Obama’s third war US President Barack Obama’s promises that Libya would be a short war with humanitarian aims have fallen flat. US President Barack Obama now has his country mired in another military quagmire in Libya [GALLO/GETTY] Republicans in the United States Senate held a hearing in early April to discuss the progress of what [...]
The Doha debates are now available on video at http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6935 This represents a very good opportunity to hear Arabs talk about the recent events in the Arab Spring Related articles Doha, Qatar. (thewriterinparis.wordpress.com) Sunset, sunrise, sunset – Doha, Qatar (travelpod.com) What is the distance between Doha to Washington (wiki.answers.com) Qatar set to reap benefits from Libya [...]
Millions affected by China flooding Authorities predict downpours in the country’s south after heavy rains wreak havoc in eastern provinces. The flooding has caused more than $700m worth of damage, with the Zhejiang province hit especially hard [Reuters] More than five million people are believed to have been affected by severe floods in eastern China, amid predictions [...]
North and South Sudan sign pact over Abyei Pact provides for demilitarisation of disputed Abyei region, says Thabo Mbeki. Looting and burning of businesses in Abyei has ebbed and flowed since the January referendum [EPA/UNMIS] North and south Sudan have signed an agreement to demilitarise the disputed Abyei region and allow in Ethiopian peacekeeping forces, former South [...]
Protests follow Syrian president’s speech Rallies held across the country as activists say reforms pledged by Bashar al-Assad are not enough. Syrians who have fled into Turkey protested in refugee vamps after Assad’s speech [AFP] Protesters have taken to the streets across Syria to denounce a speech by President Bashar al-Assad, saying his address did not meet popular [...]
How does PSCABI fight Zionism? (Stay Human Convoy) By Joe Catron On a warm, sunny afternoon, I met Eman Sourani and Rana Baker in an airy outdoor café several blocks from the port of Gaza. Both are members of the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI). Sourani, a 22-year-old English literature [...]
Aung San Suu Kyi tells of Burma’s struggle for freedom and its cost Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks movingly of price of resistance in first of BBC’s Reith lectures Share126 Comments (3) Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 June 2011 14.02 BST Article history Aung San Suu Kyi will deliver two of this [...]
Justice Roderick Howie charged with Mid-range drink driving Posted: 19 Jun 2011 03:48 PM PDT Back in 2004, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal delivered a guideline judgment relating to the sentencing of high range drink-driving offences. Who wrote the judgment with which the other members of the Court agreed? [...]
Karl Bitar‘s leap to Crown Casino David Hetherington | Online Opinon | 1 June 2011 It’s hard to know whether to laugh or cry at the news that former Labor boss Karl Bitar is joining Crown Casino. The scriptwriters at the Simpsons couldn’t have cast a more delicious storyline, but at the same time it [...]
You may have noticed the previous article on this page early in June about these US experiments of concentration camp proportions. This is another article on the same topic. It would be nice if Hillary could spare some of the outrage for present day fascist activities of the USA As usual those most affected are that group [...]
Student walkouts planned to coincide with public sector strikes Thousands of school and college students prepare to join public sector strikes against cuts on 30 June Share39 Comments (27) Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 June 2011 10.22 BST Article history Public sector strikes have followed student protests against higher tuition fees and the scrapping [...]
What’s it costing British taxpayers to bomb Libya? The UK government has shrouded the financial cost of bombing Gaddafi in secrecy and obfuscation Share310 Comments (190) Ian Katz guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 June 2011 22.00 BST Article history Smoke rises after a Nato air strike on the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Photograph: Str/EPA This weekend provided [...]
Al-Qa’ida scarecrow in Yemen 31 May 2011 Islamic extremists have seized Zanjibar, the capital of Abyan in southern Yemen, having expelled government forces. This can be seen as a highly significant development in the war between President Ali Abdallah Saleh and his opponents who are demanding his resignation and the establishment of a democratic infrastructure [...]
Israeli Spies to Undermine Egyptian Revolution 13 June 2011 The Egyptian Youth Revolution which started in Tahrir Square in Cairo and spread to various cities, villages and hamlets, has changed Egypt‘s political landscape for ever and has deeply affected the power balance and diplomatic relationships throughout the region – most importantly, perhaps, those with Israel. [...]
Syria’s lessons in democracy 15 June 2011 It was very kind of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, to be the first to congratulate his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman on the occasion of the formation of the new Lebanese government after five months of political horse trading. We hope that the next few months will bring [...]
Al-Qa’ida under al-Zawahiri 17 June 2011 The appointment of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri as the new al-Qa’ida leader was not a surprise. He has long been the second in command, the closest to Osama bin Laden and a major strategist in the organisation’s most devastating attacks, particularly those targeting America and the West. Furthermore, in his [...]
The power of lies, deception and self-delusion By Christopher King* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz My family has an investment in Libya. It is a small plot of land in the Knightsbridge War Cemeteryat Acroma, eastern Libya, where my uncle, my father’s brother, is buried. He died fighting Rommel’s forces in World War II and left a young wife. [...]
Bombings still part of life in oil-rich Kirkuk By E. Randall Floyd Guest Columnist Sunday, June 19, 2011 Comment Follow Opinion columns SULAIMANI, Iraq — Recently, one of my “star” students—a cheerful and hard-working business major named Hardi—invited me to visit his home in nearby Kirkuk. ADVERTISEMENT This sounded great. As a historian, I had been [...]
The Obsolete Alliance Has NATO outlived its usefulness? Steve Chapman | June 20, 2011 Defense Secretary Robert Gates went to Europe recently to announce that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may have a “dismal future” and that before long, American leaders “may not consider the return on America’s investment in NATO worth the cost.” Why [...]
This piece is a good look at the level of media coverage in the US. There is littler difference, if any, here in australia where the racist feelings are so ingrained in the servile media. Surprisingly in line with what Noam Chomsky says so often what is in the media is lagging behind what the public may [...]
On Iraq’s Walls, the Graffiti of War U.S. forces are scheduled to depart Iraq in December. But on the giant concrete barriers that still ring the constellations of bases around the country, their artistic footprint will remain. Over the past eight years, all around Iraq, troops turned the jersey barriers and t-walls designed to protect [...]
A Gaza Cri de Coeur Submitted by Ray McGovern on Sat, 2011-06-18 21:47 Palestine ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Gaza: Cradle of Killing — Americans Too By Ray McGovern June 18, 2011 Stuffing my backpack before setting out to board “The Audacity of Hope,” the U.S. boat to Gaza, I got a familiar-sounding call from yet another puzzled friend, [...]
Dozens of Father’s days; Decades of Grief Submitted by brasch on Sun, 2011-06-19 15:56 Afghanistan Casualties Veterans by Walter Brasch Christopher Kenneth Frison is seven months old. He’s too young to understand Father’s Day. And he’s certainly far too young to be able to get an allowance or a job to buy a card and [...]
Syria‘s humanitarian crisis intensifies The humanitarian crisis in Syria worsens as the UN Security Council remains unwilling – or unable – to act. As many as 7,000 Syrians from Jisr al-Shughur have sought refuge in Turkey, after helicopter gunships were reportedly used against the town’s 50,000 residents [EPA] When reports of protests and subsequent civilian deaths as security forces [...]
Close Mubarak associate held in Spain Egyptian officials say Hussein Salam will be bought back to Egypt to face a number of charges. Last Modified: 16 Jun 2011 19:46 Hussein Salam reportedly won lucrative business contracts because of his proximity to Mubarak [Interpol] Authorities in Spain have arrested a close associate of ousted Egyptian president Hosni [...]
Aung San Suu Kyi celebrates a happier birthday in freedom First time in nine years that Aung San Suu Kyi is able to mark birthday freely with friends, family and supporters Share1446 Associated Press guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 June 2011 13.04 BST Article history Aung San Suu Kyi with her son Kim Aris. Photograph: Nyein [...]
The great land grab: India’s war on farmers Land is a powerful commodity that should be used for the betterment of humanity through farming and ecology. In India, the state forcibly acquires land from farmers and hands it over to private speculators, real estate corporations, mining companies and leisure industries [EPA] “The Earth upon which [...]
Europe‘s top industrial firms have a cache of 240m pollution permits European Commission estimates energy-intensive sector will have accumulated allowances worth €7-12bn by the end of 2012 Share34 Comments (26) Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 June 2011 15.38 BST Article history Steel producer ArcelorMittal tops the list of firms with surplus of emissions trading [...]
By Ralph Nader The meticulous Harvard Law Review editors should be rolling over in their footnotes. The recidivist violations of constitutional and statutory requirements by their celebrated predecessor at that journal – Barack Obama has reached Orwellian dimensions in the war against Libya. You see, the widespread daily bombing of Libya, the strict naval blockade [...]
What are the Jews – a nation or a religion? (Via Aljazeera) By Uri Avnery I am fed up with all this nonsense about recognizing Israel as the ‘Jewish State‘. It is based on a collection of hollow phrases and vague definitions, devoid of any real content. It serves many different purposes, almost all of [...]
UNHCR report says refugee numbers at 15-year high UN refugee agency’s report reveals majority of forcibly displaced people are in countries that cannot cope with the influx Share20 Shiv Malik The Guardian, Monday 20 June 2011 Article history Report from the UN high commission for refugees says that Afghanistan is still the leading country of [...]
It will be interesting to see what the warmonger Obama decides is a ‘suitable’ drawdown in Afghanistan and if any of that has been or was communicated to the true friend downunder before she went on her crawling and servile spree doing and saying anything to further the position that Australia is there to the [...]
By Tulay Karadeniz – Sat Jun 18, 12:07 pm ET BOYNUYOGUN, Turkey (Reuters) – At the small playground in the Boynuyogun refugee camp scores of children wait patiently for a turn on the swing, while in the television tents the adults watch events in the Syria they have fled. The camp’s 600 tents house 3,500 people, around a third of [...]
By Emma Graham-Harrison – Sat Jun 18, 11:45 am ET KABUL (Reuters) – Iran’s defense minister made a landmark visit to Afghanistan on Saturday to bolster ties as Kabul prepares to assume security control from NATO-led forces and Washington seeks to wind down its almost decade-old tenure. Majority Shi’ite Iran and majority Sunni Afghanistan share a long border and history, [...]
By SOLOMON MOORE, Associated Press – Sat Jun 18, 4:32 pm ET NAWZAD, Afghanistan – There isn’t much left of this once-violent town center that the U.S. Marines recently pacified — a couple of dusty roads, closed shops with bare mud brick stalls, small boys herding goats through a jigsaw puzzle of ruined houses and dry irrigation canals. Just outside [...]
Lebanese side of the border Local News Israel to conduct military drills on Lebanese border June 18, 2011 03:10 PM (Last updated: June 19, 2011 11:06 AM) By Brooke Anderson The Daily Star BEIRUT: The Israeli Army will be conducting routine border exercises along the Lebanese border for one week starting Sunday. Between June 19 and [...]
Peres warns: Israel in danger of ceasing to exist as Jewish state President says that Israel ‘doomed’ unless negotiations with the Palestinians leading to a peace agreement begin in the immediate future. By Yossi Verter President Shimon Peres is concerned that Israel might become a binational state, in which case, he warned, it would cease to [...]
Karen Greenberg, How to End the War on Terror Posted by Karen J. Greenberg at 5:21pm, June 19, 2011. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: Only two days left to get your personalized, signed copy of the must-read history book of the summer, Adam Hochschild’s bestselling To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918, in return [...]
