03/17/12

Permalink Twin blasts in Syrian capital leave 27 dead, 97 wounded

At least 27 people, including civilians, have been killed and more than 97 others injured in two car bomb attacks in Al-Qasaa and Duwar al- Jamarek areas in the Syrian capital, health minister says. - "Twenty-seven people, mostly civilians, were killed and 97 others wounded in the two explosions," Wael al-Halaqi said. One bomb planted in a car went off outside the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Headquarters and another explosion hit a security police building in Damascus, according to the Syrian state TV. “Terrorists” have been blamed by the Syrian state TV for the blasts, but no further details have been released yet.

AWIP: Syrian envoy to UN: External parties seek to disintegrate Syria


Permalink Panetta Confirms US Involvement in Potential Israeli War on Iran

Confirming what has always been the implicit way in which the US is going to get sucked into its next major war, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirmed that the US would definitely involve itself in a war on Iran if Israel decided to launch one. - “Obviously Israel is an independent country, and they’ll make whatever decisions they make on their own based on what they think is in their national interests,” Panetta said, adding that “if they should make that decision, that obviously the United States would take action” to protect its interests in the region.


Permalink Iran Cut off From Global Financial System

Iran was largely cut off from global commerce Thursday after the company that handles worldwide financial transactions said it was severing ties with many Iranian banks to back EU sanctions against Tehran. - The action by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, aims to enforce European Union sanctions discouraging Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. It will go a long way toward isolating Iran financially. SWIFT is a banking hub crucial to oil, financial transactions and other trades and global financial transactions are impossible to conduct without using it. Because of its reach, SWIFT's decision to cut off some 30 Iranian banks and subsidiaries could hinder not only banking but also the country's lucrative crude oil industry and possibly hurt Iranian households that depend on remittances from relatives living abroad.

Peter Symonds: Obama menaces Iran with military threat


Permalink Julian Assange to run for Senate

WikiLeaks has announced its founder and leader Julian Assange is planning to run for a seat in the Australian Senate. - Assange is in England ahead of a possible extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women in 2010. He is currently on bail waiting for a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against the extradition. But WikiLeaks says despite his legal predicament, Assange is eligible to run for the Australian Upper House. "We have discovered that it is possible for Julian Assange to run for the Australian Senate while detained," WikiLeaks said on Twitter. "Julian has decided to run."


Permalink Ali Baghdadi's (Arab Journal, Chicago) responds to Abunimah & Co


Ali Baghdadi

[Gilad Atzmon:] It seems as if in spite of a very well orchestrated Jewish campaign, truth and justice prevailed, a lot thanks to you out there. There is a simple basic fact my detractors fail to grasp. I am not a politician, I do not seek power. I am an artist, I search for beauty and justice. And as it happens both are out there available for us.

Palestinian "academists / activists" stand on the side of Israel and AIPAC. Willingly or unwillingly, they distort Gilad Atzmon work and thought. They don't seem to have ever listened to his lectures or read his book, "The Wandering Who?" Their vicious attack will not silence or convince this wonderful man to abandon his staunch and effective support of the Palestinian cause. The great musician, a former Israeli Jew, is a humanist and a Palestinian at heart. I am ashamed as a Palestinian. I am greatly honored to have him as a friend. - Ali Baghdadi (Arab Journal, Chicago)

Rich Siegel: Permission to examine “Jewishness”
Noel Ignatiev: More on the Atzmon Controversy
Nahida Izzat: Disavow with no mercy? Not in my name!
Washington Report/AWIP: To Disavow or Debate Gilad Atzmon?
Debbie Menon: Abunimah Boycotting and Censoring Gilad Atzmon?


Permalink IDF soldiers release attack dog on unarmed Palestinian protesters

An attack dog released on unarmed Palestinians by Israeli security forces sank its teeth into the arm of a Palestinian man and refused to release it for several minutes. - Soldiers released an attack dog on unarmed Palestinians at a Friday anti-occupation demonstration in the West Bank village of Kufr Qaddoum, report eyewitnesses that include an AP photographer. According to a report from Jonathan Pollack, a political activist, Border Police officers released an army dog at a group of protesters who were standing several dozen meters away. The dog chased the protesters, then locked his jaw on the arm of one of them – Ahmad Shtawi – sinking his teeth into the man’s arm. The dog refused for several minutes to respond to his handler’s order to release Mr. Shtawi’s arm.


Permalink Up to 20 US troops executed Panjwai [Afghan] massacre: probe

KANDAHAR CITY (PAN): A parliamentary probe team on Thursday said up to 20 American troops were involved in Sunday’s killing of 16 civilians in southern Kandahar province. - The probing delegation includes lawmakers Hamidzai Lali, Abdul Rahim Ayubi, Shakiba Hashimi, Syed Mohammad Akhund and Bismillah Afghanmal, all representing Kandahar province at the Wolesi Jirga and Abdul Latif Padram, a lawmaker from northern Badakhshan province, Mirbat Mangal, Khost province, Muhammad Sarwar Usmani, Farah province. The team spent two days in the province, interviewing the bereaved families, tribal elders, survivors and collecting evidences at the site in Panjwai district. Hamizai Lali told Pajhwok Afghan News their investigation showed there were 15 to 20 American soldiers, who executed the brutal killings.

PressTV: US forces raped two women in Kandahar carnage: Probe mission
NYT: U.S. Identifies Army Sergeant in Killing of 16 in Afghanistan


Permalink Daily Mail attacks Cameron for fawning over Obama

Starstruck David Cameron's embarrassing fawning over Barack Obama and his 'beautiful words'. - What David Cameron described as his "guys night out" watching basketball with President Barack Obama in the swing state of Ohio was cheesy and embarrassing enough. But has there ever been a speech given by a British prime minister that was quite as cringeworthy as Cameron's "toast" to Obama at last night's State Dinner? Watch the video. Cameron starts speaking at the 8:20 point and almost immediately hails Obama's "strong and beautiful words". It's downhill from there.


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