signed with the Syrian government,
disregarding slanders, rumours and criticism.
On Friday, the inspectors toured Bosra Hospital
in Daraa and interviewed patients and local
residents while another group toured
neighborhoods in Sweida, say Syria's media.
In Hama, they walked freely in neighborhoods,
& visited Aleppo's Specialized Medical Centre,
while a fifth group headed to the southern port
Tartous, while others went to Qamishli, Hasaka
province, where they exchanged views with residents.
Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya news
networks continue their ruthless anti-Syria
drive, featuring "anti-government protests"
in provinces other than the capital to support
the so-called Syrian Liberation Army's morale.
This "army" consists of Army defectors and
mercenaries from Islamist extremist groups.
Qatar is trying to assemble these "recruits",
in Turkey, with support from regional powers
like Saudi Arabia, and some NATO states.
The media insists on promoting this anti-Syria
picture after Arab League General Secretary
Nabil al-Arabi, who also plays to the same
tune, voiced on Thursday his "fears" about
imminent civil war in Syria, matching US hopes
and those of its European allies.
Civil war is their last resource after their
failure to land a Security Council resolution
similar to that on Libya, comments a Western
source in Damascus.
So far according to analysts here, there are
just isolated armed groups operating without
a defined leadership who engage in criminal
& terrorist actions rejected by the population.
Notwithstanding their lack of popularity,
sources claim they are targeting the Syrian
professional classes and aim at sensitive
economic targets, to weaken and terrorise.
************************************************
WEST'S ATTACKS ON SYRIA & IRAN THREAT TO RUSSIA
A conflict with Iran threatens Russia''s
national security, says Russian Deputy
Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin.
He recommends that Western countries's stop any
interference in the internal affairs of Syria.
"Iran is our close neighbour and if something
happens in that country or if it is plunged
into conflict, it will be a direct threat to
our national security," states the former
Russian representative to NATO.
If NATO continues with its interference in the
internal affairs of Tehran, it will be difficult
to avoid a catastrophe, he says.
According to Rogozin, what happened in Libya,
bombed for eight months by NATO, should have
calmed any desire to ignite more civil wars.
The Russian Deputy Prime Minister recommends
leaving Syria alone and allowing the parties
in conflict, seats at the negotiation table,
to find a peaceful solution.
"The maneuvres of the West to impose their
'democratic' schemes on the Middle East and
in North Africa, have resulted in the ascent of
Islamic forces to power," argues Rogozin.
"If a confrontation in Syria or in Iran takes
place, we won't have an Arab spring, but rather,
a burning hot Arab summer," he says.
Calm kindly words - as from a friend -
but then, the Russians have always hoped that
the West's leaders are sane and rational!
**********************************************
DON'T TRUST THE US DOLLAR
No liquidity problems for the US, after it lost
its triple A credit rating, but for Europe...?
France is stripped of its triple-A credit rating
on Friday as US credit agency Standard & Poor
downgrades most countries in the eurozone, and
deals a blow to the weakest eurozone members.
Standard and Poor's (S&P) downgrade move, although
containing some legitimate concerns, also raises
fresh doubts about the credibility of ratings agencies.
France has been fighting to keep its top
rating for months. After several rounds of
austerity packages and a massive economic
overhaul, its overstretched public finances
show no clear signs of easing up.
So, S&P's downgrade is legitimate in some sense,
but the timing is dubious, to say the least.
Just one day ago, European shares and the Euro
rose on positive comments about the region's
outlook from the European Central Bank, and the
news of a successful bond auction by Spain.
The ten-year bond spread of debt-ridden countries
over that of Germany's has narrowed over time,
a key measure of investors' confidence.
Spain, Italy and some peripheral countries have
woken up to the severity of their structural
flaws and introduced a flurry of financial
measures to boost their productivity.
Just as the crisis in EU states shows tentative
signs of receding, the S&P's overwhelming
downgrade once again weighs on the market and
dents investors' confidence.
Having 95% of the world market for credit rating,
Moody's, S&P & Fitch Rating, play a pivotal role
in providing an assessment of the ability of
countries and companies to pay their debts.
It is vitally important that they are objective
and professional in analyzing the market, because
incorrect information on credit risks will
have catastrophic consequences at this stage.
The 2008 financial crisis gave us a warning.
It was the failure of ratings agencies to
assess some "risky financial products" that
caused the uncontrolled spread of toxic assets
which led directly to the present global crisis.
Until these credit rating agencies, directed
by a US elite, and proven as at best inefficient,
are made to come clean, investors and markets
should drop their over-reliance on the assessment
of the current US-controlled credit ratings
agencies, and make their own judgements about
the market situation.
Otherwise the US dollar will continue to "save
itself" by exporting a flood of artificially
bolstered dollars... at the expense of Europe.
Yet it is US debt and warspending that is the
main cause of instability in the world.
The US spends more than the rest of the world
put together on its armaments industry, and
is by far the world's most indebted country.
************************************************
ANOTHER NATO SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN MESS
Another NATO soldier is reported killed.
No details given, except two others are wounded
in the same incident.
************************************************
SICK HEARTS, SICK MINDS
Afghans condemn the US after a video shows US
marines urinating on Afghan dead bodies on the
ground, Press TV reports.
Residents in Kandahar and Kabul stage rallies
today (Thursday) to slam the desecration of the
corpses, saying the US marines committed crimes.
The demonstrators say “Since they've committed
such a crime, we don't want them anymore on our
soil, we don't like foreign soldiers to be on
our soil, and they have to leave.”
The footage which was posted online shows four
US Marines making lewd jokes while urinating
on the bodies of three Afghans on the ground,
apparently aware that they are being filmed.
It's not immediately known where and when
this incident took place.
The US Marines Corps has said it will
investigate the video, calling it "disgusting."
The US Muslim civil rights group 'Council on
American-Islamic Relations' condemns the
incident. In a letter to US Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta, it calls for the punishment of
those involved.
***********************************************
US PROTESTERS RETURN
Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters
retake their former stronghold of Zuccotti Park
in New York, triggering several arrests by police.
Demonstrators were evicted two months ago and
the authorities had the park barricaded.
Barricades were taken down Tuesday night, after
civil rights groups filed a complaint with the
city's building department, saying the
barricades were against the city zoning law.
Occupy protesters returned on Wednesday, and
were met by police, who arrested three of them.
Protesters are planning to stay, even though
tents and sleeping bags have been banned there,
since the November 15th police raid that forced
the campers out of the park.
Over the past couple of months, the police have
broken up Occupy encampments in cities and towns
across the US & arrested dozens of protesters.
*************************************************
SOUTH SUDAN THE CRACK TO SMASH AFRICA
Citing recent ethnic violence and with the
apparent certainty that every nation on the
planet needs at least a few US boots on the
ground, President Obama announces his
intention to send troops to the Republic of
South Sudan to help the new government with
“strategic planning.” Antiwar
The deployment, which only includes five troops
so far, comes after a report of a massacre was
refuted by the UN, and as South Sudan continues
to accuse the Sudanese government of preventing
it from shipping oil more efficiently. Antiwar
It also comes just days after President Obama
announced his intention to sell weapons to the
South Sudanese government's “People's Liberation
Army” saying that the sales would be a key
to “world peace.” Antiwar
South Sudan's independence from the north was
finalized in July, and the indications this
week, suggest they are well on their way to
being a modern US client state, complete with
massive internal unrest and US deployments of
“advisors.” Antiwar
Obama issued a memorandum Tuesday declaring that
US officers could not be prosecuted by the ICC
during their deployment, because South Sudan is
not a party to the ICC. The White House says
prior administrations used similar designations
when sending US forces to UN missions in Haiti
and Liberia. Washington Post
The first of the small group of US forces is
expected to depart for South Sudan later this
week. The Pentagon says there are "no plans"
to expand the US contribution to the UN mission.
Washington Post
The US strongly supported South Sudan's drive
for independence and sought to boost the
fledgling nation, in part through agriculture
assistance and private investment. The Obama
administration has also authorized US investment
in South Sudan's oil sector. Boston Globe.
Hard to believe that Egypt and the Sudan were
one country until recent Western interference.
************************************************
DRONE ATTACKS BY "IRRATIONAL" US RESUME
At least four people have been killed in a US
drone strike in Pakistan's northwestern tribal
region near the Afghan border.
In the attack, two missiles hit a private
compound just outside Miranshah in N Waziristan.
Locals say that the airstrike sparked a huge
fire in the building.
This is the first airstrike in Pakistan since
mid November, when US-led NATO air raids
killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Liaghat Ali Khan, professor, Washburn University:
"I think the United States wants to give a very
clear message to the Pakistani government, to
the Pakistani army, that the United States can
continue attacking the militants in North
Waziristan despite opposition from the people
of Pakistan & possibly the armed forces of Pakistan.
"I think 2012 will be a very bad year for the
region, including Pakistan, Iran & Afghanistan.
"I do not know what the United States will do,
because right now the United States is like a
defeated super power. It has been defeated -
and very badly defeated - in Afghanistan.
I am not sure what the United States will do
to reassert its fading glory, and, because of
that, I am not sure if the United States will
indeed think very rationally at all, in terms
of this region."
************************************************
THE COMING THIRD WORLD WAR: AFTER THE SOVIETS
When the Soviet Union collapsed, despite over
70% of citizens voting to keep it, the Chinese
called Gorbachev "the greatest traitor to
socialism in the history of the world".
Now the US is financing the construction of
facilities in Georgia to set the ground for
“a military conflict with Iran,” a member of
the Georgian opposition says.
“These are 20-bed hospitals… It's an American
project.” says Elizbar Javelidze, a member of
Georgia's Public Assembly Movement, adding that
the facilities are intended for a war, Russian
television network Russia Today reports, quoting
Javelidze as telling a Georgian newspaper.
“$5 billion was allocated for the construction
of these 20-bed military hospitals,” Javelidze
says, referring to remarks by Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili on launching the new
hospitals in the country.
New airports are being constructed in Georgia
“from the American pocket” and there are talks
of setting up a port for submarines in Kulevi
on the eastern Black Sea coast in Georgia,
he points out.
Javelidze says that all such developments are
indicative that the US is preparing grounds
for building “military bases” on Georgian soil.
The new, under-construction city of Lazika,
which is one of the government-backed projects,
will be “an American military town,” the
Georgian politician says.
“A secret airdrome” has already been established
in the southern town of Marneuli, Javelidze
further discloses.
A total of 30 new hospitals and medical centres
were built in the former Soviet republic in
December 2011 & more facilities are being constructed.
Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly threatened
Tehran with the "option" of a military strike,
based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear
work may consist of a covert military aspect.
Iran argues that it has the right to develop and
acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes
as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and a member of the International Atomic
Energy Agency.
Iranian officials have vowed a crushing response
to any military strike against the country,
warning that any such measure could result in a
war that will spread beyond the Middle East.
************************************************
THE FILTHY MORALS OF KILLERS
A terrorist car bomb explosion in northern
Tehran has killed yet another Iranian nuclear
scientist and wounded two bystanders.
The victim, identified as Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan,
was a chemical engineering graduate of Iran's
prominent Sharif University of Technology and
served as marketing deputy of Iran's Natanz
nuclear installation.
Witnesses say they spotted a motorcyclist
attaching a sticky bomb to a car near a
college of the Allameh Tabatabaei University
in the Iranian capital on Wednesday.
An investigation is underway over the incident.
Wednesday's terror bombing bears the hallmark
of a 2010 terror attack that killed Majid
Shahriari, another university professor, in Tehran.
On November 29, 2010, unidentified terrorists
slapped adhesive bombs onto the vehicles of
Iranian university professors Majid Shahriari
and Fereydoun Abbasi and detonated them.
Professor Shahriari was killed immediately,
but Dr. Abbasi, the current director of
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, and his
wife sustained minor injuries and were
rushed to a hospital.
On December 2, 2010, the Iranian Intelligence
Ministry announced that the Israeli Mossad,
the US's CIA, and the UK's MI6, all played a
role in those attacks.
Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, another scholar
at Tehran University, was assassinated by a
booby-trapped motorbike in the Iranian capital
in January 2010.
The terror bombing took place near the
professor's home in northern Tehran.
The West's ruling class knows too well
that if a lie is repeated often enough,
the public WILL be brainwashed into
believing ANYTHING, and have convinced
their public that IT IS OK TO KILL MUSLIMS!
It is NOT ! WE are the TERRORISTS.
************************************************
STOP INTERFERING AND FACE YOUR OWN COLLAPSE
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad lashes out at
foreign powers for attempting to destabilize
Syria, and criticizes the Arab League for its
stance toward Damascus.
The Syrian president says the Arab League's
intervention is much worse than any other
international interference, as it attacks
Syrian sovereignty, which is the most
important issue for the Syrian nation.
Assad lambasts the foreign conspiracies, saying
that Syria will remain free and independent.
Arab League observers are currently in the
country to investigate Syria's months-long
unrest and to monitor the implementation of
a 'peace initiative' presented by the bloc.
Assad dismisses reports of national division:
“We will not be lenient towards division”.
He points out the necessity of reforms in Syria,
saying that the government is “open to dialogue
but sections of the opposition are not interested.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirms that
the campaign against Syria, whipped up by
hundreds of Western and Arab governments and
their corrupt media, has failed.
Observers admit that armed groups are operating there.
"The regional and international parties that
have worked on destabilizing Syria will not be
able anymore to distort the facts, and the
reality of the country", the leader highlights
in a speech delivered at Damascus University.
Events in Syria, organized, encouraged and
financed from abroad, "have bled the heart of
every Syrian and imposed conditions that are
a challenge and a test for our nationalism",
notes the president.
Al-Assad denounces the media that has worked and
acted against the country to push it to the brink
of collapse, "but these actions have failed",
he insists today.
------------------------------------------------
FRIENDS OF SYRIA CONCUR... TELL US TO BUTT OUT.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez both
censure the hegemonic powers' persistant war
threats and sanctions against independent and
developing nations of the world, in a joint
statement issued in Caracas.
The two presidents denounce all acts of terrorism
in the world and call for collective efforts by
the international community to counter the
“sordid phenomenon.”
Presidents Ahmadinejad and Chavez voice support
for the rightful demands of people in the Middle
East, and denounce any foreign interference as
the key element in aggravating regional crises.
The Iranian and Venezuelan presidents also
express regret over the massacre of civilians
and security forces in Syria, voice support for
the Syrian reform process, and lash out at global
imperialism and the Israeli regime for their
“blatant interference” in regional affairs.
The world watches as the capitalist powers implode,
and wonder if the old psychology of projecting
your fears and anxieties onto an "external enemy"
can keep working on the people of the West...
************************************************
SYRIA CONDEMNS QATAR FOR ITS BIAS
Syria criticizes Qatar for insisting on adopting
a biased and tendentious stance against it, a
position that jeopardizes Syria´s yearning for
regional unity.
The Syrian Representative to the Arab League,
Yousef Ahmad, particularly criticizes Qatar's
Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin
Jassin al-Thani, stating that his biased
comments about Syria are not congruent with
his temporary post as President of the Arab
Ministerial Council.
Ahmad´s harsh criticism is made after the AL
Council of Ministers meeting on Sunday to
assess the work of the observers´ mission to
Syria, which blamed Damascus for placing
obstacles in the way of the inspectors.
Prior to that meeting in Cairo, Egypt, the US,
France, and its Arab allies, including Qatar,
pressured the AL and discredited the work of
its envoys to Syria, where they have visited
dozens of cities and towns as well as hospitals
and jails without restrictions, and exchanged
views with Syrians.
Al-Thani particularly accuses Damascus of not
fulfilling the agreements and now asks to
increase the mission members, now comprised of
163 observers, to tackle the violence which he
attributes exclusively to the Syrian forces,
without taking into account many flagrant
violations and terrorist attacks of armed groups.
The Israeli DEBKAFile news website recently
published an investigation showing how Qatar,
aided by Saudi Arabia, is striving to create
an extremist force of intervention in Syria,
comprised of mercenaries from the region.
In the last few weeks, Syrian forces have foiled
infiltration attempts by armed groups and seized
a great number of weapons, including satellite
communications equipment manufactured in Saudi Arabia.
*************************************************
ANOTHER OCCUPATION SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN MESS
NATO says another US-led soldier has been killed
in "a shooting" in Afghanistan's troubled south.
NATO says he was killed by an Afghan Army soldier.
************************************************
THE OLDEST TRICK FAILS IN MALAYSIA
The oldest trick in the book is to attack your
opponent by questioning their morality.
Malaysia's High Court today (Monday) acquits
prominent opposition leader Anwar of charges
of sexual misconduct, after a two-year trial.
Judge Zabidin Mohamad Diah declares the case
closed and says that he cannot rely on the
controversial DNA evidence submitted by the
prosecution. The government bows to this.
"Thank God, justice has been served,” Anwar
tells reporters after hearing the verdict.
The opposition leader consistently denied the
charges of having had a sexual relationship
with a former male aide, and accused the
government of attempting to cripple his
political ambitions and influence.
Anwar, 64, says the verdict leaves him free to
focus on trying to beat Prime Minister Najib
Razak's long-ruling coalition in upcoming elections.
"In the coming election, the voice of the people
will be heard, and this corrupt government will
be toppled from its pedestal of power," he says.
Anwar has long insisted that Najib set him up
to damage his chances of winning any election.
*************************************************
LIBYA IN CHAOS AS WAR CUTS PEOPLE IN THE WEST
The West's media is silent about Libya, because
the news is shocking. The cost of continuing the
West's wars on the main aggressors... that is,
France, the UK and US, is equally stunning.
No money for education, maternity wings, or
cancer treatments, because "there simply isn't
the money" and anyway "do you know how much
it's costing our country"?
But no counting the cost of destabilising Libya!
Interestingly, the West's "liberators" the so-
called "NTC" are now fighting among themselves
rather than providing any form of "Government".
In December in the last days of 2011, there
were reports of mass fights in Tripoli city
centre and at the Mitiga air base. Misuratah
and Benghazi terrorists fought each other
and 30 terrorist officers from Benghazi were
executed. The Baniwalid tribe was reported to
be marching on Tripoli, with the population
set to welcome them.
In Sirte, fights are also reported among groups
of terrorists and with Jamahiriya forces.
More and more, the Zintan Militia is fighting
alongside the Jamahiriya forces and against
the terrorist Al Qaeda Bel Haj militia.
(Bel Haj is an Al Qaeda terrorist who fought
against NATO, but is now the "friend" of
France, the UK and US (FUKUS) - and is being
used against the people of Libya.
The Zintan Militia are holding Saif al-islam
al-Qathafi (who has reportedly married a Zintan
bride). They say they are not giving up the son
of Muammar al-Qathafi to any foreign court,
because "the ICC does not have jurisdiction in
Libya". Bel Haj and the Hefter militia are also
fighting each other in Zintan
In Al-Zawiyah there are green flags flying
everywhere, the city is reported as free of
NATO terrorist forces.
In Sabha, Gharyan and Tarhouna there are green
flags everywhere. Green flags remain flying
over Ghadames, liberated from NATO terrorist
forces. The Bel Haj terrorist militia has fled
from Gharyan. In Sabha, fighters chant defiance.
NATO knows that the people of Libya do not accept
their criminal terrorist forces as "Government".
NATO terrorist forces were driven back when their
attack on Tobruk was defeated by the citizens'
Jamahiriya militia and the 'Green Resistance'.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil warns of civil war. It is
already civil war, and was from day one when
this murderer allowed NATO to launch terrorist
attacks using foreign forces from Qatar inside Libya.
What did NATO expect? The Libyan people had
peace and prosperity for over 42 years.
The Jamahiriya system of government -
participative democracy - is far more
participative than western-style systems
where, for instance, someone like Cameron
can be Prime Minister with a minority of votes.
In the Jamahiriya system communities organise
what they need and the Government distributes
what they want.
Libyans have enjoyed prosperity, with free
housing and free utilities. They will not
give up these birthrights to foreigners and
foreign-imposed terrorists.
In supporting terrorists, NATO is liable for war
crimes, as are its political & military leaders.
If NATO is forced to account, they will have to
pay a massive reconstruction bill, and NATO's
terrorist forces will be tried and punished.
If not, the world faces more of the same.
So Libya is now totally out of NATO's control
and the French, US and UK taxpayers, mainly,
are now paying for it. Who else?
So sorry Mrs Jones, if you cannot afford to pay
your electricity bill this winter, you will have
to freeze to death.
Think of how much money you will save the
National Health Service if you do...
then we can afford another cruise missile
to strafe water supplies in Libya and deprive
babies of sanitation "to break their backs",
Talk about an ethical foreign policy... innit!
***********************************************
RUSSIAN WARSHIPS REACH SYRIA
Two Russian warships arrive in Syria on Saturday.
Itar-Tass news agency, says the destroyer, the
Admiral Chabanenko and the frigate Yaroslav Mudry
docked at Russia’s naval maintenance and supply
facility in the Syrian port of Tartus.
The move is being seen as an obvious show of
strength for President Assad’s regime. Russia
has been consistently supporting the ruling
regime in Syria since March last year.
Russia joined China in October in blocking a
UN Security Council resolution to condemn the
Assad Government for its 'crackdown'. It says
Syria’s armed opponents are at least equally to
be blamed for ongoing violence in the country.
Russia is one of Syria's main arms suppliers,
and the ships' presence sends a strong message.
*************************************************
EIGHT NATO TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHAN TRAP
Eight US-led troops enlisted with NATO have died
in separate attacks in the south of Afghanistan.
A brief statement says that three soldiers are
killed in a roadside bomb blast on Thursday.
A fourth lost his life in a "militant attack",
also in the south on Friday, it adds.
Plus, on Friday, four soldiers of the NATO-led
ISAF died in a homemade bomb attack in the south.
*************************************************
PAKISTAN HOLDS FIRM
Pakistan is keeping the ban preventing supply
lorries for US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan
from using Pakistani territory, media reports.
Chair of Pakistan's Parliamentary Committee on
National Security, Milan Raza Rabbani, states
on Thursday that the embargo on NATO supply
lines will stay in place as long as relations
between the two allies in the so-called war on
terror, remain fraught.
Pakistan, enraged by US-led NATO attacks that
killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in northwestern
Pakistan on November 26th 2011, closed the
border crossings used to supply NATO troops
into landlocked Afghanistan.
The US military and NATO rely heavily on the
Pakistan-based supply routes... more so, now
that attacks are increasing in Afghanistan.
Other routes, through Russia and the Central
Asian states, have proved to be too costly,
both politically and economically.
***********************************************
US POLL FIDDLE
"Let's bomb Iran" Romney narrowly defeats "Let's
bomb Iran" Santorum by eight votes in a ballot
tainted by corruption and sleight of hand.
Ron Paul, the only peace candidate, is officially
squeezed into third place.
Republican strategist Dee Dee Benkie revealed
on radio on Monday that the GOP establishment
was resolved to stop Ron Paul winning in Iowa
by offering 'sweetheart deals; to move large
voting blocks to vote for Romney or Santorum.
The show host said GOP insiders were showing
“great concern” because they feared a Paul win.
Despite the fact that this is unethical and,
with bribery involved, illegal, the host
dismissed such conduct as “just politics”.
“Is it possible that the party apparatus here
could be silently asking those District Chairmen
to start swaying some important caucus members
over to the anti-Paul side which may end up
being Santorum… do you see a scenario like that
happening,” he asked Benkie.
Benkie: “Ron Paul doesn't do us any good in
Iowa, doesn't do the country any good, will
never get there, so let's figure out what we
need to do. We really don't want Ron Paul to win.”
Benkie, said the party apparatus are “tight-
knit” and “trying to figure out” how to “deal
with the Paul-bots,” an arrogant description of
Ron Paul's supporters.
“They're not going to want him to get number
one, it's very bad for Iowa, it's terrible,”
said Benkie, adding that she hoped for her
“friends” that Paul would not be victorious.
Dee Dee Benkie was by no means decrying the
subversion of the Iowa primary. She is openly
anti-Paul and brazenly advocating that he be
stopped from winning Iowa by means of corrupt
establishment insiders exerting undue influence
on voters, despite the fact that only last week
she was decrying the threat posed by “rampant”
voter fraud.
Iowa election officials announced just before the
vote that they were moving the site of the final
vote count to a secret undisclosed location,
and voters were not required to have photo ID;-
factors that only increase concerns about vote
fraud being used to disenfranchise anti-
establishment candidates like Ron Paul.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad undermined the
purpose of his own state's poll by encouraging
people, in the event of a Paul victory, to
ignore the will of the voters and instead
concentrate on who came second and third.
Establishment media heads also resolved to
ignore the result of the primary if Ron Paul
had won. “If Ron Paul wins Iowa, we just take
it out,” Politico's chief columnist Roger Simon
told MSNBC last month, reports Prison Planet.
***********************************************
WHO LET THE DOGS IN?
After a ten year old girl is raped by a US
soldier, the US military extends a troop curfew
in South Korea until further notice, following
two other rape cases involving US soldiers.
The commander of US forces in Korea, General
James D. Thurman announced the extension of
the curfew yesterday (Tuesday).
From this Saturday, the new off-base curfew
hours for all US service members in South Korea
will be from 1 to 5 a.m. seven days a week.
The original curfew had been midnight to 5 a.m.
on weekdays and from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. on
weekends and holidays. It was put in place
after rapes sparked anger in the country.
The US military and South Korean officials
have also met to discuss possible changes to
the Status of Forces Agreement between the two
countries following the recent events.
************************************************
UK BASES ABROAD A "VESTAGE OF COLONIALISM"
Clashes between Cypriot protesters and police
during a rally over UK military bases in Cyprus
have left several people injured.
The rally took place on Monday in Akrotiri
outside the Akrotiri RAF military base in
southern Cyprus, where angry protesters threw
rocks and sticks at police guarding the
entrance to the base. The police arrested
two of the protesters.
Local media report that several protesters were
injured as a result of the clashes. A cameraman
was also injured after being hit by a rock.
Four officers were also injured, according to
Connie Pierce, spokesperson at the military base.
The Akrotiri base was built in the 1950s.
Cyprus gained independence from the UK on
August 16th, 1960. Yet, London has held
on to its control over two military bases,
including Akrotiri, on the island.
Dhekelia, the 2nd UK base, is in eastern Cyprus.
Cypriots regard the presence of the UK army
in their country as an unwelcome remnant of
an arrogant UK colonialism.
************************************************
TROOPS OCCUPYING AFGHANISTAN LOSE FIRST OF 2012
A US-led soldier has been killed in a bomb
explosion in southern Afghanistan, marking
the first NATO casualty there, in 2012.
The soldier lost his life “following an
improvised explosive device (IED) attack
in southern Afghanistan, yesterday," ISAF
said in a statement on Tuesday.
***********************************************
NEARLY SIX THOUSAND ARRESTS CAN'T STOP OCCUPY US
The US police have arrested over 5,800 anti-Wall
Street protesters since the beginning of the
anti-capitalism movement in September 2011.
According to the website occupy-arrests.com, at
least 5,748 occupy protesters were arrested up
to December 31st, 2011. 68 more demonstrators
were detained in New York City's Zuccotti Park
on Saturday night, as protesters staged a New
Year's Eve demonstration in the city.
************************************************
WHO BENEFITS?
As we greet the New Year, let us take unity
as our watchword in today's uncertain world.
A Saudi Arabian member of the Arab League
delegation visiting Syria has reportedly
encouraged Syrians to engage in armed struggle
against the government of President Bashar al-Assad!
During a speech in a mosque in Harasta city on
Friday, a Saudi member of the delegation
expressed support for the people who are in a
military confrontation with the country's army
and security forces.
Meanwhile, the forces known as the Free Syrian
Army, which is seeking to overthrow the Syrian
government, have taken up positions in northern
Syria, near the border with Turkey.
The heavily-equipped militia has remote-
controlled anti-tank missiles, mortars,
cannon, and Katyusha rocket launchers.
An Arabi Press reporter has said he has several
authentic photos of the anti-tank missiles.
However, there is no confirmation that the
group has rocket launchers.
According to the Arabi Press report, about 6,000
fighters of the Free Syrian Army are based in
the northwestern city of Adlib, inside Syria.
Foreign diplomatic missions have contacted the
opposition in the Syrian city of Jabal al-
Zawiyah, and witnesses have seen members of the
Syrian opposition being transported in vehicles
of foreign diplomatic missions, the report adds.
It also says that US Special Forces are in Syria
to train the 'Free Syrian Army'.
A delegation of Arab League observers is currently
in Syria to 'monitor' the situation there.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-
March, with demonstrations being held both
for, and against, President Assad.
Damascus says “outlaws, saboteurs and armed
terrorist groups” are responsible for the
unrest which is being orchestrated from abroad.
***********************************************
PRESIDENT JONATHAN ACTS TO SECURE NIGERIA
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has
declared a state of emergency in the areas
hit by a series of deadly attacks on Christmas
Day last week.
In a televised address on Saturday, Jonathan
declared an indefinite state of emergency in
some parts of Borno, Yobe, Niger and Plateau
states, which would all allow security agencies
to make arrests without evidence and conduct
searches without warrants.
The president also ordered the closure of parts
of the country's borders to control "cross-
border terrorist activities".
***********************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHAN MESS
A bomb explosion has killed another US-led NATO
soldier in Afghanistan, increasing the number
of foreign casualties to 26 this month.
"An ISAF service member died following an IED
attack in southern Afghanistan, today," ISAF
says in a statement released on Friday.
The statement doesn't identify the nationality
of the victim, but the contingents stationed
in southern Afghanistan are known to be mostly
from the US, UK and Australia.
***********************************************
PAKISTAN MPS DECISION ON SUPPLYING NATO TROOPS
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik says
any decision on a possible reopening of the
supply route for NATO soldiers rests fully on
the parliament of Pakistan.
Malik says the Parliamentary Committee on
National Security under Senator Ghulam Rabbani
is investigating the deadly airstrikes, which
killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers in the
northwest of Pakistan late last month.
Last week, Pakistan's military rejected a US
investigation which suggested that "mistakes
on both sides" led to the NATO airstrikes.
Pakistan has closed the border crossings that
US-led military forces used to send fuel and
other supplies into landlocked Afghanistan.
Islamabad says it has proven, with pictures and
maps, that the US-led NATO forces deliberately
carried out the attacks on Pakistan's troops.
Islamabad gave a presentation on the November 26th
attacks at the Pakistani embassy in Washington
on December the 22nd.
Senior Pakistani officials stated that NATO
"could not have mistaken the two border posts"
on the Afghan border for militant bases, as
they stood on high ground.
On December the 1st, Pakistan's Army Chief
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, ordered the Army
to retaliate against potential 'irresponsible'
NATO attacks on Pakistani soil. He calls on the
military "not to wait for any orders" from the
government to give a "crushing response" to the
aggressors, "regardless of consequences".
************************************************
PENTAGON SPEAKS OUT FOR WORLD WAR...
A senior Iranian military commander dismisses
both Pentagon warnings over Iranian threats to
close the Strait of Hormuz.
Deputy Commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (IRGC) Brig General Hossein Salami
says Tehran doesn't seek Washington's permission
to implement its defense strategies in the Persian
Gulf, the local satellite Press TV reports.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran asks for no other
country's permission for the implementation of
its defense strategies," Salami is quoted as
saying in reaction to Pentagon threats over
Tehran's ability to close the Strait of Hormuz.
The US is in no position to give permission to
Iran, Salami says, adding that the history of
confrontation between Tehran and Washington
attests to this as the Islamic republic has
managed to proceed with its strategies in
the face of all US pressures.
"Whenever the vital interests of the Islamic
republic are threatened, we will threaten
in return," Salami is quoted as saying by
the state IRIB TV website on Thursday.
"The ongoing drill is representative of the
significant advances in deterrent power of
the Islamic republic in the sea," he says.
The Pentagon on Wednesday warned Iran against
any attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz, one
of the world's most critical oil routes.
"This is not just an important issue for security
and stability in the region, but is an economic
lifeline for countries in the Gulf, including
Iran," Pentagon press secretary G. Little said.
"Interference with the transit or passage of
vessels through the Strait of Hormuz," he adds,
"will not be tolerated."
Little's threats come after Iran's First Vice
President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi said on Tuesday
that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz...
if its oil exports are sanctioned by the West.
Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah
Sayyari said on Wednesday that the country's
naval forces can readily block the oil route
"if needed".
In a separate statement, the Bahrain-based US
Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday that "anyone who
threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in
an international strait is clearly outside the
community of nations; any disruption will not
be tolerated."
The Iranian navy, which launched Velayat 90 on
Saturday, a 10-day exercise covering 2,000 kms
stretching from the east of the Strait of Hormuz
in the Persian Gulf, to the Gulf of Aden,
continues its exercise today.
Do the 5th fleet and the Pentagon now speak
for the entire world? THIS is not tolerable!
************************************************
MORE KILLED BY AFGHAN PATRIOTIC FIGHTERS
A Chinook helicopter in North Afghanistan is
reported as "crashed". Fighters say all on board
are killed. The Afghan army denies this.
On Thursday, a man wearing an Afghan army uniform
shot dead two US-led troops in east Afghanistan.
**********************************************
IRAN SENDS 21ST AID CONVOY TO STARVING SOMALIS
As the UK's extreme rightwing government plans
a possible land and air attack on Somalia, the
Islamic Republic of Iran sends its 21st cargo
of humanitarian aid to its famine-hit people.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday
that a humanitarian aid shipment left Bushehr
port in southern Iran to help Somalis who have
fled the drought, and sought refuge in Kenya.
The shipment includes 3,000 blankets & 800 tents.
East Africa - including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia
and Djibouti - has experienced a huge drought
over the last year, but the crisis has turned
into famine only in Somalia, where aid groups
have reduced access due to the violence there.
Tens of thousands of people have died, although
Mark Bowden, the UN's top humanitarian official
on Somalia, says he doesn't believe there will
ever be a complete and accurate death toll.
Somalia has not had a functioning government
since 1991, when the US backed warlords
overthrew the Islamic Courts.
Somalia is generating the highest number of
refugees and internally displaced persons
in the world.
***********************************************
EVERY DAY SOLDIERS BLOWN UP IN AFGHAN HORROR
A roadside bomb explosion kills at least three
soldiers from NATO-led ISAF in eastern
Afghanistan, officials say.
ISAF says in a statement released Wednesday
that the soldiers were killed Tuesday.
On Tuesday, one soldier was reported as killed
"in an attack".
*************************************************
MERRY CHRISTMAS FOR SEALS !
Russia has banned the harp seal trade and, as
Russia took 90% of Canada's seal skins, this
is a huge blow to those Canadians who make a
living by clubbing baby seals to death.
The news was broken by IFAW (International Fund
for Animal Welfare) whose President Fred O'Regan
welcomes the news as "a wonderful holiday gift".
Russia is banning both the import and export of
harp seal skins, and Fred O'Regan adds:
"This is a huge victory, as the Canadian Government
estimates that Russia receives 90% of Canada's
exports of seal skins".
The Russian ban reduces the scope for any export
and commercialisation of these skins, applying
more pressure upon Canada to find some other
way to entertain its menfolk and make money.
The ban includes all harp seal products within
the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and
the Russian Federation, and it is, says Fred,
"the biggest victory in the campaign to end
commercial sealing since the European Union
(EU) banned non-Inuit seal products".
In 2009, Russia ended its annual seal hunt in
the White Sea, the culmination of tireless work
by animal rights activists who sent a petition
with 400,000 signatures to the Kremlin, and
demonstrated regularly in public.
The Russian government listened, and then acted.
Vladimir Putin said this practice "should have
been stopped years ago" and the Minister of
Natural Resources, Yuri Trutnev, declared that
"The bloody seal slaughter, the killing of the
defenceless animals, which can't be even called
a 'hunt,' is now prohibited in Russia as it is
in most developed countries. It is a serious step
towards the conservation of biodiversity in Russia."
Russia has done it. Now all eyes are on Canada.
***********************************************
ISRAEL: NO TO PEACE, NO TO NEGOTIATIONS
Israel's foreign minister says that the
Palestinian Authority's unsuitability as
a partner for talks, rules out negotiations.
Addressing Israeli officials in al-Quds
(Jerusalem) on Sunday, Israeli Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that
acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas is
'not a partner for anything.'
“In the midst of an earthquake do you start
to lay the foundations for a new building?”
he asks, blaming the PA for Tel Aviv's refusal
to restart negotiations between the two sides.
In September 2010, Israel resumed settlement
construction in the occupied Palestinian
territories after a 10-month partial freeze,
causing the PA to break off talks with Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says
that Tel Aviv will not enter any talks with
Palestinians, if they form a unity government.
“If Hamas joins the Palestinians government, we
will not hold negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority,” Netanyahu says on Sunday, when
addressing officials in al-Quds(Jerusalem).
The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas,
the democratically-elected ruler of the Gaza
Strip, and the other main Palestinian faction,
the Fatah movement, which is led by the acting
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chief Mahmoud Abbas,
had on Wednesday met in Cairo for the 2nd time
in less than a month to discuss the formation
of the coming unity government.
***********************************************
NO MERRY CHRISTMAS IN AFGHAN OCCUPATION
The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed
the death of another UK soldier injured in
Afghanistan, bringing the UK death toll in
Afghanistan... to 393.
A member of the Royal Air Force, injured in the
same explosion which killed a Royal Marine on
Thursday 22nd December, has died of his wounds
at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
After their vehicle got caught in a blast south
of Kabul, a Royal Marine died and a Royal Air
Force serviceman was severely injured, who was
flown back to the UK afterwards.
Earlier this week, UK PM David Cameron announced
plans for a scheduled Afghan withdrawal, with
500 troops to be pulled out in 2012 & more in 2013.
Cameron did not give an exact timescale for UK
troops to withdraw from Afghanistan completely,
yet claims that all soldiers 'should' be out by 2014.
The US-led Afghan war began in 2001. While there
is no official figure revealing the number of
civilian deaths, different reports try to
estimate the civilian death toll...
A UN report reveals that nearly 3,000 civilians
were killed in 2010. Another UN report shows
that in the first half of 2011 alone, approx
“1,462 non-combatants died.”
************************************************
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EARTH !
As Muslim factions in Iraq mend their unity in
a land devastated with nuclear armaments used
by a vile Western elite, the news from Palestine
is bright, with an agreed reform of the PLO
reconciling Hamas run Gaza and all others...
With Bolivia now the fastest growing economy
in America, it's amazing that native americans
are leading us towards Harmony with Nature...
the United Nations has passed a resolution
sponsored by Bolivia and other Latin American
countries and approved by the General Assembly,
to produce and grow in harmony with our planet.
Merry Christmas, everyone ! Peace on Earth,
and goodwill to all.
**********************************************
GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN !!!
An Afghan soldier has opened fire on US troops,
killing at least three of them and injuring
five others in western Afghanistan.
Local sources say that the attack took place on
Saturday evening at a training base in Pusht-
Rod district of the western province of Farah
after a quarrel between Afghan army soldiers
and US-led foreign troops.
An Afghan army soldier was killed and another
was injured, the governor of Posht-Rod says.
Most foreign troops in Pusht-Rod are US.
This is the latest in a string of attacks by
Afghan security personnel on foreign forces.
************************************************
MUSLIM PARTIES WIN AGAIN IN EGYPT
Egypt's electoral committee says Islamic parties
won 65% of votes in the 2nd round of elections.
The Freedom and Justice Party won 36.5% and al-
Nur won 28.78%, the committee say on Saturday.
The parliamentary vote is scheduled for 3 rounds
and the third stage will be held on January 3rd,
followed by another 3-round poll for the senate.
In the second round, al-Wafd - the country's
oldest party - won 9.6% of the party list vote
and the Egyptian Bloc, a liberal coalition, 7%.
***********************************************
MORE UK SOLDIERS KILLED SERVING IN AFGHAN MESS
The UK's MoD announces that a UK soldier died
from the wounds he sustained in an explosion
in eastern Afghanistan.
The RAF member was seriously injured in an
explosion south of Kabul on Thursday.
The injured soldier died from his wounds.
The blast also left a Royal Marine dead.
Meanwhile, a NATO helicopter carrying UK troops
was forced to make an emergency landing after
coming under fire on Friday afternoon.
The forced landing took place near an Afghan
National Security Force checkpoint in Nahr-e
Saraj district, in southern Helmand Province.
'Taliban' spokesperson Yousef Ahmadi claims that
the helicopter was brought down with a rocket-
propelled grenade and all on board were killed.
************************************************
WEST HAS NO VISION
In early December, President Bashar al-Assad
granted an interview in Damascus to Barbara
Walters of the US' ABC news channel. Described
by ABC as unexpected, and the first that he
had "deigned" to give since the conflict began,
her hostile tone was clear. At one point in the
interview, conducted in English, she asked him,
"What do you think is the biggest misconception
that my country has of what's happening here,
if indeed there is a misconception?
President al-Assad’s perceptive reply was,
"Misconceptions about lots of things… it's so
many facts, distorted facts, you have them in
the media. But the most important thing, as
an accumulation of these facts, is that you
don't have vision. The problem with the West
in general, especially the US, is that they
don't have vision about – at least my region.
I wouldn't talk about the rest of the world –
but here they are failing in Iraq, failing in
Afghanistan, failing in fighting terrorism."
************************************************
AFRICA's VISION
The African Union launches a new initiative:
a Pan-African University with seats in Algeria,
Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya and South Africa.
Spatial Sciences, Energy, Climate Change,
Governability and Humanities will be included
in the curricula as key subjects for Africa.
The fabulous plan already enjoys support from
the Association of African Universities (AAU).
South Africa will host Spatial Sciences; Algeria
will host Water and Energy Sciences; Kenya will
teach Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation.
Nigeria will host Life and Sciences of Earth,
together with Health and Agriculture; and
Cameroon, will facilitate Governability,
Humanities and Social Sciences.
***********************************************
NO MERRY CHRISTMAS FOR AFGHANISTAN?
A UK soldier serving with the US-led ISAF has
died after he was fatally wounded in an
explosion south of the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The UK's Ministry of Defense says the marine
was killed on Thursday after the vehicle he
was travelling in was caught in a blast.
************************************************
MAGGIE's MERRY MALVINAS MUFFED
Mercosur members, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay
and Uruguay, agreed last week to prevent any
ships sailing under the flag of the Falklands,
from docking in their ports.
The move means any ship under the Falklands flag
will have to sail along the whole S American
coastline in the Atlantic and enter the Pacific
to find the nearest port where it can dock!
In reaction to this major blow to the plans of
the UK to claim huge mineral deposits near
the Malvinas, the UK's Foreign Office has issued
a statement saying Argentina should not doubt
the UK's “determination” to protect them.
The UK, 7,700 miles from Las Malvinas, will have
extreme difficulty providing for the islanders
if Mercosur does not review its trade ban.
Maggie won two general elections on the back of
the Malvinas war, killing and crippling soldiers
for her political profit and a London elite.
***********************************************
MORE DEAD FOR WEST's OCCUPATION OF AFGHANISTAN
A spokesperson for "The Taliban" says that 12
Polish soldiers were killed in an IED attack
in Ghazni Province, despite their earlier
reports saying 7 died.
Spokesperson Yousef Ahmadi says the explosion
happened when a bomb hit a tank carrying Polish
soldiers in Ghazni city.
He adds that the tank was also destroyed.
But Polish military spokesperson Jacek Sonta
says five Polish soldiers were killed when an
IED exploded in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Also today, NATO spokesperson Brigadier General
Carsten Jacobson insists that US-led forces will
continue night raids "more actively".
Afghan authorities hint that if US-led forces
continue night operations, there will be "less
progress" with the signing of a strategic
agreement between Washington and Afghanistan.
**********************************************
OUR HONOUR IS A RED LINE SAY EGYPT'S WOMEN
Thousands of Egyptian women have poured on to
the streets of Cairo to protest against the
security forces' violence on female protesters.
The protest in Liberation (Tahrir) Square on
Tuesday, took place after army soldiers harshly
beat a woman and ripped off her clothing while
dragging her along the ground in the square.
Released footage and images of the half-naked
female protester sparked outrage among Egyptians.
"Our honour is a red line,” women demonstrators
shouted in the square, which has been the site
of deadly clashes between Egyptian military
forces and protesters since Friday.
"They know that people who don't care about
their own lives, care about their mother,
wife and sister. So they want to humiliate
the whole Egyptian people by humiliating women
because they know it's very sensitive," said
one demonstrator there.
They chanted slogans against the Head of the
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF),
Field Marshall Tantawi, calling him a traitor.
"[The ruling generals] have to go, they are
traitors,” the protesters said.
The Egyptian military's violence against
protesters in the past five days has left
at least 14 people dead and hundreds more
injured, according to the health ministry.
The demonstrators are calling on the junta
to immediately transfer power to a civilian
government nearly a year after the country's
revolution toppled former dictator Mubarak.
************************************************
MERCOSUR: FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH PALESTINE
Mercosur, a leading trading bloc of four South
American nations, has signed a landmark free
trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
On Tuesday, PA Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-
Maliki and the foreign ministers of the member
states of the trade group, Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay, signed the agreement
during the organization's presidential summit
in Montevideo, Uruguay.
"We hope that (the Mercosur countries) can help
us end the suffering of the Palestinian people,"
Maliki said at a ceremony broadcast by the
office of Uruguay's President Jose Mujica.
The Mercosur countries along with Venezuela,
which is currently in the process of joining
the economic bloc, have all recognized the
nascent Palestinian state.
The PA has free trade agreements with the EU,
Turkey, and Arab League countries.
According to officials, diplomats from Mercosur
and the Occupied Palestinian territories have
been negotiating the agreement for a year.
The bloc's combined market encompasses more than
250 million people and accounts for 75% of all
economic activity on the continent.
Before this historic agreement, only one member
of Mercosur, Argentina, had trade agreements
with the Palestinians.
************************************************
US OSTRICH BURIES ITS HEAD IN RADIOACTIVE SAND
A scientific study has found that an estimated
14,000 excess deaths in the US are linked to
the radioactive fallout from the disaster at
Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.
According to an article published in the
December 2011 edition of the International
Journal of Health Services, the estimated
14,000 excess deaths in the US during the 14
weeks following the Fukushima disaster in March
are comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in
the 17 weeks after Chernobyl's meltdown in 1986.
Over that period, the number of deaths, compared
with the same period in 2010, was up 4.46%, the
article says.
One week after the meltdown at Fukushima,
US scientists detected a plume of toxic
fallout which had arrived over US shores.
Subsequent measurements by the US Environmental
Protection Agency found levels of radiation in
air, water, and milk hundreds of times above
normal across the US, but the risk has been
downplayed by all the mainstream media.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which
runs Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant,
said last month that a thorough cleaning of
contamination there will take at least 30 years.
The article calls for further studies on the true
impact of the Fukushima disaster around the world.
************************************************
NOT A PEEP
5 protesters arrested in Bahrain, home to the US
navy base threatening the entire region, have died
after being tortured by the US & Saudi-backed regime,
says a new report by the Bahrain Independent
Commission of Inquiry. The inquiry panel says
3 of the deaths took place while the prisoners
were in the custody of Bahraini security forces.
The commission has reportedly called for further
investigations into the issue of regime torture.
Not a peep from US Human rights organisations
or "liberal" politicians - never mind their
government - about this cruel evil. Shame.
************************************************
LEBANON STANDS WITH SYRIA
Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour praises
Iran's “valuable” stance on Syria, emphasising
the significance of maintaining peace in Syria.
Today, he says, countries that sought to exert
economic pressure on Syria have damaged them-
selves, and are being pressured by their own
business firms. (Turkey, UAE, anyone?)
Mansour speaks as he meets Iran's Ambassador
to Beirut, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, on Monday.
He expresses optimism that Syria will solve the
ongoing crisis & restore peace, coherence & unity.
***********************************************
JAPAN SAYS WILL CONTINUE TO IMPORT OIL FROM IRAN
On Monday Hilary Clinton visited the only state
in the world cowed by having atomic bombs dropped
twice on its citizens, to tell them what to do...
But they may only have bowed this time out of
politeness, as Japanese Foreign Minister Gemba
says his country will not stop importing oil
from the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Gemba made the remarks on Monday during a visit
to Washington after talks with US Sec. of State
Hillary Clinton, noting that stopping crude
imports from Iran could endanger the global economy.
"Specifically in relation to the national
defense authorization act, which targets
the central bank of Iran, I conveyed my view
that there is a danger of causing damage to
the entire global economy if the imports of
Iranian crude oil stop."
According to a report published in a Japanese
newspaper on Sunday, Japan, which gets 10%
of its oil imports from Iran, would be hardest
hit if sanctions were slapped on Iranian oil.
**********************************************
NATO CHOPPER DOWN, CLAIM AFGHAN FIGHTERS
Fighters claim that they have shot down a US-led
helicopter flown by NATO in south Afghanistan.
According to a spokesperson for the fighters,
the US helicopter was brought down in Zabul
Province when trying to rescue crew members
of another helicopter that had crashed nearby.
The fighters also say that a number of US
soldiers have been killed in the incidents.
The report has not yet been confirmed by
Afghan or US officials.
----------------------------------------------
JOINING UP THE DOTS...
A NATO spokesperson on Monday said that the US-
led forces will continue night time attacks in
Afghanistan despite widespread condemnation of
the raids by Afghan people and officials.
NATO spokesperson Brigadier General Carsten
Jacobson claims that the kill-and-capture raids
are needed to target 'militants'.
The latest of such attacks three days ago claimed
the life of a pregnant woman & left 4 civilians
injured in the southeastern Paktia Province.
Afghan officials, including President Hamed
Karzai, condemn the night raids as an assault
on human dignity and freedom.
Neighbours Pakistan say they are ready to stand
on their own (ie without the US) as they ignore
US warnings and continue their agreement to build
a joint gas pipeline with Iran for its gas.
***********************************************
SYRIA SIGNS
Syria is now facing the NATO/US/ISRAELI agenda:
war, splits, destruction, and Russia and China
need to look to stop the greedy war-mad West.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says
Damascus has signed a deal brokered by the
Arab League, allowing observers into the
country to monitor its rights situation.
The West's threats need to be faced up to...
and Syria is almost the last secular progressive
Arab state left. Are the Russians going to bow?
************************************************
EGYPT PROTESTS HIT AS VOTE TURNOUT REACHES 67%
After Cairo demonstrators took over a government
building and security officers faced molotov
cocktails and rocks when barricading entrances,
the world sees pictures of Egyptian security
forces pulling women to the ground and kicking
them in the chest, while ten protesters are
killed and hundreds are left wounded, after
being repeatedly beaten with thick clubs.
This spiral of violence could excuse a huge
clampdown, as world leaders rush to condemn
the violence and savagery of those seen tearing
women's veils off and - in one case - dragging
a woman half naked through the streets.
************************************************
ONE IN THREE US DRONE OPERATORS "BURNT OUT"
About one in three of those who operate cameras
on high-altitude, remotely controlled spy planes
and 30% of those who fly attack drones have
emotional exhaustion from long hours of work,
according to US Air Force research.
Those who operate drones from bases in Nevada
and California complain of frequent shift
changes, "mind-numbing" monotony, strains on
families and ever-increasing workloads.
"There're just not enough people," says Wayne
Chappelle, an Air Force psychologist who helped
conduct a six-month study of drone operators
from 2010 to 2011. "You have to constantly
sustain a high level of vigilance, both visual
and auditory information, and that would be
really tough to do when there's a lot of monotony."
Sixty-five percent to 70% of those with mental
illness signs are not seeking treatment for it,
USAF researchers found.
About a third of drone pilots, camera operators
and mission coordinators work 50 to 60 hours
per week or more, data show. Many change shifts
every 30 days. Burnout in this group was found
among one in three, the research shows.
Lt. Gen. Larry James, Air Force deputy chief of
staff for intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance, said that there has been pilot
error in the program but that he did not think
any of those cases were tied to emotional burnout.
For operators of Predators and Reapers - which
fly at 20,000 feet and can kill people with
Hellfire missiles or guided bombs - daily
combat missions have quadrupled from 10 - 15
in 2007... to 57 today, James says.
Concerns about job burnout have led the USAF in
November to begin taking on more staff for the
drone programs, James says, and capping daily
missions for Predator and Reaper patrols at 57.
Nearly 900 Air Force personnel were surveyed.
Seventeen percent are women and 60% married.
When first asked about burnout, nearly half
admitted it. More precise questioning revealed
that "true rates" of exhaustion were far lower.
-------------------------------------------------
PALESTINIANS TAKE A HOLIDAY
Thousands of people have celebrated at the Rafah
border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip,
where they welcomed 550 Palestinians just freed
from Israeli prisons.
(scroll down to Gaza section below for more)
-------------------------------------------------
PALESTINIAN CARS SET ON FIRE
A group torches the cars of a number of
Palestinian residents in the town of Beitin
in the central West Bank.
Israeli police are investigating the incident.
Extremist Israeli settlers usually leave graffiti
wherever they attack, but no such evidence is
there after Tuesday's incident.
Over the past few months there has been an
increase in attacks by extremist settlers
in the West Bank against Palestinian properties,
including on mosques, farms, homes and cars.
Last week, settler extremists set fire to a
Palestinian mosque in the village of Burqa.
According to the report, Palestinians are unable
to defend their properties as the areas that
come under attack are “controlled by Israeli police.”
The settlers are “very seldom” brought to justice
and the sentences issued against them are then
“ridiculously low.”
Israeli extremists claim that these “price tag”
attacks are carried out against any Israeli
policy “to reduce the presence of Jewish settlers
and settlements on occupied Palestinian land in
the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).”
************************************************
US' LAST TROOPS HAVE LEFT IRAQ
The last US combat forces in Iraq departed this
Sunday morning and crossed into neighboring
Kuwait, marking the end of a nearly nine-year
military presence in the war-torn country.
A convoy of around 100 armored vehicles carrying
500 US troops will stopover in camps in Kuwait,
(a close US ally stolen from Iraq when the UK
controlled it), before flying back to the US
after completing their rotations.
On the night of March 18th, 2003, the US
launched unprovoked airstrikes against the
Iraqi capital Baghdad, under the pretext that
Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction.
The war has left 4,500 US soldiers and over
100,000 Iraqis dead, in addition to the
countless wounded and 1.75 million Iraqis
still displaced in surrounding countries.
Iraq's infrastructure is ruined and it can
no longer even defend its own airspace. The state
is split between almost irreconcilable factions.
The US army's final departure came earlier than
the December 31st deadline set by US President
Barack Obama to fulfill his election promise to
pull all US troops out of Iraq as agreed in a
security pact between the two countries in 2008.
The more than 500 US army camps across Iraq were
left, as soldiers packed and headed for Kuwait.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta attended a
flag-lowering ceremony on Thursday at a US
military base west of Baghdad, to mark the end
of the controversial war.
Violence has subsided compared to the peak, but
sporadic attacks and bombings are still a
common occurrence across the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Iraqi
security forces are ready to protect the country
now the US military have left.
However, analysts say that, although the 900,000-
strong Iraqi security forces may be capable of
maintaining security at home, they lack the means
to defend its borders, airspace or territorial waters.
Obama told Maliki last week that Washington is
willing to build a long-term and comprehensive
partnership with Iraq in the post-war era.
The US still keeps 15,000 staff in its biggest
overseas embassy in Baghdad after 'withdrawal',
in addition to the many private firms providing
a wide variety of security services.
Analysts say various political parties in Iraq,
in the wake of the US pullout, will engage in
bitter political struggles to attempt to realize
their separate political agendas.
Maliki has led a Shiite-dominated government,
but former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a pro-
Sunni Shiite and Maliki's major rival, has
formed a strong opposition camp, which today
has withdrawn from the unity government.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, leader of the
country's minority Kurdish ethnic group, is
left trying to mediate the conflict between
Maliki and Allawi in an effort to stabilise
the country split by US aggression and "divide
and rule" dark ops. The Kurds seek complete
separation from Iraq... What a mess!
Mission accomplished?
************************************************
US TO CURE PTSD WITH NEW DRUG THAT ERASES FEAR
The Pentagon this week announces an $11 million
grant to three research institutions, all of
them long-time centres for the US military’s
ongoing PTSD investigations. Experts at Emory
University, the University of Southern California
and the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
Medical Centre, will study the effectiveness
of D-Cycloserine (DCS). DCS is a pharmaceutical
thought to help extinguish fearful memories.
It’s usually taken before exposure therapy, which
involves recalling traumatic experiences in an
effort to 'wipe' the associated fears.
Soma in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
"And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything
unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's
always soma to give you a holiday from the facts.
And there's always soma to calm your anger, to
reconcile you to your enemies, to make you
patient and long-suffering. In the past you
could only accomplish these things by making a
great effort and after years of hard moral
training. Now, you swallow two or three half-
gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can
be virtuous now. You can carry at least half
your morality about in a bottle. Christianity
without tears - that's what soma is."
************************************************
EGYPT's GAS LINK TO ISRAEL BLOWN UP AGAIN TODAY
For every act of evil comes a consequence: this
moral law applies to every human, and country.
"What goes around..."
***********************************************
RUSSIA WORKS TO DEFEND SYRIA
The foreign ministers of the Arab League (AL)
postponed a meeting on Syria, scheduled for
Friday, so a "taskforce" outlined the AL's
response to Damascus in Doha, according to
"diplomatic sources".
A press release published on Thursday night by AL
General Undersecretary Ahmed Ben Helli, confirmed
the indefinite postponement of the meeting, which
would have been the 6th such meeting in a month.
Instead of the meeting, says Ben Helli, an Arab
taskforce in charge of monitoring the situation
in Syria, will outline the response to the
conditions set by the Al-Assad government to
accept a mission of AL observers.
He makes it clear that negotiations will continue
to persuade Damascus to sign a protocol included
in an AL plan allegedly conceived to protect
civilians & deploy observers to stop "fighting".
Syria's government expressed willingness to sign
the protocol submitted by the foreign ministers
during a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, on November
16th, but they set some conditions.
In a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Al-Muallem to El-Arabi, Syria wants to know the
name, nationality and function of observers, as
well as the duration of the mission, and asks
that the document be officially circulated among
all the UN member countries.
The AL general secretary met with the Syrian
opposition on Thursday in El Cairo, in line
with a scheme of hostilities against Al-Assad
fostered by the US, the EU, Turkey, and the
Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf.
The ministerial meeting was postponed the day
after Russia submitted a draft resolution to
the UN Security Council calling on the parties
in Syria to end violence immediately.
Moscow's initiative, which says nothing about
sanctions, urges the Syrian government to respect
the rights to freedom of expression, meeting and
peaceful association, and calls on the AL to
keep working with all the parties involved, to
prevent violence and promote dialogue.
The Arab League has given Syria until Wednesday
to allow observers into the country or else it
will probably turn to the U.N. Security Council
for action to try to end the deadly violence,
Qatar’s prime minister says on Saturday.
*************************************************
RUSSIA SHOWS KOSOVO SERBS IT THINKS WELL OF THEM
A convoy of 25 Russian lorries carrying aid for
Kosovo’s dissident Serbs crossed into Kosovo
early on Friday after a deal between the EU and
Moscow ended a tense four-day stand off.
Hundreds of Serbs greeted the convoy along a
main road in Kosovo’s north where Serb
protesters have clashed with NATO and EU forces
and put up barricades to resist Albanian rule.
The area has been a source of tension ever since
NATO bombed Serbia for MONTHS, spitting in the
face of world peace to gain what Hitler failed
to do. Backed by an illegal NATO act, Kosovo then
declared a fake independence from Serbia in 2008.
While the West's powers recognize the new state,
Serbia is still rejecting its own dismemberment.
But the current rulers of Serbia, faced with
their ambition to move Serbia into the West's
camp via EEC membership, (which the EEC is now
making conditional on recognising Kosovo fully)
is refusing to back the Serbs still in Kosovo,
who are now turning to the Kremlin for help.
A jubilant crowd of several thousand Serbs
gathered in the Serb part of Mitrovica on Friday,
where Russia’s ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr
Konuzin, pledged Russia’s support for them.
He handed over a framed portrait of Christ, a
gift from Russia's PM Vladimir Putin for the
Patriarchate of Pec, a Serb Orthodox monastery
in the town of Pec that is also the seat of the
Serbian clergy, 80 klmtrs west of Pristina.
“This is a happy day for the Serbs,” said Goran
Milenovic, a resident of Mitrovica. “It shows
that Russia is thinking about us.”
The convoy was stranded at the border on Tuesday
because Serb protesters refused to let EU police
pass through the area. Russian officials in turn
refused to use another crossing where they would
have been submitted to controls by authorities
that Russia does not recognize as legitimate.
Three EU police vehicles escorted the convoy
early on Friday, after taking a roundabout
way through Serbia, to bypass roadblocks.
“We all know that there is no humanitarian
crisis in Kosovo, that’s obvious,” de Marnhac
says to AP in an interview on Friday.
“If they (Russia) want to show some kind of
support, why not? But it has to be done with
respect of some basic principles that are rule
of law principles. It’s normal to be checked
when you cross the gate... That’s basic
standards anywhere in Europe,” de Marnhac says.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
The Russian convoy’s cargo is raising suspicions
within NATO and EU officials and security forces
still illegally occupying the area. The tinned
food, blankets, tents and power generators, the
rightwing Washington Post suggests darkly,
suggest that the convoy is intended for those
manning roadblocks; not the general population.
Serbs are refusing to relinquish the roadblocks
they set up in June, after Kosovo's illegal
authorities sent in "special police units" to
take control of all disputed border crossings.
Merry Christmas, Serbia !
************************************************
WTO ADMITS RUSSIA
A ministerial meeting of the World Trade
Organization in Geneva formally adopted the
accession agreement of the Russia Federation
...after 18 long drawn out years !
Russia's Minister of Economic Development,
Elvira Nabiullina, tells ministers and trade
representatives from all WTO members, after
the adoption of the accession agreement, that
it is an event both Russia and the World
Community have been awaiting, for a long time.
"WTO members will get access to a common market
of 165 million people (Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan)," she announces.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy says it is
an "historic moment for the Russia Federation
and for the rule-based Multilateral Trading System."
With the accession of Russia, he says, the WTO
now covers over 97% of all world trade.
Russia becomes a formal WTO member 30 days
after the adoption of the agreement.
************************************************
AMERICA THE BULLY CHALLENGED NOW
As protesters are forced to go on hunger strike
inside the US, as all their camps are smashed,
the same bullying attitude to the world outside
its borders is really being challenged...
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says that
the US intends to dominate other countries,
adding that the world is sick and tired of
taking orders from Washington.
"Sometimes it seems to me that America does not
need allies, it needs vassals," Putin says on
Thursday during an annual televised call-in
show, Reuters reports today.
He adds that "people are tired of the dictates
of one country."
Putin says that Russia once wanted to be a US ally, but
now he cannot see any alliance between the two countries.
As an instance of the US imposing its political
will on its allies, he citea its invasion of Iraq
in 2003, when Washington attacked the Middle
Eastern country and then forced its allies to
join the war.
“Is that alliance? Is that mutual decision-
making? Alliance means discussion, making a
joint decision, outlining an agenda concerning
common threats and ways to tackle them.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, he accuses Washington
of illegally using its surveillance drones to
track down the deposed Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi and have him killed by the Libyan
opposition without any investigation or trial.
"Who did this?," he asks rhetorically, when
discussing the late Libyan leader's death
during a televised question and answer session.
"Drones, including American ones. They attacked
his column. Then US Special Forces, who should
not have been there - they brought in the so-
called opposition and fighters, and killed him
without court or investigation."
The chief prosecutor of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) says there are serious
suspicions that the death of Libya's former
dictator Muammar Gaddafi may be a war crime.
"Gaddafi's death is one of the issues to be
clarified - what happened - because there are
serious suspicions that it was a war crime,"
AFP quotes Luis Moreno-Ocampo as telling
reporters after briefing the UN Security
Council on Thursday.
He adds that the ICC has asked Libya's interim
government about how crimes committed by all
sides in the uprising against the former Libyan
strongman will be investigated.
Moreno-Ocampo says he will speak with member
nations of the UN Security Council to see if
they have evidence on Gaddafi's death.
************************************************
AND THE POODLE? ...GOES BLIND!
The UK is sliding towards political and economic
oblivion, as its "special relationship" insists
on a US mindset allied to big oil, gun-running
and fiscal folly to defend "little england".
Having challenged the EEC so foolishly to protect
the city's shenanigans, we reap the whirlwind
now, as the EEC leaders today all say that the
UK's economy is at the precipice.
Many UK people would rather not go down with
the city of London, and march peacefully.
Our masters' reaction? Bombs that spray gas,
lasers that blind, water-cannon, plastic
bullets, tasers, "super" tasers, killer bullets,
cameras everywhere, kettling and baton charges,
and now complete media blackouts...
Yesterday thousands occupied shops and buildings.
December 15 was a national day of creative non-
violent direct action, to express opposition to
false "solutions" imposed by the UK government.
They urge the government to make changes to
their fiscal strategies and create a better
society for the public.
However, on the national day of action for the
occupy movement, the UK media imposed a clearly
pre-planned blackout on the key movement that
calls for financial justice and real democracy.
The occupy everywhere campaign against the UK's
financial injustice was intentionally ignored
by the whole of the UK media.
One Occupy LSX supporter says it's time to
Occupy everywhere in Britain, as all over
the world people are standing up to show
their outrage: “the crises of unregulated
finance, broken democracy, and corrupt
institutions will not be solved by those
who caused them.”
Scores of masked and face painted LSX activists
gathered outside St Paul's Cathedral on Thursday
in a bid to occupy city, minds, and streets.
They say they "started by occupying spaces to
build communities. Now it's time to occupy everywhere.”
“Our democratic system is corrupted by the
concentration of wealth and power in the
hands of a few at the expense of the many.
Global citizens are resisting this structure.
We know those who caused the financial crisis
will not be working towards solutions - we are
the solution,” UK activists say.
***********************************************
BAN KI MOON AND UN REFORM
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday
avoided making a statement on the use of
unmanned airplanes (drones) for espionage
and US military attacks on other countries.
"I have not much to say about it, or about
what kinds of war means are used by member
states," said Ban Ki-moon in response to a
reporter at a press conference in the UN HQ
in New York.
The questioner warned of the increased use of
drones, particularly by the US, the illegality
of such military operations against other
countries, and the danger that the problem
might be getting out of control.
"This is an issue that must be decided by
national governments and the military and
I have no comments," said Ban Ki-moon.
The drones issue gained renewed relevance
earlier this month when Iran captured a
US RQ-170 drone that violated Iranian air space
penetrating 250 kilometers into its territory.
The action was denounced by Tehran in a letter
to Ban Ki-moon, who has not replied to it,
according to sources.
The UN reforms Ban Ki Moon wants to pursue if re-
elected as UN General Secretary, might be better
achieved if he includes a promise of self reform.
***********************************************
ANOTHER SOLDIER KILLED TODAY IN AFGHAN FIASCO
An attack in southern Afghanistan has killed
another soldier with the US-led ISAF.
In a statement released on Thursday, ISAF says
the soldier was killed in a "militant attack" on
Wednesday, but gives no details, Xinhua reports.
************************************************
IRAN STANDS WITH SYRIA
Iran's Minister for Roads and Urban Development,
Ali Nikzad, announces Iran's willingness to help
Syria economically to mitigate the US-led
Western economic pressures on Damascus.
At the conclusion of the ninth session of the
Iran-Syria Follow-up Commission for Economic
Cooperation in Damascus on Wednesday, Nikzad
describes Syria as “the pillar of anti-US and
anti-Israel resistance in the region.”
“The enemy is not capable of materializing its
objectives in Syria. Syrians will successfully
survive this ordeal; however the West continues
in its economic pressure on Syria. Therefore we
came to say that we will stand up for Syria,”
IRNA quotes him as saying.
The Iranian and Syrian delegations concluded the
two-day economic session by signing two minutes
on mutual cooperation in commerce, investment,
banking, customs, agriculture, tourism, hygiene,
electricity, oil, gas and industrial projects,
rail, land, aerial & marine transportation.
The two have formed a high cooperation committee
to help boost the volume of bilateral trade.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March.
Hundreds of people, including members of the
security forces, have been killed. The West
says it's "thousands", and accuse Syria's
security forces of being behind the killings,
but the government blames outlaws, saboteurs
and armed terrorist groups for the deadly
violence, saying that the unrest is being
orchestrated from abroad.
*************************************************
IRAN's STUDENTS SAY "TEACH EVIL UK A LESSON"
Iranian students have released a statement in
which they call for UK's assets in Iran to be
frozen & demand a full cut of ties with the UK.
“After the evil government of Britain launched a
new round of malignant hostilities against the
Iranian nation and received a firm response
from them, suggestions were made by some
political bodies that we should not cut all
ties with Britain.”
“We wonder how long it is going to take our
politicians to wake up from their deep slumber
of negligence and treat hegemonic powers as
Imam Khomeini taught us to.”
“The sinister government of Britain witnessed
that Iran has grown powerful in the region with
significant development in cultural, economic,
military, and political areas. Moreover, it saw
that all liberal nations in the world are
following the lead of the Iranian nation.”
“Thus, after imposing all kinds of sanctions and
exerting excessive pressure on the Iranian
nation, the British government mustered all its
strength to launch an all-out economic war on
Iran imposing sanctions on Iran's Central Bank.”
“Such hostile actions, along with the long
history of Britain's crimes committed against
us, do not seem to have awakened our politicians
and helped us prevent this criminal government
from further exploiting our country.”
“But, on behalf of Iran's suffering people, we
students, protesting Britain's policies and
actions throughout history, thank the Iranian
government and parliament for some of their
actions aimed at downgrading ties with Britain
and urgently ask the country's officials to
continue until all ties with the “Old Fox” are
cut. This way, other countries are taught a
lesson & will not consider planning conspiracies
against us.”
“We ask officials to ratify and implement
the following articles:
1. The buildings of the British embassy and all
Britain's consulates in Iran should be confiscated.
2. An interest section for Iran
should be appointed in Britain.
3. The British government should be tried at
international courts for all the damage to
Iran it has caused.
4. Britain's assets in Iran should be frozen so
that a small portion of its crimes against the
Iranian nation can be compensated for.
5. Any British-made product should be banned
from entering our markets either directly or
through an intermediary like the United Arab
Emirates. This way, Iran's economic enemies
will realize that Iran is not an available
market to them and any hostile economic action
will meet with a similar action from Iran.
6. Iran's Central Bank and all Iranian banks -
either inside or outside the country - should
not accept the British currency, the pound
sterling, and should announce it is invalid.
7. Reporters and journalists working for the
British media should not be granted a visa to
travel to Iran. Moreover, these reporters and
journalists should be banned from interviewing
our president and other officials.
8. Iran's Ministry of Science should consider
degrees obtained by Iranian students who begin
their studies in Britain in the second half of
2012, as invalid.
“Once again, we warn that the students will not
tolerate re-establishing relations with Britain
and will not allow a country which has committed
so many offences against our nation to be able
to find a place in our land & take political advantage.”
************************************************
EEC SAYS "RECOGNISE KOSOVO" TO SERBIA
The EEC rubs the noses of Serbians in the muck
for Christmas, by setting the condition for their
entry to the EEC as recognition of Kosovo.
************************************************
IRAQIS CELEBRATE IN FALLUJAH
Thousands of Iraqis rallied on Wednesday in
Fallujah, once epicentre of the anti-US fight,
to celebrate the withdrawal of US troops.
The demonstrators set US & Israeli flags on fire
and raised Iraqi flags along with banners saying
"the people want the occupiers to be removed,"
and "Fallujah is the flame of resistance and
a symbol of liberation."
"The people of Fallujah insist on making today's
celebration a call to all Iraqis to consolidate
national unity & tolerance to build our homeland,"
Hameed al-Hashim, Fallujah's mayor, tells Xinhua.
Fallujah was one of the major redoubts of Iraqi
resistance immediately after the US-led invasion
in 2003. For weeks in April & November in 2004,
Fallujah was under siege by US troops. US planes
helicopters and artillery brutally bombarded
the city, some 50km west of Baghdad, killing
and wounding thousands of Iraqi people.
During the fierce battles, dozens of bodies were
buried in the city's soccer stadium, after the
US forces blocked all the roads leading to the
city's cemetery.
Al-Hashim says that the city intends to build a
monument for the martyrs who were killed in the
battle and buried in the stadium.
************************************************
US PLAYS ITS LOSING HAND
Leon Pannetta tells his soldiers in Afghanistan
that Pakistan had "damn well better" seal its
borders with Afghanistan as the US Congress starts
to cut its aid to Pakistan... by $300 million.
Pakistan's government is still stopping the
supplies NATO troops need, and has plans to
charge substantial fees to re-open routes...
US policy here is reduced to bluff, as NATO
countries struggle to rescue their economies
and escape a strategic military nightmare.
**********************************************
US CHILDREN RAISED BY PTSD MOTHERS NOW
Natara Garovoy, program director of the Women's
Prevention, Outreach & Education Center at VA
Palo Alto Health Care System, says recent studies
show the percentage of women veterans suffering
from PTSD is equal to the percentage of men: 20%.
These ex soldiers with depression, flashbacks
and uncontrollable urges, are now bringing up
families. How will their children turn out?!?
*********************************************
MOSQUE AND ARMY BASES ATTACKED BY SETTLERS
On Tuesday a mosque in Jerusalem was disfigured
by graffiti: "A good Arab is a Dead Arab", as
Netenyahoo praises a bill in the Knesset for
the banning of all calls to prayer throughout
the occupied territories.
Previously this week, enraged settlers, armed
by the current government, attacked an Israeli
army base manned by conscripts.
On Wednesday a youth died of his wounds on the
West Bank, and today Israel tanks ruin farmers
lands and crops. As you reap.
***********************************************
UK ELITE ARM POLICE TO CRUSH DISSENT
The UK's police chiefs have decided to make use
of a laser gun which blinds people "temporarily".
Already criticised for their militarized use of
Taser guns, tear gas, pepper spray, batons, and
rubber bullets in tackling public disorder, the
Metropolitan Police have now decided to resort
to laser weapons, with the Home Office saying
previously employed tools and tactics have left
a “capability gap”, due to their short range.
The proposed laser gun is a shoulder mounted
device known as SMU 100 which would temporarily
blind anyone caught by its beam of light.
The device costs around £25,000 and fires a
three-square-meter wall of light which can
be projected up to 500 metres away.
The London police also plan to make use of long-range
pepper-spray projectiles and wireless electronic
stun guns, which have a greater range than Tasers.
In November, UK police authorized the firing of
rubber bullets at student protesters for the
first time on the UK mainland.
Scotland Yard has already unveiled plans to
buy water cannons to be deployed on the UK
mainland, and to increase the number of police
officers trained to fire rubber bullets.
************************************************
WORKING IT OUT
Two US-led foreign soldiers have been killed in
a massive bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan,
as seven more fuel lorries supplying NATO troops
in Afghanistan... are burnt in Pakistan.
************************************************
ARROGANT WEST CAN'T WIN THROUGH WAR
Small troop withdrawals from Afghanistan don't
matter, US warmongers say, as super size military
bases will stay "beyond 2014". In Iraq, if ALL
the troops leave, US warmongers believe, the US
can still use Iraqi airfields to attack...
so the West's "master plan" marches on, as Syria
and Iran are drawn into a war which will destroy
all human life on this planet.
Perhaps these warmongers won't learn in time !
Why do you think Iran says it "doesn't need" a
nuclear bomb? Could it not be because its other
technological advances give it equal fire power?
Is this why they call the West "arrogant"...
because it's banking and political elite thinks
it can keep winning and free for EVER ... by
enslaving the world using lies, fear and terror ?
The Chinese have a saying:
"A rising thing... is a falling thing".
Do we fall - and take the whole world with us?
************************************************
EGYPT's MILITARY COUNCIL: PARLIAMENT WILL DECIDE
Egypt’s military rulers on Friday night appeared
to withdraw a plan for extending their influence
over the writing of a new constitution, bowing
to a chorus of criticism just days after the
proposal was unveiled.
The Army Council's decision leaves the task of
selecting a panel to write a constitution in
the hands of a newly elected Parliament which
is expected to be dominated by Islamists.
Gen. Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the governing
military council, says that, as previously
stipulated, Egypt's Parliament will have sole
responsibility for selecting the members of the
Constituent Assembly, which will draft the
constitution, Egypt's state news media reports.
“The Parliament is the only entity responsible
for forming the Constituent Assembly through
its elected members,” the general said, reports
the Web site of the state newspaper Al Ahram.
************************************************
PAKISTAN STANDS UP
As even waiting lorry drivers cheer the three
week long closure of the main supply route for
Afghanistan's occupying armies, Pakistan deploys
active air defense systems along its Western
border. With tensions along the Afghan-Pakistan
border high after the late November US attack
on two bases, killing 28 Pakistani servicemen,
it is now reported that the US State Department
is hiring a private contractor as its “aviation
adviser”, to help "coordinate the air war on
the border" between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Hope that reassures you.
************************************************
NINE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES FOR PALESTINE!
The UN General Assembly approved 9 resolutions
on Palestine on Friday, with an 'against' vote by
Israel on all of them, accompanied by the US,
Canada and a few other allies on seven of them.
The texts were adopted by overwhelming majority,
and proposed by the UN's Special Political and
Decolonization Commission.
Israel was alone in its negative vote against
considering any refugees from Palestine, with
the vote approved by 160 votes in favour, and
8 abstentions, and also alone on the occupied
Golan in Syria, by 162 for, and 11 abstentions.
In the other 7 projects rejected by Tel Aviv,
the Israeli government was backed by the US,
Canada, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia,
Nauru and Palau, (plus Panama on two of them).
The texts cover people displaced as a result of
the hostilities of June 1967, public works and
UN aid for Palestinian refugees, property owned
by Palestinian refugees, and rental values.
Another text covers the work of the special
committee in charge of investigating Israeli
operations affecting the human rights of the
Palestinian people and other Arab inhabitants
within the occupied territories.
The seventh approved document relates to the
protection of civilians in wars, and in the
occupied Palestinian territories, including
in occupied eastern Jerusalem.
The final documents are on Israeli settlements
in the Palestinian occupied territories, that
affect the human rights of the Palestinian
people in the occupied territory, included in
occupied eastern Jerusalem.
The resolution about Palestinian refugees, only
voted against by Israel alone, complains that
for over 60 years, those Palestinian people
have suffered the loss of their homes, their
lands and their means of subsistence, and
reasserts the need to solve this problem.
Also, it expresses concern for their difficult
situation, in particular their security, well-
being and socioeconomic conditions of life.
At the same time, it warns of "the critical
humanitarian and socioeconomic situation of
the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip",
and underlines the importance of humanitarian
aid and of the urgent need for reconstruction.
The text on the Golan Heights, an occupied Syrian
territory, calls Israel to revoke its decision to
impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration
in that region, which are considered null, and
without validity or effect, by the UN.
It urges Tel Aviv to stop altering the physical
characteristics, the demographic composition,
the institutional structures and the judicial
processes of the occupied Golan, and to abandon
its plans to move settlers there.
***********************************************
A SAD DEATH
A UK soldier serving with the US-led ISAF
has died after being fatally wounded by
an IED in southern Afghanistan.
The soldier, from 35 Engineer Regiment of the
Royal Engineers, was injured when a bomb
exploded last Tuesday as troops were carrying
out reconnaissance in the Nahr-e-Saraj district
of Helmand Province, AP reports.
He was shifted to Camp Bastion, the main UK
military base in Afghanistan, and then flown
to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
He succumbed to his wounds in the facility on Thursday
while surrounded by members of his family.
*********************************************
CAMERON FAILS TO STOP EUROPE TO SAVE CITY BANKERS
UK PM David Cameron tried to veto a new EU
agreement proposed by France and Germany
aimed at saving the euro... because he said
it failed to safeguard the City of London's
'financial services'.
Speaking ahead of the Brussels summit, Cameron
warned that he would 'block' any revision of the
Lisbon treaty if European leaders did't provide
'safeguards' for the City of London.
"I will not sign a treaty that does not have
those safeguards in it, around things like
the importance of the single market and
financial services," Cameron says.
"Britain will be insisting on some safeguards
too. As long as we get those then that treaty
can go ahead. If we can't get those, it won't".
Cameron's attempted spoiling of Europe's needs
came after he admitted to cabinet ministers on
Monday that a referendum on a new EU treaty
risked splitting the Tory/LibDem. coalition.
The marathon talks ended with 26 of the union's
27 member states expressing willingness to join
a "new fiscal compact" to resolve the crisis.
But France & Germany failed to reach a complete
consensus to secure new budget rules in a new EU
treaty, when the UK refused to join the move.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expresses regret
for the UK's split, but insists that EU leaders
are determined to push ahead with the new treaty
and use the economic crisis as an opportunity to
make a fresh start.
The UK acts in Europe as a traitor, because its
financiers are in cahoots with the US. Not only
is the US attempting to export its debts to the
rest of the world, but the US dollar's nearest
competitor is the euro - and the US elite want
it weakened. Today, the US controled credit
agencies "downgraded" three more French banks...
Europe - about to shake free of US control ?
Let's hope so !!!
***********************************************
WAR ON MUSLIMS BECOMING OPEN
This "clash of civilizations" will destroy
the world unless a gargantuan effort is made
now by activists for peace above all issues.
The war economies of the West are in an economic
and political cul de sac and they support a state
in the Middle East which continues to murder
and humiliate Muslim Palestinians & to encourage
splits, divisions and wars on its neighbours.
This state has many "undeclared" nuclear
warheads, and refuses to even discuss them.
Its "exceptionalism" is corrupting disarmament
efforts and wrecking international laws...
In line with this unfair policy, Australia has
decided to refuse uranium supplies to Pakistan,
on the day that twenty-six NATO supply vehicles
transporting fuel destined for US-led forces in
Afghanistan go up in flames, after a rocket
attack, in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan
Province, Press TV reports now.
(There are no casualties as the attackers
launch a missile, then escape on motorbikes.)
Terry Jones, writing in The Guardian, says it's
greed, driven by a commercialised war economy,
which is leading to destruction.
Stop The War has started a mass campaign in the
UK to stop any moves on Iran. Let us hope and
act to stop this drift into a major war with
1,000 million Muslims, and China, etc, etc.
It's getting late. Peace now!!!
***********************************************
ISRAEL HUNTS FOR VICTIMS IN GAZA's OPEN PRISON
Another Palestinian has been killed by Israeli
attack jets in Gaza today (Friday) & one injured.
At least 2 Palestinians were killed and 6 others
wounded yesterday afternoon in Gaza, in an
Israeli airstrike which Israel says was a hunt
for the mastermind of a deadly attack in 2007.
The airstrike targeted a car traveling in Gaza
City and killed two people in the car, Essam
Al-Batsh, 43, and his nephew, Subhi.
Israel says Essam Al-Batsh was a member of al-
Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the
Palestinian National Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The Israeli army
also says that Essam was involved in planning
an attack in Israel's southern Red Sea city of
Eilat, where three Israelis were killed.
Subhi was a member of Hamas, the Islamist
movement that has been controlling the Gaza
Strip after defeating Fatah in 2007.
On Wednesday, an Islamic Jihad militant was
killed and four wounded by an Israeli bombing
in the east of Gaza City.
Saleh Ra'fat, a senior member of the PLO, accuses
Israel of attempting to restart violence in the
Gaza Strip by provoking militants to respond to
its almost daily attacks.
In October, Egypt and Gaza's Hamas authorities
pressured militant groups to stop firing rockets
at Israel and succeeded in controlling a wave
of violence that started when Israel attacked
the Islamic Jihad movement.
**********************************************
NIGHTMARE USA EXPERIMENT: 6 SURVIVORS FOUND
An inquiry into a 1940s US experiment that
intentionally infected people in Guatemala
with sexually transmitted diseases, says
the number of victims is much higher than
previously reported by news agencies.
The report says 2,082 people were infected with
syphilis, gonorrhea or chancroid. Previous
reports said about 1,300 people were exposed,
including soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and
mental patients in care homes.
President Alvaro Colom says he is looking at
ways the US government can compensate the six
survivors who have been identified in Guatemala.
The US "experiments" in Guatemala ran from 1946
to 1948. They were financed through what is now
the US government’s National Institute of Health.
**********************************************
ARMY JUNTA WILL FORM EGYPT's NEW CONSTITUTION?
The parliamentary elections in Egypt were meant
to elect an “interim” parliament which would
oversee the writing of a new constitution and
then hold new elections under that constitution.
But after the first round of votes led to
landslide victories by Muslim parties, the
military junta has condemned the coming
parliament as “not representative” of the
true will of the Egyptian voters, even though
they voted for them.
Gen. Mukhtar Mulla now says that instead of
allowing parliament to write the constitution
the junta is appointing a new council of its
own to draft Egypt's constitution and will
“limit” the already limited powers of parliament.
The military junta and the Islamist movements
appear to be opposed, after top members of the
Muslim Brotherhood said their primary goal in
parliament is to end the junta’s dominance of
society and bring Egypt to civilian rule.
*************************************************
ISRAEL: MORE ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS IN E. JERUSALEM
Israel approves the construction of even more
settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem
in a move expected to trigger fresh worldwide
condemnation of Israel's settlement activities.
The 14-home project, which is to be named Maale
David, was approved late on Wednesday and is to
be sited in the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud
near an existing Jewish settlement of 1,000 plus
people, Israel's Channel One TV reports.
Last month, Tel Aviv announced plans for over
800 settlement units in East Jerusalem as the
Israeli regime's reaction to Palestinian efforts
to join the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Israel occupied East al-Quds and the West Bank
in 1967 and later annexed both territories.
The international community has refused to
recognize either move as legally valid.
In September 2010, Israel resumed settlement
construction in the occupied territories
after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting
the Palestinian Authority to break off
direct talks with Tel Aviv.
The UN and the EU consider the settlements built
as illegal under international law, as they are
constructed on occupied territory.
On Monday, Israel destroyed two more Palestinian
homes in East al-Quds, defying international
calls on it to put an end to the demolitions.
***********************************************
TURKEY, ANYONE ?
Syria’s government welcomes Wednesday's pledge
by Turkey that it will not to let its territory
be used for any attacks on its neighbours.
“We welcome any Turkish statement aiming to
preserve good neighborly relations with Syria,”
foreign ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdisi
tells a news conference on state television.
His statement comes after Turkey said it would
not let its territory be used as a springboard
for attacks against other countries, in an
apparent reference to Syria.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on
Tuesday that Syrian border guards had stopped
“armed terrorist groups from Turkey” from
crossing into their country.
“Turkey is not allowing any armed groups (to
launch attacks) against other countries,” a
Turkish diplomat who declined to be named, told
AFP, when asked about the reports from Syria.
On Wednesday Turkey said it would begin exporting
goods to Egypt by sea and overland through Iraq
this week - to bypass existing trade routes
through Syria after a breakdown in ties.
Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan says
Damascus has started allowing Turkish lorries
to enter Syria again on Tuesday, after blocking
their entry last week in retaliation for recent
sanctions imposed by Ankara.
***********************************************
POLICE FOILED IN WASHINGTON
Under the banner Take Back the Capitol, anti-
corporatism protests shut down K Street in
Washington, known as the home for lobbying
in the United States.
About a thousand protesters gathered on the
street, shutting down the major downtown
intersection to traffic, as well as several
blocks in either direction, The Politico
network reports.
The police made several arrests, repelling the
demonstrators. They, however, stormed back into
the street after some time.
Some chanted “hell no, we won't go” as security
forces moved in prepared to make more arrests.
Many protesters brought newsstand boxes and
other objects to barricade the street.
Joining hands with fellow protesters, union
workers, progressive activists, and community
organizers, a political action group, known as
'Our DC,' has been hosting thousands of
demonstrators from all over the country to
strengthen the Take Back the Capitol push.
Some 3,000 activists from Chicago, Boston, Saint
Louis, Florida, Kansas, Wisconsin, & elsewhere,
flooded into Washington this week to join them.
Starting on Monday night, 'Our DC' launched
several days of demonstrations at the National
Mall at the heart of the city. On Tuesday, they
occupied a number of offices of the members of
the US Congress. (see below)
In San Francisco, meanwhile, police arrested 70
people in the early hours of Wednesday after
police cleared the city's Occupy Wall Street offshoot.
The movement has been inspired by the Occupy
Wall Street campaign, which emerged in New
York's financial district on September 17th
against 'corporate greed' & high-level corruption.
The campaign lives on across the country,
defying crackdowns and mass arrests by
the US police and security forces, who
are armed & trained to put down dissent.
***********************************************
IN THE HEART OF THE BEAST
Activists of the Take Back the Capitol movement
have occupied a number of offices of members of
the US Congress.
Hundreds of protesters, who came from Chicago,
Boston, Saint Louis, Florida, Kansas, Wisconsin,
and other places, entered office buildings
around the Capitol building on Tuesday, and
demanded that their elected representatives
meet with them, AFP reports.
"You were elected to represent us,
do your job!" they shouted.
A 62-year-old unemployed information technology
manager said he came from Ohio to confront
Republican John Boehner, the speaker of the
House of Representatives.
The Ohioan added that he wanted to see Congress
"pass the jobs bill, to increase the taxes on
the one percent corporations or individuals."
On Monday night, a political action group in
Washington known as “Our DC” launched several
days of demonstrations at the National Mall,
in the heart of the US capital.
Along with other partner organizations, the
group is hosting thousands of people from all
over the country in an action called
Take Back the Capitol.
Meanwhile, Paul Flynn, a Welsh MP, is facing up
to the Zionist flavour of this UK government,
as he accuses the UK ambassador of being "more
Zionist than the Israeli government"... and
suggests that UK ambassadors should serve UK
interests, and not those of a foreign state.
***********************************************
ATTACK ON IRAN WILL BRING CATACLYSM
The UK's anti-war movement is warning of yet
another war looming - based on disinformation
reminiscent of the notorious campaign to invade
Iraq in 2003 - with Iran now being targeted.
Speakers at a packed London meeting organised by
Stop the War Coalition (STWC) on Monday night,
spoke about the dangers of “sleepwalking” into
attacking Iran and called for public opinion to
wake up to this new threat.
Former UK cabinet minister Tony Benn referred to
the UK having “a long history of imperial
intervention in the Middle East and Iran” and
suggested that the aim was to control Iran's
vast oil resources, as happened in Iraq.
Former MP George Galloway attacked 'the maniacs
running the asylum':
'Another cataclysm is on the horizon and we are
sleepwalking into a war with Iran', he stated.
He said that although there are parallels with
the build up to the Iraq war, he believes that
this time Muslims will not be as divided by
imperialist divisions on a Sunni-Shia basis,
and warns: 'if Iran is attacked by Israel, it
will retaliate with its allies.
At risk are not just Western bases and interests
across the entire Persian Gulf region, but a war
on Iran risks deepening a global economic crisis
and completely destroying world peace.
On the same day, former foreign secretary David
Miliband also warned the UK government of the
“risks of sleeping walking into a war with Iran.”
“At a time like this, diplomatic drive and
creativity are needed more than ever,” Miliband
said in a joint article in the Financial Times.
“Nature abhors a vacuum & so does international
politics. It cannot be filled by nudges & winks
about military options. A concerted diplomatic
effort on Iran is needed now to prevent the world
sleepwalking into another war in the Middle East",
At the London rally, Darren Johnson from the
Green Party stated that 'the drive towards war
is immoral, against world peace and not the way
forward,” and cautioned that peaceful diplomacy
is the “only solution'.
STWC convenor Lyndsey German said that the world
is "living in dangerous times and the severe
economic depression makes war more likely...
and an 'easy' solution".
German blamed budget deficits on the imperialist
wars over the last 10 years, when STWC was set
up, and also criticised the imposition of
sanctions against Iran - as a prelude to war.
Abbas Edalat from campaign against sanctions and
military intervention in Iran (CASMII) said the
Western alliance is attempting to tighten a
political, diplomatic, economic and military
noose around Iran, whose revolution had
“struck a blow against Western imperialism.”
“Yet Iran has never invaded another country in
it's history', Edalat told the meeting, while
dismissing the latest IAEA's allegations about
Iran's civilian nuclear program.
He also dismissed comparisons of human rights
violations by Iran compared to violations
committed by the US and Israel in the Middle
East, and said that Iran's only 'crime' is in
proclaiming it's independence and integrity.
Shirin Shafaie a researcher at University of
London, and Chris Nineham from STWC, both
warned of the horrific consequences of any
military aggression on Iran.
***********************************************
SMASHING UP SOMALIA AS CHILDREN STARVE
At least seven civilians have been killed in
several attacks on humanitarian aid convoys
in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
The attacks, carried out by armed men dressed
in Somali military uniforms, also left at least
13 others injured.
According to a government officer speaking on
the condition of anonymity, the attacks were
carried out by government soldiers.
Earlier, heavy fighting between African Union
troops and al-Shabab fighters in south Mogadishu
killed over 9 civilians and wounded scores more.
A cleric was killed by unknown gunmen in a
separate attack in the town of Bosaso in the
state of Puntland. A senior regional official
blamed al-Shabab fighters for the assassination.
Al-Shabab condemns the killing, denying any
involvement in the incident.
Cui Bono?
************************************************
99% MARCH TO WASHINGTON
A political action group in Washington known
as “Our DC” has planned to launch several days
of protests starting on Monday night at the
National Mall, which is an open-area of the
National Park Service in downtown Washington.
Along with other US partners, the group is
hosting thousands of people from all over
the country to "Take Back the Capitol."
The people converging on the Capitol say they
want to counter the power of banks, Wall Street,
and huge corporations. They say the US Congress
needs to represent the 99 percent, not just the
one percent of the nation's wealthiest people.
Protesters from Chicago, Wisconsin, Boston and
Saint Louis have already started their march.
***********************************************
WEST's PLOTS NOW CLEAR AS SYRIA PREPARES
In a move designed to warn enemies of its power
Syria´s missile forces have held war games using
live ammunition to test their missile armaments
ability to confront any attack, says the General
Command of Syrian forces.
Sunday´s drills also assessed the training of
the troops, who accurately carried out the
project, achieving outstanding results, the
military source notes.
The rest of the Armed Forces also carried out
different maneuvers with live ammunition and
diverse armaments including aircraft and combat
helicopters, the communiqué highlights.
The drills take place amidst the intensification
of a hostile Western campaign, supported by the
Gulf States, particularly Qatar & Saudi Arabia,
and spearheaded by Turkey, whose anti-Syrian
statements have intensified.
Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
and Minister of Defense General Dawood Abdullah
Rajiha, underlines that the military forces,
commanded by President Bashar al-Assad, will
continue to be loyal to the mother country and
defend the interests of the Syrian people, SANA
news agency reports.
Do we just watch, as the UK, US and Israel start
a world war? A slow motion slide to Armageddon...
or an outpouring of demands by those who care,
to stop the profiteers of war killing us all.
And in the name of Christ, Apostle of Peace!
**********************************************
IRAN ATTACK WILL START WORLD WAR !
If the US, UK and Israel get their way, there
WILL be a third world war. As Occupy Now
activists go on hunger strike, the US struggles
to hang on in the Middle East, and its failing
attempts are already risking catastrophe.
A senior Iranian military official says Iran's
Army has shot down a remote-controlled drone
today, being operated by the US military in the
eastern part of the country.
The informed source says today (Sunday) that
Iran Army's electronic warfare unit targeted
the US-built RQ-170 Sentinel stealth aircraft
after it crossed into Iranian airspace from
the border with neighboring Afghanistan.
He adds that the US reconnaissance drone has
been seized... and with minimal damage.
The RQ-170 is a stealth unmanned aircraft
designed and developed by Lockheed Martin.
The US military and the CIA use these drones
to launch missile strikes in Afghanistan and
in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.
The unnamed Iranian military official further
adds that “due to the clear border violation,
the operational and electronic measures taken
by the Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Forces
against invading aircraft will not remain
limited to Iran's borders any more.
The news comes as the US strengthens its
military presence in and around the Persian
Gulf, while simultaneously trying to stop a
popular mass uprising in Bahrain.
The US Dept of Defense is closely monitoring
developments in Bahrain, which is the HQ of
the US's 5th Fleet, & 4,200 US service members.
Now the Chinese are outspokenly opposing the US,
if the latest US threats on Iran do not stop...
A professor from the Chinese National Defense
University says if Iran is attacked, China
will not hesitate to protect the Islamic
Republic even by launching the Third World War.
Major General Zhang Zhaozhong says, "China will not
hesitate to protect Iran, even with a third World War."
The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened
Tehran with the "option" of a military strike,
based on the allegation that Iran's nuclear
program may have a covert military agenda.
Israel has renewed its aggressive rhetoric
against Iran recently. On November 21st,
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned
that the "time has come" to deal with Iran.
Israeli President Shimon Peres also threatened
on November 6th that an attack against Iran
is becoming "more and more likely."
Iranian officials promised a crushing response
to any military strike against the country,
warning that any such measure could result in
a war that will spread beyond the Middle East.
************************************************
MALIKI STICKS TWO FINGERS UP
This week a bomb attack just missed killing
Maliki and this weekend he says that Iraq
will not let its land be used for an attack
on Iran, as Joe Biden lectures him to "mend
fences with Israel", before it's "too late".
**********************************************
UK WANTS WARS TO FEED ITS INDUSTRY:
Craig Murray, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan
from 2002 to 2004 and a human rights activist,
says that UK officials met Israeli officials
to plan for a war with Iran... but failed.
That failure is now forcing the UK government
to struggle to make European countries impose
an oil embargo in a bid to “isolate” Iran.
The revelations made by Murray expose the UK
government's plans to launch an attack on Iran
... and the UK media's “blatant cover-up”.
Murray says the UK government negotiated with
the Israeli regime over the possibilities of
launching a war on Iran in order “to keep
feeding the huge military industrial war
machine that has become a huge part of the
UK and US economies.”
Murray reveals that the UK's former Defence
Secretary Liam Fox, his self-styled advisor
Adam Werritty, and the UK ambassador to Tel
Aviv Matthew Gould, “were plotting with Israel
to further war with Iran for years.”
But after they failed to provoke a war, the
UK government and media covered it all up.
Cabinet Minister Gus O'Donnell's official
inquiry into the affair says that the trio
met only twice, and it denies the trio's
contacts with Israel's intel agency, Mossad.
However, Murray reveals that the trio met at
least five times: Gould and Werritty met in
the absence of Fox, & “the 3 met with Mossad.”
Murray states that he contacted the Guardian
several times and sent them all the evidence
he possessed. But the newspaper refrained from
publishing any of the revelations, becoming
instead, part of a cover up of the government's
failed attempt to provoke a dangerous war.
This suppression of the evil nature of London's
world designs by even those who pretend to be
"Liberal"... is why Rhondda Records continues.
*************************************************
BEAUTIFUL SOUTH AMERICA SHAKES ITSELF FREE
Venezuela is hosting a summit of a new regional
bloc: 33 countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean, but excluding the US and Canada.
The two-day summit in Caracas is the first
gathering of the bloc, known by its Spanish
initials, CELAC.
“This is the achievement of 200 years of battle,”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says.
“The Monroe Doctrine was imposed here: America
for Americans, the Yankees. They imposed their
will for 200 years, but that's enough."
The group aims to resolve regional conflicts,
defend democratic principles, promote economic
development and gain control over the area.
CELAC seeks to replace the US-based Organization
of American States (OAS), which was created in
1948 and which many see as a tool of the US.
“As the years go by, CELAC is going to leave
behind the old and worn-out OAS,” Chavez adds.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega calls CELAC
a “death sentence” for US interference in Latin
America, AFP reports.
The new organization brings together countries
with a total population of 600 million, which
collectively, is the world's number one food
exporter and boasts a GDP of about $6 trillion.
************************************************
3 MORE SOLDIERS DIE OCCUPYING AFGANISTAN
Three US-led soldiers are killed in an IED
bombing Saturday in eastern Afghanistan,
NATO says, and adds no further details.
************************************************
INDUSTRIAL/MILITARY COMPLEX SHOWS ITS FACE
Speaking to an investor conference Saturday,
US Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for
Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy,
Brett Lambert, insists that the Pentagon will
"do whatever it takes" to ensure that efforts
to balance the US government’s budget do not
harm US weapons manufacturers.
Condemning the mandated spending cuts as “fiscal
castration,” Lambert cautions that the cuts
will "destroy America’s industrial base"; by
which he means the companies making weapons.
In reality, the cuts are fictional, and cut only
hypothetical budget increases the Pentagon expects
in future years. Even the 'worst-case' scenario
just brings the Pentagon’s budget to 2007 levels.
Lambert declines to comment on specific examples
of cancellations if the Pentagon is forced to
revert to its 2007 spending levels, saying that
his office is only interested in the health of
the “industrial base” and the impact it could
have on merger and acquisition activity.
In the UK, a huge urban city grew next to Wales,
drawing its water away and leaving central Wales
as a wasteland. The city concentrated on weapons
manufacture so much, that it still had shooting
galleries in most of its public houses long after
most UK pubs had stopped the practice.
Birmingham armed the UK Empire as it shot down
millions of "natives" across the world... and
it stole Wales' heart to do it.
**********************************************
DRONE KILLERS OF THE WORLD
Among the 40 countries which possess killer
drones, only the US, Israel and the UK have
used them to kill, according to the UN.
All other countries employ them in the task
for which they were originally designed;
for aerial reconnaissance.
Israel, principal US ally in the Middle East,
is the second most active exporter of this
technology on a world scale, with a range of
models, from micro-drones known as Mosquitoes
which only weigh 250 grams and the Bird's Eye,
which two soldiers can carry on their backs,
to the Panther, transported by two tanks and
capable of flying 60 klmtrs into a country,
and transmitting live images. Its biggest
product is the five metric ton Heron, equipped
with hugely powerful missiles.
The US expert adds that these machines are
'cheaper' than those used by the US Army
and the fact that they reduce casualties
within the ranks of their traumatized army,
has made these drones the weapon of choice
for the White House.
As Pakistan's army reacts to US killings, a
new report from the Conflict Monitoring Center
indicates that recent strikes on Pakistani
territory have a "punitive" objective, and
are meant to punish Islamabad for its alleged
collaboration with the Haqqani network.
This is, in effect, an undeclared war, which
has civilians as its principal victims.
Steven Zaloga, a member of the Teal Group, a
well-known defense consulting firm based in
Fairfax, Virginia, reports that, in 2002, the
Pentagon spent approximately $550 million on
non-piloted aircraft and that this year the
figure is getting close to five billion. He
estimates that global sales of these drones
will reach $94 billion over the next 10 years.
Some 2,300 people have been killed in the search
for members of 'the Taliban' along the border
between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where aerial
attacks are becoming increasingly more frequent.
A report from the Investigative Journalism
Office in London indicated in October that,
of the 300 drone bombings of Pakistani
territory since June of 2004, 248 have been
carried out during the Obama administration.
Obama is sending non-piloted planes equipped
with missiles into the area every 4 days,
while George W. Bush, did so every 47 days.
This source reports that the US Air Force has a
fleet of 230 remote controlled aircraft and is
currently training more pilots to operate these,
as opposed to fighter planes. The majority of
the drones in use are Predators, which can
remain airborne for 36 hours and fire Hellfire
missiles. Obama insists on describing them
as "very accurate."
But Chris Woods, head of the undercover war
research department at the Pentagon, told the
newspaper Dawn in 2011, that over 20% of the
dead are civilians. This is 'very accurate'?
For Obama, drones are weapons which will lead to
a victory in the war on terrorism. Their use is
based on a neocon policy established during the
Bush administration authorizing "all necessary
and appropriate force" against those responsible
for terrorist acts, giving the President the
right - indeed, the responsibility - to use
drones in self-defense.
The question is, what have civilian Pakistanis
done to hurt President Obama... the Nobel Peace
Prize winner... and what has the world done to
deserve Netanyahoo and Camera-on, the West's
other drone attack psycho-killers?
************************************************
US AND ISRAEL SEEN ISOLATED AS UN VOTES
The UN General Assembly again leaves the US and
Israel isolated, as they vote against six draft
resolutions on issues regarding the Palestinian
people and the Middle East.
In all the votes, Washington and Tel Aviv are
only accompanied by Canada and the small states
of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and
Palau, although Australia joins them on three
resolutions and New Zealand on one.
The true isolation of that reduced group was
shown on Wednesday, when the top UN body voted
on projects agreed many weeks ago at a commission
on the Palestinian issue & the Middle East conflict.
The six voted against the documents entitled:
"Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable
Rights of Palestinian People" and "Division
for Palestinian Rights of the UN Secretariat."
The other rejected texts were; the Special
Information Program on the question of Palestine
of the UN department on Public Information,
the Pacific Arrangement on the Palestinian issue,
the Syrian Golan Heights, and Jerusalem.
Australia accompanied the sad six on the first
vote, but abstained on the following two, and
then voted for the last one.
Voting took place on the second and last day
of a debate held at the General Assembly on
Palestine, in a session dedicated to achieving
a world consensus on helping resolve peacefully
the explosive situation in the Middle East.
**********************************************
AS WORLD DIES, WEST BLAMES VICTIMS
Under all the rubbish talked about climate change
lies the West's insistence on making developing
nations pay the cost of an over-exploitation of
the world's resources for the West's oil economy.
The Durban conference opens with a call to save
the planet, from the continent worst affected..
and being asked to bear the heaviest burden.
The 17th UN Conference on Climate Change opens
with a call to confront global warming as a
question of, literally, life or death.
In his address, South African President Jacob
Zuma urges UN agencies, states and parties to
find a solution in Durban and work for a
balanced, just and credible result.
The South African leader emphasizes that
solutions to the problem of climate change
cannot be disassociated from the battle to
eradicate poverty and, in this context,
recalls Africa’s vulnerability to the effects
of global warming; his country being part of a
continent where agricultural production in many
areas will decline by 50% between now and 2050.
Zumo states that during the conference, which
continues until December 9th, a multilateral
spirit must prevail and he emphasizes the need
to reach agreement on a second period of Kyoto
commitments and achieve a pact on the nature
of a future approach to climate change.
For Africa, he says, this is a life or death issue.
************************************************
AFGHANISTAN FIGHTERS KILL MORE NATO TROOPS
At least 70 civilians have been injured and one,
the attacker, has been killed after a truck bomb
exploded near the entrance to a NATO military
base in Afghanistan's eastern province of Logar.
The explosion also killed 14 US troops, fighters claim.
Three government buildings were destroyed as
the explosion was huge and could be heard
three kilometers (1.8 miles) away.
Local health officials say that 70 civilians
injured there, were sent to a local hospital
to receive medical treatment.
'Taliban' spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid
announces that their fighterss are responsible
for the attack, claiming that dozens of foreign
soldiers were killed in the incident.
He added that the attacker wanted to ram his
explosive-laden vehicle into the NATO base
but was stopped at the gate. So he detonated
the lorry outside the base.
Today, Pakistan warns that if NATO attacks again,
its army is under orders to fight against NATO,
as supplies to NATO troops remain blocked.
**********************************************
RUSSIA BOOSTS SYRIA's DEFENCE WITH MISSILES
Russia has strengthened Syria's coastal defences
against any Western-led military attack.
An unnamed Russian military source says that
Moscow has delivered anti-ship cruise missiles
to Syria, Russia's Interfax news agency reports.
"This weapon allows coverage of the entire coastline
of Syria from possible attack from the sea,"
the source notes.
Russia has already sent its warships to Syrian
waters to block any attack led by NATO under
the guise of 'humanitarian intervention.'
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov called on the US and the EU to put
an end to their threats against Syria.
In October, Russia and China vetoed a Western-
backed UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution
condemning the Syrian government.
Moscow said the resolution could have led to a
Western military intervention in Syria similar
to the one in Libya, where, Russia says, NATO
overstepped its UNSC mandate.
************************************************
WEST LOSING HOLD ON WORLD
The Chinese government's decision to reduce
tariffs on imports from least developed
countries (LDCs) with diplomatic relations
with it, is an important gesture which will
ensure that Africa plays a bigger role in
international trade, analysts say.
Former Zimbabwean ambassador to China and
businessperson Chris Mutsvangwa says that
China's assistance is extremely helpful
because it comes at a time when the world
economy, especially the eurozone, is unstable.
During the G-20 summit in Cannes and the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting
in Honolulu, President Hu Jintao announced that
China would give duty-free status to 97% of the
tariff items of exports to China from LDCs,
provided they have diplomatic relations.
"So much the better because reduced tariffs will
increase Africa's trade & boost its industries.
Africa is finally taking part in world commerce
- unlike in the past when the West discriminated
against products from the continent, unless
there was a monopoly, like in cocoa & tobacco."
Africa has the highest number of LCDs, and has
always suffered unfair trading policies from
Western countries, which form cartels to control
African trade, by offering their own farmers
subsidies so that their commodities can sell at
much cheaper prices than those from Africa.
"Now with the emerging Chinese market", says
Mutsvangwawe, "we have a new market for Africa's
products at reduced or zero tariffs, meaning
that our cotton prices can now compete favorably
with theirs; unlike in the past, when our
commodities were shut out of world trade."
Mutsvangwa cites the Ethiopian leather industry,
which benefits from Chinese assistance, and
suggests that his country, Zimbabwe, could also
engage with the Chinese for its leather industry
and thus help grow its economy.
"Zimbabwe with its potential in the leather
industry can also benefit. China has access
to the world market, and partnerships can be
forged between China's technology and Africa's
resources. Trade is better than aid," he says.
He adds that China has a growing middle class
which it needs to provide for, and the upside
of Chinese consumption still has a long way
to go, giving Africa a chance to industrialize.
Economist Takunda Mugaga agrees, and says that
Chinese assistance has the potential to help
countries hitherto reliant on Europe.
With the EU economies "burning", Mugaga says,
developing countries should look East for
economic cooperation, to create win-win
arrangements for both parties and maximum
benefits from their trade.
************************************************
LIBYA FIGHT OVER?
The daughter of Muammar Gaddafi is urging the
Libyan people to rise up and overthrow the
NATO-backed transitional government which
toppled her father's regime.
In an audio message broadcast on Syria's al-Rai
television station, Aisha Gaddafi calls for a
revolt against Libya's new rulers, a government
that she says "arrived with the planes of Nato."
"My father has not left, he is always among us,"
she says, after the traditional 40-day mourning
period following his death. "Don't forget the
orders of your father urging you to continue
fighting, even if you no longer hear his voice."
Col Gaddafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years, was
captured with his son Muatassim on October 20th
as he fled from the city of Sirte and was shot
dead by rebel forces, after being wounded by a
direct NATO airstrike on his convoy.
As Tripoli fell to rebel forces in August, Aisha,
her mother and two of her brothers took refuge
in neighbouring Algeria.
Aisha's appeal puts her in direct conflict with
the terms of a deal she and her family members
made with Algeria's government, promising not
to make public statements at the risk of losing
their status as humanitarian refugees.
************************************************
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CLAIMS LEAD
The initial results in Egypt's first stage of
parliamentary elections indicate that the
Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
(FJP) has the highest number of votes, the
party says on its website.
The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) says that
the Salafist's Nour Party is second, and the
secular Egyptian Block is ranked third.
The FJP leads the party lists in 4 governorates
including Cairo, with strong competition between
the FJP and the Nour Party in two provinces.
The FJP has the highest number of votes for
individual seats in the nine governorates in
the first stage of the People's Assembly
elections held on Monday and Tuesday, it adds.
***********************************************
YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT UP !
Israel is either a God promised Heavenly state,
or a nightmare colony of US evangelical nazis.
Today, after stealing Arab property in Jerusalem,
turning Bethlehem into a walled prison, and
imprisoning children for years on 'suspicion',
Israel admits that at least 10 Palestinian
fishermen have been kidnapped by Israeli naval
forces off the coast of the Gaza Strip,
Palestinian officials say.
The incident took place near the northern shores
of Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli military naval
ships blocked 2 Palestinian fishing boats, DPA reports.
The report adds that the Palestinian fishermen
were taken to the Israeli seaport of Ashdod.
According to Palestinian sources, Israeli naval
forces on Monday arrested two other fishermen
while they were in the sea off the coast of al-
Shati refugee camp west of Gaza.
The Israeli navy allows Palestinians to catch
fish only within three miles, resulting in an
85% loss of the fishermen's income. Fishermen
are harassed daily by Israeli naval forces.
Israel has subjected Gaza to an all-out land,
naval, and aerial blockade since June 2007.
The restrictions have deprived 1.5 million
Palestinians of food, fuel & other necessities.
"I will make you kidnappers of fishermen"
doesn't sound quite right... does it?!?
*************************************************
WEST BEING BAMBOOZLED INTO DEBT AND CUTS
The one thing that distinguished Europe was that
its political parties laughed at the very idea of
following the US model of unrestrained capital.
When South America followed the Milton Friedman
path of cuts and austerity through selling off
state assets, it caused misery on a huge scale.
Now, South American economies are growing almost
as fast as China's, as they take the path of a
fairer distribution of wealth with its resulting
healthier middle class. Much of their growth is
engaged in "green" technologies...
So if Latin America can create sustainable green
economies which respect its people's needs,
the environment and the planet, why can't we?
Are governments in Latin America smarter than
our governments? Or is it that those who govern
us simply could not care less about the people
they are responsible for, and are far more tied
to pandering to the banking, military and
armament lobbies they represent?
Because either the UK continues to push us into
a shrinking economy followed by a world war, or
its so-called progressive parties begin now to
THINK and then ACT on emulating South America!!!
Bloody wake up!!!
*************************************************
MOROCCO GIVES WAY TO ISLAM
Justice and Development Party (PJD) leader
Abdelilah Benkirane has been appointed as
Morocco's prime minister after his Islamic
party's victory in parliamentary elections.
King Mohammed VI received Benkirane in Midelt
on Tuesday and named him as PM, AP reports.
The Islamic party won 107 seats in the 395-seat
parliament in Friday's elections.
The elections were held after anti-government
protests forced the monarch to introduce
constitutional reforms and early elections.
Under the country's new constitution, the king
must choose a PM from the party that won the
most votes in the parliamentary vote.
The PJD must now assemble a governing coalition
& says it will form a coalition with 3 parties.
The alliance will have a majority of 224 seats.
*************************************************
KOSOVO BOILING OVER
A German NATO officer and a soldier were shot
and wounded and some 23 Austrian and German
soldiers injured in clashes with Serb protesters
in northern Kosovo throughout Monday, after the
military alliance's troops used heavy machinery
to remove lorries and buses blocking a main road
in the tense region, AP reports.
************************************************
ARROGANT WEST HEADING FOR FALL
As the EEC faces ruin without Chinese investment
and Russian rockets hit Northern Israel, you'd
think the West would ease up, but no...
when your plans of pillage rest on lies & wars,
it seems that blindness sets in.
72 Pakistani troops have been killed and over
250 others injured by NATO cross-border attacks
in Pakistan over the last three years, says a
Pakistan army spokesperson.
On Geo TV, Major General Athar Abbas, ISPR
spokesperson, says that the recent attacks by
NATO forces on two Pakistani army checkposts in
the country's northwest tribal area of Mohmand
Agency, which killed 24 Pakistani troops and
injured 13 others, could lead to serious consequences.
He says the Pakistani authorities cannot accept
the lame excuses made by NATO forces that the
attack was not deliberate or that it was an act
of misunderstanding.
Questioned about a possible apology by NATO, the
spokesperson says that any apology by NATO is
not enough. "We don't accept any apology," he says.
The ISPR spokesperson denies NATO's claim that
Pakistani forces initiated the fire, and says
that no fire was opened from the Pakistani side
and that Pakistani troops retaliated only after
the killing of soldiers in the NATO attack.
He says that as NATO and ISAF are claiming that
the firing was started from the Pakistani side,
then they should present proof of the losses
they met by the firing from the Pakistani troops
and they should say how many ISAF soldiers were
injured or killed by the firing carried out by
the Pakistani troops.
According to the spokesperson, when the NATO
attack started, the Pakistani soldiers deployed
at the checkposts immediately informed their
senior officers at regional headquarters in
Peshawar and at the main army headquarters at
GHQ, Rawalpindi. The senior officials in army
headquarters took up the issue with ISAF HQ
that an attack was being launched at 2 Pakistan
Army checkposts. They asked them to stop the
firing immediately, but the NATO officials did
not halt the attack.
He says that after the attack, reports came in
that 24 soldiers had been killed in the attack,
which continued for around two hours after the
Pakistan Army had informed NATO.
He says a NATO spokesperson should explain why
they continued to attack army checkposts after
Pakistani officials clearly told them that their
target was Pakistani troops & that no terrorists
were present in the area.
He adds that to ensure safety and stop terrorists
in the Mohmand Agency, a large number of military
checkposts were set up in the area and NATO was
well aware about the presence of these posts
and IASF officials were informed whenever a new
post was created so that they could have map
references of these posts.
Pakistan says now that it has blocked supplies
to ISAF/NATO in Afghanistan and that this is a
permanent measure... NOT temporary.
Also, the closure of the air base is to be carried
out within the two week deadline (despite a UAE
delegation who begged Pakistan to reconsider!),
and Pakistan is completely reviewing its ties.
Today, Russia says that it has activated a radar
warning system in Kaliningrad and that only a
legal document will stop them from targeting
European cities and radar sites with missiles...
also the Russians say that - if the West persists
in its arrogant refusal to keep to international
agreements - Russia will cut off NATO supply
routes to Afghanistan AND review START.
Both Russia and China have realised that the West
is prepared to ruin the world with wars in a bid
to maintain their "supremacy", and that attacking
Syria quickly as with Libya, through arms and
flight embargos (applied only to the government
side) is a trap they will not fall into twice.
If the West persists in its present course, their
economies will collapse and the world will explode.
The time of thieves liars and bullies.. has passed!
Yet every single US election candidate (except
for Ron Paul) threatens to bomb Iran and create
a desert of glass... all for Israel's extreme
rightwing leaders, who WANT more war to destroy
Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, etc.
Iran said it would not stand idly by and watch
the noose tighten. Today, six UK Embassy staff
are taken hostage by protesters in Tehran, say
world News Agencies. Iran apologises, and says
both Embassies taken over are now fully controlled
by Iranian security forces.
Iran says that the West's increasing sanctions
targeting Iran's growth will be regretted by
the Western elite, as they NEED Iranian energy.
Iran also says that ANY attack on it will lead
to an immediate blocking of energy supplies
from the Persian Gulf, which will simply collapse
the West's economies, and to the complete ruin
of the West's Israeli regime through hundreds of
thousands of missiles hitting every part of Israel.
Today is solidarity day with Palestinians.
Let the world choose: war for Israel,
or Peace for Palestine.
************************************************
CULTURE OF THIEVES AND LIARS
Everyone is begining to understand that the US
Congress is filled with convicted criminals and
that US corporate culture is ruining the US...
Occupy LA protesters know, & today claim victory
as police leave their campsite after failing to
evict demonstrators following the expiry of a
deadline set by the mayor.
US police in Los Angeles may be detaining
several people, but 'Occupy' protesters
outside City Hall beat the eviction order.
Hundreds of protesters gathered as the deadline
passed at midnight, AP reports. Police using
loudspeakers declared an unlawful assembly on
the streets surrounding City Hall and protesters
were told to leave the area within 5 minutes.
Then some 1,000 people flooded the area to
support the demonstrators, who now threaten
to take their movement 'on tour', saying that
there are plenty of other roads to take, if
authorities begin fencing the City Hall lawn.
"We are not going anywhere, we are everywhere,"
the Occupy Los Angeles website says.
Like in Kuwait - once part of Iraq - where Sheikh
Nasser Mohammed Al Sabah, appointed as Kuwait's
PM in February 2006 has now resigned. He has
resigned seven times in the last five years,
after political unrest over alleged corruption.
Parliament has been dissolved three times over
the same period. Today, the Kuwaiti government
resigned en mass just before the questioning in
parliament of the PM over alleged corruption.
Kuwait's PM Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al Sabah and
his cabinet resigned on Monday in response to
escalating pressure by protesters and opposition
lawmakers demanding that they do so.
Kuwaiti ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah,
has accepted the resignation but is asking the
government to remain in office as a caretaker
Cabinet until a new government is formed.
The resignations come hours before a mass rally
demanding the premier's ouster plus the release
of dozens of opposition activists imprisoned for
storming parliament in November.
The Kuwaiti parliament was due to grill the
premier, a nephew of the Kuwaiti ruler, on
Tuesday, over an alleged corruption scandal
involving a number of lawmakers on charges of
misusing public funds. Opposition MPs accuse
Sheikh Nasser of transferring public funds
into his overseas accounts.
"We're waiting for the next step after dissolving
parliament, a quarter of whose members have been
referred to the prosecution" (over large
allegedly illegal deposits in their accounts),
an opposition MP, Daifalla Buramia, says.
***********************************************
ARAB LEAGUE "PLIANT TOOL IN THE HANDS OF EVIL POWERS".
The Arab League over-reaches itself as it votes
19 to three against to impose sweeping sanctions
against Syria for seeking to quash a violent
anti-government uprising by force.
The sanctions, opposed by Iraq and Lebanon as
well as by Syria, compound punitive measures
already imposed by the EU and the US.
The measures include halting co-operation with
Syria's central bank and barring all flights.
Syria's reaction is understandably critical, as
it has watched the Arab League, which it founded
to strengthen Arab resistence to US control,
holding meetings when told to... by the US.
Damascus insists that armed insurgents in the
pay of foreign powers have taken advantage of
mass civil rights protests to kill hundreds of
Syrian soldiers and police.
After unidentified attackers shot dead six elite
pilots and four technical officers in an ambush,
hundreds of thousands of Syrian citizens have
rallied in cities across the country to express
their support for the government's reform program
and to denounce foreign meddling.
Protesters brand the Arab League as a "pliant
tool in the hands of evil powers," praising
China and Russia for acknowledging Syria's
right to defend itself against what they say
are armed terrorist groups.
The Syrian military:
"The general command of the armed forces sees
that enemies of the country are behind this
terrorist act. The armed forces will continue
to carry out their mission and will cut every
evil hand that spills Syrian blood."
The stage is now set for a 3rd World War, as a
war on Syria will ignite civil war between the
West's corrupt Arab regimes acting with Israel
and the forces of resistence, including Iran.
************************************************
IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
As the US, France and the UK spend trillions on
illegal aggressive wars, US activists meet to
discuss how to react to the violent evictions
by US police, of Occupy protesters.
As the US west coast ports threaten a shut down,
about 40 colleges in California are reported to
be on strike in solidarity with Occupy Davis.
Natalia Abrams, a Facilitator of Occupy Colleges
and Alumni at UCLA in Los Angeles:
“I think it’s going to be more like sixty to
seventy schools,” Abrams says, adding:
“We did this because we felt that there is a
need for a national college platform for
students to get together and learn about the
Occupy Movement and learn about solidarity
events that they can join in and show their
support to Occupy Wall Street.”
“We're actually trying to fight for a lower
tuition cost and an end to this student loan
fiasco we're all facing in this country right now.”
***********************************************
PAKISTAN DEMANDS BASE CLOSURE - BLOCKS SUPPLIES
Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership
on Saturday decided to ask the US to vacate a
key air base in the country's southwest
Balochistan province in 15 days, after NATO
fighter jets and helicopters killed twentyfour
Pakistani soldiers and injured 13 others in the
Mohmand Agency region bordering Afghanistan.
An emergency meeting of the Defence Committee of
the Cabinet, chaired by the PM Syed Yusuf Raza
Gilani, in Islamabad Saturday, also decided to
close, with immediate effect, NATO and ISAF's
supply lines, an official statement says.
The meeting decided to ask the US to vacate
Shamsi Air Base in southwestern Balochistan
province within 15 days in an apparent protest
at the deadly NATO strikes on Pakistani troops.
The top Pakistani political and defence chiefs
also decided that the government will revisit,
and undertake a complete review of, all programs,
activities and cooperative arrangements with the
US, NATO and ISAF, including in the diplomatic,
political, military and intelligence fields, a
statement from the Prime Minister's office says.
The Prime Minister is to take Parliament into his
confidence on the whole range of measures relating
to Pakistan's future cooperation with the US,
NATO and ISAF 'in the near future'.
"The DCC strongly condemns the attack by NATO
and ISAF aircraft on Pakistani border posts
in the Mohmand Agency which has resulted in
the loss of the precious lives of officers and
men of Pakistan's Army and injuries to several".
The attack on Pakistan Army border posts is
totally unacceptable and warrants an effective
national response, the DCC adds.
The DCC reiterates the resolve of the Pakistani
people and Armed Forces to safeguard Pakistan's
sovereignty, independence and territorial
integrity at all costs, the statement says.
The DCC expresses its heartfelt sympathies and
condolences to the families of the brave
soldiers who fought valiantly, and also prays
for the early recovery of those injured.
Dozens of trucks carrying goods and petroleum
supplies for NATO forces are stopped in the
Torkham border area of the Khyber tribal region
in northwestern Pakistan. Pakistan's government
has ordered its forces in Khyber Agency to stop
the movement of NATO supplies there.
The retaliatory measure was adopted hours after
US-led NATO helicopters opened fire on a military
checkpoint in the Baizai area of Mohmand Agency
early Saturday, killing 28 Pakistani soldiers,
including two officers, and injuring 15 more.
Pakistani officials condemned the attack
as "unprovoked and indiscriminate."
Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry vehemently
condemned the NATO attack, saying the issue
will be raised with US officials.
Local media say Pakistan's acting ambassador
to the US has also lodged an official protest.
************************************************
EGYPT POT BOILING FOR CHANGE
The death toll from Egypt's recent clashes
between protesters and police is rising,
...to 43 with over 3,200 civilians injured.
Marchers are being joined now by army officers
as former Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri is
blocked from entering official buildings, and
one more demonstrator is martyred by "security".
el-Ganzouri initially accepted a request by the
ruling military council to form a new government
after the resignation of Essam Sharaf, a military
source told a Xinhua reporter late Thursday.
The military has not so far officially announced
the appointment. Earlier, Egypt's private Hayat
TV channel reported that the military council
had appointed Kamal Ganzouri as the new prime
minister and tasked him to form a government
to "salvage the unrest" in Egypt.
Friday promises another 'million strong march'
as Egyptians call for a civilian cabinet now,
and the immediate transfer to civilian rule...
with NO legal immunity for exregime and army
figures who have committed atrocities.
Yesterday, unions called for a mass series of
strikes to back the revolutionaries, as the
cheap gas supply to Israel was again blown up.
*************************************************
ISRAELI KILLER DRONES ATTACKING SOMALIA
Somali military officials, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, state that remote-
controlled aerial vehicles fired several
missiles at the town of Kuda near Kismayo,
a strategically important port on Somalia's
Indian Ocean coast and 500 kilometers (310
miles) south of Mogadishu, on Thursday morning.
They add that over 60 people were injured.
Israel has reportedly deployed five unmanned
aerial vehicles in a Kenyan military base near
the border with neighboring Somalia, and has
also passed a considerable amount of heavy
weapons to Kenya. The Israeli regime has even
sent thirteen trainers to Kenya to provide the
Kenyan army with 'technical assistance' related
to Nairobi's military operations in Somalia.
Kenyan PM Raila Odinga recently requested Tel
Aviv's help in its invasion of Somalia.
Israeli President Shimon Peres has vowed to
aid Kenya with "whatever it needs" in its
fight against al-Shahab fighters.
Hundreds of families have abandoned towns in
southern Somalia after Kenyan's aerial strikes.
Residents in Kismayo as well as in Buale, Jilib,
and Afmadow towns have been leaving their homes
over the past weeks for fear of their lives.
Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has
said his UN-backed transitional government is
opposed to the military incursion, which is
reported as contributed to by the US & France.
A war on Islam instigated by Israel and corrupt
US politicians and generals is growing daily...
and turning into an imminent World War.
************************************************
WHAT GOES AROUND & AROUND & AROUND & AROUND...
A leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder
is the intense crippling guilt that troops face
after combat, according to the preliminary
findings of a new study of active-duty Marines.
The conflicts that troops feel can range from
survivor guilt after living through an attack
where other troops died, to witnessing or
participating in the unintentional killing of
women or children, researchers in the study say.
The idea of "moral injury" as a cause of PTSD
is new to psychiatry. The American Psychiatric
Association is now considering new diagnostic
criteria for the disorder, including feelings
of shame and guilt, says David Spiegel, of the
working group rewriting the PTSD section.
PTSD symptoms such as nightmares or numbness
have only been linked to combat violence, fear
of being killed, or the loss of friends.
Half of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
treated by 'Veterans Affairs' have been
diagnosed with mental health issues and
the most common is PTSD, experienced by
200,000 of these veterans, according to the VA.
PTSD caused by moral injury can lead to severe
reactions such as family violence or suicide,
says Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist who has
worked on military mental health policies.
The preliminary findings on moral injury were
taken from 208 Marines involved in severe combat
in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. They show that
three months after coming home, 7% of those
Marines 'likely' had PTSD. Their condition was
more closely linked to an inner conflict rather
than threats to their lives, the sight of bodies
or blood or family problems, the study says.
An average of 18 veterans commit suicide every day.
***********************************************
WORLD WAR 3 BACK ON FOR US ELITE
The US has deployed its newest aircraft carrier
off the Syrian coast amid mounting speculation
about a US-led military invasion against Syria.
A US naval task force, led by the USS George
H.W. Bush, anchored just outside Syria's
territorial waters, just after the US embassy
in Damascus urged Americans to “immediately”
leave the country, the Daily Caller news
website reports now.
Media reports also indicate that the US
ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford,
recalled from Syria in October due to the
growing anti-US sentiment in the country,
is not returning later this month as planned.
The CVN 77, better known as the George H.W.
Bush, is capable of carrying up to 70 aircraft,
including 48 fighter jets.
Washington has not explained the purpose of
the carrier's deployment to the Syrian coast,
and it follows Russia's much trumpeted move of
sending a naval detachment to defend Syria.
It looks like the US is calling Russia's bluff
(if it was one!)
But Russia, determined not to lose Syria, now
sees the US's first move FOUR YEARS after it
decided to break its agreement with Russia on
the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE).
The USA will no longer inform Russia about ANY
redeployment of its forces. These restrictions
do not apply to ANY other country.
State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland:
"Today the United States announced in Vienna,
Austria, that it would cease carrying out
certain obligations under the Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty with regard
to Russia. This announcement in the CFE Treaty's
implementation group comes after the US and
NATO Allies have tried over the past 4 years
to find a diplomatic solution following Russia's
decision in 2007 to cease implementation with
respect to all other 29 CFE States. Since then,
Russia has refused to accept inspections and
ceased to provide information to other CFE
Treaty parties on its military forces as
required by the Treaty".
Her remarks are the exact opposite of true.
The first edition of the CFE Treaty was signed
in 1990, by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
It included reductions in the number of tanks,
armored vehicles, artillery, combat planes and
helicopters, as well as open information,
including on troop movements.
A new variant of the treaty was signed in 1999.
It reflected the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
and the expansion of NATO. However, only Russia,
Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan ratified the
new treaty. Russia moved a big part of its arms
behind the Ural mountains, but Western countries
did not follow suit. The expansion of NATO has
now reached most Russian borders.
At the end of 2007, Putin decided to suspend
Russia's participation in the CFE until the
USA and its European allies ratified the
renewed variant of the treaty. The US refused.
Now they have decided not to inform Russia about
the redeployment of any US forces. This violates
both treaties which the US initially signed.
The US can now technically send their troops to
Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia, which did not
sign the treaty. The Baltic states could be
turned into an uncontrollable military centre
... right next to Russia's borders.
The US is also upgrading its ships with new anti-
ship missiles and sending them into the Barents
sea, the Black sea, and even to the North pole,
to neutralise Russian influence there!
When deciding on the unification of Germany in
1990, Germany and France said in the appendix
to the agreement that NATO wouldn't move beyond
the Oder River which separates Germany & Poland.
This appendix is also now completely disregarded.
The US and its allies have suckered Russia.
But why has it taken the US four years to decide
not to inform Russia about military deployments?
There can be only one reason. NATO is about to
create a military group near Russia's southern
borders to strike Syria.
Can Russia stop this? Russia has an enormous
amount to lose, if it just rolls over...
Russia has a unique naval base in Syria's Tartus.
The base is defended by air defense complexes.
It is the last & only Russian naval base abroad.
There are approximately 120,000 Russian citizens
living in Syria. 20% of Russia's defense industry
will be lost if Russia loses the Syrian "market".
Meanwhile, both NATO-ally Turkey and Saudi
Arabia are seen as likely to launch any
military action against Syria, by land.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has already
suggested that Ankara might invade Syria
under the pretext of weeding out Kurdistan
Workers' Party terrorists in Syria.
Arab media have also spoken of an impending no-
fly zone over Syria, similar to the one imposed
over Libya before NATO launched massive missile
strikes and aerial bombardments of the oil-rich
country earlier in the year.
But a war on Syria could demolish the Middle
East and easily turn into a World War...
There was no warning given to Russia at all...
and armies are being moved into place right now.
If I were you I would call your representative.
************************************************
ILLEGAL DRONE STRIKES - PAKISTAN HUFFS & PUFFS
Pakistan is taking the US drone strikes to the
UN's Human Rights watchdog, as illegal drones
rain down terror on SEVEN countries now....
3 small children are killed in Afghanistan in one
day by people who would surely face prosecution
in a fair just world society. They sit at desks
killing children thousands of miles away.
Cold killers.
In Somalia, 19 are killed on the same day: as
a famine and cholera kill more children there
- EVERY DAY.
As we in the West prepare to celebrate the birth
of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, our weapons kill
& maim our neighbour's little children EVERY DAY.
Jesus' command - love your neighbour - is now
turned into "kill Muslims". Every country being
attacked by illegal drones is a Muslim country.
Who is your neighbour?
As to Pakistan's move... the UN has already
condemned the US drone strikes as illegal.
Pakistan's leaders and army are being PAID
to let the West's killing machines operate.
Let's face it - WE are the evil ones today !
************************************************
SPARE A THOUGHT FOR TRUE PROTEST HEROES
As protesters in Egypt battle troops, helicopters
baton charges, gas attacks, etc, and protests in
Saudi Arabia intensify in the East, spare a thought
for US protesters in Alaska, who are defying
extreme weather to keep up their demonstrations.
Occupy demonstrators in Alaska are defying
bitter cold and the risk of frostbite to
remain committed to around-the-clock protests.
Groups supporting the Occupy Wall Street (OWS)
movement are protesting in the cities of
Anchorage and Fairbanks, withstanding subzero
temperatures to protest against economic
inequality, unemployment, the US wars in Iraq
& Afghanistan & corporatism, Reuters reports.
In Anchorage, the northernmost major city, the
demonstrators rotate in and out of their tent
camp in order to keep at least a couple of
people watching the site established in Town
Square, a downtown park.
The activists say they have an obligation to
continue their protests in solidarity with
the now nationwide OWS.
"We're out here supporting the rest of the
country. And you know they know about us,"
says John Heuerman, university student & waiter.
In the largest city of Alaska, Fairbanks,
protesters have been camping out for two months
in a local park, enduring temperatures, which
sometime drop to minus 40 degrees.
*************************************************
WHAT GOES AROUND...
Internet hacker group Anonymous has issued a
YouTube video featuring Lt. John Pike, the UC
Davis police officer who was captured on film
pepper-spraying a group of peacefully
demonstrating students last Friday.
In the 10-minute video, which features a
computer-altered voice, Anonymous tells Pike
to "expect our wrath" and threatens to make
him "squeal." The group also publicizes Pike's
home address, e-mail address and home and
cellphone numbers, while the video of the
officer pepper-spraying protesters plays...
The threat by Anonymous follows an angry backlash
at the UC Davis campus, and UC Davis Chancellor
Linda P.B. Katehi on Monday, placed 2 officers
and the university police chief 'on leave'.
Not appeased, protesters now call for Katehi's
resignation, which she has refused to offer.
In a prepared statement, Katehi said placing the
police chief on leave was "a necessary step
toward restoring trust on our campus."
In an interview on KQED, a local radio station,
Katehi said the video was "horrific" and that
UC Davis police officers "were not supposed to
use force, it was never called for."
Likewise, University of California President
Mark G. Yudof said in a statement that he
was "appalled" by the images.
Katehi has created a task force that will
conduct a review of the incident and offer
recommendations within 30 days.
The following proposal was passed by a massive
general assembly at UC Davis on Tuesday:
The UC Board of Regents, who not only represent
but actually are, this state's richest one
percent, has repeatedly shown itself to be
utterly unfit to manage and represent the
interests of the students, faculty, and workers
who constitute the University of California.
Following two successive years of sharp tuition
increases, accompanied by millions in department
and resource cuts, layoffs, and furloughs, the
board had the audacity to propose a new 81% fee
increase and drastic budget reductions.
Undergraduate student fees have tripled over the
past ten years, as we have seen an unprecedented
explosion of student debt; and departmental
budgets have shrunk, as academic & non-academic
workers experience diminishing benefits,
swelling workloads, & non-existent job security.
In the midst of the economic crisis, the Regents
have intensified their pursuit of the project
of privatization and de-funding that diminish
the quality of education and quality of life
for those across the UC, while consigning students'
futures to greater and greater sums of debt.
The Regents' theft of an ostensibly public
resource to fund "capital projects" such as
construction projects and private research
initiatives, demonstrate a clear conflict of
interest that benefits a narrow administrative
elite - both the Regents and their local
appointees (chancellors and vice chancellors) -
at the expense of the greater faculty, staff,
and student body. The familiar rhetoric of
austerity demands our resigned compliance,
as our learning and working conditions
progressively deteriorate. We have seen
recently and in years past that political
dissent is met with increasingly violent
displays of force & repression by University police.
The continued destruction of higher education in
California, and the repressive forms of police
violence that sustain it, cannot be viewed
apart from larger economic and political
systems that concentrate wealth and political
power in the hands of the few.
Since the university has long served as one of
the few means of social mobility and for the
proliferation of knowledge critical to and
outside of existing structures of power, the
vital role it plays as one of the few truly
public resources, is beyond question.
The necessity of reclaiming the UC has never
demanded such urgency, as it continues to shift
towards the corporate model, pursues dubious
fiscal partnerships (such as those with the
defense department & international agribusiness),
and engages in disturbing collusion with
financial institutions like US Bank (which is
one of the largest profiteers from student loans).
As such, I propose that in light of the upcoming
Regents' vote on Monday the 28th, (which will be
occurring on four campuses simultaneously, one
of which being UC Davis), that we call for a
general strike this same day, with the aim of
shutting down campuses across the state and
preventing the Regents from holding their vote.
In response to the intolerable effects of
privatization and austerity and the horrific
repression of student dissent that has occurred
throughout the last month, the General Assembly,
as a governing body of all concerned UC Davis
students, will prevent the Board of Regents
from continuing its unbridled assault upon
higher education in the state of California.
This will entail total campus participation in
shutting down the operations of the university
on the 28th, including teaching, working,
learning, and transportation, as we will
collectively divert our efforts to blocking
their vote[s]. In doing so students, faculty
and workers assert the power - and the will -
to effectively represent and manage ourselves.
************************************************
BUSH & BLAIR GUILTY OF WARCRIMES:
GENOCIDE & CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
A War Crimes Tribunal in Malaysia finds that
former US President George W. Bush and former
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are guilty of war
crimes for their roles in the Iraq war.
The five-panel Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal
states that Bush and Blair committed genocide
and crimes against humanity by leading the
invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In 2003, the US and UK invaded Iraq in blatant
violation of international law and under the
pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction
allegedly kept by President Saddam Hussein.
The Malaysian tribunal judges rule that the
decision to wage war against Iraq by the two
former heads of government was a flagrant
abuse of law and an act of aggression that led
to large-scale massacres of the Iraqi people.
Bombings and other forms of violence became
commonplace in Iraq shortly after the US-led
invasion of the country.
In their ruling, the tribunal judges also state
that the US, under the leadership of Bush,
fabricated documents to make it appear that
Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
However, the world later learned that the former
Iraqi regime did not possess WMDs and that the
US and UK leaders knew this all along.
Over one million Iraqis were killed during the
invasion, according to the California-based
investigative organization Project Censored.
The judges also state that the court findings
should be provided to signatories to the Rome
Statute, which established the International
Criminal Court, and that the names of Bush and
Blair should be listed on a war crimes register.
This decision means that both Bush and
Blair can be arrested anywhere worldwide.
*************************************************
EGYPTIAN ARMY GASSES PROTESTERS
Egyptian troops have been deployed around the
Interior Ministry near Tahrir Square in Cairo
as violence rages into a fifth day.
An army officer, speaking on condition of
anonymity, says the forces replaced riot police
who clashed with protesters, Reuters reports.
The officer says riot police withdrew into the
ministry buildings.
Protesters say security forces used US-made
poison gas against them and say that tear gas
canisters are being dropped from planes & helicopters.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay, deplores the killing of protesters by
military and security forces, and is demanding
an inquiry into the recent clashes in Egypt.
"I urge the Egyptian authorities to end the
clearly excessive use of force against
protesters in Tahrir Square and elsewhere in
the country, including the apparent improper
use of teargas, rubber bullets and live
ammunition," Pillay says in a statement.
She adds that "the actions of the military and
security forces, instead of improving security
and helping Egypt's difficult transition to
democracy, have once again simply served to
inflame the situation".
"There should be a prompt, impartial and
independent investigation, and accountability
for those found responsible for the abuses that
have taken place should be ensured,” she notes.
Egyptian presidential hopeful Amr Moussa also
condemns the violence:
"There is no justification whatsoever for the
use of violence and for the numerous number of
those killed, and they and the several hundreds
of wounded have became martyrs. This has to
come to an end, this is unacceptable," he says.
Egypt's health ministry has confirmed at least
31 deaths from five days of violence.
Egypt's ruling military council have asked
Mohamed ElBaradei to take on the role of PM,
but the ex-UN nuclear chief is said to be
hesitating over assurances about his authority
to freely choose ministers.
*************************************************
PEACEFUL PROTESTS ARE WINNING
When the US turned monster in Vietnam and Lennon,
Kennedy, Martin Luther King et al were killed
for daring to oppose it, all was new & shocking.
Now the US turning on the Muslim world has set
off revolutions against it, the US itself sees
that its democracy is serving only the elite...
Unlike in the 60s, when university students were
shot dead in one state, the authorities apply
pepper sprays, sonic booms, truncheons and dogs
on peaceful middle class children. CAN THIS WORK?
“The Chancellor's authorization of the use of
police force to suppress the protests by
students and community members speaking out
on behalf of our university and public higher
education generally, represents a gross failure
of leadership,” a student statement reads.
Earlier, Katehi said she would establish a
taskforce of faculty members, students, and
staff to review the incident.
“The use of the pepper spray as shown on the
video is chilling to us all, and raises many
questions about how best to handle situations
like this,” she said in a message posted on
the university's website.
Police officers on video, violently confronted
anti-corporatism protesters camping on the UC
Davis campus, spraying the chemical irritant on
students refusing to leave their encampment.
“The events of this intervention have been
videotaped and widely distributed,” Katehi adds.
“Police came and brutalized them and tore their
tents down and all that stuff. It was really
scary. It felt like there was anarchy everywhere,"
student Hisham Alihbob told NBC's KCRA channel.
The protest was being held in solidarity with
the world-wide "Occupy" movements that began
in September after a group of people rallied
in New York's financial district with the motto
of "Occupy Wall Street" to protest "corporate
greed," top-level corruption, poverty as well
as social and economic inequality in the US.
Despite a massive and brutal crackdown on
protesters and mass arrests by US police,
particularly in New York and near Wall Street,
the Occupy movement has spread to a climbing
number of major US cities as well as to other
major capitalist countries such as Australia,
Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and
Portugal... as well as Greece, of course !!!
VIOLENCE CAN'T WORK IF THOSE WHO ORDER IT
FALL FROM GRACE AS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE.
See Press TV here for video:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211104.html
***********************************************
RUSSIA SENDS WARSHIPS TO SYRIA
Russia is sending its warships to Syrian waters
in a move aimed at preventing foreign attacks
on Syrian territory.
According to Russian sources, the recent move
is meant to send a clear message that Moscow
will block any NATO-led attack under the guise
of “humanitarian intervention,” The Nation reports.
Russia has been voicing support for Syria, which
it says is currently going through a civil war.
NATO has been trying to demonize the government
of President Bashar al-Assad and his forces,
while downplaying attacks by opposition forces.
Russian PM Vladimir Putin also recently warned
the West against any 'Libya-style' military
intervention in Syria.
************************************************
ALL WHO SUPPORT ISRAEL AND US WILL FALL
Senior Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr says that
all regimes which support the current Israeli
settler state and its backers will fall, and
he goes on to express strong support for
Syria's president Assad.
There is “a big difference” between what is
happening in Syria and the revolutions in
“Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen,” Sadr says
in a statement which AFP reports.
"One of the reasons behind this difference is
that Bashar al-Assad is against the American
and Israeli presence and his attitudes are
clear, not like those who collapsed before him,
or who will collapse," the statement reads.
His comments come after the Arab League
suspended Syria's membership on Saturday
and called for sanctions on Damascus.
On Wednesday, an Arab League gathering gave
Damascus a three-day ultimatum to end the
months-long unrest there. Syria boycotted the
meeting, describing the order as illegitimate.
Al Sadr warns that efforts to throw Syria into
“an abyss of terrorism and fragmentation” by
pushing Assad out of power, must be resisted,
and that US efforts there must and will fail.
************************************************
US ASSASSINATION DRONES KILL 42 IN SOMALIA
An ounce of sweat prevents rivers of blood,
and our paralysis in the face of criminal acts
is not a sane response. Six countries are now
having their innocent citizens murdered by
couch potato killers and we are doing NOTHING!
***********************************************
US WANTS SECRECY ON AFGHAN PERMANENT BASES
As Afghan elders agree to years of occupation
thousands of youths rally against any Afghan
security pact with the US.
Protesters took to the streets in the city of
Jalalabad where they blocked the road to the
capital Kabul and shouted slogans against the
US and President Hamid Karzai.
(They burned an effigy of Barack Obama.)
The security pact was agreed to by an assembly
of over 2000 tribal elders.
The assembly endorsed President Hamid Karzai's
decision to negotiate a long-term security pact
with the US, but imposed some conditions.
The Loya Jirga calls for an end to night raids
by US-led troops and complete Afghan control
over all detainees.
The four-day 'Loya Jirga' meeting discussed
Afghanistan's relationship with the US, and
on long-term US bases in Afghanistan after
US-led foreign troops withdraw in 2014.
The US has - so far - failed to achieve its
goals after 10 years of occupation. Many parts
of the Asian country remain insecure, despite
the presence of 150,000 US-led foreign forces.
Experts believe Washington's new strategy of
establishing long-term military bases will only
serve to raise anti-US sentiment among Afghans
and all neighboring countries.
The Afghan people are against the plan, and see
it as an indefinite neo-colonial occupation.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is
calling for strong opposition to a US military
presence in Afghanistan and to the US elite's
plan for huge military bases in the Asian state,
and in other states in Central Asia, Xinhua
news agency reports.
“We do not understand how the proposed withdrawal
of coalition forces from Afghanistan squares
with US plans to set up major military bases in
Afghanistan,” Lavrov says. Russia has discussed
the issue with Afghan and US authorities, but
"there are more questions than answers so far.”
“Moreover, information comes in periodically
that our American colleagues want to expand
their military presence in Central Asia."
Jirga spokesperson Safia Sediqi says the US
wants a complete media blackout over all the
conditions set in its long-term deal with Kabul.
The loya jirga, called by President Hamid Karzai,
started in Kabul despite most Afghan religious
and political figures voicing strong opposition
to US plans to set up long- term or permanent
military bases there.
************************************************
IRAN ACCUSES IAEA CHIEF MORANO OF VILE ACT
Iran says that the act of publishing the
names of Iranian scientists in his report
is a vile move, as the world knows that
this leaves them open to assassination
by US Israeli and UK "intelligence" agents.
The Non-aligned Movement speaks out this week in
support of Iran's right to nuclear technology.
************************************************
POLICE SMASH US PROTEST CAMPS - in vain!
New York police officers may have cleared out
Zuccotti Park on Monday, November 14th, 2011,
but anti-Wall Street protesters have been
allowed by law to return to Zuccotti Park.
Protesters obtained a temporary restraining
order, allowing them to return to the park,
The Washington Post reported.
Police closed the park until lawyers appeared
at a court hearing late on Tuesday.
On Monday, police raided the encampment with
stun-grenades and batons to force protesters
out of the area.
The clearing out of Zuccotti Park came as anti-
corporatism protesters vowed to shut down Wall
Street with a huge demonstration this Thursday.
A majority of those arrested in the US Oakland
camp also smashed by US police are the area's
civic and religious leaders. Obama? Consensus?
The police have been staging a fierce crackdown
on the protesters in different US cities.
On October 25th, a tear gas canister fired by
the police hit 24-year-old Scott Olsen, an ex-
US Marine who had joined protests in Oakland,
California, causing his skull to fracture.
************************************************
KENYA ASKS ISRAEL TO HELP KILL AL SHAHAB MUSLIMS
Kenyan officials say Israel is ready to help
Kenya's offensive against al-Shabab fighters
in Somalia. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga
has requested Tel Aviv's assistance in carrying
out intensified offensives inside Somalia.
In response, Israeli President Shimon Peres
pledges to aid Kenya with "whatever it needs"
in its fight against Al-Shabab fighters.
Meanwhile Al-Shabab says its fighters have
killed 27 Kenyan troops and destroyed a
military vehicle carrying ammunition.
Kenyan troops invaded Somalia last month,
blaming the fighters for the abduction of
foreign nationals in northern Kenya, near
the Somali border. Al Shahab deny the claims.
The US is also currently militarily involved,
deploying intelligence and assassination drones
in the famine-stricken country, while Kenya has
also sent soldiers over its border into Somalia
and began air and ground offensives against al-
Shabab fighters, who want foreign troops out.
Somalia has not had a functioning government
since 1991, when US backed warlords overthrew
the Islamic Courts movement.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa,
Somalia remains one of the countries generating
the highest number of refugees and internally
displaced persons in the entire world.
*************************************************
TERRORISTS? IT'S US !!!
Britain's involvement in the “so-called 'war on
terror'” is “genocide” and a cover for military
expansionism to take over the resources of
Middle Eastern nations, a leading British anti-
war campaign group says.
“The so-called "war on terror" is a cover for
our military aggression to gain control of the
resources of western Asia,” Stop the War Coalition says.
“This is sending the poor of this country to
kill the poor of those Muslim countries. This
is trading blood for oil. This is genocide,
and to most of the world, we are the terrorists."
The campaign group, which is credited with
organizing the largest ever anti-war
demonstration in British history against
the invasion of Iraq, said on the occasion
of Remembrance Day - observed in Commonwealth
countries to remember the members of their
armed forces killed on duty - that Britain
has been complicit in subjugating nations
“from Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia.”
It adds that London has been complicit in
“supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq
and Afghanistan” yet it dares to call locals,
'terrorists' and 'insurgents', “for resisting
rape and pillage.”
The campaign group also slams the “bloodthirsty
imperial crusade” of Britain alongside the US,
saying western soldiers in the occupied nations
no more fight to defend “our freedoms”: they
are rather laying the foundation for a
permanent military presence to ensure “the
freedoms of Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum.”
“They're not establishing democracy, they're
establishing the basis for an economic
occupation to continue after the military
occupation has ended,” it adds.
The campaign group then refers to the United
States, which has been leading Britain in
over a decade of bloody wars in the Middle East,
under the guise of fighting terror, saying
Washington officials are the real terrorists.
“We must dare to speak out - against all enemies,
foreign and domestic, including those terrorist
cells in Washington DC more commonly known as
the Legislative, Executive & Judicial branches,” it says.
Bet this news won't appear in the UK media...
which is why Rhondda Records Ltd exists !!!
************************************************
CHAVEZ WARNS ON US PLOT TO DERAIL SYRIA
As the top military officials of Iraq and Iran
meet and call for more military cooperation,
Saudi and US inspired terrorists stir up pain
with daily murders and security breaches...
just like in Syria where the West's plan to
destroy ALL opposition to them proceeds apace.
Divide and rule is the West's game, so Iraq
and Iran's call to help each other, is a slap
in the face for the West's ruling oligarchs.
************************************************
US JAILS FILLING UP
California is releasing thousands of prisoners
on bail who were deemed too unsafe to be bailed,
in a desperate second attempt to clear space.
Police arrest more anti-corporatism protesters
across the US, and resort to firing tear gas
to disperse “Occupy” civilians.
In Colorado alone, riot police broke encampments
at the Civic Centre Park in Denver on Saturday
evening, firing tear gas at the protesters and
tearing down tents, the Denver Post reports.
Seventeen protesters were arrested in clashes
after they refused to leave their tents, says
the spokesperson for Denver Police Department,
Mr Sonny Jackson.
Elsewhere in Utah, police apprehended 19 “Occupy
Salt Lake City” protesters, at Pioneer Park, on
late Saturday evening.
*************************************************
IT'S A TUG OF WAR
Russia's Putin warns the West not to attack
Syria and Iran, describing NATO's bombing
of Libya's infrastructure and security as
"an afront to the world".
What about Bahrain, where protesters are
shot, tortured and beaten? Or Somalia,
reduced to permanent war on its people?
The counterbalance of the Soviet Union
to the West's greed and hunger is missing.
Either we head now to the 3rd World War...
or this time the protests against the
West's elite win, and establish majority rule.
What else is going to stop the West?
-----------------------------------------------
SYRIA SUSPENDED BY ARAB LEAGUE
Syria describes the move as unconstitutional
and Bahraini protesters complain that their
being gunned down is being ignored by the AL.
The bias of most Arab League rulers appears to
be bowing to the US, as the pentagon's main
backers, the US armament industry, floods
the Middle East with more and more weapons.
When the Soviets held a balance of power, an
arms embargo proclaimed the Middle East as a
weapons free zone. Now, the US and UK force
illegal wars, and the US surrounds Iran (and
Russia), with piled up armed hostile states.
The US is sending hundreds of "bunkerbuster"
bombs to the United Arab Emirates right now!
**********************************************
US PUBLIC AGAINST WAR ON IRAN
85% of the US public do NOT see a war on Iran
as a smart move, according to a recent poll.
That's about as high a percentage as you can get!!!
************************************************
US VETERANS JOIN "OCCUPY WALL STREET"
US veterans have joined the “Occupy Wall Street”
movement in New York, to protest against war,
corporatism, social injustice and unemployment.
Marching on US Veterans Day on Friday, former
US soldiers, including many coming home from
the US war in Iraq, said they are suffering
from unemployment and are joining the “Occupy”
movement to champion its anti-corporatist and
pro-peace cause.
They also say that they are part of the 99%
of the US population and, back home now,
they need training to qualify for employment.
“Basically, what is happening is that you have
a decade of war, and at the beginning a lot of
people were trumped up with patriotism, and
patriotic fervour, but then eventually you go
over there, you realize that you are not
fighting terrorists, you are not fighting
insurgents, you are fighting people ,” Michael
Patterson, an Iraq war veteran says.
According to the US Bureau of Labor statistics,
unemployment for veterans who fought in Iraq
and Afghanistan is higher than the national
average, at about 12% (av rate 9% nationwide).
Veterans aged 18 to 24 had a 30% jobless rate in
October, way up from 18% a year earlier.
Despite police crackdowns and mass arrests,
the Occupy movement has now spread to many
major US cities as well as to Australia,
the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland,
Portugal and, of course, Greece.
Image: The Al Amara Report: The Truth!
UN FINALLY PUBLISHES REPORT ON THE MAVI MARMARA
The UN report blames Israeli troops for using
excessive force in the incident, but an Israeli
official says there will be no apologies to
Turkey despite the report blaming Israeli troops.
Turkey has responded by expelling the Israeli
Ambassador, downgrading its relationship, and
halting any military ties.
************************************************
ISRAEL'S REPORT ON THE MAVI MARMARA
& THE PALESTINE PAPERS
Defending the indefensible:
Israeli lies about the Mavi Marmara
On 23rd January 2011, Israel released a report
justifying their violent attack on the aid
flotilla on 31st May 2010.
Here we set out why the attack was illegal & wrong.
Israel had no legal right to prevent humanitarian
aid reaching Gaza: Under the fourth Geneva
Convention, Israel as an occupier has a duty to
protect civilians under its control, ensuring
free unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief.
Israel failed to meet that basic requirement. PM
David Cameron compared Gaza to a ‘prison camp’.
John Ging, then Head of the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency in Gaza, said the international
community should ‘look for practical ways to
break the siege’ and recommended ‘sending ships’.
Israel had no legal right to board the flotilla:
The Turkish flagged ship was in international
water. Under international law, all states have
freedom to sail ships in international waters –
to board this ship was a breach of Turkey’s sovereignty.
Israel was not acting in self-defence: Israel’s
argument that it was acting in self-defence is
indefensible: Israeli Forces boarded an unarmed
boat using gas bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets
and live ammunition. Civilians on board had
every right to defend themselves against this
illegal and unwarranted attack.
An independent panel? Israel appointed the panel
to investigate itself – its independence can be
judged by the appointment of David Trimble, a
founder member of the Friends of Israel, as one
of two foreign observers.
Israel’s account is full of lies: If they had
nothing to hide they would have given back
evidence taken from those on board.
For an accurate, official report
visit the UN Human Rights Council at:
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/
hrcouncil/docs/15session/A.HRC.15.21_en.pdf
A message from the Chair of PSC on the Mavi Marmara
‘White-wash’ doesn’t adequately describe the 300
page report issued by the Israeli Government on
Sunday. Reading Sarah’s harrowing account of the
vicious & unprovoked attack on the Mavi Marmara,
you could be forgiven for trying to work out
what international law allows a country to board
a ship in international waters, assassinate 9
passengers and injure over 50 others.
Well of course, there is no law that that allows
the Israeli government to behave in this way.
Yet year after year, with arrogance and impunity,
they get away with it. PSC’s role is to hold
Israel to account for their illegal actions
& to hold the international community to account
over their inaction.
To do this we need your support - unlike the well
resourced Israeli Government spin machine, the
Palestine Solidarity Campaign survives through
the generosity of its members and supporters.
This year going to be a critical in our campaign
to support the people of Palestine – to win the
argument & achieve justice we need your support.
If you are able to make a donation, however big
or small, please GO here:
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/
Thank you.
Hugh Lanning
Chair
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
-------------------------------------------------
Eye witness and PSC Director Sarah Colborne
gives the facts about the Israeli military assault
"In the early hours of May 31st myself and 600
peace activists were 70 miles off the coast of
Gaza. On board our boats were 10,000 tonnes of
humanitarian aid for the besieged people of Gaza:
baby milk formula, electric wheel chairs, cement.
All of us on board the Mavi Marmara and the other
ships that made up our international flotilla
for peace and justice had the simple objective
of highlighting the morally bankrupt and illegal
blockade on Gaza.
At just after 04.00, the Israeli assault began.
Warships, helicopters, speedboats and submarines
surrounded us. Israeli military, armed to the
teeth, descended from helicopters. The final
toll of the attack on the flotilla was nine
passengers dead and over fifty injured. Some
were shot five times. Others were killed
assassination style – a single shot at close
range to the back of the head. Three Israeli
commandos were disarmed and taken below deck
to receive medical treatment – hardly the act
of violent passengers. No Israeli commandos
were killed. Weapons taken from the soldiers
were not used against them.
As I heard the news that the attack on the
Freedom Flotilla had been declared legal
by the Israeli Government, the images of
that massacre returned.
No whitewash of an enquiry can deny the reality.
For those of us on the boat that day, and for
millions across the world, our resolve has been
strengthened – we will free Gaza, we will free Palestine".
-------------------------------------------------
The Palestine Papers – The truth about the peace process
There are 1,600 internal negotiations documents
about the Palestine/Israel peace process,
dating from 1999-2010.
The ‘Palestine Papers’ are available
on Al Jazeera's and The Guardian's websites:
Al Jazeera: Introducing the Palestine Papers:
http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/
2011/01/201112214310263628.html
Guardian: The Palestine Papers – The documents:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/
palestine-papers-documents
------------------------------------------------
Commentary on the Palestine Papers:
This seemingly endless and ugly game of the peace process
is now finally over. “The peace process is a sham.
Palestinians must reject their officials
and rebuild their movement“
By Karma Nabulsi
GO here to read
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/
23/middle-east-peace-process-over-palestinians
Why is there no Palestinian state?
Because the Israeli government's objective
is not a Jewish state, but a Zionist one.
By Alistair Crooke
GO here to read
http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/
2011/01/201112412224387862.html
Livni: A lawyer 'against law'?
GO here to read
http://english.aljazeera.net/palestinepapers/
2011/01/2011124165334291715.html
Image: Gaza child prisoners
THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL HEARS THE TRUTH
This week the UN Security Council received
convincing proof that supports the world's
demand for action against Israel.
Despite US reluctance to discuss the issue in
that body, the UN Undersecretary General for
Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, appeared
before the 15 members of the Security Council
to analyze the anti-Israel information on Wednesday.
Amos, who is also coordinator of UN emergency
assistance, began her account by stating that
Israel's unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem
and parts of the West Bank violates international law.
It is also not recognized by the international
community, which states that the city belongs
to the occupied Palestinian territories, said
the official, according to a document presented
to the Security Council & distributed to the press.
Since 1967, Israel's measures have altered the
status of that sector of Jerusalem, and have
affected Palestinians' residential status,
their access to basic services, and their
ability to plan or develop their communities.
All this puts pressure on, and increases the
vulnerability of, Palestinians, and threatens
their presence in that area, the text notes.
The document submitted to the Security Council
reaffirms that those settlements are illegal
and grow at the expense of land and building
construction development for Palestinians.
During her speech at the Security Council,
Amos also warned about the increased violence
now being unleashed by Israeli settlers against
the local population.
***********************************************
ISRAELI PRISONS WORSE THAN NAZI CAMPS
A Palestinian official says Palestinian
prisoners are subjected to the most inhumane
treatment and are tortured in Israeli prisons,
which are more gruesome than Nazi concentration camps.
In an interview with Iran's Fars News Agency on
Sunday, Palestinian Minister for Captives
Affairs Ataollah Abu Sabah says that of the
44,000 Palestinian inmates currently languishing
in Israeli prisons, seven are women and 23 are
members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Abu Sabah describes the desert prison of Naqab
(Negev), where the detainees are kept in tents,
as the Israeli regime's worst prison.
Last year, an Israeli TV station released video
footage of Palestinian detainees being tortured
by Israeli troops in the notorious Naqab prison
in 2008, as a result of which one Palestinian
died and several others sustained injuries.
The Palestinian official confirms reports that
the relatives of the inmates, and sometimes even
their lawyers, are stripped and interrogated.
In late December 2010, a human rights group
called Public Committee against Torture in
Israel revealed that Palestinian detainees
are systematically denied the right to meet
a lawyer during interrogations.
Being shackled to chairs for long periods,
sleep deprivation, intimidation, torture
and excruciating detention conditions are
documented by the rights group in its report.
Abu Sabah adds that stripping captives in the
subzero cold in the winter is one of the most
common torture methods of the Israeli regime.
Ill captives, he says, are deprived of even the
most basic medical treatment, and inmates
suffering from medical conditions are not few
in number & face a slow death in the regime's prison.
Israel also has secret prisons where it keeps
some of the first captives of the Resistance
Movement, Abu Sabah says, adding that the
regime has even abducted activists from other
Arab countries, whose fate is unknown.
Israel Prison Service (IPS) Director Aharon
Franco announced in October that there are
several prisons in Israel, including Damon
prison, Ramle's Neve Tirza prison, and the
Ma'asiyahu prison, that are no longer fit for inmates.
Franco says the standard in the US is to give
eight metres of space for each inmate and the
standard is six metres in Europe. In Israel,
just four metres are allocated per inmate.
**********************************************
SUFFERING IN ISRAELI PRISONS "UNIMAGINABLE"
Thousands of people have celebrated at the Rafah
border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip,
where they welcomed 550 Palestinians recently
freed from Israeli prisons.
Israel released the detainees on Sunday in line
with the second phase of a prisoner exchange
with the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.
The prisoners were freed from Israel's Ofer
Prison in the West Bank. They were then
transported to a crossing near Beitunia,
a town in the centre of occupied territory.
Six women were among the freed inmates.
Released prisoner Omar Qaraqra says celebrations
are “not complete,” because there are still
“brothers and comrades in Israeli prisons that
we have lived with for years.”
“I ask Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the Palestinian
factions to increase efforts in order to free
our brothers as soon as possible and without
exceptions,” Qaraqra adds.
Hamas has declared today (Monday) a national
holiday to honour the occasion.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza:
"We are proud of this great achievement.
We are happy for our return, but we would be
much happier if all the prisoners were freed.
The main priority for our leadership should be
the freedom of all prisoners because their
suffering inside the prisons is unimaginable,”
says Mahmoud Tayyem, another freed prisoner.
Palestinian prisoners are being freed from
Israel's jails as the second part of a deal to
release 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange
for Hamas-captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was captured in June 2006 after he
infiltrated into the Gaza Strip.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of
Statistics, before the release of the 1,027
prisoners, about 6,000 Palestinian detainees
were held in Israeli prisons.
Almost all prisoners released have already
served two thirds of their sentences, and
many fear that the Israeli regime will now
trawl the occupied territories to replace them.
***********************************************
ABBAS AND MESHAAL TO MEET IN CAIRO
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas
and Hamas Political Chief Khalid Meshaal
reportedly plan to meet in Cairo as part of a
new round of reconciliation talks.
"There is agreement on the date of November 24"
for the high-level meeting in Egypt, said a
member of Abbas' entourage in Tunis... on
condition of anonymity, AFP reports.
Azzam al-Ahmad, an official in Abbas' Fatah
movement, also on Thursday confirmed that
Abbas & Meshaal will meet before the end of November.
The talks will focus on "Palestinian unity,
future Palestinian strategy, the Palestine
Liberation Organization and future prospects,"
al-Ahmad says.
The two factions have been at odds since the
Islamic resistance movement Hamas came to power
in 2007. Hamas currently controls the besieged
Gaza Strip & Fatah is in control of the West Bank.
Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal
in May, under which they agreed to set up a
caretaker government of independents to
prepare for elections within a year.
*************************************************
SHALIT SWAP IMPRESSES GAZANS
The Israeli cabinet approved a prisoner swap
with Gaza's governing Hamas movement,
prompting celebratory street parties in
both Israel and Palestine.
Egyptian officials mediated a deal in which
Israel agrees to release 1,027 Palestinians
in exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit, a
soldier captured by Hamas in a 2006 cross-border
raid following a similar act by Israeli forces.
As the news was announced hundreds of Israelis
began dancing in the road outside Israeli
PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence,
where Mr Shalit's family have a protest tent.
In the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza,
Palestinians poured onto the streets,
firing in the air to celebrate.
Mr Netanyahu says Mr Shalit will be home "in a
few days" while Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal says
the Palestinian prisoners will be released in
two groups - firstly, 450, including all women
inmates, in a week; the rest two months later.
Mr Meshaal says it's "a national achievement for
the Palestinian people" and that Hamas had
negotiated hard for the release to include
"prisoners from different categories, different
age groups, from the West Bank and Gaza, from
Jerusalem and the Golan Heights."
It had prioritised those who had been in jail
for over 20 years, he said.
Most inmates will return to their former homes
but 203 will be deported, with 40 subject to an
Israeli ban on entering Israel and Palestine.
Fatah organiser Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat
of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine and Hamas militant Abdullah Barghouti
were among those Israel refused to release.
But most Gazans appear impressed:
"Israel wouldn't agree to free that many
prisoners unless it was forced to," says
shopkeeper Akram Nimr in Jabaliyah.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau of
the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party says the
agreement is "a huge victory for terror."
************************************************
UNESCO RECOGNITION BID BREAKTHROUGH
Palestinians have gained a breakthrough in their
efforts to win UN recognition now that UNESCO's
executive board agrees to submit the Palestinian
bid for membership to its states for approval.
On Wednesday, Palestinians pressed ahead,
defying fierce opposition by the US and
France, AFP reports.
The board passed the motion by 40 votes in favour
to four votes against, and 14 abstentions, and
is sending the Palestinians' request to a final
vote in the 193-member UNESCO general assembly
on October 25th.
The Palestinian delegation has held observer
status at UNESCO since 1974. Two-thirds of
the member states now need to approve the
request to enable Palestine's full membership.
US Republican lawmaker, Kay Granger, who chairs
the key subcommittee that disburses US sums for
diplomatic purposes, has threatened to back the
"suspension" of all UNESCO-headed funds, if the
body admits Palestine as a full member state.
Full UNESCO membership will not only serve as a
diplomatic achievement for the Palestinians,
but will also allow them to apply to classify
their monuments as World Heritage Sites.
*************************************************
MORE SETTLEMENTS, LESS TREES, LESS PEACE
As the US under Obama says defence of Israel is
a "red line", settlements continue all over the
West Bank, and in both parts of Jerusalem.
Today, Israeli settlers have once again targeted
the Palestinian economy, by uprooting about 200
olive trees near Hawara and Ein Nabus.
The Saturday attack comes after another incident
this Wednesday, when Israeli settlers destroyed
40 olive trees near Hebron, AFP reports.
Israeli settlers target Palestinian olive trees, as
olive oil is the backbone of the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian farmers plant 10,000 olive trees in
the occupied territories every year.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) released a report
on Thursday, revealing the devastating economic
effect that Israel's illegal occupation has had
on both the West Bank and Gaza.
The report showes that the Palestinian economy
has been deprived of nearly USD 4.4 billion
for every year of the occupation.
“No matter what the Palestinian people achieve
by our own efforts, the occupation prevents us
from achieving our potential as a free people
in our own country,” says Hasan Abu Libdeh, the
Palestinian Authority's Minister of the Economy.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas officially submitted
his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state
to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 23rd.
************************************************
FRIGHTENED ISRAELI REGIME LASHES OUT
Israeli troops have reportedly launched a new
attack into northeastern Gaza, as Palestinians
start to take their bid for statehood to the UN.
Israeli forces abduct at least nine Palestinians
in various parts of the West Bank, as Tel Aviv
steps up its campaign of terror ahead of the
planned Palestinian UN statehood bid.
The civilians were arrested on Monday during
operations in Jenin, al-Khalil and Bethlehem.
Also, a Hamas member is reported as captured.
Witnesses say some Palestinians are taken away
from their homes during the overnight raids.
Despite a security agreement with the PA, the
Israeli army frequently raids Palestinian homes
in the West Bank and arrests Palestinians. The
recent arrests come ahead of the Palestinian
Authority's planned statehood bid at the UN on
September 20th. The israeli regime is scared.
*************************************************
SOD THE US AND ITS THREATS, SAYS PA
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas
says the Palestinians won't stop their struggle
for UN membership, despite threats by the US.
"We will go to the UN to obtain international
recognition for the state of Palestine, despite
the obstacles and dangers, including US threats
to halt $470 million in annual assistance," he
says in an interview with Jordan's al-Rai today.
The Palestinian Authority declares September 20th
as the date when it applies for UN recognition
of Palestine as an independent state.
The US cannot block the UN General Assembly
vote for the change of Palestine's status
in the world body from entity to state, but
it can veto the move at the Security Council.
"If Washington uses a veto against us, we will
take a suitable decision in line with developments,"
says Abbas, knowing that a two-thirds majority
in the General Assembly can overturn a US veto.
************************************************
BAN KI MOON SAYS "YES" TO PALESTINE
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
has announced his support for an independent
and sovereign state of Palestine, emphasizing
that a Palestinian state is “long overdue.”
“But... the recognition of a state is something
to be determined by the member states,” AFP
quotes Ban as saying today (Friday).
“It is not [determined] by the secretary general
so I leave it to the member states to decide to
recognize or not to recognize,” he adds.
Ban Ki Moon's statement comes the day after
Palestinians launch their “National Campaign
for Palestine: State 194”.
Scores of Palestinians on Thursday gathered in
front of the UN building in the West Bank city
of Ramallah, where they handed a letter
addressed to Ban, urging him to add his “moral
voice of support of the Palestinian people.”
************************************************
PALESTINIANS LAUNCH STATEHOOD BID NOW
Palestinians have launched their campaign to
join the UN as a full member state by marching
on the UN office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Scores of Palestinian officials and activists
gather at the UN building on Thursday, the 8th
of September, saying they will stage peaceful
events ahead of the UN General Assembly's
annual meeting later this month, AP reports.
They hand a letter addressed to UN Secretary
General Ban Ki moon, urging him to add his
“moral voice in support of the Palestinian people.”
The document is delivered by Latifa Abu Hmeid, a
70-year-old woman who Palestinian officials say
symbolizes the plight of oppressed Palestinians.
Abu Hmeid has lost a son to Israeli aggression
and has seven others held in Israeli prisons.
A resident of a West Bank refugee camp, she
has seen her house demolished twice by Israeli forces.
“Families of the tens of thousands of victims of
Israeli occupation, including those martyred,
wounded and imprisoned, and countless others
who were expelled from their homes or lost
their homes and their property, hope that you
will exert all possible efforts toward the
achievement of the Palestinian people's just
demands,” the letter reads.
The executive committee of the Palestinian
Authority has met for the last time before
going to the UN for a vote on full sovereignty.
The PA decided to seek recognition of an
independent state after Israel refused
negotiations & kept constructing settlements
in most of the occupied territories.
*************************************************
PEACE COMES ONLY WITH JUSTICE
Pro-Palestinian activists chant 'Free Palestine'
during a Proms concert by the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra in London, disrupting
the BBC's live coverage of the event.
The orchestra was scheduled to perform at
London's Royal Albert Hall on Thursday to
be broadcast at the BBC Proms, but it is
now cancelled after boos & shouts erupted,
UK media report.
Gil Shaham was about to play Bruch's violin
concerto conducted by Zubin Mehta when boos
and shouts began, say the reports.
Radio 3 interrupted its live broadcast at 7.45pm
before returning later. Coverage was cut off
again an hour later after more loud protests.
Pro-Palestinian group The Palestine Solidarity
Campaign had called for the BBC to cancel the
concert and urged people to boycott the event.
One of the protesters, Professor Jonathan
Rosenhead, of the London School of Economics:
“The orchestra is intimately connected with
the Israeli regime. We are saying not to forget
the denial of human rights in the occupied
territories of Palestine.”
***********************************************
PALESTINE SONG REACHES FOR THE ETHER
The British band Coldplay has endorsed promotion
of the song "Freedom for Palestine", released
jointly by the pro-Palestinian organizations
OneWorld and War on Want.
"Some of our friends are involved in OneWorld's
new 'Freedom for Palestine' single - find out
more at www.waronwant.org, a statement on the
band's Facebook page says, Ynet reports.
The single, which is supported as a collaboration
by pro-Palestine groups; including Jews for
Justice for Palestine, the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, and Just Peace for Palestine, features
famous British musicians such as Dave Randall
and Maxi Jazz of Faithless and Jamie Catto of
1 Giant Leap.
The Coldplay invitation has attracted thousands
of fans to the song and is expected to boost
the popular welcome it will potentially receive
after official release in early July.
"Freedom for Palestine" calls, among other things,
for Israel to tear down the apartheid wall in the
West Bank, and to begin respecting the
fundamental human rights of the Palestinians.
************************************************
TASERS BEING USED AGAINST THE LEFT BY ISRAEL
The International Solidarity Movement has filed
a complaint against Israeli police, accusing
the force of using excessive violence against protesters.
ISM activists say the Israeli police has beaten
and shocked peaceful anti-settlement protesters
with taser guns in Sheikh Jarrah, East al-Quds
(Jerusalem), on Friday and arrested at least six
protesters for 'irrational reasons'.
ISM, which is a Palestinian-led movement committed
to resisting the Israeli apartheid in Palestine
by using nonviolent, direct-action methods and
principles, has also accused the Israeli police
of allowing Jewish settlers to abuse detained activists.
"They electrocuted me after they already had me
pinned down on the floor. It was very painful
& caused a burn," Haaretz quotes a demonstrator saying.
"I heard one policeman tell another, let him have
it a little," another protester said, adding that
"He put the thing to the lower part of my leg.
It lasted for four or five seconds. I felt I was
being electrocuted. All my muscles were jumping.
I was left with blisters."
The movement says it has called on the attorney general
and the Justice Ministry to investigate the case.
Taser guns can deliver a 50,000-volt shock
and can cause serious injury and even death.
Under Tony Blair and 'New Labour', UK police
were equipped with taser guns. Many UK police
disagree with this trend to a police state.
*************************************************
THIS YEAR's NAKBA WAS DIFFERENT
Israel killed dozens this year, because - for
the first time ever, the Palestinians marched up
to Israel demanding the right of return.
The Israeli troops became scared & trigger-happy.
*************************************************
ISRAEL "RESTRICTS" AL AQSA MOSQUE
Israel restricts access to the al-Aqsa Mosque
compound for the 63rd anniversary of the
occupation of Palestine by the Israeli army,
also known as the Day of Nakba (Catastrophe).
Shmulik Ben Rubi, an Israeli police spokesperson,
says only men over 45 and women holding Israeli-
issued identity cards are allowed to enter the
mosque compound on Friday, AFP reports.
Israeli police are deployed around the site in
East al-Quds (Jerusalem) to "enforce" restrictions.
The event marks the anniversary of a 1948 event,
when Israeli forces displaced some 700,000
Palestinians, forcing them to flee to several
different neighbouring countries.
The soldiers wiped 500+ Palestinian villages and
towns off the map, leaving an estimated total of
4.7 million refugees dreaming of an eventual
return to their homeland ... six decades later.
The Israeli regime laid economic siege to the
Gaza Strip in June 2007, after the democratically
elected Hamas government took over administration
of the impoverished strip.
The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the
humanitarian and economic situation there.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their
basic rights, including freedom of movement
and the right to appropriate living conditions,
work, health and education.
***********************************************
EGYPT TO FREE GAZA FROM SIEGE?
Thousands of Egyptians tried to cross into Gaza
on the day, in solidarity with Palestine.
They demand that the Israeli siege be lifted.
*************************************************
AND WHAT OF PALESTINE?
Obama and Israel are making last gasp efforts to
restart "peace talks" with Palestinians, and
Obama makes a speech about it this week, but
the Palestinians are holding out for what they
call their "September dues", because, in
September, the one-year dead-line for the peace
process will be over, and September is also
when President Obama promises that Palestine
will be a full member of the UN General Assembly.
Sameh Shbeib, a West Bank-based political analyst
says the Palestinians are feeling relaxed about
their diplomatic moves: "they are certain that
it will lead to the international recognition
of a Palestinian state, but at the same time,
the atmosphere is now open for all options."
*************************************************
ISRAEL POUNDS GAZA TO KILL AND MAIM
Israel is intensifying its attacks on the Gaza
Strip, leaving at least 5 Palestinians dead and
dozens injured in fresh slaughter, reports say.
Israeli tanks, gunboats and fighter jets
all target the Gaza Strip.
Two are killed & 25 injured in Gaza City.
Another 2 are killed & 14 wounded in Rafah.
An Israeli helicopter gunship flying over Gaza
machine-guns a 17-year-old collecting scrap
from a derelict airport & kills him.
The Israeli army confirms that its planes and
ground forces attacked the Gaza Strip and
"killed five Palestinians".
Palestinian medics say at least 30 people are
injured after three hours of attacks by Israeli
forces. Among the injured is a 4-year-old
Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip.
The Tel Aviv regime has been bombarding Gaza
ever since its 22-day war on the tiny enclave
in December 2008 and January 2009, which killed
over 1,400 Palestinians & inflicted $1.6 billion
of damage to Gaza's already-stagnant economy.
The offensives are always launched on the pretext
of "responding to the firing of projectiles".
Israeli hostility rages on while Tel Aviv refuses
to lift the all-out blockade it imposed on Gaza
in mid-June, almost four years ago, in 2007.
The siege is depriving the Gaza population of
food, fuel and medicine; triggering stunted
growth and malnutrition among most children.
************************************************
TIME TO BUILD - NO SAYS ISRAEL !!!
The organization in charge of reconstruction in Gaza
placed orders for construction materials to
international bodies to help break the siege.
After the massacre of Gazans in operation Cast Lead,
the international community pledged millions of dollars
to restore Gaza. But just a fraction of that money
has genuinely been delivered.
Thousands are still living in tents while Gaza
remains subject to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
The Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border
remains closed to the free flow of people &
goods. This means that the Palestinians are
forced to gain essential items through tunnels.
But now there's a new Palestinian-international
initiative to lift the siege for all time...
“This the first time we're doing this experiment.
Up until now, all the cement that has entered
Gaza has not been through official channels.
But now we want the cement to come in officially,”
says Kanan Obaid, chair of Gaza Engineers Union.
"By doing this, we can break the siege of Gaza.
Gaza will be free once again!"
At a meeting between Palestinian engineers and
international humanitarian organizations, the
Palestinians insisted that they did not want
to rely solely on handouts. So they agreed to
pay for 10 tons of cement to enter Gaza via
the Rafah border with Egypt.
The Gazans hoped to test whether Egypt had
really changed after last month's fall of ex-
President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
A lorry loaded with cement left Cairo for the
Rafah border a few weeks ago. Palestinians said
that if the cargo could be allowed through, they
would order a much more substantial amount to
seriously rebuild their ruined homes.
Israel absolutely refuses to let the cement in.
**************************************************
GAZANS FEED EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS
Over several weeks, Gazans have been giving
food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza
border since the popular revolution started.
Underground tunnels, which were used to bring
basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip,
are now working in the opposite direction.
Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on
the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to
the internal upheaval, are getting bread,
canned food and other supplies from the
impoverished enclave, through the tunnels.
Gaza's merchants have also been sending eggs,
vegetables, and other staples into Egypt,
where store owners have run out of stock
because normal supplies are cut off.
Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes
to deliver their basic needs to the enclave
which is sealed off by an Israeli blockade.
Rafah is the main entry and exit post
between Egypt and the coastal enclave.
************************************************
PA - "A REGIME NOT A LIBERATION MOVEMENT" NOW
Why isn’t the PA Supporting the Egypt Uprising?
The Palestinian leadership has been careful not
to support the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,
and has banned demonstrations in solidarity with
the rebelling peoples. Palestinian television
has virtually ignored the events in Egypt.
*************************************************
GAZA PREPARED FOR WAR
Palestinian factions say they are ready to face
a possible Israeli aggression, following the
recent flare up of violence along the so-called
Israeli-Gaza buffer zone.
In separate statements, Palestinian resistance
movements each reiterate their firm resolve
to wage resistance against an Israeli attack.
Israeli military officials recently threatened
to launch a new war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri slams the war-
mongering remarks as "empty words", stressing
that Palestinians aren't afraid of intimidation.
Meanwhile, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad
Movement in Palestine warns that armed Palestinian
groups will confront Israel if attacks on Gaza continue.
The remark is made by Abu Ahmed,
an Al-Quds Brigades spokesperson.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
also lends its voice to the resistance, stressing
that the group is prepared to defend the Gaza
Strip against any possible Israeli aggression.
The warnings come after members of Hamas, the
Islamic Jihad & the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, hold a meeting
to discuss security for the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting, the Palestinian factions vow
to do "their best" to foil any attempt by Israel
"to carry out an aggression on their people."
According to Palestinians, Israel is attempting
to provoke violence in the region by stepping up
attacks along the so-called Israeli-Gaza buffer zone.
Over the past months, Israel has intensified its
attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing a number of
Palestinians and leaving many more injured.
*************************************************
MORE & MORE OF WORLD RECOGNIZES FREE PALESTINE
Paraguay Peru & Guyana join the Latin Americans
recognizing Palestine as an independent state,
showing their commitment to Palestinians.
"It is Guyana's hope that the increasing
recognition of the state of Palestine will
contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting
peace and stability in the region," the ministry
says in a statement.
The decision "is in keeping with Guyana's long-
standing and unwavering solidarity with, and
commitment to, the just & legitimate aspirations
of the people of Palestine for the exercise of
their right to self-determination and to achieve
a homeland of their own: independent, free,
prosperous and at peace," the statement says.
Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Ecuador
have all recognized Palestinian statehood within
the borders that existed before the Israeli
regime occupied the West Bank, including East al-
Quds(Jerusalem) & the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war.
Paraguay and Peru now join Chile on that list.
************************************************
EGYPT LETS LORRIES WITH AID THROUGH RAFAH
Ten lorry loads of aid and more to come - that's
the message from Egypt as their ban breaks, and
some cheer is given to a people abandoned to the
US/Israel axis, which is determined to crush them.
*************************************************
JETS ATTACK GAZA's "OPEN PRISON"
More acts of inhumanity are endured by the people
of Gaza as Israeli warplanes pound positions in
the central & northern Gaza Strip, leaving at
least two people injured.
Israeli fighters bombard the northern city of
Jebaliya as well as areas in central Gaza.
The overnight attacks leave two people wounded
and panic Palestinians in the targeted areas.
Israeli forces kill a Palestinian man and wound
five others in tank shelling and gunfire attack
on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis.
Will we do NOTHING?
The Israeli military is repeatedly waging attacks
on Gaza, and has done so ever since its massive
war on the territory at the turn of 2009. That
22-day criminal offensive, using phosphorous,
left over 1,400 Palestinians in the densely
populated area - described by the United Nations
representative as "an open prison" - dead.
**********************************************
EU STATES UPGRADE PALESTINIAN MISSIONS TO EMBASSIES
European countries have agreed to upgrade
Palestinian missions as embassies, trying
to push for a Palestinian state, the chief
Palestinian Authority negotiator says.
Saeb Erakat says that PLO missions abroad are
a step closer towards becoming embassies of
an "occupied state with defined borders."
Many countries around the world have recognized
an independent, sovereign Palestinian state, as
they have seen that the Middle East talks have
amounted to nothing.
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay & two others, have
announced their recognition of a Palestinian
state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries
that existed before Israel occupied East al-Quds
(Jerusalem), & the West Bank. Bolivia has now
joined, in open defiance of the US/Israeli axis.
Ten EU countries are now to upgrade the status of
the Palestinian representative offices in their
capitals in the near future, a step where the
staff can enjoy full diplomatic immunity, Erakat
tells The Jerusalem Post.
Norway has upgraded the standing of Palestinian
representation in Oslo from "general delegation"
to "diplomatic delegation," Erakat states.
The decision to seek international recognition of
a Palestinian state is designed to shift the
conflict from one over the "occupied Palestinian
territories" to one over an "occupied state with
defined borders," Erakat says.
"We urge the international community to salvage
the two-state solution by recognizing a
Palestinian state on the 1967 borders,” Erakat
says, without identifying which EU countries
are expected to upgrade the status of the
Palestinian representative missions.
The official says that while the Palestinians
don't expect recognition to end the Israeli
"occupation," it will increase international
support for the Palestinians and their cause.
*************************************************
ITALY TO SEND MORE CONVOY AID
Italy's Palestine Forum group is planning a
second convoy of aid to Gaza and the West
Bank in support of Palestinians.
Earlier in 2010, the group organized and sent
five lorry-loads of medical and agricultural
goods contributed by 38 countries.
In previous trips there have been issues over
whether the boats could arrive in Gaza's ports,
but the belief is that this is increasingly unlikely.
The group's goal is to get more European nations
regularly involved with Italy's forum group.
They wish to gather their aid in northern
Italy, and then drive southward before loading
the convoy materials onto boats in Turkey.
“Since we don't have anyone to defend us,
especially as the Italian government doesn't
particularly appreciate our activities, our
security derives from the number of people we
are able to involve. So, in addition to
publicizing the situation of Palestine, it is
also very important for us to protect the
activists on the boats," an Italian Palestine
Forum representative, Francesco Giordano, says.
***********************************************
BOLIVIA RECOGNIZES FREE PALESTINE ON '67 BORDERS
Bolivia joins Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay by
announcing it recognizes Palestine as a sovereign
state within the 1967 borders, Palestinian news
agency Ma'an reports. President Evo Morales makes
the announcement during the South American trade
block Mercosur's summit in Brazil. Hurrah!
**********************************************
HAMAS "WE WILL NEVER RECOGNISE ISRAEL".
On its anniversary, Hamas says it is steadfast,
and asks what purpose is served by hiding behind
any talks with Israel - as it grabs land at will.
***********************************************
ISRAEL DESTROYING WEST BANK & USING TANKS IN GAZA
Israel now stands accused of destroying a school,
help centre and houses in the West Bank, because
"they didn't have building permits" - from Israel!
Meanwhile, in Gaza, three civilians are wounded
by tank shells fired by an Israeli tank.
(And the EU expresses "regret" at Israel's refusal
to "freeze" settlement building... !?!)
**************************************************
PATIENCE AND THE SIEGE
France says "it will" recognise a Palestine
based on the '67 borders as free and independent.
Former UK MP George Galloway says that aircraft
are now to take humanitarian aid to the Israeli-
blockaded Gaza Strip, to aid the relief effort.
He says humanitarian campaigners will attempt
to reach Gaza by land, sea and air, the Int'l
Middle East Media Centre reports.
The Israeli-imposed land, aerial and naval
restrictions have been depriving Gaza's 1.5-
million-strong population of food, fuel and
other necessities since mid-June 2007.
Galloway regrets what he calls, the Arab nations'
"negative position and weak commitment" to pro-
Palestinian causes and urges them to contribute.
Israel's military killed nine Turkish activists
aboard the Ankara-backed humanitarian convoy,
Freedom Flotilla, on May the 31st this year.
Tel Aviv then deported the activists & diverted
their supplies to the Israeli port of Ashdod,
just south of Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile The Israeli Air Force has attacked the
southern Gaza Strip, using military aircraft and
unmanned spy planes, a report says.
The warplanes carried out airstrikes near the
city of Khan Younis in the south, bombarding
a chicken farm, Press TV reports, saying
aircraft continue to fly over the city.
Israeli planes also attacked the city of Rafah,
also in the south, targeting the smugglers'
tunnels beneath Gaza's border with Egypt.
There are reports of injured gravel collectors
yet the Israeli military refuses to confirm or
deny the airstrikes.
Tunnels are used to bring in direly needed supplies
as Tel Aviv keeps up its siege, depriving 1.5-
million Gazans of food, fuel & other necessities.
Tel Aviv repeatedly pounds Gaza since it took the
strip in an all-out onslaughts in Operation Cast
Lead at the turn of 2009, killing over 1,400
Palestinians and inflicting damage of above $1.6
billion on the tiny enclave's economy.
*************************************************
ISRAELI JETS POUND GAZA
Today the people of Gaza suffer more attacks by
Israeli ground jets, after a top militant is
assassinated in a "strike", militants fire home
made rockets inside southern Israel.
No damage is caused, but the Israeli response?
The bombing of most tunnels next to Egypt and
a massive airstrike on Gaza which collapses
buildings and injures six civilians, including
two women and a child.
The main Palestinian negotiator, meanwhile, says
that the US is now blocking all Palestinian moves
to achieve independent statehood through the UN.
On Friday Israeli soldiers beat up a small child
in Gaza and demolished a mosque in the West Bank.
Last week they fired gas and plastic tipped shells
at West Bank demonstrators demanding that Israeli
settlements stop at Bil'in, Ni'lin & an-Nabi Saleh.
*************************************************
HAMAS AND FATAH FAIL THEIR PEOPLE
Rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah reach
agreement on security issues and end their
stand off, officials say.
The Hamas-Fatah standoff, which turned to warfare
in 2007, damaged their declared cause of
regaining occupied land.
************************************************
ISRAELI GROUND TROOPS INVADE GAZA
Israel launches a ground incursion into the
Gaza Strip with its occupation troops entering
the south of the long-blockaded coastal sliver.
Israeli forces advance hundreds of metres into
the east of the southern city of Khan Younis.
They also open fire on a group of Gazans who
are collecting gravel nearby. One of the Gazans
sustains injuries in the attack & is taken to
a local hospital to receive medical treatment.
This incursion comes hard on the heels of flights
which Israeli fighter jets conduct over Gaza in
the evening. 5 Israeli jets invade Lebanese air
space for "hours", Press TV reports.
************************************************
EREKAT CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says
that Israel's plan to build more new homes in
occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank, should be
countered by international recognition NOW,
of a Palestinian state.
*************************************************
ISRAEL WANTS PALESTINIANS TO BECOME ZIONISTS
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat equates
Israel's request for recognition as a “Jewish
state” with a request to join the "Zionist
movement," army radio reports.
Erekat makes the remark on his visit to the US
where he meets with US Middle East envoy George
Mitchell & senior State Department officials:
"They want me to join the Zionist movement.
I will not."
Instead, he says, Netanyahu must choose between
settlements and peace. Palestinians now demand
a resumption of the freeze as a condition for
rejoining any direct talks.
The Arab League on October the 9th, gave the US
just 30 days to find a way to continue the talks.
Erekat says the Palestinians are willing to give
the US "the time it needs".
*************************************************
PLO SAYS "NO" TO TRANSITIONAL TALKS
The Palestine Liberation Organization says
Saturday that it rejects any transitional
negotiations with Israel.
"We completely reject any temporary or long-term
transitional solutions that Israel promotes,"
says Ahmed Majdalani of the PLO's Executive Committee.
Majdalani is responding to remarks by Israeli
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who said
an agreement between the two sides on key issues
is difficult to reach, & Ayalon instead suggests
a provisional solution, states Israel Radio.
But Majdalani says temporary solutions "are
unacceptable at all," adding that the Israeli
government's agenda remains focused on building
Jewish settlements "and the occupation, rather
than on having a peace program."
The Palestinians suspended peace talks with
Israel when it allowed a partial moratorium on
West Bank settlement construction to expire.
************************************************
LAUGHTER AS UK DANCERS THRILL GAZA CHILDREN
Gazan boys and girls laughed and laughed as
they gathered at al-Qattan Cultural Centre
for Children, watching acrobatic performances.
They hadn't seen such entertainment, since
the Israeli military offensive 22 months ago.
The UK's small troupe, of just three women and
two men, arrived in the Gaza Strip on October
the 21st with campaigners of the " Lifeline 5"
aid convoy - through the Rafah crossing between
the strip and Egypt. They attracted a houseful
of excited children and parents, for whom, the
common entertainment was an unique experience.
Eight-year-old Ahmed was amazed by the show which
he described as beautiful and enjoyable, saying
he had only seen performances like it before on
TV, but that now he was watching it live & real.
He said - with a big smile on his face - that
the show made him forget about the scenes of
destruction, the wars & the sounds of explosions.
One of the mothers said the performance "had
brought a smile and happiness to our kids."
She added that such kinds of entertainment
help to ease the pain of Gazan children, who
have gone through such war and destruction.
A father, after seeing the performance, thanked
the UK troupe, saying the performers "came from
a very far-away country, not only to delight the
children of Palestine, but also to delight the
Palestinian people and get them out of the bad
mood they had passed through due to the Israeli
measures and the unfair siege imposed on Gaza."
Reith, member of the acrobatic troupe, said "we
are an independent group not linked to any NGO.
We agreed to go to the Gaza Strip together, in
a bid to draw smiles on the faces of children
living in regions of conflict."
She said the troupe was stopped by Israel from
entering the Gaza Strip several times. "But we
insisted on going to the Gaza Strip at our own
expense with the help of some officials, to prove
to the world that the Gaza Strip is a safe area,
and because the children of the Gaza Strip have
been deprived of happiness & joy for a long time
because of the siege and war."
************************************************
ON MONDAY ISRAELIS BULLDOZE GAZA TOWN
Accompanied by tanks, Israeli bulldozers drive
deep into the Gaza Strip before proceeding to
flatten areas within a town, say eyewitnesses.
The vehicles advanced hundreds of metres into
the agricultural town of Wadi as-Salqa. They
then began to rove around and destroy whatever
lay before them on the ground.
The Israeli military also targeted civilians,
including minors searching the areas of former
Israeli settlements for collectable debris.
***********************************************
IT'S COMING - A UNITED PALESTINE!
As the present Zionist state of Israel rejects
the 2 state "solution" pushed by "our" government,
a group of top activists from all over the world
pass a declaration in favour of creating a single
democratic state in all of occupied Palestine.
The One Democratic State in Palestine Declaration
emphasizes the only possible solution short of
all out war. It enables the people of Palestine
to create a new life for themselves & for those
who once lived with them as brothers & sisters:
the Jewish people.
“We, the people of Palestine, call on all who
value justice and peace to join us in a movement
to establish one democratic state in Palestine
that can serve all its people equally.”
The ODS conference in Dallas, Texas, includes
Jews, Muslims, Christians, Agnostics & Atheists.
They assemble to affirm the Declaration of the
Movement for One Democratic State in Palestine
and to debate and agree on a plan of action.
One Democratic State in Palestine Movement objectives:
● The creation of one unified
democratic state in Mandate Palestine.
● Repudiate Zionism, & eliminate all forms
of discrimination and segregation,
ending violence, militarism, and warfare.
● Unify Jewish Israelis and Palestinians in a
shared non-ethnic democratic state in Palestine.
● Restore Palestinian inalienable rights in Palestine
& compensate Palestinians for their pain & suffering.
● Establish an international solidarity movement,
composed of individuals and organizations, to
organize & spearhead efforts to realize the
objectives of one democratic state in Palestine.
Speakers include: Dr.Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestinian
author and expert on Palestinian refugee rights,
who spoke via video from occupied Palestine.
Lenni Brenner, Jewish anti-Zionist author of
Zionism in the Age of the Dictators.
Gilad Atzmon, Israeli-born British jazz musician
and anti-Zionist political activist and writer,
who spoke from the UK.
Paul Hershfield, co-founding member of the Campaign
to End Israeli Apartheid, Southern California.
Richard Falk, professor of international law
at Princeton University.
Virginia Tilley, professor of political science,
author of The One-State Solution: A Breakthrough
for Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Deadlock,
who spoke from South Africa.
The conference talks of what is best for the
Palestinians; of what can be done to help them
live in their ancestral land as they once did;
then goes much further, to discuss how best to
abolish middle-man diplomacy, most commonly
associated with the US led ‘peace-talks’.
Haitham Zabri, head of the Palestine Online Store,
says it was “...inspiring and uplifting to be
around this small group of committed activists
who are determined to push the cause of one
democratic state with equal rights for all.
"This conference is the cornerstone of a movement
that will inevitably snowball, to build a
universal consensus that all humans are entitled
to equal rights and that one democratic state is
the only durable solution for Palestine.”
The conference successfully met three objectives:
● Adopted the Declaration of the Movement
for One Democratic State in Palestine.
● Established and launched the Movement
for One Democratic State in Palestine.
● Approved a 5 year Action Plan for the Movement.
As the Declaration states:
"On this platform, with our international friends
and allies, we commit ourselves to restore justice
to the people by establishing a unitary democratic
state in Palestine, in which all citizens can live
in security, peace, equality and freedom.
We firmly believe that this great accomplishment
will stand as a monument to humanity’s capacity
to overcome the legacy of bitter strife;
move all peoples of the world to reject
beliefs of ethnic supremacy & separation;
and inspire people everywhere to work with
new hope & energy to create societies, nations
& states that defend & secure equality, dignity
and human rights for all."
************************************************
FIGHT OR EXPERIENCE MORE CATASTROPHE
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement calls for
an end to peace talks with Israel and celebrates
armed struggle at a rally in Gaza City, attended
by tens of thousands of supporters.
"Today we sound the alarm and warn that there
will be a third Nakba (Catastrophe) because
of the determination to pursue the path of
negotiations with the enemy," the group's leader
Ramadan Shalah, tells the crowd.
The situation "demands the complete withdrawal
from the negotiations with the enemy, ending
the Palestinian divide and uniting behind jihad
and resistance," Shalah says by telephone from
his base in Damascus.
Supporters waving Palestinian flags & the black
banners of the Resistance group, pack Gaza City's
Kuteiba Square, as senior officials give speeches
beneath massive portraits of slain Palestinian
leaders from different groups.
Senior officials from Hamas and other factions
walk across a large Israeli flag on the way to
their seats at the rally, in which supporters
chant: "Death, death to the US!
Death, death to Israel!"
The rally comes days after the 15th anniversary
of the assassination of Islamic Jihad's founder
Fathi Shiqaqi, who was martyred in Malta in an
attack blamed on Israel's Mossad spy agency.
*************************************************
WHO ARE THE IMMORAL ONES?
In many western countries today, you only have to
mention the word 'Muslim', & people launch into a
rant about "prayer book in one hand", and bomb
in the other. We've been successfully conditioned
to react in this way, making reasoned arguments
or appeals to 'fair play', almost impossible.
Such is the criticism of the Resistance movement
Hamas, over the way it governs the Palestinian
territory of the Gaza Strip, Hamas official
Mahmoud Al-Zahar says, adding that the West
should be "ashamed of supporting Israel."
"You CANNOT support the foundation of Israel.
Don't you care about the assassination of people
here?" Zahar tells Reuters. He says that Islamic
traditions deserve respect and he accuses Europe
of promoting promiscuity & political hypocrisy.
"We have the right to control our life according
to our religion, not according to your religion.
You have no religion. You are secular," says
Zahar, one of Hamas' most influential & respected voices.
"Is it a crime to Islamize the people? I am a
Muslim living here according to our tradition.
Why should I live under your tradition?" says
Zahar, who served as Hamas foreign minister
between 2006-2007 and is under constant, heavy
protection. "We understand you very well. You
are poor people. Morally poor. Don't criticize
us because of what we are."
Zahar, a surgeon who taught medicine at Gaza's
Islamic University, says he is particularly
incensed that Western nations denounce Hamas
but at the same time enjoy extremely close
relations with the Israeli enemy.
I suppose that's what Justice means...
applying the same standards to others,
as you do to yourself.
If Muslims are to be judged so harshly
by the West, aren't they entitled to
the same judgement being applied to all ?
************************************************
RIVER OF SH..
Thousands of olive trees in a northern West Bank
village are ruined after being flooded with sewage
from a nearby Israeli settlement, residents tell AFP.
The discovery is made when villagers from Deir al-
Hatab just west of Nablus, go to harvest their
olives, in a grove which lies close to the Elon
Moreh settlement, the head of the village council says.
Abdel Karim Hussein says the army does not allow
villagers regular access to their trees, for
"security reasons", & so it's their first visit
to the grove, since last year.
"They were allowed to go to their fields this
morning & when they arrived, the farmer could
hardly see his land - it was flooded with sewage
and chemicals," he says.
"More than 2,000 of the trees have died and they
cannot pick from the rest."
Since the start of the olive harvest this month,
there have been scores of Palestinian complaints
about settlers cutting down trees, stealing
olives, or preventing farmers from harvesting
their crops, human rights groups and police say.
*************************************************
ISRAEL KILLS & SETTLERS BURN
Hundreds of olive trees are set on fire in the
West bank near Nablus. There have been at least
TEN attacks by increasingly aggressive settlers
in the last week alone! Israeli forces in Gaza
are reported to have killed another small child.
Resistence is so often a matter of absorbing
pain, it's GREAT to know that the aid convoys
are all coming with their "drops of honey".
*************************************************
ELDERS IN GAZA PRESS END OF SIEGE
A delegation from the Elders group of retired
prominent world figures was in the Gaza Strip
to press for the easing of Israeli restrictions.
Former Irish president and UN high commissioner
for human rights Mary Robinson, Indian women's
rights campaigner Ela Bhatt and former Algerian
foreign minister and UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border
crossing, an AFP correspondent says.
"The aim of their visit is to draw attention to
the ongoing impact of the Gaza's isolation
and to call for the immediate lifting of the
blockade," the Elders said in a statement.
The delegation met officials of the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA),
local authorities, business people & activists.
Ahead of their visit, the Elders met Arab League
chief Amr Mussa in Cairo.
The delegation, joined by former US president
Jimmy Carter in Cairo, who describes the siege
as the worst human rights outrage in the world,
also visited Syria, Jordan, all the occupied
Palestinian territories, Gaza, & the West Bank.
Former Irish President Mary Robinson, calls the
situation in the territory "shocking" to see,
as the Elders begin their visit to Gaza.
“I was last here in 2008, just before the Gaza
war. The situation has deteriorated to a shocking
extent since then," the Irish Times reports her saying.
The delegation met Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya.
After the meeting, Robinson said that Hamas
should not be excluded from the Palestinian-
Israeli talks... (but it is!)
The Elders strongly criticize the Israeli siege
of the Gaza Strip... in place since 2007.
“It is unconscionable and unacceptable that
Israel and the international community have
not lifted the blockade fully to allow Gazans
to rebuild their lives and be part of the
interconnected world that we take for granted."
The Elders is an independent group of prominent
world leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007
to support peace building and help address major
causes of human suffering.
"The aim of their visit is to encourage support
across the region for the current final status
negotiations," an Elders statement says.
************************************************
WORLD MOVING AGAINST ISRAEL
As news comes in that Israeli forces have shot
yet another Palestinian teenager near the Gaza
Strip's border with Israel for collecting rubble,
which is often used as building material,
the whole world looks, and doesn't like what
it sees. Justice is now moving to change this!
The PA says Israel is "closing all doors on
attempts to revive the direct talks" after
Tel Aviv approves an expansion of new units
in the Palestinian territories.
Despite global opposition to Israel's settlement
projects, Tel Aviv has invited tenders to build
238 new settlement units in occupied Palestine,
including in East Jerusalem.
Acting PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, has repeated his
call on Israel to extend its partial moratorium
on these illegal settlement activities.
Speaking of illegal activities and Justice;
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Israel
will "remain isolated" if Tel Aviv fails to
apologize for killing Turkish human rights
activists. The families of the victims of
Israel's maritime attack on a Gaza aid convoy
in May, are set to take the case to the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
A senior Palestinian lawmaker is calling for
an immediate declaration of an independent
Palestinian state in response to failed talks.
This could be done through the UN, since the
territories are presently occupied by force.
**************************************************
WARPLANES DIVE-BOMB OPEN-AIR PRISON OF GAZA
Israeli warplanes attack the Gaza Strip, bombing
a police station in the north of the besieged
territory, a Press TV correspondent says.
Three civilian Palestinians are injured as three
Israeli aircraft strike the station.
The report adds that a large explosion after the
strike panics people, damaging nearby houses.
The reporter adds that the warplanes after, keep
flying at a low altitude over the attacked area.
The incident takes place hours after Israeli
warplanes violate the Gaza Strip's airspace,
staging a mock raid over the besieged territory.
************************************************
ISRAELI SETTLERS BURN MOSQUE & DESECRATE KORANS
A group of Israeli settlers attack a mosque near
the West Bank city of Bethelem, ransacking the
holy site and burning copies of the holy Koran.
A group of Israeli extremists storm the mosque in
the town of Beit Fajjar overnight, burning copies
of the Muslim holy book & setting fire to carpets
in the building, locals say.
Palestinian residents who arrive at the scene
reportedly "clash" with the settler extremists.
Witnesses blame the attack on a group of Israeli
settlers from the nearby Kfar Etsyon settlement.
The settlers desecrate the holy site by spraying
graffiti and hate messages on the walls inside
the mosque in Hebrew.
************************************************
P.A. WITHDRAWS FROM TALKS
A spokesperson says that the PA will keep lines
open with the Arab Union and the US, etc, but
that talks are not going to go on, since Israel
"obviously does not want peace".
*************************************************
FATAH, PFLP AND PLO SAY "WITHDRAW FROM TALKS"
Fatah demonstrated in the streets and the PFLP
withdrew from PLO sessions: and, after a special
meeting, the PLO restated through its chief
spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina, that "our
position has not changed. We will not hold
negotiations while settlement activity continues."
Direct negotiations were renewed in September,
after being stopped at the turn of 2009, when
Israel attacked the Gaza Strip, killing over
1,400 Palestinians and wounding many more.
The renewal of talks followed pressure applied
by the US, which threatened to sever ties with
the PA if it raised objections to the re-launch.
Tel Aviv is refusing to renew the September 26th
moratorium on illegal settlement activities on
occupied Palestinian lands, and many Palestinian
groups express opposition to negotiations now,
arguing that Washington is biased toward Tel Aviv
and saying that acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas -
whose term ended on January 9, 2009 - does not
truly represent Palestinians.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), suspended its membership to protest at
the talks' apparent continuation.
*************************************************
HUGE DEMONSTRATIONS IN GAZA AT ISRAEL KILLINGS
Thousands in Gaza demonstrate over the illegal
airstrikes which keep killing Gazans.
*************************************************
ISRAEL MUST PAY FOR AID CONVOY MASSACRE
On May 31st, a Turkish-backed aid convoy,
Freedom Flotilla, was stormed by Israeli commandos.
The assault, which took place in international waters,
claimed the lives of 9 Turkish human rights activists.
"When the vicious attack on the Marmara happened,
it opened up the eyes of people right around the
world, even on the other side of the world, and
many of us felt... we had to be there," leader
of the Kia Ora Gaza group, Roger Fowler, says.
Gaza's 1.5 million residents have been living
under Israeli siege since 2006, depriving them
of food, fuel, and other basic necessities.
*************************************************
THERE WAS NO FREEZE, EVEN DURING "THE FREEZE"!!!
A new report by an Israeli body shows that Tel Aviv
hasn't frozen its settlement expansion, let alone
considerably halted it in the occupied Palestinian
territories, during its self-declared "freeze".
The number of homes built during the nearly 10-
month "halt", declined by about 10%, AP reports.
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics says there
were 2,790 settlement units in various stages of
construction in the third quarter of 2009, before
the "restrictions" were imposed last November.
The number rose to 2,955 in the last quarter
of last year, indicating a last-minute surge
of starts, in days leading up to the freeze.
In the first quarter of this year, the number
stood at 2,517 with the freeze in full effect.
Israeli peace activists say there has been no
appreciable decline in settlement expansion
since the declaration of a 10-month moratorium by Tel Aviv.
According to activists, the situation is largely
the same in non-residential construction, such
as commercial buildings, small factories & schools.
************************************************
GAZA CONTINUALLY BEING BOMBED BY ISRAELIS
Israeli warplanes launch more airstrikes against
the Gaza Strip, pounding the city of Khan Younis.
Israeli jets carry out 5 successive attacks on
several targets in the city.
No one is reported injured in the air raids that
Israel claims was a response to a rocket fired
by Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier in the day, one Palestinian is killed
and two others injured, after Israeli planes
target a tunnel in the southern city of Rafah.
The tunnels, which pass under the Egypt-Gaza
border, are continuously bombarded by Israeli
air force jets. Egyptian authorities also
regularly fill the diggings with water or gas,
contributing to even more Palestinian casualties.
The Israeli regime accuses Palestinians of using
the tunnels to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.
But the Palestinians dismiss these accusations,
arguing that the passages are the only way of
importing basic needs into the blockaded Gaza
Strip - home to nearly 1.5 million people.
Image: CND Cymru
CND Cymru Calls for Trident to be Scrapped
Following tuesday's Westminster Government
'Strategic Defence and Security Review'
announcement that the British government
decision on a new £75 billion British nuclear
weapons system has been delayed, CND Cymru Chair,
Jill Evans MEP, reiterates CND Cymru's call for
the Trident nuclear submarines replacement
programme to scrapped.
CND Cymru notes that the government's defence
review retains their commitment to the £75
billion replacement of Trident, although
actual building will not begin until after
the next Westminster election.
Meanwhile, costly development work is continuing
apace at Aldermaston and the next government may
well find the costs of cancellation greater,
than of continuing.
This decision breaches Britain's commitment to
the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to work
towards the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
It will provide the Iranian and North Korean
governments with justification for developing
their own nuclear weaponry.
Jill Evans says:
'I welcome the fact that the decision replacing
Trident has been delayed. Nuclear weapons are
immoral, illegal and vastly expensive. While
this decision may have been driven by economics
rather than principle, it is nevertheless a step
in the right direction. While people are losing
their jobs and homes, not a single pound should
be spent on new Trident submarines.
'The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, speaking
in the EU Parliament this morning, said that his
three priorities are fighting extreme poverty,
fighting climate change and achieving a world
free of nuclear weapons. We have heard over the
past few days how the significant threats we
face are from cyber-attacks and climate change.
Nuclear weapons can do nothing to protect us
against these. The safest course of action
is to scrap Trident altogether, and work for
a nuclear free world.
'We, in CND Cymru, will continue to work towards
that end, and we know the majority of people in
Wales, agree with us.'
CND Cymru Vice Chair and British CND Vice
President John Cox comments:
'Introducing tuesday's 'Defence Review', David
Cameron reiterated six times that UK troops &
weapons would be deployed 'all over the world'.
If every country were to have the same ambition,
there would be wars everywhere. Far from being
for 'defence', these weapons are used for
intimidation all over the world.'
'Britain would be more secure against any
terrorist threat if all its troops were
withdrawn from foreign countries, thereby
ending the perception of Britain as an
aggressor against Muslim countries'.
*************************************************
CND has launched a new report which shows
that the net impact of replacing the Trident
nuclear weapons system will be to cause an
overall reduction in defence employment.
For more on this see:
http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/20100913937/
press-releases/trident/trident-will-cause-
defence-job-losses-new-report.html
Image: US spokesman protects Israeli nuclear weapons
US TRIES TO WARN AGAINST IAEA MOVE ON ISRAEL
The US is protesting at a report by the IAEA that
voices concern over Israel's clandestine nuclear
program and its potential capabilities.
"Israel has fully cooperated with the IAEA,"
State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley
claims on Wednesday.
He further notes that Washington believes that
the agency is "not the forum" to discuss Israel's
accession to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"We believe there is really no basis for a debate
at the IAEA," the spokesperson insists.
Crowley says that Israeli nuclear arsenals have
already been discussed at the NPT Review Conference
held in New York earlier in the year and that a
meeting on a nuclear-free Middle East is set for 2012.
In a surprisingly strong move, IAEA Director
General Yukiya Amano traveled to Jerusalem
in August to call on the Israeli regime to
sign the treaty... good for him!
In his report to the IAEA board of governors last
Friday, Amano said he had conveyed to Israeli
leaders the agency's "concern about Israeli nuclear
capabilities and has invited Israel to consider
acceding to the NPT and placing all its nuclear
facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards."
But Crowley says that in Washington's view,
such an IAEA step is unnecessary since it could
"interrupt the progress that we think is possible
now that we're back at direct negotiations"
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
What the US might be forgetting is that all states
in the world and all in the Middle East also want
Israel in the NPT, & a nuclear-free Middle East.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian government, on behalf of
all the Non-Alignment Movement member states,
demanded that Amano hand in an exhaustive report
on Israel's nuclear arsenals.
The Tel Aviv regime has been refusing to confirm
or deny possessing nuclear weapons but is widely
believed to possess over 200 nuclear warheads.
Having endorsed Israel's policy of "nuclear
ambiguity" for 40 years, the US is warning
the Arab states against renewing efforts to
focus on Israel, at the next IAEA meeting.
Image: Fidel Castro
PHOTO: Juvenal Balán
Fidel Castro called on young people to fight -
to prevent a nuclear war - & confirmed that
it is possible to win the great battle
to save the world from a nuclear war that would
destroy it completely;- & to defend the right
of all human beings to live.
The time available is incredibly limited, warned
Fidel, referring to the real and imminent danger
of another war in the Middle East...
Fidel's message was also a call to fight against
those who have imposed on the world a system
that is currently threatening the very survival
of the planet and of the entire human race:
"We are here to convince, persuade and prevent
a war that would bring an end to hope, and
in order to demonstrate that love for life
is the commitment of all of us," said Maydel
Gómez Lago, president of the Cuban Federation
of University Students (FEU).
"Right up until the end, we will be demanding
the right to life. We do not want to die in
this absurd way, we want to fulfill our dreams,"
the young woman emphasized. Barack Obama, she
insisted, could use his power to prevent war
from becoming a tragedy for all of us.
"We have the right to fight for our future,
we have a duty to build it. We still have time.
We will fight for peace, we could not forgive
ourselves for doing anything less."
But the exact deadline date, was left unclear.
The last UN resolution on Iran, gave a deadline
of THE BEGINNING OF SEPTEMBER, for Iran to either
agree to having all its ships boarded by the US
and Israelis, or bear the consequences of "further action".
Now Fidel takes this extra-ordinary message
a stage further... "We are at an exceptional
moment in the history of the human race", he says.
"These days see the end of the time periods given
by the UN Security Council for Iran to comply
with the demands drawn up by the US related to
its nuclear research & enriched uranium program
for medical purposes & the production of electrical energy.
"That is the only thing that can be proven.
"The fear that it is seeking to produce a
nuclear weapon is merely a supposition.
"In the context of the delicate problem, the US
& its Western allies, among them two of the five
nuclear powers with the right to a veto, France
& the UK, backed by the richest & most developed
capitalist powers in the world, have promoted an
increasing number of sanctions against Iran, a
country rich in oil and of Muslim religion.
"Now, the measures passed include the inspection
of its merchant ships & extremely harsh economic
sanctions that are leading to the strangulation
of its economy.
"I have closely followed the grave dangers
contained in that situation, given that
if a military outbreak should come at that
point, the war would rapidly become nuclear
& lethal for the rest of the world in its consequences.
"I was not seeking publicity or sensationalism by
pointing out those dangers. Simply alerting world
opinion in the hope that, warned of such a grave
danger, it might contribute to avoiding it.
"At least it has been possible to draw attention
to a problem that was not even being mentioned
in the major media outlets of world opinion."
So perhaps Fidel's intervention has done the trick?
Fidel says the 7th of September was one of the
possible deadline dates & the 9th was the other..
"The former was the end of the 90-day period
given by the Security Council to know if Iran
had complied with the requisite to authorize
the inspection of its merchant fleet. The other
date was the end of the three-month period noted
in the June 9 Resolution, possibly that time
period was the Council’s intention."
The Director General of the IAEA COULD have
clarified these dates, and SHOULD have, but:-
"To date, we only have the unwonted statement by
the director general of the IAEA (International
Atomic Energy Agency), Japanese Yukiya Amano, a
yankis’ man. He fuelled the flames even further
and, like Pontius Pilate, washed his hands of it.
"A spokesman from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs commented with merited contempt on his
statement. A cable from the EFE agency noted it
and affirmed that "’Our friends shouldn’t concern
themselves, given that we do not believe that
our region is in a position for new military
adventures,’ and that ‘Iran is totally prepared
to respond to any military invasion...’"
So perhaps the West and Israel have been huffing
and puffing as usual! The bravery of Iran is now
incontrovertible; the danger of letting Israel off
the leash firmly established, and the entire world
alerted to the consequence of further travel along
the road of smashing Muslims & human mass suicide.
Yet... is this why France's strange leader is now
picking on the Gypsies? A case of "kicking the cat?"
Truly, the world is going through immensely
dangerous times, and we all need to be alert.
Thank you Fidel, and may your vision of a US
Empire falling and flailing its arms in distress,
draw all good people to move & think with love.
Image: US soldiers accused as murderers of civilians
US KILLERS IN AFGHANISTAN FACE TRIAL
At least 12 US soldiers are facing charges of
forming part of a "killer team" that allegedly
randomly fired on Afghani civilians & collected
their fingers as trophies, Europa Press reports.
One of them has now admitted killing civilians
for "fun" and out of sheer hatred.
The accused, aged from 19-25, face a death sentence
or life imprisonment, if they are found guilty.
5 of the soldiers are accused of killing 3
Afghanis, presumably for sport, in different
attacks with firearms or grenades this year.
Another 7 are accused of covering up the murders
and attacking a recruit when he reported these
& other abuses, including the smoking of hashish
stolen by them, from the civilians they killed.
According to the legal documents, Sergeant Calvin
Gibbs, aged 25, cooked up a plan with another
soldier, Jeremy Morlock, aged 22, and other
members of his unit, to form a killer team
within the Ramrod operations base.
The Army Times magazine notes that at least one
of the soldiers took fingers from the victims
as "mementoes" and that some of them posed for
"victory" photographs with the civilian corpses.
Image: Haiti still largely rubble
Antoine Fesnell prays as his daughters Nicole, 9
and Antoine, 6, look on during mass in the rubble
of Notre Dame in Port-au-Prince. AP Photo.
HAITIANS BURN DOWN RULING PARTY HQ
After the military invasion by the US, earthquakes
and a cholera epidemic controlled by Cuban doctors
you might forgive Haitians for showing the world
how angry they feel about being the objects of a
racist campaign by a US empire verging on genocide.
************************************************
HAITIANS STILL LIVING IN RUBBLE
The US has yet to deliver on the 1.15-billion-
dollar fund it promised Haiti for reconstruction
after it was hit by a devastating earthquake.
Almost NINE months have passed since the 7.0-
magnitude earthquake hit, killing an estimated
250,000 people and making one million homeless,
yet Haitians haven't received ANY of the funding
pledged in March by US Sec of State H. Clinton
for rebuilding needs, AP reports.
While about USD 1.1bn has been spent on aid
to Haiti by the US, reconstruction has been
overlooked and the country has not received
a single penny of the promised rebuilding
aid earmarked by Congress.
Just 2% of the 33 million cubic yards of rubble
have been cleared, and the death toll continues
to rise in Port-au-Prince because of inadequate
shelter and a lack of food.
The UN & 50 other nations, including the US,
pledged in March a total of USD 5.3 billion
for Haiti's reconstruction over 2 year period.
But since then, only 15% of the total sum for
2010-11, has reached Haiti.
CHF International, the primary US funded group
assigned to remove debris and build temporary
shelters, has asked the US government for USD
16.5 million to continue its work, which has
halted due to all the funding running out.
"It's just a matter of one phone call and the
trucks are out again. We have contractors ready
to continue removing rubble. ... We have local
suppliers and international suppliers ready to
ship the amount of wood & construction materials
we need," says CHF director Alberto Wilde.
"It's just a matter of money."
Last week a storm hit Port-au-Prince, blowing
roofs off houses, uprooting trees, cutting power
lines and destroying makeshift tent cities where
most earthquake survivors have been living. Five
were reportedly killed and dozens injured.
Image: Co-exist With Pippa
So many gods, so many creeds,
so many paths that wind and wind
While just the art of being kind
is all the sad world needs.
- Edith Wheeler Wilcox
It was an old, heavy, galvanized bucket. I
remember it clearly. The man tried to resist
arrest; several Israeli troops handled him
roughly. The man was from Gaza and had a small
boy with him – his son. As the military van sped
quickly away, the child was left behind in the
road wailing pitifully. The crime was stealing
a bucket of Israeli water.
Water is a resource of nature. Like the land, the
air and the seas it belongs to no-one. The water
is not Israeli. It is mine and yours to share for
the slaking of our thirst and for the enrichment
of our communities. Gaza has no rivers, and its
underground aquifer has not been adequate since
1967. In a conflict ridden zone such as
Palestine, water is just another weapon.
I've left London for Gaza on the Viva Palestine
Convoy and our numbers will swell to 500 vehicles
as we collect from France, Italy, Turkey & Syria.
These convoys to highlight the dire political
situation in Gaza are rarely reported in the
mainstream news. This convoy will be the 5th
of its kind. Another leaves in October.
The Lebanese women’s flotilla is currently held
up in Cyprus. Europe and the US want to keep
news coverage to a minimum.
The Israeli and Palestinian position is never
presented to us clearly. News riddled with
propagandist manipulation, secrets untold,
deaths, murders and politics fudge the situation,
but one thing is clear: the people living in
Gaza are fenced in, denied everything but enough
food to keep them just above malnutrition
levels, and subject to ever changing sadistic
laws which the Jewish population would find
intolerable. In short Gazans are kept in a prison
by the state of Israel, aided and abetted by
the US and Europe.
Gaza holds roughly 2 million people and is 139
square miles in area. That is less than twice
the size of Newport (South Wales) – which has
a population of 140,000. In this tiny scrap of
rubble people are expected to live, work, farm,
rear children and educate themselves. The
children learn hardship and dislike of their
neighbours, and each new generation grows to
maturity in abject poverty, nursing revenge.
The blockade of Gaza is a medieval siege.
It prevents imports and exports, it prevents
the rebuilding of demolished houses and
infrastructure and obstructs the movement of
all those living behind the Wall. This is not
a natural disaster. It is political vengeance.
One discreet nod from the US could bring it to an end.
It is not about religion, nor about race. It is
about defending basic human rights. The citizens
of Gaza deserve the thoughts of all free-thinking
people, and my contribution to their plight is
to draw attention to the moral decay of those
who perpetuate this inhumanity.
Breaking this blockade is an act to support the
rights of the human being. Few attempt it, few
achieve it, and I, along with those brave fellows
of the Viva Palestina Convoy will play my part
in highlighting the injustice of the blockade
by driving up to the gates of Rafah with my van
packed full of medical aid & asking to be let in.
Donations towards humanitarian aid for Gaza can
STILL be made here:
http://southwales2gaza.blogspot.com/2010/
08/donate-to-south-wales-to-gaza.html
For details on the convoy to Gaza please visit:
www.vivapalestina.org
or follow my blog as I travel at
www.pippabartolotti@blogspot.com
Pippa
COEXIST is an ever growing group of people and
organisations who believe that true and lasting
Peace can only be sustained when economic, social
and environmental justice have been achieved.
Our membership is open and free. All we ask
is that you pass this on to people in your
network who share our values and who would
like to be part of the construction of a
more just and sustainable future.
To join all you have to do is send us an email at
coexist@pippa-bartolotti.co.uk
Image: CND
Press Release
Trident will cause defence job losses: new report
A new report shows the net impact of going ahead
with the replacement of the Trident nuclear
weapons system will be to cause an overall
reduction in defence employment, due to the need
to scrap more labour-intensive conventional
defence activities to pay for the system...
designed for the Cold War.
The report, 'Trident, jobs and the UK economy'
is launched at the TUC Congress. It includes
a comprehensive analysis of jobs dependent on
Trident, and of the other defence programmes
that are put at risk to pay for its £76bn cost.
Using official figures, the authors show that
the cancellation of surface ships, aircraft,
armoured vehicles and RAF bases will endanger
far more jobs than the relatively small numbers
that would go if Trident replacement was cancelled.
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament, says "The Chancellor
is demanding up to 20% cuts from the MoD and has
stated that the cost of Trident replacement will
come from the main defence budget. So going ahead
with Trident will have a devastating impact on
non-nuclear defence manufacturing.
"Trident is cash-hungry whilst providing
relatively few jobs. Hundreds of millions are to
be spent with US-based contractors, providing
nothing for the UK economy. Other areas of
defence spending at risk from Trident generate
far more employment per pound spent. Closing RAF
bases and scrapping surface-ship programmes will
cause significant job losses in the coming years,
whereas cutting Trident would have little impact
... until at least 2016.
"The report makes clear that with relatively
small investment the key facility dependent on
Trident work - BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow -
could be re-aligned towards the rapidly growing
needs of the low-carbon economy. Precision
marine engineering skills are perfect for
developing wave and tidal energy systems, where
Britain could be a world leader. Diversifying
into a market with strong domestic demand as
well as huge export potential would provide
much greater job security for shipyard workers.
Relying almost entirely on a few MoD orders,
will always be a precarious formula."
The report, including an executive summary,
is available at www.cnduk.org/tridentjobs
plus a short version at www.cnduk.org/tridentjobs2
The report is launched at a TUC fringe meeting
'Time to Scrap Trident: The Cuts & Jobs Questions'
with report author Professor John Foster,
Heather Wakefield (UNISON), Tony Kearns (CWU)
and Kate Hudson (CND) on Tuesday 14th Sept.
The report was prepared for CND by:
Professor John Foster (Emeritus Professor,
University of Paisley), Dr. Alan Mackinnon
and Revd. John Ainslie.
Image: Peace
Hello friends and supporters,
In a time of momentous change in the Middle East,
Jerusalem Peacemakers continues the work to build
bridges between religions and peoples in the Holy
Land. Inspired by protests for change in Israel
and the Arab world, our circle of religious
peacebuilders continue to hold the prophetic
vision of a shared future in the region. With
the recent escalation in southern of Israel and
Gaza, its important also to hear the positive stories.
Projects and meetings continue the spirit and
vision of the late Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari,
the co-founder of Jerusalem Peacemakers, who
left us over a year ago.
ARAB-JEWISH YOUTH DELEGATION TO AUSCHWITZ, November 2010
The late Sheikh Bukhari initiated this project:
last November 1-10, we sent a group of 8 Arab
and Jewish Israeli youth to join 14 youth from
Germany, Switzerland, Poland and Italy at
the 'Bearing Witness Retreat' at the Auschwitz-
Birkenau death camp. The youth encounter was a
part of the larger annual retreat led by the Zen
Peacemaker community. The event included reading
names of victims of the Shoah, prayers from
different traditions, listening circles,
chanting traditional melodies in the children's
barracks, a forgiveness ceremony. Even with all
sides coming with feelings of victimhood, each
side attempted to understand the pain of the
other. All the youth came to feel a shared
humanity, agreeing that rather than deepening
the wounds with violence, we should create
places of healing. Support came from the
Religion Today Film Festival in Trento, Italy.
BRIDGES WITH GAZA: GAZA-SDEROT CONFERENCE, February 15th
Jerusalem Peacemakers participated in a
conference at the Sapir College in Sderot:
"Gaza-Sderot: Moving from Crisis to Sustainability".
Over 40 Palestinians came from Gaza, joining
Israeli academics and NGO leaders in workshops
about the role of civil society in improving the
economy, health, and ecology for people on both
sides of the border and region. Joining us from
Gaza City were Sheikh Bukhari's daughter Amina
and her husband, together we led a workshop about
the late Sheikh Bukhari's message of non-violence.
More about this conference at:
http://www.gazasderot.org/main-e.htm
ONE YEAR MEMORIAL FOR SHEIKH BUKHARI, May 30th
Gathering on May 30th, 2011, Jews, Christians and
Muslims came together to honor the memory of
Shekh Abdul Aziz Bukhari, on the first
anniversary of his death. Event was hosted at
the Lutheran Redeemer Church in the Old City.
Leading the evening was Izzeldin Bukhari, the
sheikh's son, with wife and daughters of the
sheikh present. Everyone was inspired to
continue the work that Sheikh Bukhari started.
ERETZ SHALOM EVENT TO HONOR RABBI FROMAN, February 25
Rabbi Menachem Froman, pioneer in dialogue with
the Muslim world, is ill with cancer. "Eretz
Shalom" is the settler peace movement the rabbi
initiated, promoting dialogue and co-operation
with their Palestinian neighbors. Some advocate
continuing to live in their homes in the West
Bank as Jewish citizens in a future state of Palestine.
Eretz Shalom hosted an event to honor the legacy
of Rabbi Froman on Feb. 25 at the Tzavta theater
in Tel Aviv. Joining were 100 Israelis and
Palestinians, including settlers and Palestinians
from from the West Bank. Palestinian and Israeli
musicians performed including Ehud Banai, Barry
Sakharov and Shlomo Gronich, blessings were
offered by national poets of Israel A.B. Yehoshua
and Amos Oz, Rabbi Melchior and Sheikhs Abdel
Salaam and Ghassan Manasra.
More about Eretz Shalom:
http://www.eretzshalom.org/
Rabbi Froman's close friend and Muslim partner is
Haj Ibrahim Abuelhawa. Throughout the rabbi's
illness, hospital stays, Ibrahim has been at his
side. In May, Rabbi Froman married his son, groom
Tzuri Shalom. Even in frail condition, Rabbi
Froman stood on his feet to offer his blessings
at the huppah and later to get up from his
wheelchair to dance with Haj Ibrahim at the
wedding celebration.
BOOMBAMELA FESTIVAL, April 21-22
Ibrahim and Eliyahu were guests of the Boombamela
Festival in Eilat. At the central stage of the
festival, we led a ceremony in front of hundreds
of Israeli young people about unity between the
religions. Ibrahim blessed the audience, many of
whom are soon to join the Israeli army, to
become "soldiers of peace and love"...
JERUSALEM EARTH WALK, June 21
We held the Jerusalem Earth Walk , June 21st,
part of the global Earth Walk 2011 event, based
in Tucson, AZ. Coming together were 30 Israelis,
friends from the USA and Palestinians from the
Hebron area. We started with an opening prayer
and dialogue circle in 'Gai Ben Hinnom' valley
below the Cinemateque, walked together up Mt.
Zion, through Zion Gate. On the Old City
rooftops overlooking the Holy Sepulcher church,
Dome of the Rock and the Mt. of Olives, we held
a closing peace circle.
Upcoming updates about:
the fifth annual Jerusalem Hug,
the Abrahamic Reunion at the
Tent of Sarah and Hagar in Faradis,
interfaith Ramadan iftar in Jerusalem.
Pictures from these events:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
jerusalem_peacemakers/sets/
We are planning a USA speaking tour, Eliyahu and
Muslim peacemaker Ghassan Manasra this November-
December. If interested to host an event for one
or both of us, contact us, we can offer
presentations and workshops about religious
peacemaking in the Holy Land, tools for peace
in Judaism and Islam.
Shalom, Salaam,
Eliyahu McLean,
Jerusalem Peacemakers, director
We can barely cover basic expenses for our projects.
We urgently need your financial support to
continue the work, to keep the flame of hope
and peace in the Holy Land alive.
In the USA, in order to make a tax-deductible
contribution, write a check to:
'Center for Religious Tolerance',
make a note on the memo line:
‘for Jerusalem Peacemakers' and send it to:
The Center for Religious Tolerance,
520 Ralph St. Sarasota, FL 34242
Donate by PayPal:
http://www.onepeacejerusalem.org/donate#nogo
In the UK, to make a charitable donation,
write a check to 'Jerusalem Peacemakers UK'
and send it to:
Jerusalem Peacemakers UK,
35 The Dene, SEVENOAKS,
Kent TN13 1P
Image: And the good news?
AND THE GOOD NEWS?
DENMARK LEADS EUROPE MOVE TO LEFT
Helle Thorning-Schmidt of the Social Democrat
Party has won Denmark's general elections.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt is set to become the
European country's first woman prime minister.
With all votes counted, the center-left party
has gained 89 seats in Denmark's 179-seat
parliament against the 86 seats secured by the
country's center-right bloc, media report.
"We did it ... today we've written history,"
Thorning-Schmidt says to a gathering of
euphoric supporters on Thursday.
The European country's current rightist PM Lars
Lokke Rasmussen concedes defeat, for now:
"Tonight I hand over the keys to the prime
minister's office to Helle Thorning-Schmidt;
and, dear Helle, take good care of them.
You're only borrowing them," Rasmussen smiles.
The centre-left candidate appealed to voters
by promising to raise taxes, increase public
spending, and ease strict immigration laws
advocated by the conservative "Blue Bloc" party
that has held power in Denmark for 10 years.
"Denmark needs change, Denmark needs to move on
and Denmark needs my leadership," she laughs.
***********************************************
Peru's presidential runoff vote gives victory to
the leftist former army Lt Col Ollanta Humala.
***********************************************
ZELAYA AND SUPPORTERS RETURN TO HONDURAS
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was
overthrown in a US-sponsored military coup
in 2009.The current Honduran President and
the country's ousted ex-president Manuel Zelaya
have signed an agreement securing the return
of the exiled leader.
The deal was brokered by the Venezuelan and
Colombian governments, and signed in Cartagena.
According to the deal, Zelaya and his supporters
are allowed to return to the country and restart
participation in the country's political affairs
for the first time since his 2009 ouster.
“This agreement is great news to Latin Americans
because it normalizes the situation in the Inter-
American system," Colombian President Santos says.
The agreement also calls for the country's re-
entry to the Organization of American States.
***********************************************
ZIMBABWE TO BE ENRICHED UNDER MUGABE
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi says China
is committed to further bolstering bilateral
relations with Zimbabwe.
The US and UK, motivated by hatred and racism,
nearly destroyed Zimbabwe through currency and
trade wars, but now China is helping, all is well.
Yang, leading an 11-member delegation, arrived in
Zimbabwe on the 10th of February, to begin a two-
day visit expected to yield lucrative investment
agreements between the two countries.
In a statement, Yang says his country considers
Zimbabwe as a strategic partner in Africa.
"Zimbabwe is an important country in Southern Africa.
It has a beautiful landscape & rich natural resources.
Its people are industrious and talented."
"China is ready to work with Zimbabwe to further
enhance political mutual trust, expand mutually
beneficial cooperation and steadily elevate our
friendship and cooperation."
During Yang's stay, China and Zimbabwe are to
sign various investment deals which will add
impetus to its efforts to enrich its economy.
************************************************
Bolivia has access to the Pacific Ocean for the
first time since the Pacific war 126 years ago,
following an agreement reached with Peru.
This "opens the door for Bolivians to have an
international port, to use the ocean for global
trade and for Bolivian products to have better
access to global markets," the state-funded BBC
quotes Morales as saying.
Bolivia can now use a three-mile long strip of
land in the port of Ilo to export its products
- mainly silver, tin, and zinc - and to dock
its naval ships.
"It is unjust that Bolivia has no sovereign
outlet to the ocean," Merco Press news agency
quotes Garcia as saying.
"Bolivia will have a place for these young people
who have sworn to defend the sovereignty of their
country; to study, live and teach their zeal and
patriotism," he adds. "This is a country that
needs the backing of its brothers, to build a
common front in defense of inalienable rights,"
Garcia goes on to say.
In the 1879-84 War of the Pacific, Chile defeated
Peru and Bolivia, to gain control of the mineral-
rich lands of both countries. The conflict also
blocked Bolivia's access to the sea.
This is still an unresolved issue - and UK hands
are ALL over it ! Read the Granma article here:
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/ouramerica-i/
17feb-Bolivia-chile.html
************************************************
CZECHs MOVE TO LEFT
The Czech Statistical Office announces that the
left-wing Social Democrats have won 12 out of
the 29 contested seats, in the runoff vote.
This grants the party, which has promised to
delay unpopular austerity plans and stop the
expansion of the country's presence in war-torn
Afghanistan, a 41-seat majority in the 81-seat Senate.
Necas' Civic Democratic Party now has a total of 25 seats.
The parliament's lower house controls the
legislative process, but the Senate is the
major player in electing the president and
passing constitutional amendments.
The victory gives the opposition power to stop
Prague's plan to increase the number of Czech
troops in Afghanistan from 520 to 720 next year, AP reports.
Social Democrats can now also delay the
government's austerity plans, such as
10% cuts in state employees' salaries.
*************************************************
BRAZIL KEEPS LEFT WITH ROUSSEFF
Dilma Rousseff finally makes it as President,
after being officially declared winner of the
runoff in Brazil's elections on Sunday.
Rousseff, 62, born to a middle class immigrant
family, faced the military coup in 1964, by
joining the armed resistance known as Colina
(acronym for Command of National Liberation)
and VAR-Palmares (Armed Revolutionary Vanguard),
fighting and being tortured and imprisoned by
the US-backed military junta.
Rousseff was jailed in November 1970 and spent
about three years behind bars. It took her
several years to recover her health.
In the late 1980s, she became secretary of mines
and energy in Rio Grande do Sul state, and made
herself famous, by increasing the state's power
supply by nearly 50% in a very short time.
Decisive and capable, Rousseff was promoted by
Lula, shortly after she joined the PT in 2001.
Minister of energy, then the country's Chief of
Staff, she has launched many programmes to help
the working class and poor of Brazil under Lula.
Rousseff is obviously Lula's choice as successor,
and says she will maintain the main economic and
foreign policies of the current administration
& try to further Brazil's influence in the world.
She vows in her victory speech in Brasilia, to
completely eradicate poverty in her nation.
Rousseff became a grandmother in September, and
voters were moved as she showed in her election
campaign, the tender feelings and happiness of
being a mother and a grandmother.
"I will pay attention and take care of the
country as a kind mother," she says.
Image: Leonard Peltier
FREE POLITICAL PRISONER LEONARD PELTIER NOW!!!
Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier, who
has been in prison in the US for 35 years, has
received the first international human rights
prize of Uruguay's Mario Benedetti Foundation.
At a ceremony in Montevideo where the winner was
announced, the human rights group calls Peltier
the longest-serving political prisoner in the
Americas, AFP reports.
Peltier, a Native American activist who was a
member of the American Indian Movement (AIM),
was convicted in 1977 for the alleged murder of
two US FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
He was sentenced to 2 consecutive terms of life imprisonment.
"Leonard Peltier, who on September 12th, 2011,
will turn 67, has spent more than half his life
in prison. He is a symbol of resistance to
repressive state policies by the US, where
there are people in jail for ethnic, racial,
ideological and religious reasons," the
foundation's statement says.
Ricardo Elena, a member of the foundation's
honorary board, says Peltier's case "is one
that is repeated over and over: violation (of
rights), persecution, eviction, invasion and
expropriation of the indigenous people from
the time it was 'discovered', until now.
"It does not just happen in the United States;
it is happening in southern South America with
the (indigenous) Mapuche people, and with
indigenous people in North America," he states.
Elena says the United States "likes to think it
is the seat of democracy, but it has political
prisoners just like a dictatorship might have."
The Mario Benedetti Foundation was established
to support human rights and cultural causes
in line with the work of the Uruguayan writer
after whom it was named, and who died in 2009.
Peltier is incarcerated at the United States
Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
James Swan, the head of the Black Hills chapter
of the United Urban Warrior Society - a nonprofit
group that helps Native Americans fight racial
discrimination and injustice - describes Peltier
as a political prisoner whose case needs to be
reviewed by an independent body.
"What we want people to realize is that this
is an injustice," AP quotes Swan as saying.
Peltier, 66, was sentenced to two life sentences
in '77, on false charges of killing 2 FBI agents.
Peltier asserts that he is innocent and that the
FBI framed him for political reasons, especially
for his activities as a member of the Native
American Movement. He has lodged numerous appeals
against the conviction - but all unsuccessfully.
He has been denied parole again and again, and
will not be eligible for it again until 2024,
when he turns 79.
According to Peltier's relatives, he suffers a
number of health problems such as diabetes,
arthritis, and the loss of vision in one eye
following a minor stroke.
Many activists say Leonard Peltier is the most
important political prisoner in the US.
In a review of the human rights record of the US
at the UN Human Rights Council UPR conference in
Geneva, one group called for a new trial for him.
The US Human Rights Network filed a 423-page
submission to the Geneva meeting about him.
One item, entitled “Political Repression-
Political Prisoners,” about cases in the '70s,
indicts the FBI, accusing COINTELPRO of “maiming,
murdering, false prosecutions and frame-ups,
destruction and mayhem throughout the country.”
It cites the FBI for targeting the Puerto Rican
Independence Front, the Black Panther Party,
the Weather Underground, the American Indian
Movement, the Black Liberation Army, as well
as “peace activists and everyone in between,”
& says that “many of today's political prisoners”
in the US were jailed indefinitely as a result.
Repression has increased since 9/11, it says.
The political repression paper demands an
“immediate criminal investigation into the
conspiracy,” and also new trials for two
now-aged activists jailed on murder charges,
Mumia Abu Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
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