No to War, No to NATO. By Katrina vanden Heuvel

Via: The Nation.

With President Obama announcing his new strategy for US/NATO escalation in Afghanistan, the April 3-4 NATO Summit in Baden-Baden and Kehl, Germany, and in Strasbourg, France, takes on added urgency — as will the demonstrations by thousands of protestors from over 20 European countries and the US.

Member states will attempt to use the summit as an occasion to celebrate the alliance’s 60th anniversary, France’s return to NATO, and perhaps offer a new “Strategic Concept” as an interventionist force around the world. Activists will articulate an alternative vision focused on securing global peace and confronting domestic challenges at home, including a call for the dissolution of NATO.

Beginning April 1, a diverse coalition of activists will participate in training camps, demonstrations, conferences, workshops, and non-violent blockades. At a moment when international cooperation on economic and human security interests is needed more than ever, the protestors view a US-led, expansionist NATO as destabilizing and dangerous. What was originally designed as a defense alliance against the Warsaw Pact has taken on a very different post-Cold War, global interventionist role.

Left and Right Against the Military Industrial Complex. By Jon Basil Utley

Via: Foreign Policy In Focus .

President Barack Obama plans to keep as many as 50,000 troops in Iraq for an indefinite period of time and send thousands more to Afghanistan. These policiesamply show the ongoing grip of Washington’s military establishment that “treats compromise as treason and negotiation as appeasement,” in the words of Fareed Zakaria.

And for all the hue and cry about the economic crisis, military spending is surprisingly off limits to rational debate in Washington. The Pentagon budget continues to lavish funds on almost every key congressional district while also providing thousands of earmark opportunities for legislators. This flow of money in turn generates a flow of money the other way, as defense contractors direct campaign contributions back to Washington.

The military-industrial complex is now vast, rich, and so embedded in Washington that it is succeeding in converting the American republic into a military empire. While military men are paid whether at war or not, the complex requires a non-stop diet of threats. In other words, it needs empire in a way that an army does not.

The Costs of Empire

“If the Iraq war has produced anything of value, it is to have brought the term ‘military industrial complex’ back into focus for an American public largely unaware of how and why their country is led to war,” writes Eugene Jarecki in his new book, The American Way of War. Jareckiexplains just how difficult it is to combat this complex.

End the Occupation!

Via: Iraqi Solidarity News.

Since the occupation of Iraq began in 2003, over one million Iraqi people have died as a result of the actions by the British and American governments. The occupation of Iraq has also resulted in the displacement of over four million Iraqi citizens, with millions more living in poverty and total destitution.

The illegal invasion has meant that there are over five million Iraqi children who are now orphans as a result of the conflict, along with over four million women who have since been made widows. Each Iraqi person is living a life of uncertainty because of the false claims of weapons of mass destruction and the outrageous lie that Saddam Hussain was connected to the Al-Qaida attack on the Twin Towers.

After the overthrow of Saddam Hussain, the British and American governments both claimed that Iraq is on the road to “freedom” and “democracy” but the reality for the Iraqi people is a far cry from the promises made by either regime. “Freedom” and “Democracy” for the Iraqi people has resulted in a generation of illiterate children, with the overwhelming majority of Iraq’s children suffering from learning impediments brought on by war trauma.

The silence surrounding Sri Lanka. By Arundhati Roy

Via: The Boston Globe.

NEW DELHI
THE HORROR that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it. There is almost no reporting in the international press – or in the mainstream media in India, where I live – about what is happening. From the little information that is filtering through, it looks as though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of “the war on terror” as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in the country and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people.

The government is working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or she can prove otherwise, and civilian areas, hospitals, and shelters are being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put the number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan army is advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.

Meanwhile, there are reports that several “welfare villages” have been established to house displaced Tamils in the Vavuniya and Mannar districts. The Daily Telegraph in London reports that these villages “will be compulsory holding centers for all civilians fleeing the fighting.” Is this a euphemism for concentration camps?

When Others Sacrifice in Our Name. By Joharah Baker

Via: The Palestine Chronicle.

The concept of offering one’s life for the sake of a cause has been revered throughout history by nations, religions and political systems. In Palestinian culture, it is the highest possible status, the ultimate sacrifice. Becoming a “shahid” (or martyr) is sometimes so desired, it has pushed young men and women into the ranks of military action far too early and far too unprepared. However, in our society, and throughout history, fighting for your country, your religion or for a just cause is the ultimate honor, the Purple Heart of nations. However, what continues to amaze is when someone offers their own life for someone else’s country, someone else’s cause, in the name of social, political and human justice throughout the world.

The Palestinians have a long history of sacrifice. Hundreds of thousands have died in the name of Palestine, even before Israel came into existence. In the Arab Revolt between 1936 and 1939 against the British Mandate and Jewish groups, at least 5,000 Palestinians were killed. In the 1948 and 1967, tens of thousands more perished in the wars that led to the establishment of Israel and later to its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights. Add to this the first and second Intifadas and all the other incidents of Palestinian deaths that fall in between, the number of casualties in comparison to the tiny Palestinian population is enormous.

G20: Next Time, Perhaps… By Sanjay Suri

Via: IPS News.

If the draft declaration of the G20 meeting in London is anything to go by, the most specific outcome of this summit is that there will be another one later in the year.

Several governments have begun to lobby already to host the next G20, in apparent confidence that this one is not going to take care of the problems that the leaders are gathering to address, if not resolve.

As governments take their time, real dangers look so large that the problem may rapidly outpace any solution.

A 24-point draft declaration published by the Financial Times reveals little sign of any agreement with teeth. The Consensus declared by G20 leaders in Washington last November became notable for a breach of what was agreed – the G20 declared itself against protectionism, only for the World Bank to count 73 instances of protectionism by G20 members since then. And that is not the final tally.

A Call for Boycott. By Rania Masri and Marcy Newman

Via: Dissident Voice.

In remembering and commemorating Land Day, March 30, 1976, when six Palestinians were killed and almost 100 wounded by Israeli forces in Sakhnin during unarmed protests against the confiscation of Palestinian lands in Galilee; in remembering the December 2008 Israeli savagery against the Palestinians in Gaza; in recognizing the continuity of attacks against Palestinians; and in remembering the numerous and ongoing Israeli atrocities against Lebanese, let us stand in active support of a movement that has the strength and vital potential to significantly contribute to this struggle for liberty and self-determination in this fight against Zionism.

That movement is the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, and one of its main demands is the boycott of and divestment from Israeli corporations and international corporations that sustain Israeli apartheid and colonialism. We know from the South African example that a combined strategy of armed resistance with boycott, divestment, and sanctions led to the downfall of the apartheid regime, and thus can be successful. Focusing on economic resistance ties this movement to the roots of the Palestinian Resistance Movement which historically sought to liberate Palestine as well as the rest of the region from Western imperialism through its economic neocolonial policies.

Robert Fisk: Galloway a victim of Canada’s baffling approach to fighting terror

Via: The Independent.

“Come out and debate with me like a man,” the old bruiser shouted over the video-link to Toronto. “Let’s book the biggest hall in Canada and you and I will debate these issues of war and peace and freedom of speech and censorship… If we don’t achieve a political settlement (in the Middle East), we’re in for war. If there’s no justice, there will be no peace for Palestine.”

It was, of course, the old scallywag himself, George Galloway, fuming about the Canadian Immigration Minister James Kenney’s refusal to allow him to speak in Canada on the grounds that he – Galloway – was involved in “terrorism”. The Scottish-born MP was talking from an important centre of “world terror” – New York City.

Mr Kenney’s spokesman, Alikhan Velshi, last week compared Mr Galloway to Oliver Cromwell and said he would not be allowed to enter Canada. Self-publicist, friend of dictators, reality TV show performer and general silly ass Mr Galloway may be. But he has no more in common with Cromwell than the minister has with Ghengis Khan.

But this is no laughing matter.

I want to breathe in clean air: Free the Palestinian people. BY Kourosh Ziabari

Via: Palestine Think Tank.

Nobody, even the hawks and tyrants themselves, would deny the fact that the majority of the world’s decisions are made by a group of certain leaders who lead certain countries of some certain regions! Our world’s population approaches 7 billion as of 2008, with people living in 203 sovereign states and countries, and there are just something around 30 people who decide the destiny and prospect of this “flock” of 7 billion, and this is exactly what we expect of the 21st century’s democracy; a revolutionized form of a then-sublime concept that the conscious human would enthusiastically long for.

Perhaps the extraordinary and outlandish ethnic cleansing and systematic massacre of civilians, committed habitually by the state of Israel, is something instinctive to the very existence of the 60-year old “country”, and as said by Gilad Atzmon in an interview which I had once conducted with him, you can not expect benevolent, human and lawful treatment of downtrodden people by the Jewish state.

However, what makes me astonishingly baffled and bemused is the approach of European and North American states to the long-standing punishment of Palestinian people by Israel. Once you dare appear and criticize Israel for its illegal actions, a bunch of mainstream personalities set off to mobilize and accuse you of the famous ‘anti-Semitism’, ‘anti-Judaism’ and such libels.

Netanyahu: Israel may attack Iran soon

Via: Press TV.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will attack Iran should the US fail to quickly halt Tehran’s nuclear program.

Setting guidelines for US president Barack Obama, Netanyahu said that “the Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.”

If the US fails to quickly achieve the latter, Israel would be ‘forced’ to attack Iran’s nuclear facility itself, Netanyahu told the Atlantic magazine, shortly before his inauguration on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said he would support Obama’s decision to engage Iran, so long as negotiations brought about ‘a quick end’ to Iran’s nuclear activities.

“How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it,” he said

Yemen: the weakest link. By Ginny Hill

via Open Democracy News Analysis.

The fragility of Yemen’s security and economy is blocking the return of its citizens from the Guantánamo prison-camp. But the worries over Yemen’s future go wider, says Ginny Hill.

The executive order signed by President Barack Obama on 22 January 2009 commits the United States to shutting the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay within a year. It is a clear victory for civil-rights advocates – but one that throws into sharp relief the persistent dangers posed by weak and failing states, and the inadequacy of United States policy towards them. In order to close the prison within (now) the next nine months, Obama must repatriate an estimated ninety-nine Yemenis – part of a total of 241 - who remain in the jail. At least eleven of these men were cleared for return to Yemen as long ago as 2005; one of the Yemenis, Ayman Saeed Batarfi (a doctor), was declared eligible for transfer to “an appropriate destination country” on 30 March 2009.

Yemen is a fragile state, with weak central institutions, a growing terrorist network and porous jails. While other countries have successfully negotiated to bring their citizens home from Guantánamo, Yemen has been unable to provide the US authorities with meaningful security guarantees. Yemenis are now the largest national group among the detainees still in the camp.

“On Anti-Semitism, Boycotts, and the Case of Hermann Dierkes: An Open Letter from Jewish Peace Activists”

We are peace activists of Jewish background. Some of us typically identify in this way; others of us do not. But we all object to those who claim to speak for all Jews or who use charges of anti-Semitism to attempt to squelch legitimate dissent.

We have learned with dismay the allegations regarding Hermann Dierkes, a trade unionist and leader of the Left Party (DIE LINKE) in the German city of Duisburg. Dierkes, in response to the recent Israeli assault on Gaza expressed the view that one way people could help Palestinians obtain justice would be to support the call of the World Social Forum to boycott Israeli goods, so as to put pressure on the Israeli government.

Dierkes has been subjected to widespread and vitriolic denunciations for anti-Semitism, and accused of calling for a repeat of the Nazi policy of the 1930s of boycotting Jewish products. Dierkes responded that “The demands of the World Social Forum have nothing in common with Nazi-type racist campaigns against Jews, but aim at changing the Israeli government’s policy of oppression of the Palestinians.”

Read the Rest Here: The Monthly Review.