Bush’s pro-Khamenei policy

29Nov08

“Next June, Iran is expected to hold a presidential election. However, given the country’s structure of power and, especially, Khamenei’s hold on power, it is unlikely to significantly change either Iran’s domestic policy or its foreign policy. Real change will come later, and only when Iranians figure out how to move beyond the current sultanistic [...]

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Tags: Akbar Ganji, Ayatollah Khamenei, Bush

The ideological silence about the Chagos Islands

28Nov08

John Pilger on the Chagossians:
“During the 1960s and 1970s British governments, Labour and Tory, tricked and expelled the entire population of the Chagos Archipelago, more than 2,000 British citizens, so that Diego Garcia could be given to the United States as the site for a military base. It was an act of mass kidnapping carried [...]

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Tags: Chagos Islands, Diego Garcia, John Pilger, Unpeople

Israeli policeman head-butts Palestinians in E. Jerusalem

27Nov08

David Frum would presumably describe this as behaviour that ‘falls below the standard Israeli policemen expect of themselves.’ (via)

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Tags: abuse, brutality, David Frum, East Jerusalem, Human Rights, police, repression, Shooting Back

Another pogrom in Hebron

26Nov08

Last night 40 Jewish settlers went on a rampage in the long-suffering Palestinian city of Hebron, throwing rocks, smashing windows and slashing tires. One Palestinian resident reports:
“The stone-throwing tonight was not rioting, it was with intent to kill … Settlers threw stones at us from the fifth floor. I picked one up and it weighed [...]

Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian   |  3 Comments
Tags: Hebron, IDF, impunity, settlements, settlers, West Bank

House demolished without warning in East Jerusalem

25Nov08

Ma’an:
“The Israeli military demolished a Palestinian house in the town of Al-Ezariya, in East Jerusalem on Monday morning, witnesses and international observers said.
The 130 square meter house was owned by Muhamad Mahmoud Mizia’ro. Fieldworkers with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) learned in interviews with the family that the house [...]

Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian   |  5 Comments
Tags: East Jerusalem, house demolitions

Olmert: rhetoric vs. actions

25Nov08

The fine folks at the FMEP have drawn up a map of what a final status agreement would look like based on Ehud Olmert’s recent, unprecedented statements in support of a two-state settlement:

Compare and contrast with what he has actually achieved:

Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian   |  2 Comments
Tags: "peace process", Ehud Olmert, lying legacy-hunters and the lying liars who hunt them, maps

Abbas: “peace process” is achieving nothing

25Nov08

PA President Mahmoud Abbas:
“So far we have not reached agreement on a single question — every issue remains up for discussion … Even if (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice or someone speaking in her name says, even if (Israeli Foreign Minister) Tzipi Livni or someone speaking in her name says that there are agreements [...]

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Tags: "peace process", Abbas, Annapolis, Fatah, Hamas, Rice

Nuclear hypocrisy

20Nov08

A written submission (Sep. 29) to the Foreign Affairs Committee by the respected Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy discussing the contradictions and hypocrisy evident in British nuclear policy:
“The Security Strategy emphasises rule-based multilateralism, but the UK decision to renew Trident conflicts directly with UK obligations under the NPT and will contribute to the further weakening [...]

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Tags: NPT, nuclear proliferation, nukes, Trident

Engaging Iran

19Nov08

Baroness Williams (Adviser to the Prime Minister on Non-Proliferation; Member, International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament; and Member, Board of Directors, Nuclear Threat Initiative) speaking before the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this month:
“Okay. I have recently been in Iran. There is a very strong argument about what Iran’s real motivations are and [...]

Filed under: Iran, Israeli / Palestinian, UK   |  10 Comments
Tags: Baroness Williams, Iran, Middle East, nuclear proliferation, nukes, Obama

Progress?

19Nov08

First this:
“Relations between Israel and Britain remained strained on Thursday over Downing Street’s intention to label products manufactured in West Bank settlements, a week before the expected arrival of British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, to the Middle East.
Miliband, who will visit Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Lebanon next [...]

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Tags: David Miliband, EU, Europe, settlements, settlers