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Israel will eventually meet the Crusades' fate
By Khalid Amayreh
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu this week announced the organization of early general elections on 22 January. The decision to move up the election date is widely thought to be a shrewd feat on Netanyahu's part, which would allow the Israeli premier to form a stronger extremist government. The current government, probably the most extremist in Israel's history, is not facing an imminent danger of collapse. However, Israel is facing a host of economic and strategic problems which could change the direction of political winds in Israel within a relatively short duration.
However, with the Israeli society continuing to move toward Jewish fascism in both the secular and religious senses, Netanyahu is fairly confident he will form the next Israeli government.
Long-Suffering Haitians Want Change
by Stephen Lendman
Haitians know adversity and anguish as well as anyone. They've experienced over 500 years of oppression, slavery, despotism, colonization, reparations, embargoes, sanctions, deep poverty, starvation, crushing debt, and natural calamities from destructive hurricanes to a dozen regional magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes.
Except briefly after their successful 1804 revolution and under Aristide, they've been denied legitimate governance and freedom. They continue suffering today under stealth Duvalierist Michel ("Sweet Micky") Martelly. He's a US-installed stooge.
Freedom of speech enters dark age: Gilad Atzmon on Press TV
Gilad Atzmon presstv.com/
The concept of freedom of speech and tolerance enters a dark age as the Europe Union's executive body orders a ban on several Iranian channels, an author tells Press TV. European satellite provider Eutelsat SA says it has stopped the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels following an order by the European Commission. The company ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on Monday.
Press TV: Firstly, I wanted to get your reaction to this decision.
Atzmon: It obviously doesn’t take me by a big surprise. The old concept of ‘freedom of speech and tolerance’ is in a serious decay in Europe. In Britain, it already disappeared completely. We are living in a very dark age and it is now official.
Broken Lives and Families in Bil'in
by Stephen Lendman
A documentary called "5 Broken Cameras" depicts daily and nightly Israeli horrors committed against peaceful Bil'in villagers. More below on what most people can't imagine.
Palestinian residents throughout the Territories live it daily and can best explain. "Bil'in is a Palestinian village….struggling to exist," says its web site (bilin-village.org).
It's "fighting to safeguard its land, its olive trees, its resources….its liberty."
EU Wages War on Free Expression
by Stephen Lendman
Free expression in all forms is fundamental. Without it, all other freedoms are at risk. Included are free speech, thought, culture, intellectual inquiry, and press freedom.
Denial risks tyranny. Voltaire said, "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Howard Zinn called dissent "the highest form of patriotism."
Jefferson said, "The only security of all is in a free press." He added that it "cannot be limited without being lost." George Washington said, "If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter."
The Former Nation of America is Gone. Welcome to Police State Amerika
By Timothy V. Gatto
I feel as if I’m repeating myself over and over for the past 8 years. Each time that I think I’ve written about everything, the government comes out with something else.
The Bush regime was a catastrophic horror. He did away with habeas corpus, and that was bad enough. In essence, he scrapped the Magna Charta that had been central to our western values for the almost eight hundred years. It is part of our own Constitution. These two values were taken from it.
Part of the text is here:
"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land."
"To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice."
"The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history . . . It was written in Magna Carta." --Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941 Inaugural address
Thoughts at Perhaps the Most Perilous Time in World History
by Stephen Lendman
Daily events should scare everyone. Consider the times. Wars rage without end. More threaten. One conflict follows others. So-called democracies wage them. Popular needs go begging. Conquest, occupation, colonization, and exploitation are prioritized. Ordinary people are on their own sink or swim. Rich societies plead poverty. Nothing's available for social needs, they claim. Warmaking priorities matter most. So do policies favoring bankers, other corporate favorites, and super-rich elites.
Today's upside down reality endangers everyone. Protracted global Depression deepens. Policies adopted make things worse, not better.
It’s Time to Prioritise the Global Sharing Economy
Adam Parsons
There is much talk about the need for greater sharing in our societies today, in everything from household goods and peer-to-peer services to cooperative enterprises and the ‘commons’. But we often fail to acknowledge one of the most important examples of sharing in the modern world: systems of universal welfare provision.
Systems of welfare are essentially complex ‘sharing economies’ that exist in a variety of forms in different countries. The principle of sharing underpins how they work by ensuring that members of society take collective responsibility for securing the basic human needs and rights of all citizens. Through the process of progressive taxation and redistribution, we share a portion of the nation’s financial resources (personal income and assets, as well as company profits) for the benefit of society as a whole.
The Sanctions Game
by Stephen Lendman
A previous article said the following:
Washington bears full responsibility for imposing illegitimate sanctions on Iran. Other countries are pressured to go along. Doing so harms their own interests.
Heavy-handed US bullying largely gets its way. Rule of law principles and norms are violated. At issue is advancing Washington's imperium.
America's 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) lets presidents claim unusual and/or extraordinary foreign threats, declare a national emergency, and regulate commerce accordingly.
Presidents took full advantage deceptively, unjustifiably, and illegally. Targeting Iran began in November 1979. Iranian assets were lawlessly seized. A full trade embargo followed.
Cycles and Change Mean Hard Times in America
By Timothy V. Gatto
I understand that China is implementing a neo- liberal capitalist model in its economy. China, being a communist nation, it is a little hard to swallow this news. This news made me think about economic systems and how they change over time.
Venezuela has a socialist government and is implementing a socialist model for its economy. Hugo Chavez has changed the top-down system to a socialist bottom-up system. The country was basically a plutocracy. There were several attempts to install a socialist system and there were socialists elected to the presidency. In 1989, Carlos Andres Perez (AD), was elected president again against the background of economic depression (foreign reserves were depleted, balance of payments had largest deficit in history), which necessitates another austerity program, an IMF loan and entry into the GATT. El Gran Viraje relied on macroeconomic stabilization, trade liberalization, privatization, and deregulation. Barriers to foreign investment and exports were lifted, and bureaucratic interference was minimized. Social and political upheaval includes riots, in which between 300 and 2,000 people are killed, martial law and a general strike.
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