Peace and Justice Post

by Chris Hedges, truthdig.com, Aug 16, 2010

Time is running out for Israel. And the Israeli government knows it. The Jewish Diaspora, especially the young, has a waning emotional and ideological investment in Israel. The demographic boom means that Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories will soon outnumber Jews. And Israel’s increasing status as a pariah nation means that informal and eventually formal state sanctions against the country are probably inevitable.

Desperate Israeli politicians, watching opposition to their apartheid state mount, have proposed a perverted form of what they term “the one-state solution.” It is the latest tool to thwart a Palestinian state and allow Israel to retain its huge settlement complexes and land seizures in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The idea of a single state was backed by Moshe Arens, a former defense minister and foreign minister from the Likud Party, in a column he wrote last month in the newspaper Haaretz asking “Is There Another Option?” Arens has been joined by several other Israeli politicians including Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin.

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By Peter Symonds, wsws.org, Aug 16, 2010

A lengthy article in the New York Times on Sunday entitled “A Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents” has provided a glimpse into the extent of the Obama administration’s covert wars. Obama has not only continued, he has expanded the murderous operations that were waged under the banner of the “war on terror” by the CIA and Pentagon during the Bush administration.

As the authors explain: “In roughly a dozen countries—from the deserts of North Africa, to the mountains of Pakistan, to former Soviet republics [in Central Asia] crippled by ethnic and religious strife—the United States has significantly increased military and intelligence operations, pursuing the enemy using robotic drones and commando teams, paying contractors to spy and training local operatives to chase terrorists.”

Obama has dramatically intensified the CIA’s drone missile attacks against alleged insurgents inside areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. The White House has “approved raids inside Somalia,” it has “carried out clandestine operations from Kenya,” and it has collaborated with European allies in covert operations in North Africa, including a recent French strike in Algeria.

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By Badri Raina , ZNet,  August 13, 2010

Change Text Size a- | A+ Badri Raina’s ZSpace Page

“Kashmir may be conquered by the force of spiritual merit but not by the force of soldiers.”

(Kalhana Pandit)

I

So total has been the loss of hegemony of  Kashmir’s  elected  representatives, in government and in the legislature, over the last two months, and so  desperately brutal the recourse to coercive subjugation  of fearless young anger on the streets of the valley, that if ever there was a time to say  resistance to authority (sic) deserves to be rewarded with what it seeks, it has been now.  If the prospect, that is, of the secession of the valley—since other parts of the state of Jammu & Kashmir desire, contrarily, not secession but more complete integration with the Union of India– were not fraught with  incalculable negative consequences not just for India and Pakistan, but for the inhabitants of the valley itself.

To that I shall return.

Just the other day, the Home Minister of India made two significant averments in parliament.  One that the Union recognizes that the Accession of the state of Jammu & Kashmir was a “unique one”; and, two, that, apart of all other things, the Republic and its successive governments had failed to keep promises made to the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

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A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission,

AHRC, Aug 11, 2010

The negligence of the authorities and improper mechanisms to deal with natural disasters has put the lives of millions of people in peril after the heavy rains in Pakistan. As a result the lives of the people have been drastically affected with the destruction and loss of vast areas of agriculture lands. More than 1,600 people have been killed by the flood waters that swept away over 400,000 houses throughout the country. Around 5000 villages were inundated and thousands of people are stranded with no hope of relief from the authorities.

According to the United Nations the massive floods in Pakistan affected 14 million people eclipsing the devastating 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the January 2010 Haiti earthquake.

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Antiwar.com, Aug 14, 2010

AFP

A US missile strike on a militant compound in Pakistan’s tribal district on the Afghan border killed 13 rebels and wounded five others on Saturday, local security officials said.

by David Rothauser,  Tokyo Progressive, July 26, 2010

In 1946 the United States Government decided that Japan needed a peace constitution. One was written. It included Article Nine which stated that Japan should never make war again.

A majority of citizens in Japan wholeheartedly embraced Article Nine. They had had enough of war following the crushing defeat of World War II.

The ink had barely dried on Japan’s new constitution when America found herself embroiled in another war, this time in Korea.

“Drop Article Nine of the Constitution,” said Uncle Sam. “Go to war against North Korea.” Not issued in such blatant terms, America’s intentions were nevertheless, perfectly clear. In July of 1950 General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers issued a secret order for the immediate build-up of a 300,000 to 350,000-man army. Identified as a “National Police Reserve,” this “little American army” included artillery, tanks and aircraft.

Japan went into shock. The American Eagle was acting irrationally. They had just completed a four-year war against Japan, fire-bombed Japan’s largest cities, A-bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, demanded an unconditional surrender—and now wanted Japan to fight for the U.S. against North Korea.

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Al Jazeera, Aug 14, 2010

At least 20 million people have now been affected by heavy flooding across Pakistan, the country’s prime minister has announced, calling the disaster the nation’s “worst-ever calamity”.

Yousuf Raza Gilani urged Pakistanis on Saturday to “join hands” to help deal with the crisis, which has left more than 1,600 people dead across the country.

“This natural disaster has brought a huge devastation and approximately 20 million people have been affected by it,” he said in a sombre address marking Pakistan’s independence from British colonial rule 63 years ago.

“[It] destroyed standing crops and food storages worth billions of dollars, causing colossal loss to the national economy.

“Therefore, despite all out efforts by the government, all available aid seems to be inadequate. I would appeal to the world community to extend a helping hand to fight this calamity.”

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The New York Times

Aabid Nabi, right, sat next to his brother Fida Nabi, who was shot in the head during a protest, in a hospital in Srinagar. Mr. Nabi later died from his injury. More Photos »

By LYDIA POLGREEN, New York Times, Aug 12, 2010

The New York Times

Mr. Nabi was the 50th person to die in Kashmir’s bloody summer of rage. He had been shot in the head, his family and witnesses said, during a protest against India’s military presence in this disputed province.

For decades, India maintained hundreds of thousands of security forces in Kashmir to fight an insurgency sponsored by Pakistan, which claims this border region, too. The insurgency has been largely vanquished. But those Indian forces are still here, and today they face a threat potentially more dangerous to the world’s largest democracy: an intifada-like popular revolt against the Indian military presence that includes not just stone-throwing young men but their sisters, mothers, uncles and grandparents.

The protests, which have erupted for a third straight summer, have led India to one of its most serious internal crises in recent memory. Not just because of their ferocity and persistence, but because they signal the failure of decades of efforts to win the assent of Kashmiris using just about any tool available: money, elections and overwhelming force.

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