Malcolm X on Zionism

Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Malcolm X (Omowale Malcolm X Shabazz) Malcolm X spelled out his views on Zionism during the last half-year of his life. “These Israeli Zionists,” said Malcolm, in an issue of the Egyptian Gazette, “religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism.” Malcolm X on Zionism Malcolm X (Omowale Malcolm X Shabazz) This following appeared in the Egyptian Gazette, September 17, 1964, and can be found at Malcolm-x.org. The Zionist armies that now occupy Palestine claim their ancient Jewish prophets predicted that in the “last days of this world” their own God would raise them up a “messiah” who would lead them to their promised land, and they would set up their own “divine” government in this newly-gained land, this “divine” government would enable them to “rule all other nations with a rod of iron.” If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its “divine” mission to rule all other nations with a rod of irons, which only means a different form of iron-like rule, more firmly entrenched even, than that of the former European Colonial Powers. These Israeli Zionists religiously believe their Jewish God has chosen them to replace the outdated European colonialism with a new form of colonialism, so well disguised that it will enable them to deceive the African masses into submitting willingly to their “divine” authority and guidance, without the African masses being aware that they are still colonized. CAMOUFLAGE experiencing great difficulties. During the 19th century, when the The Israeli Zionists are convinced they have successfully camouflaged their new kind of colonialism. Their colonialism appears to be more “benevolent,” more “philanthropic,” a system with which they rule simply by getting their potential victims to accept their friendly offers of economic “aid,” and other tempting gifts, that they dangle in front of the newly-independent African nations, whose economies are masses here in Africa were largely illiterate it was easy for European imperialists to rule them with “force and fear,” but in this present era of enlightenment the African masses are awakening, and it is impossible to hold them in check now with the antiquated methods of the 19th century. The imperialists, therefore, have been compelled to devise new methods. Since they can no longer force or frighten the masses into submission, they must devise modern methods that will enable them to manouevre the African masses into willing submission. The modern 20th century weapon of neo-imperialism is “dollarism.” The Zionists have mastered the science of dollarism: the ability to come posing as a friend and benefactor, bearing gifts and all other forms of economic aid and offers of technical assistance. Thus, the power and influence of Zionist Israel in many of the newly “independent” African nations has fast-become even more unshakeable than that of the 18th century European colonialists… and this new kind of Zionist colonialism differs only in form and method, but never in motive or objective. At the close of the 19th century when European imperialists wisely foresaw that the awakening masses of Africa would not submit to their old method of ruling through force and fears, these ever-scheming imperialists had to create a “new weapon,” and to find a “new base” for that weapon. DOLLARISM The number one weapon of 20th century imperialism is zionist dollarism, and one of the main bases for this weapon is Zionist Israel. The ever-scheming European imperialists wisely placed Israel where she could geographically divide the Arab world, infiltrate and sow the seed of dissension among African leaders and also divide the Africans against the Asians. Zionist Israel’s occupation of Arab Palestine has forced the Arab world to waste billions of precious dollars on armaments, making it impossible for these newly independent Arab nations to concentrate on strengthening the economies of their countries and elevate the living standard of their people. And the continued low standard of living in the Arab world has been skillfully used by the Zionist propagandists to make it appear to the Africans that the Arab leaders are not intellectually or technically qualified to lift the living standard of their people … thus, indirectly “enducing” Africans to turn away from the Arabs and towards the Israelis for teachers and technical assistance. “They cripple the bird’s wing, and then condemn it for not flying as fast as they.” The imperialists always make themselves look good, but it is only because they are competing against economically crippled newly independent countries whose economies are actually crippled by the Zionist-capitalist conspiracy. They can’t stand against fair competition, thus they dread Gamal Abdul Nasser’s call for African-Arab Unity under Socialism. MESSIAH? Zionism? If Ralph Bunche is not their messiah, and their messsiah has If the “religious” claim of the Zionists is true that they were to be led to the promised land by their messiah, and Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of that prophesy: where is their messiah whom their prophets said would get the credit for leading them there? It was Ralph Bunche who “negotiated” the Zionists into possession of Occupied Palestine! Is Ralph Bunche the messiah of not yet come, then what are they doing in Palestine ahead of their messiah? Did the Zionists have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on the “religious” claim that their forefathers lived there thousands of years ago? Only a thousand years ago the Moors lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up a new Moroccan nation … where Spain used to be, as the European zionists have done to our Arab brothers and sisters in Palestine?… In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel’s present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history … not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?

How Can U.S. Recover Without Manufacturing Capacity?

Wednesday, 25 February 2009

President Obama has put a huge emphasis on building a green economy. However, most of the sources of solar panels and wind turbines are located in Europe and Asia. They’ll have to be imported, creating jobs for workers in other countries. How Can U.S. Recover Without Manufacturing Capacity? A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford “You can’t put people to work in American factories that don’t exist.” The strength of the federal economic stimulus package is seriously diluted by the fact that many  of the manufactured goods that will be purchased for the attempted recovery must be imported from outside the United States. America simply doesn’t make lots of things, anymore. That means many billions of dollars that folks assumed would go towards fueling an American economic comeback, will instead provide work and paychecks to employees in other countries, that still have manufacturing bases. That’s fine with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is dominated by large multinational corporations – the same guys that began stripping the United States of manufacturing jobs decades ago. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was one of the main lobbyists opposed to provisions that would have mandated that stimulus money go to U.S. companies. The Chamber is a U.S. organization in name only, like its finance capital comrades, the guys that gave the world such a bad case of the dreaded “American Disease,” much of the planet is praying that cash-rich China will eventually bail everybody out. The United States’ lack of a manufacturing capacity makes it even less likely that anything resembling a lasting recovery can emerge from President Obama’s approach to the economic crisis. The infrastructure projects that are supposed to be central to the recovery scheme are only valued at $150 billion – which is not much of a jolt, especially when much of what will have to be bought is only available in other countries, made by foreign workers. Barack Obama has put a huge emphasis on building a green economy. However, according to the New York Times, most of the sources of solar panels and wind turbines are located in Europe and Asia. There can be no green economy without a mass transit makeover of the United States, but the U.S. hasn’t made subway and light rail cars in many years. They’d have to be imported. “Most of the sources of solar panels and wind turbines are located in Europe and Asia.” Every product that must be imported for the infrastructure project means a watering down of the stimulus impact of the dollars spent. You can’t put people to work in American factories that don’t exist. A true national recovery effort would mean re-industrialization, on a grand scale and a green model, through massive direct federal creation of state-owned industries independent of the finance capitalists who murdered American manufacturing and then blew up their own businesses on Wall Street. But this is already nearly impossible, since President Obama is committed to saving the banking class through unlimited infusions of public money, and then allowing these reborn zombies to resume their roles as lords of development. The bankster parasites have neither the capacity nor the intention to build anything other than mountains of debt for the rest of us. Therefore, Obama’s partnership with them spells doom for national recovery. Like Billy Preston said, “Nothin’ from noth in’ leaves nothin’.”The U.S. cannot create the conditions for economic health without rebuilding a manufacturing capacity. And the remnants of Wall Street have nothing to contribute to an economic recovery, but an infinite capacity to steal. For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at <!– var prefix = ‘ma’ + ‘il’ + ‘to’; var path = ‘hr’ + ‘ef’ + ‘=’; var addy8735 = ‘Glen.Ford’ + ‘@’; addy8735 = addy8735 + ‘BlackAgendaReport’ + ‘.’ + ‘com’; var addy_text8735 = ‘Glen.Ford’ + ‘@’ + ‘BlackAgendaReport’ + ‘.’ + ‘com’; document.write( ‘<a ‘ + path + ‘\” + prefix + ‘:’ + addy8735 + ‘\’>’ ); document.write( addy_text8735 ); document.write( ‘<\/a>’ ); //–>\n Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com <!– document.write( ‘<span style=\’display: none;\’>’ ); //–> This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it <!– document.write( ‘</’ ); document.write( ‘span>’ ); //–> .

Clinton Warns Israel over Delays in Gaza Aid

Readers Number : 52

25/02/2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has relayed messages to Israel in the past week expressing anger at obstacles Israel is placing to the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. A leading political source in Tel Aviv noted that senior Clinton aides have made it clear that the matter will be central to Clinton’s planned visit to the Zionist entity next Tuesday. Ahead of Clinton’s visit, special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell is expected to issue a sharply worded protest on the same matter when he arrives here Thursday. “Israel is not making enough effort to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” senior U.S. officials told Israeli counterparts last week, and reiterated Washington’s view by saying that “the U.S. expects Israel to meet its commitments on this matter.” Two weeks ago, four senior European Union officials sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister and Yitzhak Herzog, the minister charged with humanitarian aid transfers to the Gaza Strip, protesting delays in the flow of aid through the crossings into Gaza. The officials also demanded that Israel formulates a clear policy on this issue. In response, Israel explained that the delay stems, in part, from the uncertainty regarding the fate of captured Israeli occupation soldier Gilad Shalit, [WITH ISRAEL EVERYTHING IS LINKED WITH SOMETHING ELSE.  THE DELIVERY OF LIFE-SUSTAINING FOOD TO A PRISON POPULATION THAT IS ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON UN AID FOR SURVIVAL IS TOTALLY UNRELATED TO THE FATE OF ONE P.O.W.] but also claimed that efforts are being made to improve the situation. Herzog also asked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to hold a meeting in order to revaluate current policy on the delivery of aid to Gaza. Sources at the Israeli defense establishment confirmed last night that pressure is increasing on Israel to reopen the crossings to larger volumes of aid for the Gaza Strip. Defense sources said that Israel will find it increasingly difficult to counter the pressure, and may agree to more extensive use of the crossings for aid. Currently, fewer than 200 trucks carrying aid are allowed through daily. The U.S., the EU and the UN are demanding that at least 500 trucks carrying aid be allowed into the Strip daily. Major General (res.) Amos Gilad, who heads the diplomatic-security bureau at the Defense Ministry, issued a statement Tuesday denying European Union reports on the breadth of humanitarian aid being allowed to enter Gaza. “Contrary to EU reports, 116,400 tons of humanitarian aid was allowed into the Gaza Strip according to requests made by international organizations and private groups since the cease-fire went into effect on January 18. Any claim of food shortage [in Gaza] is false.”  [ACCORDING TO MY CALCULATIONS THAT EQUALS A MERE 4 POUNDS PER DAY OF "HUMANITARIAN AID," EVEN IF THIS ALL FOOD AND DRINK, REMEMBER THAT ONE GALLON OF LIQUID EQUALS NINE POUNDS!!] However, an incident occurred last week at a crossing into the Gaza Strip that gave a very different impression to a senior observer. When Senator John Kerry visited the Strip, he learned that many trucks loaded with pasta were not permitted in. When the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee inquired as to the reason for the delay, he was told by United Nations aid officials that “Israel does not define pasta as part of humanitarian aid – only rice shipments.” Kerry asked Barak about the logic behind this restriction, and only after the senior U.S. official’s intervention did the defense minister allow the pasta into the Strip. The U.S. senator updated colleagues at the Senate and other senior officials in Washington of the details of his visit. The issue of humanitarian aid is central to a major debate between Israel’s foreign and defense ministries. The former supports broadening the amount and types of aid, while the defense ministry opposes anything it considers “concessions” to Hamas. A senior source dealing with humanitarian aid issues on the Israeli side said that Gilad has prepared a list of “humanitarian aid items” and refuses to broaden it. “Authority is in the hands of one person, and he is not willing to help,” the source said. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources warned last night that the American plan for a $900 million in reconstruction aid for the Gaza Strip will not have an effect without a cease-fire agreement with Israel. As long as Israel refuses to allow the transfer of iron and cement into the Strip, the sources said, it will be impossible to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure. The same sources also expressed skepticism at the value of Clinton’s scheduled visit, saying that without a government that can be pressured into making substantive concessions to the Palestinian Authority, the visit is void of meaning.

The BattleFor Bil’in

more about “Israeli army shooting an israeli civi…“, posted with vodpod

By Eileen Fleming

24 February, 2009
Countercurrents.org

[Bil'in, Feb. 23, 2009] For four years, the beleaguered agricultural village of Bil’in in the West Bank has resisted the route of Israel’s Wall; which in Bil’in is composed of miles of electrified-barbed wire fencing that denies the landowners access to their legally owned land.

The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that The Fence must be moved and the stolen land restored to the Bil’in villagers; but civil and military authorities have not complied and last week, night time raids by Israel escalated.

Mahmoud Zwahre, a coordinator of the Popular Committee Against The Wall, wrote:

Imagine being awakened to the sound of a stun grenade. Imagine such a grenade landing in your front yard every night. This is the reality that residents of Palestinian villages who are struggling against the apartheid wall are forced to deal with since the attack on Gaza.

These nightly invasions by the army, which terrorize villagers, are becoming ever more frequent. Invasions take place three to four times a week in the villages of Beit Likia and Bil’in. In the last week, the villages of Ma’asara, Ni’ilin and Jayus too have joined the list, as troops have been harassing those who participate and organize the village protests.

Around 12:30 at night the solders [knocked on] the door of my house [demanding] I open the door; more than 10 solders entered my house without my permission…they pushed me out side in the cold weather with very light clothes…they told me that they are going to arrest me and they [bound] me …I’m on the ground on my knees at that time; I thought that I’m in Guatanomo…and then they told me…we are going to arrest you next week we are going to come in more difficult way; so don’t come to demonstrate, don’t organize demos…While they was checking in my house they found emails for many friends from solidarity associations.

Today or tomorrow we are going to win because we have the faith.-end Mahmoud

Even with the four years of media blackout on the popular struggle, thousands of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals have been waging a nonviolent campaign of resistance to the construction of the route of Israel’s Wall in the Occupied Territories.

Palestinian farmers, mothers, children and activists have been braving teargas, beatings, bullets, arrest, and even death to rise up against the most well equipped army in the world, with nothing more than their own bodies and determination.

In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that The Wall is a violation of International Law because it cuts through the West Bank appropriating Palestinian land and destroying Palestinian villages and economy in order to establish more illegal settlements.

The route of The Electric Fence in Bil’in and the Israeli army prohibits the indigenous people to tend and harvest their olive groves. Over 2,003 dunums of prime agricultural land have been confiscated by The Electric Fence.

The Israelis built apartments for 750 settlers that the indigenous people are forbidden to enter.

In Billin, the Green Line is five miles from The Electric Fence and the Popular Committee in Bilin has been fighting the illegal actions of the Israeli government with demonstrations and legal actions.

The Israeli government attempts to justify their land theft by returning to the Ottoman Law that states if the landowner doesn’t tend his land it can be confiscated by the State. The Israeli army and The Electric Fence have prevented the indigenous people from accessing their legally owned land, thus depriving them of food, income and human rights.

After the indigenous people of Bilin brought their case to the Israeli Municipal Court and the High Court; both courts agreed the building of the settlement dwellings was indeed illegal and ordered the construction to cease in January 2006. Construction continued and the settlers moved in and the High Court accepted these ‘facts on the ground’ but the indigenous people have not given up seeking justice.

Every Friday afternoon in Bilin after prayer at the mosque the ritual march in nonviolent solidarity to The Wall/Electric Fence unites the indigenous people, Israeli and international activists in the struggle who sing and chant slogans such as:

“The wall will fall in Bilin; the wall will fall like in Berlin.”

On November 10, 2006 I was one of over 40 internationals from the UK, France, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and the US who marched with dozens of Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall and over 300 locals down the dirt road to The Wall/Electric Fence.

Soldiers hid behind trees to the right and to the left of us while over five dozen well armed soldiers stood on the other side of The Wall/Fence with one videotaping us.

I was inspired to go to Bil’in in Nov. 2005 , after attending a power point lecture in Gainesville, Florida given by a Palestinian and Israeli member of Anarchists Against the Wall/AAtW.

Jonathan Pollak, said: “I was six years old at my first demonstration and active on my own at thirteen. I am 23 now. When they started to build the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank I would go a few times a week and watch them deceive the world. The Israeli government successfully marketed the Apartheid Wall as a security barrier. But it is all about segregation, separation and ethnic cleansing.

“Civilian uprising and non-violent activism is not like the Gandhi movie. It`s not carrying posters and saying we don`t like your wall, go away. We stand in front of Caterpillar`s knowing we will be shot and arrested. I was shot five times in the last two years by rubber bullets which are 1/2 inch steel bullets covered with plastic. I have been shot in the head and the more experience I have the scarier it is. One learns to recognize the ritual of it all: when the IDF will begin using the billy clubs, when the tear gas will come, when the bullets will come…..We are not a dialogue group, AAtW is an Israeli organization and we are not colonial liberators. All the strategy is done by Palestinians, we are with them seeking justice and giving support. There is no price to high to pay for freedom, equality and universal rights. Without justice there can be no peace.

“Negotiations alone will not secure freedom for the Palestinian people. During the negotiations of the so-called Oslo Peace Process from 1993-2000, Israel simply imposed its will on the Palestinians, using its overwhelming military and economic power, and US support. During seven years of supposed peace, Palestinians saw 200,000 new Israeli settlers arrive in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the same number of settlers that had arrived there in the previous 26 years.

“However, the recent grassroots struggle against Israel’s Wall has demonstrated that it may be possible to counter Israel’s overwhelming power, and its exploitation of negotiations, through nonviolent resistance. The Wall, is just one blatant Israeli attempt to impose its will, and has become a focus for civilian resistance.

“Although Israel marketed the Wall as a security barrier, logic suggests such a barrier would be as short and straight as possible. Instead, it snakes deep inside the West Bank, resulting in a route that is twice as long as the Green Line, the internationally recognized border. Israel chose the Wall’s path in order to dispossess Palestinians of the maximum land and water, to preserve as many Israeli settlements as possible, and to unilaterally determine a border.

“In order to build the Wall Israel is uprooting tens of thousands of ancient olive trees that for many Palestinians are also the last resource to provide food for their children.

“The Palestinian aspiration for an independent state is also threatened by the Wall, as it isolates villages from their mother cities and divides the West Bank into disconnected cantons [Bantustans/ghettos]. The Israeli human rights organization B`Tselem conservatively estimates that 500,000 Palestinians are negatively impacted by the Wall.

“Faced with a history of suffering, Palestinians have no alternative but to struggle. The only question is how? Killing diminishes our humanity, and Israel’s occupation, which has killed thousands of Palestinians, shouldn’t be our teacher. It is time for both sides to refuse killing.

“Though Palestinians have employed nonviolence since 1929, they have seen little evidence that it will help them to achieve freedom. In 2003-2004, the West Bank village of Budrus decided to set an example for how nonviolence can defeat the Wall.

“All the people of Budrus mobilized, and were joined by Israeli and international activists. In 55 nonviolent marches, Israeli soldiers injured more than 300 people, arrested 33 and killed one, as the villagers, with their bodies alone, attempted to stop the destruction of their land. Faced with Budrus` determined protests, the Israeli government eventually moved the Wall to the Green Line. The village saved 300 acres of its land and 3000 olive trees. Children, women and old people were among the heroes of Budrus` nonviolent struggle.

“Throughout the West Bank, nine protesters were killed in marches against the Wall, thousands were injured and hundreds arrested. Hundreds of civilian protests throughout the West Bank are the reason the world learned of the injustice of the Wall. As a direct result, the International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled in 2004 that Israel’s construction of the Wall violated international law.

“The village of Budrus and the International Court of Justice ruling represent victories for nonviolent resistance. Another success of the joint struggle was the connection forged between Palestinians and the Israelis who joined them in their resistance. This connection, stronger than anything that ideas could create, was unwittingly forged by the Israeli army, through their beatings, the joint arrests and the bullets. Joining Palestinians in nonviolent struggle has allowed some Israelis to voice very clearly that the struggle against occupation and for freedom is not a Palestinian struggle alone, but is their struggle as well.

“We believe that, as with Apartheid South Africa, Americans have a vital role to play in ending Israeli occupation – by speaking out, coming to Palestine as witnesses, or standing with Palestinians in nonviolent resistance.

“We are confident that Israeli occupation will one day be defeated, as were other US government supported repressive regimes – Apartheid South Africa, Pinochet`s Chile and racial segregation in the United States. There is no price too great to pay for freedom, and nothing will deter us from achieving this goal.`

After chanting a while in front of the soldiers, Jonathan was the first down the steep rocky hill and over a metal railing to grab the roll of razor sharp barbed wire that is in front of the electrified fence in order to shake it. He was immediately joined by a few dozen locals and other AAtW who were swiftly greeted by the first of dozens of sound bombs-thick orange plastic grenades that hit the ground with a deafening sound.

I was half way down the hill when a teenager next to me threw a rock at a soldier and I know that action alone can get one killed or arrested, so I headed back up the hill before the tear gas assaulted the crowd at the barbwire. By the time I made it up the hill the first of hundreds of rubber bullets were being shot into the crowd. Only two internationals were hit and other than a few Palestinian adolescents and young boys throwing rocks all remained nonviolent. I was told that because of the large International presence no live ammo was fired; although the week before a Frenchman took a bullet in the arm while standing next to a group of children. He was back at the Friday ritual with a cast and sling on.

On June 6, 2008 , Vice President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Maried Corrigan-Maguire were both assaulted by Israeli Forces with tear gas during the Friday afternoon ritual they attended after speaking at Bil’in’s third annual international conference supporting nonviolent protests against the wall and military occupation of the West Bank agricultural village.

“Around midday, the participants of the conference went to watch a football match between the villagers of Bil’in and the international participants of the conference near the wall. The football game, which coincided with the start of the European Championship tournament, was, according to Abdullah Abu Rahme, the conference moderator, a message to the world that Israel, also denies the Palestinians the right to play. Soon after the match started, Israeli troops showered the players with a number of tear gas bombs which forced them to stop the match. A number of the players and the spectators were treated for gas inhalation.”[1]

According to protestors, dozens of the hundreds of demonstrators on hand were hurt by tear gas, while several were hit by gas canisters. Former Palestinian National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub and Palestinian Legislative Council Member Dr. Mustafa al-Barghouti were also hurt by tear gas. Regarding Morgantini’s condition, the army said that “those who take part in such protests and violate a closed military zone order should not be surprised to see the IDF respond with tear gas.”[2]

Jonatan Pollak stated that the army fired a “dazzling amount” of gas canisters, “about 30-40 per barrage.”[IBID]

At the conclusion of the second annual Bil’in conference, on April 21st, 2007 , Mairead Maguire, was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli Forces an hour after a press conference where she stated:

“Thanks to the media here for telling the truth…Bring this truth to whatever country you come from. Non-violence will solve the problems here in Israel and Palestine. Often, the world sees only violence. But Palestinians are a good people, working towards non-violence. This Wall must fall! It is an insult to the human family and to the world– that we are building Apartheid Walls in the 21st Century! More than forty years of Occupation and Land Appropriation.”

After Maried Maquire was shot and while being carried to safety, the army continued to fire into the non-violent crowd. “The resilience was astounding. The demonstrators kept regrouping. Even Ms. Maguire, after being shot and with red, watery tear-gassed eyes– she rejoined the march.…An estimated 25 people were either hit with rubber bullets, soldier batons, or received medical care from tear gas inhalation.” [4]

Máiread previously wrote: “Hope for the future depends on each of us taking nonviolence into our hearts and minds and developing new and imaginative structures which are nonviolent and life-giving for all. Some people will argue that this is too idealistic. I believe it is very realistic. I am convinced that humanity is fast evolving to this higher consciousness. For those who say it cannot be done, let us remember that humanity learned to abolish slavery. Our task now is no less than the abolition of violence and war…. We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible.

“While Governments can make a difference, in the final analysis it is the individual – that is each one of us – that will bring the dream of a nonviolent world to reality. We, the people must think and act nonviolently. We must not get stuck in the past as to do so will destroy the imagination and creativity which is so n a new future together.

“To change our world we need a spiritual and a political evolution. The political steps are often very obvious: uphold Human rights, and International Laws, demand our Governments meet their obligations under these Laws, support and reform United Nations, etc., However, all the legislation, resolutions, and fine talk will be of no use, if we do not as men and women evolve and become transformed, so that we, the human family, achieve a more enlightened and humane way of living together, and solving conflicts.” [5]

Support the Struggle with words:

Sample letter:

To Ministry of Defense

I write to you in order to protest against the nightly invasions of the villages of Bil’in, Beit Likia, Ni’ilin, Jayus and Ma’asara, committed by the Israeli army on an almost every-night basis. Such actions are in violation of international law, which hold the occupying army responsible to the welfare and safety of civilians living under its rule. You must stop these invasions at once, and prosecute whoever is responsible for them.

Sincerely,

Ministry of Defense email: pniot@mod.gov.il This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Contact info for more Israeli Ministers @:
http://www.gov.il/FirstGov/BottomNavEng/Contact

1. http://www.bilin-village.org/english/
2. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3552745,00.html
3. IBID
4. http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/04/21/april-20-bilin-protest/
5. http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=128&Itemid=105
Learn More:

http://www.bilin-village.org

Eileen Fleming, Author, Founder, Senior Correspondent WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer “30 Minutes With Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”

Who will sit at the big table?

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Fedyashin) – On February 19, United Nation members will gather at the UN headquarters on the Hudson River to discuss the reform of the most important and conservative international body, the Security Council. The General Assembly approved the idea of a reform at its previous, 62nd session.

The fact that the idea was approved by a majority vote does not mean that it will go through at the 63rd session, or even in the foreseeable future.

There is no doubt that the United Nations requires reform. No matter what diplomats may say about its progressive nature and steady advance into the future, its operation on the basis of principles and structure established 60 years ago is a flagrant anachronism in this day and age.

Throughout its entire existence, the United Nations has been reformed only once, in 1965, when the number of non-permanent members (elected for two years without the right of veto) was increased from six to ten.

Nobody in the United Nations objects to reform — quite the contrary. However, when one group of countries makes proposals on a reform, the other group immediately submits its contrary proposals to the Secretariat. This happened, for instance, in 2005 when Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan started talking about the need for reform.

The Group of Four (G4) suggests extending the number of permanent members by six countries, and non-permanent ones by four. Instead of 15 members (five permanent ones with the right of veto – Britain, Russia, China, the United States, and France) and 10 non-permanent ones, the Security Council will have 25 members. Naturally enough, the G4 has included itself and two African countries in the number of the proposed permanent members.

An alternative proposal was made almost immediately, and is also valid. It was initiated by India’s eternal antagonist Pakistan, Brazil’s long-standing rival Argentina, and Italy and Spain, which do not want to see Germany made a permanent member. They were backed by Kenya, which was upset that the G4 wanted to make South Africa, and not it, a permanent member.

The most radical members of the United Nations, which include some Latin American and African countries, are calling for its complete overhaul. They propose that the General Assembly’s decisions, rather than Security Council resolutions, should be binding for all UN members.

Russia has emphasized more than once the need for a sensible approach. Any extension of the Security Council should be within reasonable limits, and voting on the Security Council’s reform should not split either the Council or the United Nations. Obviously, any changes in the configuration of the Council will not be in Russia’s favor. The same is true of the United States, China, and, to a lesser extent, France and Britain. Other UN members have long disliked these big powers.

The process is now underway, and will continue for months.

Russia announces completion of Iran’s first nuclear power plant

		Business
		12:47 | 25/ 02/ 2009

BUSHEHR (Iran), February 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has completed the construction of Iran’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr and is launching start-up operations, the head of Russia’s nuclear power corporation said on Wednesday.

The plant in south Iran, which Russia undertook to finish as part of a 1998 contract, was originally scheduled to go on line at the end of 2006, but the date has been pushed back several times.

“We can say that the basic construction and assembly work has been completed at the NPP, and we are now switching over to start-up operations,” Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said.

He said that under the Russian-Iranian contract, Russian experts will operate the plant’s first reactor and have the task of creating a team of skilled Russian staff.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said earlier the Bushehr plant would go on stream in the first half of 2009. A Russian deputy foreign minister said last Friday the plant would be commissioned according to the schedule agreed on with Tehran.

In December 2007 – January 2008, Russia supplied nuclear fuel for the plant under control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog. Iran has agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia.

The construction of the Bushehr plant was started in 1975 by German companies. However, the German firms stopped work after a U.S. embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran was imposed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent take over of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The interlude between puppetshows is the only reality

The interlude between puppetshows is the only reality

Zahir Ebrahim

Project Humanbeingsfirst.org

California, United States of America

February 20, 2009

Ron Suskind’s commentary appearing in the Pakistani press today, February 20, 2009, is nonsense. It retains the lies within lies that the Americans are fighting a real war on terror, when all of their counter-insurgency operations – never mind their full scale military invasions based on outright lies and fabricated mantras – are designed primarily to ‘tickle’ those very boogieman into existence to be able to continue fighting the lifetime of World War IV ( http://tinyurl.com/bfwvf ).

Former President, General Pervez Musharraf, as all his active duty command, military, political, and bureaucratic, past and present, have only implemented the American greater masterplan. They may not be smart enough to fully appreciate or comprehend that plan, and that much may be conceded to them, as no one would be suicidal enough to implement the baby-steps if they knew where it was going to lead. Mercenaries are never suicidal. As Henry Kissinger clearly understood: “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” It is easier to make patsies out of them for the overarching agenda, while using them as mercenaries for the immediate agenda. That is how compartmentalization of hierarchical agendas work.

The mantra of ‘Taliban‘ taking over is a fabrication within a fabrication which is being brought to fruition as we speak. The Swat deal is a perfect example to illustrate this. This deal announced two days ago is a mirage. The reason it is a mirage is because the entire insurgency in Swat is itself a mirage. It is a cultivated ‘tickled’ insurgency by the counter-insurgency joint operations by the US-PAK militaries. That aptly descriptive word, ‘tickled‘, is the CIA Director Michael Hayden’s, not mine ( http://tinyurl.com/aayyuo ).

One has to understand how local sensitivities, cracks and lacunae in cultures, their pre-dispositions, are harvested for one’s agendas. The best example is the concept of ‘jihad’ that was hijacked and bastardized to fight the 9-year long Afghan war 1979-1988. In Pakistan’s tribal belt, people are largely conservative, somewhat religious minded, and do have ancient tribal histories guiding their present lives. That is their right to exist whichever way they like, in no less measure, than the right of nudist colonies to exist in the West. For a long time, the people of Malakand have wanted their version of Sharia, whatever its merit, as their low key demand often put forth by their leaders – some genuinely, some politically motivated, and some outright mercenary. Well – that has been ‘tickled’ into full fledged existence through creating, aiding and abetting, a handful of murderous prominent patsy-mercenaries within them, and subsequently bombing the innocent people’s families into the shattered state of destitution and desperation whereby, the patsy-mercenaries can now sympathetically demand whatever they have been primed to demand. In this case, the implementation of Sharia. This is a convenient boogieman, of antiquated ‘Talibans‘ taking over, with the imminent threat of their also taking over all of Pakistan, and posing the real danger of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons – which have, in any event, already been neutralized with PAL locks and fifth columnist within the system – falling into their antediluvian hands.

Just like the toppling of Sadaam Hussein’s statue in Iraq was a psy-op affair, so are the banners in Swat bazaars proclaiming “no women allowed” a psy-ops being instrumented through patsy-mercenaries. Pakistani peoples, as smart as we claim we are, in our victim state, cognitively perceive only the layered ‘katputli tamashas‘ enacted before us. Most aren’t devious enough to understand the complexities to which a hegemon can go to takeover the world. Please see, as an example, the response to “Fourth Generation Warfare”: http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2009/02/responseto-fourth-generation-warfare.html

All Western and local fabrications that retain the core-lie, that there is a real “war on terror”, are puppetshows. In a puppetshow, yes there are heroes and villains, foils, intrigues, and sub plots, like in a soap opera. These are designed as immersive experiences such that the audience get so involved in watching and discussing the plots that they begin to perceive them as reality. In the calculus of the matrix, it is a manufactured reality. The real unvarnished reality can be gleaned, in a nutshell, in the following response to the Financial Times oped which had accurately put it all together: http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/12/responseto-ft-gideon-rachman-worldgov.html

That puts into full perspective, this mindless rehearsal of Ron Suskind’s psyop in the local Pakistani press, as in The News’ “Another US writer endorses charges against Musharraf”.

A moronic press unable to see past the puppetshows, or the co-opted one, will be the death of any peoples.

Newly homeless Gazans lament otherwise valuable rainfall

[Ma'anImages] Jerusalem – Ma’an – Palestine’s long-awaited rainfall, called a blessing from heaven by Palestinians in the West Bank, was described as a curse for homeless families in the Gaza Strip. Israel completely destroyed at least 2,000 Palestinian homes and left as a many as 12,000 damaged during its 22-day assault on Gaza. 46,000 people were displaced, according to the United Nations. According to the official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wada, the rains are “adding to the suffering of homeless people in Gaza,” despite the blessing to farmers. “The rainy weather over the past two days has doubled the suffering of homeless families in the Gaza Strip,” the agency reported, saying “storms damaged tents, which house dozens of people, and are their only refuge after Israel’s war machine destroyed their homes.” “We are now homeless again thanks to the rainy weather that was source of joy for many people, but for us it is a source of suffering as we can’t find refuge from rain and cold,” said Raafat Abed Rabbo from Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip while trying to re-erect his tent along with his sons after it was demolished by storms and heavy rains. A family of ten people lived in that damaged tent. Another Gaza resident, Ziad Abed Rabbo, spent the night at his relative’s. “We have been displaced just like the Nakba [Catastrophe] in 1948. Here we are in the streets with our children, suffering misery, pain and extremely cold weather.” On the other hand, Gaza farmers, whose fields were also dug up by invading Israeli forces, were happy with the rain, and began to replant their fields on Saturday.

Netanyahu Sees Obama Divergeance From Zionist Dogma As Existential Threat

Netanyahu’s Three Strategies Against Obama

Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu will need to act quickly and be highly resourceful if he is to dent Obama’s determination to turn a new page with Iran, promote Israeli-Palestinian peace, and build bridges with the entire Arab and Muslim world, says Patrick Seale.

Having been asked by Israel’s President Shimon Peres to form a government, Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, has until 17 March to try to put together a ruling coalition. Looming over his horse-trading with possible partners is the shadow of Barack Obama, America’s new President.

As he goes about his task, Netanyahu’s prime concern will be to find a way to defuse the threat from Obama, whose views about Iran, about the desirability of a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and about relations with the Muslim world in general, are diametrically opposed to his own.

Early indications suggest that Netanyahu will resort to three distinct strategies to reduce, evade and eventually dispel any likely pressure from Washington, especially on the Palestine question, to which, unlike Obama, he intends to give no priority whatsoever.

His first strategy will be to seek to cobble together a ‘moderate’ coalition of the Likud (27 seats), with Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party (28 seats), and Ehud Barak’s much reduced Labour party (13 seats). Such a coalition could no doubt attract smaller factions, so as to produce a reasonably comfortable majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The only problem is that Tzipi Livni is demanding real decision-making powers in the coalition, which Netanyahu is unwilling to grant her, while Barak seems to think it wiser to rebuild his shattered party in opposition.

From Netanyahu’s perspective, a ‘moderate’ coalition would be better able to neutralise pressure from Obama. The alternative would be a right, far-right and ultra-religious coalition of Likud with Avigdor Lieberman’s unashamedly racist Israel Beiteinu, and other hard-line factions. But such an extremist grouping would attract international opprobrium and further damage Israel’s image — already severely battered by the Gaza war. In Washington, Israel’s friends and lobbyists would be hard put to protect it against Obama.

Netanyahu’s second strategy might be to extend feelers to Syria in order to attempt to revive the indirect Israeli-Syrian talks, which Turkey has been mediating in recent months, but which Syria broke off because of the Gaza war. Syria might be inclined to agree to resume them as part of its current diplomatic campaign to improve its relations with the European Union and the United States.

In seeking to revive the Syrian track, Netanyahu’s main motive would be to provide him with a pretext for resisting American pressure to advance on the Palestinian track. The argument that it cannot focus on two tracks at the same time is one Israel has long used to prevent any move towards a comprehensive peace.

In any event, Netanyahu has no intention of meeting Syria‘s bottom line demand — the return of the Golan Heights. Syria, in turn would have no real expectations from revived talks. It knows that it cannot consider reaching a peace agreement with Israel, unless there is substantial progress on the Palestinian track as well. So, if talks were eventually revived, there would be a good deal of cynicism on both sides, and no serious expectation of a favourable outcome.

Netanyahu’s third strategy in dealing with Obama is to play up the alleged danger from Iran and its nuclear programme. It is his way of relegating the Palestinians’ political aspirations to a distant — very distant — horizon. Even as he accepted the task of attempting to form a government, Netanyahu lashed out at Iran.

There was no doubt, he declared, that Iran was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. Israel was faced with its greatest threat since the creation of the State in 1948. Terrorist forces were gathering in the north – his reference to the Hizbullah resistance movement in Lebanon — and more in the same alarmist vein.

Whipping up hysteria about Iran has long been a familiar Netanyahu tactic. He is desperately anxious to prevent a U.S.-Iranian dialogue such as Obama has proposed, and to which Iran has reacted positively. The same scare tactic — the allegation that Saddam Hussein was acquiring weapons of mass destruction — was used by American pro-Israeli neocons in 2002 to push America into war with Iraq.

In testimony this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Admiral Dennis Blair, America’s Director of National Intelligence, predicted a confrontation this year between Israel and Iran over the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment programme. But few observers in Washington believe that Israel would dare launch an attack against Iran without an American green light — which the Obama administration would be most unlikely to give.

Instead, as London’s Daily Telegraph reported, Israel is using covert activities — sabotage, front companies, double agents, assassination — to disrupt Iran’s nuclear activities. According to the newspaper, Mossad is rumoured to be behind the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a top Iranian nuclear scientist at Isfahan’s uranium plant, who died in mysterious circumstances in 2007. Zbigniew Brzezinski , President Jimmy Carter’s former national security adviser and now an American elder statesman critical of Israel, has advised the United States and Iran to proceed to negotiations as soon as possible.

Netanyahu will need to act quickly and be highly resourceful if he is to dent Obama’s determination to turn a new page with Iran, promote Israeli-Palestinian peace, and build bridges with the entire Arab and Muslim world.

Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on the Middle East, and the author of The Struggle for Syria; also, Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East; and Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire.

Copyright © 2009 Patrick Seale – distributed by Agence Global

Israeli Government Makes Preparations to Disrupt American Diplomacy

Israel goes low profile to sway Obama on Iran
Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:33:13 GMT

In a secret meeting, top Israeli officials decided to take measures to sway President Obama on talks with Iran.

Israel has formulated a fresh strategy toward Iran after the UN watchdog released its latest report on the country nuclear developments.

After the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program caused a stir in Israeli circles, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi convened a secret meeting.

Addressing the US administration’s fresh approach toward Tehran, Barak proposed measures to be taken in order to limit potential US-Iran talks.

US President Barack Obama’s pledge to untangle 30 years of enmity toward Iran and engage the country with diplomacy over its long-disputed nuclear case has become a cause for concern in Israel.

“What Israel is trying to do — in a low-profile way — is to impact the way the Americans reach the point of dialogue,” according to Haaretz.

The Israeli minister expressed hope that potential dialogue between Tehran and Washington will be relatively short-term and without a positive outcome.

Barak had reportedly explained that following the “failure of dialogues” Israel would expect the US to head an international move for immediate and harsher sanctions, this time effectively involving Russia, China and India.

According to Ynet, the Israeli prime minister had ordered a blackout on the details of the meeting.

However, Barak before entering the secret cabinet meeting had said that the IAEA report “demonstrates the need to continue sticking to the Israeli stance, which states that no option should be taken off the table.”

The latest report by the IAEA states that Iran has produced a total of some 1,010 kilograms of low enriched uranium (LEU) hexafluoride as of January 31, 2009.

Following the disclosure of the amount of LEU in Iran’s possession, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) issued a report claiming that based on the latest findings of the IAEA the country has reached “nuclear weapons breakout capability.”

The ISIS technical analysis of Iran’s nuclear program added that the country has in theory stockpiled sufficient low-enriched uranium – between 1,000 to 1,700kg – to produce the 20-25kg of highly enriched uranium necessary for one small bomb.

The ISIS report was followed by media estimations that Iran might — without the knowledge of UN inspectors — take a step and reprocess its LEU into weapons-grade highly enriched uranium (HEU).

However, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming dismissed the possibility of any such move by Iran, explaining that, “No nuclear material could have been removed from the facility without the agency’s knowledge since the facility is subject to video surveillance and the nuclear material has been kept under seal.”

The policies discussed during the secret meeting on Iran came following meetings with US senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman.

According to Haaretz, during their recent visit Kerry and Lieberman, held major discussions on Iran with top Israeli military officials.

Earlier on February 16, an annual defense work plan presented to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi for the year 2009 described Iran as “the No.1 threat the IDF is now preparing for.”

The report tasked the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) with reinforcing its strategic aerial capabilities, while zooming in on the development of “remote-piloted vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles”, as well as “infrastructural investments in intelligence and communications devices.”

The report came in support of long-standing talks running hot and cold about an Israeli military strike on Iran.

Israel, the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, has long claimed that Iran, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory, will have enough fissile material to become a nuclear power by the end of 2009.

Under the allegation, Israeli officials argue that a military attack is a legitimate option for taking out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Secret Proxies Igniting Sectarian Warfare in Pakistan, Repeating the Iraqi Failures

Shia trader, three sons killed in Quetta attack

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: A Shia trader and three of his sons were shot dead in an apparent sectarian attack in Quetta on Tuesday.

Ghulab Shah, a hardware trader of Afghan origin, was travelling home with his six sons at about 8pm when four gunmen ambushed his car on the high-security Sariab Road. Shah and three of his sons died instantly, while two of them were injured. Officials in Quetta’s Civil Hospital said their condition was critical.

Police deployment on the road had been increased especially after an attack on Baloch intellectual and provincial Secretary for Mines and Minerals Jan Muhammad Dashti on Monday. Banned Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi had claimed responsibility for the attack saying Dashti was targeted because of his ‘anti-Islam’ opinions. The official was seriously hurt and flown to Karachi in Chief Minister Aslam Raisani’s aircraft.

According to police sources, Jan Muhammad Dashti was on his way to his office when the gunmen intercepted his vehicle and fired at him. He was rushed to Civil Hospital and given first aid, and was then shifted to Agha Khan Hospital Karachi.

No group has claimed Tuesday’s attack so far. Law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and began a search.

Hazara Democratic Party Chairman Hussain Ali Yousafi and a police deputy superintendent have been killed recently in a wave of sectarian attacks on Shia Muslims in the city.

A Choice Between Peace and Peril

AP photo / Hasan Sarbakhshian

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at a ceremony in Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.

By Chris Hedges

Bibi Netanyahu’s assumption of power in Israel sets the stage for a huge campaign by the Israeli government, and its well-oiled lobby groups in Washington, to push us into a war with Iran.

Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, according to U.S. and European intelligence agencies. But reality rarely impedes on politics. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, along with Netanyahu, all talk as if Iran is on the brink of dropping the big one on the Jewish state.

Netanyahu on Friday named Iran as Israel’s main threat after he was called to form a new government following the Feb. 20 elections.

“Iran is seeking to obtain a nuclear weapon and constitutes the gravest threat to our existence since the war of independence,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony at President Shimon Peres’ official residence. “The terrorist forces of Iran threaten us from the north,” the presumptive prime minister said in reference to Lebanon and Syria, where Israel says Tehran supplies arms to Hezbollah and Hamas. “For decades, Israel has not faced such formidable challenges.”

Netanyahu, whose arrogance is as outsized as his bellicosity, knows that for all his threats and chest thumping, Israel is incapable of attacking Iranian targets alone. Israel cannot fly its attack aircraft over Iraqi air space into Iran without U.S. permission, something George W. Bush refused to grant, fearing massive retaliatory strikes by Iran on American bases in Iraq. Israel’s air force is not big enough to neutralize the multiple targets, from radar stations to missile batteries to Revolutionary Guard units to bunkers housing Iran’s Soviet- and Chinese-made fighter jets and bombers, and also hit suspected nuclear targets. The only route to a war with Tehran for the Israeli military is through Washington.

Netanyahu’s resolve to strike Iran means that we will soon hear a lot about the danger posed by Iran—full-page ads in American newspapers from Israel lobby groups have appeared in the past few days. Allowing this rhetoric to cloud reality, as we did during the buildup to the war with Iraq, would shut down the best chance for stability in the Middle East—a negotiated settlement with Iran. This may not finally stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, but a stable relationship with Iran would do more to protect Israel and our interests in the Middle East than massive airstrikes and a war that would bleed into Iraq and Lebanon and see Iranian missiles launched against Israeli cities.

“If you go into a problem with a mistaken assumption, you come out with a bad policy,” said Sam Gardner, a retired colonel of the U.S. Air Force who has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College and Naval War College, and who opposes the Israeli campaign to strike Iran.

Iran’s nuclear program is currently monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran had amassed about 2,227 pounds of low-enriched, or reactor-grade, nuclear fuel by late January, according to the latest updates from the arms control watchdog for the United Nations. To produce the 55 pounds of highly enriched, or weapons-grade, uranium needed for an atomic warhead, Iran would need 2,205 to 3,748 pounds of low-enriched uranium. It apparently has this amount—which is why Netanyahu refers to Iran as “an existential threat” to the Israeli state. But Iran has made no move to enrich the uranium and until it does cannot be accused of having a nuclear weapons program. Iran also does not have enough high-speed centrifuges at its facility in Natanz to further refine the uranium, according to the United Nations.

Iran has turned to its old nemesis Russia for assistance as Israel has become more strident. The work on the Bushehr nuclear reactor will soon be assisted by 3,000 Russian technicians. And Russia has promised to sell the S-300 missile to Iran to boost that nation’s air defense systems. The Russian Federation Security Council and the State Council’s new national security strategy statement says that the primary focus of the struggle over the next decade will be on hydrocarbons. The Middle East and Central Asia are mentioned specifically. In these areas, according to the document, the struggle could develop into a military confrontation. And, while the document does not mention the United States, there is no other rival military force in the region that can match the Russian machine. The more we push Iran the more Iran flees into the arms of the Russians and the closer we come to a new Cold War struggle for control of diminishing natural resources. Iranian officials have barred inspections of facilities producing centrifuge parts, a move which worries arms control specialists. Iran may be planning to build an undeclared centrifuge facility separate from Natanz. Iran has also barred inspectors from its heavy-water reactor near Arak, an action that has concerned inspectors who hope to examine the site for possible telltale “clandestine” features that could be used in a weapons program. These signs would indicate that Iran could begin a nuclear weapons program. But as of now there is no such program. We should stop speaking as if one exists.

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India is a reckless state actor

PAKISTAN’S INVESTIGATIONS REVEAL MULTIPLE FOREIGN HANDS IN MUMBAI ATTACK, FAULTS INTERAGENCY WARFARE IN INDIA AND SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS IN PAKISTAN.

India is a reckless state actor

Comment
Sajjad Shaukat

In wake of a continued debate and rising tension between the two South Asian nuclear states in connection with the culprits of Mumbai tragedy, Pakistan has proved itself as a responsible state actor. On February 12, 2009, Islamabad not only submitted its report to India after lodging FIR against the nine suspects and taking six accused persons into custody, but also admitted that Mumbai attacks were “partially planned in Pakistan” as Advisor to the Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik stated in a press conference. Pakistan’s positive behaviour was greatly appreciated by the foreign officials and media, while on the other side, New Delhi alongwith its media anchors took it as a surprise because India has, itself, been acting upon a reckless policy regarding Pakistan which is still being pursued through a threatening style under the cover of self-fabricated evidence with a view to showing official backing of our country in the Mumbai carnage.

Indian perennial careless attitude coupled with self-contradictory diplomacy could be judged from the statement of its Minister of External Affairs, Pranab Mukerjee who, while praising Islamabad’s positive response in relation to the investigation of Mumbai catastrophe, insisted upon Pakistan on February 13 that Islamabad should move to “dismantle the terror infrastructure on its territory,” describing the threat, emanating from Pakistan as a global cancer. He further said, “The primary responsibility for eradicating this threat lay with the government in Islamabad.”

However, since November 26, last year when the Mumbai mayhem occurred, setting aside our ruler’s views that non-state actors are linked to the mishappening, Indian blindly rejection of Islamabad’s offer of joint investigation, various contradictory statements of Indian military and civilian leadership such as calling Pakistan the epicenter of terrorism, emphasizing to hand over the fugitives to New Delhi, take action against them inside Pakistan, terrorism is state policy of Islamabad and all options are open for India including military one—deployment of Indian military troops across the international border have shown that India is an irresponsible and a reckless state actor. Despite Islamabad’s optimistic reaction, India, which has not still ruled out surgical strikes on selective targets of our country, its Presedent Pratibha Patil Lamented remarked on February 12 that terrorists from Pakistan continue to allow its territory to be used for terrorism in any manner against India, further adding, “Pakistan poses a threat to the South Asian region and the world.”

The fact of the matter is that now Islamabad’s realistic reply has proved, without any doubt, that some non-sovereign entities in Pakistan, India and even in some western countries had planed Mumbai catastrophe, but New Delhi wants to unilaterally blame our country in this respect in order to conceal Indian culprits because its real anti-Pakistan designs will be exposed through a genuine probe.

In this regard, Islamabad also raised 30 questions in the report, reciprocally seeking information about Indian officials involved in Malay villages and Samjotha Express blasts in which Indian mastermind Lt. Col Srikant Purohit was found guilty in targeting Muslims, details on the death of Indian Anti-terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare during Mumbai tragedy etc. It is of particular attention that on February 8, Indian Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra Singh Modi revealed that the Mumbai terror attacks could not have been carried out without internal help. On February 12, the Mumbai police chief Hassan Ghafoor also admitted that two Indians who were arrested by the Indian police had been involved in the Mumbai terror attacks. Their comments are in sharp contrast with claims of other Indian high officials who hold Pakistan solely responsible for the carnage.

On February 14, Rehman Malik made it clear that Pakistan might seek to hand over Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during Mumbai attacks to further proceed the investigations as he is Pakistani national and a case is registered in this country. But India flatly refuses to deliver Kasab to Islamabad. Nevertheless, it is logical stance of Pakistan if it will demand that India should also hand over Lt. Col Purohit and some other fugitives to Islamabad, but New Delhi is not going to do it owing to its elusive policy which is displaying India as a careless sovereign entity. Pakistan’s right decision of replying to the Indian dossier has exposed the hollowness of Indian undue pressure, followed by a self-concocted story to distort the image of a responsible state actor. US-led some western countries forced Pakistan to implement New Delhi’s demands by taking advantage of our multiple crises.

Nonetheless, our elected government did the same by taking actions against the non-sovereign militants whom Indians accused in connection with the Mumbai tragedy. Although some responsible states like Germany, France, China, Saudi Arabia etc. refused to follow Indian rhetoric that Islamabad or some of its secret agency was officially guilty in this context, yet New Delhi has not investigated the involvement of its homegrown terrorists. Question arises as to why there is no international pressure by the sole superpower or UN on Indian government to handing over Lt. Col. Purohit, other similar criminals and especially Ajmal Kasab to Pakistan. And why India avoids joint probe in this serious matter. In fact, India has only been exploiting the Mumbai events to fulfill some covert aims against our country. First, New Delhi wants to divert the attention of new US President Barack Obama from the thorny issue of Kashmir as he recognises an inter-relationship between war against terrorism in Afghanistan and this dispute. In this respect, during the recent visit of Richard Holbrooke, special envoy of the US new Administration on Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the latter made it clear that no country can interfere in Kashmir issue. Although Holbrooke also pointed out that he had no mandate on this dispute, yet it might be part of some secret diplomacy of US-led west to emphasise New Delhi to settle this old dispute, which has become root cause of terrorism in the region. Second, India wants to keep the composite dialogue in suspension as part of its delaying tactics in resolving any issue with Pakistan. Third, New Delhi intends to continue creating unrest in Pakistan by supporting insurgency in Balochistan and FATA regions from Afghanistan where it has established a terror-structure with the help of Indian army and intelligence agency, RAW. Fourth, India, with the backing of America, wants to contain a peace-loving China with a view to thwarting Sino-Pak cooperation, especially in relation to Gwadar seaport. Fifth, Indian ruling party, Congress and fundamentalist parties such as BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena etc., entailing other Hindu non-state actors want to use the Mumbai card in the forthcoming elections for increasing anti-Pakistan jubilation to attract the voters.

The most alarming point, however, is that Indian all clandestine designs are not only destabilising Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but will also ultimately weaken the federation of India itself as non-state actors are present almost in every country of the region. Nevertheless such a rash approach of New Delhi will further embolden Hindu terrorists who already keep on massacring Muslims and Christians intermittently. Assaults on Churches and mosques, and renowned extremist BJP leader, L.K. Advani’s statement to construct Ram Mandir on the place where Babri Masjid was destroyed in 1992 with the state-backing have given impetus to Hindu terrorism.

Now, it is beyond any doubt that Indian sinister aims emanate from the ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) based upon centuries old enmity, especially against Muslims. In this connection, New Delhi’s irresponsible attitude by unilaterally alleging Pakistan for Mumbai mayhem has further encouraged both Indian fundamentalist sovereign and non-sovereign actors. Logically speaking, confused and failed in its blame game in distorting the image of Pakistan under the mask of Mumbai episode which was, in fact, prepared by the non-state actors of the two countries alongwith some militants of other states, New Delhi, however, intends to achieve nefarious designs by manipulating the Mumbai drama.

After learning positive lessons from the past conflicts, especially World War1 and World War 11, in the modern era of new trends like renunciation of war as a state policy, peaceful settlement of disputes and economic development through cooperation on regional and global level, it is expected that unlike the non-state actors, state actors will behave with responsibility when controversy arises between them or two countries over any issue. Quite contrarily, Indian irresponsible leaders are still displaying bizarre approach towards Pakistan. No doubt, India is a reckless state actor.

Pakistan moves against Shia killings

Pakistan moves against Shia killings
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:29:22 GMT

Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik

Islamabad gives its security forces orders to protect Shia Muslims after hundreds of community members were killed by the Taliban allied groups.

“The provincial government has been asked to divide the Dera Ismail Khan into zones and undertake house-to-house search operation to unarm the people who were behind the deadly attacks in the town” Interior Ministry Chief Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad, a Press TV correspondent reported Tuesday.

Malik’s remarks come after thirty people were killed and 65 others injured on Feb.26 in a bomb blast in the troubled town close to northwestern tribal region.

In early February, at least 35 Shia Muslims were killed and 50 others injured after a bomb exploded in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan in the central Punjab province.

Also today, unidentified armed men have reportedly opened fire at a passenger bus in Pakistan’s lawless Kurram Agency, kidnapping 14 Shia Muslims.

Taliban-linked militants in Parachinar, Hangu district and much of the Kurram tribal agency have killed 25 to 30 people on a daily basis during the last six months, according to Pakistani local media reports.

Moderate Pakistani Sunni groups believe that leaving Shias at the mercy of the Taliban is a conspiracy against the country.

Taliban has established its rule in the restive Swat valley and its influence is also rapidly increasing its grip on the major cities and even the so-called settled areas of the country.

Some reports have cited grave human rights abuses against Shias in the northwestern Pakistani city of Parachinar.

Shias make up one-third of Pakistan’s 160 million-strong population. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in violence-related incidents in Pakistan by extremist groups.

The developments come after Tehran cautioned Islamabad over the ‘silent massacre’ of its Shia community by the Taliban, in the country.

“The incidents that have occurred against Pakistan’s Shia community are a plot to create conflict between the region’s Sunni and Shia population,” Ali Larijani said.

“We have warned Islamabad over the incidents and we will pursue the matter,” he added.

RB/JR/DT

Drones hover over Bajaur Agency

IF US WAS TARGETING TRIBAL LEADERS WHO TALKED PEACE BEFORE, THEN LOOK FOR NEW PREDATOR STRIKES AGAINST FAZLULLAH.

Drones hover over Bajaur Agency

KHAR: US unmanned spy planes kept hovering over Bajaur Agency here on Tuesday, Geo News reported.

Sources said the spy planes’ flights over Nawagai, Khar and Mamoond areas for a few hours, triggered panic and harassment in the areas.

Local tribesmen have demanded from the government taking notice of the flights of these US spy planes.

US will not quit the region: Holbrooke

Anwar Iqbal
Wednesday, 25 Feb, 2009 | 01:25 AM PST |

Americans never quit. We’ve surmounted other things. We’ll survive, whatever happens. I believe in our strength: Richard Holbrooke

WASHINGTON: Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, has said that the United States will not quit the region and will stay as long as it takes to eradicate terrorism from there.

‘Americans never quit,’ said Mr Holbrook in an interview to PBS television. ‘We’ve surmounted other things. We’ll survive, whatever happens. I believe in our strength.’

A transcript made available to the media on Tuesday quoted Mr Holbrook as saying that a US intelligence chief could also discuss with the ISI chief the question of an alleged relationship between his agency and the militants.

‘The degree of that continuing relationship is one of the things that need to be discussed openly and candidly between two friends, America and Pakistan,’ he said.

‘The US gives a lot of assistance to Pakistan. And most people, me included, feel that Pakistan does not do enough to stop the people who from bases in Pakistan cross into Afghanistan and attack American and allied forces.’

Ambassador Holbrooke described President Zardari as ‘critically important’ for the US and said that Washington would help him expand his authority.

‘The question of his degree of authority over elements of the government is a legitimate one, which he himself has talked about openly. And this government, American government —wants to support civilian democratic rule in Pakistan,’ he added.

Mr Holbrooke said US President Barack Obama was forced to send additional 17,000 to Afghanistan now, and not after the review, because the situation on ground in both Afghanistan and Pakistan was serious.

‘Some people said you should have waited for the end of the strategic review to send the troops. That option was not available given the situation that President Obama inherited on day one of his presidency,’ he said.

Ambassador Holbrooke said the new US strategy would involve all of Afghanistan’s neighbours including Pakistan, China, India, Russia, Iran and even Saudi Aria and Turkey, which were farther afield.

‘Afghanistan would last longer than Iraq, that it would be more difficult … this is something else. This is a really difficult problem, because it involves so many different countries,’ he added.

‘And Afghanistan and Pakistan are completely interrelated in this regard. There is no way that the international effort in Afghanistan can succeed unless Pakistan can get its western tribal areas under control.’

Mr Holbrooke said even if Afghanistan had the best government in the world; it could not succeed in bringing normalcy to the country if Pakistan’s tribal areas remained out of control.

Although the US had kept India out of Mr Holbrooke’s agenda, the envoy noted that the situation concerned India as well.

‘And Pakistan in turn relates directly to India,’ said the ambassador, adding that those who attacked Mumbai in December wanted to provoke and India-Pakistan war.

‘Why? Because that would remove Pakistani troops from the west completely and give them an even freer hand,’ he said. ‘But luckily for the world, the Indians didn’t fall into the trap. They resisted.’

But he warned if this happened again, it could be more serious, particularly since the Indian were in an election period.

Mr Holbrooke said that while the US wanted to make sure that Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorists who could deliver another 9/11; that’s not a final objective.

‘It is an interim necessity as we work towards a basic strategic outcome, which covers an objective which involves Pakistan as well,’ he added.

‘Because if you deny Afghanistan to al Qaida, which American troops can do, but al Qaida remains in Pakistan, you remain at risk.’

The US envoy warned that ‘it’s quite possible that as we sit here now, somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan, people are plotting an attack on the United States, as they were plotting an attack on Mumbai, as they are taking over Swat.’

Asked if the US could send ground forces into Pakistan to look for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, Mr Holbrooke said: ‘The United States does not operate ground forces across the border. We just don’t do that.’

The US envoy, however, indicated that drone attacks to destroy militants sanctuaries would continue.

Mumbai attackers’ phones traced to US, Italy: report

Tuesday, 24 Feb, 2009 | 07:17 PM PST |

Italian authorities were investigating a wire transfer to the US from the city of Brescia by a Pakistani-born suspect. — Reuters

ROME: Militants behind last year’s attacks on Mumbai used cell phones that were activated in the United States and paid for with funds sent from Italy, an Italian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Corriere della Sera daily said India sent the intelligence information to Italy and other countries so anti-terrorism investigators could attempt to expose any ties to the network behind the November assault that killed at least 179 people.

Islamabad acknowledged for the first time this month that the November assault was launched from, and partly planned in, Pakistan.

Corriere said Italian authorities were investigating a wire transfer sent to the United States from the northern Italian city of Brescia by a Pakistani-born suspect.

The suspect, named as Javaid Iqbal, sent the funds via Western Union to pay for five cell phones with Austrian country codes — three of which were used by the attackers, Corriere said, citing the Indian dossier.

Iqbal, a former resident of Barcelona, has been arrested in Pakistan and Italian authorities were attempting to understand how he arrived in Brescia and whether he had support from anyone there.

The cell phones were activated in the United States by a US company, Corriere reported, and registered to another man, who identified himself as an Indian citizen.

India, in its intelligence dossier, highlighted the importance of cell phone communication between the plotters and militants carrying out the attacks.

It offered partial transcripts of the conversations detailing orders given by phone to kill hostages, and how the plotters relayed the media impact of the assault in real-time.

‘Everything is being registered by the media. You must inflict the maximum damage. Fight to the end. Don’t leave any survivors,’ read one of the excerpts, in a call to an attacker at the Trident-Oberoi hotel, reported by Corriere.

At one point, one of the attackers explains he has five hostages, two of them Muslims.

‘Kill the hostages, except the Muslims. Take the telephone and activate it so we can hear the shots,’ an attacker said, according to Corriere.

Indian police said that, apparently through the telephone intercepts, they could hear the non-Muslim hostages being lined up and then shot.

Why We Must Not Give Up In The Struggle

The fact is that if allowed, the Obama regime backed by the U.S. corporate / military elites will stifle and crush the struggles for justice and liberation inside and outside of the United States. However, this is where we the people come in. We must not and will not allow this to occur, nor will we go to sleep simply because the pigmentation of the corporate-backed, pro apartheid-Zionist ‘American’ emperor inside the White House has been switched. – Larry Pinkney

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Larry Pinkney
Black Commentator
World Prout Assembly

02/22/09 – “WPA” – The revolutionary struggle for freedom and justice may not be televised but it will most definitely be organized, and it will continue.

The corporate media will ignore and/or seek to distort and denigrate this struggle, but then that has been and continues to be the role of the media. We don’t need to be televised in order to effectively organize.

There are some who mistakenly believe that the presidency of Barack Obama means an end to racism, injustice, economic inequities, and U.S. wars; when in fact said presidency is nothing more than a cynical and well orchestrated corporate public relations stunt with no real, concrete, substantive, systemic changes whatsoever. There are others who contend that the regime of Barack Obama will successfully stifle and crush the liberation struggles of peoples in this nation and around the world.

The fact is that if allowed, the Obama regime backed by the U.S. corporate / military elites will stifle and crush the struggles for justice and liberation inside and outside of the United States. However, this is where we the people come in. We must not and will not allow this to occur, nor will we go to sleep simply because the pigmentation of the corporate-backed, pro apartheid-Zionist ‘American’ emperor inside the White House has been switched.

Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples both inside the U.S. and worldwide must understand that if anything, the installation of Barack Obama as U.S. president means that we must intensify in our efforts in the struggle for justice and peace; and uncloak & expose the never ending double-speak rhetoric emanating from Obama and his regime.

We must understand that is we the people, Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples, young and old alike, who hold the key to justice and liberation, not Barack Obama the chameleon or his minions. Even as Obama was being installed in the White House, police executions and brutality against people (especially young people) throughout the nation were and are sharply increasing. As a presidential candidate, Obama made his position on such police executions and brutality quite clear when he refused to speak out against the despicable police murder in New York City of Sean Bell, just as he subsequently refused to speak out against the recent and ongoing genocidal Zionist actions of the Palestinian people in Gaza. His silence and subsequent double-speak are deafening and reprehensible. They are cause for great alarm.

Make no mistake about this, even as this writer pens these words the Obama regime U.S. personnel and the Iraqi people are dying in Iraq, and plans are being drawn up to expand the war in Afghanistan, and attack and destabilize Pakistan. These actions represent the real Barack Obama, former so-called and would be corporate-backed “peace” candidate, who was in reality no “peace” candidate at all, unless of course peace is spelled p-i-e-c-e.

Let us not be like the ostrich with its head in the sand. We have an obligation to ourselves, each other, and future generations not only in the U.S., but around the globe, to intensify in our efforts to organize, while speaking truth to power.

This phase of the struggle by Black, Brown, White, Red, and Yellow peoples for social and economic justice at home and abroad has only just begun. We cannot, must not, and will not shirk our responsibility to carry on in this struggle.

Onward then my sisters and brothers. Onward! There is so much work to be done and precious little time to do it for the sake of humanity—all humanity. There is no more pressing or urgent calling than this.

Obama’s Afghan “surge” sows seeds of new wars

Under pressure from Washington, the Pakistani military and government have for years been conducting offensive operations in the traditionally autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), strafing villages, “disappearing” alleged opponents of the US occupation of Afghanistan, and imposing colonial-style collective punishments on “uncooperative” tribes. Over the past six months these military operations have been expanded. Earlier this month, the United Nations refugee agency said the fighting has displaced 450,000 people in northwest Pakistan and it fears the total will reach 600,000 in a matter of weeks. Holbrooke himself told PBS television that he had seen “flattened villages” when touring FATA by air. But Washington is adamant that its Pakistani allies must be even more ruthless, even if such action further stokes popular anger against the government and threatens to divide the military, many of whose recruits are drawn from Pakistan’s Pashtun community. The Pashtuns have borne the burnt of the US occupation of Afghanistan and the Pakistani government’s drive to assert its authority in FATA.

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24 February 2009 WSWS

US imperialism is set on a course to expand and intensify the Afghan War–vastly increasing the number of troops deployed to Afghanistan and extending the war into neighboring Pakistan.

The Obama administration’s Afghan troop “surge” and the ensuing ratcheting up of violence will have catastrophic consequences for the Afghani and Pakistani peoples. It adds a new, explosive dynamic to the decades-old geopolitical rivalry between India and Pakistan and will intensify the great power competition for control of oil-rich Central Asia, sowing the seeds for even larger and more destructive wars.

President Barack Obama announced last week the deployment of a further 17,000 US troops to Afghanistan, increasing US troop strength in the impoverished Central Asian state by almost 40 percent. At Washington’s urging, the Afghan government has begun arming tribal groups, copying a tactic the Pentagon employed in Iraq.

Since last August, the US has carried out 38 missile strikes inside Pakistan, the two most recent coming within days of a visit to Pakistan by Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to an article in last Saturday’s New York Times the two latest air strikes represented a change in US policy, bringing it even more directly into Pakistan’s internal politics. For the first time the US targeted Islamist militia who have not been involved in the Afghan insurgency.

The Times has also revealed that US Special Forces are carrying out covert land operations inside Pakistan and that since last summer 70 US military personnel have been deployed to Pakistan to train Pakistani soldiers and paratroopers in counter-insurgency warfare.

It has become a veritable mantra of the Obama administration and US geo-political think tanks that suppressing Taliban “safe-havens” in Pakistan is pivotal to stamping out the anti-US insurgency in Afghanistan and that this requires that Islamabad “do more.”

Under pressure from Washington, the Pakistani military and government have for years been conducting offensive operations in the traditionally autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), strafing villages, “disappearing” alleged opponents of the US occupation of Afghanistan, and imposing colonial-style collective punishments on “uncooperative” tribes. Over the past six months these military operations have been expanded. Earlier this month, the United Nations refugee agency said the fighting has displaced 450,000 people in northwest Pakistan and it fears the total will reach 600,000 in a matter of weeks. Holbrooke himself told PBS television that he had seen “flattened villages” when touring FATA by air. But Washington is adamant that its Pakistani allies must be even more ruthless, even if such action further stokes popular anger against the government and threatens to divide the military, many of whose recruits are drawn from Pakistan’s Pashtun community. The Pashtuns have borne the burnt of the US occupation of Afghanistan and the Pakistani government’s drive to assert its authority in FATA.

The New York Times and other liberal supporters of the Obama administration have promoted the Afghan war as the so-called “good war,’ in contrast with the Iraq war (which the Times nonetheless also enthusiastically supported.) In fact, the two wars are of a piece. Both have been waged with the aim of imposing US hegemony in regions where there are vast reserves of oil and thereby securing US global predominance, under conditions where the US’s economic power has been vastly eroded.

The Afghani and Pakistani peoples have already paid a horrific price for Washington’s and Wall Street’s predatory ambitions. Dating back to the early 1950s, the Pakistani military has served as a tool of US geopolitical strategy and Washington, in turn, has served as the bulwark of a succession of right-wing military dictatorships, including that of George W. Bush’s “friend” and “indispensable ally in the war on terror,” General Pervez Musharraf.

The current US intervention in Afghanistan is the culmination of three decades of intrigue and subversion, which first saw the US arm Islamic guerrillas, in order to destabilize a pro-Soviet government in Kabul and draw the Soviet Union into a disastrous land war, and later, in the name of fighting “Islamist terrorism,” occupy Afghanistan and install a corrupt and violent puppet government.

The intensification of the war in Afghanistan will only further destabilize the entire region. Pakistan deeply resents Washington’s forging of a “global, strategic partnership” with India. With the aim of building up India as a counterweight to a rising China, the Bush administration said that it wanted to help India become a “world power,” and in way of proof, offered New Delhi a civilian nuclear treaty that effectively ended the embargo on nuclear trade with India, allowing it to focus its indigenous nuclear program on the development of its nuclear arsenal.

Islamabad charges that India, with the US’s blessing, has greatly increased its influence in Afghanistan since 2001. Indeed, India has lavished aid on the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and, according to a recent report in the news magazine India Today, Indian strategists view Afghanistan as “a strategic pivot for India… They believe that in case Islamabad cannot be disciplined through diplomatic means, Afghanistan could prove to be a launching pad for action against the Afghan border.”

The Indian elite, meanwhile, resents Pakistan’s pivotal role in the Afghan war–more than 80 percent of supplies for US forces in Afghanistan are transported through Pakistan–and fear that the Obama administration’s focus on the Afghan war is causing it to attach less importance on ties with India than did Bush.

A key reason India took such a bellicose, anti-Pakistan stance following last November’s terrorist atrocity in Mumbai–labeling Pakistan the center of world terrorism–was to preempt any move by Washington to become more involved in negotiating an end to the Indo-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir. During the presidential election campaign, Obama and several of his aides said the US should take up the Kashmir question, with the suggestion that assisting Islamabad in wrenching concessions from India could be a quid pro quo for Pakistan doing Washington’s bidding in the Afghan war.

India’s Hindu chauvinist right and sections of its military establishment complain that while the US mounts military strikes in Pakistan and gave Israel carte blanche to pummel Gaza, it demands that India take no action against Kashmiri insurgents in Pakistan, so as not to disrupt the war in Afghanistan. “Let us not forget,” former Indian Foreign Minister Jawant Singh told Outlook magazine, “that the Americans are caught in a bind. They have destabilized the region and are trying to retrieve something for themselves.”

No less incendiary will be the impact of the increased US intervention on the broader geopolitical equation in Eurasia. Both Russia and China view limiting US influence in Central Asia to be imperative for their long-term military and economic interests.

China fears US encirclement, as Washington seeks to add India to its longstanding Japanese-anchored system of Pacific Rim allies, and Beijing views Central Asia as a big part of the solution to its burgeoning energy needs. For Russia, Central Asia is an historic area of dominance. Moreover, limiting US access to the region’s oil and natural gas resources greatly strengthens Russia’s attempt to use its own vast energy reserves as a source of geopolitical power.

Russia has been particularly active in respect to Afghanistan. To the shock and dismay of Washington, Kyrgyzstan recently announced that US forces must vacate the Manus Air Base within six months. The announcement came shortly after Moscow announced a substantial aid package to Kyrgyzstan.

Russia has offered to allow some US and NATO supplies to reach Afghanistan by passing through its territory. But its intention is clearly to trade access for US concessions, including over the positioning of US antiballistic missiles in Eastern Europe. And in what is a direct challenge to NATO’s extension of its sphere of operations into Central Asia, the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization recently announced it was setting up a rapid deployment force to counter terrorism and other threats to “stability” in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Washington is desperate to secure additional supply lines to Afghanistan, because insurgents in Pakistan have been highly effective in disrupting the main line that passes through the northwest tribal areas of Pakistan, and the “surge” will require a vast increase in shipments of weapons, oil and food.

Iran, for its part, is likely to see the increased US presence in Afghanistan as a threat, but also as a potential opportunity to bargain for a new modus vivendi with Washington. (India recently finished building a highway to connect Kabul to the Iranian border, thereby opening the possibility for Iran to serve as an alternate US-NATO supply route.)

The explosive geopolitical tensions that are being stoked by the US drive to extend its reach into Central Asia were starkly revealed in last August’s eruption of the Russo-Georgian war.

The development of a global depression will only intensify the great power struggle for markets, resources and geopolitical advantage. Already, government are turning to beggar-thy-neighbor economic policies.

War will not be averted by appealing to one or another reactionary national bourgeois clique or, for that matter, to the United Nations. It only serves as clearing house for the mercenary deals made between rival capitalist nation states. In the case of Afghanistan, the UN has given its imprimatur to the US occupation.

The struggle against war requires the mobilization of the international working class as an independent political force in the struggle against capitalism and the outmoded nation-state system in which it is historically rooted.

Keith Jones

DALIT VOICE February 16 – 28th, 2009

DALIT VOICE

Vol. 28 February 16 – 28th, 2009 No. 4 Editorial Mayawati may become king-maker if not king herself after parliament election Reports Brahmins shifting to Congress from BJP? Obama & the “Jews of India” Upper caste bid to topple Kerala’s OBC Chief Minister DV proved right on Palestine Back to socialism after killing capitalism How Brahminism thrives Articles Brahmin criticism of Dalit movement & Dr. Ambedkar Why Brahmins have not produced a single revolutionary ? DV must treat Muslims as enemy Violence to put down violent enemy DV silver jubilee at Nagpur March 15, 2009 INDIA SHINING

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