Peace and Justice Post

We haven’t weaned ourselves off the little Hitlers of the Middle East

 The Independent, Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Saudi Arabia is a great dumping ground for despots. Remember Idi Amin? We Brits loved him once, but when he turned against us and started eating his enemies – and keeping the occasional head in the fridge – we were happy he fled into exile in Saudi Arabia. Then there was Ben Ali of Tunisia who flew off to the kingdom with his wife and an awful lot of money this year when the people could no longer tolerate him. We used to like Ben Ali – the French more than others – because he was a “symbol of stability”. And now Ali Abdullah Saleh – who also used to be our hero in the “war on terror” – is wounded in the chest and freighted off to hospital in Riyadh.

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By Eileen Fleming, opednews.com,  June 6, 2011

[World]–On the morning of the 4th of June, a link was disseminated to the 3,022 members of The Face Book Cause:

Free Mordechai Vanunu,  alerting them to an article published in the UK, regarding Meir Dagan, a “former head of Israel‘s spy service” who is making public appearances and briefing journalists because he sees the country’s current government as “irresponsible and reckless.I decided to speak because when I was in office, Diskin, Ashkenazi and I could block any dangerous adventure. Now I am afraid that there is no one to stop Bibi [Netanyahu] and Barak.” [1]

Ashkenazi, was the head of the army, Dagan head of Mossad and Diskin, head of Shin Bet. All three have been replaced by men chosen by the current government.

Dagan had been in charge of aggressive Israeli actions abroad and in recent years his “accomplishments’ include connections to assassinations in Lebanon, Syria and Dubai and an air attack on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria.

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Stephen Lendman, MWC News, June 5, 2011

For months, Bahraini and Saudi security forces targeted nonviolent protesters and activists wanting the repressive Al Khalifa monarchy replaced by constitutionally elected government, political freedom, and social justice, what Bahrainis never had and don’t now.

Three previous articles discussed it, accessed through the following links:

• http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/10002-police-state-terror-in-bahrain.html
• http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/10275-terror-in-bahrain.html
• http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/10683-bahrain-terror.html

Still functioning despite authorities terrorizing people brutally, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) provides regular updates on the ground, expressing great concern about King Hamad’s ruthless:

“actions and arbitrary penalties against citizens who it believes participated or supported the peaceful protest movement in February and March, whereas, Bahraini authorities (unleashed) great violence (against them, resulting in) dozens of deaths, especially after” thuggish Saudi and Emirati forces also suppressed them.

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by United Against Zionism, Dissident Voice,  June 4th, 2011

A detailed analysis of the Israeli terrorist attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 1 year ago on 31 May 2010 in international waters, with a focus on the lies that Israel’s massive propaganda machine spewed after the massacre.

BACKGROUND ON GAZA

Israel maintains a land, air, and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, supposedly to prevent the smuggling of arms into the hands of militant organizations based there. However, Israel also blocks food, construction material, fuel, toiletries, and a long etc, claiming that these items have a “dual-use”, i.e. that they can be used to make weapons.

Israel’s isolation of Gaza can be traced back to at least 1967, but it was after Hamas won a majority in transparent democratic elections in 2006 that Israel created a ruthless blockade of the Gaza Strip. When Hamas took power after clashes with Fatah in June 2007, Israel’s blockade was tightened further. A ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in mid-2008, in which Hamas would prevent rocket attacks and Israel would lift the blockade, was dishonored by Israel while it prepared for its murderous Operation Cast Lead.

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Three US missile strikes have killed at least 19 people in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border, local security officials have said.

Aljazeera.net, June 6, 2011

The injured from the Nowshera bombing were taken to a hospital in Peshawar on Sunday [AFP]

The strikes on Monday came a day after at least 24 people were killed in an explosion in the northwestern town of Nowshera and another bombing at a bus stop near Peshawar.

The missile strikes took place near Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region, early on Monday morning.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the strikes. Al Jazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that one strike targeted a compound, while another hit a madrassah (religious school).

Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press that the third strike hit a vehicle that was travelling between the North and South Waziristan agencies. Five people are reported to have been killed in that attack.

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U.S. politicians often speak of “American exceptionalism” as some God-given grant of special status that puts the United States above the rules that apply to other nations. In geo-politics, this concept has meant that international law is enforced against countries that offend Washington but not against those in Washington’s good graces, as Lawrence Davidson explains.

By Lawrence Davidson, Consortium News, June 5, 2011

One of the defining characteristics of modern Western culture is individuality. Most people in the West take it for granted that they have the right to free expression and personality development. However, in practice, this right is not open-ended.

It is fine if you want to express yourself as a musician, a painter, a filmmaker, a writer, etc. Equally legitimate is your desire to express yourself as an engineer, accountant, bus driver or auto mechanic.

Things become very different if you have a great desire to express yourself as a thief or want to develop your personality as a serial killer. There are rules, in the form of laws, against these latter avenues of expression.

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Israeli soldiers attacked protesters along the Syrian border with the occupied Golan Heights today, killing at least 23 protesters and wounding some 350 others. The protesters were marching to commemorate the 44th anniversary of the 1967 invasion of Golan.

The US State Department claimed to be “deeply troubled” by the protest march, and said that Israel had a right “like any sovereign nation” to defend itself by shooting protesters. Israeli opposition figures slammed “trigger-happy” soldiers for the large number of casualties.

Israel conquered the Golan Heights in 1967, along with the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Though Israel eventually returned the Sinai (with caveats) to Egypt, and simply walled in Gaza, they have ruled out leaving either Golan or the West Bank.

It is the second time in less than a month that Israeli troops have attacked and killed large numbers of protesters along their northern border. In mid-May troops killed some 20 protesters commemorating Nakba, the expulsion of Palestinians from Israeli territory. The commemoration is illegal in Israel.

Written by Mondoweiss, mideastposts.com, June 5, 2011

The Obama White House has unfurled a new web-page, it’s called “Advancing Israel’s Security and Supporting Peace.” It’s obviously geared toward appeasing the lobby. There is one reference to the status quo being “unsustainable,” but all references to Palestinians are calls on them to advance peace and staunch terrorism. Most of the site is about Israel’s security. Iran has a whole section. The word “settlements” is not mentioned. 1967 is mentioned.

“[T]he parties themselves will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967 to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years…”

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James Petras, Information Clearing House, June 6, 2011

On May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin, Missouri, the site of a devastating tornado that killed 140 and pronounced it a terrible “tragedy”. But were the deaths the inevitable result of ‘natural events’ beyond the human intervention?

Coincidentally the same week Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14 by a NATO fighter bomber, running the total to several hundred civilians killed so far this year and thousands over the decade.

The relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin and Afghanistan raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of the US Empire and the future of the American republic.

Geography of Tornados

Every year at least 20 major violent tornadoes – with winds exceeding 200 mph – hit “tornado alley” and beyond, including central Texas, northern Iowa, central Kansas, Nebraska, western Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Each and every year at least sixty are killed and several hundred are maimed and injured. This year, through May 2011, over 519 have been killed, 25% of whom were in mobile homes, almost three times as many as those in standard houses.

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