Stooges of the Empire Unite!

Abbas Visits Iraq's Kurdish Region

Al-Manar

"......."We did not need any invitation to visit this brotherly nation and we have felt for a long time that the doors were always open to us without even needing to make an appointment," Abbas said at a joint news conference.

"The honorable president Barzani was not even told of our visit until 24 hours beforehand and he said 'Ahlan wa Sahlan,'" Abbas said, using the common Arabic form of greeting.

Barzani for his part praised Abbas for being the first "president" to visit the autonomous region in northern Iraq. "We are used to our Palestinian brothers always being in the forefront of aiding our people in the past and present," he said.

"This visit will cement the relationship between our two peoples with their similar suffering. Just as he is the first president to visit the region we expect and we hope that the Palestinian consulate will be the first consulate to open in Arbil." "

Noam Chomsky on the Global Economic Crisis, Healthcare, US Foreign Policy and Resistance to American Empire

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Part II of our conversation with MIT professor and author Noam Chomsky on the global economic crisis, healthcare, the media, US foreign policy, the expanding wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, resistance to American empire, and more.

“As far as policy is concerned, unless [Obama] is under a lot of pressure from activist sectors, he’s not going to go beyond what he’s presented himself as in actual policy statements or cabinet choices and so on: a centrist Democrat who’s going to basically continue Bush’s polices in a more modulated way,” says Chomsky......"

What is Good for GM is Good for America! GM Told to Prep for Bankruptcy Filing: Report

Reuters

"WASHINGTON, April 12 - The U.S. Treasury Department is directing General Motors to lay the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing by June 1, even though the automaker has publicly stated it could reorganize outside of court, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

GM is operating under emergency U.S. government loans. It has been told by the Obama administration's task force overseeing its bailout that it must cut costs and reduce its debts in order to continue to receive aid......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Egypt-Hezbollah relations strained - 12 Apr 09

Part 1:



Part 2:



"Relations between Egypt and Hezbollah have deteriorated, after the arrest of 49 people supposedly linked to the Lebanese group. Are Hezbollah's sights really set on Egypt? Was the group sent to help Palestinians in Gaza? Or is this all political brinkmanship?...."

Abbas phones Netanyahu, wishes him a happy Pesach holiday

"On Sunday Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, telphoned the new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to wish him a happy Pesach Jewish holiday. This is the first conversation between the two leaders since Netanyahu came to power.

The office of Netanyahu said that the atmosphere of the call “was friendly” and that Netanyahu said that he would like to renew the Palestinian-Israeli coordination to advance the peace process.

Also, Israeli sources said that security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel is ongoing and has led to “positive results”.

The sources added that the Palestinian Preventive Security forces informed the Israeli Shabak on Thursday that they had discovered an underground workshop for manufacturing explosives in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia. Four Hamas members were detained and Israeli sappers were called to the scene to dismantle explosive devices found in the workshop. The sappers also found materials used for manufacturing explosives......."

Torture of Detainees under CIA Custody: Damning Exposé of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, April 13, 2009

"......Conclusion

The above 14 prisoners:

-- "were subjected to (numerous transfers to) unknown locations and continuous solitary confinement and incommunicado detention throughout" their entire captivity;

-- they were force disappeared and deprived of their liberty and rights "in contravention of international law;"

-- "they were subjected to systematic physical and/or psychological" torture and mistreatment;

-- they endured "severe physical and mental pain and suffering" as well as loss of their human dignity; and

-- participation of medical personnel in their treatment "constituted a gross breach of medical ethics" and lawlessness.

"In light of the above, the ICRC remains gravely concerned (for) the fate of" other CIA detainees, "who remain unaccounted for." It also worries that Washington intends to continue its current practices, in secret, with no accountability, or respect for the law......."

Barghouthi: Israeli decision to exile female ex-detainee to Gaza is a war crime

"RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, a Palestinian lawmaker and the secretary-general of the national initiative, deplored the Israeli occupation authority for banishing ex-detainee Shireen Khalil to the Gaza Strip after she served a six-year sentence in Israeli jails, saying that international law condemns such measure as a war crime.

Dr. Barghouthi said that the policy of banishment that is pursued by Israel is a coercive and illegal measure and constitutes a flagrant violation of the fourth Geneva convention which classifies deportation or transfer as a war crime whether it happens individually or collectively and bans the transfer of protected persons to occupied or unoccupied lands........"

Israel’s Racist in Chief

By Chris Hedges

"It was unthinkable, when I was based as a correspondent in Jerusalem two decades ago, that an Israeli politician who openly advocated ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from Israeli-controlled territory, as well as forcing Arabs in Israel to take loyalty oaths or be forcibly relocated to the West Bank, could sit on the Cabinet......

Israel has changed. And the racist virus spread by Kahane, whose thugs were charged with the murders and beatings of dozens of unarmed Palestinians and whose members held rallies in Jerusalem where they chanted “Death to Arabs!” has returned to Israel in the figure of Israel’s powerful new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman openly calls for an araberrein Israel—an Israel free of Arabs........

The public embrace by a senior Israeli official of a policy of ethnic cleansing, however, is ominous. It signals a further evolution of the Israeli state from one that at least paid lip service to equality to one that increasingly resembles the former apartheid regime in South Africa. Racism, once practiced in private and condemned in public, has become to many Israelis acceptable. "

Hamas, PFLP Say Hezbollah Deserves Appreciation Not Denunciation

Al-Manar

"13/04/2009 Following the Egyptian accusations and claims against the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and Hezbollah, Hamas has expressed its regret for the media and political campaign launched by some mass media against the two resistance movements, accusing them of smuggling the arms into the Gaza Strip, in addition to other western accusations.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Hamas expressed its solidarity with the brothers in Hezbollah in their confrontation for this severe campaign targeting them. The Palestinian movement stressed that supporting the Palestinian people and its resistance is a duty for every Arab, Muslim and free man and it is an object of gratefulness and appreciation rather than of denunciation and accusation......"

حتى يحترمنا اوباما وغيره

حتى يحترمنا اوباما وغيره


عبد الباري عطوان

".......
الرئيس اوباما لا يحترم العرب، ولا نريد ان نقول انه يحتقرهم، والا لماذا اختار ان تكون اول محطة له في المنطقة هي انقرة لكي يخاطب من على منبر برلمانها العالم الاسلامي بأسره، عارضاً غصن زيتون ومتحدثاً عن المصالح المشتركة والاحترام المتبادل، ومكرراً عروضه للتفاوض مع الحكومة الايرانية؟ فلو كانت مشاعره عكس ذلك لذهب اليهم، والتقى قادتهم، واستمع مباشرة الى وجهات نظرهم.
فكيف يصدق اوباما العرب، ويثق بمواقفهم تجاه حكومة نتنياهو وتطرفها، وهو يرى ان اكبر دولة عربية 'مصر' تغازله علناً، وتوجه اليه دعوة للالتقاء برئيسها في منتجع شرم الشيخ، بينما يسارع الرئيس محمود عباس للاتصال به مهنئاً، وعارضاً الانخراط في مفاوضات مباشرة
......
وجهة النظر هذه، التي تعكس اصراراً على العجز المقصود، سمعناها اكثر من مرة في السابق، لتبرير الاستمرار في نهج سياسي عقيم مفلس، يرفض مجرد التفكير في البدائل الفاعلة والمؤثرة، كان آخرها اثناء القمة العربية الاخيرة في الدوحة، عندما اكد بيانها الختامي على التمسك بمبادرة السلام العربية، مع اشارة خجولة الى انها لن تظل موضوعة على الطاولة الى الأبد.
مبادرة السلام هذه تعفنت، ومن ثم تحللت، وفاحت رائحتها الكريهة التي تزكم انوف اكثر من ثلاثمائة مليون مواطن عربي، باستثناء الحكام العرب ووزراء خارجيتهم، بعد بقائها على الطاولة لأكثر من ست سنوات ومحاولة احيائها وشرحها عدة مرات، بما في ذلك نشر اعلانات مدفوعة، وبمبالغ طائلة، بكل لغات الارض، والعبرية على وجه الخصوص، وجاءت النتيجة معاكسة تماماً من خلال تحول الرأي العام الاسرائيلي الى يمين اليمين في الانتخابات البرلمانية الأخيرة
......"

You are being lied to about pirates

By Johann Hari
The Independent

"......The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail – but who is the robber?"

Christian housing faces Israeli encirclement

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank, April 11 (Reuters) - Residents of a Palestinian Christian housing project in the West Bank village of Beit Sahour say Israel is encircling their community with a security road to separate them from a nearby Jewish settlement.

"With this situation they will put us in a cage, a zoo," said William Sahouri, 42, a resident and member of the project's housing committee. "We will not be able to expand."

The project lies close to Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, where the Greek Orthodox Sahouri family live in a modern three-bedroom home, with two flat-screen televisions and a small bar displaying a collection of whiskies and other liquors.

While their Jewish neighbours celebrate Passover this week, they are fasting for Lent ahead of Orthodox Easter, and their house is overflowing with the delicious aroma of lentil soup....

..."Here you are born in Beit Sahour, live in Beit Sahour, die in Beit Sahour," he said. "We don't have the mentality to sell the house, or sell the land."

New Fallujah video game infuriates some military families

A Raleigh company that plans to release a video game about one of the Iraq war's bloodiest battles is running into a buzzsaw of criticism.

The game, "Six Days in Fallujah," is being made with the help of Marines who fought in the battle, and its defenders say it provides a history lesson about what Atomic president Peter Tamte has described as “the largest urban military assault in about half a century.”

But it has hit a nerve because U.S. soldiers are still dying in Iraq — on Friday, five soldiers were killed in the deadliest attack in a year. The controversy raises questions about the line that divides art and entertainment; books and movies about the Iraq war haven't aroused similar protests.[Comment: What distresses the white man is his soldiers dying, the death of sand niggers is irrlevant]

The battle made November 2004 the most fatal of the Iraq war for U.S. troops. An unknown number of civilians died. .[Comment: Arabs don't count]

The Arab Dictator!

By Emad Hajjaj

Egypt joins Israel in anti-Hezbollah campaign

Press TV

"Egypt is mulling over building a case against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in line with an Israeli campaign launched against the movement.

Egyptian lawmakers and legal experts have called for an arrest warrant for the Lebanese movement's leader, accusing him of "encouraging terror activities in an attempt to destabilize the [Egyptian] state," the Saudi-based Al Arabiya television network reported Sunday.

The parliamentarians called to include Nasrallah's case in the indictment expected to be served against 49 people arrested in Egypt several days ago over suspicion of "arms smuggling" into the country.

The announcement came hours after Israel threatened to assassinate the Hezbollah leader who has been a "marked man since the Lebanon war" in the summer of 2006.

Israel which failed to achieve its goals to destroy the resistance group during the 33-day war in southern Lebanon, has long been threatening the movement on a regular basis......."

The "Peace Process" is Dead! Long Live the "Peace Process!!"

ملك الأردن يدعو لتعجيل التفاوض مع إسرائيل

"التقى ملك الأردن عبد الله الثاني اليوم السبت في عمان لجنة متابعة المبادرة العربية، مؤكدا "ضرورة التحرك الفوري لإطلاق مفاوضات جادة لحل الصراع الفلسطيني الإسرائيلي على أساس حل الدولتين وفي إطار جهود تحقيق السلام الشامل".

وجاء في بيان صادر عن الديوان الملكي الأردني عقب اللقاء أن الملك شدد "على أهمية عامل الوقت في إطلاق المفاوضات التي يجب أن تستند إلى خطة تحرك واضحة للوصول إلى حل الدولتين وتحقيق السلام الشامل الذي يعيد جميع الحقوق العربية ويضمن قيام الدولة الفلسطينية المستقلة على التراب الوطني الفلسطيني".


كما شدد على أن "بلورة موقف عربي موحد والتحدث بلغة واحدة مع المجتمع الدولي وخصوصا الولايات المتحدة يشكلان عاملا أساسيا في خدمة المصلحة العربية المتمثلة في التوصل إلى السلام الشامل المبني على المبادئ التي أعاد العرب إقرارها في قمة الدوحة الشهر الماضي".
...."

Killer Coke, by Carlos Latuff

Artist's Comments

Coca Cola: kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders in Colombia.

Protests spread in Thai capital amid reports of tanks being seized by demonstrators.

The Arab people are too cowed and cowardly to attempt anything similar; they prefer to watch TV instead.

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

This brand new poll asks:

Do you support keeping the Arab peace initiative with Israel on the negotiating table?

With over 800 responding so far, 93% said no.

NOTE: Early results in these polls tend to be the correct results, since the early sample is truly random. Arab regimes when they do not like the results of a certain poll, intervene heavily to change the results, en masse, in their favor.

A case in point is the previous poll which asked, "Do you believe the charges of the Egyptian government against Hizbullah?"

With the first 2,000 responding, 79% said no. When the Egyptian government got wind of the poll and ordered its functionaries to vote yes, the result went the other way. In a matter of two days, a massive number of "votes" were cast as "yes." From the initial 79% no, the final result (with about 55,000 "votes" cast!) was 48% no.

So there you have it with Arab democracy.

The Zionist Mantra: Kill, Kill, Kill,.....

Israeli Minister Says Sayyed Nasrallah “Deserves to Die”

Al-Manar

"12/04/2009 An Israeli cabinet minister said on Sunday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah deserved to die. "(Sayyed) Nasrallah deserves death and I hope that those who know what to do with him will act and give him what he deserves," said Israeli occupation Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, who is close to hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.....

Katz also told army radio that the "rules of the game must change" in regard to Hamas, which like Hezbollah enjoys the backing of Iran and Syria. "We will soon set out a new policy. We should erect a wall between the Gaza Strip and Israel and we should no longer exercise the slightest responsibility for civil affairs in the Gaza Strip, such as allowing the passage of merchandise."

"All responsibility for civil affairs must be exercised by Egypt," which controlled Gaza before Israel captured the tiny territory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he said."