30, December 2013
Israeli Settlements
More and more Israeli politicians are criticizing the linkage of releasing Palestinian prisoners and the establishment of new settlements. Critics warned that such a policy was aimed at keeping the embers of the sham peace process alive and attempting to pacify the extreme right-wing members of Netanyahu’s fractured coalition. Eitan Haber, a veteran Israeli commentator, reflected on the policy by invoking a Hebrew idiom about a bridegroom cannot dance at two weddings, stating that Netanyahu “is attempting to please all sides”. Shimon Shiffer, a columnist for the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, called the planned settlement announcement “a cheap and gratuitous gimmick” that would backfire by angering the Obama administration and European leaders. “Netanyahu is like a cow that gives a bucket-full of milk, only to kick the bucket over.” Shiffer is right - Netanyahu has infuriated both Washington and members of his own party. These include Isaac Herzog, head of the opposition Labor Party; Yaakov Peri, a member of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet; and Orit Struk, a member of the Jewish Home party who is herself a settler. Palestinian leaders have been incensed at the theft of more and more of their land and are now threatening to seek justice through the International Court. European diplomats have warned Israel that its current policies would further isolate the country.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Friday, December 27, 2013
NSA Spying 12-27-13
27,
December 2013
NSA Spying
William
Binny, creator of some of the NSA surveillance code, recently expressed concern that the
agency is drowning in mountains of useless data which has rendered it to be
totally dysfunctional. He also warned
that the temptation for abuse and misuse of the information is extremely
troubling. Internet companies that willingly cooperated with the NSA have now
become some of its most vocal critics concerned that they are losing billions
of dollars of business from overseas clients who have been outraged over the
intrusive activities of the spy agency. The NSA’s massive PR campaign is
beginning to falter; Diane Roark, a House Committee staff member expressed
dismay of the NSA’s virtual paralysis. Binny and his former colleagues created
a streamlined “ThinThread” information filtering code that avoided redundancy
but their efforts were rejected by the NSA hierarchy. Stung by media criticism
the NSA commissioned the FBI to harass and take legal action against the
creators of “ThinThread” who went public with some of their concerns. Never
underestimate the power of big government to abuse its power and silence its
critics. President
Obama, a constitutional lawyer should know better than to defend the gross
overreach of the NSA. It is instructive that the NSA couldn’t cite a single instance in which its mammoth sized haystack of data
circumvented an imminent attack – including the Boston bomber.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Nelson Mandela 12-16-13
16, December 2013
Nelson Mandela
Economic sanctions have been largely unsuccessful and have generally resulted in heaping misery onto the voiceless and impoverished members of society. Most notable examples are Cuba (no regime change in over 5o years) and Iraq where 500,000 men, women and children died as a result of crippling economic sanctions. One notable exception is the successful economic sanctions directed at apartheid South Africa which resulted in the eventual release of Nelson Mandela and the end of the apartheid regime. According to numerous historians, the US, Britain, Israel and other Western nations propped this abhorrent regime for many decades.
It is tragic that the CIA under President Kennedy tipped off the South African government on Mandela’s whereabouts which led to his capture and 27 year incarceration. The CIA also collaborated with the South African government in an effort to undermine the people of Angola’s long struggle to repel the yoke of Portuguese colonial rule. Finally, the US and Israel collaborated closely and assisted South Africa’s nuclear bomb development program. As journalist and professor Linn observed in his recent article, "Obama Failed to Deliver Long-Overdue Apology to Mandela.’ It would have given Mandela some measure of comfort had we offered our remorse for our very serious transgressions to this Gandhi-Christ-like figure before his death.
Nelson Mandela
Economic sanctions have been largely unsuccessful and have generally resulted in heaping misery onto the voiceless and impoverished members of society. Most notable examples are Cuba (no regime change in over 5o years) and Iraq where 500,000 men, women and children died as a result of crippling economic sanctions. One notable exception is the successful economic sanctions directed at apartheid South Africa which resulted in the eventual release of Nelson Mandela and the end of the apartheid regime. According to numerous historians, the US, Britain, Israel and other Western nations propped this abhorrent regime for many decades.
It is tragic that the CIA under President Kennedy tipped off the South African government on Mandela’s whereabouts which led to his capture and 27 year incarceration. The CIA also collaborated with the South African government in an effort to undermine the people of Angola’s long struggle to repel the yoke of Portuguese colonial rule. Finally, the US and Israel collaborated closely and assisted South Africa’s nuclear bomb development program. As journalist and professor Linn observed in his recent article, "Obama Failed to Deliver Long-Overdue Apology to Mandela.’ It would have given Mandela some measure of comfort had we offered our remorse for our very serious transgressions to this Gandhi-Christ-like figure before his death.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Israel’s Growing Isolation 12-13-13
13, December 2013
Israel’s Growing Isolation
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
Israel’s Growing Isolation
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
Israel’s Growing Isolation 12-13-13
13, December 2013
Dear Editor, Israel’s Growing Isolation
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
Dear Editor, Israel’s Growing Isolation
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
Israel’s Growing Isolation 12-13-2013
13, December 2013 Israel’s Growing Isolation
Dear Editor,
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
Dear Editor,
It took a massive shift in human consciousness and awareness to isolate and dismantle apartheid South Africa after many decades of propping up the regime. Now there is growing momentum to isolate Israel and intensify international pressure against its settlement expansion and appalling treatment of the Palestinians.
As Chris Hedges, former New York Times foreign correspondent, so eloquently stated, “Israel is morally bankrupt by the sanctification of victimhood, which it uses to justify an occupation that rivals the brutality and racism of apartheid South Africa”. He observed that “many of Israel’s most enlightened and educated citizens—1 million of them—have left the country.”
In a major show of academic activism, the association of American professors (AMP) with almost 5,000 members voted to endorse an academic boycott of Israeli colleges and universities, making it the largest academic group in the United States to back a growing movement to isolate Israel and exert pressure for it to embrace policies of inclusiveness and respect for human rights. The ASA sited that “Israeli institutions of higher education are a party to state policies that violate human rights."
The association’s boycott vote follows similar actions taken by the leadership council of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and the Association for Asian American Studies.
The Presbyterian Church supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel. The World United Methodist Church resolution went much further by advocating a complete withdrawal of military and economic aid.
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