Friday, April 3, 2009

Israel gone by 2015

Look this judge is a Jewish person and I am not anti-semetic because I am a semetic person and because I know that all Jewish people dont support the Criminal state of the usurping entity but I want to know how come it is allowed that the judge will be a Jew? Do you think that the Israelis will allow the judge to be a Muslim?????

South African judge to head UN inquiry into Gaza war crimes
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1076259.html

Yasmina, quite your job and work for this group.

The National Lawyers Guild has issued its report following its delegation's trip to Gaza
You will find overwhelming evidence that Israel showed a complete disregard for civilian life. The snipings of the elderly, the white phosphorus in neighborhoods and schools, the prevention of ambulances from getting to anybody... it's all here. Also: the assertion that Israel has violated U.S. law. The Arms Control Act, governing its uses of munitions made here. And the Foreign Assistance Act--no aid to countries with gross human-rights violations. The Lawyers Guild has called for several U.S. investigations of same and for Congress to end military aid now till a determination is made.
http://www.nlg.org/NLGGazaDelegationReport.pdf

Israel’s war crimes
Israel blamed its earlier wars on the threat to its security, even that against Lebanon in 1982. However, its assault on Gaza was not justified and there are international calls for an investigation. But is there the political will to make Israel account for its war crimes?http://www.caiaweb.org/node/1279

Israeli military cloaks abuses
The Israeli army's Advocate General has summarily closed an internal investigation into allegations stemming from accounts by soldiers of abuses against Palestinian civilians committed during Israel's recent war on Hamas in Gaza. It took the military investigators just half the duration of the 22-day war in Gaza to bulldoze the accounts and to dismiss completely the serious allegations made by soldiers who had themselves taken part in the fighting.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10443.shtml

Miss. Lawyer (Yasmina)

In the USA can I say that I hope Nasralla retaliates for this?? Because I do hope that he will retaliate for this... Criminal, cowardly Israelis are terrorising the Lebanese people with there war games over Lebanese soil. Well we know that this is all those animals can do, fly there planes from up above over Lebanese land because the Lebanese Lions Hezballah (I am channelling Anand) beat there asses over and over. I wonder what kind of inferiority complexes those Israeli criminals feel that Hezbollah beat one of the most powerful military powers in the world. Like Abraham says, "Israel gone by 2025... or maybe 2015" !!!!!

Israel says it will continue violating Lebanese airspace
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=100608

Palestinian Gandis

Six injured one seriously in Nil'in weekly protest
Scores of villagers from Nil'in, located near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, along with their international supporters held their weekly protest on Friday midday against the illegal Israeli wall being built on village land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59766

Two Journalists injured at the weekly Bil'in demonstration
The residents of Bil'in village, located near the central west Bank city of Ramallah, marched towards the wall today after Friday prayers. The protest was joined by Israeli and international activists.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59767

1 dead colonist versus 3 dead Palestinians, 8 injured Palestinians, 27 kidnapped Palestinians

PCHR Weekly Report: 3 Palestinians dead, 8 injured, 27 abducted this week
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, during the week of 26 March- 01 April 2009, two members of the Palestinian resistance were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian woman died of injuries sustained during the recent Israeli forces offensive on the Gaza Strip. 8 Palestinian civilians, including a PCHR field worker, were injured by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59757

The colonist that was injured yesterday

Did you know...

Yair Gamliel, the seven-year-old boy whose skull was fractured by an ax-wielding terrorist in the settlement of Bat Ayin on Thursday, is the son of Ofer Gamliel, one of three men convicted in 2003 and sent to prison for 15 years for a failed bomb plot against a Arab girls school in east Jerusalem.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562897298&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Thursday, April 2, 2009

'Chastity squad' man charged with attacking computer store clerks....'Chastity squad' man charged with attacking computer store clerks

Shmuel Weisfish accused of threatening to murder employees of Jerusalem computer store for selling 'non-kosher' MP4 players
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3696590,00.html

................Jewish Taliban

Arguing with criminals like C.H.

I dont know why any person will waste there time arguing with that clown and criminal that calls himself C.H. the last time I paid a visit to Iraqi Mojos blog that guy C.H. was leaving comments saying that he has more respect for Benjamin Netanyahu than for Barack Obama,, remember this criminal C.H. has a blog that is called United World for Peace??? Well you can only imagine what "world peace" looks like for this criminal if he thinks Netanyahu deserves more respect than Obama.
One interesting thing that I did notice from Mojos blog is that there are many Americans that visit that place that attack all the people that say something negative about USA but not one of them complained because the criminal C.H. says he supports Netanyahu more than Obama,,,,, those Americans that pretend they are patriotic really are just 100 percent criminals they dont believe in anything execpt what makes political sense for them on a daily basis. Suddenly there is "freedom of speech" and reasons why America is so great because C.H. can choose to support Israel more than his own country! Criminals!
Thats this guys mentality and I see that down stairs he said Arabs should be ashamed for how Asad Angry Abu Khalil made a clown of that damned Zionist yesterday
Wala I want to give that guy 1 mil Banana pies to send him congradulations.....its good to see some Arabs still have dignity and wont bow down to pressure to normalize realtions with criminals like the representative for the "usurping entity" I think Nasralla first started calling Israel that.
I wonder if that Israeli pig that he debated yesterday went home and felt ashamed that somebody exposed his lies and the lies of the usurping entity and he did not have one dignified response to answer with??? Or he went home and got drunk and watched ignorant television and pretended like nothing happened? Well I hope this is the treatment that the representatives for the usurping entity get each time they go some place to spread there lies and Nazi propaganda.
****for Moyhabin I went back and deleted my exccessive comma use for you.
****Tgia for you I made the links smaller downstairs
****My wife has better English than me, she read my posts today and she said I sounded like one big Majnoon because of my grammer so I am making small efforts!
Waiting for the video to come out but in the meantime eat this for a snack instead of Tormus which will give you one big stomach ache....

My Debate with that guy

So I had a long day yesterday. I woke up late, but I had a deep sleep. During the day, I was preserving my voice. I had these Halls drops and would avoid talking on the phone. The few times I spoke on the phone, I had to say that I was preserving my voice for the debate. And at one point yesterday, Amer asked me about preparation. I had to say: that this is a job that I have been preparing for all my life. Two days ago, I jotted down some notes here in bed, and I had to throw the notebook after a few minutes because I got mad. Usually, when I have to deal with a debate of this kind, I remind myself of the massacres that Israel committed against our people: one after the other. I know the sources and the facts, so I only write down an outline of what I am about to say. I arrive there and I get pissed early on--which is a good thing for my debate performance. I learned there that originally one professor was going to invite the Israeli Consul General by himself, until somebody else suggested that maybe somebody else with a different point of view should be invited. I go there and I notice heavy security and police presence. I then meet the professor who was going to moderate the debate. We go to the hall and I notice that there are two chairs and two name signs: for me and for him (the Israeli representative of the usurping entity). I did not like the arrangement. So I tell her: I don't want to sit next to him. I would like you as a moderator to sit between us. She asked me whether I was kidding. I said: do you see me in a joking mode? Do you see me kidding with you? You think that this is a joking matter for me? She realized--let me just say--that Angry Arab was not kidding. She said that she was planning to make her remarks and sit in the audience. I said: that is easy: instead of sitting here, we can move your chair to separate between me and him. I also was told that she (or the university) was planning to host a reception for the two guests before somebody who knew about me told them: I can assure you that As`ad will not agree to a reception with the Israeli diplomat. So the reception was scrapped. I then told the host that I will not be recognizing or talking with the Israeli guest. She looked baffled but nervous. She asked me why do I have these positions? I said you will understand after you hear my remarks. She was getting more nervous, I could tell, by the minute. She then upset me more by saying something about "academic" environment or collegiality and then added something about "us" getting along. I was more angry at that. I got more angry (but that was a good preparation for my debate) and said: this is no joke or a game or schtick for me. This is about killing 400 Palestinian children in Gaza in three weeks. I don't "get along" and I don't want to "get along." The security and the police only got more visible and more extensive. The moderator then remarked that the security was required for "his safety" in reference to the Israeli speaker. I was here more pissed (all that getting angry before the debate was preparation as far as I was concerned). I said: what about my safety? Did that enter into the picture? or do Arabs don't deserve safety? They were searching backpacks and I was told that he notified police and various security agencies. I sat there and I was happy before the debate to see my students from California State University, Stanislaus. I had to warn them: You will see a different side to me from the one you see in the classroom, I said. I then met a Palestinain student from the University of San Francisco: probably the only one on campus. I also saw a student of mine from 7 years ago or more. While I was seated in my place (with the moderator now seated in the middle), I see the shadow of a man (because I made a point of not looking) come in front of me and extend his hand and say: Nice to meet you, professor. Hi Professor. I kept looking straight, as if there was no one in front of me. He repeated that a few times: and I kept totally ignoring him completely. He then gave up (finally) and took his seat. I can really tell you that I debated a man yesterday but I don't know what he looked like. I did not look at him or address him once. I have no idea what he looked like. And during the talk, he at one point asked me to look him, but I of course ignored him. He then looked at the audience and said that I have not looked at him and that I didn't shake his hands and that I refuse to humanize him. I muttered into the microphone: that I see them the way they see the children of Gaza. During dinner with Amer and Riad both commented to me that they would have had difficulting ignoring him the way I did but Amer added that me being so lacking in shyness, timidity, or the need to be polite helps me in those situations. It is so easy for me to be socially rude, when I want to. I had to tell them: are you kidding? These are my favorite moments when I ignore an Israeli who is trying to greet me or shake my hand. The president of the University came personally to greet...the Israeli guest. One university administrator noticed that and expressed his displeasure to me. The moderator did not even flip a coin or ask about who would speak first, but simply gave him the opporutnity to speak first. Of course, she did not know that I always prefer to go second because I get to say what I want and then respond to what was said before me. We also had five minutes to respond after the presentations. Now here you must understand that I cant evaluate my own performance or say how I did. I will leave that to witnesses or your own opinions when you watch it on video. Yes, I am told it was taped and will provide you with further information. As soon as it was my turn, I felt a rush. My voice was back in full force and I could sing Fayruz at that point. There was a woman who came with the diplomat and she was sitting in the front raw and after two minutes of my talk, I could see her squirm and look with sympathy at her Israeli colleague. I could not read her face but felt that she was telling him that "we did not expect this would happen." But it happened, and As`ad was on a roll. I can't tell you how I did but I can tell you that I really enjoyed the task and would do it at the drop of a hat, and would waive my speaking fee for it. When I came to the US and I used to watch debates between Israeli and Arab speakers, and I always found myself being critical of style and substance. I had no excuse: when I am debating, I can say what I want. So I can do it my way, and I did it my way last night. I explained to the audience about my policy: I said that I want you all to know that my pariticpation was at the invitation of the University of San Francisco and that I strictly adhere to the boycott of Israel and I call on them all to boycott Israel at all levels. I told them that I met I(armed) Israelis first under occuapation in South Lebanon in 1982, and I resolved then that I would meet them only on my terms. I explained to them that I am strict against terrorists and terrorism: that I am opposed to any deal or negotiations with Al-Qa`idah or with Bin Laden and accordingly, I am opposed to any deal or compromise with the state that pioneered the practice of terrorism in the region. And I went on. The moderator was clearly nervous. I told her that later: she was getting nervous as soon as I spoke. She told me that she never gets nervous. I said: well, I saw you nervous many times today. The audience was largely sympathetic to the Palestinian view and most were very knowledgeable of the issues and many had been to Palestine which put the Israeli speaker in a difficult position--not that I felt sorry for him. There was a British visiting professor at Stanford (who has a teaching job in France) who kept yelling at the Israeli speaker. He was so furious. Amer, and Riad and I later commented that it is rare to see an American professor venting such anger at an Israeli speaker. By the time I finished my first 20 minutes presentation, I was relieved. I felt that I did my job although I said more later. But I felt that I was pleased with how things went. I will let you know when the video will be uploaded (I am told that the first 20 minutes (the presentation of the Israeli speakr) is mysterisly missing from the university taping. Oh, and during the talk, I did criticize the moderator. At one point in the Q and A, I was making a point, and the moderator started to interrupt me. I said: look. I can tell that you have been nervous regarding my attitude since I started talking. I said that it was clear that you were not expecting this: it is clear that you were expecing an Arab who would hold hands with the Isareli speaker, and that I was disappionting you but that I would say what I want and in my own way. On the way driving back at night, they called me from AlJazeera Arabic to offer some remarks about US reactions to Lieberman's remarks. I agreed: they called me and I started yelling in my cellphone but my voice was weak by that point. It was a long day: statisfying (for me) but long. But lest we lose sight of the realities, I told Amer and Riad that no matter who won the debate, they still occupy the lands and they still kill our people.

The disgusting Israeli criminals never get tired from stealing,,,,

Israelis are so busy this week!!!! Poor guys,,,, they must be so tired to keep stealing land,,,, illegally arresting all the people,,,, killing people,,,,, swearing in racist nazis like Netanyahu and Liberman,,,, and they still had the time to keep stealing our land!!!! Maybe Anand can come tell us how much the Indian people "admire hard working Israeli people" Do you like it when I make the second link sml???

Israeli authorities confiscate land from Deir Sharaf to build new checkpoint
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/04/5769



Report: Israel demolished 19,000 Palestinian homes since 1967
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36827


Israel decides to annex 1000 Dunams near Nablus

http://www.imemc.org/article/59739


Israeli extremists confiscate 4 Palestinian stores in Hebron

http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40138

Israeli extremists seize a Palestinian house in Jerusalem
http://english.ramattan.net/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=40136

Report: Israeli takeover of East Jerusalem illegal

http://www.imemc.org/article/59731

Occupation expels Palestinian families from Hebron
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=390:the-occupation-expelled-
palestinian-families-living-behind-the-apartheid-wall-at-the-occupied-west-bank&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=183


Israeli troops fencing northern area of Azzun village; preventing access

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36795


Israeli court rejects Palestinian petition to save Jerusalem land from settlers

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36803


Israel's Illegal Annexation of East Jerusalem
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12988


Israeli judge rules to continue home demolitions in East Jerusalem

http://www.imemc.org/article/59730

Jewish Settlers to Build Road on Palestinians’ Lands
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393:jewish-settlers-to-build-road-on-palestinians-lands&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=183


Israeli troops fencing northern area of Azzun village; preventing access

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36795


Settlers using government transition to step up construction
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074541.html

Increased reports that next Israeli gov't to advance West Bank settlement construction in E1
http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1666/381/

Video: a Beit Safafa demolition
http://www.alternativenews.org/component/option,com_news_portal/Itemid,471/

They can't take that away from me: 'settlers' stealing Palestinian land from under our feet
http://palestinethinktank.com/2009/03/28/reham-alhelsi-they-cant-take-that-away-from-me
-settlers-stealing-palestinian-land-from-under-our-feet/

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

By persisting in slagging Norway, 'Jerusalem Post' drains the meaning from the word, 'anti-Semitism'
"Norwegian Jews disagree with The Jerusalem Post," blazed the headline of the Norwegian paper Dagbladet in its most commented-upon article today. For the third day the Norwegian media provided ongoing coverage of an Israeli-Norwegian spat. Surveying the wreckage, one wonders if the famed Israeli Hasbara Machine needs an overhaul.
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/04/norwegian-jews-disagree-with-the-jerusalem-post-blazed-the-headline-of-the-norwegian-paper-dagbladet-in-its-most-commented.html
US Envoy Writes of Israeli Threats
"The ambassador, John Gunther Dean, writes that over the years he not only came under pressure from pro-Israeli groups and officials in Washington but also was the target of an Israeli-inspired assassination attempt in 1980 in Lebanon, where he had opened links to the Palestine Liberation Organization."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090413/crossette

Reason for double linking

I probably will not have time to make any posts tomorrow because I have meetings for the whole damn day,,,, but here are some things for people to read. Tgia in the post a few below you asked why did I put links twice in the title and then below the post,,,, I wrote an explanation downstairs but I will post it here to in case that other people might be wondering:


Tgia I post the whole link because sometimes I like to
put links from Israeli publications,,,, there are some people who boycott every
thing about Israel and they think even one mouse click to an Israeli website
might benefit Israelis somehow,,,, I know it seems stupid to have the
links 2 xs but thats the reason why I am doing it.
I wish I can enforce total boycott but its good to see what those criminals are saying!

"..Support for Israel's actions has become so enmeshed in Washington that Israel has more leverage over us ..than we have over it..."

"....So, we're now in a position where if the Israeli government does what Netanyahu is hinting it might do, the Obama Administration will have to either be blamed by association and throw its whole Middle Eastern agenda to the dogs, or publicly and severely sanction Israel and open up a political s%&! storm in Washington that could derail any number of other projects. Support for Israel's actions has become so enmeshed within Washington's political culture that Israel, I would argue, has more leverage over us on key strategic issues than we have over it.That's not how it's supposed to work when you're a superpower."
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2009/04/support-for-israels-actions-has-become.html

The little Zionist that cried wolf

Anatomy of an anti-Semitic falsehood: 'Jerusalem Post' said Norway's Finance Minister led chant, 'Death to the Jews!'
Halvo Bruce Wolman of Bethesda, MD, lived in Norway for more than 20 years. He reads the Norwegian press in Norwegian and offers the following exclusive report:According to NTB, the Norwegian wire service, Norway's Finance Minister and Socialist Left party leader, Kristin Halvorsen (left) was described as a Jew-hater in an article released on the net issue of the Jerusalem Post Monday morning and later withdrawn. The article purported to describe the rising hatred of Jews in Norway. Reporter Maya Spitzer wrote: "Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment has exploded in Norway - driven by the Norwegian media and intellectual elite - due to Operation Cast Lead, according to Norwegian Jewish leaders. http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/heres-a-story-im-sure-nobody-else-has-given-you------according-to-ntb-the-norwegian-wire-service-norways-finance-minist.html

Egyptian Collaborators

Egypt destroys Gaza smuggling tunnels: report (AFP)
AFP - The Egyptian authorities have destroyed six tunnels used to smuggle contraband fuel and food to the Gaza Strip, the official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090331/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazaegypttunnels

Cairo's American uni denies links with Pentagon
The American University in Cairo and the American embassy in Egypt denied Monday allegations that the university was receiving secret funding from the Pentagon after an Egyptian paper exploded the controversy in a press.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/03/31/69634.html

Arab Irrelevance
"...Meanwhile, Hosni Mubarak has now skipped two summits in a row, without even bothering to provide an official explanation (even if his efforts to convince others to stay away failed miserably). Jordan's King Abdullah reportedly went home early because he was upset that he wasn't met by the Emir at the airport (of such stuff is high politics made in the Arab world). Much of the summit was overshadowed by the pyrotechnics between Moammar Qaddafi and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, and the Qatari Emir's efforts to smooth over the public spat. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seems to have gone home empty-handed after the Saudi King refused to meet with him, nobody agreed to cancel debt, and the vacuous official statement declined to include boilerplate praise for improved Iraqi security or democracy. Hamas issued a statement complaining that the Summit did nothing for the Palestinians and ignored the threat posed by Netanyahu. (And that's not even getting into the support for Omar Bashir, which I'll write more about later.)
Above all, the Doha summit simply punted on all of the major issues facing the region. No effort was made to deal with Palestinian divisions, as Hamas was kept away. No effort was made to deal with disagreements over Iran, as Ahmedenejad was kept away out of deference to Saudi and other Gulf sensibilities and Iranian issues were kept out of the final statement. No real effort was made to overcome the persistent gap between the moderate and resistance camps, despite all of those efforts for the last two months. Perhaps the problem, as one Palestinian columnist argued, was that the Summit tried to get reconciliation without addressing the substantive differences... leading to inevitable failure. But what's more telling than the failure is the lack of evidence that there was even much effort.
It's unlikely that Arab summits will actually be abolished, of course. They play a symbolic role and are well-institutionalized. But at the same time, their significance and relevance may well be in steep decline. The wider Arab public is simply disgusted with the whole affair, and takes the summit's failure as just one more example of the irrelevance and impotence of the official Arab order. Qatar itself shifted smoothly from the desultory one-day Arab summit to a festive Arab-Latin American summit featuring Hugo Chavez. The growing role of non-Arab powers in the region -- especially Iran and Turkey, along with Israel and the U.S. -- along with the chronic inability of the Arabs to unify their ranks contributes to a sense of Arab irrelevance..."
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2009/04/arab-irrelevance.html

The only reason I want Iran to have nukes is because Israel has them... I prefer the Iranian messianic cult to the Israeli one......

Netanyahu: We don't want messianic cult controlling nukes
In an interview conducted shortly before being sworn in, new prime minister says Iranian threat constitutes a global threat, Israel expects Obama administration to stop Tehran from acquiring atomic bomb. 'How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it,' he states.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3695385,00.html

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Propaganda brochures

A colleague, Lara, sent me this (I cite with her permission): "A friend of mine who signed onto the U.S. call for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel is listed on that website received a package today from the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. It included a letter suggesting to her that her support of the boycott was misguided and could easily be corrected through proper information and that Israel is a democracy that celebrates its diversity in every possible way. It also included a number of glossy Israeli government propaganda brochures and pamphlets, and a book called "The Israelis" by Donna Rosenthal ...that includes chapters with titles like "Dating and Mating Israeli Style" "Oy! Gay?" and "Hookers and Hash in the Holy Land," alongside chapters like "The Bedouin: Tribes, Tents and Satellite Dishes" and "Out of Africa: Ethiopian Israelis in the Promised Land." In all, the package seemed to be cast towards a stereotyped view of a "liberal academic" (as opposed to their propaganda for born-again Christians) who is assumed to know extremely little about the Middle East and who is assumed to be stupid enough to believe this shit."

A really dumb Zionist agreed to debate Angry Arab,,,, poor fool, maybe we can make it smell like Banana Pie so he can Devour it


Chutzpah (Molly,,,, spell check?)

Congresswoman brags of checking with Zionist Organization president before she signs on to legislation

From the JTA report on the Zionist Organization of America's lunch on Capitol Hill last week. Best moments belong to Shelley Berkley. Emphasis mine:

Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) joked that she always brings [ZOA President] Mort Klein her ZOA membership check each time our Mission is in Washington but that today she had left her checkbook in her car. She said that “being Jewish is a lifelong occupation. It’s what we do as Jews, more than any place else, we are experiencing the liberties our ancestors only dreamt of for generation after generation. There is a price to pay for this and the price is being engaged in our government process and no one does this better than ZOA.” Speaking of the rocket falling on Israeli towns like Sderot, she said that she “knows every neighborhood of Sderot … Israel has exercised extraordinary restraint and did not use disproportionate force. On the contrary, it didn’t use enough, soon enough. Many of my colleagues were concerned at this – I ask them, ‘Would you have been happier if a thousand more Jews had died?’ ... UNRWA is nothing but the face and arm of Hamas. We are giving funds to rebuild Gaza for UNRWA to administer – I couldn’t think of anything more ridiculous than this. I was delighted when my colleagues Mark Kirk and Steve Rothman introduced it – but first I called Mort to make sure it was strong enough before I signed on … There is no way on G—’s green earth that we can allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. I remember Ariel Sharon telling a group of us at Blair House that a nuclear Iran is as much a threat to the U.S., to the West and the Arab nations and that the world should not be expecting Israel to take care of its dirty work. And I couldn’t agree more.”
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/congresswoman-brags-of-checking-with-zionist-organization-president-before-she-signs-on-to-legislati.html
And even though those criminals brag about the Israel lobby and how much power it is those disgusting criminals have no shame to criticise those people that criticise them!!!!

ADL slams Louis Farrakhan for 'bigoted' comments on Israel lobby
The Anti-Defamation League lashed out at Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Monday for remarks he made earlier this month in which he accused "the Israeli lobby" of controlling the government.

"When the people of Gaza were being slaughtered, the pro-Israeli lobby sent messages to the House and the Senate of words that they wanted them to use, gave them the language, and now you have bipartisan support," Farrakhan told supporters in Rosemont, Illinois in a March 1 speech.

"You cannot deny the pro-Israeli lobby and get re-elected," Farrakhan said. "Ask Cynthia McKinney. Ask David Hilliard. Ask our mayor in Oakland, California. Ask [former Illinois Senator Charles] Percy. Ask Jimmy Carter. You can't criticize, you can't say nothing because if you do, you're branded as an anti-Semite."

"Why, U.S. Congress, will you not speak? It is because you fear a lobby that has money and influence that will turn you out of your seat? So you're terrorized. That's why you don?t act for the American people that sent you to Congress. You are not their representative. You are the representative of the money and interests that have bought your soul."

At one point during his address, Farrakhan implied that the validity of Holocaust records should be open to debate.

"[You] can't even engage in constructive argument over the veracity of the figures of the Holocaust. We know something happened, sure, but you can't talk about [it]. In certain cities in Europe they arrest you and put you in prison for denying such."

"There's not a vote that the pro-Israeli lobby wants that doesn't get bipartisan support," Farrakhan said. "Why? Because the Israeli lobby controls the government of the United States of America."

The remarks were met with strong condemnation by ADL chief Abe Foxman.

"Louis Farrakhan is at it again," said Foxman. "After his near-silence on Jews over the last several years, we thought Minister Farrakhan had put his long history of anti-Semitism and racism behind him, or at least had held his views in check. Apparently, that was wishful thinking. Once again he is clearly comfortable with putting his bigotry on display, unfettered and unhidden for his supporters and the world to see."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075002.html

Did Hamas send those Israelis flowers and candies yet?

Before the war which resulted in mass killing of Palestinian women and children the whole Western world but Especially the USA was to to to happy to keep ignoring Hamas,,,,, can you imagine those guys want to negotiate with the Taliban but they are unwilling to talk to Hamas,,,,,, goes to show how much those Americans "care" about women and children,,,, all of these politics are for opportunistic reasons. They made friends with the Awakening (US-allied Sunnis alarmed at Baghdad crackdown) then they turned there backs on them,,,, they made friends with the Kurds when they needed them and now they are turning there backs there to (They have been the US's staunchest ally, but as Iraq's situation improves, its Kurdish minority is becoming dispensable),,,,,,,, I wonder what it is about Mahmoud Abbas and his wicked collaborating ways that these Americans just cant resist?????

But how stupid are the Israelis that every thing that they do creates the oppossite of what they want? They attacked Gazza to get rid of Hamas and now Hamas is stronger.

Think tank urges US to adopt more pragmatic approach toward Hamas

A new report from a New York-based think tank and delivered to US President Barack Obama by a signatory who is also an adviser recommends that Washington forcefully reinsert itself into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, calling for "a more pragmatic approach to Hamas." Even by its title, the report from the US/Middle East Project (USMEP) alludes to the urgency of US involvement: "A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=100491

What it means to talk with Hamas

Typically, meetings between European lawmakers and Hamas leaders are conducted discretely, if not entirely in secret. Now, the trips have begun to be publicized: In March there were trips by a cross-party group of British and Irish members of parliaments, as well as their counterparts from Greece and Italy.

There was also an open letter to President Obama, published on March 10, and signed by more than 120 experts and academics. The letter urged a change of US policy in the Middle East. Significantly, the signatories advocated an end to the US "fear of Islamist parties coming to power," and also urged prioritizing human rights over supporting the region's autocrats.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0330/p09s01-coop.html

Hanniyeh owes those Israeli criminals one big tray of Baklawa for making his job easier,,,,,,

Aparthied Updates

1) Jewish Settlers to Build Road on Palestinians’ Lands
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=393:jewish-settlers-to-build-road-on-palestinians-lands&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=183

2) A Palestinian girl in traditional clothing plants a tree to mark Land Day in the northern Gaza Strip. The event included a march, which marked the 33rd anniversary of Land Day, commemorating the killing of six Arab citizens of Israel by the Israeli army and police on March 30, 1976, during protests over Israeli confiscations of Arab land.
(Khalil Hamra / Associated Press)

Monday: Day in photos - Gaza Strip

3) Extremist settlers attack Palestinian homes in Hebron
A group of extremist settlers attacked on Tuesday a number of Palestinian homes in the southern West Bank city of Hebron causing excessive damage and terrifying the residents, especially the children.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59695

4) Palestinian students say beaten at checkpoint

Alla's father told Ynet that after identifying themselves, his son and Iad were taken into a room, where the officers ordered them to strip and "beat them for no reason."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3694720,00.html

5a) Palestinian Gandis

Eight Palestinians wounded as Israeli troops disperse nonviolent protest in Hebronauthor Monday March 30, 2009 19:15author by IMEMC Staff Report this post to the editorsEight Palestinian civilians were injured on Monday midday when Israeli troops attacked a nonviolent protest in Ithna village near Hebron city, in the southern West Bank. The protest was organized on village lands where Israel is building the Wall. The protest was in commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of 'Land Day'.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59680

5b) Israeli forces escalate suppression of Ni’lin resistancePosted on: March 31, 2009 |
ShareThis27 March 2009Residents of Ni’lin, along with international and Israeli solidarity activists, gathered to demonstrate against the construction of the Apartheid Wall on Friday, 27 March 2009. Shortly after protesters began marching on the main road in town, they were attacked with tear gas by Israeli forces. The army maintained a presence in the village, occupying several Palestinian homes and shooting gas and 0.22 live calibre bullets at demonstrators. One demonstrator was shot with live ammunition in his leg, another was hit by a tear gas canister and many suffered from tear gas inhalation.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5652

Do you remember the nice articiles in the NYT and Wapo about how Jenin is a model city and the Palestinian security forces (aparthied apparatus) is doing so well there? How well could they be doing if the Israelis are going to Jenin to arrest people? Or maybe the Israeli aparthied entity and the Palestinian collaboration entity are working together to arrest Palestinians?

6a) Israeli forces detain young man, 39-year-old woman from Jenin
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36789

6b) Israel to transfer security in Jenin area to Palestinians
Israel will still be able to enter Jenin and its environs to act against "ticking bombs," that is, someone who has knowledge of a terror attack to be carried out. In other cases, Israel will transfer the names of wanted men to the PA security forces, and if the PA forces do not arrest those wanted, the IDF will be able to do so.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/983279.html

Monday, March 30, 2009

The entity is Doomed

Did you all notice how in the last days there are so many "reports" from those Israeli criminals saying that they already finished there "investigation" and they did nothing wrong in Gazza? Well if you ask me they are doing all this because they are afraid of war crimes charges,,,,, never will I get my hopes up for those Western and European countries to do something Right for the Palestinians but the war crimes Chatter got more loud this time so those Israeli criminals and murderers are beginning to make there excuses. I have to repeat my questions because I never got answered by an American person before,,,,, what the hell did Israel win in Gazza?

Lets repeat
1) Hamas more popular in Gazza/Dafah
2) Palestinian collaborations was Finally Exposed for all the stupid people that could not see it before.
3) Tunnels still operating
4) More countries now ready to make negotiations with Hamas
5) Every one is talking about those Israeli criminals with language that usually gets reserved for Hamas
6) Those Israeli criminals and crooks are afraid of being arressted
7)Israel lost another war in the Middle East (of course they are #1 for killing babies and women) but nothing long term got established.

Israel is Doomed,,,they failed,,, ten-fifteen more yrs the only thing people will be saying is that Israel is one Shitty Apartheid country,,,, 20 more years and even the newspapers in the United States with people like Bronner, Kershner and the rest of the criminals working for them will be embarrassed to say favourable things about those criminals.

...........IDF ends Gaza probe, says misconduct claims are 'rumors'

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074981.html

Ben Nitay aka Bibi Netanyahu, 1978, featuring Fouad Ajami



Bibi vs. Ajami, back in the days

Update: VIDEO FOUND OK, a little Googling enabled me to find a copy of the Netanyahu tape on the Israeli site MahNishMah!?, since the original YouTube version was removed and its account shut down.

It turns out that the tape has made quite a stir in Israel, as Netanyahu is about to become PM for the second time. Right-wingers saw in Young Bibi (who then called himself Ben Nitay) a better version of his current self, seen as too accommodating (!) to Obama.

In the video, Bibi says he is 28-years-old and describes himself as an “economic consultant” — indeed according to Wikipedia he worked at Boston Consulting Group immediately after graduating from Harvard at that time. He was as smarmy then as he is now.

But actually if you listen carefully to what he says, he is arguing that Palestinian should not have self-determination (which would be “unfair” because there are already 21 Arab states) but instead integrate Jordan or Israel. He argues forcefully that Israel is a democracy and West Bankers and Gazans would be given the right to vote in Israel. Obviously this must predate the current Israeli concern about Palestinian demographics, although Fouad Ajami does raise this issue. So, once again, is Bibi Netanyahu advocating a one-state solution?

Here is the video on YouTube. (It will take a little while for YouTube to process the video, so it might not be immediately available.)

Betrayed Awakening

Maliki sent out his army to capture Awakening leaders no longer payed by the U.S.:

The arrest of Raad Ali, who helped the Americans stabilize the west Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliya, came to light Sunday, five days after the Iraqi army picked him up in a midnight raid, his aides said.

The U.S. is actively helping in this:

A combined force of American and Iraqi Army troops and National Police descended on Fadhil, a Sunni neighborhood and former insurgent stronghold in central Baghdad, and arrested the head of Fadhil’s Awakening Council, Adil al-Mashhadani, on terrorism charges, according to Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad. He said firefights broke out afterward.

This might well reignite a civil war, but with the Iraqi army now more capable, the chances are against the insurgents.

Parviz thinks that this is part of a U.S.-Iran rapprochement.That is certainly possible. The U.S. may have decided to defer to Iran in Iraq for cooperation in Afghanistan and to generally lower level the hostility level.

On the other side it seems that the U.S. wants to leave Iraq and that alone is motivation enough. To leave Iraq in even greater chaos is not in U.S. interests. It is better to have a strong government there than a weak government and permanent civil war that could escalate into neighbor countries. 'Cleaning up' the opposition while the U.S. is still there in full force is thereby a necessity on its own.

In Afghanistan the U.S. now tries to repeat some aspects of the 'Awakening' movement by arming and paying local forces at the town level. Those forces should note how the U.S. is now betraying such 'allies' in Iraq. It is likely to happen to them too.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2009/03/betrayed-awakening.html

Welcome to me ha ha

Just a couple of things before I go to a meeting...

Anand, 4 u habibi: You said Arabs got some big issue with talking about takfiris I want to know what the problem with you is that each time someone talks about India you ignore those critcisms and instead tell the people that they are "jealous" of India???

Purification rites
With nationalist demagogues rising to power in both India and Israel, Pankaj Mishra examines the parallel histories of violent partition, ethnic cleansing and militant patriotism that have led both countries into a moral wilderness.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090327/REVIEW/384079579/1008

Gandhi arrested over 'hate' speech
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/03/20093291142305958.html

Hmm I wonder what the reason could be that Anand chooses to focus on those Arab takfiris that he always lectures about when he doesnt say one word about those fascists in his own country.
Just looking to point out the hypcritical nature of this creature Anand.

Now for the other news, I have a big meeting for a few hours but think about this:

All the Arab collaborators did find some reason to ignore Palestine again

Sudan eclipses Palestine at Arab League Summit
Doha – Ma’an – Sudan and its indicted head of state, Omar Al-Bashir, are likely to eclipse Palestine at this year’s Arab League Summit in Doha, Qatar. While the organizers of the conference say that the Palestinian struggle for self-determination will be a key issue, the attention given to Al-Bashir’s arrival at the airport on Sunday already shows how Sudan has risen to the top of the agenda.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36763

Waaaaw the whole time that those Palestinian babies were getting mass killed by the Zionist Janjawid people those little Arab puppets were sending there dogs for treatment to Israel!
Imagine!

You can't make this news up, even if you try
"The Jordanian royal family's dog was secretly rushed to Israel for treatment in the midst of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. Relations between the royal palace in Amman and the Beit Dagan veterinary hospital have been good for many years now. The Israeli medical team's expertise has served Jordan a number of times, almost always under a heavy veil of secrecy, as per the royal court's request. During the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Jordanians once again called on the Israeli veterinarians for help. King Abdullah and Queen Rania's beloved dog had fallen ill.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3693607,00.html

As always Seymore has to to to many interesting things to say

Syria Calling, The Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace, by Seymour M. Hersh
When the Israelis’ controversial twenty-two-day military campaign in Gaza ended, on January 18th, it also seemed to end the promising peace talks between Israel and Syria. The two countries had been engaged for almost a year in negotiations through intermediaries in Istanbul. Many complicated technical matters had been resolved, and there were agreements in principle on the normalization of diplomatic relations. The consensus, as an ambassador now serving in Tel Aviv put it, was that the two sides had been “a lot closer than you might think.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/06/090406fa_fact_hersh?currentPage=all

And now for the Ya Haram Iraq sections

Iraq: Poor sell kidneys just to survive
Despite Iraq’s massive wealth – it has among the largest oil reserves in the world – poverty is rife. A 2007 study by the United Nations found one-third of Iraqis lived in poverty, with five per cent of the population in extreme poverty.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090327/FOREIGN/967836593/1011/NEWS

And 1 thing from an Iraqi woman who speaks for a lot of people,,,,, ok Maybe Iraqi Mojo will tell me she does speak for him but my Iraqi colleague asked me please to add this nice partially Jewish girl to my Ya Haram section,,,,,,,,,,, so this is for Haider,,,,,,,,,

Not an anniversary to celebrate: Dahlia Wasfi on six years of the Iraq War, by Dahlia Wasfi

Dr. Dahlia Wasfi was born to a Jewish-American mother and a Muslim-Iraqi father. She has been educating people from all over the world about America's brutal occupation since visiting her family in Basrah and Baghdad in 2006. One source of Dr. Wasfi's determination is the inspirational story of Rachel Corrie, whom she calls an "American Hero." Four days after Corrie's murder by the Israeli military America invaded Iraq under several false pretenses, including the claim that they would bring 'freedom' to the Iraqi people and protect the U.S. from the threat of nuclear weapons that Iraq never possessed. The Israeli government has never apologized to the United States for Corrie's murder and the U.S. administration has yet to compensate the Iraqis for the brutal illegal war they have waged on their sovereign country.
http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticlePrint/21004

That is all for now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Now for me time to go eat the disgusting American pastierries.
https://www.echidnasontheloose.com.au/images/P/PapoKing_web.jpg,,,,,,,,,,,Saif




Thursday, March 26, 2009

Goodbye

So, first I get attacked by Yasmin for daring to complain about laws unfair to women in the Arab world. Laws that she would hate to live under herself, but never mind, it offends her for a white girl mention it. Because I wield so much power, it's threatening. Yes, from my perch on top this mighty blog read by 14 people (at most), I am able to affect world events and my mentioning my dislike of custody laws in the Arab world just might lead to another war. Then my little sister tells all of her friends embarrassing things about me on her blog (that I just became aware of today). Well, my sister took down the offending post but did not apologize. (And this was after she did not help out AT ALL after I had the baby even though she lives 2 miles away-okay, just needed to complain about that). Anyhow, I don't feel like blogging with someone who will be monitoring my posts for political incorrectness. So you may find me on the Palestinian Pundit. Oops, is that a pet cause? Is that okay with you, Yasmin? Or perhaps I will start blogging on mollistan.blogspot.com again. I'm a bored housewife and need something to keep me occupied.

Why are Americans allowed to pay for Israeli settlements?

For many years, the United States has had a policy against spending aid money to fund Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which successive administrations have regarded as an obstacle to peace. Yet private organizations in the United States continue to raise tax-exempt contributions for the very activities that the government opposes.

World Depression: Regional Wars and the Decline of the US Empire

By James Petras

We are living the end of an entire epoch: Experts everywhere witness the collapse of the US and world financial system, the absence of credit for trade and the lack of financing for investment. A world depression, in which upward of a quarter of the world’s labor force will be unemployed, is looming. The biggest decline in trade in recent world history – down 40% year to year – defines the future. The immanent bankruptcies of the biggest manufacturing companies in the capitalist world haunt Western political leaders. The ‘market’ as a mechanism for allocating resources and the government of the US as the ‘leader’ of the global economy have been discredited. (Financial Times, March 9, 2009) All the assumptions about ‘self-stabilizing markets’ are demonstrably false and outmoded. The rejection of public intervention in the market and the advocacy of supply-side economics have been discredited even in the eyes of their practitioners. Even official circles recognize that ‘inequality of income’ contributed to the onset of the economic crash and should be corrected. Planning, public ownership, nationalization are on the agenda while socialist alternatives have become almost respectable.

Blacks 'hurting worse' in grim US economy: report

African Americans are far more likely than whites to be poor, out of work or in jail, and are "hurting worse" in the floundering US economy, a report published Wednesday showed.

Where the death penalty was used most last year, globally

Chart

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Mexico's drug war (34 photos)

View photos

An Army of Extremists

Article by Christopher Hitchens (I know, I know, but it's interesting) The chief army "chaplain" in the occupied territories, Rabbi Shmuel Derlich, issued his troops a 1,000-word pastoral letter enjoining them to apply the biblical commandment to exterminate the Amalekites as "the enemies of Israel." Nobody has recently encountered any Amalekites, so the chief educational officer of the Israeli Defense Forces asked Rabbi Derlich whether he would care to define his terms and say whom he meant. Rather evasively—if rather alarmingly—the man of God replied, "Germans." There are no Germans in Judaea and Samaria or, indeed, in the Old Testament, so the rabbi's exhortation to slay all Germans as well as quite probably all Palestinians was referred to the Judge Advocate General's Office. Forty military rabbis publicly came to Derlich's support, and the rather spineless conclusion of the JAG was that he had committed no legal offense but should perhaps refrain in the future from making political statements on the army's behalf.

EU presidency: US economic plans 'a road to hell'

STRASBOURG, France – The president of the European Union slammed President Barack Obama's plans to have the U.S. spend its way out of recession as "a road to hell," underscoring European differences with Washington ahead of a crucial summit next week on fixing the world economy.

It's fear (and ethnic cleansing) that keeps Baghdad's peace

BAGHDAD – The streets are calmer now. The fighting between Shiites and Sunnis has largely ceased. But this is not a sign of normalcy in the Iraqi capital. It's fear that keeps the peace.
Only an estimated 16 percent of the mainly Sunni families forced by Shiite militiamen and death squads to flee their homes have dared to return.
It takes two sides to have a fight, and there's really only one side left in Baghdad after violence and fear turned parts of neighborhoods into ghost towns.
Families that have gone back are sometimes met with spray-painted threats and other forms of intimidation.

Thomas Geoghegan on “Infinite Debt: How Unlimited Interest Rates Destroyed the Economy”

(From Democracy Now, an important discussion) THOMAS GEOGHEGAN: In the article, I talk—that appeared in Harper’s, I’ve talked about the fact that we’ve not focused enough on the big deregulation that precedes all other deregulations, and that’s the ceiling that has existed on the financial sector since time immemorial on the amount of interest that banks can get from their clients, their customers, their depositors. Historically, and even up through movies like It’s a Wonderful Life with Frank Capra and Mr. Potter and George Bailey, the interest rates in this country were capped at eight percent, nine percent. In the 1970s, we began to deregulate this, and then we had a massive big bang with a Supreme Court case that effectively knocked out all the interest rate caps. And we have today, taken as common, that banks can charge 17, 18, 19, 30, 35 percent, not to mention payday lenders charging 200, 300, 400 percent in states like Illinois, California

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ben-Gurion considered Lebanon "the weakest link in the Arab coalition" on account of its fragile internal equilibrium, making it "easy to contest the domination of the Muslims, which was artificial." The objective should be "to establish a Christian state whose southern border would run along the Litani river," to be ratified by a treaty. (Since 1907, Zionist leaders had looked to extend Eretz Israel northward to include the hyd0rstrategic Litani River Basin, predominantly inhabited by Shi'a Muslims.)

from Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel by Arno Mayer, Verso press, 2008

I hate the custody laws in the Arab world

A British mother jailed for adultery in Dubai has lost custody of her two young children, aged four and seven.

Yes, custody laws don't always give men a fair shake in this country, either.
This is one instance where feel As'ad is putting defensiveness before accuracy. Whenever anyone criticizes women's rights in the Arab world, he just gets defensive and talks about women's rights here. No-one is saying things are perfect for women here (well, okay, perhaps some are), but let me tell you, almost any mother would rather live under the custody laws here. Or the inheritance laws. Or the testimonial laws (in court cases). Women are second class citizens in those areas of the law. It's not orientalist to say that.

The Big Takeover

It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

Monday: 45 Iraqis Killed, 96 Wounded

At least 25 people were killed and 50 others were wounded in a suicide bomb attack as a Kurdish family was receiving condolences northeast of the Iraqi capital on Monday, local officials said.

China's top banker proposes new world currency

In an essay published Monday, the head of China's central bank proposed a plan to displace the American dollar as the world's standard and replace it with a global reserve currency operated from the International Monetary Fund. The proposal is also supported by Moscow.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

US will appoint Afghan 'prime minister' to bypass Hamid Karzai

The US and its European allies are preparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, the Guardian has learned.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Khamenei dismisses Barack Obama's overtures to Iran

Iran's supreme leader rebuffed President Barack Obama's latest outreach on Saturday, saying Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in U.S. policy.

Khamenei has the last word on major Iranian policy decisions, and the way in which the country ultimately responds to any concrete US efforts to engage it will depend largely on his say.

Khamenei said there would be no change in relations between the two countries unless the president brought an end to US hostility towards Iran and brought "real changes" in foreign policy.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Juan Cole on why we went into Iraq

There are two schools of thought. One says that the Cheney oil gang manipulated us into Iraq to get their hands on the oil forever. The other argues that the Feith/Perle neocon crowd did it to take out Israel's powerful enemy.

The problem is. These two groups don't get along. The neocons always hated the oil lobby for its pro-Saudi bias. And the oil boys couldn't stand the Israel lobby for complicating US relations with the Arabs and getting Congress to put sanctions on oil dealings with various anti-Israel potentates.

So how, in the end, did they come together to push one disastrous war?

Who can we thank for this unfortunate friendship?

Cole's answer: Dick Cheney.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Scenes from the worldwide recession

The state of our global economy: foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, layoffs, abandoned projects, and the people and industries caught in the middle. It can be difficult to capture financial pressures in photographs, but here a few recent glimpses into some of the places and lives affected by what some are calling the "Great Recession". (35 photos total)

Six Years Later: Iraq War Continues Apace

The American invasion of Iraq began six years ago, and a lot has happened: the nation descended into a civil war, 4,259 American soldiers were killed, over 1.3 million Iraqis are estimated to have died, and victory has been declared countless times.

But while the war has largely fallen off the front pages, it continues on with no real end in sight. Sure, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) only covers a US deployment through the end of 2011, but the Iraqi government has already made it clear they’re operating on a much longer timeframe.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Arab and Iranian governments' defense of that butcher Bashir disgusts me. Yes, and American defense of Israel, too. But we talk about that everyday.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

On the 50th anniversary of his flight from Tibet, the Dalai Lama accused China of having brought "hell on earth" to his homeland.

"Even today, Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear, and Chinese authorities remain constantly suspicious of them. Their religion, culture, language, identity are near extinction,’’ the Dalai Lama told his followers in India.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Infinite Debt

I highly recommend you buy (it doesn't seem to be available on the web) this month's issue of Harper's and read the article by Thomas Geohegan called:
Infinite Debt: How unlimited interest rates destroyed the economy

Prominent labor lawyer, former congressional candidate
(for Rahm Emanuel’s open seat in Illinois), and author
of the definitive title on labor relations, Which Side Are
You On, Thomas Geoghegan writes on American usury.
He begins his report by noting the extraordinary fact of
how America “dismantled the most ancient of human
laws, the law against usury, which had existed in some
formin everycivilization from the time of the
Babylonian Empireto the end of Jimmy Carter’sterm,
and which had been so taken for granted that no one
ever even mentioned it to us in law school. That’s
when we found out what happens when an advanced
industrial economy tries to function with no cap at all
on interest rates.” Geoghegan makes a convincing case
for the idea that usury is the hidden-in-plain-sight
source of our ruinous financial condition. With the
overturning of interest-rate laws in the 1970s, usurious
rates created the ultimate in perverse incentives: soon
profits in the financial sector so dwarfed those of stur-
dier industries that every capitalist strove to become a
banker, and many of those sturdy companies to become
pseudo-banks. The resulting capital flight established
the lopsided framework for the current catastrophe.


Best explanation of how this happened that I have read so far

Megaphone desktop tool

The Megaphone desktop tool is a Windows "action alert" tool developed by Give Israel Your United Support (GIYUS) and distributed by World Union of Jewish Students, World Jewish Congress, The Jewish Agency for Israel, World Zionist Organization, StandWithUs, Hasbara fellowships, HonestReporting, and other pro-Israel public relations, media watchdog, or activism organizations. The tool delivers real-time alerts about key articles, videos, blogs, and surveys related to Israel or the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially those perceived by GIYUS to be highly critical of Israel, so that users can vote or add comments expressing their support of Israel. The tool was released in July during the 2006 Lebanon War. An RSS newsfeed is available so that non-Windows users may also receive the Megaphone "action alerts."

Thursday, March 12, 2009

The "put them on a diet" policy

Chickpeas, soap, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste: things Gazans aren't allowed to have. Because it will make them oust Hamas, you see.

Three recent victims of "justice"

An 20-year old freethinker

An 75-year old woman

A brave journalist

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

If it were Muslims doing this, would they be called barbarians? Interesting that it's Europe, not the U.S., that's considering it. Anyway, I think it's a good idea. It's the only way these people will change.

This blog needs pro-Palestinian commentators

Go!

And this one, too.

What Freeman said about Israel

I can't find any quote from him criticizing Israel (not even they make bad cookies) but the right wing bloggers are up in arms about this being published in a journal he edited:

...beginning that the war was an excuse to enlarge the U.S. strategic “footprint” (as neocon William Kristol calls it) on top of the lakes of oil in the Gulf region and make life safer for Irael, starting with the easiest problem case, Iraq. If the governments in the area did not come around, no problem; American troops were there in any case and would protect Israel....In a New York Times op-ed (July 18), Benny Morris put the matter to Bush/Cheney crudely: bomb the suspected sites now or Israel will have to use nuclear weapons on Iran later. Call it extortion, if you will. But perhaps a better term is moral hazard: having been “insured” by the United States, Israel does not have to be cautious or even sensible. The Georgians seem to have learned this lesson too, and without having to pay the high premium that a first-class standing army of lobbyists requires.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

My computer's fixed. It has been for a few days now, but I have avoided spending too much time on it because I was reading and relaxing much more in the evenings without it. Anyway, sad story: my husband was in the park with our son and heard one kid, about four (or so he says, I don't know how good he is at estimating ages) said to another four year old, talking about a 3 year old nearby, "he's a Palestinian, he's a terrorist". He said the kid saying this looked Korean and that the Palestinian kid didn't hear him (thank god). This is a very mixed neighborhood, but probably the second biggest ethnic group is Arab, so you would think the parents wouldn't have these views (if that is where the kid learned them). Palestinians flee their country because it is being destroyed, and then have to put up with this when they get here...I am just happy the kid didn't hear it and I hope the other kid will unlearn it soon. Well, if he lives here, he will probably make some Arab friends who will quickly disabuse him of his views.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

For those who care, my computer's broken. I won't be able to post or check email for a while. Be good!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Female suicide bomber kills thirty Shi'a pilgrims

The attack on the pilgrimage route in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, came a day after a bomb killed eight in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, to which hundreds of thousands if not millions were headed to mark Arbain.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Democracy now program on the stimulus package

AMY GOODMAN: For more on the economy, we’re joined now by two guests. Here at the firehouse studio, Michael Hudson, Distinguished Research Professor at University of Missouri, Kansas City. A former Wall Street economist, he is the author of many books, including Super Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire. His latest article, “Obama’s Awful Financial Recovery Plan.” It’s online at counterpunch.org.

Michael Hudson, let’s begin with you here in New York. Why do you think that Obama’s financial recovery plan is “awful”?

It Couldn't Happen Here. Could It?

The French are reacting to a situation almost identical to ours--economic collapse, government impotence, corporate corruption--by turning hard left. National strikes and massive demonstrations are occurring every few weeks. How far left? This far: the late president François Mitterand's Socialist Party, the rough equivalent of America's Greens, is considered too conservative to solve the economic crisis.

US intel confirms Iran not developing nukes

This is a Iranian website, so I don't know how much it can be trusted, but here it is.

Angry Arab post

"Even for those women for whom college is not an option, the Internet and satellite television have opened windows into the lives of women in the West. “Satellite has shown an alternative way of being,” said Syma Sayah, a feminist involved in social work in Tehran. “Women see that it is possible to be treated equally with men.”" Oh, yes. How true. I mean, what better lessons on feminism than Desperate Housewives or Baywatch or MTV or mainstream Hollywood movies? Oh, yes. That world of American TV shows is an incredible lesson in gender equality and feminism. Those American soap operas are the best educational tools if you really want to learn about feminism. I mean, who write this stuff? Do they even know how dumb they sound? I mean, most internet traffic is Western pornography, is that also--according to the New York Times--a lesson in feminism?

I disagree with As'ad here. Watching tv shows from a different culture does show an "alternative way of being". First of all, the women did not mention Baywatch or Desperate Housewives. And no one claimed pornography is feminist.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

No country for women redux

Jordanian man gets 6 months for double ‘honor killing’

“He took out his gun, killing his sister on the spot with four bullets and the Syrian shepherd with six shots,” the source said.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Why is the 'NYT' protecting Americans from Lieberman's racist message?

Ethan Bronner of the Times writes a front-page piece on Avigdor Lieberman ("A Hard-Liner Gains Ground in Israel") without mentioning racism or discrimination (or ethnic cleansing). No mention of the Haaretz report that he was a member of outlawed, terrorist Kach party. No quotes from Arabs. Bronner even prints one Israeli's risible claim that Lieberman's loyalty oath is no different from the American pledge of allegiance.

And WTF does this line mean?

"Taken together, Mr. Lieberman's proposals aim toward an ethnically purer Jewish state, in many ways a classically conservative goal. "
Classic? Compare Bronner to TNR's alarm (Lieberman is an "extremist" who "has focused much of his campaign inciting public anger against Israel's Arab minority), or the LATimes frank report on a "far-right" politician:

Alarmed by Lieberman's rise, many rivals denounce his rhetoric as racist and inflammatory.

"This is a person who brings out the darkest urges of part of the Israeli public," said Shelly Yacimovich, a lawmaker from the left-leaning Labor Party. "His slogan endangers democracy. He is the moral red line we must not cross."...

According to the newspaper Haaretz, the new immigrant also took a membership card from the far-right Kach party, which had been outlawed for its racist platform...

"No one can demand that I join the army and fight against my Palestinian brothers," said Abbas Zakour, an Arab lawmaker. "No one can dictate to nearly a million and a half Arabs to sing the anthem. Certainly no one who came from Russia 20 years ago can tell me what to do in my ancestors' land."

Ahmed Tibi, another Arab in parliament, has called on the international community to boycott Israel if Lieberman rises to power, as it did Austria when far-right leader Jorg Haider joined that country's government....

Tzipi Livni [has lamented] "the trend for a party whose entire slate is based on hate..."

21 killed in Iraq attacks

The explosions, which targeted civilians and security personnel, took place in Baghdad and in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, police sources said.

In Baghdad, sixteen civilians were killed and 45 others injured after two simultaneous car bombs exploded.

Security and medical sources said that the bombs were planted in parked cars at a bus station in the Shia district of Bayah.

IDF shooting non-violent protesters

A representative of the Popular Committee against the Wall in the village of Ni’lin, Ahed Al-Khawaja, said that Israeli snipers, shooting from nearby hilltops or from stands of trees, are causing debilitating injuries, especially among young men who come to demonstrate.

UK bars maker of anti-Islam film

A Dutch right-wing politician who made a film critical of Islam has been refused entry to the United Kingdom on the grounds that his visit would pose a threat to public security.

Hamas playing politics with aid groups

A local NGO in Beit Lahiya that agreed to speak to IRIN on condition of anonymity had planned to provide emergency assistance in rebuilding and repairing homes after the war.

“After the war the Hamas authorities came to the headquarters of our association, summoned us to the police station and ordered us not to provide emergency assistance,” said the director. “The Hamas authorities accused us of taking money from Fatah.”

Funded by the Swiss government, the NGO engages in advocacy work for women’s and children’s rights and sustainable development projects like raising domestic animals.
It’s a political issue; Hamas NGOs are giving to Hamas and Fatah NGOs to Fatah.
“NGOs contacted us and presented us [with] an official statement by the social affairs ministry asking local NGOs to coordinate with the ministry in providing aid and to disclose all information,” deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza, Jaber Wishah, told IRIN. “This is unacceptable; the work of aid institutions and NGOs must be independent.”

Arab reporters banned from campaign meet of Lieberman's far-right party

Israeli Arab journalists for Channel 2 television and the Israel Broadcasting Authority were not permitted to enter a campaign gathering held by the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu Party in Haifa on Sunday. Haifa Deputy Mayor Yulia Shtraim, a member of the party's municipal faction, said she would not allow the two journalists to enter the hall "because of the Arabs' demonstration and what [the demonstrators] say about Lieberman," referring to party head Avigdor Lieberman.

democracy my teezi

Syria human rights update

When Saeed Razavi Faghih returned to Iran after studying abroad in France, he received a summons to the Revolutionary Court six days later. Authorities promptly sent Faghih to the notorious Evin Prison, claiming he violated a travel ban – though his outspoken journalism has gotten him in trouble before.

At the opposite end of the region, in Marrakech, a student solidarity march at Cadi Ayyad University ended violently with Moroccan police using intense force to shut down the rally. One arrested student, Abderrazak El Gadiri, was tortured by police and died the next day as a result of injuries.

In Syria, authorities continue to withhold information on student Mohammad Abdulqadir Talib, arrested months ago for donating $20 to impoverished Iraqis. Talib has been subjected to extreme torture to admit false acusations against him.

Some Syrian teachers have met even more brutal fates. The Syrian Human Rights Committee has recently reported the death of two teachers killed under torture. The corpses of Islamic studies teacher Yusuf Jabbouli and secondary mathematics teacher Mohamed Ameen al-Shawa have been returned to their families after their arbitrary arrests.

No country for women

Saudi judge sentences pregnant gang-rape victim to 100 lashes plus a tear in jail for committing adultery.

Importance of religiosity chart



from this article

Importance of religiosity chart

Poll: Afghans blame US more than Taliban for violence

A nationwide survey of Afghans out Monday shows plummeting support for US and NATO/ISAF forces in Afghanistan, and a rise in the number who believe attacks on those troops are acceptable.
The biggest complaint: civilian deaths resulting from US and NATO air strikes, which 77 percent say is unacceptable because the risk to civilians outweighs the strikes' value in fighting insurgents.

Monday, February 9, 2009

More theft

The Israeli government charges $170 to $350 for each truck to pass through their checkpoints.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

UN halts aid

The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all aid shipments, accusing the Hamas government of seizing hundreds of tonnes of food supplies.
Ten lorries carrying flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN's Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said.
Hamas admitted a "mistake" had been made and says it will return the goods.
But Unrwa says deliveries will not restart until it has assurances that such seizures will not happen again.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Hamas must immediately release the seized aid shipments.

US objects to release of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist

Washington - The release of Pakistan's leading atomic scientist who confessed to running a nuclear smuggling network would be "extremely regrettable," the US State Department said Friday. A Pakistani court on Friday ruled that Abdul Qadeer Khan should be freed after five years of house arrest for providing sensitive nuclear material and information to countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Israel to Obama: hold Iran's feet to fire, or else

"It need not be conclusive or threatening, but it will be very serious and ... scare the daylights out of the president that unless the international community mobilizes to address the situation, the Israelis will," Miller said.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Maliki's Triumph

The voting shows that Mr Maliki and his Dawa party are stronger but the significance can be exaggerated. Although he fought a secular campaign, on important decisions Mr Maliki does not generally act without seeking the opinion of the Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Even Andrew Sullivan gets it

The closer you examine it, the clearer it is that neoconservatism, in large part, is simply about enabling the most irredentist elements in Israel and sustaining a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with the Israeli right. That's the conclusion I've been forced to these last few years.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Hamas police 'seize aid for Gaza'

A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry. Hamas denied its men had taken any aid. UN spokesman Christopher Gunness said Hamas police took 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans

We have a better grasp of the human costs of the war. For example, the United Nations estimates that there are about 4.5 million displaced Iraqis -- more than half of them refugees -- or about one in every six citizens. Only 5 percent have chosen to return to their homes over the past year, a period of reduced violence from the high levels of 2005-07. The availability of healthcare, clean water, functioning schools, jobs and so forth remains elusive. According to Unicef, many provinces report that less than 40 percent of households have access to clean water. More than 40 percent of children in Basra, and more than 70 percent in Baghdad, cannot attend school.