June 5th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Illegitimate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for a national unity government with the isolated yet democratically-elected Hamas government in Gaza. Given Fatah’s corrupt past and personal dealings with the US to overthrow Hamas, I’d be very wary of any new-found desire by Abbas to finally work together. However, diplomacy is always a good thing, and Hamas has welcomed Fatah’s sudden desire to communicate with them.
June 4th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
By tossing out the possibility of having direct diplomacy with Iran, John McCain has shown that he is in favor of more of the same failed strategies which lead nations to war. War is not the last option to the US and AIPAC, it’s the only option. The US and Israel are committing “crimes against peace” under the UN Charter and Nuremberg Principles with rhetoric that prepares the groundwork for moving against Iran militarily. Outright lies and “what if” scenarios are irresponsibly catapulted into the public to validate imperialist dreams of nuclear annihilation.
Part 2 of this video can be found here
Outside the Western corporate media bubble, it is clear that the US and Israel have been the true threats to peace in the region by making conflict unavoidable. Despite the glaring historical failure of their policies, both countries remain in denial - consistently patting each other on the back to affirm that they’re sane while the rest of the world is unreasonable. And this intentional ignorance is not confined to just the ultra-right wing of both nations. Listen to the following excerpt from Barack Obama to AIPAC and tell me it doesn’t sound like it was lifted from John McCain’s speech.
June 3rd, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Since Annapolis, Israel has issued over 17,000 new tenders for housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians say this is a policy that destroys any prospect of peace and renders establishing a viable Palestinian state impossible.
Israel’s Prime Minister is courting new controversy by approving the building of nearly 900 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Many Palestinians are fighting to keep their land, and one farmer, Mohamed Elian, in Bethlehem has made it a life-time commitment from his cave.
For almost 4 decades, he has lived in a cave in his land in the village of Wad Fukeen to make sure his land is not lost to the expanding Israeli settlement nearby.
May 29th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu was sent to Gaza earlier this week by the UN Human Rights Council to lead a long-awaited investigation into the shelling of a Palestinian house in Beit Hanoun by Israeli security forces, in which 19 members of a the same family were killed in November 2006. Archbishop Tutu was sent only days after the incident in 2006 to conduct the inquiry, but was denied a visa by the Israeli government who said the council would politicize the issue by criticizing Israel.
Tutu and his team visited Beit Hanoun on Wednesday to interview witnesses of the attack. In 2006, the Israeli military drastically reduced their ’safety’ margins, despite being warned of an inevitable increase in Palestinian civilian deaths and injuries. This resulted in 19 members of the Athamna extended family being killed by Israeli tank shells as they slept. Tutu will prepare a report to present to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
All 19 of those killed were asleep in their house when the shells struck early in the morning. 14 of the 19 Athamna family members killed were women and children. As the family poured out of their house they were hit by six or seven waves of Israeli shells. The massacre came only a day after the Israeli military had ended an illegal six-day incursion into the town, which had left another 50 Palestinians dead.
After much delay and obstruction, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Archbishop Tutu was finally granted a visa to enter through the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. Tutu said the 2006 incident was a “violation of human rights in the fact that civilians were targeted,” and also came out against the current Israeli blockade on Gaza, which he said had turned the occupied territory into a “desolate and scary” place.
The blockade, which has resulted in shortages of fuel and basic goods, is a form of collective punishment which Tutu has described as another “gross violation of human rights”. Tutu also said that from his experience in South Africa as an anti-apartheid activist, that “peace came when former enemies sat down to talk”.
May 27th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Gareth Porter takes a look at the evidence the US has that Iran is training “insurgents”, and goes on to explain why no progress will be made as long as the US continues to insist that those oppressed by its illegal actions recognize the legitimacy of its occupation.
May 20th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Bush publicly disowned the National Intelligence Estimate which concluded that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, former Bush-appointed US ambassador to the UN John Bolton has stated that the US must attack Iran to “win” in Iraq, there has been a naval build-up in the Persian Gulf along with an increased US troop presence along the Iranian border, and Admiral William Joseph Fallon was forced to resign for opposing war with Iran ever since his confirmation hearing in 2007.
These are just a handful of examples which suggest that war with Iran is not just an “option” to the Bush administration, but a desired goal. We have saber-rattling followed by complete denial. Talk about sending mixed signals. At least Israel is consistent with their message that they want to wipe Iran off the map.
May 16th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
“It is far better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
After Adolph Hitler dissolved Austria into the Third Reich, he then began to demand that the German minority in Czechoslovakia also be reunited with the fatherland. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler out of fear by signing the Munich Agreement, which annexed Czechoslovakia’s heavily fortified Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia the following year.
Anyone who honestly tries to compare Nazi Germany to modern day Iran either has no clue about World War II, no clue about Iran, or both. Kevin James operates under the notion that the loudest debater wins the argument, but Matthews has a rare moment of journalistic integrity by not letting him pull the Nazi card. James references a moment in history he is clearly ignorant of, and Matthews does not let him get away with it. At least temporarily, Chris deserves the title of “bus driver” for taking James to school.
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