Gilad Atzmon

Professor Richard A. Falk, UN Special
Rapporteur on "the situation of human
rights in the Palestinian territories occu-
pied since 1967."

I was amused and proud to see my latest book The Wandering Who? held aloft by Israeli chief Sayan Hilllel Neuer at the UN’s Human Right Council. The book was presented as ‘exhibit B’ in a farcical self-appointed Talmudic kangaroo court against the great Professor Richard Falk who lent his name, amongst many other leading humanists and intellectuals, in support of my work.

Infamous Hasbara spin-doctor Neuer doesn’t like Falk, this is clear. Along the years Zionists have developed a collective anathema towards humanists and humanism. Neuer Insisted that The Wandering Who? is ‘Anti-Semitic.’ In order to support his ridiculous claim, he recruited Ali Abunimah, the man who single-handedly managed to reduce the Intifada to an electronic blog.

So here is some bad news Neuer better take into consideration: 24 hours before Abunimah published his peculiar ‘interpretation’ of my thoughts, he was foolish enough to admit to Professor Norton Mezvinsky that he actually had not read The Wandering Who or “anything else by Atzmon.” How embarrassing. At the time, Professor Mezvinsky, gave me his full consent to publicise Abunimah’s confession.

In his relatively short intellectual career, Abunimah has managed to produce some of the most mind-boggling statements in the history of contemporary intellectual exchanges. I guess that Neuer could do with the support of someone who is familiar with my work or at least clever enough to hide his ignorance.

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Anonymous
(161719)

[xymphora] - Can you imagine what the American 'left' would be saying if the NSA revelations had occurred on Bush's watch? Since Barry - the most progressive man who ever walked the planet - is behind it, everything is fine. This is why Barry was such a brilliant choice for President. The right, except for that tiny fringe that is truly libertarian, is torn between thinking the revelations are a Chinese government plot to weaken the United States, and thinking that real (i.e., white) Americans have nothing to hide and need all of the unconstitutional outrages the NSA can muster to save real Americans from those scary Mooooooslims under their beds.

Has anyone noticed that the American government has never successfully used its spying to uncover a real terrorist plot? They completely missed the Boston bombing with the Russians repeatedly begging the Americans to look into Tamerlan (of course, why would you look into your own employee?). The only terrorist plots the American government ever finds are the ones set up by the FBI, and they don't even stop all of those (Oklahoma City). [The Null Device]

I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship. One of the Arab spring countries. I have lived through curfews and have seen the outcomes of the sort of surveillance now being revealed in the US. People here talking about curfews aren't realizing what that actually FEELS like. It isn't about having to go inside, and the practicality of that. It's about creating the feeling that everyone, everything is watching.

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Paul Craig Roberts

In America there is no democracy that holds government accountable. There is only a brainwashed people who are chaff in the wind.

It has been public information for a decade that the US government secretly, illegally, and unconstitutionally spies on its citizens. Congress and the federal courts have done nothing about this extreme violation of the US Constitution and statutory law, and the insouciant US public seems unperturbed.

In 2004 a whistleblower informed the New York Times that the National Security Agency (NSA) was violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by ignoring the FISA court and spying on Americans without obtaining the necessary warrants. The corrupt New York Times put the interests of the US government ahead of those of the American public and sat on the story for one year until George W. Bush was safely reelected.

By the time the New York Times published the story of the illegal spying one year later, the law-breaking government had had time to mitigate the offense with ex post facto law or executive orders and explain away its law-breaking as being in the country’s interest.

Last year William Binney, who was in charge of NSA’s global digital data gathering program revealed that NSA had everyone in the US under total surveillance. Every email, Internet site visited and phone call is captured and stored. In 2012 Binney received the Callaway Award for Civic Courage, an annual award given to those who champion constitutional rights at risk to their professional and personal lives.

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