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Pope’s unbalanced neutrality in Holy Land
By Nicola Nasser*
Pope Francis’ “”pilgrimage” to the Holy Land last week proved to be an unbalanced impossible mission. The pontiff failed to strike a balance of neutrality between contradictory and irreconcilable binaries like divinity and earth, religion and politics, justice and injustice and military occupation and peace.
Such neutrality is viewed by the laity of Christian believers, let alone Muslim ones, in the Holy Land as religiously, morally and politically unacceptable.
The 77-year old head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics “is stepping into a religious and political minefield,” Naim Ateek, the Anglican priest who founded the Palestinian liberation theology movement and runs the Sabeel Ecumenical Center in Jerusalem and Nazareth, was quoted as saying by “Time” on last May 24, the first day of the pope’s “pilgrimage.”
Battling for Ukraine's Soul
by Stephen Lendman
Eastern Ukrainian freedom fighters aren't quitting. They reject Kiev putschists.
They deplore fascist governance. They want fundamental democratic rights everyone deserves.
So do Maidan activists. Nonviolent ones. Thousands. On Sunday, they convened a People's Veche (assembly).
The first in two months. In Kiev's Independence Square. Thousands participated. To decide whether to continue tent city activism. "We are not going to go away," they said. They're watching president-elect Poroshenko. They'll give him a month to deliver on promises made.
Brazil: Workers Struggle Trumps Sports Spectacle
James Petras
Introduction
For decades social critics have bemoaned the influence of sports and entertainment spectacles in ‘distracting’ workers from struggling for their class interests. According to these analysts, ‘class consciousness’ was replaced by ‘mass’ consciousness. They argued that atomized individuals, manipulated by the mass media, were converted into passive consumers who identified with millionaire sports heroes, soap opera protagonists and film celebrities.
The culmination of this ‘mystification’ – mass distraction –were the ‘world championships’ watched by billions around the world and sponsored and financed by billionaire corporations: the World Series (baseball), the World Cup (soccer/futbol), and the Super Bowl (American football).
Turkey Cuts Water Supply to Syria - Euphrates Shut Down
Michael Collins
Western hostilities toward Syria are reaching a new level of viciousness. Al-Akahbar English reports:
"The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water crisis. Al-Akahbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without drinking water." Suhaib Anjarini, Al Akahbar, May 30
The water cutoff by the Turkish government caused Lake Assad to drop six feet threatening two million people in and around Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. The Euphrates originates in Turkey and also provides a critical water source for Iraq. (Image: Joel Bombardier)
Turkey, a NATO member, strongly opposes to the current government of Syria. The Turkish border to Syria is a major supply route for weapons and foreign fighters against the Syrian government.
Infrastructure Sticker Shock: Financing Costs More than Construction
Ellen Brown
Funding infrastructure through bonds doubles the price or worse. Costs can be cut in half by funding through the state’s own bank.
“The numbers are big. There is sticker shock,” said Jason Peltier, deputy manager of the Westlands Water District, describing Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two massive water tunnels through the California Delta. “But consider your other scenarios. How much more groundwater can we pump?”
Whether the tunnels are the best way to get water to the Delta is controversial, but the issue here is the cost. The tunnels were billed to voters as a $25 billion project. That estimate, however, omitted interest and fees. Construction itself is estimated at a relatively modest $18 billion. But financing through bonds issued at 5% for 30 years adds $24-40 billion to the tab. Another $9 billion will go to wetlands restoration, monitoring and other costs, bringing the grand total to $51-67 billion – three or four times the cost of construction.
A general rule for government bonds is that they double the cost of projects, once interest has been paid.
War on Fundamental Rights in Ukraine
by Stephen Lendman
Previous articles called it war without mercy. This writer's new book as editor and contributor explains the most significant post-WW II geopolitical crisis.
Escalating it risks global conflict. Obama bears full responsibility. Washington stops at nothing to advance its imperium.
Imagine the unthinkable. John Pilger fears Washington "threaten(s) to take the world to war." "We in the west are backing neo-Nazis in a country where Ukrainian Nazis backed Hitler," he said."(A) silent coup has taken place in Washington and rampant militarism now rules."
Ukraine is "a CIA theme park." Its operatives oversee "savage attacks" against Ukrainians wanting to live free.
Israeli Extrajudicial Assassinations
by Stephen Lendman
They're willful, premeditated cold-blooded murder. They're official Israeli policy.
Killers get impunity. Investigations rarely happen. Occasional ones are whitewashed. In May 2007, former Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said:
"We decided to carry out more physical liquidation operations against (Palestinian) 'terrorists' "
"I think this will eliminate the damage caused to Israeli territory due to the launching of Palestinian rockets."
Just cause for murder doesn't exist. Claiming otherwise rings hollow. International law is clear and unequivocal.
Did the Jews Lose Europe?
By Gilad Atzmon
Following the surge of right wing parties in Europe’s Parliamentary election, Forward, the once-progressive Jewish outlet asks, “Have the Jews Lost Europe?” The tone of this question implies that until just a few days ago, at least some Jews believed that Europe was, in part, a ‘Jewish property.’ Such views were not baseless; Jewish Lobbies have dominated British and French policies by means of aggressive lobbying (CFI, LFI, CRIF etc’).
Following the European poll, Dave Rich, deputy director of the ultra Right Wing Jewish para-military Community Security Trust, is concerned. He detects a growing resentment of Jewish politics in Europe. His article in the Forward’s openly examines whether Jews have lost their grip on the European continent.
West should reject falsification of Egyptians' will]
Khalid Amayreh
By now, it should be sufficiently clear that the coup gang in Egypt, led by Gen. Abdul Fattah Sissi, has embarked on a scandalous falsification of the Egyptian people's will.
Sissi and his puppet government had designated 26 and 27 May for voting to elect a new president following the military coup against Muhammad Mursi, the only democratically-elected president in Egypt's entire history. Sissi had no real opponents to compete with in last week's elections as the leaders of the main rival political force in the country, namely the Muslim Brotherhood, remained locked up in jail, with their party declared a terrorist group by a notoriously pliant justice system that is at the military's beck and call..
Hamdeen Sabahi, a shockingly disingenuous candidate, never posed any real challenge to Sissi. His reluctant campaign and obsequious discourse toward the coup leader, caricatured a weak and confused man whose only "qualification" was his pathological dislike of the Islamists.
The Rise of the European Right: Reaction to the Neoliberal Right
James Petras
Introduction
The European parliamentary elections witnessed a major breakthrough for the right-wing parties throughout the region. The rise of the Right runs from the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, the Baltic and Low countries, France, Central and Eastern Europe to the Mediterranean.
Most, if not all, of these emerging right-wing parties mark a sharp break with the ruling neo-liberal, Christian and Social Democratic parties who have presided over a decade of crisis.
The ‘new Right’ cannot be understood simply by attaching negative labels (‘fascist’, ‘racist’ and ‘anti-Semitic’). The rise of the Right has to be placed in the context of the decay of political, social and economic institutions, the general and persistent decline of living standards and the disintegration of community bonds and class solidarity. The entire existing political edifice constructed by the neo-liberal parties bears deep responsibility for the systemic crisis and decay of everyday life. Moreover, this is how it is understood by a growing mass of working people who vote for the Right.
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