Israelis build the world's biggest detention centre

Israelis build the world's biggest detention centre

Catrina Stewart

Thousands of African asylum-seekers fleeing persecution could end up in Negev desert camp March 9, 2012 Israel is to begin construction soon on a vast detention facility in the Negev desert to house the thousands of immigrants that cross illegally into Israel from Egypt every year. Human rights groups fear that the detention centre, the largest of its kind in the world, with a capacity to hold 8,000 migrants, will turn into a festering refugee camp, and deprive those escaping persecution at home of their rights to seek asylum in Israel. The project was approved by Israel's right-wing government 18 months ago, but many Israelis are uncomfortable about spurning asylum seekers from war-torn African countries given their own history as a nation of refugees. "We'll do all it takes to provide reasonably humane conditions," an unnamed defence official told Israel's Haaretz newspaper. "We all wish we didn't have to build such a facility. But we're in a certain situation due to certain circumstances, and we need a facility to address these needs." The facility, which will be built on the grounds of Ketziot prison near Israel's southern border, will accommodate migrants, including women and children, for up to three years before they are deported to their country of origin; those from "enemy" states, such as Sudan, who cannot be repatriated, could be detained indefinitely. The centre, which will include medical, community and sports facilities, is intended to tackle an immigration problem that politicians say threatens to overwhelm Israel's population of 7.5 million. Speaking 18 months ago, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said it was time "to stop this growing influx that threatens Israelis' jobs and changes the character of the state". Every year, thousands of Africans, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, begin the arduous journey to Israel via the arid Sinai Peninsula, a lawless territory where Bedouin traffickers extract huge fees to smuggle refugees past Egyptian border patrols. Israel's Interior Ministry estimates that 17,000 people crossed the Israel-Egypt border last year, many more than in previous years. They may have been spurred by Israel's decision to build a sturdy border fence backed up with electronic surveillance equipment. Reut Michaeli, director of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, said that building a detention centre would do little to deter those in genuine need. "People fleeing for their lives... will not stop coming because they face three years in detention," she said. Israel claims that most asylum seekers are economic migrants, a view reflected in the number that gain refugee status each year – less than 1 per cent of the total. But human rights groups say that most of the Sudanese and Eritrean migrants are escaping persecution at home, citing worldwide figures from last year that claim 84 per cent of Eritreans seeking asylum, and around 60 per cent of Sudanese migrants, were eligible for refugee status. At present, Israel has a policy of not deporting migrants back to Eritrea and Sudan because of the unstable situation there. However, it does not recognise them as refugees.

Airstrikes kill 3 in south Gaza; 15 Palestinians KiIled In Less Than 24 Hours

Airstrikes kill 3 in south Gaza; 15 Palestinians KiIled In Less Than 24 Hours

Ma'an news

Palestinians react at a hospital following an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 10, 2012. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa) March 10, 2012 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Airstrikes continue to rock the Gaza Strip, killing three men on Saturday, raising to 15 the number of Palestinians killed since Israel assassinated a military leader 24 hours earlier. A further 26 Palestinians have been injured in the strikes, five of whom are in a serious condition, Gaza medical services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said. The latest attack killed Mahdi Abu Shawish, 24, and injured three others when it targeted a motorcycle near Rabia Al-Adawiya school in southern city Rafah, medics told Ma'an. Abu Shawish was affiliated to the Popular Resistance Committees' armed wing, whose chief was killed on Friday, a Ma'an reporter said. Earlier, a drone fired on a motorcycle strike east of Khan Younis killing two men, Abu Salmiya said. The body of Hussein Barham Al-Breim, 51, was transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Abu Salmiya said. Mansour Kamal Abu Nuseira, 20, was taken to European Hospital, where he later died. A Hamas policeman takes charge as Palestinians look at a motorcycle that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, March 10, 2012. (Reuters/ Ibraheem Abu Mustafa) Also on Saturday, Israeli warplanes bombed a Al-Qassam brigades militant site in western Gaza City neighborhood Abraj Al-Maqousi, injuring three men who were transferred to al-Shifa hospital. The site was entirely flattened, shattering windows in nearby apartments, witnesses said. Witnesses said that the location was completely destroyed and it also resulted in breaking the windows of the apartments near the main location. Israel's army said in a statement that the strike on Khan Younis "thwarted a terrorist squad from firing a rocket at Israel from the southern Gaza Strip. Direct hits were identified." It said later strikes on Rafah and Gaza City "targeted two terror activity sites ... in response to the rockets fired at Israel." "The IDF is prepared to defend the residents of Israel and will respond with strength and determination against any attempt to execute terrorist attacks," the statement said. The Israeli military said earlier that about 90 rockets had been fired toward Israeli territory at the weekend, injuring eight people including one seriously in southern Israel. Islamic Jihad’s military wing said 10 of its fighters have died since Friday. The Al-Quds Brigades launched 41 Grad missiles, 20 projectiles, six mortar shells, and three 107-mm rockets, it said. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement Saturday that the movement holds Israel "fully responsible for the escalation and its results," calling on Egypt to intervene to end the suffering in Gaza. The Palestinian people have a right to defend themselves against aggression, he said. Medical official Abu Salmiya called on international organizations and human rights bodies to fulfill their commitment to halt bloodshed in Gaza, in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention. After the severe medical and electricity shortages in Gaza, the military operations on the Gaza Strip require urgent intervention to save Gaza from a humanitarian catastrophe, Salmiya said.

Netanyahu in AIPAC speech: Israel cannot afford to wait much longer on Iran

March 6, 2012

Barak Ravid, Chemi Shalev – Haaretz March 6, 2012

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the AIPAC conference in Washington on Monday, called on the international community to acknowledge the fact that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
“Amazingly, some people refuse to acknowledge that Iran’s goal is to develop nuclear weapons. You see, Iran claims that it’s enriching uranium to develop medical research. Yeah, right,” Netanyahu said.
“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then what is it?  That’s right, it’s a duck. But this duck is a nuclear duck and it’s time the world started calling a duck a duck,” he said.
Netanyahu reiterated the fact that Israel reserves its right to protect itself. He added that for Israel all options remain on the table. “I will never gamble with the security of Israel.,” he explained.
Netanyahu warned of the dangers of a nuclear Iran. “A nuclear-armed Iran would dramatically increase terrorism by giving terrorists a nuclear umbrella,” he said. “That means that Iran’s terror proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas will be emboldened to attack America, Israel, and others because they will be backed by a power with atomic weapons.”
Drawing a parallel with arguments against attacking Iran, Netanyahu said the War Department explained that such an operation at Auschwitz could provoke “even more vindictive action by the Germans”.
“Think about that, even more vindictive action than the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said. He dismissed arguments that an attack on Iran would exact too heavy a toll by provoking Iranian retaliation. He held up a copy of a 1944 letter from the U.S. War Department rejecting world Jewish leaders’ entreaties to bomb the Auschwitz death camp because it would be “ineffective” and “might provoke even more vindictive action by the Germans.”
“My friends, 2012 is not 1944,” Netanyahu said. “Today, we have a state of our own. And the purpose of the Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives and to secure the Jewish future.”
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu met with U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House and said that Israel has not made any decision on attacking Iran to stop its nuclear program.
Sources who were briefed on the meeting afterward said Obama and Netanyahu agreed to increase their coordination on Iran. Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz is to visit Washington in two weeks to discuss the issue with U.S. officials.
During their meeting, Obama told Netanyahu that Israel and the United States have an identical goal with regard to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“I have no intention of trying to contain the Iranian issue,” Obama reportedly told Netanyahu.
“I think that there’s time for diplomacy and in any case I am not taking any options off the table, including a military option.”

Iraq snapshot - March 1, 2012

Iraq snapshot - March 1, 2012

The Common Ills

Thursday, March 1, 2012.  Chaos and violence continue, a US teacher dies in Iraq, Nouri continues his paranoid ravings, the VA Secretary tells the Senate he has no idea if sequestration would apply to the VA, and more.   First off a correction to yesterday's snapshot,  There were three hearings we were trying to cover: Tuesday's joint-House and Senate Veterans Affairs Comimttee, Wednesday House Foreign Affairs and Wednesday's Senate Veterans Affairs.  The snapshot ends: "It is also highly illogical to claim that you will determine whether or not a group of people are terrorists and we're out of space."  I finished dictating right at nine p.m. as I was walking in front of a group Ava and I were speaking to. That left a very dear friend with the issue of editing to get the thing down to a workable size.  The House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing was reduced to my commentary with no excerpts (which is fine).  It was still large and my friend had to condense and edit and ditched the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee's Wednesday hearing (which we'll cover this snapshot), the Center for Constitutional Rights (which we'll include if there's room today) and other things -- and that's all more than fine.  The only problem was that in condensing and several sections,the timeline went screwy.  That's not his fault, he wasn't at any of the hearings.  I was so it's my fault.and my apologies for that.  Thank you to Kat who saw the snapshot when it went up last night and immediately went in to add "yesterday" and make clear that the joint-hearing by the Senate and House Veterans committees was Tuesday.  And thank you to ___ for editing and condensing and doing a great job.  The mistake falls on me and my apologies for that.  I did not check it, I did not help edit it and, let's be honest, it's cause I'm sick of the online life as much as it's because I was pressed for time.  Again, my apologies.     Okay, let's dive in.  Tuesday's joint-hearing -- House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing -- Senate Committee Chair Patty Murray noted that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki would be before the Committee and she would be attempting to get an aswer regarding sequestering from him.  Sequestering refers to automatic cuts that would kick in on various federal departments and programs.  Along with Senator Murray, Senator Jon Tester and House Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Jeff Miller have noted that the inability of veterans to get a straight answer on this issue is frustrating and that veterans have a right to know what's going on with the budget of the VA.     Chair Patty Murray: [. . .] let me begin the questions by getting this one off the table.  It's on the issue of sequestration and cuts to spending.  Like I said in my opening remarks I believe that all VA programs including medical care are exempt from cuts but there is some ambiguity between the budget act and the existing law. And when I asked the acting OMB director to adress this issue in a budget hearing two weeks ago, he said OMB had yet to make a final determination.  So I am concerned that by not settling this issue now, we are failing to provide our veterans with the clarity they really deserve to have.  And so while you're here, I wanted to ask you: Do you believe that all VA programs -- including medical care -- are exempt from any future cuts?     Secretary Eric Shinseki: I think, Madame Chairman, the answer that the OMB director provided you was the same one that I understand.  They are still addressing the issue. For my purposes, I would tell you I'm not planning on sequestration.  I'mI  addressing my requirements and presenting my budget as  you would expect me to do.  I think sequestration in part or in whole is not necessarily good policy.  And I think the President would argue the best approach here is a balanced deficit reduction and that the budget he has presented does that and I would ask that the Congress look at that budget and favorably consider it.   Chair Patty Murray:  I think we all hope that is the outcome but we want to provide clarity to our veterans. They are very concerned about this issue.    Murray asked, she attempted to get an answer as to -- yes/no -- whether the VA is a department immune to sequestering.  Not only did she ask, she announced in an open hearing the day prior that she would be asking.  Shinseki came into that hearing knowing he would be asked.    The answer?  Another non-answer.  The person in charge of the VA Department has no idea, if sequestering goes into effect,  whether or not his department would be affected.  That seems like an answer you would need to know for a hypothetical.  With sequestration looking more and more likely, that seems like an answer you would need to know in order to plan for worst case scenarios in the department you oversee.   But he can't answer the question and has no knowledge as to whether or not VA would be effected if these cuts kick in.   On the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Senator Patty Murray is the Chair.  Richard Burr is the Ranking Member.  A number of witnesses accompanied Shinseki to the hearing including Dr. Robert Petzel who is the Under Secretary for Health, Allison Hickey who is the Under Secretary for Benefits, Steve Muro who is the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, Roger Baker who is the Assistant Secretary for IT (Information and Technology) and W. Todd Grams (Executive in Charge for the Office of Management and Chief Financial Officer).   With that brain trust, you might think they could answer a basic question but you'd be wrong.  As was the case in a recent House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, the problems started with Allison Hickey (she refused to answer Ranking Member Bob Filner's questions and then there was a rush by the VA witnesses to 'wall her off' from Filner's questions -- see the February 15, 2012 snapshot and pay attention to when Filner tells her,  "You're not answering the question.").  Claims processing was the issue Ranking Member Richard Burr brought up yesterday in the Senate Committee hearing.  He was concerned with the diagnosis (it being incorrect and a veteran suffering as a result) and with the timeliness of it.  There is a huge backlog -- when Chair Patty Murray held her Virtual Town Hall with veterans February 9th --  sponsored by Disabled American Veterans, full transcript of the exchange can be found here --  the claims backlog was an issue the veterans repeatedly raised.  In fact, it kicked off the discussion and Senator Murray noted, "This is one of the most common complaints I hear.  And let me say that w know that the claims system is broken."  So Ranking Member Burr was asking about an important issue and just asking for basic information: How can, a year from now, they determine whether or not there's been improvement?   Ranking Member Burr noted that the accuracy with diagnoses was at 84% nationally for the VA but at regional centers it varied from 61%  to 94%. What part of the budget is going to go to evaluation of the diagnoses?   Shinseki passed it to Hickey.  As usual, she began speaking at a hearing without turning on her microphone.  "I'm glad you're asking about quality because we're very focused on production and quality . . .," she insisted as she avoided Burr's question but continued talking for over two minutes about nothing of importance and nothing that resembled an answer to his question.  Ranking Member Burr interrupted her and wanted to know how far into the year will they go before they'll be able to determine if the plan for improvements is working?     Ranking Member Richard Burr: But at some point, you've got to say, "We're going to look at this and see if it's working."   Allison Hickey: We did, sir, absolutely did.   Ranking Member Richard Burr:  So?   Allison Hickey:  And we did it in local pilots and we are just this week --   Ranking Member Richard Burr:  So a year from now, when we get together for the 2014 budget if the quality is not improved or the timeliness down, it will have failed?   Allison Hickey:  No, sir, I don't expect the quality not to have improved. We have some very significant decisions and initiatives --   Ranking Member Richard Burr:  My point is, what if it doesn't?   Allison Hickey:   Sir, then we will adjust as necessary to find the reasons why, we will tackle that hard, but I don't expect that to be the answer.  I expect us to see improvement in both quality and production.   Ranking Member Richard Burr: Thank you.  We have --   Secretary Eric Shinseki:  Senator, Senator, if I might, quality is the function of trained people with the right tools. And we're working on both items right now.   Ranking Member Richard Burr: My question was, Mr. Secretary, at what point we will determine whether what we've implemented is working?   Secretary Eric Shinseki:  Fair.  We'll be happy to provide that. We set a target of ending this problem with backlog in 2015.   But they haven't even reduced it.  House Ranking Member Bob Filner pointed that out in Tuesday's joint-hearing.  More people were hired by the VA to work on claims and the backlog has only increased.  Whatever the VA's doing thus far, it's not working.  Is it a comprehension issue?  Does VA just not listen?  Senate Ranking Member Burr repeatedly asked how they would measure this year whether the changes were working or not.  He got no answer and it appears the VA thinks they'll decide whether things worked or not to improve quality and speed when 2015 comes to an end.  Do they not understand the need for regular evaluations?  For checking the process?  They didn't appear to yesterday before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.   You're a veteran and you need help with something, let's say PTSD.  Is the VA providing timely care?  No.  And yet in the proposed 2013 Fiscal Year budget, they're asking for only a 5% increase in funding when it comes to health care providers.  Is that really enough, Chair Murray wondered?   Chair Patty Murray:  Mr. Secretary, last year, we talked a lot about mental health care and I think we together uncovered a lot of serious issues best summed up by a veteran that I heard from recently who uses the Ann Arbor Medical Center and had to wait months and months to get into counseling but then he had glowing things to say about his mental health care once he got in.  So in order to address those types of issues, VA has to be certain it has enough resources to not only keep up with the increasing number of veterans seeking mental health care but also bring down that unacceptably long wait time. Over the course of the last fiscal year, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are looking for mental health care went up by about 5% and that's about 18,000 every quarter.  So I wanted to ask you this morning if you believe the increase in mental health funding in the budget request is sufficient to accomplish the goals and keep up with this increasing demand?   Secretary Eric Shinseki::  I-I believe that the budget, if you look at the 13 budget request, I think it's adequate for us to meet what we understand our requirements are in 13. Are there issues out there now that we will discover between now and executional budget?  I would say if we do, Madame Chairman, I would be the first to tell you.  Now you asked us to do a survey and we did. It was very hastily done.  Senator Burr referred to some of the output conclusions out of that survey.  Out of 27,000 of our health care -- mental health providers, 319 were surveyed and the results were as described.  My question of VHA was did you go to the places we thought there would be problems?  And the answer was yes, because we were asked to go figure this out. So I would say we got a pretty pure response.  What I think we need to do is make sure --  we're going to take another broader look  -- to make sure we understand across the larger population what our issues are and where there are opportunities for -- reallocation or to hire more people?  I would offer to the Chair, I took a look at what we've done in mental health over the last 4 budgets.  If we look at '12 to '13, it's rather unimpressive.  I mean, it's 5% and it matches the increase in the medical budget but between '9 and '13 our increase is 39%. in mental health.  And if you include the 14 advance appropes [2014 advance appropriations requests] it will go up 45% --   Chair Patty Murray: And that is a result of the number of soldiers who are coming home with the invisible wounds of war which is dramatically increasing, correct?   Secretary Eric Shinseki:  Uh, true but we are trying to anticipate that there's going to be a larger requirement in the odd years even if we don't have clarity, we're trying to prepare for that.  We want to do a larger survey here as I indicated and then see -- and then see what the outcomes are.  But let me turn to Dr. Petzel for any details.   Dr. Robert Petzel:  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  Madame Chairman, as a result of the hearing that we had earlier in the year, we have now done two things that are, I think, important and on point with regards to your question.  One is that we've developed a staffing model.  It is the only staffing model that I know that is available about mental health.  It's in the -- in the beginning stages but it is giving us some information about what the need might be.  But I think more importantly, we're site visiting all 152 of our medical centers to look at the access to mental health services -- both the initial appointment and subsquent appointments, be it for PTSD patient program, a group program or individual psychotherapy.  And what we're finding is that there is -- We do meet the criteria for the first appointment in most every instance. We're having some difficulties in some parts of the country making the next appointment in a timely fashion, getting them -- as you mentioned earlier -- into the specialty services.  This could be the result of three things.  One, is do we have enough staff out there?  Have we given enough positions and enough resources?  Two is: are those positions filled? Are they filling those positions up in a timely fashion.  And then the third is are we getting the appropriate level of productivity out of  each one of those people?  If we do discover, as the Secretary just mentioned, that we do have additional needs that are unment, I can guarantee you that we will be in communication with the Commitee about those needs and in for a discussion.   Chair Patty Murray:  Okay, I appreciate that.  This is a top priority for us this year.   Secretay Eric Shinseki:  I would just share that in FY '11, we hired about 897 additional mental health professionals bringing us up to about 20,500 mental health professionals so the interest is there in trying to determine what the requirement is and we're not hesitant about increasing those numbers.   As usual, Senator Daniel Akaka brought up a point that others miss (about the rural nature of Hawaii -- and "others" includes me and I have a house in Hawaii).  I'd like to cover that tomorrow but we tried to cover the big issues today (and tried to cover these yesterday but it had to be cut due to space).   In Iraq today, the dead include an American.  Reuters notes Jeremiah Small was shot dead in Sulaimaniya Province by a student named Beyar al-Talabani who then shot himself.  AFP adds that the student was 18-years-old. Sam Dagher and Ali A. Nabhan (Wall St. Journal) note that the student was an 11th grader at Classical School of the Medes ("a Christian school run by U.S. evangicals"). Jeremiah Small was 33-years-old and had taught with history and English lit at the school for seven years. There are a number of details in dispute and we're not going to note those.  If you're looking for a strong article, Dagher and Nabhan are clear about what happened, what's said to have happened and what's in dispute.  Aswat al-Iraq notes a Mousl bombing claimed the life of 1 Iraq solider and left another injured.       Iraq is in an ongoing political crisis which began approximately 15 months ago when Nouri al-Maliki signed off the Erbil Agreement because it guaranteed he would remain prime minister but once that was implemented (right away) he began stalling on the other aspects before walking completely away from it. Since this summer, the Kurds have been puclicly calling for him to return to the Erbil Agreement. Iraiqy and some elements of the National Alliance have joined that call. The New York Times repeatedly ignored the crisis but were forced -- only after other US outlets were already covering it -- to give their half-assed version of 'coverage' in the last third of December when Nouri began demanding that Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq be stripped of his post and that Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi be arrested for terrorism. The crisis isn't over despite the New York times repeated attempts to whitewash the realities. Al Mada reports unnamed sources are stating that Nouri and al-Hashemi are set to resolve their differences. Not all unnamed sources got the same memo. One of them tells Dar Addustour that Nouri and State of Law (Nouri's political slate) believe that public statements Tareq al-Hashemi made are the equivalent of a fatwa. In addition, supposedly Nouri's weighing sending forces into the KRG to seize al-Hashemi. Should that happen, Nouri will be declaring war on the KRG and, for a day or two, the New York Times will 'address' it with articles explaining how the violence is an example of diplomacy and wisdom on the part of Nouri. Other whispers this morning are that Iraqiya -- this from State of Law -- is determined to disrupt the Arab Summit and intends to bring up the political crisis at the national conference. Al Mada notes that and many other charges by State of Law. If there are storms moving in on the Arab Summit, one has to look no further than the rain cloud that is Nouri. Aswat al Iraq reports, "The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahed Al-Jaber al-Sabah expressed keeness to attend the coming Arab summit in person, according to a statement issued by Iraqi foreign ministry." So Kuwait's excited? Al Mada reports that Nouri's looking to 'clarify' border issues when he visit Kuwait shortly. Add that to the millions Iraq still owes Kuwait (why the United Nations has them in Chapter VII). Nouri thinks that's how you set the stage for a successful Arab Summit. In other news of his paranoia, Al Rafidayn reports that the Ministry of the Interior is insisting that there's a coup plot against Nouri in the Maysan Province. It's so difficult to keep Nouri's paranoia coups straight so please don't confuse this with claims that military officers are passing on intel to the United States. Dar Addustour reports that there will be a campaign of arrests on the military officers accused of spying for the US. Hiwa Osman (Rudaw) explores the prospects for the Arab Summit and the national conference to resolve the political crisis and concludes: On the other hand, it takes a different stance from the rest of the Arab world on a number of issues that are related to its neighbors like Syria, Iran and even Turkey. In practice, neither of the two meetings will change anything on the ground. The Iraqi meeting, if held, won't change the relationship between's Iraq's Shia and Sunni leadership and population. The Arab summit could create more problems for Iraq with its neighbors. The only strength of the summit would be symbolic: an Arab summit and a Kurdish head. It would be held in the absence of some of the most brutal Arab dictators. The summit would be seen as the summit of the people with more elected representatives. The Kurds could take the opportunity and get a motion out of the summit that supports the Kurdish people in the Middle East. In the US, 2012 is an election year. Jill Stein is running for the Green Party's presidential nomination. The Green Party of Michigan notes she has two events in Michigan (Ann Arbor and Ferndale) next Monday:     Rick Santorum is a former US Senator who is now running for the presidential nomination of his political party (Republican).  On Saturday, he weighed in on the topic of Iraq with the following essay.     President Obama has an amazing ability to make Jimmy Carter's foreign policies look good. Opposition to imperfect allies and support of radical Islamists has resulted in the almost-extinction of religious freedom for religious minorities -- from the Copts in Egypt to the defenseless women and children who were slaughtered in Homs, Syria -- in the Middle East. Another example is the devolving situation in Iraq. President Obama was so committed to fulfilling an arbitrary campaign promise to get our troops out of Iraq that he ignored the advice of his senior military officials about the consequences of establishing a firm withdrawal date and about how long it might take before Iraq was ready to manage the situation on their own. As a result, Al-Qa'ida is resurgent, Iran's influence is greater than ever, religious tensions between Sunni and Shi'a are increasing, the existential threat facing Iraq's indigenous minority communities has never been greater, and our ability to affect the situation there is weaker now. Recent coordinated car bomb attacks are just the latest in a string of such events since the start of the new year, and they portend many more violent assaults to come. The departure of our military forces has once again left a security vacuum that is bound to be filled by someone, and all those with the means to vie for that space will do so, whether Sunni insurgents, terrorists like Al Qa'ida, security forces controlled by the ruling Shi'a political establishment, and in parts of the country even Kurdish Peshmerga. These machinations undermine institutionalizing the rule of law, protecting minority rights, or developing the economy and infrastructure, let alone advancing American interests in that country and the region. The most vulnerable people in this situation also happen to be the ones most aligned with our values and interests. These are Iraq's besieged Christians -- the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Syriacs and Armenian Orthodox communities. The role their faith has played in developing their worldview is far more in keeping with America's values than any other constituency in the country or the region. Moreover, because these communities have an ethic that places a premium on education, entrepreneurship, and peaceful co-existence and respect for others, they have constituted a disproportionately large part of the upper-middle class, they have historically contributed far more to the country's economy than their numbers would suggest, and they have been the most trusted elements of Iraqi society. They also have a much greater respect for the value of the rule of law, they were the ones who came along side our military, diplomats, and contractors to provide translation services and cultural advice. With the departure of our forces and the recent announcement of the Obama Administration that we will also be reducing our embassy staff by 50 percent because it is now too dangerous for our diplomats there we are effectively abandoning both Iraq and our investment there as well as the communities who risked the most to help us in that effort. What is more, walking away like this also sends messages to other players in the region. It signals to potential allies in the future that we are not dependable. It signals to terrorists that if they just lay low, they can wait us out. It signals to the world that we no longer have the resolve to see a situation through to the end -- that we can't finish what we started. We need all the help we can get in that part of the world, and Iraq's Christians are the ones most inclined to provide that help, but not if doing so is only going to increase the prospect of their genocidal annihilation. Accordingly, we need a comprehensive policy aimed at preserving these communities in Iraq. We need to focus on helping Iraqis create the conditions that incentivize staying in Iraq and making there a better future for themselves. The last thing we want is for them to abandon the land their ancestors have occupied for nearly 7,000 years,forsake the culture they have preserved in that volatile region for all these millennia, and deprive the country, the region, and the world of the positive contributions they could still make if only some space was created for them in Iraqi society. These people -- who are all but canaries in a coal mine -- represent hope for a better future for a pluralistic Iraqi society. First, they need security. By "security," though, I mean more than just safety from terrorist and insurgent attacks. I mean they need the means to protect themselves and their own communities so they do not have to depend on political actors whose interests are not necessarily aligned with the needs of their own communities. They should not be subjected to political shakedowns and corrupt political machinations. Second, they need political empowerment. They have the right to some degree of self-determination and to have a say in how their local communities should be governed. It is wrong for them to be treated as a political football, constantly crushed between manipulative forces that surround them. Third, they need economic development in the region where they now find themselves. Having been forced off their ancestral lands in the last century, they reestablished themselves in the cities such as Baghdad and Basra. In the aftermath of the second Gulf War, though, they have had to seek refuge back in the North again. Yet this region was not developed very well under Saddam's regime, and today's Iraqi Christians are disproportionately of the urban professional class rather than farmers. It is time that we stand with those who stood with us over the last 8 years. We must not abandon them. I will stand with those who stand for freedom of religion and conscience and against violent jihadism and persecution of religious minorities in Iraq, Egypt, and elsewhere.   As noted on Saturday, I'm not voting for Santorum.  Because there are a lot of little babies, I have to note that.  "You quoted Santorum!  You must be voting for him! You must agree with him!"  We usually note serious comments on Iraq by any presidential candidate -- go look in the 2007 and 2008 archives. Oh, and  currently, I'm not planning to vote for president in 2012.  That would change if someone earned my vote.  At present, no one has. If Jill Stein gets the Green Party nomination, I will consider voting for her.    We do note the Green Party here and we'll note this from the Michigan Green Party on Jill Stein's upcoming events (Monday) in Ann Arbor and Ferndale.   Ecological Wisdom • Social Justice • Grassroots Democracy • Non-Violence Green Party of Michigan www.MIGreens.org News Release March 1, 2012 For More Information, Contact: John A. La Pietra, Elections Co-ordinator / GPMI jalp@triton.net (269) 781-9478 Jill Stein Brings Campaign for Green Party Nomination to Michigan (Ann Arbor, Ferndale) — The public is invited to attend one of two meetings with Dr. Jill Stein of Massachusetts who is vying for the Green Party's nomination for president of the United States on Monday, March 5th. Come hear her speak about the Green New Deal and what it would mean for Michigan. Dr. Jill Stein is a mother, housewife, physician, longtime teacher of internal medicine, and pioneering environmental-health advocate. Presenting herself as a positive option to the main two political parties, Dr. Stein's campaign has centered around the Green New Deal which was created to help America regain its prosperity in four ways: securing jobs with living wages for all Americans able to work, adopting green technologies and production practices, revamping the financial sector and strengthening our democracy so that the people's voice will be heard in Washington. Dr. Stein will make two stops in Michigan as she makes her way through the Great Lakes region. First, she will be in Ann Arbor from 4pm to 6pm at Amer's Deli on S. State Street. After Ann Arbor, she will move on to Ferndale where she will be at AJ's cafe on 9 Mile Rd from 7:30pm to 10:30pm. Dr. Stein will be available to answer questions, talk about her candidacy and what the Green Party can do to make America thrive. To learn more about Jill Stein, visit her website at http://www.jillstein.org/ or look for her on Facebook. Other candidates seeking the Green Party's nomination include comedienne Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay of California and Michigan's own Harley Mikkelson. For more information about the Green Party of Michigan, its candidates, its positions on issues affecting Michiganders, and upcoming party events, go to: www.MIGreens.org Also check out the Green Party/Partido Verde of Michigan group on Facebook. # # # created/distributed using donated labor   Lastly, we'll close with this from Feminist Majority:       FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2012 Contact: Francesca Tarant, 703-522-2214, media@feminist.org Women Leaders Vow to Fight Back Against Assaults As the Senate prepared to vote on the Blunt Amendment, a coalition of over 50 women's organizations held a press conference to announce an unprecedented drive to mobilize women voters on the ground and online around Health and Economic Rights—HERvotes—in 2012. Speakers emphasized the power of women voters as a force for change, as well as their collective outrage over the politicization of vital aspects of women's health care, such as birth control and breast cancer services. "This is a day in and day out fight. Women are not going to be silenced," said Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal. "Women are not a political wedge issue, and we are determined to ensure that women have access to quality health care; to protect the gains women have made in the workplace, health care, education and basic individual rights and to continue moving forward an equality agenda," "Women's rights are under attack, with reproductive rights in the center of the bullseye," said Byllye Avery, a founder of Raising Women's Voices and the National Black Women's Health Imperative, who outlined the women's health issues at risk in these elections and noted that the Affordable Care Act will end discriminatory health care practices against women. National Council of Negro Women Executive Director Avis Jones-DeWeever highlighted economic perils for women and children, and saying that women will stand up for jobs, equal pay and equal opportunities: "Women will not be silent. We will not be bamboozled. We will not be complacent." Sarah Audelo of Advocates for Youth made it clear that young women are part of this fight: "The right to basic preventive health care, such as contraception. The right to decide if and when to have a child. The right to vote and have our voices heard. These are rights our mothers and grandmothers fought for and won. These are rights I never thought my generation would have to fight for . . . . We will reward those who support and respect our rights, and hold accountable those who do not." HERvotes announced that the 51 organizations are working together to mobilize voters and to sound the alarm that women's gains are at risk. For example, Lisa Maatz described a $1.5 million campaign being launched by the American Association of University Women to turn out women's votes, particularly Millennial women. Maatz exclaimed: "There is a palpable buzz . . . women are mad. We are fed up. We don't want you to touch our birth control. We're tired of being told what we can do with our bodies. We'll be canvassing, advertising, social media campaigns, and reaching women where they live."   National Women's Political Caucus President Linda Young, responding to a reporter's question about the historic likelihood of women to vote more Democratic than Republican, said "Women will vote for those candidates who support our issues and who are not trying to take away our rights." HERvotes leaders outlined multiple online drives that will reach over 20 million women. For example, there will be a massive online campaign by MomsRising, which reaches over 3 million women through email, Twitter, Facebook and other means. "Women are tired of the politicization of birth control, the politicization of breast cancer, and abortion bills that really are just about humiliating women . . . The more they attack women's ability to get along day by day… they are losing our votes," said Terry O'Neill, president of NOW, urging women to go to www.HERvotes.us to find out about the issues at stake. "People are waking up." ### The 51 organizations of HERvotes will be on the ground and online, educating voters about the 12 advances for women that are at risk in 2102, as well as potential gains. To read about the 12 Advances at Risk in 2012 and see the list of coalition members, go to www.HERvotes.us

Report: “Israel Kidnapped 380 Palestinians In February”

Report: “Israel Kidnapped 380 Palestinians In February”

Saed Bannoura

March 02, 2012 Palestinian researcher, specialized in Detainees’ Affairs, Riyadh Al-Ashqar, stated that Israel heightened the rate of its illegal arrests of the Palestinians in the occupied territories in February, and kidnapped more than 380 Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, in occupied East Jerusalem, and the 1948 territories. In a press release, Al-Ashqar said that among the kidnapped Palestinians in February were 54 children and six women, including one female detainee who was released under the Prisoner Swap deal. He said that 14 residents were kidnapped while working in their lands, close to the Israeli "security fence" along the border between Gaza and Israel. Troops also kidnapped a cancer patient identified as Hikmat At-Taramsy, 48, at the Erez (Beit Hanoun) Terminal while on his way to an Israeli hospital after receiving all needed permits. He was released later on. The Israeli Navy also kidnapped five Palestinian fishermen in Palestinian territorial waters, and attacked their boats. Al-Ashqar stated that Israeli troops kidnapped six Palestinians who were released under the Shalit Prisoner-Swap deal, including hunger-striking detainee, Hana’ Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike since more than 15 days, demanding her release and rejecting a six-month administrative detention order served against her without charges. One of the kidnapped women is a lawyer, and former political prisoner, identified as Shereen Al-Esawy; she was taken prisoner after the army broke into her home and searched it, in occupied East Jerusalem. The rest were identified as Mofeeqa Al-Qawasmi (the wife of detainee Mohammad Shafeeq Al-Qawasmi), Mona Abu Sneina (the wife of political prisoner Hamdan Abu Sneina), and Aesha Mousa Ghannam. The four male political prisoners who were released under the Shalit Prisoner Swap Deal, and were rearrested in February, were identified as Ayman Abu Da’oud, Yousef Abdul-Rahman Shteiwy, Mahmoud Adnan Salim, and Rami Abu Haniyya. Troops also kidnapped 54 children, including Adi Qfeisha, 13, who was kidnapped in front of his school building in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. As for attacks against the detainees, Al-Ashqar stated the soldiers broke into Section 7 of the Negev Detention Camp, and searched the detainees’ tents before transferring 120 detainees to different Israeli prisons. Soldiers also broke into Asqalan Prison four times last month. Detainees in Ramon and Nafha prisons were denied their visitation rights, for the third month, due to their hunger-strike that was carried out to protest the harsh living conditions, and repeated violations against them. Electrical equipment was confiscated from the detainees in Ramon; they were also denied access to the prisoner canteen to buy food. Several detainees were ordered into solitary confinement for several months, one of them, identified as Ahmad Al-Maghribi, was handed a six-month order, for expressing solidarity with detainee Adnan Khader, who held a 66-day hunger strike until Israel decided to release him this coming April. The attacks did were not only carried out against the detainees, but also targeted their families. In one incident, soldier based at a roadblock, near Hebron, humiliated the wives and mothers of political prisoners while on their way to visit them at the Ramon and Nafa prisons. As for administrative detention orders, Israeli military courts ordered more than 50 detainees into solitary confinement, including Palestinian reporter Amin Abu Warda, and journalist Amer Abu Arafa. Abu Arafa received a six-month extension for the second time. 30 more detainees, including three elected legislators, received renewals of their administrative detention orders, without charges. Legislator Nasser Abdul-Jawad, from Salfit, received 4 more months extension to his term, Bethlehem legislator Anwar Zboun, 6 more months, and Hebron legislator, Mohammad Al-Natsha, 6 more months. As for the health conditions of the detainees, Al-Ashqar stated that several detainees suffered sharp deterioration to their health conditions, including Dr. Mohammad Sleiby, who was moved to hospital due to a collapse in his health condition resulting from, among other things, diabetes and high blood pressure. Detainee Thabit Al-Mardawy was moved to a hospital after conducting a 10-day hunger strike in solidarity with Adnan Khader. Confined to his bed at the Ramla Prison Hospital, detainee Zuheir Rasheed Lubbada is facing bad health conditions due to Kidney failure, and due to an infection he got during dialysis; he also suffered from cirrhosis as his scheduled dialysis was performed seven days after its scheduled time. Detainee Dirar Abu- Seessi, from Gaza, is suffering from several health issues, including his heart, kidneys, gallbladder, blood pressure, and anemia (his hemoglobin blood count is 10 and he lost 30 kilograms). Detainee Woroud Qassem, imprisoned at Ha-Sharon prison became unable to stand, and is suffering from deficiency in vitamin D. Detainee Akram Issa, from Nablus, is suffering from a psychological disorder and paranoia; he currently cannot tell what is going around him. Al-Ashqar voiced an appeal to different human rights groups to intervene, and provide the needed attention and support to the Palestinian detainees, and called on the Palestinian people to step-up their activities in support of the detainees, and to show ongoing solidarity.

Russian general: strike against Iran planned for summer

17.02.2012 00:26

Prensa Latina

An attack on Iran might happen in the summer, the Chief of Staff of Russian Army General Nikolai Makarov, warned today on the channel Russia Today. When referring to the tensions created around the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, Makarov noted that the West, especially the military in Washington and Tel Aviv, are preparing an act of war against the Persian country in April or no later than June this year.

The argument used for aggression, which Tehran considers artificially made to justify a war, refers to the alleged Iranian attempt to develop a nuclear program with military pretensions.

But Iran defends its right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes and to produce fuel for its nuclear facilities.

The West reacts with bellicosity and more unilateral sanctions against the Persian state each time it refers to new programs to develop the atomic sphere and to reiterate its peaceful character, the source warned.

Makarov reiterated that Iran was the target of cyber attacks, while many of its scientists were victims of fatal attacks, whose authorship Tehran attaches to Israeli intelligence.

The Iranian authorities captured an unmanned U.S. spy plane, cited the Russian high command.

Moreover, the United States maintains a large concentration of naval forces in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, while Tel Aviv now accuses Iran of being behind the alleged attempts to organize attacks on Israeli embassies in Tbilisi and New Delhi.

The Russian military considered that the outbreak of a conflict with Iran could spread through the Middle East with a domino effect and unpredictable consequences, with the possibility of becoming even in an international confrontation.

Netanyahu: No Lebanon will be on the map

01.03.2012 02:56

President Michel Suleiman

Israel what was that about MAPS?

For years, the paranoid Israelis have been screaming bloody murder that the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that "Israel should be wiped from the map." Of course, the man said no such thing, it was a deliberate mis-translation meant to serve their purposes: to demonize Ahmadinejad and Iran and to justify an unprovoked attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi:

"Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."

The full quote translated directly to English:

"The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time."

Word by word translation:

Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

So that should settle the disinformation campaign being waged in order to set the stage for an aggressive attack against Iran and their paranoid delusions that Iran is building a nuclear weapon in order to "wipe them off the map."

If they are nothing, they are constantly hysterical, while collecting billions annually in American taxpayer money to feed the hysteria and the lust for war and to take out those governments they don't like, preferably by proxy in the form of NATO or the US Armed Forces.

But it's ironic. There was no fuss or screaming when Netanyahu actually told an interviewer that when Israel is done with them, there will be NO Lebanon on the new world map.

At a news conference in Switzerland, on the occasion of the building an Israeli railway there, the German newspaper Die Zeit interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

"Congratulations Mr. Netanyahu, my first question is that does the beginning of the large train line's construction confirm the announcement of the dissident Syrian Intelligence Office that you will strike Lebanon?"

In reply, Netanyahu stated:

"Yes, and it is not a secret that it will happen with U.S.-Gulf support and that is why they have been warned, but before you ask, you have a look at the new map of the world and see that there is no nation with this name."

Given that the UN Security Council has listed 388 Israeli airspace violations by Israel against Lebanon, there is no doubt what Israel is planning regarding Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks. Odd that no one else, no big mouth, big talking, big stick western nations voiced the slightest concern that this nuclear armed, racist apartheid state, that has used weapons of mass destruction against Lebanon in the past, committing a genocide against the Lebanese people, was threatening them yet again.

He added in a statement: "Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it."

Indeed, the only thing that stopped Israel in 2006 from wiping Lebanon off the map was the defense against them provided by Hezbollah, who sent them crying with their tails between their legs.

"Lebanon's diversity is the complete opposite of Israel's racist system, which has no place in the world," stressed the president.

Odd, isn't it, that all of the countries attacked by the west, enemies of Israel, can all say the same thing. That they were the models of tolerance, brotherhood, prosperity and human rights, unlike the western allies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar. etc. that are horrid feudal examples of barbaric practices and backwardness.

"Lebanon is one of the founders of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Netanyahu's statements reflect his contempt for humans," Suleiman added.

Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon are on high alert in anticipation of an Israeli attack on Lebanon, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat daily reported recently. According to the report, Hezbollah has been monitoring with caution the reinforcement of IDF troops along the Lebanon border.

It is also interesting to note that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, admitted that the Israeli train line is funded by Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Asked if he was not afraid of his people, he affirmed the close friendly relations between the two countries. Qatar, the one that has had a vested interest in formenting terrorism and and 'regime change" in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

Isn't it odd that Israel is allowed to wave the stick at anybody it feels like with impunity, while they maintain a monopoly on nuclear weapons in the Middle East? The same country that has threatened all the capitals of Europe?

　

Lisa Karpova

Islamists may win parliamentary elections in Algeria

01.03.2012 14:49

After 20 years Algeria may see the repetition of the scenario of the early 1990s, when the Islamists achieved victory in parliamentary elections. The disparate fundamentalists of seven different movements united in a coalition that would challenge secular parties in the upcoming May 10 elections to the National People's Assembly. Ironically, most Russian media did not pay due attention to this very important point.

A key role in uniting Islamists is played by the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) that, until recently, was part of the ruling coalition. This is not surprising since President Bouteflika made a bet on the country's national reconciliation by bringing the power of the most influential political forces, including moderate Islamists. The opponents of the secular regime in Algeria, despite losing the first round of the struggle in the 1990s, have not gone away. The most radical of them, like Madani, moved to Qatar and the United Kingdom, where they are trying to influence the political processes in the country

Others have accepted the offer of the authorities and chose to collaborate with them, but only temporarily. The pro-presidential alliance formed in 2004 that in addition to MSP included the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and the the National Democratic Rally (RND), the Islamists obtained four ministerial portfolios of the 38 available. Even more notable was their representation in the National People's Assembly - 51 mandates out of 389.

On January 1, 2012 the ruling coalition fell apart: MSP left it. As stated by the leader of the movement Bouguerra, Soltani openly explained that "2012 will be the year of competition, not the year of alliances."

It was the first pre-election move for the Islamists. On January 6 general secretary of another Islamist party - "An-Nahda" - Fatih Rebiai openly invited all Islamist parties to unite and go to the elections as a united front. Credit must be given to the Islamists for forgetting their numerous personal ambitions and disagreements for the sake a common purpose - the struggle with the secular regime.

Interestingly, in this case, according to the official representative of MSP Madii Kamel, "MSP remains in the government, but is separating from the FLN and the NDA. MSP supports the President of Algeria, but it was not the parties that stripped the reforms of their meaning." Under this pretext, the Islamists have refused to surrender the obtained ministerial portfolios.

The Algerian authorities are in a difficult situation. Their representatives like Prime Minister and Ahmed Ouyahia can claim as much as they want that "Islamist revenge is impossible" because people still remember the bloody crimes of the fanatics of the 1990s.

Of course, the authorities tried to play it safe before the appearance on the horizon of the threatening "ghost of ISF" ("Islamic Salvation Front"), the organization that won the elections in 1992.

Back in December of 2011 they took to the Parliament a piece of legislation stating that movements and parties that include individuals who participated actively in the fight on the side of anti-government Islamists and created ISF, are not eligible for legalization and, accordingly, participation in the elections.

While this does not mean anything, of course, it evoked the anger of one of the founding fathers of the ISF Abbas Madani, who accused the Algerian authorities of being undemocratic. The surviving fighters against the Algerian regime may well choose a different strategy: to hide behind their young followers and conduct their policy remaining "behind the scenes".

Indeed, the very Islamist idea in Algeria has never suffered a strategic defeat. ISF and the Armed Islamic Group and Salafist preaching of jihad that came to replace it lost only the first round of the fight. Now the Islamists that took guises that in every election, even during the last 10 years of "stability," secured three million votes, are ready for revenge. Even their opponents admit that the Algerian Islamic alliance can secure 35-40 percent of the vote. However, participants stated that their results will be much higher.

Indeed, over the past few years the country's younger generation has grown up. On the one hand, they do not remember those events, on the other hand, many Algerians do not consider only radical Islamists guilty. After all, everyone knows that in an atmosphere of a bloody civil war no one can be hundred percent right. Besides, the Algerian government in the dashing 1990s did not display a great humanism towards the opposition. Islamists, not without success, blame them in organizing punitive raids on disloyal to the regime in rural areas.

Now, fundamentalists, winged by the events in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, have decided to collect the fruits of the "Arab Spring" in Algeria. So far, the authorities, according to the opposition, managed to get away with massive fraud. But can this be done now, in times of crisis, and despite the fact that the elections will be watched by too many eyes?

Sergei Balmasov

Angelina Jolie Conscripted To Sell Genocidal ‘Humanitarian Intervention’ War Doctrine

February 28, 2012

Martin Iqbal – empirestrikesblack February 24, 2012

Angelina Jolie, Goodwill Ambassador to the UN and member of CFR, is now using her profile to promote NATO’s genocidal ‘humanitarian intervention’ war doctrine. In an interview with the Balkans branch of Al Jazeera (NATO’s ‘Ministry of Truth’), Jolie (whose father has been a staunch defender of George W. Bush and who also visited Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba) promotes her new film ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’, a pro-war propaganda set-piece centred around the ‘humanitarian intervention’.

Set in Sarajevo, Jolie’s directorial debut aims to justify NATO’s brutal butchery in Bosnia during the 1990s, and Jolie even specifically refers to Syria in her Al Jazeera interview. She puts forth a string of utterly hollow gripes about the inactivity of the ‘international community’ as civilians suffer and die. Jolie’s selective morality means she doesn’t once mention Libya – a nation now butchered, fractured, and transformed into a torture state by NATO’s genocidal ‘humanitarian intervention’; an estimated 100,000 innocent people slaughtered by the very same ‘international community’.

Most likely reading from her pre-defined talking points, Jolie even calls out Russia and China for using their veto powers against the ever benevolent ‘international community’ vis-à-vis Syria.

“I think Syria has gotten to a point, sadly, where some form of, certainly, where some sort of intervention is absolutely necessary.

It’s so disheartening, it’s so sad, it’s so upsetting, it’s so horrible, what’s happening…at this time we just must stop the civilians being slaughtered…when you see that sort of mass violence and murder on the streets we must do something. And I know that the countries in the region are pushing as well, so I feel that this is a good global effort, but then there are these countries that are choosing not to intervene and I don’t feel, I feel very strongly that the use of a veto when you have financial interests in a country should be questioned, and the use of a veto against a humanitarian intervention should be questioned.”

USA - Silencing The Critics

Silencing The Critics

By Paul Craig Roberts on February 24, 2012

Paul Craig Robert – paulcraigroberts.org February 20, 2012

In 2010 the FBI invaded the homes of peace activists in several states and seized personal possessions in what the FBI–the lead orchestrator of fake “terrorist plots”–called an investigation of “activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”
Subpoenas were issued to compel antiwar protestors to testify before grand juries as prosecutors set about building their case that opposing Washington’s wars of aggression constitutes giving aid and comfort to terrorists. The purpose of the raids and grand jury subpoenas was to chill the anti-war movement into inaction.
Last week in one fell swoop the last two remaining critics of Washington/Tel Aviv imperialism were removed from the mainstream media. Judge Napolitano’s popular program, Freedom Watch, was cancelled by Fox TV, and Pat Buchanan was fired by MSNBC. Both pundits had wide followings and were appreciated for speaking frankly.

Many suspect that the Israel Lobby used its clout with TV advertisers to silence critics of the Israeli government’s efforts to lead Washington to war with Iran. Regardless, the point before us is that the voice of the mainstream media is now uniform. Americans hear one voice, one message, and the message is propaganda. Dissent is tolerated only on such issues as to whether employer-paid health benefits should pay for contraceptive devices. Constitutional rights have been replaced with rights to free condoms.
The western media demonizes those at whom Washington points a finger. The lies pour forth to justify Washington’s naked aggression: the Taliban are conflated with al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, Gaddafi is a terrorist and, even worse, fortified his troops with Viagra in order to commit mass rape against Libyan women.
President Obama and members of Congress along with Tel Aviv continue to assert that Iran is making a nuclear weapon despite public contradiction by the US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate. According to news reports, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta told members of the House of Representatives on February 16 that “Tehran has not made a decision to proceed with developing a nuclear weapon.” However, in Washington facts don’t count. Only the material interests of powerful interest groups matter.
At the moment the american Ministry of Truth is splitting its time between lying about Iran and lying about Syria. Recently, there were some explosions in far away Thailand, and the explosions were blamed on Iran. Last October the FBI announced that the bureau had uncovered an Iranian plot to pay a used car salesman to hire a Mexican drug gang to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US. The White House idiot professed to believe the unbelievable plot and declared that he had “strong evidence,” but no evidence was ever released. The purpose for announcing the non-existent plot was to justify Obama’s sanctions, which amount to an embargo–an act of war–against Iran for developing nuclear energy.
As a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty, Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy. IAEA inspectors are permanently in Iran and report no diversion of nuclear material to a weapons program.
In other words, according to the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the US National Intelligence Estimate, and the current Secretary of Defense, there is no evidence that Iran has nukes or is making nukes. Yet, Obama has placed illegal sanctions on Iran and continues to threaten Iran with military attack on the basis of an accusation that is contradicted by all known evidence.
How can such a thing happen? It can happen because there is no Helen Thomas, who also was eliminated by the Israel Lobby, to question, as a member of the White House press, President Obama why he placed war-like sanctions on Iran when his own CIA and his own Secretary of Defense, along with the IAEA, report that there is no basis for the sanctions.
The idea that the US is a democracy when it most definitely does not have a free watchdog press is laughable. But the media is not laughing. It is lying. Just like the government, every time the US mainstream media opens its mouth or writes one word, it is lying. Indeed, its corporate masters pay its employees to tell lies. That is their job. Tell the truth, and you are history like Buchanan and Napolitano and Helen Thomas.

What the Ministry of Truth calls “peaceful protesters brutalized by Assad’s military” are in fact rebels armed and financed by Washington. Washington has fomented a civil war. Washington claims its intention is to rescue the oppressed and abused Syrian people from Assad, just as Washington rescued the oppressed and abused Libyan people from Gaddafi. Today “liberated” Libya is a shell of its former self terrorized by clashing militias. Thanks to Obama, another country has been destroyed.
Reports of atrocities committed against Syrian civilians by the military could be true, but the reports come from the rebels who desire Western intervention to put them into power. Moreover, how would these civilian casualties differ from the ones inflicted on Bahraini civilians by the US supported Bahraini government, the military of which was fortified by Saudi Arabian troops? There is no outcry in the western press about Washington’s blind eye to civilian atrocities committed by its puppet states.

How do the Syrian atrocities, if they are real, differ from Washington’s atrocities in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo prison, and secret CIA prison sites? Why is the american Ministry of Truth silent about these massive, unprecedented, violations of human rights?
Remember also the reports of Serbian atrocities in Kosovo that Washington and Germany used to justify NATO and US bombing of Serbian civilians, including the Chinese consulate, dismissed as another collateral damage. Now 13 years later, a prominent German TV program has revealed that the photographs that ignited the atrocity campaign were grossly misrepresented and were not photographs of atrocities committed by Serbs, but of Albanian separatists killed in a firefight between armed Albanians and Serbians. Serbian casualties were not shown. http://www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2012-02-19.html

The problem that truth faces is that the western media continually lies. On the rare instances when the lies are corrected, it is always long after the event and, therefore, the crimes enabled by the media have been accomplished.
Washington set its puppet Arab League upon Syria in order to establish Syria’s isolation among its own kind, the better to attack Syria. Assad forestalled Washington’s set-up of Syria for destruction by calling a nationwide referendum on February 26 to establish a new constitution that would extend the prospect of rule beyond the Ba’athists (Assad’s party).
One might think that, if Washington and its Ministry of Truth really wanted democracy in Syria, Washington would get behind this gesture of good will by the ruling party and endorse the referendum. But Washington does not want a democratic Syrian government. Washington wants a puppet state. Washington’s response is that the dastardly Assad has outwitted Washington by taking steps toward Syrian democracy before Washington can obliterate Syria and install a puppet.
Here is Obama’s response to Assad’s move toward democracy: “It’s actually quite laughable–it makes a mockery of the Syrian revolution,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Obama, the neoconservatives, and Tel Aviv are really pissed. If Washington and Tel Aviv can figure out how to get around Russia and China and overthrow Assad, Washington and Tel Aviv will put Assad on trial as a war criminal for proposing a democratic referendum.
Assad was an eye doctor in England until his father died, and he was called back to head the troubled government. Washington and Tel Aviv have demonized Assad for refusing to be their puppet. Another sore point is the Russian naval base at Tartus. Washington is desperate to evict the Russians from their only Mediterranean base in order to make the Mediterranean an american lake. Washington, inculcated with neocon visions of world empire, wants its own mare nostrum.
If the Soviet Union were still extant, Washington’s designs on Tartus would be suicidal. However, Russia is politically and militarily weaker than the Soviet Union. Washington has infiltrated Russia with NGOs that work against Russia’s interests and will disrupt the upcoming elections. Moreover, Washington-funded “color revolutions” have turned former constituent parts of the Soviet Union into Washington’s puppet states. Shorn of communist ideology, Washington does not expect Russia to push the nuclear button. Thus, Russia is there for the taking.
China is a more difficult problem. Washington’s plan is to cut China off from independent sources of energy. China’s oil investment in eastern Libya is the reason Gaddafi was overthrown, and oil is one of the main reasons that Washington has targeted Iran. China has large oil investments in Iran and gets 20% of its oil from Iran. Closing down Iran, or converting it into Washington’s puppet state, closes down 20% of the Chinese economy.
Russia and China are slow learners. However, when Washington and its NATO puppets abused the “no-fly” UN resolution concerning Libya and violated the UN resolution by turning it into armed military aggression against Libya’s armed forces, which had every right to put down a CIA sponsored rebellion, Russia and China finally got the message that Washington could not be trusted.
This time Russia and China did not fall into Washington’s trap. They vetoed the UN Security Council’s set-up of Syria for military attack. Now Washington and Tel Aviv (it is not always clear which is the puppet and which is the puppet master) have to decide whether to proceed in the face of Russian and Chinese opposition.

The risks for Washington have multiplied. If Washington proceeds, the information that is conveyed to Russia and China is that they are next in line after Iran. Therefore, Russia and China, both being well-armed with nuclear weapons, are likely to put their foot down more firmly at the line drawn over Iran. If the crazed warmongers in Washington and Tel Aviv, with veins running strong with hubris and arrogance, again override Russian and Chinese opposition, the risk of a dangerous confrontation rises.
Why isn’t the american media raising questions about these risks? Is it worth blowing up the world in order to stop Iran from having a nuclear energy program or even a nuclear weapon? Does Washington think China is unaware that Washington is taking aim at its energy supply? Does Washington think Russia is unaware that it is being encircled by hostile military bases?
Whose interests are being served by Washington’s endless and multi-trillion dollar wars? Certainly not the interests of the 50 million americans with no access to health care, nor the 1,500,000 american children who are homeless, living in cars, rundown motel rooms, tent cities, and the storm sewers under Las Vegas, while huge amounts of public funds are used to bail out banks and squandered in wars of hegemony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suJCvkazrTc

The US has no independent print and TV media. It has presstitutes who are paid for the lies that they tell. The US government in its pursuit of its immoral aims has attained the status of the most corrupt government in human history. Yet Obama speaks as if Washington is the font of human morality.
The US government does not represent americans. It represents a few special interests and a foreign power. US citizens simply don’t count, and certainly Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Somalians, Yemenis, and Pakistanis don’t count. Washington regards truth, justice, and mercy as laughable values. Money, power, hegemony are all that count for Washington, the city upon the hill, the light unto nations, the example for the world.