Third Meeting of ‘Wandering Who? Reading Group’

 

The Brighton-based ‘Wandering Who? Reading Group’ met for the third time on Wednesday 11th April, this time in a tower block with a fantastic, if dizzying, view over Brighton & Hove. We were considering Chapters 4 and 5 of Gilad Atmon’s book, ‘The Sabra, the Settler and the Disapora Jew’, and ‘Fagin vs. Einstein’ respectively.

Atzmon makes an interesting distinction between the Sabra, a native born Israeli whose ideal is to be tough outside and tender inside, and the Settler, who dispenses with any idea of compassion. The Sabra ‘can ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian nation on Friday and then attend a “Peace Now” demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.’ In this he is the negation of the soft Diaspora Jew. While he resembles a German soldier in certain respects, ‘he is loose, he likes to walk in Biblical sandals …’ Atzmon objects that this constructed identity is fundamentally inauthentic, while that of the Settler, however much we may dislike it, is authentic. The West-Bank settler, who arose after the 1967, ‘doesn’t shoot and sob; he is driven by conviction.’ Whereas the Sabra negated the Diaspora Jew, the Settler negates the Goy.

Chapter 4 (like Chapter 5) is so full of philosophical ideas which are difficult to evaluate that we were left struggling. What did ‘negation,’ ‘authentic’ and ‘inauthentic’ mean in this context? Nevertheless, on reflection we were able to see that Herzl’s ideal Jew was a ‘negation’, at least, of the ghetto Jew, and perhaps that negation grew with time to include all non-Israeli Jews.

(It should be noted at this point that at least one of our number was unhappy with the use of the word ‘Diaspora’, since this implied a certain view of history which had been well and truly debunked, first by Arthur Koestler and more recently by Shlomo Sand. In other words, the idea that the Jews were expelled by the Romans from Palestine, and then spread all over the world doesn’t stand up to historical investigation. The concept of the Diaspora is, rather, a mythical construction which serves Zionism’s interests.)

It was also possible to see how killing people one day and being warm-hearted and peace-loving on another is inauthentic. Perhaps the problem here is simply that we are not Israelis, and we therefore have some difficulty getting inside the Israeli psyche. On the other hand, this phenomenon is hardly limited to Israelis. At the end of the war Harold Macmillan was involved in the Keelhaul operation which required the deportation of 70,000 POWs to the Soviet Union and Tito’s Yugoslavia, as as result of which large numbers of them were killed. And yet a more avuncular figure it is difficult to imagine. Was he an inauthentic character too?

We were also unsure whether we agreed that there was a clear distinction between earlier settlers and those after 1967. Were those Jewish women settlers of the thirties who would gun down Palestinians just because they were attempting to return to their land, any better than the post-1967 settlers? There was, however, no doubt that Israel had largely abandoned its earlier socialist (albeit ethnocentric) ideas, and was less ambiguous in pursuit of its aims.

In Chapter 5 Atzmon reiterates his oft-stated objection to groups which specifically link their Jewishness to various forms of activism; so there are ‘Jews for Peace, Jews for Justice, Jews for Jesus and so on.’ The Jewish connection is supposed to give such groups a special status, according to Atzmon. Yet he points out the anomaly that while Jews themselves make much use of the Jewish signifier (as he calls it), others who do so get into big trouble unless they are praising Jews for their particular talents and virtues. Here is how he illustrates this phenomenon:

‘… most Jews are not that concerned when being associated collectively with some great minds, adorable violin players or conductors … but you may get into some serious trouble once you mention the following list of real and fictional characters: Bernie Madoff, Fagin, Wolfowitz, Lord Levy, Shylock, Alan Greenspan, Netanyahu and Nathan Rothschild [in the context of their Jewishness].’
This was indeed a phenomenon which our group had encountered, especially in relation to ‘Holocaust’ memorialisation and Jewish studies. When combined with serious sanctions against anyone who spoke critically of Jews collectively, it resulted in a distortion of political and social thought of which almost everyone in our society is consciously, or at least unconsciously, aware.

We didn’t get as far as discussing Atzmon’s attitude to Anthony Julius’s article ‘Trials of the Diaspora,’ which is a pity, because it contains a strong argument against anti-Zionism. If we don’t take it up at the beginning of our next meeting, to which Atzmon is invited, we will no doubt encounter it again in our discussions. Fundamentally it says: ‘We’re only doing what everyone else does, or has done in the past’.

As always, this report has been approved by those attending the meeting.

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by Francis Clark-Lowes
Friday, April 13th, 2012
by Francis Clark-Lowes
Friday, April 13th, 2012

Good for Gunter!

by Stuart Littlewood
Friday, April 13th, 2012

Everyone and his dog now knows Israel is the problem

Can’t say I’m crazy about the German Nobel laureate’s poetry. Much is lost in translation, of course. But the sentiment expressed in ‘What Must Be Said’ is spot-on.

And now that the dust has settled we can marvel at how the avalanche of outraged squawks and screeches sent the needle clean off the Richter Scale of Zionist paranoia.

Brave Gunter Grass should wear the insults like a badge of honour.

The Jewish Chronicle reported http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/66360/gunter-grass-not-welcome-israel-after-iran-poem-sparks-hate-charges Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying:

His [Gunter's] declarations are ignorant and shameful and every honest person in this world must condemn them.”

What constitutes an “honest person” in Netanyahu’s eyes? Does he know any?

Would Eli Yishai, Israel’s interior minister, be one of them? Yishai lost no time blacklisting Grass and said he could no longer enter Israel. http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/66408/gunter-grass-israel-ban-burma-or-stasi .

If Gunter wants to spread his twisted and lying works, I suggest he does this from Iran, where he can find a supportive audience.”

No need, Eli. He already has a huge and appreciative audience here in the West.

Yishai is boss of Israel’s Shas party. Shas opposes any freeze in Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the West Bank. In other words, he’s all for land theft and ethnic cleansing. Not surprisingly Shas is a magnet for freaks and crooks. Several of the party’s MKs have been convicted of offences such as fraud and forgery. Its former leader was indicted on corruption charges. The party’s founder called Palestinians “evil” and said “God should strike them with a plague….”

As for Arabs generally, “it is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable.”

Shas has a real down on homosexuals too. One Shas MK accused gays of being “a plague as toxic as bird flu”. http://www.haaretz.com/news/shas-mk-gays-are-causing-israeli-society-to-self-destruct-1.238216 .

The party is also against dividing Jerusalem and wants the Temple Mount for Jews only, regardless of irrefutable Muslim claims.

As if that weren’t enough, The Zionism and Israel Encyclopedic Dictionary http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Shas.htm tells of “unscrupulous election practices that include distributing amulets against the evil eye and rabbinical blessings in return for promises to vote for Shas, and apparently, voting by deceased persons. In several Shas districts in 1999, over 100% of those registered participated in the elections.”

And is Yishai any good as a minister? “Yishai is a bad interior minister,” according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/business/the-shekel-drops-what-kind-of-minister-is-eli-yishai-1.407733 . “It seems the job simply doesn’t interest him. Perhaps even worse, that hasn’t hurt his political reputation, because the people of Israel don’t realize it.” So Gunter Grass needn’t lose any sleep over the mouthings of this third-rater.

In any case, Gunter in his poem only expresses what truly honest men have been saying for decades…

Yet why do I forbid myself

To name that other country

In which, for years, even if secretly,

There has been a growing nuclear potential at hand

But beyond control, because no inspection is available?

Actually inspection is available but Israel claims exemption, which is dutifully granted by our subservient international élite.

That the nuclear power of Israel endangers

The already fragile world peace?

Because it must be said

What even tomorrow may be too late to say…

Israel frantically points the finger at Iran… but for what? To distract attention from the fact that Israel itself is the one with the runaway nuclear weapons programme that menaces the region and beyond.

UN Security Council resolution 487, in 1981, called on Israel “urgently to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards”. Israel hasn’t done so. Its huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction – nuclear, chemical and biological – is obviously what’s undermining the “fragile world peace”.

In 2009 the IAEA again called on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, open its nuclear facilities to inspection and place them under comprehensive IAEA safeguards. Again Israel did not comply.

Everyone and his dog now knows that Israel is the problem. It is the only state in the region not party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (Iran is). It has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. As regards biological and chemical weapons, Israel has not signed the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. It has signed but not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Netanyahu needs to explain all this before getting heavy with other people.

With nimble lips calling it a reparation, declares

A further U-boat should be delivered to Israel,

Whose specialty consists of guiding all-destroying warheads to where the existence

Of a single atomic bomb is unproven,

But as a fear wishes to be conclusive,

I say what must be said.

Two months ago Defence Industry Daily reported

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/germany-may-sell-2-more-dolphin-subs-to-israel-for-117b-01528/ how Christian Schmidt, Germany’s secretary of state for defence, had signed a contract with Israel to supply a sixth Dolphin-class submarine with the German taxpayer chipping in a huge subsidy. This latest U-boat will be fitted with a new type of propulsion system. Schmidt reportedly said that Germany was looking to increase its defense co-operation with Israel and “was specifically interested in learning from the IDF about training and military doctrine”.

Ye gods!

The German government must be mental to have provided any subs, let alone half a dozen. Dolphins are diesel-electric attack subs that can fire torpedoes and missiles from their tubes and carry out underwater surveillance. Germany donated two of these killer vessels to the Israeli navy in the early 1990s. Israel then bought a third submarine for $350 million – half price – with the German taxpayer paying the other half. In 2006 a deal was done for two more at a total of $1.27 billion, with the Germans picking up 1/3 of the tab.

These Dolphins have 10 bow torpedo tubes, four of which have a 650mm diameter for launching the larger cruise missiles. Rumour has it that Israel tested a nuclear-capable version of its medium-range “Popeye Turbo” cruise missile from those tubes.

It’s the stuff of nightmares when you see the lethal idiots whose fingers are all over the buttons. Angela Merkel needs a good spanking for this lunacy. Any volunteers?

It is to be hoped

That this will free many from silence,

That they may prompt the perpetrator of the recognized danger

To renounce violence and

Likewise insist

That an unhindered and permanent control

Of the Israeli nuclear potential

And the Iranian nuclear sites

Be authorized through an international agency

By the governments of both countries.

Amen, Brother Gunter.


Stuart Littlewood’s book Radio Free Palestine can now be read on the internet by visiting www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk
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'For Saudi Arabia, Israel is turning from foe to friend'

Via FLC

"Saudi Defense Minister, Prince Salman, was the guest last week of his American counterpart Leon Panetta and, in an unusual step, was also hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama. On the agenda: Iran and the unrest in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia's neighbor and the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, the American naval power in the Persian Gulf.The number 3 man in the Saudi ruling house could soon move to the top. He is young and healthy - everything is relative - compared to his half-brother, King Abdullah, 89, and Crown Prince Nayef, 79. The Americans have been working hard for many years to foster ties with the Saudi security forces. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, headed from 2001 to 2003 a delegation of advisors to the Saudi National Guard.
A thin veneer of stability purchased with oil money covers a well that threatens to swallow a thousand wealthy princes. In a population of 27 million people, 5.5 million do not have Saudi citizenship. The unemployment rate among young people in the kingdom is 30 percent and the literacy rate is only 80 percent.
That is the background to the interesting message directed at Israel through an article published by a Saudi general in the American military magazine Joint Force Quarterly. Since a senior officer, a brigadier general in the royal family, does not pretend not to have the authority to reflect the conservative stand of the regime and does not publish for his own amusement statements and conclusions with diplomatic significance, it seems that Saudi Arabia is thus hesitatingly and conditionally courting Israel.

The condition: that there be movement toward an agreement in the spirit of that promoted by Saudi King Abdullah. If Israel moves in this direction, he wrote as long as a decade ago, Saudi Arabia must express willingness for peace with Israel and influence the rest of the Arab world in this direction.
This time he went one step further. He praised President Shimon Peres and called for "encouraging Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs to get to know each other at least initially over the Internet while discussing sports, photography and other common interests - including peace prospects."
The general-prince-Ph.d. is His Royal Highness Naef Bin Ahmed Al-Saud, who holds advanced degrees from Georgetown University and Cambridge. His military expertise: strategic planning and special operations, international diplomacy and cyber warfare. When he studied at the National Defense University in Washington D.C., among his classmates was Israel Air Force officer Zeev Snir, now a brigadier general in the IAF reserves, who, at the end of his studies was appointed the IAF's chief procurement officer and currently heads the security establishment's special means branch... (Continue, here)"

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Palestinian Prisoners into an Open Hunger Strike, ’’Israel’’ Afraid

Local Editor

Under the title, "Loyalty and Pledge", all Palestinian prisoners, held by the Zionist entity, declared Saturday that they will be starting an open-ended hunger strike on April 17th in protest to their illegal detention, and demanding basic rights.

In response to the prisoners' move, "Israel" recruited all its efforts to calm down the wrath within the bars.

According to media reports, a committee formed by the so-called "Israeli" Prison Authority, headed by Yitzhak Gabai, visited a number of detention facilities, listened to the demands of the detainees, and promised respond to these demands this coming week."

Some of the demands presented by the detainees are:
1. Ending Administrative Detention.
2. Ending Solitary Confinement.
3. Reinstating the right to education.
4. Halting all invasions targeting detainees' rooms and sections.
5. Allowing family visitations, especially to detainees from the Gaza Strip.
6. Improving medical care to ailing detainees.
7. Halting the humiliation, and body-search of the families of the detainees.
8. Allowing the entry of books and newspapers.
9. Halting all sorts of penalties against the detainees.

For his part, Palestinian Minister of Detainees in the West Bank, Issa Qaraqe, stated that the situation of the detainees in "Israeli" prisons is very difficult, and dangerous, especially amidst the ongoing "Israeli" violations and attacks against them.
"The detainees are fighting a battle to defend their dignity and to improve their living conditions," he added calling for "massive solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian Prisoners."

He further called "for declaring April 17, the Palestinian Prisoners Day, as a day for solidarity and massive nonviolent protests in all parts of the occupied territories."
It is worth mentioning that "the Palestinian detainees in "Israeli" prisons are subject to harsh and illegal treatment that violates International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention."

202 Palestinian prisoners died after being kidnapped by the "Israeli" forces since 1967 while hundreds died after they were released suffering from serious illnesses and medical conditions resulting from extreme torture and abuse in "Israeli" prisons.

In this context, former political prisoner, head of the census department at the Ministry of Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Farawna reported "that 70 detainees died in "Israeli" prison due to extreme torture, 74 were executed by the soldiers after being arrested, 51 died due to the lack of medical treatment, 7 detainees died due to excessive force by the soldiers, and after being shot while in prison."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org

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Sarkozy: "'Armed observers' manning Syrian humanitarian corridors ..."

Via FLC

"...Sarkozy, waging an uphill battle for re-election in a vote that opens on April 22, said he discussed Syria with U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, including a U.N.-backed plan to send observers to ensure it was being implemented....

Under the French plan to bring in aid, humanitarian corridors would link the frontiers of Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport.

Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said the zone could be protected by armed "observers",..."

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Syrian Insurgents Violate Ceasefire

"Expect NATO intervention. Turkey's the likely vanguard. Washington pulls the strings. Its dirty hands itch for more slaughter and destruction." Stephen Lendman

I disagree with Mr. Stephen Lendman. Annan, is negociating an exit from Syria, to save the Face of Nato, and save the asses of Erdugan and Arab puppets. Negociation shall continue under the fire. 

by Stephen Lendman

It was too good to last. On day one, insurgents violated ceasefire calm. Blame Washington's dirty hands. It manipulates everything going on.

It won't tolerate peace and stability. Regime change plans need violence blamed on Assad. That's imperialism's ugly face. Behind it lurks a menace too threatening to ignore.

International, constitutional, and US statute laws are spurned. Independent regimes are toppled. War is policy. Throughout its history, America waged them at home and abroad. Countless millions died. Daily their numbers mount.

America's no democracy. It's a killing machine, a police state, a rogue hegemon, ravaging one country after another for unchallenged dominance.

It's boss, a street thug writ large. What it says goes. Violators are punished. Humanity's threatened.

Syria and Iran now face its wrath. Expect the worst. It's coming. Catastrophe may follow. NATO powers ignore the threat. On April 12, Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy discussed Iran and Syria.

Both accused Assad of violating ceasefire terms. Sarkozy and UK Prime Minster David Cameron called for "transition at the top" change. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said if violence erupts, "we want to return to the Security Council in a new attempt to obtain a resolution on Syria. We will intensify our support for the opposition."

Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urge "more resolute" action. These and similar comments spell trouble.

On April 13, The New York Times headlined, "Cease-Fire Tested by Reports of Syria Clashes," saying:

"....some deadly clashes were reported." Pro-Western "activists" claim violence wracked areas are "under virtual martial law, with tank deployments, armed checkpoints and rooftop snipers."

Times writers never spare hyperbole. On issues mattering most, managed news substitutes for truth and full disclosure. Protection Syrians need is denounced. Imagine how out-of-control things would be without it. Current and former UN Secretaries-General replicate Timespeak.

Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon point fingers the wrong way. Assad's blamed for insurgent violence. From Geneva, Ban said "The onus is on the government of Syria to prove that their words will be matched by their deeds at this time."

Their forces and armor "must return to their barracks immediately," he added. In other words, leave civilians unprotected. Like Annan, Ban makes no pretense which side he's on. Both men have impeccable imperial credentials. That's how they got their job.

On April 13, AP headlined, "Syria truce holding for second day, protesters call for mass marches to test regime," saying:

"Syrian troops fought with rebels near the border with Turkey on Friday, but opposition activists said the brief clash appeared to be an isolated violation as a fragile U.N.-brokered truce entered a second day."

In fact, Washington plans more violence. Eruptions will follow imperial plans. Reality will replace optimism. Assad, of course, will be blamed.

Opposition forces call for mass anti-government marches. Peaceful demonstrations are permitted. Violent ones will be confronted responsibly. No country tolerates them.

Imperial powers plan their next move. Concluding their two-day summit, G8 leaders called ceasefire a first step. Hillary Clinton assaults Assad mercilessly. She accused him of violating peace plan terms, saying:

"The Annan plan is not a menu of options, it is a set of obligations. The burden of fully and visibly meeting all of these obligations continues to rest with the regime. They cannot pick and choose."

"For it to be meaningful, this apparent halt in violence must lead to a credible political process and a peaceful, inclusive democratic transition."

"We remain firmly resolved that the regime's war against its own people must end for good and political transition must begin. Assad will have to go and the Syrian people must be given the chance to chart their own future."

In other words, Washington accepts one option only - regime change. All means are employed to achieve it, including war. It's coming if current plans fail. Six G 8 nations support it. Russia and China oppose intervention, insurgent violence, and war. So far, they prevented it. At issue is for how long?

Ahead, things get tougher. Imperial Washington won't quit. Events on the ground are manipulated. Orchestrated incidents began. Expect greater eruptions ahead. Direct NATO intervention will follow. Turkey may initiate it.

Prime Minister Erdegon's hawkishness suggests it. He openly called for intervention. Citing Article 5 of NATO's Charter, he said the alliance "has the responsibility to protect Turkish borders."

On April 12, Today's Zaman headlined, "Turkey says Annan plan not implemented," saying:

Erdogan said Assad hasn't met ceasefire terms.

"There is a six-point plan in the open presented by Annan. I do not think this six-point plan has been implemented. There is nothing like this out there."

A same day Today's Zaman article headlined, "Turkish opposition slams government over Syria 'warmongering,' " saying:

Opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said "The Turkish Republic has never done as much warmongering as it has today." He rejects Syrian intervention. He's against interfering in the internal affairs of other nations.

He accused Erdogan of "beating the war drum." He added that regional meddling worsened relations with Iraq, Iran and Syria. He wants Turkey supporting peaceful conflict resolution.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) parliamentary group Deputy Chairman, Hasip Kaplan, explained dangers of Turkey being pro-war. It's support makes it more likely.

On April 12, Press TV cited Syrian state television, saying "armed men assassinated an al-Mazareeb town official." Witnesses said insurgents shot Naser Bhkeit Naser from a passing car without license plates.

Other insurgents "killed an army officer and injured 24 others after they targeted a military bus with an explosive device in Syria’s second largest city of Aleppo."

In addition, "terrorists targeted a law-enforcement vehicle with an explosive device at Wadi Haj Khaled region in Idleb on Thursday, injuring a number of officers."

Brigadier General Walid Jouni was killed in Jaramana near Damascus. Syria's Interior Ministry said terrorists attacked him at home.

Syrian television said armed groups "intensif(ied) criminal operations in an attempt to destabilize Syria and torpedo" peace. Expect larger-scale eruptions ahead. Assad, of course, will be blamed. Calls for intervention will increase.

Syria's UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari said his government is testing the credibility of nations supporting ceasefire terms.

"Because they are disappointed, they are still betting on every possibility to sabotage the plan."

"I would like to refer to some Arab and regional countries and some international powers, because the Syrian crisis has local, Arab and regional dimensions, and an international one."

"Consequently, it is not enough that the Syrian government shows full commitment to Annan's plan, but all sides have to stand by us clearly and unequivocally."

He also said nations skeptical about Syria's resolve want conflict, not peace. They're responsible for violent incidents. He accused so-called Friends of Syria of plotting "to overthrow" the government.

Arming and funding insurgents reveals their real agenda. Syria's "a victim of diplomatic, political, media," and terrorist aggression. "(W)e have a lot of evidence and proofs that will embarrass the countries which sponsored terror in Syria, but we will uncover this at a suitable time."

A Final Comment

Washington's Syria regime change plans remain on track. They're longstanding. Other nations are also targeted. Independent governments aren't tolerated.

Replacing them with client states is prioritized. All strategies are employed including war. Syria is target one, then Iran. Annan's sham peace plan provides cover.

Peace and stability defeat America's agenda. Relative calm will end in short order. Eruptions promise greater ones.

Expect NATO intervention. Turkey's the likely vanguard. Washington pulls the strings. Its dirty hands itch for more slaughter and destruction.

Bullying is a US specialty. So isn't unchallenged dominance. The worst is yet to come. Bet on it.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

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Sarkozy Loss and its Syrian effects

  Partially translated

"Syria, the Arab Yugoslavia of Middle East"

Nobody in France doubts that the next French President will not be (Nicolas Sarkozy)... he lost the battle and is no longer able to regain the initiative...

According to the electoral polls and Data nothing may alter the outcome in this crucial phase of voter options, the polls history of French presidential election doesn’t show a candidate a second term Presidency say losing with this big difference, six months before the date of the ballot.

There is no doubt that Sarkozy will leave the Elysee Palace, that his exit will have significant impacts on external files where Sarkozy  (Security Council, military intervention and political pressure). The Syrian file constitute the most important file in French foreign policy since years ago, the French stand will change... especially with the USA entering (coma) until November next election.....

The effects of the fall of Sarkozy to Syria ...

Nicolas Sarkozy and his Foreign Minister Alain Juppe adopted an irrevocable clash policy with the regime in Syria.

Both, since the beginning of the crisis, never stopped calling Assad to step down, France has turned the UN Security Council into a huge archive of failed draft resolution against Syria, and Paris has turned into a shelter for all types of the Syrian opposition, participated in the creation of the Syrian National Council which enjoys recognition and stewardship, even after moving from politics to military action financing, arming and defending the armed groups in Syria, calling them sometimes of civilian demonstrators and freedom fighters other times, as by Juppe himself described them on one occasion.

These high ceiling positions made it difficult for Sarkosy and Juppe to undo or redo any type of relations with Damascus, the situation will be different entirely with the Socialist candidate socialist candidate François HOLLANDE  for the following reasons:

1.    François HOLLANDE retained a wider margin of greater by avoiding high ceiling remarks and uncompromising positions, and confining d his remarks to denounce "oppression" without any political positions. He never asked Assad to step down and this will give him a great margin in the event he won the Presidency,

2.  François HOLLANDE have to address the economic problems of the country and prevent, via European action, the catastrophe in Spain and Italy to extend to France, therefore he would avoid getting involved in Syria and concentrate on his accumulated internal problems

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No Passover For Palestine

kenny's sideshow

Blood of the lamb over the door and the angel of death passes by. Escape from slavery in Egypt and the sea will part. Oops, God got a little mad at the jews for their continual backsliding away from him and conveniently forget to program the GPS and the tribe spent the next 40 years wandering around in circles. Good thing some food fell from the sky. One can get hungry lost in the desert.

It doesn't really matter to me if people want to celebrate a myth to try and perpetuate their 'chosenness' and 'eternal victimhood' but when our own president feels the need to pander to their 'traditions' in order to gather in their money while bowing to their influence ..... maybe that's taking it a bit too far.

When President Obama joins Jewish guests for a Passover Seder in the White House, he'll be holding a ritual handbook that's in millions of U.S. Jewish homes -- the Maxwell House Haggadah. {good to the last drop I suppose}

What is funny in a distorted kind of way is that it's reported that Obama's passover message is one of "the importance of tolerance and acceptance of all faiths, races, and lifestyles."

There's the off chance that Barry is sending a message to the Israelis that their treatment of Palestinians is not consistent with the tenets of their 'religion' but I'm not counting on it. Even if that were true, I don't think the Israeli leaders really care what he says.

"Acceptance of all faiths, races and lifestyles" certainly doesn't mean stealing land, bulldozing homes and forcing inhabitants into exile, does it? It happens as we speak.

Blood smeared over the entrance doorways will not stop the Israeli 'angels of death' from destroying and taking what is not theirs to take.

There will never be a miraculous passover for Palestinians. Only through the efforts and persistence of real life flesh and blood human oriented folks will the insanity of the racist apartheid criminal state of Israel be stopped.

We're not even close to achieving that goal ..... but we're working on it. It's not only in the Palestinians' best interests ..... but ours as well.

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NATO REPORTS: SYRIA AT ANY COST

SNIPPITS AND SNAPPITS

But prefers "cheapest" method possible

~ exposes Annan "peace deal"

as insidious gambit to "buy time."

By Tony Cartalucci
Land DestroyerApril 13, 2012

As if there was any doubt, NATO's official "Alliance News Blog" has confirmed that the US is committed to the overthrow of Syria's government and is "already committed to helping [President Bashar al-Assad] fall," but is "merely looking for the least violent, lowest cost way to get there."

The April 9, 2012 blog entry features an op-ed titled, "US 'already committed to helping Assad fall'," and fully admits that the US is equipping the so-called "Free Syrian Army" which has received weapons, leadership, and cash from the NATO-backed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) terrorists led by notorious mass-murderer Abdul Hakim Belhaj.

Image: (Enlarge) NATO's official "Alliance News Blog proudly reports that the US is already committed to helping "Assad fall" and is simply using the lull in fighting brought on by Kofi Annan's disingenuous "peace plan" to rearm, reorganize, and redeploy their terrorist proxy forces against Assad. The op-ed featured on NATO's blog was featured in the LA Times and written by CFR member Doyle McManus. (Click image to enlarge)

Additionally, NATO admits that the Kofi Annan brokered "peace deal" is merely a ploy stating, "if the pace of the killing slows, that could buy time: time for economic sanctions to undermine the regime, time to cajole Russia to switch sides and help pull the rug out from Assad, but also time for the opposition and its new army to organize themselves into a more effective force." This confirms what the Fortune 500-funded US policy think-tank Brookings Institution said regarding Kofi Annan's plan. In Brookings' latest report, "Assessing Options for Regime Change" it is stated (emphasis added):

"An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which would have to be backed by limited military power.

This would, of course, fall short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its efforts." ~ page 4, Assessing Options for Regime Change, Brookings Institution.

Image: Brookings Institution's Middle East Memo #21 "Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf)," makes no secret that the humanitarian "responsibility to protect" is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.

Not only has the US and NATO been lying to the world with the United Nations fully complicit, but they now are openly admitting as much ~ that their feigned aspirations to end the bloodshed in Syria is merely a ploy to buy time for their faltering proxy terrorist force to reorganize itself and finish dividing and destroying Syria as NATO-proxies have thoroughly done in Libya.

NATO admits that military intervention is not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" depending on a predetermined number of objectives that must be achieved first. These include the Syrian opposition getting better organized, assurances that military aid wouldn't fall into the hands of "radical Islamists," and for Turkey, just as Brookings previously stated, "to establish safe havens for the opposition along its border with Syria."
Certainly, openly conspiring to wage a war of aggression, when Syria has in no way threatened any NATO member nor the national security of leading NATO-member, the United States, is a Nuremberg offense ~ a crime against humanity.

The chaos unfolding inside Syria today is not the result of a government wantonly killing its own population, but a documented case of a government fighting an overtly foreign-funded armed group, carrying out atrocities on par with anything the

Syrian government has been accused of ~ this according to the West's own Human Rights Watch. Compounding their criminality is the fact that instead of taking advantage of a ceasefire to broker a peace deal and begin reconciliation, they are instead using the lull in fighting to prepare the next round of bloodshed they are fully prepared to fund and arm.

Far from speculation, the conclusion that NATO is guilty of crimes against humanity is based on the West's own United Nations which stands in violation of its own laws stemming from World War II, Nazi aggression, and the conclusions drawn from the Nuremberg trials (description of Nuremberg counts begins on page 23 of the .pdf).

Failure in Syria by the forces of NATO and their accomplices in the UN would ultimately undermine permanently their authority, their legitimacy, and their perceived moral superiority. Expect them to stop at nothing to topple the Syrian government ~ regardless of how tenuous their position increasingly becomes.

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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