Scandal in the raw

Vaunting themselves as peers of Israel, Ramallah's leaders and their lackeys in Geneva are a disgrace to the Palestinian national struggle and are leading the Palestinian people to disaster

By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly

Note: This is the English version of Azmi's article in Arabic, which appeared on Al-Jazeera.net, and was posted here and here.

"....
This is the challenge now. The sordidness that is unfolding in Geneva and New York has avid servants for whom the ends justify the means as never before. These servants like to think of themselves as an integral part of the international order. They are no longer on the outside, like militant revolutionaries. Nor or they on the fringes, like Arafat during the Intifadas and the post-Oslo period. And through their mere membership in the international order, they imagine, they will succeed in his quest for a state. Here we find the source of the disdain for what liberation movements generally regard as the heart of their mission, such as mobilising the world against the crimes of foreign occupation in the hope of restraining the hand of the occupier at the very least. Here, too, we find motive for abandoning the very idea of conflict with the colonialist state. They regard themselves as hypothetical peers of that state, which entitles them to use the same terms and the same pragmatic language, and to belittle calls for justice and respect for human rights, as they did so flagrantly in the vote on the Goldstone Report in Geneva.

They are financially corrupt, they coordinate with the occupation power over security, they set up a repressive governing entity with a militia to beat the very notion of "solidarity" out of people's heads, and they take part in a cruel economic blockade against a huge portion of their fellow Palestinians. They are, indeed, acting in the very nature and spirit of an international order that lies about war crimes. There is no use even trying to get through to people like that because they will tell you that they were there and they see themselves as having matured and they see you as naïve. They belong to a generation that had a liberation movement, but they infected it with their own decay before it could lead to a state. In this they have proven unrivalled."

Wayne Madsen SPECIAL REPORT:Gearing up for an attack on Iran -- in the Nevada desert.

"WMR reporting from Nevada -- U.S. and Iranian diplomats may be meeting in seven-party talks over Iran's nuclear weapons program, all the while hoping for a diplomatic solution to end the controversy over the Iranian program. However, here is the high desert of Nevada, which one senior official referred to as "looking like the Middle East."

Because of the similarity in the terrain of the Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site and Iran, U.S. Special Operations forces are training at a facility at the test site that officials say "doesn't actually exist." However, this editor saw where the facility is located, butting up against a mountain range half-way between the Frenchman Flats atomic bomb test site and the Sedan Crater, the site of the largest underground thermonuclear test conducted by the United States. The "non-existent" facility is where Special Forces teams are specifically training for "counter-nuclear proliferation" operations in Iran. The Nevada Test Site has a number of underground facilities that fell into disuse after the United States adopted a nuclear testing moratorium in 1992.

Specifically, U.S. Special Forces team are training in what is called a "realistic environment" at the test sit and are using the facility's tunnel system to test the results of the use of bunker buster bombs. The training is highly classified but it appears that some of the costs are being laundered through the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

WMR has also learned that the Predator and Reaper remotely-piloted vehicles used by the Air Force are soon to undergo a major refitting, allowing the Predator to carry more than the two Hellfire missiles it currently can carry, and the Reaper to carry additional specialized weapons in addition to its current weapons complement, which can match that carried by any F-16 manned fighter plane.

Sitting just south of the Nevada Test Site is Creech Air Force Base, the location of the training program for Predator and Reaper Air Force pilots and sensor personnel. However, WMR has learned from a Department of Energy source that the Nevada Test Site also possesses a Predator aircraft that had been outfitted with a "black box" sensor array that is capable of detecting telltale signs of nuclear weapons development, including traces of enriched uranium, plutonium, and tritium, and can be flown clandestinely into Iran to surveill Iranian nuclear installations......

The National Nuclear Security Administration also operates the "Red Storm" Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) system that is a high-performance computer operating at 280 teraflops. Red Storm is one of the world's fastest twelve computers and is used for conducting nuclear simulation tests on Iran and North Korean nuclear programs and, in the process of doing so, evaluates the quality of intelligence provided by certain intelligence sources not always considered reliable, including Israel. [ . . . ]"

Father and Son: Another Son of an Arab Dictator Inherits Power; Washington and London are Pleased.

Seif al-Islam Muammar Qaddafi, Son of the Libyan Dictator, Was Given an Official Position Today, to Become the Second Most Powerful Man (after his father), and in Effect the President of Libya (Al-Jazeera).

It is the Neo-Monarchy Model in the Arab World; Egypt and Yemen are Next.

Al-Jazeera Video: Fault Lines - 100 Days of Resistance - 15 Oct 09

Part 1:



Part 2:



"100 days since the coup detat that ousted Manuel Zelaya, Fault Lines travels to Honduras to look at polarisation and power in the Americas, and finds resistance and repression in the streets."

Al-Jazeera Video: Iraq Fallout: The Poisonous Legacy of War Pt 2

Doctors in Iraq are recording a shocking rise in the number of cancer victims south of Baghdad.



"Cancer sufferers in the province of Babil have risen by almost tenfold in just three years. Locals blame depleted uranium from US military equipment used in the 2003 invasion. But the link has been difficult to prove, prompting them to demand an investigation. In this part of Iraq 500 cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2004. That figure rose to almost 1,000 two years later. In 2008, the number of cases increased sevenfold to 7,000 diagnoses. This year, there have so far been more than 9,000 new cases ... and the number is rising. Al Jazeera's Mosab Jasim reports."

Bethlehem Holds ‘International Protest For Peace And Nonviolence”

"Hundreds of Palestinians held a nonviolent protest in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, with the participation of international supporters and international Christian groups, and peace activist who came to the Holy Land to express support with the Palestinian people.

The event was initiated by the Holy Land Trust. It started from the Manger Square and the protesters prayed for peace, justice and chanted slogans calling for achieving the Palestinian rights and calling on peace supporters around the globe to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

They marched in the streets of Bethlehem heading towards Aida refugee camp to a section of the Annexation Wall, the location where the Pope delivered his speech during his visit to Bethlehem......."

Obama's Peace

By Joseph Massad
Al-Ahram Weekly

"For his continued wars against Pakistanis, Afghanis, and Iraqis, his support for the overthrow of democracy in Honduras, his abetting dictatorships across the Arab and Muslim worlds (which his government finances, arms, and trains in torture methods), his planning for a possible invasion of Iran, and his enthusiastic support for the racist Israeli settler colony (and its colonial wars and occupations against Palestinians), President Barak Obama received the Nobel "Peace" Prize. This comes as no surprise, as Obama joins a long list of recipients of this sham of a prize, who are distinguished for similar "peaceful" pursuits. These include terrorists like Menachem Begin, war criminals like Henry Kissinger, ethnic-cleansing colonial generals like Yitzhak Rabin, dictators like Anwar Sadat, corrupt politicians like Yasser Arafat, and imperial presidents like Jimmy Carter. Granting this overambitious power-hungry man the recognition of the Nobel committee is therefore most apt......

.....Obama in my estimation is the worst thing that happened in recent years to African Americans, who continue to face institutional, structural, economic, cultural, social, and personal discrimination on a daily basis. The racism that informs US domestic policy and causes the poverty of African Americans is not unrelated to the racism that informs US imperial policies that impoverish Egyptians, Palestinians, Hondurans, Iraqis, and Afghanis.

Obama's election has been best for white liberal Americans whose conscience can be assuaged by pretending that they are not racist at all and that indeed America is no longer a racist place evidenced by the election of a black man to the presidency......"

Going 'deep', not 'big', in Afghanistan

By Gareth Porter
Asia Times

"An analysis making waves in Washington by a veteran United States officer calls for the withdrawal of the bulk of United States combat forces from Afghanistan over 18 months, warning against General Stanley McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel L Davis says that it is already too late for US forces to defeat the insurgency......

Davis challenges two arguments now being made in support of the counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan based on the Iraq experience: that a troop surge would help establish security and that the US military can reduce insurgency by replicating the "Sons of Iraq" program of bringing insurgents into militias that oppose their former allies.

The "surge" in Iraq was successful for a variety of reasons peculiar to Iraq and not duplicated in Afghanistan, Davis argues......"

A salute to Turkey, a salute to Erdogan

By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

"The recent Turkish decision to exclude Israel from an aerial military exercise over Turkish territory is another indication that Turkey will not allow itself to be blackmailed by criminal international Zionism.

Following the decision, Zionist officials and media sought to mitigate its impact on the increasingly troubled relations with Turkey by claiming that it had little to do with the genocidal blitz which the Israeli army carried out in winter against the Gaza Strip.

However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, and other Turkish officials have made it amply clear that the cancellation of the military drill is consistent with the feelings of the vast bulk of the Turkish masses vis-à-vis the Nazi-like atrocities in the Gaza Strip......

The exclusion of Israel from the Anatolian Eagle exercise seems to be a popular measure for most Turks who are disquieted by recurrent efforts by government-backed Jewish extremists to arrogate a foothold at the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, one of Islam’s holiest sanctuaries.......

The Turkish leadership should therefore be applauded for its moral commitment toward the helpless Palestinians, many of whom have Turkish ancestry, who are languishing under an unmitigated Nazi-like military occupation.

This Turkish approach to Israel, an entity whose very existence constitutes a gigantic war crime, or a crime against humanity, is the least any Muslim country can do to prevent a possible genocide against the Palestinians........"

Israel to Raze 150 Palestinian Homes

Israel has announced plans to demolish 150 Palestinian homes in the mostly Arab east Jerusalem Al-Quds in a move that would displace more than 1,000 Palestinians.

Palestinian homes that are threatened with imminent demolition are located in the neighborhoods of Beit Haninah, Shu'fat, Ashqariyeh, Nusiebeh Complex, Silwan, Thuri, Jabal al-Mukaber, Sur Baher, Mount of Olives, al-Zu'ayem, Isawieh and Ras Khamis.

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER) stated that the new list of Palestinian homes slated for demolition does not include the 125 homes and apartments against which Israel had previously issued demolition orders.

12th graders tell Netanyahu: We refuse to serve in IDF

Dozens of graduating high school seniors signed a letter on Monday declaring their refusal to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

The missive, which was addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, stated that the reason for their refusal to serve stems from the belief that “there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

“We hereby announce our refusal to take part in the military apparatus,” read the letter which was signed by 88 youths. “We do not see a military solution as the proper solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Gaza war is not forgotten in Turkey

Slowly but surely, Israel is starting to realise where it matters (in the back pocket) that its criminality will come at a steep price. Who truly wants to normalise relations with a state that brutalises another people (over and over again)?
Antony Loewenstein

Change We Can Believe in? Sure.....Photos of Military Deaths in Afghanistan Banned

"NEW YORK The U.S. military in eastern Afghanistan recently changed its media embed rules to ban pictures of troops killed in the war.

“Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action,” says a ground rules document issued Sept. 15 by Regional Command East at Bagram Air Field.

This language is new. A version of the same document dated July 23 says, “Media will not be prohibited from covering casualties” as long as a series of conditions are met.

Pictures of American military deaths are rare, but until now they have not been officially banned during either of the ongoing wars....."

The Reverse-Midas Effect

How it works in Pakistan

by Justin Raimondo, October 16, 2009

"....
Pakistan’s political leaders will make a great show of caviling over the tripled aid package, grandstanding for their domestic audience – and then they’ll accept it, because the opportunities for corruption are too rich to be wasted. In the meantime, this cornucopia of aid will achieve the exact opposite of its ostensible purpose, bringing us closer to the day when Pakistan’s alleged “crisis” – a crisis largely of our own making – will culminate in catastrophe.

And that’s the story of U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 era – a veritable perpetual motion machine of mishaps and mistaken assumptions, fueled by corruption and super-charged with a peculiarly American brand of hubris. "

Israel vents fury at ally Turkey over 'barbaric' TV drama

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

"Israel's increasingly troubled relations with its main ally in the Muslim world took a turn yesterday when it formally protested to Turkey over the "incitement" generated by a television series featuring fictional scenes of barbaric acts by Israeli soldiers.

The airing of the series, on Turkish state television, coincides with tensions triggered by a decision last week by Ankara to exclude Israel – which it has severely criticised over last winter's war in Gaza – from a planned Nato air exercise.....

In January, Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, walked out of a televised panel discussion in Davos in Switzerland, in which Israel's President, Shimon Peres, had been defending the military operation.

The air exercise planned for this week was cancelled after the US and Italy refused to take part in response to the Turkish decision to bar Israel. Mr Erdogan said later that "diplomatic sensitivities" had led his government to stop Israel participating......."

Goldman Sachs breaks record with $16.7bn bonus pot

(Click on cartoon by Steve Bell to enlarge)

Obama isn't helping. At least the world argued with Bush

For all the global love-in, the new president has led rich nations to neglect principled action and row back from climate deals

Naomi Klein
The Guardian, Friday 16 October 2009

"Of all the explanations for Barack Obama's Nobel peace prize, the one that rang truest came from Nicolas Sarkozy. "It sets the seal on America's return to the heart of all the world's peoples." In other words, this was Europe's way of saying to America, "We love you again", like those weird renewal-of-vows ceremonies couples have after a rough patch.

Now Europe and the US are officially reunited, it seems appropriate to consider whether this is necessarily a good thing. The Nobel committee, which awarded the prize for Obama's embrace of "multilateral diplomacy", is evidently convinced that US engagement on the world stage is a triumph for peace and justice. I'm not so sure..........

But a clear pattern has emerged: in areas where other rich nations were teetering between principled action and negligence, US interventions have tilted them toward negligence. If this is the new era of multilateralism, it is no prize."

With friends like the US, Pakistan doesn't need enemies

Washington's clumsy attempts to strengthen Pakistan's government only serve to stoke a conflict approaching civil war

Simon Tisdall
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 October 2009

"As the Obama administration dithers over what to do for the best in Afghanistan, neighbouring Pakistan is paying an increasingly heavy price. Like a spate of previous Taliban attacks in recent days, today's mayhem in Lahore underscored fears that the principal consequence of Washington's Afghan paralysis, albeit unintended, is the further destabilisation of the Pakistani state.......

The realisation that Washington is stoking a conflict approaching all-out civil war is gradually dawning in the US. New York Post columnist Ralph Peters drew a comparison with post-invasion Iraq. "Civil war never quite happened [there]. Yet no one seems to notice that we're now caught up in two authentic civil wars – one in Afghanistan, the other in Pakistan," he said. By lumping the two together in one "Afpak" policy, the Obama administration had effectively made both problems worse.......

The impulse, fanned by this sort of imperial hubris, to get out of Afghanistan, or at least to narrow the fight to a counter-terrorism campaign against al-Qaida, has gathered US adherents in recent months. But a Washington Post editorial argued this week that with al-Qaida much reduced, the Taliban in both countries now constituted the main enemy. Pakistan was moving towards "full-scale war", it said. Pulling back in Afghanistan could have disastrous, possibly fatal consequences there, too.

By this measure and others, only one conclusion is possible: Pakistan is already so destabilised by US actions since 9/11 that it cannot be left to fend for itself. In such tortuous logic is found the death of empires."

Video: Rebuilding process of Nahr-El-Bared camp in cul-de-sac

Press TV

Rebuilding process of Nahr-El-Bared camp in cul-de-sac

مصدر: حماس ستتسلح برفض الفصائل للوثيقة المصرية للتنصل من الاتفاق

ابو مرزوق: سنسلم مصر غدا تحفظاتنا على ورقة المصالحة
مصدر: حماس ستتسلح برفض الفصائل للوثيقة المصرية للتنصل من الاتفاق

"دمشق ـ الناصرة ـ 'القدس العربي' ـ من كامل صقر وزهير اندراوس: اكد الدكتور موسى ابو مرزوق نائب رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس ان الحركة ستسلم القيادة المصرية يوم غد السبت ورقة تتضمن مجموعة من التحفظات على بعض النقاط الواردة في وثيقة المصالحة الفلسطينية التي تعتقد انها بحاجة الى المزيد من الحوارات والنقاشات من اجل توضيحها والاتفاق حولها.
وقال الدكتور ابو مرزوق ان من بين هذه النقاط التصريحات الامريكية الرسمية التي طالبت بان تأتي المصالحة الفلسطينية على اساس الشروط الامريكية اي استنادها الى بنود خريطة الطريق ومبادئ اللجنة الرباعية.
واضاف ان النقطة الثانية تتعلق بضرورة وجود ضمانات بان يتم احترام نتائج اي انتخابات تجرى تطبيقا لنصوص وثيقة المصالحة في النصف الثاني من العام المقبل، وتساءل عما سيكون عليه الحال لو فازت 'حماس' فيها مثلا، هل ستشكل الحكومة وتحظى باعتراف عربي ودولي؟
اما النقطة الثالثة حسب قوله، فتتعلق بمستقبل الحصار المفروض على قطاع غزة، وآلية العمل في معبر رفح، وهل ستظل المعابر الاخرى التي تسيطر عليها اسرائيل مغلقة او تفتح جزئيا.
اما النقطة الرابعة فتتعلق بمعتقلي حركة حماس في السجون المصرية، والتعذيب الذي يتعرضون له. فالافراج عن هؤلاء مطلب اساسي لا بد من تحقيقه في اسرع وقت ممكن. وفي قطاع غزة اكدت مصادر حركة 'حماس' لمراسل 'القدس العربي' ان الشهيد يوسف ابو زهري مات في السجن من شدة التعذيب الذي يتعرض له، وجرى نقله الى المستشفى وهو في حالة وفاة.
وقالت هذه المصادر ان ابو زهري شقيق الناطق باسم حماس اعتقل دون اي تهمة، وهو متزوج من سيدة مصرية، وكان يقيم في منطقة العريش المصرية، وظل ينزف داخل السجن حتى استشهاده، ورفضت السلطات المصرية تدخلات المسؤولين في الحركة سواء في قطاع غزة او دمشق لنقله الى المستشفى للعلاج.
من ناحية اخرى قال مصدر فلسطيني، أمس الخميس لـ'القدس العربي' إنّ المصالحة الفلسطينية برعاية مصرية لن تخرج إلى حيّز التنفيذ بسبب الورقة المصرية التي قدّمها الجانب المصري للفصائل الفلسطينية.
وأوضح المصدر، الذي طلب عدم الكشف عن اسمه، إنّ حركة حماس في وضع حرج للغاية، لافتا إلى أنها تتعرض لضغوط جمة من قبل المصريين، وزاد قائلاً إن حركة حماس وعلى الرغم من تحفظها على الورقة المصرية، فإنّها تتسلح بموقف الفصائل الفلسطينية المعارضة للورقة، أي أنّها ستقوم بإبلاغ المصريين بأنّها لن تتمكن من التوقيع على وثيقة المصالحة، في الوقت الذي ترفضه الغالبية العظمى من فصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية.
ورفضت فصائل تحالف القوى والهيئات الفلسطينية في دمشق أمس الخميس التوقيع على الورقة المصرية للمصالحة 'لعدم تضمنها الحقوق والثوابت الوطنية الفلسطينية' حسب بيان رسمي لها.
وشددت الفصائل على ضرورة أن تتضمن الورقة قضية القدس وما تتعرض له من تهويد وعدوان مستمر، وحق العودة للاجئين الفلسطينيين لديارهم وممتلكاتهم التي شردوا منها، كما طالبت بالتحرك السريع لحماية القضية الفلسطينية من مخاطر التسوية التي تتهددها والتمسك بكامل حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني والعمل لوضع الصيغ الكفيلة لإعادة بناء منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية على أسس وطنية وديمقراطية واضحة.
وشدد خالد عبد المجيد أمين عام جبهة النضال وأمين سر لجنة المتابعة للمؤتمر الوطني الفلسطيني في تصريحات لـ 'القدس العربي' على أن فصائل تحالف القوى الفلسطينية لن توقع اتفاق المصالحة إلا إذا تضمن كافة الحقوق والثوابت الوطنية بما فيها حق المقاومة وحق العودة وقضية حماية القدس من التهويد، مؤكداً على أن الورقة المصرية لابرام اتفاق المصالحة لم تتضمن أية رؤية سياسية تتعلق بالصراع العربي الإسرائيلي وأن الفصائل الفلسطينية كانت قد أرسلت ردودها وتحفظاتها على الورقة المصرية للقاهرة وأن هذه الردود تضمنت الحقوق الثابتة للشعب الفلسطيني وضرورة وضع الآلية المناسبة لقيادة سياسية فلسطينية مشتركة تشكل المرجعية لاتخاذ القرار المتعلق بمستقبل القضية الفلسطينية، لكن النسخة المصرية الأخيرة لم تتضمن تلك الردود والمطالب ما حال دون قبول الفصائل لها حسب قوله.
وقال عبد المجيد ان الكرة في ملعب القاهرة و(الرئيس الفلسطيني) محمود عباس وأن التوقيع مرتبط باستعداد مصر وحركة فتح للموافقة على مطالب الفصائل الفلسطينية التي تم الاتفاق عليها في الحوارات السابقة متهماً مصر وحركة فتح بالتراجع عما تم التوافق عليه استجابة للمطالب الأمريكية المتعلقة بالموافقة على شروط الرباعية الدولية وهو ما ترفضه الفصائل الفلسطينية، وأن الفصائل طلبت تأجيل التوقيع إلى أن يتم التوصل لرؤية سياسية يُتفق عليها استنادا لما تم التفاهم عليه وفقا للثوابت الوطنية.
"

Emad Hajjaj Cartoon

One Horn of the Expired Ram Represents Fatah....
...The Other Represents Hamas.

Al-Jazeera Video: Egyptians struggle for bread

"The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation says there are now over one billion malnourished people worldwide.

Aid agencies have said the alarming trend is caused by rising prices, poverty and security issues.

In a special series here on Al Jazeera, Amr al-Kahky reports from Egypt on how difficult it is for people there to buy the basic necessities."

Leadership 'let down' Palestinians

By As`ad AbuKhalil (Angry Arab)
Al-Jazeera

".....Mohammed Dahlan, who was head of the Fatah-dominated Preventive Security service in the Gaza Strip during the 1990s, has been accused by Hamas and other groups of using torture and murder on dissident Palestinians, and on any Palestinian who still pursued the path of armed struggle.

But the reaction in Palestine and the Arab world to the PA decision to delay a vote on the human rights report indicates that the Palestinian public believe the leadership in Ramallah has gone too far in its co-operation (or collaboration) with Israel.

The significance of the this reaction is that for the first time many Palestinians, including many in the Fatah rank-and-file, now feel that the PA no longer leads a Palestinian national movement......

It was then that Arafat nicknamed Abbas as "the Palestinian Hamid Karzai". But even Karzai can sometimes voice criticisms of the US, while Abbas will not, or cannot - not even during the Bush presidency when he and his entourage kept referring in glowing terms to the "vision of George Bush."

Ramallah may have been the only place in the world were some people took seriously the notion of a "vision" by George Bush, or "His Excellency, President George Bush," according to the formal refrain of "senior PA negotiator", Saeb Erekat.

Arafat's death cleared the path for a new clique that was handpicked by the US and Israel...........

The public outcry to the PA decision indicates that the Palestinians can no longer tolerate more concessions from their leadership (which now rules without an electoral mandate; Western governments never bother with democratic niceties when it comes to Arab governments).

Abbas perhaps believed that the Palestinian people were too exhausted and too fatigued to notice the extent of his co-operation with the Israelis and Americans. He miscalculated and the Goldstone episode may have weakened him beyond repair.

Of course, Israel and the US can easily sacrifice him, and the glowing Western profiles in the mainstream press of Salam Fayyad, the new prime minister, may indicate that a successor to Abbas has already been chosen........

Hamas, for its part, did not know how to react to the affair.

They continued to speak of reconciliation with Fatah, and even accepted a date for signing an agreement with the PA in Cairo, before they realised the magnitude of Palestinian anger.

Hamas has to realise that it cannot save Abbas in return for political perks that he may have been able to offer. But pressure from the public and from Damascus-based political organisations eventually diverged Hamas away from the path of reconciliation with Abbas.

Problems for Hamas

In any regard, Hamas has its own problems. The group is ruling Gaza in the name of the Oslo Accords, which they have rejected outright on several occasions, and they also cannot speak too loudly in support of the Goldstone report because it has accused them - as well as Israel - of war crimes......"

Hamas, as They Say in Arabic, is Like a Woman Interested in Sex, but Afraid of Getting Pregnant. Earth to Hamas: Your Pregnancy is Already Showing!

Masri: Hamas wants to ensure success of Egyptian efforts

Hamas, the Jilbab is not helping in covering up your pregnancy! Your illicit affair with your Oslo partners has been going on for too long. Time to dump both branches of the Oslo gang; the Ramallah branch and the Gaza branch.

"GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas MP Mushir Al-Masri has said that if his Movement accepted the Egyptian new proposal for reconciling differing Palestinian factions it would be out of keenness on ensuring success of Egyptian efforts in this regard.

Masri told the PIC that Hamas has reservations on the Egyptian proposal but would like to overcome any obstacle before signing the proposal as long as it did not infringe on national constants.

For his part, Hamas MP in the West Bank Abdul Rahman Zeidan said that the Egyptian proposal alone would not solve the problems in the West Bank. He said in a press statement on Wednesday that good intention should be coupled with the signing of national agreement or else a new "coup against legitimacy" would be witnessed.

The popular front for the liberation of Palestine – general command's spokesman Anwar Raja told Al-Alam TV that the Egyptian insistence on signing the national agreement at this particular time is meant to improve the image of Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, after his scandalous step of postponing the voting on the Goldstone report."


Also (if you read Arabic), please see this pathetic stretching of language by Zahhar, who used to be Hamas' "Foreign Minister." It is an incredible misuse of language which would make Orwell cringe!

الزهار يفرق بين التوقيع والمصالحة

"فرق عضو المكتب السياسي لحركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) محمود الزهار بين التوقيع على ورقة الاتفاق التي اقترحتها مصر والمصالحة، وأكد أن الورقة جرى الاتفاق عليها، لكن المصالحة تحتاج إلى وقت وأجواء. يأتي هذا فيما أكدت حركة التحرير الوطني الفلسطيني (فتح) موافقتها على وثيقة المصالحة الفلسطينية وأنها ستسلمها موقعة إلى القاهرة اليوم الخميس.

وقال الزهار في مقابلة مع الجزيرة من غزة إن الوثيقة ليست الوثيقة المصرية وإنما وثيقة الوفاق الوطني التي تم الاتفاق عليها بين الفصائل الفلسطينية على مدار ست جولات كبيرة والسابعة بين حماس والجانب المصري والتي بلورت هذه الاتفاقيات.

وأضاف "يجب أن نميز في نقطتين، بين ما يسمى التوقيع على ورقة الاتفاق والمصالحة، الورقة هي اتفاق وصلنا إليها سابقا، أما المصالحة فتحتاج إلى أجواء سممتها الأجواء الأخيرة في رام الله للأسف الشديد، وتوقيع الاتفاقية شيء والمصالحة تحتاج إلى وقت حتى نستطيع أن نمهد للوقت المناسب والظروف النفسية المناسبة لتجاوز ما حدث من أخطاء جسيمة من رام الله في قضية غولدستون وما تبعها".

وردا على سؤال عما إذا كانت حماس ستوقع الوثيقة، قال الزهار "هذه وثيقة وافقنا عليها في الأساس، والآن يتم مراجعتها ببنودها بين النسخ الموجودة عندنا والنسخة التي سنوقع عليها" ، مشيرا إلى أن الورقة فيها بنود كثيرة "وأشياء اتفق عليها وأشياء لم يتم الاتفاق عليها".
......"

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

The question is:

Do you see that the West has been defeated in Afghanistan?

With over 800 responding so far, 89% said yes.

Israeli flag at Abu Dhabi energy parley

Jerusalem Post

Via Angry Arab

"The Israeli flag was displayed on the table and on the pins of the country's delegates to the first International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) conference in Abu Dhabi this week.

The Israeli delegation took full part and was received graciously and without a hitch at the conference, which ended Wednesday. It was the first time an Israeli flag has been flown in the United Arab Emirates, since Israel has no official diplomatic relations with the country........"

Al-Jazeera Video: Riz Khan - The one or two state debate - 14 Oct 09

Featuring Ali Abunimah

Part 1:



Part 2:



"After almost two decades of various peacemaking initiatives, there is no end in sight to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Some Palestinians and Israelis are now arguing that the only practical solution to the conflict is the so-called one-state solution, where both sides agree to citizenship and equal rights in a state that covers all of historic Palestine, without regard to ethnicity or religion. "

Real News Video: D'Escoto on the US in the age of Obama

d'Escoto: From Iraq war to imprisoned Cuban 5 , Americans need the courage to form a "new mindset"



""The inability of the United Nations to unequivocally reject the Iraq war has been a major factor in its demise", says outgoing president of the UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto. In the third and final segment of his talk with Real News Senior Editor Paul Jay, d'Escoto digs into what he believes is at the root of the US image problem around the world, its actions. He identifies the continued incarceration of the Cuban 5 in US prison as an example of the hypocrisy of the "global war on terror". But while d'Escoto points out President Obama's unwillingness to use his authority to single-handedly pardon the five Cuban intelligence agents, he expresses a great deal of support for Obama. "I really trust President Obama," d'Escoto says, "but he is going up against the same reactionary forces that we faced in the third world when we tried to change things.""

Real News Video: Iraq Fallout: The Poisonous Legacy of War Pt 1

Author Abdulhaq Al-Ani on Uranium in Iraq from US military equipment and the dire effects on Iraqis



"Iraqis living to the south of Baghdad have blamed depleted uranium from US military equipment for causing a rise in the number of cancer cases. These cancer cases have spread fears among the locals, prompting them to demand an urgent investigation. Mosab Jasim interviews Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq - The Poisonous Legacy of Iraq Wars, for more analysis."

Will Fatah – as much as Israel – be the target of the next intifada?

A commentary by Ben White
Conflicts Forum

"For the best part of half a century, Fatah dominated Palestinian politics. Israeli attempts to extinguish the movement failed; rivals were co-opted or sidelined. But gradually, as the Oslo years gave way to the Second Intifada, the peace process went up in smoke and Hamas emerged as a genuine contender for Palestinian political loyalties, serious and critical divisions within the movement have come to the surface. This piece examines the current crisis facing the Fatah movement, and possibilities for the future: critical issues facing the movement — internal divisions, differences over strategy often sharply focused on the question of resistance and/or negotiations, the relationship with Hamas, as well as some of the different options facing Fatah in terms of a way out of the crisis, and approaches being suggested as solutions to the crisis......."

“Global Imbalances” versus Internal Inequalities (Understanding the World Economy)

The deep and ongoing crises of leading capitalist countries, especially the United States, has provoked a debate over the causes, consequences and appropriate policies to remedy it.

By James Petras

"The debate has revealed a deep division over the causes and remedies, with Anglo-Franco American (AFA) politicians, columnists and economists on one side and their Asian-German (AG) counterparts on the other. In general terms the AFA spokespeople put the blame for the crises on external factors, or more specifically they point their finger at the positive trade surpluses, dynamic export sectors and high investment rates in productive sectors and low levels of consumption in the AG countries as the cause of ”unbalances” or “disequilibrium” in the world economy........"

DECEMBER 2009 CONVOY

VIVA PALESTINA

GET INVOLVED!

"Viva Palestina USA is on the move... organizing our second convoy of people and vehicles in 2009! The convoy of hundreds of Viva volunteers and vehicles from the US, UK and dozens of other countries promises to garner the attention of the entire world as we make our way on December 6 from London through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza! Our estimated date of arrival at the Rafah border is December 27th, one year to the day that the horrendous attack on Gaza began......"

U.S. Berated for Shielding Israel on Gaza Killings

By Thalif Deen


"UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (IPS) - A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations......

"That President Obama is receiving the Noble Peace prize after his failure to speak out during the Gaza war, and after his administration's protection of a state that has committed war crimes, is an abomination," Michael Ratner, president of the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, told IPS......

Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, told IPS the Obama administration and Congressional leaders of both parties appear to be continuing the policy of the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush in ignoring and denouncing those who have the temerity to report violations of international humanitarian law by the United States or its allies......

Addressing the Security Council Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff made a predictable statement that the United States continues to "have serious concerns about the [Goldstone] report, its unbalanced focus on Israel, the overly broad scope of its recommendations, and its sweeping conclusions of law."

Nevertheless, he said, "We take the allegations in the report seriously."

"Israel has the institutions and the ability to carry out serious investigations of these allegations and we encourage it to do so," Wolff said......"

Turkey-Israel Rift Good for Palestine

Analysis by Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Oct 14 (IPS) - Turkey's cooling relationship with Israel comes in tandem with its improving relations with the Arab and Muslim world, and this development is expected to impact positively on Palestinian politics.

"The Turks appear to be implementing a major policy shift in the region as they look towards the East as a possible alternative to relations with the West, particularly in light of difficulties joining the European Union (EU)," says Dr. Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah.......

Israel's extensive bombardment of Gaza at the beginning of the year marked a turning point. The Turkish government has had to answer to public opinion, which struggled to stomach Israel's military assault on the coastal territory. Even the Turkish military, which has had strong ties with the Israeli military, couldn't look away.

Recent developments under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government including greater Judaisation of East Jerusalem, infringements on Muslim worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque, and continued settlement building have only cemented Turkey's position....... "

Peace isn't what Obama is achieving

Rarely has a President bent on change been met with such adverse cirumstances

By Adrian Hamilton
The Independent

".....In the end Obama has been unable to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu in to halting settlement building, the Arab litmus test of the White House's willingness to adopt a more even-handed policy in the region. Worse, over the UN report on Israel's invasion of Gaza and the recent reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah in Egypt, Washington has actively intervened to protect Jerusalem in the one case and to undermine Palestinians' efforts at a unity government in the other.......

One fears, however, that it will be more of the same. It will be the Palestinians not the Israelis who will be pressured into concessions so that Washington can claim progress in a charade that only humiliates the Arab leaders. The screws will be tightened on an Iran which will retreat more and more into its own shell with greater oppression inside and no meaningful progress outside. And America, like Britain, will go on sending troops to Afghanistan with no visible end in sight......"

The PA Stooges Trying to Appear as if They are Attempting to Resist US Dictates!

Why Palestinians have lost faith in Obama

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

".....There are probably several reasons for the somewhat sharper line that is emerging from Ramallah. The mishandling of the Goldstone report on the Gaza war – over which Palestinian diplomats agreed, again under US pressure, to defer a vote at the UN Human Rights Council – has provoked harsh internal criticism.

Mr Fayyad was almost certainly not involved in the decision – diplomacy is not his job – and indeed most of the criticism was directed at the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But that decision – now reversed – has marked a growing realisation within the West Bank leadership that there may not be too much point in serially yielding to US demands if the Palestinian Authority's own internal standing is compromised as a result......."

In a war for democracy, why worry about public opinion?

Escalation in Afghanistan is aimed at rescuing the credibility of western power, whatever Afghans or westerners might want

Seumas Milne
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009

"Whoever is in charge, it seems, the war on terror has truly become a war without end. Eight years after George Bush and Tony Blair launched it, with an attack on Afghanistan under the preposterous title of "operation enduring freedom" and without any explicit UN mandate, Gordon Brown has agreed to send yet more British troops to die for a cause neither they nor the public any longer believe in......

The opposite is the case. It is the Afghan war that is destabilising Pakistan and driving the Pashtun rebellion there. The last remaining argument, that withdrawal from Afghanistan would risk "undermining the credibility of Nato" and the "international community", used by Brown last month, is the closest to the truth. In the wake of its strategic defeat in Iraq, it would certainly signal that the US and its allies can no longer impose military solutions on recalcitrant states at will, as they have done since the end of the cold war......"

Al-Jazeera Cartoon: On the Goldstone Report

Arab Puppet Regimes to Palestinian Supporters:
Don't be More Palestinian Than the Palestinians (since the puppet PA did not support the report).

The Supporter of the Palestinians to the Puppet Arab:
And Why Are you More Israeli Than the Israelis?

Open Letter to Mahmud 'Abbas on Goldstone Report

Please sign this petition.

Breaking News.....Surprise, Surprise!......Hamas is Caving in!....Will Sign the Deal With the Traitor!.....Celebrate Now the Unity of the Oslo Gang!

"طالما أنه لا يمس بالثوابت الوطنية"
المصري: "حماس" تضغط على نفسها لقبول الاتفاق حتى تدخل كافة الفصائل في المصالحة

"غزة - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

أكد القيادي في حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" مشير المصري أن حركته لو قبلت بالعَرض المصري فسوف يكون انطلاقًا من رغبتها في إنجاح الجهود المصرية والتوصل لاتفاق ومصالحة تكون محل إجماع وطني.

وأضاف المصري في تصريح خاص أدلى به إلى "المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام" أن "حماس" لديها تحفُّظات وملاحظات على العرض المصري، ولكنها تريد أن تضغط على نفسها وتقبل بمشروع الاتفاق بكامله ليكون مدعاةً لدخول كافة الفصائل الفلسطينية في اتفاق المصالحة، طالما أنه لا يمس بالثوابت الوطنية.

وحول تأثير التدخلات الأمريكية والصهيونية في المصالحة ردَّ قائلاً: "التدخلات الخارجية لا تؤثر في موعد المصالحة، فمواقف الفصائل واضحة وبعيدة عن أي ارتهان وتعاطٍ مع تلك الضغوط"، مطالبًا رئيس السلطة المنتهية ولايته محمود عباس أن يتجاوز تلك الضغوط وأن يستقل بالقرار الفلسطيني.

وبخصوص إعادة طرح "تقرير غولدستون" في "المجلس العالمي لحقوق الإنسان" الدولي أعرب القيادي في "حماس" عن تخوُّف حركته من أن يكون "عباس" مستهدفًا من وراء طلب مناقشة التقرير في مجلس حقوق الإنسان مرةً أخرى السعي لإسقاطه؛ ليؤكد مصداقية مبرراته التي ساقها على الشعب الفلسطيني، بعدما رأى ضرورة لتأجيله وسحبه في المرة الأولى، موضحًا أنه يحاول من ذلك إنقاذ نفسه من فضيحته ذات العيار الثقيل. "

46 years ago today: the Qibya Massacre

Zionist historian Avi Shlaim describes the massacre thus: "The village was reduced to rubble: forty-nine building were blown up, and sixty-nine civilians, two thirds of them women and children, had been killed." The act was condemned by the U.S. State Department, the UN Security Council, and by Jewish communities worldwide. As a result, aid was temporarily suspended to Israel.

No Blood for Mobile Phones!

Abbas and the Goldstone Report: Our Shame is Complete

A Good Comment

By Ramzy Baroud
Palestine Chronicle

".....The level of barbarity in that war, especially as it was conducted against a poor, defenseless and physically trapped nation, united people of every color, race and religion. But among those who seemed utterly unmoved, unreservedly cold were some Palestinian officials in the West Bank.

....... Those who understand how the Oslo agreement of September 1993 morphed into a culture that destroyed the very fabric of Palestinian society can fully appreciate the behavior of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank during the Gaza war, before it and today. But especially today.......

Something went horribly wrong. How could a leader of an occupied and suffering nation commit such a ‘mistake’, deferring an urgent vote and discussion on a report pertaining to the death of over 1,400 people, the maiming and wounding of thousands more, to a later date, six months from today?.........

Amira Hass of Haaretz opined, “The chronic submissiveness is always explained by a desire to ‘make progress.’ But for the PLO and Fatah, progress is the very continued existence of the Palestinian Authority, which is now functioning more than ever before as a subcontractor for the IDF, the Shin Bet security service and the Civil Administration.”

Jonathan Cook, however, offered another view: “Israel warned it would renege on a commitment to allot radio frequencies to allow Wataniya, a mobile phone provider, to begin operations this month in the West Bank. The telecommunications industry is the bedrock of the Palestinian economy, with the current monopoly company, PalTel, accounting for half the worth of the Palestinian stock exchange.”

“No blood for mobile phones,” should perhaps be the new chant in Palestine...... However, it’s not just mobile companies whose interests triumph over Gaza’s agony. Indeed, the post-Oslo culture has espoused a class of contractors. These are businessmen who are either high-ranking officials in the PA and the Fatah party, or both, or closely affiliated with them......

The PA became submissive not out of fear of Israeli wrath per se, but out of fear that such wrath would disrupt business, the flow of aid thus contracts. And since corruption is not confined by geographical borders, PA officials abroad took Palestinian shame to international levels. ......

Readily blaming ‘American pressure’ to explain Abbas’ decision at the UNHRC no longer suffices. Even the call on the 74-year-old Palestinian leader to quit is equally hollow. Abbas represents a culture, and that culture is self-seeking, self-serving and utterly corrupt. If Abbas exits, and considering his age, he soon will, Mohammed Dahlan could be the next leader, or even Mahmoud Habbash, who called on Gaza to rebel against Hamas as Israel was blowing up Palestinian homes and schools left and right.

Palestinians who are now calling for change following the UN episode must consider the Oslo culture in its entirety, its ‘revolutionary’ millionaires, its elites and contractors. A practical alternative to those corrupt must be quickly devised. The Israeli wall is encroaching on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, and a new war might be awaiting besieged Gaza. Time is running out, and our collective shame is nearly complete."

War Criminals Are Becoming Arbiters of the Law

Israel and the Goldstone Report

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch

"....
In the meantime, however, the Israeli government put Sawers and the UK government on notice that British support for the Goldstone Report would result in the destruction of the double standard that protects the West and Israel and create a precedent that would place the British in the dock for war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“London,” declared the Israeli government, “could find itself in handcuffs if it supports the document [the Goldstone report].”

Once the DOJ’s hate crime unit is up and running, “self-hating Jews,” such as leaders of the Israeli peace movement and Haaretz and Jerusalem Post journalists, can expect to be indicted for anti-semitic hate crimes in US courts. "

US Boosts Spending on Bunker-Buster Bomb

CBC

"The Pentagon is speeding up the deployment of an enormous bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried deep underground, one that would be the largest non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal.

The U.S. Department of Defence's decision to award the $51.9 million US contract to Boeing Co. earlier this month signals a renewed commitment to the weapon, which began testing in 2007 but had languished for two years because of budgetary issues. It is being designed jointly by Boeing and defence contractor Northrop Grumman........"

“Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, and War”: Groundbreaking Journalist Mark Danner on Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and Torture

Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"Award-winning journalist, writer, and professor Mark Danner has just released a new collection of dispatches about Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and the use of torture in the US war on terror. It’s called “Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, and War.” We speak to Danner about torture in the so-called war on terror, and his career of chronicling U.S.-backed human rights abuses abroad......"

Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy

By Syed Saleem Shahzad
AN ATol (Asia Times Online) EXCLUSIVE

"The top field commander of al-Qaeda, in an exclusive interview with Asia Times Online, proves he is alive and well after repeated drone attacks and delineates in broad strokes al-Qaeda's strategy. The Afghanistan trap, baited on September 11, 2001, has been sprung, says formidable guerrilla leader Ilyas Kashmiri, and events from Gaza to Mumbai should not be seen in isolation but as part of the master plan to bloody the United States and its proxies......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Israel's illegal detentions - 14 Oct 09

"Two leading human rights groups in Israel have released a report that severely criticises Israel for detaining Palestinians for long periods of time without charges.

The report says more than 300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails without any legal basis.

While Israeli authorities call this administrative detention, their opponents say it is undemocratic and illegal under international law.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports from the occupied West Bank."

Palestinian peace activist imprisoned after advocating boycott against Israel

"Israel has extended the detention of a West Bank peace activist, who Palestinians claim is being imprisoned solely for his advocacy of international boycotts against Israel.

Mohammad Othman, a 33 year old resident of the West Bank village of Jayyous, is currently imprisoned in Israel under ‘administrative detention’, which means that he has not been charged with any crime.

Israel routinely imprisons Palestinians without charges for periods of six months at a time. At the end of the six months, a military court decides whether to extend the imprisonment for another six months or to release the detainee.

Holding people without charges is a violation of international law, but Israel has never been charged in the International Court of Justice.

Mohammed Othman had a court hearing late last week, and his administrative detention was extended without charges. Israeli officials gave no comment on the case.

But Palestinian peace activists claim that Othman is being targeted because he has been the most outspoken boycott of an international consumer boycott against Israel.
The boycott movement is an attempt to pressure the Israeli government to end its occupation of Palestinian land. The movement draws its inspiration from the anti-apartheid boycotts against South Africa in the 1980s.

Othman’s lawyer said that his client is being held in solitary confinement and interrogated for five to ten hours a day."

A NATO for the Middle East?

Israel and Frontline Arab States Join Hands

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, October 14, 2009

".......
Following in the Footsteps of the Baghdad Pact and CENTO?

The formation of a NATO in the Middle East would not only be targeted against Iran, Syria, and their regional allies, but would also be part of a larger equation aimed at targeting Russia and China in Eurasia. In this regard, the formation of a NATO-like military alliance would not be new to the Middle East. In the past, the U.S. had been actively involved in the creation of both the Baghdad Pact and later the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) or Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), which was created after the 1958 revolution in Iraq resulted in an Iraqi withdrawal from the Baghdad Pact.

The organization of these alliances, especially CENTO, were designed alongside that of the organization of NATO and aimed at encircling the Soviet Union from the most relatively central location of Eurasia, as well as keeping other Middle Eastern states in balance. While the Baghdad Pact and CENTO formed a central military belt in Eurasia, NATO formed a military belt around the western and northern peripheries of Eurasia and the Soviet Union. The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) did the same from the eastern and southern peripheries of Eurasia, the Soviet Union, and China. All three military organizations were inter-linked through states that had more than one membership, which were Pakistan (in CENTO and SEATO), Britain (in NATO, CENTO, and SEATO), the U.S. (in NATO and SEATO), Turkey (NATO and CENTO), and France (in NATO and SEATO)."

Video: "It's a Trick, We Always Use It." (calling people "anti-Semitic")

"I'm working on a video about how extreme mainstream media is including the tricks used when covering of key domestic issues like health care.

But this video is a response to the trick repeatedly used against this channel in channel comments. It's the the standard tactic of calling someone "anti-Semitic," and its used to sabotage anyone who speaks out against the US government policy of supporting immoral and illegal Israeli policies which violate basic human rights. And as you can see, this person suggests using a new word for the same old trick.

Amy Goodman interviews a former Israeli minister and she helps expose this trick used against dissidents, the defamation tactic of calling people "anti-Semitic.""

Jumblatt Hails Meeting with Sayyed Nasrallah as Very Positive

Al-Manar Exclusive

"The head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt said on Tuesday that the meeting he has held on Friday night with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah was very positive.

Speaking during an exclusive interview with Al-Manar, Jumblatt emphasized that the meeting has re-built confidence between the two parties and put an end to what he called the "ominous" rupture of relations between his Progressive Socialist Party and Hezbollah following the events of 2005....."

Pro-War Officials Play Up Taliban-al-Qaeda Ties

by Gareth Porter, October 14, 2009

"U.S. national security officials, concerned that President Barack Obama might be abandoning the strategy of full-fledged counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, are claiming new intelligence assessments suggesting that al-Qaeda would be allowed to return to Afghanistan in the event of a Taliban victory.

But two former senior intelligence analysts who have long followed the issue of al-Qaeda’s involvement in Afghanistan question the alleged new intelligence assessments. They say that the Taliban leadership still blames Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda for their loss of power after 9/11 and that Taliban-al-Qaeda cooperation is much narrower today than it was during the period of Taliban rule......."

Backdoor Escalation

Obama is smooth-talking his way into the Afghan quagmire

by Justin Raimondo, October 14, 2009

"The official explanation for Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize is that the Norwegians are using the Nobel as an incentive for the president to fulfill what many see as his bright promise and a kind of prophylactic against a repeat of Bush-era warmongering. After all, how could a recipient of the Peace Prize engage in the kind of brazen militarism that has characterized U.S. foreign policy in the post-9/11 era?

Easy – do it on the sly.........

Who are our enemies in Afghanistan? Are we fighting to eradicate the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Haqqani network, or our former ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar? Perhaps all of them, in which case our cause is unlikely to succeed, even at the level of public relations........"

الشعبية: الإصرار على توقيع المصالحة رغم الظروف الراهنة محاولة لترميم صورة عباس

"فرض التوقيع يعطي دلالات خطيرة"

"دمشق - المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام

انتقدت "الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين - القيادة العامة" إصرار الراعي المصري على توقيع ورقة المصالحة بين حركة المقاومة الإسلامية "حماس" وحركة "فتح" قبل نهاية الشهر الجاري، مشيرة إلى أن هذه الضغوط لإقرار مصالحة دون مراعاة الظروف المحيطة التي تمر بها الساحة الفلسطينية؛ تعطي دلالات خطيرة على محاولة فرض هذا الأمر بالإكراه.

وقال مسؤول الإعلام المركزي في "الجبهة الشعبية" أنور رجا في تصريحاتٍ لفضائية "العالم" الإخبارية الثلاثاء (13-10): "إن الإكراه وعدم مراعاة الظروف التي تمر بها الساحة الفلسطينية وعدم التوقف أمام "فضيحة غولدستون" التي شكلت سابقة خطيرة في تاريخ البشرية؛ سيُفشل مشاريع المصالحة الوطنية".

وأضاف: "إن القفز على "فضيحة غولدستون" عبر ترك المسألة لمواعيد أخرى يعتبر في حد ذاته محاولة لامتصاص الوعي والغضب الشعبي الذي أجمع على رفض طلب رئيس السلطة المنتهية محمود عباس تأجيل مناقشة "تقرير غولدستون" بأعذار واهية".

ولفت إلى أنه ليس المطلوب حاليًّا إطلاقًا إعادة "تعويم" رئيس السلطة محمود عباس وترميم صورته وتسويقه رغم أنه يبدو واقفًا على الشجرة عاريًا "ويريد البعض منا أن نقدم إليه طوق النجاة".

وشدد على أن الحديث عن موعد محدد للتوقيع على وثيقة المصالحة يدعو إلى الدهشة والاستغراب، داعيًا إلى إعادة النظر في جذور المصالحة؛ حتى لا تغدوَ مجرد مصافحات لا تغني ولا تسمن.

كما دعا رجا إلى إعادة بناء "منظمة التحرير" على أساس برنامجٍ وطنيٍّ، وقال: "بعد خطاب محمود عباس الأخير طرأت تحوُّلات جديدة تستدعي إعادة النظر في مجمل القضايا الفلسطينية، وخاصة موضوع المصالحة"، داعيًا إلى امتصاص الغضب الشعبي قبل الذهاب إلى المصالحة.

وختم رجا متسائلاً باستغراب: "لماذا الإصرار على المصالحة أصلاً بين نقيضين؟!"، معتبرًا أن "الإصرار على طبخة محروقة مسمومة، الغاية منه إجراء انتخابات شكلية مزورة مسبقًا؛ يستهدف القضاء على النهج المقاوم لحساب مشاريع الاستسلام والخنوع للعدو".
"

Also, see this from Al-Jazeera:

أنباء عن ضغوط مصرية على حماس

"أكدت مصادر فلسطينية مطلعة للجزيرة نت أن مصر هددت قبل ثلاثة أيام بتشديد إجراءاتها وخنقها قطاع غزة في حال رفض حركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) التوقيع على ورقة المصالحة التي قدمتها القاهرة.

وقالت المصادر للجزيرة نت إن القاهرة أرسلت رسائل مبطنة لحماس عبر شخصيات محلية وبتلميحات لوسائل إعلام مصرية وفلسطينية مختلفة تخبرها بأنها لن تسمح بسفر قيادييها عبر معبر رفح ولن تسمح لأحد من غزة بمغادرة القطاع وأنها ستغلق المعبر إلى حين موافقة الحركة على الورقة المصرية "كما هي ودون أي تعديل".

وشددت المصادر على أن القاهرة أبلغت وفد حماس أنها لن تسمح بأي حال من الأحوال باستمرار ضخ المواد التموينية والبترول من مصر إلى القطاع المحاصر عبر الأنفاق، وأنها ستغلق هذه الأنفاق إذا لم توقع حماس على ورقة المصالحة.

وذكرت المصادر أن السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله طلبت من القاهرة التشديد على قطاع غزة لدفع حماس للتوقيع على ورقة المصالحة للوصول إلى انتخابات.

وأشارت إلى أن حماس وضعت بحساباتها كل هذه التهديدات والإشكاليات وتدرس الورقة المصرية بتأنٍ قبل أن ترد عليها رسمياً اليوم أو غداً،
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Venezuela is no tyranny

Dictatorship has returned to Latin America in Honduras, not in the genuine, if imperfect, democracy of Venezuela

Francisco Dominguez
(Dr Francisco Dominguez is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University where he is head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies. Dominguez came to Britain in 1979 as a Chilean political refuge. )
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 October 2009

"As Latin Americans witness the return of dictatorship – with Honduras suffering political executions, widespread repression and condemnation from human rights organisations about curtailing of press freedoms – it seems a strange time for the media to repeat opposition allegations that Venezuela is becoming a tyranny.

Venezuela is far from the "dictatorship which has a facade of democracy" described by General Raúl Baduel, who has been accused of corruption. What kind of tyranny oversees a 70% increase of participation in presidential elections, as Chávez has, or the government holding 13 free and fair elections in 10 years?.......

Respect for democracy is intrinsic to the particular model being followed by the Chávez government. It does not resort to violence – it wins elections. In contrast, it is noteworthy that the notable elements of the Venezuelan opposition have broadly sympathised with the illegal de facto government of Micheletti in Honduras. Maybe in Honduras we have a serious glimpse of what "democracy" would have been like in Venezuela had its violent attempts to overthrow Chávez been successful?"

Barak: We Must do Everything to Stop Iran

Al-Manar

"“Israel retains all options, including military action, to stop Iran's nuclear program”, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer on Tuesday during talks in Prague. Barak traveled to Prague to speak at the fourth meeting of the Forum 2000, a gathering of world leaders started by former Czech president Václav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel......"