For the information of our readers

By Nasir Khan, Feb 18, 2012

Because of some physical difficulties, I will not be posting any articles on my blogs or write any comments on any internet articles in the coming weeks. But I hope to resume posting when the present condition improves.

Chomsky: The imperial way - American decline in perspective, part 2

The US’s presumed right to impose its will on the world, by force if necessary, has not changed. But its capacity to do so has

• 
• • Noam Chomsky for TomDispatch, part of the Guardian Comment Network
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 February 2012

An Iranian female student during a demonstration marking the 32nd anniversary of US Embassy in Tehran, 2011. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

 

In the years of conscious, self-inflicted decline at home, “losses” continued to mount elsewhere. In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination, another serious loss. The region has moved towards integration, and has begun to address some of the terrible internal problems of societies ruled by mostly Europeanized elites, tiny islands of extreme wealth in a sea of misery. They have also rid themselves of all US military bases and of IMF controls. A newly formed organization, CELAC, includes all countries of the hemisphere apart from the US and Canada. If it actually functions, that would be another step in American decline, in this case in what has always been regarded as “the backyard”.

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Chomsky: American Decline in Perspective, Part 1

By Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch.com, Jan 14, 2012

Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated — Japan’s attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example.  Others are ignored, and we can often learn valuable lessons from them about what is likely to lie ahead.  Right now, in fact.

At the moment, we are failing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s decision to launch the most destructive and murderous act of aggression of the post-World War II period: the invasion of South Vietnam, later all of Indochina, leaving millions dead and four countries devastated, with casualties still mounting from the long-term effects of drenching South Vietnam with some of the most lethal carcinogens known, undertaken to destroy ground cover and food crops.

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Glenn Greenwald: U.S. drones targeting rescuers and mourners

Glenn Greenwald, uruknet.info, Feb 6, 2012

Images from a Predator B unmanned aircraft are seen on a monitored at the Naval Air Station, in November, in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Credit: AP) (updated below – Update II – Update III) On December 30 of last year, ABC News reported on a 16-year-old Pakistani boy, Tariq Khan, who was killed with his 12-year-old cousin when a car in which he was riding was hit with a missile fired by a U.S. drone. As I noted at the time, the report contained this extraordinary passage buried in the middle: Asked for documentation of Tariq and Waheed’s deaths, Akbar did not provide pictures of the missile strike scene. Virtually none exist, since drones often target people who show up at the scene of an attack. What made that sentence so amazing was that it basically amounts to a report that the U.S. first kills people with drones, then fires on the rescuers and others who arrive at the scene where the new corpses and injured victims lie. Continues >>

Tags: abc news, corpus christi texas, Glenn Greenwald, missile strike, tariq khan, uruknet info

Get the Data: Obama’s terror drones

 by Chris Woods , Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Feb 4, 2012


The remains of a house destroyed in a CIA drone strike in Waziristan, April 2009 (Noor Behram)

As part of its ongoing investigation into the US covert war the Bureau has examined thousands of credible media reports relating to more than 310 Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in Pakistan.

These incidents were reported by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, CNN, ABC News, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and reputable Pakistani media (see bottom table).

CIA drone strikes tend to be reported on a case-by-case basis. Yet it became clear to the Bureau that a number of specific tactics were being deployed. These included multiple attacks by drones on rescuers attempting to aid victims of previous strikes. There were also a number of credible reports of funerals and mourners being attacked by CIA drones.

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Hundreds of slaughtered civilians isn’t a ‘huge number’ for Obama

Russia Today, Feb 1, 2012   On Monday afternoon, Barack Obama became the first president to host a virtual town hall live on the Internet. While that might be a feat worthy of the record books, President Obama did something else during his address that America has become accustomed to: he lied to the world. Speaking Monday during a live web-chat hosted by Google, the president took on a series of issues submitted by the American people. Over the span of 45 minutes, President Obama addressed the Stop Online Piracy Act while refusing to side with either end of the argument, admitted to the world that he isn’t all that swell of a dancer and took a query from a professional puppeteer. In between ignoring the real issues or offering any sort of solid solution to the nation’s biggest problems, the president did put something rather important out for the world to ponder: America’s ongoing drone missions aren’t really all that bad. Continues >>

Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience

By Stephen Lendman , War Is  A Crime.org, February 1, 2012

In 1948, brute force established Israel. In 1967, militarized occupation of one-fifth of former Palestine followed.

An entire people suffer. Collective punishment is official policy. So are torture, violence, land theft, apartheid, injustice, and other forms of state-sponsored terror.

They include imprisoning Palestinians for wanting to live free on their own land in their own country. As a result, since June 1967, over 750,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned.

Arrests occur regularly. Middle-of-the-night raids terrorize nonviolent men, women and children. Alleged “ticking bomb” ones are held in the name of “security.” So are various other type political prisoners. Denied all rights, they’re brutalized for praying to the wrong God.

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Tags: brute force, collective punishment, nonviolent men, political prisoners, praying to the wrong god, war is a crime

Arab Intelligence Agencies Collaborate With Mossad to Detain, Extradite Hamas Activist to Israel

 Richard Silverstein, Tikum Olam, February 1st, 2012 

 

Imprisoned Palestinian engineer, Jafar Daghlas

In a story reminiscent of the kidnapping of Dirar Abusisi, a Palestinian engineer known for his activities in support of Hamas, has been arrested and interrogated for long periods by the Mukhabarat in both the United Arab Emirates and Jordan:

Was Israel behind the overseas arrest of a Palestinian engineer suspected of ties with Hamas? The arrested man thinks it was – but Hamas blames the Palestinian Authority.

Jafar Daghlas, 27, a resident of the West Bank town of Burka who until recently lived in Abu Dhabi, has been questioned by two different Arab security services recently – those of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. He suspects Israel was trying to get him extradited here

The victim enlisted the support of a professional engineering association in Jordan and Friends of Humanity, a human rights NGO which intervened on his behalf to prevent what he expected would be his extradition to Israel.  It appears too that if he had been extradited and imprisoned in Israel, this would’ve been doing the PA’s bidding as well, since it accuses him of fundraising and arms trafficking on behalf of Hamas.  It’s quite a cozy, comfy relationship all these mukhabaratnikim (there probably isn’t even such a Hebrew word, but I like the sound of it) have with each other.

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Tags: engineering association, hebrew word, human rights ngo, long periods, mukhabarat, United Arab Emirates

Libya: When yesterday’s rebels become today’s torturers

Rupen Savoulian, Antopodean Atheist,   Jan 30, 2011

 

The United Nations Convention against Torture (CAT), adopted back in 1984, specifies that no person should be subjected to any kind of torture, cruel or degrading treatment. This convention follows on from the 1975 adoption of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Article One of the United Nations Convention Against Torture defines it as the intentional infliction of physical and mental pain for the purpose of obtaining information from a person, or coercing them into confessing to a crime, or forcing them to incriminate a third party to confess to any alleged crime that person may have committed. Such pain and suffering is inflicted with the express knowledge or tacit consent of a person or group acting in a legal and official capacity. Article Two states that there are no exceptional circumstances that may be invoked by any party to justify the application of torture. States of emergency, civil unrest, warfare and so on cannot be used as pretexts to legitimise the use of torture.

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Tags: civil unrest, exceptional circumstances, intentional infliction, pain and suffering, states of emergency, tacit consent