Eric Walberg

Will there be another war in the Caucasus? This is a smoldering issue on more than one front, finds Eric Walberg, in the first of a two-part analysis of the spectre of conflict in this crucial crossroads

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world expected a new era of peace and disarmament. But what happened? Instead of diminishing, US and NATO presence throughout Europe, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Central Asia rapidly increased, and the world experienced one war after another -- in the Caucasus, Yugoslavia , Iraq and Afghanistan , each one hotter and more horrible than the last. And we are far from seeing the end to the savagery now unleashed by the anti-communist jinni.

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Silvia Cattori inteviews Mazin Qumsiyeh

The Israeli army invaded Mazin Qumsiyeh’s neighborhood in Beit Sahour, a suburb of Bethlehem, on 2 March in the night, waking up his mother, wife and sister. Heavily-armed soldiers blocked roads during "the operation". When his family opened the door, they demanded to see Mazin Qumsiyeh (*). They were told that Mazin already left to the US. He replies here to the questions of Silvia Cattori.

Silvia Cattori: We heard that Israel is pressing hard on nonviolent protests. Can you give the background of this situation?

Mazin Qumsiyeh: Civil nonviolent resistance in Palestine, against the Zionist colonial project, has been going on for over 120 years. It escalated under British occupation between 1917-1947. But it became far more critical under the Zionist direct occupation from 1948 until today. The most visible events were publicized for example during the uprising of 1987 to 1991 when peaceful demonstrators were met with policies of breaking bones, shooting, home demolitions etc. With the effective ending of armed resistance in 2006 when Hamas entered the political process joining the other major factions, the only form of resistance that remained in a way threatening to the status quo of endless occupation was civil or popular resistance. Israeli authorities thus tightened the pressure on all forms of civil resistance. They arrested dozens of leading activists, harassed and beat others, and in several cases injured or killed peaceful demonstrators.

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James Petras

The principle propaganda mouthpiece of the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (PMAJO), the Daily Alert (DA), has come out in full support for Israel’s practice of extra-judicial, extra-territorial assassination.

In the face of world-wide governmental condemnation (except from the Zionist-occupied White House and US Congress), the PMAJO slavishly backs any brutal murder committed by the Israeli secret police anywhere in the world and at anytime. The recent assassination of Hamas leader, Mahmoud Mabhouh, in Dubai is a case in point. The PMAJO has defended all of Mossad’s criminal actions leading up to the murder, including extensive identity theft and the stealing or falsification of passports and official documents from several European countries, presumably allied to the Zionist state. Among the Mossad agents who entered Dubai to kill Mabhouh, twelve agents used stolen or forged British passports, three Australian, three French, one German and six Irish. These agents assumed the identity of European citizens in order to commit murder in a sovereign nation.

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