Archive for May, 2010

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British General Election: Shhh … Don’t Mention the Occupation

May 7, 2010

by Stuart Littlewood, Dissident Voice,  May 6th, 2010

In the run-up to Britain’s general election we’ve heard next to nothing about the Middle East policy from the three main party leaders in their much-publicised debates on TV.

They have studiously avoided all mention of the outrage in the Holy Land and the way it impacts so directly on world peace.

The plight of the Palestinian people ever since Britain abandoned its mandate responsibility, and their endless struggle for freedom from Israel’s military occupation, threatens our safety but word of it never passes their lips. And the programme bosses appear to block questions on the subject.

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Another battle of Okinawa

May 7, 2010

Despite protests, the U.S. insists on going ahead with plans for a new military base on the island.

By Chalmers Johnson, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2010

The United States is on the verge of permanently damaging its alliance with Japan in a dispute over a military base in Okinawa. This island prefecture hosts three-quarters of all U.S. military facilities in Japan. Washington wants to build one more base there, in an ecologically sensitive area. The Okinawans vehemently oppose it, and tens of thousands gathered last month to protest the base. Tokyo is caught in the middle, and it looks as if Japan’s prime minister has just caved in to the U.S. demands.

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Khadr routinely trussed up in cage, hearing told

May 7, 2010

Khadr routinely trussed up in cage, hearing told

Canadian defendant Omar Khadr attends a hearing in the courthouse at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base on Thursday.

Canadian defendant Omar Khadr attends a hearing in the courthouse at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base on Thursday. REUTERS

‘We could do basically anything to scare the prisoners,’ retired soldier testifies

Paul Koring, The Globe and Mail, May 5, 2010

Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Station, Cuba — From Thursday’s Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, May. 05, 2010 12:11PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, May. 06, 2010 3:31AM EDT

Omar Khadr, then a gravely wounded 15-year-old, was routinely trussed up in a cage “in one of the worst places on Earth,” according to a hulking former military interrogator nicknamed Monster who says he felt sorry for the Canadian and brought him books and treats.

Former specialist Damien Corsetti was testifying via video link to a pretrial hearing in the war-crimes trial of Mr. Khadr, now 23, on charges of terrorism and murder in the killing of a U.S. Special Forces soldier during a firefight in eastern Afghanistan in July of 2002.

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Posted in Commentary, Human rights, torture, Uncategorized, US policy, USA | Leave a Comment »

Did Ahmedinejad say anything wrong about nuclear weapons?

May 6, 2010

By Badri Raina, ZNet, May 6, 2010


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Badri Raina’s ZSpace Page

Sauce for the Goose is not

Sauce for the Gander.

Unlike my friend, J. Sriraman, the reputed columnist, I am no expert on matters nuclear.

As a lay student of contemporary international history (where “contemporary” goes back , for purposes of this note, to the second world war), I agree with some six billion others that nuclear weapons are unacceptably evil in a usually acceptably evil world.

Everybody of course says so, including those who remain in control of the largest stockpiles.

Yet what stares you in the face is the unconscionable gap between the ethics of the issue which hardly anyone denies, and the record of performance through the decades.

And strikingly here, those that bear the most onus, even opprobrium, seem the most self-righteous.

Which is, after all, what the reviled President of Iran, Ahmedinejad, underscored in his recent appearance at a nuclear disarmament conclave in America.

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Obama’s Predator joke—no laughing matter

May 6, 2010

By Bill Van Auken, wsws.org, May 6, 2010

To the guffaws of assembled media celebrities, President Barack Obama used his monologue Saturday night before the Washington Correspondents Association dinner to joke about using Predator drones, a weapon that has killed hundreds of civilians on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and enraged millions throughout the region.

Obama’s joke was ostensibly aimed at the pop group Jonas Brothers, who were among the large number of show business types invited to the annual affair. The President began by noting that his two pre-teen daughters were fans of the boy band and went on to warn: “…but boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking?”

Like virtually all of the supposed humor employed at such affairs, Obama’s joke was directed to Washington “insiders,” government officials, politicians of both parties and members of the media elite itself, all of whom would know what he was talking about and could generally be expected to find nothing amiss in his remarks.

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Posted in Commentary, imperialism, Pakistan, President Barack Obama, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war | Leave a Comment »

Pakistani FM: Attempted NY bombing is reaction to U.S. drone strikes

May 5, 2010

Attempted NY bombing is reaction to drone strikes: Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi believes the attempted New York’s Times Square bombing is a reaction to US drones targeting Taliban followers along the Pak-Afghan border. “This is a blow back. This is a reaction. This is retaliation. And you could expect that. Let’s not be naive. They’re not going to sort of sit and welcome you eliminate them. They’re going to fight back,” CBS News quoted Qureshi, as saying. Qureshi was speaking as police confirmed the arrest of two people, one of whom, Tauseef Ahmed, is believed to have travelled to the U.S. to meet Faisal Shahzad. Both were arrested in Karachi, Pakistan. CBS News has also learned that Shahzad may have spent at least four months training at a terrorist camp – raided in early March by Pakistani forces.

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Obama Biggest Recipient of BP Cash

May 5, 2010
Published on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by Politico.com, by Erika Lovley
While the BP oil geyser pumps millions of gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama and members of Congress may have to answer for the millions in campaign contributions they’ve taken from the oil and gas giant over the years.

BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.

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Colombia: State Terror in the Name of Peace

May 5, 2010
By James Petras,  Axis of Logic, May 5, 2010

Introduction

The first casualty of state terror is the corruption of language, the invention of euphemisms, where words mean their opposite and slogans cover great crimes:  There is no longer a world consensus that condemns crimes against humanity.  This is because   mass murder and assassinations secure investor ‘confidence’, because Indians are dispossessed so the mines can be exploited; oil workers disappear so the petroleum will flow; and the international financial press praises the success of el Presidente for “pacifying the country”.

When narco-presidents are embraced by the leaders of North America and Europe, it is evident that criminals have become respectable the respectable have become criminals.

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Israel pressures Egypt to block its call for NPT deal

May 4, 2010
Reuters, May 4, 2010

Israel has pressured Egypt to block its lobbying against it at a U.N. nuclear review meeting by urging Cairo at top-level talks to view Iran’s nuclear programme as the “regional threat”, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.

The message was relayed by the delegation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference began in New York.

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Algeria: Stop Suppressing Protests

May 4, 2010

Police Ban March and Arrest Organizers Who Called State TV a ‘Propaganda Machine’

Human Rights Watch, May 3, 2010

Blocking even this small gathering that was advocating more pluralism on television news shows the sorry state of civil liberties in Algeria.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Algeria should end its repressive policy banning all demonstrations in the capital, Human Rights Watch said today after police blocked a small rally planned in front of the offices of state television to demand press freedom. The police detained four protest organizers in the morning as they approached the site, on the grounds of inciting a gathering “that can disturb public tranquility,” an offense under the penal code. The four were questioned, then released in the early afternoon.

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