The Largest Minority

October 4th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Thousands of monks have been rounded up in Burma during the government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Hla Win, a chief of military intelligence and recently defected senior official of the ruling junta, has said that monks are being “killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle.” Liselotte Agerlid, a Swedish Diplomat who visited during the protests has said that Burma now faces decades of repression. “The Burma revolt is over,” she added.

The reports follow claims from a former intelligence officer in Burma’s ruling junta that thousands of protesters have been killed and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle.

Public anger ignited on August 19 after the government increased fuel prices, then shifted into protests led by Buddhist monks against 45 years of military dictatorship.

Soldiers responded last week by opening fire on unarmed demonstrators. The demonstrations have now died down.

Burma’s junta leader Than Shwe yesterday stalled a UN envoy, putting off hearing international demands for an end to the crackdown on democracy advocates.

News of the jailings comes after a former intelligence officer for Burma’s ruling junta revealed the true extent of killings to clamp down on protests.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: “Many more people have been killed in recent days than you’ve heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand.”

Mr Win said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men.

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September 19th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Qassam rockets fired by Palestinian militants, in response to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, have killed only 12 people since 2001, yet the Jewish state is now saying that these unguided homemade rockets are enough of a threat to declare the entire occupied territory of Gaza a “hostile entity”.

Israel is intent on cutting off vital water supplies, along with fuel and electricity to Palestinian civilians. Such a move would constitute collective punishment, which is in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said at a security cabinet meeting Wednesday that the plan is to inflict anguish upon the entire region, which they believe is justified if it will weaken Hamas, the party which was democratically elected in 2006 as the government of the Palestinian people. Barak also confirmed that Israel is preparing for a large-scale military incursion into the occupied territory as a means of further punishment. “Every day that passes brings us closer to an operation in Gaza,” he said.

By declaring Gaza a “hostile entity”, Israel intends to create the same loophole that the Bush administration created by declaring detainees “illegal enemy combatants”. Under this new definition, the Jewish state can argue that international law no longer applies to any of the 1.5 million inhabitants there. This is Gitmo on a much larger scale (sans the food, healthcare, and desire to keep you alive).

Such a blatantly immoral action will be the most severe measure ever taken by Israel in retaliation to rocket fire. By essentially declaring all of Gaza a “hostile entity”, the territory will be fully transformed into one giant concentration camp where the mistreatment, starvation, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is the expressed directive of the Jewish state.

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Occupied Gaza can only wait to be destroyed. We’re the ones with the power to force Israel to adhere to international law. Americans can not in good conscience support any politician who supports Israel without condition.

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June 21st, 2007 by Manila Ryce

As we liberals were distracted by the hoopla over Bush’s predictable stem cell bill veto, the House of Representatives voted 411-2 to pass the Rothman-Kirk Resolution, calling on the UN Security Council to punish Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for violating international laws pertaining to genocide.

If you’ve ever wondered just how many representatives are controlled by the pro-war ideology of AIPAC, now you have your answer - all but two. As if you hadn’t guessed already, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul were the only two members of the House to stand up against this anti-Iranian propaganda. As usual, both men have shown themselves to be the only presidential candidates, serving in congress, who give a damn about the international perception of our country.

With the help of both Democrats and Republicans, the Israeli government is essentially trying to make it an international crime to question their legitimacy. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines the act of genocide as, among other things, the act of killing members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the targeted group.

The Rothman-Kirk Resolution quotes Ahmadinejad’s violations of the convention. Such offenses include a speech in which he said the Middle East would be better off “without the existence of the Zionist regime”, and called the Israeli government an “illegitimate regime” with “no legal basis for its existence”. He then accused the United States of using Israel as a proxy to control the region and its oil resources.

When one takes President Ahmadinejad’s words in context, you see that he is not calling for genocide against the Jews, but for the destruction of Israel’s Zionist regime, which has been occupying Palestine for 40 years and been on the offensive against its neighbors for even longer. It’s hardly anti-Semitic to be opposed to such a government. Using congress’ logic, we could say just as easily that our own president is guilty of violating the convention by calling for all Koreans and Persians to be exterminated when he insists that the world would be safer without the governments of North Korea or Iran in place. Luckily, we’re smarter than that, right?

Like most Americans, Ahmadinejad has also called for an end to the Neocon administration of America. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party seems to think that getting rid of any murderous leader, whether it be Bush or Olmert, is an option which should not even be considered. Hillary Clinton, for example, said we should support the government of Israel “no matter who the government is“. While that statement should send chills up the spine of any sane person who believes human rights are indeed rights, such blind allegiance has been the exact policy of our government for decades.

As was made obvious by the politically motivated knighting of Salman Rushdie, which was done to retaliate against the British sailor situation, the strategy right now amongst western countries is to simply piss off Iran with isolation, punishment, and childish taunts until they give us the slightest reason to invade.

There is plenty to bash Ahmadinejad for, but if he is truly guilty for what he’s said about Israel, then our own government officials ought to be charged for their remarks as well. The US and Israel have suffered no disciplinary action from the international community for even threatening to use nuclear weapons against the Iranian population. Even Democratic presidential candidates like Obama and Clinton have said that “all options are on the table”. The United States and Israel don’t make empty promises when it comes to military action. The same threats were made to Saddam just before the US wiped his regime off the map. More recently, the democratically elected Hamas government was exiled to occupied Gaza by a US/Israeli-funded coup. Unlike Israel, and its arsenal of around 200-300 nuclear weapons, Iran has much to fear.

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June 12th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani wrote a major piece for the London Review of Books this year called, “The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency.” In his piece, Mamdani explains how terms like �genocide� are used to conveniently demonize our enemies, with Darfur being the main example of this double standard. Mamdani responds to the new sanctions forced on the Sudanese government by President Bush. The Save Darfur Coalition saw the sanctions as a positive step; however, it was opposed by many aid groups working in Sudan as it makes logistics and transportation harder for their workers in the field.

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May 19th, 2007 by Calypso

Recently appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi warned activists planning to start a boycott against the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games that their campaign would fail, and that they should not �politicize� the Olympics.

Human rights activists and over 100 politicians have called for a boycott on the Beijing Olympics to show contempt over China�s arm trade with Sudan. They’ve asked the Chinese president to use China�s influence and position to help end the genocide.

The move comes after China appointed an envoy to deal with the Darfur region after they were accused of breaking a UN arms embargo by continuing to sell arms to Sudan - an oil provider.

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May 8th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

After refusing to support a resolution to deploy UN peacekeepers into Darfur and failing to exercise leverage over one of its major suppliers of oil, China is finally supporting a UN plan to deploy peacekeepers, sending about 300 of its own engineers.

China has previously used its veto power at the UN to block international intervention, which would stop the genocide in Darfur. The UN estimates that over 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since the violence began in 2003.

The US state department has called the decision a �positive development�. A press officer for the department said the Chinese engineers will help prepare for the arrival of a hybrid force, consisting of 3,000 United Nations and African Union peacekeepers. Although the Sudanese government has yet to agree to it, the UN plans to send another 17,000 troops after the smaller initial deployment.

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May 7th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Not only is Israel guilty of apartheid, but the Jewish state has also engaged in the process of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Over 80 percent of the population is surviving on less than 2 dollars a day. Palestinians are born into a prison where every single aspect of their lives is at the mercy of the Israeli government. This documentary shows how appalling and psychologically damaging their situation is. US support for Israel from nearly every Democratic and Republican member of Congress is responsible for this. As US citizens, we’re obligated to withdraw our own support for these representatives, and work to finally end 40 years of occupation.

March 3rd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

The United States possesses three types of Weapons of Mass Destruction: chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nuclear weapons. The unsettling abundance of the latter has urged other non-nuclear nations to strive towards obtaining their own, crushing the theory that large nuclear stockpiles work as a deterrent. Still, in 2003 the Bush administration rejected a Russian proposal to reduce the nuclear stockpiles of both nations to 1,500 each. Instead, they decided to research the development of smaller nuclear weapons. In 2004, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists listed about 7,000 operational and 3,000 reserve warheads in the hands of the US government. With no plans for true nuclear disarmament, it�s likely that the current US stockpile figure is higher than the 2004 figure.

The United States has recently selected a design for a new generation of nuclear warheads, made for the nation�s sea-based arsenal. The department of energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) insists that the new nuclear warheads will not increase the US army’s stockpile, but will replace aging warheads. After congressional approval, the new warheads will be produced under the direction of the US Navy.

The Bush administration is currently wagging a finger at North Korea for their nuclear weapons program and planning an attack against Iran for their nuclear energy program. This hypocrisy is amplified by history when you consider that the United States is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons during war, primarily against civilians. John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said, “When the US says we’re going to build new nuclear weapons, and we go to Iran and say you cant have nuclear weapons at all, that is just going to be one more reason why the folks in Iran … are going to dismiss it as US hypocrisy.”

The NNSA has a 2008 budget of $88 million for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. One of the goals of the program is to “render unauthorized use of weapons impossible”. The new design reportedly includes a device to lock a weapon�s nuclear element so it cannot be used by an enemy. Isn�t it reassuring to know that nuclear genocide will only be delivered once more by American hands?

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