James Lucas

An American dupe justifies murder, mayhem & destruction
by writing "what goes around comes around" on a missile.

America’s Nation-Destroying Mission in Afghanistan

Interference by the U.S. in the internal affairs of Afghanistan has been a tragic chapter in our nation’s history.

Over three decades ago, there were social movements in Afghanistan to improve the standard of living of its people, to provide greater equality for women, and there was a functioning, if imperfect, democracy. However the U.S., using subversion, weapons, and money was able, as the leader of coalition of nations, to stop progress in these areas of human welfare.

In fact, the gains that had already been made were actually reversed. By 2010 the economic and social status of Afghans has been set back generations; women’s status has deteriorated to such an extent that the prevalence of self-immolation has increased among discouraged women, and there is no democracy now, with the U.S. making major decisions as an occupying power.

With President Obama’s recently announced military buildup, our nation’s leaders are on the verge of doing the virtually impossible — making the situation even worse. But the most cataclysmic aspect of this chronology of events is that the U.S. and the world are less safe, since the image of the U.S. in the world is that of the leading military power attacking possibly the poorest nation on earth.

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John Pilger

This year's Oscar nominations are a parade of propaganda and stereotypes.

Why are so many films so bad? This year's Oscar nominations are a parade of propaganda, stereotypes and downright dishonesty. The dominant theme is as old as Hollywood: America's divine right to invade other societies, steal their history and occupy our memory. When will directors and writers behave like artists and not pimps for a world-view devoted to control and destruction?

I grew up on the movie myth of the Wild West, which was harmless enough unless you happened to be a Native American. The formula is unchanged. Self-regarding distortions present the nobility of the American colonial aggressor as a cover for massacre, from the Philippines to Iraq. I only fully understood the power of the con when I was sent to Vietnam as a war reporter. The Vietnamese were "gooks" and "Indians", whose industrial murder was preordained in John Wayne movies and left to Hollywood to glamourise or redeem.

I use the word murder advisedly, because what Hollywood does brilliantly is suppress the truth about America's assaults. These are not wars, but the export of a gun-addicted, homicidal "culture". And when the notion of psychopaths as heroes wears thin, the bloodbath becomes an "American tragedy" with a soundtrack of pure angst.

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Marco Villa

Since 1967, Israel has demolished the homes of over 16,000 Palestinian families. Last year alone, it demolished over 4,000 Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem in an effort to drive out the Arabs and “Judaize’ the Holy City.

Israel claims that the homes are illegally built, but at the same time the Jewish authorities refuse to issue permits for Arabs in order to compel them to find residency elsewhere. The Palestinians see no reason to accept such racist policy from an occupation authority, no less. Why should they seek permission to build on their own land? So they built anyway. And then Israel demolishes the homes.

In recent years, Israel has found a new premise. It claims that many of the Palestinian homes were previously Jewish homes. And that the Jews lost them after the 1948 war. There is truth in this. Some of the Palestinian homes were owned by Jews who were forced out of the city after the 1948 war in retaliation for Israeli ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes. The Jews who lost homes in East Jerusalem is in the dozens as opposed to the thousands, literally thousands, of Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes from West Jerusalem. As the New York Times recently wrote:

But in typical fashion Israel only enforces the deeds of a handful of Jews while dismissing the equally valid Palestinian deeds numbering in the thousands. It is obvious way Israel treats equal claims with discrimination since in that racist state everything comes down to Jewishness. This isn’t apartheid?

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Rodrigue Tremblay
Traduit par Fausto Giudice de Tlaxcala

À l'hôpital d'urgence de Lashkar Gah (Photos par Maso
Notarianni. Encore des photos ici: RAWA)

[L'OTAN a pour objectif] «d’exclure les Russes, d’inclure les Américains et de tenir les Allemands sous la botte». ~Lord Ismay, premier secrétaire général de l'OTAN

«Nous devons immédiatement convoquer une réunion du Conseil de l'Atlantique Nord pour évaluer la sécurité de la Géorgie et passer en revue les mesures que l'OTAN peut prendre pour contribuer à stabiliser cette situation très dangereuse.» ~Sénateur John McCain, (8 août 2008)

«Si nous avions travaillé de manière préventive avec la Russie, avec la Géorgie, en nous assurant que l'OTAN avait le genre de capacité, la présence et l'engagement idoines, nous aurions pu peut-être éviter ça» [L'invasion de l’Ossétie du sud par la Géorgie et la riposte russe subséquente ]. ~Tom Daschle, ancien chef de la majorité au Sénat et conseiller du sénateur Barack Obama, (17 août 2008)

«De tous les ennemis des libertés publiques, la guerre est peut-être le plus redoutable parce qu'elle comprend et développe le germe de tous les autres ennemis.» ~James Madison (1751-1836), quatrième président des USA

L’Organisation du Traité de l’Atlantique Nord (OTAN) est une relique de la Guerre froide. Elle a été créée le 4 avril 1949 comme une alliance défensive des pays d'Europe occidentale avec le Canada et les USA pour protéger ceux-ci des empiétements de l'Union soviétique.

Mais depuis 1991, l'empire soviétique n'existe plus et la Russie a coopéré économiquement avec les pays d'Europe occidentale, en leur fournissant du gaz et de pétrole, et des matières premières en tous genres tous. Ceci a accru l'interdépendance économique européenne et, par conséquent, considérablement réduit la nécessité d'une telle alliance militaire défensive au-dessus et au-delà de la défense militaire des pays européens eux-mêmes.

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