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By Silvia Cattori
Arafat Shoukri: “Conditions are ripe to make this flotilla the ‘tipping point’“
A coalition bringing together a number of organizations is preparing to send in May 2010 a relief flotilla of more than ten ships and cargo-boats to Gaza. Dr. Arafat Shoukri, president of the European Campaign to End the Siege of Gaza (ECESG) will participate in this spectacular convoy with his Campaign, which is an NGO. He has spared no effort for three years to lead delegations of European parliamentarians to allow them to see on the ground the untenable situation in Gaza and to encourage them to call on the Member States of the European Union to exert pressure on Israel with a view to ending its suffocation of the people of Gaza. Dr. Arafat Shoukri responds here to the questions of Silvia Cattori.
by Stephen Lendman
Launched in October 2003, Cageprisoners is a human rights organization dedicated to raising the "awareness of the plight of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay" and other War on Terror victims. As a "comprehensive resource," six words explain its mission: "education, campaign, support, motivation, co-operation (and) prevention" for its efforts to educate the public, campaign for Guantanamo and other detainee repatriations or their asylum, and have prisoner rights guaranteed under international law, including humane treatment not to be:
-- tortured;
-- indefinitely detained;
-- disappeared; or
-- denied proper legal representation, due process, judicial fairness, and access to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), medical personnel and families.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the effort was necessary to break the "chain of terror that links these terrorists to actions in the United Kingdom." "To keep the streets safe in Britain," he argued, "we have to take on al Qaeda wherever it is." Conservative Cameron argued more of the same. Did Richard Holbrooke write this dialog?.
As the United States General in charge of Afghanistan laments the death of too many innocents, these three are cheer leading for more war. I wonder if any of them read that news and, if so, what effect did it have on them?
By Robert Singer
Warning: Reading the following may be hazardous to your mental health. The material herein has caused readers to experience Cognitive Dissonance (CD).
CD is the discomfort felt at the discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation that contradicts a strongly held belief system – It’s that queasy feeling that rises in your gut and screams, I DON’T BELIEVE THAT!
Because, if you accepted the new information, you would have to admit you been ”had,” or ”conned,” in this case into shopping for stuff to trash the planet.
The benefit of the new information is that the world around you will finally make sense. Hot, flat, and crowded Thomas L. Friedman will finally know what planet George W. Bush is on. Bush lost the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq, but is winning the war on the environment. [1]
by Stephen Lendman
For many years, Israel's open secret is that it's one of eight known nuclear powers, including America and Russia with about 97% of the world's arsenal according to Helen Caldicott in her book "Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer." The others are Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, and Israel - North Korea a declared but unverified one.
In her January 20, 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal article titled, "Obama and the opportunity to eliminate nuclear weapons" Caldicott wrote:
eileen fleming
Last week’s two-day summit on nuclear security in Washington was attended by leaders of 47 countries. Iran was not invited, but did host a two-day conference in Tehran on nuclear disarmament with sixty countries represented.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement delivered at the conference stating that nuclear weaponry was "haram" meaning prohibited under Islam.
Oman's Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah said, "The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes that it is pursuing a peaceful, and not, as certain states claim, a military nuclear goal. We have taken part in the Tehran conference in a bid to reemphasize that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful.” [1]
by Stephen Lendman
A July 2008 Fact Sheet Series titled, "Behind the Bars: Palestinian Women in Israeli Prisons" was jointly prepared by the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, the Palestinian Counseling Center (PCC), and Mandela Institute. Along with background information, it covered Israel's obligations under international law, prison conditions where they're held, medical neglect, and their educational rights restricted or denied.
Relevant International Laws Protecting Prisoners and Civilians in Times of Conflict, Including Women
by Eric Walberg
Iran’s disarmament summit upstaged Obama’s and breathes life into next month’s NPT conference in New York.
The logic of power is still overriding the power of logic, quipped the head of Iran’s Atomic Organisation Ali Salehi at the “Nuclear Energy for all, Nuclear Weapons for None” disarmament conference in Tehran last weekend, referring to US foreign policy, in particular, nuclear. Taking this elegant formulation a step further, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says nuclear-armed states such as the United States should be removed entirely from the IAEA and its Board of Governors. Iran’s president called for the formation of a new international body to oversee nuclear disarmament, or at least the reinvigoration of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Twenty-four foreign and deputy foreign ministers and official representatives from 60 states, including China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Iraq, and Turkey came to Teheran, with the glaring exception of the US and Israel, though they were invited along with everyone else. The conference was a direct reply to Washington’s refusal to invite Iran to its own Nuclear Security Summit last week, which attracted the attention of 47 leaders, and focused -- more cynically -- merely on international control of all nuclear-related activity.
Joel S. Hirschhorn
Nothing is more powerful in a democracy than fed up citizens lawfully yanking public officials out of their jobs. Considering all the frustration and anger about government that is too big, expensive, corrupt and dysfunctional, it is wise to consider how much better American democracy would be if citizens could recall members of Congress, the President and even Supreme Court Justices. In a world moving at faster and faster speeds why wait for the usual ways to fix government, especially when none of them seem to work?
by Stephen Lendman
On May 14, 2008, New York Times writer Lynnley Browning headlined, "Ex-Banker from UBS Is Indicted in Tax Case," saying:
"The one-count conspiracy indictment, unsealed in federal court, accuses the former banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, of helping (a wealthy American real estate developer) evade taxes on $200 million held in bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein."
According to the indictment, "fictitious trusts and bogus corporations (were created) to conceal the ownership and control of offshore assets. They also advised clients to destroy bank records and helped them file false tax returns...."
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