indymedia.org.il - Civil & Human Rights

Libya: Keep the Freedom Flame Alive

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:01:58 +0000

Libya: Keep the Freedom Flame Alive - by Stephen Lendman

Trapped for days in Tripoli's Rixos Hotel, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arranged for the release of over 30 foreign journalists yesterday.

They're now at the Corinthia Hotel, awaiting a boat for transport to Malta, then home via Europe that can't arrive until fighting subsides. Given the chaos and violence, it could be a while.

Among them are heroic independent journalists, unable to report vital truths on the ground. For now, only their safe passage home matters, but what they witnessed firsthand will be sorely missed.

As a result, it'll be much harder to know what's ongoing. Rest assured, this writer and others will report what's known as fully and accurately as possible to keep the freedom flame for all Libyans alive.

They deserve no less in light of what NATO has in mind, including carving up the Libya corpse for profit.

In fact, scrambling for its oil began began last April when Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said energy giant ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni had talks with Transitional National Council (TNC) officials "to restart cooperation in the energy sector and get going again the collaboration with Italy in the oil sector."

In June, the Washington Post said ConocoPhillips, other US oil giants, and related companies also held talks with TNC officials. Engineering firm Quantum Reservoir Impact CEO Nansen Saleri said:

"Now you can figure out who's going to win, and the name is not Gaddafi. Certain things about the mosaic are taking shape. The Western companies are positioning themselves. Five years from now, Libyan production is going to be higher than right now and investments are going to come in." Or so he hopes.

Though accounting for only 2% of world production, Libya is Africa's most oil rich state. Moreover, its high quality is especially valued, and reports suggest vast reserves yet to be explored.

On August 22, New York Times writer Clifford Krauss headlined, "The Scramble for Access to Libya's Oil Wealth Begins," saying:

The fighting hasn't ended, "but the scramble to secure access to Libya's oil wealth has already begun."

In fact, vultures began circling months earlier, believing Libya's corpse was only a matter of time. Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Despite all the hoopla, the jury is very much out.

Nonetheless, besides ENI and ConocoPhillips, other companies wanting back in include Britain's BP, France's Total, Spain's Repsol YPF, Austria's OMV, America's Hess, Marathon, perhaps ExxonMobil, and others.

Excluded will be Russia, Brazil, and especially China on orders from Washington, calling the shots absent Gaddafi, at least for now.

Moreover, the Obama administration and NATO partners prepared a detailed plan for Libya without him, including a United Arab Emirates-supported occupation force, supplemented perhaps by UN Blue Helmets.

In other words, lost Libyan sovereignty will be replaced by paramilitary occupiers under a puppet government serving Western interests, not Libyans. The very notion should inspire continued resistance as in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The Mossad-connected DEBKAfile's information can be right or wrong. That said, on August 23, it claimed "(t)housands of fighters from tribes loyal to Qaddafi are reported (to be) streaming to Sabha" in southwestern Libya where some believe Gaddafi may have fled.

"Prominent among them (are) members of his own Gaddadfa tribe," numbering about 100,000, based in Sirte on the coast between Tripoli and Benghazi.

DEBKA said UK, French, Jordanian and Qatari Special Forces "spearheaded the rebel 'killer strike' " on Tripoli and Gaddafi's Bab al-Azaziya compound. It's the first time Western and Arab troops "fought together on the same battlefield in any of the (2011) Arab revolts, and the first ever that Arab forces took part in a NATO operation."

Western elements involved included UK SAS commandos, and France's 2REP (similar to US DELTA force units) along with Jordanian Royal Special forces, "specialists in urban combat and capturing fortified installations...." Qatari special forces are also participating.

Despite other conflicting reports, DEBKA claimed Tripoli is largely under rebel control, adding "there is quite a way to go before the war is over." Based on continuing Afghanistan and Iraq hostilities, maybe longer than DEBKA or others imagine.

On the Progressive Radio News Hour (taped Thursday for Saturday airing), Law Professor Francis Boyle told listeners to expect continued conflict, as well as the danger of greater general war regionally, and perhaps beyond. He's not alone believing it, including Webster Tarpley who sees protracted civil war.

He and others also reject reports that Tripoli is largely in rebel control, saying unresolved street fighting continues.

The Big Lie Vying with Truth and Accuracy

Throughout months of conflict, an information war falsified pro-NATO/insurgent victories.

The idea, of course, is controlling the message, confusing the enemy, and making Libyans as well as populations in NATO countries believe things are going as planned, heading for victory.

In fact, conditions in Tripoli and elsewhere are chaotic. Nothing is resolved, and at issue is whether larger NATO forces will get involved if insurgents can't prevail.

So far, they've created mayhem, supplemented by heavy bombing and strafing. It's also believed that rebel forces incurred heavy casualties. Without air support, they'd have been easily routed.

On August 24, Voice of Russia broadcasting said:

"Russian agencies quote Ukrainian medical workers in (Tripoli) speaking of chaotic shooting, barricad(ing) building(s), carjacking(s) and mass looting around. Residents try to stay indoors."

"Eyewitnesses say armed gangs have ransacked the Embassy of Bulgaria and attacked the Embassy of South Korea and the residential compound of the Ambassador of Ukraine."

Fighting in Tripoli continues. As a result, "(a)nalysts believe it is too early to say that the rebels are in full control...."

So early, in fact, that major media gloating, disinformation, and managed news distort reality on the ground. Moreover, their exposed lies show nothing they report is credible.

The closest thing to truth and accuracy from The New York Times were a few admissions in Anthony Shadid's August 24 article headlined, "After Arab Revolts, Reigns of Uncertainty," saying:

"....Libya's unfinished revolution, as inspiring as it is unsettling, illustrates how perilous that change has become as it unfolds in this phase of the Arab Spring."

Fact check

A Western-instigated insurgency continues, not a revolution. Extremely violent and "unsettling," it's hardly inspiring for millions of Libyans who've suffered hugely since NATO and insurgent killers arrived.

As for the "Arab Spring," at best it hasn't bloomed, not even close, in fact, despite how inspiring it is to people throughout the region to continue struggling for rights long denied them.

Shadid did include a few kernels of truth, calling the TNC leadership "fractured and opaque." He added that enlisting "foreigners" as insurgents is "the kind of intervention that has long been toxic to the Arab world," and transitioning "to a new order (anywhere) may prove....tumultuous."

In Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the region, it falls short of exhibiting democratic birth pangs nowhere in sight, what Shadid neglected to mention.

Also omitted was what government spokesman Dr. Moussa Ibrahim explained - that pro-Gaddafi forces control 20 cities and other areas across the country, adding:

"(W)e will continue fighting till Gaddafi comes back to power once again in Libya. The entire leadership is in Tripoli. The lawful armed forces (army and volunteers) control the city."

That's a far different picture from what NATO and Western media liars claim, as well as disreputable academics like Professor Juan Cole, saying in an August 22 article:

"The Libyan Revolution has largely succeeded, and this is a moment of celebration, not only for Libyans but for a youth generation in the Arab world that has pursued a political opening across the region."

"The secret of the uprising's final days of success lay in a popular revolt in the working-class districts of the capital....so (successful, in fact) that when revolutionary brigades entered the city from the west, many encountered little or no resistance, and they walked right into the center of the capital."

The above and Cole's entire article reeks of misinformation, distortions, and ball-faced lies. It represents a shameless display of intellectual dishonesty, combined perhaps with someone who knows better on the take.

Sadly, he's not alone, highlighting Big Lie power and deep pockets backing it - major media regurgitated official discourse in place of truth and accuracy. When repeated enough, it convinces most people unwilling to check facts to believe it.

Most true perhaps is that conditions continue to be fast-moving, fluid, chaotic, violent, and far from resolved. Also true is Gaddafi remains overwhelmingly popular. In addition, Libyans revile NATO and insurgent killers they want no part of. As a result, they may wage a tougher, longer fight than expected.

Whether it's enough to prevail over NATO remains to be seen. What's clear is that most Libyans hope so.

So do others believing everyone has the right to live free from imperial domination.

Maybe the Arab Spring spirit will inspire Libyans and others in the region and elsewhere not to quit. It's their only chance.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

General Assembly Palestinian Statehood Vote

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:44:19 +0000

General Assembly Palestinian Statehood Vote - by Stephen Lendman

Earlier articles discussed it, accessed through the following links:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/04/palestinian-statehood-and-other.html

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/04/declaring-independent-palestinian-state.html

They explain that in 1987, Law Professor Francis Boyle was Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) legal advisor in drafting its 1988 Declaration of Independence.

In the late 1980s, he was asked, "Why should the PLO crate an independent state?" He responded, saying:

If you don't, "you will forfeit the moral right to lead your people."

The second link discusses his "CREATE THE STATE OF PALESTINE" Memorandum of Law, describing characteristics for world community recognition. Palestine easily qualifies for statehood and full de jure UN membership.

Delay is neither wise nor right for all Palestinians who deserve it. The time to act is now, no matter how Israel and/or America will contest.

A recent article also said the following, repeated below to explain what's important to understand:

(1) Last March, Israel told UN Security Council members and other prominent EU countries it will act unilaterally if the General Assembly grants Palestine de jure membership in September inside 1967 borders, 22% of historic Palestine.

(2) If granted, Israel will likely deny recognition, continuing its illegal occupation, this time against a sovereign country. Moreover, expect it to accelerate West Bank/East Jerusalem land seizures, isolating Palestinians on smaller portions of worthless scrub land.

(3) While rhetorically favoring Palestinian statehood, Obama categorically rejects PA officials seeking it unilaterally. Instead, he wants Israel to decide its terms, size, locations and timetable. In other words, he supports Israeli veto power over Palestinian rights, including sovereignty. It's an unacceptable/illegal condition under international law.

In a White House statement, he also "emphasized that a vote at the United Nations will never create an independent Palestinian state" even though defying a two-thirds majority General Assembly affirmation is illegal.

Despite his and congressional opposition, Washington earlier provisionally recognized Palestine as an independent nation. According to UN Charter Article 80(1), it can't reverse its position by vetoing a Security Council (SC) resolution calling for Palestine's UN admission.

Any veto is illegal, subject to further SC action under the Charter's Chapter VI. Ultimately, the SC only recommends admissions. The General Assembly affirms them by a two-thirds majority. At this time, enough support exists to get it.

Moreover, UN Charter Article 80(1) and others empower the General Assembly to recognize Palestinian statehood and take all necessary measures to end Israel's illegal occupation. If sovereignty is granted, it's more than ever essential to do so, holding Israel fully accountable for not complying.

Up to now, however, Washington's threatened Security Council veto prevented de jure membership, despite its illegality under international law and its pledge not to do so against any state seeking UN membership.

In fact, the General Assembly has sole authority to admit new members, not the Security Council. If Washington uses its veto as threatened, the GA can circumvent it under the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolution.

Legal Opinion Believing UN Statehood Threatens Palestinian Rights

On August 24, Ma'an News said:

"The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September (got) an independent legal opinion (warning about) risks involved with its plan to join the UN."

It claims transferring PLO representation to a newly established statehood "will terminate" its legal status held since 1975 as "the sole legitimate" Palestinian representative.

It says doing so will remove an "institution" able to represent "the inalienable rights" of all Palestinians, including diaspora/refugee ones, adding that they'll be "disenfranchise(d)," unable to return home.

Oxford University Professor of Public International Law Guy Goodwin-Gill prepared the opinion. Ma'an News said it claims that the General Assembly can't create an "actual state" under occupation, so debate should focus on whether the Security Council or General Assembly "should be asked to grant" observer status only. In fact, it already has it.

At issue now is full statehood recognition and UN membership. Only the General Assembly can grant it, not the Security Council as explained above.

Yet Goodwin-Gill believes "dramatic legal implications" for Palestinian rights aren't considered if the PLO loses its status, including:

(1) Palestinian National Charter constitutional issues, as well as others relating to the PLO and its entities.

(2) Whether "the State of Palestine (can) effectively take on the role and responsibilities of the PLO in the UN."

(3) Also issues of "popular representation."

His document says the PLO-established Palestinian Authority (PA) "has limited legislative and executive competence, limited territorial jurisdiction, and limited personal jurisdiction over Palestinians not present in the areas for which it has been accorded responsibility."

Moreover, the PA "is a subsidiary body, competent only to exercise those powers conferred on it by the Palestinian National Council. By definition, it does not have the capacity to assume greater powers."

In addition, it can't "dissolve" its parent body or claim independence from the PNC or PLO. Also, the PLO and PNC derive their legitimacy "from the fact that they represent all sectors of the displaced Palestinian people, no matter where they presently live or have refuge."

Goodwin-Gill expressed special concern for Palestinian refugees, represented by the PLO through the PNC.

"They constitute more than half of the people of Palestine, and if they are 'disenfranchised' and lose their (UN) representation....it will not only prejudice their entitlement to equal representation....but also their ability to (air) their views, to participate in matters of national governance, including the formation and political identity of the State, and to exercise their right of return."

Former PLO representative/now Oxford University Professor Karma Nabulsi also expressed concerns, saying:

"Without question, no Palestinian will accept losing such core rights for such a limited diplomatic initiative in September. First, we will hot have liberated territory, (and by) losing the PLO as the sole legitimate (UN) representative....our people immediately lose our claims as refugees to be part of our official representation, recognized by the world."

She added that knowing the legal dangers should lead to an initiative that "will protect the status of the PLO" and rights of all Palestinians.

The PLO represents them all, not selective parts only. It also established the PA. Changes in who represents Palestinians "require an expression of the popular will and international recognition."

Assuring new rights gained in September loses no current ones is crucial she and Goodwin-Gill believe.

Supporters of Palestinian rights surely agree, including Professor Francis Boyle.

An international law/human rights law expert, his important book, "Palestine, Palestinians and International Law," covers a wealth of information, including the relevant legal history since 1987.

In an email to this writer after reading the Ma'an News article, he said:

"I have not read (Goodwin-Gill's) memo itself. But from (the Ma'an News) report, unfortunately, this lawyer is not aware of all the safeguards I built into the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence to make sure that his doomsday scenario does not materialize."

In other words, despite Goodwin-Gill's good intentions, his fears are ill-founded as long as the PA's September bid includes all legal protections Boyle provided for them 23 years earlier.

That said, it's vital they proceed as planned. All Palestinians deserve what they've been long denied, and with enough support can get it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

NATO's Planned Bloodbath in Tripoli

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:55:49 +0000

NATO'S Planned Bloodbath In Tripoli - by Stephen Lendman

NATO intends to get the bloodbath it wants through intensified terror bombing and low-level strafing of civilians and nonmilitary sites.

No matter that it grossly violates international and constitutional law, what Washington-led member states long ago trashed.

Through August 22, air operations included 19,877 sorties and 7,505 strike ones, with no elaboration of their intensity or deadliness. What is known is that powerful, high-explosive munitions are used, able to cause deadly force casualties and destruction.

In recent days, strikes intensified. Without them, rebels would disintegrate and collapse. Most of them are little more than ragtag mercenary hooligans, imperial tools, used for what won't benefit them.

It's largely true of all wars, especially America's waged for conquest, dominance, plunder and exploitation, never for democracy or humanitarian reasons Washington doesn't give a damn about and never did.

NATO is no different. Established in April 1949, a previous article said it calls itself a "political and military alliance for peace and security."

In fact, it was more for offense than defense. Cold War hysteria was contrived to incite fear and assure an arms race for corporate enrichment. Napoleon once said, "Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest."

Until the Soviet Union dissolved, communism was the alleged enemy. Today it's terrorism, as bogus now as then. Both, however, were used for hugely profitable imperial wars from Korea to Libya to numerous proxy ones, as well as trillions of dollars for military readiness - in fact, scandalous amounts in America without enemies for justification since WW II.

Strategically intervening under US control, NATO, in fact, threatens world peace and human survival. In November 2010, Robert Griffiths, general secretary of Britain's Communist Party (CPB) said:

Under NATO, "(a) global military and reconnaissance infrastructure is being created to support US, British and western European big business interests, especially energy, financial and armaments monopolies." What began "as a cold war provocation against a non-existent Soviet threat (now) invent(s) or exaggerat(es) threats from so-called failed or rogue states, Islamic fundamentalism and cyber-terrorism."

Petre Ignat, general secretary of the New Communist Party of Romania, called for NATO's disbandment, saying:

"We cannot and will not recognize such a murderous alliance, with such a horrible track record....which includes the murder of thousands of innocent civilians in places like Bosnia, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. We cannot and will not recognize an alliance which, through its aggressive policy of expanding East and setting up new military bases there, through its gross interference in other countries' internal affairs, through its gross violation of international law, can only increase the likelihood of an inter-imperialist war between Western imperialism and emerging capitalist powers, like Russia."

Its original member countries included America, the five (1948) Treaty of Brussels states (Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Canada, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and Iceland. It's now expanded to 28 states and dozens of partners, threatening world peace and stability.

Membership, however, is a bonanza for Western and Israeli weapons industries as current members and entering states must maintain modern arsenals to state-of-the art readiness, despite no enemies except ones Washington creates to wage wars.

Today, Libya is Exhibit A for NATO lawlessness, attacking a nonbelligerent country for colonization, dominance and plunder, not liberation. Libyans resolve to resist, doing what they can despite ferocious air attacks.

On August 22, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said Sunday casualties included 1,300 killed, another 5,000 or more wounded. Local hospitals can't keep up, yet casualties mount as street fighting continues.

The Australian AP quoted Hugo Chavez denouncing NATO's war, saying:

Western powers are "destroying Tripoli with their bombs," while street clashes continue. He added that bombs are "falling on schools, hospitals, workplaces, and farmland."

"Let's pray to God for the Libyan people....They're practically demolishing Tripoli with their bombs" to take over another country. "It's the excuse to intervene and seize (it) and its riches."

Independent journalists on the ground are threatened and targeted. They've also been confined to their hotel, knowing exposure risks being shot by snipers. They're marked men and women, making it essential they get help to leave. It's too unsafe to stay.

In a morning email, Lizzie Phelan said:

"I am extremely exhausted, confused, a little scared, and I was feeling a little nervous about making the necessary political points (on Press TV live with this writer Monday morning) because of the present situation."

Nonetheless, she felt buoyed being on air with a friend and supporter. She called it "massively reassuring and a timely reminder amidst my exhaustion of what we are fighting for."

She also highlighted the death and injury toll. In the past two days alone, it surpassed Israel's three-week Cast Lead slaughter. Moreover, much more is likely, besides the last six months toll, ravaging populated Libyan areas without letup.

What greater reason to indict NATO as a killing machine, a destructive US-led evil force everyone needs to understand, condemn, and struggle to abolish.

As long as this monster exists, no one anywhere is safe!

On August 21, Voltaire Network's Thierry Meyssan headlined, "NATO carnage in Tripoli," reporting on what he witnessed firsthand, saying:

On August 20, NATO launched "Operation Mermaid Dawn."

"The Sirens were the mosque loud speakers which were used to launch Al Qaeda's call to revolt against the Gaddafi government. Immediately 'sleeper cells' went into action. Organized in small, highly mobile, groups, they carried out multiple attacks."

The overnight toll left about 350 killed, another 3,000 wounded. Early Sunday, conditions stabilized ahead of greater evening violence, supported by NATO drones, other aircraft, and "helicopters straf(ing) civilians in the streets with machine guns to clear the way for the jihadis."

Ahead of the attacks, "a NATO warship....anchored just off the shore of Tripoli, delivering heavy weapons and debarking Al Qaeda jihadi forces, which were led by NATO officers."

The Rixos hotel where Meyssan, other independent journalists, and Western ones stay came "under heavy fire." By evening, another 1,300 dead and 5,000 wounded were reported. The toll keeps mounting.

UN Resolution 1973 empowering NATO to protect Libyans, in fact, facilitated their slaughter.

Heavy fighting is reported in Tripoli. Independent journalists are threatened with death, supported by NATO and rogue Western journalists. They're known, so if exposed outside, they face execution. Mahdi Nazemroaya had a near miss. Franklin Lamb was wounded in the leg. He's OK and recovering.

Nazemroaya said he "was putting up a sign on top of (his) hotel. (He) took the initiative to do that and write 'Press' (on it) - and a sniper shot at" him.

Other than during NATO bombing and strafing, he believes Libyans will fight to defend their country. The possibility of being NATO ruled is too intolerable to accept.

It's an exploitive killing machine, wanting Libyans exploited, not liberated. At 5PM Monday Tripoli time, Franklin Lamb told Press TV that large explosions were heard nearby, likely 1,000-pound bombs, he believed.

On August 22, Nazemroaya's Global Research.ca article headlined, "Western Media Complicit in NATO's 'Humanitarian Bloodbath,' " saying:

He and other foreign journalists are trapped in their hotel "as practically all the staff and security personnel have run for their lives."

Calling the situation "critical," he expected "the next several hours (to) be decisive."

Despite ongoing intense NATO bombing and strafing civilians, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon brazenly called conditions in Libya "a hopeful moment," shamelessly calling on Gaddafi to cease fighting and surrender.

A NATO tool, he opposes his right of self-defense, adding that he'll tried by the International Criminal Court. In fact, it's an imperial tribunal, a hanging one, convicting by accusation. At the same time, it absolves Western war criminals entirely, solely targeting their victims.

Nazemroaya said NATO's using "Yugoslavian" tactics against Libya, "bombing out military and civil infrastructure to clear the way for the rebels."

"NATO (heavy bombing and strafing) did all the work here....and their leaders must be help accountable as war criminals for killing civilians."

At the same time, Washington and its NATO partners turn a blind eye to atrocities in Bahrain, Egypt under military junta rule, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, other pro-Western rogue states, and Israel's crimes of war and against humanity against Palestinians.

Nazemroaya and other independent journalists are endangered. As a result, they need exit help to leave. Their lives are literally on the line.

He said "(t)wo of Gaddafi's sons have been arrested with some reports suggesting the leader himself is in a specialist cardiac unit in a town 14 kilometers east of (Tripoli). Following a night of chaos in the capital, crowds have gathered in the city's central square waving revolutionary flags."

On Sunday, Gaddafi appealed to Libyans to deter the rebel offensive, saying:

"It is the obligation of all Libyans. It is a question of life or death."

He's made past similar appeals. It bears observing. At most, hundreds of insurgents (as few perhaps as three or four hundred) now terrorize Tripoli because of heavy NATO support. Without it, they'd be easily routed.

The situation remains chaotic, violent and fluid. Events are fast-moving. What appears one way can shift quickly to another.

Moreover, Gaddafi isn't at issue. Libyans will decide their fate, not him, TNC turncoats, insurgents, or NATO, though a long liberation struggle may lie ahead.

Nonetheless, a shameless August 22 White House statement said:

"The people of Libya are showing that the universal pursuit of dignity and freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator."

In fact, if justice prevailed, Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy, and other NATO war criminals would face international court prosecutions for waging war against humanity.

Ongoing ruthlessly for over six months against Libyans alone, it rages lawlessly out of control because justice humanity cries for is denied.

Unless gotten, people everywhere won't be free. The stakes are that high.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Palestinian Right of Self-Defense

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:04:16 +0000

Palestinian Right of Self-Defense - by Stephen Lendman

Repeatedly, Israel preemptively bombs, shells, and inflicts other forms of lawless violence on Gazans, bogusly claiming self-defense.

When they respond, Israel calls it terrorism, claiming justification for greater attacks in "self-defense," what international law prohibits.

In fact, UN Charter Article 2(4) says:

"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

Only two exceptions apply. Under Chapter VII, the Security Council may authorize force to restore peace. Individual states must abide by Chapter VII, Article 51 stating:

"Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security."

In addition, individual states may use defensive force against armed attacks until the Security Council acts. No other exceptions apply, including armed reprisals. Calling them unlawful, the General Assembly said all states must refrain from using them.

The right of self-defense is limited solely to deterring armed attacks, preventing future ones after initial assaults, or reversing the consequences of enemy aggression, such as ending an illegal occupation.

Even then, however, force must conform to the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality.

Necessity permits only attacking military targets.

Distinction pertains to distinguishing between civilian and military ones.

Proportionality prohibits disproportionate force likely to damage nonmilitary sites and/or harm civilian lives.

Moreover, a fourth consideration requires preventing unnecessary suffering, especially affecting noncombatant civilians.

If these objective aren't possible, attacks are prohibited.

Moreover, to a limited degree, anticipatory self-defense is permitted when compelling evidence shows likely imminent threats or further attacks after initial ones.

However, attackers bear burden of proof responsibility, most often failing the test as America always did post-WW II. Israel also, without exception, since its preemptive 1947-48 "war of independence."

In fact, it was naked aggression against another country, stealing 78% of it from its citizens, the UN's 1947 Partition Plan notwithstanding, granting 56% of historic Palestine to Jews, as well as designating Jerusalem an international city under a UN Trusteeship Council.

The UN Charter also explains under what conditions intervention, violence and coercion are justified. None exist in Palestine now or ever. Claiming an "inherent right" is also bogus under international law.

In addition, Article 2(3) and Article 33(1) require peaceful settlements of international disputes, not preemptive attacks. Article 2(4), in fact, prohibits force or its threatened use, including violent interventions of any kind.

Further, Articles 2(3), 2(4), and 33 absolutely prohibit instigating any unilateral or other external threat or use of force not specifically allowed under Article 51 or otherwise authorized by the Security Council. Doing so is naked aggression.

America and Israel are serial offenders. In response, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Libyans, Somalis, Yemenis, and Palestinians may legally respond defensively to preemptive armed aggression.

When done, however, it's called terrorism. Aggressors make their own rules. Targeted states are doubly victimized, suffering armed attack effects, then vilified for defending themselves. It amounts to a shocking damned if you do or don't fate.

Lawless Israeli Aggression

Since August 18, Israel lawlessly bombed and shelled Gaza preemptively, falsely blaming Palestinians for multiple Israeli attacks. In fact, they bear classic false flag characteristics, notably because compelling reasons existed to launch them.

Ongoing for four days, mounting casualties include 19 Palestinians dead and 50 or more injured, mostly civilians in harms way or willfully targeted to inflict pain and suffering.

Besides violating UN Charter Article 51, Israel also defiled Fourth Geneva's Article 33 stating:

"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited....Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited."

No matter. Israel willfully violates this and other international law provisions, committing preemptive armed aggression against Palestinian civilians, including using illegal weapons.

On August 19, The Palestine Monitor headlined, "Attacks on Gaza continue: 'I've never seen shrapnel wounds like this before," saying:

On Friday night alone, over a dozen air attacks struck multiple Gaza sites, including a civilian car, killing a family of three - a doctor, his five-year old son and others.

Media coordinator for Gaza's medical service, Adham Abu Salmiya, said Israel is using new kinds of weapons. Doctors reported unusual injuries, resulting in increased amputations.

Maha Elbanna, a Gaza City based Palestinian/American journalist noted images of wounded victims looking especially gruesome, saying:

"There is a picture of a teenage girl with shrapnel cuts in her face that are very deep, like I've never seen before. I have seen shrapnel wounds before and these are very strange."

In fact, weapons used may be high explosive Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) ones made out of a tungsten alloy. Used during Cast Lead, they have enormous explosive power, enough to cut people struck to pieces.

In 2006, they were first used in Lebanon and Gaza. They not only kill and mutilate, their toxins cause a long-term cancer threat.

Flechette munitions possibly also were used - 4cm-long darts used as anti-personnel weapons. They penetrate to the bone, causing multiple horrific injuries. Up to 8,000 can be packed into one artillery shell. After exploding, they travel at high speed in multiple directions up to around 300 meters.

DIME and flechette munitions are terror weapons, violating the letter and spirit of international law.

Albanna added that "(t)here is so much damage across Gaza - in the north, south and in Gaza City....So far, there is no evidence that anyone in Gaza is responsible for what happened."

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian National Initiative Secretary-General said:

"This is a campaign that is turning into a massacre and civilian areas are targeted."

Among other nonmilitary targets, Israelis struck a concrete factory, gravely injuring two civilians. Barghouthi and Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) doctors called on the international community to demand an immediate cease fire.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested a special Security Council session to stop Israel's naked aggression.

In response, Gazans launched Qassam and Grad rockets as well as mortars, hardly an adequate defense against F-16s, Apache helicopter gunships, tanks and other high-tech weapons, ones Israel uses lawlessly against civilians.

On August 20, Haaretz said a Be'er Sheva home was struck Saturday night, causing one death and four injuries.

Another rocket slightly wounded two children. In total since Thursday evening, dozens of Qassam and Grad rockets, as well as numerous mortar rounds were fired at southern Israel, wounding about 16 Israelis. Areas in and around Be'er Sheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Eshkol and Sha'ar Hanegev were struck. Casualties and damage caused hardly compared to what Israel inflicted on Gaza, taking an enormous toll as always.

More was inflicted Sunday when Israel struck Beit Lahia, injuring seven Palestinians, besides causing extensive damage from four days of attacks, more perhaps to come.

On August 21, Haaretz said eight senior Israeli cabinet ministers met Saturday night to discuss escalated attacks on Gaza. Cast Lead II perhaps?

Also on August 21, opposition Kadima MKs demanded Israel "launch a (large-scale) military campaign" against Gaza.

MK Shaul Mofaz (former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of General Staff) said steps must be taken to "topple (Hamas') infrastructures and create a system of ties with Egypt in order to prevent terrorism coming from its border."

In other words, when in doubt, attack. Perhaps Cast Lead II indeed. Considering Israel's horrific crimes of war and humanity last time, imagine what now may be planned.

No matter. World leaders remain silent. As usual, an August 18 White House Press statement blamed Palestinian victims the way Obama wrongfully condemned Gaddafi to justify lawless US/NATO aggression.

On August 21, Haaretz writer Yossi Sarid headlined, "Israel is isolating itself from all its Mideast allies," saying:

Israel lashed out indiscriminately, blaming everyone but itself. "Hamas is to blame because it is reponsible for everything (in) Gaza." So is Islamic Jihad. "(I)t's the (PA's) fault because it agreed (to) unite with Hamas (for) a joint government. Al Qaeda is the guilty party because" it's everywhere, "and Egypt, too, bears responsibility" because they haven't acted against "terror."

Israel's capacity for making enemies may ultimately be its undoing, leaving it isolated and reviled. For its many victims, it can't happen a moment too soon.

A Final Comment

Some good news and bad. First the bad. On August 20, Israeli forces invaded Hebron, breaking into dozens of homes, searching and damaging them, as well as arresting about 120 residents, mostly Hamas political leaders and supporters.

Now the good. On August 21, Haaretz writer Hila Raz headlined, "Israeli activists: Social protests must continue despite escalation of" violence, saying:

"Despite the escalation of violence in the south, the tent protesters are determined to keep fighting for social justice, said organizers over the weekend."

Tel Aviv protest leader Stav Shafir said:

"We'll need to find new and creative ways to protest. For many years, Israeli society got used to giving in due to security issues....Because the protest is so strong, fierce, and affects all layers of society, we understand that if we don't continue, things will be worse."

Indeed so. As a result, staying the course is crucial to have any hope for success. National Student Union leader Itzik Shmueli said:

"The goal is to get the government to fix matters such as health care, education and housing....There's no reason for the protests to die out. We have a very powerful weapon on our side - the truth."

Hopefully that spirit won't wane despite Israel's objective to crush it. In fact, it was present Saturday night, YNet News saying Tel Aviv "protesters march(ed) under red banners....chanting time-honored slogans from the oeuvre of the pacifist hard Left." They included:

"Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies."

"We demand social justice in both Israel and the Territories."

"Let us live in dignity in both Gaza and Ashdod," and

"No to another war that will bury the protest."

Imagine that spirit inspiring all Israelis. It's already present in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, so why not throughout all Eretz Yisrael.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Another Israeli False Flag?

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 07:53:57 +0000

Another Israeli False Flag? - by Stephen Lendman

Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency) have long, odious histories of committing them. More on that below.

At issue now is whether the August 18 bus and other attacks inside Israel were committed by external elements or Israel, and if so, why?

Also at issue always is cui bono? In fact, Hamas and various Palestinian resistance groups have nothing to gain. Clearly Israel benefits greatly at least two ways:

(1) The upcoming September UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian self-determination Israel very much wants to derail.

(2) Weeks of nationwide internal social justice protests Netanyahu also wants to diffuse and end.

Both are compelling reasons for employing tried and true tactics - change the subject by diverting public attention.

In this case, scaring people enough to put safety above pocket book issues, as well as getting UN member states perhaps to rethink the wisdom of supporting Palestinian sovereignty at this time, with Israel allegedly under attack.

Whether it works will be known when the UN General Assembly meets in September. What's clear is that last March, Israel informed all Security Council members and prominent EU countries that if Palestinian self-determination efforts within 1967 borders persisted, unilateral Israeli steps would follow, implying harsh ones.

In addition, diffusing social justice protests temporarily worked based on an August 18 Reuters report, saying:

Campaigners "called off planned weekend demonstrations against the high cost of living after a series of terror attacks in the south left seven people dead."

Of concern is how to reignite protest energy after it wanes, even for a short time. Resumption often lacks initial levels of passion, mass support, and commitment to stay the course, especially when people have other daily priorities, besides worrying whether their country is under attack.

Add it up and it suggests classic false flag reasons, perhaps with planned follow-up attacks for reinforcement. They're likely if Israel also has another objective in mind - using the attacks as pretext for Cast Lead II.

Israel blamed the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC - a coalition of resistance factions) for launching internal attacks.

PRC spokesman Abu Mujahid told AFP:

"We salute (the operation) and we are proud of it, but we do not claim it. The occupation wants to pin (it) on us in order to escape its own internal problems."

Hamas also denied responsibility, spokesman Taher al-Nunu telling AFP:

"These (unfounded) accusations are an attempt to distract from the Israeli domestic crisis."

As expected, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak pointed fingers, despite no corroborating evidence, saying:

"The source of the terror incidents is Gaza and we will act against them with all our strength and determination."

Also as expected, New York Times coverage was pro-Israeli. On August 19, Heba Afify and Isabel Kershner headlined, "A Long Peace Is Threatened in Israel Attack," saying:

"A cross-border terrorist attack and an Israeli retaliation (threatened) to undermine" peace with Egypt, with no evidence, except rhetoric, to suggest either.

Afify and Kershner implied Israel was right, saying "attackers were Palestinians from Gaza who had crossed into Israel from the Egyptian Sinai, an assertion Egypt rejected."

Based on no evidence whatever, Israel's scripted story is that Gaza-based "terror" operations "began weeks" earlier, likely "involv(ing) 10 to 15 terrorists," entering Israel "with rifles, explosive belts, grenades, (and) heavier weapons."

Yet Times writers didn't question how they managed unspotted, given tight Israeli security and high-tech surveillance, assassinating children and farmers on the slightest pretext.

As for a "long peace," there's been none for decades. Daily, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) and other human rights organizations document regular Israeli bombings, shellings, Cast Lead, Mavi Marmara and other massacres, shootings, targeted assassinations, other attacks, casualties, incursions, Gaza under siege, mass arrests, illegal settlement expansions, bulldozed homes, theft of Palestinian land, dispossessions, and overall Israeli lawlessness - enforcing militarized hell on Palestinians, not peace.

On August 19, PCHR discussed Israel's response to internal August 18 attacks, saying:

Israeli forces "launched a series of air attacks against civilian-populated areas in the Gaza Strip," including "extra-judicially executing Kamal al-Nairab, Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), 4 PRC leaders and a two-year old child...."

Other strikes injured 23 Palestinians, including seven children, six women and three police officers.

On August 20, various news agencies said Israeli air attacks and shelling raised the death toll to 16 and counting. In response, Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades armed wing suspended its unilateral ceasefire, a spokesman saying:

"There can be no truce with the Israeli occupation while it commits massacres against the Palestinian people without justification."

In fact, blaming victims, lawlessness, violence, crimes of war and against humanity, collective punishment, intimidation, attacking unarmed civilians, and overall brutality are Israeli specialties. Combined, they define a rogue state, defiant of international law principles, pursuing its own interests extrajudicially, and getting away with it.

Gazans now worry about a possible Cast Lead II, Israel using perhaps false flag attacks as pretext to launch it. Again, it's the oldest trick in the book, Israel expert at it like America.

Previous Israeli Targeted Assassinations and False Flags

An Israeli specialty, they began well before 1948 during the Mandatory Palestine period when Jewish terrorist groups targeted Jews, Brits and Arabs. Involved were paramilitary Hagana members, Irgun headed by future prime minister Menachem Begin, and Lehi (also called the Stern Gang) led by another future prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir. They were rogue killers before entering politics.

In November 1944, Lehi assassinated Lord Moyne, Britain's Middle East minister of state, near his home in Cairo.

In September 1948, it also killed UN mediator Folke Bernadotte in Jerusalem, five months after Israel was established. Yitzhak Shamir personally approved the assassination.

In July 1946, Irgun bombed the King David Hotel, massacring 92 Brits, Arabs and Jews, wounding 58 others, an operation future prime minister David Ben-Gurion approved as head of the Jewish Agency at the time.

Before and after May 1948, many thousands of targeted killings occurred or were attempted, most little remembered today except among relatives and their descendants.

Little wonder Israel's history is so bloodstained, involving individual and mass killings, including on April 9, 1948 (during Israel's "war of independence") when Irgun, Lehi and complicit terrorists slaughtered well over 120 Palestinian men, women and children in the bloody Deir Yassin village massacre. On April 14, The New York Times reported 254 killed.

Post-1948, Palestinian supporters were targeted regionally and in Europe. Waves of successful and attempted assassinations occurred, notably against high-profile figures.

In 1954, Israeli agents in Egypt planted bombs in various buildings, including US and UK facilities, using evidence to implicate Arabs. The so-called Lavon Affair failed when a device prematurely detonated, letting Egyptians capture and identify one of the bombers. In turn, it led to rounding up an Israeli spy ring.

More recently, Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in Dubai after two earlier failed attempts. Abu-Dhabi's the National reported he was poisoned, drugged, and suffocated after previously surviving a failed shooting. Found dead in a Dubai hotel on January 20, 2010, police accused Mossad of murder.

Earlier incidents included Palestinians Abdel Wael Zwaiter, shot 11 times by Israeli agents in Rome after returning home from dinner. It was the first of dozens of retaliatory assassinations against persons suspected of involvement in the 1972 Munich summer Olympic killings of Israeli athletes, coaches and officials, allegedly by Black September members, a resistance, not a terrorist organization.

On June 14, 1980, Yahia El Meshad, then head of Iraq's nuclear program, was found bludgeoned to death in his Paris hotel room. No one was arrested, but French authorities named Israeli intelligence.

On August 20, 1983, Mamoun Meraish was shot and killed while driving in Athens. Israeli agents were blamed.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Mossad was implicated in numerous Beirut and other car bombings, one of its specialities.

On January 6, 2007, Haaretz reported that newly released British documents claim Shin Bet collaborated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the hijacking of Air France 139 from Israel, diverted to Entebbe, Uganda.

Arab terrorists were falsely blamed. Elite Israeli commandos led by Yonatan Netanyahu, Bibi's older brother, became instant heros for their "miraculous" rescue. An unnamed UK diplomat blamed Israel, saying:

"The operation was designed to torpedo the PLO's standing in France and to prevent what (was seen as) growing rapprochement between the PLO and the Americans."

British diplomat DH Colvin included information in the document that Israel and the PFLP collaborated. Haaretz said it "was written on June 30, 1976, three days after the hijacking and prior to the rescue operation."

On September 25, 1997, two Mossad agents with forged Canadian passports attacked Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Jordan, spraying him with an unknown poison. He survived and recovered to explain.

In January 2002, a car bomb killed former Lebanese cabinet minister Elie Hobeika and three bodyguards. In 1982, he was involved in the infamous Sabra and Shatilla camp massacres. Days before his assassination, he expressed willingness to implicate then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's direct role. Clearly, Mossad killed him to prevent it.

In May 2002, Mossad murdered Mohammed Jihad Jibril, son of Ahmed Jibril, founder and head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

In August 2003, Mossad assassinated Ali Hassan Saheh, Hezbollah's top security officer. Prime Minister Sharon ordered Meir Dagan, its head until January 1, 2011, to conduct assassinations abroad.

No explanation is needed for why Mossad exists. It functions as a de facto Murder, Inc. within or outside Israel, making Mafia families seem benign by comparison.

From 2002 - 2006, it was responsible for numerous car bombings, killing Hezbollah, Hamas, and other officials regionally.

On February 12, 2008, a car bomb killed Hezbollah member Imad Hugniyeh in Damascus. Mossad again was responsible.

On August 1, 2008, it killed Muhammad Suleiman, a Syrian army officer close to President Bashar al-Assad, shot by snipers offshore near his vacation villa.

Rafik Hariri's Assassination

On February 14, 2005, compelling visual and audio evidence revealed real time intercepted Israel aerial surveillance footage of routes former Prime Minister Hariri used on the day his motorcade was attacked. Clearly, Israel was involved.

Washington blamed Syria. Assad denied responsibility. Hezbollah was later falsely named. It was a typical Mossad assassination though no one at the time knew for sure. The blast ripped a 30 foot crater in the street, injuring over 100 besides those killed.

An International Court of Justice (ICC) Special Tribunal (STL) investigated Hariri's killing. On January 17, its sealed indictment was released, Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare saying the next day that the confidential document was important for the people of Lebanon, the international community, and "for those who believe in international justice."

On June 30, arrest warrants for four Hezbollah members were issued. None were detained. At the time, Hezbollah said no arrests would be made, calling the tribunal a Washington/Israeli manipulated sham, covering up a classic Mossad operation.

On August 17, the 47-page indictment was released, holding Hezbollah members responsible based on falsified evidence. Those named include Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra. Badreddine was called the mission head.

No evidence proves it or that others named were involved. Clearly, Hezbollah had nothing to gain from the assassination but plenty to lose if, in fact, responsible.

A Final Comment

Later evidence may prove one way or the other whether Israel staged the multiple August 18 attacks. It has much to gain by doing so. Hamas, PFLP, and other Palestinians, however, have everything to lose, so why risk involvement? No advantage comes to mind.

In contrast, Israel has compelling reasons as explained above and may succeed precisely as planned. In fact, if Cast Lead II is intended, a trifecta of successes may follow. Palestinians and working Israelis, however, will suffer enormous defeats.

As a result, public awareness of what's at stake is essential to derail Israel's latest scheme. Failure to do so is an unacceptable option.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Eretz Yisrael: Lawless, Corrupt and Dysfunctional

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:42:25 +0000

Eretz Yisrael: Lawless, Corrupt and Dysfunctional - by Stephen Lendman

What do you call a country that persecutes occupied people and one-fifth of its own population for not being Jewish? An illegal occupier for over 44 years, suffocating over 1.6 million Gazans under siege! A nation practicing torture, persecution, and racism as official policies! A modern day Sparta, glorifying wars and violence!

A country spurning rule of law principles! An unparalleled regional state terrorist! A nuclear armed global threat! A society of extreme social inequality! A nation with no legitimacy for all of the above reasons, besides having stolen another people's nation violently!

It's called Eretz Yisrael - Israel, a nation where thousands of fed up Jews vote with their feet and leave regularly. Like America, Israel isn't fit to live in. One day perhaps that will be its epitaph.

Many Jews and analysts believe Zionism is destroying Judaism. In his book "Overcoming Zionism," Joel Kovel explained how it fosters "imperialist expansion and militarism (with) signs of the fascist malignancy," adding that it turned Israel "into a machine for the manufacture of human rights abuses."

Author Alan Hart calls Zionism "the real enemy of the Jews," an ideology contemptuous of moral and ethical principles. Others call it corrosive, destructive, racist, extremist, undemocratic and hateful, espousing violence, not peaceful coexistence.

Nations living by the sword in the end die by it. Israel and America aren't exceptions. They've, in fact, partnered on a self-destructive mission, perhaps taking planet earth with them before they're through.

Daily snapshots make the case. Multiple US wars rage, spending trillions of badly needed dollars waging them, besides diverting billions more annually to support Israel's out-of-control militarism. They endanger every other nation and their own, at the same time sacrificing homeland needs.

Lawless, corrupt and dysfunctional barely describe what some call a blight on humanity, threatening it by its presence with its Washington paymaster/partner.

In mid-August, one of its prominent rabbis, Yosef Elitzur, co-author of the controversial book "The King's Torah," was denied UK entry for advocating discrimination against gentiles and killing them. The book states:

"Anywhere where the presence of a gentile poses a threat to Israel, it is permissible to kill him, even if it a righteous gentile who is not responsible for the threatening situation."

In January 2010, co-author Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of a prominent yeshiva in the West Bank Yitzhar settlement, was arrested for torching a Palestinian Yasuf village mosque. Later, however, he was released uncharged.

In August 2010, Elitzur was also arrested for his advocacy of violence, though he, too, was released and charges against him quietly dropped.

However, their extremism isn't unique. On August 19, 2010, Ynet News said "(d)ozens of rabbis, educators, public figures and right-wing activists attended" a rally for Rabbis Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef "who refused to report for police questioning over their endorsement of" Elitzur and Shapira's book.

Senior rabbis support them, believing it's OK to kill non-Jews, a shocking indictment of what too many in Israel believe, including top officials.

It plays out daily in real time, including on August 16 when Israeli soldiers shot and killed a mentally disabled child, 400 meters inside the border separating Israel from Gaza, east of Deir al-Balah. In fact, 10 bullets struck his head and chest. He never had a chance.

Israeli radio merely said soldiers observed someone approaching the security fence, opened fire and shot him.

The same day, other shelling and shooting incidents occurred, killing one man and seriously wounding two others in Gaza City. In addition, another man and a child were wounded in Khan Yunis and Rafah in southern Gaza.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) called these incidents "part of a series of war crimes (regularly) committed by" Israeli forces in Occupied Palestine, reflecting the "total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians."

When state-sponsored violence is institutionalized, is it surprising that perhaps many prominent Israelis (including influential rabbis) endorse racism and killing non-Jews!

What better example of a sick society, deserving universal condemnation, especially by righteously indignant Jews wanting no part of what's so lawlessly repugnant. In fact, growing numbers of Jews and others understand what's happening and reject it.

Numerous daily examples highlight the problem. On August 18, Haaretz covered several, including Netanyahu again refusing to apologize to Turkey for murdering nine of its citizens during the infamous May 2010 Mavi Marmara attack in international waters.

At the time, universal outrage condemned it. In contrast, Israeli officials, like their Washington counterparts, believe they never have to say they're sorry, even when caught red-handed and denounced.

A second Haaretz article quoted Netanyahu's outgoing director general, Eyal Gabai, saying "(t)he current government will not deliver Israelis a welfare state," despite weeks of mass protests across Israel demanding it, wanting years of social injustice reversed.

Combined, neoliberalism and Zionism are suffocating Israel, a topic an August 18 Gideon Levy commentary addressed titled, "Israel's swinish Zionism ought to be stopped," saying:

As an MK, Shimon Peres coined the term "swinish capitalism," referring to then finance minister Netanyahu. "It's worth remembering that there is also swinish Zionism," Levy added.

"Swine are insatiable....gorg(ing) themselves until they die." Capitalism and Zionism are no different. What began as a national movement to establish a Jewish homeland ended up "caus(ing) grave injustice to the previous inhabitants of the land...." And for years, it's neoliberal version has been harming Jews.

Perhaps if Zionism "stop(ped)....reined in its lust and greed, atoned for the original injustices in 1948 and changed direction, it would have become an admired movement." Because it didn't, "Israel is only beginning to pay the price."

Many of Israel's wealthy "also started out well....But here too," their appetite proved insatiable. The time of reckoning has arrived. People want redress. "The word 'tycoon' has become a curse and 'wealthy' has nearly become despicable."

Today a new awakening is emerging. Israel's wealthy are "beginning to pay the price." Zionism so far escaped. Calling it swinish is heretical.

"But when the time for the reckoning comes we'll ask: Why didn't we stop (it) in time," especially its reliance on violence, occupation, racism, social injustice, and lawlessness.

Policies that extreme can't go on forever, and won't! Not in Israel, America or anywhere!

A Final Comment

On August 18, Maan News reported two shooting attacks on buses near Eilat, Israel, killing at least seven and injuring dozens more. Israel's Channel 10 said three militants armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire on one bus from a car.

A second incident occurred near Netafim, Israel, injuring others. In addition, an explosive device wounded more.

"Assailants also attacked a second bus and a car soon after," according to Al-Arabiya, killing five.

"In a third incident, mortars were reportedly fired at Israeli forces near the southern border causing injuries, although initial reports were ambiguous about" their origin.

Israel's knee-jerk reaction came as expected, Defense Minister Ehud Barak blaming Hamas, saying "(w)e will exhaust all measures against the terrorists."

Senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil rejected Barak's accusation, saying Israel, ahead of another Gaza attack, blamed Hamas and other Gaza groups to deflect attention from its own internal problems.

Since mid-July, unprecedented numbers of Israelis have rallied for social justice so far denied. It thus begs the question whether these attacks may have been a false flag diversions, to focus attention on "terrorist" threats, not economic hardship.

So far, the identity of attackers is unknown. Nonetheless, Haaretz said "Israeli Defense Forces struck targets in (Gaza) Thursday evening, hours after the earlier incidents."

Reports indicate at least six killed, others injured. Giving no details, Israel confirmed the strikes, saying operations were underway in southern Gaza.

Explaining nothing about daily atrocities US forces commit against innocent civilians in multiple wars, Hillary Clinton "condemn(ed) today's attacks in southern Israel and all acts of terrorism in the strongest terms," calling them "brutal" and "cowardly."

As expected, she added that America "stand(s) by Israel as our friend, partner, and ally - now and always," omitting mention of their state-sponsored terrorism against victims unable to fight back.

What better description of two global bullies, rogue state sponsors of intimidation, terror and torment as standard operations. Calling them democracies is ludicrous and offensive.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:43:35 +0000

Daily Rogue State Israeli Lawlessness - by Stephen Lendman

It begs the question why Israelis put up with lawless governance harming them as well as Palestinians. When will weeks of social injustice outrage arouse them to embrace universal equity?

Why haven't Martin Luther King's words hit home that, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In Israel and Occupied Palestine, Arabs and Jews both are harmed. Injustice to anyone denies it to all.

Since the 1980s, destructive neoliberalism plagued Israel like the West. A race to the bottom followed, producing social injustice, inequality, and growing human need. Israelis finally reacted, demanding change, at the same time showing a hint of solidarity with Arab citizens, far more gravely impacted than themselves.

It's high time that spirit addressed 44 years of Occupied Palestinian torment. Permitting that to go on betrays core Judaic tenets. In their own time of need, will Jews embrace the universal struggle for justice everywhere, especially a few kilometers from their own backyard. Turning a blind eye to that injustice no longer can be tolerated.

What's now ongoing bears witness. Overnight, Israeli jets bombed Gaza, killing at least one resident and wounding seven or more others (including a child) in a series of lawless raids.

Gaza's medical emergency spokesperson, Adham Abu Salmiyya, said three residents were seriously injured after Israel bombed the Al Zeitoun neighborhood, Rafah tunnel areas, and an alleged Al Qassam Brigades training center in Gaza City's At-Tuffah community.

Further attacks struck eastern Khan Younis, causing extensive damage but no injuries. Israel targets Gaza regularly by air, land and sea, falsely claiming self-defense every time. It long ago rang hollow.

Imagine if instead Israeli neighborhoods were bombed regularly, killing innocent civilians? Western leaders would express outrage in response.

In contrast, when Palestinians are killed, it goes unnoticed, notably by major media sources more focused on supporting NATO aggression, slaughtering people in the name of "liberating" them.

The hypocrisy is stark and galling, yet commonplace backing wrong over right. The horrors need volumes to explain.

Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli forces also razed Palestinian farmland south of Hebron, bulldozing fruit trees belonging to several Palestinian families. At the same time, several Hebron neighborhoods were raided. In addition, residents of Yatta, Tarqomia, and other Palestinian communities face regular Israeli incursions, harassing and aiming to displace them.

Israel Welcomes Glenn Beck

On August 14, Israel National News writer Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu headlined, "Israel Rolls Out Red Carpet for Glenn Beck" ahead of his "Restoring Courage" tour in Jerusalem, saying:

He scrapped plans to hold it at the Temple Mount after being warned about Muslim outrage. Instead, he'll hold two Jerusalem events, "at the Davidson Center at the southern edge of the Western Wall and the other in Safra Square," near municipal offices and city hall.

A previous article explained Beck's demagoguery, right wing extremism, and racism, accessed through the following link:

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2009/09/glenn-becks-demagoguery-right-wing.html

No longer on Fox News, he continues his hatemongering diatribes against disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and anyone to the left of his views, meaning he'll fit right in among Israeli extremists who arranged his visit.

Beck claims it's "time to Stand and Restore Courage. We ask those of you who value freedom honor and faith to travel to Israel and stand with Glenn Beck and leaders from around the world with one united voice."

Palestinians, anti-war activists, and opponents of Israel's illegal occupation aren't invited. Nor were they included on a July Beck visit when extremist Knesset members let him address the Aliyah and Absorption Committee, saying he came "to speak the truth" about efforts to delegitimize Israel.

He also claimed PA demands exacerbate anti-Semitism that's "going through the roof," when US and European studies show it in steep decline.

Now he's back, endorsed by Rev. John Hagee, a fellow demagogue, supporting racial hatred, white Christian supremacy, imperial wars, apocalyptic violence, gay bashing, male gender dominance, and fanatically wanting Israel exclusively for Jews.

They're a matched set, Hagee writing Beck, saying:

"I'm writing to express my strong support for the Restoring Courage events to be held in Israel....Those of us who love Israel (see) especially ominous thunder clap to come down in September, when the (UN) will most likely support a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood."

He falsely claimed the General Assembly has no power to do it, at the same time railing against "the symbolic impact" he called "extremely dangerous."

"I look forward to seeing you" in Israel, he said, "the land God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in an eternal covenant that is binding to this day."

Hagee knows because God told him so, communicating directly he apparently believes. So do his parishioners sadly and other followers of his demagogic hatemongering misinterpretation of vital truths.

New Settlement Units Announced

In 2004, America's United Methodist Church stood firm against "confiscat(ing) Palestinian land for construction of settlements and the building of a separation wall."

It also expressed opposition to other Israeli abuses, including "intensified closures, curfews, dehumanizing check points, home demolitions, uprooted trees, bulldozed fields....confiscation of Palestinian land and water....targeted assassinations," and other Israeli occupation abuses.

In recent days, Israel announced thousands of new settlement units, defiant of international law, and a vital need for new construction in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities, not Occupied Palestine, to relieve a severe housing shortage, causing prices to skyrocket.

Many human rights organizations express similar views, including opposition to settlement developments, stealing Palestinian land for exclusive Jewish use.

No matter. On August 15, 277 West Bank Ariel units were approved. Earlier, 500 others were announced in Gush Etzion, Ma'ale Adumin, Ariel, and Kiryat Sefer.

In early August, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said 930 more are planned for East Jerusalem's Har Homa C and 42 public buildings in Har Homa B, as well as extensive accompanying infrastructure.

On August 11, thousands more were announced - 1,600 in Ramat Shlomo, 2,000 in Givat Hamatos, and 700 in Pisgat Zeev. "This would bring (total East Jerusalem approvals) to over 5,200, and counting, in August alone."

In 121 illegal settlements and nearly 100 outposts, around 300,000 settlers populate the West Bank, another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, and the numbers keep growing.

As a result, over 42% of choice West Bank land and large parts of East Jerusalem have been stolen by successive Israeli governments, claiming they want peace.

Compounded by his duplicitous rhetoric overall, Obama (like his predecessors) stands firmly in support, reiterating America's "unbreakable" bond with Israel, including its most lawless acts.

According to PCHR and other human rights organizations, as long as international community leaders grant Israel impunity, Palestinian justice will lose out.

Will socially oppressed Israeli Jews finally take note and say No More!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:01:48 +0000

Netanyahu Spurns Social Justice Demands - by Stephen Lendman

Unaffordable housing prices ignited mass social justice protests in Israel. At issue is settlement developments at the expense of other construction, creating a supply/demand imbalance enough to cause prices to skyrocket. Israelis demand that issue be addressed responsibly.

In response, Netanyahu's government announced thousands of illegal new West Bank/East Jerusalem settlement units on stolen Palestinian land, harming them grievously. At the same time, he arrogantly ignored the urgency of addressing serious shortages in Tel Aviv, Haifa, West Jerusalem, and other Israeli cities.

In addition, Israel's Knesset passed a controversial housing bill despite popular protests against it. It calls for solving Israel's housing crisis by expanding West Bank settlements, defiantly avoiding what's needed.

It also called for quick action to expedite construction of 50,000 apartments, circumventing planning commissions that take time to decide. Doing so, however, will exacerbate Israel's housing crisis, making an intolerable situation worse.

Since protests began, Netanyahu signaled no meaningful change, saying "solutions (must be) economically sound." In other words, business as usual will continue, papered over with minor cosmetic concessions sure to ignite greater anger sooner or later.

In early August, he appointed Professor Manual Trajtenberg to head a 14-member "panel for socioeconomic change," saying its "recommendations will reflect the need to maintain fiscal responsibility in the state budge. Such responsibility is especially necessary at a time of economic uncertainty," signaling minimal changes at best, far less than vitally needed and demanded.

Neoliberally constructed, Trajtenberg's panel will conduct discussions, propose solutions, and present them to Israel's socioeconomic cabinet (composed of establishment figures headed by neoliberal finance minister Yuval Steinitz) by late September.

In late October, Steinitz will present his own recommendations to Netanhayu, who'll review them and deliver a final proposal to Israel's cabinet by early November, giving officials enough time to let street protests subside. Or so they hope to get away with minimal changes, if any.

Trajtenberg's Socioeconomic Change Panel

Besides himself and Steinitz, the panel includes senior government officials, including:

Eyal Gabai: Netanyahu's Director-General

Eugene Kandel: National Economic Council head

Gal Hershkovitz: Finance Ministry's budget chief

Avi Simhon: Finance Ministry's senior economic advisor

Michal Abadi-Boiangiu: Finance Ministry's accountant-general

Esther Dominisini: National Insurance Institute's director-general

Shlomi Frizet: Antitrust Authority's chief economist

Karnit Flug: Bank of Israel's deputy governor

Other members include:

Professor Yoram Gabby: Israeli tax expert

Shahar Cohen: entrepreneur

Professor Pnina Klein: 2011 Israel Education Prize Laureate

Professor Rafi Melnik: Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center vice president

Professor Tali Regev: economist

Panel advisors include other establishment figures from government ministries, related agencies and think tanks.

Panel head Trajtenberg also is an establishment figure, formerly Netanyahu's National Economic Council head, appointed in 2006 by Ehud Olmert.

An economist, he heads Israel's Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education. Without explaining whether he favors change, he calls himself "a fervent Zionist who devoted three years of his life to bringing Jews to Israel, an Israeli patriot with a South American soul, and a doctorate in economics from Harvard."

At the same time, he worries about Israel's commission system, saying it's set up to kill, not solve, issues, which begs the question why he agreed to get involved in the first place, knowing it's an exercise in futility.

In fact, he said "(A)nother panel with all the familiar faces will be no good here. Unless the political leadership unites behind the recommendations, it won't work."

Knowing he won't succeed, nonetheless, he came on board adding, "we must take the risk," that may, in fact, be rhetoric, not conviction.

At the same time, he's a possible/perhaps likely choice to become the Bank of Israel's next governor when his Planning and Budgeting chairmanship term expires in a year, replacing Stanley Fischer, head of Israel's central bank since 2005.

No social democrat need apply. Of course, Netanyahu didn't appoint him socioeconomic change head to become one.

Perhaps it's why protest leaders have their own expert panel, separate from Trajtenberg's, knowing any government commission will spurn them. In fact, some of its members openly endorse non-cooperation with Netanyahu's appointees.

Composed of 60 academic and public figures, it's divided into nine sub-units, coordinated by Education Professor Yossi Yonah and Professor Avia Spivak, a curious choice, having been a former Bank of Israel deputy governor.

Some units have already held working sessions. Others will do so shortly. Each will handle priorities in their field of expertise. Within weeks, they'll present their conclusions and demands.

A public statement said:

"(R)ecent statements of senior ministers suggest that the government does not understand what is happening here. Those who look down on the protest and surround themselves with tycoons do not understand the depth of the revulsion at the economic processes they have led, which enrich the rich at the expense of the rest of the public. This method has created enormous gaps, greed and deteriorating public services, education, welfare and health."

It added that "the demands of the public today are for fundamental change in the method, not just some improvements in it. The Trajtenberg committee, whose mandate and scope for maneuvering have not been publicized, does not appear to be capable of leading such change."

Of course, it was appointed to prevent it, a sham smokescreen for business as usual.

Alternate panel sub-unit heads include:

Professor Yossi Ze'ira: economic issues

Emily Silverman: housing and transportation

Professor Yitzhak Gal-Nur: public administration

Professor Ya'akov Kashti and Rabbi Shay Piron: education

Professor Danny Filc: healthcare

Nadia Ismail: employment

Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer: legal issues

Professor Bilha Tadher: social security issues

Professor Yossi Yonah: "fundamentals of a policy of social justice"

On August 14, New York Times writer Stephen Farrell headlined, "Israeli Leader Vows Fiscal Reform but No Quick Fixes," saying:

On Sunday, Netanyahu "tempered a promise to find 'concrete solutions' to demonstrators' concerns with a warning that the global financial crisis precluded quick change," saying:

"We know one thing: We want to find solutions that are economically sound. For if we end up bankrupt or face economic collapse, a reality in which some of Europe's leading economies find themselves in today, we will solve neither the economic problems nor the social ones."

Fact check:

During dire economic times, going it slow is counterproductive and destructive, assuring worse, not improved conditions. Moreover, doing little, nothing, or forcing austerity when stimulus is needed assures disaster.

When times are tough, pump priming is critical to stimulate economic growth and create jobs. At all times, moreover, just democratic societies are mandated to provide essential social services to all its citizens, including education, healthcare, housing help, and welfare for their least advantaged.

In contrast, neoliberal states like Israel, America, Britain and others serve wealth and power interests only, spurning their social obligations altogether, disingenuously saying it's for the greater good.

Netanyahu lied urging "financial responsibility alongside social sensitivity," when he favors the former only but won't say.

As a result, achieving social justice requires protest leaders accepting nothing less, or as Haifa University student Adi Gross said:

"These protests are not going to stop before a (just)," solution is found," and social worker Suhair Halabi added:

"Nobody is free until everybody is free," saying also "(w)e are fighting a national and a class battle" too important to lose.

Going for broke is crucial. It's critical that spirit and energy driving it not be lost. Otherwise, the battle for social justice will be, letting an historic moment pass unfulfilled.

A Final Comment

Working cooperatively with Netanyahu's government, municipal authorities began harassing protest encampments, forcibly trying to disrupt them by dismantling tent cities.

In fact, inspectors issued eviction notices in Tel Aviv's Kikar Hamedina plaza, and confiscated the symbolic guillotine erected on Rothschild Boulevard. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) strongly condemned the move, saying mayors are trying to "push the police to silence the protest."

ACRI attorney Avner Punchuk added:

"(T)he role of the police is to protect freedom of expression, not to pander to mayors and municipal authorities, who have their own agendas, while using unreasonable excuses for eviction such as the expected Palestinian declaration of statehood in September."

ACRI is providing legal help to end harassment, at times successful, but this struggle has a long way to go with major hurdles to overcome.

Protesters now face municipal officers tearing down tents, other encampments, signs and confiscating equipment to crush resistance - representing an extremist right-wing government determined to spurn them.

Knowing what they're up against, Israelis vow to stay the course. No matter how many victories are won, social justice struggles never end because dark force plotting never quits, devising new ways to undermine or regain lost ground.

As a result, it's vital to keep the spirit for change alive, never letting it wane because doing so assures defeat. Winning social justice isn't easy, quick or enough. Keeping it is key.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 07:42:46 +0000

Israeli Social Justice Protests Continue - by Stephen Lendman

Ongoing since mid-July, America's media hardly notice, but indeed care as evidenced by their silence to suppress mass outrage over longstanding social injustice Israelis want changed.

What US print and broadcast media won't report, Israeli and other sources cover extensively, because what's ongoing is too significant to ignore. Happening at the same time across the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere, it's just a matter of time before it erupts in America, most often a late bloomer.

However, when intolerable conditions reach a breaking point, people react, and without redress, do it violently.

So far in Israel, mass outrage has been contained. How much longer is at issue under a government that spurns them. It's much like in America where the corrupted two-party duopoly serves wealth and power only, ignoring growing need that sooner or later will explode.

It's high time it happened sooner before distress conditions surge past intolerable to uncontainable, because of shocking unaddressed levels of rising poverty, unemployment, homelessness, hunger, and human misery - a ticking bomb revolutions are made of.

Trends analyst Gerald Celente believes neoliberalized Industrial Revolution policies can't work in the new century, saying:

"It's not just Model T economics that's outmoded, so are our approaches to education, politics and yes, the military. The old adage (that) 'Generals fight the last war' is as valid as ever. While the technology may have changed, the mindset hasn't."

So while old unwinnable wars rage, new ones start, drag on endlessly, draining the federal treasury, at the expense of public need and good government.

Celente believes direct democracy is essential, saying:

"The government/political 'system' in place in America, and throughout much of the world, is obsolete and irreparable. The inept generals masterminding lost-cause wars are (matched) by (corrupt) senators and representatives in Congress."

As a result, representative democracy "is a cruel sham; it's neither 'representative' nor 'democratic,' and people are" wising up to it as evidenced by poll numbers.

Therein lies the possibility for change, "real change, not Obama (Netanyahu/Cameron/Sarkozy/Merkel, Berlusconi/Papandreou et al) change."

Others explained it wisely earlier, including Victor Hugo, saying:

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

Grassroots direct democracy representing everyone "has come for the entire world (says Celente) to wrest power from the hands of ruling political mobs and put it into the hands of the public."

Let them decide, not corrupted corporate bosses, militarists, lobbyists and their puppet political tools. Shifting to this type system Celente calls a "Global Game Changer."

Is it possible? Indeed, when enough people cooperatively make it happen through disruptive power too strong to contain.

Weeks of protests across Israel show it, symbolized by an August 11 guillotine on display in the center of Tel Aviv's tent city.

There on Rothschild Blvd, Tel Aviv's Park Avenue, it was the center of attention, signifying public anger perhaps too great to contain without meaningful redress. So far, it's not forthcoming from a government that doesn't give a damn about ordinary people, the same mindset as in America.

On August 13, Haaretz headlined, "Tens of thousands take to Israel's streets as social protests move out of Tel Aviv," saying:

Saturday night, people turned out en masse in Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Afula, Eilat, Rosh Pina, Nahariya, Dimona, Modi'in, Petah Tikva, Ramat Hasharon, Hod Hasharon, Netanya, Beit She'an, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and elsewhere for what they've been demanding for weeks.

Haifa activist Yossi Baruch addressed thousands, saying:

"They tell us we don't have focus, but we are super focused and know exactly what we want. We want there to be a welfare state here, and a welfare state is not just a slogan. It means free education for every boy and girl" from pre-school through PhDs.

"A welfare state is (also) a place where its citizens receive fair wages," get free or low-cost healthcare, other social benefits, and have caring officials who provide them.

"This is a long-range struggle, and it doesn't matter if Bibi falls in a week, a month or a year," he said. "Bibi will fall. So will (Yuval) Steinitz (Israel's finance minister), and so will (Avigdor) Lieberman," Israel's fascist foreign minister/deputy prime minister.

Activist Dror Israel put it another way, saying:

"We are not against a specific person. We're against a policy. We are for a welfare state" that serves all Israelis, not just its privileged few like in America, Britain, and other most other countries.

Arab citizens called for mutual cooperation. In fact, crowds cheered Hamoudi Hujeirat saying, "We are one people."

Raja Za'atara, from the disadvantaged Arab Wadi Nisnas neighborhood, said, "In the Wadi, not many people eat cottage cheese," referring to one of the protest symbols because of its high price. "But a hungry child is a hungry child," he said, "and it doesn't matter if he is Arab or Jewish. This struggle gives hope to everyone."

In fact, social injustice affects all Israeli workers. However, Arabs (one-fifth of the population) are especially impacted, treated more like fifth column threats than citizens.

At the same time, hope never dies when enough people believe. Addressing Haifa thousands in Arabic, writer Sami Michael said:

"At age 85, it's hard to be optimistic, but the younger generation today makes me feel optimistic. Today the public is showing for the first time a connection between classes, between cities and villages, between Arabs and Jews, and I don't remember anything like this in Haifa," or elsewhere across Israel.

"The impact of the Middle East" arrived, he added. Echoes for change now reverberating across Israel. It remains to be seen whether government repression will confront them, and if so, how they'll react.

So far, they've been steadfastly protesting, many camping out in tent cities, giving up the comforts of home, that even if humble are preferable to living on streets, even in solidarity for reinforcement.

It's too soon to know, but hopefully that energy won't wane. It's crucial to have any chance for success.

A Final Comment

In a new policy paper, Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth discuss "Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919 - 2009," showing they go hand in hand, saying:

Evidence "show(s) a clear positive correlation between fiscal retrenchment and instability. We test if the relationship simply reflects economic downturns, and conclude that this is not a key factor."

"While autocracies and democracies show a broadly similar response to budget cuts," less unrest results when executive power is constrained. Quite the opposite, however, when leaders and parliaments are in sync, as in America, the Middle East, Europe and Israel.

Other analysts also say austerity yields trouble, showing up in protests, riots, strikes, violence and revolutions if public rage exceeds the tipping point, making it uncontainable.

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz envisions IMF riots, saying "the whole cauldron blows up" after IMF financial terrorism "squeezes the last pound of blood out of" troubled nations.

Economist Kenneth Rogoff says high US unemployment and out-of-control debt sooner or later trigger serious "social unrest from the income disparities" they create, adding the Obama administration has "no clue."

Neither does Netanyahu, European leaders and numerous others, heading their nations for serious unrest - or worse.

Gerald Celente's been warning about it for years, saying:

"When people lose everything and have nothing else to lose, they lose it."

Indeed, and it may be coming to a nearby neighborhood or right in their own backyard. Bet on it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

מחאה חברתית אמיתית

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:41:29 +0000

אל תדרשו, חוקים לחטיפת-ילדים למוסדות-שטיפת-המוח הבורגניים!! תיבעו מן הממשלה, הארכת חופשת-הלידה, הכפלת שכר-המינימום, הפחתת שבוע-העבודה ושוויון מוחלט בין המינים!! קנו פחות = חיו יותר!! זאת תהיה, מחאה חברתית אמיתית....לא מה, שאנחנו רואים כיום באוהלים!!

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מחאה חברתית אמיתית

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