I'm sorry but what's the point of this article and why is it legitimizing the 'does torture work?' debate as though the question has not already been definitively answered in infinite iterations since the issue first came to light and as though the Senate Torture Report did not answer the question with a definitive "NO!"? The question is not whether or not torture works, but why is anyone still advocating it as a useful means of interrogation, what is their ulterior agenda, and what is the 'damage' they're exhibiting [as in; 'What is your damage??]? Has the author slept through the last decade?
Islam is not a religion when your definition of 'religion' is Christian; just as with the Christian extremists' flip-side, Wahhabism in which 'religion' is Islam. In the era of post-truth words mean what you want them to mean... don't bother with archaic concepts like 'definitions' & 'dictionaries'.
"...abuses by rebels against civilians in western Aleppo have largely gone unreported. This is partly due to the challenges that independent observers like Human Rights Watch face in getting visas to the west of the city and other government-held areas, but also because many people in western Aleppo are afraid to talk to human rights groups because they fear government repercussions."
What a load of NGOIC crapola!! How come journalists like Eva Bartlett (currently in Syria) & Vanessa Beeley (recently returned) have no difficulty whatever in accessing West Aleppo and reporting on the continuous barrage of gas canisters packed with explosives, shrapnel, and chlorine gas launched by U.S.-NATO-GCC-supported jihadi (Oh! Excuse me... 'moderate pro-democracy rebels') 'hellcannons' on the 1.5 million residents & refugees under Syrian government protection in West Aleppo? Well, the answer is simple... they don't want to go there because, heretofore, the reality-baed narrative would detract from the western agitprop agenda of 'evil dictator & evil Russians murder innocent freedom-loving Syrian men, women, & children because they love murdering innocent men, women, and children so the democracy-loving democracies of the WEST must ACT in order to save them from the government they elected by a landslide by creating a situation leading to potential confrontation between the world's largest nuclear-armed powers". This weeping 'we try so hard to tell all sides if only they'd let us' histrionics just don't cut it.
Sadly though, there's no penalty for those committing 'persecution under color of law' such as happened to Amy Goodman & Deia Schlosberg. Yet, the prime objective - the interference with unrestricted open journalism - was nevertheless accomplished. The only means of stopping this 'official interference' is for there to be stringent legal penalties, applied immediately, for such 'legal' transgressions... not holding my breath.
Difficult to separate the rise of Daesh, an offshoot of the ISI (organized during the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq) from the rise of al-Qaeda (ISI's 'parent') organized by Democrat Jimmy Carter & Saudi Arabia during the Afghan mujahedin's war on the Soviet presence in Afghanistan - perhaps a product of U.S. geopolitical machinations in southern Europe & central Asia after the demise of Operation Gladio... so-called 'Galdio B'. So, it's futile to make an argument that condemns either U.S. political party; the culprit is U.S. exceptionalism, imperialism, hubris, and neoliberal Capitalism augmented by both the "Carter Doctrine" & the "Wolfowitz Doctrine".
Hard to imagine why Muslims rate higher than the plethora of other things Trump knows nothing about - other than that his ignorance on this particular issue has the potential to cause one specific identity group serious harm while his comprehensive ignorance of all things relevant to the office he seeks has to potential to do remediable harm to all humanity. That is not to say, however, that he is a greater evil than Clinton; a proven warmonger and tool of the MIC & Wall Street and who harbors psychopathy of a magnitude similar to Trump's. There's only one sane candidate in this election: Jill Stein.
Does that mean they're not going to print "George W. Bush", "Richard Cheney", "Condoleezza Rice", "Tony Blair", "Barak Obama", "Susan Rice", "Samantha Power", and a whole host of other names that go along with these or is it only aimed at non-western 'terrorists"?
Mr. Buonomo's framing of this issue is odd. On the one hand he makes valid and useful commentary on the self-destructive nature of the Zionist settler-colonial project (understanding that the entire project would never be accepted under 'modern' view of human rights) but at the same time regurgitates tired NeoCon talking points: As if Assad should 'step down'... by whose authority? The divine provenience of American omniscience? Understanding that the legitimacy of elected governments has no bearing on their vulnerability to overthrow (aka: 'regime change') by the the U.S. & its proxies in the NeoCon's worldview tends to give insight into the writer's own worldview. And, 'Iran continues to expand its presence in Syria..." uh... excuse me, but Iran's there at Syria's request; unlike the U.S. & its regime change proxies. Lastly, the 'holocaust card'... really! Hasn't there been sufficient discussion over the intentional mistranslation of Iranian comments regarding the disappearance of Israel? Again, to be clear, the end of the Zionist state will no more require a genocide of Jews than the end of the USSR required a genocide of either Russians or even Communist Party officials. These memes continue to be tirelessly blathered about in ostensibly 'intellectual' essays. It gets so tiresome...
As one of European extraction (meaning I carry the genes of Neandethals in my cells), I resent the implied slur against my distant ancestors who, as far as we know, never advocated for genocide.
Regarding the question of 'Israel's end-game' the answer's been clear since Theodore Hertzl first created the Zionist project: A 'Greater Israel' encompassing (at least) all of 'Palestine' with a purely Jewish population (the fate & disposition of the 'current occupants' was, to quote neoliberal economist Alan Greenspan an "externality". I.e.: irrelevant). This disregard for the Palestinians became clear in '48 with the terrorism & ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians which has continued unabated. Most members of the Israeli Knesset have been openly verbal in their commitment to a Jewish ethnocracy in Israel and, thus, have absolutely no moral qualms to the current round of genocide. Whether or not the they'd behave differently in the exceedingly unlikely case of a complete U.S. embargo on military goods & other supplies will likely never be tested.
Alon, I don't know when you were in school in Israel or what you were taught, but here's a selection of recent articles speaking to the issue... read 'em & weep:
Alon, I've no idea when you were in school, but here's a selection of articles about current issues relating to racism & Israel's approach to educating children... read 'em & weep:
Juan, I think the discussion is predicated on an erroneous supposition; i.e.; "the Israelis really want peace with their Palestinian neighbors". Wrong!! The Zionist project is, and always has been 'Greater Israel' and to hell with the Palestinians (including Christian Palestinians). Where they go, and under what circumstances are as Alan Greenspan would say 'externalities' as regards the goal and one knows about means & ends. So, don't expect any 'rational' (by our standards) behavior from Israel until you begin dealing with what their expectations are in reality. Once understood, then one can begin to 'negotiate' from knowledge. Until then, it'll be MOS with the same outcome (and one knows how to define an action repeated in the expectation of a different outcome).
I think it's important to understand that the right-wing (by which I mean anyone to the right of Dennis Kucinich or Al Grayson; including the GOP & the 'Blue-dog' Dims) pay only lip-service to their oaths. What they actually support is Mussolini-style fascism in which they & their corporate fellow-travelers govern to suit their own best interests & reap benefits they deny to the hoi-poloi, while permitting sufficient benefits, to sufficient numbers of the 'hoi' as to stave off open rebellion while keeping the numbers of those sufficiently disenfranchised as to contemplate rebellion too low to accomplish it. Keep in mind 'democracy' is "government by 'the people". The term does not specify 'ALL the people'. People like Peter King draw a distinction between those entitled to govern and those to be governed.
Any suggestions on how to watch AJ/E videos now that they've blocked 'em in the U.S. in deference (I suppose) to AJ/AM? I had a major collection of AJ/E videos (esp. from 'Inside Story' with Shihab Ratansi) that became useless after AJ/E determined to censor its U.S. content. I now get AJ/E online news via a proxy server (Anonymouse), but it doesn't allow videos.
Kudos to Mr. Alharbi for doing the one thing these idiot race-baiters fear the most... whatever might decrease the bloated incomes they make by peddling fear & hatred. I only hope he's not put off by a generous settlement offer since seeing headlines about Beck & the Blaze being forced to pay compensation & damages for lying (which they've been getting by with for far too many years without 'paying the piper') would be just f**king delicious!
"International Law" seems to be pretty much a term of convenience used to legitimize any stance one wishes to take. In this instance, you (and the West) claim that the Crimean vote to join Russia is 'illegal' under "International Law" while, Russia & Crimea insist that the Kiev putsch & resultant coup government (much like that of Honduras some years back) is 'illegal' under "International Law". And, since the World Court hasn't offered an unsolicited opinion (who's going to ask and be told it's their actions that are illegal?), nobody's convincingly wrong. I will note, however, contrary Juan's assertion that the Crimean vote wasn't legitimate, international observers from many outside nations found it to be just that; free, fair, without evidence of coercion or occupation. By the way, outside of assertions by those in the west regarding the 'Russian Invasion of Ukraine' has anyone seen a photo or video of demonstrably Russian forces anywhere they're not allowed by treaty? Seems odd to me, in these day's of ubiquitous cellphone cameras capable of HD quality video at the push of a button, that nobody's showing videos of Russian tanks streaming through the Fulda Gap... oops, sorry wrong cold war. And, while there are lots of photos of troops (both regular & otherwise) outfitted in Russian-type uniforms, operating Russian equipment, considering the prior Eastern Block nations still operate Russian equipment, it's hardly surprising that they all look Russian. Perhaps what we're really seeing here is another example of NeoCon overreach (they've never seen a regime they didn't think they could change for their better profits) and since USAID & IRI (among others) have been there "promoting democracy" for the six months prior to the revolt and funding nascent 'democrats' with millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, what we're really seeing is another NeoCon plan playing out just like their prior plans (e.g.; Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum).
A variation of this tactic is employed by the U.S. military when investigating civilian deaths at the hands of our troops. First, deny the deaths were caused by us, blame the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq, Sunni militia, Shia militia, or the families themelves, etc. When confronted with incontrovertible proof of responsibility, maintain the deaths were 'collateral damage' and that others (see foregoing list) were the actual target but that their comrades spirited the bodies of the intended casualties away before the press got there. When grieving families go on TV stating that there were no [see foregoing list] present, only family members who are now dead, admit that 'some' civilians were killed in error but that the number claimed is actually twice as many as were really killed - inflated by the grieving families so as to profit from compensation for deaths that didn't happen. When confronted with proof that the deaths claimed are actually an under-count (after an inventory of body parts & identification of bodies and of who's still 'missing'), send a senior officer to make consolation payments of cash & goats in exchange for ongoing silence on the issue.
I am worried that the image of tube feeding, as portrayed by the guards at Gitmo, may cause a major backlash against a valuable medical tool. Many patients, unable to take nutrition by mouth have feeding tubes placed via their nostrils into their stomachs. These tubes are very small (size 8 French - 'French' sizes are the measurement of the tube's circumference in millimeters), made of highly flexible silicone with a small weight in the end to help them pass. Insertion is typically not uncomfortable and the tubes stay in place between feedings. Similarly, tube feedings are administered in a specific fashion designed to prevent diarrhea or painful overdistention. With the proper medical indications & training, a feeding tube should not be 'torture' under any circumstance. A larger tube, a Naso-Gastric or NG Tube is anywhere from 10-18 F. and is used to aspirate gastric contents in patients whose intestinal tracts have ceased working (after bowel surgery for Eg.) or to remove gastric contents (e.g.; drug O.D.). They are often inserted during surgery (patient is unaware) but are usually well-tolerated (full disclosure - I had one in for a week after an operation & found the nasal/pharyngeal pain tolerable only with I.V. pain meds & local anesthetics, but it was necessary to allow bowel healing and to prevent gastric over-distention from natural secretions). I have placed them, or ordered them placed, in multitudes of patients over many years and found almost all of them tolerated them better than I did although having a large (18F) tube placed is uncomfortable, local anesthetics are very helpful in that circumstance. Regarding the situation at Gitmo, there's absolutely no assurance that the considerations afforded patients at civilian (or military) hospitals are afforded the detainees and I have no doubt that 'punative' tube placement is SOP. One need only listen to Amy Goodman's interview of al Jazeera reporter Sami al-Hajj to understand the deviation of Gitmo's procedures from standard medical practice.
All this to say that if tube-feeding is recommended for you or a loved-one, do not think 'Gitmo'!
I think it's a great bit of performance art! I love the fact that, although they may be called on to fight each other that they can agree to coordinate on the ceremony and salute each other. It's a bit of the old Raj that continues and is clearly loved by the crowds who cheer their 'teams' and both sides are winners.
Agree with all above... to boot, they laughted like idiots as the camel slimed their child's head with its tongue and then, when she trid to touch it's spit on the steering wheel, they're all 'euuwwww, don't touch that!' All-in-all, a pretty disgusting event.
Becoming the target of a coordinated vituperative Faux[NOT]News witch-hunt can only be construed as the highest accolade for expressing rational thought. Congratulations & Kudos to Jim Carry for achieving that recognition and for a really funny video!
IMHO, the segregated buses, while not an 'issue' as regards the overall dismal quality of life for Palestinians in or out of occupied territory (whatever you might consider those boundaries to be), they are without doubt prima facie evidence of Israel's construction of an apartheid state in the West Bank. As some others have observed, it's a potent symbol upon which to focus outrage and to motivate resistance... much like Rosa Parks' seat on the bus or the lunch counters on North Carolina.
False equivalence Joe for Lowell, if one accepts that "Christianist" refers to Dominionists, as "Islamist" evidently refers to right-wing Muslims (Salafists & Wahhabis), there's no confusion. As far as the interplay between religion & politics, my take is that right wing Christians use religion to justify politics whereas MLK & Liberation Theology Catholics used religion to drive politics. It may all be relative... objects in space, etc.
First, this is an important article that helps clarify events in the Muslim world. One hopes (rhetorically, sadly) that the Islamophobes who continually deride the Muslim world for not rejecting extremism will take note.
Secondly, as opposed to abandoning 'Islamist' why not adopt 'Christianist' to describe the right-wing Dominionists? ...just a thought.
Frankly, my hat's off to this feisty lady (and she is a Lady!) for defending her honor without hesitation and in a fashion considered most insulting in the Arab world. One wonders if the offender got the message. On a larger scale, one wonders how willing the Salafists/Wahhabis would be to destroy shops, beat or kill 'backsliders [including all Shia]', etc. if they were met with that kind of immediate stiff resistance. Just like any 'fundi' group imbued with self righteous indignation and backed (according to them) by 'god's inviolate word' they appear entirely unwilling to enter into meaningful negotiations regardless of what country we're discussing (Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, or Syria... among others)that would lead to peaceful cohabitation. I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of mainstream Muslims want nothing more than to live their lives peacefully among their neighbors with neither bothering the other. However, the Muslim world seems to be under attack by the Fundi's (as if Westboro Baptist Church had free reign to determine how everyone in the U.S. must behave) and cannot seem to bring them under control. I fear for the nature of the 'final solution' to this dilemma.
If you read the article Juan linked to his comments (link to blogs.reuters.com), you'll see that the issue of whether or not the U.S. could charge the banks criminally is irrelevant to the reason the laws are on the books; which is to create problems for Iran. Thus, destroying HSBC, while possible, wasn't the intent of the legislation or enforcement and would constitute unacceptable 'collateral damage'.
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I'm sorry but what's the point of this article and why is it legitimizing the 'does torture work?' debate as though the question has not already been definitively answered in infinite iterations since the issue first came to light and as though the Senate Torture Report did not answer the question with a definitive "NO!"? The question is not whether or not torture works, but why is anyone still advocating it as a useful means of interrogation, what is their ulterior agenda, and what is the 'damage' they're exhibiting [as in; 'What is your damage??]? Has the author slept through the last decade?
Excellent discussion of this topic here: link to youtube.com
Islam is not a religion when your definition of 'religion' is Christian; just as with the Christian extremists' flip-side, Wahhabism in which 'religion' is Islam. In the era of post-truth words mean what you want them to mean... don't bother with archaic concepts like 'definitions' & 'dictionaries'.
Shouldn't the title read: "Assad & Putin target al Qaeda In East Aleppo. Did Trump’s Election doom them?" One can only hope....
"...abuses by rebels against civilians in western Aleppo have largely gone unreported. This is partly due to the challenges that independent observers like Human Rights Watch face in getting visas to the west of the city and other government-held areas, but also because many people in western Aleppo are afraid to talk to human rights groups because they fear government repercussions."
What a load of NGOIC crapola!! How come journalists like Eva Bartlett (currently in Syria) & Vanessa Beeley (recently returned) have no difficulty whatever in accessing West Aleppo and reporting on the continuous barrage of gas canisters packed with explosives, shrapnel, and chlorine gas launched by U.S.-NATO-GCC-supported jihadi (Oh! Excuse me... 'moderate pro-democracy rebels') 'hellcannons' on the 1.5 million residents & refugees under Syrian government protection in West Aleppo? Well, the answer is simple... they don't want to go there because, heretofore, the reality-baed narrative would detract from the western agitprop agenda of 'evil dictator & evil Russians murder innocent freedom-loving Syrian men, women, & children because they love murdering innocent men, women, and children so the democracy-loving democracies of the WEST must ACT in order to save them from the government they elected by a landslide by creating a situation leading to potential confrontation between the world's largest nuclear-armed powers". This weeping 'we try so hard to tell all sides if only they'd let us' histrionics just don't cut it.
Sadly though, there's no penalty for those committing 'persecution under color of law' such as happened to Amy Goodman & Deia Schlosberg. Yet, the prime objective - the interference with unrestricted open journalism - was nevertheless accomplished. The only means of stopping this 'official interference' is for there to be stringent legal penalties, applied immediately, for such 'legal' transgressions... not holding my breath.
Let's stop using 3rd world children as media props for regime change!! link to youtu.be
Difficult to separate the rise of Daesh, an offshoot of the ISI (organized during the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq) from the rise of al-Qaeda (ISI's 'parent') organized by Democrat Jimmy Carter & Saudi Arabia during the Afghan mujahedin's war on the Soviet presence in Afghanistan - perhaps a product of U.S. geopolitical machinations in southern Europe & central Asia after the demise of Operation Gladio... so-called 'Galdio B'. So, it's futile to make an argument that condemns either U.S. political party; the culprit is U.S. exceptionalism, imperialism, hubris, and neoliberal Capitalism augmented by both the "Carter Doctrine" & the "Wolfowitz Doctrine".
Hard to imagine why Muslims rate higher than the plethora of other things Trump knows nothing about - other than that his ignorance on this particular issue has the potential to cause one specific identity group serious harm while his comprehensive ignorance of all things relevant to the office he seeks has to potential to do remediable harm to all humanity. That is not to say, however, that he is a greater evil than Clinton; a proven warmonger and tool of the MIC & Wall Street and who harbors psychopathy of a magnitude similar to Trump's. There's only one sane candidate in this election: Jill Stein.
Does that mean they're not going to print "George W. Bush", "Richard Cheney", "Condoleezza Rice", "Tony Blair", "Barak Obama", "Susan Rice", "Samantha Power", and a whole host of other names that go along with these or is it only aimed at non-western 'terrorists"?
Mr. Buonomo's framing of this issue is odd. On the one hand he makes valid and useful commentary on the self-destructive nature of the Zionist settler-colonial project (understanding that the entire project would never be accepted under 'modern' view of human rights) but at the same time regurgitates tired NeoCon talking points: As if Assad should 'step down'... by whose authority? The divine provenience of American omniscience? Understanding that the legitimacy of elected governments has no bearing on their vulnerability to overthrow (aka: 'regime change') by the the U.S. & its proxies in the NeoCon's worldview tends to give insight into the writer's own worldview. And, 'Iran continues to expand its presence in Syria..." uh... excuse me, but Iran's there at Syria's request; unlike the U.S. & its regime change proxies. Lastly, the 'holocaust card'... really! Hasn't there been sufficient discussion over the intentional mistranslation of Iranian comments regarding the disappearance of Israel? Again, to be clear, the end of the Zionist state will no more require a genocide of Jews than the end of the USSR required a genocide of either Russians or even Communist Party officials. These memes continue to be tirelessly blathered about in ostensibly 'intellectual' essays. It gets so tiresome...
As one of European extraction (meaning I carry the genes of Neandethals in my cells), I resent the implied slur against my distant ancestors who, as far as we know, never advocated for genocide.
Regarding the question of 'Israel's end-game' the answer's been clear since Theodore Hertzl first created the Zionist project: A 'Greater Israel' encompassing (at least) all of 'Palestine' with a purely Jewish population (the fate & disposition of the 'current occupants' was, to quote neoliberal economist Alan Greenspan an "externality". I.e.: irrelevant). This disregard for the Palestinians became clear in '48 with the terrorism & ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians which has continued unabated. Most members of the Israeli Knesset have been openly verbal in their commitment to a Jewish ethnocracy in Israel and, thus, have absolutely no moral qualms to the current round of genocide. Whether or not the they'd behave differently in the exceedingly unlikely case of a complete U.S. embargo on military goods & other supplies will likely never be tested.
Alon, I don't know when you were in school in Israel or what you were taught, but here's a selection of recent articles speaking to the issue... read 'em & weep:
Biased new study skirts around racism in Israeli school books
link to electronicintifada.net
Jewish girls, beware of the 'evil' Arab doctor
link to haaretz.com
‘San Jose Mercury News’ runs many pictures of Israeli children caressing guns
link to mondoweiss.net
When Israelis Teach Their Kids To Hate
link to m.forward.com
Parental love, Israeli-style
link to haaretz.com
Tel Aviv high school principal facing dismissal for writing leftist op-ed in Haaretz
link to haaretz.com
Knesset rejects bill promoting education against racism in Israeli schools
link to haaretz.com
Alon, I've no idea when you were in school, but here's a selection of articles about current issues relating to racism & Israel's approach to educating children... read 'em & weep:
Biased new study skirts around racism in Israeli school books
link to electronicintifada.net
Israeli-Palestinian Textbook Study Overlooks Core Issue
link to adl.org
Jewish girls, beware of the 'evil' Arab doctor
link to haaretz.com
‘San Jose Mercury News’ runs many pictures of Israeli children caressing guns
link to mondoweiss.net
When Israelis Teach Their Kids To Hate
link to m.forward.com
Parental love, Israeli-style
link to haaretz.com
Tel Aviv high school principal facing dismissal for writing leftist op-ed in Haaretz
link to haaretz.com
Knesset rejects bill promoting education against racism in Israeli schools
link to haaretz.com
That pretty much sums it up, Simon.
Juan, I think the discussion is predicated on an erroneous supposition; i.e.; "the Israelis really want peace with their Palestinian neighbors". Wrong!! The Zionist project is, and always has been 'Greater Israel' and to hell with the Palestinians (including Christian Palestinians). Where they go, and under what circumstances are as Alan Greenspan would say 'externalities' as regards the goal and one knows about means & ends. So, don't expect any 'rational' (by our standards) behavior from Israel until you begin dealing with what their expectations are in reality. Once understood, then one can begin to 'negotiate' from knowledge. Until then, it'll be MOS with the same outcome (and one knows how to define an action repeated in the expectation of a different outcome).
I think it's important to understand that the right-wing (by which I mean anyone to the right of Dennis Kucinich or Al Grayson; including the GOP & the 'Blue-dog' Dims) pay only lip-service to their oaths. What they actually support is Mussolini-style fascism in which they & their corporate fellow-travelers govern to suit their own best interests & reap benefits they deny to the hoi-poloi, while permitting sufficient benefits, to sufficient numbers of the 'hoi' as to stave off open rebellion while keeping the numbers of those sufficiently disenfranchised as to contemplate rebellion too low to accomplish it. Keep in mind 'democracy' is "government by 'the people". The term does not specify 'ALL the people'. People like Peter King draw a distinction between those entitled to govern and those to be governed.
Fellow at 'Barracuda VPN' says 'won't work'...
Tks... have neither. Am PC only.
Okay... looked up 'VPN' on Wikipedia. See vendors listed in Google Search. Will investigate.
Any suggestions on how to watch AJ/E videos now that they've blocked 'em in the U.S. in deference (I suppose) to AJ/AM? I had a major collection of AJ/E videos (esp. from 'Inside Story' with Shihab Ratansi) that became useless after AJ/E determined to censor its U.S. content. I now get AJ/E online news via a proxy server (Anonymouse), but it doesn't allow videos.
Kudos to Mr. Alharbi for doing the one thing these idiot race-baiters fear the most... whatever might decrease the bloated incomes they make by peddling fear & hatred. I only hope he's not put off by a generous settlement offer since seeing headlines about Beck & the Blaze being forced to pay compensation & damages for lying (which they've been getting by with for far too many years without 'paying the piper') would be just f**king delicious!
"International Law" seems to be pretty much a term of convenience used to legitimize any stance one wishes to take. In this instance, you (and the West) claim that the Crimean vote to join Russia is 'illegal' under "International Law" while, Russia & Crimea insist that the Kiev putsch & resultant coup government (much like that of Honduras some years back) is 'illegal' under "International Law". And, since the World Court hasn't offered an unsolicited opinion (who's going to ask and be told it's their actions that are illegal?), nobody's convincingly wrong. I will note, however, contrary Juan's assertion that the Crimean vote wasn't legitimate, international observers from many outside nations found it to be just that; free, fair, without evidence of coercion or occupation. By the way, outside of assertions by those in the west regarding the 'Russian Invasion of Ukraine' has anyone seen a photo or video of demonstrably Russian forces anywhere they're not allowed by treaty? Seems odd to me, in these day's of ubiquitous cellphone cameras capable of HD quality video at the push of a button, that nobody's showing videos of Russian tanks streaming through the Fulda Gap... oops, sorry wrong cold war. And, while there are lots of photos of troops (both regular & otherwise) outfitted in Russian-type uniforms, operating Russian equipment, considering the prior Eastern Block nations still operate Russian equipment, it's hardly surprising that they all look Russian. Perhaps what we're really seeing here is another example of NeoCon overreach (they've never seen a regime they didn't think they could change for their better profits) and since USAID & IRI (among others) have been there "promoting democracy" for the six months prior to the revolt and funding nascent 'democrats' with millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars, what we're really seeing is another NeoCon plan playing out just like their prior plans (e.g.; Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum).
And who said Saudis have no sense of humor?
A variation of this tactic is employed by the U.S. military when investigating civilian deaths at the hands of our troops. First, deny the deaths were caused by us, blame the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq, Sunni militia, Shia militia, or the families themelves, etc. When confronted with incontrovertible proof of responsibility, maintain the deaths were 'collateral damage' and that others (see foregoing list) were the actual target but that their comrades spirited the bodies of the intended casualties away before the press got there. When grieving families go on TV stating that there were no [see foregoing list] present, only family members who are now dead, admit that 'some' civilians were killed in error but that the number claimed is actually twice as many as were really killed - inflated by the grieving families so as to profit from compensation for deaths that didn't happen. When confronted with proof that the deaths claimed are actually an under-count (after an inventory of body parts & identification of bodies and of who's still 'missing'), send a senior officer to make consolation payments of cash & goats in exchange for ongoing silence on the issue.
I am worried that the image of tube feeding, as portrayed by the guards at Gitmo, may cause a major backlash against a valuable medical tool. Many patients, unable to take nutrition by mouth have feeding tubes placed via their nostrils into their stomachs. These tubes are very small (size 8 French - 'French' sizes are the measurement of the tube's circumference in millimeters), made of highly flexible silicone with a small weight in the end to help them pass. Insertion is typically not uncomfortable and the tubes stay in place between feedings. Similarly, tube feedings are administered in a specific fashion designed to prevent diarrhea or painful overdistention. With the proper medical indications & training, a feeding tube should not be 'torture' under any circumstance. A larger tube, a Naso-Gastric or NG Tube is anywhere from 10-18 F. and is used to aspirate gastric contents in patients whose intestinal tracts have ceased working (after bowel surgery for Eg.) or to remove gastric contents (e.g.; drug O.D.). They are often inserted during surgery (patient is unaware) but are usually well-tolerated (full disclosure - I had one in for a week after an operation & found the nasal/pharyngeal pain tolerable only with I.V. pain meds & local anesthetics, but it was necessary to allow bowel healing and to prevent gastric over-distention from natural secretions). I have placed them, or ordered them placed, in multitudes of patients over many years and found almost all of them tolerated them better than I did although having a large (18F) tube placed is uncomfortable, local anesthetics are very helpful in that circumstance. Regarding the situation at Gitmo, there's absolutely no assurance that the considerations afforded patients at civilian (or military) hospitals are afforded the detainees and I have no doubt that 'punative' tube placement is SOP. One need only listen to Amy Goodman's interview of al Jazeera reporter Sami al-Hajj to understand the deviation of Gitmo's procedures from standard medical practice.
All this to say that if tube-feeding is recommended for you or a loved-one, do not think 'Gitmo'!
I think it's a great bit of performance art! I love the fact that, although they may be called on to fight each other that they can agree to coordinate on the ceremony and salute each other. It's a bit of the old Raj that continues and is clearly loved by the crowds who cheer their 'teams' and both sides are winners.
Thanks for posting this Juan... truly a lovely city (also appreciate the info in Farhang's post).
Agree with all above... to boot, they laughted like idiots as the camel slimed their child's head with its tongue and then, when she trid to touch it's spit on the steering wheel, they're all 'euuwwww, don't touch that!' All-in-all, a pretty disgusting event.
The detail is astonishing as is the degree of activity!
Becoming the target of a coordinated vituperative Faux[NOT]News witch-hunt can only be construed as the highest accolade for expressing rational thought. Congratulations & Kudos to Jim Carry for achieving that recognition and for a really funny video!
Should I start holding my breath?
IMHO, the segregated buses, while not an 'issue' as regards the overall dismal quality of life for Palestinians in or out of occupied territory (whatever you might consider those boundaries to be), they are without doubt prima facie evidence of Israel's construction of an apartheid state in the West Bank. As some others have observed, it's a potent symbol upon which to focus outrage and to motivate resistance... much like Rosa Parks' seat on the bus or the lunch counters on North Carolina.
False equivalence Joe for Lowell, if one accepts that "Christianist" refers to Dominionists, as "Islamist" evidently refers to right-wing Muslims (Salafists & Wahhabis), there's no confusion. As far as the interplay between religion & politics, my take is that right wing Christians use religion to justify politics whereas MLK & Liberation Theology Catholics used religion to drive politics. It may all be relative... objects in space, etc.
First, this is an important article that helps clarify events in the Muslim world. One hopes (rhetorically, sadly) that the Islamophobes who continually deride the Muslim world for not rejecting extremism will take note.
Secondly, as opposed to abandoning 'Islamist' why not adopt 'Christianist' to describe the right-wing Dominionists? ...just a thought.
Frankly, my hat's off to this feisty lady (and she is a Lady!) for defending her honor without hesitation and in a fashion considered most insulting in the Arab world. One wonders if the offender got the message. On a larger scale, one wonders how willing the Salafists/Wahhabis would be to destroy shops, beat or kill 'backsliders [including all Shia]', etc. if they were met with that kind of immediate stiff resistance. Just like any 'fundi' group imbued with self righteous indignation and backed (according to them) by 'god's inviolate word' they appear entirely unwilling to enter into meaningful negotiations regardless of what country we're discussing (Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, or Syria... among others)that would lead to peaceful cohabitation. I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of mainstream Muslims want nothing more than to live their lives peacefully among their neighbors with neither bothering the other. However, the Muslim world seems to be under attack by the Fundi's (as if Westboro Baptist Church had free reign to determine how everyone in the U.S. must behave) and cannot seem to bring them under control. I fear for the nature of the 'final solution' to this dilemma.
Louis,
If you read the article Juan linked to his comments (link to blogs.reuters.com), you'll see that the issue of whether or not the U.S. could charge the banks criminally is irrelevant to the reason the laws are on the books; which is to create problems for Iran. Thus, destroying HSBC, while possible, wasn't the intent of the legislation or enforcement and would constitute unacceptable 'collateral damage'.
Thanks for calling a spade a spade Juan!
You could write a similar article by changing the words 'Bill Maher' to 'Sam Harris'.