05/31/10

Permalink 7 Americans killed as US helicopter shot down in Kandahar amid operation al-Fath

Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate during the major countrywide operation al-Fath shot down a US helicopter in Kandahar's Zhari district on Saturday noon (May 30). According to the report, the helicopter was set on fire right after it was shot and fell on the ground moments later, killing about 7 US soldiers and crew members aboard, Mujahideen official said. Similarly, a US helicopter got shot down in Helmad's Nad Ali district, while the enemy described the cause of the helicopter crash as quick landing.


Permalink US activist loses eye after being shot in face with tear gas canister

American activist loses eye after being shot in face with tear gas canister. An American solidarity activist was shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a demonstration in Qalandiya, today. Emily Henochowicz is currently in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem undergoing surgery to remove her left eye, following the demonstration that was held in protest to Israel’s murder of at least 10 civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters this morning. 21-year old Emily Henochowicz was hit in the face with a tear gas projectile fired directly at her by an Israeli soldier during the demonstration at Qalandiya checkpoint today. Israeli occupation forces fired volleys of tear gas at unarmed Palestinian and international protesters, causing mass panic amongst the demonstrators and those queuing at the largest checkpoint separating the West Bank and Israel.


Permalink Raid on flotilla puts final nail in coffin of Turkish ties with Israel

As details slowly emerge in the wake of Israel’s deadly attack on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip, leaders from Turkey’s ruling and opposition parties raise their voices to condemn the action. It is the latest and worst incident in a long line of troublesome encounters over the last year and a half between the two NATO allies and some say this could be the final act. ‘Our relations will never be the same,’ says a member of the ruling AKP. Hürriyet Daily News: Families of those attacked on Turkish aid ship devastated. NYT: “This will be perceived as a kind of declaration of war on Turkey. Political dialogue will cease. It’s not possible to contain the deterioration in relations anymore.”


Permalink Israel boards Gaza-bound ships, 15 20 dead - reports

About 15 20 people were killed on Monday when the Israeli navy intercepted a convoy of aid ships that activists were trying to sail to the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Channel 10 private television network said. Earlier, a spokesman for the Free Gaza Movement which organized the six-ship flotilla said at least two were killed. Casualties could hurt Israel’s international image and diplomatic relations, especially its long-time regional Muslim ally Turkey, whose flag some of the aid ships were flying. AlJazeera.com: Israeli commandos kill 16 Free Gaza activists in international waters, wound at least 60 others. Voice of Palestine: Israeli media: 16 killed in the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla. Al Jazeera: Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country's siege on Gaza. George Galloway speaking from Texas: Gaza TV's phlog (AUDIO). VIVA PALESTINA.org PressTV: Death toll from Gaza aid attack hits 20. + UN: Israel's aid convoy raid shocking. + Following the Israeli navy's attack on a convoy of aid ships bound for Gaza, Turkey has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Information Clearing House: Civilians Under Attack by Israel -VIDEOS. Al Jazeera: Outrage over Israeli attack. Gilad Atzmon: Live Stream from Turkish's IHH Mission to Gaza [Embed HERE (LiveStream)]. Uprooted Palestinians: Call for action from activist Caoimhe Butterly as flotilla attacked - Protesters storm Israeli consulate in Turkey -VIDEOS. Palestine Telegraph: Palestinian Return Centre (PCR) condemns Israel's Crimes against “Freedom Flotilla”. Palestine Chronicle: Reactions to the Israeli Attack on Freedom Flotilla. Voice of Palestine: Hamas: Israel fully responsible for its brutal attack on Freedom Flotilla. Veterans Today: IDF SHOT SLEEPING PEOPLE ON THE AID FLOTILLA!

D E M O N S T R A T I O N S

UK
LONDON - 2pm @ DOWNING STREET
SHEFFIELD - NOW @ TOWN HALL
BIRMINGHAM - 4pm @ WATERSTONES, BULLRING
MANCHESTER - 5pm @ BBC on OXFORD STREET
GLASGOW - 5pm @ GEORGE SQUARE
YORK - 5pm @ ST SAMPSON SQUARE
ABERDEEN - 5pm @ ST NICHOLAS SQUARE
EDINBURGH - 5pm @ FOOT OF THE MOUND
GLASGOW - 5pm @ GEORGE SQUARE
CARDIFF - 3pm @ NYE BEVAN STATUE, QUEEN STREET, CARDIFF

IRELAND
Derry - 5pm @ GUILD SQUARE,
Belfast and 5 PM @ BELFAST-CITY HALL
Dublin and 6PM @ DUBLIN AT SPIRE

GREECE - ATHENS, Marathonodromon street 1. P. Psichico, 154 52 @ 19.00hrs Greek time.
BELGIUM - BRUSSELS devant le ministères des affaires étrangères 16 P.M rue des petit carmes. 1000 Brussels, Belgium

FRANCE
PARIS @ 18hr info de dérrniére minute rassemblement a 18h devant l'ambassade d' Israël 3 rue Rabelais (75008 ......Paris) metro ligne 9
St-Philippe-du-Roule
Annecy : Rassemblement ce lundi soir à 18h devant la Préfecture.
Bordeaux : Ce lundi 31 mai, 18h30 rassemblement Place de la Victoire.
Lille : Rassemblement ce soir partir de 16h Mairie de Lille et 18 h 30 Grand’Place.
Montpellier : LUNDI 31 MAI 18H PLACE DE LA COMEDIE.
Nantes : place du commerce à 18 heures.
Belfort : Rassemblement de soutien mercredi 02 juin à partir de 18h00 Place Corbis
Pau : rassemblement ce soir à 18h30 devant la préfecture.
Saint-Nazaire : manifestation lundi 31 mai 18h30, Place de l’Hôtel de Ville,à Saint-Nazaire.
Strasbourg : Rassemblement de protestation place Kléber à 18h.
Orléans : Rassemblement ce jour 31 mai à 18h devant la préfecture.
Elbeuf : rassemblement ce lundi 31 Mai à la poste d’Elbeuf rue des Martyrs à 18 heures 30
Marseille : Rassemblement ce soir 18 h sur le Vieux Port
Lyon : Rassemblement ce lundi 31 mai, à 18h30.Place de l’Opéra.
Tarbes : ce soir à 18h30 rassemblement Place de Verdun.
Boulogne sur Mer : Place Dalton à 18h30.
Caen : Rassemblement 18h30 ce jour devant la préfecture.
Grenoble : Rassemblement 18h30 Place Félix Poulat
GAP : lundi 31 mai à 18h30 Esplanade de la Paix.

ITALY
NAPOLI - ore 17.00 piazza del Plebiscito
GENOVA - Genova alle 18.00 GENOVA ORE 18.00 PIAZZA DE FERRARI
MILANO - ore 17.30 piazza san Babila
FIRENZE - a Firenze ci sarà un presidio (meeting) promosso (by the) dall'associazione di amicizia
italo palestinese per oggi alle 17 davanti alla prefettura,via Cavour,
PISA - presidio oggi alle 17 in piazza xx settembre davanti al Comune di Pisa
BOLOGNA - A Bologna l’appuntamento è per le 17.00 in Piazza Nettuno
TORINO - presidio nei pressi di Palazzo Nuovo (Università di Torino, angolo via Verdi – via Sant’Ottavio), lunedì 31 maggio alle ore 17.00
MODENA - anche a modena alle 17 sotto la ghirlandina se qualcuno è interessato.
Novara - ore 17.30 alla prefettura
Bergamo - ore 18.00 Piazza Vittorio Veneto
Grosseto - ore 18 davanti a prefettura
L'Aquila - ore 18.00 rotonda della Guardia di Finanza

PLEASE POST, SHARE AND FORWARD TO EVERYBODY .. THIS IS A BIG SITUATION .. AT LEAST 19 DEAD (MARTYRED) AND MANY MORE DYING ON THE SHIPS .. OVER 60 INJURED, MANY HAVE BEEN SHOT

ALSO TRY: http://www.facebook.com/l/f2d44;gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/flotilla/protest.aspx

Kenny's Sideshow: Israeli Massacre on Gaza Peace Flotilla - The World Must Act! This is what the murderous Israeli government is. A zionist land theft death cult hell bent on anything but peace. The world must take action. What excuses will Obama and the traitorous US congress make for this attack? How will the jewish controlled US media spin this? The massacre happened in international waters. It's time to put the Zionazis in their place, once and for all. End the US money and all support for the criminal state of Israel.

PressTV: Israel envoys summoned across Europe: Greece, Spain and Sweden have summoned Israeli envoys to explain a deadly strike by Israeli navy commandos on a Turkish-sponsored humanitarian Gaza aid convoy.

Asia News: State of alert throughout Israel. "Brink of war or new Intifada". Toll from attack rises to 19 dead. Roads to the West Bank and the Gaza crossings closed. Access to Temple Mount mosques forbidden. Raed Salah, Palestinian leader of the northern Israel is seriously hurt. Arab and Israeli strikes in Gaza. Abbas declares three days of mourning and calls the Israeli operation "a massacre". Israel claims aid ships were "a provocation" with links to terrorism. Anti-Israeli demonstrations in Istanbul. Ankara withdraws its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

RT [Video]: Up to 19 reported killed as Israel disrupts Gaza humanitarian effort. According to latest reports, from 1 to 3 vessels of the international flotilla are being towed to the Israeli port of Haifa, not Ashdod as was suggested earlier, so as to avoid encountering international journalists who are waiting at Ashdod. Israel has imposed a military censorship on the events.

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Sunday, 05/30/10 AWIP/Khalid Amayreh: The Freedom Flotilla in the face of the Nazis of our time: As I write these words, around Sunday’s midnight, 30 May, 2010, some of the most noble men and women under the sun are sailing toward Gaza in rough seas in a gesture of hope and selfless love that is meant to say to the people of Gaza “You are not alone.” Needless to say, these brave men and women, these known and unknown soldiers deserve our utmost admiration and appreciation. They are acting on behalf of humanity, a humanity that has nearly succumbed to callous apathy and criminal indifference toward its weak and its poor. After all, Gaza today is very much like Ghetto Warsaw of 1943. The comparison might raise some eyebrows here and there, but the truth, in case people still care about it, is that Gazans are completely dependent on the good will of the peoples of the world for their very survival.

Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 3:02PM Gilad Atzmon: Hebrew Culture for Dummies by Gilad Atzmon: The Jewish state is very engaged with Jewish history. Yet, Israelis have managed to draw the very wrong historic lesson. Rather than becoming a compassionate and merciful nation, Israel has become an ultimate merciless evil. It locks the indigenous population of the land in concentration camps. It existentially threatens the entire region with its nuclear arsenal. It indeed looks as if the Jewish state gave up on the possibility to become a nation amongst nations. It gave up on humanism. Following the astonishing statistical figure of 94% of Israelis supporting the 2009 genocidal assault on Gaza, the Israeli leadership gathers that inflicting pain on others translates into political popularity in the Jewish State's street. Currently, the Israelis seem to gain a lot of pleasure from watching their kosher Navy chasing cement and paper on its way to Gaza. As I write these words, 6 boats are making their way to Gaza. Their humanitarian mission is sacred. This Flotilla is also a symbol of our resentment towards Israeli barbarism. Israel better listen to the nations now because the world's ability to endure tolerance to Zionist brutality is running out fast.


Permalink Obama Made Secret Pledges to Israel Over Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

Already expressing its “regrets” for the call for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East as soon as they had signed it, more reports are emerging indicating that the Obama Administration’s official “support” for the idea is incredibly narrow and comes with strings attached. According to one unnamed Israeli official, President Obama made secret pledges to Israel before agreeing to the deal, promising to preserve and even strength Israel’s “strategic” arsenal. AWIP/Jeff Gates: Watching Israel Delegitimize the United States of America.

PressTV: Obama gives Israel all-out support: After the United Nations ratified a resolution calling for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, the US president gives Israel "concrete guarantees" to prevent the decision from harming Israeli interests. Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post quoted senior political sources in al-Quds (Jerusalem) as saying that President Barack Obama's assurances to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came with the promise of a significant upgrade to Israel's military capabilities.


Permalink "50,000" people marched against the Arizona immigration law

An estimated 50,000 [?] Thousands of people walked five miles through the streets and heat of Phoenix on Saturday in protest of Arizona’s new immigration law, which is slated to take effect July 29. A considerably smaller crowd gathered later in a nearby stadium in support of the bill, where speakers ridiculed any suggestion that the crowd was motivated by racism. —JCL Update: According to the Arizona Republic, which did a little police band eavesdropping, the march was anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 people strong.


Permalink Estimated Cost of Afghan, Iraq Wars Tops $1 Trillion

The rising cost of the Afghan and Iraq wars is always a serious concern, though it really only gets discussed when a major new spending bill is passed or a new milestone is hit. Tonight it is the later, as Costofwar.com, the maker of a popular Javascript ticker that estimates the current costs of the war, has seen its estimate pass the $1 trillion mark earlier today. Costofwar’s estimate is based on the amount of money allocated to the war in the current and previous fiscal years, but other estimates suggest that the true cost runs into the several trillion dollar range.


Permalink The sinking of the Cheonan: Another Gulf of Tonkin incident

While the South Korean government announced on May 20 that it has overwhelming evidence that one of its warships was sunk by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine, there is, in fact, no direct link between North Korea and the sunken ship. And it seems very unlikely that North Korea had anything to do with it. That’s not my conclusion. It’s the conclusion of Won See-hoon, director of South Korea’s National Intelligence. Won told a South Korean parliamentary committee in early April, less than two weeks after the South Korean warship, the Cheonan, sank in waters off Baengnyeong Island, that there was no evidence linking North Korea to the Cheonan’s sinking.


Permalink Israel faces child abuse claims

An international children's rights charity has said it has evidence that Palestinian children held in Israeli custody have been subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to extract confessions from them. The Geneva-based Defence for Children International (DCI) has collected 100 sworn affadavits from Palestinian children who said they were mistreated by their Israeli captors. Fourteen of the statements say they were sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confessions. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh met with one of the children, identified only as N, who says he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his interrogators.


05/30/10

Permalink Israeli nuclear subs will be sent near the Iranian coastline

Three German-made, nuclear-armed submarines named Dolphin, Tekuma and Leviathan have previously been sent to the region but according to the British daily's report, the Israeli Navy has fresh plans to keep at least one of the submarines in the region on a permanent basis. The report comes as an unnamed flotilla commander confirmed a 'very far' mission in an interview with an Israeli daily. TimesOnline: Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran. Lataan: ISRAELI SUBMARINES OFF IRAN WILL PROVIDE U.S. WITH ‘PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY’ AGAINST ACCUSATIONS OF INVOLVEMENT OF STARTING WAR AGAINST IRAN.


Permalink Israel rejects plea of 189 countries

After the United Nations ratified a resolution calling for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moves to condemn the treaty. The attack came after all 189 signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) reached a deal on Friday for the establishment of a Middle East without nukes. The 28-page statement by the NPT members -- which was agreed upon following a month of wrangling -- called on all Middle East nations to attend a conference on ridding the region of weapons of mass destruction due to be held in 2012. The Friday's agreement also stressed "the importance of Israel's accession to the treaty and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards." Reacting to the ratification, the Israeli prime minister issued a statement on Saturday announcing that Israel would not participate in the 2012 conference.


Permalink 220,000 Sable Island seals face proposed slaughter

The windswept beaches of Sable Island would become a scene of slaughter if the federal government adopts the results of a study that explores in chilling detail how 220,000 of the island’s grey seals could be exterminated over five years. The 2009 feasibility study, compiled for the federal Fisheries Department, says the first year of a proposed cull would target 100,000 seals, requiring a team of 20 specially trained hunters with silenced rifles to kill 4,000 seals per day during the dead of winter.


Permalink Inside Iraq - Iraq at a crossroads

Two brilliant political thinkers have a conversation with an idiot. Iraq's recent elections were supposed to give the country a fresh start, but the political wrangling is ongoing. Inside Iraq is joined by Robert Fisk, the Independent newspaper's Middle East correspondent, Anas Altikriti, an Iraqi political analyst, and Jack Burkman, a Republican strategist, to discuss just what it is that continues to prevent Iraq from moving forward.


Permalink Argentina’s former president: Bush once claimed, ‘the best way to revitalize the economy is war’

I told Bush the solution is a Marshall Plan. He got angry. He said the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats, the best way to revitalize the economy is war, & that the United States has grown stronger with war. Those were his exact words. - Néstor Kirchner (former Argentina president)


Permalink BP abandons 'top kill' effort

Oil giant BP's latest effort to plug the broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico has failed, the company has said, adding it is time to "move on" and try other solutions. Speaking to reporters on Saturday Doug Suttles, the company's chief operating officer, said that after three days of blasting mud and other materials into the well, engineers had been unable to stop oil from spewing into the ocean. The so called "top kill" operation had pumped around 4.5 million litres of mud into the gushing well, but most of it escaped out of the well's damaged riser pipe. "After three full days of attempting top kill we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well so we now believe it's time move on to the next options," Suttles said. Outside The Beltway: BP Was Aware Of Problems At Deepwater Horizon Months Before Explosion. Thom Hartmann: Halliburton & BP - Is it time for the Corporate Death Penalty?


Permalink Israel faces child abuse claims -Video

An international children's rights charity has said it has evidence that Palestinian children held in Israeli custody have been subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to extract confessions from them. The Geneva-based Defence for Children International (DCI) has collected 100 sworn affadavits from Palestinian children who said they were mistreated by their Israeli captors. Fourteen of the statements say they were sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault to pressure them into confessions. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh met with one of the children, identified only as N, who says he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of his interrogators.


Permalink 14 years after Ken Saro-Wiwa's death, family points finger at Shell in court

In 1995, at a trial that resulted in his conviction and execution, the Nigerian writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa vowed that the oil giant Shell would one day be brought to justice. That day is looming large as a New York court prepares for a trial in which the oil giant Shell stands accused of crimes against humanity over its activities in the oil-rich Niger Delta of southern Nigeria.


Permalink "English Defence League" -Inside the violent world of Britain's new far right

Undercover Guardian investigation reveals plan by English Defence League to hit racially sensitive areas in attempt to provoke disorder over summer. MPs expressed concern tonight after it emerged that far-right activists are planning to step up their provocative street campaign by targeting some of the UK's highest-profile Muslim communities, raising fears of widespread unrest this summer. Undercover footage shot by the Guardian reveals the English Defence League, which has staged a number of violent protests in towns and cities across the country this year, is planning to "hit" Bradford and the London borough of Tower Hamlets as it intensifies its street protests. Senior figures in the coalition government were briefed on the threat posed by EDL marches this week. Tomorrow up to 2,000 EDL supporters are expected to descend on Newcastle for its latest protest.


Permalink Insulin provider pulls out of Greece in price cut row

More than 50,000 Greeks with diabetes are left without insulin after Novo Nordisk, the world's leading supplier of the drug, withdraws from Greece in a "brutal capitalist blackmail" after being asked to reduce the cost of its medicine by the Greek government. BBC: Second firm withdraws drugs from Greece over cuts.


Permalink Gaza flotilla drives Israel into a sea of stupidity

Of course the peace flotilla will not bring peace, and it won't even manage to reach the Gaza shore. The action plan has included dragging the ships to Ashdod port, but it has again dragged us to the shores of stupidity and wrongdoing. The Israeli propaganda machine has reached new highs its hopeless frenzy. It has distributed menus from Gaza restaurants, along with false information. It embarrassed itself by entering a futile public relations battle, which it might have been better off never starting. They want to maintain the ineffective, illegal and unethical siege on Gaza and not let the "peace flotilla" dock off the Gaza coast? There is nothing to explain, certainly not to a world that will never buy the web of explanations, lies and tactics. Only in Israel do people still accept these tainted goods. Reminiscent of a pre-battle ritual from ancient times, the chorus cheered without asking questions. Ma'an/Uruknet: Report: Israeli navy prepares to stop Freedom Fleet.


Permalink Hollywood Cops Attack Bike Riders

LAPD officer kicks a cyclist during LA Critical Mass. The guy taping this is immediately arrested afterwards. After seeing the cops swing their batons at riders, jump in front of riders, attempt to stick batons in wheel spokes, and kick bikes to cause the riders to go down I started filming. When I was spotted recording the cops they tackled me down for no reason what so ever....


05/29/10

Permalink Beijing suspects false flag attack on South Korean corvette

WMR's intelligence sources in Asia suspect that the March attack on the South Korean Navy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette, the Cheonan, was a false flag attack designed to appear as coming from North Korea. One of the main purposes for increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula was to apply pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to reverse course on moving the U.S. Marine Corps base off Okinawa. Hatoyama has admitted that the tensions over the sinking of the Cheonan played a large part in his decision to allow the U.S. Marines to remain on Okinawa. Hatoyama's decision has resulted in a split in the ruling center-left coalition government, a development welcome in Washington, with Mizuho Fukushima, the Social Democratic Party leader threatening to bolt the coalition over the Okinawa reversal.

HuffPo: North Korea: We're Heading To 'The Brink Of War'. North Korea's most powerful state organ said Friday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war. North Korea has denied any responsibility and warned that retaliation or punishment for the sinking would mean armed conflict.


Permalink Japan minister fired over US airbase

The Japanese premier fires a minister for rejecting Tokyo's recent compromise with Washington on a controversial US air base on Okinawa Island. Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama dismissed consumer affairs minister Mizuho Fukushima, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Tokyo and Washington have issued a statement, saying that the Futenma air station in the southern island of Okinawa would be relocated to a new site on the same island. Fukushima told a press conference that she "could not betray the people of Okinawa," Press TV's Michael Penn reported. The former minister added that she "could not accept the plan to create a new US airbase on the island which would increase the burden for Okinawan people." Fukushima said that politics demanded trust and that if she betrayed her campaign promises to the people, she would be breaking that trust.


Permalink NPT decision on Israel 'a step forward'

Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has hailed a UN nuclear non-proliferation document calling on Israel to open its undeclared atomic facilities to international inspection. "It is a step forward in creating a world without atomic weapons," Iran's Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh told IRNA on Saturday. Soltanieh went further to explain that the United States, despite its opposition to the NPT deal on Israel, would have to fall in line with other members of the international community. "The US reservation is only political sloganeering and it is obliged to go along with the global request that Israel join the NPT and open its installations to IAEA inspectors," he added. BBC: Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have agreed to work towards a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. AntiWar: US Signs, Then ‘Regrets’ Call for Nuclear Free Mideast.

PressTV: US rages at NPT over Israel decision: In a statement issued on Friday, US President Barack Obama said the agreement reached at the 2010 NPT review conference singled out Israel with regard to a nuclear weapons-free Middle East. "We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel's national security," President Obama said.

[Editor's Comment:] The NPT review conference has correctly singled out "Israel" because the Zionist Entity is the only power in the Middle East that actually has any nukes. Mr. Obama is a windbag and a Zionist stooge. The world does not listen to him anymore. "Israel" is a lost cause. Mr. Obama should try and save the US instead.


Permalink The Coming Iran War

It's happening again. The same forces – with a few new additions and minus a few smart defectors – who pushed the United States into a needless and deadly war with Iraq are now organizing for the next war. This time the target is Iran, which, just like Iraq, is said to be on the verge of creating weapons of mass destruction. Also, just like Iraq, its president is a supposed madman determined to destroy Israel.

Earlier in May, Turkey and Brazil -- after months of intense negotiations -- persuaded the Iranian regime to accept a deal that would have vastly reduced its ability to produce a nuclear weapon. The Turkish-Brazilian deal was almost identical to the one President Obama and our allies pushed the Iranians to accept back in October. Only this time, it wasn't good enough. The Obama administration ignored the Turkish-Brazilian breakthrough, saying its goal was crippling sanctions and that it was close to achieving them. Of course, few believe sanctions will have any significant effect other than to punish ordinary Iranians, people who are suffering quite enough under a monstrous regime. But the administration seems to have been sold a bill of goods that leaves the U.S. with only two choices: sanctions or war.


Permalink Turkey, Brazil Lash US Over Iran Hypocrisy

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has conceded that there is a “very serious” split with Brazil over the third party enrichment deal on Iran, saying it is her belief that Iran will only negotiate once the sanctions are in place. The hypocrisy of the US position, and the absurdity of Clinton’s claims considering Brazil and Turkey just finished negotiating successfully with Iran is not lost on either nation, and both have taken the US and other members of the P5+1 to task for their sudden opposition to diplomacy. “Who are they to talk against the idea of having nuclear weapons,” Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council all have significant nuclear weapons arsenals.


Permalink Israel goes PR through Propaganda

As the aid convoys approach Gaza by the Mediterranean, the media outlets step up its propaganda and PR campaign. The propaganda portrayed in these media outlets will never succeed to changing the damaged image of Israel. The whole world knows the concrete facts about the state of Israel. The state of Israel has been built through blood, violence, ethnic cleansing, political betrayal and guerrilla wars against the unarmed Palestinians in 1948 and prior to that. More than 7 wars have been launched by Israel against their Arab neighbors in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. Even, the attacks of Israel reached Tunisia and Iraq thousands of miles from that state!


Permalink Turkish military aircraft fleet will protect the Free Gaza flotilla!

GOOGLE TRANSLATION: media sources said on Wednesday, said that Turkey warned "Israel" from exposure to the "fleet of freedom," bound to the besieged Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid, pointing out that the Turkish army will protect the aircraft fleet if encountered troops, "Israel." And move the location of "the right of the Sioux," the Turkish site, "DEBKAfile," close to the intelligence, "Israel" that Ankara called "Tel Aviv" by a confidential letter to avoid interference in the vessels destined for the Gaza Strip and warned that if Turkey is refusing to be treated similarly. "The DEBKAfile that" Turkey's position and directing its message to "Israel" is a warning for "Israel," saying that, in this warning message "if it intervenes," Israel "and prevented ships from entering Gaza, the Turkish Government supports those ships and will be helicopters a Turkish army patrol over the ships to prevent interference "Israel" on it. "


Permalink HELP THE GAZA FLOTILLA NOW

PLEASE LINK TO THIS AND SPREAD IT. Subject: SUPPORT URGENTLY REQUIRED - TEMPLATE LETTER AND EMAIL. As you may be aware that Israel has confirmed that they will stop the flotilla by any means necessary and news of temporary prision being set up for all individuals that are taking part to provide vital aid to the Palestinans. Now we need your help urgently please send out letters, emails to all addresses below, the more people that are involved the more chance we will get noticed and possibly have a chance to influence someone whom is able to do so for a safe passage for all individuals on the convoy.


Permalink Piracy is still piracy, even if it's carried out by a state

As the much anticipated departure of the Freedom Flotilla nears, Israel has been busy issuing statements and press releases as how it intends to deal with the humanitarian aid convoy of ships bound for Gaza. Israel's military says it has completed the construction of a mass detention centre in Ashdod where it plans to hold the 800 or so activists, humanitarians and journalists on board the nine ships. Tel Aviv has declared the waters off the shores of Gaza a military zone, deeming any unauthorised entry "tresspassing".


Permalink The new frontiers of Israeli (public) diplomacy, ctd.: Finnish travel agent humiliated after admitting that her fiancé is Egyptian

A travel agent from Finland was humiliated at the Eilat airport. She was stripped, her bra was taken for x-ray by a man and her personal effects were corrupted. She claims the reason for the nightmare is that she has an Egyptian fiancé. Coteret: The new frontiers of Israeli diplomacy, ctd.: Czech Foreign Minister “humiliated”.


Permalink Russia wants '100% proof' N.Korea sunk ship

Russia will not support efforts to punish North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship until it is fully convinced Pyongyang was behind the incident, a foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday. "We need to receive 100 percent proof of North Korea's role in the sinking of the corvette," the spokesman, Igor Lyakin-Frolov, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "Our specialists are currently studying the materials of the investigation. We need to draw our own conclusions about what happened. Everything will depend on the situation and the body of evidence." The comments came a day after Russia announced that it was sending a team of experts to South Korea to assess the evidence about North Korea's involvement in the sinking of the warship, which left 46 sailors dead.


Permalink Over 100 Palestinian minors reported abuse in IDF, police custody in 2009

69 minors complained of being beaten, four minors reported being sexually assaulted, and 12 said they were threatened with sexual assault. Most Palestinian children arrested by the Israel Defense Forces and police are intimidated, abused and maltreated in custody, according to the sworn testimonies of minors who were arrested last year. This happens both before and during interrogation, and several minors have been sexually assaulted. Sixty-nine minors complained of being beaten by soldiers (slaps, kicks, sometimes blows with a rifle stock or club ). Nearly all - 97 percent, including children aged 12 to 15 - were held for hours with their hands cuffed, and 92 percent were blindfolded for long periods of time. Twenty-six percent said they were forced to remain in painful positions.


Permalink Amnesty: U.S., Europe shielding Israel over Gaza war crimes

In its annual report, the rights group accuses Israel of continually violating human rights in Gaza with its ongoing economic siege. Amnesty International complained in its annual report released Thursday that the U.S. and members of the European Union had obstructed international justice by using their positions on the UN Security Council to shield Israel from accountability for war crimes allegedly committed during last year's Gaza war. The rights group also accused Israel of continually violating human rights in the Gaza Strip. It cited Israel's ongoing economic blockade as violating international law, leaving Gaza residents without adequate food or water supplies


Permalink Lies and evasions in defense of BP

The White House press conference Thursday, the first held by President Barack Obama in nearly ten months, was devoted to presenting his administration as an active crisis manager in the Gulf oil catastrophe, rather than a handmaiden for BP, the giant oil company whose profit drive is responsible for the worst ecological disaster in US history. Despite the now ritualistic reference to being “angry and frustrated,” however, Obama exuded indifference. Shortly before he spoke, reports emerged of new estimates confirming that the amount of oil already released into the Gulf far surpasses the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill—a fact that Obama failed to mention in his opening remarks. Ann Telnaes/WP: BP CEO Tony Hayward thinks environmental impact will be 'modest' [Cartoon] WSWS: Obama makes PR stop on Gulf Coast. Ann Telnaes/WP: BP and Obama respond to the gulf oil spill [Cartoon].


Permalink Video: Mass Grave of Huge Fish Covered in Oil

Video of the mass grave below. Warning: not for the faint of heart. We walked along the northwest end of Grand Isle, Louisiana and spotted pockets of oil not cleaned up along the beach and rock jetties. We apparently walked too far south and attracted the attention of a four-wheeling sheriff who told us to walk off along the dunes.

On our walk back, we stumbled across a mass grave of huge, dead, rotting fish covered in oil set a few feet back in the dune weeds. They were recently deceased and clearly coated with black oil, evidently dumped there by clean up crews several days earlier. You Tube: TOP KILL Fails - Gulf oil spill BOP Blown A Huge Hole. Washington's Blog: Third Giant Underwater Oil Plume Discovered.

Democracy Now: Renowned Marine Biologist Carl Safina on the BP Oil Spill’s Ecological Impact on the Gulf Coast and Worldwide: As we continue our discussion on the BP oil spill, we turn to its long-term ecological impact. Carl Safina, the founding president of Blue Ocean Institute, warns the ecological fallout from the spill may be felt across much of the world. [Video + rush transcript]


05/28/10

Permalink U.N. Official to Ask U.S. to End C.I.A. Drone Strikes

A senior United Nations official is expected to call on the United States next week to stop Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes against people suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda, complicating the Obama administration’s growing reliance on that tactic in Pakistan. Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Thursday that he would deliver a report on June 3 to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva declaring that the “life and death power” of drones should be entrusted to regular armed forces, not intelligence agencies. He contrasted how the military and the C.I.A. responded to allegations that strikes had killed civilians by mistake.


Permalink Russia lashes out at Iran

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses Iranian criticism that Russia is susceptible to Western influence and says Tehran has obstinately refused to address concerns about its nuclear program. A top Russian official Thursday dismissed criticism from the Iranian president as "emotional," and expressed frustration over what he portrayed as Tehran's obstinate refusal to confront suspicions over its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed back at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who a day earlier described the Kremlin as a potential enemy that was overly susceptible to pressures from the international community. "Russia has never been manipulated by anyone," Lavrov told reporters. "It has always been guided by national interests." AWIP: Iran warns Russia over nuclear stance.


Permalink China 'will not protect' Korea ship attackers

China "will not protect" whoever sank a South Korean warship in March, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has said. "China objects to and condemns any act that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Mr Wen was quoted as saying after talks in Seoul. South Korea has blamed the North for sinking the Cheonan with a torpedo. Beijing is under pressure to take a strong stance against North Korea but so far has not accepted the findings of an independent investigation. WSWS: Tense standoff between two Koreas. Taragana: We didn’t sink South Korean warship: North Korea.


Permalink Haniyeh: Palestinians welcome flotilla

Hundreds of activists from 50 countries are aboard nine ships en route to Gaza loaded with 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid and building materials to break Israeli-imposed blockade of the Gaza Strip. “The move is highly appreciated by the Palestinian people. We demanded the international community to back the flotilla,” Haniyeh told Press TV on Thursday. “We want all nations to help put an end to Israel's siege of Gaza which violates all international laws and conventions,” he added. Israel has described the move as a “cheap political stunt” and threatened to divert the ships to its southern port of Ashdod and detain those onboard. AWIP/PCHR: Weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (20– 26 May 2010) AWIP/Gilad Atzmon: HUMANITARIAN FLOTILLA VS EVIL NAVY. Uprooted Palestinians: Cyprus Bans Free Gaza Boats as Israel Vows to Detain Activists.


Permalink Canada: Israel's new 'best friend'?

When Binyamin Netanyahu arrives in Canada on Friday, immediately following the ceremony in Paris to introduce Israel to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it will mark the first visit to Ottawa by a sitting Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. During his last visit, in 2002, Netanyahu's closed door speech at Concordia University in Montreal sparked a riot that made headlines around the world. In the years since, as Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, successive Canadian governments have moved against the trend and deepened ties with Israel - something that Netanyahu is keen to protect. "What Netanyahu is trying to do is cement the base," said Dr David Bercuson, the director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary and author of Canada and the Birth of Israel. NewsInEnglish: Israeli Embassy (in Norway) won’t budge.


Permalink Panic as China comments support the euro

World stock markets put in some strong rises on Thursday, boosted by supportive comments from China on the strength of the euro. The agency that manages the country's huge foreign assets said it was not rethinking its holdings in euros. That led to a positive day's trading and left shares in all key markets with good gains. London's main FTSE index was up 3.1%, France's Cac was 3.4% higher and the German Dax was up 3.1%. The euro also rose, to trade at $1.236, a rise of almost two cents on the day. At the close in New York, the Dow Jones was 2.85% higher.


Permalink Fresh from Gulf disaster, BP urges Canadian legislators to drop regulations

Fresh from Gulf disaster, BP urges Canadian legislators to drop regulations: In Canada it is mandatory that a relief well is drilled along with a primary well to ensure that if everything else fails, the oil can be contained. BP is lobbying Canada to have this safety precaution removed.

ZeroHedge: Prominent Oil Industry Insider: "There's Another Leak, Much Bigger, 5 to 6 Miles Away". AboveTopSecret: The video(s) 'BP does not want you to see'. CNN: Hurricane season could be 'active or extremely active'.

Weather Services International (WSI): Weather Authority Predicts Increased Northeast US Threat During Most Active Season Since Record-Breaking 2005: In its latest tropical update for 2010, WSI now calls for 16 named storms, 9 hurricanes and 5 intense hurricanes (category 3 or greater). The 2010 forecast numbers are well above the long-term (1950-2009) averages of 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 intense hurricanes and slightly above the averages from the more active recent 15-year period (1995-2009) of 15/8/4.


Permalink 'Hitler Youth' Shout Down Dissent To Green Fascism

The activists, who are invited delegates to the UNs Copenhagen summit, betrayed the dictatorial agenda of the United Nations and the climate change movement as a whole by having zero tolerance for any dissenting opinion crashing and shouting down a small conference of people who had merely gathered to present the other side of the debate.

You are listening now to the shouts in the background of the Hitler youth, said Monckton, as the green thugs interrupted his speech. Monckon mentioned the fact that these same youth corps had green spray-painted Copenhagen with Orwellian messages in a frightening throwback to the red, white and black swastikas that littered the city during the time when it was occupied by the Nazis.

Another disruptor, Laura Comer, claimed, We're representing the majority of Americans on this, particularly young Americans. The real America wants clean energy not more fossil fuel-funded lies about the science. In actual fact, the Climategate emails clearly illustrated how the vast majority of big oil money is behind the climate change alarmists, not the skeptics. Indeed, the entire Copenhagen event is sponsored by a consortium of giant corporations that includes British Petroleum and Shell Oil. Contrast what happens to people who protest demagogues of the environmental movement with what happens to those who protest anyone who dares speak out against green fascism.


Permalink POLICE STATE: Children, 4, 'to be fingerprinted to borrow school books from library'

Students in Manchester are having their thumbprints digitally transformed into electronic codes, which can then be recognised by a computer program. Under the scheme, pupils swipe a bar code inside the book they want borrow then press their thumb on to a scanner to authorise the loan. Books are returned in the same way. The scheme is being trialled on junior classes at Higher Lane Primary in Whitefield, Bury, Greater Manchester. Officials confirmed it is due to be extended to all pupils at the school, one of the areas largest primary schools, with 453 pupils aged four to 11.


Permalink Israel to stop Gaza aid ships

Israel says it will prevent, "if necessary" by force, a nine-ship flotilla of peace activists and humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip. [It would not be necessary. What is necessary however is that all of these starving people in Gaza get some food pretty soon, or else they will starve to death. -This probably is what the Zionists really would like to happen. The siege itself is a war crime (re: the duties of occupants) under the Geneva conventions and using force would be yet another war crime. ] The Freedom Flotilla is carrying around 700 pro-Palestinian activists from various countries, as well as 10,000 tonnes of aid. It is by far the largest fleet of aid to try to reach Gaza since Israel imposed its siege on the coastal territory in 2007.


Permalink Toll from Jamaica violence climbs to 73

At least 73 people died this week as Jamaican security forces stormed a Kingston slum and battled armed supporters of an alleged drug lord wanted for extradition to the United States, police said on Thursday. Residents complained of abuse and rights groups questioned whether police and soldiers had used excessive and indiscriminate force. Most deaths occurred during an assault by police and army troops on Tivoli Gardens, a volatile Kingston slum and bastion of support for suspected drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, Deputy Police Commissioner Glenmore Hinds told reporters. Coke was still at large. Tension gripped the upper middle class community of Kirkland Heights early on Thursday when word came that he was hiding there in a house owned by a friend.


Permalink 2nd Iceland volcano issues warning

A second, much larger volcano in Iceland is showing signs that it may be about to erupt, scientists have warned. Since the start of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which caused cancellations of thousands of flights in Europe because of a giant ash cloud, there has been much speculation about neighboring Katla. An initial research paper by the University College of London Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction said: "Analysis of the seismic energy released around Katla over the last decade or so is interpreted as providing evidence of a rising ... intrusive magma body on the western flank of the volcano."


Permalink The Most Hated Family in America (1 of 8)

TV documentary written and presented by the BBC's Louis Theroux about the Phelps family, at the heart of the Westboro Baptist Church. Bob Altemeyer: The Authoritarians


05/27/10

Permalink Report 2010: Global justice gap condemns millions to abuse

A global justice gap is being made worse by power politics despite a landmark year for international justice, said Amnesty International today in its annual assessment of human rights worldwide. Launching Amnesty International Report 2010: State of the World's Human Rights, which documents abuses in 159 countries, the organization said that powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient. "Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap, condemning millions of people to abuse, oppression and poverty," said Claudio Cordone, interim Secretary General of Amnesty International. "Governments must ensure that no one is above the law, and that everyone has access to justice for all human rights violations. Until governments stop subordinating justice to political self-interest, freedom from fear and freedom from want will remain elusive for most of humanity." Amnesty International called on governments to ensure accountability for their own actions, fully sign up to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ensure that crimes under international law can be prosecuted anywhere in the world. It said that states claiming global leadership, including the G20, have a particular responsibility to set an example.


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