Hollow Victory
(John Mearsheimer) — In Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, it simply does not matter whether the United States wins or loses. It makes no sense for the Obama administration to expend more blood and treasure to vanquish the Taliban. The United States should accept defeat and immediately begin to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan.
Of course, President Obama will never do such a thing. Instead, he will increase the American commitment to Afghanistan, just as Lyndon Johnson did in Vietnam in 1965. The driving force in both cases is domestic politics. Johnson felt that he had to escalate the fight in Vietnam because otherwise the Republicans would lambaste him for “losing Vietnam,” the same way they accused President Harry Truman of “losing China” in the late 1940s. Read More…
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Netanyahu heads to U.S., under threat of Palestinian statehood declaration
Concerns are growing in Israel’s government over the possibility of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, a move which could potentially be recognized by the United Nations Security Council.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently asked the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to veto any such proposal, after reports reached Jerusalem of support for such a declaration from major European Union countries, and apparently also certain U.S. officials.
The reports indicated that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over U.S. recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Such recognition would likely transform any Israeli presence across the Green Line, even in Jerusalem, into an illegal incursion to which the Palestinians would be entitled to engage in measures of self-defense. Read More…
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Palestine Pre-1947
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjEBQ_bE7uA
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Combating anti-Semitism or shielding Israel?
Submission to the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism
By: Joanne Naiman, a retired sociology professor living in Vancouver
“I am writing this submission as a sociologist, a Jew, and a long-time opponent of all forms of oppression. As a person of Jewish descent, I obviously have a personal interest in seeing anti-Semitism addressed wherever it appears. However, as a social scientist I feel the term is currently being used without much precision.” /…/
The Evil Empire
The U.S. government is now so totally under the thumbs of organized interest groups that “our” government can no longer respond to the concerns of the American people who elect the president and the members of the House and Senate. Voters will vent their frustrations over their impotence on the president, which implies a future of one-term presidents. Soon our presidents will be as ineffective as Roman emperors in the final days of that empire.
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- UN Security Council to take up Goldstone report
- U.N. Affirms Israeli-Hamas War Crimes Report
- Iran will not send N-fuel abroad: Senior MP
- U.S. State Department: Israel is not a tolerant society
- Obama fails in Middle East
- Goldstone and Gaza
Russia officially declares right to nuke potential aggressor
A new version of Russia’s military doctrine will contain details of using nuclear arms when repelling aggression with the use of conventional means of destruction in both large-scale and local armed conflicts.
Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper that Russia would consider an opportunity of using nuclear arms depending on circumstances and intentions of a potential enemy.
“In situations critical for national security, a preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor is not ruled out,” he said. Read More…
Related:
- Nuclear strike – Russia’s only way to defend itself?
- Who should fear Russia’s new military doctrine?
- Russia’s new military doctrine allows pre-emptive nuclear strikes
- Russia to use military force abroad only as last resort – Medvedev
- Russia’s Federation Council to review bill on using troops abroad
- Russia’s State Duma passes bill on sending troops abroad
- USA prepares to attack Russia in 3 or 4 years?
- Russian general says Georgia may start new war in the Caucasus
A Nation of Golems
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 344-36 in support of H. Res. 867, a vote to reject the Goldstone Report Findings and Recommendations, thus protecting Israel against indictment for crimes against humanity and illegal acts of war as determined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s special investigation of the Christmas invasion of Gaza this past year.
The House of Representatives, acting as a body, embodies the most heinous machinations of the ancient legend of a mythical beast called the Golem. Read More…
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Is Obama’s Iran policy doomed?
China has a massive investment in Iranian energy and is willing to supply gasoline to that country in the face of United States threats of sanctions. The attitude of China – and Russia – towards Tehran’s nuclear plans also varies radically from Washington’s. In the face of this, US President Barack Obama’s current Iran policy is unlikely to work. Read More…
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UNGA begins debate on Goldstone report, draft resolution
Delegates to the UN General Assembly began discussing the draft proposal that seeks to push forward investigations into war crimes alleged by the UN-mandated Goldstone report on Wednesday.
The draft resolution, submitted by several Arab states, asks that the report be handed up to the UN Security Council for discussion and also be placed under the supervision of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, who would oversee the progress on independent investigations into allegations by both Israel and the Gaza government. Read More… | Link 2
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- UN Secretary General set to pass Goldstone report to Security Council
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- General Assembly backs findings of UN report into Gaza conflict
- UN endorses Goldstone report
- Breakdown of UNGA vote on Goldstone Report
- UNGA Draft Resolution on Goldstone Report | Update 1 | Final Update
- The battle over Palestinian representation
- UN assembly to vote on Gaza resolution
- The Goldstone Report - (PDF)
Erekat: Two-state solution may have to be abandoned
The continued expansion of Israeli settlements could force Palestinians to abandon the notion of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday. It may be time for President Mahmoud Abbas to “tell his people the truth, that with the continuation of settlement activities, the two-state solution is no longer an option,” Erekat told a Ramallah news conference, according to Reuters. Read More…
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Israel warns of new Gaza offensive
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi has threatened a new offensive against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, suggesting attacks on civilian targets.
Ashkenazi repeated Tel Aviv’s allegations against Hamas, accusing the Islamic movement of hiding weaponry in public buildings and residential areas.
He said the Israeli army could be fighting in cities, mosques, hospitals, schools and even kindergartens, blaming the indiscriminate warfare and a likely targeting of civilians on Palestinian resistance fighters.
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said Ashkenazi’s remarks were made in an attempt to justify Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and could as well be meant to justify future crimes. Read More…
MTW comment: “…Ashkenazi repeated Tel Aviv’s allegations against Hamas, accusing the Islamic movement of hiding weaponry in public buildings and residential areas…” – And where are the freedom fighters, defending their cities and their homes, supposed to store their weaponry? They don’t have military bases, they don’t have an army. Israel does not allow that. Due to the absence of official military structures and due to the fact that Israel does not recognize legitimacy of the Hamas government, the entire underground resistance against Israeli occupation is civilian. This is why captured Palestinian fighters are not treated by Israel as prisoners of war. Magician Ashkenazi is trying to have it both ways. We can see through it. Nice try, but no, thanks. It ain’t gonna work.
UN chief tells Israel to stop provocative actions
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged Israel to end its “provocative actions” in East Jerusalem Al-Quds and to freeze all its settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. “The Secretary General is dismayed at continued Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem, including the demolition of Palestinian homes, the eviction of Palestinian families, and the insertion of settlers into Palestinian neighborhoods,” a UN statement said on Tuesday.
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Hizbollah goes public with security worries
A series of mysterious events along Lebanon’s tense border with Israel, as well as growing concern that the Shiite community could be targeted by Sunni militants, had pushed Hizbollah to increase security to previously unseen levels, according to members of the Shiite movement, as well as independent observers.
Hizbollah officials and members say the group faces a series of threats that, when combined, pose some of the greatest security challenges that the group has seen since the end of the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s.
“We have moved to the highest state of alert we have,” said one Hizbollah military commander who is responsible for security in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Read More…
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- Israel may begin new war in Lebanon in spring 2010
- Israel accused of fabrication over Iran shipment
- Iran and Syria deny arms claims
- Lebanon authorities detain ‘arms ship’ crew for questioning
- Israel releases arms ship said destined for Hezbollah
- Netanyahu: Iran’s shipment of arms to Hezbollah – a war crime
- Hezbollah denies Israel’s arms ship claims
- Cargo ship seized by Israel not carrying weapons: Iranian FM
- Israel seizes arms ship from Iran bound for Hezbollah
