Stephen Lendman

Obama's claimed humanitarian intervention, if fact, is lawless imperialism by any standard, America's latest target to be conquered, colonized, controlled and pillaged for greater power and profit.

As a result, daily NATO atrocities continue, a shocking display of imperial arrogance against another nonbelligerent state, targeted for other than declared reasons.

Begun on March 19, NATO announced June 1 that Operation Unified Protector (the renamed Operation Odyssey Dawn) will continue unabated through September to inflict mass casualties and turn Libya to rubble like Serbia/Kosovo in 1999, Iraq in 1991 and 2003, Afghanistan in 2001, and earlier campaigns since (and during) WW II by bombing, killing and destroying gratuitously. In fact, doing so violates international law and moral principles, ones Western powers long ago abandoned, especially Washington.

Arranged in Brussels, America and key NATO allies extended operations with no deadline. Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan, in fact, said concluding them "depends on conditions on the ground" to assure mission objectives are accomplished, including killing Gaddafi and those around him by attacking his private compound repeatedly with bunker-buster bombs for that purpose.

Relaying orders given him by Washington, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said extended intervention

"sends a clear message to the Gaddafi regime - we are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya."

In fact, imperial Washington, Britain, France and other involved states ignore humanitarian concerns. They're participating solely for war spoils, whatever share America allows after taking everything it most wants, including another colonial conquest, its resources, material wealth, and sites for one or more new Pentagon bases for greater regional control.

In the process, Libyans are being slaughtered to "save" them, victimized by thousands of sorties, intensified in recent days, supplemented by US/UK/French/and Egyptian commandos, private mercenaries, insurgent cutthroats, and attack helicopters introduced June 4, preparatory perhaps for a ground invasion though whether one comes isn't certain.

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Khalid Amayreh
AhramOnline

Stephen Harper and Benjamin Netanyahu at Harrington
Lake in the late afternoon of May 30, 2010

'Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin'. Habakkuk 2:9 NIV

Stephen Harper, Canada's eccentric prime minister, claims to be conducting politics, including foreign policy, according to the "way of Jesus." However, it is amply clear that this man and his policies represent the exact anti-thesis of true Christian ideals.

A few weeks ago, Harper, having received a telephone call from Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, insisted that no mention of Israel's pre-1967 borders be made in the G8 Summit leaders' final communiqué.

Harper's "intervention" collided with the views of all other leaders who wanted the border line to be specifically mentioned. It also contravened the positions of the rest of the international community.

One European diplomat reportedly remarked that "Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to the 1967 borders in his speech last week."

Canada used to be a decent state that jealously safeguarded human rights and international law.

For many years the North American country represented a main destination for individuals and groups seeking redress after being wronged by despotic and tyrannical powers.

However, thanks to the monomaniac discourse of Mr Harper and the coteries of obscurant evangelicals around him, Canada has effectively become a zealous supporter of apartheid in Palestine-Israel, a defender of ethnic cleansing and justifier of scandalous human rights violations.

Harper and cohorts claim, obviously mendaciously, that supporting Israel's systematic oppression against defenceless Palestinians is a religious duty mandated by the Bible, since Israel allegedly represents God on earth and that standing against or even criticising the Jewish nation-state goes, therefore, against the will of the Almighty.

For those who really understand the message of Christ, this is an obscene distortion of true Christian ideals, which urge Christians to stand for justice, to be on the side of the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

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Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon's Blog

The press release ahead of the “Tahrir Square to Jerusalem” event in Logan Hall London promised to be an “imaginative production that will transport us from Tahrir Square through Jenin and to the heart of the new Jasmine Revolution sweeping the Arab world”.

Razanne Carmey the artistic director and Mohamed Masharqa the producer certainly kept their promise. It was indeed an incredible evening, and probably the biggest Palestinian cultural event since the 2005 Deir Yassin Annual commemoration event. Once again we saw a room entirely full with an enthusiastic, dynamic crowd, supporting a stage that was exploding with Palestinian talent.

The night was a commemoration for the great Juliano Mer Khamis, and a celebration of the power of cultural resistance. In the spirit of the ongoing regional Intifada in the Middle East, we saw hundreds of highly motivated Palestinians and other members of the Arab community rising together, believing in themselves and their cause.

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James Petras
The James Petras Website

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.

In other words, these tornado-related deaths are predictable, annual, and region-specific and have a higher incidence among low income households. Government agencies and academics have compiled data banks and time series information mapping the route, frequency and impact of tornadoes.

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