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Towards a Culture of Peace and Recognition, Palestine is a UNESCO Member State
By: Ayman Qwaider
Palestine is the 195th state to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. The admission of Palestine to the UNESCO family has given optimism and hope to Palestinians who believe in the mission of UNESCO “Building peace in the Mind of Men and Women”. The admission of Palestine is a symbolic victory not only for Palestinians, but also for the many nations around the world that voted for the recognition of accepting Palestine as the legitimate sovereign state of the Palestinian People. While this vote did not result in the legal recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in the league of the United Nations, the large majority of nations that supported Palestine’s admission to UNESCO is symbolic of the overwhelming global support of Palestinian national rights and sovereignty.
Palestinians have been subjected to a prolonged system of injustice, and for decades we have been struggling not simply to be recognized as a sovereign people, but simply to have our basic human rights protected. Today, with this unilateral step towards attaining our human rights, dignity and statehood, we are that much closer to ensuring the rights and dignity of the future generations of Palestinians.
PEACE
by Michael Boldin
What sane person doesn’t want peace – peace in their communities and peace in their lives?
Absence of peace, a state of conflict, lowers our chances for a long, healthy, happy and prosperous life. Peace is something we strive for in our workplace, in our family, in our home, and yes – even in politics – although different people obviously have different methods that they believe will attain their desired peace.
The Founding Fathers thought that peace was extremely important in political thought.
James Madison, the “father of the constitution” considered war, the opposite of peace, to be a great evil when he wrote:
“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.”
Dissing Europe's Failed Bailout Scheme
by Stephen Lendman
Heavily indebted Eurozone countries face insolvency. Adding more can't save them. Nonetheless, policy makers repeat past mistakes, compounding failure with more of it.
Banker occupation corrupts Europe and America. They decide what's best for them. Wrecked economies follow. So do mandated austerity measures, including public sector layoffs, wage and benefit cuts, tax hikes on workers, cuts for corporate crooks, and unrestrained economic freedom to pillage.
Selling out to bankers, Eurozone leaders pledged an "ambitious and comprehensive" debt crisis solution. Knee-jerk market euphoria greeted it. Second thoughts perhaps know what's so far revealed falls far short of resolution. In fact, crisis conditions will worsen, whatever short-term gains are achieved.
Israel Called Biggest Threat to World Peace
by Stephen Lendman
America easily takes top honors, followed by Israel, Britain, and France, the real axis of evil.
In Israel's case, it's easy to see why. It's been top regional rogue state for decades. No other Middle East nation matches it.
A new European Commission poll rated 15 countries. Respondents called Israel the biggest threat to world peace. So did past surveys, including a previous 2003 European Commission one.
New developments provide added reasons for concern. On November 2, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) headlined, "Israeli Government Grants A Green Light to Gaza Offensive," saying:
Hats off to Awn Khasawneh
By Khalid Amayreh
It is a good omen that the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Jordan, Mr. Awn Khasawna, has finally admitted publicly that the expulsion of Hamas leaders from Jordan in 1999 was wrong.
Khasawneh, a jurist of impeccable credentials, said deporting the Islamist Palestinian leaders, who were and are still Jordanian citizens, was a legal mistake.
His audacious observation portrays a man who wouldn't be silenced or intimidated by a police-state apparatus or a security machine that sees itself above the people.
Khasawneh probably couldn't have uttered what he said only a few months ago, especially prior to the outbreak of the Arab Spring against autocracies, despotism, and dynastic fiefdoms.
The fact that he has said what he said illustrates the tremendous psychological change hovering over the Arab world, including Jordan.
One up to the Palestinians
By Stuart Littlewood
It makes a nice change for Palestinians to be able to chalk up a success.
And admission as a full member to UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) is good news for them and bad news for their Israeli tormentors. Palestine becomes the organisation's 195th member as soon as it has ratified UNESCO's constitution.
China said yes, Russia said yes, the US and bosom-buddy Israel, Canada and Germany voted no and pretty well isolated tselves. Although 52 member states were incapable of showing a spark of common decency and abstained, the vote was nevertheless a runaway 107 to 14 victory... collapse of stout party.
OCW Wave Will Soon Become a Tsunami / Wall Street Beware
By Allen L Roland
Every city that joins the Occupy Wall Street movement is another
Banderilla placed in the back of a corrupt capitalistic system whose days are numbered. This movement started as a ripple, is now a wave and will soon become a people led Tsunami which will change America forever: Allen L Roland
The greater the difficulty, the more the glory in surmounting it. - Epicurus
There is something glorious in the people led Occupy Wall Street movement for it is rooted in the moral imperatives of justice, self-sacrifice and social responsibility.
The New York Times reports that a recent poll shows that 54% of Americans have a favorable impression of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is twice the 27% who have a favorable impression of the Tea Party movement. The apparent reason is the Tea Party sees itself as stressing only individual responsibility ~ whereas the Occupation Movement is stressing both individual and social responsibility.
War Crimes in Libya - The Smoking Guns
The UN said in its resolution said that they wanted to protect civilians. I am a civilian. I'm asking the United Nations and the National Transition Council for help for the citizens of Sirte. Ali Salah Arzaga, Sirte, Libya. (His home and business were destroyed in the final assault on his city.)
There are very public smoking guns that inculpate the rulers of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others in war crimes in Libya.
The rationale for NATO's entry into the Libyan conflict was based on humanitarian principles, correctly noted by Mr. Arzaga. (left, text and image: VOA video). The United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1973 on March 17 and NATO followed up with actions that the alliance and its partner Qatar claimed conformed to the resolution. The sole purpose of NATO’s involvement was to "protect the Libyan population," we were told.
The outcome has been anything but humanitarian. Tens of thousands of Libyans are injured or dead. The nation's infrastructure is in tatters. One city, Sirte, was destroyed during the final push while another city, the non-Arab Black Libyan town of Tawergha, is absent its entire population, 25,000 residents. They were there just a few weeks ago.
To understand what was done by participating NATO nations and Qatar, which joined the effort, and answer questions about war crimes, consider the following: the United Nations authorization for NATO assistance, the NATO declarations of intent and actions, plus reports of behavior, and the Protocol 1 of the Geneva Convention, 1977. With this foundation, it will be possible to evaluate the behavior of NATO and Qatar.
Siegelman Nov. 2 Showdown Hurts Obama, Not Rove
By Andrew Kreig Posted by Michael Collins
Justice Integrity Project
A legal showdown of historic proportion unfolds Nov. 2 in an Alabama federal court. Squared off in Courtroom B4 beginning at 10 a.m. in Montgomery were the Obama Justice Department and its most important domestic defendant, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, once the leading Democrat in his state.
Siegelman wants the government to provide documents proving that Middle District U.S. Attorney Leura Canary really withdrew from the case, as she claimed. The government contends he is not entitled to confidential government documents. After five years Siegelman has finally won a hearing on a request for documents that are central to his 2006 convictions on corruption charges. Middle District U.S. Magistrate-Judge Charles S. Coody, sitting under the authority of the district's Chief Judge Mark E. Fuller, presides in the courthouse shown below.
Beyond that, Siegelman is in the rare position of having witnesses step forward with evidence that his prosecutors and trial judge framed him. Meanwhile, Siegelman has been tried and sentenced to a lengthy prison term in what our Justice Integrity Project, among others, has described as the nation's most notorious political prosecution in decades. Some of us have documented this many times, with both sources and official denials in the links below.
Obama's Legacy of Shame
by Stephen Lendman
Promising change after eight Bush/Republican years, Obama delivered betrayal.
With congressional Democrats, he exceeded Bush's harshness, lawlessness, belligerency, and public trust betrayal.
He is violating every major domestic and foreign issue promise made. As a result, he's been complicit in:
● looting the nation's wealth, wrecking the economy, and consigning growing millions to impoverishment without jobs, homes, savings, social services, or futures;
● giving Wall Street crooks greater money power, disguised as financial reform;
● waging multiple imperial wars and occupations, spending more on militarism than the rest of the world combined at a time America has no enemies;
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