Binyam Mohamed was held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years without charge [Reuters]
Binyam Mohamed, an ex-UK resident held at Guantanamo Bay, has arrived back in Britain amid calls for an independent inquiry into allegations he was tortured by captors working in collusion with British intelligence agents.
The Cleanser
By NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
Anthony H. Cordesman, a leading military analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has published a “strategic analysis” of the Gaza massacre.(1) He reaches the remarkable conclusion that “Israel did not violate the laws of war.” The report is based on “briefings in Israeli [sic] during and immediately after the fighting made possible by a visit sponsored by Project Interchange, and using day-to-day reporting issued by the Israeli Defense Spokesman.” Cordesman omits mention that Project Interchange is funded by the American Jewish Committee.
LVSV Leuven, the Catholic University of Leuven & UNESCO Maria-Theresiacollege (MTC), Grote Aula, Sint-Michielsstraat 6, Leuven 3000
Date:
Tuesday the 24th of February 2009
Time:
8pm
The guest speaker will be Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, who will address the
audience on the theme:
“The Israel-Palestine Conflict: What we can
learn from Gandhi”
Norman Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton
University. For many years he has taught political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is
currently an independent scholar.
He is the author of five books which have been translated into more than 40 foreign editions:
Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history;
The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering;
Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict;
Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth;
The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal
account of the intifada years.
He has just completed a new book entitled A Farewell to Israel: The
coming break-up of American Zionism, to be published in 2009.
“A person who can speak with more authority and insight on these topics [Israel and anti-Semitism]
than anyone I can think of.” –Noam Chomsky, father of modern linguistics
“It takes an enormous amount of academic courage to speak the truth when no one else is out there
to support him … His place in the whole history of writing history is assured, and that those who in
the end are proven right triumph, and he will be among those who will have triumphed, albeit, it so
seems, at great cost.” –Raul Hilberg, world’s leading authority on the Nazi Holocaust
This event is free and open to the public.
Location:
Maria-Theresiacollege (MTC), Grote Aula
Address:
Sint-Michielsstraat 6
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Contact person:
Denis Van den Weghe
denis@lvsvleuven.be
+32476293688
… Another Israeli spokeswoman, Tzipora Menache, stated that she was not worried about negative ramifications the Israeli onslaught on Gaza might have on the way the Obama administration would view Israel. She said “You know very well, and the stupid Americans know equally well, that we control their government, irrespective of who sits in the White House. You see, I know it and you know it that no American president can be in a position to challenge us even if we do the unthinkable. What can they (Americans) do to us? We control congress, we control the media, we control show biz, and we control everything in America. In America you can criticize God, but you can’t criticize Israel”
By Dr. Elias Akleh
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bushama Speaks: Pitfalls of Economism
This exchange from the interview with AlArabiyya TV (the station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law) summarizes it for me:
“THE PRESIDENT: Well, here’s what I think is important. Look at the proposal that was put forth by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia —
Q Right.
THE PRESIDENT: I might not agree with every aspect of the proposal, but it took great courage —
Q Absolutely.”
There are several things to be said about this interview, and I don’t believe that there is anything new in it whatsoever.
I mean, CNN is lauding it as an example of how Obama (or Bushama) is willing to reach out to the Muslim world.
I listened to it on my way from SF last night and CNN aired it in full.
First, if the Bushama really wants to be different from Bush he would have selected AlJazeera and not al-Arabiyya. I mean, CNN does not know that Bush spoke to Arabic TV stations regularly, and Rice was a fixture on Al-Arabiyya TV. And they selected Al-Arabiyya because it is “friendly” to US interests and because on Al-Arabiyya TV US officials get softball questions.
If Obama wanted to be different he would have chosen Al-Jazeera because it is the Arabs’ favorite channel. Al-Arabiyya is the US government’s favorite channel, and the US under Obama does not seem to want to respect the choices and preference of the Arab population.
Secondly, Obama chose this station because he wanted to appease the Saudi royal family especially after the moping remarks of Prince Turki–the midwife of Al-Qa`idah and a key ally of the US.
This president is signaling that he will be no different than Bush in coddling the Saudi Wahhabi dictatorship–a key ally of Israel today. Do you notice that Israel does not even make token noise about Saudi arms sales? It used to prod its lobby here in the US to put stiff resistance to any arms sale to Saudi Arabia, and then they deny the existence of a Saudi-Israeli conspiracy.
Apparently, the Saudi King was not pleased that Obama or Bushama called Abu Mazen (the usurping president of the puppet PA) and Mubarak–and of course Olmert–on his first day on the job but not the Saudi autocrat. The president then called him the next day and the Saudi news agency reported that they discussed ways to even “strengthen and expand” the Saudi-American relations. Don’t ever believe the promises of any presidential candidate regarding human rights or democracy when it comes to the Middle East: look at the example of the disgraced and failed president, Jimmy Carter who can’t stop producing boring and insignificant books on the Middle East.
Thirdly, there is nothing that Bushama said that was not said by Bush. The CNN guest, Aslan something who always impresses me with his lack of knowledge on the Middle East when he speaks on the Middle East, kept saying in awe that the president spoke respectfully about respect in his address to Muslims and Arabs. But so did Bush, and Bush went to a mosque in Washington, DC–in order to prepare for the bombs and missiles to fall on Muslim and Arab heads.
Fourthly, Obama in talking about the Middle East–the Palestine question and beyond–suffers from an acute case of “economism” or economic reductionism. He has the tendency to reduce all Arab and Muslim issues to job and medical care. It is NOT only the economy–stupid. It is also about pride and dignity and Palestine AND about freedom from the severe oppression that people suffer under governments that are coddled and armed by the very same US of A. So the words fall hollow here.
Fifthly, Obama as a representative of the White Man (and he can also be referred to as the White Man, analytically speaking just as Margaret Thatcher was a representative of the White Man) did not deviate from the deep racism that characterizes US foreign policy to the Arab-Israeli conflict. I mean when he refers to Israel’s security as “paramount” he is basically saying (like previous US president) that the security of the Palestinians is inferior because they are seen as inferior people.
There is no question about that. It means that and the racism is reflected clearly in the disregard of Israeli WMDs. It never comes up in any interview with US officials on Al-Arabiyya (it is featured regularly in AlJazeera as yesterday’s interview with Brent Ccowcroft showed). Karl Marx wrote somewhere about the danger of covering up the chain with flowers. Obama is no different than Bush but American bombs and missiles under his administration will be decorated and covered with flowers. If that is a reason to celebrate, please open the champagne bottles NOW.
Source
In the Jordanian capital of Amman, demonstrators took to the streets on Tuesday to celebrate Bush’s departure from the White House by tossing shoes at a banner with his picture on it. They did not, however, celebrate Obama’s inauguration as president of the United States of America. In Beirut, a Lebanese-American gleefully screamed at television cameras, “good riddance Mr. Bush, “ahlan wa sahlan” (welcome) Barack Hussein (with emphasis on Hussein) Obama.” In a West Beirut restaurant, US ex-pats hosted a party to watch the inauguration on television, but the celebrations were subdued with scenes of destruction and devastation left by the Israeli war on Gaza flashing on a flat screen behind the bar.
With Saudi-sponsored Al Arabiya channel and Al Jazeera English as exceptions, most Arab satellite stations ignored Barack Obama’s inauguration. State-controlled television stations preferred to lead their news reports on demonstrations of support for the Palestinian cause. The top news was related to Gaza and the Arab Summit in Kuwait. Obama’s inauguration ceremony came third.
When interviewed about Obama, most Arabs expressed a desire to see a real change of foreign policy towards the Middle East, not just a regime change. There is skepticism that Barack Obama will be able to bring about that shift. Many expressed disappointment over Obama’s failure to take a tough stance against Israel over its war on Gaza, even though he was not president at the time.
“As long as the US takes the same pro-Israeli position, there will be no change,” a student at the American University in Beirut asserted.
In Egypt though, members of the opposition, Muslim Brotherhood, saw hope in Obama’s inauguration speech. They referenced his message to the Muslim world:
“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Essam el-Erian, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political committee, was thrilled when he heard Obama saying that “the relationship with the Muslim world should be based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
However, a colleague of mine working for one of Egypt’s largest dailies spoke to me on the condition of anonymity and said, “What Muslims and Arabs should pay close attention to is the second paragraph of Obama’s address to the Muslim world…his reference to those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent.”
“When we have real democracy in the Middle East,” he added, ” we won’t need Obama to save the day for us.”
Jamal Dajani produces the Mosaic Intelligence Report on Link TV
by Michael Carmichael
Global Research, January 20, 2009
planetarymovement.com
As Barack Obama approaches the helm of the American ship of state, he is facing many challenges.
Just as she was being born at the dawn of her journey into history, the American nation is poised on the brink of a new beginning. In those revolutionary times, America faced a roiling sea of danger, uncertainty and trepidation. Today, after more than two centuries of venture, America moves forward beyond and away from the final and most tragic acts of the second Bush presidency.
The American journey has been filled with triumph and tragedy. Triumph over the bonds of colonialism transformed into the tragedy of slavery, Manifest Destiny and the genocide of Native Americans followed by Civil War. Abolition began to right the wrongs of slavery, but America careened forward into the excesses of the Gilded Age and the arrogance of her Imperialist Presidency that extended her empire to the islands of the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The Roosevelts expanded the American vision to encompass economic justice, environmental preservation and the duty to deliver peace beyond our borders. At the same time, American philosophers advocated the virtue of selfishness, the goodness of greed and the siren song of supply side trickle down economic miracles, while Martin Luther King, Jr. marched to the beat of a different drummer to demand the fulfillment of civil rights for our black brothers and sisters.
The US has denied that a telephone call made by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, to George Bush, the US president, led to the US abstaining in a UN vote on the Gaza war last week. In a speech late on Monday, Olmert said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, was left “pretty shamed” at the vote and had to abstain on a resolution she had helped arrange. Sean McCormack, a US state department spokesmen, who was with Rice at the UN last week during debate on the security council resolution, went further and said the remarks were “just 100 per cent, totally, completely untrue”. McCormack said that Washington had no plans to seek clarification from Israel. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Ehud Olmert, said the Israeli leader stood by his remarks. Telephone influence The Israeli prime minister said on Monday that he demanded to talk to Bush last Thursday, minutes before a vote in the UN Security Council on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“When we saw that Rice, for reasons we did not really understand, wanted to vote in favour of the resolution … I looked for President Bush,” Olmert said.Bush, who Olmert said was taken off a stage in Philadelphia where he was making a speech, said he was not informed on the resolution and was “not familiar with the phrasing”. “I’m familiar with it. You can’t vote in favour.” Olmert claimed telling the US president. “He [Bush] gave an order to the secretary of state and she did not vote in favour of it, a resolution she cooked up, phrased, organised and manoeuvred for,” Olmert said. Bush was in Philadelphia on Thursday morning and gave a 27-minute speech on education policy that ended about 10 hours before the UN vote and there was no interruption of the public event. The Israeli prime minister described Bush as an “unparalleled friend” of Israel. UN call Fourteen of the security council’s 15 members supported the legally binding resolution, which has until now failed to stop Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Olmert criticised the UN resolution, saying that “no decision, present or future, will deny us our basic right to defend the residents of Israel”. Israel launched its offensive on December 27, in what it said was an attempt to stop Hamas firing rockets into southern Israel from Gaza. After an intensive air campaign in the first week, Israel sent ground forces into Gaza in the second week of fighting and continues to push deeper into the strip. |
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Did you ever have any illusions about Obama ?
The only solution : the boycott
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