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The turbulent 2011 at a glance
Kourosh Ziabari
2011 was a turbulent year for the world. With chained revolutions in the Arab world, mounting financial crisis in Europe and the unprecedented wave of protests and mass demonstrations in the U.S. against the corporate system of the government which has long swallowed the rights of the defenseless majority of the people voraciously, one can call 2011 the year of global unrest and tumult.
For Iran, 2011 was also a challenging year. Benefiting from the all-out backing of the Western mainstream media, the apartheid regime of Israel for several times renewed its hawkish war threats against the Islamic Republic and repeatedly used an aggressive rhetoric against the people of Iran, threatening them with various military options which the United States and certain European governments embraced willingly and enthusiastically.
Targeting Journalists Covering OWS Protests
by Stephen Lendman
On September, 17, 2011, US Day of Rage.org organized protests in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, OR, and Austin, TX.
They hoped many more would follow, grow, and spread nationwide. Indeed they have to over 1,000 large and small cities, towns, and communities.
"We have had enough," they said. "Help us reclaim democracy." Currently, many social justice issues drive them. In response, police violence confronts them.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan admitted coordinating crackdown efforts with counterparts in other cities.
Examiner.com reporter Rick Ellis said an anonymous federal official told him that "in several (late 2011) conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules."
Marwan Barghouti: Prisoner of Conscience
by Stephen Lendman
From March 29 - May 3, 2002, during the second Intifada, Israel conducted Operation Defensive Shield. Before Cast Lead, it was its largest military operation since June 1967 when Israel occupied Palestine.
On September 23, 2001, a warrant was issued for Barghouti's arrest. On April 14, 2002, he was arrested on spurious charges of murder, aiding and abetting murder, promoting murder, criminal conspiracy, and being an active member of a terrorist organization.
At the time he said:
"I am a political leader, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, elected by my people. Israel has no right to try me, to accuse me, to judge me. This is a violation of international law. I have a (legal) right to resist occupation."
On September 5, his trial began. Barghouti disputed its legitimacy under international law. On December 12, Judge Zvi Gurfinkel ruled as follows:
Obama's New Military Strategy
by Stephen Lendman
Obama's January 5 Pentagon news conference reeked of duplicity like all his pronouncements. Surrounded by Joint Chiefs of Staff, hawkishness took center stage.
Stressing a leaner, more agile/flexible military, he said counterterrorism, intelligence and cyberwarfare will be emphasized without sacrificing America's superiority against global enemies.
So will subversion, destabilization, drone killings, other targeted assassinations, global state terrorism, and permanent war.
Libyan Violence and Instability
by Stephen Lendman
NATO's killing machine ravaged a nonbelligerent country posing no threat. Tyranny replaced Jamahiriya government. Violence followed stability.
On January 3, Middle East Online contributor Jay Deshnukh headlined, "Ex-rebels' war for money, power: Fierce clashes erupt in Tripoli," saying:
In central Tripoli, fighting claimed two lives as "former rebels from....Misurata clashed with....ex-fighters from the Libyan capital, witnesses said."
Promoting War on Iran
by Stephen Lendman
In June 2009, a Brookings Institution report titled, "Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran" was a regime change policy paper. Pro-Israeli right-wing ideologues prepared it, including:
(1) Martin Indyk: former US ambassador to Israel, currently Brookings foreign policy director.
(2) Kenneth Pollack: Former CIA analyst and National Security Council staff member; current Council on Foreign Relations member and Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy research director.
(3) Michael O'Hanlon: Former Congressional Budget Office national security analyst, currently Brookings senior fellow for defense and military policy.
(4) Bruce Riedel: Former CIA counterterrorism specialist and assistant to the President and senior director for Near East Affairs on the National Security Council; current Brookings foreign policy senior fellow.
(5) Suzanne Maloney: Former State Department policy advisor, currently Brookings foreign policy senior fellow.
(6) Daniel Byman: Former 9/11 Commission staff member; currently Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy research director and Georgetown University security studies professor.
Obama Plans More War
by Stephen Lendman
On January 5, Obama held a first ever administration Pentagon news conference. Its thinly veiled hawkishness explained his 2012 military agenda.
Its Asia/Pacific region policy challenges China and Russia. Its Middle East presence stresses confrontation and belligerency. Globally it plans relying increasingly on naval and air power. It also stresses destabilization, confrontation, and war when other methods don't turn independent states into client ones.
He stressed counterbalancing China and Iran. Undeclared strategy includes confrontation and belligerency. Mindful of Republican opposition to defense cuts, he said America will "avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when our military was left ill-prepared for the future. As commander-in-chief, I will not let that happen again. Not on my watch."
Claiming nuclear weapons proliferation, he pointed fingers at Iran. In response, he said "(w)e're going to stay vigilant.....In addition, investments in counterterrorism, intelligence, and cyberwarfare" will be emphasized.
Systematic West Bank Settler Violence
by Stephen Lendman
B'Tselem's been on the story for years. Settler violence is longstanding, troubling, and largely without accountability.
Since September 2000 alone (the beginning of the second Intifada), the toll includes 50 Palestinians killed. Since December 1987 (the first Intifada's onset), it's 115, besides many more injured, including children.
Palestinian Children Detained Oppressively in Isolation
by Stephen Lendman
"Israel Spurns All International Laws with Impunity"
DCI/Palestine "is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated) to promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children," according to international law principles.
On December 28, it submitted a complaint to several UN authorities titled, "The use of solitary confinement on Palestinian children held in Israeli detention." It's specifically for five children held at Al Jalame and Petah Tikva interrogation centers in Israel.
Their cases follow 29 others since February 2008. At both facilities, "solitary confinement is routinely used."
Though no universally agreed on definition exists, the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement defines it as physically isolating prisoners in cells for 22 to 24 hours daily. Human contact is minimized, including quantitative and qualitative stimuli.
Money Power Runs America
by Stephen Lendman
Wall Street does it by controlling money, credit and debt, as well as manipulating markets for private enrichment. House and Senate millionaires do it their way for greater wealth, privilege, power and status.
New Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) figures show it. More on them below. New York Times writer Eric Lichtblau commented in his article headlined, "Economic Downturn Took a Detour at Capitol Hill," saying:
In 1991, Representative Ed Pastor (D. AR) entered Congress with around $100,000 in savings and as much debt owed banks. Now he's a millionaire, one of 250 in Congress.
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