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Some questions about the Obama - Cameron meeting
By Michael Collins
What a lovely photo of the two well-heeled leaders of the free world. Previously, it was the American cowboy president and the supposedly left leaning Prime Minister Tony Blair. That buddy act helped drag United States into the worst foreign policy disaster in its history. (Image full size)
This working partnership between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron portends less immediate damage than the Bush-Blair team. Nevertheless, there will be blood
Is there anything other than disaster awaiting the US and Great Britain in Afghanistan?
The response to the murder of sixteen Afghan civilians on March 12th has been disastrous for the United States with retaliatory attacks ongoing. Even before that, March 8 was a Deadly day for the Brits in Afghanistan with six soldiers killed in a bombing of an armored vehicle. General David Allen, in charge of the Afghanistan effort, lamented that this is the type of incident that could threaten the entire effort.
How will the U.S.-British enterprise recover from the latest in a series of insults to the Afghan people?
The people of the U.S. and Great Britain get the message. In a recent poll, 61% of citizens want U.S. troops home immediately. Only 19% oppose that decisive action. In Great Britain, 75% oppose the Afghan war effort.
Buried Alive Cruel and Unusual Punishment
by Stephen Lendman
What America's Eighth Amendment and international law prohibit, US federal, state and local prisons permit.
reports "news from a nation in lockdown" to bring America's widespread use of barbaric "solitary confinement and other forms of torture in U.S. prisons out of the shadows and into the light of the public square."
It calls the practice "one of the most pressing (unaddressed) domestic human rights issues in America today - and also one of the most invisible."
Many thousands are affected. More on that below. Supposedly solely for the "worst of the worst," it's used abusively as punishment without cause, despite no legitimate penological purpose.
"Today, inmates can be placed in complete isolation for months or years not only for violent acts but for possessing contraband, using drugs, ignoring orders, or using profanity."
Israeli-Style Ceasefires
by Stephen Lendman
International laws are clear and unequivocal. Fourth Geneva's Article 146 requires "the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances."
They're required to prosecute offenders committing grave breaches, including crimes of war and against humanity. Israel and America get off scot-free. Their lawlessness continues unabated and unpunished.
Both countries spurn international laws, norms and obligations with impunity. Ceasefires also aren't observed.
Targeted Killings: US and Israeli Specialties
by Stephen Lendman
International law permits justifiable self-defense. Targeted killings are prohibited, especially premeditated ones like America and Israel repeatedly commit for reasons other than claimed.
These incidents constitute cold-blooded murder. US drone killings and rampaging death squads, as well as Israel's deplorable history and latest ritual slaughter highlight the issue. International law prohibits anticipatory self-defense. It amounts to using force to deter it.
Under the UN Charter's Article 2(4):
"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."
Only two exceptions apply. Article 51 permits "individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security."
Washington Plans War on Syria
by Stephen Lendman
On March 11, Assad repeated what he's said numerous times. He's "ready to support any honest effort to solve the situation."
He told former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Ban Ki-moon's envoy appointed with Washington's approval) that doing so depends on accurately assessing conditions on the ground. It also requires admitting Syria's dealing with Western-backed insurgents.
As a result, he’s obligated to protect Syrians from heavily armed gangs. Violence won't stop until chaos, instability, and terrorism they cause ends.
Annan came to Syria on a mission. A reliable imperial tool, his one-way settlement terms involved Assad accepting Western demands.
New York Times Wages War on Palestine
by Stephen Lendman
Like all US major media scoundrels, longstanding New York Times policy features one-sided pro-Israeli reports, commentaries, and opinions.
Its coverage of Israel's latest Gaza aggression is one of many examples. More on that below.
On June 1, 2010, in response to Israeli commandos massacring Freedom Flotilla humanitarian aid activists the previous day, a Times editorial headlined, "Israel and the Blockade," saying:
"The supporters of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla had more than humanitarian intentions (in mind). The Gaza Freedom March made its motives clear in a statement before Monday's deadly confrontation: A violent response from Israel will breathe new life into the Palestine solidarity movement, drawing attention to the blockade."
In other words, the editorial outrageously suggested activists wanted violence, provoked it, and welcomed it when it came. In fact, they wished only to deliver vital humanitarian aid peacefully. Knowing Israel's likely response, they risked their lives heroically doing it. The Times portrayed them as agitators.
Is Kony 2012 the right thing to do?
Mary Shaw
By now, most people who pay attention to the news are likely aware of the Kony 2012 film and campaign. Launched by the non-profit organization Invisible Children (IC), the campaign shines a light on Joseph Kony, a leader of the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group that has terrorized Uganda since 1986. The LRA kidnapped children from their homes, and turned the girls into sex slaves and the boys into child soldiers. According to Wikipedia, "[a]n estimated 66,000 children became soldiers and two million people have been internally displaced since 1986" under Kony's brutal reign in Uganda.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Kony for war crimes, but he has yet to be captured. Kony is believed to currently reside in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, or Southern Sudan.
Bug Docs Tell EPA US Should Stop Planting GM Corn
By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom
Last week, 22 corn entomologists sent a letter to the US Environmental Protection Agency warning that insect resistance to genetically modified corn can be halted by planting non-GMO seed.
Increasing pesticide use or buffer zone size will not solve the growing problem of rootworm resistance to corn genetically modified with the bacterial Bt protein, Cry3Bb1, which we reported on last August.
America's Afghanistan Legacy
by Stephen Lendman
In his book titled, "Freedom Next Time: Resisting the Empire
"Through all the humanitarian crises in living memory, no country has been abused and suffered more, and none has been helped less than Afghanistan."
He described what looked more like a moonscape than a functioning nation. In Kabul, "contours of rubble rather than streets (exist), where people live in collapsed buildings, like earthquake victims waiting for rescue....(with) no light or heat."
If hell on earth exists, it's headquartered in Afghanistan, but has many global affiliate locations.
Afghanistan's Troubled History: A Brief Account
The Fukushima story you didn't hear on CNN "Completely and Utterly Fail in an Earthquake"
by Greg Palast
I've seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level.
Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant:
Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled with problems that, no way on earth, could stand an earth- quake. The team of engineers sent in to inspect found that most of these components could "completely and utterly fail" during an earthquake.
"Utterly fail during an earthquake." And here in Japan was the quake and here is the utter failure.
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