Kourosh Ziabari

"retaliatory and entirely unjustifiable"

Once Dr. Hossein Beik-baghban, a renowned Iranian professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Strasbourg, while addressing a gathering in our university, digressed to explain a bitterly interesting memory from his first years as an Iranian scholar in France: "I was standing in a queue in a large shopping mall in Alsace, waiting for my turn to hand the goods over to the salesman and get the receipt, when a rustic old German woman appeared before and started talking to me immediately. We talked for some 10 minutes on different topics, and eventually, it came to nationality. I asked her first and she replied that she is German. Correspondingly, she began guessing about me, before I told her myself, and all of her guesses, one after another, were wrong: Lebanese, Turkish, Azeri, Arab and Russian. I told her that I'm Iranian. She remained silent and somewhat in shock for a few seconds, and suddenly yelled with excitement: Oh! So, you are a terrorist!"

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By James Petras

“The Government of Israel has insulted the Vice President of the United States, and spat in the face of the President … they wiped the spit off their faces and smiled politely … as the saying goes: when you spit in the face of a weakling, he pretends that it is raining” Uri Avnery Israeli Jewish journalist 13/3/2010.

“We (Israel) possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets … most European capitals are targets of our air force … the Palestinians should all be deported. Two years ago, only 7 or 8 per cent of Israelis were of the opinion that this would be the best solution, two months ago, (January 2010), it was 33 percent and now according to a Gallup poll, the figure is 44 percent”. Martin Van Crevel Israeli, professor of military history at Hebrew University at Jerusalem and top adviser to the Israeli Armed Forces, March 2, 2010.

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by Stephen Lendman

After General Stanley McChrystal took charge of US/NATO Afghan forces last June, systematic atrocities escalated sharply after promises of kinder, gentler killing (an oxymoron), winning hearts and minds, and fewer civilian casualties as a "paramount" objective - now much higher the result of more than a fourfold increase in night raids, targeting civilians, including children, while they sleep.

McChrystal's resume exposed his history - death squad terror, mostly against civilians, the same counterinsurgency he waged throughout Iraq as Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), especially in Al-Anbar Province that increased violence to curb it.

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Eric Walberg

Lieutenant colonel Brian Christmas (I'm not making this up) recently threatened the village elders in Sistani, a village near Marja, with “the choice between American guns and American resources”. Read: turn stoolie. The Afghan president begs to differ.

There can be no doubt that Washington is in the throws of a mental breakdown over what to do about Afghanistan. The very unenthusiastic surge now underway is a disaster on the ground, as NATO, Taliban and civilian deaths skyrocket in Marja and Kandahar, with Kunduz coming up in the brutal Afghan summer. The staunchly noncombatant Germans are supposed to spearhead the latter operation, but there is a revolution brewing at home after three of them died in a few seconds last week, and nearby their comrades gunned down five Afghan soldiers in a case of “friendly fire”. To make matters worse, far worse, America’s political hope, President Hamid Karzai, is doing his best to scuttle the occupiers’ plans, however altruistic and noble they might be.

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by Stephen Lendman

Lest anyone think members of organized religions are above reproach, take note.

In his new book "God and His Demons," Michael Parenti confronts both Old and New Testaments saying:

"The god of the Holy Bible - so much adored in the United States and elsewhere - is ferociously vindictive, neurotically jealous, intolerant, vainglorious, punitive, wrathful, sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, sadistic and homicidal. As they say, it's all in the Bible. Beware of those who act in the name of such a god. Were we to encounter these vicious traits in an ordinary man, we would judge him to be in need of lifelong incarceration at a maximum-security facility. At the very least, we would not prattle on about how he works his wonders in mysterious ways."

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Report from the W'ikiLeaks Press Conference

By Michael Collins

(April 5, Washington, DC) Julian Assange and Wikileaks kept their promise of February 20 by releasing a video tape that shows civilians and reporter deaths from an attack by United States forces. The tape was presented at a 9:00 am press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Before the conference began, Assange described this as a "very rich story." He opened with a brief statement and then showed the video tape. The edited and unedited versions of the tape are available here. WikiLeaks received the tape through unspecified channels. Assange did say that the leak to his organization "sends a message that there are some people in the US military who don't like what's going on."

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Mary Shaw

April 4, 2010, marked the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I often wish that King had lived to see Barack Obama, an African-American, become President of the United States of America.

Indeed, there have been other obvious civil rights victories since King's day that are worth celebrating. We've had two African-American Secretaries of State, both -- believe it or not -- appointed by a Republican president! And countless notable African Americans have achieved great success in mainstream business and academia as well. But, even as Barack Obama sits in the Oval Office, we have not yet achieved King's dream of a post-racial America. Not even close.

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eileen fleming

Taybeh is the last remaining self sufficient Christian Village in the West Bank, and they produce olive oil and beer. Life long resident, Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. wrote regarding holy week that, “Especially since September 2000 there has been no change on the ground from the awful military occupation that strips people from their very basic human rights. And at the same time seeing all our hope in Christ who offers eternal life, we remember the most important words of all, ‘Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ (Luke 23:34).

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eileen fleming

"The Shin Bet, you know, like the FBI and the Mossad, is like your CIA,"-Mordechai Vanunu explained to me in June 2005 during my first of seven trips to east Jerusalem. That was back when I was only an American citizen writing a book based on the memories of a 1948 Palestinian Muslim. Three weeks after that first trip to Israel Palestine, I became a citizen journalist because somebody had to report what the media was ignoring

On March 27, 2010, the U.S. based, "Global News Service of the Jewish people" the JTA, Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that Anat Kam, a 23 year old journalist has been held under secret house arrest by Israel since last December based on allegations that during her military service she leaked classified documents suggesting the Israeli Forces violated laws dealing with targeted killings.

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By Khalid Amayreh

The American-backed Fatah group has been demanding the organization of general elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as soon as possible. However, the demands don’t seem to reflect genuine concern about democracy as one might take it at face value.

Fatah officials and apologists argue that elections represent the only exit out of the present political deadlock at the Palestinian arena, including the enduring rift between Fatah and the Islamic movement, Hamas.

However, in the absence of real guarantees for holding truly free elections, the raucous blather about elections by the Fatah organization, or any other Palestinian group, remains an expression of deception and hypocrisy.

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