In Money-Changers We Trust

By Robert Scheer
TruthDig

"Two years into the Obama presidency and the economic data is still looking grim. Don’t be fooled by the gyrations of the stock market, where optimism is mostly a reflection of the ability of financial corporations—thanks to massive government largesse—to survive the mess they created. The basics are dismal: Unemployment is unacceptably high, the December consumer confidence index is down and housing prices have fallen for four months in a row. The number of Americans living in poverty has never been higher, and a majority in a Washington Post poll said they were worried about making their next mortgage or rent payment......

And with the decisive assistance from both a Republican and Democratic president, all has worked out just as planned for the banks. Harper reports: “The last two years have been the best ever for combined investment-banking and trading revenue at Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”

It’s all wonderfully bipartisan. Recently it was announced that Carlos Gutierrez, commerce secretary under George W. Bush, had been named to a high position at Citigroup. For President Obama, there’s no cause for worry about the loss of indispensable talent from his administration. Orszag’s replacement as head of the Office of Management and Budget, Jacob J. Lew, was both a member of Rubin’s Hamilton Project and a former Citigroup executive—thus ensuring that government of the banks, by the banks, for the banks shall not perish from the Earth. "

Ikhras Video: Ziad Asali, ATFP host war criminal Tony Blair

By Ikhras.com



"While antiwar activists all over the world protest Tony Blair and demand that he face prosecution for war crimes, Ziad Asali and the American Task Force on Palestine beg to differ."

The virtue of speaking truth to power

Opponents of Assange, like those of my father, downplay his revelations while demanding his arrest for high crimes

By Patrick Cockburn

"One of the more satisfactory aspects of being a journalist is the discovery that the powerful are hyper-sensitive to any revelation about their activities. The degree of venom and hysteria expressed by the US government in attacking Julian Assange and WikiLeaks reflects this acute sense of vulnerability.

My father, Claud Cockburn, discovered this in 1933 when he left The Times and set up a radical newsletter called The Week, which was a sort of early precursor of Private Eye. His calculation was that there was plenty of information freely circulating in political and diplomatic circles that was hidden from the general public.....

WikiLeaks' publication of diplomatic cables and frontline military reports does not disclose many real secrets, but this should not obscure the vast importance of its revelations. It discloses to everybody, as my father had sought to do in the 1930s, facts and opinions that were previously only known to a few. Over the last six months its revelations have painted a unique picture of the world from the American point of view at a moment when US political, economic and military leadership is under stress as never before.

The embarrassment of the US government is not that it has lost any real secrets but that it can no longer pretend that it does not know about the often criminal actions of its own forces, or the unsavoury actions of its allies."

UAE 'held back full story of hotel assassination'

By Donald Macintyre
The Independent

"Authorities in the United Arab Emirates hesitated for nine days before deciding to reveal details of the assassination of Hamas militant Mahmoud al-Mabouh in a Dubai hotel in January, cables published by WikiLeaks reveal.

The eventual revelation by Dubai police of their suspicions over the killing exploded into a worldwide row which in which Israel stood accused of mounting the operations using copies of passports held by Israeli dual-nationals.

It led to the expulsion by Britain of a senior Israeli intelligence official – widely believed to have been the Mossad station chief – from London in the protest at the agency's clandestine use of the passports of at least 12 British citizens.....

The delayed acknowledgment followed talks at the highest levels of the UAE government, where officials discussed whether "to say nothing at all, or to reveal more or less the full extent of the UAE's investigations". Police initially described the killers as an "experienced criminal gang" and only later said they were "99 per cent sure" that Mossad was to blame. In one of the cables, US Ambassador to the UAE Richard Olson describes the local authorities' dilemma. "The statement was carefully drafted not to point any fingers, but the reference ... to a gang with western passports will be read locally as referring to the Mossad."

Another cable sent from the embassy in Dubai establishes that senior UAE officials asked the American ambassador and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to launch urgent enquiries into "cardholder details and related information for credit cards reportedly issued by a US bank to several suspects" in the murder. While there is no evidence the request was acted on in Washington, the embassy asked for it to be processed urgently."

2010: The Best and the Worst

AN EXCELLENT COMMENT
by Justin Raimondo, December 29, 2010

"Last year, around this time, I initiated what I called the Antiwar.com Awards – a year end tribute to the best, and the worst, people and institutions that impact our lives and the life of our nation and the world. And what good is a tradition unless one endeavors to keep it going? So here’s the 2010 edition, for your delectation:

Man of the Year – This is really Men of the Year, because it’s a joint award: Pfc. and political prisoner Bradley Manning and Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and Public Enemy Number One of the Powers That Be. Much has been said and written about the pros and cons of Assange’s project to inject a little transparency into the opaque mysteries of how and why US foreign policy is formulated and carried out the way it is, and I won’t repeat much of that here.

Suffice to say that I fully subscribe to Assange’s theory of the state [.pdf] as a criminal conspiracy, and thoroughly approve of his strategy to bring the current gang to heel. What’s interesting, however, is how polarizing his persona has become, and how quickly it has been detached from his considerable accomplishments. The propaganda campaign against him – directed, no doubt [.pdf], from here – has been quite successful, and quite a show, bearing all the hallmarks of a distinctively American operation (it’s all about sex). And, again typically, it involves the eager “mainstream” media to a great extent – thank you Kevin Poulsen, John F. Burns, and all the Little People who made this award possible. By targeting Assange you have underscored his value to the world’s peoples, and reminded us what shills you are.......

Speaking of the King and his Court, the Interventionist of the Year award can only go to Barack Obama, who has managed to keep the United States involved in more major simultaneous military conflicts than any President in US history – and is actively seeking to break his own record. In spite of our much-vaunted “withdrawal,” we’re still in Iraq, and it doesn’t look like we’re leaving any time soon – which is why Prime Minister Maliki has lately reminded us of our self-imposed “deadline.” We’re hip-deep in Afghanistan, and will soon be in over our heads – but that hasn’t stopped this administration from wading into Pakistan proper, not to mention Yemen and Somalia, where we’re knee deep in vicious internecine conflicts that have little to do with a serious “terrorist” threat to America. Here is an ideological chameleon who managed to shut down the antiwar movement by adopting their colors and lulling much of the “progressive” antiwar left to sleep. And what he didn’t shut down by persuasion he’s intent on shutting down by means of legal persecution, as the arrests of antiwar activists in Minneapolis, Chicago, and North Carolina, and the grand jury investigation into their activities, makes all too clear. Remember, it was a “progressive” president named Woodrow Wilson who ruthlessly crushed dissent during the Great War, and it was the Wilson administration that originated the same Espionage Act Eric Holder’s Justice Department will use to prosecute Julian Assange, if they ever get their hands on him.

God willing, they will not, but I’m pessimistic. The US government cannot afford to let Assange stay free: his successful defiance is proof of their weakness, which – if WikiLeaks isn’t stopped – will prove fatal to their regime of secrecy and plunder. 2011 is the year this issue – the issue of a free media, and whether real dissent is going to be allowed – is going to be resolved, one way or the other. "

How a man setting fire to himself sparked an uprising in Tunisia

A relatively minor incident has become the catalyst for a wave of protests that may end the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

A GOOD COMMENT
By Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 December 2010

"Watching events in Tunisia over the past few days, I have been increasingly reminded of an event in 1989: the fall of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. Is the Tunisian dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, about to meet a similar fate?

After 22 years in power, Ceausescu's end came suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly.......

Reporting of these events has been sparse, to say the least. The Tunisian press, of course, is strictly controlled and international news organisations have shown little interest: the "not many dead" syndrome, perhaps. But in the context of Tunisia they are momentous events. It's a police state, after all, where riots and demonstrations don't normally happen – and certainly not simultaneously in towns and cities up and down the country.

So, what we are seeing, firstly, is the failure of a system constructed by the regime over many years to prevent people from organising, communicating and agitating.

Secondly, we are seeing relatively large numbers of people casting off their fear of the regime. Despite the very real risk of arrest and torture, they are refusing to be intimidated.

Finally, we are seeing the breakdown of a long-standing devil's compact where, in return for submitting to life under a dictatorship, people's economic and welfare needs are supposedly taken care of by the state.....

Most Arab regimes rely on patronage networks to keep themselves in power but Ben Ali's support base looks comparatively small and increasingly fragile, as the US ambassador noted last year in one of the WikiLeaks documents. He described a regime that has lost touch with the people, a regime that tolerates no advice or criticism and whose corruption has become so blatant that "even average Tunisians are now keenly aware of it".

Ben Ali may try to cling on, but his regime now has a fin de siècle air about it. He came to power in 1987 by declaring President Bourguiba unfit for office. It's probably just a matter of time before someone else delivers that same message to Ben Ali."

Video: The War On Democracy: US vs Latin America

A GREAT FILM
By John Pilger

The War On Democracy (English subtitles) from John Pilger on Vimeo.

قمع مظاهرة في تونس.. بالصور

"قمعت قوات الشرطة أمس مظاهرة حاشدة وسط العاصمة تونس نظمتها نقابات عمالية منضوية تحت لواء الاتحاد العام التونسي للشغل، للتعبير عن تضامنها مع أهالي ولاية سيدي بوزيد التي انطلقت شرارة الاحتجاجات فيها قبل 11 يوما ضد ما وصف بتفشي البطالة والفساد.

واشتبك مئات المتظاهرين مع الشرطة أمام مقر الاتحاد بالعاصمة، بعدما حاولوا كسر الحاجز الأمني للتظاهر في قلب العاصمة، مما أدى إلى سقوط بعض الجرحى.
"

Two years after Operation Cast Lead, Gaza remains imprisoned

By Jody McIntyre
The Independent

(Left: Jody McIntyre.)

"It feels strange to spend time over the Christmas period in a quiet Yorkshire village with family; this time last year, I was on my way to the Gaza Strip. It was the second time I had travelled to Gaza; the first time was in March 2009, just a few months after Israel had launched Operation Cast Lead, a twenty-two day assault on the Strip, in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. Hard to describe as a conflict, a massacre perhaps, but a tragedy undoubtedly....

As the South African freedom fighter Steve Biko once said, “The most potent weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” The State of Israel can oppress the Palestinians for another sixty-three years, but it will never defeat their spirit, or win their minds."

Christian extremists assist Israel in displacing Negev Bedouin

Jonathan Cook, The Electronic Intifada, 28 December 2010

"Half a million trees planted over the past 18 months on the ancestral lands of Bedouin tribes in Israel's Negev region were bought by a controversial Christian evangelical television channel that calls itself God-TV.

A sign posted a few kilometers north of Beersheba, the Negev's main city, announces plans to plant a total of a million trees over a large area of desert that has already been designated "God-TV Forest."

The Jewish National Fund (JNF), an international non-profit organization in charge of forestation and developing Jewish settlements in Israel, received $500,000 from God-TV to plant some of the trees, according to the channel's filings to US tax authorities last year.

A coalition of Jewish and Bedouin human rights groups have denounced the project, accusing God-TV and the JNF of teaming up to force the Bedouin out of the area to make way for Jewish-only communities.....

Repeated destruction of al-Araqib's crops by spraying them with herbicides was ruled illegal by Israel's Supreme Court in 2004.

Efforts to move 90,000 Bedouin off their lands close to Beersheba have been intensifying since 2003, when the Israeli government announced plans to move them into a handful of townships.

The Bedouin have resisted, complaining that the official communities are little more than urban reservations that languish at the bottom of the country's social and economic tables."

Divided we stand: the tragedy of Egyptian opposition

The institutional opposition has been unable to comprehend, let alone represent, industrial and agricultural workers' movements

A GOOD COMMENT

Roberto Roccu
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 December 2010

"......Coming from and being largely limited to these social groups, the institutional opposition has been unable to comprehend, let alone represent, the two most relevant movements arising from lower social strata.

On one hand, the movement for workers' rights has gained significant concessions from the government since the first strikes in the textile sector in Mahalla al-Kubra in 2007, and has since gathered momentum and progressively extended its reach towards other manufacturing sectors. On the other hand, following the full implementation of Law 96 of 1992 – also known as "the law for throwing peasants out of their land" – that has to date led to the eviction of more than one million farmers, a peasant movement has emerged in the countryside, though it faces continued repression, as reported by Land Centre for Human Rights.

By its glaring inability to take these grievances seriously, the institutional opposition has condemned itself to continuing irrelevance in parliamentary life and has prevented a credible political articulation of the economic and social demands of both industrial and agricultural workers, ignoring that these movements could indeed constitute the much-needed popular support for a political opposition to the Mubarak regime......"

2011

by Paul Craig Roberts, December 28, 2010

"The year 2011 will bring Americans a larger and more intrusive police state, more unemployment and home foreclosures, no economic recovery, more disregard by the U.S. government of U.S. law, international law, the Constitution, and truth, more suspicion and distrust from allies, more hostility from the rest of the world, and new heights of media sycophancy.

2011 is shaping up as the terminal year for American democracy. The Republican Party has degenerated into a party of Brownshirts, and voter frustrations with the worsening economic crisis and military occupations gone awry are likely to bring Republicans to power in 2012. With them would come their doctrines of executive primacy over Congress, the judiciary, law, and the Constitution and America’s rightful hegemony over the world.....

As 2011 dawns, public discourse in America has the country primed for a fascist dictatorship.The situation will be worse by 2012. The most uncomfortable truth that emerges from the WikiLeaks saga is that American public discourse consists of cries for revenge against those who tell us truths. The vicious mendacity of the U.S. government knows no restraint. Whether or not international law can save Julian Assange from the clutches of the Americans or death by a government black ops unit, both executive and legislative branches are working assiduously to establish the National Security State as the highest value and truth as its greatest enemy.

America’s future is the world of Winston Smith."

Short Video: Second Anniversary of the Gaza Massacre. برومو الحرب على غزة - غضب الشارع 2

Courtesy of Arabs48.com

US Declined to Help in Dubai Probe of Mabhouh Assassination: Wikileaks

Al-Manar

"28/12/2010 A Wikileaks cable shows that the United States has declined a request from the United Arab Emirates to assist an investigation into the assassination of a top Hamas commander.

A cable sent from the embassy in Dubai less than a month after the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhoh in a Dubai hotel in January 2010 reveals that senior U.A.E. officials asked the American ambassador and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to probe urgently "cardholder details and related information for credit cards reportedly issued by a U.S. bank to several suspects" in the murder.

The WikiLeaks cable not only proved that the request was indeed made but that it was recorded in a secret State Department cable. By not accepting the request, the Obama administration harmed the Dubai investigation efforts and assisted Israel instead.

The U.S. last year denied reports that it had received a request for assistance from Dubai, but a recently released WikiLeaks cable proves otherwise....."

The Arab and Bread

From the Current Protests in Tunisia.

This is the only thing (bread) that will make the Arab rebel,
and the regimes know that. They will put a lid on the protests by subsidizing bread.

Ahmadinejad: Iran is now a nuclear state

(Click on cartoon by Khalil Bendib to enlarge)

Press TV

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has downplayed sanction resolutions against the Islamic Republic, saying Iran has now become a nuclear country.

The United States and its allies have been exerting political and propaganda pressure and have issued resolutions against the Iranian nation. All their efforts have failed and Iran has now become a nuclear country, President Ahmadinejad said the in an address to the people of the northern city of Karaj on Tuesday....."

Tunisia: The battle of Sidi Bouzid

Poor economic policies have led to widespread distress as Tunisia's youth take their frustrations to the streets.

Larbi Sadiki
Al-Jazeera

"What happened to the state? Where did civil society go? Why is there only silence from Development Minister Mohamed Nouri Jouini?

Before even attempting to answer each one of those questions, these seemingly dysfunctional institutions need to be inspected more closely in order to see the extent to which they share responsibility for the suicidal protests of despair by Tunisia’s youth.

This is a not time for scoring political points. What Wikileaks says or does not say about Tunisia’s ruling family serves no purpose here. This is a time for reflection on Tunisia’s own ‘wretched of the earth’ – the ‘khobz-istes’ of Sidi Bouzid and the country’s disenfranchised youth.

The Khobz-istes (the jobless) strike back

Putting Rousseau’s notion of a ‘social contract’ and Arab politics in the same phrase is to ask for an oxymoron. Tunisia’s politics is no exception. But there is another type of contract which has nothing to do with Rousseau: The ‘bread contract' - bread in parts of Tunisia and Egypt are called ‘eish, dear 'life' itself...."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

The question is:

Do you believe that the response of the Tunisian government is in line with the demands of the people of Sidi Bouzid?

With over 5,000 responding, 94% said no.

ويكيليكس: سوريا وراء الهجوم على السفارات السكندينافية في دمشق

ويكيليكس: سوريا وراء الهجوم على السفارات السكندينافية في دمشق

"أوسلو- أشارت مذكرة دبلوماسية أمريكية نشرها موقع ويكيليكس ونقلتها صحيفة (افتنبوستن) النروجية أن سوريا سهلت الهجمات على سفارات الدول الاسكندينافية في دمشق خلال التظاهرات العنيفة التي جرت احتجاجا على الرسوم الكاريكاتورية للنبي محمد (صلى الله عليه وسلم) مطلع 2006.
وأفادت المذكرة أن رئيس الوزراء السوري محمد ناجي العطري (أوعز) قبل أيام من أعمال العنف إلى كبير مفتي سوريا أن يطلب من الائمة استخدام (عبارات قاسية) في خطبة الجمعة "من دون تحديد سقف للكلام المستخدم".

وتأتي معلومات الدبلوماسية الأمريكية من احدى الشخصيات الدينية السنية الاكثر نفوذا في دمشق التي تم محو اسمها في الوثيقة المنشورة في افتنبوستن.

واضاف رجل الدين الذي نقلت السفارة الامريكية كلامه إن الحكومة السورية افسحت المجال لاستمرار اعمال الشغب فترة مطولة وعندما رأت أن الرسالة وصلت تحركت لوقفهم مهددة باستخدام العنف.

واضاف رجل الدين السني إن رسالة دمشق إلى الغرب كانت "هذا ما ستنالونه ان اجزنا لديمقراطية حقيقية وتركنا الاسلاميين يقررون".

وفي الوقت نفسه، أرادت دمشق أن تظهر لـ(لشارع الاسلامي) انها تحمي كرامة الاسلام، حسب المصدر نفسه.

في الرابع من شباط/ فبراير 2006 أحرق متظاهرون السفارة الدنماركية في دمشق التي ضمت ممثليتي السويد وتشيلي، احتجاجا على نشر 12 رسما كاريكاتوريا للنبي محمد في صحيفة دنماركية.

واستدعت الدنمارك سفيرها احتجاجا على الحماية الضعيفة التي أمنتها السلطات السورية للسفارة.

وحصلت صحيفة افتنبوستن التي نشرت المذكرة المعنية على موقعها على مجمل المذكرات الـ250 الفا التي تملكها ويكيليكس بوسيلة مجهولة، من دون إبرام اتفاق مع الموقع على غرار ما فعلت خمس صحف كبرى هي نيويورك تايمز وذي غارديان ولوموند والبايس ودير شبيغل.
"

An Open Letter from Gaza: Two Years After the Massacre, a Demand for Justice

Besieged Gaza, Palestine

27. December.2010

"We, the Palestinians of the Besieged Gaza Strip, on this day, two years on from Israel's genocidal attack on our families, our houses, our roads, our factories and our schools, are saying enough inaction, enough discussion, enough waiting -- the time is now to hold Israel to account for its ongoing crimes against us. On the 27th of December 2008, Israel began an indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The assault lasted 22 days, killing 1,417 Palestinians, 352 of them children, according to mainstream human rights organizations. For a staggering 528 hours, Israeli Occupation Forces let loose their US-supplied F15s, F16s, Merkava Tanks, internationally prohibited white phosphorous, and bombed and invaded the small Palestinian coastal enclave that is home to 1.5 million, of whom 800,000 are children and over 80 percent UN registered refugees. Around 5,300 remain permanently wounded......

We also call upon all Palestine solidarity groups and all international civil society organizations to demand:

- An end to the siege that has been imposed on the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of their exercise of democratic choice.
- The protection of civilian lives and property, as stipulated in International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law such as The Fourth Geneva Convention.
- The immediate release of all political prisoners.
- That Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip be immediately provided with financial and material support to cope with the immense hardship that they are experiencing
- An end to occupation, Apartheid and other war crimes.
- Immediate reparations and compensation for all destruction carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces in the Gaza Strip.

Boycott, Divest and Sanction. Join the many international trade unions, universities, supermarkets and artists and writers who refuse to entertain Apartheid Israel. Speak out for Palestine, for Gaza, and crucially ACT. The time is now.

Besieged Gaza, Palestine

27.December.2010

List of signatories:
(37 major labor, youth, solidarity and relief organizations)

The Gaza massacre and the struggle for justice

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 27 December 2010

"The Gaza massacre, which Israel launched two years ago today, did not end on 18 January 2009, but continues. It was not only a massacre of human bodies, but of the truth and of justice. Only our actions can help bring it to an end.

The UN-commissioned Goldstone Report documented evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in an attack aimed at the very "foundations of civilian life in Gaza" -- schools, industrial infrastructure, water, sanitation, flour mills, mosques, universities, police stations, government ministries, agriculture and thousands of homes. Yet like so many other inquiries documenting Israeli crimes, the Goldstone Report sits gathering dust as the United States, the European Union, the Palestinian Authority and certain Arab governments colluded to ensure it would not translate into action.....

Thus the convoys and flotillas are an essential part of a larger effort to make Israel understand that it does have a problem and it can never be treated as a normal state until it ends its oppression and occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and fully respects the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian refugees. And even if governments continue to stand by and do nothing, global civil society is showing the way with these efforts to break the siege, and with the broader Palestinian-led campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Amid all the suffering, Palestinians have not celebrated many victories in the two years since the Gaza massacre. But there are signs that things are moving in the right direction. Israel begs for US-endorsed "peace negotiations" precisely because it knows that while the "peace process" provides cover for its ongoing crimes, it will never be required to give up anything or grant any rights to Palestinians in such a "process."

Yet Israel is mobilizing all its resources to fight the global movement for justice, especially BDS, that has gained so much momentum since the Gaza massacre. There can be no greater confirmation that this movement brings justice within our grasp. Our memorial to all the victims must not be just an annual commemoration, but the work we do every day to make the ranks of this movement grow. "

Al-Jazeera Video: Tunisia protests spread to capital

"Protests over the high level of unemployment in Tunisia have spread to the capital.

It comes after a week of clashes in the Sidi Bouzid region.

On Friday, an 18-year-old man was killed after police fired on a crowd.

Al Jazeera's Renee Odeh has the latest."

Real News Video and Transcript: World Tired of Paying Bill for US Military

Michael Hudson: Major countries looking for alternatives to US dollar

Top Ten Myths about Afghanistan, 2010

by Juan Cole

"10. "There has been significant progress in tamping down the insurgency in Afghanistan."

9. Afghans want the US and NATO troops to stay in their country because they feel protected by them.

Fact: In a recent [pdf] poll, only 36% of Afghans said they were confident that US troops could provide security. Only 32% of Afghans now have a favorable view of the United States over-all.

8. The "surge" and precision air strikes are forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Fact: The only truly high-ranking Taliban leader thought to have engaged in parleys with the US, Mulla Omar's number 2, turns out to have been a fraud and a con man.

7. The US presence in Afghanistan is justified by the September 11 attacks.

Fact: In Helmand and Qandahar Provinces, a poll found that 92% of male residents had never heard of 9/11......

1. The US is in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaeda.

Fact: CIA director Leon Panetta admitted that there are only 50-100 al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan! The US is mainly fighting two former allies among the Mujahidin whom Ronald Reagan dubbed "freedom fighters" and the "equivalent of America's founding fathers:" Gulbaddin Hikmatyar and his Hizb-i Islami, and Jalaluddin Haqqani and his Haqqani Network. These two organizations, which received billions from the US congress to fight the Soviets in the 1980s, are more deadly and important now than the ‘Old Taliban' of Mulla Omar. The point is that they are just manifestations of Pashtun Muslim nationalism, and not eternal enemies of the United States (being former allies and clients and all). Hikmatyar has roundly denounced al-Qaeda. "

2011: A Brave New Dystopia

A GREAT PIECE
By Chris Hedges

"The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.

We have been gradually disempowered by a corporate state that, as Huxley foresaw, seduced and manipulated us through sensual gratification, cheap mass-produced goods, boundless credit, political theater and amusement. While we were entertained, the regulations that once kept predatory corporate power in check were dismantled, the laws that once protected us were rewritten and we were impoverished. Now that credit is drying up, good jobs for the working class are gone forever and mass-produced goods are unaffordable, we find ourselves transported from “Brave New World” to “1984.” The state, crippled by massive deficits, endless war and corporate malfeasance, is sliding toward bankruptcy. It is time for Big Brother to take over from Huxley’s feelies, the orgy-porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. We are moving from a society where we are skillfully manipulated by lies and illusions to one where we are overtly controlled....

The noose is tightening. The era of amusement is being replaced by the era of repression. Tens of millions of citizens have had their e-mails and phone records turned over to the government. We are the most monitored and spied-on citizenry in human history. Many of us have our daily routine caught on dozens of security cameras. Our proclivities and habits are recorded on the Internet. Our profiles are electronically generated. Our bodies are patted down at airports and filmed by scanners. And public service announcements, car inspection stickers, and public transportation posters constantly urge us to report suspicious activity. The enemy is everywhere.

Those who do not comply with the dictates of the war on terror, a war which, as Orwell noted, is endless, are brutally silenced. The draconian security measures used to cripple protests at the G-20 gatherings in Pittsburgh and Toronto were wildly disproportionate for the level of street activity. But they sent a clear message—DO NOT TRY THIS. The FBI’s targeting of antiwar and Palestinian activists, which in late September saw agents raid homes in Minneapolis and Chicago, is a harbinger of what is to come for all who dare defy the state’s official Newspeak. The agents—our Thought Police—seized phones, computers, documents and other personal belongings. Subpoenas to appear before a grand jury have since been served on 26 people. The subpoenas cite federal law prohibiting “providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations.” Terror, even for those who have nothing to do with terror, becomes the blunt instrument used by Big Brother to protect us from ourselves.

“Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating?” Orwell wrote. “It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.”"

WikiLeaks, Michael Lind, and the ‘New’ Nationalism

The authoritarian left comes out of the closet

by Justin Raimondo, December 27, 2010

"The international debate engendered by WikiLeaks’ ongoing publication of classified US diplomatic cables has sent most American liberals into hiding. Gone AWOL when it comes to the Obama administration’s escalation of the federal government’s war on civil liberties, mainstream liberal defenders of WikiLeaks are few and far between.......

By far the most consistent and effective champion of WikiLeaks on what passes for the “left” these days has been the heroic Glenn Greenwald: not only in his widely-read columns for Salon.com, but in numerous media appearances in which he has taken on the worst of the very worst – and, yes, I do indeed mean John F. Burns, of the New York Times. Glenn has been everywhere, a libertarian gladiator up against the Empire’s pundit warrior-slaves, and winning every time.

News programs which would normally interview only regimist “experts” and commentators have been forced, by the very nature of a contentious subject, to bring in someone who doesn’t toe Washington’s line, and Glenn – with his legal training and calm, reasoned demeanor – is almost singlehandedly taking on the Powers That Be in this important fight.

Now, however, a challenger has arisen from within the ranks of the Salon.com limousine liberal set to take on our Spartacus: Michael Lind, who has staked out a position as a “new nationalist” on the Obama-friendly left, has entered the arena, outlining the case against Assange and WikiLeaks that Eric Holder’s Justice Department will make in court if US goons succeed in netting him from the Swedes, or perhaps even the Brits. (If only we could read those diplomatic cables going to and fro between Washington, Stockholm, and London!).....

Speaking of Turkeys.....

And the Winner of the Turkey- for-the-Past-20-Years Award is......
The Collaborator-in-Chief.....
Of the Quisling PA.....
Mahmoud Abbas.

Jewish activist faces jail for West Bank resistance

By Donald Macintyre in Tel Aviv
The Independent

"It is not every day that a leading Palestinian activist issues an emphatic statement of support for a Jewish Israeli – "this friend, whose friendship I am proud to share" – facing prison.

But then Jonathan Pollak, who could be jailed for between three and six months when the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court decides on his prosecution for illegal assembly today, is an unusual figure even in the long history of Israeli dissent.

The man praising him, Ayed Morrar, has become internationally known thanks to an award-winning documentary on the victorious unarmed struggle he led to change the route of the Israeli military's separation barrier in the Palestinian village of Budrus. Mr Pollak, 28, is already a veteran of that and many other battles against the barrier and settlements in the West Bank, protesting alongside Palestinian residents and sharing the same physical risks in the clashes between armed security forces – that sometimes use live ammunition – and stone-throwing young villagers that the struggle tends to generate...."

A Short Video: Second Anniversary of the Israeli Invasion of Gaza

Courtesy of Arabs48.com

Christmas Quiz

Here is a quiz for you:

On which internet site is this greeting appearing currently?

1) The Israeli Foreign Ministry?

2) The Vatican?

3) The "Militant" Lebanese, Islamic, Hizbullah?

The right answer is (3).

النظام العربي من المهد إلى ما بعد اللحد

(Scroll down for more new posts)

A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE
Al-Quds Al-Arabi

النظام العربي من المهد إلى ما بعد اللحد
زهير أندراوس

"كانت التعليمات واضحة وصارمة، لا يُمكن بأيّ حالٍ من الأحوال إدخال آلة تصوير أو هاتف خلوي أو مُسجل عند الدخول إلى خيمة العقيد معمر القذافي، القريبة من مدينة سرت. وصلت الحافلة الأولى التي أقلّت أعضاء وفد عرب الـ48 إلى المكان، وما هي إلا لحظات حتى حطّت الثانية. ترجلنا وبدأنا بالتقدم نحو الخيمة، السماء زرقاء، الشمس ساطعة ودرجة الحرارة تقترب من الأربعين في وسط الصحراء. جميع أعضاء الوفد، مع حفظ الألقاب والأسماء، تعرضوا للتفتيش الدقيق من قبل المخابرات الليبية، التي استعمل أفرادها أحدث ما ابتكرته التكنولوجيا الغربيّة للكشف عن مواد محظورة. الصمت كان سيّد الموقف، الاحتجاج غاب أو تغيّب أو غُيّب عن الأجندة.
غني عن القول إنّه لو حدث هذا الأمر في مطار اخر، لكنّا أقمنا الدنيا ولم نُقعدها، وبحق، ولكن الطامة الكبرى أنّ الوفد وصل إلى الخيمة التي انتصرت على القصر، كما صرحت اليافطات المعلقّة في الشوارع الرئيسية للجماهيـــــرية، بدعوةٍ رسميةٍ من قائد ثورة الفاتح من سبتمبر، ومع ذلك فقد تمّت عمــــلية التدقيـــق والتمحيص بشكلٍ يثير الاشمئزاز، ولا نُــــريد في هـــذه العـــجالة استعمال مفردات أدّق لتوصيف الحالة، ولا غضاضة بتجنيد المثل العامي الفصيح الذي يقول: 'غلب وستره، ولا غلب وفضيحة'.
أسوق هذه المقدمة بعدما قرأت في الفترة الأخيرة عن كتابٍ جديدٍ تحت عنوان: (جيوش الظلال: الأجهزة الاستخبارية في العالم العربيّ) لمؤلفه وليهلم ديتل، الذي عمل على مدار 11 عاما عميلا لجهاز الاستخبارات الاتحادي الألماني الـ (بي أن دي) في الشرق الأوسط، الذي أكد فيه أنّ أجهزة الاستخبارات العربية، بما فيها اللبنانية، غير ناجعة. وبحسب المؤلف فإنّ أكثرية الأجهزة العربية تختلف تماما عمّا يخطر ببالنا في الغرب، ذلك أنّ أساس عمل الـ (بي ان دي) على سبيل المثال، هو جمع معلومات ذات قيمة إستراتيجية أو سياسية أو عسكرية، وإدراك أو تقدير أو تحليل اتجاهات؛ لا قتل أشخاص ولا تعذيبهم، أما الأجهزة العربيّة فترى أساس مهمتها الحفاظ على نظام الحكم أو الزعيم، ولهذا فإنّها متوحشة لا كابح لها. وزاد قائلا: أجهزة المخابرات العربيّة تقف فوق القانون؛ إنها القانون نفسه.
ومن مسلمات عمل المخابراتي الحياة المزدوجة، وفي الشرق الأوسط، يكمن فيها غير قليل من الإخطار. فقد اعتقل ديتل، وفق روايته، في العام 1982 قرب مدينة حماة في سورية بعد زمن من المجزرة التي أوقعتها قوات الأمن بالإخوان المسلمين، الذين تمردوا على نظام الحكم. أسمع ديتل محققيه مقابلة أجراها أثناء زيارته مع وزير الإعلام السوري، وقال لهم إنّه حدّد له مقابلة مع الرئيس حافظ الأسد. كان ذلك كذبا، لكن كان من الصعب عليهم التحقق من المعلومات بسبب خطوط الهواتف المشوشة، كما أنّ الخوف من القصر الرئاسي، وأن يعرف وزير الإعلام ما فعلوه، دفع بالمحققين إلى إطلاق سراحه، إنّ هذه القصة تعزز، كما يقول ديتل، مزاعمه وهي أن العاملين في أجهزة الاستخبارات العربية يخافون الخطأ الذي يُكلّفهم مناصبهم، إن لم نقل حياتهم، وما يزال هذا الحظ الكبير للاستخبارات الإسرائيلية أنّ هؤلاء هم أعداؤها، يُلخّص ديتل.
الحادثة الأولى التي أوردناها تقطع الشك باليقين بأنّ المخابرات العربيّة تخضع لحماية الزعيم والنظام الديكتاتوري الذي يقوده، غير آبهة بحريات الإنسان أو بحقوقه الأساسية، أمّا كتاب رجل المخابرات الألماني فيؤكد أنّ الدول العربيّة، هي دول ليست مخترقة فقط، بل مستباحة في جميع مناحي الحياة، وأجهزة المخابرات الغربيّة، وبطبيعة الحال الإسرائيليّة، تصول وتجول فيها، بدون حسيبٍ أو رقيب.
ولكنّنا نرى أنّه من الأهمية بمكان قراءة هذا الواقع الأليم في الدول العربيّة بنظرة أبعد وأعمق، الإنسان العربيّ المقموع، الذي تُداس كرامته مرّة تلو الأخرى، لا يستطيع حتى ولو أراد أن يكون منتميا وطنيا، لأنّه يعيش بفضل الأنظمة الرجعية والديكتاتورية في حالةٍ خوفٍ مستمرٍ، من أن يكون الضحية القادمة لترهات هذا الحاكم أو ذاك، ذلك أنّ تهمة معارضة النظام أو التآمر عليه حاضرة وجاهزة ضدّ كل إنسانٍ عربيّ يجرؤ على عدم حب النظام، مضافا إلى ذلك، نتذكر بألمٍ وحسرةٍ شديدين، أنّ أول من خان الرئيس البطل والشهيد، صدّام حسين، حال دخول الغزاة في العام 2003، كانوا أولئك الأشخاص الذين أشبعونا وطنية وعروبة، حيث انضموا إلى الإمبرياليين قبل وصول العملاء الرسميين على متن الطائرات العمودية.
علاوة على ذلك، فإنّ[This is the most important statement.] الدول العربيّة لم تصل حتى اليوم إلى العصر الحديث في كل ما يتعلق بالمواطنة، فالفرد العربيّ يعرف أنّه في ظل عدم تمتعه بالمواطنة، فإنّه نظريا وعمليا ليس قادرا على المشاركة في صنع القرار السياسي أو الاجتماعي أو الاقتصادي، وهذا النهج في تعامل الأنظمة الرجعية مع المواطنين يدفع بالجماهير العريضة والواسعة إلى التوقف عن التفكير، الإضراب عن الإبداع، فمن يعش تحت كنف النظام ومخابراته، لا يمكنه بأيّ حال من الأحوال أن يكون مبدعا ويساهم في بناء دولته، لهذا السبب فإنّ الدول العربيّة تواصل وستواصل شراء الطائرات والسيارات وإقامة الأبراج الضخمة بواسطة الشركات الأجنبية، التي تُخطط وتهندس وتستغل الأيدي العاملة العربيّة بسبب رخصها. وفي هذا السياق نسأل وبأعلى الصوت: أين الأدمغة العربيّة؟ لماذا يهاجر العلماء العرب إلى الغرب؟ ما من شك أنّ العامل الاقتصادي يلعب دورا مهما، ولكن من ناحية أخرى، يعرف هذا العالم أو تلك العالمة من الناطقين بالضاد أنّه لا تقدّم في الدول العربيّة، التي ما زالت بعيدة جدا عن قضية المواطنة.
كما أنّه بسبب القمع ومصادرة الحريّات في الدول العربيّة يعرف المواطن العادي أنّه في حال ارتكابه أيّ خطأ بحق النظام، فإنّ مصيره سيكون حبل المشنـــــقة، أو السجن المؤبد، وما إلى ذلك من عقوبات لا تتماشى مع كوننا نعيش في العصر الحديث، نقول هذا في حين أنّ المواطن في الغرب، إذا أخطأ فإنّه سيعمل على تصليح الخطأ، أيّ أنّ المواطن العربيّ لا يقدر أن يُفكّر، المخابرات تسبقه وتُفكّر مكانه، كما أنّه وصــــل إلى القناعة المطلقة بأنّه حتى لو شارك في الانتخابات فإنّه لن يتـــمكن من إحداث التغيير المنشود، ففي الانتخابات الأخيرة التي جرت في مصر لمجلس الشعب وصلت نسبة المشاركين إلى 28 بالمائة من أصحاب حق الاقتراع فقط، وإذا أضفنا هذه النسبة إلى عمليات التزوير التي دأب النظام الحاكم على تدبيرها وحياكتها، فإننّا لا نستغرب البتة عدم وصول أيّ مرشح من جماعة (الإخوان المسلمين) إلى مجلس الشعب.
وهناك نقطة لا بدّ من التطرق إليها: بسبب حالة التوريث التي باتت ماركة مسجّلة لدى الأنظمة العربيّة، فإنّ المواطن يصل إلى نتيجة أنّه سيبقى تحت قبضة النظام الحاكم إلى ما لا نهاية، فبعد رحيل الرئيس، يُنصب نجله، كما حدث في سورية، وكما سيحدث في مصر بعد الرئيس حسني مبارك، أي أنّ حالة اليأس والإحباط لدى المواطن العربيّ تحوّلت إلى عاهةٍ مستديمةٍ، لا بل إلى مرضٍ عضالٍ استعصى على أكبر الاختصاصيين في العالم. أكثر من ذلك، المشكلة العويصة أنّ المواطن العربيّ الذي يعيش في ظل نظامٍ ملكيّ يعرف أيضا أنّ احتمالات تأثيره على صنع القرار شبه مستحيلة، فعلى سبيل الذكر لا الحصر، في الأردن تجري الانتخابات، ويشارك المواطنون في العملية، ولكنّهم يعلمون أنّ هذه الانتخابات لا يمكنها تغيير الحاكم، أي الملك، وبالتالي فإنّ هذه الانتخابات سقفها تمّ تحديده من قبل، فهل يستطيع المواطن الذي يشارك في الانتخابات مثلا لتغيير الملك؟
المشكلة أنّ أجهزة المخابرات العربيّة تملك صلاحيات غير محدودة للحفاظ على الزعيم وعلى نظامه الذي أكل عليه الدهر وشرب، والمواطن يبقى رهينة بأيدي هذه الأجهزة منذ خروجه إلى النور وحتى انتقاله إلى جوار ربه، وهذه الحالة الكئيبة تجعل من تحرير الأرض في المرتبة الثانية، إن لم تحتل المرتبة الثالثة، فهل يستطيع الإنسان العربيّ، الذي لا يعرف ما معنى الحرية ولا يدري ماذا تعني المواطنة أنّ يحارب من أجل تحرير الأرض والإنسان من غزاة القرن الـ20 وأيضا القرن الـ21؟
"

Biographic Sketch of Marwan Bishara

Marwan Bishara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Marwan Bishara is Al Jazeera English's senior political analyst and the editor & host of Empire, which examines global powers and their agendas. He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris and a fellow at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes et Sciences Sociales. An author who writes and speaks extensively on global politics, Bishara is an authority on many of today’s most relevant global issues, US foreign policy and the greater Middle East.

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, The Guardian, Le Monde and The Nation, among other outlets. He is also the chairman of The Galilee Foundation , a UK based charity that provides over 100 students annually with scholarships to go to universities. Marwan Bishara has engaged in high-profile public speaking on Middle East and global affairs, in addition to international journalism.

Empire, his flagship show on Al Jazeera English, consistently challenges concepts about global powers and global elites. Through Empire episodes such as The US between Two Wars; SuperClass; BRIC: The New World Order; or US & Iran: Best of Enemies?, Marwan Bishara has posed pertinent questions on a vast range of topics. Empire has been successful at disecting the most significant geo-political issues of the day by fusing the best Al Jazeera field reporting with an in-depth studio debate with the participation of leading analysts and commentators.

Marwan Bishara was born in Nazareth and is a Palestinian from Israel, he is the younger brother of Azmi Bishara. Marwan Bishara published his book "Palestine/Israel: peace or apartheid" in Zed Books a number of years before Jimmy Carter did a title almost identical (Palestine Peace Not Apartheid).

On CNN regarding the Arab league's attempted regulation of media outlets such as Al Jazeera: "I think Arab - certain Arab governments are really worried from the freedom of expression that is going on in the Arab world."[1]..."

طوارئ بمطار القاهرة لاستقبال اليهود للمشاركة فى مولد أبو حصيرة

طوارئ بمطار القاهرة لاستقبال اليهود للمشاركة فى مولد أبو حصيرة

"القاهرة- أعلنت سلطات مطار القاهرة الأحد حالة الطوارئ لاستقبال المئات من اليهود القادمين من تل أبيب وبعض المدن للمشاركة فى احتفالات ذكرى أبو حصيرة قرب مدينة دمنهور بمحافظة البحيرة (156 كم شمال القاهرة).
واستقبل المطار الأحد ثلاث طائرات من تل أبيب عليها حوالى 550 راكبا بعضهم حاخامات حيث تم تأمينهم حتى توجههم إلى قرية دميتوه الموجود بها قبر أبو حصيرة.

ومن المقرر أن يصل خلال ساعات عدد كبير من اليهود للمشاركة فى إحتفالات أبو حصيرة.

ويعتقد اليهود أن أبو حصيرة يحقق أمنياتهم فيكتبون أوراقا على قصاصات من الورق ويتركونها فوق قبره ويذبحون الذبائح ابتهاجا بعيد ميلاده لاعتقادهم بأنه صاحب كرامات.

ويشار إلى أن أهالى البحيرة سبق وأن قاموا برفع دعاوى قضائية لإلغاء هذا المولد وهذه الاحتفالات وصدر حكم قضائي في كانون ثان/ يناير عام 2004 من المحكمة الادارية العليا يقضي بإلغاء قرار وزير الثقافة فاروق حسني باعتبار ضريح (أبو حصيرة) من المناطق الأثرية وبالتالى إلغاء كافة مظاهر الاحتفال في هذه القرية.
"

Collaborators for Hire: P.A Returns To Israel Stolen Military Vehicle, Weapons, And Hands-in Five Palestinians

"As part of the ongoing security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority returned to Israel a military vehicle and weapons, and also handed Israel five Palestinians believed to be involved in the issue.

A Palestinian security source stated that the five young men were in possession of the Land Rover military vehicle.

Last Tuesday, Israel announced that a Land Rover military jeep was stolen and that the jeep had gas bombs, grenades and fast response military equipment. The vehicle, which was stolen in Tel Aviv last Tuesday, also included communication equipment; it belongs to a special unit at the Israeli military.

The Israeli security informed the Palestinian Security forces of the issue. The Palestinian security forced investigated the issue and arrested five Palestinians from Jerusalem, and located the jeep.

Last Wednesday, the five and the jeep were handed to Israel at the Benjamin Roadblock."

Al-Jazeera Video: Al Jazeera interviews Julian Assange

Watch This Pathetic Video....
Of Hamas Engaged in a Media Jihad.



"Two members of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire in the Gaza Strip.

It happened near the Israeli border, close to Khan Younis, on Sunday morning. Israel says the men were planting explosives.

Israel has launched multiple air raids aimed at what they say are Hamas facilities over the past week.

Hamas's military wing has accused Israel of "playing with fire".

Fighters in Gaza have fired back at Israel, with about 30 rocket attacks into southern Israel over the past few weeks.

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reports on rising tension, ahead of the second anniversary of Israel's war on Gaza."

Al-Jazeera Video: Ancient Gaza tunnels discovered

"More than a million people have left Iraq since 2003.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees believes that Iraq is still unstable.

But those who reach Europe seeking asylum, are increasingly at risk of being sent back.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reports from Baghdad."

Cuban medics in Haiti put the world to shame

Castro's doctors and nurses are the backbone of the fight against cholera

By Nina Lakhani
The Independent

"They are the real heroes of the Haitian earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America's doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America's arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame.

A medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans is operating all over earthquake-torn and cholera-infected Haiti, as part of Fidel Castro's international medical mission which has won the socialist state many friends, but little international recognition....."

Israel uses British emergency law to banish activist

Mandate-era regulation invoked to stifle protest against Jewish settler groups in East Jerusalem

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

The Independent

(Left: Adnan Gheith, who has been arrested by the Israeli military seven times in the past few months and who now faces banishment from his East Jerusalem home.)

"The Israeli military is making rare use of an emergency regulation enacted by the British Mandate in 1945 to order the temporary banishment of a Palestinian activist from his home city of Jerusalem.

Adnan Gheith, 35, faces expulsion for four months from the city because of his part in protests at mounting encroachment by Jewish settler groups in the politically ultra-sensitive Silwan neighbourhood of inner-city Arab East Jerusalem.

Silwan is the primary flashpoint in the struggle between the settlers and Palestinians for control of key sectors of East Jerusalem....

Ironically, the order invoked by the Israeli military was part of a package of emergency defence regulations codified by the British military at the end of the Second World War to combat growing Jewish unrest.

Daniel Seidemann, a prominent Israeli lawyer, said resort to the 1945 order smacked of "desperation" on the part of the authorities. He added that there was an attempt to "transform a Palestinian neighbourhood into an evangelical settlers' theme park, and the Palestinians are not playing the roles designated to them as extras in this pseudo-biblical pageant.""