"Turncoat [??] Afghan soldier kills 3 British troopers"

by: fairleft

Tue Jul 13, 2010 at 20:01:04 PM EDT

"Turncoat Afghan soldier kills 3 British troopers"

That's the AP headline on Yahoo news at the moment. Hard. to. take. sometimes. So he's not a turncoat when he fights and kills for the US/UK occupation and its Karzai puppet, who was allowed to steal the last national election, but he is a turncoat when he joins the fighting majority trying to kick out the foreigners occupying a country, his country, for the fun and profit of those foreigners' corporations and politicians?

But the UK Guardian gets it worse:

Renegade Afghan kills three British soldiers
[subhead:] Murder of troops inside Helmand patrol base deals severe blow to government's Afghanistan exit strategy

Okay, yeah, I get it, 'renegade', so you can get in this connotation from dictionary.com:

-adjective
3. of or like a renegade; traitorous.

And murder? . . .

Obama Cancels Withdrawal, Peace No, Petraeus

by: fairleft

Fri Jun 25, 2010 at 15:27:24 PM EDT

American imperialism (like Israel's, actually, but that's another diary (that I would be advised on eurotrib to confine to a comment)) will be deterred by effective guerrilla resistance, budget constraints, and/or by politicians among its major 'allies' forced to act against U.S. demands/commands by strong and voting antiwar movements. The latter doesn't appear to be happening now, not in Britain or Germany, the numbers 2 and 3 in contributions to the U.S. (okay, NATO fig leaf) occupation army in Afghanistan. But, somehow, despite the CIA's efforts, I think prospects for effective war opposition (especially during economic hard times) is better there than it is in the States.

Yeah, and sorry, European anti-warniks, . . .  

Don't know when I'll be back again...

by: Beach

Tue Jun 22, 2010 at 01:24:19 AM EDT

They wanted me back, back in Israel (covering the never ending war) The Bloody Occupation.  

The West Bank, the unlawful settlements and the settlers that inhabit the neat boxy houses, with their two car garages and air conditioners. Walking down those streets, any Californian would feel at home. Just another a typical, planned community. With its strip malls, parks, banks: from the inside, these Illegal Settlement feel, well, normal. They resemble a number of "planned communities" that dot the landscape, covering America.

It is only outside the safe zone (if one is even capable of finding their way out)That you see... It is a Castle of old. With its high walls and free flowing sewage.  

... and one cannot forget the World's Largest Open Prison "Gaza."
   

South Africa's new high-speed rail not for country's poor

by: fairleft

Thu Jun 17, 2010 at 00:18:30 AM EDT

The Gautrain is the high-speed rail vanity project that accompanies the football stadium vanity projects (even when there were perfectly serviceable older stadiums nearby) that South Africa has built for FIFA but cannot afford. Here is a high speed rail project where the social wrong and white elephantism absolutely cry out. The basic injustice is described in the following paragraph:

All in the Name of the Beautiful Gain: On the World Cup in South Africa

South Africa desperately needs large-scale public infrastructure, especially in the area of public transport which in some cities, including Johannesburg, is almost entirely absent. The Gautrain, which was launched on Tuesday the 8th June (just in time for the big event) is probably the biggest irony here: in a country where the large majority rely on unsafe private mini-bus taxis to travel long distances on a daily basis, the Gautrain offers high speed, luxury transport for tourists and those travelling between Johannesburg and Pretoria . . . who can afford it as a single trip between the airport and Sandton will set you back a massive R100.

The injustice was first a major issue five years ago, with the news that the cost projections were boosted from $1 billion to at least $3 billion. And note the paragraph at the end, reporting studies that found bus-only lanes on the Johannesburg-Pretoria highway would do the job of the expensive rail line at a fraction of the cost:

Barney Frank: Israel is Mandela, Gaza is apartheid South Africa

by: fairleft

Sat Jun 05, 2010 at 02:53:40 AM EDT

U.S. Senator Barney Frank equates Israel's brutal embargo against the Gaza Strip with the 1980s U.S. sanctions against the South Africa apartheid regime. Can a member of Congress get any more down on his hands and knees toward a foreign power, one that seems to have just engaged in murder and piracy on the high seas, and this from a supposed liberal beacon in the U.S. Senate?

Barney Frank Compares Israel's Gaza Blockade to Sanctions Against Apartheid
By Nathan Guttman
Published June 04, 2010

Israel's blockade against Gaza is comparable to the sanctions levied by the U.S. Congress against the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1986, Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank told the Forward in an interview June 3.

Rebuffing critics who decry the effects of the Israeli blockade on the health and welfare of Gaza's Palestinian residents, Frank said, "I remember that argument being used against our tough sanctions against the South African regime during apartheid. People said, 'You're hurting the South African black people,' and Ronald Reagan vetoed the bill and we overrode his veto.

"A few years later," Frank recalled, proudly, "I listened to Nelson Mandela in the Capitol thank us for helping maintain the sanctions because they were so effective." . . .

And now Frank listens to Benjamin Netanyahu deny medicine and infant formula to the Gaza Strip and he hears Nelson Mandela in that? Here's more obsequiosity from the leading 'progressive' in the U.S. Senate:

Israeli Arab flotilla hero: kill her or revoke her citizenship?

by: fairleft

Thu Jun 03, 2010 at 17:04:49 PM EDT

Read the details in the Guardian of Israel parliament member Haneen Zuabi's experience aboard the ship attacked by Israel for why she seems very much to be a hero. But the issue for me is, how far right is normal political life now in Israel? What has become of an Israel where "the ultra-nationalistic Yisraeli Beteinu party" can be part of the government and represents near-majority (majority?) political sentiment toward Arabs? ("There've been no public-opinion polls yet, but clearly many Israelis support a hard-line approach to Gaza and the Palestinian situation in general; experts note the population has grown increasingly conservative since the second Palestinian intifada, or "uprising," in 2000, exacerbated by hard-line new arrivals to Israel from Russia and elsewhere.") And then there's the ultra-orthodox religious party Shas, which provides Israel its Interior Minister. He's seriously seeking to revoke Zuabi's citizenship! (Emphasis added):

Gaza flotilla activist faces death threats
Haneen Zuabi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, has been sworn at by parliamentary colleagues and received death threats since disembarking on Monday
Rachel Shabi in Jerusalem guardian.co.uk
Thursday 3 June 2010 17.21 BST

While other activists from the Gaza aid flotilla have returned home, one is left facing death threats and abuse in Israel. Haneen Zuabi, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset who was aboard the Mavi Marmara, is now under armed protection after nearly 500 people signed up to a Facebook page calling for her execution.

During a heated parliamentary session yesterday Zuabi was sworn at and then shoved out of the chamber amid shouts of "Go to Gaza, traitor".

The 41-year-old member of the Arab nationalist party Balad has also received death threats by phone and mail. "I am not scared," she said, speaking from her home town of Nazareth in northern Israel. "This is inherent here, it is not something that started yesterday. It is just harder and harsher now."

And then there's Israel's loony Interior Minister. Note the fantastical perspective (but I guess it is majority opinion (?) in Israel) on what was plainly a deadly attack by armed Israeli soldiers on unarmed civilians on a boat in international waters:

Human Rights Watch against _real_ ship attack inquiry?

by: fairleft

Tue Jun 01, 2010 at 17:41:34 PM EDT

Does Human Rights Watch take orders directly from the U.S. Department of State, or is it that the two bodies' shared excess of empathy for Israel makes them just seem to be in lock step? Specifically, why does HRW not call for an independent international investigation of Israeli piracy in international waters and its massacre of civilians on the Mavi Marmara? Why call for Israel to investigate itself when they know an Israeli investigation will be bullshit? HRW admits the last in the final sentence blockquoted below:

Israel: Full, Impartial Investigation of Flotilla Killings Essential
May 31, 2010
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director.

(New York) - Israel should promptly conduct a credible and impartial investigation into the deaths of at least 10 activists after Israeli security forces boarded ships that were part of an "aid flotilla" to Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. . . .

"A prompt, credible, and impartial investigation is absolutely essential to determine whether the lethal force used by Israeli commandos was necessary to protect lives and whether it could have been avoided," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Given Israel's poor track record of investigating unlawful killings by its armed forces, the international community should closely monitor any inquiry to ensure it meets basic international standards and that any wrongdoers are brought to justice."

And yet HRW doesn't ask for an independent international investigation, exactly in line with the U.S. government's position:

EXECUTE THESE MEN!

by: Stu Piddy

Fri May 28, 2010 at 12:00:57 PM EDT

(Current and former BP Executives)

That's the way the Chinese do it. Don't threaten them with fines and compensation. Execute them.

In July 2007

"Last week, China executed its former top food-and-drug regulator, Zheng Xiaoyu, 62. He was most likely shot in the back of the head or given a lethal injection. The official Xinhua news agency did not say. The point is, he was taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies, and now he's dead."

I wonder how BP executives they would respond if they thought their lives were at risk?  

What Israel did to Miss USA's hometown

by: fairleft

Thu May 20, 2010 at 15:55:28 PM EDT

Desert of trapped corpses testifies to Israel's failure
Robert Fisk
Tuesday, 15 August 2006

They made a desert and called it peace. Srifa - or what was once the village of Srifa - is a place of pancaked homes, blasted walls, rubble, starving cats and trapped corpses. . . .

New Miss USA Rima Fakih moved to the U.S. when she was 6 or 7 from the village of Srifa, in southern Lebanon. Media guyland wants 'her controversy' to be some sexy photos (see P.S.) but in fact there's only one scandal connected to the new Miss USA: what Israel did to her hometown.

Srifa was a bustling hillside village. Then yesterday the Israeli jets came
Clancy Chassay outside Srifa
The Guardian
Thursday 20 July 2006

. . .

Who 'they' are; where they're taking us

by: fairleft

Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 19:19:07 PM EDT

Thanks to the Daily Howler for pointing out the perfect portrait of the U.S. media/political elite, i.e., the 'they' that is the enemy of the rest of us:

NYT's Mark Leibovich: On a recent Friday night, a couple hundred influentials gathered for a Mardi Gras-themed birthday party for Betsy Fischer, the executive producer of "Meet the Press." Held at the Washington home of the lobbyist Jack Quinn, the party was a classic Suck-Up City affair in which everyone seemed to be congratulating one another on some recent story, book deal, show or haircut (and, by the way, your boss is doing a swell job, and maybe we could do an interview).

McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, arrived after the former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie left. Fox News's Greta Van Susteren had David Axelrod pinned into a corner near a tower of cupcakes. In the basement, a very white, bipartisan Soul Train was getting down to hip-hop. David Gregory, the "Meet the Press" host, and Newsweek's Jon Meacham gave speeches about Fischer. Over by the jambalaya, Alan Greenspan picked up some Mardi Gras beads and placed them around the neck of his wife, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, who bristled and quickly removed them. . . .

Yes, that was former Fed Chief Alan Greespan, Ayn Randian most responsible for the deregulated crap storm we're doomed to experience forever (i.e., until us average working people overthrow the neoliberal corporate-globalized market fundamentalists). And his wife, insider neo-journalist Andrea Mitchell.

And what are 'they' in an uproar about right now? No, not 10% official (near 17% unofficial) unemployment in the U.S. Nope, deficits; government deficits during a very deep recession when we desperately need economic stimulus have got elite knickers all in a twist:

Cop tortures 17 year old live on TV, America cheers

by: fairleft

Tue May 04, 2010 at 20:02:40 PM EDT

Weren't we reassured, like a few months ago in the first slew of 'accidental' killings, that the taser -- a torture device if anything is -- was only supposed to be used when life or grave bodily harm was threatened? Well, not anymore, it's anything goes in America baby, and we're LUVIN it!

Philadelphia police say an officer appears to have acted appropriately when he used a Taser to subdue a teenager who ran onto the field during a Phillies game [because cops are allowed to taze whenever they feel like it].

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, says Commissioner Charles Ramsey reviewed the tape and felt the officer had acted within the department's guidelines, which allow officers to use Tasers to arrest fleeing suspects. . . .

The fan, wearing a baseball cap, red T-shirt and khaki shorts, hopped a fence and scurried around the outfield at Citizens Bank Park, eluding two security officers in the bottom of the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Several Phillies placed gloves over their faces and appeared to be stifling laughter at the wild scene. . . .

Okay, so no one was taking the goofy and seriously non-violent incident seriously but, what the hell, let's show him who's boss and torture I mean taser this kid!

Sons of Slave Owners Want A Return to Slavery

by: Stu Piddy

Sun May 02, 2010 at 10:20:30 AM EDT

Like an alcoholic the United States can never forget its history. Its long addictive history of slavery and its urge to return to human bondage for profit. (The following covers too much ground and it wanders a bit, but bear with me, please)

The personal history of an individual person cannot be erased or ignored. So it is with Nations and the soul or culture(s) and the institutions that make them up. Everything we do as individuals stays with us and we become what we have done. What we do forever becomes a part of us. The United States has a centuries long history of Slavery. Slavery has existed for a longer period of time since the settling of this country than since the time it was "abolished". Slavery and the using and abusing, the demeaning of people for profit is still a part of American culture and will always be. It is a cultural trait much like a character trait in an individual. Character traits are not easily changed. Traits are not meant by nature to be easily changed. They are permanent. There will never be any change in the negative character of any nation unless there is a painful realization of the trait i.e. what we are as individuals and as nations.

Of course, there are other conflicting character traits that make up the culture of the United States. One is the high value placed on Freedom, which conflicts with the value of Equality; and these two conflicts create the vagaries of language, the convenient confusion that allow for the oppression, the inequality of minority groups for the self serving freedoms of the "wealthy landed gentry" of the South and North.

The impulse of slavery, the intention, the urge for Slavery lives on. Slavery did not end with the Emancipation. Nothing ends abruptly. Slavery has shifted and morphed, sometimes submerged itself since the civil war.

Today, Slavery exists worldwide and is well documented. Some estimate that 27 million people are slaves

Our Brave Young Fighting Drones Have a Conscience: Cato Institute

by: Stu Piddy

Mon Apr 26, 2010 at 00:49:01 AM EDT

As a recognized voice in the wilderness, I have long pointed out that Drones are an extension of our American way of life and our uniquely American exceptionalist humanity. I have insisted that we cannot see them as machines but rather as living entities who are made up of circuitry, an ethical architecture, have the ability to learn and run on a kind of nueral electricity just as we do. Perhaps they have feelings too. You cannot understand what's it's like to be a drone until youv'e been one and seen how they are really treated as if they were just objects to be used and thrown away. If drones took the bus to work, they would have to sit in the back.

One thing is for sure there are no parades, no 21 gun salutes, no obituary columns for drones. I hope that in whatever small way I can as person of conscience, by spreading the truth about our drone brothers and sisters, possibly help to change our prejudical mechanist views of these wonderful valiant brave young flying fighting inspirationalists.

People who look down on drones are mechanists. Mark my words, one day Drones will marry and have our children.  

My reasoning has been scoffed at by small minded human centric egotists who feel that drones are "just machines".

As always, I,  as a visionary, see before others see, and I hear before others hear and I smell before others smell. And what I am smelling is...an ETHICAL DRONE.

What does an Ethical Drone Smell Like?

From the Cato Institute:

.... More specific factual information on the active planning to make robotic warfare more "humane" and, indeed, human. It would be very helpful if President Obama would tell us - at a nationally televised press conference - what his own concerns are about this rapidly developing global technology.

Where the hell have I been?

by: Beach

Thu Apr 15, 2010 at 16:11:36 PM EDT

These guy's live in my garden.

I at last have my Temporary Resident for Costa Rica!

Singling Out Israel in Berkeley: 5 Reasons

by: fairleft

Mon Apr 12, 2010 at 17:56:34 PM EDT

Yaman Salahi*** wrote ably that Singling out Israel is the right thing to do, but I don't think he voices all of the arguments as to why in particular a single-minded activist focus on BDSing institutions connected to the illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories is a great strategy and the right thing to do.

So, given that Israel is just one among many nations grossly violating the human rights of people under its control, why is it smart for activists to concentrate some of their activism on making Israel  - rather than, for example, Iran, Sudan, Sri Lanka, or North Korea - stop its unjust, inhumane policies towards occupied Palestine? . . .

Pics: Kyrgyzstan anger to action to revolution

by: fairleft

Thu Apr 08, 2010 at 02:05:01 AM EDT

Praiseworthy courage, and inspirational, cuz it's nearing time for the rest of us to think about doing similar. When are regular working people gonna get angry enough at the cut backs and the cost increases that the Western elite consensus says 'must' get much much worse? Angry enough to, you know, imitate our Kyrgyzstanian betters, perhaps? The comments under the Times of London report on the revolt were instructive:

Sarf of the River wrote:

The UK could do with a pro-democracy movement.

Max Bygraves wrote:

I saw the footage on the BBC.

It looks like 28 days later.

I wonder if it'll happen here, when people go hungry . . .

rob robbo wrote:

It's sad that people have died, but when any government is corrupt, it's the duty of the population to overthrow them by any means.

Government austerity measures were particularly clumsy, brutal and extreme in Kyrgyzstan, of course, so it became time for anger and action. The immediate trigger (fuel price increases) of the revolt, links to background on the 'Great Game' between Russia and the U.S., and the (yay, bad!) implications for the U.S. war on Afghanistan, all below the fold. First, this is what the first 21st century revolt against austerity looks like:

Corrupted politics kills 25-29 coal miners

by: fairleft

Tue Apr 06, 2010 at 16:46:37 PM EDT

The mine violated the standard for ventilation as recently as March 30, and was also cited twice on March 23 and on March 17.

Why aren't the fines much larger, so that even one violation deters this corporate criminal conduct? See title.

Mining Company Previously Fined for Safety
Massey Energy Company Oversaw Operation That Violated Ventilation Standards, Roof Falls

MONTCOAL, W.Va., April 5, 2010

(CBS/AP)  Upper Big Branch Mine, where 25 miners were killed and 4 were unaccounted for Monday evening in West Virginia, has been previously cited for safety violations and was behind in paying penalties to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, reports CBS News investigative producer Laura Strickler.

The mine is operated by Massey Energy Company subsidiary Performance Coal Co.

Among the violations according to MSHA:

• Roof Falls, which are cracking and collapsing of the mine sidewalls happened on Nov. 24, 2009, Dec.5, 2009 and Feb. 21, 2010 at Upper Big Branch mine.

• The mine violated the standard for ventilation as recently as March 30, and was also cited twice on March 23 and on March 17.

• There were violations for drill dust on March 25 and for air quality on March 23.

According to the MSHA, in 2010, the mine was fined $188,769 and has paid $2,676 to date. . . .

Massey and its CEO Don Blankenship are -- I mean should be -- notorious. But our corporate media has its own corrupted ways, and will move on from this crime as soon as it can.

Jeff Goodell knows what's going on:

U.S. soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan: heroes, poor helpless victims?

by: fairleft

Mon Apr 05, 2010 at 16:44:20 PM EDT

Handicapped by feeling he has to argue inside the manufactured 'frustrated do-gooder' image of President Obama, rapper Lowkey nonetheless -- in Obama Nation -- above speaks some 'never allowed in the mainstream media' truths about what U.S. and other Western 'colonial policing' soldiers actually do for a living. Their job has two parts: to kill and maim peasants trying to take their countries back from Western invaders and their treasonous puppets, and to kill and maim anyone nearby or slightly suspected of being peasants trying to take their countries back from Western invaders and their treasonous puppets. If there were a God, what would she/he say when one of these Western/U.S. killers for no damn good reason asks for admission to Heaven? 'You poor thing, come right in and make yourself at home'?

HillRaiser Hilites: The Aftermath

by: Revisionist

Wed Mar 31, 2010 at 12:38:28 PM EDT

As the Clinton Campaign Cash Carnival crashed and burned it seems ole Ron Burkle decided that SoS wasnt worth millions of dollars and stiffed the Clintons!  But of course I reported this some time ago

On a purely business level, the split between Burkle and Clinton began in 2007, with Hillary Clinton's run for the White House looming. The relationship wasn't finally dissolved until she faced confirmation as secretary of State. Clinton's partnership with Burkle linked him awkwardly with foreign governments-including the ruler of Dubai-and raised other questions about the dealings of Burkle's Yucaipa Companies. Clinton had received some $15 million since entering into the arrangement in 2002. The other $20 million, Clinton sources say, was supposedly a cut of the profits generated by deals that Clinton had a hand in.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailyb...

Just to add since Peeder fucking deleted every fucking thing, Norman Hsu hosted one of his "fundraisers" at Burkle's mansion - even though the Clintons would have you believe Hsu was a nobody starfucker.

globalization & the piracy business model

by: fairleft

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 18:10:12 PM EDT

The Somali pirates' business model, as reported in an annex of a UN-Security-Council-sponsored report last week (h/t to Counterpunch):

A basic piracy operation requires a minimum eight to twelve militia prepared to stay at sea for extended periods of time, in the hopes of hijacking a passing vessel. Each team requires a minimum of two attack skiffs, weapons, equipment, provisions, fuel and preferably a supply boat. The costs of the operation are usually borne by investors, some of whom may also be pirates.

To be eligible for employment as a pirate, a volunteer should already possess a firearm for use in the operation. For this 'contribution', he receives a 'class A' share of any profit. Pirates who provide a skiff or a heavier firearm, like an RPG or a general purpose machine gun, may be entitled to an additional A-share. The first pirate to board a vessel may also be entitled to an extra A-share.

At least 12 other volunteers are recruited as militiamen to provide protection on land of a ship is hijacked, In addition, each member of the pirate team may bring a partner or relative to be part of this land-based force. Militiamen must possess their own weapon, and receive a 'class B' share - usually a fixed amount equivalent to approximately US$15,000. . . .