Saturday, May 18, 2013
The Latest American Phobia: Pressure Cookers!
Is a Permit from Homeland Security Needed to Own One of These Weapons of Mass Destruction? What Comes Next? Falafel Sandwiches?
Friday, May 17, 2013
Real News Video: Taxing Corporate Profits will Force Investment
Heiner Flassbeck: Corporations are sitting on mountains of cash and are unwilling to invest in the real economy - only high taxes on profit will make them do so
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
Do you support including Iran in the proposed international conference about the Syrian crisis?
So far, 71% said no.
Syria: Visit Reveals Torture Chambers
Opposition Should Secure Security Force Facilities, Safeguard Potential Evidence
Local opposition leaders with the support of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and neutral international experts should safeguard potential evidence of torture and arbitrary detention in security forces centers in opposition-controlled areas, Human Rights Watch said.
“The documents, prison cells, interrogation rooms, and torture devices we saw in the government’s security facilities are consistent with the torture former detainees have described to us since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Those in control of Raqqa need to safeguard the materials in these facilities so the truth can be told and those responsible held accountable.”
In the State Security facility, Human Rights Watch researchers observed on the ground floor and in the basement, rooms that appeared to be detention cells.Among the documents were what appeared to be lists of security force members who had worked there. Human Rights Watch researchers also saw a “bsat al-reeh” torture device in the facility, which former detainees have said has been used to immobilize and severely stretch or bend limbs......."
“The documents, prison cells, interrogation rooms, and torture devices we saw in the government’s security facilities are consistent with the torture former detainees have described to us since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Those in control of Raqqa need to safeguard the materials in these facilities so the truth can be told and those responsible held accountable.”
In the State Security facility, Human Rights Watch researchers observed on the ground floor and in the basement, rooms that appeared to be detention cells.Among the documents were what appeared to be lists of security force members who had worked there. Human Rights Watch researchers also saw a “bsat al-reeh” torture device in the facility, which former detainees have said has been used to immobilize and severely stretch or bend limbs......."
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Egypt 'suffering worst economic crisis since 1930s'
Former finance minister and economist say Egypt is in dire predicament as foreign investment and tourism collapse
Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
guardian.co.uk,
"Egypt is suffering its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a former finance minister of the country and one of its leading economists have warned.
In terms of its devastating effect on Egypt's poorest, the country's current economic predicament is at its most dire since the 1930s, Galal Amin, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo, and Samir Radwan, finance minister in the months after Egypt's 2011 uprising, said in separate interviews with the Guardian......
Economists often predict a so-called "revolution of the hungry", should conditions worsen further. But for Radwan, Egypt is already at that stage: robbery rose 350% in 2012 as Egyptians took wealth redistribution into their own hands. "The elite sits there saying the revolt of the hungry is coming," said Radwan. "What do you mean it's coming? Are you waiting for a violent, bloody destruction of the Bastille? It's already there.""
Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
guardian.co.uk,
"Egypt is suffering its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, a former finance minister of the country and one of its leading economists have warned.
In terms of its devastating effect on Egypt's poorest, the country's current economic predicament is at its most dire since the 1930s, Galal Amin, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo, and Samir Radwan, finance minister in the months after Egypt's 2011 uprising, said in separate interviews with the Guardian......
Economists often predict a so-called "revolution of the hungry", should conditions worsen further. But for Radwan, Egypt is already at that stage: robbery rose 350% in 2012 as Egyptians took wealth redistribution into their own hands. "The elite sits there saying the revolt of the hungry is coming," said Radwan. "What do you mean it's coming? Are you waiting for a violent, bloody destruction of the Bastille? It's already there.""
Real News Video: Palestinians Mark 65th Anniversary of Nakba (Catastrophe of 1948)
On Nakba day, Palestinians commemorate the annual anniversary by holding rallies asserting their right of return. 65 years have passed since historic Palestine was occupied in 1948
Real News Video: Systemic Malfunctioning of the Labor and Financial Markets
Dr. Heiner Flassbeck: Government has to step in and correct the imbalances of low wages and unregulated financial markets or a deeper recession and crisis is inevitable
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Chris Hedges: Monitoring of AP Phones a "Terrifying" Step in State Assault on Press Freedom
Democracy Now!
"The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges join us to discuss what could mark the most significant government intrusion on freedom of the press in decades. The Justice Department has acknowledged seizing the work, home and cellphone records used by almost 100 reporters and editors at the Associated Press. The phones targeted included the general AP office numbers in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Hartford, Connecticut, and the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery. The action likely came as part of a probe into the leaks behind an AP story on the U.S. intelligence operation that stopped a Yemen-based al-Qaeda bombing plot on a U.S.-bound airplane. Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and former New York Times reporter, calls the monitoring "one more assault in a long series of assaults against freedom of information and freedom of the press." Highlighting the Obama administration’s targeting of government whistleblowers, Hedges adds: "Talk to any investigative journalist who must investigate the government and they will tell you that there is a deep freeze. People are terrified of speaking, because they are terrified of going to jail."......"
"The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges join us to discuss what could mark the most significant government intrusion on freedom of the press in decades. The Justice Department has acknowledged seizing the work, home and cellphone records used by almost 100 reporters and editors at the Associated Press. The phones targeted included the general AP office numbers in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Hartford, Connecticut, and the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery. The action likely came as part of a probe into the leaks behind an AP story on the U.S. intelligence operation that stopped a Yemen-based al-Qaeda bombing plot on a U.S.-bound airplane. Hedges, a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and former New York Times reporter, calls the monitoring "one more assault in a long series of assaults against freedom of information and freedom of the press." Highlighting the Obama administration’s targeting of government whistleblowers, Hedges adds: "Talk to any investigative journalist who must investigate the government and they will tell you that there is a deep freeze. People are terrified of speaking, because they are terrified of going to jail."......"
Al-Jazeera Video: Palestinians living in Egypt suffer an undignified existence
"For the Palestinian refugees living in Egypt, life is far from easy.
Roughly 3,500 of the estimated 70,000 Palestinian refugees in Egypt live in Geziret Fadel village.
They have built their mud-houses themselves and most are living subject to major restrictions on freedom to travel, access to healthcare, and education.
The majority of families can not afford to send their children to school, creating a generation of illiterate youngsters trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Despite this, many are just grateful to be allowed to stay in Egypt.
Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Geziret Fadel, Egypt."
Real News Video: Finance: "Aprés Moi, Le Déluge - Make Money Now To Hell With Tomorrow
Dr. Heiner Flassbeck: We're in worst shape now than in 2008 because at least then there was hope governments would face up to the situation
Is Israel Hastening the Fall of Assad?
Israel’s official silence following its airstrikes on weapons depots in Syria earlier this month fueled accusations in every direction. Damascus condemned it as an attempt to destroy the regime, Tehran said the real targets were Iran and Hezbollah, analysts in the U.S. said it was a demonstration of “credibility.”
But now a Syrian rebel commander has a different take: “The assault was in support of Assad.”
Abdul Qader Saleh, commander of the Al-Tawhid Brigade, told the Turkish news agency Cihan that Bashar Assad’s regime has in fact already been defeated and that Iran and Hezbollah , with Israel’s backing, are preventing his downfall.This clashes with analyses that claim Israel aims to overthrow Assad in order to get to Iran. The claim is about as credible as the rest of the assertions of Israel’s intent. But Saleh’s accusation isn’t out of nowhere.
“The Syrian opposition was on the verge of taking over Assad’s weapons caches and that is why Israel attacked Syria,” Saleh claimed.
“There were several senior Syrian officers who were planning to defect and hand over weapons to the opposition. Israel bombed those caches for fear they would fall to the hands of the opposition. They contained air defense systems and heavy artillery. The assault was in support of Assad.”
Efraim Halevy, who served as chief of the Mossad from 1998 to 2002, argued the same in a piece in Foreign Affairs:
Israel’s most significant strategic goal with respect to Syria has always been a stable peace, and that is not something that the current civil war has changed. Israel will intervene in Syria when it deems it necessary; last week’s attacks testify to that resolve. But it is no accident that those strikes were focused solely on the destruction of weapons depots, and that Israel has given no indication of wanting to intervene any further. Jerusalem, ultimately, has little interest in actively hastening the fall of Bashar al-Assad.If you compare the threat assessment Israel must be doing on Assad with the threat assessment Israel must be doing on Sunni rebel extremists possibly coming to power in Syria, clearly the latter is significantly worse. Israeli foreign policy is menacing and criminal, but it isn’t stupid.
Israel knows one important thing about the Assads: for the past 40 years, they have managed to preserve some form of calm along the border.
Not only does Israel in all likelihood see Assad as less threatening than al-Qaeda-affiliated militias, but there is also an argument out there, made yesterday by Thanassis Cambanis in Foreign Policy, that Iran’s backing of Assad is draining the Islamic Republic’s resources and reputation in the region. Israeli policymakers may be viewing that favorably.
Return to Iqrit: how one Palestinian village is being reborn
Their parents and grandparents were evicted 65 years ago, when Israel was created. Now they are coming back
Harriet Sherwood in Iqrit
guardian.co.uk,
On a breezy hilltop in sight of the Lebanese border, a village last populated 65 years ago is being reclaimed from the dead for the living. Vegetables and herbs have been planted amid the rubble; a couple of donkeys graze on spring grass; traditional food is cooked and eaten in a makeshift structure next to the Church of Our Lady, where mass is celebrated for up to 200 worshippers on the first Saturday of every month.
This is Iqrit, a Palestinian Christian village in northern Galilee, whose inhabitants left in the bitter war that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, and who have never been permitted to return to their land and razed homes.
But in recent months, a group of young men, grandsons of Iqrit's original residents, have moved back in an attempt to reclaim and rebuild the village.
And as Palestinians commemorate on Wednesday the Nakba, or catastrophe, of the loss of their land to Israel 65 years ago, work is being completed on a proposal for around 500 homes to be built on the site for the descendants of Iqrit's inhabitants, 90% of whom wish to return to the village. The plan is expected to be published in September.
What is unusual about this demand for the "right of return" is that the villagers and their descendants are Israeli citizens, mostly living in the area, rather than refugees in Palestine and in the diaspora.
In November 1948, six months after the state of Israel was declared, the new Israeli army arrived at Iqrit to tell the villagers they must leave because the area was dangerous. Most of the 490 inhabitants were transferred to a nearby village, taking only basic necessities, in the belief they would be gone for two weeks. But the area was declared a military zone and the villagers were forbidden from returning........"
Harriet Sherwood in Iqrit
guardian.co.uk,
Walaa Sbaid, 26, says people currently have the legal right to return to Iqrit 'only in a coffin'. Photograph: Harriet Sherwood
On a breezy hilltop in sight of the Lebanese border, a village last populated 65 years ago is being reclaimed from the dead for the living. Vegetables and herbs have been planted amid the rubble; a couple of donkeys graze on spring grass; traditional food is cooked and eaten in a makeshift structure next to the Church of Our Lady, where mass is celebrated for up to 200 worshippers on the first Saturday of every month.
This is Iqrit, a Palestinian Christian village in northern Galilee, whose inhabitants left in the bitter war that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, and who have never been permitted to return to their land and razed homes.
But in recent months, a group of young men, grandsons of Iqrit's original residents, have moved back in an attempt to reclaim and rebuild the village.
And as Palestinians commemorate on Wednesday the Nakba, or catastrophe, of the loss of their land to Israel 65 years ago, work is being completed on a proposal for around 500 homes to be built on the site for the descendants of Iqrit's inhabitants, 90% of whom wish to return to the village. The plan is expected to be published in September.
What is unusual about this demand for the "right of return" is that the villagers and their descendants are Israeli citizens, mostly living in the area, rather than refugees in Palestine and in the diaspora.
In November 1948, six months after the state of Israel was declared, the new Israeli army arrived at Iqrit to tell the villagers they must leave because the area was dangerous. Most of the 490 inhabitants were transferred to a nearby village, taking only basic necessities, in the belief they would be gone for two weeks. But the area was declared a military zone and the villagers were forbidden from returning........"
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Al-Jazeera Video: Moaz al-Khatib Exposes Roles of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the Syrian Crisis on al-Jazeera
A MUST WATCH VIDEO!
"Outgoing Syrian National Coalition President Moaz al-Khatib is interviewed by al-Jazeera English about the issues he was facing as the head of the Syrian National Coalition. He said that he felt like a salesman for foreign governments who had their own agendas in Syria rather than representing the Syrian people, as he was being used to sign papers on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He also stated that many red lines that have been crossed, most importantly foreign interference and manipulation of the "opposition", is what led him ultimately to step down from his position."
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