Obama and global intifada

By Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2013/08/obama-and-global-intifada.html

It is not difficult to understand the power-game being played in Syria
and no decent human being should stand on the sideline in a conflict
that will shape the future of our humanity.  The global intifada
(uprising) is spreading and it is rejecting war and hegemony and now
even President Obama is reeling under pressure.  It is an earthquake
that is shaking the very foundation of post-WWII world order (what
used to be referred to mistakenly as “the American century” when it
was really the Zionist century).  The British, French and American
public long exposed to Zionist propaganda have joined the revolution.
Politicians started to panic especially after the British parliament
voted against war. This was the first major and stunning defeat to the
US/Israel hegemony of British politics since WWII.

US President Obama was stuck after the British vote and the clear
solid position of Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Russia, China and even
overwhelming public opposition in the US despite the attempt to whip
frenzy by Israel media stooges like Wolf Blitzer of CNN.   Obama was
also stunned by what his own intelligence services told him about
potential repercussions of a military strike on Syria especially
without UN mandate and without US public support.  These repercussions
included presence of strong defensive and offensive capabilities in
Syria. There was intelligence leaks about downed “test” incursion. But
repercussions discussed include strengthening rather than weakening
Iran (after all, this is what happened after Iraq!).  President Obama
spent countless hours talking with his Zionist and non-Zionist
advisers and key government officials (there are no anti-Zionists in
his group). Faced with no good option in trying to maintain Israel/US
hegemony, Obama decided not to decide and shift the debate to Congress
to buy time. Now it is up to the American people who overwhelmingly
reject war on Syria to stand up and pressure the Israeli-occupied US
congress to do what is good for US citizens not what they perceive to
be good for Zionism.

The Russian president spoke of a number of key points that he called
“common sense” while Obama just lied.  Russia and the US had agreed to
the parameters of a political conference in which all sides were
invited. Russia talked the Syrian government into attending this
Geneva conference (even though most Syrians opposed a dialogue with
Western backed thugs and Western backed mercenaries). Under Israeli
pressure, the US administration started to rethink their agreement and
their stooges announced they cannot join discussion with their
opponents unless their opponents are defeated and surrender!  Syrian
government forces then gained momentum against the Western and Israeli
backed extremist rebels and cornered them in very few pockets.  Syria
was opening up and international inspectors were coming.   Putin
rightly points out that under such conditions: who has the benefit of
using chemical weapons: the Syrian government or the rebels trying to
provide excuses for Western defeat of a government they could not
defeat themselves? It is common sense. Syria, Russia and China and all
humanity ask logically: if the US has proof that the Syrian government
used chemical weapons to attack its own people (including its own
soldiers), then give us the proof. They rightly ask why the mandate of
UN inspectors was  limited to only find out if they were used but not
to explore who might have used them. After the lies Israeli and US
intelligence concocted to go the war on Iraq, they now seem rather
reluctant to manufacture evidence again.

Obama lied about many other things and perhaps the only part of his
speech that touched on reality is when he admitted that he is part of
a system and that he cannot make a decision by himself.  The
military-industrial complex is now too entrenched in US politics for
any president to challenge it.  In fact, no one would be allowed to
become president if they were to have even a slight chance of
potential to challenge it.  So Obama says: I am with the machine that
was in place before I came to power and will always be with the
machine.  By this he showed that his campaign rhetoric about “change”
was just what American call “bull-shit”.  That is why Obama is stuck.
When President Obama paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr just a week
ago, he was being hypocritical. King had famously said that the US is
the greatest purveyor of violence on earth.  The US public can and
must push Obama and Congress to change just like they pushed previous
politicians to get civil rights, women’s right to vote, ending the war
on Vietnam, ending US support for Apartheid South Africa and more.

The fact remains that the most destabilizing country in the Middle
East is the one that receives unconditional billions of US taxpayer
money. It is the state that caused millions of refugees and that
introduced weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons to
the Middle East.  It is the state that used white phosphorous and
depleted uranium on civilian populations.  It is the state that
started five wars and that lobbied successfully to ge the US to go to
wars in places like Iraq and Afghanistan that caused millions of lives
lost and trillions of US taxpayer money spent. It is the state that
fits all the criteria discussed in the International convention
against the crimes of apartheid and racial discrimination.

The fact is that this latest Israel-inspired conflict is not about
form of government in Syria. The US/Israel backed dictators in a dozen
Arab countries are far, far worse than Bashar Assad of Syria. The fact
remains that this is a clear attempt by the US through ist secretary
of state under influence from the Zionist lobby and with the support
of puppet rulers in the Arab world to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
 The parameters of this are clear: liquidating Palestinian rights like
the right of refugees to return to their homes and lands, limited
Palestinian autonomy that Palestinian puppets can call a state in
parts of the occupied West Bank in confederation with Jordan.  This
will ensure the “Jewishness” of the apartheid state of Israel. Gaza
would be relegated to Egyptian administration or continuing to manage
it as one Israeli official said “by putting Gazan’s on a diet”.  To
get this program through, resistance must be made to look futile.
Israel set-up a high-level ministerial committee to fight boycotts,
divestment, and sanctions.  Israel told the US that the
Hizballah-Syria-Iran axis must be destroyed. Potentially developing
Arab countries will be broken up into sectarian and other conflicts
(divide and conquer) beginning with Iraq.  They thought Syria is the
next weak link that can be removed in the same way that Libya was
disposed of. They underestimated the level of rejection to their
demonic schemes of divide and conquer.

What happened actually is the opposite. A strengthening block evolved
starting in Iran, Iraq and Palestine and spreading globally.  The
counter-revolutionary efforts are failing and in some cases getting
the opposite effect of unifying and strengthening resistance.  The
attempts by some to ignite sectarian strife in Lebanon failed
miserably.  The positions of China, Russia, Venezuela and other
governments came to reflect the international consensus of resisting
US/Israeli hegemony.  No human being and no government can claim
neutrality.  Neutrality is rather meaningless when there is such an
evel attempt to dominate the world for the benefit of just a few
people at the expense of millions. The vast majority of people in all
countries (Palestine, USA, Britain, France, Russia, China etc) stand
on one side of this against the Zionist attempts to drag the world
into yet one more destructive conflict.  Clearly a win here is a win
for Palestine and a win for all people of the world.

Before we talk about democracy in Syria, we must respect the fact that
the vast majority of people on earth insist that Western governments
respect their own citizens’ will instead of trying to smother them or
shape them with propaganda or bypass them to serve the Israel lobby.
Before we talk about democracy in Syria, we must end apartheid in
Israel, and end the repressive regimes supported by the US especially
those in the oil producing Arab countries.  Perhaps this is the reason
gulf states are pouring billions to fund murderers in the so called
“Syrian rebels” (most of them turn out to be mercenaries).  It is the
same reason that Netanyahu and Obama are both very nervous.  When the
US/Israel program of liquidating the Palestinian cause and destroying
Syria fails (and it will), all bets are off.  People stand up to
tyranny and stand up for human rights and that is why governments (US,
Israeli, Saudi Arabia, Turkey etc) are starting to panic.  They do
have good reason to worry because people power is coming and each of
us must be part of it.  We ask you to join the global intifada which
will liberate oppressors and oppressed alike and create a better world
for all.

One of the great writers of modern times is gone

Elmore Leonard died today. He was 87. He looks remarkably similar to my friend Roger at 87 but they didn't look like each other before that. Elmore created a crisp spartan cinematic style of writing that I now see popping up in other younger writers such as Dennis Lehane, Mystic River author helping himself to the ease of description that relies on very few words and a whole lot of internalized national cultural perspectives. It worked for Leonard for years and years and I'm sorry to say the last book I read of his I didn't finish, a first for me for any Leonard book, because I didn't want to hear the Leonard lingo anymore, it rang false for the very first time and I took the book back to the library unread. Last week. And he died today. I'm sorry, Leonard, I didn't know you were becoming history..

New Israeli settlement homes anger Palestinians

BBC News

11 August 2013 Last updated at 10:42 ET

The issue of building settlements in occupied Palestinian areas halted the last direct peace talks in September 2010

Palestinians have reacted angrily to Israel's approval of nearly 1,200 new Jewish settlement homes, just days before peace talks are set to resume.

Palestinian negotiators said the approval cast doubt on Israel's sincerity in the peace process.
Israel's housing minister said no country in the world would take orders on where it could build its homes.
The issue of building settlements in occupied Palestinian areas halted the last direct talks in September 2010.
About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinians want to establish their state in those areas, as well as the Gaza Strip.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

'Dangerous policy'

  On Sunday, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel confirmed that 793 apartments would be built in east Jerusalem and 394 in several large West Bank settlements.

Kevin Connolly BBC News, Jerusalem

 

Palestinians see continued Israeli construction on the land where they aspire to create a new state as one of the biggest obstacles to peace.

The timing of this announcement may deepen the sense of pessimism that surrounds renewed peace talks even before they've really begun.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel comes from a party which opposes the very idea of a Palestinian state bordering Israel on the West Bank of the River Jordan. He 's now invited private firms to tender for the construction work.

More liberal members of Israel's broad coalition government will be uncomfortable with the tone and timing of the news. Palestinian leaders will be angered but may well have factored the possibility of this type of announcement into their overall political calculations.

Israel is also preparing to free 26 Palestinian prisoners on the eve of this week's scheduled peace talks. Announcing the settlement construction at the same time may be intended as a sop to right-wing supporters of the government who oppose those prisoner releases.

Palestinians said the plans brought into question Israel's commitment to the peace process.

Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh said Israel aimed "to destroy the basis of the solution called for by the international community, which aims to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders".
He accused Israel of trying to "determine the negotiations in whichever way suits it best".

Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters: "If the Israeli government believes that every week they're going to cross a red line by settlement activity, if they go with this behaviour, what they're advertising is the unsustainability of the negotiations."

PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi told the BBC: "We believe that Israel is deliberately sending a message to the US, to the rest of the world that regardless of any attempt at launching negotiations, 'we are going to press ahead with stealing more land, building more settlements and destroying the two-state-solution'.

"This is an extremely dangerous policy, and if left unchecked it certainly would lead to greater conflict and the destruction of all chances of peace."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had previously insisted he would not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze, but relented during mediation by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says Israel's announcement of the settlement construction may be intended as a sop to right-wing supporters of the government.

They had been angered by the government's approval of the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners - a condition set by the Palestinians for the talks to go ahead. The first group is due to be freed on 13 August.
The negotiations are scheduled to start in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The latest Israeli settlement approval invites tenders for homes in Har Homa and Gilo, on East Jerusalem's southern outskirts, and in Pisgat Zeev, on the city's northern edge.

Tenders will also be invited for Ariel, in the northern West Bank, in Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and in Efrata and Beitar Ilit, around Bethlehem.

A housing ministry spokesman told the BBC that construction would begin in one to two years' time.
Mr Ariel said in a statement: "No country in the world takes orders from other countries [about] where it can build and where it can't.

"We will continue to market housing and build in the entire country... This is the right thing at the present time, for Zionism and for the economy.''

Peace with Palestinians? Hah! Not when Eretz Yisrael is the goal all along: A single JEWISH STATE with Pals as houseboys and cleaning women for Zionist settlers in their settlements For Jews Only. And we Americans fund these Jewish racist projects that laws forbidding racial discrimination would never be allowed to be built in any Western nation.

Germany ends spy pact with US and UK after Snowden

 BBC News
2 August 2013 Last updated at 16:54 ET

Germans take data protection very seriously

Germany has cancelled a Cold War-era pact with the US and Britain in response to revelations about electronic surveillance operations.

Details of snooping programmes involving the transatlantic allies have been leaked to the media by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

The revelations have sparked widespread outrage in Germany, where elections are due next month.

The agreement dates from 1968-9, and its cancellation is largely symbolic.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement: "The cancellation of the administrative agreements, which we have pushed for in recent weeks, is a necessary and proper consequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy."

Germans' experience of mass surveillance under the Communist and Nazi dictatorships makes them particularly sensitive to perceived infringements of personal privacy, and the country has strong data protection laws.

The agreement cancelled on Friday gave the Western countries which had troops stationed in West Germany - the US, Britain and France - the right to request surveillance operations to protect those forces.
'No impact'

A German official told the Associated Press news agency that the agreement had not been invoked since the end of the Cold War, and admitted that the decision would have no impact on current intelligence co-operation.A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign Office told reporters that the agreement had not been in use since 1990.

Henning Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations told AP that the German government needed to do something to demonstrate at home that it was taking the issue seriously.

"Ending an agreement made in the pre-internet age gives the Germans a chance to show they're doing something, and at the same time the Americans know it's not going to hurt them. 

"Given the good relations between the intelligence agencies, they'll get the information they need anyway," he said.

Israel's New Chief Rabbi, David Lau, Accused Of Racism

 The Huffington Post  |  By Katherine Bindley 

Posted: 07/31/2013 3:30 pm EDT  |  Updated: 08/01/2013 5:18 am EDT

The newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi -- one of the two men who serve as spiritual authorities for the people of Israel -- is already under fire for making an apparently racist remark, several Israeli news outlets are reporting.

David Lau was addressing a group of ultra-orthodox yeshiva students when he made reference to young people who are observed watching basketball on television in public rather than spending time studying the Torah. His argument was meant to illustrate the point that such a display could undermine the case for youths not being drafted into the Israeli Defense Forces. But according to Israeli news outlet Hareetz, Lau went on to use a racial slur to describe some professional basketball players.

"Why do you care whether these [k]ushim [a derogatory Hebrew term for black people] who are paid in Tel Aviv beat the kushim who are paid in Greece?"

The comment quickly drew the ire of some members of the Israeli parliament. Nachman Shai, a representative of the Labor party, called for Lau to apologize and told the Jerusalem Post that the comment stands in unfortunate contrast to the relatively liberal remarks Pope Francis made earlier this week in reference to not judging gays.

But Naftali Bennett, a minister of religious services and economics, reportedly came to Lau's defense, telling the Post that the media shouldn't be stalking public figures and looking for harmful statements.

Basketball is a strong source of pride for many Israelis: President Shimon Peres recently invited Amare Stoudemire of the New York Nicks to play for Israel's national team. However, Tablet Magazine notes that Lau's controversial comment isn't the first ugly incident to publicly surface regarding the treatment of professional basketball players in Israel.

Pini Gershon, a former coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was caught on camera in 2000 saying he could tell the difference between the intelligence levels of his players by the color of their skin.

Of all the major religions in the world, only one is based on racism: Judaism. the founding Abrahamic religion is based on a blanket racial prejudice belief system, similar to the blanket racism of white supremist ideology. While white supremists believe all non-whites are inferior human beings, so too does rabbinical Judaism find all non-Jews to be inferior human beings. In fact, both bigotry systems believe they are the only real human beings, the others are sub-species. It's in the Talmud and also Judaism's most honored rabbi's theology, Maimonides. The Israeli government sponsored settlement building in Palestine "for Jews only" manifests this inherent racist theology within fundamentalist Judaism. America's government, being totally compromised by Zionist Jewish majority political and economic leadership at top government levels, makes all Americans accomplices to Israeli racist policies. These Jewish settlements, if built in any Western democracy would be instantly condemned for what they are: racism in government social policy.