World News World News | | Forum Forum | | UK News UK News | | USA News USA News | | Global News Globale News | | Political News Politische News | | Sci-Tech News Sci-Tech News | | War & Terrorism News Krieg & Terrorismus News | | Sports News Sport News | | Multimedia Multimedia | | Set Homepage Set Homepage

Translate: Übersetzen:

Sunday, January 4th, 2009 Sonntag, 4. Januar 2009

Listing countries where elections have been mixed with violence and repression, Human Rights Watch said western powers, especially the United States and European Union, have accepted elections in countries that don’t respect human rights, for political reasons and benefit. Listing Ländern, in denen Wahlen wurden mit Gewalt und Unterdrückung, Human Rights Watch sagte westlichen Mächte, insbesondere die Vereinigten Staaten und der Europäischen Union, haben Wahlen in den Ländern, die keine Achtung der Menschenrechte, aus politischen Gründen und Nutzen.

The group said the west has continued to prop up fragile democracies, or those that purport to be, such as Kenya, where waves of killings have followed a disputed election, and Pakistan, where elections are coming up after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Bei der Gruppe, sagte der Westen hat zur Verstärkung des fragilen Demokratien, oder diejenigen, die vorgeben zu sein, wie Kenia, wo die Wellen von Tötungen folgte eine umstrittene Wahl, und Pakistan, wo die nächsten Wahlen sind nach der Ermordung von Oppositionsführerin Benazir Bhutto . The group also said that countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria, Russia and Thailand have taken on the belief that elections are equal to democracy. Die Gruppe sagte auch, dass Länder, darunter Bahrain, Jordanien, Nigeria, Russland und Thailand haben sich auf der Überzeugung, dass die Wahlen gleich sind für die Demokratie. In its annual report, the group said that Washington, Brussels and European capitals “play along” with the notion that a country can have democracy simply by holding elections. In seinem Jahresbericht, der Gruppe sagte, dass Washington, Brüssel und den europäischen Hauptstädten "mitspielen" mit der Vorstellung, dass ein Land kann sich die Demokratie nur durch Wahlen. “It’s now easy for autocrats to get away with mounting a sham democracy,” said Kenneth Roth, the group’s executive director. "Es ist jetzt einfach für Autokraten, um sich mit der Montage einer Schein-Demokratie", sagte Kenneth Roth, der Gruppe der Geschäftsführende Direktor. “That’s because too many Western governments insist on elections and leave it at that.” “They don’t press governments on the key human rights issues that make democracy function - a free press, peaceful assembly, and a functioning civil society that can really challenge power,” Roth said. "Das ist, weil zu viele westliche Regierungen darauf, über die Wahlen und das war's auch schon." "Sie sind nicht drücken Regierungen auf die wichtigsten Fragen der Menschenrechte, die Demokratie-Funktion - einer freien Presse, sich friedlich zu versammeln, und eine funktionierende Zivilgesellschaft, kann wirklich Herausforderung Macht ", sagte Roth. The report said grave human rights abuses have fueled humanitarian crises in Somalia and the Ogaden region in Eastern Ethiopia, where millions of people are suffering. Der Bericht sagt schwere Menschenrechtsverletzungen haben auch die humanitären Krisen in Somalia und der Ogaden-Region im Osten Äthiopiens, wo Millionen von Menschen leiden.

The report documented manipulations of elections. Der Bericht dokumentiert Manipulationen der Wahlen. It said Chad, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Uzbekistan committed “outright fraud,” while governments controlled the electoral machinery in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand and Zimbabwe. Er sagte Tschad, Kasachstan, Nigeria und Usbekistan verpflichtet "Outright-Betrug", während die Regierungen die Kontrolle über die Maschine Wahlen in Aserbaidschan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand und Simbabwe. Belarus, Egypt, Cuba, Iran and Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories blocked or discouraged opposition candidates. Weißrussland, Ägypten, Kuba, Iran und Israel in den besetzten palästinensischen Gebieten gesperrt oder entmutigt Kandidaten der Opposition. Russia and Tunisia were cited for stifling the media, and China and Pakistan undermined the rule of law, the report said. Russland und Tunesien wurden zitiert, das die für Medien, und China und Pakistan, die die Herrschaft des Rechts, dem Bericht gesagt hat. “Many of these tactics are illegal under domestic and international law, but rarely do outside powers call governments to account for it,” the report said. "Viele dieser Taktik sind illegal nach nationalem und internationalem Recht, aber selten außerhalb Befugnisse rufen Regierungen zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen für sie", sagte der Bericht.

“Established democracies are often unwilling to do so for fear of losing access to resources or commercial opportunities, or because of the perceived requirements of fighting terrorism.” “It seems Washington and European governments will accept even the most dubious election so long as the ‘victor’ is a strategic or commercial ally,” it said. "Etablierte Demokratien oft nicht bereit sind zu tun, für die Angst vor dem Verlust des Zugangs zu Ressourcen oder kommerziellen Möglichkeiten, oder weil der wahrgenommenen Anforderungen der Kampf gegen den Terrorismus." "Es scheint, Washington und die europäischen Regierungen akzeptieren auch die zweifelhafte Wahl so lange, wie die" victor "ist ein strategischer Verbündeter oder kommerziellen," sie sagte. In Kenya, rival political sides halted talks over disputed elections and vicious ethnic clashes after the killing of an opposition legislator, but said they would keep talking while would keep killing each other. In Kenia, rivalisierenden politischen Seiten gestoppt Gespräche über umstrittene Wahlen und bösartigen ethnischen Auseinandersetzungen nach der Tötung eines Widerspruchs Gesetzgeber, sondern gaben an, sie würden im Gespräch zu halten, während die Tötung halten einander.

The country remained tense and volatile and violence continued to reign while political parties have battled for more than a month over who won the presidential elections. Das Land blieb angespannt und volatil und Gewalt weiter zu regieren, während die politischen Parteien haben gekämpft für mehr als einen Monat, wer die Präsidentschaftswahlen gewann. Nasser Ega-Musa, a United Nations spokesman, said both parties had “a general desire to continue the negotiations and a willingness not to be distracted and derailed,” by the shooting death of David Too. Nasser Ega-Musa, ein UN-Sprecher, sagte beide Parteien "einen allgemeinen Wunsch nach Fortsetzung der Verhandlungen und die Bereitschaft, nicht ablenken und entgleiste," von den Dreharbeiten Tod von David Too.

The human rights report also said China has clamped down on the media as it is preparing to hold the Summer Olympics Games in August. Die Menschenrechts-Bericht auch gesagt, China hat geklemmt auf die Medien, da sie sich darauf vorbereitet, den Sommer Olympischen Spiele im August. Foreign journalists who were given the right to interview Chinese have been harassed, detained or intimidated to prevent them from doing reports on the country’s poor human rights records. Ausländische Journalisten, die das Recht auf Chinesisch Interview wurden schikaniert, festgenommen oder eingeschüchtert, damit sie tun, Berichte über die Armen Menschenrechtsbilanz. It said the construction boom to prepare for the Olympic Games has involved an estimated one million construction workers under harsh and unsafe labour conditions, but that trade with China is more important to the US and the EU than human rights. Er sagte der Bau-Boom für die Vorbereitung auf die Olympischen Spiele hat, die schätzungsweise eine Million Bauarbeiter unter schwierigen und unsicheren Arbeitsbedingungen, sondern, dass der Handel mit China ist wichtig, den USA und der EU über die Menschenrechte.

Have Your Say: EU and US said to favour elections over human rights Have your say: EU und den USA sagte zu Gunsten Wahlen über Menschenrechte
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 Samstag, 3. Januar 2009

Tens of thousands of protesters are due to voice their anger at the Gaza bombing blitz in a series of rallies across the UK. Zehntausende von Demonstranten sind auf ihre Wut an der Gaza bombardiert Blitz in einer Reihe von Kundgebungen in ganz Großbritannien.

Up to 20,000 people - including the singer Annie Lennox and Respect MP George Galloway - are expected to march along the Embankment in London before walking to Trafalgar Square to call for an immediate end to the Israeli attacks. Bis zu 20.000 Menschen - darunter die Sängerin Annie Lennox und Respekt MP George Galloway - werden voraussichtlich bis März entlang der Uferstraße in London vor dem Weg zum Trafalgar Square, um für ein sofortiges Ende der israelischen Angriffe.

The demonstration is the biggest of at least 18 organised across the country. Die Demonstration ist das größte von mindestens 18 im ganzen Land organisiert.

Former model Bianca Jagger and singer Lennox have backed the protests, calling on American President-elect Barack Obama to speak up against the bombardment. Ehemaliges Model Bianca Jagger Lennox und Sänger haben sich für die Proteste, in der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama sprechen sich gegen die Bombardierung.

Other rallies will take place at Blytheswood Square, Glasgow; Bedford Square, Exeter; Princes Street, Edinburgh; Bristol city centre; Bold Street, Liverpool; Norwich Forum; Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square; Queen Victoria Square, Hull; Tunbridge Wells town centre; Leeds Art Gallery; All Saints Park, Manchester; Grey’s Monument, Newcastle; Castle Square, Swansea; St Sampson’s Square, York; Morrisons, Caernarfon; Bradford city centre; and Sheffield town hall. Weitere Kundgebungen stattfinden wird Blytheswood Square, Glasgow, Bedford Square, Exeter, Princes Street, Edinburgh, Bristol City Centre, Bold Street, Liverpool, Norwich Forum; Portsmouth's Guildhall Square, Queen Victoria Square, Hull, Tunbridge Wells Stadtzentrum; Leeds Kunstgalerie; Allerheiligen Park, Manchester, Grey's Monument, Newcastle, Castle Square, Swansea, St. Sampson's Square, York; Morrisons, Caernarfon; Bradford Stadtzentrum und Sheffield Rathaus.

Former mayor of London Ken Livingstone and comedian Alexei Sayle also added their support to the campaign to end the violence. Ehemaliger Bürgermeister von London Ken Livingstone und Komiker Alexei Sayle ebenfalls ihre Unterstützung für die Kampagne zur Beendigung der Gewalt.

Speaking at a press conference in central London, Ms Jagger said: “I would like to make an appeal to President-elect Obama to speak up. Anlässlich einer Pressekonferenz im Zentrum von London, Frau Jagger sagte: "Ich möchte einen Appell an Präsident Obama zu sprechen.

“People throughout the world were hopeful when he was elected and we must appeal to him to ask for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.” "Die Menschen in der ganzen Welt waren hoffnungsvoll, wenn er gewählt wurde, und wir müssen Appell an ihn zu fragen, für die sofortige Einstellung der Bombardierung der Zivilbevölkerung im Gaza-Streifen."

Lennox spoke of her shock at watching scenes of the bombing on television. Lennox sprach von ihrem Schock zu beobachten Szenen der Bombardierung im Fernsehen. She said: “A few days after Christmas I came downstairs, put the television on, and saw smoke pyres coming from buildings and I was shocked to the core because I was thinking as a mother and as a human being.” Sie sagte: "Ein paar Tage nach Weihnachten kam ich nach unten, um das Fernsehgerät auf, und sah Rauch aus dem Scheiterhaufen Gebäude und ich war schockiert, um den Kern, weil ich dachte, als Mutter und als Mensch."

Comedian Sayle said he was speaking out because it was important for Jewish voices to be heard. Comedian Sayle sagte er sprach, weil es wichtig sei, für die jüdischen Stimmen, gehört zu werden. He said: “I want to feel proud of Israel, I want to be proud of my people but I am ashamed.” Er sagte: "Ich will stolz von Israel, ich will stolz auf mein Volk, aber ich schäme mich."

Have Your Say: Rallies to protest Gaza bombing Have your say: Demonstrationen zu protestieren Gaza bombardiert
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 Samstag, 3. Januar 2009

Have Your Say: Guantanamo intake unacceptable, says Malcolm Turnbull Have your say: Guantanamo-Aufnahme nicht akzeptabel, sagt Malcolm Turnbull
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Friday, January 2nd, 2009 Freitag, 2. Januar 2009

By Francis A. Boyle Von Francis A. Boyle

The United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) as a “subsidiary organ” under UN Charter Article 22. Die Generalversammlung der Vereinten Nationen muss sofort Schaffung eines internationalen Strafgerichtshofs für Israel (CITI) als ein "Nebenorgan" unter Artikel 22 UN-Charta. The ICTI would be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the Security Council. Die ICTI wäre organisiert nach dem Vorbild des Internationalen Strafgerichtshof für Jugoslawien (ICTY), das wurde durch den Sicherheitsrat.

The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine–just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Milosevic Regime throughout the Balkans. Der Zweck des ICTI wäre die Ermittlung und Verfolgung von israelischen Kriegsverbrechen, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit und Völkermord an den Völkern des Libanon und Palästina-wie dem ICTY hat für die Opfer von Verbrechen, die von internationalen Serbien und das Milosevic-Regime auf dem gesamten Balkan.

The establishment of ICTI would provide some small degree of justice to the victims of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine–just as the ICTY has done in the Balkans. Die Einrichtung von ICTI würde einige kleine Maß an Gerechtigkeit für die Opfer der israelischen Kriegsverbrechen, Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit und Völkermord an den Völkern des Libanon und Palästina-wie dem ICTY hat auf dem Balkan. Furthermore, the establishment of ICTI by the UN General Assembly would serve as a deterrent effect upon Israeli leaders such as Prime Minister Olmert, Foreign Minister Livni, Defense Minister Barak , Chief of Staff Ashkenazi and Israel’s other top generals that they will be prosecuted for their further infliction of international crimes upon the Lebanese and the Palestinians. Außerdem ist die Einrichtung von ICTI von der Generalversammlung der Vereinten Nationen würde eine abschreckende Wirkung auf die israelische Führung wie Ministerpräsident Olmert, Außenministerin Livni, Verteidigungsminister Barak, Chef des Stabes Ashkenazi Israel und den anderen Top-Generäle, dass sie verfolgt werden für ihre weitere Zufügung von internationalen Verbrechen auf der libanesischen und den Palästinensern.

Without such a deterrent, Israel might be emboldened to attack Syria with the full support of the Likhudnik Bush Jr. Neoconservatives, who have always viewed Syria as “low-hanging fruit” ready to be taken out by means of their joint aggression. Ohne eine solche Abschreckung, Israel könnte ermutigt zum Angriff Syrien mit der vollen Unterstützung der Bush Jr. Likhudnik Neokonservativen, die immer angezeigt Syrien als "niedrig hängenden Früchte" bereit, die mit Hilfe ihres gemeinsamen Aggression. If Israel attacks Syria as it did when it invaded Lebanon in 1982, Iran has vowed to come to Syria’s defense. Wenn Israel Syrien Angriffe, wie sie es tat, als die Invasion im Libanon im Jahr 1982 hat der Iran das Gelübde zu kommen Syrien Verteidigung.

And of course Israel and the Bush Jr administration very much want a pretext to attack Iran. Und natürlich Israel und die Bush-Administration Jr sehr wollen ein Vorwand zum Angriff Iran. This scenario could readily degenerate into World War III Dieses Szenario könnte leicht degenerieren in World War III

For the UN General Assembly to establish ICTI could stop the further development of this momentum towards a regional if not global catastrophe. Für die UN-Generalversammlung, um ICTI könnten die weitere Entwicklung dieser Dynamik auf dem Weg zu einer regionalen, wenn nicht gar eine globale Katastrophe.

Have Your Say: An Israeli War Crimes Tribunal Have your say: Ein israelischer Kriegsverbrechertribunal
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Friday, January 2nd, 2009 Freitag, 2. Januar 2009

Strong voices for peace have left us this year, people who used their art for social change, often at a high personal price. Starke Stimmen für den Frieden haben uns in diesem Jahr Menschen, die ihre Kunst für den sozialen Wandel, die oft auf einem hohen persönlichen Preis.

Odetta was a legendary folk singer of the civil rights movement. Odetta wurde eine legendäre Folk-Sängerin der Bürgerrechtsbewegung.

Considered the “Queen of American Folk Music,” Odetta introduced audiences worldwide to African-American folk, blues and gospel music. Als die "Königin der amerikanischen Folk-Musik," Odetta die Zuschauer weltweit an African-American Folk-, Blues-und Gospel-Musik.

New Year’s Eve was her birthday. Silvester war ihr Geburtstag. She would have been 78. Sie hätte 78. When Rosa Parks was asked which songs meant the most to her, she replied, “All of the songs Odetta sings.” Als Rosa Parks wurde gefragt, welche Songs die meisten bedeutete ihr, sie antwortete: "Alle der Songs Odetta singt."

Odetta sang “Oh, Freedom,” an African-American slave spiritual, at the 1963 March on Washington. Odetta sang: "Oh, Freedom", eine African-American Slave spirituelle, auf das 1963 März über Washington. Early on, she attracted the interest of Harry Belafonte and Pete Seeger. Schon früh hat sie das Interesse von Harry Belafonte und Pete Seeger. Her voice, her talent with the guitar and the natural style in which she maintained her hair—later to be dubbed “afro”—set her as an icon of the civil rights movement. Ihre Stimme, ihr Talent mit der Gitarre und den natürlichen Stil, in dem sie an ihrer Haare später synchronisiert werden "Afro"-Set sie als ein Symbol der Bürgerrechtsbewegung. She told an interviewer in 2003: Sie sagte in einem Interview im Jahr 2003:

“When I first started, I would sing these prison songs … it got to a point where doing the music actually healed me … it was music from those who went before. "Als ich zum ersten Mal gestartet wurde, möchte ich singen diese Lieder Gefängnis ... es kam zu einem Punkt, wo Sie die Musik tatsächlich mich ... es war die Musik aus, die sich vor. The music gave them strength, and the music gave us strength to carry it on.” Die Musik gab ihnen Kraft, und die Musik gab uns Kraft, um sie auf. "

She inspired Bernice Johnson Reagon, an early member of the SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers. Sie hat Bernice Johnson Reagon, ein frühes Mitglied der SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers. She had been suspended from college in Albany, Ga., for civil rights protests, then went on to Spelman College, where historian Howard Zinn and his wife, Roz, took her to folk music concerts by Joan Baez and Odetta. Sie ausgesetzt worden war, aus College in Albany, Ga., für Bürgerrechte protestiert, ging dann auf Spelman College, wo der Historiker Howard Zinn und seine Frau, Roz, nahm sie auf Volksmusik Konzerte von Joan Baez und Odetta.

Reagon recalls the first time she heard Odetta: Reagon weist darauf hin, das erste Mal hörte sie Odetta:

“In Georgia, where I grew up in the country, the roads were built by chain-gang labor. "In Georgien, wo ich aufgewachsen bin in das Land, die Straßen wurden von Chain-Gang Labor. I knew the sound, because as the men worked, they sang. Ich wusste, dass der Klang, da die Männer arbeiteten, sie sang. But I never thought I’d hear it coming from a concert stage … when she sang prison songs or work songs. Aber ich hätte nie gedacht, ich höre sie aus einer Konzertbühne ... Gefängnis, als sie sangen Lieder oder Songs. … She was just what I needed to begin my life as a freedom fighter and as a Freedom Singer.” ... Sie war genau das, was ich brauchte, um mein Leben als Freiheitskämpfer und als Singer Freiheit. "

Reagon later went on to found the women’sa cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Reagon später ging auf, die women'sa cappella Gruppe Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Another great liberation singer we lost this year was Miriam Makeba of South Africa, known as “Mama Afrika.” She sang against apartheid, then went into exile for decades. Eine weitere große Befreiung Sänger haben wir in diesem Jahr wurde Miriam Makeba aus Südafrika, bekannt als "Mama Afrika". Sie sang gegen die Apartheid, ging dann ins Exil seit Jahrzehnten. Belafonte helped her, too, gain recognition. Belafonte half ihr, auch Anerkennung.

In 1968, she married SNCC-leader-turned-Black-Panther Stokely Carmichael, for which she was blacklisted in the US until the 1980s. Im Jahr 1968 heiratete sie SNCC-Leader-sich-Black-Panther Stokely Carmichael, für die sie der schwarzen Liste in den USA erst in den 1980er Jahren.

Soon after her death, I asked the Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu about Makeba. Bald nach ihrem Tod, bat ich die Friedensnobelpreisträger Desmond Tutu über Makeba. The South African archbishop smiled: “Her singing, her voice, helped many people to know a little bit more about the vicious apartheid system. Der südafrikanische Erzbischof lächelte: "Ihr Gesang, ihre Stimme, vielen Menschen geholfen zu wissen, ein bisschen mehr über die Spirale der Apartheid-System. She was just a tremendous human being, a great loss to us and to Africa.” Sie war nur eine große Mensch, ein großer Verlust für uns und für Afrika. "

Also blacklisted in 1968 was singer and actress Eartha Kitt, who died at age 81 on Christmas Day. Auch die schwarze Liste im Jahr 1968 wurde Sängerin und Schauspielerin Eartha Kitt, der starb im Alter von 81 auf Weihnachten. In 1968, she was invited to a celebrity luncheon at the White House by Lady Bird Johnson, who asked Kitt about urban poverty. Im Jahre 1968 wurde sie zu einer Berühmtheit Mittagessen im Weißen Haus von Lady Bird Johnson, die gefragt Kitt über der städtischen Armut. Kitt replied: “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. Kitt, antwortete: "Sie schicken die besten des Landes aus, um die Aufnahme und verstümmelt. They rebel in the street. Die Rebellen in der Straße. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.” The first lady reportedly burst into tears. Sie wollen nicht zur Schule gehen, weil sie sich zu entrissen aus ihren Müttern zu sein Schuss in Vietnam. "Die erste Frau Berichten zufolge brach in Tränen aus. For years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas and was investigated by the FBI and CIA. Für die Jahre danach, Kitt, die fast ausschließlich im Ausland und wurde durch das FBI und CIA.

Born out of the Deep South and South Africa, these women’s voices sang out, from concert halls to protest rallies. Geboren aus dem tiefen Süden und Süd-Afrika, diesen Frauen die Kehlen, aus Konzertsälen zu protestieren Kundgebungen. Another voice we just lost sang out from the written page. Eine andere Stimme, die wir verloren sang von der schriftlichen Seite. Harold Pinter died on Christmas Eve in London. Harold Pinter starb am Heiligen Abend in London. Though too sick to travel to Stockholm to collect his Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, he sent a video address: “The majority of politicians … are interested not in truth but in power. Obwohl zu krank nach Stockholm zu reisen, um seinen Nobelpreis für Literatur im Jahr 2005, schickte er ein Video-Adresse: "Die Mehrheit der Politiker ... interessiert sind nicht in der Wahrheit, aber an der Macht. … To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance. ... Zu behaupten, dass Macht ist es unerlässlich, dass die Menschen weiterhin in Unwissenheit. … What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies.” Pinter was referring to US policy from Guantanamo to Iraq. ... Was uns umgibt, ist daher eine große Wandteppich von Lügen. "Pinter wurde auf die Politik der USA aus Guantanamo in den Irak.

As these icons are laid to rest, their voices continue to inspire millions. Da diese Symbole sind zur Ruhe, ihre Stimme weiter zu inspirieren Millionen. Barack Obama will soon take the reins of the most powerful nation on Earth, promising change. Barack Obama wird in Kürze die Zügel der mächtigsten Nation der Erde, viel versprechende Veränderungen. But it will now take the actions of those millions, heeding these echoes of the past and transforming them into their own voices, to effect real change. Aber es wird nun die Aktionen von den Millionen, Beachtung dieser Echos aus der Vergangenheit und sie zu ihrer eigenen Stimme, um echte Veränderungen.

Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column. Denis Moynihan Beitrag der Forschung zu dieser Rubrik.

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America. Amy Goodman ist der Host von "Democracy Now!", Eine tägliche internationale TV / Radio Stunden Lüften auf mehr als 700 Stationen in Nordamerika. She was awarded the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the “Alternative Nobel” prize, and received the award in the Swedish Parliament in December. Sie wurde mit dem Right Livelihood Award 2008, als die "Alternative Nobel"-Preis, und erhielt die Auszeichnung in der schwedischen Parlament im Dezember.

© 2008 Amy Goodman © 2008 Amy Goodman

Have Your Say: Amy Goodman: Voices of Resistance Sing On Have your say: Amy Goodman: Voices of Resistance Sing Am
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Friday, January 2nd, 2009 Freitag, 2. Januar 2009

Have Your Say: Private firm may track all email and calls Have your say: Private Unternehmen kann alle E-Mails und Anrufe
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Thursday, January 1st, 2009 Donnerstag, 1. Januar 2009

Today I am deleting all the content from my Myspace account and leaving only this notice. Heute bin ich löschen den gesamten Inhalt aus meiner Myspace-Konto verlassen und nur dieser Bekanntmachung. I’ve been inspired by the Ich war inspiriert von der Franklin Street Statement Franklin Street Statement and und Identi.ca and I realize that a free/libre/open source internet is still possible, but it will require us to stop supporting corporate websites such as myspace. und ich merke, dass ein Free / Libre / Open-Source-Internet ist immer noch möglich, aber es wird uns die Einstellung der Unterstützung der Unternehmens-Websites wie MySpace. Here are some good reasons to delete your Myspace page, and support alternatives not run by corporations. Hier sind einige gute Gründe, zu löschen Ihrer MySpace-Seite, und die Unterstützung Alternativen nicht von Unternehmen.

1. I’m tired of being free labor for the Fox corporation. Ich bin es leid, dass freie Arbeit für die Fox Corporation. The right wing Fox news corporation owns myspace, and I’m not going to support them any longer by giving them my content, my writing and images and information about who my friends are, for free. Der rechte Flügel Fox News Corporation besitzt myspace, und ich bin nicht auf sie nicht mehr, indem sie ihnen meine Inhalte, mein Schreiben und Bildern und Informationen darüber, wer meine Freunde sind, kostenlos. I don’t support war, the way the Fox corporation has, and I don’t want to provide them with more money to spread more pro-war propaganda. Bin ich nicht für Krieg, die Art, wie die Fox Corporation hat, und ich möchte nicht, dass die mit mehr Geld, um mehr Pro-Kriegs-Propaganda. According to their license, Myspace has full rights to use my content things like advertisements for Myspace. Nach ihrer Lizenz, Myspace hat volle Rechte zur Nutzung meiner Inhalte Dinge wie Werbung für Myspace.

2. I actually care about my friends, and don’t want to screw them over my making them a “friend” on Myspace. Ich Versorgung über meine Freunde, und nicht wollen, dass die Schraube sie über meine damit ein "Freund" auf MySpace. By using myspace, I’m forcing my friends to sign up for a corporate owned, ad ridden, heteronormative web service if they want to stay in touch with me. Durch den Einsatz von MySpace, ich bin gezwungen meinen Freunden, um sich für ein Unternehmen im Besitz ad geritten, heteronormative Web-Dienst, wenn sie wollen, bleiben in Kontakt mit mir auf. The way that we don’t want to delete our accounts because we want to stay in touch with friends or fans of our bands just shows how dependent we already are on Myspace’s corporate controlled environment. Die Art und Weise, dass wir nicht wollen, dass unsere Konten zu löschen, weil wir wollen in Kontakt bleiben mit Freunden und Fans unserer Bands nur zeigt, wie abhängig wir bereits auf der Myspace-Unternehmen kontrollierten Umgebung. We’re forced into a compulsory relationship we don’t want because we want to “keep in touch” with our friends? Wir sind gezwungen, in eine obligatorische Beziehung wir nicht wollen, denn wir wollen "keep in touch" mit unseren Freunden?

3. I’m tired up updating so many websites because Myspace refuses to be interoperable with other websites. Ich bin müde, bis so viele Webseiten zu aktualisieren, da Myspace weigert, interoperabel mit anderen Websites. Myspace and sites like it do not allow you to download your data or automatically send it to other social networking sites because they want to force you into the jail of their website. Sites wie MySpace und es kann nicht zulassen, dass Sie zum Download Ihre Daten automatisch oder senden Sie sie an andere Social-Networking-Sites, da sie wollen Sie in das Gefängnis ihrer Website. Why? Warum? Why don’t we demand open social networking standards and the ability to download our own content? Warum fordern wir nicht offenen Social-Networking-Standards und die Fähigkeit zum Download von unserem eigenen Content angezeigt werden?

4. I have a good Free/Libre/Open Source alternative, my own blog. Ich habe ein gutes Free / Libre / Open Source-Alternative, meinen eigenen Blog. You can read about what I’m up to at Lesen Sie, was ich bis zu http://technotrannyslut.com , free of ads for bad movies and music, free of binary gender choices and heteronormative options for your relationships. , Frei von Anzeigen für schlechte Filme und Musik, frei von binären Gender Entscheidungen und heteronormative Optionen für Ihre Beziehungen. Sites like Identi.ca provide ethical, non-corporate controlled alternatives to sites like Twitter. Sites wie Identi.ca die ethischen, nicht-kontrollierten Unternehmen Alternativen zu Seiten wie Twitter. You can keep up with my status on Identi.ca, and sign up for your own microblog, here: Sie kann auch mit meinem Status auf Identi.ca, und melden Sie sich für Ihre eigenen microblog, hier: http://identi.ca/djlotu5 Help create a well known list of alternatives like Identi.ca/Twitter , Opensim/Secondlife, if you now of any, by Hilfe erstellen Sie eine Liste der bekannten Alternativen wie Identi.ca / Twitter, Opensim / Secondlife, wenn Sie jetzt von jedem, von posting a comment here Buchung ein Kommentar hier :

Actually, even better than deleting your account, just delete all the content and post a notice like this one. Eigentlich sogar besser als Ihr Konto zu löschen, löschen Sie einfach den gesamten Inhalt und einen Hinweis, wie in diesem Fall.

This is just the beginning, I’m planning on getting off of Facebook and other web services as well, and I hope you do too. Dies ist erst der Anfang, ich bin der Planung über Ausstieg von Facebook und anderen Web-Services als auch, und ich hoffe, dass Sie es auch tun. We can have an internet that is Free/Libre/Open Source, but only if we stop supporting the corporate, locked down options we’ve been using all of these years. Wir können über das Internet und das ist die Free / Libre / Open Source, aber nur, wenn wir aufhören, die Unternehmen, gesperrt Optionen haben wir uns mit all diesen Jahren. As these services become more a part of our lives and get into our phones and our everyday communications, it is critical that we fight for our freedom. Da diese Dienstleistungen werden ein Teil von unserem Leben und in unseren Handys und unserem täglichen Kommunikation, ist es wichtig, dass wir kämpfen für unsere Freiheit. The Free/Libre/Open Source movement needs to expand from just writing software, into creating networks of servers and services, like Indymedia has done for so many years. Die Free / Libre / Open-Source-Bewegung braucht, um aus nur schriftlich Software, in die Schaffung von Netzwerken von Servern und Services, wie Indymedia hat für so viele Jahre. Software alone is not enough in a networked service ecology, where servers, cables, wireless networks, infrastructure that we all control is essential if we want freedom. Software alleine reicht nicht aus, in einer vernetzten Service Ökologie, wo Server, Kabel, Wireless-Netzwerke, Infrastruktur, dass wir alle eine Kontrolle notwendig ist, wenn wir wollen, dass Freiheit. I hope to see you back on the Free/Libre/Open Source internet. Ich hoffe, Sie wieder auf die Free / Libre / Open Source Internet. Bye. Tschüss.

Via techno tranny slut Techno tranny slut

Have Your Say: Why You Should Delete Your MySpace Account Have your say: Warum sollten Sie Ihre MySpace-Konto
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2008

By Von Hywel Trewyn Hywel Trewyn

CALLS to put Welsh on new ID cards are at last to be considered by the Government. Anrufe auf die Welsh über neue ID-Karten sind endlich als von der Regierung.

The U-turn follows pressure from language campaigners who say it would be an insult if English-only cards were issued in Wales. Die U-Turn folgt Druck von Sprache Aktivisten, die sagen, es wäre eine Beleidigung, wenn nur Englisch-Karten wurden in Wales.

The Welsh Language Board yesterday welcomed an announcement that UK Border Agency officials will at least review the idea of producing bilingual cards available for Wales. Die walisische Sprache Vorstand begrüßte gestern eine Mitteilung, dass die britischen Agentur Border Beamten zumindest die Idee der Herstellung von zweisprachigen Karten für Wales.

It is a reversal on policy from earlier this year, when the Home Office said it had “no intention to include Welsh on identity cards”, arguing the language “was not an official language of the EU.” Es ist eine Umkehr der Politik in diesem Jahr, wenn das Home-Office sagte, es habe "keine Absicht, Welsh über Personalausweise", da die Sprache "nicht eine der Amtssprachen der EU."

But the WLB has always argued including Welsh on cards issued in Wales was essential – the same as for driving licences and passports. Aber die WLB hat sich immer dafür eingesetzt, einschließlich Welsh auf Karten, die in Wales war von entscheidender Bedeutung - die gleichen wie für Führerscheine und Pässe.

And they are sending a clear message to the Government that Welsh people would see it as an insult if a Welsh option was excluded from the cards, which will eventually be distributed to every British citizen. Und sie senden eine klare Botschaft an die Regierung, dass Welsh Menschen sehen es als eine Beleidigung, wenn ein Welsh Option wurde von den Karten, die letztlich an alle britischen Bürger.

WLB chair Meri Huws said: “If the Welsh language does not appear on Identity Cards, I don’t believe they will reflect the true identity of the people of Wales, and their linguistic identity in particular. WLB Stuhl Meri Huws sagte: "Wenn der walisischen Sprache erscheint nicht auf Personalausweise, ich glaube nicht, dass sie die wahre Identität der Menschen in Wales, und ihre sprachliche Identität im besonderen.

“Therefore it is essential that all ID cards issued in Wales are fully bilingual, as is the case with driving licences. "Daher ist es wichtig, dass alle ID-Karten, die in Wales sind vollständig zweisprachig, wie es der Fall mit den Führerschein.

“I welcome the fact that the Home Office is now considering how to include the language on cards issued in the future, and look forward to hearing a statement on this issue soon.” "Ich begrüße die Tatsache, dass das Home-Office ist nun, wie auch die Sprache auf Karten in die Zukunft und freuen uns auf eine Erklärung zu diesem Thema in Kürze."

And the WLB stance was supported by Caernarfon Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams: “The first drafts of the proposed ID cards had the Union Jack on them. Und die WLB Haltung wurde von Caernarfon Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams: "Die ersten Entwürfe des ID-Karten hatte der Union Jack auf sie. This would have been wholly unacceptable to people living in Wales. Das wäre völlig inakzeptabel, um die Menschen in Wales. I understand now there’s not going to be the Union flag.” Ich verstehe jetzt gibt es nicht zu der EU-Flagge. "

Mr Williams has tabled a number of questions asking the Government what steps have they taken to provide bilingual ID cards in Wales and the rest of the UK and for Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy about which steps he has taken to guarantee that Welsh will be on the cards. Herr Williams hat eine Reihe von Fragen bitten die Regierung, welche Schritte haben sie ergriffen, um die zweisprachigen ID-Karten in Wales und dem Rest des Vereinigten Königreichs und für die walisische Minister Paul Murphy, welche Schritte er getroffen hat, um zu gewährleisten, dass Welsh werden auf den Karten .

Now, following a consultation period, it seems there is a glimmer of hope that they will be bilingual. Nun, nach einer Konsultation scheint es, gibt es einen Hoffnungsschimmer, dass sie werden zweisprachig.

A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: “There will be no Welsh headings on the first wave of identity cards to be issued to workers in critical locations in Manchester and London City airports. A UK Border Agency Sprecher sagte: "Es wird keine Welsh Positionen auf der ersten Welle der Ausweise ausgestellt werden, um Arbeitnehmer an kritischen Orten in Manchester und London City Flughafen. International Civil Aviation Organisation rules state that travel documents must have headings written in English and French. Internationalen Zivilluftfahrt-Organisation Verordnung sieht vor, dass Reisedokumente müssen Überschriften in Englisch und Französisch.

“As we roll out ID cards across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, we will review the inclusion of Welsh on the cards.” "Als wir Roll-out-ID-Karten in ganz England, Wales, Schottland und Nordirland, werden wir die Aufnahme von Welsh auf den Karten."

A previous linguistic battle was won after the census was forced to include a Welsh tick box for Welsh people. In einer früheren sprachlichen Kampf gewann nach der Volkszählung war gezwungen, eine Welsh ankreuzen für Welsh Menschen.

The first identity cards were distributed to foreign residents living in the UK last month and will then be distributed to the general population of the UK in stages, dependent upon status, over the next three years. Die ersten Ausweise wurden an ausländische Einwohner leben in Großbritannien im letzten Monat und werden dann an die Bevölkerung des Vereinigten Königreichs in Etappen, je nach Status, in den nächsten drei Jahren.

People working in “sensitive” jobs like at airport employees will be given the cards first, then young people who want them from 2010 and from 2011 they will be available to everyone. Menschen, die in "sensiblen" Stellenangebote, wie am Flughafen Beschäftigten werden die Karten zuerst, dann junge Leute, die wollen, dass sie ab 2010 und ab 2011 werden sie für jeden verfügbar.

Have Your Say: Government considers Wales as ID card guinea pigs Have your say: Regierung ist der Auffassung, Wales als ID-Karte Meerschweinchen
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 Mittwoch, 31. Dezember 2008

By Kaya Burgess Von Kaya Burgess

The Labour administration in 1978 believed the introduction of ID cards would be “unacceptable” and “objectionable” in the fight against illegal immigration, confidential documents released today show. Die Labour-Verwaltung im Jahre 1978 der Ansicht, dass die Einführung von ID-Karten wäre "inakzeptabel" und "verwerflich" im Kampf gegen die illegale Einwanderung, vertrauliche Dokumente veröffentlicht heute zeigen.

The comments were in a draft statement due to be given to the Commons by Merlyn Rees, the Home Secretary, who wrote that the introduction of identity cards “would require major changes in practices and powers reaching far beyond immigration control”. Die Stellungnahmen wurden in den Entwurf einer Erklärung durch an den Commons by Merlyn Rees, der Innenminister, der schrieb, dass die Einführung von Personalausweisen "würde die wichtigsten Änderungen in der Praxis und die Befugnisse, die weit über Einwanderung Kontrolle".

He added: “In the past such changes have been contemplated only in war: the Government does not believe they could be justified on immigration grounds alone.” Er fügte hinzu: "In der Vergangenheit wurden diese Änderungen erwogenen nur im Krieg: die Regierung ist nicht der Meinung, sie könnten gerechtfertigt werden über Einwanderung Gründen."

The comments were later edited out of the final speech he delivered to the House, as a struggling Labour Government tried to resist the calls from Opposition leader Margaret Thatcher for more draconian measures to tackle illegal immigration. Die Kommentare wurden später edited aus der letzten Rede, die er an das Haus, als eine Labour-Regierung versucht zu kämpfen, um gegen die Forderungen von Oppositionsführer Margaret Thatcher, um weitere drakonische Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung der illegalen Einwanderung.

In a secret discussion between Prime Minister Callaghan and the Whips on March 8 1978, a Downing Street aide wrote: “It was claimed that many Asian immigrants were very frightened. In einer geheimen Gespräche zwischen Premierminister Callaghan und die Peitschen auf der 8. März 1978, ein Downing Street aide schrieb: "Es wurde geltend gemacht, dass viele asiatische Einwanderer waren sehr erschrocken.

“There was bitter opposition to the tactics adopted by Mrs Thatcher… and that resentment should be exploited by the Government.” "Es war bitter gegen die Taktik, die von Frau Thatcher ... und das Ressentiment sollte genutzt werden, von der Regierung."

Ministers stuck by their pledge not to introduce quotas on immigration as they did not want the “objectionable” measure of requiring everyone to carry identification papers. Minister stecken durch ihre Versprechen nicht um Quoten für die Einwanderung, wie sie es nicht wollen, dass die "verwerflich" Maßnahme, die alle zu Ausweispapiere.

The confidential Government documents also discussed ways to expose “the fraudulent nature of Mrs Thatcher’s approach”, although a personal note written by Mr Callaghan warned that the Government’s response to Select Committee recommendations was too lacklustre. Die Regierung vertrauliche Dokumente auch über Möglichkeiten, um "die betrügerische Natur der Frau Thatcher-Ansatz", wobei eine persönliche Notiz von Herrn Callaghan Regierung davor gewarnt, dass die Antwort auf die Anzeige Ausschuss Empfehlungen zu schwachen.

He said: “We seemed to be accepting few recommendations – mostly ones to do nothing.” Er sagte: "Wir schien zu akzeptieren einige Empfehlungen - vor allem diejenigen, nichts zu tun."

Have Your Say: 1978: Labour opposed ID cards to curb illegal immigration Have your say: 1978: Arbeit gegen ID-Karten zur Eindämmung der illegalen Einwanderung
Please read our Bitte lesen Sie unsere posting guidelines before posting Entsendung Leitlinien vor dem Posten in .
Alternatively Alternativ you can discuss this report here Sie können diesen Bericht hier .

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 Dienstag, 30. Dezember 2008

• Unrest caused by bad economy may require military action, report says – ‘Pervasive public health emergencies’ may require call on military 29 Dec 2008 A US Army War College report warns an economic crisis in the United States could lead to massive civil unrest and the need to call on the military to restore order.
• Flu watchdog lab planned 29 Dec 2008 ‘The idea is to strengthen our surveillance against the dreaded bird flu and be ready with a disease control plan if it strikes.’
• Jakarta ends stand-off on bird flu vaccines – Indonesia’s health minister accused the US of trying to use bird flu samples to create a biological weapon . 24 Feb 2008
• DoD to carry out ‘military missions’ during pandemic, WMD attack 23 Oct 2007
• DoD to ‘augment civilian law’ during pandemic or bioterror attack 11 May 2007
• Scientists Recreate 1918 Flu and See Parallels to Bird Flu –In 2005, US Army scientists reconstructed Spanish flu virus by extracting genetic fragments from the bodies of victims exhumed from the Alaskan permafrost. 18 Jan 2007
• KBR awarded Homeland Security contract worth up to $385M 24 Jan 2006 KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency.
• Rumsfeld’s growing stake in Tamiflu –Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing . 31 Oct 2005 The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it’s proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that’s now the most-sought after drug in the world. Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)’s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million , according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld.
• Killer flu recreated in the lab 07 Oct 2004 Scientists have shown that tiny changes to modern flu viruses could render them as deadly as the 1918 strain which killed millions. A US team added two genes from a sample of the 1918 virus to a modern strain known to have no effect on mice.

Have Your Say: US, Japanese Researchers Mix Samples of 1918 Flu Pandemic to Recreate Deadly Code
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

The Independent - We’ve got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don’t care any more – providing we don’t offend the Israelis. It’s not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel’s side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.

Ever since 1948, we’ve been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis – just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist “death wagon” will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be “liberated”. And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise “restraint” – as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas’s home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.

The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel’s anger, just as Israel provoked Hamas’s anger, which was provoked by Israel, which was provoked by Hamas, which … See what I mean? Hamas fires rockets at Israel, Israel bombs Hamas, Hamas fires more rockets and Israel bombs again and … Got it? And we demand security for Israel – rightly – but overlook this massive and utterly disproportionate slaughter by Israel. It was Madeleine Albright who once said that Israel was “under siege” – as if Palestinian tanks were in the streets of Tel Aviv.

By last night, the exchange rate stood at 296 Palestinians dead for one dead Israeli. Back in 2006, it was 10 Lebanese dead for one Israeli dead. This weekend was the most inflationary exchange rate in a single day since – the 1973 Middle East War? The 1967 Six Day War? The 1956 Suez War? The 1948 Independence/Nakba War? It’s obscene, a gruesome game – which Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, unconsciously admitted when he spoke this weekend to Fox TV. “Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game,” Barak said.

Exactly. Only the “rules” of the game don’t change. This is a further slippage on the Arab-Israeli exchanges, a percentage slide more awesome than Wall Street’s crashing shares, though of not much interest in the US which – let us remember – made the F-18s and the Hellfire missiles which the Bush administration pleads with Israel to use sparingly.

Quite a lot of the dead this weekend appear to have been Hamas members, but what is it supposed to solve? Is Hamas going to say: “Wow, this blitz is awesome – we’d better recognise the state of Israel, fall in line with the Palestinian Authority, lay down our weapons and pray we are taken prisoner and locked up indefinitely and support a new American ‘peace process’ in the Middle East!” Is that what the Israelis and the Americans and Gordon Brown think Hamas is going to do?

Yes, let’s remember Hamas’s cynicism, the cynicism of all armed Islamist groups. Their need for Muslim martyrs is as crucial to them as Israel’s need to create them. The lesson Israel thinks it is teaching – come to heel or we will crush you – is not the lesson Hamas is learning. Hamas needs violence to emphasise the oppression of the Palestinians – and relies on Israel to provide it. A few rockets into Israel and Israel obliges.

Not a whimper from Tony Blair, the peace envoy to the Middle East who’s never been to Gaza in his current incarnation. Not a bloody word.

We hear the usual Israeli line. General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli army’s “research and assessment division” announced that “no country in the world would allow its citizens to be made the target of rocket attacks without taking vigorous steps to defend them”. Quite so. But when the IRA were firing mortars over the border into Northern Ireland, when their guerrillas were crossing from the Republic to attack police stations and Protestants, did Britain unleash the RAF on the Irish Republic? Did the RAF bomb churches and tankers and police stations and zap 300 civilians to teach the Irish a lesson? No, it did not. Because the world would have seen it as criminal behaviour. We didn’t want to lower ourselves to the IRA’s level.

Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated “terrorism”. So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles.

Have Your Say: Fisk: Leaders Lie, Civilians Die, and Lessons of History are Ignored
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

leninology.blogspot.com

I warned you months ago: the magic word is ‘Sderot’ . Any amount of barbarism can be justified by the frankly risible rocket attacks on southern Israel. The Israeli propaganda line, repeated with dogged fanaticism by its apologists everywhere, is that Israel performed an immense act of goodness in withdrawing its colonies from Gaza, and the native ingrates actually responded by sending a spray of Qassam rockets aloft in celebration. To add insult to injury, the bleeders even used former ’settlement’ buildings to launch the rockets from. Such beliefs have to be encouraged to justify such outrageous proposals as the levelling of Gaza . Before this gets out of hand and people start using the rockets to justify some sort of “holocaust” , let us at least bear the facts in mind for a while.

The Qassam rockets were being used as one component of an array of military tactics deployed by Gazan groups before the pull-out, the Gush Katif colonies being the prominent target. This was a response to a wave of violence and expulsions in which, for example, 13,350 residents of Rafah had their homes and life belongings destroyed in the year preceding the withdrawal, courtesy of Israeli tanks and Caterpillar bulldozers. Parts of Gaza came to resemble Grozny. The Israelis frequently attacked ambulances, at one point using the argument that UNRWA had allowed Qassam rockets to be loaded on board one such vehicle (this turned out to be a lie, but it is still repeated on many a media outlet and website). The vast majority of casualties from their use date back to the period of formal colonialism. After the withdrawal, the rate at which these were used diminished dramatically. Their use has spiked in response to serial atrocities against Palestinians, such as the slaughter of the Ghaliya family on the Gaza beach, (in which Hamas broke an eighteen month unilateral ceasefire ).

There were few such rockets fired during the six-month ceasefire, even though Israel didn’t respect its terms, but their use was increased again as Israel broke the truce on November 4th (burn that date into your brain and remember it next time someone tells you that those nasty Hamas thugs wouldn’t renew the ceasefire). Now, there are legitimate arguments about both the efficacy and ethics of using such weapons. To my mind, they have very little going for them as a tactic of resistance. But the apparently widespread belief that Qassam rockets are the vindictive and jubilant response of sneering Palestinian jihadists to Israeli mushiness is not justified by any evidence. In fact, if the aim were truly to end Qassam rocket fire, the logical option would to be engage in a unilateral ceasefire and invite Hamas to enter into a process of dialogue. But that brings us to another myth, the myth of Hamas rejectionism, which is for another post.

Have Your Say: The Qassam rockets myths
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Monday, December 29th, 2008

By NORM KENT

He picked for Vice President one of the major architects of the Drug War.

He picked for Chief of Staff one of the chief opponents of medical marijuana.

He is talking about picking for the Drug Czar spot a conservative candidate who has been a congressional leader fighting drug reform.

He has promised to put an end to raids on medical dispensaries in California, but he has not said he will broadly support the Hinchey-Rohrbacher Amendment which would let states decide the issue.

He has moved from once supporting marijuana decriminalization to publishing comments that he cannot overuse ‘political capital’ on the issue.

He has now appointed for Attorney General a candidate who has a long history of opposing drug policy reforms and who has in court supported mandatory minimum sentencing and civil forfeiture.

Allen St. Pierre, the Executive Director of NORML, summed it up best about Mr. Obama’s appointments thus far: “So Far, Not So Good:” His thought-provoking article appears on the NORML.com website at its blog.

From summarizing why the selection of Joe Biden as Vice President caused him ‘digestive tumult’ to tracing Rahm Emanuel’s anti-drug policies for the past decade, the article captures a snapshot of what was routine politics as usual for the players soon to be in power.

When it comes to our 44th President, some of his positions on marijuana were once encouraging. But as Mr. Obama has moved towards the national limelight, there is a new found frustration for reformers. It seems the President to be is moving from the left to the middle. And as Loudon Wainwright once wrote in a popular song, the only things you see in the middle of the road are dead skunks and yellow lines. Still, I am not alarmed yet. It is way too early, and there is still room and reason for optimism.

Commencing your administration in the face of a national economic crisis at home while American soldiers are at war abroad can focus your priorities on other issues outside the need for weed. We have seen what happened to Bill Clinton when he tried, too early in his administration, to advance the cause of gay rights by banning discrimination against homosexuals in the military. He started a firestorm which burnt up valuable first months of his presidency.

We do know this though, and it is a challenging start. Rather decisively, on the official administration website, at www.change.gov , the following statement appears:  President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

What can we then expect of Mr. Obama once he becomes President?

I think there are many encouraging things.

First, in his past he has acknowledged the broad failures of the drug war, declaring in 2004 that it was an “utter failure” which needs to be rethought.

Second, as an African-American in an urban community, few people will be as sensitive as Mr. Obama to the exhaustive legal toll this drug war exacts on minority communities. The arrests come quicker, the prosecutions are more frequent, and the sentences are longer. Drug arrests have been tools to deny poor people driver’s licenses, scholarships and federal welfare benefits, causing innocuous conduct to endure catastrophic consequences for otherwise decent people.

Third, the President is ‘with it’. His telling comments to a group of students when asked whether he ‘inhaled’ marijuana were “Of course, I thought that was the whole purpose.”

Those remarks are a reflection of the candor and commitment of Mr. Obama to address the issue in a new light. He did not play a game of Clintonian holier-than-thou cover-up. With the same self-deprecating qualities that he shared with the nation when he called himself a ‘mutt,’ Mr. Obama implied in tone and substance that marijuana may not be as bad as we have been hearing from the government for too many decades.

Last week, the website Change.gov asked the public to provide them with a list of the top public policy questions facing America. Visitors to the site were then asked to vote on which questions should take priority for the incoming administration.

After receiving nearly 100,000 total votes on more than 10,000 separate public policy issues, the most widely voted on question for Obama is:

“Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the US”

Maybe Rahm Emanuel has turned a corner as well. Rahm is politically smart if nothing else, so I hope that he’ll follow his boss’ lead in the area of criminal justice reforms. Also, to his credit, after voting years against Hinchey-Rohrbacher Amendment in 2007, as member of Congress from Illinois, Rahm voted in favor of holding back federal funding from law enforcement (read DEA) to raid or harass medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries.

I know I have been unsuccessful in getting my own liberal Congresswoman from South Florida, Debbie Wasserman-Schulz, to even support this effort. Maybe Mr. Emanuel will influence her and dozens of others. It will take leadership from the oval office. That can only happen when the people in office are looked upon as enlightened reformers rather than being weak on crime.

Politically, I know such polls as the one the administration inaugurated here are instrumental in turning mindsets. If we can show politicians that it is ‘safe’ to support drug reform, even popular, we can suddenly find them on our side. To their credit, outstanding philanthropists like Peter Lewis and George Soros have been national leaders in helping bring public opinion out of the closet. These are men whose voices may be heard by the new administration. And I am here for them too if they need me. My number is listed. So too is Barney Frank, the influential Massachusetts congressman who has long supported decriminalization legislation.

The truth is that people who support decriminalization have always been a silent majority afraid to speak out. But give them a secret ballot box, and in state after state, you see massive support for medical marijuana and a more enlightened approach to marijuana reform. Perhaps the President, in his own unique disarming way, can lead a new path. He has surrounded himself with educated leaders who also have been willing to speak candidly in favor of decriminalization including new Cabinet nominee Bill Richardson.

We do not need a new Drug Czar, either. This is America. Czars are for Russia. What we need is the appointment of an educator, a scientist, a doctor, a constitutional rights lawyer to pave the way to a new era of drug enlightenment.

At the last NORML Board of Directors meeting, one issue we raised was one many of us within the drug reform movement can support. It has been three decades since the Shafer Commission released its national study on marijuana, which Nixon immediately trashed. Perhaps a new Blue Ribbon Commission, with decades more research behind it, and years of medical marijuana evidence, can look into new recommendations for the 21st century.

On one hand, such a Presidential panel would buy time for the new administration to get settled in with more pressing priorities. But it would also give drug reformers a national platform to address so many issues that have been, forgive me, cultivated- since the Shafer Commission, from forfeiture laws to raids on dispensaries, from the THC content of marijuana to medicinal initiatives. It is time to look again at marijuana with a scholarly and clinical eye instead of with SWAT teams and law enforcement raids.

Correspondingly, it is also time for the national drug reform organizations to speak with a singular voice and work together for a common purpose. There needs to be a unity of purpose, and leaders from the Marijuana Policy Project, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the Drug Policy Alliance, Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, and a host of other respected reform organizations, too many to mention here, should hold their own meeting to develop a common theme with a collective initiative. We need to work together to send a message that is enlightened and progressive, convincing legislators and the executive branch that we are responsible and right..

The drug reform movement needs to act in a way that President-elect Obama has asked all of us to move towards: not to be tied to the politics of the past and the way things have always been done, but to engage hope by broadening our constituency and reaching out to others. Within the drug reform movement, fratricide must come to an end. We must bury the hatchet on our own rivalries, and move forward with a common purpose. We defeat ourselves by ourselves when we do not.

Our cause is just, and our goals have always been righteous. We may have only ourselves to blame if we cannot achieve now what we have fought so long for. I would say our time is now, but I thought that in 1976 when the Attorney General of the United States, then Ramsey Clark, said we should see an end to unjust marijuana laws before the end of the decade. I think we are overdue. Together, let us do better than we have already done.

We have a President who is willing to listen, a Congress that is willing to learn, and a public that is salivating for a better solution.

Norm Kent is a criminal defense lawyer from Fort Lauderdale who serves on the Board of Directors for NORML www.norml.com He can be reached at Norm@normkent.com , and his law office website is www.normkent.com

Have Your Say: What Will Obama Do About Cannabis?
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Monday, December 29th, 2008

By Venezolana de Televisión

“The Kingdom of Heaven is not a kingdom or life in the clouds. Either it exists here or else it exists nowhere,” President Chávez issued a wake-up call during the last Sunday program of 2008. “It’s on earth, and that is why Christ came here and was born among the poor, in the manger.”

The head of state in Venezuela noted that the capitalist system throughout its history has distorted Jesus’s message to the poor about the Kingdom of Heaven, with the sole purpose of exploiting the impoverished majorities in favor of the minorities who enjoy the wealth of the world.

The Christ child was born on earth, poor and human, to fight and make this planet truly the kingdom of heaven, of equality and justice, not to be poor in life and to win glory in the afterlife, Comandante Chávez said during the last Aló Presidente broadcast of the year, speaking from El Valle where he inaugurated a new People’s Clinic.

“The message of Christ, who said the Kingdom of Heaven is that of the poor, has been very often manipulated. In this way they have for centuries manipulated the poor of the world, to make them quietly accept exploitation.”

“Christ was born to call on us to create, here on earth, the Kingdom of Love,” Chávez explained, adding that this kingdom has no other name than socialism.

The president reminded the audience that socialism comes from what is social, as capitalism proceeds from capital.

“Socialism is the doctrine, science, of development of what is social. Capitalism is the immoral art, science, and technology of development of capital or growth of capital — (for capitalism) what matters is that even while people die of hunger capitalists accumulate capital.”

The president stressed that therein lies the key to understanding the confrontation that began again, in which Venezuela has become the center of the battle between socialists and capitalists, “between people becoming more politically conscious every day and those who exploited them forever.” He said that that is why the issue of the constitutional amendment is of vital importance as it will allow Venezuela to go farther on the socialist path, the truly human and democratic path, for the happiness of the Venezuelan people.

To conclude the last Aló Presidente of the year, the president wished the best for Venezuelan families, urging them to enjoy Christmas and New Year’s Eve with love, moderation, and simplicity so they can continue in 2009 the work of making Venezuela a great nation of justice and equality.

Have Your Say: Chávez: Capitalists Have Manipulated the Message of Christ to Exploit the Poor
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Monday, December 29th, 2008

The first day of what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak assures us will be a “long and difficult” war in the Gaza Strip has come and gone, leaving at least 300 Gazans dead , over 700 wounded, and one Israeli civilian killed and four wounded in retaliatory strikes . The number of Gaza civilians dead is not currently known, but the attacks centered around police stations and killed a large number of Palestinian security forces.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak hit out at calls to cease the attacks and renew the ceasefire, saying “ for us to be asked to have a ceasefire with Hamas is like asking you to have a ceasefire with al-Qaeda .” Except of course that up until a week ago Israel did have a six month long ceasefire with Hamas which Minister Barak repeatedly defended from the more hawkish opposition members.

But the time for an unpopular peace is over in Israel, and police are being dispatched to crack down on those protesting against the unpopular war that has followed.

Meanwhile, as Gazans count their dead and tend to their wounded in a chaotic scene , Hamas and the assorted militant factions that reside in the strip are vowing revenge. Hamas says “ all options are open ” in responding to the attacks, while Islamic Jihad is ordering all its fighters to respond to “ the Israeli slaughter .”

Those still calling for peace between the belligerent factions appear for now to have little traction, and the war is liable to continue to escalate.

Have Your Say: Over 300 Killed in Gaza as Attacks Continue
Please read our posting guidelines before posting .
Alternatively you can discuss this report here .

Related News

• China slams US human rights report
• Former UN chief links democracy, human rights
• Anti-Terror Laws Prone to Abuse, Amnesty Says
• Irish politicians back calls for universal arms trade treaty
• E-vote ‘threat’ to UK democracy

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 1:09 am and is filed under Contributions & Guests . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.

Loading ...

TOP NEWS DISCUSSIONS

LATEST NEWS DISCUSSIONS

Activism & Protest News | Business News | Civil & Human Rights News | Environmental News | Media News | Globalisation News | Web Development News

ADVERTISEMENTS

SITE MAPS

7/7 Activism News Afghanistan Alternative-Energy Art Barack Obama BBC Big-Brother Bilderberg Biometrics Bush CCTV Censorship CIA Climate-Change Cover-Up Cults Culture Database-State David-Hicks David-Ray-Griffin Debt Democrats Demos Drugs Education Entertainment Unterhaltung Environmental News EU False-Flag FBI Fraud Free-Speech Freemasons G8 Global-News Global-News Globalization Guantanamo Health-News History ID-Cards Internet Iran Iraq Israel John McCain Law Marches Media News MI5 MI6 Microsoft Military MoD Money Music Musik NASA Neocons New World Order NSA Oil Pakistan Podcast Police-State Political News Propaganda Reviews RFID RINF Rumsfeld Science Science & Technology News Secrecy Security Slavery Space Sports Spy Spying Stephen-Lendman Technology Technologie Terrorism Tony-Blair Torture TV UK-News UN USA- USA-News Video Voting war War & Terrorism News Warfare Web Development News White-House Wolfowitz World_News Yahoo
2003 - 2005 Archives | 2005 - 2007 Archives | 2007 - 2008 Archives | Current Archives | Past Version

About | DVD Store | Opinion | Reviews | Special Guests | Webmasters