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Shortness
Jon Meyer
My talk at the Shortness Symposium at the Tate Modern went well. I had to restrict it to seven minutes long, which was a challenge!
I started by conducting a financial transaction with the audience. I had written a small program which displayed the market exchange rate between UK pounds and US dollars, fluctuating over time (I explained it was a simulated figure based on data from the last three months, replayed much faster). I asked for a volunteer in the audience who wanted to buy two dollars off of me, paying in pounds at the going exchange rate. A woman in the audience agreed. When she said "now" I wrote down the exchange rate. Then I observed that I didn't actually have any dollars on me. My next task was to find a source for her dollars. I asked for a volunteer in the audience who happened to have a couple of dollars they were prepared to sell at the going rate. Fortunately, Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky) raised his hand (I knew Paul was present, and hoped he might volunteer, but it wasn't prearranged and I was a bit nervous at that point!) When I completed my purchase the exchange rate had fallen. The result was that I sold two dollars at one rate but purchased them a little later when the exchange rate had fallen a little - making myself a 3 pence profit.
Breaking: Demos, actions in support of kidnapped peace activists across Europe
Editor Pal Tel Admin
Gaza-london, July 2, ( Pal Telegraph) - The European campaign to end the siege on Gaza (ECESG) has called for international human rights organizations to organize protests in front of Israeli embassies across Europe in solidarity with activists of Freegaza Movement.
Activists onboard the humanitarian boat were kidnapped by Israeli naval forces while they were sailing in a peaceful mission to end the siege. The call aims at creating factual movements on the ground to release "the spirit of humanity" activists.
Venezuela & Iran: Whither the revolutions?
June was a busy month for two of Washington’s real ‘Axis of Evil’. Venezuela’s Chavez completed his nationalisation of oil and Iran’s Ahmedinejad stemmed a Western-backed colour revolution, leaving both bad boys in place, muses Eric Walberg
What drives US foreign policy? Is it primarily the domestic economy, as it logically should be, or, as many argue, the powerful Israel lobby, or as other argue, the need to secure energy sources? Of course, the answer is all three, in varying degrees depending on the geopoltical importance of the country in question. And woe to any country that threatens any of the above.
Hamas’ Political Impasse: Between Principal and Necessity
Ramzy Baroud
Much can be said to explain, or even justify Hamas’ recent political concessions, where its top leaders in Gaza and Damascus agreed in principle with a political settlement on the basis of the two-state solution.
On June 25, Damascus-based leader of the Islamic group’s political bureau, Khaled Meshaal reiterated Hamas’ rejection of recognizing Israel as a Jewish State, rightfully dubbing such a designation as “racist, no different from Nazis and other calls denounced by the international community.” However, he did endorse the idea of a two-state solution, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state on roughly 22 percent of the land of historic Palestine.
Reviewing Marjorie Cohn and Kathleen Gilberd's "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent"
by Stephen Lendman
Marjorie Cohn is a Distinguished Law Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego where she's taught since 1991 and is the current President of the National Lawyers Guild. She's also been a criminal defense attorney at the trial and appellate levels, is an author, and writes many articles for professional journals, other publications, and numerous popular web sites.
Her record of achievements, distinctions, and awards are many and varied - for her teaching, writing, and her work as a lawyer and activist for peace, social and economic justice, and respect for the rule of law. Cohn's previous books include "Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice" and "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law."
Her newest book just out, co-authored with Kathleen Gilberd (a recognized expert on military administrative law), is titled "Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent." It explores why US military personnel disobey orders and refuse to participate in two illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also explains that US and international law obligate them to do so.
Dear President Obama
Cindy Sheehan
My friend, Cynthia McKinney and Nobel laureate, Mairead Maguire and 20 other people were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which, as I understand, is something that you have encouraged Israel to allow.
The Honorable Cynthia McKinney served six terms in the US Congress and she was the Green Party candidate for the office that you eventually won. It is an outrage that the Israeli Navy would block the boat that she and 21 others were on in international waters and board the boat and kidnap the crew and humanitarian aid workers.
Questioning The Ethical Legitimacy of Drone Attacks in Pakistan And Afghanistan
by Brian McAfee
Ongoing Civilian casualties have become an important consideration when looking at and considering the use and legitimacy of drones in South Asia. In a belated admission last month the U.S. had admitted to 26 civilian deaths in a series of drone attacks that took place in May but was not released to the media until over a month later. In the May attacks Afghan officials put the death toll at 140, significantly higher than U.S. claims. In the same strikes the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission put the Civilian deaths at 86.
SWITZERLAND IS STILL THE ULTIMATE SAFE-HAVEN FOR WEALTH
By Ron Holland
Many governments, politicians and financial centers competing with Switzerland regularly attack the independent, freedom loving Swiss because this alpine financial center is home to almost $4 trillion dollars in secure, private wealth. Back during World War Two, Adolf Hitler stated, "The Swiss are the most despicable and wretched people, mortal enemies of the new Germany".
Ethnic Cleansing as a State Policy
Nicola Nasser
In his speech at Bar Ilan University on June 14, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a new Israeli “peace plan,” with preconditions that a Palestinian negotiator must first meet before he would “promptly” engage in “unconditional” bilateral talks to meet an international consensus demanding the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. His preconditions added to the fourteen conditions the former Israeli government of comatose Ariel Sharon attached to Israel’s adoption in grudge of the 2003 Road Map blueprint for peace with the Palestinian side, on the basis of which the U.S. administration of President Barak Obama and his presidential envoy George Mitchell are now urging an early resumption of “immediate” Israeli – Palestinian peace talks, which Mitchell on June 26 hoped “very much to conclude this phase of the discussions and to be able to move into meaningful and productive negotiations in the near future."
USA's role in the Honduran coup -- and how we must fix it
Mary Shaw
"The U.S. Army School of the Americas ... is a school that has run more dictators than any other school in the history of the world."
-- Congressman Joseph Kennedy
They're baaaaaa-aaaack! "They" being military dictatorships in Latin America, such as the Reagan administration loved so much and so readily supported with guns and money.
Last weekend, a military coup in Honduras overthrew the democratically elected government of that Central American nation and sent President Manuel Zelaya into exile in Costa Rica. The coup was apparently led by Romeo Vasquez, a graduate of the notorious School of the Americas (SOA), a military/torture school located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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