Conflicts in which the United States is not a direct party to the conflict but where (as in the Israel-Palestine conflict or the India-Pakistan one) U.S. foreign policy plays a role; UN peacekeeping efforts.  

HEADLINES

6/1/10

ISRAEL SHOCKS THE WORLD BY ATTACKING A "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" HEADED FOR GAZA WITH HUMANITARIAN SUPPLIES. IDF forces board six ships and open fire on passengers, claiming they were provoked by being fired at by those onboard, a characterization denied by the passengers. An indeterminant number of deaths---between 10 and 16 accounting to different accounts---and numerous injuries ensue. Outrage against Israel spreads throughout the world as Israeli ambassadors in several countries are "summoned" by host governments to explain the actions of their country.

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6/1/10

ISRAEL SHOCKS THE WORLD BY ATTACKING A "FREEDOM FLOTILLA" HEADED FOR GAZA WITH HUMANITARIAN SUPPLIES. IDF forces board six ships and open fire on passengers, claiming they were provoked by being fired at by those onboard, a characterization denied by the passengers. An indeterminant number of deaths---between 10 and 16 accounting to different accounts---and numerous injuries ensue. Outrage against Israel spreads throughout the world as Israeli ambassadors in several countries are "summoned" by host governments to explain the actions of their country.

5/26/10

KIDS AND PEACE-KEEPERS ENGAGE IN SOME UN-PEACEFUL BEHAVIOR IN PORT-AU-PRINCE. In continuing public protests near the National Palace over government failure to deal effectively with aftermath of January earthquake, students exchange rock-throws and middle finger signs with Brazilian UN peace-keepers, who return the "favor" with rubber bullets and tear gas that send many injured to hospitals.

4/21/10

THE INTIFADA WILL NOT BE TELEVISED. Gil Scott-Heron's song, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," was used to help dismantle apartheid in South Africa and promote black consciousness in the United States. Now, as he plans a concert of his music in Tel Aviv, Matthew Cassel writes Scott-Heron an open letter objecting to this plan, saying it violates the spirit of his music by betraying the "un-televised" Palestinians who are the victims of Israeli apartheid.

4/16/10

JERUSALEM POST AND ISRAELI GOVERNMENT HYPER-VENTILATE OVER THE "OUTRAGE" OF THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY NAMING A PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND AFTER AN ARAB "TERRORIST." Officials and media "manufacture" outrage when the PA "honors" a Palestinian who went on a rampage of revenge for the killing of numerous Palestinians at a mosque in Hebron, a man later assassinated by the Israelis. Electronic Intifada writer suggests all this outrage is an effort to deflect world outrage at an alleged everyday terrorism of Israeli in dealing with Palestinians.

4/10/10

THE MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN IN ISRAEL. A young soldier, serving her conscription in the office of the General in charge of military operations in the West Bank, copies and passes to a reporter for Haaretz numerous documents showing illegal acts of brutality of IDF forces toward the Palestinian population. Recalling the Pentagon Papers episode the U.S. in which Daniel Ellsberg earned the "dangerous man" label for passing Pentagon secrets to the New York Times, the Israeli government puts the woman who leaked the documents on trial, while the reporter to whom she passed the information has fled to London, hoping to avoid the extradition to Israel and/or the attentions of a Mossad assassination squad.

4/4/10

Israel President Peres says Israel should "pay any price" for release of Hamas-held IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, as negotiations on a prisoner release exchange stall, allegedly because of "internal differences" within Hamas leadership.

3/25/10

European concerns over Israel's settlements and occupation policies in Palestine has not deterred Eurpean Union diplomats for pursuing closer ties between Israel and EU.

3/23/10

OH, THE INJUSTICE OF IT ALL! Israeli PM Netanyahu, in address to AIPAC, complains that Israel is "unjustly accused of not wanting peace" even as peace-busting settlements program continues. The PM is contradicted by some of his cabinet who clearly do not want peace, if that entails (as it must) any negotiation with Palestinians over issues of land control

3/22/10

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU HAVING MADE "CONCESSIONS" ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN PALESTINE, WILL HE EXPECT A DOG BISCUIT OF REWARD FROM THE U.S.? Jason Ditz says that "reportedly" this is the case. Having responded with U.S. calls to suspend settlement construction with (actually) a "don't ask, don't tell" continuation of them, the Israeli PM is coming to Washington D.C. with a reward on his mind: U.S. willingness to supply the bunker-busting weapons without which it cannot hope to accomplish a successful raid on buried Iranian nuclear facilities

3/14/10

Former Palestinian resident living in Egypt describes travails of trying to smuggle a lap-top computer into Gaza using the illegal tunnel access.

3/12/10

AFTER MOST RECENT CASE OF ISRAELI CONSTRUCTION OF SETTLEMENTS IN PALESTINIAN AREAS, ARE PEACE TALKS OFF OR ON? Spokesman for U.S. State Department denies "reports" that this is the case, while spokesman for Palestinian Authority states quite clearly that the PA will not return to the peace table until Israel totally disavows and ceases its illegal settlement activity

3/7/10

IS J-STREET ALL THAT DIFFERENT FROM AIPAC IN ITS RELATION TO ISRAELI AGGRESSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST? A Jewish peace activist and skeptic, Ben Lieberman, is doubtful that J Street represents much improvement in the prospects of Middle East peace and justice for Palestine as compared with the openly pro-Israel AIPAC. While supposedly offering an alternative to Likud-style hardlining for American Jews, its "lobbying" efforts involve support of those political candidates who affirm the primacy of U.S. foreign policy concern with the "security" of Israel and in some ways cooperates with AIPAC in a "good cop/bad cop" routine in which supposedly conflicting forces are actually working to support the same result. At least 2 years into J Street's inauguration, no tangible effects on enlightening U.S. policy regarding Israel and Palestine can be noted

3/4/10

GAZA AND SHARPEVILLE: "THIS TIME WE WENT TOO FAR." Norman Finkelstein publishes an excerpt from his book of that title describing the steep decline in world opinion favorable to Israel in the wake of last year's invasion of Gaza, comparing it to a similar drastic shift in public opinion about South Africa following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. While the official policy of the West is epitomized by pro-Israeli, anti-Hamas resolutions overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Congress, the tide (or ripple) of public opinion may be running against Israel for having "gone too far" after successive brutal invasions of Lebanon and Gaza.

3/3/10

2.5 million Palestinians living in West Bank are said to control only 40% of the land in that territory.

2/24/10

Israeli PM Shimon Peres says Hamas is trying to create "artificial conflicts" in opposing Israel's plan to include two West Bank locations in its list of national Israeli heritage sites.

2/23/10

THE WAR ON THEIR OWN DOORSTEP THAT AMERICANS MOSTLY DON'T SEE. The website Narco-News, dedicated to a deconstruction of the "war on drugs" in Latin America, carries an article showing how the conflict in Colombia, a civil war under the guise of a government suppression of the drug trade, is expanding to neighboring Panama. That country was supposedly to remain de-militarized and neutral in regional conflicts after the deposing of Manuel Noriega and the 1999 treaty returning the Panama Canal to the control of Panama. "Border incidents" involving supposed F.A.R.C. operations in Panama have apparently now brought Panama into the widening circle of the "Colombian war." (somewhat as Pakistan was drawn into the Afghan conflict.)

2/19/10

Reut Institute in Israel calls for resistance and even sabotage of what it calls a "Delegitimation Network" of peace and justice groups advocating protest actions against Israel that Reut defines as "existential threats" to Israel.

2/17/10

A YESHIVA IN THE AJAMI: TENSION RISES IN JAFFA. People in the Arab neighborhood of Ajami in the mixed Arab/Jewish city near Tel Aviv, are disturbed by the building of yet another yeshiva or Jewish religious training school within their neighborhood. This is accompanied by the arrival in Ajami of a building construction company that specializes in the construction of Jewish settlement homes in Arab areas.

2/11/10

ISRAEL AND THE PA: PEACE OR PACIFICATION? Palestinian activist Ziyaad Lunat looks critically at the year-old program of "economic peace" which was to focus on the "development" of the West Bank as the key to ultimate peace. As it has worked out, economic peace has entailed cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in maintaining the political subservience of the Palestinian people, as the PA has actually become an adjunct of Israeli security forces in suppressing any Palestinian protest against the country's apartheid system. A Gaza-style collective punishment is threatened against the West Bank should its leaders disappoint the expectations of the "foreign donors" who have largely bankrolled the development of Palestine

2/8/10

Palestinian photographer and expert on Jewish settlements is barred, on security grounds, from leaving Israel.

2/5/10

WHAT HAPPENS TO ISRAELI SOLDIERS SUSPECTED OF WAR CRIMES AGAINST GAZAN CIVILIANS? THE IDF IS NOT TELLING. The Goldstone Report, whose claims of Israeli atrocities during invasion of Gaza the Isaeli government and public have largely condemned, has resulted in a few such allegations being investigated by the Israeli Defense Forces, but they refuse to reveal the results of those investigations and many Gazans are feeling that their chances for "justice" is fading away.

2/4/10

NEW PRESIDENT PORFIRIO LOBO TELLS HONDURAN PEOPLE "FORGET THE PAST." While Lobo's statement is obviously an entreaty to forget about the military coup process by which he eventually became President, observations of post-coup conditions in Honduras suggest that the people have every reason to remember the country's past, as violations of human rights, some in the form of "death squad" assassinations of anti-government protests, are already occurring or are impending.

2/4/10

Selective enforcement of orders to raze "illegal" buildings in East Jerusalem results in Palestian but not Jewish homes being destroyed.

2/3/10

Minority Arab politicians in Israel say they are facing a "tide of persecution" by Israeli government responding to recent upsurge in popular Palestinian protests.

1/30/10

IS IT REAL OR IS IT PHOTO-SHOPPED? Blogger Philip Weiss attends and reports on a meeting at Yale University in which Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the controversial report on Israeli atrocities in Gaza, is confronted by a crowd of Israeli apologists. In the course of filing his report, Weiss includes an aerial photo, purportedly of Gaza and purportedly showing a 200 foot Star of David image that Israel tanks allegedly carved into Gazan farmland. One anxious observer of this raises the question whether this is a real or photoshopped picture.

1/28/10

New President tells Hondurans to "forget the past" as Zelaya heads into exile in Mexico.

1/24/10

ISRAEL SETTLES UP WITH UNITED NATIONS ON DAMAGES TO UN INSTALLATIONS DURING INVASION OF GAZA. Israel agrees to pay the UN $10.5 million for having destroyed 53 of its installations, including 37 schools, 6 health centers and 2 warehouses of aid supplies during the invasion a year ago. A UN official says this "ex gratia" Israeli payment "concludes" financial issues between the UN and Israel.

1/24/10

Israeli action in Jerusalem said to be on two tracks of Judaization of Palestinian areas and crackdown "show trials" for Arab protesters.

1/19/10

Israel is now denying work permits for would-be employees of NGOs like Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders for work in Gaza and West Bank.

1/17/10

Source tells Haaretz that head of Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last year to call for delay of UN vote on Goldstone Report on atrocities of Gazan invasion, lest the West Bank be subjected to a "second Gaza" of attack by Israeli Defense Forces.

1/11/10

ISRAELI OFFICIALS RESPOND WITH SHRUG TO U.S. "THREAT" TO CUT OFF INTERNATIONAL LOAN GUARANTEES IF THEY PROCEED WITH SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION. As special envoy George Mitchell makes this suggestion, officials essentially thumb their noses at U.S. and say "we're doing fine" at international fund-raising and can do without the U.S. "assistance." They do not, however, say they could do without over a billion dollars a year in U.S. military aid, which is cycled back into the U.S. economy with requirement that bulk of it be spent on purchases from U.S. defense industry.

1/8/10

LETTER FROM AN ISRAELI MILITARY DETENTION CAMP. Abdallah Abu Rahmah was arrested 12/10/09 for protests against illegal Jewish settlement contruction in West Bank village of Bilin. His New Year's greeting letter to his Palestinian friends asserts that neither walls nor prisons will stop the resistance movement, and cites as well the international solidarity movement against Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people.

12/29/09

"IT IS NOT IMPORTANT WHAT THE GOYIM SAY BUT WHAT THE JEWS DO." This famous saying attributed to former Israeli PM David Ben-Gurion is disputed by Jewish peace activist Uri Avnery, as he surveys the consequences for Israel of the Gazan invasion a year ago. While the invasion certainly did not succeed in dislodging Hamas control of Gaza, it did result in some restoration of Israel self-confidence in the aftermath of its miserable failure in its Lebanese invasion. The Goldstone Report threatens to dilute this effect as it documents to the world the extent of the atrocities associated with the Gazan invasion; and Israelis from PM Netanyahu to the last talk show host feel the need to resurrect Ben-Gurion's aphorism about the non-importance of world opinion---a judgment which Avnery himself counters by saying there will be consequences for Israel from international condemnation.

12/27/09

LET US ENTER GAZA AND LET THE CAIRO FREEDOM MARCH PROCEED." This is the message of peace activist Yvonne Ridley to the Egyptian government. A planned Code Pink-organized march in Cairo on New Year's Day is cancelled by the government, and a convoy of relief supplies from George Galloway's Viva Palestina is trapped at the port of Aqaba. Ridley describes these Egyptian actions as similar to those of the "rent boys" (male prostitutes) who ply the streets of Cairo. The "john" to whom Egypt prostitutes itself is the cash-supplying government of the United States, abetted by the "pleasure" of its client state Israel, who are adamantly opposed to any humanitarian commerce with Gaza.

12/26/09

NO CHRISTMAS PEACE IN PALESTINE. Deadly cycle of violence and counter-violence returns as Israeli soldiers kill 3 civilians in each of two separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza. The West Bank killings involved people associated with the Palestinian Fatah movement, and came when an 8-month lull in Palestinian killings of Israelis was ruptured after a Palestinian allegedly killed a Jewish settler. The Gazan killing occurred at the border separation fence, three civilians collecting scrap metal near the fence. Fatah and Hamas accuse Israel of deliberte efforts to sabotage the negotiation of a peace settlement in Palestine.

12/26/09

Movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel appeals to U.S. labor unions for support.

12/16/09

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM LOOKING EVER MORE LIKE A NEW JERSEY SUBURB THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON. Ellen Cantarow returns after 7-year absence to the area and is shocked at the changes there. Jewish settlements and the apartheid wall have transformed the area of the little town as Palestinians have been able to retain control of only 13% of the land area. This comes despite the heruclean efforts, described by Cantarow, of the Stop the Wall movement in the area.

12/16/09

Conflicts over access to oil deposits in Sudan threatens to reignite civil war in that country.

12/15/09

Attack by Jewish settlers on mosque in West Bank encounters a "wall of condemnation" throughsout Israel, including settler organizations

12/14/09

Torching of mosque in Palestinian West Bank village of Yasuf is widely believed the work of Jewish extremists protesting Israeli moratorium on Jewish settlement in Palestinian areas.

12/5/09

"AUTHENTIC JOURNALISM" DISPROVES THE CLAIMS OF CORPORATE MEDIA ABOUT THE ELECTION IN HONDURAS. Al Giordano, founder and director of this "school" of Latin American reporters, says that the MSM has rendered coup-supporting false reports about the election, inflating the reported "turn out" and failing to note that election officials have not released town-by-town tabulations of the results. The election has garnered approval by the U.S. and a few other governments but not by the world at large nor certainly the Honduran people who maintain a vibrant "resistance."

12/3/09

OLIVE HARVEST TIME IN NABLUS: HUMAN SHIELDS FOR PALESTINIAN FARMERS. Maryland woman, a peace activist, describes her first-hand experience as a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (ISM), in its program of dissuading Jewish settlers in the West Bank from the assaults that some of them make on Palestinian farmers attempting to tend their olive fields in the area. ISM maintains alert system that dispatches volunteers with cameras to the scenes of these incidents, hoping thereby to reduce their frequency and intensity.

12/3/09

Honduran Congress votes down returning Zelaya to office for 2 months, frustrating U.S. plan to restore world belief in legitimacy of the coup that removed him from office.

11/30/09

THE HONDURAN ELECTION WAS YESTERDAY; WAS IT "LEGITIMATE?" Porfirio Lobo, an opponent of Manuel Zelaya, coup-deposed President, was elected President in the coup-sponsored elections which Zelaya had called on his supporters to boycott. Lobo wins 56% of the vote on a 60% turnout. Zelaya and numerous street protesters denounce the election as a fraud. The U.S. "accepts" the outcome as a move toward "democracy" in the country, while Argentina and Brazil withhold that acceptance, saying a legitimate election could not be held under an illegitimate regime

11/28/09

ZIONISM IS OUR NAME, DECEPTION IS OUR GAME. According to Alan Hart, PM Netanyahu's current offer of a "freeze" on settlements is simply a ploy to make peace with the Obama administration, not the Palestinians. In following the route of deception, he is in the company of the very founders of the Zionist movement, who deliberately deceived the world into believing that the Jewish influx into Palestine was only in search of a "home" (like an enclave such as Little Italy in an American city) rather than being the land-grabbing sovereign "state" and occupiers of a territory that Isael has turned out to be.

11/23/09

CHIAPAS GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO PLAYS STRANGE GAME OF FOOTSIE WITH ZAPATA PEASANT MOVEMENT (OCEZ). Having arrested the OCEZ leader, Don Chema , and having "leaked" to the press their supposed suspicion that OCEZ was a front for the Mexican drug cartel, the government continues to buy land from large private landowners for distribution to peasants. They have as well agreed to "reparations" to the family of Chema, even naming Chema's own son as the executor for the distribution of these funds.

11/22/09

MILITARY REFUSE-NIKS IN ISREAL FACE SEVERE TREATMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. Defense Minister Ehud Barak calls for the "iron fist" in the treatment of many Israelis, critical of Israel's military actions in evacuating Jewish settlers from West Bank, who are refusing their compulsory service in the IDF.

11/19/09

NETANYAHU SHRUGS. The Prime Minister of Israel reacts to official condemnation by both the United States and the Union Nations of its settlements in occupied Palestinian areas by saying that this is "standard procedure," as still another Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem is approved. Like a bad child ignoring his parent's threats to with-hold his allowance if he doesn't behave according to their expectations who "shrugs off" the threat as he knows the parent will not impose the sanction, Netanyahu seems to rest assured in the knowledge that the U.S. would never withhold funding to its "staunch ally," Israel.

11/17/09

HOMELESS IN GAZA. Facing their first full winter since the Israeli invasion of last December and January, many Gazans still live in tents, unable to obtain building material for the reconstruction of homes destroyed by the invasion. As a cold and miserable winter now approaches, UN agents are urging Israel to end its embargo on shipment of supplies to Gaza.

11/13/09

Head of Israeli Defense Forces says Israel would not hesitate to invade Gaza again if Hamas were to resume rocket attacks.

11/11/09

"LIFE," HOWEVER KNOWN, CONTINUES IN SHEIK JARRAH, A PALESTINIAN NEIGHBORHOOD IN ISRAELI-OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM. Jewish Israelis continue their settlements and their "squats" on Palestian territory in violation of requirements of international law that mandate protection of occupied people. Ellen Cantwell visits Sheik Jarrah and finds many Palestinians there displaced from their homes by these settlements and squats. Meantime the U.S. subsidy of $3 billion in support of its patron state of Israel continues.

11/10/09

Recent studies show that vast majority of Gazan children suffer PTSD syndrome.

11/7/09

MANUEL ZELAYA GIVES UP STRUGGLE FOR RETURN TO POWER IN HONDURAS; RESISTANCE TO COUP GOES ON. As November 5 deadline for implementation of a U.S.-brokered deal to restore Zelaya to some form of the presidency passes without that action being consummated, organization of Honduran resisters to the coup now issues a call for popular boycott of the November 29 election which the regime intends to carry out: another election, like that in Afghanistan, that may not produce a "legitimate" (popularly approved) government.

11/7/09

UN Secretary General condemns both Israel and Hezbollah for violations of cease fire negotiated after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006.

11/2/09

CONGRESS TO PRESIDENT ON GOLDSTONE REPORT: WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK, BARACK. As the U.S. uses its diplomatic muscle to stymie consideration at the U.N. of a report calling out Israel and Hamas for "war crimes" related to the invasion of Gaza, the House will vote, probably tomorrow, on a resolution calling on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to "reject" the findings of the report, saying it was based on biases of Goldstone and his staff. Given the history of House resolutions on similar resolutions, expect the passage of this one with single-digit number of votes in opposition (Ron Paul plus).

11/2/09

Palestinian writer looks critically at idea of Palestine advancing its interests in conflict with Israel by enhancing its association with a newly "ascendent" China.

11/1/09

Honduran coup leaders may be engaged in stall tactics to prevent a "deal" to return Zelaya to power from being implemented.

10/31/09

MUST THE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE BE RE-CORKED IN HONDURAS? Report by Al Giordano indicates that news of a "settlement" of the Honduran coup, with the return to the presidency of Manuel Zelaya, may have been pre-mature. Micheletti emissaries say that part of the "deal" was that it had to be approved by the Honduran Supreme Court, an agency deeply implicated in the coup, and whose intercession the Zelaya camp says would never be accepted.

10/28/09

THE FORCES OF COUP RESISTANCE IN HONDURAS: UNITED THEY ARE STANDING. Although the Micheletti regime has followed a "divide and rule" strategy in dealing with the resistance, its various elements have shown signs of unity and an increasing political "maturity." Deposed President Zelaya, opposition Front candidates in this month's elections and the civil society groups opposing the coup are showing every sign of a truly united opposition

10/27/09

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: ISRAEL IS DEPRIVING PALESTINIANS OF DRINKING WATER. AI says that Israel is pumping out water from a West Bank aquifer for the use of Israelis and is also acting to disrupt the construction of water supply infrstructure in both the West Bank and in Gaza.

10/27/09

THE REVOLUTION IS NOT BEING TELEVISED IN HONDURAS. As the coup attempts to consolidate its control as the "clock runs down," people outside the country are not seeing or hearing of the supposedly "bloodless coup" when in fact there is a great deal of violence perpetrated against the resistance. Some of this is demonstrated in accompanying video from a series called "Fault Lines."

10/24/09

VICTORIA'S SECRET IS THE SECRET OF THE COMPANY'S INVOLVEMENT WITH A MILITANTLY PRO-ISRAELI GROUP. VS is one of the companies owned by the family of Susan Wexner, a sparkplug of StandWithUs, devoted to telling "Israel's side of the story" of the Palestinian situation. SWU "tells" its pro-Israeli story by trying to discourage members of Congress from participating in a "J Street" conference of Jewish peace activists who want to give voice to the Palestinian "story." They are having some success in this intimidating operation.

10/23/09

Israeli government continues to press UN not to proceed with a vote on war crimes allegations connected with Gaza invasion contained in Goldstone Report.

10/7/09

WILL A NEW JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST BANK BE CALLED "HAVAT OBAMA?" Ira Glunts makes this facetious suggestion, in consideration of the situation which he says is well understood in Israel that Obama has been a complete failure as a Middle East peacemaker as he failed at the recent U.S./Israel/Palestine summit to make any move to pressure Israel to abandon its settlement plans, in what is seen as a humilitating capitulation to Israeli PM Netanyahu

10/5/09

STAND-OFF AT THE BRAZILIAN EMBASSY CORRAL. Earth Island Journal reporter interviews deposed Honduran President Zelaya at the embassy which Zelaya describes as like a "neo-Nazi concentration camp," as the coup government retains a virtual siege of the building, allowing in only minimal food supplies and operating its notorious noise-making machines. The country's media is heavily suppressed as a regime official says they would be allowed to print news as long as it was "good" (pro-regime) news. Zelaya hopes for "international pressure" to break the situation in which, he says, he has still not been able to have any actual dialogue with coup leaders about his return or their willingness to hold the constitutional assembly which he has demanded.

9/29/09

MESSAGE OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH WITH THE HONDURAN CRISIS: THE AGE OF U.S.-ORCHESTRATED MILITARY TAKEOVERS IS OVER. With Brazil furnishing the leadership with its sheltering of Manuel Zelaya in its Honduran embassy, other countries are expressing a new level of hemispheric solidarity against the "bad old days" when clandestine U.S. agencies engaged in para-military operations designed to depose U.S.-unfriendly leaders with more amenable ones.

9/29/09

Honduran coup government imposes then lifts restrictions on free speech as U.S. representatives give mixed messages of condemnation of the coup and of Zelaya.

9/28/09

Tension in Honduras grows as coup regime expels OAS diplomats, threatens closure of Brazilian embassy where Zelaya is housed and moves to suppress popular protests.

9/27/09

COME ON, HONDURAN COUP REGIME, LET'S MAKE SOME (LRAD-X) NOISE! As Manuel Zelaya, the coup-deposed President, remains under Brazilian embassy "protection" in Tegucigalpa, police are (allegedly) using tear gas released inside the embassy and have (provedly) installed outside the building a Remote Long Range Acoustuc Device (LRAD-X) with the capability of emitting deafening noise inside the building and have apparently jammed cell phone communication from the embassy. These harassing actions at an embassy violate international laws and both the U.S. and U.N. have condemned them.

9/23/09

DAYS OF HONDURAN COUP MAY BE NUMBERED AS MANUEL ZELAYA RETURNS IN A MIDNIGHT RIDE TO BRAZILIAN EMBASSY. Supporters of the coup are beginning to leave the country as pressure to restore Zelaya to Presidency rises. Brazil says it will resist any attempt to arrest Zelaya and the internal social movement in his support is invigorated. The November national election planned by the coup will almostly certainly be treated as illegitimate and the U.S. is apparently being forced to "choose sides" on the eve of OAS and UN meetings

9/22/09

ZELAYA "RETURNS" TO HONDURAS, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN? DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK. As deposed President sneaks across the border and takes refuge in Brazilian embassy, coup head Micheletti says its makes no difference in his control, Hillary Clinton calls for "dialogue," Chavez calls for Zelaya's return to power, and Zelaya says he is back in Honduras to "sort out problems" with help of international community.

9/19/09

FRAMING IN ACTION: HOW CAN ISRAEL WIN THE BATTLE FOR A BETTER WORLD IMAGE? This is the question posed with answers provided by a USA-based advocacy group called The Israel Project. It produces what amounts to a propaganda manual on how Israeli advocates should talk to the world about its conflict with Palestine: for example its admonition to "differentiate" between the Palestinian "people" whose plight elicits international sympathy, and the brutality and corruption of their Hamas leaders, playing on that sympathy to ally it with the Palestine-domination intentions of the Israeli regime.

9/18/09

Groups opposed to Israeli occupation of Palestine put aside differences at Chicago conference, pass a resolution for academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

9/15/09

International Atomic Energy Agency is not pursuing vigorously the charges that intelligence "evidence" of Iranian nuclear development came from forged documents.

9/13/09

GAZAN SCHOOL CHILDREN EXPERIENCING SEVERE EFFECTS OF ISRAELI INVASION AND SIEGE. Children return to school under conditions of serious deprivation. Many school buildings were destroyed or damaged in the invasion early this year, and lack of building materials available on local market mean that many former windows are now covered with plastic sheets. School supplies such as textbooks and pens are likewise in short supply.

9/8/09

Israel moves to disrupt Gazan fishing industry as trawlers are destroyed and their workers endangered just off the coast of Gaza.

9/7/09

THANK YOU, KRISTIN HALVORSEN. British Palestinian activist issues his congratulations to the Finance Minister of Norway for announcing the first definitive action by a western government against Israeli apartheid. Her action is a divestment of the Norwegian government from a high-tech Israeli firm engaged in construction of the separation wall at Ramullah. While a seemingly small and symbolic gesture, the activist sees the action as having introduced a temporary interruption of Israel media's moratorium on airing accounts of the Palestinian situation, and as hopefully the opening wedge in an international divestment movement.

9/3/09

U.S. DECIDES THAT ISRAELI BULLDOZERS CLEARING LAND FOR JEWISH SETTLEMENTS WON'T STOP "PEACE NEGOTIATIONS." Ramzy Baroud describes the back-off on the single U.S. government "demand" of Israel regarding their conflict with their Palestinian population: that they institute a "freeze" on settlements. Baroud describes "heart-wrenching episodes of innocent people being thrown into the street for no fault of their own, only for the need to make room for more Jewish inhabitants."

9/3/09

Member of Honduran Congress urges U.S. to "get tough" with sanctions against the coup regime in Honduras.

9/2/09

SORRY, AHMED, CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY YOU THAT TOY THIS RAMADAN. Every day life in Gaza City involves severe shortages and inflated prices that make life miserable for consumers and merchants alike, as supplies are stuck at the Israeli border awaiting clearance to enter and importation through unauthorized tunnels is extremely expensive. Ramadan is the Muslim equivalent of Christmas, and children will be doing without accustomed treats "this Ramadan," not enough shekels to buy those hot wheels

9/2/09

Afro-Honduran youth organization calls for November 2010 plebescite on a new constitution for the country.

9/1/09

South Thailand is a powder keg of potential violence with heavily armed, poor trained and supervised militias and much tension between Buddhist and Muslim populations.

8/31/09

JUST A SPOT OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT IS PLANNED IN AN ARAB SECTION OF EAST JERUSALEM. As Washington continues to "pressure" Israel to freeze its settlements development, a plan is filed in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood. "The plan involves high-end housing and the complex will include a swimming pool, mini 'country club,' community library and parking spaces. A synagogue, kindergartens and a mikveh (Jewish ritual purification bath) are also planned for construction there." (Gentrification meets ethnic cleansing.)

8/20/09

LOVE IN A TIME OF SEIGE. Life (after a fashion) goes on in the Gaza Strip as Gazans struggle to maintain their daily lives in spite of the privations associated with the Israeli seige and invasion of the Strip. Young people find a way to marry, including Rana al-Zourby and her husband Mahmoud, who lost his sight and a leg in an Israeli bomb raid while he was having dinner. Rana says of Mahmoud and their marriage: "He lost his sight and his leg, but no bomb can ever take his heart, and he will never lose his sense of love. I can't understand why some people see what we are doing as hard; no marriage is easy. This is a life-long commitment, for better or worse."

8/16/09

THE "VIOLENCE" OF "ZELAYA SUPPORTERS" IN HONDURAS. Al Giordana continues his coverage of the coup, reporting on how the non-Honduran press is presenting mass protests against the coup as the terrorist acts of the "dictator" Zelaya (even though many protesters are not pro-Zelaya, but anti-coup.) They thus report on an incident of vandalism at a fast food establishment that was the work actually of about 3 teenagers and it is suspected that their action was a provocation by the coup regime to discredit the protesters. If that was the intent, it seems to be working.

8/12/09

A DECEPTIVE QUIET HAS PEOPLE UPSET IN ISRAEL. In a New York Times piece that verifies every stereotype one hears about the Jewish tendency to worry about things that "might" happen, it is said that the current absence of Israeli conflict with Gaza or Lebanon and its currently booming economy is but "the calm before the storm" of looming disaster. (A couple more Hamas rockets and they might "feel better.")

8/8/09

HOW CAN WE GIVE THE REGIME A HEADACHE TODAY? Reporting from Honduras, Al Giordana describes the continuing massive resistance which one resistance leader describes as providing a daily headache to the regime. Some of this resistance is "passive," as in the actions of Radio Globo stations, ordered to shut down, only to ignore those orders and continue broadcasting. Giordana describes the horns of a dilemma for the regime: do they suppress it and risk further international condemnation; or do they ignore it and let the demonstrations build to still more dangerous levels of public involvement?

8/8/09

Jewish settlers forced by Israeli goverment to evacuate a settlement in Hebron sue the government for destruction of "stationary property" they left behind when they evacuated in 2007, on a promise of their "future return" to the settlement

8/7/09

Human Rights Watch is critical of Israeli plan to expand on its plan, supposedly to prevent "collateral damage" to civilians, of issuing warnings to evacuate those areas about to be attacked.

8/4/09

PALESTINIAN VILLAGES IN WEST BANK ARE DYING BY STRANGULATION. This is the view of Gary Burge, an activist opposed to home demolitions, who has led many outside groups on visits to the West Bank. In a recent visit to East Jerusalem, a Palestinian area "annexed" by Israel in 1967, he notes the woeful state of native infrastructure, ignored by Israeli authorities and not even remediable by the Palestinians themselves, who are denied building permits. Next door to one of these dying villages, a spanking new Jewish gated settlement is being erected, its water supply drawn from the parched fields of the Palestinian countryside. Burge speaks omininously of a possible "third uprising."

8/2/09

Honduras' "legitimate" first lady, Xiomara Zelaya, tells anti-coup meeting that coup is near its end as U.S. has given it an "ultimatum," while coup government itself threatens retaliation against U.S. for denying diplomatic visas to its members

7/14/09

Stand-off on Honduran coup continues as Costa Rica President Arias plans new round of mediation meetings, while protesters plan general strike and other more "radical" action.

7/13/09

"Our leaders are declaring victory; the victory of defeat.":. This is the lament among many Palestinian activists, who see in the development of a Palestinian security force and the cooperation of their leaders in a continued Israeli occupation and/or a "two-state" solution with a hopelessly weak Palestinian "state" as fatal to their cause, even while the leaders proclaim these developments as an indication of "victory."

7/13/09

Israel's High Court demands that the government dismantle two illegal settlements in West Bank had been ordered to be destroyed 4 years ago.

7/13/09

About 2 million people who had fled Swat Valley in Pakistan during conflict there begin to return to their homes, some with feelings of unease and uncertainty.

7/12/09

Aboard the Spirit of Humanity: All the truth that's fit to speak:. On the eve of her departure with 20 other activists on The Spirit of Humanity, carrying humanitarian supplies to Israeli-blocked Gaza, Cynthia McKinney speaks of the aims of their mission and of the near-blackout of media attention to Gaza sufferings. The post includes as well a video shot aboard the Spirit as it was being confronted off the shore of Gaza by Israeli forces, which ultimately imprisoned the passengers and impounded the vessel.

7/11/09

Are peace and prosperity just around the corner for Palestinians in the West Bank? PBS NOW examines this complex issue, centered on Tony Blair's role as special envoy to the region to try to bring about these conditions. There are such indications of progress in this direction as the development of Palestinian enterprises like a co-operative of olive growers producing olive oil for world export; and the development of a Palestinian security force that has tamped down violence in places like Jenin. On the darker side, Palestinian enterprise of any kind is still stymied by restrictions of movement by separation walls and checkpoints and pictures of Jenin look like a bombed out WW II German city. As for that Palestinian security force, its crowning achievement was the avoidance of violence associated with protest over the Gazan assault without changing the feelings of Palestinians against the IDF; and that force is actually a "day time" affair since, at night, it is replaced by forces of the Israeli occupation.

7/11/09

Information emerges that leader of military coup in Honduras against Zelaya for allegedly trying to change Honduran constitution had done the same thing in 1985

7/10/09

African countries refuse to comply with International Criminal Court for them to take actions against Sudan for its alleged Darfur atrocities.

7/7/09

Israel has a right to defend itself.:  And the country's mighty IDF spends its time in exercising its "right" by chasing after un-armed humanitarian aid boats off the coast of Gaza, suppressing a demonstration of a "mule brigade" of 8 Palestinians near the Gaza security fence, and teaching young female soldiers to "take down" insurgents by operating remote drone attacks with joy-sticks in air-conditioned rooms.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098053.html

7/6/09

Our man in Tegucigalpa.  Narco-sphere reporter Al Giordano reports from the Honduran capitol on events surrounding the events there.  He delivers bouquets for the courage of Zelaya in attempting to return despite the pending charges against him and to the TV station Telesur for its coverage of the event; but brick-bats to the coup leadership for its cowardice in failing to follow through with its threats against the deposed leader.  More so than many critics, Giordano expresses confidence that the U.S. government will finally play a decisive role in ending the coup.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/what-cowardly-honduras-coup-lost-today-0

7/4/09

Shooting the tires off the bus in Honduras.  The military coup regime, in an effort to contain popular opposition to the coup, has not only seized control of media which are potential sources of dissidence, but engaged in strong-arm tactics to break up demonstrations.  In one incident captured by a CNN video tape, the police are shown shooting the tires off a bus loaded with passengers headed for a protest rally in the capitol.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/cnn-video-shows-coup-soldiers-shoot-tires-protest-bus

7/2/09

Were civilians used as huaman shields in 22-day Israeli invasion of Gaza?  The claim by the Israeli military that the Hamas government engaged in this practice is disputed by a new report of Amnesty International which found no evidence of this.  They did, however, find one instance in which the IDF itself required civilians, both adults and children, to remain in a building to provide a shield for themselves as they converted the house into a "sniper's nest."

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/07/01/amnesty-israeli-troops-used-children-as-human-shields-in-gaza/

6/18/09

Netanyahu throws Obama a rhetorical bone on Palestine:.  So says Phyllis Bennis in her analysis of the Israeli PM's speech in which he gives a nod of approval to a Palestinian state, but defines such a "state" as one without real sovereignty and at the mercy of Israel; nor does he seriously commit to dismantling illegal Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas.  The ball, as Bennis, is now in Obama's court as he must decide whether to return the volley by using the substantial arsenal of financial and diplomatic means that could be used to back demands for a truly sovereign Palestinian state.  (Comments attachment to this article contains some acrid exchanges of comment between readers of the article.)

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/17

6/14/09

Human rights advocates say Colombia's bounty program for identification of rebels has gone "horribly awry" as many innocents are swept up by false accusations made to the profit of their accusers

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1096347.html

6/12/09

Dalai Lama, largely ignored in Beijing, reaches out to overseas Chinese in effort to elicit Chinese support for Tibetan sovereignty claims.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0612/p06s01-woap.html

6/9/09

Israeli interior minister pledges to defy government ban on settlement construction.:.  Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Eli Yishai has pledged to a local council of settlements that he will use all the "resources" of his office to counter the freeze on settlement construction instituted by PM Netanyahu, saying that further construction is fully justified by the "natural increase" (new births) of the population of settlers.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091163.html

6/6/09

Artists who attend Palestinian festival in West Bank are urged to "travel Palestinian" to get there, in other words, brave the array of Israeli checkpoints that make travel difficult in that country.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10569.shtml

5/22/09

Netanyahu says "nyet" to sharing of Jerusalem.  Israeli PM makes a speech in Israel in which he firmly rejects one of the tenets of the "Obama-Abdullah" peace plan for resolving the Palestinian conflict: that the city of Jerusalem would be divided between Israel and Palestine in any "two state" solution to the conflict.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/21/netanyahu-rules-out-returning-east-jerusalem-to-palestinian-control/

5/21/09

An "independent, democratic and contiguous Palestinian state." Too good to be true? Probably: .   Jason Ditz reports on a supposed plan of President Obama and King Abdullah of Jordan for the solution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  To make the West Bank "contiguous" with Gaza would require massive and unlikely "land swaps" between Israel and Palestine.  Democratic perhaps, but the "independence" would eliminated by the terms of the proposed new nation formation, as Palestine would be forbidden to have a military of its own or to make any alliances with other countries that might jeopardize "Israeli security."

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/20/reports-say-obama-will-call-for-demilitarized-palestine/

5/20/09

Occupied West Bank is described as a garbage dump for Israel:.  Waste products are typically disposed of cheaply by finding poor Palestinians who are willing to grant dumping privileges for everything from waste electronics to animals slaughtered in connection with pandemics.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10532.shtml

5/17/09

Electronic Intiftada columnist says UN Secetary General is helping to cover up Isael's war crimes against Gaza.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10522.shtml

3/10/09

 "A celebration of sanctimonious hypocrisy "  Uri Avnery's description of an Israel-Arab "peace conference" convened in Egypt in which world leaders including H. Clinton convened to discuss the fate of Gaza which excluded Hamas and civil society activists in Gaza and in atmosphere of despair of both Palestinian and Israeli people that a peaceful resolution of their longstanding conflict is possible.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22175.htm 

3/7/09

Did Israeli intelligence cook up the idea and promote the development of Hamas?:  Palestinian expert Ramzy Baroud rejects as "hogwash" the persistent rumor that the Mossad was behind the development of the Islamic movement among Palestinians.  It is based partly on Israeli tolerance for the movement in its early days when its "mosque-building" and associated development of a social services infrastructure, especially in Gaza, relieved the Israeli state of the expense of providing those services.  Since the first Intifada this tolerance lessened and was replaced by the present policy of attempting to destroy Hamas, the purpose of the Gazan invasion.

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/20800

3/7/09

Indian Home Minister warns that Pakistan is threatening to become a "failed state."

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pak-threatening-to-become-a-failed-state-pc/432115/

3/4/09

Will world anger over Israel's invasion of Gaza die down (as usual) in a short period of time?:   This time, maybe not, as an institutionalized long-term opposition to Israeli's treatment of Palestinians is reflected in a world-wide campaign for "boycott, divestment and sanction." (BDS)  This movement is especially strong in the worker's movements and government responses in Africa and South America, two regions in which main stream institutions are more in touch with public sentiments.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10363.shtml

3/3/09

World movement to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians gains ground as anti-racism conference opens, boycotted by U.S. and Canada.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45951

2/28/09

Israeli Defense Minister Barak confers with U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell about Israel's actions in Gaza and its efforts to improve lives of Palestinians.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1235410733751&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

2/27/09

"A real step forward in an otherwise moribund process of Palestinian state bulding:." A New York Times' highly laudatory description of a year-long program, established courtesy U.S. government funds, with Palestinian Authority approval,  of a group of Palestinian guardsmen who have been developed to maintan "law and order" ahead of any Palestinian state in a two-state solution to the country's relationship with Israel.  This "step forward": was shown when "violent" demonstrations in the West Bank, expected to have resulted from Israel's incursion into Gaza, did not occur and this "law and order" outfit is credited for that "state building" result

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/world/middleeast/27palestinians.html?th&emc=ths

2/26/09

Tallying the casualties in Gaza...and trying to establish accountability.  New report documents the extent of military and civilian casualties associated with the 22 day incursion of Israel forces into Gaza, damages on the scale of what is increasingly being called that of a "war crime." 

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10341.shtml

2/23/09

In a situation reminding one of the U.S. invasion of Iraq on the spurious pretext of that country's possession of "weapons of mass destruction," Israel bases its aggressions against Gaza on claims that weapons of Syrian or Iranian origin are being smuggled through the system of tunnels on Gaza's borders.  Robin Davis asks: "Where are the weapons?" noting that the few which enter the country are of the most primitive nature and that those tunnels are the very life line of a country that depends on them for medical supplies and the other instruments of human survival.

http://www.countercurrents.org/davis200109.htm

2/20/09

Israel did not violate the rules of war in itd assault on Gaza:.  Who says?  No less than Anthony Cordesman, the oft-cited military "expert" for U.S. news broadcasts, in a new "strategic analysis" in which he uses mostly the press releases of the Israeli Defense Forces, which agency critics say has a well-established history of lying.

http://www.counterpunch.org/finkelstein02192009.html

2/20/09

"Fresh start" looks a lot like "business as usual" for Colombian army.  President Uribe earlier this year responded to last October's "false positives" scandal in which Colombian Army operatives were routinely engaged in extra-judicial killings which they blamed on the actions of "guerillas."  The "fresh start" Army that just begins to operate demonstrates its "freshness" by firing on a school and a home in a rural area.  U.S. support for Colombia appears as strong in the Obama administration as during the Bush one

http://narconews.com/Issue55/article3395.html

2/16/09

As ceasefire holds between Hamas and IDF, Israel finds new excuse fr contiuing its seige of Gaza:   The condition now of opening the border for humanitarian aid is that Hamas release an IDF soldier whom it now holds in custody.  The country remains meantime in its essentially destroyed condition.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/02/15/olmert-rules-out-opening-gaza-border-crossings-until-shalit-freed/

2/15/09

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) could well have a legal problem in its destruction of homes during its recent invasion of Gaza. Military sources cite numerous instances such as the destruction of houses where it was merely "suspected" that Hamas forces were hidden out, where a controlled demolition of explosives within a house could have been carried out without bombing it, and where houses were bulldozed because they stood in the line of sight of IDF fortifications.  The concern is that many of these practices would be deemed "indefensible" if, as expected, international rights organizations should investigate Israeli actions in the invasion.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064161.html

2/14/09

Israel wraps itself in a maple leaf and becomes Canada.  At least that is the case in Venezuela, whose government expelled the Israeli ambassador in protest over Israel's actions in Gaza; and Israel announced that its "interests" in Venezuela would be represented by the Canadian embassy there.  This action epitomizes the long historical Canadian support of Zionism and the Israeli side of its conflicts with Arab elements in the Middle East.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10291.shtml

2/13/09

Complications in Israel/Palestine peace process are seen as Israel swings rightward in national elections.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45754

2/10/09

International policy of "isolating" Hamas is interfering with efforts at reconstruction in Gaza.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45715

2/8/09

Struggle between tunnel builders and IDF goes on at Rafah border between Gaza and Israel.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304702212&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

2/7/09

Humanitarian aid for Gaza? Of course; but how about some fair trade?  Israel's recent assault on Gaza destroyed the bulk of the area's agriculture, but perhaps more devastating to its economy has been the effect of internationally-enforced sanctions that have deprived Gazan entrepreneurs, like several couscous producer collectives in Gaza City, of a source of supplies for their operation and a market for their product. A West Bank worker for Palestinian agricultural relief urges that attention be given to the need for re-introducing fair trade into the lives of Gazans.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10278.shtml

2/6/09

"The assassin who is repulsed by his intended victim may not slay him and then, in return, plead self defense.":   This statement by a Nuremberg war crime trial against a German general for the Nazi massacre in Russia assumes new relevance as war crimes charges against Israel for its aggressions against Gaza are being considered by the International Criminal Court.  By the judge's reasoning, Israel had no right under international law to, in the name of national self-defense, punish Gazans for resisting a decades-long aggression against themselves.

http://www.counterpunch.org/mandel02052009.html

2/4/09

"Democracy spreading" in Palestine: A change we could believe in? Elie Elhadj argues that the current "road map" of separate Jewish and Arab countries that divide Palestine is a map leading only to ceaseless conflict, and that all effort should be expended toward creating a single country on the model of a western democracy with fully-established rights of all citizens "regardless of" their religion.  Difficult as it is to accomplish, it is the only hope of enduring peace and justice in the region and would simply fulfill the mandate of the Balfour declaration of 1917 which provided the imprint of legitimacy to Israeli settlement in Palestine: “Nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21893.htm

2/4/09

International Criminal Court announces plans to investigate war crimes in Gaza.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45664

2/3/09

Israel's invasion of Gaza may have solidifed the agenda of resistance to Israeli domination from people throughout the Arab world.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45651

2/2/09

Israel missile fires on automobile in Rajah from which it says a rocket was being fired at IDF forces, as PM Olmert promises "disproportionate respond" to Hamas attacks. 

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/02/200922102442714778.html

1/31/09

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SAID TO HAVE SUPPORTED ILLEGAL JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN WEST BANK.  Israeli rights group Yesh Din makes this claim in using a data-base leaked from the government in its effort to support the legal claims of Palestinians that their lands were illegally seized by settlers.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/30-4

1/30/09

Hamas delivers desperately needed aid to refugee camps in Gaza:.  And the Associated Press brands them as self-serving "politicians" who are by implication blamed for the failure of Israel and Egypt to open the borders to international humanitarian aid because they are so slow to "negotiate" with them during the (not observed) cease fire. These countries and their foreign allies (like the U.S.) are determined to deal only with Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas, although Fatah is discredited among the Palestinian people and Abbas' term of office with the Palestinian authority has expired (though he refuses to "step down.")

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gaza_politics_of_rubble

1/30/09

Hizbullah leader continues to assert intention to take revenge on Israel for its alleged role in the assassination of Mughniyeh a year ago in Damascus.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233050209948&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

1/28/09

World rushes humanitarian supplies to Gaza; They sit baking in the sun in Egypt: ;  Huge caches of material are amassed near an Egyptian border crossing, as nothing except medical supplies gets delivered to Gazan victims.  Egypt blames Israel for restrictions on border crossing; Israel blames Egypt for lack of "coordination" of the aid distribution project

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/world/middleeast/28egypt.html?_r=1&ref=world

1/28/09

Co-founder of Electronic Intifada: conflict in Middle East not about "silly rockets" but about Nakba (Palestinian dispossession).

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10248.shtml

1/28/09

High tension prevails in North West Territory of Pakistan as decisve battle looms between militants and Pakistani security forces while U.S. military intently "watches."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KA29Df01.html

1/27/09

Palestinian sources say Israel military forces continued to bomb and shell targets in Gaza within hours of the January 17 cease-fire, as its U.S.-supplied planes dropped bombs on Gazan homes and, 5 days later, fishermen and their families along Gaza's northwest coast were shelled from gunboats in the Mediterranean, both air and sea operations resulting in numerous civilian casualties. The article that reports these allegations contains no reference to IDF denial or confirmation of these operations.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45550

1/27/09

Indian scholar says Israeli should look at its Palestinian problem from the perspective of Britain's policy in India.  Having violently put down a native revolt in the mid-19th century, Britain faced a 90-year resistance culminating in Gandi's movement to remove their colonial control.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10245.shtml

1/26/09

Justice Minister of Israeliiappointed to head a legal defense team to defend against any charges of Israeli war crimes during recent Gaza invasion.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200912315512265804.html

1/25/09

"Egypt is not obliged to follow security procedures arranged behind its back."  Head of Israeli desk at a Cairo think tank reflects on the recent "memorandum of understanding" between foreign ministers of the U.S. and Israel. This memorandum defined a condition of Israel withdrawal from Gaza, that both countries would work to stop the smuggling of arms to Gaza insurgents across the country's borders.  Their "understanding" forgot something: to consult Egypt, which has a 14 kilometer border with Gaza.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45532

1/25/09

Justice Minister of Israel appointed to head a legal defense team to defend against any charges of Israeli war crimes during recent Gaza invasion.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/200912315512265804.html

1/23/09

Conditions in Gaza being compared to Warsaw ghetto:.  Outside observers like Richard Falk, rapporteur of UN, are noting evidences of use of depleted uranium and/or white phosphous munitions; charges that, if correct, would subject Israelis to war crimes prosecutions.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21819.htm

1/21/09

Note for Hillary Clinton: Our "staucnh ally, "Israel," seems to have provoked Hamas aggression to justify a war of its choice: : This is the argument of Steve Niva in Foreign Policy in Focus, and our new Secretary of State might reflect on the possibility that Israel will use the current lull in hostilities to create further provocations to allow the completion of its "war aims" in Gaza. 

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5776

1/20/09

OPINION: PALESTINIANS NEED NOT JUST A CEASE-FIRE BUT A JUST PEACE, A CESSATION OF THE ISRAEL "GRAND STRATEGY" FOR SUPPRESSING THEM.  So write two members of American Jews for a Just Peace in Madison Wisconsin Capital Times.

http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/433414

1/20/09

"The boss has lost it." A Hebrew version of this saying seems to epitomize the "war aims" of Israel in its assault on Gaza.  It seems a close equivalent of the "shock and awe" of the initial U.S. assault on Iraq, an effort to intimidate the people into non-support for an unwanted "regime" in the country.  In "parsing the gains" of assault for Israel and Hamas, two British writers suggest that unleashing the fear of the "mad crazy boss" (the IDF) has largely failed because Hamas countered with forcing the IDF to "fight ghosts" as they, like the U.S. in Iraq, found little resistance from an "insurgency" which largely backed off to fight another day and to be prepared to re-assume control of Gaza.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/19/africa/19assess.php?page=1

1/20/09

King Abdullah talks tough to Israel.  While offering to put $1 billion into the reconstruction of Gaza after the Israel incursion, the Saudi king also warns Israel that the Arab League's peace initiative to mediate mutual security guarantees for both Israel and Palestine will not "stay on the table" forever.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232292905046&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull  

1/20/09

Many Egyptians are "sick " of their own government and their media after their Gaza involvement. The government's cooperation with Israel by maintaining closure of the Rafah border with Gaza on a legal pretext is one source of resentment.  Another is the inadequate and biased news coverage of the conflict, as many Egyptians felt that had to read al-Jazeera to get any "truthful" news on events in Gaza.

http://www.metimes.com/International/2009/01/19/egyptians_sick_of_own_government_media_over_gaza_claims/3139/

1/20/09

Did Tony Blair instigate the Israeli assault on Gaza?  To a degree he did, according to Alastaire Cooke, former European Union mediator with Hamas. As a special envoy for world powers called The Quartet, Blair toured Middle East to promote the idea of a global conflict between "moderation" anjd "extremism," helping to make  Arab states as well as the Palestinian Authority pawns in this geo-political chess game which made "weakening Hamas" more important than a settlement that would address the demands of the Palestinian people.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA14Ak02.html

1/20/09

Civil rights activists in India and Pakistan are meeting to try to avert war between those countries over November Mumbai attacks.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45478

1/18/09

"We are good. Our kids died, but we will give borth to others."  Heard of a survivor of the Gazan assault at al-Arish hospital in Egypt, 30 miles from the Gaza border, one of the prevalent "defense mechanisms" described by a psychiatrist of the flood of physically damaged and mentally wounded men, women and children being brought to the besieged hospital.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0116/p04s03-wome.html

1/18/09

Genocide by starvation: The British may have invented it with the Irish Potato Famine, but the Israelis have perfected the "art" with the blockade of Gaza.: A Wisconsin writer reviews the history of the Irish Great Hunger, and compares it to the malnutrition that affects a large part of the population of Gaza.  She also reviews and rebuts the "self defense" excuses by means of which a civilized people justify the uncivilized assault on the dignity and the existence of another people.  (See excellent comments string in which the author "stays engaged" in the dialogue)

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/the-great-hunger/

1/18/09

Hamas launches new missile strikes after Israel-declared cease-fire, saying they will not stop until Israeli troops leave Gaza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7835981.stm

1/17/09

UN General Assembly, by 142-4 vote, calls for ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. and Israel oppose.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45452  

1/16/09

Jabaliya dispatch: Gazan medics "know they are going to die."  Canadian human rights worker, veteran of West Bank residence, is now based at the huge refugee camp in Gaza, now devastated like much of the rest of the country.  She rides ambulances on dangerous missions in a situation in which IDF forces are targeting medical and humanitarian supply facilities for the population. A medic with whom she rides says he and his colleagues will be dead "if this goes on for another week."

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10196.shtml  

1/15/09

Ooops! Israeli artillery shells fall on UN compund in Gaza City.  As UN Secretary-General condemns the shelling, IDF head Ehud Barak says it was a "grave mistake." (As Donald Rumsfeld has said, "things that shouldn't happen do happen" in a war.  Much of the world thinks the whole Gaza operation is a grave mistake.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

1/15/09

European Union appears ready to strengthen its ties with Israel despite concerns about rising tide of Palestinian casualties in Gaza.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45411

1/14/09

To joy of Somali people, Ethiopia begins to remove all its troops from Somalia, as Islamist fighters quickly move to "seize" their positions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/africa/14somalia.html?th&emc=th

1/14/09

China navy's search for "pirates" in Gulf of Aden is seen as possible pretext for expansion of Chinese geo-political influence in the area.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/KA15Ad01.html

1/13/09

Terrified residents of Gaza City flee onslaught of Israeli troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians  

1/13/09

Israel bans Arab parties that have been critical of Gaza operation from elections for Knesset.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/12/israel-bans-arab-parties-from-election/  

1/13/09

Parash Hill, a nature reserve in southern Israel with a view of northern Gaza all the way to the Mediterranean, is a favorite sightseeing destination for Israels, who come with binoculars to enjoy the scenes of assault on Gaza, rationalizing that any killing of children is the elimination of kids who probably would have grown up to be terrorists.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/12/israeli-sightseers-flock-to-border-to-watch-gaza-killings/

1/13/09

Will Hiezbollah intervene in the Gaza conflict?  Writer for Electronic Intifada gives extended analysis to this question, noting both the Lebanese militant organization's willingness and reluctance to undertake a "second front" on Israel's northern border as Israel fights in Gaza.  The bottom line seems to be that such intervention would be undertaken only if Hamas were facing total annihilation; or if tendencies are aroused within Hizballah to see the Israeli incursion on Gaza as part of the same geo-political struggle that led to Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10163.shtml 

1/11/09

What are Israel's "war aims" in its current invasion of Gaza?  Nazareth-based Jonathan Cook believes that Israel expects to gain even more security from threats from its "Gaza prison," crushing Hamas control of the country (possibly to be replaced by Fatah) and creating a closer diplomatic support for its "security" needs, especially pressuring the U.S. and other world political entities to take over from Egypt the defense of the southeastern border of the  country

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10132.shtml  

1/11/09

Ground war in Gaza heats up as both sides ignore international calls for cease fire and Red Cross will no longer escort ambulances headed for hospitals because they are being fired upon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians  

1/6/09

The ability to lie is a "must have" job requirement of every Israeli official: Dr. Elias Akleh, a Palestinian writer, documents this assertion with reference to what these officials say about Gaza and Hamas, and their assault on these entities. Among these "lies" are repeated mendacious claims that Hamas is a "terrorist" organization that victimizes the population of Gaza (when in fact it seeks to protect it) and that Israel in contrast has a "humanitarian" interest in the welfare of these people. The world media of course persistently propagates these "lies" to the public

http://www.countercurrents.org/akleh050109.htm

1/6/09

Fighting in Gaza Strip expands from Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the south.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7812979.stm  

1/6/09

Hamas in Gaza is looking to the example of Hezbollah in Lebanon for a successful opposition to an Israeli invasion.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KA06Ak01.html

1/5/09

New York Times spins the "timing" of Israel attack on Gaza in reelation to U.S. politics: .  News analyst Scott Shane suggests that Israel timed the attack to assure itself of the support of an reliable "ally" in George W. Bush, concerned with the uncertainty of such support from an Obama administration.  This despite every verbal indication of strong Obama support for our "staunch ally," Israel, and despite the failure of Obama to say a single word about the current conflict because "we have only one President at a time."  The biases of the Times toward Israel and Obama aside, another interpretation would be that Israel timed the attack to be able to present Obama with a fiat accompli of occupation of Gaza from the day he assumed office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/washington/05diplo.html?_r=1&hp  

1/4/09

"Gaza diary" provides first hand account of chaos in that country amidst Israeli shelling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/03/gaza-diary-israel  

1/3/09

On seventh day of assault on Gaza, good news and bad news about the body count:.  Good news is the decreasing number of assault-related deaths.  Bad news is that proportion of those deaths which are civilian, including children, goes up from 25 to 40 per cent as Israel runs out of "military" targets.

http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/02/civilian-toll-climbs-as-gaza-attacks-continue/  

12/28/08

"Today's horrific attacks mark only a change in Israel's methods of killing Palestinians."   Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada, referring to Israel's attacks with U.S-supplied fighter planes and helicopters that killed at least 200 people in Gaza. He is referring to the months-long blockade of Gaza during which an untold number of the country's 1.5 million people have died for lack of life-sustaining facilities.  He also notes of the assault itself that the main targets were Gazan police stations which, like every police station in the world, are located in the midst of large civilian populations and which seemed to assume that traffic policemen were "terrorists." 

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

12/27/08

"Gaza is buckling: While the world watches, a people is being destroyed."  So says Ellen Cantarow, but her article on the subject suggests that the world is NOT watching, at least if the "destroying" power, Israel, can help it.  Israel has recently denied access to Gaza of Richard Falk, a UN special envoy charged with reporting of humanitarian conditions in occupied territories.  The New York Times "reports" to its reading world that the Israeli action was based on the fact that "some Israelis" find Falk's views to be offensively anti-Semitic

http://www.counterpunch.org/cantarow12262008.html

12/27/08

At least 140 Palestinians are killed in Israeli air stikes on Gaza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7800985.stm  

12/23/08

Nepal is caught in the middle of regional rivalry between India and Pakistan.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL24Df02.html  

12/14/08

Indian navy captures 23 pirates in Gulf of Aden.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=1073256  

12/12/08

UN Security Council report says that most of Somalia government's police and military forces have deserted, many taking their weapons with them.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2008/12/12/somalias_forces_deserting_un_is_told/  

12/12/08

Mandanao Island in the Philippines is the locale for the return of an earlier period of "communal conflict" between militias of Muslims who consider this part of the island their ancestral homeland and of Christian farmers who settled with government encouragement in the area after World War II.  As the "peace process" between Christians and Muslims has broken down recency, there has been a a resurgence of such conflict throughout the country

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1212/p06s02-woap.html  

12/5/08

House of peace in Hebron, West Bank is focus of much violence:.   In scenes reminiscent of the French suppression of its "settlers" in Algeria, Israeli soldiers forcibly remove Jewish settlers from a settler enclave in a Palestinian area that is locally called the "House of Peace."  Settlers are dragged from their homes and some react by rampaging violence against the Palestinian residents of the area.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html?th&emc=th

12/3/08

Eviction of Jewish settlers in Palestinian enclave in West Bank city of Hebron leads to violence and imposition of military rule on the area.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081238202264378.html  

11/25/08

Somalia is drowning, and nobody is watching:.  Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Salopek describes America's "hidden war" in Somalia, which involves the continual lobbing of missiles into a barren landscape in hopes of killing a solitary terrorist.  In its zeal to contain "Islamic militancy" in the state, the U.S. has encouraged an Ethiopian occupation which has done nothing for the country except to destroy the power of the local clans that have been the mainstay against that militancy.  His article features the story of one man who was caught up in the CIA's unacknowledged counter-insurgency and detained and interrogated aboard one of 17 U.S. "floating prisons," the existence of which is also denied by the Pentagon.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21310.htm  

11/25/08

World shippers call for naval blockade of Somali coast to prevent pirates exiting the country to engage in off-shore piracy.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-24-blockade_N.htm

11/19/08

Indian Navy sinks a "pirate" ship in Gulf of Aden off coast of Somalia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7736885.stm  

11/16/08

Are Israeli Jews afflicted with "pre-traumatic stress syndrome"?  Israel ex-patriot Gilad Atzmon suggests this as he reflects on the stunning new Israel-made film, "Waltz With Bashir."  The theme of the film is the "repressed memory" of former IDF soldiers involved in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres carried out against Palestinian refugee camps. His analysis leads Atzmon into a characterization of Israeli Jewish mentality as dominated by a sense of a foreboding tragedy, a new version of Holocaust, that makes any kind of self-defensive action justifiable to themselves. Actually this may be a specification of an oft-noted tendency toward worry in the Jewish culture, expressed in the joke of a Jewish telegram which reads: "Begin worrying, details to follow."  Atzmon provides little hope for the pursuit of peace among those afflicted with this "syndrome." 

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/sabra-shatila-and-collective-amnesia/

11/14/08

Many Jewish settlers in the West Bank want to leave:.  New survey shows that, while a slim majority of settlers are "ideologically committed" to the settler movement, around 40% of them are thoroughly disillusioned and would willingly leave if they could afford to do so, believing their own government had "abandoned" them.  Many cite fears for their own safety from their resentful Palestinian neighbors, as well as outrage at their observation of how the IDF treats Palestinians.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/middleeast/14settlers.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

11/9/08

Assessing the economic and human costs of the war in the Congo

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44629  

11/7/08

Human rights activists in Europe are pushing E.U. toward humanitarian intervention in conflict in Congo.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44605  

11/7/08

Muslim leaders are incensed by Israel's decision to build a Museum of Tolerance atop an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9940.shtml

11/3/08

Refugees from bombed-out refugee camps in Congo are now thronging the roads in attempts to return to those camps.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44543

10/10/08

What happened in South Ossetia on August 8, 2008?  A South Ossetia civil rights activist, in the capital city of Tskhinvali on this date, describes first-hand the events of that morning's assault on the city by Georgia's military.  As Georgia President Saakashvili calls for an international investigation of that raid and the conflict with Russia that followed, the writer seconds the motion and offers her own contribution to the investigation as she reports how Saakashvili assured south Ossetians in a television broadcast the night before the assault that no such action was planned, only to have people in Tskinvali awake to a devasting barrage.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20974.htm

9/25/08

A "security coordination" meeting between Israeli and Palestinian Authority military leaders: What are they coordinating against?!:  Against Hamas, of course, the "common enemy" of the PA and the IDF, as both are preparing for an "uprising" of Hamas in January in which the PA itself may have to declare Gaza to be a "rebellious province."

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/09/journalist-discloses-details-of-israeli-pa-security-meeting/  

9/25/08

Report of aid agencies in Middle East says that the Quartet of international powers (U.S., Russia, UN and E.U.)  has "lost its grip" on the peace process in the region.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7634894.stm

9/8/08

Georgia's President Saakashvili vows to reclaim the "breakaway" states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and claims that the "rest of the world" (except Russia of course) will support his crusade to preserve Georgian "sovereignty."  A new support-promising visit from Vice President Cheney and U.S. efforts to drum up NATO and UN backing provide some indication that this could yet come to pass, and a full scale war between Russia and "the rest of the world" is not yet off the table.

http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/07/saakashvili-vows-to-reclaim-abkhazia-south-ossetia/

9/7/08

Tension mounts in the caucasus as"foreign aid" pours into Georgia and South Ossetia:   Under the wary eye of Russian observers, U.S. humanitarian aid arrives for a refugee camp in Georgia.  Meantime, Russia creates some "facts on the ground" in South Ossetia by moving swiftly to help in the reconstruction of Tskhinvali, the capital of the new nation which has been recognized by Russia.

U.S. aid:

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=332854

RUSSIAN AID:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1839109,00.html

9/3/08

Israel, Georgia and an impending attack on Iran:.  Foreign minister of Georgia, in interview on Israeli radio, credits Israeli military support for its "success" against Russian invasion of South Ossetia, and reveals that Georgia planned to allow Israel to locate facilities there that could be used in an aerial assault on Iran.  Georgia's lack of "success" in that conflict may have averted World War III.

http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/02/report-israeli-bombers-planned-to-use-georgian-airfields-in-iran-strike/

9/2/08

But the Palestinian Authority isn't wearing any clotjes!   Sami Aburoza plays the part of the audacious child and points out the obvious, that the PA should really be called the Pacfication Authority because it practices the kind of "peaceonomics" that Israel and the West have managed to substitute for any viable struggle for freedom by the Palestinians. PA officials participate in the bogus "development" and "state building" projects that are supposed to prepare Palestine for its long-delayed statehood.  Aburoza fanastizes PA President Mahoud Abbas standing at one of Israel's numerous checkpoints and separation walls, asking how he can "develop" a country with such impediments to free movement.  The fantasy won't happen because Palestinian "pacification" and not its "liberation" is the real job of the PA.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9793.shtml  

8/30/08

Power-sharing between political parties representing different ethnic groups has not eased the tension in Kenya.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43728  

8/29/08

Russia's recognition of breakaway sections of Georgia may cement its growing domination of areas in region on the Black Sea.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH30Ag02.html

8/18/08

For "hope" to be truly "audacious," it must recognize with St. Augustine that hope has two beautiful daughters, anger and courage."  A group of international activists embrace both "daughters" as they set sail on a "Free Gaza" cruise that begins with anger against injustices visits on Gaza by Israel and the international community and with the courage to accept the risk of something happening to them like happened to Rachel Corey.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11042/

8/16/08

Haaretz newspaper in Israel says U.S. turns down Israeli request for "military hardware" to help in attack on Iran.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=723351

8/11/08

"We're not retreating. We're regrouping.".  Georgia government official so explains the apparent retreat of its military forces from the "breakaway" area of South Ossetia, under pressure from Russian shelling of Georgia's forces both in Ossetia and of the Georgia capitol.

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3580432,00.html

8/11/08

Asia Times columnist says Georgian military operation in the "breakaway" area of Ossetia was designed not to prevent its secession, but to "liquidate" it.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH12Ag02.html

8/9/08

Heavy fighting breaks out between two former Soviet republics:.  Ethnic Russians in the "autonomous" area of Georgia, South Ossetia, seek unfication with Russia and fighting begins that escalates into Russian air force attacks on Tblisi, the capital of Georgia.  U.S. is involved as Georgia requests transportation assistance to remove its 2,000 soldiers serving in the anti-insurgency coalition in Iraq in order to increase its military forces to oppose Russia.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/08/georgia.ossetia/index.html  

8/3/08

Ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem, one building demolition at a time.  On a variety of pretexts, ranging from "security" by demolishing homes which terrorists have allegedly occupied, to the removal of "illegally" constructed buildings to force residents into the West Bank and open up more opportunity for Jewish settlers, East Jerusalem is slowly being "cleansed" of its Palestinian population.  This despite efforts such as a current project of the Spanish government to construct homes for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cook.php?articleid=13241  

8/3/08

Internal Palestinian strife escalates in Gaza with clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/08/200882192812745764.html  

8/2/08

Israel PM Olmert's decision to stand down introduces new uncertainty in the progress of the "peace process" in the Middle East.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JH02Ak01.html

7/25/08

"Peace" process rumbles on as Israel plans to build 22 new "settler" homes in the West Bank:. In the Jordan Valley at  Maskiot, the settlement is planned for families who agreed to be "re-settled" when IDF forces left Gaza in 2005.  Palestinians protest, but Israel says Maskiot is not really a "new" settlement since an army youth camp had been established there in the 1980's and a "religious training school" has remained at the site.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/world/middleeast/25mideast.html?th&emc=th

SEE ALSO:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/world-focus-a-quandary-for-any-new-us-president-876808.html

7/25/08

Israel's public security minister says that the use of a bulldozer by a Palestinian to attack targets in downtown Jerusalem shows a "new fashion" in terrorism:.  Actually, says Israeli peace activist Gideon Levy, the use of bulldozers as an instrument of state-sponsored terrorism is a very "old fashion" in Israel, as the government has used many bulldozers, much larger and more destructive, to "clear" Palestinian areas for Israeli development projects, and have done so in an effort to terrorize residents into "voluntary" evacuations.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004894.html

7/25/08

Palestinian Authority and world diplomats react to increased IDF raids in the West Bank.  PA head Mamoud Abbas finds his agenda of pacifying West Bank militants compromised by escalated IDF military operations, especially in Nablus.  At the UN, diplomats indicate the fragility of the Israeli peace process in light of these raids.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/25/africa/ME-Palestinians-Abbas-Setbacks.php

7/24/08

Obama goes to Israel, but his campaign's mind is on the Jewish voters of Miami Beach:. The "meticulously planned" trip is designed not only to "burnish" the candidate's image as a war leader, but specifically to make Jewish voters feel "more comfortable" about supporting him.  A very public visit to Sderot, the scene of Hamas rocket attacks that symbolize the "insecurity" of Israel, helps to enhance this image. While he met with Palestinian leader Abbas and assured him support of a "two-state" Israeli solution, there is no report that he visited Gaza to view "on the ground" the region devastated by Israeli and international sanctions, which the U.S. supports, as would presumably President Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072303276.html?wpisrc=newsletter

7/23/08

Barack Obama is "greeted" on his  visit to Jerusalem with a bulldozer attack by a disgruntled Palestinian on downtown cars.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0723/p04s05-wome.html

7/22/08

New Israeli roadblocks in West Bank between Hebron and Yatta further disrupt the Palestinian economy.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43268  

7/19/08

Will International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on war crimes charges alleviate or worsen the humanitarian crisis in Sudan?:   Proponents say the action will hearten those in the Darfur region who will see that the international community has not forgotten them.  Critics say the action may derail a three-year "peace process" based on the "government of unity" forged by al-Bashir

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43234  

7/9/08

Countries of African Union argue against sanctions against the country over irregularities in re-election of Robert Mugabe and the G8 summit agrees with them.  However, U.S. and E.U. continue to press at the UN for sanctions.  A South African ambassador comments on the proposed sanctions:  "We say don't take measures that are going to complicate the situation and literally blow the country apart."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43121

7/8/08

Fair and balanced: On sanitary napkins and killing of Palestinian militants:    Israel observes a negotiated lifting of siege against Gaza by allowing importation of tissues and sanitary napkins.  Meantime IDF forces raid a student hostel in Nablus and kill two allegedly militant Palestinians.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9672.shtml

7/8/08

Residents of West Bank village near Ramallah are defying curfew imposed by Israeli Defense Forces.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43110  

7/8/08

Gentlemen to your cars" cry in Nablus, West Bank is a first-ever racing car contest which its promoters tout as a way to take Palestinian youths off the streets and away from militant trouble-making.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0708/p04s01-wome.html

7/8/08

People of Lebanon are hopeful that current negotiations can establish a level of peace that decades of strife have been unable to obtain.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2008/07/20087781259747503.html  

7/5/08

Was the rescue of hostages from FARC a farce?  This is the claim of Swiss radio, citing "sources" who say the "rescue" was actually the payment of a ransom of $20 million to shore up Uriba's "prestige" for an upcoming election, and that the supposed "tricking" of FARC agents into the rescue operation (with assistance of U.S. agents) was a charade to cover the fact that Uriba was dealing with elements with whom he said he would never negotiate.

http://www.worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/was-betancourts-freedom-bought.shtml?11150

6/28/08

Israel has new weapon of mass destruction for its occupation of Palestine; It's called paperwork:   Greg Palast describes the "occupation by bureaucracy" by means of which Palestinians are kept firmly under control. While this control is exercised ultimately by tanks and bombs, it is done on an everyday basis by the plethora of "permits" and "applications" that keep Palestinians subjugated to Israeli control.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/06/occupation-by-bureaucracy/

6/27/08

Fragile Gaza truce as Israel keeps border closed for second day after a rocket attack on Sderot Israel which Islamic militants say was retaliation for Israeli attack on Palestinians in West Bank.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7474808.stm  

6/22/08

Nuclear inspectors are in Syria, looking for remnants of nuclear development activity at a site bombed by Israel

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7467682.stm  

6/18/08

Egypt brokers ceasefire between Israel and Hamas over Gaza, with provisions for Israel to ease the blockade and Hamas to release Israeli prisoner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7460504.stm

6/16/08

Having Palestinian bathers on Dead Sea beaches in occupied territory is "not good for business": "  Beaches on the northern end of the Dead Sea provide the only beach access for West Bank Palestinians, but they are being turned away at Israeli military checkpoints on beach access roads at the behest of beach vendors because, it is said, Palestinian presence on the beaches is "uncomfortable" for the Israeli settlers of the West Bank who regularly use the beaches.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestinians-barred-from-dead-sea-beaches-to-appease-israeli-settlers-846948.html

6/16/08

A year after taking control in Gaza, Hamas shows no signs of relenting in maintaining that control.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0616/p01s05-wome.html  

6/10/08

Jewish peace activist says "no he can't" to Obama's possibility of bringing peace to the Middle East:  Uri Avnery says that Obama's "pandering" appearance before the A.I.P.A.C. meeting last week indicates that he is completely in thrall to a "myth" that the prevailing narrative of U.S. history shares with Zionists: a crusading sense of theirs as a mission of conquest by the European world of the natives of the territories into which they have moved. His call for an "undivided" Jerusalem resurrects a long-abandoned Israeli aspiration, as all parties realize that this is a proposal to which Palestinians will never agree, and the putting forth of which only provides justification for continuing "settlement" activity in occupied territories.

http://www.antiwar.com/avnery/?articleid=12963

6/10/08

Hoping to "encourage" new regime in Cuba, European Union is looking to lift sanctions against that country.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2008-06-10T104352Z_01_L101482_RTRUKOC_0_US-EU-CUBA.xml

6/9/08

Journalist who's been a "voice for the voiceless" iwns a peace prize: . But because of Israeli "imprisonment" of Gazans, Mohammed Omer doubts he can get out of the country to go to London to accept the prize and vows to remain in Gaza to provide that "voice" for those suffering under Israeli and international sanction.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9595.shtml  

6/8/08

London-based Arab newspaper reports that Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah head of Palestine Authority which is supported by Israel, has heard that Israel plans to invade Hamas-controlled Gaza and turn the Strip over to PA control.  Opposing this action, Abbas now moves to open negotiations with Hamas for a Fatah/Hamas resistance to this Israeli intention.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3552955,00.html  

6/8/08

Obama and an "undivided" Jerusalem: First he was for it, then he was against it: : To thundering applause at his AIPAC speech, Barack Obama told his Jewish audience that he was totally determined, as is AIPAC, that Jerusalem will remain under totally Jewish control.  A few days later, a campaign spokesman "clarifies" for the Jerusalem Post that Obama's statement referred to a "final status position" in Israeli/Palestine negotiations over the city and that some degree of Palestinian "sovereignty" might be the result of said negotiations. An AIPAC spokesman says he is "troubled" by the "clarification."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659672984&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull  

6/5/08

Although Israel is relenting in allowing 7 Gaza Fulbright grant recipients to leave the country for U.S. study, they still are denying foreign study visa for hundreds of Palestinian students.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42669  

5/29/08

One giant step backward for world peace.  An Asia Times columnist's chacterization of a "leaked" report of the International Atomic Energy Agency that there is "serious concern" about Iran's intentions with regard to development of a nuclear weapons program.  This contravenes Director ElBaradei's February statement of "no evidence" of such development.  It may reflect his "fence-mending" efforts in his relations with Washington, but the writer sees it as a major setback  to the continued willingness of Tehran to cooperate with the IAEA. 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE30Ak01.html

5/29/08

Numerous Somalis and Egyptians from Somalia are seeking to escape across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen as refugees in the ongoing civil strife in Somalia.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=340499&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/  

5/25/08

"What sections of El-Baradei's reports to the IAEA board and to the security counsel do the Likudniks not understand?": asks Gordon Prather, reflecting on Nancy Pelosi's comments after a recent trip to Israel in which Israeli leaders urged again aggressive U.S. action against a threat of nuclear weapons being acquired by Iran, a threat which IAEA says absolutely does not exist.  From Hillary Clinton's "obliteration" comment about Iran to Barack Obama's latest courting of Jewish votes in Florida to John McCain's well-known bomb proclivities, no "viable" U.S. presidential candidate can "understand" ElBaradei any more than can the "Likudniks."

http://www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=12892

5/20/08

"These are not relations, they are contacts"  ...says a French official in acknowledging that his government has been talking with Hamas about the Palestinian issue.  These are the same "contacts" for which Jimmy Carter is criticized by U.S. political figures ranging from Obama to Bush, the latter of whom compared talks with Hamas as "appeasement."  Like Carter, the French report the willingness of Hamas to compromise to advance the peace process.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051901586_pf.html  

5/20/08

Chavez denounces alleged U.S. incursion of Venezuelan air space, threatening to cut off oil supply.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7409244.stm  

5/18/08

Divided Israel: "Independence" and "Nakba."  While Jewish people celebrate 60th anniversary of the attainment of  nationhood by going off for family barbeques, Palestians mark the same event as al-Nakba, the catastrophe, the beginning of their continuing dispossession and humiliation.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/nakba-march/

5/18/08

"Nothing has changed since we were forced to leave."  As Kenyan government, faced with dire food shortages after farmers left Rift Valley months ago, tries to return them to their homes, many are resisting as they cite continuing "security" problems in the area.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0517/p07s01-woaf.html

5/16/08

How does a Palestinian feel as he/she watches the celebration of 60 years of Israeli independence?   One of them, Susan Abulhawa, describes her sense of humiliation and dispossession, as expressed in the totemic word nakba for the Palestinian exodus of 1948.  She laments the willingness of many of her Palestinian colleagues to push for a "two-state" solution which would give Palestine a miniscule part of the territory from which the Zionist incursion dispossessed them and leave entirely unresolved the issue of Palestinian refugees in their desire to return to their homes.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/sixty-years-of-dispossession-humiliation-and-oppression-in-the-middle-east/  

5/14/08

President Bush says he is ready to assist Lebanese Army in its fight against Hezbollah insurgency.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1405011.php/US_President_Bush_offers_to_help_Lebanese_Army  

5/13/08

Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli, moves to the brink of civil war.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=164911   

5/12/08

After a weekend of control of Beirut, Hezbollah cedes control to Lebanese army, vowing to continue "civil disobedience."

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=507265 

5/10/08

Hezbolla opposition in Lebanon is said to have effectively "taken charge" of the country.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42317   

5/10/08

African Union military force in Somalia is only 1/3 what was promised by AU member nations, as calls goes out to fulfill those pledges.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3016&art_id=nw20080503153602275C168543  

5/9/08

Coup effort is underway in Lebanon as Syrian and Iranian backed insurgents patrol Beirut's streets and the government tries to suppress Hezbollah's vast telecommunications network.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42300  

5/7/08

As humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza Strip under Israeli siege, Gazans are reported to be heading to Egyptian border to try to cross to Sinai to obtain needed food, fuel and medicine.  Egyptian government responds with beefed-up security forces and the construction of an "imposing barricade" at the border.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42251

5/6/08

There will be blood in Lebanon, promises Hezbollah's secretary-general:   While Arab leaders are notorious for issues of blustery warnings that they will prevail over Israeli agressions, Hezbollah's victory over a 2006 invasion suggests that it is fully prepared to repeat the performance if Israeli's assaults on Syria are turned the way of Lebanon.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/05/there-will-be-blood/  

4/30/08

Reprise of Kosovo independence conflict may be developing in a burgeoning dispute between Russia and Georgia over two breakaway regions of Georgia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7374546.stm  

4/28/08

Head of Israeli Air Force: Ahmadinejad is like Hitler; if he threatens, you better believe him: .  In an interview for CBS "60 Minutes," the commander rides with a reporter in one of his (U.S. supplied) fighter planes and says the (contested) statement of the Iranian PM that Israel should be wiped off the map is more a promise than a threat; and that Israeli must be ready for "anything," lest Iran by 2009 should do to Israel the same as Hitler did to European Jews. (Since the U.S. supports the activity of its "staunch ally," Israel, Americans may also have to be ready for anything).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978375.html 

4/28/08

In Haiti, you don't mess with a "peace-keeper"."  A Nigerian soldier with the peace-keeping force was killed in Port-au-Prince and, minutes later, the force opened fire on a section of street vendors, killing an unknown number of vendors and destroying hundreds of their shopping stalls. In the comments section of this article, readers struggle to understand why the UN, under USA influence, has "bothered" with Haitian demonstrators in this and similar episodes: what do "they" have that "we" want?"

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/un-peacekeeping-soldiers-launch-brutal-attack-on-haitian-street-vendors/  

4/28/08

UN peacekeepers in Republic of Congo are alleged to be involved in smuggling and arming of local militias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7365283.stm  

4/7/08

“Israel takes Arab oil...And then refuses to sell it to Arabs."  This comment from a Gaza man heard on the street as he waits in (an endless) line for gasoline in a country in which Israeli "sanctions" for Hamas mortar attacks have resulted in there being only a tiny fraction of the gasoline needed to sustain life in the Strip.  The article that reports this sets off a contentious string of comments, especially about the orientation to Middle Eastern affairs of the presidential candidate Barack Obama.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/06/8119/  

4/7/08

Olympic torch gets a rough ride through London streets as Tibetans and other protest against China's human rights violations.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=426824

4/5/08

Sderot, Israel: John McCain has been there - can Clinton or Obama be far behind?  This once-obscure town in southern Israel, besieged by numerous mortar attacks from Gaza, has become a tourist stop in the Israel government's use of the town to drum up international support for the Zionist agenda, treating it as a "symbol" of the existential threat to Israel from the Arab world.  Together with the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, it's a "must see" site that summarizes the unofficial motto of the Israeli state, "never again." This on a day when Barack Obama burnishes his pro-Israeli credentials by writing the U.S. Ambassador to the UN demanding that no UN resolution regarding Gaza be approved unless it includes a condemnation of the rocket attacks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/world/middleeast/05sderot.html?th&emc=th 

4/5/08

European Union official wants "closer than ever" ties between E.U. and Israel even though E.U. reports have condemned Israeli for Palestinian attacks.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41866

4/4/08

Islamic militia seizes control of another town in Somalia.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0F6FE9B5-311A-429D-96EF-CA0981849171.htm  

3/30/08

Colombian government is accused of having killed farmers and passing off the bodies as those of FARC guerillas whom they have been fighting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901118.html?wpisrc=newsletter  

3/29/08

"Failed state" of Somalia is failing once again.  After 15 months of a "transitional government" installed by Ethiopian force with U.S. assistance, the country is displaying the same instability that supposedly brought in that outside intervention.  Drought,  poverty and crime plague the country, and the Islamic insurgency is rising again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/africa/29somalia.html?th&emc=th  

3/28/08

Israeli human rights group demands probe of killing of four Palestinians by IDF:   B'Tselem claims it has evidence that the men were killed not in the course of an arrest operation as claimed by the military, but in an ambush as they sat in their parked car which was an illegal punishment for their alleged insurgent violence.  Israel says it is "investigating,"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080328/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_deadly_raid  

3/28/08

Rotting strawberries and dying Gaza:.  In a country in which some of the world's finest strawberries are grown, Gaza's farmers find themselves unable to market their products because of the closing of its borders with Israel and also its border with Egypt, which is kept closed under "U.S. pressure."  Thousands of tons of this year's crop had to be destroyed because they were not marketable

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41753  

3/28/08

African Union officials hail the success of their operations against a secessionist attempt in The Comoros in Indian Ocean in giving the archipelago nation a "fresh start."

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20080328104914838C434341  

3/18/08

Accused by Chinese of inciting Tibetan violence, Dalai Lama says, to the contrary, he will resign if the violence continues.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/reuters_ids_new/20080318/r_t_rtrs_nl_general/tnl-dalai-lama-says-will-quit-if-violenc-223dd93.html  

3/18/08

UN peacekeepers struggling to keep down the violence among Serbs in Kosovo who protest the secession from Serbia.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0318/p04s02-woeu.html

3/18/08

Group of Liberian refugee women in Ghana use naked protest to resist government's plan to deport them back to Liberia, the government saying the "war is over" there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7302243.stm  

3/16/08

The back-rub that keeps on giving:.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel expresses solidarity with pro-Israeli U.S. policy as she addresses Knesset saying in Washington Consensus style that the right of Israeli to defend itself is a "permanent part" of German foreign policy.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=87394

3/15/08

Does Israel have the right to defend itself?  Of course it does, but the question is how Israeli security can most effectively be defended.  After years of attempting to accomplish this by force of military power exercised against a politically weak and disadvantaged Palestinian population, a new approach to Israeli security is required, one that recognizes that there will be no peace for Israel or for Palestine until Israel abandons its dependence on forcible suppression and Arabs develop a level of political maturity to be able to interact with them from a position of strength as people enjoying equal rights with those of the Israelis.

http://www.countercurrents.org/ageel140308.htm  

3/15/08

Tibetan monks are using world focus on China and the Olympics to bring attention to their long struggle for independence from China.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0314/p10s01-woap.html  

3/13/08

BBC's Middle East editor explains that "asymmetric war" between Hamas and Israeli allows Hamas to exert more "leverage" in their conflict with the application of a smaller amount of force: the power of the powerless.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7276138.stm  

3/12/08

The threat of a Shoah (Holocaust) against Gaza: Just the rant of a pissed-off deputy Israeli defense minister or a reflection of actual Israeli policy?   Jonathan Cook suggests the remark reflects an actual Israeli intention of dispossessing the Palestinians from Gaza as well as the West Bank, coming as it did from the lips of an architect of the Israeli decision to treat Gaza as a "hostile entity" for whose welfare (like electricity and food) it is released from international law demands. Its divide-and-conquer technique for controlling the Occupied Terrorists by fomenting division between Fatah and Hamas having run aground against Hamas refusal to continue to play that game, the government may now feel it must resist public opinion in their own country to negotiate with Hamas and must act in accord with some kind of shoah.

http://www.countercurrents.org/cook110308.htm

3/11/08

Israeli government's decision to go ahead with long-delayed plan to build a new settlement in the West Bank, allegedly made under pressure from right-wing of ruling coalition, threatens to doom the "peace process" articulated at Annapolis.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=364354  

3/9/08

Religious right settler movement in Israel vows to establish one illegal settler outpost in West Bank for each of the 8 students killed at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/09/israelandthepalestinians  

3/3/08

"He wanted to become a doctor when he grew up."  9 year old Tamer Abu Shaar, who lived in the Gaza Strip, will not become a doctor nor will he ever grow up.  He, along with numerous other children, was killed near his home as Israelis were exchanging gun fire wih Palestinian defenders.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41424   

3/1/08

The love affair between Australia and Israel:.  Having just executed an historical "apology" to the country's indigenous peoples, one might have expected the new PM to have had a reassuring word to Palestinian people in Australia about the suffering of their kinsmen in Israel.  Instead he joins in Israeli cheerleading for their celebration of victory in the 1948 war 60 years ago.

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16697

2/29/08

As Palestinian militant rocket attacks continue in southern Israeli city, Israel warns Gazans of an impending "holocaust" in their country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270650.stm

2/29/08

The mess in Kosovo: As international community rushes to replace the UN with NATO "supervision," the new Albanian government passes new laws without waiting for the supervision and Serbian enclaves throughout the country are open rebellion.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41393 

2/26/08

The scorecard of the "Zionist Power Configuration" in America; It may reflect an even higher score than Walt and Mearsheimer suggest: .  New York sociologist James Petras lays out a case to demonstrate the ability of the "Israel lobby" to control successfully the mainline political agenda in the United States, as both parties and all "major" presidential candidates give virtually unquestioning assent to what Petras sees as the extreme aggressiveness of Israel in its own occupied territories and throughout the Middle East.  When Barak Obama strayed briefly from the "line" of the ZPC by suggesting negotiation with Iran, he quickly "recovered" by blaming Gazan civilians themselves for the seige and assault visited on them by Israel and called on them to overthrow their Hamas leadership

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/the-israeli-agenda-and-the-scorecard-of-the-zionist-power-configuration-for-2008/  

2/25/08

Amid near blackout of news coverage in Kurdistan, al Jazeera reports continued heavy fighting between Turkish military and insurgent Kurds in the area.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/35EE0CED-D5BE-428A-839A-00DA141144CC.htm  

2/24/08

European Union makes new agreement with Israel to support the latter's research despite information that some previous funding has gone to firms operating in illegal Jewish settlements in West Bank.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41314  

2/23/08

Turkish ground assault in Kurdish areas of Iraq continues for its third day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7260119.stm  

2/21/08

U.S. and U.K. spread some "democracy" in Pakistan;  but don't forget about "stability ."  These countries warn victorious opposition parties against removing PM Musharaff from office, which they can do by a 2/3 vote, asserting with Musharaff himself that his quick departure would be de-stabilizing for the country.  These "friends of democracy" also withhold support for the call to re-instate the federal judges whom Musharaff had fired.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/dont-sack-musharraf-us-and-uk-warn-election-victors-784909.html

2/20/08

Jerusalem Post reports U.S. plan to have NATO troops deployed to West Bank to maintain control between Israeli occupation withdrawal and development of Palestinian security forces.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203343707652&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull  

2/19/08

U.S. tries to re-assure Filipino Muslim rebels that "humanitarian missions" undertaken in areas controlled by the rebels will not involve combat operations against them.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2008-02-19T121834Z_01_MAN73804_RTRUKOC_0_US-PHILIPPINES-REBELS-USA.xml  

2/18/08

Israel says "nyet!" to ending of conflict eith Hamas.  Ran HaCohen's "letter from Israel" says that Israeli government, like all "declining empires," is always ready to reject any rational solution to the problems that are leading to its decline.  In the ongoing Gaza crisis, the country's leaders ignore public opinion in Israel and refuse to do either of two such rational things to stop the daily rocket assaults from Hamas on the Israeli border town of Sderot. (1) either protect them from such attacks (by bomb shelters) to reduce local agitation for anti-Hamas action; or evict people from the town. (2) ask Hamas what they expect to gain from these attacks and then negotiate around those demands; rather than rejecting negotiation because Hamas is "too weak" (unreliable) or "too strong" (too demanding.)

http://www.antiwar.com/hacohen/?articleid=12384  

2/16/08

Australia is deploying peace-keepers to help contain violence in E. Timor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7246076.stm  

2/15/08

In aftermath of post-election conflict, Kenya is becoming 4 (or more) Kenyas:.   De facto segregation is occurring as Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba and Kisiss tribesmen are driving out minority ethnics who have lived side by side in this integrated society.  Not to worry though, U.S. President is sending his Secretary of State to Kenya to "deliver a message."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html?th&emc=th

2/14/08

Israeli teenagers help evict Bedouins in Negev Desert from their ancestral lands.  In what a writer calls the "outsourcing of Zionism," the Israeli government is turning over to private contractors the business of helping to fulfill the Zionist mandate to help secure the "homeland" from those people presumptuous enough to believe that centuries of residence on the land had made it their home.

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/16510

2/14/08

Hamas spokesman says world "just watches" while Gaza is being destroyed, while others blame Hamas for escalating attacks by rocket assaults on Israel.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41178  

2/12/08

Violence in East Timor targets highest levels of government of the country that won independence from Indonesia in 2002.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41150  

2/7/08

Last word (officially) may have been said on Strait of Hormuz episode:  Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense make joint appearance before a congressional committee and the Admiral says a U.S. Navy ship commander had already given the order to fire on a fast-approaching Iranian speedboat when the boat turned around at the last minute, and that he had to "rely on the judgment" of the commander to give that order.  The Secretary says that, the day after the incident, he issued a "guidance" to commanders to insure that the U.S. was not doing anything to "provoke" Iranian aggression.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Order_given_to_fire_on_Iranian_spee_02062008.html

2/3/08

"Lawrence of Cyberia" has a "cunning plan" for Palestine:.  Actually, it's an adaptation of a "plan" he says is borrowed from Ariel Sharon of finding a "positive" way of removing Arabs from Palestine rather than simply carting them away in wagons.  It entails false "negotiations" that give the appearance of an operating "peace process," all the while building settlements and walls in the West Bank that will keep Arabs penned up like "drugged cockroaches in a bottle" until they will "positively" be motivated to leave

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19256.htm  

1/26/08

Italian World Social Forum participants call for world's civil society groups to support Palestinian efforts to resist Israeli suppression.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40922  

1/26/08

Egypt gives up its efforts to re-seal the border with Gaza which was breached by Gazans crossing into Egypt to secure needed supplies while under Israeli seige.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7210311.stm

1/25/08

Egypt using water cannons against Gazans attempting illegal crossing of the Gaza/Egypt border.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7208252.stm  

1/23/08

Gaza residents blow up border wall and flood into Egypt in search of fuel and other supplies which they are denied by Israeli boycott.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2008-01-23T100216Z_01_L2389277_RTRUKOC_0_US-PALESTINIANS-EGYPT-BLAST.xml  

1/22/08

Under international pressure, Israel eases slightly its embargo on fuel shipments to Gaza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7201757.stm  

1/20/08

Head of African Union seeks extension of mandate of AU's peacekeeping mission in Somalia as participation by African nations falters.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=330020&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/  

1/16/08

Benazir Bhutto anticipated her own assassination and asked for forensic investigation if it occurred: In a November 2007 interview by David Frost, she says she was contacted by Pakistani PM Musharaff with information that she might be assassinated if she returned to Pakistan, and named "extremist" figures who might be involved.  She responded to Musharaff that in her opinion there were figures in the government who were behind these would-be assassins who were bent on preventing her return to the country and (almost as an aside) she felt they might be the same people who had murdered (!) Osama bin Laden.   The YouTube poster of this video implies that her revelation that the Bush "bogeyman" was no longer alive may have been a factor in the decision to eliminate her.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UnychOXj9Tg  

1/16/08

Hamas government in Gaza is bracing for expected Israeli invasion.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0116/p06s02-woeu.html  

1/15/08

France and United Arab Emirates agree to collaborate on development of "peaceful" nuclear energy and a permanent French military based in UAE.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7189280.stm

1/14/08

Al Jazeera wegihs in: Bush diplomacy a nudge and a wink:.  On the issue of  Israeli/Palestine relations, Palestinians feel they got most of the nudges from Bush...to give up their aspirations to recover lands lost by Israeli invasion and settlement; while Olmert and the Israelis got the winks...we won't interfere with the settlements though we don't like them; and we won't scream about other diversions from the "road map" toward peace which we originally helped negotiate.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2C2CFC37-FB64-4E8D-9247-510068BBC655.htm  

1/13/08

The mysterious crowd from nowhere and the Bhutto assassination.   Pakistani police witness tells McClatchy news reporters that a crowd of her supposed "supporters" stopped her motorcade, causing her to appear through the sunroof of her car to wave at these supporters, after which she was gunned down by a man standing nearby.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24637.html  

1/13/08

Citing his own country's investigation of assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani PM Musharraf rules out a UN investigation

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7184534.stm 

1/10/08

"Over the Rainbow "  This song, which was sung in English and Hebrew versions on the occasion of the visit of George Bush to Israel on a "peace-making" mission, seems to symbolize the earnest but somewhat forlorn hope that any diplomacy can re-set the region on the "road map" to peace which was to be based on the cessation of Palestinian militancy and Israeli settlements; if little birds fly over the rainbow, why oh why can't I (we)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/world/middleeast/10prexy.html?th&emc=th 

1/9/08

Seige of Gaza is broken when Egypt is pressured to allow religious pilgrims to return to Gaza via Egyptian territory.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40720  

1/7/08

Lights out for Gaza as Israel responds to Hamas rocket attcks in Southern Israel.   In what Israeli government describes as a "stern message" in response to attacks, fuel delivery is reduced to main power plant in Gaza, resulting in shutting off electricity for 8 hours each day.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/06/6211/

1/1/08

Ehud Olmert's fear: What if peace breaks out?  The Israeli PM, very unpopular in his country, may survive 2008 politically only if there is a slowing of the "peace process" to which he is allegedly committed post-Annapolis. Already under heavy fire for alleged "mishandling" of the Lebanese war in 2006, Olmert recouped some support in 07 with his "handling" of the crisis in Gaza.  If peace with Palestine should break out this year, his fragile war-based coalition may force him to go to elections he probably cannot win.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40636  

1/1/08

Where are you, Earl Warren, when the Pakistani government needs you?  The assassination of Benazir Bhutto takes JFKesque turns as Bhutto's husband, new de facto leader of the Pakistan People's Party, claims the government is lying about the circumstances of her murder, and that Bhutto was about to reveal to U.S. sources the plans of Musaraff to rig the upcoming elections.  The government really "needs" an authoritative cover-up artist like Earl (lone assassin) Warren and his trusty sidekick, Arlen (magic bullet) Specter.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/24021.html  

12/31/07

Kashmiri writer: Whatever Benazir Bhutto was or wasn't, she ceratinly was no "Democrat."  Contrary to the rhetoric of George Bush and many others that she gave her life for "democracy," her earlier rule in Pakistani was oppressive as well as corrupt, and she contributed mightily to the rise of the very Taliban that has been the bedrock of jihadist terrorism.  Her husband, who has now assumed "defacto" control of the People's Party that she headed, operated in an especially corrupt and brutal fashion when she was in office.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/12/the-death-of-benazir-bhutto/  

12/30/07

As world mourning for assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto continues, one of her severest critics, the distinguished British Pakistani Tariq Ali, describes the assassination as the occasion for a lament about the situation of his own "beloved" country of Pakistani, which he sees as now facing a "conflagration of despair" in the aftermath of the assassination, which reveals the impotence of the military dictatorship to control the anarchy that it brought into the country after its coup against and ultimate hanging of the former Prime Minister, Benazir's father.  The one possible saving grace of the event that Tariq Ali sees is a glimmer of hope that it may serve to revive a truly populist People's Party, the leadership of which cost the life of Benazir Bhutto's father as well as, arguably, her own. Alan Paton made precisely the same cry for the future of his beloved country of South Africa in the midst of its conflagration of despair called apartheid.

http://www.counterpunch.org/tariq12292007.html

12/20/07

Arab citizens of Israel, out-numbered 5-1 by Jewish countrymen, are a majority in the northern Israeli region of Galilee, but experience severe discrimination and segregation in their attempts to obtain the fruits of full citizenship.  Ironically, the country's political leadership tends to discount these efforts on the basis of a "two-state" political solution in which Palestinians will someday have their own independent country.  Freedom later, but for now...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121902681.html?wpisrc=newsletter  

12/19/07

Iran, like the U.S., is playing a dangerous game in the Arabian Gulf:.  Following earlier provocative U.S. naval "maneuvers" in the area, Iran is conducting a "second stage" of maritime war games aimed at demonstrating military preparedness and also to test new weapons systems, including successful launching of missiles to destroy "mock" naval vessels in the area.  At what point in this close encounter of the dangerous kind could mock targets turn into real ones?

http://www.kuna.net.kw/home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=1052848

For U.S. "maneuvers" in October 2006, see:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20061024&articleId=3593  

12/18/07

Annapolis summit conference: "A nice photo-op for everybody involved."  A Palestinian academic gives this assessment of the result of the conference, claiming that nothing of substance was accomplished at the conference nor could anything have been accomplished without Israel being willing to alter its settlements policy nor without the U.S. being willing to pressure it to do so.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=14524

12/15/07

Israeli sanctions against Gaza have reduced Gazans to a "beggar" status in trying to supply the basic needs of their people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402214.html?wpisrc=newsletter

12/15/07

Ethiopian government is forcing many civilians into military service to oppose rebels in the country's civil war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/africa/15ethiopia.html?th&emc=th  

12/11/07

O Little Town of Bethlehem: Banksy at work: A British artist known only as Banksy leads a phalanx of graffiti artists who are transforming the separation wall recently built in the West Bank town into a canvas called "Santa's Ghetto" on which to display the plight of Palestinians in the reputed town of Christ's birth.  The mayor of the town welcomes the wall both for its attraction of tourists to the town and for the impact of its message.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/22919.html

11/29/07

Pakistan's new military chief faces a tough decision of whether to accept a cease-fire proposed by militants whom the government has been fighting.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IK30Df01.html

11/28/07

"Don't give up the ship": Bush administration flair for orchestrating dramatic photo-ops is demonstrated again at Annapolis as the President is shown embracing Jewish and Arab leaders with the famous  1812 admonition of Captain James Lawrence in the background.  With the "ship" of Middle Eastern peace having been given up so many times in the past, skeptics wonder about the commitment behind the rhetoric.  At least the determination to "keep on keeping on" is more modest than the last such photo extravaganza of "Mission Accomplished."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112702616.html?wpisrc=newsletter  

11/27/07

Condi, what would Rosa Parks do?  The words on a sign carried at a Palestinian West Bank village as the U.S. Secretary of State did her "diplomatic" work in Israel preparatory to this week's Annapolis Middle East "peace" conference.  The sign references the fact that the U.S. is apparently ready to back a "separate but unequal" apartheid system which includes the Israeli PM's statement that any agreement will not "strangle" Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  Question is: will Palestinians, in order to maintain "peace," continue to accept their seats at the back of the Israeli "bus?"

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=14385

11/26/07

Asia Times columnist describes as a sub-text to the drama of this week's Middle East conference at Annapolis: the effort to contain an "uninvited guest," Iran.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK27Ak05.html

11/25/07

The Annapolis summit: Bush unlikely to put any pressure on Israel.  At this week's meeting, the President will probably re-affirm the close bond of the U.S. with Israel and exhibit skepticism that Palestinians will be able to "deliver" the concessions necessary to advance the peace process

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3474982,00.html  

11/25/07

With Golan Heights issue off the table, Syria decides not to attend Annapolis summit on Middle East

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546693949&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

11/24/07

Israeli border patrols report increase in attacks on their forces ahead of next week's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/927190.html

11/22/07

Top UN official says that the world is neglecting the humanitarian crisis in Somalia as it focuses on the one in Sudan.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/59B02A72-6EB0-420D-81BE-ACC52C418F19.htm  

11/9/07

Former Pakistani PM Bhutto is confined to her residence by security forces in the government's continuing crackdown on dissent.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=BBIJUKDTIAIDNQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/11/09/wpak309.xml

11/8/07

Ahmadinejad's claim that Iran has 3000 operational nuclear centrifuges raies spectre of Israeli air strike: The Iranian President claims that the country is exercising its right to nuclear development for peaceful purposes, while Israeli and some U.S. officials believe that 3000 such facilities approaches a "tipping point" beyond which Israel (not the U.S.) would be likely to strike.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article2827787.ece

11/7/07

Israeli evacuees from settlements in Gaza, who received monetary settlements for their re-location, are victims of scams in bogus "diamond investment" firm.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/921399.html

11/6/07

Then they came for the judges...  Pakistani police arrest lawyers protest Musharaff's emergency declaration, as the country's top judge speaks out against the action as "unconstitutional."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7080433.stm  

10/21/07

Asia Times editorialist wonders how comfortably Benazir Bhutto will be able to live in the "house" that the U.S. has built for her Pakistani return.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IJ20Df03.html

10/20/07

Benazir Bhutto accuses Pakistani government of failing to react with security precautions after she warned it of likely attack by militants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/asia/20Pakistan.html?th&emc=th

10/19/07

Pakistani bombing that greeted Bhutto's return is described by Asia Times columnist as the "kickoff" to an Islamist effort to derail a Washington-inspired effort to produce "regime change" in Pakistan.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IJ20Df01.html  

10/18/07

Six weeks after Israeli attack on Syrian territory, nature of the target remains unknown:.  A flap was raised by a statement attributed to a Syrian representative to UN that a "nuclear facility" had been hit on September 6. The Syrian government denies that there are any such facilities in the country and the UN says that the statement was based on a mis-translation by a UN interpreter of the representative's remarks.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/18/news/UN-GEN-UN-Syria-Israel.php  

10/17/07

Clash of civilizations: The "mother of all pretexts" for the Israeli occupation of Palestine: Uri Avnery reviews the long history of attempted and discarded "moral justifications" of the Zionists for their domination in Palestine, from "the Arab's own good" justification for initial settlement, through alleged Arab collaboration with Nazis and their Holocaust, to the final "clash of civilizations" offering of Prof. Samuel Huntington which casts Islam as an inherently "evil" force to be challenged by a modern day Crusade, this time with Jewish crusaders.

http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery10162007.html

10/10/07

Can Israeli intelligence behind that country's attack on Syria be trusted?  The question of Syria's nuclear capabilities and intention arouses the usual "debate" in the Bush administration between the Vice President and Secretary of State

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/washington/10diplo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

9/21/07

The two faces of U.S. action on Korea's nuclear ambition.   While diplomats work to negotiate an agreement with Korea to limit its plans for nuclear weapons, another "face" of the government, according to U.S. sources, cooperated with Israel to furnish "intelligence" that helped that country launch a September 6 aerial assault on a Syrian facility suspected of involvement with Korea's nuclear development plans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002701.html?wpisrc=newsletter

9/11/07

Rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel renew Israeli government's dilemma about how to prevent such attacks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6988463.stm  

8/14/07

Palestine today a split image of optimism and despair:.  While Hamas-controlled Gaza goes resolutely about the political task of building a society on an Islamic model, leaders in Fatah-controlled West Bank are dispirited about the future of their country.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0814/p06s02-wome.html  

8/14/07

UN peacekeepers despatched to Liberian town for a reported discovery of a "weapons cache," which turned out to be 18 bags of scrap metal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6945616.stm  

8/11/07

Separate and un-equal: You can't get there from here.  Israel constructs roadway connecting West Bank towns of Ramallah and Bethleham with lanes for Israeli and Palestinian travellers separated by a concrete barrier.  The Israeli lane includes numerous exit points near Israeli settlements and in Jerusalem, while Palestinians get no such exits but an "express service" between the two towns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/middleeast/11road.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

8/11/07

Canada to build its first Arctic deep sea port to challenge Russian claims to the area.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070810/twl-canada-arctic-military-aa7daef.html  

8/10/07

Who owns the North Pole? Russia says we do, Canada says wait a minute.

\http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6939732.stm  

8/6/07

Another Palestine/Hamas debacle in store for Lebanon?  Apparent victory in a parliamentary election of a party and candidate opposed to the pro-western and anti-Syrian government installed by Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution" raises the spectre that Lebanon may, like Palestine, choose by democratic vote a government that is not to the liking of Washington and other foreign capitols. Also reminiscent of the Cedar Revolution, if the opposition forces prevail they can expect to be accused of electoral fraud.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/middleeast/06lebanon.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

8/5/07

Noam Chomsky on the death of a nation: Fatah-Hamas civil war in Palestine, fuelled by its "enablers" Israel and the U.S., is effectively ruining all possibility of an independent Palestinian state; the fallout from international punishment of a people who voted "the wrong way" (for Hamas) in a carefully-monitored election in January 2006.

http://www.zmag.org/content /showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=13453 

8/4/07

Asia Times columnist Mark Perry: Mahmoud Abbas, created by U.S. and Israeli support, has "crossed the line" in his policy of setting Palestinian against Palestinian and faces "oblivion" as this policy will fail in the face of a united Palestine.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IH04Ak05.html  

7/28/07

Suicide bomber in Islamabad kills at least 13 in a blast targeted against police gathered as re-inforcements for continued action against protesters in Red Mosque.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/18455.html  

7/24/07

Jerusalem Post columnist says Tony Blair being sent to the Middle East by those who have "little interest" in the success of his mission.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1184766045488&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull  

7/23/07

Tony Blair embarking on peace effort in the Middle East on behalf of "the quartet" of world powers that skeptics are calling "mission impossible."

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-07-23T100718Z_01_L23671871_RTRUKOC_0_US-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL-BLAIR.xml  

7/17/07

Chinese and Pakistani relations take a turn for the worse as Chinese protest the Pakistani goverment's assault on the Red Mosque

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG18Df02.html

7/14/07

Pakistan sends troops to northwest border to try to dissuade Islamist militants from launching jihad against government for its storming of Red Mosque in Islamabad.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070714/ap_on_re_as/pakistan;_ylt=AhgMZcruHTmccCfDTxXCGZNw24cA  

7/13/07

The rest of the story about the Lal Majid (Red Mosque) tragedy in Pakistan.  World media has largely "framed" the incident that led to the massacre of many Muslims as a story about the social depradations of a theologically fundamentalist cult with anti-social tendencies.  U.S. professor Robert Jensen was in Pakistan at the time of the events, and discussed the situation with two progressive Islamists who pointed to the side of the Islamist revolt that emphasized promotion of justice for ordinary Pakistanians and opposition to economic neo-liberalism and the corruption of the Pakistani government.  Military forces either killed the mosque's residents or ordered them to "go home,"  though many were displaced people from the country's underclass who had no homes to which to return.  The government and the elites that support it could only see damage to their country's "image" from the incident

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/12/2464/

7/12/07

Human Rights Watch says that, a year after military conflict between Israel and Lebanon, forces on neither side have been investigated for their violations of the laws of war.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/818f60027bd6530fdff913b27c3f23f1.htm 

7/12/07

Pakistan says all 73 people killed in storming of Red Mosque were Muslim militants, none of them women or children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6294812.stm  

7/3/07

Uri Avnery reviews the "dark summit" of leaders of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestine to discuss the "situation" in Palestine, the purpose of which was to "strengthen" Abbas in his Israel/U.S. puppet position in Palestine.  Neither in this summit nor in the impending actions of the Quartet of "powers" (U.S., Europe, UN, Russia) nor in the heralded appointment of Tony Blair as peacemaking "envoy" to the Middle East is there anything of substance other than the buying of time while Israel can complete its walls in the West Bank and its starvation of Gaza, as these "leaders" can only discuss how the misery of the Palestinians might be lessened, with scarcely a whisper of how the occupation of their land might be ended.

http://www.countercurrents.org/avnery020707.htm  

6/28/07

Why a boycott of Israel, a proposal for which is now "circulating" in British colleges, is not only the "right thing" to do from an intellectual's perspective, but makes good economic sense as well as a counter to the anti-labor policies of the European Union.

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/06/why-boycott-israel-because-it%e2%80%99s-good-for-you/

6/24/07

Israel releases frozen funds to Palestine ahead of a meeting with Egypt and Jordan designed to show support for Mahmoud Abbas in his battle against Hamas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070624/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians;_ylt=AkTPW_cL3Q6Z_.Ka1Afwp2Vw24cA  

6/20/07

Egyptian support to Mahmoud Abbas symbolized in its decision to move its Palestinian embassy from Hamas-controlled Gaza to Fatah-controlled West Bank.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070620091439800C474002  

6/19/07

Israeli PM Olmert welcomes a "partner" with whom he can negotiate for the future of Palestine: the Abbas government which is being propped up with Israeli and international support.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6766551.stm  

6/19/07

Sudan accepts a peace-keeping force of troops from United Nations and African Union.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FC3E03FE-F9FA-4279-9CC9-7C87BE666F58.htm

6/18/07

One of the "quartet" of world super-powers (European Union) chimes in with anticipated lifting of sanctions against Palestine now that  PA leader Abbas has "expelled" the duly-elected Hamas government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6762777.stm  

6/18/07

Ethiopia, the U.S. ally in the "war on terrorism" in the Horn of Africa, is terrorizing its own people:.  Its Army carries on a brutal repression featuring torture and rape against those who have joined a resistance movement against the authoritarianism of the U.S.-supported regime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/world/africa/18ethiopia.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&th&emc=th  

6/17/07

Robert Fisk asks: "How do we deal with a coup d'etat by an elected government?" With Hamas prevailing decisively in a mini-civil war in Gaza, the West and the Arab League are faced with just this prospect. Having sanctioned Palestine for having voted for the "wrong" party and that party having prevailed in the power struggle, with whom can the future of Gaza be negotiated?  Or do "we" sit back and wait for Israel to re-occupy and "save" the country from its turmoil?

http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2663199.ece  

6/16/07

UN Secretary General hails Sudan's agreement to a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur as a major "milestone" in bringing peace to the region.

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=nw20070614091126802C427155  

6/16/07

Who's in charge in Palestine?  Fatha leader Abba "sacks" Parliament with its elected Hamas majority, Fatha militants "storm" a recalcitrant parliament, and world media continues to refer to Hamas militants as having seized power in Gaza and West Bank.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6759567.stm  

61/6/07

Selling fences to an aparthied planet.  Naomi Klein attempts to account for Israel's booming economy, in the face of its troubles in Lebanon, Gaza and with its internal political scandals.  She finds this prosperity in, ironically, the economic benefits of its Palestinian conflicts.  Israel is now the world's 4th largest defense exporter and has pioneered as well in high-technology "homeland security" industries like complicated surveillance systems.  In marketing these products, it is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of its weapons and its security devices in its actual occupation and security operations in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, the "laboratories" for products it sells to the rest of the world. Klein says that Israel has thus found a pot of economic gold in the world's most renewable resource, fear.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070702/klein  

6/15/07

Although Hamas government is now in "complete control" of Gaza, Fatha President Abbas, with support of U.S., "sacks" the government and declares state of emergency in which he will rule by executive decree.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6754499.stm  

6/13/07

After U.S. warships had shelled areas of Somalia and killed a dozen reputed terrorist fugitives, American officials are planning to resume the attacks by air, at the "invitation" of what is euphemistically called the "semi-autonomous regional government" (the regime installed after U.S. backed Ethiopia invasion).

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_preparing_air_strikes_against_Al_06122007.html  

6/9/07

Israeli officials stop in "a way best not spoken about" the operation of a "pirate" radio station said to be responsible for traffic delays at Ben Gurion airport.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8C31C0D2-FC0A-426C-99A5-7F10F6D25262.htm  

6/8/07

Opinion: The Six Day War "killed" Judaism. Bradley Bruston says the 1967 war was the miracle that a radical rabbinate wished and agitated for; and their continuing emphasis on "victory" in the stuggle against Islam  dooms Israel to a state of perpetual war.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/867362.html

6/6/07

On 40th anniversary of Six Day War, peace group in Hebron, West Bank, has a "simple" solution: Jewish settlers should just leave the city.

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3409006,00.html  

6/2/07

Israel building of security barriers in Nablus, West Bank disturbs the peace and the utility services of the city.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070602/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_blasts;_ylt=AljDQl7DQ8Tkrb6tW4aIz9Bw24c  

5/31/07

Tens of thousands of refugees from Somalia violence are attempting to make their way to Yemen, in a perilous journey in which a thousand died last year

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002609.html?referrer=email  

5/26/07

To understand current violence in Gaza, all roads lead back to Oslo. Former Jordanian representative to United Nations traces the roots of the current conflagration to the 1993 Oslo Accords in which the international community decided in its "wisdom" to set up the Palestinian Authority as a "proxy" occupier of Palestine, and the PA did this job with predictable corruption and incompetence.  Last year's election of Hamas spoiled their plan or did it?  The resulting international rejection of Palestinian sovereignty created the outburst of Palestinian frustration and the Mecca "Accords" for a "unity government" of Hamas and Fatah led to an equally predictable rejection by the international diplomatic and financial communities. Was this what Israel and the international forces for whom the PA "proxied" had wanted all along, as they poured gasoline on the fires of Palestinian unrest?

http://www.countercurrents.org/abunimah240507.htm

5/19/07

Black American intellectual leaders issue letter urging blacks to join in the June 10  U.S. Campaign Against the Israel Occupation (of Palestine).

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=12859

5/18/07

Israeli and U.S. forces take sides (more decisively) in the Fatah/Hamas conflict in Palestine.  Fatah troops trained by U.S. in Egypt enter Gaza with Israeli approval to re-inforce PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' conflict with Hamas.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051700419.html?referrer=email

5/18/07

At summit meeting of European Union and Russia, EU  President warns Russia that a "problem" with a EU member is a "problem" with the whole bloc; "palpable tension" at the summit is noted

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6668111.stm  

5/16/07

Mickey Mouse might wish he had stayed in the syrupy confines of Disney World.  A cartoon shown on Palestinian TV has the venerable rodent dramatizing for Gaza children the atrocities of the Israeli occupiers.  U.S. news media (both mainstream and "alternative") hopped on the show as a demonstration of how Hamas is promoting "hatred" against Israel and the U.S and how Hamas/Fatah violence is traumatizing them, ignoring completely the context of the years of violence of the Israeli military against Palestinian children, surely enough in itself to create the decried  hatred and traumatization. (Videos of the cartoon may be seen in included links).

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=12824

5/16/07

Almost without world attention, Ethiopia invaded Somalia with weapons obtained from North Korea with U.S. approval and with U.S. support based on the fiction that the Islamic agencies controlling the government were "harboring terrorists."  Few if any terrorists have been found, and it becomes increasingly apparent that the main source of U.S. interest in Somalia is in the country's oil, as it is elswhere in Africa from which oil supplies are increasingly coming.  As in Iraq, it is hoped that an "oil law" by the puppet Ethiopian government will open up the country's oil resources to American companies.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BLO20070514&articleId=5636   

5/16/07

Hijab (head covering) wearing by women in Cairo, Egypt may be a matter of piety, Arab identity or a fashion statement; whatever the motive, male hijab salesmen in the city are raking in a bonanza of profits.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0516/p12s01-wome.html?page=1  

5/13/07

Political violence in Pakistan highlighted by clash between police and supporters of a suspended judge who has emerged as leader of protest against military rule.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6650897.stm

5/12/07

Former U.S. diplomat Brady Kiesling, writing for Athens (Greece) News, describes the "fervor" for war in Turkey and Israel as the product of the demands of domestic politics in these countries.

http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=13233&t=01&m=A06&aa=2  

5/11/07

Israel announces plans to build 20,000 homes in East Jerusalem, an occupied territory, in apparent violation of international law.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6645777.stm

5/8/07

Amnesty International alleges, and China and Russia deny, that the two countries are violating UN arms embargo on Sudan by supplying military equipment to a government-backed militia operating in Darfur.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6632959.stm  

5/8/07

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu sounds distinctly un-peaceful in demanding aggressive South African action against Mugabe's oppressive government in Zimbabwe.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=307013&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

5/3/07

A Jewish newspaper was "not quite comfortable" with an expression of sympathy wfor the Palestinian people by Barack Obama. Not to worry, Obama has recognized the power of the wealthy donor purse strings and has moved to "re-calibrate" his comments about the Middle East, "explaining" to such donor groups that the Palestinian "suffering" to which he was referring is the result of the failure of their leaders to give enough support to Israeli security concerns.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0503/p01s03-uspo.html?page=1  

5/3/07

Government of Sudan will not honor warrants for International Criminal Court appearance of two Sudanese men on charges of war crimes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6618527.stm

4/29/07

Lull in fighting in Somalia as government claims victory over Islamist insurgents.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=306100&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

4/24/07

Tamil Tigers launch air attack on Sri Lankan military base.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6586283.stm  

4/22/07

Jewish school children worldwide were encouraged to feed their pennies into donation boxes for a land agency in Palestine to purchase land for Jewish settlement.  The agency now holds land that it gained not by the pennies but by Israeli conquest of Palestinian territories and it now operates to sell land to any Jew in the world, while even an Arab living in Tel-Aviv could not buy land from the agency.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=12642  

4/14/07

Hebron: Still a flashpoint for Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  Sale of a house to Jewish settlers in a "Palestinian" neighborhood sparks the old fight in the city that earlier centered around possession of a synagogue/mosque and resulted in the "Hebron massacre" in 1994.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0413/p07s01-wome.html?page=1

4/14/07

"Transitional government" in Somalia, installed with Ethiopian intervention, is now entering into conflict relationship with the country that sponsored them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6554567.stm

4/13/07

Responding to the "good will" ambassadorships on Darfur of Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg, China is beginning to change its colors about Darfur: from protecting Sudan from international sanctions to demanding that the government face the Darfur issue; and Beijing's fear for the success of next year's Olympics is a point that the "ambassadors" drive home, as Farrow has been referring to the "Genocide Olympics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/washington/13diplo.html?th&emc=th  

4/16/07

Gideon Levy: As a moment of opportunity to revive the peace process slips away, Israel is showing that it doesn't want peace with Palestine.   As the old excuses about Palestinian terrorism and the lack of a negotiating partner lose their credibility, Israel's leaders are shunning peace as though it were a death sentence, and an apathetic Israeli public is going along with their policy.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=12562

4/12/07

UN delays opening of exhibit in New York on Rawandan genocide after Turkish officials protest to references in the exhibit to Armenian genocide in Turkey.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/africa/article06

4/10/07

Faced with public outrage over sale of their stories of captivity in Iran by British naval personnel, UK Defence Minister rescinds his earlier decision to allow such practice

http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2053379,00.html

4/8/07

 Ministry of Defence will allow the 15 British military personnel who were held captive in Iran to sell their stories to media outlets---to the outrage of the relatives of many British soldiers killed in Iraq.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1626726.ece  

4/7/07

Israeli musician and anti-Zionist Gilad Atzmon weighs in on the conflict between the "democratic" West and "Islamo-fascist" Iran---and finds that the Iranians are actually more humanist in their approach to international relations rather than leaders like Tony Blair and George Bush.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17495.htm

4/7/07

The released British sailors: When were they coereced...and by whom?  World press reports today the statements of released Britons that their confessions were "coerced" while they were in captivity.  Al Jazeera, duly reporting this information, reports as well the claim of Iranian officials that these latest statements were "staged" by the British to cover their "mistake" in intrusion on Iranian sovereignty.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F7277201-0732-4958-82DC-720BE30A5C27.htm

4/5/07

Iran PM to Blair: Don't punish released British sailors for telling the truth.  In announcing the release of the 15, Ahmadejad calls it an "Easter and Passover gift" to the West, and urges that the captured personnel who spoke of an illegal intrusian into Iranian waters while in captivity in Iran not be punished for these statements

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6526615.stm  

4/4/07

Sri Lanka military destroys headquarters of Tamil Tiger "navy" (a few small boats with small caliber weapons).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6525127.stm  

4/2/07

25 years after Argentina invaded Falkland Islands and their occupation was repulsed by the British, the islands remain thoroughly British, except that the new wealth in the area has attracted a large immigrant labor force from around the world.

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=370904&hideIntro=true

4/1/07

"What we want is a way out of it " says British Foreign Secretary as diplomatic efforts are underway to find a "face saving" way for UK to extricate itself from the crisis created by Iranian capture of its Naval personnel, a "deal" in which the UK would not acknowledge an illegal intrusion in Iranian territory, but would promise not to do such in the future.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SNAVZLWF0NXWDQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/04/01/wiran01.xml

3/30/07

Did the Britisg government "make up" a map of the Persian Gulf to justify their claim that British military personnel were taken in Iraqi waters? Former British Ambassador Craig Murray claims in his weblog that it did, and various others respond pro and con to this assertion, some noting that the BBC and other media accepted this and other government claims about the incident without any attempt to verify them.

http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2007/03/fake_maritime_b.html  

3/30/07

Massachusetts legislature being pushed for first "divestment" since that against South Africa two decades ago: this time removing investment in pension funds of genocide-ravaged Sudan.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/30/patrick_to_push_sudan_sanction/  

3/29/07

Of schools and maps and sanctions against Palestine.  Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery comments on the different contents of school books in Israel and Palestine which promote from both sides a one-sided ignoring of the legitimate interests of the antagonists, including maps in Arab countries that do not show Israel and those in Israel that do not show a "Green line" and "Occupied Territory" in the West Bank.  From their side, Israelis use these literally wipings of Israeli "off the map" in Palestinian school rooms as justification for maintaining sanctions against Palestine.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=12451

3/28/07

Royal British Navy says it has evidence that the 15 British personnel captured by Iranians were in Iraqi and not Iranian waters when they were detained.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6501555.stm

3/27/07

Condoleeza Rice, on another peace-making mission to the Middle East, urges Palestine to "reach out" to Israel and  Israel to be "more flexible" in its dealings with Palestine. Question is whether reaching and flexing diplomacy will work, given the intransigence on both sides.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6498125.stm  

3/27/07

Paisley and Adams reach "historic" agreement in Northern Ireland to establish a "power-sharing" government, Tony Blair hails result.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/0327/1174528659733.html 

3/26/07

In Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams are going "head to head" in last minute efforts to solve the religious affiliation divide that has prevented the "devolvement" of North Ireland to self-rule.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=3425&ArticleID=2179128  

3/25/07

As Iran detains British sailors arrested in what they say was an illegal intrusion on Iranian sovereignty, Iranian official warns West not to discount the possibility that any acts of war against Iran will be met with "consequences" that cannot be fully anticipated.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070325/ap_on_re_mi_ea/british_seized_iran  

3/24/07

In a Persian Gulf heavily militarized by forces of both the West and of Iran, British sailors on a "routine patrol" involving the boarding of Iranian ships in search of smuggled cargo are detained by Iranians, and British officials announce themselves as "extremely disturbed" by the matter.  The problem is the thin line between extremely disturbed and finding a causa belli for an all-out assault on Iran.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/world/europe/24britain.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin  

3/22/07

Threatened by an emerging alliance between India and Russia in south Asian affairs, Pakistan successfully test fires a "nuclear ready" cruise missile.

http://www.hindustantimes.in/news/7598_1955719,000500020000.htm  

3/21/07

South Africa, which holds presidency of UN Security Council, is urging an international time-out on planned sanctions against Iran.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC22Ak01.html

3/18/07

Agents of Jewish settlement movement are aggressively marketing the sale in south Florida of homes in the West Bank.

http://www.miamiherald.com/884/story/44682.html

3/18/07

U.S., Japan and Australia are pursuing a geo-political plan for security "containment" of China that dares the sleeping giant of world power to retaliate.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/IC17Dh04.html

3/15/07

Israel PM Ehud Olmert has appointed a commission to investigate the validity of his actions related to last year's invasion of Lebanon, expects to report next month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070315/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_olmert;_ylt=AqZJlhGCx7czQxGTZ8Ne4flw24cA  

3/14/07

Opinion: U.S. AFRICOM military plan for deployment of U.S. military forces in Africa will only inflame that area's regional conflicts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329742100-103677,00.html

3/7/07

Iranian President Ahmadinejad trying to line up support for Palestine, both with Arab governments in Middle East and with Venezuela.

http://www.iran-daily.com/1385/2799/html/

3/7/07

African Union peacekeepers in Sudan are attacked by some of the rebel elements who are supposed to be cooperating with them, as these forces are seen as too closely tied to Sudanese government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6425413.stm  

3/5/07

Ethnic violence that has wracked the Darfur region of Sudan is spreading to border areas in neighboring Chad. (BBC picture gallery) 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_living_on_the_edge_in_chad/html/1.stm

3/4/07

Israel tells UN peacekeepers to do their job and keep bomb throwers away from Golan Heights boundary where bombs have been thrown into Israel from Syria.

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070304/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_syria_mines;_ylt=AvzBm1CUQeM

3/4/07

India/Pakistan arms race continues as Pakistan tests a missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6414475.stm  

3/3/07

Are Israeli defense forces using Palestinian civilians to assist in their West Bank raids?  Associated Press obtains a video showing a young Palestinian man leading IDF troops to the doors of his neighbors and he says in an interview that he was forced from his home to accomplish this mission.  Such practice violates Geneva Convention and an order of the Israeli Supreme Court.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030207O.shtml

3/3/07

Prospects for military solution to conflict in Darfur, Sudan dim as African Union leader says AU will not intervene, and as neighboring county of Chad is resisting deployment of UN peacekeeping troops on its borden with Sudan.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/africa/article02  

3/2/07

Argentine President proclaims success of economic recovery with his left-center government and defends his ties with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070302/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/argentina_president;_ylt=AlUQd552c5c5P8hi6llNW7Fw24cA

3/1/07

Sudanese minister accused by International Criminal Court of war crimes in Darfur genocide says charges are politically motivated and he can successfully defend himself.

http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/africa/article02

2/25/07

UN peace envoy blasts international community for failure to pressure Khartoum government in Sudan to address the violence and poverty in Darfur.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=300034&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/  

2/24/07

Apartheid in Palestine - And it's not Jimmy Carter talking.  Journalist Jonathan Cook describes the operation of checkpoints and roadblocks that the Israeli Army maintains to control the movements of Palestinians deep inside the West Bank.  An editorialist of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz describes their activity as apartheid, since it aims to restrict the movement of Arabs to facilitate that of the Jews.  An Israeli women's organization Machsom (Hebrew word for checkpoint) Watch maintains vigilance in monitoring of the soldiers operating these barriers, in the belief this surveillance will moderate the abusive treatment of Arabs that seems to be prevalent in the behavior of the soldiers who man them.

http://counterpunch.org/cook02232007.html  

2/23/07

Idi Amin is among 1300 petitioners, including many of his supporters who fled Uganda after his government fell in 1979, in attempt to access their bank accounts that were frozen in Uganda and Kenya.

http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/current/Regional/Regional1005200445.html  

2/21/07

Kidnapping gangs rule the streets and the UN "peacekeeping" force is ineffectual in the "failed state" that Haiti has become following the U.S.-sponsored ouster of Aristide in 2004.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001871.html?referrer=email  

2/20/07

Authorities unable to determine identities of two men who apparently planted the bomb on a train between India and Pakistan in which 66 people were killed.  Both Indian and Pakistani governments condemn the attacks and proceed with their peace conference, while speculation on the perpetrators ranges from Kashmiri separatists to Hindu militants.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/02/20/indian-bombing-070220.html#skip300x250  

2/19/07

Blast killing 66 on a train between India and Pakistan was apparently designed to disrupt peace talks between the two countries beginning today.  Ministers of both countries vow to proceed with the talks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_on_re_as/india_train_fire  

2/18/07

FARS news agency claims evidence that a terrorist attack in southeastern Iran was designed to foment Sunni/Shiite conflict in the area and that the explosive devices used were of American military origin.

http://english.people.com.cn/200702/18/eng20070218_350985.html  

2/16/07

They may wear blue helmets, but are the UN guys really "peacekeepers"? Stephen Lendmen's extended essay on UN peacekeeping operations from Palestine in 1948 to Lebanon and elsewhere today suggests that, in virtually every one of the 61 missions they have executed they have either: (a) been impotent to enforce peace in conflict regions, often just "getting in the way" of serious pacification efforts; or (b) have served the imperialistic interests of the United States, NATO and, in some cases, Israel.

http://counterpunch.org/lendman02152007.html

2/15/07

Human Rights Watch calls for investigation of thousands of Kashmiris said to have been "disappeared" by Indian security forces after a Muslim revolt that began there in 1989.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070215/137/6c5ak.html

2/14/07

Wagging the dog in Israel: Uri Avnery shows how recent "incidents" in Israel are PM Ehud Olmert's way of diverting attention from his failed war in Lebanon, following the model of his predecessor Sharon in using "provocations" like the "discovery" of Hezbollah armaments near Israel's northern border to help him preserve his own power.

http://counterpunch.org/avnery02132007.html  

2/12/07

Israel has a right to exisy"  That's right, says Gabriel Kolko, and its best chance of securing that "right" is to abandon its alliance with the Washington consensus of both parties in the U.S., whose interest is less in peace in the region than in a war which Israel and the U.S. cannot win with their muscle-bound "high technology" militaries.  Realists within the Israeli government understand this and quiet negotiations are already underway to make the concessions to Palestinian interests that are essential to the success of such negotiations.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/kolko.php?articleid=10505

2/9/07

Fatah and Hamas factions in Palestine agree to a truce in their conflict which may result in peace among themselves but will likely not lead to the end of an international boycott following Hamas' political victory a year ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/world/middleeast/09saudi.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin  

2/7/07

UN report says that around 26% of cultivatable land in Lebanon is still vulnerable to damage from cluster bombs unleashed during the Israeli invasion, munitions of U.S. origin that State Department says may have been "misused" by the Israelis.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0207/p01s01-wome.html  

2/5/07

While American leaders, public opinion and even the peace movement are focused on the war in Iraq and an impending one with Iran, the U.S. is already at war in Somalia, with some military operations described here.

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0203-24.htm  

2/3/07

"Israel has a right to exist."  As John Whitbeck sees it, this catch phrase has been used to justify Israel's seizures of Palestinian lands in the past, to promote a definition of Palestinians as sub-human, and for demanding support of whatever Israel may do to the Palestinians in order to secure this "right."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0202/p09s02-coop.html  

1/31/07

What Israeli government says and what it knows about Iran -   What it says: Iran is a terrible nuclear threat to create a "Second Holocaust" against an essentially defenseless Israel. What it knows (according to leaked "internal assessments"): Iran's nuclear capabilities are not all that great, its will to use them is problematic, and Israel has its own (publicly unacknowledged) nuclear capabilities as a "second strike" deterrent.

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/porter.php?articleid=10435  

1/30/07

U.S. State department official admits there were "likely violations" of an agreement between the U.S. and Israel when the latter used cluster bombs in its Lebanese military operation.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=79070  

1/30/07

Ethiopian summit meeting of African Union countries is considering whether to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6312217.stm  

1/26/07

Genocide in Gaza while the world is "looking to the side":  John Pilger's description of the humanitarian disaster in Gaza under siege. Words fail to describe, but one number is telling: 99% of the area's children have been traumatized by their experiences with the international "punishment" of Gaza for its "aggressive" actions against Israel.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=PIL20070124&articleId=4580

1/23/07

Chairman of Israel's Holocaust Museum incites accusations of anti-Semitism with his remark that the behavior of some Hebron settlers toward Arabs was comparable to that of treatment of Jews by Nazis in Europe.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0122/p99s01-duts.html  

1/22/07

You read it here (actually in Global Research) first: a U.S. and/or Israeli strike against Iran awaits only a "Persian Gulf incident" as U.S. military forces have been massed in the Gulf, Israeli military is being re-inforced, and an illegal U.S. raid on Iranian offices in Iraq last week may have been designed to promote such "incident." Writer says that, if Iran itself doesn't take the bait, a "provocation" incident may be invented as happened in the Tonkin Gulf before escalation of U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. The powder keg is there, it just needs a match, and an Israeli-leaning Democratic Party is unlikely to throw any water on it.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=TRE20070121&articleId=4535 

1/15/07

Unrest in Somalia grows as weak interim government comes under attack from insurgents and must appeal to other African countries to help.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070115/1/45z9c.html

1/14/07

Court system in shambles in Somalia following the ousting of Islamic Movement and its courts, and new government responds to escalating criminal activity by declaring martial law for the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6258415.stm  

1/13/07

Oxfam confirms that 70 nomadic herdsmen in Somalia were killed by an American operation aimed against 3 suspected al-Qaeda terrorists. U.S. official confirms that none of the intended target were killed.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2149716.ece  

1/6/07

PA President Abbas declares that Hamas para-military units in Gaza are illegal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6237289.stm  

1/6/07

Israeli woman who went to West Bank and became an outspoken critic of Israeli assassination policy there is released after 30 months in jail.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0105-05.htm

1/3/07

Abduction of a Peruvian journalist in Gaza leads Palestinian security officials to suggest that foreigners should leave country for their own safety.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F8D77B8D-90FB-4051-8CC7-7C2BC7388F56.htm  

12/31/06

In Lebanon today, the conflict is not so much "sectarian" as it is a class-based uprising against the elitist government supported by the United States, and Hezbollah anchors its leadership of the protest movement in its honest devotion to popular welfare and its ability to form alliances across religious sectarian lines.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070108/bazzi  

12/29/06

Progressive Jewish group at Columbia U. sponsors talk by former Israeli soldier who describes the horrors of Palestinian occupation.  Pro-Zionist group on campus objects that such criticism of Israel should only happen within Israel itself and tries to get the progressive group banned from campus recognition.

http://mondoweiss.observer.com/2006/12/i-witness-the-israel-lobby-in-action.html  

12/27/06

Promise made, promise broken:  After Israeli assurance to U.S. that it would suspend further building of settlements in the West Bank, it announces that settlements will be built for the re-location of settlers displaced by the settlement removal from Gaza.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/world/middleeast/27mideast.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin   

12/24/06

A kiss, a handshake and a glimmer of hope: Israeli and Palestinian heads of state meet for the first time to try to re-start the "peace process" of two states with mutually-guaranteed security.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061223/wl_mideast_afp/mideastdiplomacyolmert  

12/23/06

No room in the hospital: pregnant woman in Bethlehem, trying to get to the hospital for delivery, is blocked by Israeli soldiers and has to give birth to twins in the back of a truck, one of whom died before they could get to hospital;  symbolizing the disruption of daily life for West Bank Palestinians.

http://news.independent.co.uk/appeals/indy_appeal/article2097790.ece

12/20/06

Worse than apartheid: Chris Hedges says the current squabble over Jimmy Carter's use of apartheid to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians is a diversion from the reality of a situation that is far worse than apartheid.  Actually Gaza, the West Bank and Arabs in Israel are being subjected to the same fate as are the Iraqis: the destruction of their very existence as vital human communities.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1219-23.htm

12/15/06

Go ahead and kill 'em but be careful:  Israeli high court approves military practice of targeted assassinations of individuals deemed to be terrorist enemies of the state, but must take care to prevent injury to civilian bystanders in the process; Israel claims this is already its policy but its practice has been otherwise.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400430.html?referrer=email  

12/14/06

Stockpiling in Israel: with bipartisan support, Congress has provided for the "stockpiling" of U.S. emergency military equipment in Israel to be used in regional emergencies, but Israel has access to its use in its own "emergencies" and in fact did so use it in the Lebanese invasion.  Now plans are to double the amount of this stockpiling.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3338927,00.html  

12/11/06

Six Gulf Arab states indicate interest in a cooperative venture for nuclear development for peaceful purposes in their countries; call for Iran to stop uranium enrichment and for Israel to curb its development of military uses of nuclear power.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121106L.shtml  

12/10/06

Jimmy Carter tells CBS television that the action of foreign governments of withholding aid from Palestine as punishment for their election of Hamas government was a "crime against the Palestinian people."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061209/pl_afp/canadausmideastaid_061209211827  

11/24/06

Robert Fisk on Gemayel funeral in Lebanon: things may not "be what they seem" in the country as Syria is being blamed again for an assassination and as Bush and Blair rush to "support" democracy and the Siniora government when they had sat and watched the vicious assault by Israel on that government.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15717.htm  

11/18/06

“We’re seeing an increasing fragmentation of the West Bank” says UN official as Israel is operating 542 checkpoints and traffic barriers that restrict movements for all residents and forbid those for men under 35 years of age.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/18/world/middleeast/18westbank.html?th&emc=th

11/14/06

World leaders, including Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu, issue report saying that solution of Palestinian-Israeli conflict is key to defusing the world-wide conflict between Muslims and the West.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/world/14clash.html?th&emc=th  

11/4/06

"Social explosion" is building in Gaza.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15926446.htm  

11/2/06

Massive protests of Pakistani Muslims vow jihad against Pakistan and the U.S., which many suspect of having been involved in missile strike that killed 80 in a Pakistani madrasa (religious school).

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1101-03.htm  

10/29/06

For Venezuela's December 2003 election, opposition forces have little hope of out-voting Chavez, but seem to be bent on "delegitimizing" the election a la Ukraine or Georgia. In this they are assisted in continuing clandestine NGO groups in cooperation with the American embassy.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=45&ItemID=11282

10/22/06

Between Israeli isolation of Gaza economically and the country's internal dissension between Hamas and Fatah, life has grown progressively worse for people in Gaza since Israeli ended its occupation.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/10/22/life_in_gaza_steadily_worsens/  

10/20/06

Commander of UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says force may have to be used to prevent continued forbidden Israel over-flights of the country.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19275977.htm

10/14/06

So what's the story?  U.S. media overblow the story of North Korea nuclear test and build up a false dichotomy of explanation (whether they were crazy or crafty) ignoring the self-defensive behavior of a threatened country; and they ignore the more important story of new data on Iraq casualties, which documents that U.S. forces are a major source of these, as they pursue their government-backing "story" that Iraqi violence is essentially inter-ethnic. (52,000 deaths were from aerial attacks; how many planes do Iraqi government or militias own?)

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1013-30.htm  

10/12/06

As the world looks elsewhere, Gaza is sliding into civil war as sanctions against Hamas-led government create violent rivalry with Fatah which was ousted in last January's elections.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101106S.shtml  

10/8/06

India suffers a double setback on the international stage: failure of the U.S. Senate (so far) to ratify the "deal" that would give India a "strategic partnership" with U.S. on nuclear development; and the rejection of its candidate for UN Secretary General.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100606F.shtml

10/7/06

Former heads of state from around the world (including Jimmy Carter and Mikhail Gorbachev) join in calling for a "comprehensive settlement" of Middle East conflict, a new version of Madrid Conference.

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=9813  

10/6/06

UN says that up to a million bomblets from unexploded cluster munitions fired by Israel at the end of the war may require a year to be cleaned out and that nearly 3 people per day are being killed by them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06cluster.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

10/4/06

Anti-settlement watchdog group in Israel says "wildcat" settlements in the West Bank were established while the government's attention was diverted to Lebanon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061003/wl_mideast_afp/mideastisrael

9/14/06

IDF commander says Israel fired 1.2 million cluster bombs into Lebanon to "compensate" for the inaccuracy of its rocket munitions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761910.html

9/12/06

Humanitarian crisis, largely ignored by the world, deepens in Gaza which continues to suffer economic and military seige by Israel.

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick09112006.html

9/9/06

Gaza is dying (and nobody is looking).

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick09082006.html  

9/7/06

Human Rights Watch, which condemned Israel's actions in Lebanon, bears the full brunt of an attack on themselves as "anti-Semites" by the pro-Israeli lobby which apparently prompted their executive director to retreat into unsubstantiated assertions that Israel and Hezbollah were both guilty of inflicting civilian casualties, but that Hezbollah did so deliberately, Israel out of failure to control the effects of their actions.

http://counterpunch.org/cook09072006.html  

9/2/06

Those Lebanese have a hard time understanding Israel.  Unnamed "senior official" of Bush administration, in noting that U.S. may give additional military aid to Israel to cover the costs of its Lebanese operations, says that:   "The people in Lebanon did not understand and that allowed Hizbullah to say Israel was punishing them... and that damaged Israel politically."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004711667  

9/1/06

First come the bombers, then come the lenders: as "donor conference" convenes in Stockholm, Lebanon is about to share the fate of Iraq and the Palestinian territories: reconstruction costs will add greatly to the country's foreign debt and will presage "structural adjustments" to deprive Lebanese people of amenities in order to be able to repay.

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/mekay.php?articleid=9637  

9/1/06

Former CIA analyst argues that war with Iran in the current nuclear crisis is not inevitable provided that there is a diplomatic solution in the context of attention to regional security, beginning with a recognition of the corrosive effects on that security of the "special" relationship of the U.S. and Israel.

http://counterpunch.org/macmichael08312006.html

8/30/06

Civil war a bit closer to home than Iraq?  In Mexico, apparent presidential election loser Lopez Obrador pledges to set up a "parallel government"  and much popular resistance is behind him.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14561650/

8/28/06

In the aftermath of the Lebanon war, the words of Syrian President Barshar al-Assad are, for better or for worse, literally true: "Every new Arab generation hates Israel more than the previous one."

http://counterpunch.org/avnery08262006.html    

8/25/06

As unexploded cluster munitions continue to take a toll of civilian lives in south Lebanon, U.S. State Department is quietly investigating whether Israel violated a secret agreement not to use such munitions against civilian targets that followed Israeli use of them in Lebanon in 1982.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt8_25_06_2.htm

8/25/06

New York Times editorial: U.S. doesn't need another round of questionable intelligence to justify aggressive action in the case of Iran's supposed nuclear technology danger; accusations by a House committee of intelligence agencies' "wimpy" failure to report the facts are encountered by the actual uncertainty of the situation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/25/opinion/25fri1.html?th&emc=th  

8/25/06

Jerusalem Post: sources in U.S. and Israeli government say U.S. unlikely to attack Iran over its impending nuclear development; Israel may feel it has no choice but to attack Iran.  Left unexplored is whether such an Israeli move would drag the U.S. into the conflict on the "support our ally" consensus in the country.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/jpost01.html

8/23/06

International relief agencies providing assistance to Lebanon are constrained by a U.S. law against furnishing assistance through Hezbollah, and they confront a situation in which Hezbollah is the de facto authority in southern Lebanon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/world/middleeast/23lebanon.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin  

8/23/06

Another casualty of the Lebanese war:  Israel suspends its plan to remove some settlements from the West Bank, citing the cost and energy needed to deal with the situation in Lebanon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082201088_pf.html  

8/23/06

Gilad Atzmon:  Resumption of hostilities in Lebanon is a matter of time, as Israel is desperate for a "victory" without which it can not hold the support of the United States and of world Zionism.

http://counterpunch.org/atzmon08222006.html  

8/22/06

Israeli soldier, part of a reservist's protest against the government's prosecution of the Lebanon war, says:  “In the end it was just a mess, and it all starts at the top.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/world/middleeast/22israel.html?th&emc=th

8/22/06

UN cease-fire resolution is sharply pro-Israeli in its emphasis on the symmetry of suffering between the two sides, and its definition of the "cause" of the conflict as Hezbollah kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

http://counterpunch.org/tilley08192006.html    

8/18/06

World Council of Churches delegation to Jerusalem and Beirut says Israel planned to destroy Lebanon before Hezbollah ever made its attack.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525888240&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

8/17/06

How can you avoid the contrast? While the U.S. was slow to start and quick to end its reconstruction of Iraq after its bombardment of the country, Hezbollah immediately assumes control of rebuilding Israeli-destroyed Lebanon, with a promised "unlimited budget" from oil-rich Iran;  starts paying out rent to displaced families.  So who is going to win Lebanese "hearts and minds?"  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/world/middleeast/16hezbollah.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

8/16/06

Condoleeza Rice says it isn't the "job" of the UN peacekeeping force to disarm Hezbollah which will either do so voluntarily or be branded by the world as a terrorist organization. Transcript of interview.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-15-rice-interview_x.htm

8/16/06

Will the Lebanese cease-fire last?  New York Times news analyst gives a response that is virtually the Israeli "line": it will last if the Lebanese people and their government blame Hezbollah for their country's destruction and disarm them, rather than allowing Hezbollah to remain the heroes of the "Arab street."  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15assess.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin  

8/15/06

Senator Aikin said during the Vietnam War that the way to end a war was to "declare victory and go home. " In Lebanon, as a shaky cease-fire has begun, both Hezbollah and Israel have declared victory;  will everyone soon "go home?"

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top10aug14,0,3949696.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines  

8/14/06

BBC update on world press reaction to cease-fire in Lebanon: most express skepticism of the intentions and motives of the other side.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4790219.stm

8/13/06

Uri Avnery totes up the points in the military contest between Israel and Hezbollah, and finds Hezbollah the clear winner after 31 days of combat.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14522.htm  

8/12/06

Peace-keeping update:  UN votes for 15,000 peace-keepers to help Lebanese government restrain Hezbollah violence; Kofi Anan says it will work only if fighting stops now

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-2309181,00.html

Beirut says Lebanon won't "disarm anyone," but confident that Hezbollah will "cede power" to the government.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060810-103543-5686r.htm

After vote on the resolution, which Israeli supports, the expanded ground operation continues, IDF says cease-fire will work better if Lebanese Army gets a more "cleaned" territory to control (cleaned of Hezbollah forces).

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749566.html  

8/12/06

AIPAC's characterization of the Valley of Bakka in Lebanon as a "legion of doom" because of its numerous terrorist groups is filled with a "legion" of distortions and exaggerations.

http://harpers.org/sb-aipac-point-1155233262.html

8/12/06

Anti-war movement in Israeli emerges from its recent reticence to criticize Lebanon operation as the Israel expands its ground operations.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0811-07.htm  

8/12/06

Why is the area called Shebba Farms such a source of contention between Israel and Lebanon? It's all about water. http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=9528  

8/12/06

Collateral damage: Lebanese woman, 8 months pregnant with 3 year old asthmatic son, is brought to south Florida to have baby and avoid the violence in Lebanon. Her son, when he hears sirens in U.S., screams "bombs, bombs!"  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15256095.htm

8/11/06

As Israel continues to insist that Lebanese Army get control of the country from Hezbollah, the IDF seizes a Lebanese army barracks and holds 350 of its soldiers

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2ADF6DBF-3D20-4496-8CD3-AB117746A3B2.htm

8/10/06

Now this is something new: U.S. actually criticizes Israeli plans for Lebanon: White House goes from "we can't dictate" Israeli policy to "we wish they wouldn't" (escalate the ground fighting as they are prepared to do.) Israel lobby, get ready to howl.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060809/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_mideast

8/9/06

Pro-Israeli watchdog group Committee for Accuracy of Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) castigates Washington Post writer Thomas Ricks for his statement on CNN that military sources told him that Israel left Hezbollah rockets intact so they could claim "moral equivalency" for their own attacks on Lebanon. (Video) http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=38&x_article=1174

8/9/06

Israel/Lebanon conflict becomes a "Florida" issue as flyer on "behalf" of campaign of Rod Smith for Governor criticizes congressman Jim Davis for missing "important" vote on support for Israel, as Davis supporters including Robert Wexler and Debbie Wasserman-Schulz denounce the flyer as an attempt to alienate Jewish votes for Davis in south Florida. Smith denies any such intention but says flyer is literally "true" because Davis did miss that vote. News report notes that the offending flyer was published by an "independent" group, Florida Working Families (FWF) described as funded by agricultural industries, including sugar companies. http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/LOCAL/208090340/1078/news

Actually the Center for Public Integrity characterizes FWF as "funded by the citrus industry and notes its recent contributions to conservative political organizations.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/527/profile-pf.aspx?act=dir&sub=1&cycle=2004&id=243

In trying to "assist" Smith, FWF may be recognizing his services to agri-business as chair of the Agriculture Committee of the Florida Senate. 
   

8/8/06

Jonathan Cook: a "shell game" being played at the UN as Israel will get the resolution it wants. Hezbollah will be given an offer it "can't accept" (disarmament while Israeli occupation continues) and their refusal will be used to justify further aggression against Lebanon and maybe Syria and Iran.

http://counterpunch.org/cook08072006.html 

8/8/06

George Galloway goes toe-to-toe with interviewer from Skye News on his stance in opposition to Israeli actions in Lebanon (video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-brkmfrxrQY

8/7/06

"We are untouchable."  An Arab News  political analyist so describes the Israeli attitude that, as they are Holocaust victims, they are entitled to and in fact get full U.S. support for whatever "self-defensive" actions they may choose to take and make accusations of "anti-Semitism" against any who challenge this attitude.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=75752  

8/6/06

Sticking point on negotiating a cease-fire in Lebanon. U.S. envoy proposes Israeli forces should stay in Lebanon until international peace-keeping force arrives. Lebanon insists that Israel withdraw across the border as Lebanon moves into southern area and is later re-inforced internationally.  http://www.news.com.au/sundayheraldsun/story/0,21985,20035234-5005961,00.html

8/6/06

Political science professor Virginia Tilley calls for boycott of Israel aimed at changing its aggressive policies in the Middle East. 

http://counterpunch.org/tilley08052006.html

8/5/06

History repeats itself and quickly as Israel public feeling about its war in Lebanon recapitulates that of the U.S. in Iraq: after initial unanimity behind the IDF operation, public opinion, especially that of intellectuals, starts to "fray" as people are shocked at the Hezbollah resistance and distrustful of the Generals who made and continue to make optimistic appraisals of "finishing" the job if they are given their head.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401763_pf.html

8/4/06

Don't expect much sympathy for Lebanese civilians from General Dan Halutz, now in charge of Israel's war in Lebanon.  Asked how he felt about dropping 1000 pound bombs on Gaza civilians, Halutz said he "felt a little tremor in the wing of the plane."

http://counterpunch.org/cockburn08032006.html

8/3/06

After three weeks of heavy fighting, Israel seems to be reframing its intentions in Lebanon: originally it wanted to disarm Hezbollah, now it hopes to send a "message" to Hezbollah that any aggressions against Israel will result in an overwhelming Israeli response.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03israel.html?th&emc=th

8/3/06

Article in Salon claims that America's spy agency NSA, is offering Israel intelligence information about transfer of arms from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah.  http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/US_supplying_Israel_with_NSA_signals_0803.html

8/3/06

Israeli PM Olmert:  "Every time we kill a civilian we consider it as a failure and we are very sorry for it." 460 failures and counting.   http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?apage=1&cid=1153292059401&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

8/3/06

Spokeswoman for Israeli Defense Forces tries to justify bombing of Qana under very critical questioning by a CNN reporter in this 4-minute video.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14310.htm

8/2/06

Lebanese Minister of Justice asks Prime Minister to institute war crimes case against Israel in International Criminal Court (The Hague):

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284627,00.html

8/2/06

One-sidedness of western media coverage of Lebanese conflict is shown in the very different attitudes displayed in covering the destruction of the UN building in Beirut and the massacre of civilians in Qana.  http://counterpunch.org/cook07312006.html

8/2/06

Before the assault on Qana, Israel had ordered all southern Lebanese (except men of military age) to leave, those remaining would be treated as "supporters of Hezbollah."  Dahr Jamail goes to a hospital to meet some of those "supporters" like young children and babies with their limbs blown off. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/073106A.shtml

8/2/06

Israeli Foreign Minister says public reaction to civilian casualities in Qana produced a "turning point" in international condemnation of Israel's operation in Lebanon.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/745185.html

8/1/06

Israeli General throws a blanket of mystery over the deaths of civilians at Qana, Lebanon, noting a gap of about 7 hours between the first air strike on the house and the collapse that killed those huddled in the basement.  It's possible that we will never know what exactly happened there."  Haven't we heard this before (think JFK assassination): "we'll never know, so just shut up about it!"?
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744426.html

7/31/06

Night of death and terror in Qana, Lebanon: many members of two families killed in Israeli air strikes.  Israel apologizes, says civilians had been warned to leave; but leaving could cost $1,000 for a taxi ride and subject leavers to terror on the road.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/world/middleeast/31scene.html?th&emc=th  Video:  http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/world/20060731_MIDEAST_FEATURE/blocker.html?th&emc=th
 

7/29/06

Israeli policy in Lebanon makes men of military age hominus sacres (people without rights). Having ordered civilians to leave southern Lebanon but refusing to allow men to leave, they are re-defined as being Hezbollah and subject to destruction because they "remain in Lebanon." 

http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/criminalizing-civilians-patrick.html

7/28/06

We're "spreading democracy" in the Middle East. In Gaza where it all started with the capture of an Israel soldier, Palestinians reflect on the sanctions instituted against the country after this year's election of Hamas. It thus joins Lebanon as "democracies" treated as threats by Israel and U.S.  http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5505

7/28/06

As American bombs head to Israel to help against with operations against Hezbollah, a flap erupts in Britain over the fact that British law was apparently violated when the cargo planes carrying the munitions re-fuelled in Scotland

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1199343.ece

7/28/06

On the street and even among the leaders of U.S. Arab "client states" like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Arab sympathies are turning decisively toward Hezbollah as leaders call for cease-fire.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28arabs.html?th&emc=th l

7/27/06

While Israel insists bombing of a UN observation post in Lebanon was accidental, UN observers say they called Israeli military 10 times to ask them not to hit their location.  One of those killed in the attack was a Canadian, and Canadian Prime Minister "deplores" but doesn't think the attack was deliberate.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/07/26/1703651-ap.html 

7/27/06

Al Qaida declared "holy war" on Israel in reaction to Lebanon.

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/al-qaida-calls-for-holy-war-against/20060727062909990014?ncid=NWS00010000000001

7/26/06

Didn't work in '82, so let's do it in '06: Israel occupies southern Lebanon, creating a "security zone" until peacekeepers arrive or Hezbollah is crushed.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/15119386.htm  

7/26/06

Israel's PM is outraged at Kofi Annan's statement that the air strike that killed 4 UN observers was "deliberate."  He says it was a "mistake" but that Israel will "thoroughly" investigate, even though he has already announced the conclusion.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/9575650/detail.html

7/25/06

Remembering the U.S. humiliation the last time it engaged Hezbollah in 1982, world's countries are reluctant to commit troops to any "peace-keeping" force in Lebanon

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt7_25_06_2.htm  

7/24/06

Israelis "warn" residents of Tyre, Lebanon, to evacuate their homes, then attack and kill people in convoys as they are leaving.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-2282992,00.html

7/18/06

Indian intelligence officials claim that British businessmen, operating through "bogus" charities, are helping to fund Kashmiri militants, suspects in recent train bombings in Bombay; India's foreign minister "takes up" the issue with British officials at the G-8 summit.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-2273287,00.html
   

7/17/06

Robert Fisk continues his reports from his home in Lebanon, describing with "fury" the destruction of "terror targets" all over the country, including some basic Lebanese landmarks.   http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14000.htm  

7/17/06

U.S. "diplomacy" and the Lebanon crisis: Condoleezza Rice says Israel may have to "prolong" war to disarm Hezbollah; asked if she might do "shuttle diplomacy" Kissinger-style, she says "I'm thinking about it." While Rice thinks, Beirut burns.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/nyt316.html

7/17/06

Air war becoming a ground war as Israeli troops invade a Hezbollah base in Lebanon before returning to their Israeli base. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13897540/

7/16/06

Gainesville SUN runs news analysis article from McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) Newspapers with title: "U.S. has little leverage to deal with global crises."  http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060716/WIRE/207160350/1117/news   Editor of SSA begs to differ: we have plenty of "leverage" (like withdrawing military support for Israel) if we had the political will to use it. 

http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog.php  

7/16/06

As Israeli aircraft help destroy Beirut airport and the rest of the world condemns Israel for force "disproportionate" to the provocation, Pentagon announces plan to sell $280 million in jet aircraft fuel to "help maintain peace and security in the area."  Will Congress disapprove? Don't bet on it.  http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/US-plans-A280m-jet-fuel-sale-to-Israel/2006/07/15/1152637904368.html  

7/15/06

Palestinians protest Israeli restrictions on entry of some people with American passports by holding an "engagement ceremony" at the separation wall between an an American born Palestinian from Gaza and a West Bank resident.  Guests and Israeli soldiers exchange the throwing of stones and grenades. 

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/19341/1/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20037&Itemid=1

7/14/06

U.S. stands alone in defending Israel's "right to defend itself" through its invasions of Gaza and Lebanon; vetoes UN resolution condemning Israel's action; first State Department official arrives in Israel since Secretary Rice went there last November

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13848003/  

7/3/06

Israeli PM tells subordinates he will make life "miserable" for Gaza residents until Israeli soldier is released.  Invasion of Gaza impends, as Israel is impatient with the results of "diplomacy," which include bombing of power stations, bridges and Palestinian government offices, the arrest of government officials and the threatened assassination of their leader. Why won't they listen to "reason?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/world/middleeast/03mideast.html?th&emc=th

7/2/06

Israel threatens to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister unless abducted Israeli soldier is released

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060701-012644-5670r

6/30/06

Israeli breaks it, America fixes it: Israeli raid on Gaza knocks out power plant furnishing power to 2/3 of Gaza's residents.  The plant was recently constructed and is insured by a U.S. government agency. It's your money.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0629-07.htm

6/30/06

In an effort to prevent Palestinians from transferring captive Israeli soldier out of Gaza, Israelis are bombing bridges and closing access roads into and out of Gaza. http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=106266

6/29/06

Regime change Israeli style: in carrying out operations to rescue an abducted soldier, military forces arrest Deputy Prime Minister, 8 cabinet members and 20 Palestian lawmakers and airplanes "buzz" the home of a Palestine-sympathetic President of Syria.  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/world/middleeast/29mideast.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin  

6/14/06

U.S. "battle damage expert," citing nature of shrapnel found at the scene, refutes Israeli government claim that the explosion that killed civilians on a Gaza beach was not the result of shelling from Israeli forces.http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article994070.ece

6/10/06

Israeli shelling of a Gaza beach which killed 7 Palestinians and which Israel said was a 400-yard "error" leads Hamas to declare end to 16 month suicide bomb truce, vowing "earthquake for Zionist cities."  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/world/middleeast/10mideast.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

4/4/06

Eyewitness says Palestinian leader was shot "execution style" by Israeli military: http://www.imemc.org/content/view/17772/1/  

3/28/06

As U.S. pulls back from diplomatic involvement in South Pacific, China moves in:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HC29Ad01.html  

3/22/06

In the "failed state" of Haiti, UN and other "helpers' are actually helping the Haitian elites to maintain their dominance over impoverished peasants: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=9958

3/15/06

Rice demonstrates selectivity of U.S. outrage about human rights abuses in other countries: in Indonesia, calls the country a "model of tolerance" (like East Timor never happened):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031400817.html?referrer=email

3/10/06

In West Papua, western powers carve up economic exploitation of the country  while Indonesian government continues UN-cited atrocities against East Timorese people:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12268.htm

2/23/06

Muslim/Coptic Christian tension erupts in Egypt:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022202437.html?referrer=email  

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