Peace and Justice Post

I am in no way saying that there are not ‘leaders’ of the Jewish religious community that use the Talmud as a means to justify the destruction of the Palestinian people, as well as all those who are not Jewish. I have endlessly posted about those neanderthals and exposed their hatred. But, to make claims such as the above is no different, all it does is incite hatred towards the Jews themselves, most of whom do not follow those ‘leaders’ or believe in the garbage that spouts from their mouths.

It must also be remembered that there are a growing number of Jews getting involved in the Pro Palestinian Movement. Many of them are observant, why are they being demonised as well? Many of them are actively involved in fighting aginst Islamophobia as well. Do they deserve to be demonised?

Continues >>

Why the growing grassroots movement can’t fight big government at home while supporting it abroad.

BY RON PAUL, Foreign Policy, AUGUST 27, 2010

As one who is opposed to centralization, I am wary of attempts to turn a grassroots movement against big government like the Tea Party into an adjunct of the Republican Party. I find it even more worrisome when I see those who willingly participated in the most egregious excesses of the most recent Republican Congress push their way into leadership roles of this movement without batting an eye — or changing their policies!

The CIA is making secret payments to a significant number of officials in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Citing current and former U.S. officials, the paper said the payments were long-standing in many cases and intended to maintain sources of information within the Afghan government.

Some Karzai aides were CIA informants and others received payments to ensure their accessibility, the Post said, citing a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Continues >>

Harvey Wasserman

by Harvey Wasserman, The Smirking Chimp, August 27, 2010

Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” is one of history’s greatest orations, as well as one of its most beautiful arias.

To truly honor him and the heartfelt genius he brought us, we must do the one thing that most hurtfully blocked his Dream: we must end the imperial wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, at long last, bring our troops home from all over the world.

Because I use it in my US history classes, I have heard Dr. King’s speech scores of times. I play it on a scratchy video whenever possible and never tire of it. It is more sung than delivered, and his sonorous voice and perfect cadence are the equal of any operatic oratorio ever written. Close your eyes and you are in the greatest of all concert halls.

But its message cuts the core of our entire history. It contains beautiful descriptions of much our national landscape. It references Stone Mountain, Georgia, where we suffered the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, the origin of the infamous Scottsboro Boys legal persecution.

It sings with perfect pitch of our most spiritual president, Abraham Lincoln, and the promise made to African-Americans still being given a bad check for 250 years of unrequited labor.

Continues >>

By Stuart Littlewood, Dissident Voice, Aug 27, 2010

The Palestinians’ champion – their White Knight – is preparing to ride forth next week and do battle at the negotiating table with the racist regime’s Black Knight and his minder, the Great Satan.

The rules of chivalry don’t apply, so the outcome is not in doubt.

However, the White Knight is not quite as white or brave as he seems. Eager to do his lord’s bidding, Mahmoud Abbas is a willing fall guy. On this occasion Obama has imperiously snapped his fingers and announced he wants direct talks started “well before” the Black Knight (aka Israeli prime minister Netanyahu) ends the partial freeze on illegal settlements in a month’s time.

Continues >>

By Prof. John Kozy, Global Research, Aug 20, 2010

Edmund Burke’s statement, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” is frequently cited, but in truth, even history’s obvious lessons are unrecognized by many who know history very well.

There was a time when every school child could recite the Gettysburg Address from memory, especially its famous peroration: “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” But that resolution has largely gone unfulfilled. So exactly what did the Civil War accomplish?

Most certainly, it preserved the union territorially and abolished slavery—two noteworthy things. But the slaves who were freed, rather than being benefited by their freedom, were left in the lurch, and the prejudicial attitudes of Confederate whites were most likely hardened; they certainly were not softened. So although the war united the nation territorially, it failed to unite its peoples, and that division is still evident today.

Continues >>

By Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com, August 26, 2010

Just back from Afghanistan, Marine Commandant, Gen. James Conway held a news conference to add his voice to the Pentagon campaign to disparage the July 2011 date President Barack Obama set for U.S. troops to begin leaving Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Conway claimed that intelligence intercepts suggest that this deadline has strengthened the conviction of those resisting the U.S.-led occupation that it is just a matter of time before most foreign forces leave. Conway said:

“In some ways … it’s probably giving our enemy sustenance. … We think he may be saying to himself … ‘Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long.’”

Conway, however, was quick to reassure supporters of the war in Afghanistan that Taliban morale is likely to drop when, “come the fall [of 2011] we’re still there hammering them like we have been.”

Conway began his press conference by adding a new measure to the refrain led by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, that considerable time will be required before Afghan forces can take over from U.S. troops.

Continues >>

Iraq Body Count group claims attention paid to Iraqi casualties has been derisory

by Lesley Docksey, Dissident Voice, August 24th, 2010

Regime Change

There are few legal justifications for waging war.  Where individual states are concerned, every state has the right to self defence (Article 51, UN Charter), but one must prove an attack on one’s territory has taken place (a breach of the state’s sovereignty) or that an attack is genuinely imminent.  The only other legal military action is that properly authorised by the Security Council, whether for peace-keeping, intervention or to enforce international law.

People want to see Blair tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity and the supreme crime, the crime of aggression.  But another crime was committed when we invaded Iraq and, more importantly, which has now been confirmed by papers released since the invasion and by evidence from the Iraq Inquiry.  The crime that Blair committed knowingly, deliberately and because, in his own words “I believe I was right” is regime change.

Continues >>