Archive for July 1st, 2009
Venezuela & Iran: Whither the revolutions?
June was a busy month for two of Washington’s real ‘Axis of Evil’. Venezuela’s Chavez completed his nationalisation of oil and Iran’s Ahmedinejad stemmed a Western-backed colour revolution, leaving both bad boys in place.
What drives US foreign policy? Is it primarily the domestic economy, as it logically should be, or, as many argue, the powerful Israel lobby, or as other argue, the need to secure energy sources? Of course, the answer is all three, in varying degrees depending on the geopoltical importance of the country in question. And woe to any country that threatens any of the above.
US ‘has intelligence agents working in Iran’
A former US national security adviser has told Al Jazeera that US intelligence agents are working in Iran.
But Brent Scowcroft said US government support for those in Iran who are protesting against the official results of a recent presidential election would only provoke a more intense crackdown by the government in Tehran.
He told Josh Rushing, the host of Al Jazeera’s programme Fault Lines, that the Obama administration has taken the correct approach in dealing with the unrest in Iran.
MTW comment: Interesting choice of words. Talking about Iranian proterstors, Scowcroft said that they are fighting against “…the combined might of the Revolutionary Guard, the militias, and the police, who are SO FAR completely unified.”
SO FAR? Are the US intelligence agents working on breaking that unity? Was it a slip of tongue? A wishful thinking? Or both?
Quest for Judaization envelops Palestinian house
Israel has demolished a Palestinian house in eastern Jerusalem (al-Quds) without a prior warning, injuring nine people living in the building.
The incident occurred on Monday when Jerusalem municipality authorities tore down a house on the Mount of Olives on Monday morning.
The Israeli police forces who accompanied the bulldozers clashed with those residing in the house and wounded nine people, including four women. Two of the women were taken to the nearby al-Maqasid Hospital. Read More…
Haneya says latest round of dialogue “difficult and tensed”
Deposed prime minister of Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haneya revealed on Wednesday that the latest round of inter-Palestinian dialogue held in Cairo on June 28 between Fatah and Hamas negotiators “was difficult and tensed.”
Leaders of the two groups said earlier they had failed to finalize unresolved issues and disagreed on drafting the final agreement that is expected to be signed in Cairo on July 7. The Egyptian mediators informed the conferees to get back to Cairo on July 25 and that the final deal will be signed on July 28. Read More…
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MTW comment: Why not state Hamas and Fatah’s positions clearly and have Palestinians decide on the unresolved issues in a popular referendum? If the talks fail, the only way forward is to call a new election. Amazing how the simplest and most democratic solution is being “overlooked” by the politicians and their agendas. Perhaps Israel, “the most democratic state in the Middle East”, should suggest it?
Iran: The Next War
Even before the bombs fell on Baghdad, a group of senior Pentagon officials were plotting to invade another country. Their covert campaign once again relied on false intelligence and shady allies. But this time, the target was Iran.
Related:
- Netanyahu: Tyrannical regimes must not be allowed to obtain weapons of mass destruction
(Seems to fit Israel perfectly)
Report cites indiscriminate drone use by Israel
The concerted effort of international human rights activists to rein in violations of laws of war was given a major impetus when Human Rights Watch researchers presented a report [.pdf] Tuesday on the unbridled use by the Israeli military of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCLAV), commonly known as drones, during Israel’s 22-day assault on Hamas in Gaza at the beginning of the year.
Titled “Precisely Wrong,” the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report focuses on six cases of Israeli drone-launched missile attacks in which 29 Palestinian civilians, eight of them children, were killed. Based on cross-referenced eyewitness accounts corroborated by doctors, as well as ballistics and forensic evidence collected on the attack sites, the report asserts that “in none of the cases did HRW find evidence that Palestinian fighters were present in the immediate area of the attack at the time.”
“These attacks violated international humanitarian law,” the report states in unequivocal terms, following a 10-day investigation. Read More…
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Israeli Doctors Colluding in Torture
Israel’s watchdog body on medical ethics has failed to investigate evidence that doctors working in detention facilities are turning a blind eye to cases of torture, according to Israeli human rights groups.
The Israeli Medical Association (IMA) has ignored repeated requests to examine such evidence, the rights groups say, even though it has been presented with examples of Israeli doctors who have broken their legal and ethical duty towards Palestinians in their care.
The accusations will add fuel to a campaign backed by hundreds of doctors from around the world to force Yoram Blachar, who heads the IMA, to step down from his recent appointment as president of the World Medical Association (WMA).
More than 700 doctors have signed a petition arguing that Dr Blachar has disqualified himself from leadership of the WMA, the profession’s governing ethical body, by effectively condoning torture in Israel. Read More…
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