Pages: << 1 ... 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 ... 1271 >>
China-US: Wisdom not gunboats
Eric Walberg
A new US military doctrine, war games, and ASEAN troops in Afghanistan have stirred up an oriental hornet's nest.
"From a historical perspective, the US has continuously found enemies and waged wars. Without enemies the US cannot hold the will of the whole nation," concluded Chinese Air Force Colonel Dai Xu, after perusing the 2010 US defense report. He points to the attempt to turn the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) into an Asian NATO -- Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand already have troops in Afghanistan, and the ongoing military games in the South China Sea with Vietnam and in the Yellow Sea with Korea -- employing enough firepower for a full-scale war.
Lebanon scatters a little chicken feed and labels it ‘manna from heaven’
Franklin Lamb
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, Beirut
Part XI of a series on securing civil rights for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
“Palestinian guests in Lebanon are working with total freedom. First of all we do not refer to them as “refugees”. They are our brothers who are suffering and in a very difficult situation that they did not cause and they have lost their country. They sought our help in Lebanon as brothers. You Americans really need to understand that in our Arab, Muslim, and Christian culture, you help your brother. You share with him your loaf of bread. You split it in half and give half to your brother. So out of this sacred tradition, out of the long history that binds us with our Palestinian brothers we host them in Lebanon temporarily until they can go back to their country. But while they are here, of course Lebanon is living through a difficult situation ourselves but our Palestinian brothers are enjoying everything.”
American Propaganda
By Timothy V. Gatto
When will the people of this nation understand that those they trust to guide them and protect them have nothing but contempt for them? Everyday there are people who have no work and have used up their 99 weeks of unemployment insurance, they are called the 99%’rs. Every day the people of this nation look into their television sets and hear the propaganda of a nation that is hell-bent on empire because they fear their own imminent collapse. This won’t affect the trans-national corporate hierarchy; they will just move to another country, it’s all the same to them. There is no patriotism and no loyalty to the United States among those that sit on the mantle of power.
The majority of Americans are decent, hard-working people, but they are none the less… stooges. They have been indoctrinated from birth to believe in a set of core values that are designed to keep them subservient and docile. They are the victims of propaganda that emanates from the government and the corporate media, designed to lead them to believe that we are “defending democracy” even though we have no real democracy of our own.
UNITED AGAINST PAINTINGS
GILAD ATZMON
Art work by child from Gaza
Some British Jews are desperate to stop the truth about the Jewish state being spread around. The Jewish Chronicle reported todaythat Jewish “Community leaders are battling to stop an exhibition of paintings by children from Gaza being shown in schools in the North of England.”
Jewish campaigners say they have “no objection to the paintings, but have reacted with anger at a series of talks given to accompany them.”
The man behind the exhibition and the talks is Rod Cox, 62, who visited Gaza and the West Bank a few times in recent years. The exhibition, Loss Of Innocence, has been on tour since September, visiting universities, town halls and, most recently, Manchester Cathedral. It was taken to a Quaker venue in Marple, Stockport, on Monday evening and plans are under way to take it to schools in the north west.
Gender-Based Violence in Haiti
by Stephen Lendman
The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) works with grassroots groups there, in America, and the Haitian Diaspora, developing effective human rights advocacy for some of the world's most oppressed, impoverished, and long-suffering people, over 500 years and counting.
In late July, it issued a new report titled, "Our Bodies Are Still Trembling: Haitian Women's Fight Against Rape," a problem Amnesty International (AI) highlighted in March saying:
Obama's Gulf Swim Was Fake
by Stephen Lendman
On August 15, AP reported that Obama gave his "personal assurances of (the) Gulf's safety," saying:
"Beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, they are safe, and they are open for business."
He lied.
The same day, Britain's government owned BBC reported:
"Barack Obama has taken a swim in the Gulf of Mexico (to) reassure Americans that the waters are safe despite the recent oil spill."
The Scott Sisters: Victimized by American Injustice
by Stephen Lendman
Their story is shocking, disturbing, yet common - African Americans indicted, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned despite their innocence. Nearly always society's most vulnerable are affected, including Muslims by the "war on terror" and people of color - Jamie and Gladys Scott's experience explained below.
Updated information on their case and status can be found on Free the Scott Sisters.blogspot.com, accessed through the following link:
http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/
The Inevitable Loser is Dumped! Telegraph Punches Obama
by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.
This Monday's London Daily Telegraph piece from correspondent Nile Gardner, is not correct, but Gardner's error is interesting, and timely, nonetheless.[1]
He is right on the spot, in suggesting "The last few weeks have been a nightmare for President Obama, in a summer of discontent in the United States which has deeply unsettled the ruling liberal elites...," but, he is way off the mark in asserting that "the anti-establishment Tea Party movement," a Republican Party front group, "is now a rising and powerful political force to be reckoned with."
Alleged child soldier on trial at Gitmo
Mary Shaw
Canadian citizen Omar Khadr is now facing trial via a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay. Khadr is accused of throwing a hand grenade which killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002 and injured two others. His is the first trial before a military commission under the Obama administration. The trial began during the week of August 9, but is now on hold for 30 days as the defense attorney recovers from a sudden illness.
Khadr was only 15 years old when he was detained and sent to Gitmo, where he was allegedly subjected to harsh interrogations, beatings, and other ill-treatment. Interrogators allegedly threatened to kill Khadr's family if he didn't cooperate. According to IPS News, "there seems to be little or no evidence that Khadr actually threw the grenade that killed the soldier, other than 'confessions' allegedly obtained under suspicious circumstances."
And, notes IPS, "Patrick Parish, the military judge working on the case in Guantanamo, has decided to admit the statements extrapolated during these interrogations into court." This is despite the fact that information obtained under torture and other forms of coercion is known to be unreliable. So the deck is already stacked against him.
Human Rights First (HRF) has identified some additional problems with the case. "The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and international juvenile justice standards require prompt determination of juvenile cases and discourage detainment of juveniles at all except as a last resort," says HRF on its website. "Such standards have not been heeded by the U.S. government in the case of Khadr. Khadr was held for two years prior to being given access to an attorney, waited more than three years prior to being charged before the first military commission, and is now in his eighth year in U.S. custody. During Khadr's time in detainment, he has been held both in solitary confinement as well as with adult detainees, contrary to international standards requiring that children be treated in accordance with their age and segregated from adult detainees."
Additionally, says HRF, "In 2002, the U.S. ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which prohibits the use of children under 18 in armed conflict and requires signatories to criminalize such conduct and rehabilitate former child soldiers as well as provide 'all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.' The U.S. has failed to heed these legal obligations in the case of Khadr."
But, of course, it's been a while since the U.S. government has cared about complying with international law and human rights standards.
And today that remains another unkept promise of the Obama administration.
In a statement to the military judge in a pre-trial hearing in July, Khadr had asked, "How can I ask for justice from a process that does not have it?"
That is a very good question.
Unfortunately, the answer is probably not so good.
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views on politics, human rights, and social justice issues have appeared in numerous online forums and in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated. E-mail: mary@maryshawonline.com
Gates to Iraqis - We'll stay, just ask us
A revealing article appeared in Voice of America (VOA) on August 12. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the following statement:
"I think we have an agreement with the Iraqis that both governments have agreed to, that we will be out of Iraq at the end of 2011," he (Gates) said. "If a new government is formed there and they want to talk about beyond 2011, we're obviously open to that discussion. But that initiative will have to come from the Iraqis." Robert Gates in "US Military Prepares to Leave Iraq, But May Stay If Asked", Voice of America (VOA), Aug 12
At the time of this post, if you do a Google "News" search for the sentence underlined, you will find it only at the VOA source. The article notes that Gates made the statement, "to reporters on his aircraft during a domestic trip on Wednesday." Apparently, it wasn't newsworthy except to the official news agency for the United States government.
President Obama's withdrawal promise has been treated with some skepticism. Now we've got Robert Gates adding a cynical codicil: "if they want to talk … we're obviously open to discussion."
Who's in charge here?
<< 1 ... 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 ... 1271 >>
