Category: World News & Politics

George W. Bush, The Mass Murderer

Ex-Reagan Aide Calls Bush a “Mass Murderer”…

Bush is too self-righteous to see the dark humor in his denunciations of Iran for threatening “the security of nations everywhere” and of the Iraqi resistance for “a vision that rejects tolerance, crushes all dissent, and justifies the murder of innocent men, women, and children in the pursuit of political power.” Those are precisely the words that most of the world applies to Bush and his Brownshirt administration. The Pew Foundation’s world polls show that despite all the American and Israeli propaganda against Iran, the US and Israel are regarded as no less threats to world stability than demonized Iran.

Bush has discarded habeas corpus and the Geneva Conventions, justified torture and secret trials, damned critics as anti-American, and is responsible, according to Information Clearing House, for over one million deaths of Iraqi civilians, which puts Bush high on the list of mass murderers of all time. The vast majority of “kills” by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan are civilians.

Now Bush wants to murder more…

— Paul Craig Roberts, The War Criminal in the Living Room

[Via: AlterNet]

Israeli Racism

According to a study by The Center Against Racism, via YnetNews :

Over half of the Jewish population in Israel believes the marriage of a Jewish woman to an Arab man is equal to national treason

75 percent of participants did not approve of apartment buildings being shared between Arabs and Jews

Sixty percent of participants said they would not allow an Arab to visit their home

40 percent of participants agreed that “Arabs should have their right to vote for Knesset revoked”

over half of the participants agreed that Israel should encourage its Arab citizens to immigrate from the country

Over half of the participants said they would not want to work under the direct management of an Arab

55 percent said “Arabs and Jews should be separated at entertainment sites”

56 percent of participants said they believed that Israel

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Jimmy Carter)

This morning I finished reading former US President Jimmy Carter’s book by the name “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid“. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since it was published, I found it in Tunisia in the Al Kitab bookstore but it was too expensive, so I posptponed and bought it from Prime Megastore on my last trip to Jordan.

In this book, Jimmy Carter tackles the Middle East crisis and the question of Israel’s peace with its neighbors–in particular, how Israeli sovereignty and security can coexist permanently and peacefully with Palestinian nationhood.

It is a comprehensive and well-informed chronicle documenting the history and events of the Israeli/Palestinian crisis since its beginning to our present times from an insider who was the architect of the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and who has closely followed and been part of the events for decades.

I personally think that Jimmy Carter was as unbiased as an ex-American President could ever be in this book, trying not to take sides and to document the events as he witnessed them as objectively as possible.
It’s true that I did feel, at certain points, that he was being a bit soft on the Israeli side, but overall I think he was very honest and frank, and I respected that.

Weirdly (or naturally in these times), he was attacked because of this book and accused of assigning ultimate blame to Israel, being one-sided, …etc, etc, etc.
But then again we all know that’s what anyone gets for saying the slightest thing about Israel, even if it’s true and said in a nice and excusing way like Carter did in this book.
Again, personally, I think the book is unbiased, and if it is then slightly towards the Israeli side not against them.

I think everyone who is interested in the Middle East crisis should read this book for an objective and comprehensive view of the conflict, the events revolving around it, the different proposals for peace and more.

Personally, even though I’ve followed the conflict for years and know a lot about it, mainly because of studying its history at school and living in Jordan for years right next to the center of the storm; I came away from the book with a clearer view of it all, and a better understanding of the several peace proposals, agreements and UN resolutions related to this conflict.

[Amazon: Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Jimmy Carter)]

Muslim Music Concert To Raise Funds For Darfur

Muslim charities and aid organizations putting together a Live8-like music concert in London to help raise funds and awareness for the Darfur crisis.

A Muslim Live8 is to be staged at Wembley to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Darfur…

The charities Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid, which are organising the event, want the concert to raise funds and awareness about the genocide in the region, where combatants and victims are all Muslim.

Speaking at a press conference at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Jehangir Malik of Islamic Relief said: “We are going for our own equivalent of Live8. We are going for a concert at the end of Ramadan to celebrate Eid. It will be people trying to raise funds and raise the profile.”

The gig will be headlined by British singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf, who has sold more than 2m albums. Yusuf sings nasheeds, an Islamic style often performed a cappella.

[Source: The Guardian]

[Via: KABOBfest]

US To Provide Israel With $30 Billion Of Military Aid

More and more money for weapons…

US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has signed a deal that will provide Israel with $30bn of military aid over the next 10 years.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has said the aid will preserve his country’s military advantage over other countries in the Middle East.

The new military aid package represents a 25% increase from present levels.

[…]

Mr Burns called the aid package an “investment in peace”, saying “peace cannot be made without strength”.

[Source: BBC News]

Now, this isn’t really something unexpected, the US has been pouring billions upon billions of dollars to support Israel militarily over the past decades, and this represents but a 25% increase to “preserve Israel’s military advantage over other countries in the Middle East” as Ehud Olmert gently put it.

Last month the US announced multi-billion-dollar arms deals with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other Gulf states too; all in an attempt to counter the “rising Iranian power” in the region. And well if it’s going to give money to the Arabs and Muslims, then it has to give even more to Israel to keep the balance tilted to Israel’s side; Only normal given the US policy we know.

What I find incredible though about this bit of news is this claim: “the aid package is an investment in peace… peace cannot be made without strength”.

So, let me get this right? Billions of dollars worth of weapons poured into the most volatile and explosive region on Earth are supposed to bring peace? Isn’t it more like pouring fuel on the flame? Isn’t this just a recipe for more disasters, more war, more death?

And don’t give me the whole “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” style crap; of course people kill people, but they kill a lot many more people when they have guns, bombs, rockets, tanks, planes and whatnot to do it with.

Peace simply doesn’t come through the barrel of a rifle; it’s about time everyone realized that.

Dutch MP Calls for Ban on Quran

Bits of news like this show me we have yet a long long way to go ahead of us before anything like peace, understanding and mutual respect is reached…

A Dutch member of parliament has called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands, describing it as a “fascist book” which calls on people to kill non-believers and rape women.

Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, called for the ban in a letter published in De Volkskrant newspaper.

[…]

“I am fed up with Islam in the Netherlands: no more Muslim immigrants allowed. I am fed up with the worship of Allah and Muhammad in the Netherlands: no more mosques,” his letter concluded.

[Source: Al Jazeera]

With fools like this guy in governments and high places from both sides of the divide, the madness will just go on and on, making things worse and worse for us all.