Israel is the greatest annual recipient of US military aid, but as Mother Jones conveniently reminds us, “most of the annual $3 billion in aid can be spent only on U.S.-made weapons.” What a coincidence.
The magazine provides a useful chart of the major suppliers and their ethical records.
Americans ponder where next to invade after Iraq:
Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz, November 27:
There is not much of a chance that the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians will be upheld. The reason is that the deterioration in the security situation between the sides is only one aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian political imbroglio that has been developing recently.
Ten months have elapsed since the dramatic victory of Hamas in the elections of the Palestinian parliament, in the wake of which Ismail Haniyeh’s government was set up. The entire world, with the exception of Iran and Syria, rejected it. The United States and Europe, together with almost all the Arab countries, and of course Israel, boycotted it. They refused to transfer money to it or to meet its representatives. The distress in the territories and in particular in the Gaza Strip grew worse and, as the security situation declined, more dead and wounded were counted daily in Gaza and the West Bank.
What has been the result? Instead of the Hamas government collapsing, the movement’s strongman and the head of its political bureau, Khaled Meshal, appeared at the end of the week at a news conference in Cairo and issued an ultimatum to the international community: You have six months to organize an Israeli withdrawal from the territories and to end the conflict, otherwise a third intifada will break out and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will collapse.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard recently said (while in Vietnam) that he still supported the Vietnam war and the Iraq invasion, and even if he came to change his mind, he would never acknowledge this in public. What a brave man.
A letter in today’s Sydney Morning Herald asks a few questions:
I wonder what part of the Vietnam War John Howard still supports. The Gulf of Tolkin attack, which turned out to be a lie, just like weapons of mass destruction? Or was it to stop the spread of communism, which never happened after the Vietcong won? I wonder what he said to his host at the meeting – “I wish you were dead”? Or what did he want to say to the more than 2 million dead Vietnamese – “Thought it was a good idea at the time and still do”?
Those who do not learn from history are apt to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Shaun Catlin South Golden Beach
The US is now desperate for help in “stabilising” Iraq, the death toll continues to mount and yet our Dear Leader insists on defending a position that is beyond farcical.
Bush, Blair and Howard will continue to blame everybody else but themselves for the Iraq debacle.
Bahrain’s election took place over the weekend and results have started trickling in. Blogger Silly Bahraini Girl wonders what is really going on:
What?? Not a single woman?? What is wrong with you, you morons??
It is OK for women to be mothers, sisters, girlfriends, housewives, mistresses, teachers, engineers, journalists, prostitutes, shop keepers, cashiers and bar tenders – but not policy makers and parliamentarians???
What the hell! And you tell me that 72 per cent of the population eligible to vote had cast their vote…and not a single woman has made it so far, with the exception of Ms Al Gauod who won the seat uncontested?
Does it take a beard to be an MP? Is this the only criteria? Well, let’s see what the Parliament of Hair (PoH) will do in our modern robust thriving deMOCKracy! Well done mountain goats…hard luck the rest of you hopefuls.
I am off to sulk for the next four years! LOL…I mean…unless…and I am not tempting fate here…that this PoH is dissolved soon!!!
Like a cat, my country seems to be agonising because of all the hairballs!!
Unsurprisingly, Islamists made major gains (in a result that would be replicated across the Arab world if free and open elections were allowed.)
Jon Stewart on Washington’s clueless attempts at Iraqi propaganda:
Israel has a serious international image problem:
Israel ranked bottom in the Q3 2006 Anholt Nation Brands Index (NBI). Authored by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), the Index surveyed 25,903 online consumers across 35 countries about their perceptions of those countries across six areas of national competence: Investment and Immigration, Exports, Culture and Heritage, People, Governance and Tourism. The NBI is the first analytical ranking of the world’s nation brands.
“Israel’s brand is by a considerable margin the most negative we have ever measured in the NBI, and comes bottom of the ranking on almost every question,” states report author Simon Anholt.
Anholt believes that the politics of a nation can affect every single aspect of a person’s perception about a country. In the light of the recent announcement that a team has been tasked with re-branding Israel, he comments that to succeed in permanently changing the country’s image, the country has to be prepared to change its behavior. He reiterates his strong belief that a reputation cannot be constructed: it has to be earned. He concludes: “If Israel’s intention is to promote itself as a desirable place to live and invest in, the challenge appears to be a steep one.”
Nation Brands Index Israel highlights
* Israel came last in each area – by a long margin
* Americans ranked Israel just slightly above China in terms of its conduct in the areas of international peace and security
* Of the 36 countries ranked, there is nowhere that respondents would like to visit less than Israel
* Israel’s people were also voted the most unwelcoming in the world
These results are unsurprising (and refreshing). Despite the best efforts of Zionist lobby groups and many Western nations, Israel’s behaviour in the occupied territories and Lebanon is rightly seen by the global population as immoral and a threat to world security. Even with the constant media insistence of publishing blindly pro-Zionist propaganda, it’s encouraging to read that such efforts are failing miserably.
When complete US support starts to falter, Israel may actually have to become a responsible world citizen.
UPDATE: So how, you may ask, will Israel attempt to counter its woeful international image? Yes, with more bombastic propaganda.
Should we prepare for a third Lebanon war in the coming months?
Iran is smuggling weapons through Syria to re-arm Lebanese allies Hizballah, despite renewed efforts by United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to seal off the mountain borders with Syria in the wake of last summer’s war between the Shi’ite militia and Israel, according to reports by Saudi and Israeli intelligence sources that have been confirmed by western diplomats in Beirut.
Israeli military officials in Tel Aviv say that Hizballah replenished nearly half of its pre-war stockpiles of short-range missiles and small arms. But western diplomats in Beirut say these calculations under-estimate the weapons flow and that Hizballah has now filled its war chest with over 20,000 short-range missiles – a similar amount fo what they had at the start of the conflict, during which the group is believed to have fired over 3,000 rockets at Israel. “The Iranian pipeline through Syria was already working during the war,” despite constant Israeli bombing raids on the roads into Lebanon from Syria, this Beirut source said. Officially, Syria and Iran deny that they’re supplying weapons to Hizballah. As for the Shi’ite group itself, when asked about receiving a new shipment of arms from Syria and Iran, a spokesman told TIME, without elaborating, “We have more than enough weapons if Israel tries to attack us again.”
Of course, such “evidence” may also be used to justify an Israeli/US strike against Iran or further isolation of Syria. Though while US troops in Iraq are “helpless“, Iranian and Syrian help is more needed than ever. Is the Bush administration smart enough to understand this? (Hint: probably not.)
Murdered former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko recently talking about the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya:
Maziar Bahari, Washington Post’s Post Global, November 24:
As I watched President Bush standing under a gigantic statue of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam the other day I was thinking to myself, “Why should it be so far-fetched to imagine an American president standing under a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini in the Iranian parliament?” After all the Vietnamese killed more than fifty-thousand Americans. For some ridiculous reason the animosity between Iran and the U.S. has remained the only constant in the tumultuous Middle East region in the past three decades. As the American people showed in November 7 elections, they are ready for a change. It is time for the American government to give up the idea of regime change and start talking directly to the Islamic government without any preconditions. Mr. Cheney and company may really like to topple the Ayatollahs. Many Iranian men also would like the newly-divorced Britney Spears to convert to Islam and marry them. For the record, neither is on the cards.
Can the Australian nation cope with another anti-war, anti-American, anti-freedom, anti-Iraqi traitor? It seems we now have no choice:
The former SAS officer who devised and executed the Iraq war plan for Australia’s special forces says that the nation’s involvement has been a strategic and moral blunder.
Peter Tinley, who was decorated for his military service in Afghanistan and Iraq, has broken ranks to condemn the Howard Government over its handling of the war and has called for an immediate withdrawal of Australian troops.
“It was a cynical use of the Australian Defence Force by the Government,” the ex-SAS operations officer told The Weekend Australian yesterday.
“This war duped the Australian Defence Force and the Australian people in terms of thinking it was in some way legitimate.”
No doubt the Murdoch knives will be out for this disgraceful human being. Unlike our Dear Leader – who never apologises for anything nor actually believes in anything other than blind commitment to whatever party resides in Washington – Tinley has dared to speak out at a time when the Iraq war has taken yet another turn towards complete chaos.
Some recent news from the Empire:
The United States on Monday dropped Vietnam from its list of nations that severely violate religious freedom ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush, citing improvement in its tolerance for religious expression.
Leading US dissenter William Blum highlights the hypocrisy of the decision:
In removing Vietnam from the list, the State Department was ignoring the US government’s own Commission on International Religious Freedom, a congressionally mandated advisory body, which had called for Vietnam to be kept on the list. The Commission also called for Pakistan and Turkmenistan to be added. This, too, was ignored by the White House.
Foreign policy considerations routinely play a decisive role in determining who’s included and who’s not on various State Department lists. This is no small matter, for inclusion on one of the lists can lead to economic and other sanctions. It’s thus another weapon Washington has available to bend the world to its will.
