The latest on Dandelion Salad24 October, 2009 — The Real News Network
Murray: CIA used Uzbek torture to create false intelligence; support for regime continues
24 October, 2009 — The Real News Network
Former FBI agent Colleen Rowley discusses still unanswered questions about the lead up to 9/11
23, October 2009 — t r u t h o u t | Report
If technology has transformed warfare into a spectacle of shock and awe, its contribution to the cause of dissent has been no less remarkable. It has enabled solidarities across borders and facilitated networks and forums dedicated to impartial communication of ground realities beyond the sanitized projection of mainstream news. True, technological advances have not brought an end to either occupation, but it has certainly helped alternative voices and views to be heard.
During the Vietnam War, over 100 underground newspapers, run by soldiers themselves, sprouted across the United States. The modern version of this has taken root within the Internet, largely in the form of blogs.
Many American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been confounded by the wall of censorship they confront, jointly constructed by the military and the corporate media. The Internet offered them a convenient and powerful channel through which to get their stories out to the public. Constrained by slow military mail service from Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention overt attempts by superiors to curtail their interaction with journalists, soldiers have long since taken to blogging, posting photographs and uploading videos online, all related to their experience of the occupations.
24 October, 2009 — Free Gaza
Ewa Jasiewicz, Free Gaza Coordinator in Gaza, talks in Berlin, Germany about what she witnessed during the 22-day massacre of civilians in Gaza. Her on-the-ground reporting of what she and seven others saw during that time is heart-wrenching. Israel deliberately murdered 16 medics trying to do their job of rescuing other injured Palestinians, targeting them directly. Ewa and the other volunteers from Free Gaza and the International Solidarity Movement accompanied these ambulances, horrified at what they saw.
19 October, 2009 — Al Jazeera
Munzer al-Dayyeh is a 40-year-old mechanic living in Gaza. And while the effects of war and ongoing siege may be good for his business, he can’t manage to secure medical treatment for his disabled …
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24 October, 2009 — Al Jazeera
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Filmmakers: George Azar and Mariam Shahin Munzer al-Dayyeh is a 40-year-old mechanic living in Gaza. In a land of ruin and disrepair, Munzer is kept busy fixing generators and repairing motorbikes. In June 2007, Israel placed Gaza under siege and imposed an unprecedented blockade on nearly all movement and supplies in and out of the Gaza Strip. Munzer is a traditional man from a conservative society where inter-marriage is common. |
23 October, 2009 — Strategic Culture Foundation
Under pressure, Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed that he failed to garner over 50% of the vote in the first round of the elections and accepted the run-off which is scheduled for November 7.
Afghanistan’s way to the elections was long and marked with heightened expectations. The population hoped for a breakthrough as it was getting increasingly obvious that Karzai’s administration was unable to rise to the challenges facing the country plagued by the lack of security, rampant crime, poor governance, widespread corruption, unemployment, miserable living standards, drug business, and the heavy dependence on foreign aid.
Among other factors, it bred hopes that the list of presidential candidates included well-known figures offering the society new ideas and developmental models. Though it is traditional in Afghanistan to vote for individual leaders rather than for their political programs, in fact by doing so the population expresses support for politicians who cannot only float ideas that meet with public approval but also put them into practice.
8 October, 2009 — Strategic Culture Foundation
It may seem inconceivable that in such a beacon of democracy as the United States of America, there are “czars.” Not just one or two, but a few dozen. The explanation, however, is quite benign: American political jargon defines “czar” as a special envoy or adviser to the president asked by him to guide a high-priority initiative. Appointed by the president and reporting only to him, “czars” operate largely outside of congressional oversight. Hence the nickname.
According to different calculations, President Obama employs between 34 to 40 czars. In the area of foreign affairs, the most visible are Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and George Mitchell, the president’s representative in the Middle East.
There is no czar on Russia. However, if one carefully follows whom Obama charges with the most delicate conversations with Moscow, it appears that the czar on Russia does exist, and this role is played by none other than venerable Henry Kissinger, former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State in the Nixon and Ford administrations.
2 October, 2009 — Strategic Culture Foundation
In September the International Criminal Court (ICC) officially reported it had started to preliminarily analyse information about likely inquiries into crimes by the US servicemen in Afghanistan and by Israeli troops in Gaza. The statements stand in stark contrast to the Court’s hitherto pursued policy and therefore merit special attention.
The ICC has been quite active up to date. It has dealt with situations around five countries; it accused one incumbent president (Sudan) and another vice-president (Central African Republic). However, up until now the ICC has had the audacity to deal exclusively with African countries: besides the two we have just named, there have also been the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda. The International Criminal Court has been unperturbed by the crimes by the US, the UK and other western nations in Iraq and Afghanistan, by Israeli crimes, by Albanians’ criminal wrongdoing in Kosovo. Will the ICC indeed have the guts for the first time in world history to launch an investigation into felonies by the main aggressors and war criminals of the present-day world?
30 September, 2009, Toronto — Left Streamed
Panel on the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
• Alissa Trotz, Juan Valencia.
- Facilitator: Melanie Newton. Co-sponsored: Venezuela We Are With You, Center for Social Justice, Latin American Solidarity Network, Toronto Haiti Action, Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle/Hands Off Venezuela.
30 September, 2009 — Left Streamed
Panel on the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
Toronto, – Facilitator: Melanie Newton. Co-sponsored: Venezuela We Are With You, Center for Social Justice, Latin American Solidarity Network, Toronto Haiti Action, Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle/Hands Off Venezuela.
• Manuel Morano, Jose Martinez, Paul Kellogg.
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30 October, 2007 Caracas — Left Streamed
Produced as part of Centro Internacional Miranda’s Transformative Practice and Human Development, directed by Michael Lebowitz.
30 October, 2007 — Left Streamed
Produced as part of Centro Internacional Miranda’s Transformative Practice and Human Development, directed by Michael Lebowitz.
more about “Socialist Project – Left Streamed“, posted with vodpod
Come and celebrate Cuba’s National Day of Culture with London’s Cuban community.
A unique show with with top professional Cuban musicians and artists, DJ, dance workshop and conga featuring:
* Eralys Fernandez (classical piano)
* Papo Record (reggaeton)
* Rosa Perez (dancer)
* plus special guests
Plus Cuban band Leo Duany y su TUMBAO TIVOLI and Coro Lucumi de Londres
Children’s party, DJ, dance workshops, conga. Artistic direction: TioMolina
Cuban food & bar from Cubana restaurant
Entrance: £10 in advance/£12 on the door for adults (includes free welcome Mojito), £5 children
Tickets available from http://www.salsatap.com
Supported by the Embassy of Cuba in the UK, Contigo, Cuba50, Cubana restaurant
For info cubartista@contigo.org.uk
Contact details
Conway Hall, London
25 Red Lion Square
Click here to view map of location
22 October, 2009 — Stop NATO
‘The developments come as the White House seeks grounds to establish a major military presence in Africa….[A]nalysts caution that similar pretexts were used to justify the US invasion of Afghanistan, the missile attacks in Pakistan, and its waning military operations in Iraq, where the civilian population continues to bear the brunt of the US intervention.’
‘AFRICOM facilitates the United States advancing on the African continent, taking control of the Eurasian continent and proceeding to take the helm of the entire globe.’
October 1st marked the one-year anniversary of the activation of the first U.S. overseas military command in a quarter of a century, Africa Command (AFRICOM).
AFRICOM was established as a temporary command under the wing of U.S. European Command (EUCOM) a year earlier and launched as an independent entity on October 1, 2008.
Its creation signalled several important milestones in plans by the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to expand into all corners of the earth and to achieve military, political and economic hegemony in the Southern as well as the Northern Hemisphere.
21 October, 2009 — Dandelion Salad – pdxjustice Media Productions
Noam Chomsky, world renowned linguist and dissident author, delivers the keynote address at the ECONVERGENCE CONFERENCE in Portland, Oregon, on October 2nd, 2009.
22 October, 2009 — MRZine – Monthly Review
On October 15, thousands of people in Puerto Rico flooded the streets to protest the government’s decision to lay off around 17,000 government employees (in total there have been around 25,000 lay-offs this year). Workers and members of trade unions, women, environmentalists, religious groups, students, teachers, professors, lawyers, and the LGBT community, among many other groups of the civil society, answered the call of the labor movement that initially convened the strike. Universities, schools, and stores closed for the day.
The organizers of the event estimated that 150,000-200,000 people participated in the massive demonstration that started from different points in the heart of the metropolitan area of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, particularly from the financial district, and converged in the immediate surrounding of Plaza Las Américas, the largest mall of the Caribbean whose owners contributed to governor Luis Fortuño’s campaign. There have been no official estimates, although government officials minimized the number. The Governor and his Chief of Staff, Marcos Rodríguez Ema, immediately stated that the law (Law 7 of Fiscal Emergency) that made the lay-offs viable would not be repealed. There were no incidents, although at the end of the demonstration there were moments of tension between students and the police.
Methodist bishop Juan Vera, one of the keynote speakers of the demonstration and a member of the coalition of civil society organizations Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico, declared that the country would be in a “state of pacific insurrection” until the government changed its policies and that there would be more acts of civil disobedience and resistance. Other organizers of the event are already talking about future strategies and another strike that would paralyze the entire Island.
22 October, 2009 — MRZine – Monthly Review
If time lags matter, news of the dollar’s demise as the world’s principal reserve currency is grossly exaggerated. That prediction has been periodically heard at least since the early 1970s when the United States brought the Bretton Woods arrangement to an end by breaking the link between dollar and gold. As is obvious, whatever else may be said of the role of the US in the world system, this expectation of the dollar’s displacement as the currency that is as good as gold has not materialised. This, however, is not to say that the dollar fulfils its role adequately or even satisfactorily. Not surprisingly, with the strength of the US economy once again in question, the dollar has begun to slide. Between the low of 1.2932 to the dollar it touched on 21 April 2009 and its value at the end of September 2009, the euro had appreciated by 13 per cent vis-a-vis the dollar. This (and other similar tendencies) has triggered predictions of the demise of the dollar as lead currency. Should and will a new currency replace the dollar as the paper that is treated as good as gold?
There is a noteworthy feature of the debate sparked by the revival of interest in the question of the dollar’s worthiness as a reserve currency. Most participants in the debate who argue that it is time for the dollar to go are not basing their argument on the greater strength of an alternative currency (like the euro, the yen or the Chinese RMB) which should take the dollar’s place. Rather, the most popular alternative is the IMF’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) which is more a unit of account than a currency and whose value is itself linked to that of a weighted basket of four major currencies. There are three implications here. First, even when the weakness of the US and the dollar is accepted, the case is not that the dollar should be completely displaced, since even in the basket that constitutes the SDR the dollar commands an influential role. Second, there is no other country or currency that is at present seen as being capable of taking the place of the US and its dollar at least in the near future. And third, the search is not for a currency that can be used with confidence as a medium for international exchange, but for a derivative asset that investors can hold without fear of a substantial fall in its value when exchange rates fluctuate, because its value is defined in terms of and is stable relative to a basket of currencies.
22 October, 2009 — Palestine Think Tank
In its rabid efforts to whitewash the Goldstone report, Israel is likely to carry out another disingenuous probe into its genocidal onslaught against the Gaza Strip nearly ten months ago.
The report, compiled by South African judge Richard Goldstone, himself a Jew, accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians.
As many as 1,400 Palestinians, mostly non-combatants including more than 330 children, were killed during the 22-day campaign which some historians and intellectuals compared to the allied saturation bombing of the German city of Dresden at the close of the Second World War.
Israel has already conducted a number of “investigations” into the Gaza blitzkrieg which exonerated the Israeli army of any wrongdoing.
However, nearly everyone familiar with patterns of Israeli behavior realizes that investigations by Israel into crimes committed by Israel didn’t have an iota of credibility.
In the final analysis, criminals, especially war criminals, are unlikely to indict themselves by admitting guilt.
Hence, it is a foregone conclusion that any new probe by Israel of its pornographic crimes in Gaza would be a repetition of past investigations.
22 October, 2009 — Palestine Think Tank
“You are a terrorist, you are not welcome in the land of Palestine”. A Palestinian from the Hamdan family shouted these words in the face of Tony Blair, Quartet Representative for “Peace” in the Middle East, when he arrived at the Iron Cage at the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. A bodyguard of Tony “the poodle” Blair overwhelmed the angry Palestinian when he approached phony Tony, and dragged him several meters away.
Palestinian eyewitnesses said that the citizen, who shouted in the face of Tony Blair, was subjected several times to attacks by the Israeli occupation soldiers in the heart of city of Hebron, just as all the Palestinian people who live in the heart of the old city are subjected to regular attacks from the IDF and the Jewish criminal squatters as part of their daily life. The heart of the old city of Hebron, turned under the Israeli occupation into a concentration camp closed by iron gates controlled by the IDF occupation.
The visits of Tony Blair to the Palestinian towns are frowned upon by the Palestinian public opinion, he is not welcome in our land and in our cities. The PA media coverage does not show this fact, because the visits of Tony Blair are part of the dirty “politics” of the PA.
Tony Blair, this so-called “Quartet Representative” for “Peace in the Middle East” is a war criminal culpable massive war crimes against Iraq, who is culpable for the mass murder of thousands of Iraqi civilians, and the increased violence in Iraq, that many women in that country are forced to turn to prostitution in order to sustain themselves.
The government of Tony Blair was always with the Zionists, and the only peace which he want for us is the peace of the cemetery.
