Archive for the ‘Terrorism’ Category
Friday, July 9th, 2010
9/7/10;
ASEAN, whose members include the largest Muslim nation, Indonesia, is calling for unimpeded aid access to Gaza . The body also wants the resumption of Middle East peace talks. A draft document says foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations “strongly condemned” the May 31 Israeli military raid on an aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. Nine activists died in the raid, which sparked an international outcry. “In this regard, we reiterated the call for the unimpeded access of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people in Gaza in order to help alleviate their plight,” says the draft obtained yesterday ahead of the 10 foreign ministers’ annual talks, which begin in Vietnam today. The discussions culminate on Friday in the 27-member ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia-Pacific’s largest security dialogue, which will be attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.In their draft, the ministers call for a resumption of negotiations for “a final, just and comprehensive settlement with the realisation of two states, Israel and Palestine.” Along with Indonesia, ASEAN includes Muslim-majority nations Malaysia and Brunei.
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Tags: Asean, Human Rights, Israel, USA
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Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Farid Farid; 13/5/10
“The land is like an open book on which nature and humans continuously write,” says Palestinian lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh describing the ecological formation of the majestic geological textures of Ramallah.However, he cautions that this geographical narrative has been withered away through “Israeli settlers [who] have been sedulously writing their own script, causing tremendous destruction to the natural beauty of these hills”.Tomorrow, Palestinians will commemorate the 62nd anniversary of their dispossession. The day is known as al-Nakba or the catastrophe. The situation cannot be spoken of as the “Israel-Palestine” conflict because the latter’s geographic and political borders have shrunk to a nullifying minimum. It is aptly described in Shehadeh’s subtitle – vanishing landscape — for his Orwell Prize winning book Palestinian Walks. It is perhaps ironic that in the coming days failed peace talks will resume after an 18-month stall that has paralleled the nascent administration of US President Barack Obama.
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Tags: Human Rights, Israel, Settlers, USA
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Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Paul Maley & Stephen Fitzpatrick; 13/7/10 – 15 Items: which includes archival material about East Timor
Julia Gillard’s plan for a refugee processing centre in East Timor was dealt another blow yesterday when East Timor rejected the idea. As Tony Abbott declared the Prime Minister’s plan was “lost somewhere in the Timor Sea”, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Fretilin party, Arsenio Bano, said yesterday’s vote would “send a very clear signal” to the Australian government that East Timor was not interested. “Timor is not ready to become part of any kind of Pacific Solution, or so-called Timor solution, for Australia,” Mr Bano told The Australian. Yesterday’s motion formalised a parliamentary debate reported in The Australian last Friday, in which Timorese politicians condemned Ms Gillard’s proposal. The vote came as UN officials indicated UN support for the government’s Timor plan would hinge on the type of processing centre Ms Gillard had in mind.
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Posted in Australia, Human Rights, Indonesia, Refugee & Migrant, Terrorism, Timor | No Comments »
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Hamish Macdonald; 8/5/10;
Worth reading; Jill Jollife; Scribe Pulications,2009
After the debacle of “sexed- up” intelligence and misleading statements to legislatures by George Bush’s administration and allied governments as they decided to invade Iraq, the use of “national security” to block public scrutiny of such decisions is not accepted as readily as it was. How much more so when defence and intelligence agencies use the same excuse to stop disclosure of the information that backed vital government decisions on foreign policy and the safety of Australian citizens 35 years ago? An interesting test comes up later this month when a Canberra academic takes on the Defence Department at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to get a series of secret intelligence bulletins put out by its analysts at the height of the East Timor crisis from October to December 1975, covering Indonesia’s invasion of the then abandoned Portuguese colony.
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Tags: Australia, Timor, UK
Posted in Human Rights, Indonesia, Terrorism, War | No Comments »
Friday, May 7th, 2010
George Bisharat; 7/5/10
Every May 15 since 1948, Palestinians across the globe have marked another anniversary of the Nakba (“catastrophe” in English), the term designating the destruction of Palestinian society attendant with the establishment of Israel. Beginning in late 1947, about 780,000 Palestinian Arabs were forced from their homes and homeland or fled in fear because of a deliberate campaign by Jewish troops of ethnic cleansing. The majority Arab population of Palestine was, by its physical presence and predominant ownership of land, a major obstacle to the foundation of a state with a Jewish majority. The expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, therefore, was no accident of war. Indeed, close to half of the Palestinians forced or terrorised into exile had fled before Israel declared its independence, and thus before any Arab state intervened in the conflict. A notorious massacre by Jewish troops of Palestinian citizens occurred in Deir Yassin on April 9, 1948, five weeks before Israel was founded.
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Tags: Human Rights, Israel, Settlers, Terrorism, USA
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Friday, May 7th, 2010
David Cloud, 7/5/10
The CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan’s border region, current and former counter-terrorism officials say. The expanded authority, approved two years ago by the Bush administration and continued by Barack Obama, permits the agency to rely on what officials describe as ”pattern-of-life” analysis, using evidence collected by surveillance cameras on the unmanned aircraft and from other sources about individuals and locations. The information was used to target suspected militants, even when their full identities were not known, the officials said. Previously the CIA was restricted in most cases to killing only individuals whose names were on an approved list.
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Tags: Human Rights, Terrorism, USA
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Friday, May 7th, 2010
Yuko Narushima; 7/5/10
Immigration Minister Chris Evans has been accused of perpetuating a cruel hoax after his department rejected asylum seekers he moved to Darwin on the prospect of a visa. The 20 men were among the first to be transferred off Christmas Island to the Darwin detention centre last month. At the time, Senator Evans said the men were in ”the final stages of a positive pathway”, code for permanent residency in Australia. On Tuesday, the immigration department notified the men of their rejection. Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said the men, mostly from Afghanistan, were in various states of anger and despair. ”It is exactly this kind of arbitrariness and uncertainty that leads to mental anguish and acts of self-harm,” Mr Rintoul said. ”It is difficult to imagine a more vicious trick to play on such vulnerable people.”
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Tags: Australia, Human Rights, Migrants & Refugees, USA
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Friday, May 7th, 2010
7/5/10; (3 Items)
1.
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative radio and television host, political commentator, author, and entrepreneur. He is the host of The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally-syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Beck is also the host of a self-titled cable-news show on Fox News Channel. As an author, Beck has gained success with six New York Times-bestselling books, with five debuting at #1. Beck is also the founder and CEO of Mercury Radio Arts, a multi-media production company through which he produces content for radio, television, publishing, the stage, and the Internet. Beck has become a well-known and polarizing public figure, whose provocative views have afforded him media recognition and popularity, along with controversy and criticism. To his supporters, he is a conservative champion, defending traditional American values from secular progressivism, while to his detractors he is notorious for conspiracy theories and incendiary rhetoric.
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Tags: Christianity, Social Justice, USA
Posted in Human Rights, Racism, Terrorism, USA | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
5/5/10;
Japan’s Prime Minister says moving all of a key US Marine base out of Okinawa is ”impossible”, breaking with past promises to move the base outside the southern island. It was the first time since Yukio Hatoyama became Prime Minister in September that he had officially acknowledged that at least part of Futenma Marine airfield would remain in Okinawa, which hosts more than half the 47,000 American troops based in Japan. Mr Hatoyama had frozen a 2006 agreement with Washington on moving Futenma to a less crowded part of the island, straining ties with the US. Yesterday he said ”it is impossible” to move all of the base out of its current location, saying that Okinawa must share some of the burden.
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Tags: Arms, Terrorism, USA
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Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
4/5/10; Matthew Clayfield; The Australian, No Internet Text; (2 Items)
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the infamous Kent State shootings in May1970 (photograph above by John Filo), when the US National Guard opened fire on unarmed students at Ohio’s Kent State University during an anti-Vietnam War protest. Four students were killed in the shooting and nine were wounded. To mark the anniversary of the tragedy — still known by some as the May 4 massacre — the University of Sydney’s University Art Gallery is presenting Kent State: Four Decades Later, a provocative exhibition opening next Thursday. The exhibition, curated by Ann Stephen and Luke Parker, features works from that time, including British pop artist Richard Hamilton’s 1970 screen print Kent State, as well as new works by artists from different generations. “The new work reveals how these contemporary artists are engaging new media and new audiences to reflect upon an art of social commitment, just as Hamilton’s historic work did for his generation,” Parker says.
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Tags: Terrorism, USA, Vietnam War
Posted in Terrorism, USA, Vietnam, War | No Comments »
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Mark Dodd; 1/5/10
The UN should accept that conflicts today are not about gaining territory but protecting civilians. Angered by the rising civilian death toll in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, the blunt-speaking US general in charge of the war, warned his commanders the conflict would not be won by the number of enemy combatants killed but by the number of Afghan civilians shielded from violence. Militaries, including Australia’s, disguise the killing of civilians with weasel word descriptions such as the odious “collateral damage”. Modern armies are increasingly aware that high civilian death tolls lose wars. In June last year, McChrystal said the problem was getting so serious that rules of engagement might have to be changed, including limits on the use of air strikes, too often a first response by jittery NATO troops under insurgent attack.
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Tags: Australia, Terrorism, UN, USA
Posted in Australia, Terrorism, United Nations, USA | No Comments »
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Mark Dodd; 1/5/10
The UN should accept that conflicts today are not about gaining territory but protecting civilians. Angered by the rising civilian death toll in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, the blunt-speaking US general in charge of the war, warned his commanders the conflict would not be won by the number of enemy combatants killed but by the number of Afghan civilians shielded from violence. Militaries, including Australia’s, disguise the killing of civilians with weasel word descriptions such as the odious “collateral damage”. Modern armies are increasingly aware that high civilian death tolls lose wars. In June last year, McChrystal said the problem was getting so serious that rules of engagement might have to be changed, including limits on the use of air strikes, too often a first response by jittery NATO troops under insurgent attack.
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Tags: Australia, Terrorism, UN, USA
Posted in Australia, Human Rights, Terrorism, United Nations, USA | No Comments »
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Jason Kotsoukis; 1/5/10
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has released video footage showing an unarmed Palestinian protester in Gaza being shot by an Israeli soldier on Wednesday. Ahmad Sliman Salem Dib, 19, later died from wounds at Gaza City’s Shifaa Hospital. In video footage filmed by B’Tselem’s Gaza field research officer Muhammad Sabah, a group of Palestinian and foreign protesters can be seen walking from the al-Shaj’iya neighbourhood, east of Gaza, towards the double wire fence that separates Gaza from Israel. Israeli security forces have declared a 300-metre ”no-go” zone inside the fence.
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Tags: Israel, Terrorism, USA
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Thursday, April 29th, 2010
Brad Norington, 29/4/10
It has become a running joke in the Pentagon. So much so, that it makes the famous Knowledge Nation diagram advanced by Barry Jones for federal Labor’s education policy in 2001 look like child’s play. General Stanley McChrystal, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, had his own acerbic way of describing the complicated PowerPoint slide. “When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” General McChrystal told a room of army chiefs when he first saw it in Kabul last year. He drew laughter when he made his remarks, not surprisingly, but the PowerPoint slide was meant to be a serious attempt by military analysts to explain the task for allied forces in confronting the Taliban and winning support among the local population.
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Tags: Afghanistan, Terrorism, USA
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Monday, April 26th, 2010
Matthew Campbell; 26/4/10
U.S. helicopter allegedly fires on unarmed reporters – A US soldier who took part in an attack in which 12 people, including a Reuters journalist, were killed and two children injured has written an emotional apology to the victims’ families in Iraq. Ethan McCord is seen carrying the children to safety in a Pentagon video of the attack in a Baghdad suburb three years ago. The film was released on the internet this month by WikiLeaks, the website dedicated to publishing secret documents. “The acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war,” writes Mr McCord in an apology, which is also signed by Josh Stieber, another former soldier from the same unit. “We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.” The release of the 38-minute video embarrassed the Pentagon and prompted indignation at the spectacle of soldiers from Bravo Company killing with the seeming detachment of video gamers.
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Tags: Iraq, Terrorism, USA
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Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
22/4/10
Argentina’s last dictator has been convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail for kidnappings and torture during the 1976-83 military regime. Reynaldo Bignone, 82, was convicted yesterday with five other former military officers in 56 cases involving torture, illegal detentions and other crimes in one of Argentina’s largest torture centres, Campo de Mayo. Human rights groups say that of the 4000 dissidents taken to the army base, about 50 emerged alive. The base also had a clandestine maternity centre where dissidents gave birth only to have officials take their babies away to be adopted by military families. Bignone was de facto president from 1982 to 1983, but the crimes he was convicted of were committed between 1976 and 1978, when he was a commander at the Campo de Mayo base. Five other retired officers received sentences ranging from 17 to 25 years.
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Tags: Argentina, Human Rights, Terrorism, USA
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