Yemen: USA are fighting against democracy, not against Al-Qaeda http://www.voltairenet.org/article163938.htmlYemen, one of the world’s poorest countries and a crucial US ally, is beleaguered by an armed resistance and a secessionist movement that are threatening its stability and trigger a possible spillover. The United States might thus run the risk of losing control of this much coveted region, which Washington intends to destabilize anyway, but on its own terms.
In the following interview conducted by two Belgian journalists for Investig’Action, Mohammed Hassan analyses the present imbroglio from a historical angle, concluding that the Al Qaeda terrorist threat is only an excuse; what is really unfolding is the undermining of democracy in the Gulf in order to keep control over its oil.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Latin America: Groups Condemn US Militarization http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2010/02/wnu-1021-groups-condemn-us.html
Meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 24-29 for the 10th annual World Social Forum, 24 Latin American social organizations issued a statement denouncing what they called a “new, aggressive escalation of imperialism.” The groups charged that there was an “expansion of the US military presence in the region” that “seeks, in addition to intimidating the political transformation processes in the region, to position [US] military force in strategic areas of great natural wealth.”
The statement cited the creation of seven new military bases with US participation in Colombia; Panama’s agreement to set up 11 bases, also with US involvement [see Update #1018]; and the “military invasion in the name of humanitarian aid after the catastrophe that occurred in Haiti,” a reference to the deployment of thousands of US troops to Port-au-Prince in response to a magnitude 7.0 earthquake there on Jan. 12. Further evidence of US militarization of the region includes, according to the statement, the reactivation of the US Navy’s Fourth Fleet in the South Atlantic and Caribbean, and “coup initiatives, such as occurred in Honduras [on June 28, 2009] with the logistical support of the US military base in Palmerola.”
The groups signing the statement included Vía Campesina (Campesino Way), World March of Women, Jubilee South, Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST), the Honduran National Front of Resistance Against the Coup d’Etat and a number of national and regional labor and grassroots organizations. “Humanitarian aid, yes! Military occupation, no!” was one of the slogans when Argentine leftist parties and groups marched in Buenos Aires on Feb. 5 from the Plaza Italia to the US embassy to protest the presence of foreign troops in Haiti, both US troops and the 9,000-member Brazilian-led United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Argentina supplies hundreds of the MINUSTAH soldiers
COMMENT-for lack of space we just posted the best highlight,theres more at weeklynews link above dealing with whole western hemisphere...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colombian press live in terror: Top journalists http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8121-colombian-press-live-in-terror-leading-journalists.html
Two high profile Colombian journalists condemned the state of journalism in the Andean nation, saying that many reporters live in a "state of terror" at a press conference Tuesday celebrating Colombia's Day of the Journalist. "Journalism in Colombia is mortally wounded and we have little to celebrate today and much to denounce," said journalist Hollman Morris.
Morris addressed the conference along with fellow journalist Claudia Julieta Duque. Both have received death threats for their work and presented evidence of threats, harassment and being followed.They blamed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for their mistreatment, referring to the illegal wire tappings and tracking of journalists conducted by security agency DAS.http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/3767-ex-das-director-lied-to-supreme-court-magistrate.html
"The proof and testimony in the possession of the Prosecutor General and the Supreme Court of Justice are convincing in signaling the responsibility of the head of State, by action and omission," said Morris.The ex-director of DAS, Jorge Noguera has given evidence that Uribe was aware of the illegal activity.A preliminary report released today by the Foundation for the Liberty of the Press (FLIP) finds the DAS illegal wire-tappings of journalists to be the greatest obstacle to press freedom of the press in Colombia.
Uribe responded to criticisms in a radio interview on RCN, saying his government "will continue make every effort possible to ensure that journalism in Colombia be free".These criticisms follow the sacking of two directors of news magazine Cambio, and the decision to turn the influential weekly into a monthly magazine. These incidences are widely believed to be the result of the magazine's criticism of the government, claims which Uribe denied to RCN
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dispatches From The Greatest Democracy Ever http://www.borev.net/2010/01/dispatches_from_the_greatest_d.html
Hey it's been a while since we checked in on our #1 best friend in the hemisphere, so let's take a peek and see what valuable lessons of democracy we can learn Let's see, in the last week alone, The Colombian government has been forced to acknowledge its role in the assassination of an opposition Senator.Let's see, in the last week alone, The Colombian government has been forced to acknowledge its role in the assassination of an opposition Senator.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012804650.html
Then somebody turned up a brand new mass grave chock full of more than two thousand "social leaders, campesinos and community human rights defenders" who managed to piss off the government. Two Thousand.http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1303
Meantime President Uribe unveiled his new plan for infiltrating drug gangs by bribing poor kids into suicide spy cults. And while new stats show that a quarter of a million Colombians were forced out of their homes last year http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/86149
b/c of violence, it turns outthat other stats, the ones showing urban murder rates going down, were basically just faked by the government. http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/7910-government-agency-finds-discrepancy-in-reported-homicides.html
Oh and Uribe's entire intelligence team is about to go on trial for wiretapping journalists.http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26117264.htmIn other words: situation normal, trade deal by spring!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran Urges Pakistan to Harness Jundollah Terrorist Group http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8811201419
An Iranian top diplomat on Tuesday called on the Pakistani authorities to initiate proper measures to harness the Pakistani-based Jundollah terrorist group.
"Jundollah is operator of the attack on commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in (Iran's southeastern city of) Zahedan, so Pakistan should control the (terrorist) group," Iran's Consul-General in Pakistan's northeastern city of Lahore Saeed Kharazi told reporters.
"Jundollah's terrorist operations are against the interests of the two brotherly and neighborly countries of Iran and Pakistan" Kharazi said, adding, "The government of Iran has submitted all the necessary documents and evidence on the group to the government of Pakistan." Elsewhere, the diplomat blamed the US military buildup in the region for growing terrorism, and added, "Therefore, the US military forces should leave the region soon."
COMMENT-see... CIA funds Jundullah in Balochistan to attack Iran http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxlmHabxfXA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wars Sending US into Ruin http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24614.htm
Obama's total military budget is nearly $1 trillion. This includes Pentagon spending of $880 billion. Add secret black programs (about $70 billion); military aid to foreign nations like Egypt, Israel and Pakistan; 225,000 military "contractors" (mercenaries and workers); and veterans' costs. Add $75 billion (nearly four times Canada's total defence budget) for 16 intelligence agencies with 200,000 employees.
The Afghanistan and Iraq wars ($1 trillion so far), will cost $200-250 billion more this year, including hidden and indirect expenses. Obama's Afghan "surge" of 30,000 new troops will cost an additional $33 billion - more than Germany's total defence budget.No wonder U.S. defence stocks rose after Peace Laureate Obama's "austerity" budget.Military and intelligence spending relentlessly increase as unemployment heads over 10% and the economy bleeds red ink.
The Pentagon now accounts for half of total world military spending. Add America's rich NATO allies and Japan, and the figure reaches 75%.China and Russia combined spend only a paltry 10% of what the U.S. spends on defence.There are 750 U.S. military bases in 50 nations and 255,000 service members stationed abroad, 116,000 in Europe, nearly 100,000 in Japan and South Korea.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twelve arrested in U.S. for disrupting Israel ambassador http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148561.html
Police intervene after hecklers scream "killers" during speech by Michael Oren at California university. Hecklers interrupted Oren's lecture at Irving University in Los Angeles over 10 times, shouting "killers" and "how many Palestinians did you kill?" Oren took a 20 minute break after the fourth protest, only to be interrupted again by young men yelling at him every few minutes, local press reported.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jerusalem mayor to raze 200 Palestinian homes http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11061.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Jerusalem's mayor threatened last week to demolish 200 homes in Palestinian neighborhoods of the city in an act even he conceded would probably bring long-simmering tensions over housing in East Jerusalem to a boil. His uncompromising stance is the latest stage in a protracted legal battle over a single building towering above the jumble of modest homes of Silwan. Jonathan Cook reports from Jerusalem.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human rights group: IOA escalating detention of Palestinian women http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7i7j87et%2b42wns8hJrbhbeLZaDkCzYVtyj3R02XQKphkpEblk81rZnK4P0A5L6WvJYlkAKimdJyLbGRi0If%2fNGjd2oOBJgznVuQIbgksXEus%3d
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment