So the west is afraid of radical islam? If the west does not allow the Egyptians to have democracy, even after the unprecedented peaceful revolution they have carried out, then what do you think where the energy for their freedom will go? More radical approaches. Shame on the west, shame on the west.....
- because western countries are hypocrites
- because Obama is a fraud
- because we are run by a country whose name cannot be mentioned
- because our Congress is the other occupied territory b ya country whose name cannot be mentioned
- because "Arabs are not fit" to have democracy
- because, if the Arabs were allowed to have democracy then the rogue nation in the middle east, whose name cannot be mentioned, could not operate with impunity anymore
- because Arabs have too much (of our) oil
- because .....
I have a vague suspicion that the real owners of the Egyptian dictatorship are busy making sure that the Egyptians won't get real democracy. The stakes are way too high for these masters - and the country whose name cannot be mentioned is making sure that the "west" will reinstall the old system with new faces.
I am overwhelmed by courage of the Egyptian revolutionaries and am in no position to give advice, but my gut tells me that time is working against them. I do hope that my gut feel is wrong.
yes, sadly they do believe. In the UdSSR the people knew that Pravda was a propaganda organ - in the US Americans do not know that their media are propaganda organs too...
EU has not been fair to the Palestinians either. How about letting giving (several) emerging countries, like Brazil, the mandate to be an impartial broker?
First Americans have been lulled into a "Brave New World" and then came "1984". End of story - sorry.
People are the same everywhere. I have heard many people ask the question "where were the good Germans?" The answer can be found in today's America - the good Germans back then were exactly where good Americans are today.
Thanks for bringing the Manning issue to the forefront.
"If Manning has broken the law, he will be tried and convicted and punished in accordance with the law. ....". That's right. But what I miss everywhere is the important corollary: The crimes exposed by the leaks MUST be prosecuted. Obama, as usual is a a miserable failure (except for the satisfaction of his ego that he as a black man has succeeded being part of the establishment)
Only slightly off topic... an excellent discussion on the Internet, freedom of speech, whistle blowing, etc. with such luminaries as Daniel Ellsberg, Peter Thiel, etc.
News at US mainstream media?? Wrong address. I stopped following/patronizing any and all US MSM ever since the Iraq war because they were complicit (BTW at the same time I also stopped supporting the Dems - because they too were complicit).
There are plenty of non-MSM media outlets, including foreign news outlets, that allow me to remain tremendously better informed than most Americans.
WARNING all 637,000 @wikileaks followers are a target of US gov subpoena against Twitter, under section 2. B http://is.gd/koZIA(Source)
The information to be supplied, however, pertains to both the sources and destinations of these accounts. This is to include
records of user activity for any connections made to or from the Account, including the date, time, length, and method of connections, data transfer volume, user name, and source and destination Internet Protocol address(es).
[N]on-content information associated with the contents of any communication or file stored by or for the account(s), such as the source and destination email addresses and IP addresses. (Source; original pdf subpoena)
"Meanwhile, Bush administration officials who ordered people tortured, like Dick Cheney, have not been in any way inconvenienced by Mssrs. Obama and Holder"
A long overdue comment on your blog, Prof. I really value your blog, and now I feel even more sympathetic to your views.
"In any case, maybe we should all sign up for some social media based in Europe or in the global South (Orkut is now completely based in Brazil, though owned by Google), to stop the rush toward de facto Facebook- and Twitter- internet monopolies, which then are in turn tools of US government control, what with big corporations being overly cozy with Washington."
I think it is an excellent idea. Is there any way we can spread this appeal to the broader Internet community? If our American Internet companies insist on their right to exclude anyone they chose to while going to bed with our police state then the only effective response for the freedom loving people is to bring their business to a freer country. Any suggestions? I'd gladly propose this to all my friends.
Just put "yourself" in "their" position... a foreign military force (foreign in origin, culture, religion, appearance, way of life) using overwhelming military power to occupy, bomb, kill, assassinate..... How would you react? Most of them do not like the Taliban but they dislike the foreign military much, much more. By putting yourself in tier shoes you should be able to see what we are doing is morally and legally wrong.... reprehensible, cowardly and criminal.
I hope more people do share their opinion with their elected reps. I have had no success with both of my Senators Klobuchar and Al Franken. Neither of them would even acknowledge my hand written letters, when the topic is Israeli policy. I have had better luck with my House member Betty McCollum though. Good luck.
“The Obama administration tried to do the right thing, ...."
I wonder when people will finally recognize that what Obama and the Dems do is a show. It was so with the tax cut bill, with the so called health care reform bill (they never even tried to get a real competition, be it public option or medicare-like), with the bank bailout bill.... Just a show an bluster.... People will disagree with me but I see no real difference between the two parties. Actually the Dems have a harder job because they have to do the same thing as the Repubs but have to put up a front that they are different.
The best spin I can put on Obama is that he is ambitious. His ambition was to become the president of the USA. As soon as he achieved he did not give a damn about what he stood for, or at least suggest he stood for, or what is right for the country, or what is universally right....
Dear Prof. I'll believe in fairytale before I expect Obama to do what you are suggesting. What has Obama done so far, not only related to Israel, that makes you think that Obama wants (let alone can) to do the right thing?
"But relatively few covered-up crimes are coming to light in these Wikileaks documents unless one is an anarchist and considers government in general to be a crime. "
I do not think it is necessary to consider govt. in general to be a crime .... WL is a response to how the govt is operating: we the citizens have no right to know anything about what the govt does (therefore millions of classified info) but the govt has every right to know everything we do.... What kind of a govt does it look like?
Also one has to ask why this visceral reaction to WL? After all WK is just a conduit and not the actual entity who caused the leak. One has to wonder what they are afraid of. (1) losing the power to unilaterally deciding what the citizens can know (2) something really big in the info cache that has not yet been released.
But Prof. I do disagree on the relevance of WIkileak's leaks. It is profound. Even though for specialists like you and most well-informed people there is very little new in the leaks, we should not underestimate the psychological effect it can have on the general public when someone, in such a big way, can tell that the emperor has no clothes on.
I think WIkileaks is a reaction to a dramatically changing world order in which the gov. wants full spectrum dominance in every aspect of what happens. This change has been going on for quite sometime without any open public discussion, not to speak of a debate. In fact, the process has been gaining momentum in an "auto-catalytic" way, meaning that every partial dominance makes the next dominance even easier for the govt. If you think about it, what was unthinkable in the recent past is accepted unconditionally today (think civil liberties). If left unchecked, one day we'll end up in a society that will have many aspects of societies described in science fictions like 1984, Matrix, Terminator and Star Wars!!
The reference to science fiction may seem unusual but personally I believe, based on anecdotal evidence rather than conclusive proof, that (good) science fictions have a better than 50:50 chance of predicting our future - I also believe that evolution has created human beings not only to be hunters and gathers but also most of them to be sheep that obediently follow rather than be individualistic critically thinking beings.
Therefore to me Wikileaks seems more like a much needed laxative than Ben & Jerry's!
Have I disqualified myself for a Govt. job by reading your post on WiliLeaks, by following many websites that are reporting on Wikileaks, or by enjoying Jamiol cartoon?
The message to our young generation: if you have an inquiring mind, don’t bother applying for a job with the US government. If however you are happy to blindly follow orders and have a slavish admiration for institutional authority — who knows, maybe one day you could become president.
What have we become as a nation? Is this the change that Obama had promised.? Heckuva job Mr. President .... not only Bush, but also Osama couldn't have done a better job of destroying what America used to stand for....
Reputation? Yes as war criminals .... Of course the lefty Obama and his administration will fight tooth and nail and teach Nigeria a lesson for charging Cheney,
"What is truly disgusting is not only that the Israelis pursue this beastly policy toward Palestinian children and other civilians. It is that the major world powers are complicit in it. ..."
No what is REALLY DISGUSTING is the fact that my two Senators in MN, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken have not even responded to my HAND WRITTEN letters to them in which I had asked why our Government is allowing Israel to act with impunity in Gaza. Truly, truly disgusting.....
The answer to the scenario you just described is to install a pre security point before you go to the actual security point... oh wait, how about a security check up before you are cleared to leave your home? Then we'll be be safe.
Bush should have been impeached a long time ago. Now if we don't arrest Bush and prosecute him for war crimes then we look like a Banana Republic. Ooops, we are one.
Or when Americans wake up to the fact that neither of the two parties can be trusted to look after AMerican interests. We do have democracy don't we? Or have we already exported too much democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and rest of the world, and thus have none left at home?
"the best path (or at least the statesmanlike path) would be to abandon re-election and legislation (and thus all personal need for fund-raising and concomitant slavery) and then use the UNSC to gather international pressure on Israel ...."
But then you are assuming that Obama really wants to do the right thing. That's a big assumption that is not supported by any facts.....
Throughout the history of the US the two major parties have always been on the same side of all important issues: prosecution og the native americans, slavery, woman's suffrage, imprerial wars, Iraq and Afghanistan misadventure, torture, rendition, targeted killing, Vietnam, Palestine.......
"(Obama) should have pointed out all the horrible things the tea party plans to do to young people"
What you suggest Prof. is actually one of the basic problems. The Republicans (and Tea Party) create fear of terrorism, immigrants, hispanics, muslims, etc, while the Democrats create fear of the Repubs and Tea Party. What we need is not "counter fear" but bold leadership, in which Obama has failed miserably.
Moreover, Tea Party is a direct manifestation of the failure of the left and of the Democratic Party. Many of the issues capitalized upon by the Tea Party (sans the above list) like dissatisfaction with the Congress and the Government for helping the rich and the corporations rather than ordinary citizens should typically be a leftist agenda.
Obama and the Democrats are part of the problem and not the solution. "We vote? What does it mean? It means that we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We chose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee...". If you think this is Ralf Nader then you'd be wrong. This is Helen Keller in 1911 (source Howard Zinn's People's History of the US). It's amazing how much things have changed and yet how little has changed.
And why would Repubs gain next week? Because we Americans are dumb enough to vote for them, and because there is no real opposition party (Dems are enablers of the Repubs)
Abbas is a traitor for is people, and of course after his mandate as President has expired, represents nobody but the Israeli colonialists - he is their puppet.
Separately, "Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, reminded Israel on Monday that the building of settlements on occupied territory was illegal, and said he was "disappointed" by the government's failure to extend its partial ban on further West Bank construction." http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201092718349628699.html
Why is he (and the Western leaders) just disappointed? And yet, when Iraq had supposedly violated UN resolutions, the country was attacked.
After I had ditched the entire mainstream media quite a while ago I only used to follow Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow. Well, I realized that since 3-6 months I had rarely been watching Keith O. and, more importantly, since the last several weeks I have had no desire to watch Rachel either.
As I reflect on this I also realized that while they may not be as bad as the mainstream media, their topics and coverage too have become rather irrelevant to the real issues.
Good luck hoping for the war criminals stand trial. That's not gonna happen as long as "progressives" this Obama is a "prgressive" who has done everything to protect the war criminals and, as ACLU says, has legalized all the things that Bush was doing illegally.
No sir/madam, I am no moron. I just refuse to lower my expectations for myself, my country or my President. Besides widespread ignorance of most Americans the second cause for our decline as a nation is the lw expectatins people are willing to put up with.
There can be more than one reason for an action. I believe it was Ray McGovern (retired CIA officer and a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity or VIPS) who said that the reason(s) for the Iraq war was OIL. O = access to oil, I = Israel's security and L f= logistics, meaning probably geo-strategic interests. I tend to agree with him.
By invading, occupying and destroying Iraq America has done Israel a great favor by removing a potentially strong enemy.
As such I disagree with people who laugh at Bush for having prematurely announced his mission accomplished statement. If you consider the mission to be OIL, as described above, especially with an emphasis on "I" then the mission was indeed accomplished.
Thanks to Prof. Coles's blog I know that Ahmadinejad's call for Israels' destruction is a lie and a propaganda. Unfortunately for the vast majority of Americans they are being bamboozled by the the Israeli lobby supported mainstream media, and they have no clue.
So instead of the typical "God bless America" we should say "God help America" because the state of affairs on our country is really hopeless.
"Why, then, should anyone listen to him today? Why on earth does he continue to appear on shows like MSNBC’s “Hardball”?"
Good question. Why would anyone listen to Chris Matthew's hardball???? Ever since his demonstration of "patriotism" on the eve of Iraq invasion by supporting Bush he has forfeited any credibility as a "journalist".
"This time money has really become the problem since it is going from US treasury for the war of choice, chosen by Bush Jr, Tony Blair & lied to the public."
Based on what I see in our mass media and based on what our politicians of parties say there should be no doubt. The non-existent Iranian nukes are much, much more dangerous than the 200+ Israeli nukes.
Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize. Wouldn't it be great if Obama, in shame, would offer his prize to Assange? I know this does not work this way, but at least the gesture would count. But of course Obama has long sold his soul for power and glory.
I'd really like to propose Assange for the next peace prize. But of course they wouldn't even read my letter. Prof. Cole, I am sure I have more power to approach the Nobel Committee.
Thanks to corporate media Americans are the most propagandized people in the free world. Unlike in the "not so free" countries, censorship and propaganda in the US is done not with laws but with economics. While we have freedom of speech and freedom of press written in laws, but we allow economic interest of the corporate media to control both.
So, what is one to do? As for me, ever since Bushe's Iraq war I have stopped patronizing the American mainstream media IN ANY FORM. That keeps my blood pressure low (I still can't get over their hypocrisy) and thanks to the Internet it also keeps me much better informed. Let's vote with our feet.
Catherine Pena: "If anything Bush should be held accountable for even starting this nonsense war"
Well, who should hold Bush accountable? Obviously the current administration. Ooops, that would be Obama and the Democrats. And not only for starting this war, but also for starting Iraq war, for torturing prisoners, for war crimes, for shredding our constitution ..... Ooops again. Not only has Obama ruled out holding anyone accountable, in fact the Democrats were complicit in each and every one of those crimes.
Don't get me wrong. I used to be a Democrat until 2008. But I saw the light after I started rationally thinking about what's going on in our country since the 90s.
Michaele Steel aside, I don't see any difference between Bush's and Republicans' imperial policies and Obama's and Democrats' imperial policies.
Sure Obama can give better speeches of hope and "yes we can", and even get a Nobel Peace Prize. But what difference does it make when Afghan and Pakistani civilians are being killed by drone attacks, and by the black ops and special ops soldiers. Even after Obama "brought back transparency in our Government" we have no idea what is being done in our name, and with our tax dollars in those countries. Are we doing the bombings in Pakistan? http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/02/lahore-backlash-in-the-wake-of-bombing-anti-us-sentiment-grows/
Just like under Bush and Republicans we keep on bankrupting our future by bombing and killing people in other countries (and paying money to private war contractors) and what do Obama/Democrats do? The same.
I've had enough of both imperial parties. If we don't massively stop voting for either of these two parties then we are complicit in everything that is going wrong in our country,
I am yet to see any western mainstream media journalist interview any Israeli, American or any western politician for than matter that aggressively. The double standard is appalling. But Kenneth did very well indeed.
May be I am too naive or just an optimist. But this does not have to be an all or nothing. All we need is a forum for exposing alternatives to Americans that they are not being denied today. Take for example our so called presidential debate. This is nothing but a circus which can best be described by reviewing just two chapters of a 5 chapter book and calling this a review.
Even if we can get a third party candidate to participate in such a debate that would open up the eyes of the brain-washed Americans. The rest would follow .... as I said I am an optimist.
We may diss the tea baggers. But I too am totally pissed off at both parties. They both drink from the same trough and represent the interest of the big military-industrial-Israel-Wall Street-Congress complex.
Didn't Karl Marx predict that western capitalism is bound to morph into "Stamocap" (Staatsmonopolistischer Kapitalismus)? Marx was right, we are there...
I hear so often people complaining about bipartisan bickering that is hindering real progress in this country. But here too I disagree. In my opinion there is way too mush bipartisanship in all of the major issues. Unfortunately both parties are leading our country in the wrong direction. Here is an incomplete list: support of illegal wars, imperial foreign policy, not holding war criminals accountable, putting Wall Street before Main Street, continues illegal wire tapping and spying on Americans, secrecy ion government, severe curtailment of civil liberties,.... I give up listing more.
So, contrary to conventional wisdom perpetrated by pundits and mainstream media the problem in our country is too much bipartisanship and thus lack of real alternatives.
You are right. Obama suffers from the delusion that the USA won in Iraq. And yet, contrary to most people who ridicule Bush for proclaiming "mission accomplished" I do think Bush was right - if you understand what the "mission" was. In my opinion the mission was to destroy a staunch enemy of Israel (mission indeed accomplished) and to hand over billions of Dollars to his cronies , i.e. contractors, military-industrial complex, etc. (mission again very well accomplished). In my opinion there was a third mission of giving US and western energy companies access to Iraq's oilfields. This third one is kind of iffy. But overall I have to say, hats off to Bush for a mission well accomplished.
Of course the Turkish people are to blame - for exercising democracy and electing a government that does what the citizen wants. If you are from the south or brown people or Muslims then it is always bad - if not evil.
"Wow the US really knows how to pick all the wrong fights doesn’t it."
I need some help here to remind me how often the US was on the right side of history ....
We talk about freedom and democracy. And yet our best MId-East allies are Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt - none of whom have democracy. Hamas won the only free and and fair election in the Muslim Mid-East and the US responds by declaring them a terrorist. Similarly, our relations with Turkey was best when Turkey had military dictatorship. Now that Turkey has a true democracy, of course we start having problems with them.
A murder suspect investigates itself and the Obama administration is OK with that??????? The hypocrisy will not be lost on anybody other than Americans and Israelis. And then of course we don;t understand why they hate us????
By the way, this is what BBC reports on David Trimble: "David Trimble recently joined an international "Friends of Israel" group set up by Dore Gold, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu".
On second thought. The real blame ought to go to American citizens for continuing to elect Schumers of both parties.
Some may say there is no other alternatives. That's what both parties want us to believe. Stop voting for either of the two parties. It ought to be clear to any rationale person that both parties are the root cause of all trouble in our country.
Schumer, just like Wiener, is a bigoted and biased person. Unfortunately there are just too many such politicians from both parties who spew religious hatred, ignorance and have a split loyalty to their country. They forget that their allegiance, in spite of their Jewish heritage, should be first and foremost to US interests rather than to an out of whack right wing Israeli state.
The Palestinian struggle is not a religious conflict, rather it is a colonial conflict. It is the last bastion of colonial exploitation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and violation of universal human rights. This is well understood by people of most countries in the world, if not all - except in Israel and in the US.
Instead of unconditionally towing the right wing Israeli line our elected representatives should be looking out for our own interest. I fear for the time when there will be a huge price to pay for our complicity. And then, I am sure, the same politicians, and the MSM will be asking "why do they hate us"?
See coverage on Democracy Now! Excerpts from raw footage that was smuggled out by Mavi Marmara passenger filmmaker and activist Iara Lee. According to the report the entire footage should have been formally released at a press conference at the United Nations this afternoon.
Somewhat off topic but I wanted to mention that you can indeed donate to the German Jewish organization that is planning a humanitarian aid ship to Gaza which Prof Cole had mentioned in his June 7 post (Jewish Gaza Aid Flotilla Planned https://www.juancole.com/2010/06/jewish-gaza-aid-flotilla-planned.html )
and look for the PayPal button. "Spenden" means "donate" and on top of the button it says "for the boat to Gaza, donate securely with ...."
It feels good to make a donation to such a worthy cause. I feel somewhat safe donating to a Jewish group knowing that I can not trust our government not to turn around and prosecute people in the future for donating to organizations that are humanitarian in nature but which the government chooses to redefine as terrorist organizations after the fact. What a great country we have become.
But seriously I hope you'll spread the word and donate.
With your donation you can help the organization in its struggle for peace in the middle east. Thank You!
Please send your donations to:
Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, EJJP Deutschland
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Konto-Nr.: 1053200
BLZ: 100 205 00
Intended Use: For donations exceeding 200 Euro please write your name and full address in the intended use section of the remittance slip. This will allow us to send you a receipt. For donations less than 200 Euro please write "donation" in the intended use section."
".... Die Jüdische Stimme is a non-profit organization ... donations and membership fees are tax deductible"
Their address is
Jüdische Stimme
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
D-10405 Berlin
Thanks for exposing NPR. I had previously posted a similar comment stating that NPR is more dangerous than Fox because of NPR's brand recognition as an impartial source of information. Alas, NPR is anything but impartial. After having complained to them on several occasions with very specific examples and after having received no response, several years ago I had stopped being an NPR member. So sad....
"Exactly why is Israel allowed to …. do all this with impunity?"
I can't believe someone is asking this simple question. This is only because of unconditional support of US government (no matter of which of the two parties) for Israel.
..... yes, it is the same Obama that has refused to prosecute war criminals Bush/Cheney and others (which according to reputed international law experts makes him prosecutable under war crimes laws), the same Obama who has given telecom companies immunity against prosecution for illegally spying on Americans, the same Obama who is killing innocent civilian Afghans with drone attacks, the same Obama who has refused to condemn Israels for war crimes in Gaza....
Are you surprised? You should not be, because Americans progressives have elected him and the Nobel Committee have given him the Peace Prize.
Prof. Cole:
What can people with a conscience, in the US, do in the face of such aggression, provocation and disrespect of human rights? Where is the outrage from our citizens, and our "leaders" - especially the leaders who get hoarse talking about human rights when it suits them? What can we do?
Prof Cole: What can reasonable people in the US, with a conscience, do under such provocation? Where is the outrage? Where are our "leaders" who get hoarse talking about human rights, when it suits them to do so? What can we ordinary people do?
(Just a short comment aside. That "It is a propaganda boon for Sunni extremists and Shiite activists such as Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq, and for the Taliban in Afghanistan" as you comment, seems somewhat misplaced here)
I consider the Democrats to be significantly responsible for the Iraq war. Congressional votes aside, their leadership could have easily exposed the Bush/Cheney myth of WMD. They did not. They could have exposed torture and abuse happening in the name of GWOT (remember that term?) in Gitmo, Afghanistan and Iraq that had severe implications for the resistance in Iraq. (Pelosi has has not been convincing enough that she dis not know about torture). The Dems have continually funded the war (as they are still doing today).
I do not know if stupid is the right word to characterize those who blame the Democrats, but for sure those who don't are delusional. The Democrats continue to be part of the problem. Blaming just Bush and the Republicans is a diversionary tactic. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a Democrat and have campaigned extensively for Kucinich.
I did did particularly like the moderator, but of course she was no match for Prof. Chomsky.
To Israel's credit I have to say that it was broadcast on on Israeli TV. SO WHY ON EARTH WE NEVER SEE SUCH AN INTERVIEW IN ONE OF THE US MAINSTREAM MEDIA??
No wonder US public is the most manipulated public in the free world.
Ask your Representative: Why are we rewarding with almost 3 billion dollars in military aid a country that insists on building settlements and on keeping Gaza under siege, without even allowing the necessary aid to reconstruct and heal?
Ask you Representative: Why are you disbursing more money to Israel without first determining whether past aid has been used by Israel in the Gaza attack in direct violation of the Arms Export Control Act?
Tell them: Israel's current actions run contrary to the policies of our own government and constitute an obstacle to peace. For the sake of Palestinians and Israelis, don't sign another unconditional blank check
So the west is afraid of radical islam? If the west does not allow the Egyptians to have democracy, even after the unprecedented peaceful revolution they have carried out, then what do you think where the energy for their freedom will go? More radical approaches. Shame on the west, shame on the west.....
Why?
- because western countries are hypocrites
- because Obama is a fraud
- because we are run by a country whose name cannot be mentioned
- because our Congress is the other occupied territory b ya country whose name cannot be mentioned
- because "Arabs are not fit" to have democracy
- because, if the Arabs were allowed to have democracy then the rogue nation in the middle east, whose name cannot be mentioned, could not operate with impunity anymore
- because Arabs have too much (of our) oil
- because .....
I have a vague suspicion that the real owners of the Egyptian dictatorship are busy making sure that the Egyptians won't get real democracy. The stakes are way too high for these masters - and the country whose name cannot be mentioned is making sure that the "west" will reinstall the old system with new faces.
I am overwhelmed by courage of the Egyptian revolutionaries and am in no position to give advice, but my gut tells me that time is working against them. I do hope that my gut feel is wrong.
PA is another US client authority. But unlike Israel and Egypt they are happy just to chew on the bones from the garbage dump
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206421
very well said Prof!
THe real question is not "why do they hate us" rather "why don't American John and Jane Doe don't understand this simple logic".
yes, sadly they do believe. In the UdSSR the people knew that Pravda was a propaganda organ - in the US Americans do not know that their media are propaganda organs too...
not really, The less the Americans are aware of what's going on the easier they are to be manipulated by the politicians and the "media"
EU has not been fair to the Palestinians either. How about letting giving (several) emerging countries, like Brazil, the mandate to be an impartial broker?
Just one? Hubris are US.
First Americans have been lulled into a "Brave New World" and then came "1984". End of story - sorry.
People are the same everywhere. I have heard many people ask the question "where were the good Germans?" The answer can be found in today's America - the good Germans back then were exactly where good Americans are today.
Thanks for bringing the Manning issue to the forefront.
"If Manning has broken the law, he will be tried and convicted and punished in accordance with the law. ....". That's right. But what I miss everywhere is the important corollary: The crimes exposed by the leaks MUST be prosecuted. Obama, as usual is a a miserable failure (except for the satisfaction of his ego that he as a black man has succeeded being part of the establishment)
Good suggestions in your blog
Only slightly off topic... an excellent discussion on the Internet, freedom of speech, whistle blowing, etc. with such luminaries as Daniel Ellsberg, Peter Thiel, etc.
http://warincontext.org/2011/01/22/wikileaks-the-internet-and-democracy/
.. another nail in the coffin.... But I bet the vast majority of Americans won't even understand what has happened ....
When empire starts to die it does so on multiple fronts. And that's why it is impossible to recover.
News at US mainstream media?? Wrong address. I stopped following/patronizing any and all US MSM ever since the Iraq war because they were complicit (BTW at the same time I also stopped supporting the Dems - because they too were complicit).
There are plenty of non-MSM media outlets, including foreign news outlets, that allow me to remain tremendously better informed than most Americans.
And here you can find out what is NOT private when you are browsing the Internet
http://www.hideyouripaddress.net/what_is_my_ip/
WARNING all 637,000 @wikileaks followers are a target of US gov subpoena against Twitter, under section 2. B http://is.gd/koZIA(Source)
The information to be supplied, however, pertains to both the sources and destinations of these accounts. This is to include
records of user activity for any connections made to or from the Account, including the date, time, length, and method of connections, data transfer volume, user name, and source and destination Internet Protocol address(es).
[N]on-content information associated with the contents of any communication or file stored by or for the account(s), such as the source and destination email addresses and IP addresses. (Source; original pdf subpoena)
http://wlcentral.org/node/864
"Meanwhile, Bush administration officials who ordered people tortured, like Dick Cheney, have not been in any way inconvenienced by Mssrs. Obama and Holder"
A long overdue comment on your blog, Prof. I really value your blog, and now I feel even more sympathetic to your views.
"In any case, maybe we should all sign up for some social media based in Europe or in the global South (Orkut is now completely based in Brazil, though owned by Google), to stop the rush toward de facto Facebook- and Twitter- internet monopolies, which then are in turn tools of US government control, what with big corporations being overly cozy with Washington."
I think it is an excellent idea. Is there any way we can spread this appeal to the broader Internet community? If our American Internet companies insist on their right to exclude anyone they chose to while going to bed with our police state then the only effective response for the freedom loving people is to bring their business to a freer country. Any suggestions? I'd gladly propose this to all my friends.
Just put "yourself" in "their" position... a foreign military force (foreign in origin, culture, religion, appearance, way of life) using overwhelming military power to occupy, bomb, kill, assassinate..... How would you react? Most of them do not like the Taliban but they dislike the foreign military much, much more. By putting yourself in tier shoes you should be able to see what we are doing is morally and legally wrong.... reprehensible, cowardly and criminal.
I hope more people do share their opinion with their elected reps. I have had no success with both of my Senators Klobuchar and Al Franken. Neither of them would even acknowledge my hand written letters, when the topic is Israeli policy. I have had better luck with my House member Betty McCollum though. Good luck.
“The Obama administration tried to do the right thing, ...."
I wonder when people will finally recognize that what Obama and the Dems do is a show. It was so with the tax cut bill, with the so called health care reform bill (they never even tried to get a real competition, be it public option or medicare-like), with the bank bailout bill.... Just a show an bluster.... People will disagree with me but I see no real difference between the two parties. Actually the Dems have a harder job because they have to do the same thing as the Repubs but have to put up a front that they are different.
Our greatest tragedy is our low expectation. Reminds me of Bush the lesser" "Heckuva job".
Well said. One thing I would add is that if our corporate journalists had done their job then there would have been no need for WikiLeaks
If he didn't have such outrageous views on domestic policies....
Israel is a racist colonial enterprise. Good points made by Prof. Ilan Pappe.
(although the title is in German the two talks are both in English)
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/12/04/ilan-pappe-on-zionist-ideology/
The best spin I can put on Obama is that he is ambitious. His ambition was to become the president of the USA. As soon as he achieved he did not give a damn about what he stood for, or at least suggest he stood for, or what is right for the country, or what is universally right....
Dear Prof. I'll believe in fairytale before I expect Obama to do what you are suggesting. What has Obama done so far, not only related to Israel, that makes you think that Obama wants (let alone can) to do the right thing?
"But relatively few covered-up crimes are coming to light in these Wikileaks documents unless one is an anarchist and considers government in general to be a crime. "
I do not think it is necessary to consider govt. in general to be a crime .... WL is a response to how the govt is operating: we the citizens have no right to know anything about what the govt does (therefore millions of classified info) but the govt has every right to know everything we do.... What kind of a govt does it look like?
Also one has to ask why this visceral reaction to WL? After all WK is just a conduit and not the actual entity who caused the leak. One has to wonder what they are afraid of. (1) losing the power to unilaterally deciding what the citizens can know (2) something really big in the info cache that has not yet been released.
Either way I am worried .....
Thank you Prof., as usual, for a rational analysis, which is so rare on this topic. The Atlantic also has a good commentary
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/the-shameful-attacks-on-julian-assange/67440/
But Prof. I do disagree on the relevance of WIkileak's leaks. It is profound. Even though for specialists like you and most well-informed people there is very little new in the leaks, we should not underestimate the psychological effect it can have on the general public when someone, in such a big way, can tell that the emperor has no clothes on.
I think WIkileaks is a reaction to a dramatically changing world order in which the gov. wants full spectrum dominance in every aspect of what happens. This change has been going on for quite sometime without any open public discussion, not to speak of a debate. In fact, the process has been gaining momentum in an "auto-catalytic" way, meaning that every partial dominance makes the next dominance even easier for the govt. If you think about it, what was unthinkable in the recent past is accepted unconditionally today (think civil liberties). If left unchecked, one day we'll end up in a society that will have many aspects of societies described in science fictions like 1984, Matrix, Terminator and Star Wars!!
The reference to science fiction may seem unusual but personally I believe, based on anecdotal evidence rather than conclusive proof, that (good) science fictions have a better than 50:50 chance of predicting our future - I also believe that evolution has created human beings not only to be hunters and gathers but also most of them to be sheep that obediently follow rather than be individualistic critically thinking beings.
Therefore to me Wikileaks seems more like a much needed laxative than Ben & Jerry's!
Most likely they were thinking of death by embarrassment.
Have I disqualified myself for a Govt. job by reading your post on WiliLeaks, by following many websites that are reporting on Wikileaks, or by enjoying Jamiol cartoon?
Students of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs were warned this week not to spread the Wikileak cables online if they ever wanted a job at the State Department.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/columbia_u_to_students_if_you_want_a_job_at_state.php?ref=tn
The message to our young generation: if you have an inquiring mind, don’t bother applying for a job with the US government. If however you are happy to blindly follow orders and have a slavish admiration for institutional authority — who knows, maybe one day you could become president.
SImilarly, the Office of Management and Budget today directed all federal agencies to bar unauthorized employees from accessing the Wikileaks web site and its leaked diplomatic cables - even on private computers
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/white_house_tells_all_federal_agencies_to_ban_empl.php
What have we become as a nation? Is this the change that Obama had promised.? Heckuva job Mr. President .... not only Bush, but also Osama couldn't have done a better job of destroying what America used to stand for....
"At least their reputations should be tarnished!"
Reputation? Yes as war criminals .... Of course the lefty Obama and his administration will fight tooth and nail and teach Nigeria a lesson for charging Cheney,
I completely agree....
"What is truly disgusting is not only that the Israelis pursue this beastly policy toward Palestinian children and other civilians. It is that the major world powers are complicit in it. ..."
No what is REALLY DISGUSTING is the fact that my two Senators in MN, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken have not even responded to my HAND WRITTEN letters to them in which I had asked why our Government is allowing Israel to act with impunity in Gaza. Truly, truly disgusting.....
It gives me no pleasure to point to a fine piece written by Ralph Nader "Obamabush"
http://www.counterpunch.org/nader11232010.html
"we’re going to have to remove it (your scrotum)..." and if you do not agree you'll be arrested and fined for $11,000....
Welcome to the free land of the free and the home of the brave. Congrats Osama.
The answer to the scenario you just described is to install a pre security point before you go to the actual security point... oh wait, how about a security check up before you are cleared to leave your home? Then we'll be be safe.
Bush should have been impeached a long time ago. Now if we don't arrest Bush and prosecute him for war crimes then we look like a Banana Republic. Ooops, we are one.
Or when Americans wake up to the fact that neither of the two parties can be trusted to look after AMerican interests. We do have democracy don't we? Or have we already exported too much democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan and rest of the world, and thus have none left at home?
"the best path (or at least the statesmanlike path) would be to abandon re-election and legislation (and thus all personal need for fund-raising and concomitant slavery) and then use the UNSC to gather international pressure on Israel ...."
But then you are assuming that Obama really wants to do the right thing. That's a big assumption that is not supported by any facts.....
Throughout the history of the US the two major parties have always been on the same side of all important issues: prosecution og the native americans, slavery, woman's suffrage, imprerial wars, Iraq and Afghanistan misadventure, torture, rendition, targeted killing, Vietnam, Palestine.......
since the Iraq war I have made my choice ... "neither of the two evils".
"If I were Bush, I wouldn’t vacation in Barcelona."
Shame on US (and us) that he can vacation in the US.... we have nobody else to blame
"(Obama) should have pointed out all the horrible things the tea party plans to do to young people"
What you suggest Prof. is actually one of the basic problems. The Republicans (and Tea Party) create fear of terrorism, immigrants, hispanics, muslims, etc, while the Democrats create fear of the Repubs and Tea Party. What we need is not "counter fear" but bold leadership, in which Obama has failed miserably.
Moreover, Tea Party is a direct manifestation of the failure of the left and of the Democratic Party. Many of the issues capitalized upon by the Tea Party (sans the above list) like dissatisfaction with the Congress and the Government for helping the rich and the corporations rather than ordinary citizens should typically be a leftist agenda.
Obama and the Democrats are part of the problem and not the solution. "We vote? What does it mean? It means that we choose between two bodies of real, though not avowed, autocrats. We chose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee...". If you think this is Ralf Nader then you'd be wrong. This is Helen Keller in 1911 (source Howard Zinn's People's History of the US). It's amazing how much things have changed and yet how little has changed.
Agreed.
And why would Repubs gain next week? Because we Americans are dumb enough to vote for them, and because there is no real opposition party (Dems are enablers of the Repubs)
Wish there was a "like it" button!
Very well said.
"Abbas held his nose and forged ahead. ...."
Abbas is a traitor for is people, and of course after his mandate as President has expired, represents nobody but the Israeli colonialists - he is their puppet.
Separately, "Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, reminded Israel on Monday that the building of settlements on occupied territory was illegal, and said he was "disappointed" by the government's failure to extend its partial ban on further West Bank construction."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/09/201092718349628699.html
Why is he (and the Western leaders) just disappointed? And yet, when Iraq had supposedly violated UN resolutions, the country was attacked.
Hypocrite, hypocrisy....
Agreed
"Abbas is left looking like a fool for having agreed to come to Washington for this parley."
To call him a fool is generous. He is a traitor.
Yes if the slasher were a Muslim and the can driver were a Jew, you know what reaction we'd have had from the Repubs AND the Dems.
After I had ditched the entire mainstream media quite a while ago I only used to follow Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow. Well, I realized that since 3-6 months I had rarely been watching Keith O. and, more importantly, since the last several weeks I have had no desire to watch Rachel either.
As I reflect on this I also realized that while they may not be as bad as the mainstream media, their topics and coverage too have become rather irrelevant to the real issues.
Good luck hoping for the war criminals stand trial. That's not gonna happen as long as "progressives" this Obama is a "prgressive" who has done everything to protect the war criminals and, as ACLU says, has legalized all the things that Bush was doing illegally.
No sir, I don't succumb to spin and I can think.
Morons? Language please.
I'll have neither of the two evils. Want a no-spin evaluation of Obama's performance? Check out ACLU's scorecard for Obama.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/12/as_gibbs_attacks_progressive_critics_aclu
No sir/madam, I am no moron. I just refuse to lower my expectations for myself, my country or my President. Besides widespread ignorance of most Americans the second cause for our decline as a nation is the lw expectatins people are willing to put up with.
There can be more than one reason for an action. I believe it was Ray McGovern (retired CIA officer and a co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity or VIPS) who said that the reason(s) for the Iraq war was OIL. O = access to oil, I = Israel's security and L f= logistics, meaning probably geo-strategic interests. I tend to agree with him.
By invading, occupying and destroying Iraq America has done Israel a great favor by removing a potentially strong enemy.
As such I disagree with people who laugh at Bush for having prematurely announced his mission accomplished statement. If you consider the mission to be OIL, as described above, especially with an emphasis on "I" then the mission was indeed accomplished.
Oh, rules don't apply to us. Rules are so quaint, and Americans are just fine with that.
Thanks to Prof. Coles's blog I know that Ahmadinejad's call for Israels' destruction is a lie and a propaganda. Unfortunately for the vast majority of Americans they are being bamboozled by the the Israeli lobby supported mainstream media, and they have no clue.
So instead of the typical "God bless America" we should say "God help America" because the state of affairs on our country is really hopeless.
"Why, then, should anyone listen to him today? Why on earth does he continue to appear on shows like MSNBC’s “Hardball”?"
Good question. Why would anyone listen to Chris Matthew's hardball???? Ever since his demonstration of "patriotism" on the eve of Iraq invasion by supporting Bush he has forfeited any credibility as a "journalist".
"This time money has really become the problem since it is going from US treasury for the war of choice, chosen by Bush Jr, Tony Blair & lied to the public."
Please do not offend Obama by excluding him from the list. He is doing his best to show that he can do better than Bush, in every aspect, including civil liberties. See ACLU interview on Obama's performance
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/12/as_gibbs_attacks_progressive_critics_aclu
Based on what I see in our mass media and based on what our politicians of parties say there should be no doubt. The non-existent Iranian nukes are much, much more dangerous than the 200+ Israeli nukes.
People can call it what they want. But if it quacks like a duck....
For me it is pure western colonialism. Add on ethnic cleansing and apartheid - and you get Israel as it exists.
I'd say NYT has links to government sponsored terrorist organizations.
Julian Assange for Nobel Peace Prize. Wouldn't it be great if Obama, in shame, would offer his prize to Assange? I know this does not work this way, but at least the gesture would count. But of course Obama has long sold his soul for power and glory.
I'd really like to propose Assange for the next peace prize. But of course they wouldn't even read my letter. Prof. Cole, I am sure I have more power to approach the Nobel Committee.
Amen.
Obama and Democrats' war
http://www.facebook.com/rethinkafghanistan?v=app_10467688569
The Obama Administration has pledged to freeze much of the domestic spending budget going forward so he can continue to find more money to pump into the various wars included in the war on terror.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/21/congressional-report-war-on-terror-cost-over-1-trillion-so-far/
Thanks to corporate media Americans are the most propagandized people in the free world. Unlike in the "not so free" countries, censorship and propaganda in the US is done not with laws but with economics. While we have freedom of speech and freedom of press written in laws, but we allow economic interest of the corporate media to control both.
So, what is one to do? As for me, ever since Bushe's Iraq war I have stopped patronizing the American mainstream media IN ANY FORM. That keeps my blood pressure low (I still can't get over their hypocrisy) and thanks to the Internet it also keeps me much better informed. Let's vote with our feet.
"It is alleged that Reagan administration CIA director William Casey authorized the bombing."
What would you label the one who ordered? Hmmm ... terrorist?
Catherine Pena: "If anything Bush should be held accountable for even starting this nonsense war"
Well, who should hold Bush accountable? Obviously the current administration. Ooops, that would be Obama and the Democrats. And not only for starting this war, but also for starting Iraq war, for torturing prisoners, for war crimes, for shredding our constitution ..... Ooops again. Not only has Obama ruled out holding anyone accountable, in fact the Democrats were complicit in each and every one of those crimes.
Don't get me wrong. I used to be a Democrat until 2008. But I saw the light after I started rationally thinking about what's going on in our country since the 90s.
Michaele Steel aside, I don't see any difference between Bush's and Republicans' imperial policies and Obama's and Democrats' imperial policies.
Sure Obama can give better speeches of hope and "yes we can", and even get a Nobel Peace Prize. But what difference does it make when Afghan and Pakistani civilians are being killed by drone attacks, and by the black ops and special ops soldiers. Even after Obama "brought back transparency in our Government" we have no idea what is being done in our name, and with our tax dollars in those countries. Are we doing the bombings in Pakistan? http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/02/lahore-backlash-in-the-wake-of-bombing-anti-us-sentiment-grows/
Just like under Bush and Republicans we keep on bankrupting our future by bombing and killing people in other countries (and paying money to private war contractors) and what do Obama/Democrats do? The same.
I've had enough of both imperial parties. If we don't massively stop voting for either of these two parties then we are complicit in everything that is going wrong in our country,
Charlie Rose interviews Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (June 28, 2010)
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11091
BBC interview of Kenneth O’Keefe (passenger in Mavi Marmara).
http://warincontext.org/2010/06/27/kenneth-okeefe-interviewed-on-bbcs-hardtalk/
I am yet to see any western mainstream media journalist interview any Israeli, American or any western politician for than matter that aggressively. The double standard is appalling. But Kenneth did very well indeed.
May be I am too naive or just an optimist. But this does not have to be an all or nothing. All we need is a forum for exposing alternatives to Americans that they are not being denied today. Take for example our so called presidential debate. This is nothing but a circus which can best be described by reviewing just two chapters of a 5 chapter book and calling this a review.
Even if we can get a third party candidate to participate in such a debate that would open up the eyes of the brain-washed Americans. The rest would follow .... as I said I am an optimist.
We may diss the tea baggers. But I too am totally pissed off at both parties. They both drink from the same trough and represent the interest of the big military-industrial-Israel-Wall Street-Congress complex.
Didn't Karl Marx predict that western capitalism is bound to morph into "Stamocap" (Staatsmonopolistischer Kapitalismus)? Marx was right, we are there...
I am with you....
We need alternatives. You may say we don't have any. But the first step is realization of the situation and a demand for alternatives...
Jim Haygood:
I hear so often people complaining about bipartisan bickering that is hindering real progress in this country. But here too I disagree. In my opinion there is way too mush bipartisanship in all of the major issues. Unfortunately both parties are leading our country in the wrong direction. Here is an incomplete list: support of illegal wars, imperial foreign policy, not holding war criminals accountable, putting Wall Street before Main Street, continues illegal wire tapping and spying on Americans, secrecy ion government, severe curtailment of civil liberties,.... I give up listing more.
So, contrary to conventional wisdom perpetrated by pundits and mainstream media the problem in our country is too much bipartisanship and thus lack of real alternatives.
John Cole:
You are right. Obama suffers from the delusion that the USA won in Iraq. And yet, contrary to most people who ridicule Bush for proclaiming "mission accomplished" I do think Bush was right - if you understand what the "mission" was. In my opinion the mission was to destroy a staunch enemy of Israel (mission indeed accomplished) and to hand over billions of Dollars to his cronies , i.e. contractors, military-industrial complex, etc. (mission again very well accomplished). In my opinion there was a third mission of giving US and western energy companies access to Iraq's oilfields. This third one is kind of iffy. But overall I have to say, hats off to Bush for a mission well accomplished.
Actually even earlier - for covering up circumstances of Tilman's death and for prisoner abuse in Gitmo and in Iraq.
Considers breaking off Ties;
Israel Lobbies in Congress denounce Ankara
Of course the Turkish people are to blame - for exercising democracy and electing a government that does what the citizen wants. If you are from the south or brown people or Muslims then it is always bad - if not evil.
"Wow the US really knows how to pick all the wrong fights doesn’t it."
I need some help here to remind me how often the US was on the right side of history ....
We talk about freedom and democracy. And yet our best MId-East allies are Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt - none of whom have democracy. Hamas won the only free and and fair election in the Muslim Mid-East and the US responds by declaring them a terrorist. Similarly, our relations with Turkey was best when Turkey had military dictatorship. Now that Turkey has a true democracy, of course we start having problems with them.
A murder suspect investigates itself and the Obama administration is OK with that??????? The hypocrisy will not be lost on anybody other than Americans and Israelis. And then of course we don;t understand why they hate us????
By the way, this is what BBC reports on David Trimble: "David Trimble recently joined an international "Friends of Israel" group set up by Dore Gold, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu".
On second thought. The real blame ought to go to American citizens for continuing to elect Schumers of both parties.
Some may say there is no other alternatives. That's what both parties want us to believe. Stop voting for either of the two parties. It ought to be clear to any rationale person that both parties are the root cause of all trouble in our country.
Schumer, just like Wiener, is a bigoted and biased person. Unfortunately there are just too many such politicians from both parties who spew religious hatred, ignorance and have a split loyalty to their country. They forget that their allegiance, in spite of their Jewish heritage, should be first and foremost to US interests rather than to an out of whack right wing Israeli state.
The Palestinian struggle is not a religious conflict, rather it is a colonial conflict. It is the last bastion of colonial exploitation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and violation of universal human rights. This is well understood by people of most countries in the world, if not all - except in Israel and in the US.
Instead of unconditionally towing the right wing Israeli line our elected representatives should be looking out for our own interest. I fear for the time when there will be a huge price to pay for our complicity. And then, I am sure, the same politicians, and the MSM will be asking "why do they hate us"?
EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara of Israel’s Deadly Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/10/exclusive_journalist_smuggles_out_video_of
See coverage on Democracy Now! Excerpts from raw footage that was smuggled out by Mavi Marmara passenger filmmaker and activist Iara Lee. According to the report the entire footage should have been formally released at a press conference at the United Nations this afternoon.
Somewhat off topic but I wanted to mention that you can indeed donate to the German Jewish organization that is planning a humanitarian aid ship to Gaza which Prof Cole had mentioned in his June 7 post (Jewish Gaza Aid Flotilla Planned https://www.juancole.com/2010/06/jewish-gaza-aid-flotilla-planned.html )
You can indeed donate by PayPal. To do so go to this page
http://jewish-ship-to-gaza.jimdo.com/
and look for the PayPal button. "Spenden" means "donate" and on top of the button it says "for the boat to Gaza, donate securely with ...."
It feels good to make a donation to such a worthy cause. I feel somewhat safe donating to a Jewish group knowing that I can not trust our government not to turn around and prosecute people in the future for donating to organizations that are humanitarian in nature but which the government chooses to redefine as terrorist organizations after the fact. What a great country we have become.
But seriously I hope you'll spread the word and donate.
You can indeed pay by PayPal. GO to this website and look for the PayPal button. "Spenden" means "donate"
http://jewish-ship-to-gaza.jimdo.com/
And above the button it says "for the boat to Gaza donate here securely with ...".
Spread the word....
Walter: This is what their website says about donation
http://www.juedische-stimme.de/js-kontakt.html#spenden
"Donation
With your donation you can help the organization in its struggle for peace in the middle east. Thank You!
Please send your donations to:
Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, EJJP Deutschland
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Konto-Nr.: 1053200
BLZ: 100 205 00
Intended Use: For donations exceeding 200 Euro please write your name and full address in the intended use section of the remittance slip. This will allow us to send you a receipt. For donations less than 200 Euro please write "donation" in the intended use section."
".... Die Jüdische Stimme is a non-profit organization ... donations and membership fees are tax deductible"
Their address is
Jüdische Stimme
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
D-10405 Berlin
I wish it were possible to donate by PayPal.
- The Israeli Ministry of Truth
Thanks for exposing NPR. I had previously posted a similar comment stating that NPR is more dangerous than Fox because of NPR's brand recognition as an impartial source of information. Alas, NPR is anything but impartial. After having complained to them on several occasions with very specific examples and after having received no response, several years ago I had stopped being an NPR member. So sad....
"Completely unacceptable Use of Force"
Turkish PM May Sail to Gaza Himself
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/06/05/report-turkish-pm-may-go-to-gaza-himself/
If that were to happen would it be reasonable to expect that the reigning Nobel Peace Prize winner would hand over the medal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan?
The 9 activists killed last Monday were shot 30 Times
May be the missing humanitarian volunteers are from a country other than Turkey?
"Exactly why is Israel allowed to …. do all this with impunity?"
I can't believe someone is asking this simple question. This is only because of unconditional support of US government (no matter of which of the two parties) for Israel.
..... yes, it is the same Obama that has refused to prosecute war criminals Bush/Cheney and others (which according to reputed international law experts makes him prosecutable under war crimes laws), the same Obama who has given telecom companies immunity against prosecution for illegally spying on Americans, the same Obama who is killing innocent civilian Afghans with drone attacks, the same Obama who has refused to condemn Israels for war crimes in Gaza....
Are you surprised? You should not be, because Americans progressives have elected him and the Nobel Committee have given him the Peace Prize.
wound over 50 as they Board, Capture Gaza Aid Flotilla
Anon,
Have yo missed the point that Israeli soldiers attacked and boarded the civilian ship in international waters? This is called piracy and terrorism.
Prof. Cole:
What can people with a conscience, in the US, do in the face of such aggression, provocation and disrespect of human rights? Where is the outrage from our citizens, and our "leaders" - especially the leaders who get hoarse talking about human rights when it suits them? What can we do?
Prof Cole: What can reasonable people in the US, with a conscience, do under such provocation? Where is the outrage? Where are our "leaders" who get hoarse talking about human rights, when it suits them to do so? What can we ordinary people do?
(Just a short comment aside. That "It is a propaganda boon for Sunni extremists and Shiite activists such as Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq, and for the Taliban in Afghanistan" as you comment, seems somewhat misplaced here)
I consider the Democrats to be significantly responsible for the Iraq war. Congressional votes aside, their leadership could have easily exposed the Bush/Cheney myth of WMD. They did not. They could have exposed torture and abuse happening in the name of GWOT (remember that term?) in Gitmo, Afghanistan and Iraq that had severe implications for the resistance in Iraq. (Pelosi has has not been convincing enough that she dis not know about torture). The Dems have continually funded the war (as they are still doing today).
I do not know if stupid is the right word to characterize those who blame the Democrats, but for sure those who don't are delusional. The Democrats continue to be part of the problem. Blaming just Bush and the Republicans is a diversionary tactic. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a Democrat and have campaigned extensively for Kucinich.
Thought some of you might be interested in this Chomsky interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCtYecGbQz8&feature=player_embedded
I did did particularly like the moderator, but of course she was no match for Prof. Chomsky.
To Israel's credit I have to say that it was broadcast on on Israeli TV. SO WHY ON EARTH WE NEVER SEE SUCH AN INTERVIEW IN ONE OF THE US MAINSTREAM MEDIA??
No wonder US public is the most manipulated public in the free world.
Ask your Representative: Why are we rewarding with almost 3 billion dollars in military aid a country that insists on building settlements and on keeping Gaza under siege, without even allowing the necessary aid to reconstruct and heal?
Ask you Representative: Why are you disbursing more money to Israel without first determining whether past aid has been used by Israel in the Gaza attack in direct violation of the Arms Export Control Act?
Tell them: Israel's current actions run contrary to the policies of our own government and constitute an obstacle to peace. For the sake of Palestinians and Israelis, don't sign another unconditional blank check
http://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/getLocal.jsp?zip=
Admittedly it is not a blog but Jewish Voice for Peace is a source I consult (and financially support).
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/