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Beating Up on North Korea
by Stephen Lendman
On February 11, Pyongyang informed Washington and China of its intentions. February 12 headlines explained.
They said North Korea conducted its third nuclear test. Russia's Defense Ministry estimated a blast exceeding seven kilotons.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) measured the yield at twice North Korea's 2009 test.
Condemnation followed. New sanctions were threatened. More on that below.
BDS Better Learn from its Mistakes
By Gilad Atzmon
It’s almost funny to read the BDS’ leadership’s outraged reactions to top ethnic-cleansing advocate Alan Dershowitz when he tried to stop a discussion with Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti discussing BDS at NYC Brooklyn College.
It’s funny because the BDS leadership unfortunately is drowning in the exact same Talmudic herem culture as is Dershowitz. Just like Dershowitz, BDS is itself engaged in a relentless assault on fundamental and elementary rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of expression. So often, we learn about BDS embarking on yet another assault on dedicated humanists and intellectuals - in many cases, leading supporters of Palestine – as we watch Palestinian solidarity transformed itself into just another zone of occupation.
Creative resistance, Israeli intransigence
Khaled Amayreh in occupied Palestine
Palestinians are turning to novel non-violent strategies to confront Israel’s ongoing colonial settlement policy.
In their seemingly endless struggle against Israel’s colonialist occupation, Palestinians are increasingly resorting to novel and generally non-violent methods of resistance against harsh Israeli army tactics.
This week, Palestinian activists from the village of Burin, south of Nablus, pitched tents and assembled some barricades in an effort to assert their land rights in an area constantly coveted by Jewish settlers.
Awaiting the American illusion...again
By Khalid Amayreh
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is bracing itself for a new episode of engagement with the new Obama administration. Both President Obama and his newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry are planning to visit the region and hold talks with Israeli and Arab officials.
Some PA officials are relating to the visits with the same utter naïveté they had displayed every time an American official landed in Ramallah. As these "perennially optimistic" officials react to the invariably futile visits, they often give the impression that "this time will be different" and that the U.S. is now serious about pressuring the colonialist Zionist state to walk in the path of peace and forcing it to give up the stolen land and end the world's longest military occupation.
Iran-Egypt rapprochement impossible amid Shia-Sunni dichotomy
Khalid Amayreh
Until Iran abandons, or at least significantly mitigates its parochial sectarian approach to the predominantly Sunni Muslim region, prospects for a dramatic breakthrough in Egyptian-Iranian relations will remain modest at best.
Under normal circumstances, closer relations between Tehran and Cairo would be beneficial for both countries as well as for the Muslim peoples of the Middle East.
The Ikhwan's multi-faceted foes
By Khalid Amayreh
I have no doubt that the vast majority of Arab masses would like to see an authentic but moderate, workable and non-violent version of Sharia adopted and implemented as Law of the land.
Arabs, the bulk of who adhere to the Islamic faith, are almost inherently religious and reject secularism and atheism outright. (Secularism is viewed as hostility to religion not as separation between politics and religion). They are also wary of the blind imitation of western-style liberalism which views religion as a personal, individual matter.
The Rich Arabs' betrayal of Egypt
Khalid Amayreh
With the exception of Qatar, oil-rich Arab states are watching rather indifferently as 90 million Egyptians reel under a harsh, unprecedented economic and financial crisis.
The Egyptians, by nature, are a dignified and proud people who wouldn't beg for help. However, rich Arab states have a religious, moral, nationalist and human duty to extend a helping hand to their older sister, without whom their very existence, let alone their sovereignty and national dignity, would be dubious and precarious.
Egypt is not just another Arab country. Egypt is the heart and soul of Arab Umma (nation) without which Arab states, irrespective of their money-filled coffers, would be condemned to utter insignificance both at the regional and international levels.
Impeach Obama: A National Imperative
by Stephen Lendman
Do it now before it's too late!
America's Declaration of Independence states:
"(W)hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, (it's the right of the people, it's) their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Straightaway as president, Obama violated his sacred trust. He betrayed his constituents. He's a serial liar. He broke every major promise made. He serves illegitimately.
He institutionalized tyranny. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
He menaces humanity. He's heading America for WW III. He wants America's social contract destroyed. He wants millions impoverished, unemployed, left hungry and homeless. He's beholden to powerful monied interests that own him.
Ecuador: Left-Center Political Regimes versus Radical Social Movements
James Petras
Introduction
On February 17, 2013, national elections will take place in Ecuador in which incumbent left-center President, Rafael Correa, is likely to win with an absolute majority against opposition candidates covering the political spectrum from Right to Left. Since he was first elected in 2006, Correa has won a string of elections, including presidential elections (2009), a constitutional referendum, a constituent assembly and a ballot on constitutional amendments. Correa’s electoral successes occur despite the opposition from the main Indian organizations, CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) and CONFENIAE, the principle public sector teachers unions, environmental NGOs and numerous radical intellectual, academics and trade union activists. He also has routed the traditional pro-US right-wing and liberal parties, successfully defeated and prosecuted the subversive intent of the mass media moguls and survived an aborted police-military coup in 2010. Unquestionably Correa has demonstrated his capacity to win repeated elections and even increase his margin of victory.
Vatican Changing of the Guard
by Stephen Lendman
In April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI. At the time he said:
"Dear brothers and sisters. After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the lord."
He hid his dark past. More on that below.
On February 11, he announced he'll step down. He's the first pope to do so since Gregory XII in 1415. Vatican spokesman, Federico Lombardi, said he "took us by surprise." He's 85. His energy and health deteriorated. It did so "to the extent that (he) had to recognize (his) incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to (him)," he said.
"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom (he) declare(d) that (he'll) renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter."
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