6 Threats to Free and Open Access to the Internet
Activist Post | February 23, 2011
Many of us believe the Internet to be open and free for us to explore all known information. Indeed, it is true that we currently can surf to any active website with our browser, and we can start a website or blog on any topic we wish to discuss. And it is quite a profound concept that everyone with a smart phone literally has all of the world’s knowledge in the palm of their hand.
Ben Franklin knew well the importance of free access to information when he founded the first public library in America to share knowledge with those without the means to their own books. Today, he surely would consider the Internet’s unprecedented access to information, and ability to communicate it instantly, as the ultimate level playing field of economic mobility and freedom.
However, this access is now under threat of authoritarian control. First, it is important to note that the gears of the Internet have always been controlled by central authorities, as Douglas Rushkoff recently wrote, “From its Domain Name Servers to its IP addresses, the Internet depends on highly centralized mechanisms to send our packets from one place to another.”
Therefore, the idea that our movements on the Web are even remotely private or untraceable is false. The central “authorities” who control the gears of the machine know exactly where you have been, while Google and the CIA have even developed ways of knowing where you’re going next as well. It’s very creepy to know that our every move is being tracked, traced, and databased, but it has been happening from day one on the Internet, and will likely continue to happen despite the violation of basic rights to our privacy.
Because Internet privacy has never been possible in the current web infrastructure, any proposed “privacy law” would just seem to pay lip service to the idea if it doesn’t address decentralizing the control grid. As Rushkoff pointed out, “I’m not trying to be a downer here, or knock the possibilities for networking. I just want to smash the fiction that the Internet is some sort of uncontrollable, decentralized free-for-all, so that we can get on with the business of creating something else that is.”
The focus here will be on the multitude of threats to our free access to the current Internet. As Ben Franklin understood, information should be free and open to all, not just the select few. Although the books in Franklin’s first library were indeed copyrighted material, they were freely shared. We should think of the Internet as a gigantic open-source public library. A place where information such as news, books, movies, and music should be free to view while we’re visiting the library.
Unfortunately, those who have control over the grid and influence over policymakers do not view the Internet in the same light. It appears that they view it as an economic and propaganda playground — the last one that they don’t fully control. Well, given the blight of proposed Internet control laws and web censorship tactics, it seems there is a calculated effort to control the free flow of information.
Below are 6 threats to our free and open access to the World Wide Web:
Legislation
The Protecting Cybersecurity as a National Asset Act, aka the “Internet Kill Switch” bill, has recently been reintroduced with a new Orwellian name, the Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act. This bill would give government the unchecked power to restrict access to the Internet if they declare a “national cyberemergency.” CNET recently reported:
But the revised wording (PDF) continues to alarm civil liberties groups and other critics of the bill, who say the language would allow the government to shut down portions of the Internet or restrict access to certain Web sites or types of content. Even former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak didn’t actually “shut down” the Internet: at least at first, a trickle of connections continued.
The second piece of legislation that’s being reintroduced this year is the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). This bill, clearly written by the mega-media entertainment cartel, would empower the U.S. Department of Justice to shut down, or block access to, websites found to be illegally sharing copyrighted material. It gives the government the authority to force Internet Service Providers to block access to websites from certain IP addresses, much like how the U.S. recently blocked the Al Jazeera feed during the Egyptian protests. COICA has also been referred to as the “Blacklist” bill because it allows the government to blacklist or seize any domain name suspected of infringement — even if located outside the United States.
DHS Seizures
Who needs there to be laws on the books when the Department of Homeland Security appears to already be above the law. DHS has been on a rampage of arbitrarily seizing websites without due process. In November 2010, they seized over 70 websites suspected of copyright infringement. Just before the Super Bowl, DHS seized another lot of domains for illegally share-streaming sporting events — some merely for linking to copyrighted material. Most recently, DHS erroneously seized 84,000 domains accused of being affiliated with child porn in some way which the DHS later admitted was done by accident.
Clearly, DHS has displayed its technical ability to censor the Internet by removing these websites. And although the domain seizures were technically accompanied by a court order, it seems that the DHS has partnered with large media outlets and sports entertainment to protect their profits. Finally, these court orders are a guilty-until-proven-innocent ruling which can irrevocably damage small businesses and the livelihoods of many people whose path to justice remains unclear.
Civil Lawsuits
Again who needs laws when you can be frivolously sued in civil court over copyright issues and bullied into settling the claim. Copyright infringement trolls like Righthaven are suing blogs and sites, and despite the only court ruling to date being a dismissal of charges due to Fair Use rights, they are still forcing many settlements. In fact, even Internet giant Drudge Report was forced to settle a civil suit involving a copyrighted image and link.
According to Steve Green, who’s been diligently covering these lawsuits for the Las Vegas Sun, claims they are a new type of legal enterprise:
Attorneys say the Righthaven lawsuits are unprecedented in recent memory because, in the past, newspapers dealt with online copyright infringement by simply asking infringing websites to remove the infringing material and to replace it with a link to the source newspaper. Most Righthaven defendants say they were sued without warning.
Not surprisingly, most of the cases are settled out of court. However, this tactic is a very effective intimidation tool against small websites who seek to share information. In some cases the costs and aggravation of combating the lawsuit can force the closure of these website defendants.
Net Neutrality
It would seem that net neutrality should fall under the legislative category. However, it is actually considered more of a “market based” regulation than actual law, yet the taxpayer still funds its enforcement through the FCC. Before identifying the reasoning behind and specific aspects of net neutrality rules, it’s worth noting that Internet futurist, Douglas Roshkoff, views the details as irrelevant because:
The moment the ‘net neutrality’ debate began was the moment the net neutrality debate was lost. For once the fate of a network — its fairness, its rule set, its capacity for social or economic reformation — is in the hands of policymakers and the corporations funding them — that network loses its power to effect change. (source)
The concept behind net neutrality is just what it says; to keep Internet access neutral for all users. But again, it is a very Orwellian term where true supporters of a free an open Internet can be tricked into supporting so-called neutrality rules. Blogger Timothy Karr wrote, “The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it’s become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.”
What they are, in fact, are rules to allow service providers to charge tiered price levels depending on the amount of broadband used by individual web-surfers or websites. In other words, certain access will be discriminated against through reduced access speeds or additional fees. Besides limiting size of the surfer’s information wave, this tiered approach to the Internet will likely make it very difficult for smaller websites to compete with the big boys who can afford to pay ISPs for unadulterated access.
Technical Censorship
Google, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Wikipedia have become the most powerful information sharing tools the world has ever known. Combined, these five websites could literally rewrite history or shape the entire flow of current information if they chose to do so. Indeed, each of these virtual libraries has been repeatedly accused of censorship in many various forms; from blatant removal of content to manipulating the searchable strength of disapproved content.
Google, who seems so powerful that they may actually run the world, recently revealed that they are tweaking their search algorithm to weaken the search engine ranking of information aggregating websites referred to as “content farms.” It seems that Google seeks to reduce websites with little original content to the level of spammer status in their search results. What’s more, Google can wield the power of their Google Page Ranking for individual sites. Their constantly changing algorithm may actually penalize websites for search engine optimization, as with the recent case of JC Penney losing business due to Google penalizing them for SEO.
Taxes
If Congress or local governments elect to tax websites, the level playing field on the Internet is finished. In May 2010, the Federal Trade Commission proposed the “Drudge Tax” which would seek to tax news aggregators as if they are brick and mortar media companies. The FTC report also suggested that news aggregators be forced to pay copyright fees to link to mainstream news sources. And in perfect wealth distribution fashion the report also discusses the “possibility of offering tax exemptions to news organizations, establishing an AmeriCorps for reporters and creating a national fund for local news organizations.”
More recently, some states have proposed taxing online retailers such as Amazon, arguing that it’s not fair for local retailers who must pay taxes for selling the exact same items. In the past, Amazon has terminated its contracts with third-party affiliates in states who have adopted online tax laws. California Congressman, Dan Lungren, introduced the resolution Supporting the Preservation of Internet Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses aimed at preventing states from imposing these new taxes on online retailers.
What’s more, some states and even municipalities are beginning to impose a blogger fee referred to as a “privilege license” as a sort of business license for blogs. Philadelphia has forced bloggers to pay a $50/year, or $300 lifetime, fee for the privilege of expressing ideas online.
Conclusion
It seems clear that the powers-that-be are engaged in an all-out assault the free flow of information on the Internet. Blogs and websites must be prepared to combat the coming onslaught of news laws, regulations, and fees. For those who believe information should be free for all who pay for Internet access, we must fight to maintain this liberty. Stay tuned to the new blog Sites & Blogs for breaking Internet news and legal commentary about online copyright and privacy rights.
February 23, 2011 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment
Breaking the siege of Gaza is high priority for Egypt’s young revolutionaries
MEMO | February 23, 2011
Young participants in the 25th January Egyptian revolution have told the Palestine Information Centre that Egypt has been freed from a tyrannical regime and breaking the siege of Gaza is high on their list of priorities. Ousting Hosni Mubarak was difficult, they said, but it was just the beginning of the revolution, not the end. In Tahrir Square, they added, all sections of Egyptian society were united, including Muslims and Christians; leftists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ahmed Bahaauddin Shaaban, one of the founders of the Egyptian Movement for Change (Kifaya), told the PIC, “We took part in a real battle pitting the Egyptian people against the corrupt regime, which was heavily entrenched. However, the Egyptian people were able to uproot it.” The people of Egypt have taken one step on a long road, said Shaaban, by overthrowing a dictator and his oppressive regime. “However, we still have a lot to do. We have a programme for democracy, social reform, and the creation of a modern, developed state. We have shaken the regime, as can be seen clearly in the fall of its corrupt symbols.”
Mr. Shaaban warned that the struggle will be long. “The fall of an oppressive dictator like Mubarak affects the entire regime structure but we will be able to deal with its remnants,” he said. “In the past few days we have defeated the most oppressive forces in the country – the Central Security Force and the State Security Force – which have vanished into thin air.” So, he added, has the former ruling party, the National Democratic Party, which had three million members.
Arab issues are at the top of the revolution’s priorities, stressed Shaaban, and the people of the Gaza Strip are delighted by its success because they also suffered at the hands of Mubarak’s regime. “The people of Gaza will feel the effects of the revolution because the siege of Gaza will end and the kinship between the people of Egypt and Palestine will be restored.”
Amr Ibrahim, another of the young leaders of the revolution and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood chipped in: “The most important characteristic of this revolution was that it was impossible to tell people apart on the basis of which political movement they belonged to. Everyone in Tahrir Square was there under the banner ‘I am an Egyptian’. You couldn’t tell who was a leftist and who was a Muslim Brother, or who was a Christian and who was a Muslim.”
According to Mr. Ibrahim, the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood were involved in the revolution from its beginning on the 25th January having asked for permission from the movement’s leaders. As the demonstrations increased in intensity and the occupation of Tahrir Square by the demonstrators grew, instructions were given by the leadership of the Brotherhood to their younger members to enter Tahrir Square in great numbers. In the end, claimed Ibrahim, Muslim Brotherhood youth members made up between 40 and 50% of the demonstrators.
A spokesman for the 6th April Youth Movement asserted that the resignation of the president was not one of the demands of the youth of the revolution when they were preparing for the 25th January. “We wanted the sacking of the Interior Minister and the implementation of a court decision setting the minimum wage at 1200 Egyptian pounds per month,” said Ahmed Maher. “The groups taking part in the movement are very diverse but together they organised protests, using Facebook and on the ground, on the 25th January and on the Day of Anger on Friday 28th January, in addition to organising the million man demonstrations on the 1st February and the ‘Day of Departure’, 4th February.”
Maher believes that it is important for Egyptians to cooperate in planning Egypt’s future post-Mubarak; he proposed the formation of a delegation of youth and members of the Front for the Support of the Demands of the Revolutions to negotiate with the army’s leaders. It is necessary for the government of Egypt to be transferred to civilians, he said, adding that the revolutionary youth can still achieve a great deal in bringing forth the fruits of the revolution.
With regards to lifting the siege of Gaza, Maher said that the issue cannot be ignored. It is, he stressed, one of the demands of the revolution: “Pressure exerted by the revolutionaries as well as Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s call to end the siege has obliged the army to fulfil this demand.” It is time to end the suffering of the people of Gaza, he said. This, ended Maher, has made the government in Israel “fearful” of Egyptian youth. “If young Egyptians demonstrated on the borders of occupied Palestine,” he grinned, “I wouldn’t rule out the Zionists packing up and leaving.”
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Egyptian authorities open Rafah crossing in both directions
RAFAH, (PIC)– The Egyptian authorities on Tuesday opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza Strip in both directions after three weeks of closure but to a limited number of people.
A Palestinian source said that the Egyptian authorities allowed only 300 passengers daily to cross the terminal, noting that the crossing was closed following the outbreak of the Egyptian revolution that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak.
He underlined that travel will be allowed only for patients, students, those with residence permits in Egypt, and holders of visit visas to other countries.
He noted that 3,000 Palestinians wishing to travel had registered with the borders authority over the past few days.
February 23, 2011 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular | 2 Comments
The Attack on Social Security
The Power of Incompetence
By DEAN BAKER | CounterPunch | February 23, 2011
The folks insisting on cuts to Social Security and Medicare have revved themselves up and are now in high gear. They see their final victory on the horizon with the possibility of a bipartisan deal involving substantial cuts to both programs. They argue that the large deficits facing the country make it imperative that we address the long-term budget problem, meaning the cost of these programs, immediately.
Before anyone prepares to surrender it is worth remembering once again how we got into the current situation. Before the downturn the budget deficits were relatively modest. Even with the cost of fighting two wars, the Bush tax cuts and a poorly designed Medicare drug benefit the deficit was just over 1.0 percent of GDP in 2007, the last year before the downturn. This was arguably bigger than desired, but a deficit of this size certainly posed no imminent danger to the economy.
Then the economy ran off the track. The reason was the collapse of an $8 trillion housing bubble. This bubble was easy to see for people who knew basic economics and third-grade arithmetic. It was also easy to see that the collapse of this bubble would derail the economy and lead to a serious downturn. That is why some of us were warning about the bubble as early as 2002.
But where were the current group of anti-deficit crusaders back in 2002-2006, when it might still have been possible to do something to stem the growth of the housing bubble before it reached such dangerous levels? Well, they were crusading against the budget deficit of course.
Peter Peterson, the Wall Street investment banker who is the patron saint and financier of much of the deficit crusade was paying for the “Fiscal Wake-Up Tour,” which was supposed to alert people to the dangers of the country’s budget deficit. This traveling road show of policy wonks and economists had nothing to say about the growing housing bubble that was about to explode and sink the economy.
Then we have the Washington Post, which is continuously setting new records for imbalance on this issue, for example by running six different columns by deficit hawks on the same day. As the bubble grew to ever more dangerous levels the Post had no room for those warning of the risks it posed. In fact, its main source for information on the housing market was David Lereah, the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors and the author of the book, “Why the Housing Boom Will Not Bust and How You Can Profit From It.”
The same story can be told about National Public Radio, the major news networks and all the politicians now leading the charge to cut Social Security and Medicare. When the country actually did face a real economic disaster, these people were nowhere in sight. They were diverting attention to other issues and dismissing those of us who tried to warn of the real danger.
Now that we are experiencing an economic disaster – 25 million people unemployed or underemployed, millions of people facing the loss of their homes, more than ten million underwater in their mortgages — as a direct result of their incompetence, these same people are telling us again about the urgent need to cut Social Security and Medicare. The deficit hawks somehow think that their case is more compelling because of the damage done by their incompetence.
It should not work this way. In most lines of work incompetence is not a credential, it should not be one in designing economic policy either. Anyone who cares to tell us about the urgent need to deal with the deficit should first be expected to tell us how they managed to overlook the growth of an $8 trillion housing bubble. They should also be expected to tell us why they have a better understanding of the economy now than they did before the collapse of the housing bubble.
Social Security and Medicare provide essential supports to tens of millions of retirees and disabled workers. The projections are clear. The financing of Social Security poses no major problem – it is projected to be fully solvent for almost 30 years with no changes whatsoever. Medicare poses a problem only because the private health care system is broken.
Honest people talk about the need to fix the health care system. Less-honest people scream about the need to reform “entitlements.” And, they think that the public somehow should listen to them because of their record of incompetence.
Supposedly responsible news organizations, like the Washington Post and National Public Radio, have gotten in the habit of telling their audiences that we have to cut Social Security and Medicare. The need for cuts in these programs is often put forward as an unquestioned fact, not just in editorials and opinion pieces, but in supposedly objective news stories.
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Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is the author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy and False Profits: Recoverying From the Bubble Economy.
This column was originally published by The Guardian.
February 23, 2011 Posted by aletho | Deception, Economics, Mainstream Media, Warmongering | 1 Comment
Israel bars ICRC aid from reaching homeless Bedouin
Ma’an – 23/02/2011
HEBRON — Residents of the tiny Bedouin hamlet of Amniyr crowded into a small cave in the rocky hills south of Hebron to sleep on Wednesday night, after their tent homes were destroyed by Israeli demolition crews claiming the hamlet as state land.
Village elder Hajj Mahmoud said the three families that live in the area spent the day in the open air, trying to salvage items from the buried heaps left by Israeli demolition crews.
Hajj Mahmoud said the International Committee for the Red Cross had attempted to deliver aid and supplies, after calls from residents and observers from the Christian Peacemaker Teams to provide new shelters.
The elder said he was unsure what the ICRC had brought, however, because Israeli troops prevented ICRC crews from unloading the supplies.
An informed official in Hebron confirmed to Ma’an that the ICRC encountered difficulties delivering the supplies, which were sent back.
An attempt was made to deliver several housing kits, food and blankets to the families, the official said, adding that it was the first time such a delivery had been barred.
“We stayed out in the air until late,” Hajj Mahmoud said, explaining that the families retired to a small cave.
“We found a snake inside the cave, we had to kill it before we slept.”
The five tent shelters, a cistern and water well were buried on Monday, and olive trees uprooted then covered with earth.
Residents had moved back to the area during the winter, saying settler harassment at a second location one kilometer away had driven them out. Years earlier the same harassment had forced them from the location where the tents were demolished.
Ownership papers for the land existed at one point, residents said, but according to the CPT observer every week for the past month Israeli officials from the Civil Administration have delivered notices saying the community was living on state land and must evacuate.
On Tuesday morning, CPT observers published a video of the destruction in the hamlet, and issued a release saying teams would continue to have a presence in the area.
February 23, 2011 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Video | 2 Comments
Israeli fire injures 13 Palestinians
Press TV – February 23, 2011
At least thirteen Palestinians, including children, have been injured in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, medics say.
The incident took place during a brief incursion by Israeli forces into eastern Gaza City on Wednesday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Eleven Palestinians were injured after an Israeli tank shell hit eastern part of the Gaza City.
The incident came shortly after a number of Israeli tanks and bulldozers rolled into the Palestinian territory in an apparent effort to destroy agricultural lands along the occupied border zone.
Three members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, and three children are among the injured.
“Three of our fighters were injured while firing two mortar shells towards Israeli tanks which were operating inside the (Gaza) border,” a statement released by the group said.
Some of the injured are reported to be in critical condition, Gaza emergency services Chief Adham Abu Selmeya said, adding that they had been taken to the city’s Shifa hospital.
Separately, two Palestinian workers were shot and injured by Israeli gunfire as they were collecting cement particles left behind from the houses that were destroyed in north of the town of Beit Lahiya near the border during the Israeli war on Gaza at the turn of 2009.
Due to a crippling Israeli blockade, Palestinians living in Gaza have no other choice but to obtain the required material for construction work from other buildings that have been destroyed in Israeli attacks.
Since March 2010, more than one hundred Palestinians have been shot by Israeli soldiers while collecting construction material.
Israel laid an economic siege on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after Hamas took control of the enclave.
The Israeli-imposed blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the Gaza Strip.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including freedom of movement, and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education. Poverty and unemployment rates stand at approximately 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively, in the Gaza Strip.
More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the impoverished coastal sliver during the winter of 2008-2009. The offensive also inflicted $ 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.
A United Nations inquiry led by the former South African judge, Richard Goldstone, detailed what investigators called Israeli actions “amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity,” during Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip.
February 23, 2011 Posted by aletho | Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | Leave a comment
New demolitions in Jordan Valley
Jordan Valley Solidarity | 21 February 2011
Khirbet Yerza is a small village with few dozens of inhabitants. It used to count hundreds of inhabitants before the 1967 occupation as its underground is full of water and thus very fertile.
Today Khirbet Yerza is an area considered by Israel as a military training area. It is also very isolated. Only one dirt road goes there, and it is very hard to access with a normal car.
Three months ago, the army destroyed many houses and even the mosque. Last Thursday, around 20 soldiers and 2 bulldozers came to destroy Yerza again.
Soldiers told a 70 year-old woman that she has to move to Tubas. Fifteen years ago the army told her to go to Khirbet Yerza when she was living in Al Maleh. “Where can I put my cows in Tubas ?! They will have to shoot us here if they want us to leave !”
They destroyed the ground of the mosque that was demolished 3 months ago. People had cleaned the area and put carpets on the ground to pray at the same place. But the army destroyed even this.
Fourteen structures were demolished, among them tents that were given by the Red Cross three months ago.
Some families had taken off the roofs of their barracks before the army arrived in order to save some materials. But soldiers saw some hidden metal sheets and drove over it in order to destroy it
A Palestinian journalist was there during the demolitions and took pictures of the scene. The soldiers beat him and confiscated his camera.
Most of the families living in Khirbet Yerza own the land and have lived in this area for more than 100 years.
All the families of the area received a new demolition order before the army left the place .
February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment
The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans
By Kevin Zeese | The People’s Voice | February 22nd, 2011
President Obama and the Congress have taken 66% of discretionary spending in the federal budget off the table – the Security Budget – while proposing a freeze to the rest of the budget and deep cuts to some programs that provide necessities for the American people. His budget crystalizes a choice that U.S. presidents have been making since President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex – investment in the military vs. investment in the civilian economy.
The bloated and sacrosanct security budget – the military, domestic security and intelligence budgets –all saw rapid growth under President Bush when the DoD doubled its budget. Under President Obama the trend has continued with record military, intelligence and domestic security budgets. And, while the so-called recovery has only been a recovery for Wall Street and big business, the administration and congress are focused more on the deficit than on re-starting the economy for the rest of us. But there is more talk of cutting Social Security and Medicare than cutting the security budget. In fact, these two items are called entitlements because they are a contract with working Americans who pay for them in every paycheck. For this reason they should not even be considered part of the deficit. Payroll taxes fund these two programs that are essential for older Americans in their retirement years. Both face budget challenges but can be fixed, indeed Social Security has more than $2.5 trillion in Treasury Notes in reserve.
President Obama has proposed the largest DoD budget since World War II, $553 billion (not including war funding or nuclear weapons funding in the Department of Energy). Much attention has been shined on Secretary of Defense Gates’ proposal to “cut” $78 billion in the Pentagon budget. Those “cuts” take place over five years with reductions taking place after the 2012 election in 2014 and 2015. And, the “cuts” do not include the cost of wars. The Afghanistan war alone could eat up projected “savings” and if the CIA’s war in Pakistan escalates that will be an even bigger budget item. Further, we have not seen what the continuing U.S. military footprint in Iraq will cost. These projected cuts are more image than reality.
How does military spending impact Americans? President Reagan’s former assistant secretary of defense Lawrence Korb describes the military budget as “an annual tax of more than $7,000 on every household in the country.” While increasing the security budget, Obama and the Democrats have proposed widespread cuts to critical programs from a 50% cut in low-income heating assistance to nearly a 30% cut to the clean drinking water fund. They have also proposed a 25% cut ($1.3 billion) to the community development block grants used to fund local community development including affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development. These are essential services needed for Americans health, safety and economic security. Of course, Republican cuts in the House budget are even more extreme but Obama set the table for them by making the debate about deficits and both parties will not touch the security budget. Military analyst, William Hartung, writes “These cuts will be painful, and they will be felt in every middle- and lower-income household in America.”
Cities and states are cutting essential services to balance their budgets. U.S. taxpayers will spend $737 billion for Pentagon spending for FY2011 including war funding). To get a sense of what this means, for the same amount of money tax payers could provide funding for 11.3 million elementary school teachers for one year or 93.5 million scholarships for university students for one year… Instead all these programs face cutbacks, while military spending grows. […]
Cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget is the goal of the Obama administration deficit plan. All of these cuts could come from military spending and still leave the U.S. militarily dominant. In fact, since the administration has projected an increase in spending of $6.5 trillion from 2011 to 2020, even a trillion would be a slowing of growth more than a real cut. Lawrence Korb lays out a five point plan to reduce military spending by $1 trillion without jeopardizing national security and thereby protecting U.S. economic security.
He is not alone, the Sustainable Defense Task Force provides specific cuts without harming U.S. national security including:
•The $238 billion Joint Strike Fighter program: Canceling the program and relying instead on upgraded versions of current aircraft would save almost $50 billion over ten years.
•The MV-22 Osprey: Replacing this dangerous, overpriced, and under-performing aircraft with cheaper alternatives would save over $10 billion over ten years.
•Reducing the number of U.S. troops in Europe and Asia to 100,000 from current levels of 150,000 would save $80 billion over a decade.
•Reforming Pentagon health care systems so that retirees pay modest, reasonable premiums could save $60 billion over a decade.
•Scaling back missile defense and space weapons programs could save over $50 billion over a decade.
•Further reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including deployment of fewer ballistic-missile launching submarines, could save over $100 billion in a ten year period, much of it in operating costs
•Reducing the size of the Navy from 286 to 230 ships would save over $125 billion over ten years.
If you combine these recommendations of the five point plan of Lawrence Korb, which includes items like bringing home 50,000 of the 150,000 troops stationed in Asia and Europe, reducing the size of the Army and Marine Corps to their pre-Iraq invasion level and reducing nuclear weapons from 1,968 to the 311 the Military War College says is needed for defense, the U.S. would save another $200 billion.
For many, these would only be the starting points of correctly prioritizing military spending. President Eisenhower warned about the military industrial complex 50 year ago. During that time, U.S. spending on the military adjusted for inflation has more than doubled and we have moved to a permanent war state. Columbia University’s Seymour Melman, a professor of industrial engineering, pointed out that “Industrial productivity, the foundation of every nation’s economic growth, is eroded by the relentlessly predatory effects of the military economy.” In fact, we have seen – as we see in the Obama budget – a constant conflict between the military economy and the civilian economy. The civilian economy is losing that battle.
Thomas Woods, Jr. recently wrote in the American Conservative that military spending is parasitic as it feeds off the economy rather than grows it. The scale of resources used by the military is exorbitant, Woods writes: “To train a single combat pilot, for instance, costs between $5 million and $7 million. Over a period of two years, the average U.S. motorist uses about as much fuel as does a single F-16 training jet in less than an hour. The Abrams tank uses up 3.8 gallons of fuel in traveling one mile. Between 2 and 11 percent of the world’s use of 14 important minerals, from copper to aluminum to zinc, is consumed by the U.S. military, as is about 6 percent of the world’s consumption of petroleum. The Pentagon’s energy use in a single year could power all U.S. mass transit systems for nearly 14 years.”
To get a sense of the competition between the civilian and military economy, the Department of Commerce estimated the value of the nation’s plants, equipment, and infrastructure (capital stock) at just over $7.29 trillion in 1985; and from 1947 to 1987 the military spent the equivalent, $7.62 trillion in capital resources.
With the long record of the ascendency of military spending it is not surprising to see the U.S. economy in collapse, industry disappearing and the infrastructure crumbling. Not only has the U.S. failed to win a major war since World War II, but the cost of the standing army has become a burden on all of us and a drag on the economy. Some describe the U.S. Empire in decline and others see a collapse as possible at any moment.
The failure of President Obama to confront military spending in this time of economic collapse and perceived deficit crisis, when tax dollars are needed to restart the domestic economy, is not only a short term budget failure but does not face up to the long-term damaging economic impact of the American military empire.
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Kevin Zeese is executive director of Prosperity Agenda (www.ProsperityAgenda.US) and Voters for Peace (www.VotersForPeace.US) and an editor of the book ComeHomeAmerica.US (visit ComeHomeAmerica.US for more information and to purchase the book).
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February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Economics, Militarism, Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular | 1 Comment
Israeli bulldozers bury Bedouin village
Ma’an – 22/02/2011
HEBRON — The five tents giving shelter to some 50 Bedouin residents of Amniyr, a tiny community north of Susiya in the south Hebron hills, were torn down on Monday, their olive trees uprooted and water sources covered over.
An observer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Israeli demolition crews arrived before sunrise, at about 5:30 a.m., and began taking down the tents, then filled a well and a water cistern with earth.
“They uprooted several olive trees and buried them under the dirt,” he said.
All that was left of the small herding community was a cave, where residents took shelter during the demolition, and a small bread oven made of stone, the observer said.
Residents had moved back to the area during the winter, saying settler harassment at a second location one kilometer away had driven them out. Years earlier the same harassment had forced them from the location where the tents were demolished.
Residents said they had ownership papers for the land at one point, but according to the observer every week for the past month Israeli officials from the Civil Administration have delivered notices saying the community was living on state land and must evacuate.
“The demolition orders were delivered on 15 February,” the observer said.
Residents say they are planning to rebuild, and will contact the International Red Cross to supply tents.
“We need god’s help,” Hajj Mohammed, a resident of the community told Ma’an, “we don’t know what we are going to do.”
Representatives from Israel’s Civil Administration did not answer calls seeking comment.
On Sunday, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories Maxwell Gaylard condemned a similar demolition targeting a community in the northern West Bank. In Khirbet Tana, residents have had their tent homes destroyed four times since January.
“If the authorities ultimately responsible for these demolitions could see the devastating impact on vulnerable Palestinian communities, they might reflect upon the inhumanity of their actions,” Gaylard said in a statement following the last demolition.
February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | 1 Comment
Egyptian Uprising Overthrows its Zionist Master
By Bob Finch | The Mundi Club | February 21, 2011
Global Strategic Factors
During the cold war period no liberation movement in any third world country was left to its own devices to fulfill the will of the people through the creation of democratic institutions and a more just society. They were continually corrupted by the superpowers seeking to enhance their global strategic interests in pursuit of global political dominion. The soviets generally tended to support secretive revolutionary movements which invariably aimed at creating one party states that would be sympathetic to their interests whilst the Americans, aiming to take over from former colonial powers, sought to install dictators who would promote their interests. It might have been thought that, with the end of the cold war, the days when overarching global strategic factors were able to corrupt domestic struggles for a better society would be long gone but the January 15, 2011 uprising in Egypt confirmed the existence of a new strategic factor. This threatened to stymie Egyptians’ liberation struggle. Although this struggle was eventually successful, the new strategic factor could still end up deterring or delaying the completion of this struggle i.e. the creation of a new constitution and democratic institutions.
Since the second world war, most Arab countries have been run by tyrants who have either been installed by America or have aligned themselves with American interests – even Nasser made overtures to the Americans but was rebuffed. Most of these dictators have enriched themselves, their families and friends, whilst ruthlessly suppressing domestic demands for political reforms and independent foreign policies. Like bank robbers they have stolen whatever riches their economies generated. As a consequence Arab societies have ossified preventing indigenous economic development thereby locking tens of millions into poverty. Since 1979, one of the great turning points in middle eastern history, these dictators have increasingly implemented American/Zionist friendly foreign policies.
At the start of the Egyptian uprising western public opinion responded positively to the mostly young, middle class, people who took to the streets demanding greater political freedoms which many westerners interpreted as western style political institutions.[i] But western politicians and the western media quickly began to oppose Egyptians’ prospects for liberation and their right to bring about a revolutionary foundation of democratic institutions. This opposition was couched in what seemed to be straightforward nationalist terms. ‘Mubarak has ensured stability in Egypt and the middle east and has deterred the rise of both Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism.’ ‘He may be a dictator but he’s our ‘son of a bitch’.’ The suggestion here was that it was in the west’s national interests to continue protecting this dictator. In order create doubts about the consequences of the Egyptian protestors’ uprising, western politicians/commentators sought to popularize the fear that it would lead to the rise of an extreme Islamic government hostile to the west. Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood were touted as a major threat to western interests even though it was nothing of the kind.[ii]
The proposition that the Egyptian uprising was against western interests, however, ran counter to the commonly held belief in western states that democracy is important not merely to protect political freedoms, guarantee property rights, and ensure justice, but to give people the opportunity to run and develop their own businesses and thus enhance national economic growth. So, if this belief is valid domestically then it must also be valid globally. It is therefore in the national interests of western states to encourage the widest possible democratic reforms in Egypt, and in all other countries, not merely because this would narcissistically imitate western political principles but because, more mundanely, it would promote Egyptian, and thus global, economic growth. Western companies would have another growing consumer market which would enable them to increase output and profits and thereby boost their own countries’ economy. A comparison between the economies of democratic turkey and dictatorial Egypt suggests that democracy makes a critical difference to the economic development. “… its (Egypt’s) economy is today a quarter the size of Turkey’s (though both countries have populations of similar size).” (Daniel Levy ‘After Mubarak – What Does Israel Do?’ Feb 11, 2011).
It is said that ‘imitation is the greatest form of flattery’ and so the west should have been proud that Egyptian protestors wanted to emulate its humanitarian values, political principles, and prosperity. Surely what westerners want is a thriving Egyptian democracy leading to a thriving economy with which they could freely do business? Surely westerners should have been exhilarated at the prospects of Egypt becoming more westernized?
The Zionist State’s support for Mubarak
The question then is why so many western politicians/commentators insisted that it was in western interests to protect Mubarak and thereby try so intensely to discourage democratic reforms? The critical strategic factor that, once again, was exposed by their attitude was the primary importance they attached to the security of the Jews-only state in Palestine. The all too obvious implication was that it didn’t matter to them what their country’s interests were: all that mattered was protecting the Zionist colonial state.
The Zionist state was virtually the only country in the world, outside of the world of Arab dictators, who disapproved of what the Egyptians were doing. It adamantly insisted that its security interests would be best served by the west continuing to support Mubarak, and other Arab dictators, no matter how much they crushed the will of their people for democratic reforms and nationalistic foreign policies.[iii] This was not unexpected since it has always helped to install and sustain Arab dictators who have pledged their allegiance to Zionist expansionism rather than the welfare of their own people.
Mubarak was a Zionist puppet. He’d helped to establish the Camp David accord which in effect gave the Zionist state the freedom to wage war against the Palestinians and surrounding Arab states. He denounced Hezbollah[iv]; urged the Zionist state to crush Hamas[v]; accused Iran of fomenting an arc of Shi’ite interests in the middle east[vi]; and even encouraged the Jews-only state to bomb Iran[vii]. It has also been alleged that he sold subsidized gas to the Zionist state.[viii] Egypt had once been self sufficient in oil and food but such was the corruption and incompetence of the Mubarak regime that the country was having to import both.[ix] Here was a leader of country which could no longer feed itself and in which tens of millions of people were living in poverty, who was exporting gas at subsidized rates to a far richer country. Quite revealingly, during the uprising, Mubarak poured out his Zionist heart to a Zionist confidante, “a member of the Israeli Knesset, one Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a former cabinet minister who dealt with the Egyptian tyrant during the negotiations that set up the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.” [x]
In the western world, Zionist politicians and Jewish lobbies echoed the Jews-only state’s stance and went into over-drive pressuring western governments into propping up Mubarak and his fellow Arab dictators.[xi] The Zionist owned western media put even more pressure on western politicians to stop sympathizing with Egyptian protestors. No sooner had Netanyahu raised the spectre that ‘Egypt is Iran’ than his minions were diligently spreading the message around the west. “We are watching these events, said Netanyahu, with “vigilance and worry.” The worry is rooted, he said, in the possibility that “in a situation of chaos, an organized Islamist body can seize control of a country. It happened in Iran. It happened in other instances.” No sooner had these words escaped his mouth than Israel’s amen corner in the US and around the world echoed the “Egypt is Iran” meme until it had found its way into nearly every news report, and virtually every public statement by a major politician on the Egyptian events.” (Justin Raimondo ‘It’s Always About Israel. Even when it isn’t…’ February 14, 2011).
It was shocking that in the western world Jewish lobbies and Zionist politicians/commentators were simply regurgitating the Zionist state’s line. It was more shocking to hear supposedly democratic politicians/commentators defending a brutal and corrupt dictator. But what was even more shocking was that they were promoting the interests of a foreign state rather than their own country’s national interests. They were sacrificing their democratic principles and the interests of the country they were living in for the sake of a colonial state that was perpetuating dictators throughout the Arab world. Most shockingly of all, however, was that they seemed entirely comfortable arguing that it was in the interests of democratic states to sustain dictators because they knew that nobody, not even those on the left, would challenge such nonsense and highlight their treachery. Zionist politicians/commentators in America were promoting blatantly un-American policies whilst, similarly, Zionist politicians/commentators throughout the rest of the western world were promoting blatantly anti-western policies, and nobody was challenging them about why they were giving priority to the interests of a foreign state.
There is very little difference between the cold war bogey of ‘reds under the bed’ and Zionists’ transformation of the moderate Muslim Brotherhood into an Islamic bogeyman. Since the formation of the Zionist state, Zionists have fabricated a long list of Islamic bogeymen from Nasser to Saddam Hussein. They have become specialists at conjuring up nightmarish Islamic threats to frighten the west into supporting Zionist interests and it was easy for them to demonize the Muslim Brotherhood given that most westerners knew little about the group. Contrary to Zionists’ accusations, the group was not run by Islamic extremists. It had not triggered the uprising.[xii] And it had not orchestrated the protests.[xiii] What do facts matter to Zionists when they can churn out lies to an ignorant western public which is usually disinterested in anything beyond their Zionist inspired prejudices? Zionist propagandists invented, and popularized, a fear and loathing for the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ to pressure western states into supporting Mubarak solely in order to protect the security of the Zionist state. Western citizens who regurgitated this new strategic bogey were gullible for not understanding that they were undermining their own country’s national interests for the sake of promoting the security of the warmongering colonial state in Palestine.
The Dominance of Zionist Propaganda
This wouldn’t be the first time, however, that extreme Zionist propagandists have managed to manipulate western states into pursuing policies supposedly promoting western interests when in reality all they were doing was undermining such interests for the sake of boosting the security of the Zionist state. This was their great propaganda achievement in provoking the first and second gulf wars. If the Zionist state could invent and then popularize amongst western politicians/media the gigantic fiction that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction then it could easily dupe the west into believing the smaller lie that if it didn’t continue supporting Mubarak then it wouldn’t be long before Egypt was being run by an extreme Islamic government intent on developing nuclear weapons aimed at the western world. After all, the Zionist state had already succeeded in conning the west into believing that Iran poses the same nuclear threat to the west as Saddam was supposed to have done. “Beyond the Arab world, U.S. policy on Iran is dictated more or less totally by Israel.” (Kathleen Christison ‘The US as Israel’s Enabler in the Middle East’ February 16, 2011).
There are, of course, those who would scoff at the idea of Jewish lobbies in the west corrupting western political principles, values, and national interests by trying to turn western public opinion against young, middle class, Egyptian protestors in order to promote the strategic interests of the Jews-only state. There are those who would be scornful of the idea of western Zionist politicians pretending to pursue their country’s national interests whilst in reality undermining such interests for the sake of protecting the Zionist state in Palestine. And there are those who would dismiss the idea that much of the western media is owned, managed, or manned by Zionists whose primary political goal is protecting a foreign state even if this is at the expense of the country in which they are living and working.[xiv] Surely the west cannot be dominated to such an extent by Zionists putting the interests of a foreign state above that of the countries they are supposedly protecting?
The truth of these accusations is all too easy to appreciate when it is considered that the ruling elites throughout the western world have never mentioned that the Jews-only state developed nuclear weapons in the 1960s. It is easy to measure the scale of Zionist domination over the western world by the fact that no politician/commentator has been willing to mention Zionists’ nukes. Even though this has been the most critical factor in middle eastern politics, western politicians/commentators ignore their existence and assiduously formulate policies on the grounds of their non-existence. They prefer to promote fantasies about Saddam’s nuclear weapons, and more recently Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons, rather than telling the truth about Zionists all too real nuclear weapons.[xv] What could be further from the west’s national interests than ignoring the threat that Zionists’ nukes pose to the west?
Any visitor from outer space analyzing the views of the west’s mainstream politicians/commentators would be astounded to discover they were promoting foreign policies in the middle east that ran counter to western humanitarian values, political principles, and economic interests. That the west could support the Zionists’ hideous oppression of Palestinians shows that its humanitarian values are vacuous, that its political principles are a sham, and that its economic interests are being undermined because the Palestinians, just like all Arab people being oppressed by Arab dictators, are being denied the right to establish businesses that would promote economic growth both nationally and globally. The west’s support for Zionist colonialism and Zionist domination over the middle east is shameful, grossly undemocratic, and counter to its economic interests.[xvi]
Hypothetically speaking, it was a fortunate that in 1948 Zionists didn’t create a Zionist state in the centre of Europe, perhaps in place of Switzerland. If they had they would have inflicted on westerners the same miseries they have inflicted on Arabs. They would have created Zionist quisling dictatorships across the continent to defend their interests. European countries would have found themselves as impoverished as those in the Arab world. America would also be poorer without its current vast trade with Europe. Zionist politicians would have spent the next half century undermining the idea of neighbouring countries establishing democracies because of the threat they would supposedly pose to the security of the Zionist state. They would have denounced European patriots seeking to liberate their country from Zionist dictators as terrorists. Of course, on the bright side, if the Zionist state had been founded in central Europe, then the Islamic world from Morocco through to Tajikistan would now be almost totally democratic and economically booming.[xvii] But, then again, Zionist lobbies would have doubtlessly infiltrated these wealthy Arab democracies and sought to develop an ideological alliance with them, based on a pseudo Judeo-Arabic civilization, invoking Europhobia in order to win their support for propping up quisling Zionist dictatorships across the European continent. It has to be suspected, however, that these rich Arab democracies wouldn’t have been so gullible as to believe that it was in their economic and political interests to perpetuate fabulously wealthy, European dictators ransacking their impoverished economies. The Zionist state is a black hole decimating democratic aspirations and economic opportunities in surrounding countries in order to preserve its economic and military supremacy.
What was so marvelous about the Egyptians’ uprising was not merely the overthrow of a tyrant, but the overthrow of a Zionist puppet who’d been imposed upon them by the Zionist state and its gigantic American satellite. It was also the western public’s refusal to be manipulated by Zionists’ propaganda onslaught against the uprising. Many ordinary people continued to sympathize with the Egyptian protestors despite Zionist politicians/editors/commentators and Jewish lobbies doing their best to provoke yet another wave of Islamophobia. The efforts of the west’s Zionist leaders to insist that western governments should continue propping up Mubarak, and thereby keep sacrificing the lives of tens of millions of Egyptians, was a revolting example of naked Zionist self-interest. Fortunately, the more determined that protestors in Egypt became to rid themselves of a Zionist tyrant, the more the western public sympathized with their aspirations, the more revolting these reactionary Zionists politicians/commentators/lobbyists appeared to become.
Yet again the Zionists in the western world showed themselves to be a bunch of reactionary traitors who not merely supported a tyrant at the expense of people wanting democratic institutions but who were willing to sacrifice the interests of the countries they were living and working in for the sake of their beloved Zionist state. Western Zionists in politics and the media constantly denounce western Moslems for their alleged dual loyalties but the uprising in Egypt revealed that the Zionists themselves have no such duality: they are devoted to the interests of a foreign state.
During the Egyptian uprising, it cannot be said, however, that all western politicians were total shills to the Zionist cause. President Obama initially supported the uprising but was quickly forced to recant under pressure from the Zionist think tanks dug in on the lawns of the white house. He sent a personal envoy to the Pharaoh, supposedly to have a chat about him taking early retirement but, after the meeting, the envoy publicly announced that Mubarak should stay in office. “After turning against Mubarak, he suddenly opined that he must stay in power, in order to carry out democratic reforms. As his representative he sent to Egypt a retired diplomat whose current employer is a law firm that represents the Mubarak family (much as Bill Clinton used to send committed Jewish Zionists to “mediate” between Israel and the Palestinians).” (Uri Avnery ‘Tsunami in Egypt’ February 14, 2011).
However, Obama would not be beaten into submission by Zionist politicians/media/lobbies. On the morning of Thursday February 10, 2011, it was reported that Mubarak would announce his retirement that evening. Obama couldn’t hide his jubilation even though he knew this would provoke Zionist scorn and, sooner or later, revenge. When Mubarak finally resigned who could doubt the adoration Obama heaped upon the Egyptian protestors? His speech outlined with crystal clarity the best of western political principles and values. Those who opposed Egypt’s western style protestors were nothing less than un-American and anti-western traitors. It was all too symbolic that after his enforced resignation Mubarak moved to a part of Egypt which is as close to the Zionist state as he could get without actually leaving the country. Clearly he feared that if the Egyptian people launched a violent uprising which threatened his life and that of his family, then their safe haven would be only a few miles away.[xviii] Doubtlessly the Zionist state would have welcomed into its midst yet another criminal with vast amounts of wealth just as it had done with Robert Maxwell and the Russian oligarchs not to mention a few American-Jews who’d fled there to escape justice in America.
There were two factors that might have persuaded Mubarak to stay on in power albeit, in the end, only for less than 24 hours. Firstly, Ehud Barack, the Zionists’ defence minister, flew to Washington to denounce the Obama administration for showing concern for the aspirations of Egyptian protestors when it should have supported Mubarak in crushing the uprising – doubtlessly with the same ferocity the Zionist state uses in crushing Palestinian protests.[xix] Secondly, the Saudi leader, fearing an uprising in his own personal fiefdom, offered to fund Mubarak’s armed forces if the Obama administration ever decided to withdraw its annual funding for the Egyptian military.[xx] These dramatic interventions must have convinced Mubarak he still had enough international support to survive.
The State of Global Politics
So what does the Egyptian uprising indicate about the state of global politics? America is commonly recognized as the only remaining superpower. Some commentators go much further and refer to it as an American empire. But most American politicians couldn’t muster the political power to celebrate Egyptians’ democratic protests because of the pressure being exerted on them by the Zionist state and its vastly wealthy allies in America. When American politicians turned their backs on people who seemed to be trying to replicate American values and democratic institutions this suggests there are profoundly suspicious factors at work. The reality is that America’s ruling elite consists substantially of Zionists who care more about the Zionist state in Palestine than they do about America or American democracy and that they are willing to use American military power to promote that foreign state no matter how much it undermines America’s military capabilities or the country’s financial resources and political prestige around the world.
Since the end of the cold war, the key global strategic criterion guiding the west’s formulation of political policies has increasingly become whether these policies enhance or detract from the security of the Zionist state in Palestine.[xxi] Whether this political phenomenon can be categorized as a global Zionist empire or Zionist world domination is open to debate but when the west goes out of its way to prop up a tiny, virulently aggressive, illegal, colonial state with no raw resources and a tiny population of 6 million, and thereby alienates a multiplicity of Arab/Islamic countries with vast quantities of natural resources and a combined population of hundreds of millions, it has to be one or the other.
Over the last sixty years, the Zionist state has heaped a flood of humiliations upon American presidents and politicians. These are humiliations that the powerful inflict on the powerless, not the pin pricks that satellite states occasionally inflict on their colonial masters. No American president has dared to criticize let alone insult political leaders in the Zionist state but Zionist politicians insult American presidents with impunity because they know that America’s Zionist lobby is powerful enough to prevent American presidents from seeking revenge.
It doesn’t matter what shameful, disgusting, or downright criminal, acts the Zionist state carries out whether this might be starving Palestinians into submission, denying them medical supplies, slaughtering innocent people, or even attacking American military ships such as the U.S.S. liberty, American politicians cheer it on and protect it in the united nations. There is no barbarism carried out by the Zionist state that American politicians have not slavishly defended to their utmost. There is no limit to the amount of hatred they are willing to suffer for the sake of by defending the barbarity of the Zionist state. The Zionist state beats its American dog whenever it wants and the poor dog’s inbred loyalty just keeps leading it back to its master for more abuse and punishment. It is a testimony to the Zionist domination in America, that the Zionist state can repeatedly humiliate American presidents and yet the American public shows no sense of patriotic anger about it.
Hannah Arendt coined the phrase ‘the boomerang effect’ when colonial/imperial powers suffered ethically, financially, politically, and militarily, because of the appalling activities of their colonists/imperialists in foreign countries. America has suffered considerably, militarily, financially, and in terms of its political reputation, for its contribution to the growth of the Zionist empire – the holding of American hostages during the first Islamic revolution in Iran, the wars against Saddam Hussein, the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the invasion of Afghanistan. And yet still the American dog faithfully serves its master.
Another, even more stark indicator that America is a gigantic satellite of the Zionist state is that no American president has been able to limit, let alone withdraw, what are frequently referred to as subsidies to the Zionist state in order to punish it for its misdeeds. The reason for this is that these are not subsidies but tribute payments. Satellites are supposed to make tribute payments to their colonial/imperial powers, not vice versa and this is precisely what is happening when America hands over vast sums of money to the Zionist state which it then uses in whatever way it thinks fit even if it embarrasses America.
Even more critical for appreciating America’s subservient role to the Zionist master is that America has no influence over the Zionist state’s domestic policies especially those affecting the Palestinians. Indeed, it could be argued the Zionist state has more influence over America’s domestic policies than the reverse. And the same is true in terms of foreign policies. America has little control over Zionists’ foreign policies but Zionists have a critical influence over America’s foreign policies. America’s foreign policies are being determined by its so-called satellite across an ever increasing area of the world not merely the middle east nor even the greater middle east but the entire Moslem world. “… Israel is at the center of virtually every move the United States makes in the region.” (Kathleen Christison ‘The US as Israel’s Enabler in the Middle East’ February 16, 2011). [xxii]
Prospects for Democracy in Egypt
The prospects for democracy in Egypt do not look good but, then again, just a few months ago the prospects for overthrowing Mubarak seemed non-existent.[xxiii] The Egyptian uprising seemed to be an entirely modern, high tech, liberation brought about with the aid of mobile phones and social networking websites. Such websites are notorious for organizing spontaneous, one-off, anarchic, street parties so whether they are suitable for formulating a revolution has yet to be seen. However, the protests seemed so highly co-ordinated and tactically astute, successfully managing to maintain the momentum of the protests despite the efforts made to counter them, that this bodes well for the next, much more difficult, stage of founding democratic institutions.[xxiv]
Although social networking websites creep into the public domain the Egyptian protestors seemed to be able to organize themselves either without the authorities and international secret agencies being aware of what they were doing or, if the authorities were aware, of being unable to counter what the protestors were doing. [xxv] Little is known about the protestors or what motivated them. Western commentators are only now beginning to ascertain such motivations. “It’s fair to say that at this stage the Egyptian street keeps close to its heart those that supported it, from al-Jazeera and assorted Arab nationalists to Hezbollah in Lebanon. And knows very well those that despised it – from the House of Saud and assorted Wahhabi extremists to Israel. No one will forget that Saudi King Abdullah accused the street of “meddling in the security and stability of Arab and Muslim Egypt”.” (Pepe Escobar ‘Under the (Egyptian) volcano’ February 15, 2011).
Having been so successful in liberating themselves, it is to be hoped they can take the next revolutionary step. Whether they will be able to do so is difficult to assess especially since the protestors relinquished their main political leverage, the occupation of Tahrir square, within days of the pharaoh’s overthrow. It has to be suspected that the egyptian army will be reluctant to stop issuing communiqués. “There’s no way a new Egypt may be born without overthrowing this whole system. Ergo, the street has to take on the army. Expect major fireworks ahead. Forget about the army swiftly handing over power to a civilian-led interim government.” (Pepe Escobar ‘Under the (Egyptian) volcano’ February 15, 2011).
However, Egypt’s protestors face an even more insidious enemy than the Egyptian army – the Zionist state and its global allies who will pressure the army to stay in power. The Zionist state will do its utmost to restore another Zionist quisling as dictator. The Zionists may have been thrown off guard by the spontaneity of Egypt’s struggle for liberation but they are not going to allow the much longer, and far more complex, process of establishing democracy to proceed without doing their best to manipulate events in order to restore their power. Watch out for fabrications such as ‘Iraqi soldiers bayonet babies in incubators’.
In a future democracy, Egyptians may wish to change or abandon the Camp David accords. They may refuse to continue supporting the siege of Gaza, the continuing war crimes against the Palestinian people, and the Zionist colonization of Palestine. They may refuse Zionist ships passage through the Suez canal,[xxvi] and stop subsidizing gas exports to the Zionist state.[xxvii] They may oppose Zionist wars against its neighbours and its regional supremacy.[xxviii] They will want to develop new, independent, foreign policies. Such policy changes would be unacceptable to the Zionist state but there may be even worse to follow, the Egyptian people will invariably demand precisely what westerners have and what the Iranian people have now also: nuclear energy. This will almost certainly lead to demands for the acquisition of nuclear weapons to ensure their military defence and bring about a less unbalanced military situation in the middle east.
Although such changes in Egypt may not be in the least bit detrimental to the long term interests of the Zionist state, they would certainly be perceived as anathema by the current bunch of warmongers occupying Palestine. From the perspective of the warmongering Zionist state it would lose too much for it to allow democratic reforms in Egypt especially if this might lead to the country acquiring nuclear weapons. They will deem it imperative to scupper any move to democracy in favour of restoring a Zionist quisling who would once again put Zionist interests before those of the Egyptian people.
The west’s values, political principles, and national interests, would be best served through the creation of a democratic Egypt similar to that in turkey. Its primary strategic concern would be the Suez canal but given the Egyptians’ open attitude to the west this shouldn’t be a problem. The west doesn’t have to fear Egypt’s development of an independent foreign policy – only those suffering from Zionist paranoia would fear the worst.[xxix] But given Zionist domination of America’s political system, Zionist propagandists will doubtlessly terrify American politicians and the American public by conjuring up even more fantastic Islamic bogeymen in Egypt. The foundation of freedom in Egypt is thus a test of Zionist world domination. Zionists may have lost out because of the Egyptian uprising, and the refusal of a significant part of western public opinion to denounce Egyptian freedom fighters, but they will certainly try to restore their dominance.
After the second world war, the cold war became the primary global political preoccupation. The foundation of the Zionist state was a relatively insignificant issue in the worldwide competition for global supremacy. But during this time the Zionists’ military successes led them install pliant Arab dictators and to use Islamophobia to whip up opposition against Palestinian freedom fighters and hostile Moslem states across the African-Asian continents. After the demise of the cold war, the west’s Zionist ruling elites, its Zionist owned media, and its Zionist lobbies succeeded in pressuring western politicians into adopting their Islamophobia. Western political leaders increasingly see Zionist colonialism as their own cause. Zionists’ achievement of manipulating the west, and the rest of the world including Russia and China who also have their Islamic minorities who object to their second class status, into adopting the Zionist creed is the most blatant manifestation of Zionist global dominion. After the demise of the Russian empire, many commentators in the west wondered what the next global conflict would be since both superpowers seemed to rely on a cold war conflict to keep their military-industrial complexes in profit and an ideology that unified their peoples. Many thought it might be china or Asian tigers. The Zionists have successfully conned the west into supporting Zionism against fictitious Islamic bogeymen. The best way that people in the west can help Egyptian protestors to defeat their adversaries i.e. the Egyptian army and Zionist colonialists, is to challenge Zionist dominance at home.
February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | Leave a comment
Madison Wisconsin Budget Protest Movement
cinderbelle319 | February 19, 2011
I don’t feel that national news has been giving accurate coverage of the rallies in Madison, WI, so I’m here to tell you what people are REALLY protesting about. Hint: it’s not about pay-cuts.
Here’s the Legislative Fiscal Bureau Memo:
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2…
Source for the $140 Million in tax breaks:
http://www.onewisconsinnow.org/press/…
And if you think that’s not bad enough, consider this: 2/3 of corporations in WI don’t pay any taxes AT ALL. Where do YOU think the money should be coming from?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02…
February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Economics, Solidarity and Activism, Video | 3 Comments
UN vetoes for Israel
From WikiSpooks
The following table lists vetoes cast on proposed UN Security Council resolutions critical of the State of Israel since 1972. These are cases where there has been a single NO vote by just one of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council who alone have the power of veto over its resolutions. In every single case, the veto has been wielded by the USA. One or more of the other Permanent Members have occasionally abstained.
The USA, acting alone, has used its UN Security Council veto in support of Israel on 42 occasions since 1972
This table shows these resolutions up to, and including, the one vetoed on 18 February 2011 which was supposedly written to be in exact aligment with the US’s stated position on Israeli settlements.
| Resolution subject | Number | Date | For-Veto-Abstain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palestine: Syrian-Lebanese Complaint. 3 power draft resolution | S/10784 | 10 Sep 1972 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Palestine: Examination of Middle East Situation. 8-power draft resolution | S/10974 | 2 Jul 1973 | 13 – 1 – 0 |
| Palestine: Egyptian-Lebanese Complaint. 5-power draft power resolution | S/11898 | 8 Dec 1975 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Palestine: Middle East Problem, including Palestinian question. 6-power draft resolution | S/11940 | 26 Jan 1976 | 9 – 1 – 3 |
| Palestine: Situation in Occupied Arab Territories. 5-power draft resolution | S/12022 | 25 Mar 1976 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Palestine: Report on Committee on Rights of Palestinian People. 4-power draft resolution | S/12119 | 29 Jun 1976 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| Palestine: Palestinian Rights. Tunisian draft resolution | S/13911 | 30 April 1980 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| Palestine: Golan Heights. Jordan draft resolution | S/14832 | 20 Jan 1982 | 9 – 1 – 5 |
| Palestine: Situation in Occupied Territories, Jordan draft resolution | S/14943 | 2 Apr 1982 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Palestine: Incident at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. 4-power draft resolution | S/14985 | 20 Apr 1982 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. Spain draft resolution | S/15185 | 8 Jun 1982 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. France draft resolution | S/15255 | 26 Jun 1982 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Palestine: Conflict in Lebanon. USSR draft resolution | S/15347 | 6 Aug 1982 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| Palestine: Situation in Occupied Territories, 20-power draft resolution | S/15895 | 1 Aug 1983 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| S. Lebanon: Condemns Israeli action in southern Lebanon | S/16732 | 6 Sep 1984 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Occupied Territories: Deplores “repressive measures” by Israel against Arab population | S/17459 | 13 Sep 1985 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| Lebanon: Condemns Israeli practices against civilians in southern Lebanon | S/17000 | 12 Mar 1985 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| Occupied Territories: Calls upon Israel to respect Muslim holy places | S/17769 | 30 Jan 1986 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Lebanon: Condemns Israeli practices against civilians in southern Lebanon | S/17730 | 17 Jan 1986 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| Libya/Israel: Condemns Israeli interception of Libyan plane | S/17796 | 6 Feb 1986 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| Lebanon: Draft strongly deplored repeated Israeli attacks against Lebanese territory and other measures and practices against the civilian population | S/19434 | 18 Jan 1988 | 13 – 1 – 1 |
| Lebanon: Draft condemned recent invasion by Israeli forces of Southern Lebanon and repeated a call for the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Lebanese territory | S/19868 | 10 May 1988 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Lebanon: Draft strongly deplored the recent Israeli attack against Lebanese territory on 9 December 1988 | S/20322 | 14 Dec 1988 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: Draft called on Israel to accept de jure applicability of the 4th Geneva Convention | S/19466 | 29 Jan 1988 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: Draft urged Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, rescind the order to deport Palestinian civilians, and condemned policies and practices of Israel that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories | S/19780 | 14 Apr 1988 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: Strongly deplored Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territories, and strongly deplored also Israel’s continued disregard of relevant Security Council decisions. | S/20463 | 17 Feb 1989 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: Condemned Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territories | S/20677 | 9 Jun 1989 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: Deplored Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied territories | S/20945 | 7 Nov 1989 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Occupied territories: NAM draft resolution to create a commission and send three security council members to Rishon Lezion, where an Israeli gunmen shot down seven Palestinian workers. | S/21326 | 31 May 1990 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Middle East: Confirms that the expropriation of land by Israel in East Jerusalem is invalid and in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and provisions of the Fourth Geneva convention; expresses support of peace process, including the Declaration of Principles of 9/13/1993 | S/1995/394 | 17 May 1995 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Middle East: Calling upon Israel to refrain from East Jerusalem settlement activites | S/1997/199 | 7 Mar 1997 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Middle East: Demands that Israel cease construction of the settlement in east Jerusalem (called Jabal Abu Ghneim by the Palestinians and Har Homa by Israel), as well as all the other Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories | S/1997/241 | 21 Mar 1997 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
| Call for UN Observers Force in West Bank, Gaza | S/2001/270 | 27 Mar 2001 | 9 – 1 – 4 |
| Condemned acts of terror, demanded an end to violence and the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to bring in observers. | S/2001/1199 | 14 Dec 2001 | 12 – 1 – 2 |
| On the killing by Israeli forces of several UN employees and the destruction of the World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse | S/2002/1385 | 19 Dec 2002 | 12 – 1 – 2 |
| Demand that Israel halt threats to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat | S/2003/891 | 16 Sep 2003 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| Seeks to bar Israel from extending security fence | S/2003/980 | 14 Oct 2003 | 12 – 1 – 2 |
| on the condemnation of the killing of Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas | S/2004/240 | 25 Mar 2004 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| On the demand to Israel to halt all military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area. | S/2004/783 | 5 Oct 2004 | 11 – 1 – 3 |
| On the demand for the unconditional release of an Israeli soldier captured earlier as well as Israel’s immediate withdrawal from Gaza and the release of dozens of Palestinian officials detained by Israel. | S/2006/508 | 13 Jul 2006 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| On the Israeli military operations in Gaza, the Palestinian rocket fire into Israel, the call for immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and a cessation of violence from both parties in the conflict. | S/2006/878 | 11 Nov 2006 | 10 – 1 – 4 |
| That “Israel, as the occupying power, immediately and completely ceases all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and that it fully respect its legal obligations in this regard” | S/xxxxxxx | 18 Feb 2011 | 14 – 1 – 0 |
February 22, 2011 Posted by aletho | Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | 1 Comment
Steve Walt: Time to start thinking beyond ‘impossible’ two state solution
By Philip Weiss on February 21, 2011
Glenn Greenwald describes the sad tidings from New York– and acknowledges that the Israel lobby effected Obama’s first veto in the UN Security Council. Note that he uses the language of national interests:
at one of the most critical times in that region in more than a century, the U.S. openly subverts the world consensus to protect the Israelis from censure over blatantly illegal acts — all to avoid angering “its supporters” in the U.S.
Remember, though: talking about the power of the Israel Lobby and the way it causes the U.S. to sacrifice its own interests for this foreign country is strictly prohibited and a sure sign of deep malice. And the only possible reason why Muslims in that region might harbor hostility toward the U.S. is because of primitive, crazed religious fanaticism and a contempt for Our Freedoms.
Steve Walt also talks about the Israel lobby, of course, but gets to the point about two states. Excerpts:
Thus far, all that Obama’s Middle East team has managed to do in two years is to further undermine U.S. credibility as a potential mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and to dash the early hopes that the United States was serious about “two states for two peoples.” And while Obama, Mitchell, Clinton, Ross, and the rest of the team have floundered, the Netanyahu government has continued to evict Palestinian residents from their homes, its bulldozers and construction crews continuing to seize more and more of the land on which the Palestinians hoped to create a state.
Needless to say, the United States is all by its lonesome on this issue. …
As [many] commentators recognize, the real reason for Obama’s misguided decision was the profound influence of the Israel lobby. Indeed, few observers have missed this simple and obvious fact. One can only conclude that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s repeated claims that they are “friends of Israel” and devoted to its security are nothing more than empty, politically expedient rhetoric. Whatever they may say, the policies they are pursuing — including this latest veto — are in fact harmful to Israel’s long-term future. The man who declared in Cairo on June 4, 2009 that a two-state solution was “in the “Israel’s interest, the Palestinians’ interest, America’s interest, and the world’s interest” must have changed his mind, because his actions ever since have merely hastened the moment when creating two viable states will be impossible (if that is not already the case). Then remember what former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in 2007, “if the two-state solution fails, Israel will face a South African style struggle for political rights.” And “once that happens,” he warned, “the state of Israel is finished.”…
If the United States hopes to be on the right side of history, it is time to start thinking about what its policy should be when everybody finally acknowledges that “two states for two peoples” is no longer a practical possibility. This is going to happen sooner or later, and anyone who is still advocating for a two-state solution at that point is going to sound like an ignorant fool. Not because of the flaws in that option, but simply because it will be impossible to implement. What alternative solution will the president and secretary of state support then? Ethnic cleansing? A binational, liberal democracy in which all inhabitants of Israel/Palestine have equal civil and political rights? Or permanent apartheid, in the form of disconnected Palestinian Bantustans under de facto Israeli control?
February 21, 2011 Posted by aletho | Progressive Hypocrite, Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | 3 Comments
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Does Kevin Barrett Seek to “Absolve Islam of a Terrible Crime”?
The Kevin Barrett-Chomsky Dispute in Historical Perspective – Last part of the series titled “9/11 and the Zionist Question”
By Prof. Tony Hall | American Herald Tribune | August 28, 2016
Amidst his litany of condemnations, Jonathan Kay reserves some of his most vicious and vitriolic attacks for Kevin Barrett. For instance Kay harshly criticizes Dr. Barrett’s published E-Mail exchange in 2008 with Prof. Chomsky. In that exchange Barrett castigates Chomsky for not going to the roots of the event that “doubled the military budget overnight, stripped Americans of their liberties and destroyed their Constitution.” The original misrepresentations of 9/11, argues Barrett, led to further “false flag attacks to trigger wars, authoritarianism and genocide.”
In Among The Truthers Kay tries to defend Chomsky against Barrett’s alleged “personal obsession” with “vilifying” the MIT academic. Kay objects particularly to Barrett’s “final salvo” in the published exchange where the Wisconsin public intellectual accuses Prof. Chomsky of having “done more to keep the 9/11 blood libel alive, and cause the murder of more than a million Muslims than any other single person.” … continue
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