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Iraq's US Security Charade
Ramzy Baroud
World media rashly celebrated the "historic" security pact that allows for US troops to stay in Iraq for three more years after the Iraqi parliament ratified the agreement on Thursday, 27 November. The approval came one week after the Iraqi cabinet did the same.
Thousands of headlines exuded from media outlets, largely giving the false impression that the Iraqi government and parliament have a real say over the future of US troops in their country, once again playing into the ruse fashioned by Washington that Iraq is a democratic country, operating independently from the dictates of US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker and the top commander of US troops in Iraq, General Ray Odierno. The men issued a joint, congratulatory statement shortly after the parliamentary vote, describing it as one that would "formalise a strong and equal partnership" between the US and Iraq.
Jonathan Steel of the British Guardian also joined the chorus. "Look at the agreement's text. It is remarkable for the number and scope of the concessions that the Iraqi government has managed to get from the Bush administration. They amount to a series of U-turns that spell the complete defeat of the neo-conservative plan to turn Iraq into a pro-Western ally and a platform from which to project US power across the Middle East."
A PLO of Shame
Khalid Amayreh
öAfter many years of the PLO being dormant, if not clinically dead, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas is trying to revive the organization in order to use it as a pawn against Hamas.
The conclusion of the Oslo Agreement and subsequent coalescence of the organization into the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1993 drastically weakened the former, rendering it almost irrelevant.
Some PLO factions, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), left the organization in protest against the “treacherous concessions” and the crossing by the Fatah leadership, e.g. Yasser Arafat, of Palestinian national constants.
The Ongoing Nakba and Vanunu
Eileen Fleming
[Occupied east Jerusalem] On November 19, 2008, during the final day of Sabeel's [Arabic for The Way] 7th International Conference: THE NAKBA: MEMORY, REALITY AND BEYOND, Noble Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire inspired nearly 300 internationals to rise up and honour Mordechai Vanunu.
Vanunu has been nominated for the Noble Peace Prize annually since 1986 for his courage and truth telling, by providing the photographic evidence that warned the world that Israel had already manufactured upwards of 200 nuclear warheads in 1985. Israel locked Vanunu up for 18 years, has held him under house arrest since April 2004, yet Israel continues to get away with nuclear ambiguity, has never allowed IAEA inspectors into the Dimona, nor have they signed the NPT.
Gaza: A Bare Life Zone nearing to a no-life-zone
Sameh Akram habeeb
With the last Israeli maneuvers' of tightening the siege imposed on Gaza, more life necessities vanished. The key power plant shut down 25 days ago resulted in tremendous direful outcomes. More than 75% of the Gaza strip faces severe power cuts and some areas completely plunged into darkness.
Power cuts and daily blackouts resulted in hindering of all facilities depending on power. The remaining power shares provided by Israel and Egypt are not enough to cover the whole coastal strip. Pumped fresh water is not reaching all living places, farms and central water wells. Sewage and treatment water machines are halted. Additionally around 77 million liters of sewage water leak into the Mediterranean contaminating it and damaging fish resources on daily basis.
Justice needs to be served in 2009
Andrew Hughes
We are nearing the end of what could arguably be called a reign of terror instigated by the ruling oligarchy in Washington, sustained by a supine Congress and which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Unilateral War, indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, torture, detention camps, perversion of Justice and the abrogation of almost every international treaty regarding human rights have been carried out in the name of the "War on Terror". Who's going to prison ?
Most likely nobody. The new administration that takes the reins in January 2009 does not seem to have any desire to rock any boats that might undermine "stability". There will be enough for Obama and his entourage of past supporters of injustice to do once they have gone through the revolving door on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Something Grand Happened At The Café de Flore
Gaither Stewart
(Paris) It is counterproductive to attempt to debunk Parisian cafés and café culture. Whether revisionists and debunkers approve or not, the Café de Flore on Paris’ Boulevard Saint Germain is a living institution. Since its founding in 1870 it has existed as a café and second home for writers, artists and intellectuals of the likes of Apollinaire, Camus, Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and frequented by Hemingway and even Truman Capote. In the 1920s and 30s, the Flore was the meeting place of the Right, after World War II of the Left. Forming a triangle with the famous but touristy Deux Magots (today “out” and taboo for the Parisian intelligentsia) and the Brasserie Lipp just across the street, the history of the Flore has always been linked with Paris, culture and political ideas.
CRIMINAL INJUSTICE AGAINST THE HOLY LAND FOUNDATION CHARITY
Stephen Lendman
The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) was the largest American Muslim charity until the Bush administration falsely declared it an enemy of the state and shut it down.
On December 4, 2001, the Treasury Department declared HLF a terrorist group, froze its assets, and falsely claimed they were being used to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas. HLF appealed at the time but in court was denied.
On January 25, 1995, Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12947 - Prohibiting Transactions With Terrorists Who Threaten To Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process. The same year Hamas was declared a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). It's still one today, so any individual or group charged with providing it material support (true or false) becomes a convenient target for prosecution.
Nemesis in Slow Motion
Andrew Hughes
So, 3 months since the arrival of the Storm which has redefined the modern world, what has happened and what can we expect ?
What we have seen and what we have received as the remedies to the problem have just been more of the same chicanery that led to the disaster in the first place. We still have the same players, the same crooks and the same "remedies".
Have you ever noticed that the more it changes, the more it remains the same ? Like the French phrase...plus ca change..
We have seen whole industries collapse because they did not take account of the real economy. We have seen the inflation of real estate bubbles, credit bubbles and others too numerous to mention. I remember talking to my mother 3 years ago about the property bubble in Ireland at the time. People were buying houses to beat the band and you were nobody unless you had a property or two. I remember saying to her that this has got to end when the price of property will be too expensive for people to afford and I was right. Property prices took a nosedive and the same people who bet on increased equity and a permanent gravy train were in the can.
Obama exploits liberal denial
Mickey Z.
By now, we should expect the soft Left (and more than a few radicals) to gleefully guzzle the Democrat Kool Aid every four years. In 2004, it was Anybody-But-Bush. This year, it was Attack of the Obamatrons. Hey, when you’re a liberal, harboring multiple delusions comes with the territory, e.g.
*Sooner or later, the Democratic Party is gonna wake up and help us “take back” the country
*No matter what we think of war, we must always support the troops because sooner or later, the men and women in uniform are gonna wake up and help us “take back” the country
*There’s a mysterious mass of Americans out there—just sitting on the proverbial fence as they wait for us to convince them we are right so they can wake up and help us “take back” the country
SURPRISE!!
David Kendall
This is supposedly what everybody shouts at a "surprise birthday party" when the guest of honor enters a room filled with his best friends and family who have gathered to celebrate the fact of his/her existence:
"Surprise!!" -- and then everybody sings "Happy Birthday" or "Auld Lang Sine" or some crap.
Has anybody ever actually attended one of these parties, or do they only happen in the movies or on television? If you've ever had one -- were you "surprised"? Or did you somehow find out about it in advance -- like they always do on TV?
In this digitized, computerized, sensationalized, homogenized, and hegemonized age of "Homeland Security", is there really any such thing as a "surprise"?
No.
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