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http://blackagendareport.com/content/treble-army-serve-people
SIRATYST (Stuff I Read and Thought You Should Too) -- “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.” (Calgacus, as quoted by Tacitus, Agricola 30-31)"
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Guns for Buddies: U.S. Weapons Sales Surge Overseas
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RT via Rick Rozoff's Stop Nato blog
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US foreign military sales have shot over $50 billion. Another record-breaking year is expected thanks to US ally Saudi Arabia, which accounts for three-fifths of the sum.
"We have already surpassed $50 billion in sales in the fiscal year 2012," Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told journalists on Thursday.
Though it is three months till the end of the fiscal year, the figure already shows a 70 per cent increase over government-to-government military deals in 2011. Last year also set a record for the US with sales at some $30 billion.
“The sale to Saudi Arabia was very significant,” said Shapiro. The $29.4 billion deal finalized in December included 84 new fighter jets and the modernization of 70 old jets.
Former Canadian diplomat Peter Dale Scott told RT that Saudi’s big contribution to Washington’s revenues may be explained by the long standing “arms for petrol” relations between the two countries.
“During the oil price hikes of 1971 and 1973 the US negotiated an agreement to pay Saudi Arabia higher prices for crude, on the understanding that Saudi Arabia would recycle the petrodollars, many of them through arms deals,” said Professor Scott. “So recently the imports of American hardware to Saudi Arabia have grown significantly.”
The record-breaking figure also includes the sale of the Joint Strike Fighter to Japan, which is valued at approximately $10 billion, according to the State Department.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Cantona, FIFA Join Pressure on Israel, as Hunger Striker Mahmoud Sarsak Determined to Reach Freedom or Death
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http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/cantona-fifa-join-pressure-israel-hunger-striker-mahmoud-sarsak-determined-reach
Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak is still on hunger strike and is determined to continue until he dies or Israel agrees to free him, his lawyer Mahmoud Jabarin said today.
The news came as football legend Eric Cantona and other major public figures, and FIFA President Sepp Blatter, joined the growing international calls on Israel to free Sarsak and end its abuses of human rights.
After coming close to death on Sunday, Sarsak has agreed to take milk only until Thursday when the Israeli Supreme Court is due to review his case.
Last chance to save him
Ma’an News Agency reports today:
Mahmoud al-Sarsak is on his 86th day of hunger strike but is drinking milk to prolong his life until his court hearing Thursday, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Mohammad Jabarein told Ma’an that Israeli prison officials called him to visit al-Sarsak urgently Sunday because he was in danger of dying. Al-Sarsak was briefly hospitalized that afternoon.
Jabarein met with 15 doctors at the hospital, who said al-Sarsak was at immediate danger of paralysis and losing consciousness.
“I decided that al-Sarsak must drink milk,” Jabarein said.
Al-Sarsak was reluctant, but the lawyer said he persuaded him to accept some nutrients so he would survive until his judicial review, which is scheduled for Thursday.
Al-Sarsak agreed to drink milk but would only be fed by his lawyer.
The 25-year-old prisoner has decided that if the Supreme Court does not agree to release him he will refuse all supplements until his death, Jabarein said.
The judicial review Thursday is the “last chance” to save al-Sarsak’s life, Jabarein said.
Life still in danger
Despite his decision to take milk, Sarsak’s life is still in danger, as Ma’an notes:
The prisoner rights group Addameer notes that consuming milk does not break a hunger strike.
A representative of Physicians for Human Rights - Israel told Ma’an that milk is less nutritious than other supplements consumed during a hunger strike, which include vitamins, minerals, salts and glucose.
Drinking milk will not reduce the danger to al-Sarsak’s life, PHRI added.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter urges Israel to act to save Sarsak
FIFA president Sepp Blatter called on the Israeli Football Association (IFA) to urge the Israeli government to act to save Sarsak, whom Blatter said, “is in a very delicate state due to the fact that he has been undergoing a hunger strike for approximately 90 days in protest of his alleged illegal detention.” Blatter’s official statement added:
FIFA urgently calls on IFA to draw the attention of the Israeli competent authorities to the present matter, with the aim of ensuring the physical integrity of the concerned players as well as their right for due process. The matter came to FIFA’s attention following correspondence with the Palestine Football Association, several international media reports concerning the football player Mahmoud Sarsak and a FIFPro media release.On Friday, FIFPro, the international association of 50,000 professional football players called on Israel to free Sarsak.
Football legend Eric Cantona, other public figures join campaign for Sarsak
Football legend Eric Cantona has co-signed a letter with other international figures including Noam Chomksy, filmmaker Ken Loach, international law expert John Dugard to UK Sports Minister Hugh Robertson, UEFA President Michel Platini and other European government and sporting bodies to protest Israel’s actions and the complicity of international sporting bodies.
The letter, the text of which was provided to The Electronic Intifada by bdsmovement.net in an email release states:
We are all shocked at the racist chanting at football matches in Poland and Ukraine where Euro 2012 is being played. Footballing bodies and politicians have been outspoken in their condemnation. Indeed some government officials are boycotting group stage matches in Ukraine because of perceived human rights abuses in that country.
So why are these same groups silent when Israel is to host the U.E.F.A. Under 21s competition in 2013? Racism, human rights abuses and gross violations of international law are daily occurrences in that country.
Israeli government ministers respond to mob attacks on black refugees by denouncing them as ‘infiltrators’ and calling for them to be imprisoned in military camps.
Israeli jails house around 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners, more than 300 of them “administrative detainees” held without charge or trial. One of these is a footballer from Gaza, Mahmoud Sarsak, aged 25. He has been imprisoned for nearly three years. No charge, no trial. In desperation, he has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days and is now close to death. He, and all victims of abuse by the Israeli state, need our support.
It is time to end Israel’s impunity and to insist on the same standards of equality, justice and respect for international law that we demand of other states.’FULL LIST OF SIGNATORIES, SIGNING IN PERSONAL CAPACITY:42 Gazan football clubs wrote a letter to UEFA President Michel Platini over a year ago to protest the awarding of the 2013 Under 21 tournament to Israel. They have received
- Eric Cantona, actor and former footballer
- Noam Chomsky, Professor MIT, USA
- John Dugard, Former Special Rapporteur of UN on Palestine, South Africa
- Trevor Griffiths, Writer, UK
- Paul Laverty, Screenwriter, UK
- Ken Loach, Filmmaker, UK
- Michael Mansfield, QC, UK
- Miriam Margolyes OBE, Actor, UK
- John Pilger, Journalist, author, film maker, Australia
- Show Racism the Red Card
- Ahdaf Soueif, Writer, UK
Friday, June 15, 2012
Israel Arrests Ex-soldier Living in Bethlehem
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via Aletho News: http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/israel-arrests-ex-soldier-living-in-bethlehem/
Today (Last Update) Time 17:10Andrey Pshenichnikov was living near Bethlehem.TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- A former Israeli soldier was arrested recently by Palestinian Authority forces after living in a Bethlehem refugee camp for the past three weeks, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
"I wanted to prove that it’s possible to live with Palestinians, as long as you are not coming off as an enemy," Andrey Pshenichnikov, 24, was quoted as saying by Haaretz.
Pshenichnikov moved to Bethlehem three months ago and was working as a waiter and construction worker.
He told Haaretz that he had moved to Duheisha refugee camp to become part of the "political struggle for Palestinian rights," and had tried to renounce his Israeli citizenship.
The former solider was born in the Soviet Union and had lived in Israeli for eleven years.
PA forces arrested Pshenichnikov on Israel's request, and he was forced to sign a document agreeing not to enter Palestinian Authority controlled areas, Haaretz said.
He was charged with entering a closed military zone.
Duheisha refugee camp dates back to 1949 and has a population of around 9,000 residents.Source: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=495607
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Selling Endless War with Fewer GIs Coming Home in Body Bags [Obama's Dronorama]
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http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/usa-war-on-terror/1587-selling-endless-war-with-fewer-gis-coming-home-in-bodybags
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The weapon, which commanders have dubbed the "Flying Shotgun", has been widely tested by the US Army, US Marines and US Air Force. It has proved so effective that AeroVironment has announced more than US$14m (£9m) worth of Switchblade systems and related engineering contracts in the past 10 months.
The increasing use of drones to target militants under the Obama administration has proved controversial as critics say assassinations conducted by drones amount to extrajudicial killing. Like larger Predator or Reaper drones, the unmanned Switchblade is flown by a "pilot" who monitors the flight from a video screen.
The Switchblade can loiter above the target before being sent in to strike. It typically flies far lower than other drones, often less than 500ft above the ground and is highly manoeuvrable, allowing it to circle in on a fixed or fleeing target.
The Switchblade is designed for use by small ground units who need to attack nearby targets – snipers on a ridge, rebels on a rooftop or an ambush the next ridge over.
Defence analysts believe warfare in the future will see many more mini armed drones which are now called "loitering munitions" and provide ground troops with a view described as coming from "the tip of the bullet".
However, arms control groups and peace activists see the new weaponry as at best controversial. Bruce Gagnon, the co-ordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, said it would not be long before the drones were being used domestically. "People are beginning to see that these technologies are going to be dual use – meaning over there and back here at home," he said.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Human Chain in Ramallah in Support of Courageous Hunger Strikers Sirsik & Rikhawi
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http://www.alresalah.ps/en/index.php?act=post&id=709
http://www.alresalah.ps/en/index.php?act=post&id=709
RAFAH (Alresalah.ps) -- Human rights activists, journalists, along with key figures in the Gaza Strip formed on Saturday a human chain in solidarity with the Palestinian detainees Mahmoud Sirsik and Akram Rikhawi.The activists stood side by side though Rafah, holding up posters and pictures of both, Sirsik and Rikhawi. The event called for activating the cause of the two hunger strikers, and lauded their steadfastness in the battle of empty stomachs."This event aims at drawing attention of both the Islamic and Arab worlds to the hazardous situation both hunger strikers are living in", said Hedayah Shamown, coordinator of Campaign for Supporting Sirsik and Rikhawi. "The campaign will last till the battle of both prisoners is over", added Shamown.Shamown condemned FIFA for silence and ignoring Mahmoud Sirsik's bad health conditions, who has been engaged in a hunger strike for 88 days.Susan Sirsik, sister of Mahmoud Sirsik, demanded the FIFA to adopt her brother's cause. She pointed out that her brother played for Palestine football team and he is holding a card of international player.Yassmin Rikhawi, daughter of detainee Akram, expressed her concerns for the life of her father, who has been hunger striking for 60 days.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Rachel Maddows Is "Adrift" -- From Rick Congress's Blog Post on Her Book "Drift"
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Read Rick's whole blog post here:
http://beatnikmalcontent.blogspot.com/2012/06/rachel-maddows-book-drift-shows-she-is.html
(via Mondoweiss)
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http://beatnikmalcontent.blogspot.com/2012/06/rachel-maddows-book-drift-shows-she-is.html
(via Mondoweiss)
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There is no "drift." There are a couple of centuries of policy: the US will dominate politically and economically whoever it can. If there's no submission, then send in the Marines, or in our higher tech world, the drones. Mark Twain could figure this out. He participated in the Anti-Imperialst League,which opposed the US war of conquest in the Philippines over 100 years ago. Maddow can't figure it out. The stark truth blows her whole rationale out of the water: the USA is good, good, good. But it makes mistakes that can be corrected...by Democrats.
The fact that Obama is far worse than Bush in committing war crimes and shredding democratic rights has escaped Maddow's notice.
Some commentators have suggested that the neo-cons and their obsession with supporting Israel at all costs are behind all this interventionism, at least in the mid-east. We can't point to The Weekly Standard or AIPAC as the motivating forces behind, say, the US marines occupation of Nicaragua from 1927 to 1933; but they have been enthused backers of the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and now Kenya and soon to be Mali.
The use of threats, bullying and military force is a longstanding tradition of the good ole' USA and the latest mid-east wars fit right in. You could say that AIPAC and the neo-cons make everything more reducto ad absurdum and shrill. Also they do hamper the use of more flexible tactics by US imperialism by their "Israel firstism." But in no way would US policy in the world be benign if they had no influence. This is a case of a falling out among thieves. The American people have no stake in what is euphemistically called our "National Interest." National Interest is a code word for the interests of banks, mulit-national corporations, and their political operatives in both parties.
Monday, June 04, 2012
The Voice of a Quaker Hawk -- Scott Simon, NPR & The Empire by Dan Kovalik
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I have to admit that I had the same bad habit of tuning in to Simon on Saturdays (even when he had the war cheerleader Dan Schorr on), but Mr. Kovalik should know the habit can be broken. I have done it and am so much the better! Even though NPR is now Nuanced-Pravda Radio to me, Simon doesn't even have the nuance. Linda
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/04/scott-simon-npr-the-empire/
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http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/04/scott-simon-npr-the-empire/
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Of course, if one were to be honest, and Simon does not aspire to truthfulness in such matters, one could fairly ask whether one should be shaking the hands of Western leaders who have been responsible for much greater loss of human life than al-Assad – e.g., Bill Clinton who killed at least 500,000 children in Iraq due to his crippling sanctions there – a result which his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said was “worth it”; George W. Bush who was responsible for the killing of tens of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan; and Barack Obama who, as we recently learned from The New York Times, personally oversees the killing of scores of ostensible militants (though it is quite arguable whether they truly are) as well as civilians through his drone strikes, and who has carried out mass killings and mayhem through his expansion of U.S. war into Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and Colombia. Simon never dares to ask such questions about these crimes, but rather, cheers them on.
Aside from the obvious hypocrisy here, it would seem that the goal in Syria at this point should be to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict before it descends into a destructive and bloody civil war that would certainly lead to the loss of life of thousands in Syria, and is likely to spill over into other countries such as Lebanon. And, it is just such a peaceful solution which Kofi Annan is attempting through his meetings with al-Assad – indeed, it is hard to know how he is going to pull off such a solution without meeting with the current leader of Syria. And, while the Houla massacre was certainly appalling, it is still unclear exactly who was responsible for it, and whether, even if it were pro-government forces as is most likely the case, they were truly acting under al-Assad’s direction and/or control. Moreover, al-Assad’s forces had, at least up to the point of this incident, shown an ability to honor the cease-fire agreement which al-Assad had made with Kofi Annan. In short, it does not appear that all possibilities for peace have yet been exhausted, and therefore, under any “just war” theory, peace should continue to be pursued.
However, Simon – as much of a Quaker in his commitment to peace as fellow Quaker Richard M. Nixon was – prefers war as the method of solving international crises. And so, he followed up his attack on the UN and Kofi Annan — who, by the way, was correct his in assessment back in 2003 that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify the war against that country which Simon cheered on — with a piece entitled, “A Case for Military Intervention In Syria.” While Simon claimed that he would give the “pros and cons” of such intervention in this piece, he only interviewed one person for the story, and that person, Pentagon analyst Thomas P.M. Barnet, is an outspoken advocate of military intervention. So much for any “point/counterpoint” here.
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Farewell to My Sweet Brother Roger Ramstead
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Carefree highway, you seen better days
The mornin' after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway, let me slip away
Slip away on you
A wonderful musician and a good brother. Goodbye on Nov. 4, 2011.
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| Today, June 3, 2012, we had a Celebration of Roger's Life in Kingston, where we grew up. Many wonderful friends and family came to remember Rog. Thank you to everyone. Love was definitely present. Linda |
Carefree highway, you seen better daysThe mornin' after blues from my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway, let me slip away
Slip away on you
A wonderful musician and a good brother. Goodbye on Nov. 4, 2011.
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