Political Deception
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Why Not Crippling Sanctions for Israel and US?The position taken by Israel, and by Israel’s puppet in Washington, is that Iran must not be allowed to have the rights as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that every other signatory has, because Iran might divert enriched uranium to a weapons program. In other words, Israel and the US claim the right to abrogate Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy. The hypocrisy is extreme. Israel is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and developed its nuclear weapons illegally on the sly, with, as far as we know, US help. As Israel is an illegal possessor of nuclear weapons and has a fanatical government that is capable of using them, crippling sanctions should be applied to Israel to force it to disarm. The United States also qualifies for crippling sanctions. On the basis of lies and intentional deception of the US Congress, the US public, the UN and NATO, the US government invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and used the “war on terror” that Washington orchestrated to overturn US civil liberties enshrined in the US Constitution. One million Iraqis have paid with their lives for America’s crimes and four million are displaced. Iraq and its infrastructure are in ruins, and Iraq’s professional elites, necessary to a modern organized society, are dead or dispersed. The US government has committed a war crime on a grand scale. If Iran qualifies for sanctions, the US qualifies a thousand times over ...
CIA's Plots against Pakistan's Nuclear ProgrammeFormer spymaster Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Ahmad, whose recent statements caused ripples in the country’s political arena, now talks of a much serious issue ñ Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He claims to have foiled two American CIA plots to sabotage the country’s nuclear programme. While serving for the ISI, he recalled, he had conducted the operation ‘Rising Sun’ in 1979 that successfully thwarted a CIA plot to target Pakistanís nuclear programme. The operation concluded with the arrest and conviction of a Pakistani CIA agent, declaration of a few undercover CIA agents and US diplomats as personae non gratae and their return. In the second case, Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz said, he, as the Intelligence Bureau chief, had discovered another CIA plot being operated through a third country mainly to hit the countryís nuclear programme ...
American War Crimes and TortureUS military and the CIA were not really all that reliable when it came to picking up the real terrorists. In fact, their batting average was pretty lousy. According to even the Pentagon's own reckoning, for example, probably 85% of the captives being held at Guantanamo over the past eight years were not terrorists at all, and a fair number--probably the majority--weren't even fighting anyone when they were captured. I'm sure that the averages at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, or at the secret prison in Iraq are no better. We're now getting confirmation of things that we journalists were hearing rumors of earlier: faked executions using blanks, faked executions in neighboring rooms, followed by threats of the same to a person who had just heard the screams and a shot in the cell next to him, threats with an electric drill, and now perhaps the worst yet--the threat to kill a captive's children. And of course there is the already disclosed case of a captive who had his genitals cut with a razor, and generous use of tasers in places on the body designed to cause maximum pain. That, and of course there are a lot raped captives (including young boys), and a lot of bodies yet to be dug up of captives who were simply killed during torture ...
Election Rigging in IranAhmadinejad's first victory after the presidential elections in 2005 was not taken well by the West. But it earned him tremendous fame. It was then that the Time included his name in the list of 100 most influential personalities. Today after Ahmadinejad's second victory in the 2009 election, there is a lot of talk in the US/West of an alleged poll rigging. Propaganda pundits are at work and for all the effort, the West has probably understood that Nejad is a 'survivor'. Propaganda of election rigging in Iran is an effort by Washington to discredit the Iranian government by portraying the government as an oppressor of the Iranian peoples will. This is how the US government is setting up Iran for a military attack. So the most crucial factor for the Iranian people is not a debate on an election result. But preventing any such military attack in the offing ...
Threatening IranThe way the West has always controlled the Middle East is by purchasing the politicians who are out of power and backing them in overthrowing the independent government. A reasonable hypothesis to be entertained and examined is whether Iran's Rafsanjani and Mousavi are in league with Washington to gain power in Iran. Both have lost out in the competition for government power in Iran. Yet, both are egotistical and ambitious. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 probably means nothing to them except an opportunity for personal power. Without Rafsanjani and Mousavi, the US media could not have orchestrated the Iranian elections as "stolen," an orchestration that the US government used to further isolate and discredit the Iranian government, making it easier for Iran to be attacked. Normally, well placed members of an elite do not help foreign enemies set their country up for attack. An Israeli attack on Iran is likely to produce retaliation, which Washington will use to enter the conflict. Have the personal ambitions of Rafsanjani and Mousavi, and the naive youthful upper class Iranian protesters, set Iran up for destruction? Consult a map and you will see that Iran is surrounded by a dozen countries that host US military bases. Why does anyone in Iran doubt that Iran is on her way to becoming another Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, in the end to be ruled by oil companies and an American puppet? ...
New World Order - The Police State Road MapOnce the legal and technological apparatus of totalitarianism is established, there exists the very real prospect of a permanent planetary dictatorship where human existence is micro-managed from cloud cuckoo land by a tiny ruling elite who are themselves above the law. A 'new world order' is a vision long shared by political leaders, industrialists, and intellectuals around the world. 'Peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law', what a wonderful idea! Strange then, that they have tried to conceal the reality of their vision from the wider public. The end game is one-world government: The relinquishing of sovereignty to continental mega-states and the unification of these power blocs under the United Nations. This is the geo-political skeleton of the New World Order, which its advocates realize most people would reject. The modus operandi of the New World Order is the 'psychological operation', dressing up policies as something else, getting the populace to dig their own mass grave. Often they will actually create problems so that they can impose solutions which are favourable to their hidden agendas. This has been called 'problem-reaction-solution', applied with dramatic effect on September 11th to launch the global 'War on Terror' - actually a war against citizens- and the big push for the New World Order that Senator Hart encouraged ...
A Weak Government, Sri Lankan Cricket Team and War on TerrorSri Lanka is not part of any alliance that is involved in fighting in Afghanistan. Cricket is popular here. The militants want to gather popular support for their campaign. By attacking cricket, they only lose support and isolate themselves. Whenever known groups in Pakistan have carried out attacks, they have focused on targets such as the security forces and politicians. The attackers wanted to destabilise Pakistan. It was an attack on the state. They wanted to specifically hit the economy. They knew that they would get international coverage by attacking a high-profile target. The whole idea that Pakistan is a war zone was reinforced. This is a tragedy and is a consequence of our involvement in the Bush administration's "war on terror". We were taken into this war against the public will. There were no Pakistanis involved in 9/11. We were sucked in deliberately by a dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, who wanted to strengthen his position and receive American money ...
Traitors Operating U.S. Military Bases in PakistanFormer Army Chief General Aslam Beg while talking about the U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan said: It is known to all that U.S. base near Tarbela is working as nerve center and carrying out operations in areas like Waziristan, FATA and even Afghanistan. He said the nation would definitely start mourning if it came to know what Musharraf had done to it. He gave open license to CIA to do whatever they wanted in NWFP and Balochistan. Americans are at large there now and the greater wrong was done by influencing the political agency people. He also disclosed that tribals were targeted. He said that there is not only one U.S. Army base in Pakistan, rather there are so many and all of them are active to kill Pakistanis on Pakistan's soil. All this has been done during the Musharraf regime and everyone will come to know with the passage of time what a single man had been doing only to keep his rule intact. Our elected PPP leadership has surrendered to American dictation and it is working for the accomplishment of U.S. agenda, keeping aside its real agenda ...
Zardari Rewards Boucher for Killing PakistanisJust when one thinks the rulers can disgust no more, they surprise us once again. And so it was that one had to witness with revulsion the president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari awarding our Hilal series of national awards (second in rank after the Nishan series) to an American (Israeli-Zioncon) official whose sole claims to fame in Islamabad are his frequent visits to pressurise the Pakistani state into submitting to U.S. diktat. To see Richard Boucher being given the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam award was to see our leaders slapping the Pakistani nation on its face. After all, Boucher represents the U.S. administration that has destroyed the Pakistani polity through daily killings of our people in drone attacks and through consistent demands to 'do more' even as we have seen the fallout of the insane 'war on terror' bring suicide bombings, terrorism and polarisation into Pakistan as never before. So what is Boucher being rewarded for? Killing Pakistanis in the tribal belt? Pushing forward a debilitating agenda for Pakistan? Putting Pakistanis into Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. prisons? Getting our military political leadership to participate in renditions and torture of Pakistani citizens? Or getting our civilian political leadership to give in to the new round of Indian histrionic demands post-Mumbai? Are all these what our rulers see as the furtherance of US-Pakistan ties? What a shame and disgrace to this long-suffering nation of Pakistan ...
Similarities between Nazis and IsraelisA collage of pictures showing the similarities between the Nazis and the Israelis ...
Holocaust Denied: The Lying Silence of Those Who KnowWriting in the New Statesman, John Pilger calls on 40 years of reporting the Middle East to describe the 'why' of Israel's bloody onslaught on the besieged people of Gaza - an attack that has little to do with Hamas or Israel's right to exist. Today’s holocaust-in-the-making, which began with Ben-Gurion’s Plan D, is in its final stages. The difference today is that it is a joint US-Israeli project. The F-16 jet fighters, the 250-pound “smart” GBU-39 bombs supplied on the eve of the attack on Gaza, having been approved by a Congress dominated by the Democratic Party, plus the annual $2.4 billion in war-making “aid”, give Washington de facto control. It beggars belief that President-elect Obama was not informed. Outspoken on Russia’s war in Georgia and the terrorism in Mumbai, Obama’s silence on Palestine marks his approval, which is to be expected, given his obsequiousness to the Tel Aviv regime and its lobbyists during the presidential campaign and his appointment of Zionists as his secretary of state, chief of staff and principal Middle East advisers. When Aretha Franklin sings “Think”, her wonderful 1960s anthem to freedom, at Obama’s inauguration on 21 January, I trust someone with the brave heart of Muntadar al-Zaidi, the shoe-thrower, will shout: “Gaza!” ...
Mumbai Attacks and Propaganda Against PakistanWhile ordinary people across the world have been shocked by the Mumbai attacks, politicians in India and the United States have chosen to exploit the situation for their own political ends. In response, [PPP] President [Asif Ali] Zardari and [PPP] Prime Minister [Yousaf Raza] Gillani have repeated their unconditional cooperation with India giving the Indians [Hindus] what appears to be a blank check to do whatever they wish with Pakistan. India's premature blaming of Muslims from Britain and then retracting this and then pointing the finger at Pakistan indicates how this [Mumbai] incident is being used to further their [anti-Pakistan] political agenda. We should not forget how the United States used its political capital from the 9/11 attacks to launch two [illegal] wars [against Afghanistan and Iraq]. The reality is that the spineless Zardari-Gillani Government will do no more than facilitate the US/Indian plan to weaken and dismember Pakistan ...
Who Benefits From Mumbai Terror Attacks?'War on Terror' has come to India! Even though Indian Muslims had been demonised by the Hindutva forces in India, it had only a local impact. They were not part of the bigger war on Muslims perpetrated by the Israel- Neocon promoted George W. Bush regime. Diplomatically also,India kept a safe distance from the US war on terror fearing the backlash of the strong domestic muslim population. Now with the Mumbai terror attacks they have come under the radar of the 'War on Terror.' Now that the Obama regime is intending to spread this war into Pakistan and expand its operation in Afghanistan, India could be a willing strategic partner in the region. And to the question that is on everybody's mind. Who did this dastardly act? Although, this is not the topic of this article and also it is for the investigation agencies to decide, and as I dont want to engage in wild guesses I can suggest only this much, those forces who destroyed the twin towers in New York might be behind the Mumbai terror attacks too. Whoever benefitted from 9/11 will benefit from the Mumbai terror attack internationally and the Hindutva forces will benefit from it locally ...
The International Backers of Mumbai AttacksThe very term, "terrorism" was born in 1947 and who carried it out? - Israel. The term has been internationalised and popularised since then by the corporate media, rarely if ever pointing to its origins. Today, "terrorism" has become a household term, associated solely with Muslims throughout the world and it was developed into a basis for a war without end. The military assault on Mumbai is another a mini-9/11 in the sense that it provides a platform for juicing and expanding the "anti-terror" war under a new Obama administration which will no doubt be backed by other western governments. CNN tells us that the FBI has offered to help investigate the crime. The question is whether their interest is real investigation or damage control. If the FBI uses this time worn formula it could very easily end up evidence pointing to their own government. Were the FBI to "discover" CIA or Mossad involvement can any sane person expect they would reveal their findings to the public? Using "means, method and motivation" analysis, our "criminal investigation" leads to the CIA and Mossad as perpetrators of this event ...
Negroponte's Disappointing MissionIt appears now that Deputy Secretary Negroponte's visit was aimed at advising General Musharraf how to steal the elections without annoying his critics back home rather than putting pressure on him to hold free and fair elections. Keeping in view what continues to happen after Negroponte's visit in Pakistan, many are forced to conclude the brave words he used at his Sunday press conference demanding Musharraf to doff the uniform, lift the emergency and release political prisoners were no more than an attempt to hoodwink the people. Bush administration is least concerned about human rights violations in Pakistan and still considers Musharraf an indispensable ally. General Musharraf has already achieved major benefits from the state of emergency. By sending home over 100 judges and packing the courts with justices of his choice he has appointed caretaker governments comprising loyalists and an Election Commission which the opposition has reasons not to trust. Over five thousand activists have been bundled off to distant jails after being maltreated and in cases severely beaten up by police. Near foolproof arrangements for stealing the elections are in place. After being declared elected president by the reconstituted Supreme Court Musharraf can announce the doffing of uniform, order a staged release of the political prisoners, and finally announce the end of emergency. This would help President Bush declare triumphantly that his strategy for an orderly and peaceful transfer to democracy has been successful ...
Musharraf's Rule Destabilizing PakistanWhile Musharraf remains the only horse on which Washington can place its bets at this time, his decisions in the past year have made his rule increasingly destabilizing for Pakistan. On March 9, Musharraf's dismissal of Chief Justice Chaudhry began the current sequence of events. That action led to intense protests by the country's professional class, and on July 20 Musharraf was pressured to reinstate Chaudhry. Then, on September 10, Musharraf refused to allow the popular former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, into the country, deporting him four hours after his plane landed in Islamabad. These actions alienated much of the country's professional and political class. At the same time, Musharraf's policies were alienating most of the country's religious elite and Islamist sympathizers. In July, Pakistani security forces stormed the Red Mosque, an Islamist stronghold, which led to a series of suicide attacks, including in areas outside of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the North-West Frontier Province; both Islamabad and Rawalpindi suffered attacks ...
Anti-war Sensibility and IranAttack on Iran will be a blunder of unfathomable proportion not only for USA but the world at large. 9/11 was a major catalyst to global change but the war on Iran may trigger calamity of much graver proportion, which US military may under-estimates due to over reliance on its weapons. Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the enormous power of their people to resist. Iran would prove it even more credibly and convincingly. Uni-polarity is under-going the 'law of diminishing returns'. Iran may prove its last nail in the coffin The imperial propensity to subjugate a nation like Iran would prove perilous and even suicidal just. Iran is not a lame duck. It has not invaded any country during the past century nor would it initiate any aggression. Iran has Jews in its parliament and several Jewish centres are existing in Tehran, and it is a fairly tolerant of diversified society. But pushed to the wall, Iran will react to redeem its honour, no matter how great the price ...
Bush Marches Towards DictatorshipBrzezinski's book "The Grand Chessboard" contains numerous observations that throw light on the mindset and future plans of the US elite. For instance there is a map in which the precise region, currently torn by strife and war, or under the shadow of imminent war, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey etc, has been encircled and marked as "The Global Zone of Percolating Violence". Many states of the region have also been referred to as the "Eurasian Balkans" implying that their maps are likely to be redrawn. The US leadership has, throughout the twentieth century, employed documented and proven deceptions to arouse the American people into entering major wars. These deceptions involved the loss of innocent American lives. The new law signed by President Bush contains the following clause "The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States when, as result of natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition in any State or possession of the United States, the President determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order, in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy." President Bush has previously interpreted the law in his own way, and will, if needed, do so in the case of the above law as well. The US Supreme Court is now complicit with the US Government in cover-up of its unconstitutional acts and has allowed the Bush regime an astonishingly broad latitude under cover of national security considerations ...
The Battle - Media, Judges and MusharrafNo one is fooled by Gen. Musharaf’s latest deception to hang on to power. The war on terror has served him well so far and so why change a successful strategy; spread fear in the western capitals by invoking images of bearded men with guns and in the meanwhile brutally crush all dissent within the country, as was recently done by the Burmese Military. Having inducted pliant and amoral judges through the PCO, the next step would be to massively rig the elections while keeping the media muzzled. What he hopes is that he will again have a rubber stamp Assembly, a controlled majority and a friendly opposition, while real power will rest with him for another 5 years. So, what we are witnessing is the first phase of the plan. Massive crackdown on the genuine opposition, lawyers, human right activists and the civil society. He is hoping that the police brutality will induce enough fear in the people for him to crush all dissent within a couple of weeks, before he takes the next step of getting himself endorsed by his pocket judges. And finally it brings me to Benazir and Maulana Fazal ur Rehman. They are the only two “opposition” leaders who are allowed to freely roam around. The former is even given protocol. Both of them have played a major role in strengthening Musharraf by undermining the opposition at every stage. Both have used the opposition to strengthen their bargaining position with the Government for their personal ends ...
One Point Agenda - Judiciary and JusticeThe choice is yours. It does not matter which gender you have, whether you are young or elderly or what religion you belong to, whether you are rich or poor. If you have the conviction, you can contribute. The lawyers in their struggle for upholding the rule of law beginning 9th March 2007 have done more than that can be expected of them. Thousands have been jailed and are being shifted from jail to jail just to torture the loved ones on the outside. Muneer A Malik, the former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and leader of the lawyers' movement has been shifted to the notorious Attock Fort. He is being tortured and is under the custody of the military intelligence. Tariq Mahmood, former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, was imprisoned in Adiala jail. No one was allowed to see him and it is reported that he has been shifted to an unknown place. Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, former Vice Chair of the Pakistan Bar Council is in the custody of military intelligence and being kept at an undisclosed place. Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar is being kept in Adiala jail in solitary confinement. Can we allow this to go on? The judiciary has played its part admirably when more than 50 judges of Supreme Court and High Courts refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order. The lawyers are continuing to play their part. We have to play ours. We have to rise and rise we must. Those coming onto the streets should be willing to court arrests with the mindset that applying for bail is not an option that would be exercised till the reinstatement of the Judges of High Courts and Supreme Court...
Supreme Court Judiciary and Emergency in PakistanThis is not the first time that a state of emergency has been declared in the country. For the last two months, the inevitability of emergency was feverishly speculated in the relevant quarters. With every defying decision by the Supreme Court, its prospectus were brightening up. The newly found independence by the Supreme Court was causing sleepless nights to the general. Unprecedented in the history of Pakistan, the judiciary had stood up to the challenge of time and refused to further toe the establishment's line. The three and half months long struggle for the re-instatement of the deposed chief justice infused a new resolve and spirit in the judiciary. The decisions were no longer aimed at pleasing the power-blocks. They had become independent of any government influence. But before long, the general striked and nipped the bud of the new-found independence of the judiciary. A state of emergency was declared. For the third time the constitution was put into abeyance (1977, 1999), fundamental rights came under suspension, and a new Provisional Constitutional Order was imposed Consisting of thirteen paragraphs, the proclamation of emergency cites terrorism, religious extremism and negative role of the judiciary as the 'reason d'etre' for the drastic action. But a close scrutiny of the document shows that terrorism and extremism are mere smoke screens, the real threat perceived by them was the growing independence of the judiciary ...
U.S. Aid to Musharraf is Largely UntraceableConsiderable amount of the money the U.S. gives to Pakistan is administered not through U.S. agencies or joint U.S.-Pakistani programs. Instead, the U.S. gives Musharraf's government about $200 million annually and his military $100 million monthly in the form of direct cash transfers. Once that money leaves the U.S. Treasury, Musharraf can do with it whatever he wants. He needs only promise in a secret annual meeting that he'll use it to invest in the Pakistani people. About $10.58 billion has gone to Pakistan since 9/11. Only about ten percent of the $10.58 billion since 9/11 has gone toward development aid and humanitarian assistance, according to the CSIS report -- even after Pakistan suffered a devastating earthquake in October 2005. "Close to 90 percent goes to the military-led government," Barton says. "Some of it is directly into the military, and the other pieces go into the Musharraf government." In Pakistan, the military runs not just the government, but major sections of the economy as well. Joshua Hammer recently reported for The Atlantic that the Pakistani military owns large stakes in the country's "banks, cable-TV companies, insurance agencies, sugar refineries, private security firms, schools, airlines, cargo services, and textile factories." Mainlining largely untraceable money into the Pakistani treasury helps this system perpetuate itself -- even as widespread public discontent, from both moderates and radicals, boils over. It also sends the signal that the U.S. prefers to have relations with Pervez Musharraf rather than the Pakistani people ...
Bank Loans Written Off by Musharraf GovernmentAs the present [Musharraf] Government completes its five-year term in office on November 15 [2007], it has been officially disclosed in a secret report that the top guns of Pakistan got 53.499 billion rupees bank loans written off on the basis of a decision taken by the financial team of General Pervez Musharraf in October 2002. This shocking disclosure has been made in a secret report submitted before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly which has been requested to take up the issue at the earliest time to know the reasons behind such a massive loss to the public exchequer facilitating the privileges of the present [Musharraf] Government. The report shows that a total of over 50,000 persons - including politicians, civil and military business concerns, and business tycoons of Karachi, Lahore and other areas - were the direct beneficiaries of this massive favour ...
Situation in PakistanWe had a glorious victory of Kargil but the exhilaration was short lived. The operation did not have the needed endurance. The classic fiasco was immediately followed by our begging for peace and abandoning of our national cause of Kashmir and Kashmiris who were left in lurch to be killed as terrorist by US and India. Pakistan had to accept all the conditions laid down by India, imposed by the US president. Our principled stand on Kashmir supported by the UN Resolutions was given up, so was the cause of Kashmiris demanding their right of self-determination. We saw US openly helping and enhancing Indian interests. This one event marks a headlong fall from great heights. We had lost the direction of establishing the state on basis of the ideology which had inspired the common people to demand a state of their own. The refugees’ claims, fictitious ones also, spread like a plague. The situation drifted from concern for honourable survival to economic well being or prosperity by any means. The inspiration to emulate an Islamic way of life got relegated. Now, we find ourselves as born-Muslims and ignorant believers exposed to an open rush of western culture, secularism, an aversion towards religious looking people being blamed as traditionalists, extremists, radicalists and fundamentalist needing heavy dose of ‘enlightened moderation’; favoured by the west: new-cons and Zionists. What has surfaced after 60 years, the nation is being led by a class of bad leaders in the assemblies which could not parade many capable and moral men ...
Benazir-Musharraf Political SorceryBush administration is attempting to paint both General Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto as the two perfect “moderate” forces whose combined ideology will bring a new dawn to the political landscape of the country and to the rest of South-East Asian global politics. Complete with fully-loaded rhetoric and symbolic imagery, the global actors involved in this imprudent exercise, George W. Bush and his hawkish Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are doing their bit in brokering a Musharraf-Benazir rapprochement for a power-sharing deal to form a so-called “moderate” government. The irony of the situation is that the chief patrons of this political endeavour in themselves are the true apostles of the ultimate political extremism of our times. Indeed, it would be an intellectual folly to believe that the US President and Secretary Rice are by any means politically “moderate” themselves, or that they are even able to remotely define the parameters of political moderation. This is the duo who has touched the epitome of “extremist” policies and set an agenda of the US atrocious global foreign policy based on fabrications, deceit and blatant lies, and the outright use of military force resulting in death and destruction to seek illegitimate American economic and political objectives. Given this cognitive background, how can Bush-Rice define the nature and fundamentals of moderate politics and link its realization to the Musharraf-Benazir team in Pakistan? ...
Benazir and The Green RevolutionBenazir Bhutto landed at the Karachi airport on October 18, 2007, dressed in ‘green’, heralding the ‘Green Revolution’, so carefully planned by ‘America and the Army’ – a reminiscent of the Ukrainian rose revolution. The procession started from the airport and it had travelled a distance of about 6 km when a roadside remotely controlled improvised explosive device (IED) went off killing over 140 and wounding many more. This heinous act of bombing has political bearings, and will cast deep imprints on the political landscape of Pakistan. However, this incident has to be seen in the context of the existing socio-political and ideological polarisation in Pakistan and its impact on the forthcoming elections in January 2008. Such a polarisation can be identified in ‘three distinct forms’, each competing with the other, as well as in serious conflict. One group is totally subservient to USA’s demands – justifying it as the imperative of what they call ‘pragmatism and ground realities’. This group considers itself ‘secular’, ‘enlightened’ and ‘liberal’ – the ardent advocates being General Musharraf, the Muslim League ‘Q’ and MQM. To join them are the so-called liberals like PPP, whose leader Benazir Bhutto gets full support and patronage of USA as of today. The western agenda of ‘social engineering’ and transformation of our culture and civilisational roots, is being implemented through them. The second group, which is not prepared to reconcile to western game of social engineering, has opted to confront and resist foreign influences. The third group comprises middle-of-the roaders, who are not averse to the West and are prepared to accept what is positively beneficial but discard all that is not congruent to their value system. This group seemingly is going through a leadership crisis ...
National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) of PakistanNRO fools nobody. It was promulgated purely for political reasons in pursuance of the “deal” between Benazir Bhutto and president reportedly brokered by the US as per condition that all pending cases against Benazir Bhutto and her spouse should be withdrawn and terminated by law. As a quid pro quo PPP did not resign from the assemblies and tacitly accepted the election of Pervez Musharraf in uniform. No law or principle of jurisprudence allows the president or the legislature by issuance of an ordinance to decide whether or not a person is guilty of a crime. In any civilised society this is the role of the courts that have the exclusive jurisdiction to decide guilt or innocence of accused through proper trial. NRO is a blatant violation of the rule of law and is in reality a “judicial verdict” announced by an ordinance, without trial, that any person who, even if he is in fact guilty of corruption of millions of rupees while holding public office and responsible for causing serious losses and damage to vital projects of the country is, nonetheless, by some convoluted conclusion, not guilty. The unfortunate aspect is that NRO would legalise and institutionalise corruption in Pakistan which is already labelled as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The NRO benefits those who after having looted national wealth, leave the country, successfully avoid trial and having taken stolen money outside Pakistan have refused to reconcile with NAB. Cases against such persons are classified are withdrawn and they become lawful owners of that loot ...
Washington Lauds Pakistan’s Sham Presidential ElectionOver the past four months, the US has been strongly pushing for Musharraf and Bhutto to strike a power-sharing deal, in which the PPP would assist the general in staging his “re-election” and, in return, the military would allow Bhutto to lead her party in legislative elections scheduled for early 2008 and to subsequently become prime minister. The key to the deal was a sordid “National Reconciliation Ordinance 2007” signed into law by Musharraf late Friday. It provides an amnesty to all those holders of public office between 1986 and October 12, 1999—the day Musharraf seized power—accused of corruption but whose cases have not yet been adjudicated. The government of Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf deposed in 1999, had mounted various politically motivated corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and these were continued by Musharraf as a means of pressuring Bhutto and her PPP. It should be added, however, that the Bhutto regime, like that of Sharif, and the current military regime, was notorious for its corruption. Bhutto’s husband Zardari earned the nickname “Mr. 10 percent.” Washington favors a Musharraf-Bhutto partnership because it fears that the current regime could unravel in the face of mounting popular opposition and because it wants a politically strengthened government in Islamabad to unleash the full force of the Pakistani military against the Taliban and other Islamicist militias active in the country’s remoter and more backward regions ...
Pakistan Political Drama: So Far So Good - For USAmericans have always had success in whatever they wanted in and over Pakistan. Despite much ruckus created by lawyers and the civil society over the election of General Pervez Musharraf for another term of Pakistan Presidency, it has gone through. It was a cliffhanger even till the noon of Oct 5 on whether the elections will be held or the Supreme Court will give a stay order. Where do the Americans come in and what moves them? The fact of the matter is that the Americans are scared stiff about what is likely to happen in Pakistan if their Musharraf project fails. They see the dark hordes of Islamic extremists in the NWFP and Afghanistan joining together and converting Pakistan's north west into a new Islamic state. The Americans clearly suspect that there are political forces in the field that want to establish a Khilafat in the area and which would later spread the sway of resurgent Islam over many Muslim lands. Some of the elements in the Pakistan Army, the Americans fear, are part of this threat. These elements are suspected of thinking that Pakistan's leadership of a new Muslim Empire, with its relative development and nuclear weapons would be a fitting complement of this dream. However fanciful it may seem to people elsewhere, the American experts appear to believe it to be a credible threat ...
The Big Lie: 'Iran Is A Threat'Iran has never manifested itself as a serious threat to the national security of the United States, or by extension as a security threat to global security. At the height of Iran’s “exportation of the Islamic Revolution” phase, in the mid-1980’s, the Islamic Republic demonstrated a less-than-impressive ability to project its power beyond the immediate borders of Iran, and even then this projection was limited to war-torn Lebanon. A careful fact-based assessment of Iran clearly demonstrates that it poses no threat to the legitimate national security interests of the United States. However, if the United States chooses to implement its own unilateral national security objectives concerning regime change in Iran, there will most likely be a reaction from Iran which produces an exceedingly detrimental impact on the national security interests of the United States, including military, political and economic. But the notion of claiming a nation like Iran to constitute a security threat simply because it retains the intent and capability to defend its sovereign territory in the face of unprovoked military aggression is absurd. In the end, however, such absurdity is trumping fact-based reality when it comes to shaping the opinion of the American public on the issue of the Iranian “threat” ...
How Secure is Indian Nuclear Program?India already enjoys the dubious distinction of running the most unsafe nuclear program, now it can hold the crown for running the most insecure one too. The Indian nuclear program has become a serious threat to world security. By large, the security threats posed to its nuclear reactors stem from within. It is a ticking time bomb waiting to be tripped by the numerous insurgencies and separatist movements plaguing India, or by natural disasters. Well over half of India is virtually controlled by insurgent groups, like the Naxalites, where the government’s control is minimal to non-existent. Other security threats emanate from the Indians choosing to construct their nuclear facilities on coastlines prone to natural disasters like the monstrous tsunami of 2004. As a member of the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials and under UN Resolution 1540, India is required to establish the highest standards of security for its fissile materials. Sadly, so far, the security standards at Indian nuclear facilities are believed to be rudimentary and primitive at best ...
Terrorists in British HavensAs hard as it may seem, but the truth is the so-called leaders waging war against the menace of terrorism are guilty of providing safe-Havens for the terrorists. Yes, it is true, in this day and age, the United States and England are indeed harboring and nurturing some of the worlds most dangerous and vicious terrorists. It is such a shame that the government's of these countries not only provide safety and comfort to these terrorists, but in many cases they even reward them with their citizenship along with public welfare benefits. You got it right; the terrorists are harbored and comforted at taxpayers' hard-earned money. The United States and England (the self-proclaimed leaders in the war-against-terrorism), either believe that they are the only authorities that can designate ”terrorists”, or they believe that the rest of the world is too stupid or too blind to see through their hypocrisy. Meanwhile, they continue to boldly provide safe-havens to some of the most notorious terrorists. Either way, shame on them! ...
Israeli American Military HypocrisyIsrael and Bush Administration arduously justified the destruction of Lebanon and the massacres of its people, under the pretext of, the Lebanese supposedly violated the UN Security Council’s (UNSC) resolution 1559. In reality, the resolution 1559 called upon “all remaining foreign forces [including Israeli] to withdraw from Lebanon.” In a direct violation of the resolution, Israel never vacated the Lebanese territory of Shebaa-Farms. Therefore, it had no legal or moral right to cry foul, especially when it had flagrantly violated 60 other UNSC resolutions relating to Israeli-Lebanese situation alone. Hypocrites need to be cognizant of the fact that Israel violated UNSC resolution 425 (1978) for twenty two years. The resolution called upon the “Israel immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory”. With the complete blessings and support of the U.S and U.K, all hell was set loose on Lebanon and Palestine by the Israelis, because 3 Israeli soldiers were kidnapped. In reality, the so-called moral leaders have never uttered a word over the countless abductions and targeted assassinations of dozens of democratically elected Lebanese and Palestinian legislators and officials ...
5 Minutes over IslamabadUSA made use of indigenous collaborators in Pakistan! Generals whose sons had a US passport! Bankers who were US nationals but also dual Pakistani citizens! These leaders justified collaboration with the USA after 9/11 on the grounds that what they did was the only guarantee for the survival of Pakistan! The Pakistani military junta in 2001 was isolated internationally so it was very easy for the USA to overawe it with one telephone call! Pakistan's military leadership with open hands provided airbases and all logistic support to the USA. This was a short term measure so that Pakistani military junta's survival in power was ensured! It had no connection with survival of Pakistan as a state! Compare how Iran is surviving as a state despite defying the USA since 1979! Later on a fiction that USA threatened Pakistan with bombing it to the stone age was invented! Thus irresolution was rationalized as supreme strategic brilliance! What happened in "Real Strategic Terms" was that with Pakistani military junta's active collaboration, the USA was able to occupy Afghanistan very cheaply and with minimum casualties! This was by no mean a strategic achievement as it placed the USA right below the soft underbelly of China as well as Russia! More significantly it reduced the flying as well as striking time to the Pakistani nuclear as well as missile installation. Close proximity to Pakistan also enabled the USA to conduct intelligence operations inside Pakistan in a far more optimum manner than ever before. Thus Afghanistan was seen as a potential US base to carry out a 5 minutes over Islamabad or Kahuta just like the Israelis with US cooperation destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 5 minutes over Baghdad in 1981. This is not a pessimistic view of things but a hard strategic reality! The war which USA is fighting is not against the Pashtun tribes of Waziristan but against all Muslims! Bagram, Khost, Jalalabad and Kandahar airfields are being developed not against the Taliban or against the Al Qaeda but for 5 minutes over Islamabad! ...
Pakistan’s Musharraf -- Bhutto DealDuring the last several months, Musharraf – Bhutto deal has been in the air with all kinds of speculations to explain what it means and how would it impact Pakistan. Obviously, the US has managed to persuade the General to go through another set of hoops to keep things moving the way the US would like to see them going. In case the US is behind all this manipulation, the big question is what exactly is the American interest in this? It would be only natural to assume that Ms. Bhutto must have promised to deliver some thing in return for the power what Musharraf did not or could not deliver. In the new world disorder, it is not important what is good for any country or its people. What is really important is what is good for the US to keep its monopoly of the control of the globe to support its geo-political plans and to extend its supremacy for another day. The only thing that America could be interested to achieve through Ms. Bhutto is to de-Nuke Pakistan of its nuclear bombs as well its nuclear technology. At this point this is just a speculation, but time will tell what Ms. Bhutto can or will deliver. In case Gen. Musharraf will no longer be the army commander, then who will be replacing him. It goes without saying that his replacement will be some one whom the American administration approve and some one who will be loyal to Ms. Bhutto, in case she does get elected as the new Prime Minister. With a little help from CIA’s Mighty Wurlitzer, it should not be a difficult feat to accomplish ...
US Military Bombards Targets Inside PakistanIn an aggressive new step, the US military shelled and destroyed targets across the Afghan border inside Pakistan on Sunday. While it has received scant coverage in the American and international media, the attack foreshadows more extensive US cross-border operations that have the potential to further destabilise Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s uncertain grip on power. Late Monday, the US military belatedly conceded that no permission had been given. “We regret the miscommunications in this event,” Brigadier General Joseph Votel, deputy commander of NATO’s eastern region, declared. However, he made no apology for the attack itself and gave no guarantee that US forces would not engage in further cross-border attacks. To date, the Bush administration has played down cross-border operations to minimise the political fall-out for Musharraf, who confronts widespread domestic opposition over his support for the US occupation of Afghanistan and the bogus “war on terror”. For its part, the Pakistani regime has trod a fine line: publicly insisting that the US military observe its borders, while collaborating closely behind the scenes. The Associated Press article reported that the US military had established a liaison office in Islamabad that was responsible for notifying local authorities of US incursions into Pakistan ...
Is The US Preparing To Attack Pakistan?This weekend, the US national intelligence chief and other intelligence spokesmen confirmed that strikes against "terrorist targets" in Pakistan’s tribal belt are increasingly possible. These warnings were designed to both further pressure Pakistan’s beleaguered strongman, President Pervez Musharraf into sending more troops to the tribal areas to fight his own people, and to prepare US public opinion for a possible widening of the Afghanistan war into Pakistan. The tribal agency’s Pashtun reluctantly joined newly-created Pakistan in 1947 under express constitutional guarantee of total autonomy and a ban on Pakistani troops ever entering there. But under intense US pressure, President Pervez Musharraf violated Pakistan’s constitution by sending 80,000 federal troops to fight the region’s tribes, killing 3,000 of them. In best British imperial tradition, Washington pays Musharraf $100 million monthly to rent his sepoys (native soldiers) to fight Pashtun tribesmen. As a result, Pakistan is fast edging towards civil war, as the bloody siege of Islamabad’s Red Mosque and a current wave of bombings across the nation show ...
Pakistani President Seeks To Drown Opposition In BloodKarachi, a city of 10 million and Pakistan’s commercial hub, was convulsed by gun-battles on Saturday [12th May 2007], as Pakistan’s US-backed military strongman, President Pervez Musharraf, resorted to deadly violence in a bid to quash the growing popular challenge to his rule. According to press reports, at least 36 people were killed and more than 140 injured when thugs allied with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a pro-Musharraf party, attacked crowds gathering to show support for the country’s “suspended” Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Although the authorities had mobilized some 16,000 security personnel, they did nothing to stop the MQM attacks. Some newspapers are reporting that the security personnel were specifically ordered not to intervene. A low-ranking policeman told the Daily Times, “There were some orders and our weapons were taken from us. It was as if we were put here just to watch”. Washington has said nothing about last weekend’s violence in Karachi. But in recent weeks, top Bush administration officials have voiced strong support for Musharraf and lauded him as a staunch US ally in the “war on terror” and a democrat ...
The Likely Historical Significance Of The War In IraqIt is now clear, to all but an ever-diminishing circle of Bush devotees and former drinking buddies, that the crusade has been a total failure. Yes, Hussein is gone, but America has achieved the bizarre result of having ordinary Iraqis telling reporters they would be better off were he back. And they are right. A once prosperous and advancing country, one certain to have become a democracy in not too many more years along the natural path by which all growing countries eventually become democracies, has been torn apart and set back a very long time ...
Laser Barking At TerroristsWhile we must not condone any terrorism, we must also take the moral high ground by addressing the underlying grievances and problems and avoid pursuing policies, and undertaking ventures that provide new impetus to the terrorists, as it has unfolded in Iraq. We have to figure in the frustration game of new ones popping up and avoiding them. Pounding them with mega bombs will not cut it, we do not have a record in history of such successes. The business of Terrorism has been around for a long time, however in the last century, the Haganah began its operations in the 20’s, then came the Irgunists and after Stern died in a shoot-out with British police in 1942, the mantle was picked up by future Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, then in November 1944, Lord Moyne, the British minister was assassinated in Cairo by the stern Gang. Once, Israel was established in 1948, the tables turned, the Palestinians were displaced and the PLO came into being and started their acts of terrorizing the innocent. The 1971 Munich Massacre was the ugliest one followed by the plane hijackings and other activities. While IRA continued terrorizing in Northern part of UK, the Tamil Tigers were wreaking havoc in Sri Lanka. By the way, we never called them Christian, Hindu or Buddhist Terrorists, why do we call Muslim Terrorists then? That is plain stupid and counter-productive, if our goal is peaceful co-existence ...
U.S. Defense Secretary Pays Visit to Arab AlliesThe objective of the trip was confirmed by a senior U.S. defense official who spoke to Washington Post journalist Ann Scott Tyson. The official stated that Gates' visit is aimed at assuring Middle Eastern leaders that the United States will work with them on "common concerns about Persian hegemony in the region. Washington recognizes that support from the region's states is critical in order to restrict Iran's rising power without having to resort to military force. Furthermore, it is a long-term strategy in case the United States is forced to execute a limited withdrawal from Iraq, which is a likely possibility. Upon such a withdrawal, the United States would lose a certain amount of influence in Iraq, while Iran would be able to make gains, especially in the south. The United States would then have to substitute the loss of influence by maintaining or boosting its presence in the Persian Gulf and forming a united bloc in the region to restrict Iranian ambitions. Therefore, the United States is hoping to find a shared interest in preventing the rise of Iran, and Gates' visit is an effort to strengthen these relationships. Nevertheless, there are potential holes in this strategy. For one, Saudi Arabia is not completely trustful of U.S. policy in the region. The other problem with this strategy is the inclusion of Israel. By including Israel in his visit, Gates is suggesting that Israel will be part of an Arab-Israeli anti-Iranian bloc ...
The West Confronts a Rising IranThe present crisis between the United Kingdom and Iran may finish soon once the Iranians have squeezed whatever propaganda benefit they can from the squabble. Diplomatic contacts between the two sides are already underway and may yield some result once a face-saving formula is found for both sides. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to assume that tensions between Iran and the West will cease anytime soon. The present crisis is just one of the manifestations of the changing balance of power in the Middle East wherein Iran is emerging as the main power in the region. Its leaders know this and they are exploiting the present strategic environment to their advantage. For the West, the unfortunate reality is, be it diplomacy, bilateral or multilateral, or the threat of force, there are no good options left. While some creative thinking may help, Western policy toward Iran in the coming days and weeks will be about choosing an option that minimizes damage as much as possible ...
Despite Shortcomings, Musharraf Remains a Key U.S. AllyThe core interest of the United States in South Asia is preventing al-Qaeda and related Islamist elements from using the territories of Afghanistan and Pakistan to launch terrorist or conventional operations against U.S. interests. Aside from this primary security interest, there are also political reasons behind Washington's desire to prevent Taliban elements from establishing control in Afghanistan, since such a development would appear to mark a partial failure of the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan. To achieve both of these interests, U.S. involvement with Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan is critical. Unless the United States is confident that a change (or collapse) of government in Pakistan will not affect these interests negatively, then it is not in a position to encourage a change of government in Pakistan. Supporting pro-democracy factions against Musharraf solves a short-term problem of authoritarianism in Pakistan yet risks plunging Pakistan into chaos, which would provide a freer reign to anti-U.S. insurgents in the border regions. Unless Washington has found a credible successor to Musharraf who will continue to support U.S. policies in the region, then its interests call it to continue to work with Musharraf despite his shortcomings ...
Illegal Privatization of Pakistan Steel MillsPakistan Steel Mills was to be handed over to the Arif Habib Consortium on May 29 for Rs 21.68 billion at Rs 16.8 per share. The consortium was supposed to acquire 75 per cent shares of the Steel Mills with management control, 4,457 acres of land with developed infrastructure including 110-kilometre metalled roads, a 70-kilometre railway track, a 165-megawatt power plant, a water treatment plant and a jetty. The government was not as lucky in the case of Pakistan Steel Mills as it had been with regard to certain other privatisation deals. No doubt, the endgames of the PTCL and KESC deals were also embarrassing for the government, as was the pullout by the highest bidder in the Pak-American Fertiliser case. Thanks to the proactive workers of the steel mills, however, this hurriedly reached deal was reversed by the court decision. On illegalities, the court noted that pre-qualified parties - the Arif Habib Group of Companies and Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies - had entered into a consortium before the bidding process, but the third party, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works Russia, joined hands with the consortium on the day of the bidding. Certain circles analyse the reversal of the PSM privatisation in the context of national security on the basis of published reports that an Indian-born steel baron is keen on acquiring the Russian component of the consortium that purchased the steel mills ...
Musharraf and Chief Justice of PakistanIf there is one incident that exposes the disingenuous nature of George Bush's "war on terror" and his "crusade" to bring democracy to the Muslim world, it was on full public display in Pakistan last Friday. In an unprecedented move, Pakistan's military ruler, and America's No. 1 ally in the region, General Pervez Musharraf, dismissed the country's chief justice and placed him under house arrest. According to Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan, "The chief justice had been seen by the military regime as a direct threat to the implementation of their economic, political and social agenda. He was removed because he stopped the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills and was an obstacle in the American neo-liberal agenda for the region." Independent analysts had valued Steel Mills at $5-billion, but Gen. Musharraf's government sold it to the Saudi-led consortium for a mere $362-million. The price tag was so low that a former Steel Mills chairman said: "They could have got more money by selling Pakistan Steel Mills as scrap." Ms. Bhutto believes the chief justice was dismissed because he had been involved in hearing cases related to human-rights abuses, especially those regarding the disappearances of thousands of citizens. He has also been at the forefront of cases dealing with excessive use of force by the Pakistani police, and had exasperated them by "not only taking those cases but also making decisions against the police" ...
American DictatorshipWhen Hitler was appointed in January 1933, Germany was a democracy. Hitler had promised a general election for March 1933. One week before the election was due to take place, the Reichstag building burned down. Hitler knew that if he was to convince President Hindenburg to give him emergency powers - as stated in the Weimar Constitution - he had to play on the old president's fear of communism. What better than to convince him that the communists were about to take over the nation by force? Hitler asked Hindenburg to grant him emergency powers in view of the 'communist takeover'. Using the constitution, Hindenburg agreed to pass the Law for the Protection of the People and the State. In the months and years thereafter, Hitler steadily introduced law after law, which gradually turned Germany into a Dictatorship. Exactly the same process commenced on September 11, 2001 in the USA, and concluded with the inclusion of law HR6166 into the American Constitution on the Sept 28, 2006. Clearly the time for Martial Law in the US is rapidly approaching. Remember that the dollar has been plummeting recently, and plans for a currency to replace the US and Canadian dollars and Mexican Peso are well established. All we need is for another staged terrorist attack and the US will be this age's great dictatorship ...
US Elections - The World RespondsUS midterm election results that heralded a massive power shift in the American political landscape were greeted with jubilation around the world. From Paris to Pakistan, politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens said they hoped the Democratic takeover of Congress and the departure of defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld would force US President George Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to the globe's crises, and teach a president many see as a "cowboy" a lesson in humility. The Democrat win will no doubt cause many to heave a sigh of relief and go straight back to their slumber while the real power behind BOTH Democrats and Republicans continue their push for globalization. The win will change nothing, except perhaps to accelerate changes already in place. My bet: not a single policy will change during this new term. Do not be fooled by the elation expressed worldwide ...
Israel, Palestine and CanadaCanada's Thirty-Percent Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, just made a speech at a B'nai Brith banquet. Normally, there would be nothing notable in this, but his words this time reinforced controversial statements he made while Israel savagely bombed Lebanon. He also continued driving an ugly new Republican-style wedge into Canada's national politics after calling Liberal leadership candidates "anti-Israel." Harper said that his government supports a two-state solution in the Middle East. That is the policy of most Western governments, and there was nothing original in Harper's way of stating it. It was the kind of vague, tepid stuff we might hear from Olmert himself. "Our government believes in a two-state solution -- in a secure democratic and prosperous Israel living beside a viable democratic and peaceful Palestinian state ". It is interesting to note the lack of symmetry in Harper's "secure democratic and prosperous Israel" versus "a viable democratic and peaceful" Palestine. I don't know why prosperity does not count for Palestinians, but as anyone who understands developmental economics knows, prosperity is key to developing modern, democratic institutions. Harper should know that when Israeli leaders such as Olmert or Sharon speak of two states, they do not mean the same thing that reasonable observers might expect. They mean a powerless, walled-in rump state in which elections must consistently support Israel's view of just about everything, a state whose access to the world is effectively controlled by Israel, and a state whose citizens have no claims whatsoever for homes, farms, and other property seized by Israel. The hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, living on property taken bit by bit since the Six Day War are there to stay. Palestinians' property rights to homes and institutions in Jerusalem, from which they are being gradually pushed, are being voided ...
North Korea's BombThe United States has conducted 1,127 nuclear and thermonuclear tests, including 217 in the atmosphere. The Soviet Union/ Russia conducted 969 tests, including 219 in the atmosphere. France, 210, including 50 in the atmosphere. The United Kingdom, 45, with 21 in the atmosphere. China, 45, with 23 in the atmosphere. India and Pakistan, 13, all underground. South Africa (and/or Israel) one atmospheric test in 1979. From a purely statistical point of view, North Korea's test does seem a rather small event. The entire Western world has conspired to remain silent on Israel's nuclear arms, even when Israel assisted apartheid South Africa to build a nuclear weapon. If nuclear weapons are foolish and useless, why does little Israel possess them? Why did South Africa want them? Why did the Soviet Union, despite a great depression and horrible impoverishment after the collapse of communism, keep its costly nuclear arsenal? If Western nations can understand the dark fear that drives Israel, why can they not understand the same thing for North Korea? The United States has refused for years to talk and has threatened and punished North Korea in countless ways. When the U.S., under Clinton, did agree to peaceful incentives for North Korea to abandon its nuclear work, it later failed utterly to keep its word. Bush has treated the North Koreans with the same dismissive contempt and threatening attitude he has so many others. How on earth was this approach ever to achieve anything other than what it now has produced? Harsh sanctions against North Korea, already advocated by the emotionally-numb Bush, are a foolish response. North Korea's rulers would not suffer any more than did Saddam Hussein under American-imposed sanctions against Iraq after Desert Storm. Only ordinary people would be driven to misery and starvation, just as they were in Iraq where tens of thousands of innocents died ...
Syria Iran and United StatesThe next real regional struggle will be between Iran and the United States. Therefore, it is possible that, despite the current rhetoric, relations between Damascus and Washington will improve. The United States is seeking to weaken and further isolate Iran, and breaking the Damascus-Tehran axis could be an important step in such a direction. Moreover, it could gain an alignment of Syria with other Arab countries, thus obtaining an Arab arch of opposition to the rise of a Shi'a, Persian power. Finally, by improving relations with Syria, Washington could slacken the support of armed radical groups in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq ...
Islamic FascistsThank God, my skin is fair, my name is unmistakably English, and I know how to spell the word “atheist”. Chances are when Homeland Security comes looking for suspects, no one will search for me or be interested — not yet, at least — in my views on Hassan Nasrallah or the democratic election of a Hamas government for the Palestinians. My friends in Nazareth, and those Pakistani neighbours I never knew in High Wycombe, are less fortunate. They must keep their views hidden and swallow their anger as they see (because their media, unlike ours, show the reality) what US-made weapons fired by American and Israeli soldiers can do to the fragile human body, how quickly skin burns in an explosion, how easily a child’s skull is crushed under rubble, how fast the body drains of blood from a severed limb. One does not need to be a psychologist to understand that those with no legitimate way to vent their rage, even to have it recognised as valid, become consumed by it instead. They seek explanations and purifying ideologies. They need heroes and strategies. And in the end they crave revenge. If their voice is not heard, they will speak without words. So I find myself standing with Bush’s “Islamic fascists” in the hope that — just possibly — my solidarity and that of others may dissipate the rage, may give it meaning and offer it another, better route to victory ...
9 11 AnniversaryToday is the 5th anniversary of September 11th. President Bush will be visiting Ground Zero for an inane photo-op, necessary to boost his rankings as the November mid-term draws near. However, bear in mind that Bush may be being set up by his puppet masters. Why? Remember that a rapidly growing (but surprisingly still small) third of the U.S. public now believes that the Bush Administration staged the attacks of 9/11, and don't trust the government when it conducts terror practice. They correctly point out that on 9/11/01, US air defenses were running terror drills simulating aircraft crashing into US buildings; and on 7/7/05 London police were running terror drills simulating the bombings of their London trains. In both cases, the terror drills were used to set up the terror events. The ludicrous blaming of fictitious Muslim factions achieves the necessary antagonism among Western nations towards the Muslim world. This is part of Pike's plan for WW3: "The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other." - Albert Pike ...
American WarsFor a country which takes excessive pride in flags, uniforms, and marching bands and spends more than the rest of the planet combined on its military, the record of America's forces since World War II is depressing. In dozens of quickie invasions against weak opponents, Americans indeed have prevailed, but when faced with tough and determined enemies, they have remarkably often been defeated or stalemated. The failure of America's military could be explained by the notion that failure is only what happens when you seek the wrong success. A poorly-governed people, as Americans certainly are, keeps being sent to wars in which they have no vital interest or commitment. Whatever the reason, the record is unmistakable. Higher casualties don't always mean losing a battle or even a war. The sacrifice of great numbers sometimes improves a strategic or tactical position, as General Grant in America's Civil War well understood. Vietnam's General Giap understood this also, for despite a horrific slaughter of his people, America suffered defeat ...
Decline of American EmpireThe rise now of China, Japan, Europe, and others – India, Korea, and to some extent Russia and Brazil – means the United States must be relatively diminished on the world stage, much as an only child whose mother just gave birth to quintuplets. The United States is loosing its capacity as supplier of many useful things to the world. This role is being seized by China and others. The American working class, which briefly achieved the status of world's working-class aristocracy after World War II - industrial workers who enjoyed homes, cars, long vacations, and even boats - has seen real wages declining for many years. It works against rising competitors who can now deliver the benefits of their much lower costs to the world owing to the phenomenon of globalization. American manufacturing jobs are moving to the lower-cost places, replaced at home if at all by relatively low-wage service jobs ...
Israel Lebanon WarThe current events in the occupied Palestine and Lebanon once again have shown the utter moral bankruptcy of western nations and their hypocrisy. While they preach democracy, human rights, equality and liberty to the world they don’t believe in practicing what they preach. Relying on brute force, the US and its junior partner Israel have openly legitimised war as an instrument of foreign policy. The Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war has provided Israel the opportunity for practicing state-run terrorism and colonisation against Arabs; a criminal justification to commit monumental crimes against Arabs while violating scores of international laws and UN charters. In their delirious mindset they have forgotten that events like Qana give birth to new recruits for carrying out acts of terror in retaliation and revenge. By waging what amounts to a war of extermination against the Arabs, America and Israel should be holding themselves responsible for 9/11, 7/11 and 7/7 and not the Muslim world. This is because extremism, fanaticism and terrorism are becoming the hallmark of the west. Terrorism is indiscriminate killing of civilians in pursuit of political goals and by this definition Israel and the US are actually terrorists themselves ...
Israel Attacks Civilians with Cluster WeaponsAs if the ruthless air attacks on Lebanese civilians weren't enough, Israel has been using illegal cluster munitions in populated areas of that country. Human Rights Watch researchers working on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that an attack with cluster weapons was carried out on the village of Blida on July 19, killing one and wounding at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch said it has not found any evidence that Hezbollah is using cluster munitions. Because of the high proportion of civilians killed or injured by those weapons, they are opposed by many organizations including the Red Cross, the Cluster Munition Coalition and the United Nations. There is now a growing international consensus to stop the use of those weapons. In a recent report titled "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," Human Rights Watch states, "By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets ... the extent of the pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of war crimes ..."
Pentagon Papers of Iraq and Vietnam WarAs I finished the article, it hit me: This is the system I have been part of, giving my unquestioning loyalty to for 15 years, as a Marine, a Pentagon official and a State Department officer in Vietnam. It's a system that lies reflexively, at every level from sergeant to commander in chief, about murder. And I had, sitting in my safe at Rand, 7,000 pages of documentary evidence to prove it. The papers in my safe, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, constituted a complete set of a 47-volume, top-secret Defense Department history of American involvement in Vietnam titled, "U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68." I, like the rest of the American public, had been misled about the origins and purposes of the war I had participated in — just as are the 85% of the troops in Iraq today who still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and that he was allied with Al Qaeda. Daniel Ellsberg was put on trial in 1973 for leaking the Pentagon Papers, but the case was dismissed after four months because of government misconduct ...
Government of PakistanMichael Schueur the former head of CIA's AI Qaeeda Unit warned in an opinion piece in the Washington Times that if the US keeps pushing Gen. Musharaff to "do US's dirty work against his country's national interest", he could be toppled and US would lose an important ally in the region. Even a bigger question being asked is who owns Pakistan, the tiny ruling elite or the people of this country. While the rulers have been bowing and boot licking foreign powers (the shameless servility of our rulers on show during the Bush visit was extremely humiliating for all self-respecting Pushtuns), they have shown utter contempt and disdain for their own people ...
Propaganda Against IslamVery seldom is any hard evidence presented, and yet the buzz phrases 'Al Qaeda', 'Muslim extremists', 'radical Islamists' and such like are repeated ad nauseam. Islam is in fact a peaceful 'way of life', not a radical religion. You will discover this if you ever read any original Islamic teachings, instead of allowing the news to influence you. These 'news' items are all designed to foment hatred against the Arab World. And this fits in perfectly with Albert Pike's plan for World War 3. As you'll remember, Pike stated that WW3 "must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other " Please don't fall victim to this insidious plot. Remember that this is a battle for control of your mind, and believing the propaganda against the Arab world simply advances the plan for World War 3. All of the anti-Arab emotions will be called into action to justify any attack against an Islam nation that Israel will shortly instigate ...
New World OrderThe following article is extracted from an excellent analysis of the New World Order by author Ken Adachi. The term New World Order has been used by numerous politicians through the ages, and is a generic term used to refer to a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group of genetically-related individuals (at least at the highest echelons) which include many of the world's wealthiest people, top political leaders, and corporate elite, as well as members of the so-called Black Nobility of Europe (dominated by the British Crown) whose goal is to create a One World (fascist) Government, stripped of nationalistic and regional boundaries, that is obedient to their agenda. Their intention is to effect complete and total control over every human being on the planet and to dramatically reduce the world's population by two thirds. The acquisition and consolidation of ever greater wealth, natural resources, total political power, and control over others are the motivating forces which drive the decisions of the New World Order leaders. The toll in human suffering and the loss of innocent lives are non issues for these individuals ...
American War TacticsNaturally enough, few details of what American troops do in Iraq and Afghanistan reach the nation's television screens, the main source of news for most Americans. American television takes the approach of the New York Times when it refers to professional soldiers as GIs, as though they were humble mechanics and bricklayers of America drafted into the titanic struggle against Hitler and Tojo. But if you are genuinely interested in discovering the truth, there are plenty of sources for first-hand information. And anyone taking a little time to search through some of these comes away with a sick feeling. As I have written before, if you want the rule of law, you cannot stand outside the law and claim its moral support. What America is doing in its "war on terror" is little more than freshened-up fascism. It wants a pipeline through Afghanistan and a subservient government in Iraq, and it dresses up the brutal tactics used to achieve these goals as a war on terror ...
Beards and OfficersIn a continuing crackdown on any form of Islamic expression in the ranks of the armed forces, the Pakistan Air Force forcibly retired one officer and lined up four others for similar treatment. According to information gathered by the Herald, the officers have been meted out this punishment as a consequence of their refusal to shave off their beards. The action, say sources, has been launched on the specific instructions of Air Chief Kaleem Sadat. The drive against beards was initiated recently in line with directives from the high command to rein in fundamentalist elements within the armed forces ...
Afghanistan War and CanadaPrime Minister Stephen Harper says he has trouble understanding Canadians who feel ardently that their country's soldiers should not be involved in Afghanistan. John Chuckman says, Afghanistan is not our war, Mr. Prime Minister. We are not threatened by voices in the Middle East opposing American policy, unless you believe one reference in a recording of bin Laden mentioning Canada along with other countries. That recording, along with other post-invasion recordings, was almost certainly a CIA fraud, for Osama bin Laden had to be killed in the heavy bombing of his mountain redoubt. Even if you do not believe that bin Laden is dead, what is beyond question is that American activities in Afghanistan and Iraq are building a vast reservoir of resentments and a training school for future terrorists. Tens of thousands of disaffected young Muslim men not only now have something to deeply resent but they have the operational conditions to perfect their arts of covert war. According to countless witnesses from Afghanistan and Iraq, America's brutal, thoughtless tactics have only inflamed tempers. Canada's good name should not be associated with this ...
India - U.S. Nuclear Deal and PakistanWhile Pakistan remains a front-line state in the U.S. war on terrorism, its special place in U.S. foreign policy does not extend much further than that interest. Bush's visit to Pakistan made it clear that Pakistan's future lay in establishing democracy and stressed the importance of elections in 2007. There was also no indication of any intent on the part of the U.S. to mediate on the Kashmir issue and Bush categorically asked Islamabad to deal directly with New Delhi. Making it clear that there was no question of a nuclear deal with Pakistan similar to the one with India, the clearest message from Bush's trip was that, henceforth, Pakistan and India would be treated differently by the U.S. ...
Freedom of Speech and Danish CartoonsMany "Democratic" European countries have laws against anti-Semitism, which are exclusive; they do not protect other cultures from racial attacks. You can insult the prophet of Islam with offensive cartoon messages that deface his image, to create an atmosphere of hatred for Muslims, but dare not tread on the special rights and protections they have formed laws around to protect anti-Semitism. Freedom of speech has been used as a weapon against oppressed people for centuries. It has been nothing more than a smokescreen to justify the actions of a few but in reality incite religious and ethnic hatred. The editors knew these cartoons were clearly drawn as deadly propaganda tools, created with malice and forethought, to neutralize Muslim groups in struggle and deny them "respectability" in the world community ...
Cartoons and Prophet of IslamThe fact is that Muslims live their religion. We do not. They have kept their faith through innumerable historical vicissitudes. We have lost our faith ever since Matthew Arnold wrote about the sea's "long, withdrawing roar". That's why we talk about "the West versus Islam" rather than "Christians versus Islam" -- because there aren't an awful lot of Christians left in Europe. There is no way we can get round this by setting up all the other world religions and asking why we are not allowed to make fun of Mohamed [s.a.w]. Besides, we can exercise our own hypocrisy over religious feelings. I happen to remember how, more than a decade ago, a film called The Last Temptation of Christ showed Jesus making love to a woman. In Paris, someone set fire to the cinema showing the movie, killing a young man. I also happen to remember a US university which invited me to give a lecture three years ago. I did. It was entitled "September 11, 2001: ask who did it but, for God's sake, don't ask why". When I arrived, I found that the university had deleted the phrase "for God's sake" because "we didn't want to offend certain sensibilities". Ah-ha, so we have sensibilities" too ...
Cartoon of Mohammad [s.a.w] and World WarCan a Cartoon Trigger WW3? Do not underestimate the latest furore over the 'hostile' Mohammad [s.a.w] cartoon published in European newspapers recently. Keep in mind that Albert Pike's letter of 1871 (whether real or imagined), predicted 3 world wars. The Third World War, according to Pike, must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. If this is to occur as predicted, surely the animosity between Muslims and the non-Arab world must be stepped up a notch to trigger a reason for attack on a predominantly Muslim nation - perhaps Iran or Syria? What intrigues me about this incident is that the warmongers must have all their plans in place to launch a strike, and are now simply looking for an excuse to do so. What better way to ignite a fuse than to strike a blow where it hurts the most? ...
Cartoons, Western Freedom and Prophet of MuslimsOver a year ago, two incidents had happened in Britain that show the selective application of this western freedom of speech principle. In one case, during Mr Blair’s election campaign, the Labour Party had published an ad that showed the then leader of the opposition, Mr John Howard, who is Jewish, as a pig with wings but having Mr Howard’s head. The British Jews reacted angrily, saying that a pig is considered unclean (non-Kosher) under Jewish dietary laws, hence this was an insult to them for which those responsible must apologize. Mr Blair had immediately done the needful. In the other episode, the mayor of London had likened the Jewish reporter of a British newspaper who had been pestering him, to a "(Nazi) concentration camp guard." This, too, had caused uproar in the Jewish community and it had wanted him to retract his words. The British premier had also joined them by asking the mayor to apologize. However, when it comes to the Muslims, the western leaders and the media are generally quick to apply a different set of standards ...
Cartoons, Iran, Syria and American BombsI wonder, are waves of angry protest, flag burning, and embassy burning in the name of religion any less rational than waves of B-52s, cluster bombs, and torture in the name of democracy? Days ago, Condoleezza Rice - Secretary of State, fundamentalist Christian, and apologist for torture and bombing - told the world that Iran and Syria were stoking the fires of these protests. At first pass, this sounds like the days when Moscow was held responsible for every change of weather in Peoria. But for once, I think Condoleezza may be right, but her words mean something different than she intends. Israel’s Sharon, now sidelined by a lifetime’s accumulation of blood on the brain, has advocated American military action against these states since the invasion of Iraq, and there have been many threatening, blustering statements from Washington, at one point coming up with the silly idea that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction had been shipped surreptitiously to Syria. Syria has been the recipient of threats, shootings by Americans along its border, and illegal buzzing by Israeli jets ...
Danish Cartoons and European HypocrisyWhat free speech are we talking about here? The law says thou shalt not utilize or publish anti-semitic language or imagery. Consequently, Danish (and other European) papers will refrain from doing so, lest they fall foul of the law and offend Jewish sensitivities. The law does not say: thou shalt not offend muslims or use imagery that may be deeply offensive to them. So Danish papers will not refrain from doing so, in fact they will go out of their way to offend Muslims both in Denmark and around the world, in the name of "free speech." And the Norwegians? Well, they just decided to follow the Danes down perdition lane, all in the name of holy hypocrisy, so a Norwegian paper also published the offending cartoons. The statement about "confronting radical Islam" was in fact made by the Norwegian editor of a newspaper that is described as a "Norwegian Christian Paper." And now that other European papers and Magazines have also followed suit, if there was any doubt that this affair is one of anti-Muslim bias, it was swept away by the statements of the Editor in Chief of Die Welt, the German magazine, who declared that the right to publish the cartoons was "at the very core of our culture" and that Europeans cannot "stop using our journalistic right of freedom of expression within legal boundaries." It's the "legal boundaries" qualifier that gives the game away: there are no legal boundaries in Europe protecting Muslims from the same ignominies that the law protects Jews from ...
Iran in United NationsNow that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the lead story because of his remarks about Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday called for Iran to be expelled from the U.N. Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres said that Iran should be expelled from the United Nations as a result of his comments. The UN released a statement, saying " Calls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community ". Absolutely right! So let's be fair and balanced and give Ariel Sharon and others their chance to voice their opinions. Israeli Prime Minister Menahim Begin in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988 said: " The Palestinians would be crushed like grasshoppers --- heads smashed against the boulders and walls ". So why wasn't Israel expelled from the UN as a result of these remarks, as Peres demands of Iran? ...
Condoleezza Rice - American TortureThe special measures of concern are secret prison camps and torture. Condoleezza's basic approach at the start of her trip was to assert that the United States doesn't do anything nasty or underhanded while at the same time just telling everyone to mind their own business. That didn't get her very far, and she had to adjust her words in the face of incredulity, frustration, and anger. What are all those mysterious places in Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Romania, Poland, and as far away as Diego Garcia, now run by American crew-cut thugs and to which there is no access? What are all the many hundreds of flights recorded by dedicated amateur plane spotters and checked back to registration? Are we to believe the US is not running a huge, illegal secret prison and torture system? ...
Afghanistan InsurgencyIn the first 11 months of 2005, 87 U.S. troops have been killed in action, a number that makes up almost half of the 186 killed since the 2001 intervention began. In the years since the invasion, the insurgents' tactics have improved, and they are more successful at causing casualties to government and international troops. This was most recently visible on September 25, 2005 when insurgents shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter in Zabul province, killing five American soldiers. U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Donald Bolduc, whose unit is serving its fourth tour in Afghanistan, commented on the increasing effectiveness of the insurgents, arguing, "The [troops] would tell you that this is a different enemy than they saw before ..."
Military Strategy of WashingtonWashington's overriding interests in the arc of instability are to contain and suppress Islamic revolutionary movements in order to secure strategic resources and prevent further attacks on U.S. soil, and to cultivate stable and friendly governments in the area that will serve broader U.S. aims in its competition with the power centers of China, Russia and India. After Washington's initial response to 9/11 of invading Afghanistan and overthrowing the Taliban regime, it set out on a course of effectively unilateral action, outlined in its 2002 National Security Strategy, which announced that the U.S. was committed to maintaining global military supremacy and was ready to fight preemptive wars against states that threatened its vital interests by harboring "terrorists" or developing weapons of mass destruction. The generally multilateral approach of previous U.S. administrations was abandoned in favor of organizing "coalitions of the willing" under Washington's leadership ...
Bushspeak: Dark and Garbled WordsQuotes from Bush's speech about the War on Terror, as given October 6, 2005, and largely repeated October 28. It was a speech especially dense with Bushspeak, a dialect which never means what it seems to say. The name War on Terror is itself perhaps the darkest example of Bushspeak. It is a code for belligerent interference in the Middle East. It is also a code for the suppression of dissent in America, something dear to the kind of people with which Bush surrounds himself, people who lie, cheat, and profit from billions of dollars being squandered. And all this crashes over us as a result of what the intelligence community calls 'blowback' from bad policies and neglect of years ago ...
London BombingsQuestions any intelligent journalist should ask about the London bombings. In today’s controlled media, no journalist will be willing to push the boundaries and ask the challenging questions that should be asked of a government increasingly complicit in the recent London bombings. Here are a few ...
Who Are The Real Terrorists?This article contains photographs of the victims of Israeli violence. They depict brutal, violent death, horrific personal injury and devastation of property which is simply unfathomable. All of it was perpetrated by Israelis against Arabs. All of the victims are civilians. As you view these pictures ask yourself this question: What would YOU or YOUR LOVED ONES do in retaliation for these things? If your family had been brutalized in these ways, would you fight back? By fighting back, would YOU be called a TERRORIST? ...
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