“Israel Opening Gates of Hell” by Killing 6 Palestinians in Gaza, W.Bank

Hanan Awarekeh Readers Number : 354

26/12/2009 On the first anniversary of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip that killed more than 1400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured over 5300 others, Israeli occupation army decided to commemorate its defeat by killing more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Strip. Six Palestinians were martyred on Saturday when the Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed three men belonging to the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in pre-dawn raids in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus and three other civilians in the Gaza Strip. Armed resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza threatened swift retaliation to the killings in Nablus and to the death of three other Palestinians near Gaza. “The occupation (Israel) is opening the gates to hell,” said Abu Mahmoud, a senior al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades commander. Fatah’s armed wind vowed to respond “in the language of blood and fire.” Speaking to reporters in the West Bank, Abu Mahmoud threatened that its martyrdom bombers would “turn Israel’s night to day” and would avenge the “crime” committed by the occupation forces in Nablus. Moreover in Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees also called on all armed resistance groups in the Hamas-ruled territory to respond to the killing of the Palestinians. The Al-Aqsa Brigades men were identified as Raghsan Abu Sharekh, Anan Subuh, 36, and Raed al-Sarkaji, 38, who was recently released from an Israeli prison after seven years. Sources said al-Sarkaji’s wife had been injured during the shootings, adding that the men were killed despite the fact that they did not resist arrest. Subuh was a member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, but had been granted amnesty by Israel. Family members said the occupation troops entered without warning and killed the men in cold blood, insisting that none had resisted arrest or fired any shots. Abu Sharekh is the brother of Nayef Abu Sharekh, one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Brigades who was also killed by the occupation army. The incident follows the shooting death of an Israeli settler on Thursday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in the occupied West Bank. In another incident early Saturday, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike near the Gaza Strip after they were scavenging for scrap metal near the security fence. Another Palestinian was injured in the incident. Palestinians reported that shortly after midnight gunfire was heard in the Beit Hanoun and Erez Crossing area and that an Israeli occupation army chopper fired continuously for about an hour near the fence between Gaza and the occupied territories. PALESTINIAN PA CALLS ISRAELI RAIDS ‘DANGEROUS ESCALATION’ Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, calling it a “dangerous escalation.” The Western-backed leader accused Israel of deliberately undermining gains made over the past two years by Palestinian security forces. “This operation represents a dangerous escalation, and can only be seen in the context of targeting the security and stability that the Palestinian Authority has been able to bring about,” Fayyad said. President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina slammed both operations. “The Israeli escalation in the West Bank and Gaza and the return to the policy of assassinations and random killings under false pretences reveals that the occupation government has decided to destroy the security and stability of the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement. Israel is trying to “drag our people into a spiral of bloody violence so it can escape the increasing international pressure on it,” he added. The governor of Nablus Jibreel Al-Bakri described what happened in Nablus as a “crime in cold blood.” He accused the Israeli government of escalating the violence in Palestine in order to avoid its commitment to the peace process. A spokesperson from the office of the Palestinian president echoed the statement, saying Israel has decided to drag the Palestinian people to violence in order to avoid international pressure for peace.

More On the Explosion In Beirut

The blast came on the eve of the first anniversary of Israel’s 22-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip during which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

Mysterious Explosion in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Kills 3

At least three people were killed and six wounded in a mysterious overnight explosion that shook Beirut’s southern suburbs amid reports it has targeted Hamas headquarters.

An-Nahar daily on Sunday said Hizbullah members immediately cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and Lebanese security forces from approaching the scene.

It said preliminary reports indicated that the explosion occurred while Hamas members were trying to defuse an explosive device planted in a car that was parked opposite the old building that housed Hizbullah’s al-Manar TV on the main road between Haret Hreik and Bir Abed.

The newspaper quoted Hizbullah sources as saying the blast targeted Hamas headquarters and not Hizbullah.

The cause of the explosion which took place before midnight Saturday has not yet been determined. The blast came as Hizbullah was organizing a mourning ceremony to mark Ashoura.

State-run National News Agency said the blast could have been aimed at a member of the Palestinian Hamas movement in Lebanon.

The blast was “the result of three bombs placed under a car whose owner is said to be a member of Hamas,” the agency said.

But in a terse report, quoting unnamed security officials, Manar television said the “blast took place in an office of the Hamas movement causing casualties.” It did not give further details.

Hamas spokesman Raafat Murra told AFP that the Palestinian Islamic movement has an office in the area where the blast occurred but could not immediately say if there were casualties among members of the group.

Asharq radio station said the blast occurred in Haret Hreik, not far away from a community center where Hizbullah was organizing a ceremony to commemorate Ashoura.

While rumors had it that Hamas chief in Lebanon Ousama Hamdan and second-in-command Ali Barake were hurt in the explosion, Hamas sources denied the report.

An-Nahar said Barake was reportedly in southern Lebanon at the time of the blast.

The blast came on the eve of the first anniversary of Israel’s 22-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip during which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

Shiites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon wrap up on Sunday the annual 10-day Ashoura rituals which commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called on Lebanon’s Shiites to take part massively in Sunday’s ceremony which will include a huge march across the southern suburbs.(Naharnet-AFP)

THE USE OF PSYCHIATRY BY THE STATE AS A TOOL FOR OPPRESSION AND FOR PUNISHING OPPONENTS

by Justice Lover

Despite the obviously dehumanising and deceptive role of modern psychiatry it has been so far very secure in its positions of power worldwide. The reasons are clear to see, because psychiatry serves not merely the drug corporations, but the entire ruling class. Therefore, the state (which is ruled by the ruling class) is very keen to protect and promote psychiatry and the psychiatrists on its payroll.

In this and in a separate blog ( http://nocrush.blogspot.com ) we shall discuss in detail one case of the most scandalous victimisation for 29 years now under compulsory psychiatric “treatment”. It is the case of Miss Rebecca Merhav of Melbourne, Australia. She has done no wrong to anyone, and she is no danger to anyone, yet the shrinks won’t let go of her, and have been insisting on torturing her with Clozapine (she is now on 400mg per day) with the pretext of “treatment of her illness” for over 18 months now, despite her and her father’s protests, and despite her unbearable sufferings, and the deadly risks and dangers associated with the consumption of this very dangerous neuroleptic.

The background to her compulsory psychiatric treatment for so long is political, certainly not medical.

Her father, Benjamin Merhav, an Israeli anti-zionist peace activist, left Israel following the June 1967 zionist aggression and invasion of Arab lands, and because of his opposition to that war.Arriving with his wife and two young children in Australia ,in early 1968, he continued his political anti-war activities both against the war in Vietnam and exposing the zionist war crimes against the Arab people of Palestine.

The zionist lobby in Australia (under the direction of the zionist Gestapo in Israel) was furious when he continued to expose zionist crimes in Palestine to a misinformed Australian public. The zionist Gestapo, determined to crush him and his family, then arranged the full blacklisting of him, and when that did not stop him they turned on his daughter. Thus, Rebecca became a hostage by the zionist Gestapo, to punish her father, and eventually to crush the entire Merhav family as zionist vengence.

Here is how Rebecca’s father describes the background to her victimisation from then on( exerpts from his autobiography onwww.geocities.com/bmerhav/ ) :

” Then the zionist Gestapo stepped into our lives again, and this time with the evil intention of completely wrecking my family. Using my stepfather’s brutal control over my mother, the zionist Gestapo made my mother go with her husband to Australia for the ostensible purpose of “visiting friends” in the Melbourne zionist ghetto.

Upon hearing the news I wrote back to my mother, asking her to come here alone, and to actually stay with us, but not with her husband, because I knew of his hostility towards me, and I knew that if he arrives with her there would be trouble for my children. Yet my mother, under the pressure of her husband, arrived with him ,and with the avowed purpose of forcing my family to toe the zionist line. My mother’s angry criticism of myself and my children for not speaking Hebrew at home and for other non zionist features of our family life had a devastating impact on my daughter, because she had been taught by me to revere and to love her grandmother…

The 1977 Xmas turned out to be the first in a row of Xmases during which my beloved daughter would be again and again locked up in a loony bin against her will, and despite her protests and mine too. The first shrink I went to see with my daughter and her mother decided – after hearing the mother’s complaints against her daughter for refusing to do the house chores – that daughter should be sent to the psychiatric ward of hospital for “observation”, namely, to see if she needs any treatment for mental illness. The shrink then asked for the parents’ consent in writing. The mother readily signed away her daughter, but I refused to sign. I knew nothing about psychiatry then, but I had enough respect for my daughter’s human rights so as to support her refusal to go to that hospital, but for the shrink the signature of the mother was sufficient to incarcerate daughter against her will.

Soon I would find out to my horror that the term “observation” the shrinks had used as a pretext to have my daughter incarcerated, was observation by name only. In reality they considered her as mentally ill from the moment of her arrival, and began to “treat” her with psychiatric drugs against her will and despite her protests. As she protested ( “why me?”she would painfully protest) the higher went the dosage of the potent drugs injected into her by force, both to crush her resistance as well as to comply with the psychiatric practice of considering the patient’s resistance in itself as a sign of illness which requires more intense drug treatment. Finally, the psychiatrist in charge (a zionist, as I would find out later) managed to turn my daughter into a living vegetable and a docile patient…”

What followed from then on was described by Rebecca’s father in the synopsis which he submitted to Dr. B. Coulson, her present treating psychiatrist. Here it is :

“1. The first wrong diagnosis and unnecessary treatment that followed

Christmas 1977 was the worst day in my daughter’s life. It was shortly after she turned 15 that she was caught up in a domestic tangle, not of her making, to be referred wrongly to a psychiatric ward for “observation”, following her mother’s complaints. Those complaints were based on Rebecca’s refusal to do the house chores as required by the mother. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Rebecca, but the mere referral by the diagnosing psychiatrist was taken,apparently, to be a positive diagnosis of mental illness.Upon her arrival she was immediately required to consume a psychiatric drug, and when she refused it was injected to her by force.

Her refusal , by itself, was considered as a “worsening of her mental illness”,therefore more injections followed with higher dosage of neuroleptics. She then absconded, but only to get herself into worse trouble, because the abrupt termination of the neuroleptics played havoc on her brain (see Dr. Breggin below who says on page 16 “All psychiatric drugs can cause problems during withdrawal” ), and when returned to the ward her treating doctor considered her crisis as a “deterioration of her psychotic illness”.An Australian government website, of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, on the 21st of April this year, published a report :

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1620772.htm

titled, Psychiatry Manual Linked to Drug Money , which proves that the diagnosis manual for psychiatrists was financed by the drug corporations. Could it be that the first wrong diagnosis of my daughter was due to the guidlines by such a manual ?

Furthermore, the financial interests of drug corporations require that compulsory drug treatment be entrenched and widespread so as to maximise their profits. It is well known that the level of drug corporations’ profits is so high at present, that it is second only to the armament industrylevel of profits !

In any case, 29 years of compulsory “treatment” have not produced any beneficial results for my daughter, and therefore proved to be completely unnecessary. Moreover, most of the neuroleptic drugs she was forced to take have since been declared harmful by the psychiatric profession itself, and are not in use any longer, leaving my daughter with the pain, the trauma, and possibly damaged vital organs (like her liver and her kidneys, but hopefully not her brain) as a result of so much intake of potent and harmful chemicals.

The experience and research done by the USA veteran psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Breggin, http://www.breggin.com/ ,proves that most neuroleptics given to psychiatric patients are harmful rather than helpful (to some people more than to others, of course). However, the drug corporations have produced misleading advertising to sell their harmful drugs. In his book, Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs, (Perseus Books- Reading, Massachusetts – 1999),Dr. Breggin says that “Precisely because there is so little scientific backing for the use of psychiatric drugs, mystification and slogans are often communicated to doctors by drug advertising, and then to patients by doctors” (p. 112-123).

On page 37 he says that “Despite a hugely successful promotional campaign by drug companies and biological psychiatry, the effectiveness of most or all psychiatric drugs remains difficult to demonstrate. The drugs often prove no more effective than sugar pills, or placebos – and to accomplish even these limited positive results, the clinical trials and data that they generate typically have to be statistically manipulated” . The question then begs itself : why forcea patient to consume a drug which does no good, when the patient is not dangerous – not to herself and not to others ! – and therefore with no public interest in the matter, even if the patient is mentally ill, let alone in a case of wrong diagnosis like the case of my daughter ?

On page 77 Dr. Breggin says that even when a patient is diagnosed as psychotic then neuroleptic drugs do not eliminate the psychotic symptoms : “Contrary to claims, neuroleptics have no specific effects on irrational ideas (delusions) or perceptions (hallucinations). Like all other psychiatric drugs, they have the same impact on healthy animals, healthy volunteers, and patients – namely, the production of apathy and indifference” . Moreover, the neuroleptics do have harmful effects. Here are some of harmful effects mentioned by Dr. Breggin in his above book :”Neuroleptic drugs cause brain damage evidenced by a movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia, but “Neuroleptics actually suppress the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia while the disease is developing. … The rates of TD [tardive dyskinesia] are extremely high. Many standard textbooks estimate a rate of 5% – 7% per year in healthy young adults [who are taking neuroleptic drugs]. The rate is cumulative so that 25% – 35% of patients [taking neuroleptics]will develop the disorder in 5 years of treatment. Among the elderly [taking neuroleptics], rates of TD reach 20% or more per year. For a variety of reasons, including the failure to include tardive akathisia in estimates, the actual rates are probably much higher for all patients” (p. 78).

On page 79 :”So-called antipsychotic or neuroleptic drugs cause a fatal disease called neuroleptic malignant syndrome in up to 2.4% of people taking them. “Using a low-end rate of 1 percent, Maxmen and Ward (1995, p. 33) estimate that 1,000 – 4,000 deaths occur in America each year as a result of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. The actual number is probably much greater” .On page 81 :”Neuroleptic, also known as antipsychotic or major tranquilizer drugs subject almost every system in the body to impairment. Research, including a recent study, indicates that these drugs are toxic to cells in general”.The most dangerous of all the neuroleptics is, of course, the Clozapine (Clozaril), the drug which Rebecca has been forced to take for more than a year now.

Here is what Dr. Breggin says at page 82 :”Clozaril … was banned in some European countries because it caused so many fatalities; but the escalating power of drug companies subsequently led to its approval by the FDA” in the United States.

There are ,of course, many more deadly risks that any consumer of Clozapine takes, such as diabetes, heart attacks, epilepsy, severe constipation etc. but in the case of Rebecca her immeidate and daily sufferings ( chronic insomnia,back pain, pain in bones and joints etc) make her daily life unbearable, and this is tantamount to torture ! It certainly cannot be considered as a medical treatment !

So this is her situation now, under the Clozapine, but she has been suffering for 29 years now ! Twenty nine years of trauma, torture, humiliation,degradation and loss of the 29 best years of her life !

Now it is already too late for her, for example, to have children and create her own family ! Under such circumstances no one can function better than a human wreck ! Why punish her for the rest of her life too ? Why force on her the risks of death ?

2. The only way to help Rebecca

Knowing my daughter I am hopeful that she is still a very capable and talented person. It is the compulsory drug treatment, the traumatic incarcerations, and her betrayal by her own mother that turned her disabled, a psychiatrically disabled person. Yet, despite her sufferings, despite the limitations imposed on her by the Clozapine, she never lost her hope and her will to return to normal life. She has been looking for a job, any work which would be available to her. She has been interested in various courses to study and improve her qualifications, and she has made many enquiries regarding her possible participation in such courses.She wants to live a normal life ! Why deny her any chance to live a normal life ? Obviously, the only way to help her – indeed the only way to save her life ! – is to gradually reduce her intake of Clozapine, revoke the CTO, and eventually allow her to take up drug-free alternative treatment ( which was offered to her in Adelaide), to detoxfy her body, to return to society as an active member, to make friends and to live a normal life, the life she wants to live ! She badly needs physical activities ( which she likes very much, like swimming, tennis, netball) ; she badly needs friends to break through her isolation, but the Clozapine makes these important needs impossible for her to achieve.

She has all the needs of any normal adult and there is no rational reason to deny fulfilment of her needs to her ! Why torture her instead for the rest of her life ? The answer to the argument that she needs drug treatment because “she is sick” – and without debating the validity of this argument ! – is that OK, having been been taken off the drugs and then – in the worst case – facing a crisis again, it would never be too late to return to the psychiatric ward anywhere, and to resume the drug treatment, if there is no realistic alternative !

To close my appeal I would add this very important piece of informatiom :

Around 1995, when Rebecca was getting treatment at Southen Clinic, in Moorabbin, her neuroleptic intake was on the minimum level. That followed her past demands, at the previous clinic at Albert Park, demands which I strongly supported, to start reducing her dose of neuroleptics intake. At first the treating doctors refused to even consider our demands, but then they decided to give it a try, and lo and behold the experiment did work ! With each reduction Rebecca felt better and her performance improved too ! So when she was moved to the Southern Clinic ( because of changing her residence) she was on the lowest level of the neuroleptic. We then asked the treating woman psychiatrist in the Southern clinic to take her off the drug altogether, and she arranged for a meeting with us so that she could consider our request. It was about an hour long meeting at the end of which the treating psychiatrist turned to me and said : “I do not see any reason why she should be on any (psychiatric) drug !”

Upon hearing the good news Rebecca became very happy, and I could hardly catch up with her, as she was dancing (rather than walking) all the way back to her home. However, her happiness did not last long, because she tried to share it with her mother. The mother, who befriended an Israeli psychiatrist in Waiora Clinic ,followed his instructions. That psychiatrist turned out to be a bad man as well as a bad doctor. He told Rebecca’s mother that Rebecca should not be allowed to stop taking psychiatric drugs, and he offered his “help” by instructing the mother to get Rebecca moved immediately to Waiora Clinic under his “care”. Rebecca, hardly a couple of weeks in Waiora Clinic, was told to take the Clozapine as the new “medication” for her, or else. She refused, of course, and that bad doctor then ordered the police to pick her up from home and drop her at the Heatherton Hospital ,where he was in charge of the involuntary unit.

To cut the story short, he failed to force the Clozapine on Rebecca, as I was strongly opposed, of course, to this new psychiatric atrocity against my daughter. However, he kept torturing her with the dangerous Risperdal, instead of Clozapine, for the first few years that Rebecca was obliged to get “treatment” at the Waiora Clinic.

I could go on to tell you how Dr. Robert Shields bungled her treatment during last two years in Waiora, but I won’t. However, it is important to let you know that after her first incarceration at the Alfred , in July 2005, he did agree to gradually lower her Clozapine dose to 100mg, and with good results ! However, he bungled the treatment by ordering her to take Effexor as well, and when he realized his mistake, he withdraw the Effexor abruptly. The inevitable result was that Rebecca was plunged into a crisis of her doctor’s making. Yet he continued his bungle by considering her crisis as a relapse, and by instantly doubling her Clozapine intake ! All of which made things worse for her, and yet Dr. Shields blamed her crisis on her “being very sick “,rather than admit that he was wrong, and try to correct his own mistakes !”

Car-Bomb Attack Upon Hamas Official In Beirut

[There is something going on in Lebanon.  Al-Manar TV is off the air, as well.]

Explosion rocks Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – 56 mins ago

BEIRUT – Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beiruton Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.

The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by "three bombs tied to each other" that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas.

It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said.

Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not independently confirm what caused the blasts or who the explosions targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which controls the area, sealed off the streets in the southern suburb of Haret Hreik and prevented journalists from getting close to the scene.

One senior police official said the blast occurred in a neighborhood that houses an office belonging to Hamas.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV only briefly mentioned the blast Saturday, quoting Lebanese security officials as saying "an explosion in Haret Hreik targeted an office belonging to Hamas, causing a number of casualties." The broadcast offered did not elaborate, and a Hezbollah official contacted by The Associated Press said he had no information.

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, was not available for comment Saturday and had no information, according to a person who answered his mobile phone. Other Hamas officials in Beirut and neighboring Syria, which shelters the exiled leadership of Hamas, did not answer repeated calls.

The explosion comes on the even of Ashoura, Shiite Islam’s most important religious holiday.

Explosions in the area, which is almost completely controlled by the Shiite Hezbollah, are rare. Hezbollah has its own arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, which it says it needs to fight off any threat from Israel.

The area was bombed out by Israel during the monthlong 2006 war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is expected to address tens of thousands of supporters commemorating the Ashoura holiday by video link on Sunday.

The explosion Saturday night occurred about 700 meters (2,300 feet) from a complex where hundreds of Shiite Hezbollah supporters were holding a ceremony commemorating Ashoura and listening to a live televised speech by Nasrallah.

Ashoura marks the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, who died in a battle in 680 against the leader of what became the Sunni branch of Islam. The battle took place in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

 

Israel summons envoys from all over the world

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

Israel’s ambassadors and consuls generals from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel.
The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the ministry reported on its website.
"The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country’s leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat," it said.
This is while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Gaza commission a real threat to Israel.
The UN Special Rappoteur for the occupied Palestinian Territories has also urged western powers to push Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately. Richard Falk also called for economic sanctions against Israel.
This is the first time a conference for all of Israel’s heads of missions has been held.
Benyamin Netanyahu will also attend the conference along with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor, and other senior officials.

December 27 Rallies for Gaza–One Near You

[Rallies all over the country to commemorate the beginning of the medieval siege of Gaza and to gather support for ending the siege.  Locations for rallies follow the main article below.]

December 27, 2009, 2008 and what this little one knew in 2005 regarding Gaza

[Orlando, Florida] Ever since my first of seven trips to Israel Palestine in 2005, I have searched for a central Florida church with an open mind and heart for the poor, oppressed and occupied in Gaza Palestine.

Perseverance has finally paid off, for this Sunday, December 27, 2009 in downtown Orlando, St. George Orthodox Church has opened their sanctuary to people of all faiths-and those with none-to join their 10 AM Holy Liturgy service that will commemorate all the lives that were lost beginning December 27, 2008 and during the 23 days of war in the Gaza Strip.

A massive mobilization also begins on December 27, 2009, with candlelight vigils, concerts, marches, demonstrations, and movie screenings all over the world, because world leaders have failed to end the siege on Gaza and act humanely.

Although the Israeli tanks have left the Gaza Strip, the complete closure of land, air and sea borders has continued.

However, there are no borders on the world wide web and a global week of actions will be witnessed in America, France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Jordan, Canada, Israel/Palestine, Poland, Denmark, and Greece.

On December 31, 2009, more than 1,400 internationals will converge in Cairo to join the NONVIOLENT Gaza Freedom March, organized by The International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza with the objective to raise international attention of the ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza-which is illegal under international law.
A year has passed since 1.5 million human beings in Gaza were terrorized, 1,400 civilians killed, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands became homeless and today, they still remain in tents or in the ruins of their homes, because Israel persists to deny the needed building materials into Gaza.

Because leaders of the world have failed to act humanely, the hospitals in Gaza are also denied the medicine and supplies to provide even routine medical care.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a blatant violation of international law and the American Government and Egypt are most complicit.

The Conscience of Humanity remains shocked and awed by the misery inflicted upon the 1.5 million human beings in Gaza, but even a little one, such as I could read the writing on that wall in 2005; when I wrote KEEP HOPE ALIVE, Chapter 14: 9/11/05 AND THE GULFPORT BLUES, from which I excerpt:
Back at the A-frame, Terese sipped from her steaming mug of black brew and checked her email, to find report 57 from Jerry Levin, the reporter and full-time volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams who had shepherded her through Hebron. She sighed repeatedly as she read about the start of a new school year in Hebron, for it wasn’t good. She had spent a few hours in Hebron in June 2005, and had not forgotten it for one day since.
“Christ, have mercy! These teachers and kids trying to get to school are threatened and hassled by these erratic and illegal settlers, and a trigger-happy IDF! What a daily life to have to contend with! I cannot imagine watching my child have to go through a checkpoint or be verbally and physically abused just to get to school! What are we teaching these kids, when they grow up looking up the barrel of an Israeli soldier’s weapon of destruction?”
Next, she opened a press conference summary from September 6, 2005, from Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi regarding the Palestinian National Initiative’s report regarding the aftermath of the “disengagement” and the bottom line was that there are more settlers, more walls, and more corruption in the PA.

Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, stated that ‘Ninety percent of security violations in Palestine are committed by security forces and intelligence. These forces must be disciplined; the rule of law and an independent judiciary must be installed. [And] it is estimated that 30 percent of the 160,000 salaried government employees do not attend work of any kind. This kind of corruption and nepotism must be ended.’
Terese moaned when she read about the violations since the cease-fire agreement of February 8, 2005:

“Christ, have mercy! Seventy-five Palestinians, including seventeen innocent children, and fourteen Israelis, including two innocent children, have been murdered. Two thousand Palestinians have been arrested; there have been 2,306 checkpoints imposed, and 8,700 acres of Palestinian land has been confiscated by the Israeli government! And how can these settlers sleep at night, after attacking Palestinians 394 times since the cease-fire agreement? I feel bad about these screwed-up settlers, but they are a cult that has been allowed to get out of control. The Israeli government enticed and encouraged them to settle in illegal land, and this is what it has come to! And yet, the illegal settlements continue!
“And, what a farce the so-called disengagement in Gaza was.

“The Israeli government still controls all access to Gaza by land, sea, and air. Bargouthi documented that only 25 of over 150 settlements will be dismantled, and only 8,475 of over 436,000 settlers [less than 2 percent of settlers] have been evacuated. Meanwhile, in the past year, 12,800 new settlers have moved into the West Bank — 50 percent more settlers than were evacuated.”
“This is no withdrawal, this is BS!

“Until Palestinians have control of Gaza’s borders and a guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank, it is not a withdrawal; it’s just BS propaganda! And Gaza is less than 6 percent of the occupied territories, and that leaves 94 percent of Palestinian territories under the boot of the IDF. The corruption in the PA government and hot tempers from those under occupation are a powder keg that’s getting ready to blow!

“What’s it going to take to wake the world up to the fact that most of our problems with radical Islamist fundamentalist militants leads us back to the conflict in Israel and Palestine?

“All roads do indeed lead to Jerusalem.

“What’s it going to take before the International community gets it together and insists, in unity, upon the upholding of international law as the rule we all live by? And that includes Israel and America, too, for both ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I wonder, what’s the point of signing on, but then not doing it?
“What’s it going to take to wake up the legions of blind U.S. Christian Zionists to their indifference to the misery of their sisters and brothers in Israel and Palestine? Their blind allegiance to the Israeli government has allowed our best friend in the world to become a big bully. What’s it going to take to break through the ignorance that hard-earned U.S. tax dollars are being used to continue the occupation and apartheid wall?”

On December 28, 2008, Haaretz reported:

“Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza offensive came about. Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public – all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces “Cast Lead”.

“Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas…

“The Prime Minister’s Bureau misinformed the media in stating the discussion would revolve around global jihad…In its summary announcement…the Prime Minister’s Bureau devoted one line to the situation in Gaza, compared to one whole page that concerned the outlawing of 35 Islamic organizations…
“While Barak was working out the final details with the officers responsible for the operation, Livni went to Cairo to inform Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, that Israel had decided to strike at Hamas.
“In parallel, Israel continued to send out disinformation in announcing it would open the crossings to the Gaza Strip and that Olmert would decide whether to launch the strike following three more deliberations on Sunday – one day after the actual order to launch the operation was issued.
“The final decision was made…when Barak met with Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi, the head of the Shin Bet Security Service Yuval Diskin and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Amos Yadlin. Barak sat down with Olmert and Livni several hours later for a final meeting, in which the trio gave the air force its orders.”http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html

On December 27, 2008, I received this plea written by Nahida, a child of Gaza:

Look at me
I would love to write poetry about love,
Paint rainbows and butterflies,
Smell the scent of rose buds,
And dance;
Dance with the melody of birds singing
I would love to close my eyes and see children smiling
No guns pointing at their heads
Tell them stories of little fairies in far away lands
Not bullets shooting… missile exploding
But How can I?
There is a knife in my heart
I am hurting
Hurting
I bleed,
I cringe
I cry
HUMANITY, WHERE ARE YOU?
I am being slaughtered
Under your watchful eyes
I am cold… cold…. cold
I cringe
I cry
Humanity, where are you?
Why do you turn your face away?
Why do you keep looking the other way?
I am here
Languishing
In Gaza alleyways
Humanity, where are you?
Look at me
Look at me
I am here
In Gaza alleyways
I cringe
I cry
Humanity,
Enough turning the other way. – By nahida

On December 21, 2009, I emailed the following:

Dear Mr. Omar Youssef,
omaryoussef@hotmail.com

As you are the US Egyptian Embassy contact person and I am an American member of the New Fourth Estate- an activist journalist- I am writing you to express my full support for the December 31, 2009 Gaza Freedom March.

I am beseeching you to urge the Egyptian government to realize that civil society has risen up because governments have failed and on the way to Egypt are over 1,300 committed international Internet connected delegates who are seeking to NONVIOLENTLY raise awareness regarding the misery of the 1.5 million human open air prisoners in Gaza who have been denied their human rights.
The 1,300 internationals represent millions around the world who are sending desperately needed medical aid, school supplies, winter jackets for the children and most of all; LOVE, HOPE and the message that the world will NOT give up until the siege is lifted and the occupation ends.
Please, let the people in.

And out.

Most Sincerely,

Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”

Gaza Freedom March Worldwide Solidarity Actions: December 27th and 31st, 2009

Afghanistan

Kite Flying

10:30am

Bamiyan Peace Park

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Australia

Sydney

Gaza Freedom Vigil Sydney

December 27, 2009

5:00pm

Town Hall Square

Sydney, Australia

Belgium

Brussels

December 27, 2009

2:00pm, march through the main streets of Brussels

4:00pm, vigil with candles

Brussels, Belgium

Canada

Halifax

Solidarity March

January 16th 3p

St. Andrews United Church

Halifax, NS, Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Gaza Freedom March 2010

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Vancouver, BC

London, Ontario

Gaza Freedom March – London, Ontario

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Victoria Park, London, Ontario, Canada

London, ON

Toronto, Ontario

Gaza Freedom March

A march and rally in solidarity with those marching in Gaza!

March on Gaza – Dec. 31st, 2009 – Ontario Supporters

Sunday, December 27, 2009

1:00pm – 4:00pm

Israeli Consulate

180 Bloor Street West

Toronto, ON

Calgary, Alberta

Gaza Freedom March

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM

Address

TBA

Calgary, AB

Winniepeg, MB

Vigil

December 27, 2009

3:30am

Manitoba Legislature

450 Broadway

Winnipeg, MB

France

Marseilles

Gaza, 1 year after…gathering

December 27, 2009

4:00pm

Angle Belsunce/Canebiere

Marseilles, France

Reims

Candlight vigil

December 29, 2009

5:30pm

Place d’Erlon (la Fontaine de la Solidarite)

Reims, France

Germany

Possneck

Vigil

December 27, 2009

5:00pm

Gerberstrasse 45 / Stadtzentrum

Possneck, Germany

Reutlingen

Vigil

Marktplatz

December 27 3pm

Reutlingen, Germany

Dusseldorf

Vigil

December 29, 2009

5:00pm

Schadowplatz Dusseldorf Inennenstadt

Dusseldorf, Germany

Freiberg

Vigil

December 28, 2009

3-6pm

Southern Bertholdstrasse

Freiberg, Germany

Tubingen

Vigil

December 27, 2009

3pm

Holzmarkt, 27070

Tubingen, Germany

Hamburg

Rally

December 29th 3pm

Reesendammbrücke / Jungfernstieg /Alsterarkaden

Center

in the near of the Town Hall

Hamburg, Germany

Munich

Installation of items forbidden in Gaza

December 29, 2009

11:30am

Richard-Strauss Foundation

Kaufingerstr

Munich, Germany

Ireland

Dublin

Embassy of Israel

January 6th

2:30pm

Dublin, Ireland

Israel/Palestine

Tel-Aviv-Jaffa

Mass Free Gaza march and rally

December 26th, 2009

18:30

Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Israel

Gaza Freedom March on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing

December 31st, 2009

10:30 AM

Israel

Erez Crossing

Bethlehem

December 31st

4-6pm

Nativity Square

Bethlehem

Poland

Poznan

Prayer gathering

ul. Plonowa 6a, 61-312

Poznan, Poland

Spain

MadridMarathon: “I San Silvestre Leganense. Refugiados palestinos, corre por ellos”

December 27, 2009

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Calles de Leganés

Madrid, Spain

Valladolid

Solidarity action

December 26, 2009

7pm

Plaza Mayor

Valladolid, Spain

San Sebastian-Donostia

Solidarity action

December 27, 2009

12pm

San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain

Sweden

Stockholm

Memorial Concert

December 27, 2009

7pm

Stockholm, Sweden

Switzerland

Basle

Livestream viewing

Connect Cafe

Unternehmen MITTE

Gerbergasse 30

Basle, Switzerland

Bern

National start of Swiss solidarity actions

Candlelight vigil with 1400 candles on Bundesplatz (or Münsterplatz) info@gazafreedommarch.ch

Bern, Switzerland CH-3000

Zurich

Limmatquair

Vigil 4pm-9pm

Zurich

Turkey

Istanbul

BDS Walk

December 27, 2009

2pm

Istanbul, Turkey

United Kingdom

London

One year since the Beginning of the Attacks on Gaza

December 27, 2009

3:00 PM

High Street Kensington, W8, London, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, Scotland

Gaza Freedom March & public commemoration in Scotland

December 27, 2009

2:00 PM

Edinburgh: Foot of the Mound

Elsewhere: to be announced

United States

Alabama-

January 20^th 6pm

Huntsville Madison County Library

900 Monroe St.

Huntsville, AL

Alaska -

Juneau, Alaska

Film Screening – Occupation 101 and Life in Occupied Palestine

December 29, 2009

7:00pm

Goldtown Nickelodeon Theater

Juneau, Alaska

Rally

December 20, 2009

12:00pm

Dimond Court Plaza

Juneau, Alaska

Arizona-

Phoenix, AZ

Movie Viewing Occupation 101

December 29, 2009

7:30pm

Grace Lutheran Church

1126 North 3rd Street

Phoenix, AZ

Arkansas-

Little Rock

Vigil

December 27th 5pm

State Capitol

Little Rock, AR

California-

Anaheim

Gaza Freedom March – Los Angeles / Orange County Solidarity Action at Disneyland:

December 30th 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Disneyland Entrance near Downtown Disney Store

Anaheim , CA 92802

Concord

Gaza Solidarity – House Party

December 27, 2009

1:00 PM

Please email Janet at codepinkjanet@gmail.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

for address and directions

Concord

La Jolla

Candle light vigil

January 6, 2009

5:30pm

UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla

Los Angeles

Vigil for Gaza – Los Angeles

December 28, 2009

5:00 PM

Israeli Consulate

6380 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90048-5071

Monterey

Action

December 27, 2009 2pm

Window on the Bay Park

700 Del Monte Ave

Monterey, CA

San Francisco

Candlelight Memorial at Union Square, San Francisco

December 27, 2009

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Powell Street & Geary St.

San Francisco, CA 94108

San Francisco

Benefit for the children of Gaza

December 27th 7p

Brainwash Cafe

1122 Folsom Street

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco

March across the Golden Gate Bridge

December 31, 2009

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco, CA 94956

Sacramento

Protest

December 27th, 1pm

Arden and Hertiage

Sacramento, CA

Santa Cruz

Parade

December 31, 2009

5pm

Pacific and Laurel Sts.

Santa Cruz, CA

Redwood City

Discussion

December 27, 2009

12pm

2124 Brewster Avenue

Redwood City, CA

Colorado-

Colorado Springs

Gaza Solidarity Action

December 28, 2009

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Chapel Hills Mall 1710 Briargate Boulevard

Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Colorado Springs

Vigil

December 29, 2009 5:15p

Bijou and Nevada in Acacia Park

Colorado Springs. CO

Denver

Rally Downtown Denver

December 21, 2009 3pm

16th Street Mall

Denver, CO

Denver

In Door solidarity vigil

December 31, 2009

6:00 PM – 6:12 PM

Short service in chapel At 6pm New Years Eve

First Unitarian Church 1400 Lafayette Street

Denver, CO 80218

Connecticut-

Hartford

Sunday, Dec. 27

CT in Solidarity with Gaza

Charter Oak Cultural Center

21 Charter Oak Ave., Hartford

1-3:30 p.m.

Meeting *** Solidarity March

Hartford, Connecticut

DC

Washington, District of Columbia

DC Vigil for Gaza

December 30, 2009

5pm-7pm

Gallery Place Metro, 7th & H St. NW

Washington, DC

Screening of Occupation 101

Grace Episcopal Church

1041 Wisconsin Ave NW

Washington, DC

Florida-

St. Petersburg

Slingshot Hip Hop screening

December 30, 2009

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

937 Central Avenue

St. Petersburg, FL 33705

Idaho-

Moscow

Vigil

December 31st 5:30p

Main St. Friendship Square

Moscow, ID

Illinois-

Chicago

Vigil

December 27th 12pm

Water Town Park

180 East Pearson St

Chicago, IL

Chicago

Gathering

December 30th 5:30p

637 S. Dearborn, 2nd Fl

Chicago, IL

Iowa-

Dubuque, IA

December 28, 2009

4:00pm – gathering

601 Locust St. (the southeast corner of Washington Park)

Dubuque, Iowa

Kentucky-

Louisville, KY

Friday Vigil for Gaza

January 01, 2010

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

6th and Broadway

Louisville, KY 40202

Maine-

Blue Hill

Gaza Freedom March

December 30, 2009

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

High Street, near elementary school

Blue Hill, Maine

Waterville

Gaza Freedom March Solidarity Rally

December 31, 2009

1:00 PM

Castonguay Square (downtown, adjacent to City Hall and across the street from Rep. Mike Michaud’s office).

Waterville, ME 04901

Maryland-

Baltimore

Vigil

January 1st 12pm

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Baltimore, MD

Massachusetts-

Boston

First Night Against the Wars

December 31, 2009

1:00pm

Copley Square

Boston, MA

Northhampton, MA

In Solidarity with the People of Gaza,

December 28, 2009

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

In front of Northampton, Massachusetts City Hall, 5-6:30 p.m.

Northampton, MA 01060

Michigan-

Dearborn

Vigil and Solidarity March

December 29th 5:30p

Dearborn City Hall

Dearborn, MI

Hartland, MI

Open house

December 31st 2pm

2641 Sun Terrace Drive

Hartland, MI

Kalamazoo

Gathering

December 27th, 12p-1pm

Federal Building

Kalamazoo, MI

Minnesota-

Minneapolis, MN

March

December 20, 2009

11:30am

Hennepin County Government Plaza

Minneapolis, MN 55487

Missouri-

St. Louis, MO

Vigil

December 27, 2009

7pm

St. Louis, MO

New Mexico-

Albuquerque

Vigil December 29th 4p

Federal Court House

Lomas and 5th St.

Albuquerque, NM

New York-

New York, New York

March

December 27th 11am

50th and Park Avenue

NYC

NYC

Gaza Solidarity March

December 27, 2009

1:00 PM

March marking the first anniversary of the Israeli invasion of Gaza

Assemble at 42nd St. and 7th Avenue

March to the Israeli Mission and the United Nations

NYC

Syracuse, NY

Free Gaza March

December 28, 2009

4:00pm

Federal Building

100 S. Clinton Street

Syracuse, NY 13205

White Plains, NY

Vigil

December 30th 4pm

Metro North Station

White Plains

Woodstock, NY

Vigil

December 31^st 2am

Village Green 6 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY

Oregon-

Corvallis

Potluck dinner and Skype discussion

December 30, 2009

6:30pm

Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center

128 SW 9th Street

Corvallis, Oregon

Eugene, OR

March/Demonstration

December 31, 2009 1pm

500 E. 4^th Ave

Eugene, OR

Pennsylvania-

Doylestown

December 27, 2009

3:00pm

Vigil

Intersection of North Main St and East Court St

Doylestown, PA 18901

Philadelphia

Gaza Solidarity Event: Movie & Snacks

December 27, 2009

6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

101 Alter St. Philadelphia, PA 19147 IMPORTANT YOU MUST RSVP, THIS IS A PRIVATE RESIDENCE

Philadelphia, PA 19147

Texas-

Demonstration

December 27, 2009

1pm

Westheimer and Post Oak

Houston, TX

Washington-

Bellingham, Washington

Film Screening

December 29, 2009

6:30 PM

511 East Holly Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Bellingham, WA 98225

Olympia, WA

Rachel Corrie Foundation presentation

December 30th 7p

Traditions Cafe

300 5th Avenue SW

Olympia, WA

Spokane

Rally

December 30th 5p

Corner of Division and Main

Spokane, WA

Wisconsin-

Racine

Vigil

December 31, 2009

4pm

Cup of Hopes Coffee Shop

517 6^th Street

Racine, WI

For more information about the Gaza Freedom March global actions visit:

http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/solidarity

–
Only in Solidarity do “we have it in our power to begin the world again.”-Tom Paine
Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”

Now Gordon Brown wants to police the entire world – how controlling can a freak get?

[When are the people of Britain and the US, the entire world, for that matter, going to rise-up and say "ENOUGH"?  I am certain that the advocates of unrestrained human freedom outnumber the freaks who want to control the world by about 6 billion or more; when are we going to control them?]

By Gerald Warner Politics

163 Comments Comment on this article

Quasimodo in Number 10, hunched, scowling over his desk, has devised yet another plan to police, to increase surveillance, to indulge his obsession with extending his short-lived control over as many people as possible. Gordon Brown, who now seems to have lost his last tenuous grip on reality, wants the European Union to police the carbon emissions of the whole world. That is the leitmotif of New Labour – and, by extension, all Westminster – government: control, bans, observation, intrusion, diktat.

Balked of a legal agreement on imaginary manmade global warming at Copenhagen, Quasimodo and Nicolas Sarkozy are working on plans to create a “European monitoring organisation” to oversee different countries’ actions on carbon emissions. Barack Obama – the leading control freak in the liberal pantheon – has suggested spy satellites could be used.

Quasimodo told reporters: “We’re in favour of transparency; we’re in favour of looking at what’s happening not just in our country and our own continent, but around the world.” That isn’t transparency: that is snooping. “We’re in favour of transparency” – from a New Labour Prime Minister! Goebbels, who always favoured the Big Lie, would have loved it.

Were Quasimodo and his colleagues in favour of transparency about weapons of mass destruction? Even now, are they in favour of transparency at the Iraq inquiry, where Tony Blair will give evidence in secret? Were they in favour of transparency when they voted to keep MPs’ expenses under wraps, until the courts overruled them?

The one fear the enforcers entertain is that their spy-in-the-sky snooping on carbon emissions might antagonise China, which resists surveillance (all those covert coal mines and other eco-naughties). When Red China begins to seem like an apostle of laissez-faire, relaxed freedom, we know that the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Meanwhile, unheeding of the coming tsunami of electoral extinction, Quasimodo lopes around his bell-tower (courtesy of Quentin Davies) and plans ever tighter restrictions on everybody else’s liberties. What a filthy regime this has been. Even now the Harridan is planning legislation effectively to outlaw Christianity. Who do they think they are?

When they crawled out from under that stone in 1997 they had just one ambition: to impose their will, their prejudices, their squalid vision of the world on the entire nation. That is always the badge of the inadequate, the owners of inferiority complexes, epitomised by the nail-biting, grimacing weirdo in Number 10. It is a pity that Scottish kirks do not go in for much in the way of ornamentation; otherwise, Gordon/Quasimodo could have built a secure career for himself as a gargoyle on a church tower, scowlingly overlooking the rest of humanity.

No Chance President Obama’s War In Afghanistan Will Succeed

Sherwood Ross

December 25, 2009 “There isn’t the slightest possibility that the course laid out by Barack Obama in his Dec. 1 speech (at West Point) will halt or even slow the downward spiral toward defeat in Afghanistan,” writes Thomas Johnson in the current “Foreign Policy” magazine. And for emphasis, he adds the word “None.” “The U.S. president and his advisors labored for three months and brought forth old wine in bigger bottles,” Johnson goes on to write, noting, “The speech contained not one single new idea or approach, nor offered any hint of new thinking about a conflict that everyone now agrees the United States is losing.” Author Johnson is no armchair admiral. He is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., a man who has conducted his own on-site investigation in Afghanistan. Also referring to the President’s West Point address, The Nation magazine editorialized that Obama failed to explain why his goal to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan “requires 100,000 troops at a cost of nearly $100 billion. By the military’s own calculation, there are at most 100 Al Qaeda operatives, mostly low-level, in Afghanistan, the leadership having fled to Pakistan years ago.” Even as the Afghan war bids to become the longest in U.S. history, “The Nation” adds: “The undeniable fact is that eight years of US occupation and war have led to a growing insurgency, fueled by anger at one of the world’s most corrupt governments, run mostly by former and not-so-former warlords who were installed by the United States after 9/11. Many of these warlords are deeply involved in the opium trade, among them the brother of Hamid Karzai, the president, who was re-elected only through massive fraud.” Writing in the Miami Herald of Dec. 20th, Carl Hiaasen says that Johnson believes “Obama knows this war is unwinnable, and that the surge is meant to provide political cover in advance of a full U.S. withdrawal before the 2012 election.” Hiaasen adds, “Obama wouldn’t be the first U.S. president to let domestic political concerns affect his military moves abroad, but he certainly campaigned as a different kind of leader.” Does this mean Obama is escalating an unwinnable war for political considerations? Hendrik Hertzberg, writing in the December 14th New Yorker,thinks politics has a lot to do with it. An immediate withdrawal, he writes, would inflict “severe” political and diplomatic damage to Obama and trigger, among other things, “a probable Pentagon revolt.” And the Pentagon has left no doubt about the right course. As General David Petraeus, who commands U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan forces, told The New York Times, “a sustained, substantial commitment” is required. As the war drags on, the death toll mounts. Writing in the Dec. 21st issue ofForeign Policy, Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard, says by his conservative count, the war has claimed 30,000 lives. And the CIA’s drone warplane sorties authorized by Obama are boosting that toll. Obama’s strategy is also spreading the war ever deeper into Pakistan. As Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly report in the December “Catholic Worker,” 3,000,000 people were uprooted by violence in the Swat Valley and neighboring districts and those who returned found “that their homes, crops and other means of survival had been damaged or destroyed.” They quote Dr. Aasim Saijad of Lahore University of Management Sciences as saying the attacks in Pakistan are only swelling the Taliban’s ranks. “The hundreds of thousands languishing in refugee camps talk of the mortar shells that have destroyed their homes and killed their relatives,” Saijad said. “They seethe with anger and warn the government that most Taliban fighters hail from the local population. The longer the war continues—and it has only just begun in this region—the better the chances that the Taliban will be able to recruit from the refugees,” he said. If Afghans are dying by the thousands and Pakistanis have become refugees by the millions to ensure Obama’s political survival, the U.S. has lost any vestige of moral authority. Is it thinkable to ask what if the purpose of the war is not “victory” but to keep the engines of the military-industrial complex humming? If so, it is not only primitive peoples’ who sacrificed the flower of their youth to ensure a good harvest. # (Sherwood Ross, who formerly reported for major dailies and wire services, is a Miami, Fla., public relations consultant. Reach him atsherwoodross10@gmail.com)

‘The US military is exhausted’

By Sarah Lazare The US army is overstretched and exhausted, says peace campaigner Sarah Lazare [AFP] December 26, 2009 The call for over 30,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan is a travesty for the people of that country who have already suffered eight brutal years of occupation. It is also a harsh blow to the US soldiers facing imminent deployment. As Barack Obama, the US president, gears up for a further escalation that will bring the total number of troops in Afghanistan to over 100,000, he faces a military force that has been exhausted and overextended by fighting two wars. Many from within the ranks are openly declaring that they have had enough, allying with anti-war veterans and activists in calling for an end to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some active duty soldiers publicly refusing to deploy. This growing movement of military refusers is a voice of sanity in a country slipping deeper into unending war. “They shifted me from one war to the next” Eddie Falcon, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran The architects of this war would be well-advised to listen to the concerns of the soldiers and veterans tasked with carrying out their war policies on the ground.Many of those being deployed have already faced multiple deployments to combat zones: the 101st Airborne Division, which will be deployed to Afghanistan in early 2010, faces its fifth combat tour since 2002. “They are just going to start moving the soldiers who already served in Iraq to Afghanistan, just like they shifted me from one war to the next,” said Eddie Falcon, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Soldiers are going to start coming back with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), missing limbs, problems with alcohol, and depression.” Many of these troops are still suffering the mental and physical fallout from previous deployments. Rates of PTSD and traumatic brain injury among troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been disproportionately high, with a third of returning troops reporting mental problems and 18.5 per cent of all returning service members battling either PTSD or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation. Marine suicides doubled between 2006 and 2007, and army suicides are at the highest rate since records were kept in 1980. Resistance in the ranks US army soldiers are refusing to serve at the highest rate since 1980, with an 80 per cent increase in desertions since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the Associated Press. These troops refuse deployment for a variety of reasons: some because they ethically oppose the wars, some because they have had a negative experience with the military, and some because they cannot psychologically survive another deployment, having fallen victim to what has been termed “Broken Joe” syndrome. Over 150 GIs have publicly refused service and spoken out against the wars, all risking prison and some serving long sentences, and an estimated 250 US war resisters are currently taking refuge in Canada. This resistance includes two Fort Hood, Texas, soldiers, Victor Agosto and Travis Bishop, who publicly resisted deployment to Afghanistan this year, facing prison sentences as a result, with Bishop still currently detained. The war in Afghanistan is losing support in the US [AFP] “There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan,” wrote Agosto, upon refusing his service last May. “The occupation is immoral and unjust.”Within the US military, GI resisters and anti-war veterans have organised through broad networks of veteran and civilian alliances, as well as through IVAW, comprised of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. This organisation, which is over 1,700 strong, with members across the world, including active-duty members on military bases, is opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and openly supports GI resistance. “Iraq Veterans Against the War calls on Obama to end the war in Afghanistan (and Iraq) by withdrawing troops immediately and unconditionally,” wrote Jose Vasquez, the executive director of IVAW, in a December 2 open letter. “It’s not time for our brothers and sisters in arms to go to Afghanistan. It’s time for them to come home.” No clear progress GI coffee houses have sprung up at several military bases around the country. In the tradition of the GI coffee houses of the Vietnam war era, these cafes provide a space where active duty troops can speak freely and access resources about military refusal, PTSD, and veteran and GI movements against the war. “Here at Fort Lewis, we’ve lost 20 soldiers from the most recent round of deployments,” said Seth Menzel, an Iraq combat veteran and founding organiser of Coffee Strong, a GI coffee house at the sprawling Washington army base. “We’ve seen resistance to deployment, mainly based on the fact that soldiers have been deployed so many times they don’t have the patience to do it again.” As the occupation of Afghanistan passes its eighth year, with no clear progress, goals that remain elusive, and a high civilian death count, this war is coming to resemble the Iraq war that has been roundly condemned by world and US public opinion. The never-ending nature of this conflict belies the real project of establishing US dominance in the Middle East and control of the region’s resources, at the expense of the Afghan civilians and US soldiers being placed in harm’s way. The voices of refusal coming from within the US military send a powerful message that soldiers will not be fodder for an unjust and unnecessary war. By withdrawing their labour from a war that depends on their consent, these soldiers have the power to help bring this war to an end, as did their predecessors in the GI resistance movement against the Vietnam war. And the longer the war in Afghanistan drags on – the more lives that are lost and destroyed – the more resistance we will see coming from within the ranks. Sarah Lazare is an anti-militarist and GI resistance organiser with Dialogues Against Militarism and Courage to Resist. She is interested in connecting struggles for justice at home with global movements against war and empire. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

:: Article nr. 61467 sent on 26-dec-2009 16:15 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=61467

Link: english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/200912883024475217.html

Karkare’s Wife Alleges Coverup – Slams Govt

Posted by admin

Times of India

MUMBAI: Kavita Karkare, the wife of former Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare on Wednesday questioned the state government on why her husband and two other senior officials who were killed on 26/11, did not get reinforcements on time.

This is for the first time that the slain officer’s family has confirmed that he did not get the back up when it was required.

Karkare, along with Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were killed by terrorists near Cama Hospital in Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus during the Mumbai siege.

Speaking to the media, Kavita said: “I just didn’t know anything in the initial six months, politicians, media people and other people were coming to my place, but I was not aware what exactly was going around. Nobody has ever told me that what exactly happened that day. No senior officers have told me till date what had happened with my husband. I have just gathered information from media people, or read in magazines and newspapers, till date I don’t know the exact facts of that day.”

“But when politicians started raising questions saying that he acted in very hasty manner and went for the operation blindly then we started gathering facts about the incident. Then, we came to know that Kamte, Karkare, Salaskar were planning strategy in Cama hospital for 40 minutes. They had asked for help, but they couldn’t get help in those 40 minutes. Why they could not get help in 40 minutes, nobody is giving me that answer,” she added.

Kavita revealed that she was told by some police officials that it would not be possible for her to get to know what exactly happened with her husband during the terror attacks.

She also alleged that Hemant Karkare was left injured and unattended for over 40 minutes and not taken to the hospital on time.

“My question is that when these people were there in Cama Lane for 40 minutes, why were they not given any help? And, when there bodies were lying, why the bodies of those people were not picked for about 40 minutes,” Kavita questioned.

“Today, they are spending millions of rupees to preserve the bodies of the nine militants who launched the attack, just because at international level we have to show that we are showing humanity. But the bodies of martyrs were lying there as it is. What is happening in our country? And when will there be a change,” she added.

Earlier last week, Kavita also alleged that her husband’s bulletproof jacket has gone missing.

She said when his body was found, the bulletproof jacket was missing and the Right to Information (RTI) application had not yielded any information on its whereabouts.

“And, after six months it struck me that his jacket is missing. But I was not in my senses to file RTI application. Now two months back when I filed RTI, I came to know that the jacket is actually missing,” Kavita said.

KARKARE KILLED BY FASCISTS AND GANGSTERS?

Karkare, who was assassinated by forces linked to Hindu fascists and the CIA?

Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was assassinated in 1991.

The Justice Jain commission came across evidence that one suspect known as Chandraswami had links with the CIA and Mossad. (Jaipur; Dawood Ibrahim; the CIA)

There appears to be evidence that elements of the Indian police and security services helped carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the murder of Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare.

Reportedly, Karkare had found out too much about who was really behind the terrorism in India.

According to “Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India” by M Zeyaul Haque, former Maharashtra Inspector General of Police , the terrorists are Hindus with links to the government of India.

“Serving and retired army officers, academics, serving and retired officials of India’s premier intelligence service were ensnared in Karkare’s fishing net.” (Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India By SM Mushrif)

The Hindu terrorists are alleged to be working with the CIA and Mossad. (HEADLEY, LIKE DAWOOD IBRAHIM, LINKED TO 1993 BOMBI…)

Karkare is reported to have been shot near Cama hospital.

According to Amaresh Misra, on 3 December 2008, at Countercurrents.org, (Mumbai Terror Attack: Further Evidence Of The Anglo-American-Mossad-RSS Nexus.):

“The lane next to the Cama Hospital is a deserted one – it goes straight to the backyard of the Mumbai CID Headquarters.

“Anonymous sources in the Police have revealed that Karkare was taken there, by a joint team of anti-Karkare, pro-Hindutva (Hindu Nationalists) Mumbai Police officers, and Chota Rajan men (Gangsters).” Chotta Rajan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chotta Rajan, who is the boss of a major crime syndicate based in India. He is a former key aide and lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim, who reportedly has links to the CIA.

Hemant Karkare’s wife, Kavita, has pointed out that her husband was confronting the attackers at Cama Hospital for 40 minutes and was waiting for extra police to arrive.

No extra help arrived.

Kavita alleges that after Hemant Karkare was shot, he was left injured and unattended for over 40 minutes and not taken to the hospital on time.

Kavita also alleges that her husband’s bulletproof jacket has gone missing. (Karkare’s Wife Alleges Coverup – Slams Govt.)

A hospital cleaner (sweeper) claims that he found Karkare’s bulletproof jacket. (Sweeper says he didn’t dispose of Karkare’s jacket …)

A news channel on 25 December 2009 presented video footage of Dinesh Lalji Gataar, the sweeper from JJ Hospital, saying he was allegedly offered Rs50,000 by police officers to give a statement that he had disposed of the jacket in the garbage bags.

Gataar said “I told them that I had not disposed of the jacket. I had kept it in a plastic bag in ward no 4.”

According to the Gataar, he found the blood-stained jacket in a pile of medical waste in ward number 4.

He put the jacket in a black bag and put it in a corner of the ward. “I don’t know what happened to it after that”, he said.

A hate-filled environment

By Nasser Yousaf

Soldiers stand guard at a suicide blast site in Peshawar on December 24, 2009. — AFP

Peshawar is passing through hell. The worst of the infernal fires in this city of nearly two million was ignited on Oct 28 when a car bomb claimed more than 120 lives, with several unaccounted for.

A day later, with rescuers still rummaging through the debris of fallen houses, shops and a mosque, the labyrinthine alleys leading to the site of the tragedy presented a copybook spectre from the Bible, telling of the plagues that had hit the Egyptians in the times of the pharaohs.

People had locked themselves in their houses as a few, glum and shell-shocked pedestrians walked past the countless death notices hung from the electric poles and the closed shutters of the shops. Outside one of the mosques, in an alley next to the site of the blast, the stultifying air reeked of sulphur as the faithful ended their evening prayers, invoking blessings on their right and left. Quite unexpectedly, the prayer leader, an elderly man with a gray beard, offered no prayers for those killed in the blast.

Were the victims guilty or was the prayer leader wary of some invisible forces lurking in the shadows? Echoes of whispers to this effect were heard in the last rows as the stoic apathy displayed by the leader of the faithful had apparently rankled many minds. The nature of the religious war raging in our midst is indeed perplexing: it appears to have left all and sundry numb and speechless.

Each time a blast rips through the unsteady calm of the Frontier’s metropolis, or elsewhere in the country, tongues start waging and fingers point to our east and west, in fact far beyond. Two NWFP ministers of the beleaguered ANP-led government, who made it to the tragic sites within minutes of the blasts, were seen and heard across the country pointing in vain to the enemy within. Both are roundly rebuked and branded foreign agents.

Those differing with them walk through the streets and narrow alleys of the interior city but they choose to ignore the signs and sights of the orgy of death that has engulfed us. Several deadly blasts have taken place in the one-kilometre radius area in and around the fabled Qissa Khwani Bazaar in the recent past. All impacted sites are at a stone’s throw from each other. The area is like a game reserve with teeming flocks of game birds for the gamekeepers presently engaged in ideological war games. And why shouldn’t it be?

Hate is inscribed in clear and bold fonts all across the area. Massive billboards, which in previous days were a feature of cinema houses, now hold the larger-than-life portraits of militant leaders of certain sectarian organisations. Ancient and sweet-sounding names of the streets have all been discarded and replaced with the names of those who have fallen in the sectarian warfare. Posters and graffiti proclaiming the title of infidel for the adherents of rival groups and death for the US, India and Israel adorn all walls in the area. Mosques that had jealously guarded their nameless structures for eons have been labelled in factional colours and hence declared restricted places of worship.

The only place in the vicinity that seems to have withstood the onslaught of the times is the 19th century All Saints Church. A few paces from the church is ground zero, the site of the demolished building of the Government Middle School for Girls that was hit in last December’s blast aimed at the followers of a rival religious group. All that remains of the school is a drawing pasted on a bare wall showing a camel in pencil colours with an Arab dressed in his traditional dress holding the rope. The drawing resembles a work of nostalgia, and certainly not an attempt at glorifying those who are settling scores on the soil of the wretched Pakhtuns.

A sustained campaign is still going on in the Frontier for mobilising more resistance to the voices of reason. Some self-styled hawks are even threatening to turn the entire Frontier into a cantonment against forces inimical to their definition of religion. How much more bloodshed may come about through their anger? There are others, pretending to be more pious and who are certainly less humane, who regard our present predicament as God’s way of paying back the sinning people of the Frontier.

Frontiersmen can be blamed for many peccadilloes but these do not take away from their practising their faith in its true form. Mosques in the area are overflowing with the faithful even in these struggling days when places of worship have become targets. It is quite another matter that the province has become the last refuge of the hardened sinners. None of the portrait boys on the big billboards are from the Frontier, and that says a lot for the simple Pakhtuns who have foolishly allowed themselves to be used as pawns in this ongoing senseless conflict.

The worst enemies are those who are preaching anger to the youth. They can be easily recognised as they lead the groups with divisive tags attached to a common faith. ‘Will the military triumph in Waziristan be enough to overcome the present crisis?’ was the query in a poll posted on Dawn’s online edition. Fortunately for the country only six per cent of the voters do not know the answer while a staggering 71 per cent believe it may not. The vote might be unscientific but it augurs well for a people who know that the only way the issue could be resolved is by going after the true enemies of God.

Swat Taliban want Imran Khan to be their mediator

No talks with Taliban now: Fazl

Swat Taliban want Imran Khan to be their mediator

By our correspondent

LAHORE: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said negotiations with the Taliban leadership were possible in the past but there was no appropriate time or circumstances for such an exercise now. He was talking to the media after his meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at Raiwind on Friday.

Fazlur Rehman said the process of preparing a constitutional package for repealing the 17th Amendment was in the final stages. He stressed upon strengthening parliament and implementing its resolutions in letter and spirit.

Thye overall political situation of the country, matters of mutual interest and other national affairs were discussed during the meeting. Referring to his meeting with the chief minister Punjab, Fazl said it was a routine interaction aimed at creating harmony between the political parties. He said such meetings should continue as harmony among the political forces was necessary to save the system. He stressed upon forming a permanent set-up for accountability in the country. He said that the NRO was not an issue of his party as no JUI-F member took benefit of the controversial ordinance.

Referring to the statement of Prime Minister Gilani over the apex court’s verdict on the NRO, he expressed the hope that the government would implement the court’s decision. He said the decision of starting the military operation in Fata was taken by the GHQ and not by parliament. He claimed that he had some concrete proposals for ending terrorism in the country but no one had responded positively.

Our Peshawar correspondent adds: The Swat Taliban have announced their willingness to accept the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan as a mediator for ending the conflict in Swat and the rest of the Malakand Division and bringing durable peace in the area.

A message of the Taliban Shura in Swat was conveyed in an audiocassette delivered to The News in Peshawar. It contained a statement in Pashto by a Swat Taliban military commander, who identified himself as Nooruddin Muhammad alias Abu Akash. He said he was the head of the military wing of the militants in Swat.

Praising Imran Khan as a true patriot, sincere Pakistani, good human-being and pro-Muslim politician, Taliban Commander Nooruddin Muhammad said they had trust in him as an intermediary.

“Unlike other politicians, Imran hasn’t sold out his soul. His Qibla is still the holy Ka’aba,” he remarked. He said the Taliban had never closed the door of talks with the government to resolve all outstanding issues. “We are Pakistanis and we don’t want to harm our country. Our objection is to the government’s policy of toeing the US line and fighting its own people at the behest of America,” he argued.

The Taliban commander maintained that the militants only attacked security forces and law-enforcement agencies in retaliation after their homes were bombed and their families were wiped out. He alleged that the CIA, RAW and Pakistan’s pro-US rulers were involved in acts of terrorism in public places and bazaars. Hinting at the PPP and the ANP, he charged that two ruling political parties in Pakistan were pursuing the US agenda.

“They should learn a lesson from the fate of Musharraf who too followed the American agenda. Unfortunately, Pakistan is ruled by politicians who live in Washington and London before coming to power and go back to these places after losing power,” Nooruddin Muhammad said in his audio message. He said that the Swat Taliban head Maulana Fazlullah was safe and presently in a secure place.

Car-Bomb Strikes Shia Procession In Karachi

19 injured in Karachi car blast

KARACHI: At least 19 people have been wounded in a car blast at Khilafat Chowk in Paposh Nagar Karachi.

SSP Javed Baloch confirmed that it was a car blast, which went off when a Muharram procession was passing through Paposh Nagar.

The injured have been shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for emergency care.

Police and rangers reached the blast site where rescue services have kick started.

MS Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said that 19 injured, including rangers personnel, women and children, have been brought to the facility.

What did the Americans cook for China in mysterious Copenhagen meeting?

What did the Americans cook for China in mysterious

Copenhagen meeting?

Chinese Premier Plays Key Role In Evolving Consensus For Global Climate Moot Success

By MAKHDOOM BABAR

Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Mail of Pakistan

Saturday, 26 December 2009.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—While the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was making all out sincere efforts to come up with a strategy to resolve the global climate crisis at the historical World Summit over the issue at Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen and When China finally emerged as the key State  in the last-minute attempt to exchange ideas to reach consensus in an otherwise failed moot, the Americans were busy in organizing a mysterious meeting of  certain countries but they deliberately avoided to invite the Chinese Premier to this meeting, reveal the findings of The Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail’s findings, confirmed by Chinese official News Agency Xinhua’s report over the issue, indicate that officially the Americans, the conveners of the said meeting, being held on the sidelines of Copenhagen Summit, had placed the name of China amongst the participants of the said mystifying meeting, yet, putting aside all norms, practices and protocol, the Chinese delegation or the staff of the Chinese Premier were not either formally or informally invited nor were they informed about the  meeting and the Chinese Premier came to know about this meeting from some other foreign leader, participating the main conference.  The Daily Mail’s findings reveal that as a result of this meeting, the next day’s proceedings of the Summit began with a mysterious delay of about one and a half hour while the Chinese Premier was supposed to be the opening speaker of the day’s proceedings.  The Daily Mail’s investigations also indicate that it was only after the mysterious meeting convened by the Americans that certain states made baseless criticism on China during Climate Change moot. The Daily Mail has launched comprehensive investigations into the matter and will soon reveal what actually happened in the said mysterious meeting.

Xinhua adds. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao left Beijing for the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark on Dec. 16, when pessimism and disappointment were simmering among negotiators, who, after about 10 days’ bargaining, found a bridge to span their rift seemed a mission impossible.

“It will be a tough task. Now I can feel how heavy my duty is to attend the meeting on behalf of the Chinese government,” Wen told reporters aboard his plane en route to Copenhagen.

Nevertheless, Wen said he was confident that the talks would bear fruit. “As so many world leaders are gathered there, I believe there should come some achievements,” he said. “No matter what the result is, China’s action plan will not change, its voluntary reduction target will always be non-negotiable, and its determination in hitting the target will never waver.”

Premier Wen’s schedule on Dec. 17 was almost fully occupied by meetings with world leaders.

During the meeting with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Wen suggested that in order to achieve an outcome for the conference, all parties should stick to the consensus they had reached while leaving differences for future negotiations. “Now it seems to be the only way out. If we can reach a resolution of such a kind, it could well be an achievement of the talks,” Wen said.

In his talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who expressed that a fruitless conference would be unacceptable, Wen proposed to formulate a political document that may reflect the consensus of different parties.

“It is unrealistic to hope to fill in the gap between nearly 200 countries in less than two days. China and the people of the world all wish for the success of the meeting, and the current priority is to crystalize a consensus,” Wen said.

He told the UN chief it was important to fix on the political aspiration to deliver confidence and hope to the world.

The drafting of the final document must be transparent while concerns of different parties, especially developing countries, must be taken into consideration, Wen stressed.

Wen’s talks with Ban were followed by the meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. They agreed that the two major developing countries must firmly stand with other developing countries to safeguard their common interests.

The Chinese Premier’s meeting with representatives of island countries and underdeveloped nations lasted for over two hours, the longest during his stay in Copenhagen.

Wen said although China had always urged developed nations to fulfill their funding commitments, China would not vie for even a cent with other developing countries if such a fund were available.

In addition, China would continue to assist those countries to cope with climate change, Wen told President of the Maldives Mohammed Nasheed, Prime Minister of Grenada Tillman Thomas, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and Sudanese Presidential Assistant Nafie Ali Nafie.

Wen’s whirlwind negotiations that afternoon involved British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The three industrialized countries, though ambitious in leading international cooperation on climate change issues, lacked understanding of developing countries and had therefore raised some unrealistic and unfair requests.

Once again, Wen urged all parties to stop pointing fingers at each other or bargaining at the critical moment of the talks. He said China’s commitment on mitigation actions is “unconditional and non-negotiable.” It was not conditioned on or linked with commitments by any other country, Wen said.

On the transparency issue in self mitigation actions, Wen said China was willing to conduct talks and cooperation.

He stressed that developing countries’ major tasks in eradicating poverty and developing economy should not compromise the environment. But their development also required the developed world’s understanding and support, both financially and in technology.

After the meetings, Wen immediately instructed Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei to hold a press conference to brief the world media on the talks, a move to fulfill his commitment to transparency.

At a banquet hosted by Danish Queen Margrethe II on Dec. 17 evening, Premier Wen was told that the United States would hold a small-scope meeting between several countries’ leaders after the dinner.

During his talk with a foreign leader, Premier Wen learnt China was on the list of the meeting’s participating countries while he himself was not invited and neither did the Chinese delegation receive a notice for the mysterious meeting.

Why was the Chinese delegation not informed? Premier Wen felt quite astonished and was vigilant after he confirmed the meeting with other foreign leaders.

During the conference, similar situations occurred when some countries proposed a draft resolution through clandestine negotiations, which went against the principle of openness and transparency and triggered strong discontent.

Premier Wen took the incident seriously and came back to his hotel immediately to call an emergency meeting to study countermeasures for the situation.

On behalf of the Chinese delegation, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei came to the meeting and expressed strong dissatisfaction to the convocator’s ulterior motive for not informing China.

He said that the meeting should be transparent and no participants should impose their will on others. Any scheme in darkness would probably lead to a fruitless summit.

On the second morning of his stay in Copenhagen, hours before the final summit segment of the U.N climate change conference, at 9:45 a.m., Chinese Premier arrived at the main venue of the conference, 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled opening.

However, neither the host Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen nor the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was present even at 10 a.m. This situation made the People guessing as to what was the matter, but no one came to explain the reason for the delay.

At this particular juncture of time, Premier Wen made a prompt decision to propose a meeting of the BASIC countries. The leaders just sat around a tea table in the hall and began exchanging views. It was until 11:30 that Rasmussen announced the opening of the summit.

Premier Wen was the first to deliver a speech, titled “Build Consensus and Strengthen Cooperation to Advance the Historical Process of Combating Climate Change.”

In the speech with 2,000-odd Chinese characters, Wen made it clear that what China thought, did and would do to cope with climate change. At the end of his speech, Wen made a serious promise.  “It is with a sense of responsibility to the Chinese people and the whole mankind that the Chinese government has set the target for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This is a voluntary action China has taken in the light of its national circumstances. We have not attached any condition to the target, nor have we linked it to the target of any other country,” Wen said.

“We will honor our word with real action. Whatever outcome this conference may produce, we will be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding the target.”

Premier Wen’s speech won long-time applause at the conference venue. Some foreign leaders congratulated Wen on his speech with handshaking.

After U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech, Premier Wen held talks with him in a meeting room just behind the summit venue. The two leaders agreed that the participating countries of the conference should achieve a political resolution as soon as possible and continue cooperation on climate change.

As soon as the talks ended, Wen asked members of the Chinese delegation to inform the Group of 77 and other BASIC countries of the Sino-American talks, aiming to speed up negotiations between developing and developed countries

Developing and developed countries discussed the final document, but failed to make any progress as a result of divergence of views, even when the Copenhagen climate change conference was scheduled to conclude hours earlier.

Some countries were drafting announcement of the conference’s possible failure, and certain foreign leaders even made irresponsible criticism against China.

At the Bella Center, the venue of the conference, journalists started to pack luggage. People around the world were wondering how and when the Danish government would declare failure of the largest and highest level climate change conference ever in human history.

It was Premier Wen who played a key role in the last-minute attempt to exchange ideas and reach consensus.

Wen believed that it was impossible to reach a legally binding agreement at that time, while no country was willing to be responsible for the failure if the conference yielded no result in the end.

“As long as there is hope of one percent, we should not give up and must instead make 100 percent of effort,” he told the Chinese delegation.

Wen decided to meet other leaders of the BASIC countries again and make a final attempt.

At the same time, President Obama said he wanted to have a second meeting with Premier Wen. Wen agreed to meet him after the BASIC meeting ended.

The BASIC countries leaders agreed that the Copenhagen conference might fail and all-out efforts should be made to help achieve some results.

They agreed to reach consensus on key issues first and then negotiate with the United States and European countries on the basis of safeguarding interests for the developing countries and with the highest degree of flexibility.

Wen urged to keep contact and enhance cooperation with African countries, the Group of 77 and small island states.

At 6:50 p.m., when the BASIC leaders were reviewing their final common position, President Obama showed up, which was a bit of surprise for those in the room although the scheduled time for the Sino-American meeting was over.

Obama stopped with one foot outside the gate and asked Premier Wen with smiles if he should wait outside or join the discussion.

Premier Wen stood up and politely invited Obama to join them. Obama accepted and walked around the room to shake hands with all the people present, before taking a seat to the left of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and opposite to Wen.

The BASIC leaders knew very well the U.S. stance since they all met respectively before.

Premier Wen said efforts should be made to adopt a resolution in order to affirm the achievements of the meeting and build consensus. He then made clear the position of BASIC countries on several key issues.

Obama briefed the leaders of BASIC countries about the latest U.S. stance, saying both sides were very close on the wording of these issues, before the leaders of the five nations started the negotiations.

While the leaders were discussing, journalists were anxiously waiting outside. Some of them even took photos through the window.

Applause were heard before long as the BASIC countries finally reached agreement with the United States on the wording of some key issues. The United States said it was willing to consult with the European Union.

The BASIC countries discussed with some other countries while the U.S.-Europe talks went on. A few more countries reviewed the draft later.

An hour later, news came that the parties concerned agreed on the draft and were ready to submit it for a voting at the conference. It was already nine hours after the scheduled conclusion of the conference.

The achievement was a result of joint efforts by all the participating countries other than out of the will of one or two countries.

Copenhagen witnessed what a role China played in this complicated and tough process.

There have been different interpretations on the outcome over the past few days, but people have to recognize that international cooperation to cope with climate change has moved a step ahead on the right direction, through the joint efforts of the international community. It delivered hope and confidence to the world.

In this process, China showed the greatest sincerity, tried its best and played a constructive part.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Wen said China would like to work with other countries, with the Copenhagen talks as a new beginning, to honor commitments, cooperate more closely and conclude the “Bali Roadmap” negotiations at an early date.

He called for efforts to seek new progress from the international cooperation on climate change and make due contributions to human endeavor to deal with climate change.

Mr. Babar can be reached at macbabur@hotmail.com

Avatar–Environmentalism As Religion for Our Kids

[The freaks with their "Gaia" religion.]

Avatar the movie: the religion of the left

By Phill Kline

The visuals are stunning, the story borrowed and the message shallow and false. John Cameron’s new epic Avatar features a jump in animation technology and a throwback of over 1,000 years to pantheism.

Set in 2154, the movie features a U.S. mega-corporation mining the distant planet of Pandora for a rare mineral that suspiciously looks like a carbon spewing lump of coal. The mining is conducted with smoke belching machinery that rape the planet while the human workers are protected by Marine mercenaries from the mind melding sensual native population of 10 foot tall spiritual beings.

The natives are one with their native planet, including their mother-god Eywa. Eywa is the planet, and the natives reach oneness by entwining fibers from their bodies with the fibers of the planet. This representative sexual union allows them to hear their departed ancestors and gain rhythm with the planet — a séance orgy so to speak. All life on the planet is one, with one spirit and one energy.

Avatar’s themes represent the new American “apology” at its best. The movie mirrors complaints about U.S. expansionism of the 1800′s that drove Native Americans from their sacred grounds and reflects the “new” history that represents modern America as an imperialistic regime willing to do anything for wealth and power.

The movie’s villain, the commander of the mercenary Marine force, reinforces this view when speaking with the movie’s hero Jake Sully. Sully is a wounded Marine who lost the use of his legs in battle for the U.S. in Venezuela. The commander was also in Venezuela and mentions he also saw action in Nigeria. Both countries, in which the U.S. has never fought, are oil-exporting countries and the movie assumes are places where we will fight and die in the future.

As any student of the “new” history knows, U.S. soldiers are buried on islands in the Pacific, in Europe and in Southeast Asia and Korea in order to protect our polluting ways.

In the movie, these polluting ways have “killed our mother,” the Earth, and now we must bring our imperialistic exploitive and destructive ways to the spiritually focused pantheistic cultures of planet Pandora, named after the Greek mythical goddess and which literally means “she who sends up gifts.”

Avatar seeks audience cheers for slaughtering the Marines who are portrayed as bent on killing, cash and forwarding the capitalistic matricidal imperialist ways of the United States.

Sully, is on assignment as a mercenary for the megacorp. His assignment places him deep undercover in the native population. Technology allows him to exist in a native body (an Avatar) such that he befriends and then falls in love with the spiritual princess of the natives. While in the avatar he is also able to run and fly and hunt and love.

Over time he predictably identifies with the natives and goes to battle against the Marines. Offering a prayer to Eywa, the Marine, now native, Sully, asks for Eywa’s help in repelling the Americans. In the prayer, Sully states “I know you have chosen me for a purpose….”

Such a prayer represents atheistic Hollywood’s dilemma. The only way to reconcile a godless Darwinistic worldview with a deeply spiritual American culture is to convert environmentalism into religion. For what greater purpose for man than to save mother earth, or Pandora? And thus, our purpose in a purposeless world.

Further, as a plea for Eywa’s assistance Sully asks the planet god to look into his memories to see how there is no green on earth and how his people have “killed our mother.”

Sully’s soon to be bride, a native princess, hears his prayers and instructs him that Eywa does not choose sides, a bow to the modern definition of tolerance, but only balances the forces of life and death.

All of this builds to the movies epic battle scene. US Marines moving in with carbon belching high tech machines to face the arrow firing natives. The battle looks lost for the good guys (the natives not the Marines) until Eywa chooses sides and she chooses Al Gore environmentalism. Suddenly Pandora’s animals join forces and attack the U.S. forces. The attack is led by giant, aggressive, hippo-resembling beasts with giant anvil heads.

Nature prevails and evil capitalism and man is defeated. Eywa thereby expresses the only truth respected by the left, a truth worth choosing sides for — a truth worth killing for, mother earth. China’s forced abortion policy as spiritual expression.

But Sully still has one more critical passage. He desires to permanently inhabit a native body, his Avatar. To do this he must join forces with Eywa and possibly be reborn into a native body. He is warned that all is Eywa’s choice — he may be reborn as a native or he may not for as all of us know — it is always the mother’s choice.

As the natives join in a ritual touching and chanting that has a cultist quality, Jake Sully is laid before Eywa, becomes one with the planet through the intertwining of the fiber of his Avatar and the planet and is reincarnated as a 10 foot dragon subduing arrow flinging environmentalist.

Avatar represents the left’s first epic introduction of the new Darwin spiritualism. Since Darwin cannot survive in the West’s spiritual culture, Darwin has now become god in the form of mother earth. Every living thing on planet Pandora is a god. And so, the new left has reached back in history to leap ahead of the scientific age. In the new religion, man is not god as in the age of reason and science. Rather, all is god and thereby nothing is god. But at least we’re spiritual.

All this provided just in time for Christmas, oops, the Winter Solstice.

At least my theatre audience did not applaud when Sully’s eyes came alive in his Avatar body at the “climatic” (predictable) end of the movie. In fact, the movie did not draw cheers or tears at any point. Perhaps we were still fixated on Hollywood’s tossing our Marines around in the jaws and claws of Eywa’s warriors — Freudian expressions of the left’s desire for that all-powerful environmental protecting global police force.

Call me unenlightened, but when I see a Marine battle an anvil headed beast called forth by a planet-god — I root for the U.S. Marine.

© Phill Kline

Depleted Uranium Trains to Move from Savannah River to Clive, Utah

DOE: Trainloads of nuke waste on way to Utah

By Judy Fahys

The Salt Lake Tribune

View Larger Map

Related

• Radioactive waste
• Dec 16:
• Uranium train keeps chugging closer
• Unity alliance opposes foreign nuke waste
• Dec 15:
• Guv to DOE: Halt nuke shipment planned for Utah
• EnergySolutions pitches ‘blending’ hotter radioactive waste
• Dec 8:
• DOE contemplating next move on depleted uranium
• Dec 3:
• Bennett blocks N-waste measure
• Dec 2:
• House says no to foreign N-waste
• Nov 19:
• House advances bill to ban foreign nuke waste
• Nov 7:
• Scientists: Nuke panel owes Utahns an apology
• Oct 9:
• Utah won’t take a stand on national foreign nuke waste ban
• Bulky waste prompts EnergySolutions to seek license updates
• Oct 6:
• Depleted uranium shipments delayed
• Sep 24:
• Utahns question accelerated uranium enrichment
• Sep 23:
• Utahns hear plans to regulate uranium disposal
• Sep 22:
• EnergySolutions: State rejects depleted uranium shipment moratorium
• Sep 16:
• Matheson asks Energy Department to halt depleted uranium shipments
• Sep 4:
• Energy Solutions: We’re in talks with state on nuke waste issue
• Sep 3:
• Waste ruling drawing rivals

Trainloads of depleted uranium will soon be on the move, rolling over the objections of critics on their way to a Utah burial site.

A Department of Energy official on Thursday informed U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, that 11,000 tons of the low-level radioactive waste — packed in 14,800 drums — is ready to be shipped from the Savannah River cleanup in South Carolina.

Rubbish from bomb-making and enrichment, the Savannah River waste will be buried at EnergySolutions Inc.’s specialized landfill in Tooele County. Both state and federal regulators are looking at what measures are needed to make sure shallow disposal sites like EnergySolutions’ can safely contain large amounts of DU, as depleted uranium is often called.

“We are now ready to initiate the first of the three planned rail shipments,” said DOE spokeswoman Lauren Milone.

The news dismayed Utahns who have been urging the Energy Department to wait until site-safety is settled.

“I am very disappointed that this material is headed to Utah, despite my concerns,” said Matheson, who asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu for a delay.

“I will continue to press the NRC for an appropriate review of necessary safety standards for this waste, which essentially remains hazardous forever,” Matheson added.

Questions about DU safety began in earnest last spring, after the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) noted that it had never examined the potential risks of

disposing of large quantities of DU in landfills, other than deep, underground sites. DU is unusual, the NRC noted, because it actually grows increasingly hazardous for a million years.

Nonetheless, the NRC opted to retain DU’s classification as “Class A” low-level radioactive waste and set out on a several-year study about what requirements need to be met to ensure large quantities are safe at specific sites. Other Class A waste, by definition, should be safe enough to build a house on after 100 years.

With about 1.4 million tons of DU in government stockpiles and expected from commercial enrichment plants coming online soon, EnergySolutions remains the nation’s only disposal option for virtually all of that waste.

The Salt Lake City company already has 49,000 tons of DU, which would exceed the state’s hazard standards in about 35,000 years.

In its decision Thursday, DOE cited a Dec. 1 letter by Utah Director of Environmental Quality Amanda Smith, who noted that EnergySolutions is licensed to accept DU even as the state updates its site-safety requirements for DU over the next few months. Smith said she had not seen the letter informing Matheson about the imminent shipments.

“We’ll be looking at the letter,” she said, declining further comment.

Peter Jenkins, chairman of the Radiation Control Board, said he was surprised how quickly DOE made its decision about the Savannah River waste. He added that he was pleased about a pending state license condition that requires EnergySolutions to pay for digging up the DU if the site review does not demonstrate that the landfill can contain the waste safely for at least 10,000 years.

“The state has positioned itself to take the proper recourse,” he said.

Over the past six months, as the board has considered its options for dealing with DU, there has been a concern that the state might not be able to act swiftly enough to stall additional DU. In July, EnergySolutions told board members it had a standing contract with the Energy Department but no active orders.

Vanessa Pierce, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, pointed out that her group has been pressing Gov. Gary Herbert to request a delay from DOE. She likened the current situation to the federal government’s message during atomic testing in the West.

“Utahns are again being put at risk,” she said, even though the federal government is aware of health and environmental risks. She also noted that DOE had opted against sending the DU to a government-owned disposal site in Nevada because it would have taken a year to complete an in-depth environmental impact assessment that was promised to that state.

“Governor Herbert has not stood up to demand the same protections the Nevadans and the rest of the country has been offered,” Pierce said. “His silence is nothing but tacit approval of plans to send this waste here.”

fahys@sltrib.com

Department of Energy statement:

After careful consultation with the regulators, DOE has decided to continue its efforts at the Savannah River Site to prepare the remaining inventory of depleted uranium (DU) oxides for off-site shipment and disposal, and we are now ready to initiate the first of the three planned rail shipments. The planned shipments will comply with all licensing requirements of the Clive facility in Utah, requirements of the Utah regulators and EnergySolutions’ license. EnergySolutions is a fully licensed facility for the disposal of low -level radioactive waste and waste containing DU.

Lauren Milone, DOE spokeswoman

Sri Lanka-vs-The Empire

Death of democracy and road to dictatorship

Whence the threat?:

A. A. M. Nizam

We Sri Lankans succeeded in ending 30 years of brutal terrorists aggression in May this year due to the wholehearted contribution made by each and every patriotic citizen that enabled the Armed Forces to destroy the military wing of the terrorists at Nandikadal annihilating the LTTE military leadership and put an end to the life of its megalomaniac leader Prabhakaran. This splendid success could never have been achieved if not for the total commitment made by all those who contributed towards this goal, in the face of sturdy and unprecedented combined attempts made by the powerful western nations, Tamil Diaspora and proxies of LTTE, treacherous political desperados and political bandits. NGO vultures and the South Indian political elements to force a halt to the offensive operations and rescue the terrorist leadership. In the whole history of Sri Lanka it never faced such threats and warnings from a multitude of fronts simultaneously.

Suharto	General Augusto Pinochet
General Ziaur Rehman	General Zia ul Haq

The patriotic masses who yearned for a complete wipe out of the terrorists and terrorism were however apprehensive that once again the victory will be snatched away from them as it happened in 1987 with the mere drop of Parippu parcels and Indian pressure under which President Jayewardene shamelessly acquiesced and commanded Lt. General Denzil Kobbekaduwa to halt operations and withdraw the Forces to their respective barracks.

If not for this political intervention, and the shameless genuflecting to foreign pressure, Lt. General Kobbekaduwa and his troops would have wiped out the terrorists forever, as the LTTE at that time was in a nascent stage and had only a few thousand fighting cadres and had no Navy and had no air wing.

After President Jayewardene Sri Lanka was ruled by several Presidents and Prime Ministers and all of them failed to put an end to the rapidly growing terrorist scourge since all of them lacked determination and the political will to annihilate the terrorists, succumbed to external pressure, became deceptive to LTTE’s cunning manoeuvres, failed to provide adequate men and material to all Forces including the Police, had no faith in the capabilities of our Security Forces, and moreover were ineffective to muster the backing of all patriotic masses from all walks of life for the war effort.

Annihilation of the LTTE’s military wing was possible because of a multitude of factors. The prime factor among them was the solid and staunch leadership given by the President who by making every effort to provide men and material for the Forces unswervingly faced all pressures, criticisms and threats from the world’s most powerful nations and foiled all attempts made by treacherous political desperados and political bandits to topple the Government with the objective of halting the operations against the terrorists. Nonetheless, we should not remain complacent of what was achieved but be very cautious of the dangers that may befall us from the combined cabal of disgruntled elements who were unsuccessful in saving the LTTE leadership. The mere annihilation of the LTTE military wing will not make Sri Lanka safe. The last minute sturdy attempts made by western nations including the joint visit made by Foreign Ministers of two powerful western nations (initial attempt was to make it a joint visit of three Ministers) point to the fact that how important LTTE was in their neocolonial geopolitical road map in the face of rising Asian giants China and India.

Since Sri Lanka is situated in a strategically important location than the illegally acquired Dieggo Garcia the western nations, despite unavoidable proscription of LTTE, considered and valued the LTTE as a vibrant agent to destabilize the region, as they maintain Israel, Georgia and several other nations and terrorist organizations to destabilize regions and establish their economical and political hegemony over those regions.

Having lost the mercenary force, the LTTE, which they were nurturing to destabilize China and India and other nations in the Asian region, the western imperialists together with the international LTTE elements and unpatriotic political desperados and hooligans would certainly attempt now to install a puppet regime in Sri Lanka. Most Sri Lankans were unaware that on October 15 some treacherous elements under Uniform attempted to snatch away the people’s victory over the LTTE, and install such a puppet regime. Swift action taken by the President and India placing its Security Forces on alert foiled the intended coup attempt.

If not for the swift action taken by the President, similar to what happened through an Army coup in Indonesia in 1966 overthrowing President Sukarno’s 32-year rule would have happened in Sri Lanka, and by now several thousand would have lost their lives in a blood bath worse than the Uva-Wellassa blood bath. In Indonesia, the western powers and the local treacherous political elements resentful of President Sukarno’s people-friendly rule and his close relationship with China supported Suharto’s take over of power and following this take over military backed militia went on rampage and mercilessly murdered upto two million.

Similarly in Chile, the Popular Unity Government elected in 1970 of President Dr. Salvador Allende was toppled in 1973 with active support from American CIA and a military dictatorship headed by General Augusto Pinochet was installed. Following this coup over 3,200 people were killed, at least 80,000 were imprisoned, 30,000 subjected to gruesome torture, and another around 200,000 people fled the country seeking asylum in Argentina, Peru and several other Latin American countries. It was also reported that Dictator Pinochet’s military intelligence even killed some of these exiled people going into the countries they found asylum.

45 die in India bridge collapse incident

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:49:57 GMT

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Forty-five people are thought to have lost their lives in western India after an under-construction bridge collapsed in the state of Rajasthan.

Dozens of laborers fell into the Chambal river late Thursday when the bridge they were working on buckled.

Rescue workers had recovered dozens of bodies by Saturday. Earlier reports had put the number of dead at 17.

Authorities have launched an inquiry into the accident. Two senior project managers, including a South Korean national, have been arrested on culpable homicide charges.

Deadly accidents on construction sites are relatively common in India where health and safety rules are routinely flouted.

The UN’s International Labor Organization estimates that 50,000 people die in the country each year over work-related incidents.

Every “al Qaida” Bombing Shows the World How Incompetent the “Super-Terrorists” Really Are

[Isn't it curious how every little terror attempt, even the really stupid ones like the "shoe-bomber," this guy and the doctor who tried to blow-up a car load of gas cans in London are turned into gigantic proofs of a "world-wide Islamist conspiracy"?  This incident was first reported as firecrackers on an airplane, now tools like Rep. King of NY claim that it was a "sophisticated device."  Surely the organization of Islamic supermen who can run 911 type operations from caves and require 100,000 US troops to kill 100 or less of them in Afghanistan could do better than firecrackers and tennis shoe bombs with paper fuses, or gas cans in a car.  All the governments of the world are lying about "al Qaida," September 11, and everything since then, and the day is soon coming when the lies will not cover their asses.]

U.S. says al Qaeda-linked man tries to blow up plane

Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) – A Nigerian man believed to be linked to al Qaeda militants was in custody on Saturday after he tried to ignite an explosive device on a U.S. passenger plane as it approached Detroit, U.S. officials said.

The suspect, who suffered extensive burns, was overpowered by passengers and crew on the Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam. The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries, disembarked safely from the Delta Air Lines plane.

“We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism,” a White House official told Reuters.

British police were searching premises in central London on Saturday in connection with the incident. The man was believed to have spent time in Britain as a student and authorities were trying to establish details about his activities in the country, a British counter-terrorism source said.

European airports meanwhile tightened security checks on U.S.-bound flights in response to the failed attack.

Dutch counter-terrorism authorities said they were trying to figure out where the suspect had come from, how he had been screened and how he had managed to board the flight.

Northwest Airlines flight 253 had left Amsterdam airport on Friday with 278 passengers onboard and was approaching its destination Detroit when the man tried to ignite the device or mixture, U.S. officials said.

Representative Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said the explosive device was “fairly sophisticated,” and the suspect was a 23-year-old Nigerian.

Federal officials identified him as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, according to U.S. newspapers. ABC News and NBC News reported that he attends University College London, where he studied engineering.

King told CNN the suspect was listed in a database as having a connection to militants.

“My understanding is…that he does have al Qaeda connections, certainly extremist terrorist connections, and his name popped up pretty quickly” in a search.

“I would say we dropped the ball on this one.”

King said the suspect started his journey in Nigeria.

The Nigerian government ordered security agencies to investigate the incident and said they would cooperate fully with the American authorities.

“All the necessary security measures are in place in Nigeria. Any passenger, including crew members, on any flight is subject to the same security screening,” a spokesman for Nigeria’s Federal Airport Authority said.

Security at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and at other airports in Europe with U.S.-bound flights was stepped up.

“This incident shows once again that vigilance is necessary at all times in the fight against terror,” European Commission vive-president Jacques Barrot said in Brussels.

Judith Sluiter, a spokeswoman for Dutch counter-terrorism agency NCTb, said it had started a probe into the incident, trying to determine where the suspect originated from.

“He did not go through passport control,” a Dutch military police spokesman said.

Passenger Richelle Keepman, arriving in Detroit, said the incident was terrifying.

“I thought — I think we all thought we weren’t going to land, we weren’t going to make it,” Keepman told NBC News.

Another passenger, Melinda Dennis, said the man was severely burned.

“His entire leg was burned. They required a fire extinguisher as well as water to put it out,” she told NBC.

“You could smell the smoke when we landed. You could smell the scent of something being burned when we landed.”

Once on the ground, the aircraft was moved to a remote area at Detroit’s airport where all baggage was being rescreened, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Citing U.S. officials, the Wall Street Journal said the Nigerian had told investigators that al Qaeda operatives in Yemen had given him the device and instructions on how to detonate it.

But NBC, citing anti-terrorism officials, said he claimed to have been acting on his own.”

PART OF A LARGER PLOT?

King said investigators were looking into whether the incident was part of a larger plot.

There is a “world-wide alert to make sure this is not part of a larger overall scheme,” he said.

The New York Times, citing a senior Homeland Security official, said the device was made from a mixture of powder and liquid and was more incendiary than explosive.

The official said Abdulmutallab told law enforcement authorities he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe filled with chemicals to mix with the powder in an attempt to cause an explosion.”

The attempt appeared similar to one eight years ago when a British-born man, Richard Reid, tried but failed to blow up a transatlantic jumbo jet by lighting explosives stuffed into his shoes. Reid, a follower of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

It also is the latest in a string of terrorism-related plots in the United States over the past few months. Al Qaeda militants carried out the September11, 2001, attacks in the United States in which three passenger planes were hijacked.

(Additional reporting by Todd Eastham, Jeremy Pelofsky, Mohammad Zargham and Jim Wolf in Washington; Peter Bohan in Chicago; Ben Berkowitz in Amsterdam, Rosalba O’Brien and William Maclean in London; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

If America Was a Democracy and Obama Was Really for Change

Debt-laden Japan shocked by £630bn spree to ‘save lives’

Leo Lewis in Tokyo and David Robertson

Yukio Hatoyama, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has stunned a nation already mired in huge public debt by unveiling the country’s biggest ever postwar budget: a 92.3 trillion yen (£630 billion) spending spree aimed at “saving people’s lives”.

The unprecedented budget, which supposedly shifts Japan’s fiscal spending focus “from concrete to lives”, comes amid rising concern about the solidity of sovereign debt in the world’s second-largest economy.

The new budget will require additional debt issuance of Y44.3 trillion — within the Government’s expected band, but still at a level that will raise Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio to nearly 195 per cent.

Of foremost concern, analysts for Nomura said, is that Japanese tax revenues are expected to fall to Y37.40 trillion this year, the lowest that they have been since 1984. It was, analysts said, a watershed moment — the first time that new debt issuance has exceeded tax revenues since the Second World War.

Mr Hatoyama said: “We were just able to stay at a level in which we can maintain fiscal discipline.”

Mr Hatoyama swept to power in August with grand promises that the era of wasteful public spending would end. Japan’s unnecessary and notoriously expensive “roads to nowhere” public works projects would be curtailed and the money diverted to supporting beleaguered households.

Four months on from that victory and Mr Hatoyama has spent more than any of his predecessors and has yet to make any serious impact on the wider effort of repairing Japan’s shattered economy. Unemployment is falling from its March highs, but not at anything like the pace in other Asian economies. Mr Hatoyama has also been hurt personally by the arrest of a former aide this week amid a money scandal that bore all the hallmarks of the politics of “old Japan” — precisely the sort of venality that Mr Hatoyama and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) were elected to crush. Prosecutors in Tokyo accused Keiji Katsuba, 59, of falsifying funding reports beginning in 2000 and listing dead people as donors.

Political analysts said that the episode would not be crippling to Mr Hatoyama, who has denied knowledge of the matter and does not face charges, but it adds to pressures that already include a weakened domestic economy and strained relations with the United States.

Seiji Adachi, senior economist with Deutsche Bank, said: “The scandal in itself is not so serious, but it tarnishes his reputation further and diminishes his power to be an effective prime minister.”

The Government hopes that the budget’s inclusion of steps such as allowances for families raising children and free public high school education will boost its popularity before an Upper House election next summer. That election is critical for Mr Hatoyama and the DPJ. Only by winning an outright majority in the Upper House can the new Prime Minister be free of the various coalitions that have hampered his first months in power.

“I believe that we have delivered all we can without compromising fiscal discipline,” Mr Hatoyama said. “Our country’s economic and employment conditions are very severe. The most important thing for us is to protect the lives of the Japanese citizens.”

The budget plan will contain Y53.4 trillion in policy spending; 51 per cent of that will go to social security programmes. This is the first time that social security has received more than half of policy spending, reflecting the new Government’s focus on jump-starting consumption rather than the big public works projects carried out by former administrations.

Tax revenues are expected to make up less than half the Government’s 2010-11 budget, falling behind new debt borrowing for the first time since the Second World War after a deep recession that devastated company profits.