Peace & War: International conflicts |
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Conflicts in which the United States is not a direct party to the conflict but where (as in the Israel-Palestine conflict or the India-Pakistan one) U.S. foreign policy plays a role; UN peacekeeping efforts.
1/6/09 The ability to lie is a "must have" job requirement of every Israeli official: Dr. Elias Akleh, a Palestinian writer, documents this assertion with reference to what these officials say about Gaza and Hamas, and their assault on these entities. Among these "lies" are repeated mendacious claims that Hamas is a "terrorist" organization that victimizes the population of Gaza (when in fact it seeks to protect it) and that Israel in contrast has a "humanitarian" interest in the welfare of these people. The world media of course persistently propagates these "lies" to the public http://www.countercurrents.org/akleh050109.htm
1/5/09 New York Times spins the "timing" of Israel attack on Gaza in reelation to U.S. politics: . News analyst Scott Shane suggests that Israel timed the attack to assure itself of the support of an reliable "ally" in George W. Bush, concerned with the uncertainty of such support from an Obama administration. This despite every verbal indication of strong Obama support for our "staunch ally," Israel, and despite the failure of Obama to say a single word about the current conflict because "we have only one President at a time." The biases of the Times toward Israel and Obama aside, another interpretation would be that Israel timed the attack to be able to present Obama with a fiat accompli of occupation of Gaza from the day he assumed office. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/washington/05diplo.html?_r=1&hp
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Analysis & views: 1/6/09 The ability to lie is a "must have" job requirement of every Israeli official: Dr. Elias Akleh, a Palestinian writer, documents this assertion with reference to what these officials say about Gaza and Hamas, and their assault on these entities. Among these "lies" are repeated mendacious claims that Hamas is a "terrorist" organization that victimizes the population of Gaza (when in fact it seeks to protect it) and that Israel in contrast has a "humanitarian" interest in the welfare of these people. The world media of course persistently propagates these "lies" to the public http://www.countercurrents.org/akleh050109.htm 1/6/09 Fighting in Gaza Strip expands from Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7812979.stm 1/6/09 Hamas in Gaza is looking to the example of Hezbollah in Lebanon for a successful opposition to an Israeli invasion. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA06Ak01.html 1/5/09 New York Times spins the "timing" of Israel attack on Gaza in reelation to U.S. politics: . News analyst Scott Shane suggests that Israel timed the attack to assure itself of the support of an reliable "ally" in George W. Bush, concerned with the uncertainty of such support from an Obama administration. This despite every verbal indication of strong Obama support for our "staunch ally," Israel, and despite the failure of Obama to say a single word about the current conflict because "we have only one President at a time." The biases of the Times toward Israel and Obama aside, another interpretation would be that Israel timed the attack to be able to present Obama with a fiat accompli of occupation of Gaza from the day he assumed office. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/washington/05diplo.html?_r=1&hp 1/4/09 "Gaza diary" provides first hand account of chaos in that country amidst Israeli shelling. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/03/gaza-diary-israel 1/3/09 On seventh day of assault on Gaza, good news and bad news about the body count:. Good news is the decreasing number of assault-related deaths. Bad news is that proportion of those deaths which are civilian, including children, goes up from 25 to 40 per cent as Israel runs out of "military" targets. http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/02/civilian-toll-climbs-as-gaza-attacks-continue/ 12/28/08 "Today's horrific attacks mark only a change in Israel's methods of killing Palestinians." Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada, referring to Israel's attacks with U.S-supplied fighter planes and helicopters that killed at least 200 people in Gaza. He is referring to the months-long blockade of Gaza during which an untold number of the country's 1.5 million people have died for lack of life-sustaining facilities. He also notes of the assault itself that the main targets were Gazan police stations which, like every police station in the world, are located in the midst of large civilian populations and which seemed to assume that traffic policemen were "terrorists." http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml 12/27/08 "Gaza is buckling: While the world watches, a people is being destroyed." So says Ellen Cantarow, but her article on the subject suggests that the world is NOT watching, at least if the "destroying" power, Israel, can help it. Israel has recently denied access to Gaza of Richard Falk, a UN special envoy charged with reporting of humanitarian conditions in occupied territories. The New York Times "reports" to its reading world that the Israeli action was based on the fact that "some Israelis" find Falk's views to be offensively anti-Semitic http://www.counterpunch.org/cantarow12262008.html 12/27/08 At least 140 Palestinians are killed in Israeli air stikes on Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7800985.stm 12/23/08 Nepal is caught in the middle of regional rivalry between India and Pakistan. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL24Df02.html 12/14/08 Indian navy captures 23 pirates in Gulf of Aden. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1073256 12/12/08 UN Security Council report says that most of Somalia government's police and military forces have deserted, many taking their weapons with them. http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2008/12/12/somalias_forces_deserting_un_is_told/ 12/12/08 Mandanao Island in the Philippines is the locale for the return of an earlier period of "communal conflict" between militias of Muslims who consider this part of the island their ancestral homeland and of Christian farmers who settled with government encouragement in the area after World War II. As the "peace process" between Christians and Muslims has broken down recency, there has been a a resurgence of such conflict throughout the country http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1212/p06s02-woap.html 12/5/08 House of peace in Hebron, West Bank is focus of much violence:. In scenes reminiscent of the French suppression of its "settlers" in Algeria, Israeli soldiers forcibly remove Jewish settlers from a settler enclave in a Palestinian area that is locally called the "House of Peace." Settlers are dragged from their homes and some react by rampaging violence against the Palestinian residents of the area. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html?th&emc=th 12/3/08 Eviction of Jewish settlers in Palestinian enclave in West Bank city of Hebron leads to violence and imposition of military rule on the area. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081238202264378.html 11/25/08 Somalia is drowning, and nobody is watching:. Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Salopek describes America's "hidden war" in Somalia, which involves the continual lobbing of missiles into a barren landscape in hopes of killing a solitary terrorist. In its zeal to contain "Islamic militancy" in the state, the U.S. has encouraged an Ethiopian occupation which has done nothing for the country except to destroy the power of the local clans that have been the mainstay against that militancy. His article features the story of one man who was caught up in the CIA's unacknowledged counter-insurgency and detained and interrogated aboard one of 17 U.S. "floating prisons," the existence of which is also denied by the Pentagon. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21310.htm 11/25/08 World shippers call for naval blockade of Somali coast to prevent pirates exiting the country to engage in off-shore piracy. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-24-blockade_N.htm 11/19/08 Indian Navy sinks a "pirate" ship in Gulf of Aden off coast of Somalia. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7736885.stm 11/16/08 Are Israeli Jews afflicted with "pre-traumatic stress syndrome"? Israel ex-patriot Gilad Atzmon suggests this as he reflects on the stunning new Israel-made film, "Waltz With Bashir." The theme of the film is the "repressed memory" of former IDF soldiers involved in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres carried out against Palestinian refugee camps. His analysis leads Atzmon into a characterization of Israeli Jewish mentality as dominated by a sense of a foreboding tragedy, a new version of Holocaust, that makes any kind of self-defensive action justifiable to themselves. Actually this may be a specification of an oft-noted tendency toward worry in the Jewish culture, expressed in the joke of a Jewish telegram which reads: "Begin worrying, details to follow." Atzmon provides little hope for the pursuit of peace among those afflicted with this "syndrome." http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/sabra-shatila-and-collective-amnesia/ 11/14/08 Many Jewish settlers in the West Bank want to leave:. New survey shows that, while a slim majority of settlers are "ideologically committed" to the settler movement, around 40% of them are thoroughly disillusioned and would willingly leave if they could afford to do so, believing their own government had "abandoned" them. Many cite fears for their own safety from their resentful Palestinian neighbors, as well as outrage at their observation of how the IDF treats Palestinians. 11/9/08 Assessing the economic and human costs of the war in the Congo http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44629 11/7/08 Human rights activists in Europe are pushing E.U. toward humanitarian intervention in conflict in Congo. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44605 11/7/08 Muslim leaders are incensed by Israel's decision to build a Museum of Tolerance atop an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9940.shtml 11/3/08 Refugees from bombed-out refugee camps in Congo are now thronging the roads in attempts to return to those camps. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44543 10/10/08 What happened in South Ossetia on August 8, 2008? A South Ossetia civil rights activist, in the capital city of Tskhinvali on this date, describes first-hand the events of that morning's assault on the city by Georgia's military. As Georgia President Saakashvili calls for an international investigation of that raid and the conflict with Russia that followed, the writer seconds the motion and offers her own contribution to the investigation as she reports how Saakashvili assured south Ossetians in a television broadcast the night before the assault that no such action was planned, only to have people in Tskinvali awake to a devasting barrage. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20974.htm 9/25/08 A "security coordination" meeting between Israeli and Palestinian Authority military leaders: What are they coordinating against?!: Against Hamas, of course, the "common enemy" of the PA and the IDF, as both are preparing for an "uprising" of Hamas in January in which the PA itself may have to declare Gaza to be a "rebellious province." http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/09/journalist-discloses-details-of-israeli-pa-security-meeting/ 9/25/08 Report of aid agencies in Middle East says that the Quartet of international powers (U.S., Russia, UN and E.U.) has "lost its grip" on the peace process in the region. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7634894.stm 9/8/08 Georgia's President Saakashvili vows to reclaim the "breakaway" states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and claims that the "rest of the world" (except Russia of course) will support his crusade to preserve Georgian "sovereignty." A new support-promising visit from Vice President Cheney and U.S. efforts to drum up NATO and UN backing provide some indication that this could yet come to pass, and a full scale war between Russia and "the rest of the world" is not yet off the table. http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/07/saakashvili-vows-to-reclaim-abkhazia-south-ossetia/ 9/7/08 Tension mounts in the caucasus as"foreign aid" pours into Georgia and South Ossetia: Under the wary eye of Russian observers, U.S. humanitarian aid arrives for a refugee camp in Georgia. Meantime, Russia creates some "facts on the ground" in South Ossetia by moving swiftly to help in the reconstruction of Tskhinvali, the capital of the new nation which has been recognized by Russia. U.S. aid: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=332854 RUSSIAN AID: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1839109,00.html 9/3/08 Israel, Georgia and an impending attack on Iran:. Foreign minister of Georgia, in interview on Israeli radio, credits Israeli military support for its "success" against Russian invasion of South Ossetia, and reveals that Georgia planned to allow Israel to locate facilities there that could be used in an aerial assault on Iran. Georgia's lack of "success" in that conflict may have averted World War III. 9/2/08 But the Palestinian Authority isn't wearing any clotjes! Sami Aburoza plays the part of the audacious child and points out the obvious, that the PA should really be called the Pacfication Authority because it practices the kind of "peaceonomics" that Israel and the West have managed to substitute for any viable struggle for freedom by the Palestinians. PA officials participate in the bogus "development" and "state building" projects that are supposed to prepare Palestine for its long-delayed statehood. Aburoza fanastizes PA President Mahoud Abbas standing at one of Israel's numerous checkpoints and separation walls, asking how he can "develop" a country with such impediments to free movement. The fantasy won't happen because Palestinian "pacification" and not its "liberation" is the real job of the PA. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9793.shtml 8/30/08 Power-sharing between political parties representing different ethnic groups has not eased the tension in Kenya. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43728 8/29/08 Russia's recognition of breakaway sections of Georgia may cement its growing domination of areas in region on the Black Sea. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH30Ag02.html 8/18/08 For "hope" to be truly "audacious," it must recognize with St. Augustine that hope has two beautiful daughters, anger and courage." A group of international activists embrace both "daughters" as they set sail on a "Free Gaza" cruise that begins with anger against injustices visits on Gaza by Israel and the international community and with the courage to accept the risk of something happening to them like happened to Rachel Corey. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11042/ 8/16/08 Haaretz newspaper in Israel says U.S. turns down Israeli request for "military hardware" to help in attack on Iran. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=723351 8/11/08 "We're not retreating. We're regrouping.". Georgia government official so explains the apparent retreat of its military forces from the "breakaway" area of South Ossetia, under pressure from Russian shelling of Georgia's forces both in Ossetia and of the Georgia capitol. http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3580432,00.html 8/11/08 Asia Times columnist says Georgian military operation in the "breakaway" area of Ossetia was designed not to prevent its secession, but to "liquidate" it. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH12Ag02.html 8/9/08 Heavy fighting breaks out between two former Soviet republics:. Ethnic Russians in the "autonomous" area of Georgia, South Ossetia, seek unfication with Russia and fighting begins that escalates into Russian air force attacks on Tblisi, the capital of Georgia. U.S. is involved as Georgia requests transportation assistance to remove its 2,000 soldiers serving in the anti-insurgency coalition in Iraq in order to increase its military forces to oppose Russia. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html 8/3/08 Ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem, one building demolition at a time. On a variety of pretexts, ranging from "security" by demolishing homes which terrorists have allegedly occupied, to the removal of "illegally" constructed buildings to force residents into the West Bank and open up more opportunity for Jewish settlers, East Jerusalem is slowly being "cleansed" of its Palestinian population. This despite efforts such as a current project of the Spanish government to construct homes for Palestinians in East Jerusalem. http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cook.php?articleid=13241 8/3/08 Internal Palestinian strife escalates in Gaza with clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/08/200882192812745764.html 8/2/08 Israel PM Olmert's decision to stand down introduces new uncertainty in the progress of the "peace process" in the Middle East. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JH02Ak01.html 7/25/08 "Peace" process rumbles on as Israel plans to build 22 new "settler" homes in the West Bank:. In the Jordan Valley at Maskiot, the settlement is planned for families who agreed to be "re-settled" when IDF forces left Gaza in 2005. Palestinians protest, but Israel says Maskiot is not really a "new" settlement since an army youth camp had been established there in the 1980's and a "religious training school" has remained at the site. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/world/middleeast/25mideast.html?th&emc=th SEE ALSO: 7/25/08 Israel's public security minister says that the use of a bulldozer by a Palestinian to attack targets in downtown Jerusalem shows a "new fashion" in terrorism:. Actually, says Israeli peace activist Gideon Levy, the use of bulldozers as an instrument of state-sponsored terrorism is a very "old fashion" in Israel, as the government has used many bulldozers, much larger and more destructive, to "clear" Palestinian areas for Israeli development projects, and have done so in an effort to terrorize residents into "voluntary" evacuations. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004894.html 7/25/08 Palestinian Authority and world diplomats react to increased IDF raids in the West Bank. PA head Mamoud Abbas finds his agenda of pacifying West Bank militants compromised by escalated IDF military operations, especially in Nablus. At the UN, diplomats indicate the fragility of the Israeli peace process in light of these raids. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/25/africa/ME-Palestinians-Abbas-Setbacks.php 7/24/08 Obama goes to Israel, but his campaign's mind is on the Jewish voters of Miami Beach:. The "meticulously planned" trip is designed not only to "burnish" the candidate's image as a war leader, but specifically to make Jewish voters feel "more comfortable" about supporting him. A very public visit to Sderot, the scene of Hamas rocket attacks that symbolize the "insecurity" of Israel, helps to enhance this image. While he met with Palestinian leader Abbas and assured him support of a "two-state" Israeli solution, there is no report that he visited Gaza to view "on the ground" the region devastated by Israeli and international sanctions, which the U.S. supports, as would presumably President Obama. 7/23/08 Barack Obama is "greeted" on his visit to Jerusalem with a bulldozer attack by a disgruntled Palestinian on downtown cars. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0723/p04s05-wome.html 7/22/08 New Israeli roadblocks in West Bank between Hebron and Yatta further disrupt the Palestinian economy. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43268 7/19/08 Will International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges alleviate or worsen the humanitarian crisis in Sudan?: Proponents say the action will hearten those in the Darfur region who will see that the international community has not forgotten them. Critics say the action may derail a three-year "peace process" based on the "government of unity" forged by al-Bashir http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43234 7/9/08 Countries of African Union argue against sanctions against the country over irregularities in re-election of Robert Mugabe and the G8 summit agrees with them. However, U.S. and E.U. continue to press at the UN for sanctions. A South African ambassador comments on the proposed sanctions: "We say don't take measures that are going to complicate the situation and literally blow the country apart." http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43121 7/8/08 Fair and balanced: On sanitary napkins and killing of Palestinian militants: Israel observes a negotiated lifting of siege against Gaza by allowing importation of tissues and sanitary napkins. Meantime IDF forces raid a student hostel in Nablus and kill two allegedly militant Palestinians. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9672.shtml 7/8/08 Residents of West Bank village near Ramallah are defying curfew imposed by Israeli Defense Forces. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43110 7/8/08 Gentlemen to your cars" cry in Nablus, West Bank is a first-ever racing car contest which its promoters tout as a way to take Palestinian youths off the streets and away from militant trouble-making. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0708/p04s01-wome.html 7/8/08 People of Lebanon are hopeful that current negotiations can establish a level of peace that decades of strife have been unable to obtain. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2008/07/20087781259747503.html 7/5/08 Was the rescue of hostages from FARC a farce? This is the claim of Swiss radio, citing "sources" who say the "rescue" was actually the payment of a ransom of $20 million to shore up Uriba's "prestige" for an upcoming election, and that the supposed "tricking" of FARC agents into the rescue operation (with assistance of U.S. agents) was a charade to cover the fact that Uriba was dealing with elements with whom he said he would never negotiate. http://www.worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/was-betancourts-freedom-bought.shtml?11150 6/28/08 Israel has new weapon of mass destruction for its occupation of Palestine; It's called paperwork: Greg Palast describes the "occupation by bureaucracy" by means of which Palestinians are kept firmly under control. While this control is exercised ultimately by tanks and bombs, it is done on an everyday basis by the plethora of "permits" and "applications" that keep Palestinians subjugated to Israeli control. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/occupation-by-bureaucracy/ 6/27/08 Fragile Gaza truce as Israel keeps border closed for second day after a rocket attack on Sderot Israel which Islamic militants say was retaliation for Israeli attack on Palestinians in West Bank. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7474808.stm 6/22/08 Nuclear inspectors are in Syria, looking for remnants of nuclear development activity at a site bombed by Israel http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7467682.stm 6/18/08 Egypt brokers ceasefire between Israel and Hamas over Gaza, with provisions for Israel to ease the blockade and Hamas to release Israeli prisoner. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7460504.stm 6/16/08 Having Palestinian bathers on Dead Sea beaches in occupied territory is "not good for business": " Beaches on the northern end of the Dead Sea provide the only beach access for West Bank Palestinians, but they are being turned away at Israeli military checkpoints on beach access roads at the behest of beach vendors because, it is said, Palestinian presence on the beaches is "uncomfortable" for the Israeli settlers of the West Bank who regularly use the beaches. 6/16/08 A year after taking control in Gaza, Hamas shows no signs of relenting in maintaining that control. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0616/p01s05-wome.html 6/10/08 Jewish peace activist says "no he can't" to Obama's possibility of bringing peace to the Middle East: Uri Avnery says that Obama's "pandering" appearance before the A.I.P.A.C. meeting last week indicates that he is completely in thrall to a "myth" that the prevailing narrative of U.S. history shares with Zionists: a crusading sense of theirs as a mission of conquest by the European world of the natives of the territories into which they have moved. His call for an "undivided" Jerusalem resurrects a long-abandoned Israeli aspiration, as all parties realize that this is a proposal to which Palestinians will never agree, and the putting forth of which only provides justification for continuing "settlement" activity in occupied territories. http://www.antiwar.com/avnery/?articleid=12963 6/10/08 Hoping to "encourage" new regime in Cuba, European Union is looking to lift sanctions against that country. 6/9/08 Journalist who's been a "voice for the voiceless" iwns a peace prize: . But because of Israeli "imprisonment" of Gazans, Mohammed Omer doubts he can get out of the country to go to London to accept the prize and vows to remain in Gaza to provide that "voice" for those suffering under Israeli and international sanction. http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9595.shtml 6/8/08 London-based Arab newspaper reports that Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah head of Palestine Authority which is supported by Israel, has heard that Israel plans to invade Hamas-controlled Gaza and turn the Strip over to PA control. Opposing this action, Abbas now moves to open negotiations with Hamas for a Fatah/Hamas resistance to this Israeli intention. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3552955,00.html 6/8/08 Obama and an "undivided" Jerusalem: First he was for it, then he was against it: : To thundering applause at his AIPAC speech, Barack Obama told his Jewish audience that he was totally determined, as is AIPAC, that Jerusalem will remain under totally Jewish control. A few days later, a campaign spokesman "clarifies" for the Jerusalem Post that Obama's statement referred to a "final status position" in Israeli/Palestine negotiations over the city and that some degree of Palestinian "sovereignty" might be the result of said negotiations. An AIPAC spokesman says he is "troubled" by the "clarification." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659672984&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 6/5/08 Although Israel is relenting in allowing 7 Gaza Fulbright grant recipients to leave the country for U.S. study, they still are denying foreign study visa for hundreds of Palestinian students. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42669 5/29/08 One giant step backward for world peace. An Asia Times columnist's chacterization of a "leaked" report of the International Atomic Energy Agency that there is "serious concern" about Iran's intentions with regard to development of a nuclear weapons program. This contravenes Director ElBaradei's February statement of "no evidence" of such development. It may reflect his "fence-mending" efforts in his relations with Washington, but the writer sees it as a major setback to the continued willingness of Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE30Ak01.html 5/29/08 Numerous Somalis and Egyptians from Somalia are seeking to escape across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen as refugees in the ongoing civil strife in Somalia. http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=340499&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/ 5/25/08 "What sections of El-Baradei's reports to the IAEA board and to the security counsel do the Likudniks not understand?": asks Gordon Prather, reflecting on Nancy Pelosi's comments after a recent trip to Israel in which Israeli leaders urged again aggressive U.S. action against a threat of nuclear weapons being acquired by Iran, a threat which IAEA says absolutely does not exist. From Hillary Clinton's "obliteration" comment about Iran to Barack Obama's latest courting of Jewish votes in Florida to John McCain's well-known bomb proclivities, no "viable" U.S. presidential candidate can "understand" ElBaradei any more than can the "Likudniks." http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=12892 5/20/08 "These are not relations, they are contacts" ...says a French official in acknowledging that his government has been talking with Hamas about the Palestinian issue. These are the same "contacts" for which Jimmy Carter is criticized by U.S. political figures ranging from Obama to Bush, the latter of whom compared talks with Hamas as "appeasement." Like Carter, the French report the willingness of Hamas to compromise to advance the peace process. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901586_pf.html 5/20/08 Chavez denounces alleged U.S. incursion of Venezuelan air space, threatening to cut off oil supply. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7409244.stm 5/18/08 Divided Israel: "Independence" and "Nakba." While Jewish people celebrate 60th anniversary of the attainment of nationhood by going off for family barbeques, Palestians mark the same event as al-Nakba, the catastrophe, the beginning of their continuing dispossession and humiliation. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/nakba-march/ 5/18/08 "Nothing has changed since we were forced to leave." As Kenyan government, faced with dire food shortages after farmers left Rift Valley months ago, tries to return them to their homes, many are resisting as they cite continuing "security" problems in the area. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p07s01-woaf.html 5/16/08 How does a Palestinian feel as he/she watches the celebration of 60 years of Israeli independence? One of them, Susan Abulhawa, describes her sense of humiliation and dispossession, as expressed in the totemic word nakba for the Palestinian exodus of 1948. She laments the willingness of many of her Palestinian colleagues to push for a "two-state" solution which would give Palestine a miniscule part of the territory from which the Zionist incursion dispossessed them and leave entirely unresolved the issue of Palestinian refugees in their desire to return to their homes. 5/14/08 President Bush says he is ready to assist Lebanese Army in its fight against Hezbollah insurgency. 5/13/08 Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli, moves to the brink of civil war. http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=164911 5/12/08 After a weekend of control of Beirut, Hezbollah cedes control to Lebanese army, vowing to continue "civil disobedience." http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=507265 5/10/08 Hezbolla opposition in Lebanon is said to have effectively "taken charge" of the country. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42317 5/10/08 African Union military force in Somalia is only 1/3 what was promised by AU member nations, as calls goes out to fulfill those pledges. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3016&art_id=nw20080503153602275C168543 5/9/08 Coup effort is underway in Lebanon as Syrian and Iranian backed insurgents patrol Beirut's streets and the government tries to suppress Hezbollah's vast telecommunications network. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42300 5/7/08 As humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza Strip under Israeli siege, Gazans are reported to be heading to Egyptian border to try to cross to Sinai to obtain needed food, fuel and medicine. Egyptian government responds with beefed-up security forces and the construction of an "imposing barricade" at the border. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42251 5/6/08 There will be blood in Lebanon, promises Hezbollah's secretary-general: While Arab leaders are notorious for issues of blustery warnings that they will prevail over Israeli agressions, Hezbollah's victory over a 2006 invasion suggests that it is fully prepared to repeat the performance if Israeli's assaults on Syria are turned the way of Lebanon. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/there-will-be-blood/ 4/30/08 Reprise of Kosovo independence conflict may be developing in a burgeoning dispute between Russia and Georgia over two breakaway regions of Georgia. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374546.stm 4/28/08 Head of Israeli Air Force: Ahmadinejad is like Hitler; if he threatens, you better believe him: . In an interview for CBS "60 Minutes," the commander rides with a reporter in one of his (U.S. supplied) fighter planes and says the (contested) statement of the Iranian PM that Israel should be wiped off the map is more a promise than a threat; and that Israeli must be ready for "anything," lest Iran by 2009 should do to Israel the same as Hitler did to European Jews. (Since the U.S. supports the activity of its "staunch ally," Israel, Americans may also have to be ready for anything). http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978375.html 4/28/08 In Haiti, you don't mess with a "peace-keeper"." A Nigerian soldier with the peace-keeping force was killed in Port-au-Prince and, minutes later, the force opened fire on a section of street vendors, killing an unknown number of vendors and destroying hundreds of their shopping stalls. In the comments section of this article, readers struggle to understand why the UN, under USA influence, has "bothered" with Haitian demonstrators in this and similar episodes: what do "they" have that "we" want?" 4/28/08 UN peacekeepers in Republic of Congo are alleged to be involved in smuggling and arming of local militias. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7365283.stm 4/7/08 “Israel takes Arab oil...And then refuses to sell it to Arabs." This comment from a Gaza man heard on the street as he waits in (an endless) line for gasoline in a country in which Israeli "sanctions" for Hamas mortar attacks have resulted in there being only a tiny fraction of the gasoline needed to sustain life in the Strip. The article that reports this sets off a contentious string of comments, especially about the orientation to Middle Eastern affairs of the presidential candidate Barack Obama. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/06/8119/ 4/7/08 Olympic torch gets a rough ride through London streets as Tibetans and other protest against China's human rights violations. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=426824 4/5/08 Sderot, Israel: John McCain has been there - can Clinton or Obama be far behind? This once-obscure town in southern Israel, besieged by numerous mortar attacks from Gaza, has become a tourist stop in the Israel government's use of the town to drum up international support for the Zionist agenda, treating it as a "symbol" of the existential threat to Israel from the Arab world. Together with the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, it's a "must see" site that summarizes the unofficial motto of the Israeli state, "never again." This on a day when Barack Obama burnishes his pro-Israeli credentials by writing the U.S. Ambassador to the UN demanding that no UN resolution regarding Gaza be approved unless it includes a condemnation of the rocket attacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/world/middleeast/05sderot.html?th&emc=th 4/5/08 European Union official wants "closer than ever" ties between E.U. and Israel even though E.U. reports have condemned Israeli for Palestinian attacks. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41866 4/4/08 Islamic militia seizes control of another town in Somalia. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0F6FE9B5-311A-429D-96EF-CA0981849171.htm 3/30/08 Colombian government is accused of having killed farmers and passing off the bodies as those of FARC guerillas whom they have been fighting. 3/29/08 "Failed state" of Somalia is failing once again. After 15 months of a "transitional government" installed by Ethiopian force with U.S. assistance, the country is displaying the same instability that supposedly brought in that outside intervention. Drought, poverty and crime plague the country, and the Islamic insurgency is rising again. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/africa/29somalia.html?th&emc=th 3/28/08 Israeli human rights group demands probe of killing of four Palestinians by IDF: B'Tselem claims it has evidence that the men were killed not in the course of an arrest operation as claimed by the military, but in an ambush as they sat in their parked car which was an illegal punishment for their alleged insurgent violence. Israel says it is "investigating," http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_deadly_raid 3/28/08 Rotting strawberries and dying Gaza:. In a country in which some of the world's finest strawberries are grown, Gaza's farmers find themselves unable to market their products because of the closing of its borders with Israel and also its border with Egypt, which is kept closed under "U.S. pressure." Thousands of tons of this year's crop had to be destroyed because they were not marketable http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41753 3/28/08 African Union officials hail the success of their operations against a secessionist attempt in The Comoros in Indian Ocean in giving the archipelago nation a "fresh start." http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20080328104914838C434341 3/18/08 Accused by Chinese of inciting Tibetan violence, Dalai Lama says, to the contrary, he will resign if the violence continues. 3/18/08 UN peacekeepers struggling to keep down the violence among Serbs in Kosovo who protest the secession from Serbia. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0318/p04s02-woeu.html 3/18/08 Group of Liberian refugee women in Ghana use naked protest to resist government's plan to deport them back to Liberia, the government saying the "war is over" there. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7302243.stm 3/16/08 The back-rub that keeps on giving:. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expresses solidarity with pro-Israeli U.S. policy as she addresses Knesset saying in Washington Consensus style that the right of Israeli to defend itself is a "permanent part" of German foreign policy. http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=87394 3/15/08 Does Israel have the right to defend itself? Of course it does, but the question is how Israeli security can most effectively be defended. After years of attempting to accomplish this by force of military power exercised against a politically weak and disadvantaged Palestinian population, a new approach to Israeli security is required, one that recognizes that there will be no peace for Israel or for Palestine until Israel abandons its dependence on forcible suppression and Arabs develop a level of political maturity to be able to interact with them from a position of strength as people enjoying equal rights with those of the Israelis. http://www.countercurrents.org/ageel140308.htm 3/15/08 Tibetan monks are using world focus on China and the Olympics to bring attention to their long struggle for independence from China. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0314/p10s01-woap.html 3/13/08 BBC's Middle East editor explains that "asymmetric war" between Hamas and Israeli allows Hamas to exert more "leverage" in their conflict with the application of a smaller amount of force: the power of the powerless. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7276138.stm 3/12/08 The threat of a Shoah (Holocaust) against Gaza: Just the rant of a pissed-off deputy Israeli defense minister or a reflection of actual Israeli policy? Jonathan Cook suggests the remark reflects an actual Israeli intention of dispossessing the Palestinians from Gaza as well as the West Bank, coming as it did from the lips of an architect of the Israeli decision to treat Gaza as a "hostile entity" for whose welfare (like electricity and food) it is released from international law demands. Its divide-and-conquer technique for controlling the Occupied Terrorists by fomenting division between Fatah and Hamas having run aground against Hamas refusal to continue to play that game, the government may now feel it must resist public opinion in their own country to negotiate with Hamas and must act in accord with some kind of shoah. http://www.countercurrents.org/cook110308.htm 3/11/08 Israeli government's decision to go ahead with long-delayed plan to build a new settlement in the West Bank, allegedly made under pressure from right-wing of ruling coalition, threatens to doom the "peace process" articulated at Annapolis. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=364354 3/9/08 Religious right settler movement in Israel vows to establish one illegal settler outpost in West Bank for each of the 8 students killed at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/09/israelandthepalestinians 3/3/08 "He wanted to become a doctor when he grew up." 9 year old Tamer Abu Shaar, who lived in the Gaza Strip, will not become a doctor nor will he ever grow up. He, along with numerous other children, was killed near his home as Israelis were exchanging gun fire wih Palestinian defenders. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41424 3/1/08 The love affair between Australia and Israel:. Having just executed an historical "apology" to the country's indigenous peoples, one might have expected the new PM to have had a reassuring word to Palestinian people in Australia about the suffering of their kinsmen in Israel. Instead he joins in Israeli cheerleading for their celebration of victory in the 1948 war 60 years ago. http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16697 2/29/08 As Palestinian militant rocket attacks continue in southern Israeli city, Israel warns Gazans of an impending "holocaust" in their country. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270650.stm 2/29/08 The mess in Kosovo: As international community rushes to replace the UN with NATO "supervision," the new Albanian government passes new laws without waiting for the supervision and Serbian enclaves throughout the country are open rebellion. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41393 2/26/08 The scorecard of the "Zionist Power Configuration" in America; It may reflect an even higher score than Walt and Mearsheimer suggest: . New York sociologist James Petras lays out a case to demonstrate the ability of the "Israel lobby" to control successfully the mainline political agenda in the United States, as both parties and all "major" presidential candidates give virtually unquestioning assent to what Petras sees as the extreme aggressiveness of Israel in its own occupied territories and throughout the Middle East. When Barak Obama strayed briefly from the "line" of the ZPC by suggesting negotiation with Iran, he quickly "recovered" by blaming Gazan civilians themselves for the seige and assault visited on them by Israel and called on them to overthrow their Hamas leadership 2/25/08 Amid near blackout of news coverage in Kurdistan, al Jazeera reports continued heavy fighting between Turkish military and insurgent Kurds in the area. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/35EE0CED-D5BE-428A-839A-00DA141144CC.htm 2/24/08 European Union makes new agreement with Israel to support the latter's research despite information that some previous funding has gone to firms operating in illegal Jewish settlements in West Bank. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41314 2/23/08 Turkish ground assault in Kurdish areas of Iraq continues for its third day. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7260119.stm 2/21/08 U.S. and U.K. spread some "democracy" in Pakistan; but don't forget about "stability ." These countries warn victorious opposition parties against removing PM Musharaff from office, which they can do by a 2/3 vote, asserting with Musharaff himself that his quick departure would be de-stabilizing for the country. These "friends of democracy" also withhold support for the call to re-instate the federal judges whom Musharaff had fired. 2/20/08 Jerusalem Post reports U.S. plan to have NATO troops deployed to West Bank to maintain control between Israeli occupation withdrawal and development of Palestinian security forces. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203343707652&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 2/19/08 U.S. tries to re-assure Filipino Muslim rebels that "humanitarian missions" undertaken in areas controlled by the rebels will not involve combat operations against them. 2/18/08 Israel says "nyet!" to ending of conflict eith Hamas. Ran HaCohen's "letter from Israel" says that Israeli government, like all "declining empires," is always ready to reject any rational solution to the problems that are leading to its decline. In the ongoing Gaza crisis, the country's leaders ignore public opinion in Israel and refuse to do either of two such rational things to stop the daily rocket assaults from Hamas on the Israeli border town of Sderot. (1) either protect them from such attacks (by bomb shelters) to reduce local agitation for anti-Hamas action; or evict people from the town. (2) ask Hamas what they expect to gain from these attacks and then negotiate around those demands; rather than rejecting negotiation because Hamas is "too weak" (unreliable) or "too strong" (too demanding.) http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/?articleid=12384 2/16/08 Australia is deploying peace-keepers to help contain violence in E. Timor http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7246076.stm 2/15/08 In aftermath of post-election conflict, Kenya is becoming 4 (or more) Kenyas:. De facto segregation is occurring as Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba and Kisiss tribesmen are driving out minority ethnics who have lived side by side in this integrated society. Not to worry though, U.S. President is sending his Secretary of State to Kenya to "deliver a message." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html?th&emc=th 2/14/08 Israeli teenagers help evict Bedouins in Negev Desert from their ancestral lands. In what a writer calls the "outsourcing of Zionism," the Israeli government is turning over to private contractors the business of helping to fulfill the Zionist mandate to help secure the "homeland" from those people presumptuous enough to believe that centuries of residence on the land had made it their home. http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16510 2/14/08 Hamas spokesman says world "just watches" while Gaza is being destroyed, while others blame Hamas for escalating attacks by rocket assaults on Israel. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41178 2/12/08 Violence in East Timor targets highest levels of government of the country that won independence from Indonesia in 2002. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41150 2/7/08 Last word (officially) may have been said on Strait of Hormuz episode: Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense make joint appearance before a congressional committee and the Admiral says a U.S. Navy ship commander had already given the order to fire on a fast-approaching Iranian speedboat when the boat turned around at the last minute, and that he had to "rely on the judgment" of the commander to give that order. The Secretary says that, the day after the incident, he issued a "guidance" to commanders to insure that the U.S. was not doing anything to "provoke" Iranian aggression. http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Order_given_to_fire_on_Iranian_spee_02062008.html 2/3/08 "Lawrence of Cyberia" has a "cunning plan" for Palestine:. Actually, it's an adaptation of a "plan" he says is borrowed from Ariel Sharon of finding a "positive" way of removing Arabs from Palestine rather than simply carting them away in wagons. It entails false "negotiations" that give the appearance of an operating "peace process," all the while building settlements and walls in the West Bank that will keep Arabs penned up like "drugged cockroaches in a bottle" until they will "positively" be motivated to leave http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19256.htm 1/26/08 Italian World Social Forum participants call for world's civil society groups to support Palestinian efforts to resist Israeli suppression. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40922 1/26/08 Egypt gives up its efforts to re-seal the border with Gaza which was breached by Gazans crossing into Egypt to secure needed supplies while under Israeli seige. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7210311.stm 1/25/08 Egypt using water cannons against Gazans attempting illegal crossing of the Gaza/Egypt border. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7208252.stm 1/23/08 Gaza residents blow up border wall and flood into Egypt in search of fuel and other supplies which they are denied by Israeli boycott. 1/22/08 Under international pressure, Israel eases slightly its embargo on fuel shipments to Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7201757.stm 1/20/08 Head of African Union seeks extension of mandate of AU's peacekeeping mission in Somalia as participation by African nations falters. http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=330020&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/ 1/16/08 Benazir Bhutto anticipated her own assassination and asked for forensic investigation if it occurred: In a November 2007 interview by David Frost, she says she was contacted by Pakistani PM Musharaff with information that she might be assassinated if she returned to Pakistan, and named "extremist" figures who might be involved. She responded to Musharaff that in her opinion there were figures in the government who were behind these would-be assassins who were bent on preventing her return to the country and (almost as an aside) she felt they might be the same people who had murdered (!) Osama bin Laden. The YouTube poster of this video implies that her revelation that the Bush "bogeyman" was no longer alive may have been a factor in the decision to eliminate her. http://youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg 1/16/08 Hamas government in Gaza is bracing for expected Israeli invasion. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0116/p06s02-woeu.html 1/15/08 France and United Arab Emirates agree to collaborate on development of "peaceful" nuclear energy and a permanent French military based in UAE. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7189280.stm 1/14/08 Al Jazeera wegihs in: Bush diplomacy a nudge and a wink:. On the issue of Israeli/Palestine relations, Palestinians feel they got most of the nudges from Bush...to give up their aspirations to recover lands lost by Israeli invasion and settlement; while Olmert and the Israelis got the winks...we won't interfere with the settlements though we don't like them; and we won't scream about other diversions from the "road map" toward peace which we originally helped negotiate. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2C2CFC37-FB64-4E8D-9247-510068BBC655.htm 1/13/08 The mysterious crowd from nowhere and the Bhutto assassination. Pakistani police witness tells McClatchy news reporters that a crowd of her supposed "supporters" stopped her motorcade, causing her to appear through the sunroof of her car to wave at these supporters, after which she was gunned down by a man standing nearby. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24637.html 1/13/08 Citing his own country's investigation of assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani PM Musharraf rules out a UN investigation http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7184534.stm 1/10/08 "Over the Rainbow " This song, which was sung in English and Hebrew versions on the occasion of the visit of George Bush to Israel on a "peace-making" mission, seems to symbolize the earnest but somewhat forlorn hope that any diplomacy can re-set the region on the "road map" to peace which was to be based on the cessation of Palestinian militancy and Israeli settlements; if little birds fly over the rainbow, why oh why can't I (we)? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/middleeast/10prexy.html?th&emc=th 1/9/08 Seige of Gaza is broken when Egypt is pressured to allow religious pilgrims to return to Gaza via Egyptian territory. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40720 1/7/08 Lights out for Gaza as Israel responds to Hamas rocket attcks in Southern Israel. In what Israeli government describes as a "stern message" in response to attacks, fuel delivery is reduced to main power plant in Gaza, resulting in shutting off electricity for 8 hours each day. http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/06/6211/ 1/1/08 Ehud Olmert's fear: What if peace breaks out? The Israeli PM, very unpopular in his country, may survive 2008 politically only if there is a slowing of the "peace process" to which he is allegedly committed post-Annapolis. Already under heavy fire for alleged "mishandling" of the Lebanese war in 2006, Olmert recouped some support in 07 with his "handling" of the crisis in Gaza. If peace with Palestine should break out this year, his fragile war-based coalition may force him to go to elections he probably cannot win. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40636 1/1/08 Where are you, Earl Warren, when the Pakistani government needs you? The assassination of Benazir Bhutto takes JFKesque turns as Bhutto's husband, new de facto leader of the Pakistan People's Party, claims the government is lying about the circumstances of her murder, and that Bhutto was about to reveal to U.S. sources the plans of Musaraff to rig the upcoming elections. The government really "needs" an authoritative cover-up artist like Earl (lone assassin) Warren and his trusty sidekick, Arlen (magic bullet) Specter. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24021.html 12/31/07 Kashmiri writer: Whatever Benazir Bhutto was or wasn't, she ceratinly was no "Democrat." Contrary to the rhetoric of George Bush and many others that she gave her life for "democracy," her earlier rule in Pakistani was oppressive as well as corrupt, and she contributed mightily to the rise of the very Taliban that has been the bedrock of jihadist terrorism. Her husband, who has now assumed "defacto" control of the People's Party that she headed, operated in an especially corrupt and brutal fashion when she was in office. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/the-death-of-benazir-bhutto/ 12/30/07 As world mourning for assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto continues, one of her severest critics, the distinguished British Pakistani Tariq Ali, describes the assassination as the occasion for a lament about the situation of his own "beloved" country of Pakistani, which he sees as now facing a "conflagration of despair" in the aftermath of the assassination, which reveals the impotence of the military dictatorship to control the anarchy that it brought into the country after its coup against and ultimate hanging of the former Prime Minister, Benazir's father. The one possible saving grace of the event that Tariq Ali sees is a glimmer of hope that it may serve to revive a truly populist People's Party, the leadership of which cost the life of Benazir Bhutto's father as well as, arguably, her own. Alan Paton made precisely the same cry for the future of his beloved country of South Africa in the midst of its conflagration of despair called apartheid. http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq12292007.html 12/20/07 Arab citizens of Israel, out-numbered 5-1 by Jewish countrymen, are a majority in the northern Israeli region of Galilee, but experience severe discrimination and segregation in their attempts to obtain the fruits of full citizenship. Ironically, the country's political leadership tends to discount these efforts on the basis of a "two-state" political solution in which Palestinians will someday have their own independent country. Freedom later, but for now... 12/19/07 Iran, like the U.S., is playing a dangerous game in the Arabian Gulf:. Following earlier provocative U.S. naval "maneuvers" in the area, Iran is conducting a "second stage" of maritime war games aimed at demonstrating military preparedness and also to test new weapons systems, including successful launching of missiles to destroy "mock" naval vessels in the area. At what point in this close encounter of the dangerous kind could mock targets turn into real ones? http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=1052848 For U.S. "maneuvers" in October 2006, see: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20061024&articleId=3593 12/18/07 Annapolis summit conference: "A nice photo-op for everybody involved." A Palestinian academic gives this assessment of the result of the conference, claiming that nothing of substance was accomplished at the conference nor could anything have been accomplished without Israel being willing to alter its settlements policy nor without the U.S. being willing to pressure it to do so. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=14524 12/15/07 Israeli sanctions against Gaza have reduced Gazans to a "beggar" status in trying to supply the basic needs of their people. 12/15/07 Ethiopian government is forcing many civilians into military service to oppose rebels in the country's civil war. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/africa/15ethiopia.html?th&emc=th 12/11/07 O Little Town of Bethlehem: Banksy at work: A British artist known only as Banksy leads a phalanx of graffiti artists who are transforming the separation wall recently built in the West Bank town into a canvas called "Santa's Ghetto" on which to display the plight of Palestinians in the reputed town of Christ's birth. The mayor of the town welcomes the wall both for its attraction of tourists to the town and for the impact of its message. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/22919.html 11/29/07 Pakistan's new military chief faces a tough decision of whether to accept a cease-fire proposed by militants whom the government has been fighting. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IK30Df01.html 11/28/07 "Don't give up the ship": Bush administration flair for orchestrating dramatic photo-ops is demonstrated again at Annapolis as the President is shown embracing Jewish and Arab leaders with the famous 1812 admonition of Captain James Lawrence in the background. With the "ship" of Middle Eastern peace having been given up so many times in the past, skeptics wonder about the commitment behind the rhetoric. At least the determination to "keep on keeping on" is more modest than the last such photo extravaganza of "Mission Accomplished." 11/27/07 Condi, what would Rosa Parks do? The words on a sign carried at a Palestinian West Bank village as the U.S. Secretary of State did her "diplomatic" work in Israel preparatory to this week's Annapolis Middle East "peace" conference. The sign references the fact that the U.S. is apparently ready to back a "separate but unequal" apartheid system which includes the Israeli PM's statement that any agreement will not "strangle" Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Question is: will Palestinians, in order to maintain "peace," continue to accept their seats at the back of the Israeli "bus?" http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=14385 11/26/07 Asia Times columnist describes as a sub-text to the drama of this week's Middle East conference at Annapolis: the effort to contain an "uninvited guest," Iran. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK27Ak05.html 11/25/07 The Annapolis summit: Bush unlikely to put any pressure on Israel. At this week's meeting, the President will probably re-affirm the close bond of the U.S. with Israel and exhibit skepticism that Palestinians will be able to "deliver" the concessions necessary to advance the peace process http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3474982,00.html 11/25/07 With Golan Heights issue off the table, Syria decides not to attend Annapolis summit on Middle East http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546693949&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 11/24/07 Israeli border patrols report increase in attacks on their forces ahead of next week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927190.html 11/22/07 Top UN official says that the world is neglecting the humanitarian crisis in Somalia as it focuses on the one in Sudan. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/59B02A72-6EB0-420D-81BE-ACC52C418F19.htm 11/9/07 Former Pakistani PM Bhutto is confined to her residence by security forces in the government's continuing crackdown on dissent. 11/8/07 Ahmadinejad's claim that Iran has 3000 operational nuclear centrifuges raies spectre of Israeli air strike: The Iranian President claims that the country is exercising its right to nuclear development for peaceful purposes, while Israeli and some U.S. officials believe that 3000 such facilities approaches a "tipping point" beyond which Israel (not the U.S.) would be likely to strike. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2827787.ece 11/7/07 Israeli evacuees from settlements in Gaza, who received monetary settlements for their re-location, are victims of scams in bogus "diamond investment" firm. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/921399.html 11/6/07 Then they came for the judges... Pakistani police arrest lawyers protest Musharaff's emergency declaration, as the country's top judge speaks out against the action as "unconstitutional." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7080433.stm 10/21/07 Asia Times editorialist wonders how comfortably Benazir Bhutto will be able to live in the "house" that the U.S. has built for her Pakistani return. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IJ20Df03.html 10/20/07 Benazir Bhutto accuses Pakistani government of failing to react with security precautions after she warned it of likely attack by militants. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20Pakistan.html?th&emc=th 10/19/07 Pakistani bombing that greeted Bhutto's return is described by Asia Times columnist as the "kickoff" to an Islamist effort to derail a Washington-inspired effort to produce "regime change" in Pakistan. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IJ20Df01.html 10/18/07 Six weeks after Israeli attack on Syrian territory, nature of the target remains unknown:. A flap was raised by a statement attributed to a Syrian representative to UN that a "nuclear facility" had been hit on September 6. The Syrian government denies that there are any such facilities in the country and the UN says that the statement was based on a mis-translation by a UN interpreter of the representative's remarks. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/18/news/UN-GEN-UN-Syria-Israel.php 10/17/07 Clash of civilizations: The "mother of all pretexts" for the Israeli occupation of Palestine: Uri Avnery reviews the long history of attempted and discarded "moral justifications" of the Zionists for their domination in Palestine, from "the Arab's own good" justification for initial settlement, through alleged Arab collaboration with Nazis and their Holocaust, to the final "clash of civilizations" offering of Prof. Samuel Huntington which casts Islam as an inherently "evil" force to be challenged by a modern day Crusade, this time with Jewish crusaders. http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery10162007.html 10/10/07 Can Israeli intelligence behind that country's attack on Syria be trusted? The question of Syria's nuclear capabilities and intention arouses the usual "debate" in the Bush administration between the Vice President and Secretary of State http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/washington/10diplo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 9/21/07 The two faces of U.S. action on Korea's nuclear ambition. While diplomats work to negotiate an agreement with Korea to limit its plans for nuclear weapons, another "face" of the government, according to U.S. sources, cooperated with Israel to furnish "intelligence" that helped that country launch a September 6 aerial assault on a Syrian facility suspected of involvement with Korea's nuclear development plans. 9/11/07 Rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel renew Israeli government's dilemma about how to prevent such attacks. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6988463.stm 8/14/07 Palestine today a split image of optimism and despair:. While Hamas-controlled Gaza goes resolutely about the political task of building a society on an Islamic model, leaders in Fatah-controlled West Bank are dispirited about the future of their country. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0814/p06s02-wome.html 8/14/07 UN peacekeepers despatched to Liberian town for a reported discovery of a "weapons cache," which turned out to be 18 bags of scrap metal. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6945616.stm 8/11/07 Separate and un-equal: You can't get there from here. Israel constructs roadway connecting West Bank towns of Ramallah and Bethleham with lanes for Israeli and Palestinian travellers separated by a concrete barrier. The Israeli lane includes numerous exit points near Israeli settlements and in Jerusalem, while Palestinians get no such exits but an "express service" between the two towns. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/middleeast/11road.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin 8/11/07 Canada to build its first Arctic deep sea port to challenge Russian claims to the area. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070810/twl-canada-arctic-military-aa7daef.html 8/10/07 Who owns the North Pole? Russia says we do, Canada says wait a minute. \http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6939732.stm 8/6/07 Another Palestine/Hamas debacle in store for Lebanon? Apparent victory in a parliamentary election of a party and candidate opposed to the pro-western and anti-Syrian government installed by Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" raises the spectre that Lebanon may, like Palestine, choose by democratic vote a government that is not to the liking of Washington and other foreign capitols. Also reminiscent of the Cedar Revolution, if the opposition forces prevail they can expect to be accused of electoral fraud. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/middleeast/06lebanon.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 8/5/07 Noam Chomsky on the death of a nation: Fatah-Hamas civil war in Palestine, fuelled by its "enablers" Israel and the U.S., is effectively ruining all possibility of an independent Palestinian state; the fallout from international punishment of a people who voted "the wrong way" (for Hamas) in a carefully-monitored election in January 2006. http://www.zmag.org/content /showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=13453 8/4/07 Asia Times columnist Mark Perry: Mahmoud Abbas, created by U.S. and Israeli support, has "crossed the line" in his policy of setting Palestinian against Palestinian and faces "oblivion" as this policy will fail in the face of a united Palestine. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH04Ak05.html 7/28/07 Suicide bomber in Islamabad kills at least 13 in a blast targeted against police gathered as re-inforcements for continued action against protesters in Red Mosque. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/18455.html 7/24/07 Jerusalem Post columnist says Tony Blair being sent to the Middle East by those who have "little interest" in the success of his mission. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766045488&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 7/23/07 Tony Blair embarking on peace effort in the Middle East on behalf of "the quartet" of world powers that skeptics are calling "mission impossible." 7/17/07 Chinese and Pakistani relations take a turn for the worse as Chinese protest the Pakistani goverment's assault on the Red Mosque http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG18Df02.html 7/14/07 Pakistan sends troops to northwest border to try to dissuade Islamist militants from launching jihad against government for its storming of Red Mosque in Islamabad. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070714/ap_on_re_as/pakistan;_ylt=AhgMZcruHTmccCfDTxXCGZNw24cA 7/13/07 The rest of the story about the Lal Majid (Red Mosque) tragedy in Pakistan. World media has largely "framed" the incident that led to the massacre of many Muslims as a story about the social depradations of a theologically fundamentalist cult with anti-social tendencies. U.S. professor Robert Jensen was in Pakistan at the time of the events, and discussed the situation with two progressive Islamists who pointed to the side of the Islamist revolt that emphasized promotion of justice for ordinary Pakistanians and opposition to economic neo-liberalism and the corruption of the Pakistani government. Military forces either killed the mosque's residents or ordered them to "go home," though many were displaced people from the country's underclass who had no homes to which to return. The government and the elites that support it could only see damage to their country's "image" from the incident http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/12/2464/ 7/12/07 Human Rights Watch says that, a year after military conflict between Israel and Lebanon, forces on neither side have been investigated for their violations of the laws of war. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/818f60027bd6530fdff913b27c3f23f1.htm 7/12/07 Pakistan says all 73 people killed in storming of Red Mosque were Muslim militants, none of them women or children. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6294812.stm 7/3/07 Uri Avnery reviews the "dark summit" of leaders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestine to discuss the "situation" in Palestine, the purpose of which was to "strengthen" Abbas in his Israel/U.S. puppet position in Palestine. Neither in this summit nor in the impending actions of the Quartet of "powers" (U.S., Europe, UN, Russia) nor in the heralded appointment of Tony Blair as peacemaking "envoy" to the Middle East is there anything of substance other than the buying of time while Israel can complete its walls in the West Bank and its starvation of Gaza, as these "leaders" can only discuss how the misery of the Palestinians might be lessened, with scarcely a whisper of how the occupation of their land might be ended. http://www.countercurrents.org/avnery020707.htm 6/28/07 Why a boycott of Israel, a proposal for which is now "circulating" in British colleges, is not only the "right thing" to do from an intellectual's perspective, but makes good economic sense as well as a counter to the anti-labor policies of the European Union. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/06/why-boycott-israel-because-it%e2%80%99s-good-for-you/ 6/24/07 Israel releases frozen funds to Palestine ahead of a meeting with Egypt and Jordan designed to show support for Mahmoud Abbas in his battle against Hamas. 6/20/07 Egyptian support to Mahmoud Abbas symbolized in its decision to move its Palestinian embassy from Hamas-controlled Gaza to Fatah-controlled West Bank. http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070620091439800C474002 6/19/07 Israeli PM Olmert welcomes a "partner" with whom he can negotiate for the future of Palestine: the Abbas government which is being propped up with Israeli and international support. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6766551.stm 6/19/07 Sudan accepts a peace-keeping force of troops from United Nations and African Union. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FC3E03FE-F9FA-4279-9CC9-7C87BE666F58.htm 6/18/07 One of the "quartet" of world super-powers (European Union) chimes in with anticipated lifting of sanctions against Palestine now that PA leader Abbas has "expelled" the duly-elected Hamas government. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6762777.stm 6/18/07 Ethiopia, the U.S. ally in the "war on terrorism" in the Horn of Africa, is terrorizing its own people:. Its Army carries on a brutal repression featuring torture and rape ag |