Peace and Justice Post

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan, uruknet.info,  Nov 23, 2011

AL-ARAKIB, Israel (Reuters) — Bulldozed by Israel more than two dozen times, a village known by Bedouin Arabs as al-Arakib is one of many ramshackle desert communities whose names have never appeared on any official map.

If Israel’s parliament adopts proposed new legislation, it never will.

The plan to demolish more Bedouin homes in the southern Negev region and move 30,000 people to government-authorized villages connected to power and water lines has been hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “historic opportunity” to improve Bedouin lives.

But Israeli Arab leaders, who have long complained about discrimination against their community in Israel, call it “ethnic cleansing,” and aim to thwart the project with protests, a general strike and appeals to the United Nations to intervene.

“I will never leave here, I intend to stay until I die,” said Abu-Madyam, 46, a farmer from al-Arakib.

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By Kourosh Ziabari, Veterans Today, Nov 23, 2011

After the Arab League hypocritically suspended the membership of Syria amid the mounting pressures of NATO and the United States, the resurgence of violence in Egypt and the increasing use of excessive force in Bahrain and Yemen and the unrelenting massacre of innocent civilians by the barbaric regime of Al Khalifa and Ali Abdullah Saleh once again attracted the attention of conscientious observers in the international community.

According to official figures released by the “Bahrain Center for Human Rights” website, so far 44 Bahraini citizens were killed at the hands of the mercenaries of Al Khalifa regime. The Bahraini martyrs include the 6-year-old Mohammed Farhan, 14-year-old Ali Jawad Alshaikh and 15-year-old Sayed Ahmad Saeed Shams. The Bahraini organization has reported that many of these martyrs were killed while in custody. The Center has also published documents indicating that more than 1,500 Bahrainis including about 100 women were incarcerated since the eruption of turmoil in the Persian Gulf country on February 14, 2011 and that more that 90 journalists face life threat.

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AHRC, Nov 24, 2011

Statement : The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern over the latest conviction and sentence of a person in Thailand for a crime of freedom of expression. On 23 November 2011, in Black Case No. 311/2554, Ampon Tangnoppakul (also known as ‘Arkong’), a 61-year-old man, was sentenced to twenty years in prison for four alleged violations of Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. Ampon’s crime was to allegedly send four SMS messages to Somkiat Klongwattanasak, personal secretary of the former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. iLaw, a Thai legal NGO, reported that the four SMS messages were alleged by the authorities to contain vulgar language and to defame the Thai queen and to insult the honor of the monarchy. . .

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By Stephen Lendman, opednews.com, Nov 23, 2011

Palestinians are doubly cursed. Israel’s military attacks them regularly. During the past week alone, Israeli air strikes killed four Gazans, wounding another 14.

Al-Nabi Saleh village residents participating in a peaceful demonstration were assaulted. Two injuries were reported, including a child. Israel’s navy arrested three Palestinian fishermen, confiscating their boats.

Their security forces conducted 91 incursions (13 a day on average) into Palestinian communities, arresting 14 civilians. One injury was reported.

Israeli security forces raided homes of recently released Palestinian prisoners. They were ordered to appear for questioning to harass and perhaps re-incarcerate them.

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Protesters rally in Cairo demanding end to military rule, despite promise by Egypt’s interim leader to transfer power by mid-2012.

Middle East Online, Nov 23, 2011

Egyptian revolution, to be continued…

Thousands of protesters rallied Wednesday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square demanding an end to military rule, despite a promise by Egypt’s interim leader to transfer power to an elected president by mid-2012.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who served as minister under Hosni Mubarak but took power when the ex-president was ousted in February, pledged in a rare televised address Tuesday to hold a presidential election by the end of June.

He was speaking after deadly protests swept the country, in scenes reminiscent of the popular uprisings that toppled Mubarak.

According to the health ministry, 31 people have been killed since Saturday — 28 of them in Tahrir Square — when the security forces first resorted to tear gas, rubber bullets and birdshot in an bid to scatter protesters.

Demonstrators have responded with stones and petrol bombs.

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John Feffer, Co-director, Foreign Policy In Focus, Huggington Post, Nov 22, 2011

Someday soon, you’ll be checking your new Clear Skies app as a routine part of your preparations to go out for the evening. First, you’ll look at your smart gizmo to read your latest email to make sure there hasn’t been any change in plans. A quick glance at Facebook lets you see who’ll be joining your group of friends at the bar. Weather and traffic apps inform you of what to wear and what route to take. Twitter will tell you about any major news developments you should be retweeting to your tweeps to prime the conversational pump over drinks.

And your new Clear Skies app will let you know if any unmanned drones are hovering 12 miles up in the stratosphere with your head in their sights.

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 Glen Ford, uruknet.info, Nov 22, 2011

Remember 2004, when the cash-poor Democratic candidates were evicted from the campaign like vagabonds by ABC News? One measure of the impact of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that candidates will be compelled to explain to voters why they are so popular with Wall Street. This poses a special quandary for President Obama, who got the lion’s share of finance industry dollars in 2008 and is determined to raise $1 billion for next year’s campaign. “How can Obama claim to be ready to stand up to the 1 percent, when he’s weighted down with a billion dollars of their money?” Continues >>

Yahoo! News,  Nov 22, 2011 at 00:15

Saudi special forces perform on November 1. Saudi security forces opened fire on protesters in the Eastern Province Shiite region of Al-Qatif on Monday, wounding several people, witnesses said.(AFP/File/Fayez Nureldine)

RIYADH (AFP) – Saudi security forces opened fire on protesters in the Eastern Province Shiite region of Al-Qatif on Monday, wounding several people, witnesses said.

The demonstrators had taken to the streets in the town of Shwika to protest against the death overnight Sunday of a 19-year-old Shiite man, Nasser al-Mheishi, accusing police of killing him, the witnesses said.

Mheishi had been wounded near a police checkpoint in unclear circumstances.

“The police told us that gunmen had opened fire on the police checkpoint… and that my son was caught in the crossfire between the police and the armed men, and was struck by four bullets,” the man’s father, Ali al-Mheishi told AFP.

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Rev. Richard Skaff, Information Clearing House, Nov 21, 2011

“To attack or not to attack Iran?” That is the question!

What does president Obama have to do to get re-elected in 2012, and delay the total collapse of the global economic system that has been based on fiat money, black gold (oil), and an elite ponzi scheme that sucked the wealth out of every individual and nation?

Every American president sets the stage for the next one, in order to continue the work in progress that has been set for him by the global corporate elite.  Mr. Obama has been a faithful serf to his money masters, and he played his cards carefully and correctly, therefore, he will deserve a second term.

However, living beyond our means by financing an empire that we can’t afford through borrowing massive amounts of money from the global financial elite embodied in the private Federal Reserve, and accruing more and more debt can go so far before the empire of cards collapses on itself.

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Egypt’s interim military rulers have been accused of continuing Mubarak-era abuses

© Mohamed Ali Eddin/Demotix

Egypt’s military rulers have completely failed to live up to their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights and have instead been responsible for a catalogue of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

In Broken Promises: Egypt’s Military Rulers Erode Human Rights, the organization documents a woeful performance on human rights by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which assumed power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

The report’s release follows a bloody few days in Egypt that has left many dead and hundreds injured after army and security forces violently attempted to disperse anti-SCAF protesters from Cairo’s Tahrir square.

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