Afghan war takes toll on US troops

A survey of US soldiers in Afghanistan has shown that troops facing three or more combat tours have higher rates of mental health and marital problems, the US army says.
AlJazeera English

How Eurocentric Is Your Day?

"At the outset of the classes I teach, I always address the question of bias in the social sciences. In one course – on the history of the global economy – this is the central theme. It critiques Eurocentric biases in several leading Western accounts of the rise of the global economy.

This fall, I began my first lecture on Eurocentrism by asking my students, How Eurocentric is your day? I explained what I wanted to hear from them. Can they get through a typical day without running into ideas, institutions, values, technologies and products that originated outside the West – in China, India, the Islamicate or Africa?"

"The White Man's Mess"

"Kipling may have been Poet to the Empire and its best apologist (or worst?). But having spent most of his life in Her Majesty’s Service in the Indian Sub-continent as a soldier and journalist, Kipling knew the redlines that were not to be crossed -- ever.

"It is not wise for the Christian white
To hustle the Asian brown;
For the Christian riles
And the Asian smiles
And weareth the Christian down.
At the end of the fight
Lies a tombstone white
With the name of the
Late deceased;
And the epitaph drear,
A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East "

Rachel Corrie 5th Grade Speech: "I'm here because I care

The Nation: ‘for all practical purposes, one nation between river and sea…’

"The American lib-left seems to be getting the news that the two-state-solution is having its death rattles (3 years of death rattles, unusual case doctor). Joe Klein wants sanctions. And here’s the Nation on the crumbling of the Palestinian Authority. It is unusual to read such a starkly-honest statement of the situation in even a liberal American publication. Roane Carey in the latest Nation:"
Mondoweiss

"Scary JPost columnist calls for one-state-solution"

Philip Weiss
I say that liberals have been shaken up by the failure of the two-state solution and are beginning to look at one-state ideas. Well, looky here, Caroline Glick, neocon in the Jerusalem Post:

"As Netanyahu knows, there is consensus support among Israelis for his plan to ensure that the country retains defensible borders in perpetuity. This involves establishing permanent Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and the large Jewish population blocs in Judea and Samaria. In light of the well-recognized failure of the two-state solution [horse feathers edited cause I just ate my dinner] … Israel should strike out on a new course and work toward the integration of Judea and Samaria, including its Palestinian population, into Israeli society. In the first instance, this will require the implementation of Israeli law in the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs."
Mondoweiss
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Yup! The one-state solution as the neofascists understand the concept!

Yossi Sarid / Abbas must unilaterally declare Palestinian state

"When he declares independence, Abbas should call upon the Jews living in the state of Palestine to preserve the peace and to do their part in building up the new country as full and equal citizens, enjoying fair representation in all of its institutions. David Ben-Gurion would not have been upset by such a pretty act of plagiarism from his Declaration of Independence."
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If I got this correctly, once a Palestinian state is declared Sarid believes the colonists and their colonies should "help" to build the new country?!! In other words, they're there to stay!! HA!
Sure! Why not? Anything else for your service, you all??

Top U.S. official: We won't accept partial settlement freeze

The United States does not accept continued Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, a senior U.S. state department official has said, adding that Jerusalem's commitment to restrain settlement activity is not enough.
"We consider the Israeli offer to restrain settlement activity to be a potentially important step, but it obviously falls short of the continuing Road map obligation for a full settlement freeze," he said.
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Sure..but as far as Israel is concerned, it's like what the French would say: Parles a mon cul, ma tete est malade! (Talk to my arse, my head is ill).

John Pilger: Breaking the great Australian silence

In a speech at the Sydney Opera House to mark his award of Australia's human rights prize, the Sydney Peace Prize, John Pilger describes the "unique features" of a political silence in Australia: how it affects the national life of his homeland and the way Australians see the world and are manipulated by great power "which speaks through an invisible government of propaganda that subdues and limits our political imagination and ensures we are always at war - against our own first people and those seeking refuge, or in someone else's country".
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BTW, the Israeli deputy PM is bringing his ass over here and will be welcomed by Kevin Rudd himself! A protest is organised at 11 am Thurs. 3 dec, Martin Place. Let's give this sh..gentleman the welcome he deserves..

Mike Luckovich: If you're in a hole...

Road restrictions for West Bank Palestinians

Roads in the occupied Palestinian Territories are vital arteries connecting West Bank towns and villages.

But major routes have been closed off to tens of thousands of Palestinians, for the benefit of a handful of Israeli settlers.

Now, in the first ruling of its kind, Israel's supreme court has ordered the army to open up a West Bank highway to Palestinian traffic again.

Nicole Johnston reports from the occupied West Bank.

Israel wants answers from Solomon Islands over UN vote

An imaginary dialogue:
Israel: What the hell is going on with you?
Solomon Islands: What happened to my check?
Israel : The US is saying it's in the mail!
Solomon Islands: Ah! Well, it's a bit late now, init?
Iran: Hi Sol! Everything is ok?

Steve Johnson calls and makes a mockery of Israeli deceit and their Christian Zionist goons

Bendib cartoon

Influence of Egypt and Saudi Arabia Fades

"With Israel having rebuffed American calls to freeze settlement-building, and with the prospects for substantive peace talks fading, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are increasingly viewed in the region as diminished actors whose influence is on the wane, political experts say."

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs

"Rolling Stone magazine ran a story that described Goldman as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money".
Times online

Sarkozy caught lying on Facebook. Claims to have helped knock down the Berlin Wall

The only slight fly in the ointment is that Sarkozy wasn’t actually there. Some French newspapers are saying he didn’t get there until the 16th. The photographer who took the photo in question says it was snapped on the 10th.

The New 'Jihadi Code' Threatens Al Qaeda

"The code's most direct challenge to al Qaeda is this: "Jihad has ethics and morals because it is for God. That means it is forbidden to kill women, children, elderly people, priests, messengers, traders and the like. Betrayal is prohibited and it is vital to keep promises and treat prisoners of war in a good way. Standing by those ethics is what distinguishes Muslims' jihad from the wars of other nations."
The code has been circulated among some of the most respected religious scholars in the Middle East and has been given widespread backing. It is being debated by politicians in the U.S. and studied by western intelligence agencies."

Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal

(Bloomberg) -- Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, drawing on his experience of military failure in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the U.S. can’t win the conflict there and should begin pulling out its soldiers.

US nuclear team 'ready' in Pakistan

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh says the US has a rapid-response unit ready to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons in the event of a mutiny or "any nuclear incident"