http://www.youtube.com/v/J9W5ySD2ANU?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Read More: ‘Syria to get rid of absolute terrorism’
Clashes as thousands of Palestinians mark 65 years since displacement
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reportedly had to use teargas and rubber bullets in response to Palestinian protesters throwing rocks at soldiers.In Jerusalem, two policemen were wounded as a result of clashes, reports Haaretz. A fire bomb was thrown at an IDF vehicle injuring four soldiers near the city of Hebron in southern West Bank.According to Palestinian WAFA news agency, several “peacefully demonstrating” Palestinians were injured during confrontations with IDF at Kalandia checkpoint, between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Violence broke out after Israeli soldiers fired teargas and acoustic bombs at protesters, the agency states.The IDF spokeswoman, however, said it was Palestinians who sparked the clashes, throwing stones at soldiers, while Israeli forces had to respond with crowd dispersal techniques, reports the Jerusalem Post. Clashes were also reported in other locations in the region, including Kadum and at Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem.On May 15, thousands of Palestinians throughout Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip took part in events to mark 65th anniversary of the Nakba Day – the day after the creation of the State of Israel, which resulted in the mass displacement of Palestinians. At noon, sirens wailed in the West Bank for 65 seconds to commemorate the event. … Read More
EU to donate €520mn to rebuild Mali as conflict rages on
EU leaders plan to channel 520 million euro (US$73 million) into the impoverished country between 2013 and 2014 at an international aid donors’ conference in Brussels on Wednesday. The Union has said that the total amount of aid could increase in coming months. The funds will be invested into the “total relaunch” of the country, a 4.3-billion-euro initiative that includes organizing the elections for July. However, doubts have been raised over the viability of holding elections so soon given the tens of thousands of Malians displaced by the conflict and taking refuge in neighboring countries. The EU money will also go towards installing basic infrastructure in Mali’s north, the lack of which has undermined public support for the interim government. In spite of the ongoing presence of 1,000 French soldiers in the embattled nation, European Commission Leader Jose Manuel Barroso told press the donation “is essential to establish a Mali that is stable, democratic and prosperous.” The French government has made repeated statements during the conflict that they are close to eradicating insurgency.“We are winning this war, now we have to win back the country,” said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday. When France originally intervened back in January, Fabius insisted the French military presence would stay for “a matter of weeks” until regional forces could take over. The French military presence has thus far served to push back Islamist militant forces advancing on the country’s capital Bamako four months after they intervened. However, pockets of resistance still remain deeply entrenched in Mali’s northern mountainous zone which they use as a base from which to launch attacks. Concerns have been voiced that a prolonged campaign against insurgency could lead to a spill-over into other African nations. Independent journalist Robert Harneis told RT that Libya would be an “ideal place” for the Malian immigrants to take refuge as it is in a “state of chaos” following NATO intervention.“They disperse, they conceal their weapons, their assets, they merge with the population and they wait because they know that sooner or later the intervention forces will go home,” said Harneis. Of the 4,500-odd French troops that were initially deployed the majority have been withdrawn, but the 1,000 that remain are expected to stay until the end of the year until regional forces are ready to take on full security responsibilities. The Malian government called on its former colonial ruler, France, to intervene in January when northern militants took control of key cities in the center of the country. Islamist extremists took control of the North African nation last year following a coup. The Islamists forced extreme Sharia law on the inhabitants of the northern territories. … Read More
International community pledges €3.25bn to rebuild Mali as conflict rages on
The money will go towards helping Mali recover from the conflict with Islamist militants who took control of the country’s north last year. The total sum exceeds Mali’s original target of 2 billion euro.The EU commission is supplying a large portion of the sum, allocating 524 million euro, while the US and Islamic Development Bank also pledged significant capital.”It went beyond what we could have hoped for … This conference marks a new chapter in the fight of civilization against terrorism,” Malian President Dioncounda Traore told a news conference.The funds will be invested into the “total relaunch” of the country, a 4.3-billion-euro initiative that includes organizing the elections for July. However, doubts have been raised over the viability of holding elections so soon given the tens of thousands of Malians displaced by the conflict and taking refuge in neighboring countries.The money will also go towards installing basic infrastructure in Mali’s north, the lack of which has undermined public support for the interim government.In spite of the ongoing presence of 1,000 French soldiers in the embattled nation, European Commission Leader Jose Manuel Barroso told press the donation “is essential to establish a Mali that is stable, democratic and prosperous.” The French government has made repeated statements during the conflict that they are close to eradicating insurgency.“We are winning this war, now we have to win back the country,” said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday. When France originally intervened back in January, Fabius insisted the French military presence would stay for “a matter of weeks” until regional forces could take over.The French military presence has thus far served to push back Islamist militant forces advancing on the country’s capital Bamako four months after they intervened. However, pockets of resistance still remain deeply entrenched in Mali’s northern mountainous zone which they use as a base from which to launch attacks.Concerns have been voiced that a prolonged campaign against insurgency could lead to a spill-over into other African nations. Independent journalist Robert Harneis told RT that Libya would be an “ideal place” for the Malian immigrants to take refuge as it is in a “state of chaos” following NATO intervention.“They disperse, they conceal their weapons, their assets, they merge with the population and they wait because they know that sooner or later the intervention forces will go home,” said Harneis.Of the 4,500-odd French troops that were initially deployed the majority have been withdrawn, but the 1,000 that remain are expected to stay until the end of the year until regional forces are ready to take on full security responsibilities.The Malian government called on its former colonial ruler, France, to intervene in January when northern militants took control of key cities in the center of the country. Islamist extremists took control of the North African nation last year following a coup. The Islamists forced extreme Sharia law on the inhabitants of the northern territories. … Read More
Religious Cleansing In The Armed Forces?
http://www.youtube.com/v/7XKmb_Z97J0?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Excerpt from - Religious Cleansing In The Armed Forces?
Hey Uncle Sam: Where’s our Red Square parade?
Ever since May 9, 2008, when Moscow brought back rumbling tanks and screeching jets to Red Square for the annual Victory Day celebrations, it has aroused accusations in Western capitals of “flaunting its military might.” The charges are loaded with irony for a glaringly obvious reason: The Russian military, ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union – and aside from a five-day war with neighboring Georgia, who, it must be noted, attacked Russia first – has been parked at home. In the same period of time, however, the Western military junta, known affectionately as NATO, has been circling the planet like a pack of fat vultures looking for its next easy takeout. It seems to require little explanation as to why the Russians take their tanks for a spin around town every May 9th: Russia lost an estimated 26.6 million soldiers and civilians from mid-1941 to 1945, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences. Given the depths of this human tragedy, made more surreal by a simultaneous sense of triumph, Russia has certainly earned the right to hold a military parade once a year without arousing suspicions of gearing up for another shot at empire. Witnessing the Victory Day celebrations in central Moscow for many years, I began to ask myself a question: Why doesn’t America drive its tanks down Main Street each year, say, for Veterans Day? I posed this question to an American friend of mine, and I got the haughty response: “Because America is a democracy.”So according to this fuzzy, feel-good logic, good democracies don’t march their soldiers and showcase their latest missile systems around self-satisfied places like Washington, DC, or Brussels, Belgium, because that would smack of something faintly fascist. Instead, we drive our battle tanks down the main streets of Baghdad, Iraq, and Kabul, Afghanistan, and call this beneficent behavior “democracy building.” Do the denizens of Washington begrudge the residents of Baghdad the lack of an annual military parade? Somehow I doubt it, but Baghdad should begrudge Washington the stench of hypocrisy.Would shutting down Washington for a joyous day of military pomp and parades risk exposing some uncomfortable truths about the present state of our democracy? Would watching tanks and drones buzz through town be a bit like the vampire confronting its horrible reflection in the mirror at midnight? Would such a momentous event as a military parade, coming at a time when the US Military is overstretched across its global empire and the economy remains in tatters, expose the lie of American democracy?Although We the People are said to hold the reins of power, we have no collective control over how much Uncle Sam can spend on weapons, nor any say whatsoever as to where those pricey weapon systems will be used. The worldwide protests that greeted the blatantly illicit invasion of Iraq calmed any exaggerated expectations we may have held out for ‘people power.’ With the Pentagon’s annual price-tag for expenditures approaching the trillion-dollar mark, and military follies continuing at a Napoleonic clip, the loss of our democratic voice is no insignificant footnote.Ron Paul, the perennial presidential candidate the corporate media loves to ignore, summed up US foreign policy during the last debates as such: “We’re under great threat, because we occupy so many countries,” Paul stated bluntly. “We’re in 130 countries. We have 900 bases around the world. We’re going broke.”So isn’t it time for we Americans to be a bit more honest with ourselves? Isn’t it time to shelve the consumer-driven Macy Day parades and embrace our true colors, which is becoming anything but red, white and blue? Isn’t it time we got something more substantial than floats bobbing up and down Madison Avenue every Thanksgiving? Isn’t it time for a full-throttled, white knuckle display of American firepower straight down the throat of Main Street, USA.? Of course it is. The American taxpayer forks over a trillion dollars each year to feed the insatiable appetite of the military-industrial complex, so where’s our military parade? Why should Baghdad and Kabul get all the fireworks?Since confronting the extreme lethality of American democracy with a military parade would push the ship of state uncomfortably close to the rocks of truth, we must settle for candy-coating our consciences into oblivion with other less unsettling displays of American power.Behind the massive curtain in our Land of Oz, we must distract the ‘consumers’ with non-stop Hollywood entertainment, sporting events and a dazzling array of consumer goods to gloss over any discomfort that may come with questions regarding America’s foreign policy prerogatives. So long as Americans keep on shopping, as George W. Bush advised in those harrowing moments of shock and awe that followed the deadliest attacks on the US mainland, our enemies will continue to envy us.But supposing America did come out of the closet in true character with a military parade, we would be confronted with another problem: We don’t have any public space comparable to a Red Square, or even a Tiananmen. Why is that? After all, these massive public places are used for more than showcasing missiles and goose-stepping soldiers. In the off season, these open-air venues give the people a place to assemble, occasionally with purpose, a collective act that is not suffered lightly in America’s Time of Troubles.As long as the American people assemble peacefully in the mall, as opposed to The Mall, it will be business as usual in the United States.Robert Bridge is the author of the book, Midnight in the American Empire, which examines the dangerous consequences of extreme corporate power now prevalent in the US. … Read More
US to start arming Syrian rebels ‘shortly’
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) remarked to CBS News on Tuesday that the US may supply weaponry to opposition fighters in Syria embattled in the bloody war against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that has claimed more than 70,000 lives, according to recent United Nations estimates.US President Barack Obama has hinted that the US will consider using military action against the Syrian government if it can be proved that Assad deployed chemical weapons against his people during the two-year-old war, calling such a revelation a “game changer.” The US recently identified the use of chemical weapons in Syria but has yet to prove with complete certainty that Pres. Assad approved the use of chemical weapons against opposition fighters.“What we now have is evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria, but we don’t know how they were used, when they were used [or] who used them,” Obama said last week in an address from the White House. Days later, Carla Del Ponte of the UN commission investigating the alleged use of sarin gas said there are “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that rebels ordered the use of chemical weapons, but as recently as this week the White House said they were skeptical of that claim.”The commission has not reached any conclusive findings,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney fired back on Monday, “The fact of the matter is that we are highly skeptical that the opposition has used chemical weapons.”But as the US waits for confirmation to determine if Assad is guilty of using chemical weapons, Sen. Corker said that the White House will find other means to intervene and aid rebel soldiers.”I do think we’ll be arming the opposition shortly,” he told CBS “We’re doing a lot more there on the ground than really is known, but we do have to change the equation.”"I think you all know the moderate opposition groups that we support are not as good at fighting, they’re not as good as delivering humanitarian aid and we need to change the balance,” Corker said.”We’ve got to change the balance there and I do think we’ll be arming the rebels soon.”Just one day earlier, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) proposed in Washington legislation that will not just provide the Syrian opposition with arms but will also punish allies of Assad who attempt to assist against the rebels. “The Assad regime has crossed a red line that forces us to consider all options,” Menendez said in a statement. “The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria, and the US must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free Syria.”Concerns have amounted as of late, however, over what influence the introduction of direct American aid will have overseas. Speaking to CBS, Sen. Corker said one main fear is that US-supplied arms will end up in the hands of opposition fighters who are anti-Assad but also anti-American, such as the al-Qaeda aligned al-Nusra Front.”A nightmare would be al-Nusra, if you will gaining, control of Syria,” Corker said. “That’s worse than Assad being there.” … Read More
