by His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, His Grace Bishop Dr. Munib Younan, His Eminence Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Rev. Dr. Jamal Khader, Rev. Dr. Rafiq Khoury, Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, Rev. Dr. Yohana Katanacho , Rev. Fadi Diab , Geries S. Khoury, Cedar Duaybis, Nora Kort, Lucy Thaljieh, Nidal Abu El Zuluf, Yusef Daher, Rifat Kassis

A group of religious leaders representing the principal Christian denominations, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon Evangelical Churches, are appealing to theologians not to legitimize the injustices inflicted on the Palestinians. They evoke the duty of the faithful to resist evil, entreating them to take part in the boycott of Israeli products. Moreover, they denounce the definition of Israel as a Jewish state and demand respect for the rights of all peoples.

A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering

We, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation, with a cry of hope in the absence of all hope, a cry full of prayer and faith in a God ever vigilant, in God’s divine providence for all the inhabitants of this land. Inspired by the mystery of God’s love for all, the mystery of God’s divine presence in the history of all peoples and, in a particular way, in the history of our country, we proclaim our word based on our Christian faith and our sense of Palestinian belonging – a word of faith, hope and love.

Why now? Because today we have reached a dead end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The decision-makers content themselves with managing the crisis rather than committing themselves to the serious task of finding a way to resolve it. The hearts of the faithful are filled with pain and with questioning: What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing? The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the Church.

We address ourselves to our brothers and sisters, members of our Churches in this land. We call out as Christians and as Palestinians to our religious and political leaders, to our Palestinian society and to the Israeli society, to the international community, and to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Churches around the world.

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Marco Villa

All you wanted to know about the racist land distribution and housing police in Israel, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem has been eloquently put together in this Israeli documentary. It is a very small minority, but there is still an honest and noble core in Israel. Every minute of this is worth watching.

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F. William Engdahl

The man with the nickname “Dr Flu”, Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria. Not only is Osterhaus the connecting person in an international network that has been described as the Pharma Mafia, he is THE key advisor to WHO on influenza and is intimately positioned to personally profit from the billions of euros in vaccines allegedly aimed at H1N1.

Earlier this year the Second Chamber of the Netherlands Parliament undertook an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest and financial improprieties of the well-known Dr. Osterhaus. Outside of Holland and the Dutch media, the only note of the sensational investigation into Osterhaus’ business affairs came in a tiny note in the respected British magazine, Science.

Osterhaus's credentials and expertise in his field were not in question. What is in question, according to a short report published by the journal Science, are his links to corporate interests that stand to potentially profit from the swine flu pandemic.

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James Corbett

Carbon hysteria reaches its logical conclusion.

The Optimum Population Trust (OPT), a UK-based "think tank" and registered charity, has launched a new initiative urging wealthy members of the developed world to participate in carbon offsets that fund programs for curbing the population of developing nations. The scheme is being promoted as a more cost-effective way to reduce CO2 emissions than investing in alternative energy sources and offers a way for elitist racists to feel ethical in their quest to exterminate the third world masses.

A BBC News article on the proposal dutifully reports the OPT's proposal and their justifications for proposing it. They note that the program is designed to fund "contraception" programs in poor nations, a term that helpfully obscures the fact that such programs—including those run by FPA, one of the agencies listed as a supporting organization of this new program—have used bribes to get poor men and women to volunteer for sterilization. The article does, however, allow space for a detractor of the proposal to point out that even if one does accept that limiting carbon emissions is necessary (which it is not), the focus on limiting emissions of people in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is in itself nonsensical: "Carbon emissions from people in much of sub-Saharan Africa are so low that they can barely be counted."

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Eileen Fleming

Im not a traitor. Im a man with a conscience who did what he did out of a deep belief after much thought and many doubts. I knew I had to do it, I had no choice. Somebody had to do it. I contributed my share by making public what the public ought to know & they shut my mouth behind the prison walls. -Mordechai Vanunu

Mordechai Vanunu was released from Ashkelon prison to open air captivity in east Jerusalem on April 21, 2004 after 18 years-most all in solitary — on April 21, 2004.

In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu was clubbed, drugged, bound and kidnapped from Rome by the Mossad because he told the truth and provided the photographic proof of their clandestine 7-story underground WMD facility in the Negev.

In the case of Mordechai Vanunu, Americans need to know that the restrictions that have held him captive in Jerusalem come from the Emergency Defense Regulations which were implemented by Britain against Palestinians and Jews after World War II.

After WW II, Attorney Yaccov Shapiro, who later became Israel’s Minister Of Justice, described the Emergency Defense Regulations as “unparalleled in any civilized country: there were no such laws in Nazi Germany.”

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Aleksandr Shustov

Uzbekistan’s foreign policy is becoming more West-oriented. In late October the EU removed the sanctions it had imposed on Uzbekistan after the massacre in Andijan in May 2005. Uzbekistan is one of the US’ key partners of the US and Central Asia again.

Also Uzbek economic partnership with Japan is quite successful. But it is also obvious that Uzbekistan is drifting away from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), EuroAsian Economic Community (EurAsEC) (Uzbekistan withdrew membership a year ago), from the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

The sanctions the EU imposed on Uzbekistan included the embargo on supplies of all types of weapons to the country, banned the entry to the EU for 12 Uzbek officials involved in the riots in Andijan, cut financial assistance introduced restrictions in trade. Last November the EU removed most of these sanctions despite the protests of rights activists. According to the EU, by that time Uzbekistan had made significant progress in human rights protection. On October 27, 2009, during a meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers it was decided to remove the last sanction, which was the ban on weapons supplies. But the real reason behind this decision was Brussels’ plan to establish oil and gas supplies from Uzbekistan to Europe bypassing Russia.

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Chris Floyd

No one forced any of these decisions – or these specious, obscene justifications – on Obama or Blair. It is their own narcissism -- their own lust for power, and their love for the system that gave them that power – has covered them with the blood and shame that now taint their every word and deed.

In recent days we have all witnessed two vomitous eruptions of moral nullity that would tax the powers of a Voltaire or a Vidal to do them proper justice; they quite o'er-crow the meager gifts of a hack like me. But I will sketch a few observations here nonetheless, if only to add one more small voice to those few who bear witness to the evils perpetrated by our unaccountable leaders.

We speak of course of Barack Obama's Nobel speech and Tony Blair's recent comments on the Iraq War. Let's take the lesser figure first.

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Merv Bendle

As the Copenhagen conference unfolds it is possible to detect the outlines of the grim future dystopia that will emerge if the stealthy and remorseless proponents of global eco-fascism are allowed to remake our world in their image. Consequently, the opportunity exists for an artistic and literary critique of the Brave New Green World these fanatics wish to impose on us all.

Once again we face the totalitarian temptation that has bedevilled modern history, that all-encompassing will-to-power that possesses ideological fanatics and drives them to transform themselves (and all of us) into mere components of a great Totality, an immense unified and holistic system where every person becomes an obedient and unquestioning functionary mobilized in the pursuit of a single goal, an ultimate solution: in the twentieth century entire generations were sacrificed to ensure the triumph of the race, the Volk, the people, or the proletariat; in the twenty-first century similar demands are being made for sacrifices on a mass scale to appease the earth goddess Gaia, conceived as the wrathful, relentless, unyielding, and omnipresent source of all life, value and meaning. Gaia – She who must be appeased.

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Haley Dillan

In 1978, the poor West African country of Liberia borrowed $6 million from a New York bank. The Liberian government promised to use the money to buy and develop an oil refinery, and to pay the money back in seven years. Today it's not clear if either of those things ever happened.

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Matthew Good

Want A Nuclear Free Middle East? Israeli's nukes must be in-
cluded in a ban of WMD. [BATR]

It all comes down to one very simple outlook – that Israel is not perceived as an aggressor but rather a victim.

When madmen open their mouths these days the severity of their words tends to get more attention depending on where they’re from. For example, what do you think the response would be were a high ranking Iranian official to utter the following…

“A top Iranian official has said that if Israel continues with its alleged nuclear arms programme, Iran will attack it.”

First, spare me the tired argument that Ahmadinejad claimed that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. Despite the fact that the media promoted that phrase, the translation was utterly inaccurate. Of course, that didn’t stop it from becoming carved in stone as far as Western public perception is concerned. That said; let’s look at the above statement for a second.

First, Israel’s nuclear program is officially ‘alleged’. Despite the fact that it is widely known that Israel has a nuclear arsenal that ranges between 100 and 300 weapons, the Israeli government has refused for decades to admit that they exist.

Second, the United Nations (the IAEA) has never been granted access to Israeli nuclear facilities. Of course, that only makes sense being that the Israelis claim that they don’t have a nuclear weapons program. It’s a lie, of course, but one that most of the world is comfortable with for some bizarre reason.

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Noam Chomsky

Perhaps I may begin with a few words about the title. There is too much nuance and variety to make such sharp distinctions as theirs-and-ours, them-and-us. And neither I nor anyone can presume to speak for “us.” But I will pretend it is possible.

There is also a problem with the term “crisis.” Which one? There are numerous very severe crises, interwoven in ways that preclude any clear separation. But again I will pretend otherwise, for simplicity.

One way to enter this morass is offered by the June 11 issue of the New York Review of Books. The front-cover headline reads “How to Deal With the Crisis”; the issue features a symposium of specialists on how to do so. It is very much worth reading, but with attention to the definite article. For the West the phrase “the crisis” has a clear enough meaning: the financial crisis that hit the rich countries with great impact, and is therefore of supreme importance. But even for the rich and privileged that is by no means the only crisis, nor even the most severe. And others see the world quite differently.

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Bob Carter

The bell tolls for the IPCC

It is a fine day, and God is obviously in his heaven.

I am standing on the helicopter deck of the famous science-drilling ship JOIDES Resolution. The snow-capped mountains of South Island, New Zealand, glisten gently along the far western horizon. A majestic rolling, royal blue swell strokes the sides of the ship. Its origins lie deep in the Southern Ocean, and its crests are ruffled into a maze of small waves, ripples and white patches of gently breaking foam by today’s northeasterly breeze.

I feel like Admiral Jellicoe reviewing the Home Fleet on the Solent in 1907, for behind the ship bobs a flotilla of a thousand or more albatrosses, mollymawks and cape pigeons, most preening, courting, sleeping with heads tucked in or just lollygagging around in the sunshine, some few doing aerial acrobatics apparently for no other reason than the sheer zest of living; when and how this great mass of birds feeds remains mysterious to me, but generally their life out here seems to be, what else, a breeze. And that the stern flotilla is of seabirds rather than warships is particularly appropriate, for JR, as she is affectionately known to those aboard, is a research flagship for the environmental and earth sciences rather than for any navy.

It is a privilege and a pleasure to be here. The group of 50 scientists and technicians on board are drawn from the best in the world, and from the many country members of the International Drilling Program (IODP). They are supremely good at their highly skilled jobs, as are the ship’s and drilling crews. For a research proposal to be allocated a drilling leg on JR - which lasts 2 months and costs about US $15 million to conduct - the science involved has to survive the most rigorous international peer-review, at which stage many drilling proposals fail.

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Manuel Valenzuela

Television is the greatest addiction we face, a malignancy that controls entire populations, becoming a drug infiltrating all regions of the brain, altering brainwaves in children, thoughts in adults, creating a population easily controlled and programmed, becoming, over the course of a lifetime, the human antenna receiving the endless stream of propaganda disseminated by government and corporate entities.

American Heroin

It oftentimes boggles the mind to try and understand the ease with which the Establishment can manipulate the American citizenry into another warmongering escapade, this time an ominous foray into the Persian lands of Iran, a nation rich in history, culture, location and most importantly to the Evil Empire, oil and gas. Yet upon further inspection it is easy to comprehend this phenomenon, for we live, as Gore Vidal has labeled it, inside the United States of Amnesia, a country where all semblance of the yesterday becomes but a haze of blatant forgetfulness and convenient whitewash, a black hole of Alzheimer’s-like darkness from where no recollection of past lessons, mistakes, errors or history can be seen or touched.

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Lord Monckton

Cold facts about the hot topic of global temperature change after the Climategate scandal

THE WHISTLE BLOWS FOR TRUTH

The whistleblower deep in the basement of one of the ugly, modern tower-blocks of the dismal, windswept University of East Anglia could scarcely have timed it better.

In less than three weeks, the world’s governing class – its classe politique – would meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss a treaty to inflict an unelected and tyrannical global government on us, with vast and unprecedented powers to control all once-free world markets and to tax and regulate the world’s wealthier nations for its own enrichment: in short, to bring freedom, democracy, and prosperity to an instant end worldwide, at the stroke of a pen, on the pretext of addressing what is now known to be the non-problem of manmade “global warming”.

The unnamed hero of ‘Climategate’, after months of work gathering emails, computer code, and data, quietly sent a 61-megabyte compressed file from one of the university’s servers to an obscure public message-board on the internet, with a short covering note to the effect that the climate was too important to keep the material secret, and that the data from the University would be available for a short time only. He had caught the world’s politico-scientific establishment green-handed.

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Adam Nossiter

Cellphone snapshots, ugly and hard to refute, are circulating here and feeding rage: they show that women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers who suppressed a political demonstration at a stadium here last week, with victims and witnesses describing rapes, beatings and acts of intentional humiliation.

“I can’t sleep at night, after what I saw,” said one middle-aged woman from an established family here, who said she had been beaten and sexually molested. “And I am afraid. I saw lots of women raped, and lots of dead.”

One photograph shows a naked woman lying on muddy ground, her legs up in the air, a man in military fatigues in front of her. In a second picture a soldier in a red beret is pulling the clothes off a distraught-looking woman half-lying, half-sitting on muddy ground. In a third a mostly nude woman lying on the ground is pulling on her trousers.

The cellphone pictures are circulating anonymously, but multiple witnesses corroborated the events depicted.

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