Wikileaks, Sex and Afghanistan: What Matters Now

by: fairleft

Tue Aug 24, 2010 at 14:50:16 PM EDT

SEX! criminal charges have a way of drowning out substance and dominating the mainstream media take on a 'story'. And, so, Julian Assange being briefly charged over the weekend with rape and still facing allegations of sexual harassment ('molestation' is a misleading translation) can't be particularly good for making the 'Wikileaks story' about the routine killing of large numbers of Afghanistan civilians by the U.S. and NATO (continuing as we speak), or for bringing widespread attention to that aspect of the story.

Certain important things, however, are now fairly clear about the 'Assange charges' story (the best account of which is now here):

1. The facts we know point away from a conspiracy of intelligence operatives generating the initial and quickly dropped rape charge or the now being investigated 'sexual harassment' (or 'unwanted sexual contact') charge. The rape charge looks like it was just a mistake made by a "late hours special prosecutor' not familiar enough with the charges and/or applied Swedish law. However, no one inexpert in the facts and relevant Swedish law should rush to drag the apparently mistaken prosecutor through the mud just yet.

Obama vs Social Security trial balloon is up!

by: fairleft

Fri Aug 20, 2010 at 15:03:37 PM EDT

According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, U.S. Voters Want to Soak the Rich in order to fight the deficit. Matthew Yglesias writes that the only measures a majority of voters supported were

lower Medicare benefits for the rich, higher Social Security taxes for the rich, higher income taxes for the rich, higher corporate income tax, and lower Medicare payment rates. That's pretty much an aggressively leveling agenda.

(Like Yglesias I'll note in passing that the WSJ headlined their 'editorial pretending to be news' on the poll "Voters Back Tough Steps to Reduce Budget Deficit.")

But, unfortunately for all but the ruling elite, for President Obama (through his appointed commission) the way to cut the deficit is to soak the old by cutting Social Security:

In addition to raising the retirement age, which is now set to reach age 67 in 2027, specific cuts under consideration include lowering benefits for wealthier retires and trimming annual cost-of-living increases, perhaps only for wealthier retirees, people familiar with the talks said.

On the tax side, the leading idea is to increase the share of earned income that is subject to Social Security taxes, officials said. Under current law, income beyond $106,000 is exempt. Another idea is to increase the tax rate itself, said a Democrat on the commission.

The next paragraph of the WSJ piece is the 'get a clue' one for those who still don't 'get' Obama:

Alice in Guantanamoland: life for 15-year-old soldier?

by: fairleft

Tue Aug 10, 2010 at 18:45:49 PM EDT

Mr. Khadr was captured by U.S. Forces in 2002, when he was just fifteen years old. Since then, he has been forced into various "stress positions" and left there for many hours on end. He has been suffocated until he passed out, revived, and then suffocated again. He has been terrorized by barking dogs while his head was covered by a plastic bag tied tightly around his neck, making it hard for him to breathe. He was told he was going to be sent to a country where he would be horribly tortured and raped. He has been doused with freezing water and left cold and shivering. He has been interrogated for long stretches of time without being allowed to go to the bathroom, forcing him to urinate on himself. He was subjected to "light pushing," bright lights left in front of his eyes until he could not see. He has spent long periods in solitary confinement, sometimes in very cold temperatures. He has been beaten by interrogators who shackled his hands and feet together, lifting him off the ground and then dropping him many times over. He has been abused until he could not stand, and then used by military police as a human mop to wipe his own urine and pine oil off the floor of an interrogation chamber.

- From Defense Motion to v. Suppress Statements Allegedly Procured Using Torture, Coercion and Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment (pdf file)

Omar Khadr shortly before capture and 7 months afterwards.

Trying a 15-year-old child soldier for murder, the planned sentence life imprisonment, absurd and obscene on so many levels.

. . .

Israel vs Arabs doing 'it' with Jews

by: fairleft

Wed Jul 21, 2010 at 13:03:32 PM EDT

Racist patriarchy in Israel  posted by lenin

This is an example of racist patriarchy. A man, Sabbar Kashur, has been imprisoned for doing nothing more than having consensual sex with a woman, whose name has not been disclosed. Both parties were of age, and no one alleges that the transaction took place without consent. . . . as the woman's testimony in the course of the trial made clear, the only crime that Kashur, now convicted of rape, committed was to have allowed the woman to believe that he was Jewish, when in fact he was an Arab. He did not even actively perpetrate a deceit, merely chatted the woman up and didn't say "by the way, I am an Arab". And that has earned him 18 months in prison, on the basis of a plea bargain. Judge Tzvi Segal explained:

"The court is obliged to protect the public interest from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price - the sanctity of their bodies and souls."

Are you getting it yet? Sex with an Arab constitutes a violation of the sanctity of body and soul - an "unbearable price". This is not a freakish opinion in Israeli society. For example, half of Israeli Jews believe intermarriage between Arabs and Jews is equivalent to national treason . . . Gangs of men in a Jerusalem neighbourhood roam around, behaving as a de facto vice and virtue squad, to 'protect' young Jewish girls from Arabs. One local authority has set up a squad of counsellors and psychiatrists to 'rescue' Jewish girls who are dating Arabs. . . .

The Green New Deal, by 'Green Change'

by: fairleft

Sat Jul 17, 2010 at 20:08:36 PM EDT

Green Change's new campaign: the Green New Deal

. . . The Green New Deal is our answer to the economic and ecological problems facing communities around the world.

The Green New Deal is a platform of policies aimed at creating broadly shared economic prosperity and effecting the transition to a sustainable civilization. . . .

Sign onto the Coalition for a Green New Deal today.

Here's what you endorse by joining the Coalition for a Green New Deal:

THE GREEN NEW DEAL

1.  Cut military spending at least 70%.

2.  Create millions of green union jobs through massive public investment in renewable energy, mass transit and conservation.

3.  Set ambitious, science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and enact a revenue-neutral carbon tax to meet them.

4.  Establish single-payer "Medicare for all" health care.

5.  Institute tuition-free public higher education.

6.  Change trade agreements to improve labor, environmental, consumer, health and safety standards.

7.  End counterproductive prohibition policies and legalize marijuana.

8.  Enact tough limits on credit card interest and lending rates, progressive tax reform and strict financial regulation.

9.  Amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate personhood.

10. Pass sweeping electoral, campaign finance and anti-corruption reforms.

"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? . . .

'Chairman Steele, Afghanistan truth is taboo!'

by: fairleft

Sat Jul 03, 2010 at 22:46:43 PM EDT

This was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. . . .

It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.

Wow, refreshing, a normal person might at first react. Admittedly, you could question the beginning of the statement, since we all know Bush started the Afghan war; but it is also true that after deposing the Taliban Bush kept the war on low or simmer for the rest of his time in office. And Obama has turned the heat way up, doubling the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan (and unleashing McChrystal's assassination squads there, btw). In that reasonable benefit-of-the-doubt context, Steele's first two sentences above are accurate. But oh, what a second paragraph: right on Mr. Steele, and take that, warmongers!

As you'd expect, military-industrial complex and warmonger Republicans are on the anti-Steele warpath. And the other war party, the Democrats, are also attacking Steele, nearly accusing him of treason (yup, that sounds Bush-era familiar). As if we haven't known it for awhile, the party and President swooped into office by peacenik votes is also the other 'support the war or it'll make the troops feel bad' party:

U.S./Canada Chosen G-20 vs. Objective G-20 (w/ chart)

by: fairleft

Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 15:47:32 PM EDT

Well, apparently the G-20 was chosen by the G-7 (in particular the 1999 U.S. and Canadian finance ministers), and that's anti-democratic, of course, and as you'd expect 'The West'-centric. Is it possible, instead, to choose the G-20 transparently and objectively? Well, maybe. Going along with the ostensible, official purpose of the G-20, to gather together finance ministers representing power over the largest chunk possible of the world economy, why not simply call together the finance ministers representing the largest chunk possible of the world economy (sorry, but minus Taiwan).

Using the CIA list of countries ranked by GDP as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), here's how that would look:

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, . . .  

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:

Can't say 'Israeli apartheid' in Toronto

by: fairleft

Wed Jun 09, 2010 at 19:19:11 PM EDT

Let them in the parade and let people along the parade route judge for themselves. I've booed and shouted opinions at a few organizations in gay pride parades.

Do we have to act as if everyone with a sign in a gay pride parade has to follow a certain script?

Geena | June 9, 2010 12:29 PM

It's strange that the phrase 'Israeli apartheid' is now banned at a major political event in Toronto. This involves a pro-Palestinian group that has marched in Toronto's gay pride parade for many years, as have groups supporting Israeli government policies. That 'both sides' approach seems so civilized and democratic, but times are a-changing and not for the better.

Pride festival bans 'Israeli apartheid'
Toronto parade marshal resigns in protest
By Carmen Chai
Windsor Star
June 8, 2010  

This year's Toronto Gay Pride Parade Grand Marshal has resigned and 23 former Pride Toronto activists announced on Monday they have pulled out of Pride festivities after organizers banned the term "Israeli apartheid" from its 10-day event.

"Pride's recent decision to ban the term 'Israeli apartheid' and thus prohibit the participation of the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in Pride celebrations this year is a slap in the face to our history of diverse voices," said Alan Li, a co-founder of Gay Asians Toronto who rejected his appointment as grand marshal.

"Pride's choice to take a pre-emptive step to censor our own communities' voices and concerns in response to political and corporate pressure shows a lack of backbone to stand up for principles of inclusiveness and anti-oppression." . . .

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:

deficit terrorism - they're serious - pix

by: fairleft

Wed May 26, 2010 at 19:08:22 PM EDT

They can't be serious, but they are. Somehow the financiers and 'the market' have taken control of our politicians and the mainstream media, and are going to practice anti-deficit terrorism against their populations, here and in Europe, already hit by deep recession and mass unemployment. Taking Keynes and common sense and doing the opposite, where does it lead? Why do we have to find out?

Dean Baker:

. . . Even though the US and many eurozone countries are projected to be flirting with double-digit unemployment for years to come, their governments will be focused on cutting deficits rather than boosting the economy and creating jobs.

The outcome of this story is not pretty. [fairleft: You could've put that a little stronger, Dean] Cutting deficits means raising taxes and/or cutting spending. In either case, it means pulling money out of the economy at a time when it is already well below full employment. This can lower deficits, but it also means lower GDP and higher unemployment.

This might be OK if we could show some benefit from lower deficits, but this is a case of pain with no gain. . . .

Mark Weisbrot:

Unfortunately the European authorities . . . are . . . committed to punishing the weaker economies by having them cut spending even if it causes or deepens recession and mass unemployment (over 20% in Spain). . . .

'Germany to boost spending €10 billion yearly, 2011-2016' ; - >

by: fairleft

Mon May 24, 2010 at 15:34:15 PM EDT

Monday, May 24, 2010 - 03:42
Germany to boost spending €10 billion yearly, 2011-2016

PARIS (MNI) - The German government will embark on a fiscal prosperity program, increasing the federal budget €10 billion a year from 2011 to 2016 (or the return of full employment), the Financial Times reported Monday, citing unnamed government officials.

The measures, which will include spending increases, increased subsidies to states, and lower taxes, are intended to comply with Germany's new constitutional law requiring that annual public deficits be no less than 0.35% of GDP during recessions. It is also meant to serve as an example to other Eurozone countries that Germany has repeatedly exhorted to boost deficits in order to outpace the EU's 3%-of-GDP deficit requirement during periods of high unemployment.

Germany expects to run a deficit exceeding 5% of GDP this year, and hopes to increase it steadily afterward. The country is expected this year to have a record-high net borrowing requirement of €80 billion, which it also wants to increase beginning next year, unless unemployment declines significantly.

The magnitude of Germany's planned increases are likely to be greeted warmly by fellow EMU members, who hoped that Germany would stimulate demand to provide breathing room for countries mired in recessions much deeper than Germany's that cannot undertake economic growth efforts as robust as Germany can.

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

. . .

Greece: Default, Skip to Argentina 2002

by: fairleft

Mon May 17, 2010 at 16:32:56 PM EDT

Defying BBC and others' severe pessimism, Argentina's economy performed well from 2002 forward, after it decided to default on its debt in late 2001. So, Greece, why not just skip to the Argentina story from the default forward? Why go through your own version of the hell of Argentina's 1999 to 2001, IMF-imposed austerity? Dean Baker:

Argentina's economy shrank in the first quarter of 2002, the quarter immediately following the December default, and then began growing robustly. It continued to have robust growth for 5 more years until it got caught up in the world recession. If we were having an honest debate over Greece, then everyone would be talking about Argentina's remarkable turnaround.

Now the fact seems to be that Greece has bought itself at most a year before its debt is restructured anyway. The Financial Times:

However, most of the lawyers, bankers, and emerging market investors who have worked on the dozens of sovereign defaults over the past three decades have not changed their view on the fundamentals of the distressed European sovereigns. Among them, the betting is that Europe and the International Monetary Fund have bought no more than another six months to a year before a "restructuring".

So, why not skip the year of irrational and severe austerity? Joe Stiglitz:

Michael Hudson vs. 1-sided media/politics/economics on the economic crisis

by: fairleft

Fri May 14, 2010 at 12:01:20 PM EDT

"Because clearly TARP and the stimulus package have worked."

A two-party media/political system sucks. No, Steph, TARP hasn't worked, and the stimulus package hasn't worked. Except for its finance sector, the U.S. is in tremendously deep shit. All the states are broke, and in-power politicians are simply, desperately trying to delay the storm till after the November elections. I don't follow all the details, but one small example: in Illinois current plans (by our Democratic Party governor and legislature) are to impose 40-student class sizes on Chicago's public elementary schools. And, again, these huge local and state government cutbacks are rapidly going to be overwhelming economic anti-stimulus, and countering that? Well, Obama's our nation's leading 'deficit hawk' . . .

So, no, things are not working out but, hey, if things are fine in the part of Manhattan, NY, where you live, or in Georgetown, DC, how are you supposed to know what's going on in the rest of the country? Or the rest of the world.

And the U.S. two-party media/political system offers nothing but neoliberal economics to deal with the Great Recession. (Well, that's not as bad as in Britain, where only neoliberalism is on offer from its three-party media/political system.) So, as usual in the U.S. and Europe, we still need citizen-oriented economics and are not getting it. That economics is in the person of Michael Hudson. I sure hope everybody read this:

Another $1 trillion bailout for the bankers!

by: fairleft

Mon May 10, 2010 at 19:54:46 PM EDT

Debt crisis: £645bn rescue package for euro reassures markets ... for now

Yeah, seen this before, a trillion dollars and markets reassured, whoooh!, but just for now . . . They'll get hungry again and we'll have to feed 'em, maybe with Social Security here in the States; whatever, no alternative . . .

Free Money For Rich People

It's important to remember, as it's usually obscured, that the massive European bailout is mostly a massive bailout of European banksters. As was the case here, it can be argued the bailout is the best course, but it also rewards rich people for fucking up.

-Atrios 11:09

About the Euro Crisis: The Experts Are Wrong, the German People Are Right
Fabius Maximus
May 10, 2010 4:20PM

The great and wise tell us that the European unification project - of which the Euro is now center state - is good.  And the foolish German people are short-sighted and foolish to oppose aid to Greece that's necessary to preserve it.  They're wrong.  The German people are right. . . .