Grandma at the barricades

This photo will surely touch our beleaguered hearts: a striking coal miner in Pozo Candin, Spain helps an elderly woman pass a barricade of burning tires used to fend off riot cops. Or maybe he’s escorting her to the barricade so she can kick ass too.  (Photo by Javier Bauluz/AP/Periodismo Humano)

Die old but die glamorously

There is just nothing one can say to enhance this wonderfully witty piece of art. Make sure your lipstick is on before they bury you? And make sure you cop an attitude when you go!? It is the work of a young woman art student & the daughter of a friend & we wish her well in producing such ironic masterpieces.

Singing to the crops

How will the US propaganda machine ever explain this photo!? A group of North Korean musicians are either singing to the crop or greeting farmers on Hwanggumpyong Island, North Korea. You don’t see agribusiness doing that. And we thought they only goose-stepped all over Pyongyang or held public orgies of grief over the death of their exalted leader, Kim Jong-il. Of course, after that flotilla up the Thames with Betty Windsor, it’s hard to claim North Korea has anything on England. (Photo by Jacky Chen/Reuters)

Crackdown in Yemen

We’re being set up again. This time in Yemen. And it’s the democracy movement in Yemen who will pay the price. A few weeks ago, media covered the military muscle flexing in Yemen (ostensibly celebrating the 1990 unification of North & South Yemen) interrupted in rehearsal by a soldier blowing himself up along with 90 other soldiers. Media proclaimed al-Qaeda responsibility & said al-Qaeda had taken advantage of the Yemen uprising to grab territory in the southern provinces by invading cities, “getting close to their dream of their own Caliphate” & threatening shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden & the Red Sea. Reports said the new dictator, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, had stepped up the fight against al-Qaeda, particularly with the use of US drone strikes & even more US military advisors. Obomba & his counter-terrorism tsar, John Brennan, offered condolences & even more terrorist aid. After the fishy suicide bombing, an official of Hadi’s regime proclaimed: "Yemenis must stand together in the face of this deadly terrorist threat. We will celebrate our unity tomorrow with the blood of our martyrs on our hands and faces." Oh, so now the martyrs are 90 soldiers used to enforce military rule & not the thousands of democracy activists murdered & incarcerated under the Saleh & Hadi regimes!? This all signals a military crackdown on the uprising & it’s no coincidence Hadi ordered bulldozers to clear “Change Square”, the area in Sana’a occupied for over a year by protestors demanding prosecution of the old dictator, Ali Saleh, & justice for the murdered. Nobel peace laureate, Tawakkul Karman, kept her tent in place in Change Square but has not denounced the military assault on democracy. Her political association with the US could explain her silence. Here a democracy protestor moves out before bulldozers & soldiers mow him down. (Photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA)

Haute couture for the ostentatious

There was no identification on this photo either of the couple or the photographer. Just as well. How could she ever explain this folly!? It’s not nice to make fun of people--unless they’re politicians or aristocrats, of course. But when you show up for an elegant evening out wearing a  pink log on your head, you’re asking for it sister.

The struggle in Bahrain continues

This wall in the village of Malkiya, Bahrain is spray painted with images of jailed democracy activists. The caption on this photo of a protest said, “Clashes broke out after a march demanding democracy & that prisoners be freed”--as if police assaults on protestors caused spontaneous combustion. Media reports of the Bahrain uprising ignore the massive protests & most often depict young people with petrol bombs; they don’t show the excessive use of tear gas by riot cops which has caused serious injuries, health problems, & deaths. All solidarity with the protestors of Bahrain who use the only weapons they have to bring down tyranny.  (Photo by Hasan Jamali/AP)

Che on the barricades

It’s not a good sign for the Spanish state when strikers start showing up at the barricades with Che Guevara tee shirts. The oligarchs thought they could silence him by murdering him. Many of his supporters feared putting his image on posters & tee shirts would make him iconic & render him mute. Look how that’s working out for capitalism. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

There will be no peace until there is justice

Once again the murdered victims of tyranny come back to haunt justice. Here a mother protesting in Tahrir Square holds up a photo of her young son killed by Mubarak agents during protests to oust the dictator. Thousands of protestors continue to demand retrials for the six security officials acquitted in the military’s kangaroo court. Mubarak’s life sentence will probably be served in a luxury suite. The only way justice can be truly addressed is to dismantle the entire military apparatus down to the last bullet & torture cell. There will be no peace until there is justice.  (Photo by Nasser Nasser/AP)

A pox on both their houses

Bill Clinton says a Mitt Romney presidency would be “calamitous” for the US & for the world. If there’s one guy who knows calamitous, it’s Billy Goat Clinton since he has done nothing but wreak havoc on the people of Haiti for the past several years. But regrettably, he is carrying out Barack Obama’s policies in doing so. What’s calamitous is believing there’s a modicum of difference between the two parties which both serve the oligarchs--one to deceive & control progressives & the other to deceive & control the right-wing. But, as this article makes clear, the shell game is running out of steam & is no longer fooling a good share of the electorate. A  pox on both their houses!
http://www.cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_706.shtml

Israeli bombing in Gaza

Palestinian boys in Gaza City sift through the rubble of a dairy factory completely destroyed in an Israeli bombing attack on June 3rd. When you investigate each new bombing attack by Israelis on Gaza, you must carefully check the dates of the reports since they are so frequent & so indiscriminate, including attacks on refugee camps, power plants, cities. In this rampage, the Israeli military admitted that bombers attacked five sites in Gaza, including the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza & the cheese factory because they “belong to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations". Seven people, including four children were injured at Nuseirat. This was in retaliation for a border scuffle on Friday where an Israeli soldier & a Palestinian were killed. Make your opposition to Israeli war crimes heard by boycotting all Israeli products (barcode 729) (Photo by Hatem Moussa/AP)

Showdown in Spain

Striking Spanish miners are now on the front lines of opposition to IMF-European Union austerity attacks. Eight thousand miners at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain continue to set up road blocks as barricades & strike & sit in at mines to oppose cuts in what are called “coal subsidies” but which mean slashed wages & pensions, & removal of already minimal safety protections. Using riot police against protestors & strikers is now an international phenomenon which means the oligarchs are girding for battle to wrench from us what they call “entitlements” & we call human rights. It’s no coincidence media is making such a spectacle over all this royal crap; they want us to get used to serfdom & bending the knee again. Our fullest solidarity with the miners of Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano/AP)

Sometimes art is not just in the eye of the beholder

Here a model poses near a public art installation in Beijing & the question is raised: do you think there’s a crisis of art in China? Is this what the great Chinese Revolution has come to?  ((Photo by Alexander F. Yuan/AP)

The endless homage

The BBC has suspended all news operations for the duration of the Diamond Jubilee in abject homage to Betty Windsor. It’s all Betty all the time. The news agency recognizes no other reality for now, which should make us circumspect about its reporting when it does resume it’s usual broadcasting--or, as put more colloquially, when they pull their snout out of her ass. Here is an example of jubilee coverage which trumps the Eurozone crisis, major protests in Hong Kong & Egypt, 8,000 striking miners in Spain, Israeli bombing in Gaza, & in general, a world collapsing around our ears. (AP photo)

The power of defying tyranny

The Chinese democracy protestor from Tiananmen Square, known only as “Tank Man” (whose fate remains unknown): posted to commemorate & honor him & the thousands of men, women, & children from China to Kashmir to Palestine to Egypt, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Yemen, Bahrain, (& the list goes on & on) who have stood up to the armored machines of tyranny armed only with rocks & defiance & belief in a better world.

23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Protestors marched in Hong Kong on May 27th not just to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on the democracy movement in China but to demand justice for the several hundred murdered (hundreds more were injured) when troops indiscriminately opened fire on unarmed protestors. The number of those shot in cold blood are not definitive but most estimate about 1,000 (not massacred in the square but in attempting to get to it). The placards read “Exonerate June 4th”. In spring of 1989, more than one million Chinese students & workers occupied Beijing’s Tiananmen Square & the upheaval spread to cities & universities nationwide. Tens of thousands in at least five cities began several weeks of the largest political protest movement since the communists came to power in 1949. In this brief video, the lone protestor known only as “Tank Man” attempted to block tanks heading to Tiananmen Square. To this day, the fate of that unarmed man remains unknown despite investigations to find out who he is & what happened to him. After the massacre on June 4th, Deng Xiaoping, the official responsible for ordering the massacre, blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries trying to overthrow communism. The leaders wanted to be able to do that themselves. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ

Gaudy grandeur on the Thames

It’s just so hard to pick out my favorite Diamond Jubilee moment--but that flotilla is certainly among them. It must have taken its gaudy, funereal inspiration from “Cleopatra” as envisioned by Cecil B. DeMille. One difference though is that while Cleo killed herself with an asp, Betty decided to marry one--the man she calls, “anus horribilis”. The boys were all decked out in military uniforms with a chest full of medals they didn’t do a damn thing to earn & the girls all wore hats renowned as architectural & aesthetic atrocities. Other than that, not much happened. The Windsors only show animation at the horse track. But please tell me, England--who the hell were those people lined up along the Thames waving the flag (which is even uglier than ours) & watching nothing happen? Wasn’t there anything on the telly better than that!? (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty)

Far right Israeli minister Eli Yishai sees African immigrants as threat to ‘white’ rule

As Israel implements a law aimed at stemming the flow of Africans entering the Jewish state from the south, Interior Minister Eli Yishai says Israel must protect itself from a demographic threat. Africans pose such a threat, Yishai says, because they don’t recognize that Israel belongs to “the white man.”

The new law will allow immigrants to be placed in a massive concentration camp (currently under construction) for up to three years.

Aryeh Eldad, one of Yishai’s colleagues in the Knesset, wants immigrants to be shot on sight if they attempt to cross the border.

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Israel is new South Africa as boycott calls increase

After Madonna began her world tour there last week, campaigners urge cutting of cultural ties

The Independent

"Some of the world's biggest stars – from Madonna to the Red Hot Chili Peppers – are being accused of putting profit before principle in a growing backlash against artists performing in Israel.

Campaigners angry at human rights abuses against the Palestinian people – symbolised by Israel's policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians and allowing Israeli settlers to take over their land – are demanding a boycott of Israeli venues in a campaign that echoes the 1980s protests against South Africa and the infamous venue Sun City.

Last week Madonna came under fire for her decision to perform in Israel to kick off her world tour last Thursday. "By performing in Israel, Madonna has consciously and shamefully lent her name to fig-leafing Israel's occupation and apartheid and showed her obliviousness to human rights," said Omar Barghouti of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel."

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Uri Avneri: Transfer in Israel: Who and to Where?

"When a strategist plans a war, he first of all defines its aim. That is the Main Effort. Every other effort must be considered accordingly. If it supports the main effort, it is acceptable. If it hurts the main effort, it must be rejected.

The Main Effort of the Zionist/Israeli movement is to achieve a Jewish State in all of Eretz Israel – the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. In other words: the prevention of an Arab Palestinian state.

When one grasps this, all the events of the last 115 years make sense. All the twists and turns, all the seeming contradictions and deviations, all the curious-looking decisions make perfect sense.

In a bird’s eye view, the Zionist-Israeli policy looks like a river striving towards the sea. When it meets an obstacle, it goes around it. The path deviates to the right and to the left, sometimes even going backwards. But it perseveres with a wondrous determination towards its goal.

The guiding principle was to accept every compromise that gives us what we can get at any stage, but never let the final aim out of our sight.

This policy allows us to compromise about everything, except one: an Arab Palestinian state that would confirm the existence of an Arab Palestinian people.

All Israeli governments have fought this idea with all available means. In this respect there was no difference between David Ben-Gurion, who had a secret agreement with King Abdullah of Jordan to obstruct the setting up of the Palestinian state decreed by the UN General Assembly’s 1947 resolution, and Menachem Begin, who made a separate peace with Anwar Sadat in order to get Egypt out of the Israeli-Palestinian war. Not to mention Golda Meir’s famous dictum: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people”. Thousands of other decisions by successive Israeli governments have followed the same logic.

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Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran

WASHINGTON — From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program.
Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks — begun in the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games — even after an element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010 because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran’s Natanz plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet.
At a tense meeting in the White House Situation Room within days of the worm’s “escape,” Mr. Obama, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time, Leon E. Panetta, considered whether America’s most ambitious attempt to slow the progress of Iran’s nuclear efforts had been fatally compromised.
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