UNESCO approves Palestinian membership bid

UN cultural body admits Palestine as full member despite US threat to cut off tens of millions of dollars in funding

Al-Jazeera

"The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) voted on Monday to admit Palestine as a member, a move which will likely cause the US government to cut off tens of millions of dollars in annual funding.

The Palestinian bid received 107 "yes" votes during a UNESCO meeting in Paris, with 14 countries voting against and 52 abstaining, enough to satisfy a two-thirds majority of those countries present and voting.

The decision grants full membership to Palestine, which allows them to register certain sites, like the Church of the Nativity, in UNESCO's World Heritage register.....

Israel, not surprisingly, voted against the measure, as did the United States, Canada and several European countries, including Germany. The United Kingdom abstained, while France voted in favour...."

Real News Video: Moroccans Call for the Ouster of King Mohammed VI

Firoze Manji: African countries "untouched" by Arab Spring emerge after 30 years of declining income and privatization policies

Argentina: Why President Fernandez Wins and Obama Loses

By James Petras

"....The US under Bush-Obama has pursued a totally perverse and divergent path to that of Kirchner-Fernandez. They have prioritized military spending and expanded the security apparatus over the productive economy. Obama and Congress have vastly increased the police state apparatus, reinforced their political influence over regressive budgetary policies while increasingly violating human and civil rights. In contrast Kirchner/Fernandez have prosecuted dozens of human rights violators in the military and police and weakened the military’s political power.

In other words the Argentine Presidents have weakened the militarist pressure bloc which demands greater arms and security expenditures. They created a state more accommodative to their political project of financing economic competitiveness, new markets and social programs. Bush-Obama revived the parasitical financial sector further unbalancing the economy. Kirchner/Fernandez ensured that the banking sector financed the growth of the export sector, manufactures and domestic consumption. Obama slashes social consumption to pay creditors. Kirchner-Fernandez imposed a 75% “haircut” on bondholders in order to finance social spending.
Kirchner-Fernandez have won three presidential elections, each by a larger margin. Obama may be a one-term president, even with the billion dollar campaign funding from Wall Street, the military industrial complex and the pro-Israel power configuration.

The popular opposition to Obama, especially the “Occupy Wall Street movement” has a long way to go to emulate the success of the Argentine movements that rousted incumbent presidents, blocked highways paralyzing production and circulation and imposed a social agenda that prioritized production over finance, social consumption over military expenditures. The “Occupy Wall Street Movement” has taken a first step toward mobilizing millions of active participants necessary to creating the social muscle that turned Argentina from a US style client state into a dynamic independent welfare state."

A Master Class in Occupation

By Chris Hedges
Posted on Oct 31, 2011

"....The Occupy movement is constantly evolving as it finds what works and discards what does not. At any point in the day, knots of impassioned protesters can be found in discussions that involve self-criticism and self-reflection. This makes the movement radically different from liberal reformist movements that work within the confines of established systems of corporate power, something Marx understood very well. It means that the movement’s war of attrition will be long and difficult, that it will face reverses and setbacks, but will, if successful, ultimately tear down the decayed edifices of the corporate state.

Marx wrote: “Bourgeois revolutions, like those of the eighteenth century, storm more swiftly from success to success, their dramatic effects outdo each other, men and things seem set in sparkling diamonds, ecstasy is the order of the day—but they are short-lived, soon they have reached their zenith, and a long Katzenjammer [hangover] takes hold of society before it learns to assimilate the results of its storm-and-stress period soberly. On the other hand, proletarian revolutions, like those of the nineteenth century, constantly criticize themselves, constantly interrupt themselves in their own course, return to the apparently accomplished, in order to begin anew; they deride with cruel thoroughness the half-measures, weaknesses, and paltriness of their first attempts, seem to throw down their opponents only so the latter may draw new strength from the earth and rise before them again more gigantic than ever, recoil constantly from the indefinite colossalness of their own goals—until a situation is created which makes all turning back impossible, and the conditions themselves call out: ‘Hier ist die Rose, hier tanze’ [Here is the rose, here the dance].” "

Fury on social media over blogger's detention

Al-Masry Al-Youm

"Egyptian social media buzzed with anger on Sunday after military prosecutors ordered that Alaa Abd El Fattah, a prominent blogger, be held in detention for 15 days on charges of inciting violence against the military.

Two presidential hopefuls condemned the military prosecutors' decision. Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, a reformist former member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a presidential hopeful, said on his Twitter account that the detention of Abd El Fattah “is a major setback for the Egyptian revolution.”

Nasserist presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabahi also expressed his anger over the decision. “I strongly condemn trying political activists and commentators before military trials. SCAF [the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces] must commit to their promise not to refer civilians to military courts.”

On Sunday, Abd El Fattah and Bahaa Saber, another revolutionary activist and blogger, appeared before military prosecutors, where they were accused of inciting violence against the armed forces and assaulting military personnel during the clashes between the army and protesters in Cairo on 9 October that left 28 dead.

Saber was released on bail pending investigations....

Hani Shukrallah, a journalist, tweeted a call for an international solidarity campaign with Alaa, urging some Egyptian officials such as Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazy, Minister of Social Solidarity Gouda Abdel Khaleq, and Minister of Finance and Deputy PM Hazem al-Beblawy, to resign in objection to the measures against Abd El Fattah....."

Back to Uzbekistan

America and the Axis of Thieves

by Justin Raimondo, October 31, 2011

"Herman Cain may not know or care who is the president of Uzbeki-beki-stan-stan, but the US government surely does. With the supply route to occupied Afghanistan via Pakistan increasingly problematic, the Americans are turning to what US officials have dubbed the “Northern distribution network” (NDN) to ensure the viability of their Central Asian outpost of empire. The key link in that network is Islam Karimov, the absolute ruler of the former Soviet republic, and a killer whose human rights record is on a par with Tamerlane’s – the Mongol conqueror whom Colin Wilson rightly called “the most spectacular sadist in world history.”

From his capital in Samarkand, in present day Uzbekistan, Tamerlane’s armies cut a path of death and destruction unrivaled in its murderous ferocity: when he took Zirih, in Turkey, he ordered 5,000 prisoners rounded up and decapitated, their heads tossed on a huge pyramidal pile in the town square. In Karimov’s Uzbekistan, however, where Tamerlane has undergone a rehabilitation, he is hailed by the government as a hero and an inspirer of national pride. In words inscribed on the walls of the Tashkent museum, Karimov extols the notorious mass murderer....

If somebody wants to understand who – and what – Karimov is, then they need only look at a record that rivals Tamerlane’s in the style of his savagery: repression on a vast scale, the murder and jailing of political opponents – there is documented evidence that prisoners have been boiled alive – climaxed by the slaughter of thousands of unarmed protesters in Andijan, in 2005, when Uzbek troops fired into a crowd....

On a recent trip to Uzbekistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited an auto factory where she sang the praises of the “partnership” between the state-owned Uzbek auto company and General Motors...."

NATO settles down in Libya

By M K Bhadrakumar
Asia Times

"....Thus, what we may expect in Libya is that technically, NATO operations cease on October 31, but nothing actually changes on the ground. The mission will be labeled as some sort of mission of the Friends of Libya coalition. (In any case, the NATO mission in Libya itself is a novel experience, being a "coalition of the willing" among member-countries.)

Behind-the-scenes parleys are going on to put together a band of countries, including the US, which will continue with the NATO mission under a new rubric. It could well be that the flag-carrier of the coalition may be a little, non-controversial fellow like Qatar, which is neither a Western country nor a NATO power nor a big power and doesn't evoke strong feelings on the political or ideological spectrum.

From the Western viewpoint, what matters is that Qatar is a Muslim Arab country, whose regime has a strong congruence of interests with the West in fashioning the transition in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East, and is willing to continue to generously bankroll the transition in Tripoli.

Looking back, what has been unfolding in Libya is of deep significance for the international system. There was nothing that Russia or China or the BRICS or the IBSA or the world community as a whole (minus the Friends of Libya) could do in what is often called the "multi-polar world" to arrest NATO in its tracks in Libya. A strong precedent has been created....."

Patrick Cockburn: The Army won't face the truth about Afghanistan and Iraq

World View: Both British campaigns were ill-conceived and poorly executed: military defeats dressed up as victory. And much of the blame lies with the generals

By Patrick Cockburn
Sunday 30 October 2011

".....A major source of weakness was that the most important reason for the British to deploy the Army in both these wars was to demonstrate to Washington that Britain remained its most important ally. Everything else, including operational success, was secondary to this aim. Both Tony Blair and David Cameron have maintained a pretence that Britain is fighting to maintain in power a democratic Afghan government. The reality is that the representatives of this government are often warlords engaged in extortion, corruption and kidnapping. Afghan police are notorious for stealing money, consuming drugs and raping young men and women passing through their checkpoints.

Four years after the British arrived in Sangin, a local farmer was quoted as saying "the Taliban do not even have a bakery that they can give bread, but still most people support the Taliban – that's because people are sick of night raids and being treated badly by the foreigners"."

Libya: Militias Terrorizing Residents of ‘Loyalist’ Town

Beatings, Shootings, Deaths in Detention of Tawerghans

October 30, 2011

"(New York) – Militias from the city of Misrata are terrorizing the displaced residents of the nearby town of Tawergha, accusing them of having committed atrocities with Gaddafi forces in Misrata, Human Rights Watch said today. The entire town of 30,000 people is abandoned – some of it ransacked and burned – and Misrata brigade commanders say the residents of Tawergha should never return.

Human Rights Watch interviewed dozens of Tawerghans across the country, including 26 people in detention in and around Misrata and 35 displaced people staying in Tripoli, Heisha, and Hun. They gave credible accounts of some Misrata militias shooting unarmed Tawerghans, and of arbitrary arrests and beatings of Tawerghan detainees, in a few cases leading to death....."

Will the Second Phase of Palestinian Prisoner Release Take Place?

Comment by Tony Sayegh

The short answer is no.

From the beginning, I was scratching my head and wondering why did Hamas accept such a phased release? Why over 500 Palestinian prisoners (who would be selected by Israel, and not specified by Hamas) would have to wait two months to be freed? And what incentive would Israel still have to release them after Hamas loses the only leverage it had which was the IOF prisoner of war it had?

Now we see at work how and why Israel will renege on the deal.

By attacking the fighters of Islamic Jihad and killing 9 of them in Gaza, Israel is putting in motion a process that will cancel that second half of the deal. Hamas is now in a fix: it wants to maintain the "calm" so that the second half of the deal would take place, but it is being upstaged by the response of Islamic Jihad which fired missiles that killed at least one Israeli.

The war criminal Netanyahu would not grant Hamas its wish of restoring the "calm" and has launched new aerial attacks on Gaza. He is even threatening a full-scale invasion of Gaza.

Under such conditions, kiss the second half of the deal goodbye, Hamas. This was a stupid mistake to trust in the "good will" of the Israelis and to take their word.

The only thing that would free more Palestinian prisoners is another Shalit.

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

Do you agree with Bashar Assad that the protests in Syria represent struggle between Islamism and Arab Nationalism?

With over 2,000 responding, 86% said no.

COMMENT

That is a stupid statement by the bloody Rabbit! Does he think that someone like Azmi Bishara, who is a prominent intellectual, and a very strong opponent of the Syrian regime, is an Islamist?

The bankrupt Ba'th party which managed to establish two police states, one in Iraq and the other in Syria, and which fought each other, still thinks that it is the vanguard of Arab Nationalism? What a farce!

And look who are the main supporters of the Rabbit: The "Islamic Republic" of Iran and the Sectarian Hizbullah of Lebanon.

Can you make up your mind Mr. Rabbit?

Real News Video: Egyptians Protest Against Torture and Murder of Prisoner

Jihan Hafiz reports on mass protest demanding accountability for crimes against prisoners

AN IMPORTANT VIDEO

INTO DARKEST AFRICA

By Eric Margolis
October 29, 2011

"Wasted $1 trillion in the futile Iraq war? Being defeated by medieval Afghan tribesmen? Can’t pay your bills at home or abroad? Government paralyzed? Worried about China?
What’s the answer? Simple.

A new little war in Africa.

Having finished off former ally Muammar Gadaffi, the US Pentagon, CIA, and the new US Africa Command are now focusing on East Africa.

In recent weeks, the long simmering conflict in the Horn of Africa burst into flames as the US and France intensified military operations against Somalia’s rag-tag nationalist/Islamist militia, Shebab.

Western politicians and media warn Shebab is a dire international threat that must be stamped out, though most could not find Somalia on a world map.....

The White House is supposed to be cutting expenses at a time when budgets are out of control and 44 million Americans subsist on food stamps.

Let Washington’s squabbling politicians deal with budget headaches says the mighty US national security establishment. We’re in charge. Onward to Kampala and Juba!"

U.S. Is Planning Buildup in Gulf After Iraq Exit

N Y Times

"MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Assad warns against foreign intervention in Syria

Al-Jazeera Video: Andrew Gilligan talks to Al Jazeera about Syria's Assad

"Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that any foreign intervention in the country would "burn the whole region".

He made that statement in an interview with Andrew Gilligan of The Sunday Telegraph.

Gilligan says Assad is steadfast in his belief that he's made enough reforms."

Al-Jazeera Video: Journalist Nir Rosen speaks to Al Jazeera

Do you want freedom you son of a sharmoota ?

Videos of Assad death squads torturing civilians. My sources tell me Hassan Nasrallah loves these videos and
watches them before Fajr Prayer every morning. He is proud of this "regime of resistance"

تونس تصدر مذكرة اعتقال دولية بحق سهى عرفات

عــ48ــرب

"أصدر قاضي التحقيق في المحكمة الابتدائية التونسية، مذكرة اعتقال دولية بحق سهى عرفات، أرملة رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية الراحل، ياسر عرفات، للاشتباه بضلوعها في تجاوزات وفساد مالي أثناء فترة إدارتها للمدرسة الدولية بقرطاج، التي كانت تمتلكها في عهد الرئيس المخلوع زين العابدين بن علي.
"

Real News Video: Low-ranking policemen demand sacking of Interior Minister

The protesters have been calling for the dismissal of Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy and all senior security figures who served under former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.