Israel rejects UNHRC resolution http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271583

Israel rejected a UN Human Rights Council resolution urging the country to pay Palestinians for damage incurred during the military assault on Gaza that began in late 2008. "The UNHRC resolution… has nothing to do with safeguarding human rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement, according to The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper.

comment-also read....UN rights council adopts resolutions criticizing Israel http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2010/03/un-rights-council-adopts-resolutions.php   The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] on Wednesday passed three resolutions [press release] critical of Israeli practices towards Syrian and Palestinian territories. The resolutions were adopted [Haaretz report] during the 13th session of the UNHRC [materials] held in Geneva. One resolution titled "The grave human rights violations by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem" passed by a vote of 31 to 9 and made specific demands on Israel including:

... that the occupying Power, Israel, end its occupation of the Palestinian land occupied since 1967, and that it respect its commitments within the peace process towards the establishment of the independent sovereign Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security with all its neighbours;

... that the occupying Power, Israel, stop the targeting of civilians and the systematic destruction of the cultural heritage of the Palestinian people, in addition to the destruction of public and private properties, as laid down in the Fourth Geneva Convention

... that Israel, the occupying Power, respect the religious and cultural rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in occupied East Jerusalem, as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the core international human rights instruments, the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Conventions, and that it allow Palestinian citizens and worshippers unhindered access to their properties and religious sites therein

Erdogan slams Israeli 'united Jerusalem' policy http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=272024

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told conveners at the Arab League summit on Saturday that Israel is unwise to consider Jerusalem as its united capital. "This is madness and does not commit us in any way," Erdogan said. "Jerusalem is the apple of each and every Muslims' eye ... we cannot accept any Israeli violation against Jerusalem or Muslim holy sites."

Palestinian Families Expelled From Their Homes,Then Get Billed For It! http://www.politicaltheatrics.net/2010/03/palestinian-families-expelled-from-their-homesthen-get-billed-for-it/

'If you thought getting kicked out of your home was bad enough, think again. In “Israel”, if you are expelled, do not be surprised if you get billed for it. The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economical Rights (JCCER) reported that the Zionist police handed a Palestinian family from Eastern Jerusalem an order on Wednesday to pay 13.000 NIS, demanding family members to pay the expenses of their expulsion from their home.'

Breaking Gaza: Two Martyrs and Many Critically Injured in Khan Younis http://www.paltelegraph.com/palestine/gaza-strip/5030-breakin-gaza-2-martyrs-and-many-critically-injured-in-khan-younis

'The IOF carried an invasion in khan younis opening random fire on civilians causing many injuries among them.

All kinds of Israeli air crafts were over seeing and protecting the ground IOF while the invasion, then they missiled a playground in khan younis targeting a bunch of children playing football. 3 children were critically injured, Abd Rabbu, 6 years, got hit in the back and is currently in the ICU.'

New EU Gestapo Spies on Britons http://express.co.uk/posts/view/165256/New-EU-gestapo-spies-on-Britons

'Millions of Britons face being snooped on by a new European intelligence agency which has been handed frightening powers to pry into our lives.

Europol can access personal information on anyone – including their political opinions and sexual preferences – if it suspects, rightly or wrongly, that they may be involved in any “preparatory act” which could lead to criminal activity.

The vagueness of the Hague-based force’s remit sparked furious protests yesterday with critics warning that the EU snoopers threaten our right to free speech.'

Chirac Ordered to Stand Trial for Fraud http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121845&sectionid=351020603

'Former French President Jacques Chirac is faced with a long prison sentence for embezzlement after a Paris court ordered him to stand trial.Chirac might get ten years in prison after being accused of creating 'fictitious' jobs in order to pay his political colleagues during his time as Paris mayor between 1977-1995.'

Devil in the Details: Honduras' Budget Proposal http://hondurasculturepolitics.blogspot.com/2010/03/devil-in-details-honduras-budget.html

Big losers in the proposed budget: the Fondo Hondureño de Inversión Social (FHIS), which would lose about 25% of its budget, affecting its mission of providing funding for social development projects;the Consejo Hondureño de Ciencia y Tecnología appears to face a budget more than 95% reduced from 2009, perhaps indicating that in Honduras as in the US, right wing governments think science and technology are best left to the private sector;

meanwhile, the Direccion de Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria would lose more than 50% of its 2009 funding, presumably indicating that the application of science and technology to farming and animal husbandry is something recognized as usefully done by government;the Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal will experience about a 13% decline, presumably not good for its mission of encouraging forest ecosystem preservation and development;

University of Regina Faculty Say No to "Project Hero" and Canadian Imperialism http://mostlywater.org/canada_no_project_hero

We...urge you to withdraw our university immediately from participation in the “Project Hero” scholarship program. This program, which waives tuition and course fees, and provides $1,000 per year to “dependents of Canadian Forces personnel deceased while serving with an active mission”, is a glorification of Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan and elsewhere. We do not want our university associated with the political impulse to unquestioning glorification of military action.

mash.whiskey : Innocent Palestinian civilians bogusly called terrorists http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Article/066711-2010-03-27-palestinian-political-prisoners.htm

The numbers vary but range at any time from over 7,000 to 12,000 or more. In April 2008, the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel cited 11,000, including 345 children and 98 women. Over 1,000 suffered from chronic or other diseases. Around 150 were seriously ill from heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, and 195 or more Palestinians died or were killed in prison since 1967.  As of January 2009, Adalah said about "22,500 individuals were imprisoned or detained in Israeli prisons; around 70% (or 15,750 are) Arabs."

Included are 9,735 Palestinians, nearly 80% classified as "security." Of these, 570 were administrative detainees, uncharged by order of an administrative official, not a judge. Another 20 were so-called "unlawful combatants" under Israel's Unlawful Combatants Law (UCL), saying they're not entitled to POW status under international law because they either took part in hostilities against Israel (directly or indirectly) or belong to a force carrying them out. No proof is needed, only "a reasonable basis for believing" the designation is accurate, and under UCL, detentions can be permanent, without trial or judicial fairness. 

According to the Addameer Prisoners' Support and Human Rights Association, since 1967, "over 650,000 have been detained by Israel," about 20% of the total Occupied Territory (OPT) population and 40% of the male population. Most are held in Palestine, but many thousands in Israeli civil and military prisons, in violation of numerous Fourth Geneva provisions, including Article 49 stating: 

"....forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons (including prisoners) from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive." This applies to OPT prisoners, most of whom are political victims of militarized oppression, or in other words, guilty of being Palestinian. In addition, Fourth Geneva states protected persons shall be detained in the occupied territory and, if convicted, serve there sentences therein.

PSAC condemns closing of Human Rights Commission office http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/25/c5241.html

The Public Service Alliance of Canada condemns the Harper government's decision to close Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax. The union maintains that the closure of the three offices will make it substantially harder for individuals from marginalized groups to launch human rights complaints. The three offices slated for closure received 70 per cent of all signed complaints to the CHRC in 2008. 

The union, which represents CHRC employees, says this latest attack will have a particular impact on racialized people and recent immigrants. In many cases, the closures will make it much more difficult to challenge both systemic abuses and individual instances of discrimination. For John Gordon, National President of PSAC, the closures are indicative of a strategy by the Conservative government to destabilize human rights organizations and women's groups in Canada. 

"When the Conservatives took power in 2006, one of their first moves was to abolish the Court Challenges Program and close Status of Women Canada offices across the country," Gordon said. "Women's groups were denied government funding if they engaged in research or advocacy work, and equality-seeking groups lost the ability to fund Charter of Rights challenges. The government has also cancelled funding to notable NGOs such as KAIROS, and appointed ultra-conservative partisan board members to Rights & Democracy - manufacturing a massive crisis within the organization. The closure of CHRC offices is another example of this outrageous trend."

VIDEO-Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid http://www.mediacoop.ca/video/3134

Yves Engler author of ''building apartheid''

World Cup Knock-Out South Africa to score big public debt in 2010 http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3175

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki wrote in his country’s 2004 bid to host the 2010 World Cup: “We want to ensure that one day, historians will reflect upon the 2010 World Cup as a moment when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on poverty and conflict.”

Contrary to Mbeki’s professed aim of unity and economic development, it seems the legacy of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be limited to a handful of multinational and national corporations making massive profits on the backs of a reserve army of labour and through the generation of massive public debt.

Obama Backs Public Subsidy of Biofuels despite Eco-trash, Food Shortages http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/obama-backs-public-subsidy-of-biofuels-despite-eco-trash-food-shortages/#more-6545

GMWatch collected these two essays, The Trouble with Biofuel and The Case against Biofuels, noting:Despite strong evidence that growing food crops to produce “biofuels” is seriously harming both the environment and the world’s poor, the Obama administration is backing big subsidies and programmes that are boosting their use.

The decision by the European Union to obtain 10% of all transport fuels from “biofuels” by 2020 is proving equally disastrous for poor countries – see EU biofuels significantly harming food production in developing countries.But while “biofuels” are a disaster for the environemnt and the world’s poor, they are a massive shot in the arm for the biotech industry and big agribiz.

Venezuela: ‘We are going to resist’ http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/832/42807

Do you think the US will organise an invasion? We are afraid that there could be a military action against us — a military aggression against the revolution, which means against the Venezuelan people. The US is desperate because of what is happening in Venezuela. Venezuela is an example for the world, which it is trying to stop. It could be so desperate as to invade us in a response of madness. But the Venezuelan people are prepared. We are going to resist.

comment-see articles below from cl. robert kellikow...

Venezuela: Another socialist activist killed http://www.greenleft.org.au/2010/832/42789

Jorge Enrique Medina Delgado, a member of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), was assassinated on March 17 in San Antonio del Tachira in the opposition-controlled state of Tachira. Alexander Ramirez, a local PSUV councillor said Delgado is the third PSUV activist to be assassinated in Tachira in the past six weeks. 

Delgado, a 51-year-old, school teacher, was a local PSUV leader and active member of the El Palotal communal council. Delgado was shot by two people on a motorcycle who fired into the vehicle Delgado was travelling in. Delgado’s wife was also shot twice, but survived. Ramirez accused the opposition Tachira governor Cesar Perez Vivas of being behind the escalating violence against PSUV members in the state. 

Ramirez said Colombian paramilitary groups financed by Perez Vivas are infiltrating the local security forces and generating fear in the border state. He said paramilitaries were extorting local traders and street vendors, forcing them to pay protection money. “Many of them are infiltrators in Tachira state police, where they collect all the information and work with intelligence groups.”  Ramirez declared: "We hold the fascist governor Cesar Perez Vivas responsible.”

Eva Golinger // Internet revolution in Venezuela http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/03/internet-revolution-in-venezuela.html

MEDIA BATTLEGROUND – INTERNET AS A WEAPON While the Venezuelan state has been empowering its own citizens to enter the world of cyberspace in a conscienciouss and responsible way, another government has been training and funding a select group of Venezuelans to destabilize their nation and promote regime change using the Internet as a weapon.

During the last few years, more than $7 million USD have been channeled from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to anti-Chavez youth and student groups in Venezuela to “strengthen new media tools that can improve access to information and allow open and productive debate on the Internet”. Since 2002, USAID has funded hundreds of opposition organizations and political parties in Venezuela with over $50 million USD in an ongoing effort to promote the overthrow of the Chavez administration.

Forty-three young political activists funded by the State Department were brought to the AYM Summit from nations such as Sri Lanka, Colombia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Lebannon, Turkey, Moldovia, Malaysia, Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela. The Venezuelan attendees were Yon Goicochea, current leader of the ultra-conservative Primero Justicia party, and winner of Cato Institute’s Milton Friedman Award for promoting neoliberal politics;

Geraldine Alvarez, member of Goichochea’s foundation Futuro Presente, created with funding from US agencies;and Rafael Delgado, another former student leader associated with the opposition.The goal of the State Department event was to capacitate selected youth with the knowledge, technology and funding to promote “Twitter Revolutions” in their countries, citing the examples of Iran, Moldovia and the anti-FARC and anti-Chavez marches promoted in Colombia via Facebook and Twitter.

Accusations flying left and right by the embedded press against leftist leaders http://www.pr-inside.com/accusations-flying-left-and-right-by-r1800386.htm

Just consider how Iran and Venezuela have been the victims of a press campaign to make them look like countries that harbor terrorists, and how squeaky clean the countries of the west are, and the great respect that they have for human rights by comparison. The joke here is by far both Iran and Venezuela are not as bad as they are made out to be by the news media of both Europe and North America

Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA http://www.voltairenet.org/article164650.html

Consider other militarizing developments as well. On February 14, 2008, the US and Canada agreed to allow American troops inside Canada. Canadians were told nothing of this agreement, which was drafted in 2002. Neither was it discussed in Congress or in the Canadian House of Commons. The agreement establishes “bilateral integration” of military command structures in areas of immigration, law enforcement, intelligence, or whatever else the Pentagon or Washington wishes. Overall, it’s part of the “war on terror” and militarizing the continent to make it “safer” for business and being prepared for any civilian opposition.

Mexico is also being targeted, with a “Plan Mexico” that was announced in October 2007. It’s a Mexican and Central American security plan called the Merida Initiative, supported by $1.4 billion in allocated aid. Congress will soon vote on this initiative, likely well before this is published. It’s a “regional security cooperation initiative” similar to Plan Colombia and presented as an effort to fight drug trafficking.

In fact, the Merida Initiative is part of SPP’s militarization of Mexico and gives Washington more control of the country. Most of the aid goes to Mexico’s military and police forces, with a major portion earmarked for US defense contractors for equipment, training, and maintenance. The touchy issue of deploying US troops will be avoided by instead employing private US security forces, i.e., Blackwater and DynCorp.

Not a game of tango: It's a freedom struggle! http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/72741

"Apartheid in Israel is real! Discrimination and inequality arising from state policies impact unfairly on non-Jews that include Muslim and Christian Palestinians. They are the “other” whose access to education, work, health care and even marriage is either completely denied or at best severely restricted....While apartheid in South Africa imposed draconian measures to separate black and white, Israel applies worse tools from its military arsenal to keep Jews and Palestinians apart."

BS/ALERT!!!- “Mexico is only one part, though probably the most important one, of a theater of operations that stretches from the Venezuelan-Cuban-Iranian alliance and the Andean Ridge, through Columbia and the FARC, up the cartel-controlled drug routes through Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico, and into the United States,” http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/25/a_word_of_advice_now_that_the_media_is_hot_to_trot_on_mexico_s_drug_violence  writes Col. Bob Killebrew of the influential Center for a New American Security , on the Foreign Policy blog of former Washington Post reporter Tom Ricks. “The Venezuelan alliance is almost a classic geopolitical attempt to deny the US access to Latin America — probably including Mexico — and to gain access to our southern border.” 

comment-some backround on Robert Killebrew – Robert B Killebrew  Study Member (security strategies), Project for a New American Century http://www.nssg.gov/About_Us/People/Study_Group_Staff/Robert_Killebrew/robert_killebrew.htm  heres an interesting discussion at the national journal on national security concerning this venezuela-iran alliance but from a little more then half a year ago...see...Opposition To Or Engagement With Latin American Leftists? http://security.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/opposition-to-or-engagement-wi.php#1342637

1st comment highlight-  Chavez and Iran have formed an alliance that is potentially harmful to the US-- and spare me the "axis of evil" distractions. Hezbollah -- which acts as an overseas arm of Iranian foreign policy -- is in South America, and has entered through Venezuela. Chavez is actively promoting, through his contacts with Iran, with his oil money and through other means (like supporting the FARC) an agenda that is harmful to our interests.

I agree with General McCaffery that we need constructive policies down there, but those constructive policies have to be developed with an appreciation of our national interests, not freighted down with '80s guilt any more than they should be by the neo-imperialism of earlier times.Chavez may eventually collapse of his own weight, but in the meantime he and his pals have to be taken seriously; at a minimum, we should aid other countries in the region whose democracies are in danger of being subverted.

2nd comment highlight- http://security.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/opposition-to-or-engagement-wi.php#1342577  I personally always thought Chavez was just a clownish dictator who was going to eventually crash; I think we need to look again at what he's accomplishing in the region. Iran may eventually collapse internally -- recent events continue to be hopeful. But if in its travails it decides to be more externally aggressive, we should look to Venezuela to be a conduit. Finally, Chavez & Co -- including Iran, Hezbollah and AQ -- are involved in the Latin American transnational crime stew that is causing such turmoil at our borders and inside the United States.

There is a crossover point at which Venezuela's support for the FARC, the criminal gangs like MS-13, and the Mexican Cartels all make common cause, though indirect, against the governments of Latin American states and the U.S. Honduras is about to be attacked along this line. My friends who are real Latin experts tell me the young, all-male pro-Zelaya mobs in Honduran, for example, are rented by Chavez.

this is from his 3rd comment- http://security.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/opposition-to-or-engagement-wi.php#1342151  I was the commander of JTF-B there in the early '90s, and the Honduran Army and Air Force -- at least at that time, but I doubt that it's changed much -- was shot through with West Pointers and graduates of our various service schools. Their emerging democratic government was awash with Ivy-League graduates and English-speaking democrats who looked to the U.S. as their patrons (ISS - Key leaders of Honduras military coup trained in U.S http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/06/key-leaders-of-honduras-military-coup-trained-in-us.html  )

While maintaining the "stern uncle" attitude with reference to the ouster of Zelaya, the U.S. has got to also make it clear that we will tolerate no outside interference in Honduran affairs, and back it up with aid and support. Much more is at stake here than just Zelaya's fate or the survival of the interim government of Honduras. (Washington behind the Honduras coup: Here is the evidence http://links.org.au/node/1147 )

this is from another one of the colonels posts-Good advice Hybrid warfare demands an indirect approach BY COL. ROBERT KILLEBREW (RET http://security.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/opposition-to-or-engagement-wi.php#1342395  5. The number of students from foreign military forces attending U.S. military schools — about 7,500 — is far too small and should be increased. The departments of Defense and State should make serious cooperative efforts to recruit as many allied officers as possible, and to work with Congress to reduce the cost to host countries to send their promising officers to U.S. schools. 

The wisest course would be to eliminate entirely the cost to host countries and shift the expense to the defense budget; although the cost may be significant to a small, struggling country, it is peanuts to us. No program is so likely to return investment over the long term as having allied officers with U.S. experience and U.S. friends in our armed forces. Adding more foreign officers to U.S. military schools likewise will bring U.S. officers into contact with allied officers, leading in some cases to lasting friendships that can pay strategic dividends at crucial times.

here is some backround on Col. Bob Killebrew's  influential ''Center for a New American Security'' http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_a_New_American_Security   Involvement in the Obama transition team"When President-elect Barack Obama released a roster of his transition advisers last week, many of the national-security appointments came from the ranks of the center," reported the Wall Street Journal in November 2008. CNAS co-founder Michele Flournoy "is one of two top members of Mr. Obama's defense transition team and is likely to be offered a high-ranking position at the Pentagon. ...

Wendy Sherman, co-head of the Obama State Department transition team, also serves on the center's board of advisers and is expected to land a high-ranking post [in the new Administration]. Richard Danzig, a front-runner for defense secretary, is on the think tank's board of directors. Susan Rice and James Steinberg, both of whom are on Mr. Obama's short list for national security adviser, serve on its board of advisers." [3]

Board of Directors The Honorable Dr. William J. Perry, Chairman of the Board, Professor and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University The Honorable Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, Principal, The Albright Group LLC The Honorable Richard L. Armitage, President, Armitage International Norman R. Augustine, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Admiral Dennis C. Blair, USN (Ret.), Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command The Honorable Dr. Richard J. Danzig, Sam Nunn Prize Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies The Honorable William J. Lynn, Senior Vice President, Government Operations & Strategy, Raytheon Company Lt Gen Gregory S. Newbold, USMC (Ret.), Managing Director, Torch Hill Capital John D. Podesta, President and CEO, Center for American Progress

also see...Obama Dips Into Think Tank for Talent http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122688537606232319.html

The center's budget comes mainly from foundations such as the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and it also gets some government money to study particular issues."The success of Brookings begat AEI. The success of AEI begat Heritage. And the success of Heritage begat CAP and CNAS," said Murray Weidenbaum, an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis who wrote a book on Washington think tanks.