The Enemy of my enemy if not my friend…

Well I don’t like defending religious nuts. So I find it hard to defend Hezbollah in the face of the Israel on slot. Because of many of my previous posts I thought it necessary to make it clear that the enemy (Hezbollah) of my enemy (Religious fascists) are NOT my friends. Nothing would make be happier to have the Israelis wipe from the face of the earth the Islamic fundamentalist. I also think that although the Israeli government is acting in like a thug to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, they have cause to have fear. It is understandable why the Israelis distrust and fear the Arabs in their midst, because of the Suicide bombing. No matter how you justify the rational for such attacks, they are violent attacks and should be deplored.

I do not deplore the Israelis because of their attacks on Hezbollah, I applaud them. At the present moment (and it was not a simple path here) Hezbollah’s continued rocket attacks against northern Israel (as opposed to attacking the Israeli solders in Lebanon, that would be defendable and moral) only justifies the Israeli attack. No I fear the Israeli attack because of the innocent or semi-innocent (I would classify myself as semi-innocent because of my defence of Palestinian rights and condemnation of Israeli oppression in the soon to be mostly annexed West Bank) people who are being killed, injured, displaced and harmed by their grouping and clumsy attempt to punish Hezbollah. What Israel is doing is laying the seeds for further conflict. It is created more enemies in Lebanon. It has single handedly strengthened Hezbollah beyond anything it could ever have hopped for. It is hard to believe that anyone living in Lebanon now would think the Israelis the innocents and will find themselves more open to the propaganda of the religious fundamentalists. In the next couple of years the ranks of the true terrorist organizations (of which an arm of Hezbollah is) will swell with the orphans and grieving left behind by the Israelis.

There is a movement afoot by the international community to finally but in a UN force with strength to ensure Israelis northern border is peaceful. I would hope it would equally ensure that the influence of Israel, the US, Iran and Syria is also minimized to ensure a peaceful southern boarder for Lebanon. But why stop there. This force should also be deployed to the other killing zone, Gaza, to protect the innocents there, and the West Bank. Israeli is quick to mention that the UN should enforce UN Resolution 1559 and 1583, charged with the disarming of Hezbollah (something I totally agree with). But when it comes to implementing UN Resolution 181, 446, 452, or 478 which would repatriate land back to the Palestinians. I also thing my plan (“ How to bring peace the lands of Abram...”) would also bring peace to the Middle East, for again although NOW Israel is the primary aggressor and most powerful nation, it was not always and the neighbours of Israel and Palestine must take there own responsibility for the turmoil created.

(Coming soon - West Bank deception http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html)

UN and the green light of terror

Well it seems that the Israelis have accomplished their objective in murdering the UN observes in southern Lebanon. The UN announced it will pull out its observers, thus leaving the southern regions of Lebanon. This will give Israel a free hand in “liquidating” any suspected Hezbollah. Of course the test whether you are Hezbollah is whether you have a distaste or hatred of Israel, something very common NOW, thanks to the indiscriminate killings perpetrated by Israel. This of course done on the heals of the passive approval of a multi-national conference charged with stopping the vicious attack on Lebanon.
The passive agreement was not the will of the majority but of the big bully in the room, the US who insistent that the final wording of the communiqué state an eventual end to hostilities as opposed to an immediate end. This was done because the US policy is that any aggression, how ever lopsided, misdirected or inhumane is okay as long as you say it is to stop terrorism; Terrorism, the orgasm word of the US presidents George W. Bush’s Administration.
I found it interesting that many people, including our own Prime Minister Stephen Harper, claim Israel has full rights to do what it is doing to defend itself. But at what point do you say you have over done it. "It's been horrific... There is something fundamentally wrong with the war, where there are more dead children than armed men," Mr Egeland said in an interview with the BBC.
For those who thought it was just an act of defence, the comments made by Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon are illuminating. He stated that Israel wants further attacks on infrastructure, including electricity supplies. Ramon had earlier infuriated the EU by claiming that the Rome meeting on Wednesday, which failed to produce a unified call for an immediate ceasefire, had given Israel the green light to continue.(BBC) To put the war in context for the Israeli government, Ramon was quoted as saying in an interview Israeli radio on July 13 “a war waged by the sovereign state of Lebanon against the sovereign state of Israel” (Regum)
It seems the majority of Canadians are appalled at Israel’s reaction (the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of innocents in Lebanon) to what some would state as measured and justifiable actions against Israel (the detention of some Israeli solders and the deaths of tens of Israel, all of which started after Israel’s initial overreaction) (see previous blog “Forbissima chalcious mishigas“June 30, 2006 for clarification on this).
Our prime minister continued on his plan of destroying Canada international reputation by suggesting, in an interview yesterday, that the Canadian peace keeper, who was killed by a directed attack by Israeli forces on the UN observation post, was the fault of the UN. That the UN was asking for trouble by keeping the observers there.
This is much like the classic defence used by sexist who claim that rape victims ask for it and probably had it coming. This not only continues to present to the world a more fascist view of Canada; defames the ideals of Peace Keepers (the one great thing Canada has created for peace); undermines the authority of the only international body wanting to save lives and create peace in the middle east; places Canada more firmly in the US orbit (and Harpers plans fore eventual annexation of Canada by Texas); no it also is an insult to every Canadian alive and dead because of is absolute lack of anger, compassion or outrage at the death. Even if he did think it was and accident, he should have been overflowing with compassion for the family of the fallen peacekeeper and should have been praising the work he was doing. But no, all Harper can hear is the soft whispers of him mentor, Bush.

I would suggest us grabbing Harper and giving him to the Americans, but in fact they already have his mind and soul, what would they want with the body….

How to bring peace the lands of Abram...

I was listening to the Al Frankin show on Air America Radio and he had Rabbi Michael Lerner (I am not a fan of any religion, nor of its enforcers) who I thought had the best and simplest plan to bring peace for Israel and its neighbours. In essence it come down to 4 steps.

1) Call for an immediate cessation of hostilities by Israeli
a. In Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank
b. The immediate withdrawal by Israel to the 1967 boundary
c. Areas of evacuated by Israel to be immediately succured by peace keeper forces.
2) Create an effective DMZ
a. International Peace Keepers with the authority, support and
ability to enforce a buffer zone
3) The creation of a UN body with the authority to impose
a settlement on the parties involved
a. Facilitate “mandatory” negotiations to fix boundaries to roughly pre-1967
(Green Line) using the Geneva Accord has a blueprint for how and
what these adjustments should entail
b. The creation of an International fund by donor nations,
with emphasis on nations that originally created Israel
i. Funds should be paid to all those who lost land, commerce or
employment due to the turmoil from 1947 to 1967
1. This would include the Palestinians
2. This would include Arabs who were forced to relocate from
Israel and occupied lands
3. This would include Jews who were forced to leave Arab countries.
ii. Such a fund should represent 10% of the participating countries GDP.
1. to provide restitution
2. to provide a base for economic development.
4) Jerusalem would become an independent international city,
under the UN charter and with UN support.
a. All major religions would be granted complete control over THEIR holy sites
b. The city would be treated as a historical world heritage site.
5) Security
a. The creation of a joint Palestinian Israeli police force to
enforce border security on both sides
b. A UN/NATO guarantee/treaty that would assure territorial
integrity of both Israel and Palestine from both internal and external forces.

It is in Israelis hands to stop the physical conflict, it is up to the world, especially those Arab nations who pledge allegiance to Palestine, to provide the economic and moral support that that both nations can co-exist and prosper together.

Israel bombs UN: why would they do it?

Wednesday morning while watching the CBC, I listened to an interview with a British correspondent (I will try and get his name), who was positioned near the Israel forces that shelled the UN observation post. He stated that it was impossible not to see the post, that it was clearly marked and its location what known to all those in the area, including the Israeli forces. He also stated that it was impossible for this to have happened as an accident, as claimed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his American supporters.
There is mounting evidence that the attack on these UN forces was deliberate. In an interview posted on CBC.ca:

"On six separate occasions
he was in contact with the Israelis
to warn them that their bombardment
was endangering the lives
of U.N. staff in South Lebanon,"
said a spokesperson for
Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs.

The biggest case against it is why would they do it? Again I point to the consistent theme by Israel that an abused partner is a more compliant one. Israel knows that when it has completely decimated Lebanon it will have to leave and that there is the possibility that a UN peace keeping force will be deployed, a force with more muscle that the current incarnations.
Lebanon, once the Israel eventually leaves, will quickly turn into a hot spot for even more anti-Israeli territory as those who WERE innocent, the vast vast vast majority, will seek revenge on Israel or at lest to ensure it never suffers from state-rape again.
There is a less evil explanation too that allows both UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (‘Israel murdered our people on purpose’) and Olmert (‘It was an accident, it war- shit happens’) to be right. It is possible that, like US soldiers in Vietnam, acted independently. Considering the state of Zionist propaganda in Israel, the drive for Palestinian independence, the Bush “Axis of Evil” rhetoric and genuine fundamentalism (mostly but not limited to Islam) it is conceivable that the soldiers manning the guns thought the UN Post was just a front for Hezbollah guerrillas or that the UN support of the Palestinians caused terrorism in Israel or that the only way to peace for Israel it to exterminate them all. And thus thinking deliberately ignored UN please for mercy, and with full will targeted and bombed the UN outpost.
Hate breeds hate. Zionism was created out of European hatred of Jews, modern Israel was forged out of the hatred of Arabs, and 21st century Lebanon and Palestine are being formed by the hatred of Israelis. It is there hatred that unites them as Middle Eastern; it is their hatred that will be the end of them all…

Norm Ornstein is a butt-head.

Lets make this a hate letter about Norm Ornstein with added commintary

You say Norm is a smart man but either he is a neo-Zionist or has his head stuck up so far up his arse that he has dumbstruck me. I have listen to you show since near the beginning. I was there for the O’Franken hour, the loss of Katherine Lanpher and now have been impressed by your rational view about the Israeli attack on Lebanon. As everyone has agreed, Israel has a right to defend itself, but so do the Palestinians.
Norm, most American media, those propagandized by said media, and those in Israel (also subject to propaganda) acts like this started in isolation. It is important that every nation in the world has condemned the actions of Israel, as you have, and demanded an immediate cessation of aggression by Israel the instigator of the current trouble. As you have pointed out many times this stretches back to 1948 when Israel was created out of European guilt. Israel has earned the right to exist as a nation where it is. But the Palestinian are an occupied people, Israel intends to keep them weak, or at least the leading neo-Zionist like the near-dead Sharron, so Israel can have the land “granted it by god”. The Israeli pull out of Gaza was not a peace offering it was a passive aggressive action intended to show the Palestinians how unimportant they are.
The Wall, much like the one in East Germany, is intended to deprive the people who have lived on the land, give to them by the UN, the same people who gave Israel its legal right to exist. A nation that did not need to use terrorism when I could use its army to pacify the occupied territories that is have been constantly and rapidly setting up settlements. IT’S NOT THEIR LAND!! On wonders why the conflict continues. Israel had a right and a genuine fear prior to 1973, having soundly and finally defeating its neighbours its right to exist was moot. It could have taking that opportunity to try and create the nation of Palestine, but it got greedy, and lost the moral high ground. Israel is subjected to terror because if have earned the right as an aggressive occupying power.
This latest trouble began a little over a month ago, when faces with mass arrests and no other means to resist, Humas operatives “detained” a Israeli soldier with the intention of trading his freedom for that of several innocent Palestinians the Israelis had “detained”. This is something done before, even by the Sharron, the Butcher of <>. The current governments response was…well not to put to fine a point on it, it freaked!
It did not perform surgical incursions to reclaim its solder, an acceptable tactic. No instead its started bombing Gaza, hitting its infrastructure; cutting electricity which in turn knocked out water: it get very hot in Gaza during the Summer think about how hot it feels here, then multiply it by a factor of 10. Israel arrested a large portion of the Palestinian Authorities government, something near unprecedented in modern history.
In the midst of the terrorizing of the citizens of Gaze, seeing Israeli’s actions as collective punishment, a war crime, the Pro-Palestinian Hezbollah came to the aid of is brother and “detained” some soldiers on northern boarder. In response, Israel again FREAKED!!!.
It has done to Lebanon (who is also an economic competitor: good reason to destroy its infrastructure and ruin its tourist industry) what it has done to Gaza, there just are more witnesses (I discount the popular press as most people do), real people not abstract “them”.
Norm is out to lunch or worse. He sounds like a Rush Limbaugh for Israel. If Israel is lucky, and it never has been in the past, it will succeed and so abuse its neighbours and its captives (the Palestinians) they will act like whipped dogs and meekly subject to Israeli overlordship. What I fear will happen is it will provide martyrs for the cause and lead to the destruction of Jerusalem, not by an army or even a revolution, but one lone man seeking revenge on Israel in the form of a nuclear bomb. Remember the only ones more insane than the Israeli military are the radical terrorist groups they are trying to defend Israel from, and defend badly they are.
I do not want Israel to disappear, it has a right to exist, and exist in peace. If only it could see that it is the greatest cause of its own insecurity. Much like you Americans have done for your self by abandoning Afghanistan and invading Iraq. Birds of a feather I guess. I hope my analysis is wrong and Israel and its neighbours find peace, but that still doesn’t change my opinion that on this issue Norm Ornstein is a butt-head.

Don from Canada
Visit “The ThinEdge” @ tnwo.blogspot.com

Israel declares war!

Israel declares war on UN
Well I have just heard that Israel has declared war on the UN. Well not a written official declaration but a UN observation post, clearly marked, was bombed Tuesday by Israeli invasion forces. This after the Prime Minister of Israel gave firm assurances that the post would not be targeted. This could be seen as a Perl Harbour type provocation, but the UN can only act with US approval..
US approval for anything, even a balanced harsh word, against Israel, the American enforcer in the middle east (Israel has on more than one occasion bombed a recalcitrant Arab neighbour). Even in the face of overwhelming would condemnation of the obscenely violent aggression and collective punishment of Gaza and Lebanon, the US will not act, let us look at who their ambassador is, John Bolton.
John Bolton, a receive appointment because even the rightist US congress would not allow him to be confirmed, is on record as saying:

“There's no such thing as the United Nations.”

(Global Structures Convocation, Feb. 3, 1994)

“There is an international community that occasionally

can be led by the only real power left in the world

and that is the United States when it suits our interest

and when we can get others to go along.

And I think it would be a real mistake to count on

the U.N. as if it is some disembodied entity out there

that can function on its own.”

(Global Structures Convocation, Feb. 3, 1994)

“If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories,

it wouldn't make a bit of difference.”

(Global Structures Convocation, Feb. 3, 1994)

In an interview in 2000 on National Public Radio,

Mr. Bolton told Juan Williams,

"If I were redoing the Security Council today,

I'd have one permanent member because

that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world." ...

"And that one member would be, John Bolton?" Mr. Williams queried.

"The United States," Mr. Bolton replied.

(New York Times, March 9, 2005)

“Not only do not care about losing the General Assembly vote

but actually see it as a 'make my day' outcome.”

(USA Today, September 10, 2001)

This man would let the earth burn to a cinder. He is accused, by subordinated, that as lead negotiator for the US at the 6 party talks to disarm North Korea. It was said that he single handily drove North Korea away from the negotiating table and back into the Nuke business by shear weight of arrogance on his part.
With out the US, it is unlikely the UN will be able to do anything of substance. China, the one who hold a sword over the US via its holding so much US debt, will not intervene. China has little interest in the area, and wants to keep its ace in the hole until a more beneficial time. The true wild card in this though is Russia. Although Russia has strong ties to Israel because of the mass emigration then after the dissolution of the USSR, its ties to Syria are stronger. Plus Vladimir Putin seems to of late been taking great pains and pleasures in embarrassing the west, most notably Bush and Blair at the G8 conference (plus, who left he mic on next to Bush??? Did anyone notice a smiling Putin when Blair finally noticed it and turned it off? Why was that one the only one on?)
Although I find it very very very unlikely, it would be interesting to see if suddenly Russia, under the valid pretext of humanitarian intervention, lands troops in Southern Lebanon, at the request of some international body or of the Lebanese government. As I stated before, Russia is back and wanting to claim its place as one of the worlds superpowers, along with the ailing US and the up-and-coming China.

The Harper-Cons lack harm-reduction InSite.

There is something wonderful in the East End Vancouver that has saved hundreds of lives. This miracle of the street in the safe injection site where which has intervened in 6## overdoses, these are people who would have died were they not this sanctuary. For those not familiar with InSite let me give a quick outline. InSite is a location where IV drug users can go to inject their fix. The site ensures users are giving clean needles, safe places free of rape and robbery, the onsite nurses are there to assist in case of overdose and there are councillors to help those wanting to be cured of their affliction. The principle of the site is harm reduction, it holds that the reality of situation is that people do drugs, and in the act of doing them people are harmed or die. They hold the moral stand point that you must help the suffering, and that drug addiction is a disease. As such you must help. To do this, the safe injection site was created with financial assistance from the three levels of government and an operating exception from federal drug laws.
Let’s look at the value, it costs approximately $63/per user compared that to the cost of an emergency call, around $460 (Vancouver Sun 06/07/20). Beyond financial savings there are the lives that would have been lost. The deaths from overdoses have dropped significantly since the opening of InSite. The real benefit to both users and society, though, is the number of people who find treatment for their addiction and are cured of their disease. This program has received immense notoriety in the world medical journals, the vast majority (perhaps all) stating the program is a success and has a positive impact on all the stake holders. Articles from such magazines as New England Journal of Medicine, Canadian Medical Association Journal, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, The Lancet, The International Journal of Drug Policy, and British Medical Journal have come out onside of InSite.
Now in the face of this we have our own Stephen Harper and his Harper-Cons. The operating exception, which is due for renewal, will probably laps as Harper seems intent of letting those in society beneath him, suffer. It is the belief of the Harper-cons that those who do drugs should die, it is the deterrent factor. To them it is like capital punishment, something else the support. Death, via overdose or worse, is the punishment for being weak and immoral and starting drugs in the first place. It is another plank in the reactionary socially hyper-conservative agenda that is intent on turning us into a US style theocratic plutocracy. There is no legal or moral issue with extending the operating exception for a period of time, at least until the government(s) have completely studied the results of the experiment. Harper would much rather use the excuse of studying the findings of the site to shut it down. For someone who claims to be pro-life (or maybe just at election time) I must say shame Mr. Harper, shame. How many people must die so you can maintain your ivory tower of self-righteous hypocrisy? Pro-Life my ass!
To help please check this out HomelessNation.org.

The advantages of Terror

Harper has not missed the opportunity to have the photo op, by bravely kicking off the press core from the government plane he has in Europe (for the G8 Meeting in St. Petersburg) he will take a 100+/- evacuees from Cypress to Canada. If he was truly companionate for those who have suffered in Lebanon, he might have given up his own seat, but no, that would not look good on the front page of the Post, much better to have it with the suffering than catching a budget flight back from Paris (where he is currently). CBC quoted” “’It's more than a symbolic trip,’ Harper said. ‘There is a need for air support in Cyprus. We believe this is the right thing to do and that's why we are going to do it.’ Well if this was true you have to wonder why the people who will be on the plane are “Officials said only Harper's wife, Laureen,”(the focus of the photos) “and a couple of his communications staff”(to ensure the press get the photos)“and his official photographer”(The taker of the photo) “will fly to Cyprus with him.”(as near to the setting of the photo as Harper is willing to risk). There will be half a dozen people who will have to spend at least another day in isolated terror, that is the price Harper is willing THEM to pay for his photo op…remember he is looking at the next election. Well Steve (Bush’s pet name for his pet) we will remember too come the next election.

Being Fair – Maintain the truth

I do not believe in being balanced. They are not balanced, and it is our weakness, in confronting their propaganda, that has allowed them to not only win the debate but to frame the question; to define the terms; to set the tone. So I make no pretence to be balanced, but that does not mean I will not be fair, no dishonest. I will not fight there lies with lies, their obfuscation with obfuscation If you, the reader has found and seen something factually incorrect or intentionally misleading, let me know, I will check it for accuracy and clarity. With this in mind, I have reviewed my previous articles and have these updates or clarification.
I had said that George W. Bush (US President) and Stephen Harper (Canadian Prime Minister) have been the least active of world leaders in their attempt to rescue their citizens from Lebanon; that was not exactly correct. I have heard today that Australian Prime Minister, and right wing nutter, John Howard could not be bothered to provide assistance at all and asked Harper if he could squeeze a few Aussies on the ships Canada is providing to evacuate our citizens. So, Bush and Harper fall to #2 and #3 with Howard grabbing the #1 spot for heartless rightwing ideologue.
In the last post I mentioned that most European Nations had evacuated it people from Lebanon; that was not accurate. I have learned that other nations are still evacuating their people; they were less vocal in their support of the Israel’s invasion of Lebanon something I think wiser regardless of your opinion on the validity of Israel’s actions. So to date from the sources I can find, these are the countries that evacuating their people.
Those who have evacuated people Prior to 2006.07.## (the day of the blog) are : Italian, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Morocco and Ukraine;
Those who have plans to evacuate: Canada, Britain, US, France, Holland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Russia and the UAE
Those nations who are sending people into Lebanon: Israel and to be fair, probably Iran, Syria and those who wish to enter the heaven of bloody religion.
IF there are more, let me know and will continue to perform by own checks.

Harper: Bush’s gutless lapdog

I was just reading about Harpers reaction to the deaths of 7 Canadians by the Israelis in there disproportional attack on Hezbollah and the victimization of Lebanon. He reiterated his, or should I say Bush’s, position on Israel’s attack on Lebanon. Even Blaire, Bush’s (former?) ally and buddy has even saw fit to side with the human and condemn the actions of Israel as grossly disproportionate. Harper says this in the face of dead Canadians, which according to the logic of Israel (and yes, the Palestinians) we have just cause to bomb Tel Aviv and arrest some people in the Toronto Synagogue because they MAY know someone who MAY know something.
Harper, I hope, as committed a fatal error in not speaking out for our citizens and compromising our international standing by being but-boy for Bush. It is interesting that of the nations last to assist its people to evacuate the war zone is the US and Canada (with Britain not much quicker). I believe it is part of the true intention of the Israel and its string pullers in Washington and Ottawa. They want to put off helping, and even then I am sure they do so only because the outcry at home would cause rebellion, because those people there are Lebanese supporters, they are no better than the “terrorists” (referring the Arab ones, not the Jewish ones, they are our and there for can do not bad). They must be punished for their traitorous actions, in fact I think Harper thinks it a good thing that they dies, and better if they all dies, we don’t need security risks in this country, might upset Master Bush. To prove my point, the other nations of the world, who have mostly already evacuated their citizens, not having the same punishment mentality, did so as a service of the state, like saving a drowning man, or arresting a bank robber. The Americans, and I would not be surprised Harper as well, are charging the people rescued from a situation largely caused by American inaction in helping push Israel to a fair and equal agreement on the West Bank and blind support.
Just when I thought my discus fro Harper could reach no lower, manages to dig a little deeper. I am sure it is not his fault; he is merely doing the bidding of his master, Bush. On a secondary note, that might also explain why MacKay is so sour these days. I am sure Harper takes it out on MacKay; feeling inferior to the mighty Bush, he needs to assert his superiority over someone, like an abusive husband he comes home and beats poor MacKay until he looks like a broken dog…have you noticed. He has become the yes man to Harper, and he seems depressed, even lower than after his break up with Belinda Stronach. I think the RCMP should investigate for spousal or in this case ministerial abuse.
There is an election coming, and it is our duty not to forget, not to be quite. Remember these wrongs he and his party have committed on the very soul of our nation. Tell your friends, tell you neighbours, tell the people you meet at work, the bus stop or while shopping. We need to create a tremor of truth that will grow with each passing day, unit the eve of the next federal election when a seismic event of cataclysmic proportions will be wrote on the Conservatives, casting them into the chasm of inconsequence and bad memory. They were destroyed once, and they can be destroyed again.

We are many, they are few.

Some Dylan Thomas

For those who do not know the poem, I have decided to add it...

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

(i have ripped it from: http://www.bigeye.com/donotgo.htm)

Rage against the dying of the light

I hope our Canadian Prime Minister Stephen “neo-con” Harper is watching what is happening. In the accidental candidness of conversations, between US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair today at the conclusion of the G8 conference, we hear the true loyalty of Bush and the Americans. We hear a pleading Blaire asking Bush to help support his and Kofi Annan plan to put a peace keeper force into Lebanon to stop the emerging catastrophe. Blaire, who has supported Bush on the international stage, in Britain and militarily in Iraq, has put his own reputation and career at risk, to support what he thought was his ally and world partner, found out that loyalty to the republican president existed only as long as you can be used by the US. Bush’s refusal to support Blaire, and his overt support for Israel (one wonders what use the president had for them...) in near lone defiance of the rest of the civilized world. Blaire tossed his own career and any hope of a positive legacy when he joined Bush’s coalition of the willing, a war he relied on Bush’s intelligence (don’t laugh) for justifying. Blaire learned to late that Bush lacked any real intelligence (okay you can laugh now) and the war on Iraq was unfounded and only created a less safe world and was probably the impetus for the Subway Bombing of 07-07. Blaire is too far gone to change horses now, but we can still hope, but now it seems that Harper is planning to take his place.
As I mentioned earlier, Harper’s very uncharacteristic impromptu talk to the press (that he despises like his mentor) to show is support for the aggression of Israel, showed he was on Bush’s speed dial. Harper continued parroting of the American line has the potential of destroying over a century of careful manoeuvring of Canada to be seen as a fair broker; the neutral party that can always be called upon to defuse situations other parties are unable to. The entire sane world has condemned the actions of Israel, even prominent pro-Israeli commentators in Canada have called this one of those things Israel does from time to time that makes it impossible to defend and hard to support Israel. It seems our neo-con prime minister, expressing the opposite of the will of the majority of its Canadian citizens, has supported what seems to be the true source of power in this country. I again would like to see how much money/support the Conservatives received by the fascists that govern the nation south of us.
Harper, and his minions, is a source of evil in this nation, and it is my fear that he has made a Faustian deal with the American devil, a selling of his soul that will condemn us all. There is an election coming; keep your ears open; you hearts pumping; your shoes on, your voice clear, your spirit strong and you voice loud…We will rage against the darkness, we will not go willingly into the night…( Dylan Thomas: http://www.bigeye.com/donotgo.htm)

Collective punishment and Israel’s wars of aggression.

How long can you claim to be the victim? Germany claimed this right up until the collage of Berlin in 1945, Japan used it as the reasons for the attack on Perl harbour and Israel is using to this day. It is true on same levels that their claims were true, but from the kernel of truth has grown the ugly monster of vengeance. I agree that Israel has a right to defend itself, but everyone is taking these attacks in isolation, and that is how Israel wants it portrayed because in isolation, she can claim to be the victim, and yet the truth is both muddier and contrary to that.
From 1947 to 1967 Israel had the high ground; had the right to claim that it was the victim of Arab aggression. This changed though when Israel began to settle the West Bank and Gaza. It was at this point it lost the high ground and became the oppressor. It was at this point that the Palestinian movement, and its supporters, could claim the mantel of victim. Israel, by necessity and by American strategic design, has become the most militaristic nation of the Middle East (Lebanon spent 500 million on it military last year compared with Israel’s 9 billion) and as such its reaction to the “arrest and detainment” (to put it in term the Israeli government would had it happened by Israel on a Palestinian) by a small number of individuals of a couple of Israeli solders (one from the Gaza border and 2, after the Israel attack on Gaza, from Lebanese one.) has the entire world (with the exception of the Bush and his northern puppet, Harper) aghast.
It should be noted that the “rockets” that are being fired at Israel from Lebanon, that has promoted the Israel incursion into that nation (having recently recovered from the last shit-kicking it received in the 1980’s, by...wait for it…Israel) have been described by experts, not as hi-tech Iranian imports but as makeshift home-made munitions. If the Israel were true interested in recapturing its missing soldiers, it would negotiate and let is secrete police loose, and either the soldiers would be found or an negotiated agreement would be found, regardless the soldiers would be released. But, like 9-11 for Bush, the powers of Israel saw an opportunity and took it.
Israel is punishing the people of Gaza and Lebanon, it is powerful and a playing the role of the bully, one that seem to all too conveniently fit it. It is punishing the people of Gaza for exercising their democratic right; for not behaving like an obedient dog and quietly accept the over-lordship of the Israel. Instead of lying down in subjugation, the Palestinians choose to thumb its nose at the occupiers of its historic land (and I mean those of the West Bank, granted that most Palestinians accept the 2 state solution, it is sad that Israel only favours the 1.5 state solution) and elected Humas (and yes, I am not a fan of any group what is theocratic, but democracy is democracy). So, to punish the Palestinians (starving them did not seem to have an effect, but it is hard to steel from a man who has nothing to start with and nothing to loose) Israel has intimidated, terrorised, bombed and killed (over 50 since this current chapter started) the people of Gaza. Then, in response to this excessive use of power, Hezbollah, in Southern Lebanon, offered its own resistance (detaining 2 solders and killing 6, and yes, they have launched some home made rockets into Israel that kill only 8 people in the last 5 years, not really a credible threat). To this Israel has decided to increase the level of violence and punish the people of Lebanon. If Israel wanted to stop the rockets, recapture its soldiers, it could have used the restraint of a mature nation and focus its attack on those who perpetrated the offence. But that is not what Israel wants; it wants to punish the Lebanese for daring to defy Israel, to support the just claims of the 2-state Palestinians and for its offence against Zionism over 200, mainly innocent civilians, have paid the price for the impudence.
Israel has a write to defend it self, as Germany had the right to rise from the ashes of WWI, but do we really want to see another aggressive and domineering state appear out of those rights. It was wrong then, it is wrong now. If Israel truly wanted peace, it would abandon the fundamentalist and hawkish claims to the West Bank, it would share Jerusalem, and it would, in cooperation, help fulfill the promise of the 2 state solution first sought for these lands almost a century ago.

Stephen Harper – our own Bush 2.0 new and dis-improved

I saw in a news paper the other day (Common Ground, not a mainstream media; they would not have the imprudence to speak such truths) a cartoon about a make-believe press release by minority Prime Minister Stephen Harper; it had Harper had government stationary with the words “From the Office of the Prime Minister: No Comment – Aucun Commentaire” then it had in the corner a Harper in military uniform (he was never in the military; that seems to make people more willing to send other peoples children to die for THEIR causes) . He was saying “What part of My press release don’t you understand?” [I hear it in the voice of the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket]. I should point out that the military outfit looked like a US air force with one of the medals being the Conservative logo.
What is this satirist trying to say? I used the word satirist because they take the real and make if funny by either twisting or amplifying it a little, as oppose to a cartoonist who creates fiction of exaggerates to an extreme. So what is being said is what is on the mind of many Canadians.
Let’s take the most extreme point, that of the American uniform, this is symbolic in at least three ways all pertaining to Bush. Harper, like Bush won power by the slimmest of margins (let us remember Bush in 2000, and Harper in 2006 did not win a majority of the popular vote, Harper’s party only received 36.25%) and yet he governs like he has a huge mandate ( a term, meaning moral authority to rule). It is this arrogance that has been both the defining feature of his presidency (I am sure this is how he sees it) and also it’s most offensive. So he rules like Bush, he also believes that it is not enough for politicians to write the laws, they must also their interpreter, that they are more impartial and judicious than…JUDGES. Harper, like Bush, references to our Supreme Court Justices as judicial activists (the offensiveness and incorrectness of this term I will talk about in another blog, Bush does not like Kyoto, so we back out of that international agreement in-spite (it seems spiteful) of the will of the people (67% that almost twice as many who voted for Harper). Harper, like Bush believes in the War on Terror (I guess he thinks poverty or hunger affects fewer people, well fewer who count) and as such has unilaterally decided to up-step out involvement in Afghanistan from peace keeping and reconstructions to offensive actions by those who are annoyed with foreign intervention into their country, I think the toppling of the Taliban was a good thing-period! That having been done, what is wanted now, is to ensure those people neighbouring the oil reserves in Kazakhstan are suitably humble to accept western (and Chinese) over-lordship. Can it really be much longer before we are sending “technical” support to Iraq?
Further on the Harper Bush connections, when Israel attacked Lebanon this week, Harper, very much out of character, had an impromptu press conference in the back of an Air Plane (he was off to the G8 conference) with the stipulation that he would ONLY talk about the Israeli situation. I really have to wonder if he got a cell call from Bush (can you use cells on a plane, maybe air-phone) telling him what to do, so being an obedient pet he promptly had is “spontaneous” discussion where he parroted the word of Bush. Don’t forget the increases in military spending (which is debatable about its value) to help ensure Bush’s support and more importantly the finical support (Current information is extremely hard to find…what are they hiding?) as Americans poor into Canada to ensure they are in the same country regardless of what side of the boarder they are on.
So that explains the uniform and the medal (for being a good Neo-Con) but the press release, what does that mean? Well he again Harper is using imitation with the hopes of similar success (and if he was PM during 9-11, I am sure we would have our one Patriot act, and the end of true democracy [what there is] in this country). In the US Bush browbeat the press, starving it of food (news) so that it would be obedient and pliant like a trained dog. In doing this though, he is not attaching the Press or the media corporations (who are more willing to go along out of self-interest) He is attacking the very foundations of this country. By denying the Canadian electorate access and information about the operation of the government and by denying it, though it press proxies, the opportunity to question the government and its intentions and motivations, he is not only hurting the institutions of journalism but fatally weakening the ability for Canada to BE a democracy. Of course having been elected by a minority, this may not be such a bad thing for the Conservatives. It is interesting the amount of “strategic” movements the current regime had done to curry the favour of those who would blindly or misguidedly (remember with o FREE press or OPEN government, how can we make informed decision) vote for the conservatives against their best interests. I worry this will help them steal another election, just like his mentor, Bush. We need proportional representation, publicly funded campaigns, a free press and open government.

Nothing big, just the end of the world...

A friend of mine asked me the other day whether the things going on around the world would lead to WWIII. I told him “no, things have been bad like this before, and will be in the future” and I still think that is true but then I had another thought. I have been listening to a few docs on the evils of religion. I think religions have always been inherently a ban on humanity (no, not all religious people are bad people…but they could be if they thought god commanded them…and if they really believed, they would do it, no?). This is not new and has been the source (or excuses) for violence since the down of time (Don’t hold me to this part, I would need to study it better, but defiantly since the dawn of the Abrahamic religions, of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam but I am sure not limited to them) There is a difference now though.
I was remembering the Anarchist movement in the 19th century. It was responsible for the assignation of many powerful leaders, including the Tsar of Russia, but all of these remained relatively local events and had no direct impact of history (but many provoke indirect changes, especially in Russia where this moment greatly retarded the advancement of Democratic reforms as they created a authoritarian conservative backlash that kept Russia medieval right up till the Revolutions of 1917.) But as societies and technologies evolve, the potential for a single actor to possess the power to move the world has increased, take for example the assassination of the Emperor Ferdinand, that act by one gunman sparked, thanks to the context of modern military, WWI. What about today?
Today it is possible for a agent of evil (again most likely some religious person) to take a nuke and explode it in some sensitive area, like Jerusalem. What would be the response? First the US would accuse the “terrorists” (who ever they want them to be), then they will accuse those who COULD have provided it. They will ignore there own corporations, because the US government in is controlled by them; they will ignore the Western Nations because they are one of us (aren’t they?) and they will ignore the other Superpowers (yes, the US is no longer the only one) of Russia and China because they could not win a war with them. NO they US will focus its attention on the annoying and venerable, this will be Iran, Saudi Arabia (yes, the US want control of their oil, but will no longer be happy to control it by proxy, and they will have troops in the area). But the US is no longer strong enough for a conventional military operation, so it will rely on its arsenal of “advanced” weapons, this will include tactical nukes. This will put oil supplies for China and Japan (and I assume the rest of the Asia nations) in decline and incomplete control of the US. Japan will object on moral grounds, being the only other nations to have suffered an nuclear attack, and it will pull away from the US and fall into the Chinese sphere of nations. China will act against it because it will not allow its interests to be compromised or control put at risk, it will respond first by dumping its American bonds and currency, causing the US economy to collapse, and not a neat collapse like Russia after the dissolution of the USSR, no more like that of Germany in the inter-war years.
With the US society in ruins (well there society is tied up with their economy, the destruction of one will be the destruction of the other) the President, a born again fundamentalist, will see this as a sign of the end of times. He will wonder why the he is there and the Rapture has not carried him to heaven (the President of the US must be the most worthy….no?), he will figure that the Armageddon must start first, so he will launch the US arsenal of nukes on who ever they happen to be pointing at (probably China). This will start a chain of retaliatory strikes, leading to his wanted Armageddon, but no rapture, not salvations, only desolation and destructions…not for the earth, it will survive, it always has, most life will die, but not all, humans will be whipped, a curious artefact for some other, hopefully wiser and less violent intelligent race will evolve out of the remnants of life on earth, to discover and wonder what calamity caused this destruction. At least the Dinosaurs could claim that their extinction was not their fault, I fear our legacy will not have that dignity.

What makes a war?...The weakness of power

Well I hoped to move on past the trouble in Middle East but alas it has come back to the beginning of the conflict, it is as if the past decade plus years of negotiation did not happen as Israel move back into southern Lebanon and re-“secures” the Gaza.
There are many points I could mentions about this, the fact that it could be argued that the Palestinians did not kidnap a an Israeli solder but detained for investigation a suspected terrorist. The fact the Israelis have detained on little or no evidence thousands of Palestinians (and yes a view very deserving and violent ones) required a response, so the Hamas, a group I do not support nor agree with its ultimate goals, used the only leverage it had to try and secure the freedom of its fellow citizens from an aggressive, powerful and paranoid (with some cause) occupier. Israel just blew up, and not the first time, an entire building to “remove” a suspected leader of Palestinian resistance. This they did with the claim it was trying to save lives…Israeli lives…and the fact that nine “collateral” people died (and the target was not one of the fatalities) is seen as acceptable losses…I mean they were not Israeli.
But no, I will focus on the news talk and them claiming that the war between Israel and Palestinians…interesting one side is a country and the other a people…and thought how inappropriate that word was. War, as defined by international law is between two independent states. In this case though we have one participant, a favoured US ally, a huge military budget, a regional uni-superpower country and the other participant (and it must be stated that they Palestinians are actively aggressive) a phantom idea of a nation with no independent army, financial support (which was recently cut off) and totally dependent on the other. This is not a war, in any sense of the term; it might be a civil war, if you believe that Israel was granted by god the historical lands of Israel, or an occupation, if you believe that the 1947 UN resolution created 2 nations, or a mix of both. I think it can only be seen as a war of aggression, an attempt to ensure that the weaker acquiesces completely to the stronger; this is supported by the unilateral “withdrawal” of occupation forces (the lands in questions have never been legal or formally annexed so it is technically still occupied lands) from territory that Israel does not want or thinks too costly to keep and that any nation that is left behind would be impotent and depended on them. This has a distasteful reek of that of what Germany did to Czechoslovakia in 1938.
I do not want to make the claim that the Israelis are Nazis, that would be ridicules; the Nazis had the belief their nation had a historical right to expansion; that its nation has been the subject of aggression by its neighbours; that it have within its midst agents of a power that is intent on the destruction of the nation and willing to do any sabotage (old speak for terrorism...funny how language change); that pre-emptively attached its neighbours to protect its people and to restore lands that historically belonged to them…no, there are no similarities there at all. There is an old saying that “in time we hate that which we often fear.” When a victim of brutality is given power, they are often tempted to show the same or greater vehemence in revenge and fear, irrespective of the threat, real or perceived, to them. You may have noticed I have talked a lot about Israel and nothing about the Jews. I did this on purpose because it is easy to fall into the trap of condemning a people for the actions of a nation. Israel are the aggressors, they just happen to be primarily Jewish, and accident of history, not a precondition for conflict. There is something about fundamentalism to be said, that exists in Israel, and Palestine and the us and in many other places, but that is a blog for another day.

A future together or not future at all...

Well as I said last blog, having kicked on the Israelis, settlement and the legal taking of hostages via arrest, it is time to look at why the Israelis are so hostile. And they are, hostile, but would you not be if since the literal inception of your nation your Arab neighbours have been sworn to your elimination. That until literally forces at the end of a gun and with the promise of statehood, the Palestinians, as lead by Yasser Arafat, did not recognise the right of existence of a Jewish state and that less than a decade ago. Now this is not that new in history, there are been many states that denied others, one could look at Northern Ireland or India and Pakistan.
So, living in a community that believe they have no right to exist there is the other matter that since its inception, Israel has been in 4 major wars with its neighbours, were it has been the on the defensive, except for Lebanon but that could be argued as defensive because of the cross boarder attacks by militia. So no only has there been a moral attack on them but also a classical military conflict…so two vary very good reasons for Israel to the Palestinians as they do, think about how the west treated Nazis…no I do not think Palestinians are as bad as Nazis but I think to the Jews of Israel the comparison is valid, and it is threw there eyes.
Now coupled with this more traditional animosity, the Palestinians use a common tool the weak use against the strong - terrorism. I will not make a moral judgment on why and how the Palestinians use suicide bombing and other techniques but they have had a profound and powerful effect on their enemy, but not totally as expected. This elevates the level of buy-in of the populations. Unlike the US and Vietnam where the population could sympathies with the “enemy” because the battles were other there, and did not effect them personally except when bodies came home and even that was not strictly blamed on the Vietcong, because they were thousands of miles away, the true enemy was the US government, not only because of there aggression (and we could for the sake of this argument give them that it was a defensive war) but because they were who the people interacted with. When the source, real of perceived, of your anxiety is in your midst, at arms reach we strike back, in rage, in fear, in a desperate attempt to regain normality, to return to the safety in the familiar.
The Israelis live with, work with are indistinguishable from the Palestinians, and they, the bombers have betrayed the trust, what there was. They made the familiar not a comfort but a source of fear, of apprehension. The Jews of Israel are afraid, and the sources of that fear are the Arabs, the Palestinians, and the history that has intermingled them all. You may believe the Israelis have over reacted, are aggressors, are many things but you must grant them that they have had cause; they have been injured again and again.
What we can learn from both sides; that fear breeds fear, violence breeds violence. That I can understand why the Israelis arrest and occupy the Palestinians lands; that I can understand why the Palestinians use terror to defend themselves, they see the Jews as invaders. It is a sad state where both sides must share blame for the current situation, and understand they are not alone in sharing the blame. They need to, somehow, forget the past, and remember they are the same people; citizens of the Middle East who must move into the future together or neither will have future. .