region

Gaza and the Politics of “Greater Israel”

by Nile Bowie
Global Research
November 17, 2012

“The Bible finds no worse image than this of the man from the desert. And why? Because he has no respect for any law. Because in the desert he can do as he pleases. The tendency towards conflict is in the essence of the Arab. He is an enemy by essence. His personality won’t allow him any compromise or agreement. It doesn’t matter what kind of resistance he will meet, what price he will pay. His existence is one of perpetual war. Israel’s must be the same. The two states solution doesn’t exist; there are no two people here. There is a Jewish people and an Arab population… there is no Palestinian people, so you don’t create a state for an imaginary nation… they only call themselves a people in order to fight the Jews.” [1]– Benjamin Netanyahu

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza being perpetuated under ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’ comes at an interesting time. Under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements into Palestinian lands has increased at unprecedented rates. Netanyahu’s administration has approved the construction of 850 settler homes in the occupied West Bank in June 2012, even after the Israeli parliament rejected a bill to retroactively legalize some of the existing homes in the area. [2] The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has almost doubled in the past 12 years, with more than 350,000 residing illegally under international law. [3] While Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman asserts Tel Aviv’s unwillingness to permit Palestinians any right to return to their lands, emphasizing, “not even one refugee,” apartheid enforced on ethnic and religious lines has become a ratified part of Israeli government policy. [4] Far-right political discourse that was once considered extremism is now the status quo in Israel.

While Netanyahu publically announced support for a Palestinian state on the West Bank, his government has threaten to end the Oslo Accords if the United Nations General Assembly granted Palestine with non-member observer state status. [5] A panel of Israeli jurists assembled by Netanyahu’s government to determine the legal status of the West Bank concluded that there is “no occupation” of Palestinian lands and that the continued construction of settlement outposts are entirely legal under Israeli law, despite critical international opinion. Netanyahu’s far right-conservative Likud party was established on the philosophy of Ze’ev Jabotinksy, who called for the establishment of a ‘Greater Israel,’ a concept embraced by Israeli historian Benzion Netanyahu, the father of today’s Prime Minister. Under his fathers influence, Benjamin Netanyahu was indoctrinated in the ideological foundations of Revisionist Zionism, which promote Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (Palestine) and the full biblical land of Israel by contemporary Jews, an oil rich landmass extending from the banks of the Nile River in Egypt to the shores of the Euphrates.

As rocket fire hits Tel Aviv for the first time since the Gulf War, the ongoing siege of Gaza must be seen as what it is – a premeditated component of Israeli expansionism. Netanyahu was a zealous supporter of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s 2008-2009 sieges on Gaza known as ‘Operation Cast Lead,’ which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, while Israel suffered only 13 causalities. [6] On November 14, 2012, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched an offensive into the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip and began announcing their progress through an official Twitter account. IDF forces assassinated a prominent Hamas military commander, Ahmed Jabari, who was allegedly in possession of a draft copy of a permanent truce agreement with Israel. [7] The agreement included mechanisms for maintaining the cease-fire in the case of future military exchanges between Israel and the Hamas-led political factions of the Gaza Strip. Militants from the armed wing of Hamas in Gaza retaliated by firing rockets into Israeli territory, a large percentage of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.

Benjamin Netanyahu used this retaliation to claim the moral high ground by warning that he will take “whatever action is necessary” to stop further rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. [8] IDF officials have called on 30,000 reservists to prepare for a possible extended ground incursion into Gaza, as IDF forces indiscriminately kill civilians attempting to strike Palestinian aerial and naval targets. [9] The Obama administration has condemned Hamas for perpetuating violence, while Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood government led by Mohamed Morsi recalled Egypt’s ambassador from Tel Aviv. Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil arrived in Gaza after the second day of Israeli attacks in a show of support for Palestine. Through ‘Operation Pillar of Defense,’ Israel is targeting the military foundations of Hamas, while attempting to portray itself as a victim in the international media. IDF forces dropped thousands of Orwellian leaflets over Gaza, urging citizens to take responsibility for their own safety, due to Hamas “once again dragging the region to violence and bloodshed.” [10]

Despite Israel targeting the elected Hamas government of Gaza, an article in the Wall Street Journal titled, “How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas,” cites a former Israeli official who claims that Israel encouraged the formation of Islamist groups to counterbalance secular nationalists affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Israeli government even officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya as a charity group, allowing it to build mosques and an Islamic university. [11] Israel cooperated with the influential Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was opposed to secular Palestinian activists, as he spearheaded the Sunni Islamist movement that became Hamas. In late October 2012, Gaza’s Hamas government received Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, for an official visit. As part of an aid development package, Al-Thani granted Hamas $400 million, at least $150 million of which will go towards a housing project in southern Gaza – it would be reasonable to assume that large portions of that aid would be invested in defense. [12]

The support given to Hamas by Qatar must be understood through the context of its engagement in Syria. The New York Times articled titled, “Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria,” states that the arms being shipped to Syria by Saudi Arabia and Qatar are being used to bolster jihadists and al-Qaeda affiliated groups attempting to topple the government of Bashar al-Assad. [13] Qatar has held numerous meetings of US-backed Syrian opposition leaders and hosts a critical American military air base at Al-Udeid, west of the capital, Doha. Qatar has also allowed the establishment of a Brooking Institute center on its territory. Brookings’ Saban Center for Middle East Policy published “Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change” in March 2012, and the directives described in the report have ostensibly become the policy of allied Western and Gulf countries aiming to topple the Syrian government. The Saban Center that published the report was established in 2002 when Israeli-American mogul Haim Saban pledged nearly $13 million to the Brookings Institution in an attempt to influence pro-Israeli policy. [14]

Despite paying lip service to the Palestinian cause, Qatar is supporting policy engineered to give Israel a pretext to consolidate its power. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have cooperated with the United States and Israel by exporting the Salafist ideology that is so prominent among radical rebel fighters in Hamas and the Free Syrian Army, and using their enormous oil wealth to fund and arm these movements. An unapologetic Op-Ed written by Israeli columnist Guy Bechor titled, “Dangers of a Palestinian state,” bemoans the possibility of an independent Palestine, in fear of the nation becoming a hub for extremist violence:

“A sovereign Palestinian state will immediately absorb 700,000 Palestinians who are living in terrible conditions in Syria, another 750,000 Palestinians who currently live in Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of others who will flock to the new state from all over, because to them the West Bank and Israel are America – just ask the African infiltrators. Due to the ‘Arab Spring,’ Syria and Lebanon would gladly kick the Palestinians out, and the Palestinian state would welcome them with open arms in order to change the demographic reality on the ground. Qatar and Saudi Arabia would fund the entire exodus.

Thus, the Palestinian state would become one of the most densely populated areas in the world and pose a direct security and demographic threat to Israel. In other words, in the near future we may see hundreds of thousands of Palestinians settling in the West Bank. Some of them are among the most dangerous people in the Middle East: Salafis, members of armed Syrian and Lebanese militias, as well as members of various jihadi groups. They will settle in places that overlook Haifa, Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport and Jerusalem. The demographic balance in this region will be changed forever. Our lives will become a Syrian-style nightmare.” [15]

In 1952, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan spoke ardently of Tel Aviv’s ultimate goal, the creation of ‘an Israeli empire’ – today, Netanyahu has led his administration with megalomaniacal hubris, and has emphasized a messianic-catastrophic worldview where Israel is “the eternal nation.” [16] Indeed, a Salafist-dominated Palestine would cause troubles for Israel, and it provides a much-needed pretext for Israel to militarily engage with Palestine groups, with the eventual goal of recapturing their land for Jewish settlement. ‘Operation Pillar of Defense,’ launched just months away from Israel’s elections, is a calculated component of the Netanyahu government’s strategy to topple Hamas and continue absorbing Palestinian territory. Decades of occupation and apartheid have shaped the current scenario; Israel has dehumanized an entire people by seizing their land and forcing them into prison-like ghettoes. Adherents to political Zionism have shown contempt for a genuine political solution to the Palestinian conflict, and the Netanyahu administration is poised to crush all opposition to the Jewish state.

Amid reports of rocket fire striking Jerusalem, it is clear that the Israeli response will be swift and unforgiving. While the historic plight of the Palestinian people cannot be ignored, the conduct of Hamas is counter-productive and radical, despite the Israeli firepower being exponentially more destructive. The siege on Gaza is an impetus to consider Henry Kissinger’s prediction, “In 10 years, there will be no more Israel.” Sixteen US intelligence agencies that collectively issued an 82-page analysis titled, “Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East,” concluded that Netanyahu’s Likud coalition has enthusiastically condoned and supported illegal settlements, while enforcing an apartheid-style infrastructure upon Palestinians. [17] Israel, the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East, has all the attributes of an international pariah state and its current path is unmaintainable. If Israel devastates Gaza, the backlash would create momentum that threatens the very existence of the Jewish state. Under Bibi’s watch, Israel will either continue to enforce the ideological tenants of political Zionism on its neighbors, or die trying.

Notes

[1] Received Wisdom? How the Ideology of Netanyahu’s Late Father Influenced the Son, TIME, May 02, 2012

[2] Israel to build more West Bank homes, Al-Jazeera, June 07, 2012

[3] Population of Jewish settlements in West Bank up 15,000 in a year, The Guardian, July 26, 2012

[4] Lieberman: Netanyahu’s stance on 1967 borders reflects viewpoint of most Israelis, Haaretz, May 23, 2011

[5] Israel: We will annul Oslo Accords if Palestinians seek upgraded UN status, Haaretz, November 14, 2012

[6] Israel to take ‘whatever action necessary’ to stop Gaza rocket fire, The Telegraph, November 12, 2012

[7] Israeli peace activist: Hamas leader Jabari killed amid talks on long-term truce, Haaretz, November 15, 2012

[8] Israel to take ‘whatever action necessary’ to stop Gaza rocket fire, The Telegraph, November 12, 2012

[9] IDF calling up 30,000 reserves ahead of possible Gaza ground operation, The Times of Israel

[10] Operation Pillar of Defense: IDF Disperses Leaflets Above Gaza Strip, IDF Blog, November 15, 2012

[11] How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas, The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2009

[12] Qatari ruler uses historic Gaza visit to call on Palestinian factions to unite, The Times of Israel, October 23, 2012

[13] Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria, The New York Times, October 14, 2012

[14] Humanitarian Buffer Zones in Syria: How Misinformation Obscures the Israel Lobby’s Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy, Dissident Voice, October 16, 2012

[15] Dangers of a Palestinian state, YNet, November 13, 2012

[16] As Netanyahu pushes Israel closer to war with Iran, Israelis cannot… Haaretz, August 03, 2012

[17] Kissinger, US intelligence community endorse “World Without Israel,” PressTV, September 30, 2012

Nile Bowie is a Kuala Lumpur-based American writer and photographer for the Centre for Research on Globalization in Montreal, Canada. He explores issues of terrorism, economics and geopolitics.

Articles by: Nile Bowie

China will force peaceful solution to Syrian crisis on West: German pundit

nsnbc
November 14, 2012

[Arabic translation]

By Kourosh Ziabardi – Tehran Times – A German political pundit says China will use its soft power to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis and force it on the U.S., the UK, France, and Germany. “I am also rather confident that China will give the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and other important European governments economic incentives to find a peaceful resolution to the (Syrian) crisis,” Christof Lehmann said in an interview with the Tehran Times on Tuesday.

“One could compare it with a soft power carrot and stick strategy where the policy of Turkey ultimately is dependent on decisions which are made in Europe and the USA,” he added.

Lehmann went on to say that he is “very confident that a peaceful resolution to the crisis is possible as long as the root causes are being addressed and as long as Russia and China maintain a responsible role with regard to preventing further abuse of international law.”

Lehmann is a political author and consultant as well as a clinical psychologist and psycho-traumatologist.

He has been advisor to many high-ranking political leaders across the world, and writes for a number of political news and analysis websites, such as The 4th Media.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: You have closely followed the political development in China and the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and the recent political developments in Turkey. What political developments do you expect with regard to the situation in Syria?

A: The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has embraced a new, highly motivated generation of politicians on all levels of China’s central and regional governments. Political, social and economic reforms will continue but with more prudence and China will work toward a wealth distribution that will bring moderate prosperity also to the not so developed regions. This consolidation provides a strong basis for a more self-confident China which is likely to use the Chinese soft power strategy to assert its policy, also with respect to Syria.

I am confident that China will back Russia at playing a more confident, assertive and responsible role in the Middle East and Syria by supporting Russian initiatives for the deployment of Russian, Armenian and other UN peace keeping forces to Syria in the first or second quarter of 2013.

I am also rather confident that China will give the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and other important European governments economic incentives to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis. One could compare it with a soft power carrot and stick strategy where the policy of Turkey ultimately is dependent on decisions which are made in Europe and the USA.

Speaking in general terms I am very confident that a peaceful resolution to the crisis is possible as long as the root causes are being addressed and as long as Russia and China maintain a responsible role with regard to preventing further abuse of international law of the kind we have witnessed when NATO overstepped the provisions of UNSC Resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya.

The approach Russia and China have adopted is the approach of international law as a basis for preventing and resolving disputes and conflicts. According to the Charter of the United Nations, the adoption of a resolution of the Security Council requires the concurrent vote of all permanent members. However, since UNSC Resolution 4 (1946) on Spain it has become common practice that an abstention does not prevent the implementation of a resolution even though it has not been formally adopted by a concurrent vote of all permanent Security Council members. This practice was considered as a soft veto, that is, that the nations which did not adopt a resolution would not prevent the others from implementing it, provided that the authorizations granted by the text of the resolution were not significantly overstepped or violated.

When NATO abused UNSC Resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya to become a belligerent party and to bring about regime change in Libya both Russia and China became concerned that the same strategy would be attempted to bring about regime change in Syria. When the two highest ranking NATO commanders prior to NATO’s 25th Summit in Chicago in 2012 wrote that NATO’s intervention in Libya was “a teachable moment and model for future interventions” it became clear for Russia and China that they could not risk that NATO would also abuse a soft veto to initiate an aggression against Syria.

Another important feature in the Russian and Chinese approach to the conflict is that they oppose NATO’s condescending and neo-colonialist approach to national sovereignty. According to the provisions of the Treaty of Westphalia and the Charter of the United Nations it is not allowed to interfere into the internal affairs of sovereign nations. However, constructs such as humanitarian intervention and a responsibility to protect violate both the provisions of the Treaty of Westphalia and the UN Charter. Their adoption was and remains highly controversial and both Russia and China are realizing that NATO will continue to abuse them unless they are opposed at the Security Council.

A very good example for Western neo-colonialist thought is Dr. Henry Kissinger who contemplates whether most Arab countries could at all be protected by the principles of Westphalia. Kissinger speculates that because their borders have been arbitrarily drawn by former colonial powers they are not real nation states and thus they may not fall under the Treaty of Westphalia. Dr. Kissinger however, fails to be consequent in his thinking. Was he consequent he should have said most Arab nations and Israel?

Q: Will the U.S., EU, Turkey and the Persian Gulf states of Qatar and Saudi Arabia accept that President Assad should remain in power and it’s an appropriate solution for ending the 19-month-long crisis in the Arab country?

A: Since the failure of the Free Syrian Army to secure Aleppo as seat for a transitional government in June and July 2012 both the political and the military foreign backed opposition have fallen literally apart. An attempt to compensate militarily by massively importing Wahabi and Salafi organizations and fighters, many of them with ties to Al-Qaeda, has even made it more difficult to unite a politically or militarily credible foreign backed opposition. The recent meeting in Doha and the establishment of a new political opposition is not much more than a recycling of a failed strategy.

Taking into account that the attempt to build a credible and presentable foreign backed opposition, combined with the fact that we will most likely see increased pressure from China and Russia to begin negotiating and cooperating with the genuine political parties and organizations inside Syria, including the Baath Party and President Assad, I am confident that both the USA, the UK, Germany and eventually also France will have to get involved in real politic and begin working at resolving the crisis rather than aggravating it.

If the USA and NATO accept a peaceful resolution the Persian Gulf states will have to go along. In the end it is mostly a question of a lack of convergence in energy and security needs of two cartels. A resolution to which Europe can agree will most likely also satisfy the needs of the Persian Gulf states.

Q: Why Turkey has been siding with the U.S., France and Britain in pressuring the government of President Assad and supporting the Free Syrian Army?

A: Turkey has been siding with the United States because it was pressured into it. That is, the AKP and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan were more than willing to cooperate, but their cooperation was not possible before they succeeded at arresting and imprisoning more than 29 high ranking military officers and countless members of the opposition. What we witness in Turkey is a de facto coup d’etat supported by the USA and NATO. The comparison with Ottoman ambitions may reflect the delusions of grandeur of Prime Minister Erdogan but not real politic. What we witness in Turkey is an attempt to implement the American Greater Middle East Project which was developed by the RAND Corporation in 1996. That is, the planned balkanization of Turkey into small states along ethnic and religious divisions. That is hardly a basis for a new Ottoman Empire.

Q: In one of your articles, you pointed out that the massive rallies in different cities of Turkey on October 29, the national day of independence in the country, angered the government of Erdogan since thousands of people protested at the government’s attempts to join the U.S.-NATO illegal war on Syria. Would you please explain more about that? Is the Turkish public against the government’s position on Syria?

A: On 29 October 1924, the Turkish Revolution won over imperialism and its proxies. Since then the day was the most important of all Turkish holidays with millions of people celebrating it in the streets every year. The AKP government of Erdogan outlawed the celebrations, erected police barricades and banned demonstrations. However, millions turned out and removed the police barricades. This year the 29th of October turned into a new revolution against the new imperialism and its proxy, Prime Minister Erdogan. I am confident that the AKP has made a historic mistake by attempting to rewrite Turkey’s history. After this massive humiliation I find it unlikely that the AKP will win another election any time soon.

Q: Would you please explain about the role of Salafists in the escalation of conflict in Syria? How have they entered Syria from Saudi Arabia in such great numbers?

A: Syria experienced a massive influx of Salafist militants after the Free Syrian Army was decisively defeated in its attempt to conquer Aleppo as seat for a transitional government in June and July 2012. The plan was to emulate the strategy that has been used successfully in Libya, where the seat of the transitional government was the Al-Qaeda or LIFG stronghold Benghazi.

The main sponsors of Salafists in terms of finances and weapons are Saudi Arabia and to a lesser degree Qatar. Militants are imported from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Libya, Indonesia and elsewhere. Especially Saudi Arabia is maintaining a world-wide network of Salafist organizations, many of them with ties to the Al-Qaeda network like the HuJI (Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami) in Bangladesh.

These organizations are often funded through charities and supervised through liaisons into the Saudi Ministry of the Interior. The Free Syrian Army never succeeded in establishing a general command and that was its weakness from day one. Since the influx of Salafits we witness calls for the establishment of a Syrian Caliphate while small factions are fighting each other. The common denominator is greed, extremism, money and weapons from abroad.

It is a self defeating strategy because it caused many Free Syrian Army commanders and troops as well as members of the non militant foreign backed opposition and the people of Syria to realign themselves with the Syrian military, the Syrian government and the genuine reform movements in Syria.

Q: Somewhere I read you saying that the war on Syria is a war for natural resources, especially the vast gas reserves of Persian Gulf and East Mediterranean. Would you please tell us more about that? Do you want to imply that Syria possesses gas reserves which the regional and foreign opponents of the government of President Assad want to take over on?

A: The principle cause of the Syrian crisis is a lack of convergence in the energy and security needs of two cartels. In 2007 major resources of natural gas were discovered in the Persian Gulf between Qatar and Iran and in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the so-called Levanthine Basin. These reserves can cover the consumption of natural gas in the EU and the Middle East for the next 100 – 120 years. There are two proposed pipeline projects or cartels, which are, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, and to a lesser degree Lebanon and Palestine, and the other consists of Qatar, the EU, Israel, Turkey, Greece, and to a lesser degree the USA.

At the present time Russia provides approximately 22 % of the natural gas that is consumed by the EU. This percentage will increase when the North Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany will go online. Because of the USA’s push for dominance over Russia and China the prospect that Russia also will control the gas supplies from the Middle East and the Mediterranean raises grave security concerns in Europe. That is the main cause for the conflict. However, I believe that a solution can be brokered if Russia and the EU increase their interdependency in economic and political terms.

Q: How does Israel benefit from conflict and unrest in Syria? Is it that with the weakening of Syria and the overthrowing of the government of President Assad, it would be more comfortable for Israel to confront Iran and even launch a military strike against Iran?

A: Syria is the sole Arab nation which has consequently and consistently supported the Palestinian cause. To weaken Syria would be beneficial for Israel in terms of the Palestinian issue and in terms of weakening Syria militarily and politically. As far as I am informed Israel has plans to permanently annex the occupied Syrian Golan, parts of Southern Lebanon, East Jerusalem and the greater part of the West Bank. Syria is the main obstacle preventing this plan. Israel’s solution for the Palestinian problem would be the establishment of a Hamas controlled Palestinian micro state in the Gaza Strip in the recognition of that state. A weakened Syria and Hezbollah or Lebanon will also make it more feasible for Israel and the USA to attack Iran and thus gain dominance over the oil and gas resources of the entire region.

November 16, 2012 | Categories: China, co-opting and/or destabilization, GCC, NATO, news, sovereignty, tyranny, war | Leave a comment

The “Professional” Practice of Public Relations: A Conversation with Edward L. Bernays [audio]

by Jan Irvin
Gnostic Media
October 21, 2012

The Professional Practice of Public Relations: A Conversation with Edward L. Bernays
PRSA M-001 Public Relations Society of America

Year – 1979-1980?

Thanks to Mike M. for sending me this talk on cassette tape.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:10:13 — 40.2MB)

November 16, 2012 | Categories: audio/podcast/radio, consciousness, economy, news, tyranny, US | Leave a comment

Corbett Report Radio 256 – Operation Betrayus: From Benghazi to Brennan [audio/video]

The Corbett Report
November 13, 2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The shockwaves of the Petraeus affair are still being felt in Washington. Predictably, the media focus is on the prurient nation of the scandal, but this is no ordinary sex scandal. Join us tonight on the program as we look at some of the implications of the affair from “access” journalism to blackmail to Benghazi and CIA secret prisons and the question of who will step in to fill his shoes.

SHOW NOTES

The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV
Requiem for the Suicided: The DC Madam
Eliot Spitzer Gets Nailed
Greenwald on “access journalism”
Broadwell biography
Paula Broadwell ‘had classified documents on computer’
Holder notified of Petraeus probe in late summer — did he tell anyone?
Paula Broadwell spilling secret CIA information (video)
CIA denies it detained militants in Benghazi
Morell may be successor to Petraeus at CIA
Body of lies from Benghazi to Barack
Proof Positive – In My Opinion
Obama Passport Records Break-in
Passport Record Theft Ties Back to Analysis, Inc
Key witness in passport fraud case fatally shot
FBI agent’s behavior questioned in probe that turned up Petraeus affair

November 16, 2012 | Categories: Libya, news, tyranny, US, videos, war | Tags: Benghazi | Leave a comment

PROTEST AGAINST HALIFAX’S WAR CONFERENCE THIS SATURDAY Nov. 17, 2012 — 1PM

Potent News
November 15, 2012

WARMONGERS NOT WELCOME IN HALIFAX!
Oppose the Halifax War Conference!

SATURDAY
NOV. 17, 2012 1 pm

Halifax Peace & Freedom Park
(formerly Cornwallis Park) Hollis & South Sts.

Organized by: No Harbour For War
Endorsed by: Halifax Peace Coalition, CUPW, NSPIRG,
Food Not Bombs – More to follow –

For further info: noharbourforwar@hotmail.com

NO WAR ON IRAN!

HANDS OFF SYRIA!

WAR CRIMINALS – OUT OF HALIFAX!

CANADA OUT OF NATO!

DISMANTLE NATO!

NO HARBOUR FOR WAR!

Established 4 years ago the Halifax International Security Forum, based in Washington, D.C., will take place Nov. 16-18 at the Westin hotel.

Warmongers from more than 40 countries will join Peter MacKay and some 300 others at the Forum “to learn from each other, share opinions, generate new ideas, and put them into action.”

Amongst the agenda items are:

• Confronting Iran • Syria’s Terror, the Middle East’s Tragedy

• American Global Leadership After the Election

• Securing Global Supply Chains • Learning from Israel

• Gaining Control of Loose Weapons and Loose Chemicals

• North Korea’s New Kim: Just Like the Old Kim?

• Being There: Special Responsibility of Democratic Nations

This is all looked at from the perspective that as the world’s sole superpower, the U.S. is free to dictate to the peoples of the world as it pleases.

It is unacceptable that Halifax, or any Canadian city, be used as a venue to plan further crimes against the peace and the peoples of the world. Bring your banners and placards, bring your music and statements, and most of all bring your friends to oppose this war conference.

(ALSO JOIN THE WEEKLY PICKETS EVERY FRIDAY– HANDS OFF SYRIA! HANDS OFF IRAN!)

November 15, 2012 | Categories: action alerts / announcements / solutions, Canada, co-opting and/or destabilization, Israel, NATO, news, sovereignty, tyranny, US, war | Leave a comment

‘Next phase of Arab Spring: Jordan’ [video]

Press TV
November 14, 2012

A political analyst tells Press TV that the next phase of the Arab Spring might topple the monarchy in Jordan before other monarchies in the region.

The comments come after people took to the streets in several cities in Jordan, including the capital, to voice their opposition to a government plan aimed at increasing fuel prices. Since last year, people in Jordan have been staging demonstrations across the country, demanding political reform including the election of a prime minister by popular vote and an end to corruption.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ali al-Ahmed, director of the IGA, to further discuss the issue.

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November 15, 2012 | Categories: economy, Jordan, news, protests, sovereignty, tyranny, videos | Leave a comment

Kim Dotcom Announces 400 Million Dollar Plan to Provide New Zealand With Free Internet

By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com
November 4, 2012

The raid on the mega upload headquarters earlier this year seems to have awakened the rebel spirit within Kim Dotcom, Megaupload’s infamous founder.

Since his release from jail he has made repeat promises to put “the dinosaur record industry out of business for good” and has announced the release of a website that will provide free music while paying the artists at the same time.

Now he’s taken his radical activism a step further and proposed a 400 million dollar plan that could provide free broadband to everyone in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, there is a small roadblock in his way, that being the government regulation and cartelization of internet service providers, which works the same in almost every country.

Thanks to the way that the laws are set up, Dotcom is not legally allowed to provide people with internet directly.

Instead he is forced to go through the ISP middlemen who have special government granted privileges to sell and distribute internet services.

According to the NZ Herald:

“Kim Dotcom is proposing free broadband to all New Zealanders as he tries to resurrect the ill-fated Pacific Fibre cable connecting New Zealand to the United States.

Dotcom last night revealed his ambitious plans to build the $400m cable – which would double New Zealand’s bandwidth – set up his new Mega company, creating jobs and a data centre to service the rest of the world.

He would provide New Zealand internet service providers such as Telecom and Vodafone with free access for individual customers and charge a fee to business and central government.”

Pacific Fibre hoped to build a 12,950km cable between Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles but cancelled the project in August after failing to raise the funds that were needed.

So even though Dotcom plans to resurrect this project and run a 400 million dollar cable under the ocean, it is illegal for him to give away the fruits of his labor to anyone without going through a licensed ISP first.

To no one’s surprise the ISP’s won’t just give away internet for free, even if they don’t have to pay for it.

Instead of giving up on the plan Dotcom has reluctantly discussed deals with the countries ISP’s and has come to somewhat of a compromise.

Dotcom will provide the ISP’s with the internet for free, who then have agreed to give the average people of New Zealand access to this connection for a very small fee.

To make the usage fee even lower for the average person, Dotcom is insisting that government and corporate organizations pay an extra surcharge.

Unfortunately, thanks to the cartelization of internet services which is made possible by government regulation, people in New Zealand will still have to pay for the service.

However, considering that New Zealand is in desperate need of this project and people would see a drastic decline on their internet bill, Dotcom’s proposal is being taken very seriously.

In the end people would pay roughly one-fifth of what they are paying now and the bandwidth would be three to five times faster with no transfer limits.

Dotcom commented on the project saying that:

“You have clean and cheap energy here. Power is becoming the biggest cost factor for data centres around the world.

With its own cable, cheap power and connectivity New Zealand could attract foreign internet business. Unfortunately the current Government wants to invest into more tarmac roads. In 10-15 years most people will work and shop from home. You don’t need tarmac, you need fibre!”

Although Dotcom is wealthy due to his internet entrepreneurship, a vast majority of this money will be coming from silent investors.

He said that he expects to get his share of the money from suing Hollywood and the US government, but if that falls through he still has no problem forking over his share out of his own pocket.

Dotcom has also been fighting back legally, accusing the record industry of lobbying the government for his arrest, illegal spying and wiretapping and other charges of police misconduct.

In New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence, Justice Paul Neazor, have both acknowledged the illegal spying.

As of now Dotcom is awaiting his extradition hearing in March.

*****

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