tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77089702024-03-08T10:58:47.881+10:30Telling the History of the Twenty-First Century as it Really IsHISTORY AS IT HAPPENEDDamian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.comBlogger1170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-27141302113688049412015-05-04T15:48:00.002+09:302015-05-04T15:48:30.541+09:30KEELTY, HOWARD AND RUDDOCK AND THE SECRET DEAL TO EXECUTE AUSTRALIANS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I suspect that Mick Keelty, John Howard and Philip Ruddock
are pleased that the two Bali Nine boys were shot to death in the early hours
of Wednesday morning of the 29 April 2015 as it finalises a plan first hatched
back in April 2005. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was then that Lee Rush, the father of Scott Rush, one of
the gang members of a drug smuggling operation, realising that his son was
about to fly to Bali in order to bring drugs back to Australia, contacted the
Australian Federal Police via a lawyer friend to inform them of what was about
to happen with a view of getting the AFP to stop Scott Rush from boarding that
aircraft to Bali. The AFP assured Robert Myers, the lawyer friend of Lee Rush,
that Scott would be stopped before leaving the country. It didn’t happen. Scott
Rush was allowed to leave Australia to fly to Bali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead of warning Scott Rush off, who could then warn off
the other members of the smuggling team, the AFP instead tipped off their
Indonesian counterparts warning them that the smuggling team was about to
arrive <i>just before Scott Rush boarded the
flight to Bali on 8 April 2005</i>. Nine days later Rush and three others were
arrested at Denpasar airport as they were about to leave for the return journey
home. Chan and Sukumaran were also arrested at Denpasar airport. Three others
were arrested at their hotel as they were preparing to leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, what happened?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Clearly, instead of warning the gang that if they proceeded
with their plan they would be arrested by the Indonesian police and charged
with smuggling offences, the AFP decided to allow the gang to go ahead with
their plan knowing that the consequences would likely end with at least one or
two of the gang being sentenced to death by shooting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, why did Mick Keelty let them go ahead with their plan
knowing that they would be caught and suffer the consequences? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In fact, it would not have been Keelty’s call to allow the
gang to go ahead with their plan especially in light of the probability that at
least one or two of them would likely receive the death penalty. Keelty would,
at least, have consulted with the Attorney General of the day, Philip Ruddock
who, in turn would have consulted the Prime Minister, John Howard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It was at this point that I believe Howard and Ruddock,
despite their declared stance against the death penalty, made the decision to
allow the smuggling operation to go ahead knowing that it would be thwarted and
that as a consequence of the trials that would follow one or more of the nine
involved would receive the death penalty. Furthermore, as I stated at the time,
regardless of the appeals against the sentences and the pleas for clemency as
the time for execution approached, at least one or two of the gang would
ultimately be executed. I further suggested that this would happen regardless of
whatever else happened and that it would happen because of some kind of
agreement between the Howard government and the Indonesian government in order
to deter Australians from smuggling drugs from Indonesia to Australia. That
plan has now been carried through to completion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My evidence supporting this assertion is circumstantial
though, once known, seems to be compelling especially in the light of what has
happened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Howard first spoke of the affair on 10 April 2005 at a
doorstop interview at the Great Hall of the People whilst visiting China
negotiating a Free Trade Agreement between Australia and China when a
journalist asked Howard “…what’s the significance of the… operation that has
led to eight men being charged with…”. “What is the significance of it?” Howard
asked. “Yes”, said the journalist, to which Howard replied:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">“Well the operational aspects of
that should be commented upon by the Australian Federal Police. I didn't know
anything about it and nor should I until the people were arrested. It is normal
for the Australian Federal Police to cooperate with the Indonesian police if
they have reason to believe that people have broken the law. I would always
encourage the Australian Federal Police to cooperate with their counterparts in
neighbouring countries in the apprehension of suspected drug offenders. But as
to the details of this particular case I know nothing other than that nine
people have been arrested, that they are entitled like anybody else to a
presumption of innocence, I hope they will be dealt with fairly and justly by
the process, the charges are very serious and there's quite a number of
Australians involved, nine, it's a large number. This is a matter though for
the courts, the Indonesian authorities, but I endorse very strongly, very
strongly indeed, cooperation between the Australian Federal Police and the
Indonesian authorities in trying to track down people who are trafficking in
drugs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The journalist pushed Howard
further: “Prime Minister, is it possible that as a consequence of this joint
operation involving the AFP that Australians could face the death penalty...”
but, before the journalist could finish, Howard interrupted saying, “Jim, I'm
not going to start making comments that in any way bear upon this particular
case, that would be inappropriate, I think you know that.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Clearly, Howard was already very
familiar with the case and was aware of the significance of it, particularly
with regard to the use of the death penalty but did not want to discuss it at
that time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">According to Bob Myers, the
barrister friend of Lee Rush, father of Scott Rush, “the AFP had all the
evidence they needed to arrest the nine before they left Australia on a heroin
smuggling mission. Instead it (the AFP) let them travel to Bali and then told
Indonesian police about the crime they were about to commit”. <a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In a statement to the media on 4 May 2015, Commissioner of the AFP, Andrew
Colvin, said: “</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">We can’t
apologise for the role that we have to try to stop illicit drugs from coming
into this community.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> But,
if that is the case, why did the AFP not warn the Bali Nine that they knew of
their plot to bring drugs into Australia. It’s not enough to simply state that
the AFP didn’t have enough evidence to arrest them before leaving for Bali.
They could just as easily have brought them in for questioning where they could
have been warned of the consequences of going ahead with their plan and in
particular the possibility that they may even face the death penalty if caught
with drugs. To say there was not enough evidence to arrest them is a complete
furphy. They needn’t have even been arrested; just simply brought in and told
that the AFP knew what was going on and if they went ahead with their plan they
would in all likelihood be arrested in Bali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The next question is: Was it Mick
Keelty’s decision alone to hand over the Bali Nine Australians on a plate to
the Indonesian police knowing full well that they may well end up facing a
firing squad? Would Keelty have had that kind of authority to make such a
decision knowing how serious the political repercussions might be? Keelty would
at least have had to consult the Attorney General, Philip Ruddock, about the
case before contacting the Indonesian authorities about the plan - especially
in cases where the death penalty is a possibility. Philip Ruddock in turn would
have then needed to discuss the situation with John Howard who was in China at
the time.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Judging by the response that Howard gave to questions about
the affair at that doorstop interview in Beijing, Howard had certainly already
been briefed on the matter and was clearly keen to pass the buck of responsibility
back to the AFP accompanied by some carefully considered words about the ‘presumption
of innocence’ and the hope ‘that they would be dealt with fairly and justly’ by
the Indonesian legal system. In other words, as far as John Howard was
concerned, the matter was <i>fait accompli</i>
since the Bali Nine were now in the hands of the Indonesian authorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems now that a certain unnamed AFP officer who asked to
be taken off the case because of his concerns about the possibility of the
death sentence being involved will become the fall guy for this whole sorry
affair in an attempt to absolve Ruddock and Howard of any responsibility. The
reality however, is that it was Howard, Ruddock and Keelty who between them
deliberately set up at least two of the Bali Nine for execution so as to deter
other Australians from bringing drugs to Australia despite their claims of
finding the death sentence abhorrent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
John Howard, ‘Doorstop interview, Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China’, 19
April 2005. <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10052/20080118-1528/pm.gov.au/media/Interview/2005/Interview1333.html">http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10052/20080118-1528/pm.gov.au/media/Interview/2005/Interview1333.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
AAP, “AFP’s Bali Nine actions ‘imported death penalty into Australia’”. <i>The Guardian, </i>4 May 2015. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/04/afps-bali-nine-actions-imported-death-penalty-into-australia">http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/04/afps-bali-nine-actions-imported-death-penalty-into-australia</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Damien/Desktop/bali%20nine.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Bridie
Jabour, “Bali Nine: AFP strenuously defends actions over 2005 drug-smuggling
case”. <i>The Guardian, </i>4 May 2015. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/may/04/bali-nine-australian-federal-police-explain-workdrug-smuggling-case">http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/may/04/bali-nine-australian-federal-police-explain-workdrug-smuggling-case</a>
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Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-29473533730653480442015-03-13T09:21:00.000+10:302015-03-13T09:21:18.110+10:30WARHAWKS AND REPUBLICANS ARE ON THE RISE AGAIN FOR THEIR SECOND ATTEMPT AT CREATING A NEW AMERICAN CENTURY<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One could be forgiven for thinking that the election of a popular
Democrat president in 2008 who had promised peace and an end to the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, that the world could have looked forward to peaceful days
ahead. Instead the war in Iraq has backfired on the US and has led directly to
the mess the Middle East now finds itself in as the Islamic State (IS) spreads
its poison across the region. All that President Obama seems to have achieved
is to postpone what now seems to be the inevitable explosion that will likely occur
after he has gone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obama’s failure to stabilise the Middle East stems directly from his
inability to insist that Palestine be given statehood in a territory that is
not subordinate to Israel in any way. His protests to Israel over settlement
building in the West Bank have been completely ignored. His failure to see that
Netanyahu and his fellow right-wing Zionists within the Israeli government have
never had any intention of allowing Palestine to become a sovereign state –
despite the pretence of ‘talks’ that kept Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and later John Kerry needlessly on the go for years – has brought only misery
and poverty to the Palestinian people as the Israelis destroyed their homes in
the <br />
Gaza Strip and taken their freedom and lands in the West Bank. Meanwhile, the
‘Arab Spring’ saw the disintegration of Syria, Libya and Egypt. As the Syrian
civil war turned into something akin to the Spanish Civil War where foreign
fighters flocked to fight governments and then each other as it degenerated
into a bloodbath where thousands died, Obama was unable to prevent Iraq from
being sucked into the vortex of so-called ‘Islamic extremism’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obama’s failure was his inability to see how inevitable this all was. Obama’s
inability to resist Israeli demands that the Syrian revolution against
President Bashir al-Assad be supported by the US meant that the violence there
escalated out of control as the various factional interests fighting against
al-Assad’s government began to polarise into powerful groups that eventually
coalesced into what we see there today; a pseudo-religious anarchical-fascist
phenomenon that seems to be growing exponentially. And initially all this was
allowed to happen because of Israel and America’s support for just about anyone
fighting al-Assad and his allies Hezbollah and Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now the situation has become almost out of control. Feeding the
so-called ‘Islamists’ is the US and their allies’ air attacks against IS in
Iraq and Syria which seems to achieve nothing except infuriate the extremists
to the point where they become ever more blood-thirsty in the lands they occupy
and threaten to attack those countries that attack them using violent acts of
terrorism. Right-wing Western governments, including Canada, New Zealand and
Australia, have pledged support to the effort to confront IS thus exposing the
peoples of those nations to retaliation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Obama has found himself in a strange place where he knows that
Americans are fed up with war. Iraq cost America dearly. Obama knows he can’t
go to war again for Israel as Netanyahu has demanded. Iran is not Iraq. While
Iran supports al-Assad in Syria, Obama has kept that issue away from his
attempts to find a way to ensure Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program.
Obama, rightly, regards diplomacy and negotiation as the way to settle the
issue while the Republican warhawks, the neoconservatives and the Christian
Zionists of the Western world together with the right-wing Zionists of Israel would
prefer to use force. They regard Iran’s nuclear program as an ‘existential
threat’ to Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For years Israel has accused Iran of having a nuclear weapons program
and that Iran is hell-bent on ‘wiping Israel off the map’. Netanyahu has not
let go of this meme and now, as Obama’s presidency comes into its final months
before in the run up to the 2016 Presidential elections, the warhawks in both
the US and Israel begin clamouring again for action against Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Helping their cause is the rampant growth of IS atrocities, military
successes, and apparent attraction of their cause to Muslim youths trapped in a
Western world that they see as Islamophobic and which has evolved into a
vicious cycle of mutual hatred – one that ultimately the disaffected youth that
are caught up in it cannot win. It is only a matter of time before the Western
nations led by a Republican US government dominated by warhawks and
neoconservatives go all out to crush IS in its tracks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Meanwhile, Israel, buoyed by both a renewed militarism in the US and a
revitalised alliance with Israel that would characterise a Republican
administration, would, with the full support of the US and its Western allies,
deal with its own enemies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For the warhawks, Republicans and their extreme right-wing allies both
in Israel and within the Western world, the up-coming elections in Israel and
the 2016 presidential elections will be crucial. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In Israel, the 17 March elections will likely return a staunchly pro-Zionist
government into office no matter who wins – and one should remember that
virtually the entire Israeli political system is right-wing compared to other
so-called Western democracies. One should not be lulled into thinking that any
party in Israel labelled as ‘left-wing’ is actually left-wing. The reality is
that it’s simply not as right-wing as many of the ultra-nationalist extreme
right-wing parties that envisage a Greater Israel free off all Arabs and
including an annexed Gaza Strip and West Bank. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Neoconservatives in the US are already promoting their preferred
Republican candidates with Jeb Bush being seriously backed by the big money
donators. Scott Walker is also in the Republican frame being backed by the
neoconservatives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On 20 January 2017 the world’s political landscape is likely to
suddenly change for the worse if a foreign policy focussed Republican wins the
presidential election, a right-wing nationalist Israeli government is formed
after the coming 17 March elections, and no significant inroads towards the
defeat of IS has occurred. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For the people of the US, while they’d prefer to keep out of wars, the
atrocities being committed in the Middle East by IS may prove to be a tipping
point for many voters who may find a Republican promise to put an end to the
reign of IS hard to resist. They may well fall again for the promise of a quiet
Middle East once Iran and IS have been dealt with – just as they did in 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As
the Obama years draw to a close and his promises of a lasting peace shattered,
so the warhawks, neocons and their allies around the world with their delusions
of Western Exceptionalism will once again bring the world to the brink of
catastrophe in the Middle East – and possibly even beyond the brink.</span>Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-36228999956903752122015-03-06T09:52:00.001+10:302015-03-06T09:56:29.137+10:30THE ISRAELI ZIONISTS OBSESSION WITH IRAN<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">You could be forgiven for thinking that the Israeli extreme right must
be nuts for being so obsessed about Iran when the Islamic State (IS), a far
more bloodthirsty and ruthless organisation that borders on being an
anarchistic-fascist organisation hell bent on destroying anything and
everything that doesn’t conform to its beliefs, is almost at Israel’s northern
borders. Rest assured, however, that there is method in Israel’s apparent
madness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Israelis for years, indeed, long before IS came along, have
considered Iran as their mortal enemy accusing them of wanting nothing less
than the destruction of Israel. To reinforce this notion, Israel accuses Iran
of developing nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of attacking and destroying
Israel. Israel says that ‘Iran is an existential threat’ to Israel, a call
repeated only recently by Netanyahu when he addressed the US Congress in
Washington on Tuesday 4 March 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The world, on the other hand, tends to think differently. Apart from
the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that Iran has a nuclear weapons
program, the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, the so-called
P5+1, believe that Iran can be prevented from the possibility of moving toward being
nuclear armed by a mixture of negotiation and sanctions. These negotiations,
instigated by the US under Obama’s administration, have all but destroyed
Israel’s aspirations to get the US to attack Iran ostensibly to destroy Iran’s
nuclear facilities but in reality to affect regime change in Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For Israel and their Republican and neoconservative supporters in the
US, regime change in Iran is essential because it would strip Israel’s enemies
at home, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, of
their ability to resist Israeli aspirations to create a Greater Israel that
includes annexing the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and possibly even southern
Lebanon up to the Litani River. Regime change in Iran will also effectively put
a halt to Iranian hegemony and influence throughout other regions of the Middle
East including Syria, Iraq and the Yemen. This would then allow a right-wing
led future US government to launch a full-scale offensive against IS and what
remains of Bashir al-Assad’s government in Syria while Israel launch all-out
attacks against Hamas and Hezbollah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">All this though requires a change of political scenery in the US; a
change that could well occur at the next US Presidential election in November
of next year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jeb Bush, George W. Bush’s brother, has already thrown his hat in the
ring for nomination as the Republican candidate and has taken on advisors who
are well known Zionist supporting neoconservatives. Israel has an election
coming up on 17 March this year and it is likely that the right-wing of Israeli
politics will prevail with Netanyahu a strong possibility of retaining the
Prime Ministership and, if not Netanyahu, then, in what I consider to be the
worst case scenario, the Zionist extremist Avigdor Liebermann who has called
for regime change in Iran, the invasion and annexation of the Gaza Strip and
the West Bank, and the destruction of Hezbollah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It seems clear to me that the purpose of Netanyahu’s provocative speech
to Congress last Tuesday was to pave the way for a drastic realignment of US
foreign policy after the US Presidential elections in 2016, a realignment that
favours Israeli plans for the future of the Middle East returning hegemony
firmly back in the hands of the US and Israel and rendering Iran’s influence
null and void thus realising Israel’s dream of creating a Greater Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-67438126948921353952015-02-03T08:59:00.003+10:302015-02-20T09:36:21.227+10:30AN INDONESIAN FIRING SQUAD: AUSTRALIA'S PROXY EXECUTIONERS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is imminent and, as
the Indonesian ambassador to Australia <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-02/bali-nine-pair-in-next-group-to-face-indonesian-firing-squad/6063828">Nadjib
Kesoema has said</a>, ‘the situation was final’ and there was ‘nothing Australia
could do to save Chan and Sukumaran from the firing squad’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The reality, however, is that there was never any intention of Australia
doing anything to save them from a firing squad in the first place. Right from
the very moment the Bali Nine set foot on the aircraft in Australia that took
them to Bali they were doomed. If the Australian government wanted to save them
from the firing squad then they would never have let them get aboard that
aircraft knowing full well what the Bali Nine were planning and what the
consequences were going to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Right from the very beginning of this sorry saga <a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com.au/2006/02/have-howard-and-afp-deliberately.html">I
have argued</a> that the Bali Nine were deliberately set up and that the Australian
Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian government at the highest levels,
including the Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, and the AFP chief at the
time, Mick Keelty, together with then Attorney-General Philip Ruddock,
conspired with the Indonesian authorities to have the Bali Nine caught
red-handed smuggling drugs and that in the subsequent trials the ringleaders
would be sentenced to death and ultimately executed. The intention as far as
the Australian government and the AFP were concerned is to let the executions
serve as a deterrent to other Australians thinking of smuggling drugs in or out
of Indonesia or, indeed, any other country that has the death penalty for
dealing in drugs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Australia hasn’t been anywhere near forceful enough in its dealings
with the Indonesians in trying to save the lives of Chan and Sukumaran. Both Howard
then and Abbott today have done nothing to try and save their lives other than
plead personally to the Indonesian presidents of the time to commute the death
sentences. Both have claimed they respect the laws of other nations and also
have said they did not want to upset the good relationship between Indonesia
and Australia and can do nothing more than make personal pleas to the
Indonesian president.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But these are hollow words. They claim to respect the laws of other
nations, but do they really? This so-called respect doesn’t extend to countries
that execute gays as in Iran and Saudi Arabia, which successive Australian
governments have vigorously criticised, yet ignores other countries that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/carlos-de-luna-execution-_n_1507003.html">execute
innocent prisoners</a> or execute those whose crimes were committed when they
were <a href="http://newsone.com/2061550/george-junius-stinney-jr-birthday/">just
children</a> or execute those who are clearly <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/warren-hill-georgia-executes-mentally-disabled-inmate-despite-lawyers-pleas-10009596.html">intellectually
disabled</a> all of which happens all too often in the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The hypocrisy of the Australian government continues as the Abbott
government completes the task Howard, Ruddock and Keelty set out to achieve; to
deliberately have Australians executed despite having no death penalty in Australia
and allow an Indonesian firing squad to become Australia’s proxy executioners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-66133974446190241632014-09-24T11:12:00.001+09:302014-09-24T11:12:09.425+09:30ISIS AND THE THREAT TO ISRAEL<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While the forerunners and later derivative groups of what is now ISIS,
or IS as they now prefer to call themselves, were busy fighting Israel’s enemy
in Syria, Israel and the US together with their Western allies were content to
let the al-Assad regime forces and the Islamists slug it out between them. Both
sides remain, however, the enemy of Israel. But, as the civil war in Syria
progressed, so the various Islamist forces ranged against al-Assad began to coalesce.
Though still not quite fully united, the group that now calls itself the
Islamic State has emerged by far the most influential. It has grown almost exponentially
over the last twelve months or so and has now spread itself into Iraq where it
has become a regional threat as it continues to collect more and more fighters
both locally and from overseas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But its growth has now reached a tipping point. Not only is it a threat
to the already unstable politics of Iraq as the movement expands eastward out
of Syria into Iraq, but it has now also become a threat to Israel as Israel and
its Western allies begin to realise that IS hasn’t taken its eye off the ball
in western Syria where it borders with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So far the Islamists that have flocked to the so-called ‘Islamic State’
forces have been busy consolidating their forces in the territories they now
occupy where they are using local recruits to slowly expand holdings in order
to build and establish their ‘caliphate’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">However, in western Syria the IS are now also beginning to become
influential and the Israeli fear of having them on their border has startled
the Israeli government and, just to assure IS that Israel is still a potent
force, Israeli yesterday demonstrated its potency by shooting down a Syrian jet
strike aircraft when it strayed over the border into Golan Heights airspace on
the very same day that the US and their allies attacked IS targets in Syria.
With the US attacking IS and Israel demonstrating there is no let up in its
desire to see al-Assad gone, it’s clear that Israel remains intent on not allowing
the polarising of forces fighting each other in Syria to influence its own long
term strategic goals of defeating both the so-called ‘Islamist’ extremists on
one side and al-Assad and his allies Hezbollah and Iran on the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It’s also clear that Israel and the US, together with their allies,
have colluded with each other to define a strategy to defeat a direct threat to
Israel without letting it be seen that the West and its allies are taking the
battle to the IS in Syria in order to protect Israel. It could very well be the
reason why Netanyahu called a sudden halt to the onslaught against the Gaza
Strip at a time just when his extreme right-wing partners in his government
were calling for the complete occupation of the Gaza Strip and the destruction
of Hamas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As the ceasefire in the Gaza was announced almost unilaterally by
Netanyahu there was barely a murmur of protest from the extreme right-wing.
Something clearly had upset Netanyahu’s plans for the Gaza Strip. Could it have
been the growing threat of the IS potentially coming to Israel’s doorstep in
the Golan Heights? It certainly seems that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-60968443708709454122014-09-19T09:24:00.001+09:302014-09-19T09:24:11.613+09:30ABBOTT GOES FOR THE JOHN HOWARD PLOY ON TERRORISM<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">According to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/terrorism-raids-police-arrests-raids-sydney-brisbane/print">this
<i>Guardian </i>report</a> </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Abbott has ‘played down the possibility that
Australia’s renewed involvement in Iraq would increase the chance of terror
plots against Australian targets. He said Australia was targeted in Bali in
2002 before any involvement in the previous Iraq war’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This is utter nonsense. All Abbott is
attempting here is to mimic John Howard’s ridiculous attempt to hoodwink the
Australian people over the reasons for the Bali bombings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Today’s terror threats – if, indeed, there
really are any – are as a direct result of this government’s plans to send
Australian forces to Islamic lands for the purpose of killing so-called ‘Islamic’
militants. And, while the Bali bombings did happen some six months before
Howard joined the US in invading and destroying Iraq in March 2003, the
bombings occurred because the Indonesian militants that were responsible for
the bombings knew, just like all Australians knew, that, despite all of Howards
worthless denials at the time about not having made a decision about going to
Iraq, that there was never any doubt that he would. <a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com.au/2004/07/bali-factor-in-howards-bigger-picture.html">Howard
used the Bali bombings</a> for his own political purposes and may even have
manipulated circumstances to have allowed the outrage to occur. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For Abbott to infer that the present threat
level isn’t as a response to Abbott’s plans to enjoin the US in their fight
against so-called ‘Islamist’ militants is downright garbage. And, in light of
the way Howard used the Bali bombings to suit his political agenda, one has to
wonder to what extent threats today in Australia haven’t been contrived to suit
Abbott’s political agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-32353434822428117182014-09-17T09:23:00.000+09:302014-09-17T09:23:15.206+09:30ABBOTT’S SECRET WAR<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Last month <a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/are-australian-sas-troopers-already-in.html">I
suggested that Australian SAS forces were already in Iraq</a>. I suggested this
based on the assertion by an American neoconservative writers indiscreet wording
in an article that said, “Western commandos such as Seal Team Six, Delta Force
and the British and Australian SAS should also expand operations to
carry out the kind of intelligence-driven leadership targeting that was an
important part of the 2007-2008 surge”. The use of the word ‘expand’ and the
tone of the narrative hinted that Australian SAS, together with other Special
Forces, were already deployed to the region. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Today, Mark Kenny, the <i>Sydney Morning Herald’s</i> <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-declares-un-resolution-unnecessary-for-australian-forces-to-fight-in-iraq-20140916-10hm8h.html#ixzz3DV58L6yq">chief
political editor writes</a>: “While a contingent of SAS commandos departed for
the Middle East on Monday, Fairfax Media understands several SAS commandos have
been in the region on standby for weeks.” What ‘standby’ means is anybody’s
guess but I can’t imagine for one moment that they’ve been idle but, regardless
of whatever they have been up to, their presence earlier on and long before any
formal announcements made by Abbott regarding Australia’s involvement in the
region indicates that Abbott had committed Australia to enjoin the US long
before there was any debate on the matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Kenny also goes on to write: “Mr Abbott said the fact that the
legitimate government of Iraq had invited Australia to assist in defeating an
insurgent force, made Australia's participation in the air and ground war legal”.
While Abbott concedes there are legal problems associated with operating with
allies inside Syria, he doesn’t rule entirely rule out the possibility saying, “I’m
not ruling some action is Syria but it is not part of the government current
intentions because, as I’ve said quite frequently over the past few days, the
legalities of operations in Syria are quite different from the legalities of
operations in Iraq”. However, when he was telling Australians and the
parliament a few weeks ago that he’d made no decision about Australia becoming
involved in Iraq, it’s obvious that he clearly had already decided what Australia’s
role would be in Iraq. Why, then should he be believed when he says that going
into Syria is not part of the Australian government’s intentions? And can we
not question weather or not Australian SAS forces aren’t already in Syria as
well as Iraq?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-74540510022424019732014-09-11T08:29:00.001+09:302014-09-11T08:29:45.542+09:30DID ROGUE ELEMENTS OF THE UKRAINE MILITARY SHOOT DOWN MH17?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Dutch Safety Board has released </span><a href="http://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/uploads/phase-docs/701/b3923acad0ceprem-rapport-mh-17-en-interactief.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">a preliminary report</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> of the shootdown of Malaysian Airline flight
MH17 on 17 July 2014. The </span><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/dutch-report-into-mh17-finds-crash-caused-by-highenergy-objects-from-outside-plane-20140909-10elm4.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">report states</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> that the cockpit area of the Boeing 777
airliner was hit with “a large number of high energy objects”. The report does
not identify nor speculate what these objects were. However, a </span><a href="http://www.anderweltonline.com/wissenschaft-und-technik/luftfahrt-2014/shocking-analysis-of-the-shooting-down-of-malaysian-mh17/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">close examination of evidence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> available on the internet, including
photographs of the wreckage coupled with information from the preliminary
report, all but confirms that the aircraft was shot down by another aircraft
using rapid fire machine cannon of some 30mm calibre. This contradicts earlier </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10977644/MH17-what-we-know-two-days-after-Malaysia-Airlines-crash-over-Ukraine.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">speculation that the aircraft was downed by a
surface to air missile</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">
(SAM). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Some experts who have said the airliner was brought down by a SAM have
pointed out that the BUK anti-aircraft missile system is a radar guided weapon
that can be fitted with a proximity fuse that detonates the warhead as the
missile closes in on its target. While the BUK missile system does indeed have
this capability, it does not account for the uniform size of the round holes
that are shown on the cockpit skin debris which are consistent with 30mm
diameter cannon shells. The BUK system warhead is a conventional fragmentation
high explosive device that would have peppered the target with irregular sized
and jagged holes and not the round holes that can clearly be seen in the films
and </span><a href="http://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/uploads/phase-docs/701/b3923acad0ceprem-rapport-mh-17-en-interactief.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">photographs</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> of the wreckage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Some </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-mh17-crash-ukrainian-military-jet-was-flying-close-to-passenger-plane-before-it-was-shot-down-says-russian-officer-9619143.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">earlier reports</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> suggested that a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su25 may
have been responsible for the shootdown. This scenario was refuted by the
Ukrainian government and its Western allies who argued that the Su25 was
incapable of reaching the 33,000 feet altitude that MH17 was cruising at. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-25"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Wikipedia’s article on the Su25</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> states that the service ceiling at best for this aircraft is just
under 23,000 feet. However, the authoritative </span><a href="http://www.military-today.com/aircraft/sukhoi_su25_frogfoot.htm"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Military Today website states that the SU25’s service
ceiling is 10kms</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> which, oddly, is almost
33,000 feet. The upshot is that it is well within the realms of reality for the
Su25 to have shot down MH17.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The next consideration is; why was the airliner shot down? It is
generally agreed that, regardless of who was responsible for shooting it down,
it almost certainly was a tragic case of misidentification. Once realised it
was a terrible mistake, every effort was made by whoever did it to cover up
their responsibility with all sides then blaming each other for the deed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Ukrainian-Russian separatists who have been widely blamed for the
shootdown certainly have had a recent history of shooting </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11039456/Pro-Russian-separatists-shoot-down-Ukrainian-fighter-jet.html"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">down Ukrainian military aircraft</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> and </span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/29/us-ukraine-crisis-idUSKBN0E918D20140529"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">helicopters</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> but there is no explanation from the Ukrainians or their Western
allies as to why separatists would have shot it down apart from the possibility
that the separatists mistook it for a Ukrainian troop transport. But then why
would the separatists assume that when the aircraft was flying high over the
disputed area of the eastern Ukraine and heading toward Russia. The separatists
would have had no reason to assume it was a Ukrainian aircraft. The Russians
certainly wouldn’t have shot down a civilian aircraft no matter where it was
from. The Ukrainians too would not have shot down any aircraft flying in that
direction and at that height even if they believed it was carrying the Russian
president Vladimir Putin – or at least the Ukrainian <i>government </i>wouldn’t
have attempted to shoot down the Russian president. But what about the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/ukraine-crisis-are-nazis-nationalists-popular-ukraine-1683248">Ukrainian
ultra-nationalist neo-Nazis in the military</a>? Would they have unilaterally
attempted it or even committed the crime with an understanding from the
government that they would be disowned and the government’s role in the affair
denied if they were caught out? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Russians, no matter how much the West is trying to stir things up
against them, would never have left themselves exposed to such a heinous crime.
Nor would the Russian separatists, who have no access to the Ukraine Air Force’s
Su25’s, have any reason to shoot down any aircraft under these particular
circumstances. That leaves only the Ukrainian nationalists. And, since the US
and Europe are their allies, there’s no reason for them to dig too deeply
either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-60339898819540409772014-09-02T09:33:00.001+09:302014-09-02T09:33:51.572+09:30LAND GRABS AND NEOCON DELUSIONS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Neoconservative propagandist and Israeli apologist, <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/09/01/the-israeli-land-grab-and-hopes-for-peace-gush-etzion-west-bank/">Jonathan
Tobin writing</a> in <i>Commentary</i> yesterday, attempted to justify Israel’s
latest grab of some 400 hectares of West Bank land. Tobin attempts justify the
grab by saying that the land in question is ‘state land’ adjacent to one of Israel’s
earliest settlements in the West Bank which was built after the 1967 war. He
argues that in the event of Palestine being given statehood, the land and the
settlement would become a part of Israel under an arrangement whereby Israel accede
some other lands to Palestine in exchange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There’s a number of problems with this piece nonsense, not least of
which is the fact that Israel and the ultra right-wing Zionists have no
intention of ever allowing the Palestinians to have a state of their own and
therefore there will never be any kind ‘land swap’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tobin goes on to write:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Let’s be clear
about this. Neither the ownership nor the future of Gush Etzion is up for debate
in any peace talks. In every peace plan, whether put forward by Israel’s
government or its left-wing opponents, the bloc remains part of Israel, a
reality that most sensible Palestinians accept. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tobin and his fellow Zionists both in Israel and throughout the world might
be in for a rather rude awakening sooner or later at some time in the future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It is very presumptuous to believe that the Palestinians will accept
anything other than full control of all of the West Bank including removal of all
of the settlements and a return of all of their lands swallowed up by the
meandering Israeli ‘security’ wall and fence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Israel is beginning to realise that worldwide support for the Palestinian
cause is growing rapidly and at the expense of support for Israel. People
around the world can now see through Israel’s lies and propaganda. The recent
wars against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s oppression of
Palestinians in the West Bank has shown the world that that real ‘terrorists’
all along have been the Israelis with their relentless bombardment and killings
of civilians of the Gaza Strip and their shootings of Palestinian protestors in
the West Bank. Israel’s credibility is crumbling rapidly and, in the end, it’s
likely to be the demands of the peoples of the world that will ultimately allow
the Palestinians to prevail in their quest for statehood – without conceding
any of their lands to the Israelis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-5520803757889229182014-08-28T09:24:00.002+09:302014-08-28T09:24:27.457+09:30ABBOTT, AS HOWARD DID IN 2003, MISLEADS AUSTRALIANS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Defence Minister, David
Johnston, are deliberately misleading the Australian people and more than
likely the Australian parliament, by telling us that <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-27/forces-in-high-state-of-readiness-for-action/5700786">the
government hasn’t been asked to commit to helping the US again in Iraq.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tony Abbott is following in almost the same footsteps as John Howard did
in March 2003 when he kept <a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/john-howard-and-misleading-of.html">telling
the Australian people and parliament that he hadn’t been asked by Bush</a> to
commit to the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ just before the invasion and
destruction of Iraq, an event which has led directly to the current crisis in Iraq
today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">One would be extremely naïve to believe that Abbott has not already
been invited to participate in action against Islamic State forces in Iraq and
that invitation was made and accepted when US Secretary of State John Kerry and
Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel both visited Australia earlier this month. One
would also be extremely naïve to believe the outgoing director of the
Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-announces-new-counterterrorism-units-for-major-australian-airports-20140827-1091m6.html">David
Irvine when he says</a> that Australia’s involvement with the US in Iraq would
not further radicalise young Australian Muslims thereby increasing the likelihood
of terrorist acts being committed in Australia. Given the history of Australian
Muslims participation in the current war in Iraq, it is far more likely that
radicalised Muslims will consider committing terrorist acts in Australia when Abbott
does join with the US in the fight against Islamists in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While as yet no scientific polls regarding Australians opinions about
going to war in Iraq again have been released, however, at least one <a href="http://www.thechronicle.com.au/polls/2014/08/26/should-australia-take-military-action-iraq/results/">online</a>
poll shows that a strong majority, some 75% of Australians, would be against
any such action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-9200530392926406572014-08-27T11:38:00.001+09:302014-08-27T11:38:46.422+09:30SO WHAT’S NETANYAHU’S GAME?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In an extraordinary and surprising move, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.612637">Netanyahu
has all but unilaterally agreed to a ceasefire</a> in his war against the
Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. By ‘unilateral’ I mean without the
support of the extreme right–wing of his cabinet including Israeli Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett, Minister
of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovich and Minister of Communications Gilad
Erdan; all of whom were intent on destroying Hamas completely and fully
occupying the Gaza Strip permanently and ultimately annexing the territory to
Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are, of course, delighted –
as is Abbas and the Palestine Authority, who are now enthusiastic about the
prospect of having a seaport and maybe even an airport with which to rebuild
their country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But what happens when Netanyahu is gone and the real right-wing
Zionists who are in the ‘don’t care what the rest of the world thinks’ camp take
over? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The war against Hamas was extremely popular amongst Israelis who wholeheartedly
supported bombing the Gaza into submission with a view to full occupation. It
begs the question: What next? Will the extreme right bring Netanyahu down and
will they then renew hostilities by once more provoking the Palestinians in the
Gaza into launching more rockets into Israel by randomly shooting dead
Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as they did to get this
latest round of carnage going?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t believe this is the end of it. I have no
idea what Netanyahu has in mind at this stage. I can only suggest that
Netanyahu, always sensitive to public opinion despite seemingly able to push
affairs right up to the very edge, has backed off due to overwhelming and
growing worldwide public support for the Palestinians; or possibly having been
threatened by the US who would support a push for the Palestinians to enjoin
the ICC if Netanyahu didn’t make peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Netanyahu may well have something else up his sleeve but, if he hasn’t,
then this could well be the beginning of the end for Netanyahu. And, if that
happens sooner rather than later, then it may be a case of ‘out of the frying
pan and into the fire’ for both the Palestinian people and the Israeli people
if the extreme right replace him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-91721259413224400302014-08-23T11:04:00.001+09:302014-08-23T11:04:54.393+09:30ISRAEL’S ENDGAME FOR GAZA MOVES CLOSER<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It seems that a full-on invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s ultimate
endgame plan for the Palestinian enclave, is moving inexorably closer to
realisation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Israel again has called up thousands of reservists and Israel’s
Communications Minister and security cabinet member, Gilad <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184269#.U_flaMWSySp">Erdan,
has announced that Israel is close to being in a position to launch a full
invasion.</a> Erdan asked that Israelis be patient. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Erdan also made it clear that Israel will not be conceding to any of
Hamas’s demands inferring that Israel had no even considered any of Hamas’s
demands which were put forward for discussion during the ceasefire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Since it was obvious that Israel was never going to entertain any of
Hamas’s demands, Hamas had little choice other than to resume hostilities in
order to force the issue. The alternative would be to submit to eternal
ghettoisation, oppression and persecution at the hands of the Israelis. Both
sides now seem intent on pushing the matter to an ultimate conclusion once and
for all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For the Israelis, the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the transfer
of the population into the Sinai, Jordan or Lebanon have always been part of
the ultimate Zionist endgame. It has never been anything else. Talk of living
peacefully side by side with the Palestinians has only ever been an illusion
for the benefit of Israel’s Western supporters who continue to plough money
into Israel. But the reality is that Israel has never ever had any intention of
allowing a Palestinian state to exist. Israel has skilfully manipulated affairs
in such a way as to completely fool the West – and particularly the US – for
years into believing they only want peace with the Palestinians when all the
while they were merely waiting for an opportunity to grab the occupied
territories for themselves on the pretext of defending themselves against ‘terrorism’.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">For the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip there is now little to
lose. They will likely fight on and they will pin their hopes on world opinion
and outrage against Israeli atrocities influencing the world’s Western leaders
into forcing the Israelis into stopping their war and accepting Hamas’s
demands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There will be no peace for either side any time soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-22713934518322083482014-08-22T12:41:00.001+09:302014-08-22T12:41:02.251+09:30ISRAEL: NO BETTER THAN ISIS OR AL-QAEDA<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">ISIS, or just IS (Islamic State) as they now call themselves, as well
as al-Qaeda are, of course, Israel’s arch enemy – as well as much of the rest
of the world. But is Israel any better than their arch enemies when it comes to
committing crimes against humanity? And, just because Hamas also happens to be
an Islamic organisation, can it really be compared with IS or al-Qaeda? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Neocon propagandist <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/08/21/like-isis-and-al-qaeda-hamas-is-fair-game/">Jonathan
Tobin, writing today</a> in <i>Commentary</i> magazine, would have you believe
that Israel are, as usual, the victims, while Hamas and the other Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip fighting for their freedom are terrorists who need to be
treated with the same contempt as IS and al-Qaeda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The reality, as anyone with even an iota of a sense of logic and compassion
can see, is that Israel that also behaves in such a way that the carnage and
death they bring to civilians in the Gaza Strip has the same result that the
carnage and death that IS and al-Qaeda bring down upon the peoples they choose
to ravage. The only difference between them is the weapons and methods they
choose to commit their crimes. IS and al-Qaeda us small arms and knives to kill
their victims whereas Israel use aircraft and tanks to pump bombs and shells
into their hapless victims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Zionist propagandists and their neocon allies attempt to equate Hamas
with IS and al-Qaeda are plainly falling on deaf ears in the West as the
enormous protest rallies and marches in support of the Palestinian cause
demonstrate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-37633010365621004422014-08-19T14:45:00.000+09:302014-08-19T14:45:14.957+09:30NATAN SHARANSKY: NEOCON ZIONIST NUT JOB<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Natan Sharansky, an Israeli intellectual, extreme right-wing neocon Zionist
and ex-deputy prime minister of Israel, has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/natan-sharansky-dont-set-a-double-standard-for-israel-on-norms-of-war/2014/08/15/5ed74bb8-23c1-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html">written
an article published</a> in the <i>Washington Post</i> in which he says: “The
pictures of destruction and mourning in Gaza that have filled media around the
world for the past several weeks have been very painful and sad to view. One
would be hard-pressed to find an Israeli who does not sympathize with the
suffering of Gaza’s victims.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Is he nuts?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Did he miss the stories about <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/20/israelis-cheer-gaza-bombing">Israelis
taking grandstand seats in Israel overlooking the Gaza Strip to watch the place
being bombed?</a> Did he not hear about the cheers that went up from the
Israelis watching the bombings every time there was an orange ball from a bomb
detonating followed by a huge explosion as the sound of the detonation caught
up with the sight of it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">‘One would be hard-pressed to find an Israeli who does not sympathize
with the suffering of Gaza’s victims’? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Really? Who does this nutjob think he’s kidding?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-85216411310160392962014-08-16T15:19:00.002+09:302014-08-16T15:19:50.285+09:30ARE AUSTRALIAN SAS TROOPERS ALREADY IN IRAQ?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Neoconservative propagandist Max Boot, <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9287832/defeat-isis-yes-we-can/">writing
in the UK magazine <i>Spectator</i></a>, says: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With <b>more</b>
American (and, one hopes, allied) eyes on the ground, it will be possible to
call in more air strikes with greater effectiveness, as occurred in Afghanistan
during the autumn of 2001. Western commandos such as Seal Team Six, Delta Force
and the British and Australian SAS should also <b>expand</b> operations to
carry out the kind of intelligence-driven leadership targeting that was an
important part of the 2007-2008 surge.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> (Bold is my emphasis.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Well, we <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/us/obama-to-address-nation-on-iraq-crisis.html?_r=0">know
there are already American ‘advisors’</a> on the ground in Iraq and more are on
the way, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/12/advisers-sent-northern-iraq-help-plan-refugee-evacuation/13970545/">that
much we have already been told</a>, but there has been no announcement from any
of America’s allies about any UK or Australian special forces being deployed on
the ground in Iraq. Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott, however, has <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/tony-abbott-australian-troops-could-return-to-iraq-20140813-103f15.html">offered
to send ground forces if</a> asked to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Max Boot has been around the traps for a very long time and has over
the years developed a strong network of US administration and defence
department insider sources so, when Boot writes that special forces – including
Australian SAS – should <i>expand</i> operations in Iraq, one wonders if Boot
hasn’t let the cat out of the bag by inferring that they should expand on the
numbers that are already there. Knowing the Abbott government’s propensity not
to ‘discuss military operational matters’, one shouldn’t be too surprised to
find that Australian SAS units may already be in Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-27823314647278116122014-08-14T13:50:00.001+09:302014-08-14T13:50:59.828+09:30NETANYAHU: THE BETTER OF THREE EVILS?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If either of Netanyahu’s right-wing political rivals for the Prime
Minister’s job had been leading Israel over this last year or so, what would be
the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A future potential Israeli leader is the extreme right-wing Naftali
Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party which is devoted to creating a Greater
Israel that includes all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and excludes any
possibility of there ever being a Palestinian state. Bennett is currently Minister
of the Economy in Netanyahu’s cabinet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another contender is the even more extreme right-winger Avigdor
Liebermann, the controversial leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party
and currently Foreign Minister in the Israeli government. He is also a past
Deputy Prime Minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Had either of these two rivals of Netanyahu been Prime Minister of
Israel during the past year or so we would be looking at a vastly different Middle
East today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">During the recent conflict <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/avigdor-lieberman-israel-will-eventually-need-to-reoccupy-gaza-overthrow-hamas.html">Liebermann
said</a> that Israel will eventually need to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and ‘overthrow’
Hamas saying that “the occupation of Gaza and the overthrow of Hamas is a
process that would take more than four months”. Naftali, a little less brash
than Liebermann, nonetheless is adamant about obtaining a positive Israeli ‘victory’
over Hamas <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-31/netanyahu-limits-goals-in-gaza-to-make-declaring-victory-easier.html">saying
that the Israelis should continue until the Gaza Strip is ‘demilitarised’,</a>
a euphemism for occupation which is the only way Israel can ever hope to permanently
keep Hamas out of the Gaza Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Both Liebermann and Bennett are strong Greater Israel Zionists and
support increasing settlements in the West Bank as well as building new ones in
the Gaza Strip with a view to eventually annexing both territories to Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The difference between the Liebermann-Naftali attitude and Netanyahu’s
is that neither Liebermann nor Naftali make any secret about what they envisage
for the future of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Netanyahu on the other
hand, who actually wants the same thing, is far more politically pragmatic
about these issues given that, as prime minister, he needs to tread a fine line
between the reality of needing US support militarily and politically and
knowing that the US will not support an invasion and full occupation of the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In other words, Liebermann and Naftali are both
of the ‘We don’t care what the world thinks’ faction of Israel’s extreme
right-wing as opposed to Netanyahu who very much cares what the rest of the
world thinks of his actions because he needs to rely on their support for all
that he does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Liebermann and Naftali, if they had their way, would simply go ahead
and fully occupy the territories at the slightest excuse, while Netanyahu will
only do so when he feels he has the US on his side and has a big enough </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">casus
belli</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;"> to do it.</span>Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-65032242850905424052014-08-11T10:53:00.000+09:302014-08-11T10:53:47.485+09:30NEOCONSERVATIVE PSYCHOPATHY: THEIR MADNESS IS SPREADING AMONGST THEM<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Yesterday, regular readers may recall, <a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/daniel-pipes-extremist-neoconservative.html">I
wrote</a> briefly about the psychopathy of Daniel Pipes and his ludicrous
beliefs relating to Hamas and its struggle against Israel’s attempts to destroy
the Gaza Strip. Today, it seems, that psychopathy is spreading among other
neoconservatives. Jonathan Tobin, <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/08/09/the-truth-about-palestinian-casualties-gaza-israel-hamas-civilians/">writing
in <i>Commentary</i></a> magazine says:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As bad as the
situation there [the Gaza Strip] is, the Israelis have done their best to limit
their fire to those shooting at them. As is the case with all wars, including
those fought by the United States, sometimes mistakes happen and civilians
sometimes do get caught in the crossfire created by terrorists eager to turn
their neighbors into “martyrs.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tobin goes on to say:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Anyone who truly
cares about Gaza’s civilian population will draw the appropriate conclusions
and concentrate their criticisms on the terrorist group whose genocidal ideology
impels it to continue their war against Israel’s existence as long as there are
Palestinians left to be sacrificed.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Clearly, the neocons are getting desperate and have got together and
decided that the more gullible amongst those that read their rants may not recognise
the neoconservative’s psychopathy and actually accept their lunatic ravings at
face value. Little can be said about the state of mind of those that go along
with their nonsense.</span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-84101930634895373032014-08-10T15:44:00.000+09:302014-08-10T15:44:48.556+09:30DANIEL PIPES: EXTREMIST NEOCONSERVATIVE PSYCHOPATH<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385004/lessons-war-gaza-daniel-pipes">his
latest piece</a> published on the neoconservative online magazine National Review
Online, Daniel Pipes demonstrates the extent of his utter lunacy by writing:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Hamas’s greatest
strategic weapon in its effort to damage Israel’s reputation and ostracize it
was neither rockets nor tunnels but wrenching photographs of dead civilians
purportedly killed by the IDF.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This leads to the
bizarre situation in which Hamas seeks the destruction of Palestinian property,
compels civilians to sustain injuries and death, inflates casualty figures, and
may even intentionally attack its own territory — while the IDF takes
gratuitous fatalities to spare harm to Palestinians. The Israeli government
goes further, providing medical care and food and sending
technicians into harm’s way to make sure that Gazans continue to enjoy free
electricity.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’m surprised that NRO even published this transparent piece of
absolute garbage that exposes Pipes to be nothing less than a raving
psychopath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-50706462256805788912014-08-10T12:08:00.000+09:302014-08-10T12:08:38.119+09:30NEOCONS DELUSIONAL OVER WORLD OPINION ABOUT GAZA CRISIS<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Seth Mandel, a neocon <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/08/08/the-gaza-war-has-changed-the-way-the-world-talks-about-hamas/">propagandist
writing for <i>Commentary</i></a> magazine, seems to think that Hamas has
overplayed its hand during the current crisis in the Gaza Strip. Mandel says “that
maybe the international community is so torn up by the violence in Gaza
that they want more than ever to prevent its recurrence. And no matter how
often they try to blame Israel, they seem to understand that there’s only one
way to prevent future bloodshed: demilitarize, at least to a significant
degree, the Gaza Strip”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Looking at the demonstrations around the world, particularly the massive
display of solidarity from the South African people recently, most people
around the world, whilst agreeing that they want more than ever to prevent the
violence from reoccurring, would prefer that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
be given their freedom, and, if any one side needs disarming, it should be
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Mandel is delusional if he believes that the world supports what Israel
has in mind for the Gaza Strip.</span>Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-52812808029712285402014-08-08T10:33:00.001+09:302014-08-08T10:33:42.944+09:30THE GAZA CONFLICT: IRRISISTIBLE FORCE MEETS IMMOVABLE OBJECT<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It doesn’t look good for the people in the Gaza Strip. It’s unlikely
that the present ceasefire will hold long enough for there to be any meaningful
outcome for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Israelis are demanding
the Palestinians disarm and the Palestinians flatly refuse to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It is an all too familiar tactic that the Israelis have always employed
when dealing with the Palestinians whereby they make an unrealistic offer which
they know the Palestinians cannot possibly accept and then, when the
Palestinians reject the offer, the Israelis and their backers blame the
Palestinians for the breakdown in negotiations. The Israelis know full well
that Hamas and other Palestinian fighters will never give up their arms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On the other hand, Netanyahu, with the backing of the Israeli people
and President Obama, are determined to destroy Hamas and all Palestinian
resistance. Netanyahu will likely blame the Palestinians for any continuation
of war after having refused to be demilitarised. The Israeli side, in turn,
will also refuse Palestinian demands to lift the blockade on the grounds that
lifting the blockade will allow Hamas and their allies to be rearmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Palestinians want their own sovereign state free of any dominance
by Israel. The Palestinians want to be able to trade freely with whoever they
want. They want all of their lands back and the Israeli settlers gone. They
want free access between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They want the
Israeli military cleared from the West Bank and Jordan border areas. They want
East Jerusalem as their capital. None of these demands, however, will ever be
acceptable to the Israeli right-wing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the Palestinians favour is support for the Palestinian cause from
the people of the world – especially after witnessing first hand the carnage
that Israel wreaked on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during this latest
round of fighting. Israel’s propaganda this time around has failed them.
Internet technology has exposed their propaganda to be just that – lies and
distortions of the truth. Israel has accused Hamas of using the Gazans as ‘human
shields’ because they launched their rockets and mortars from within civilian
areas when the reality is that there actually is nowhere else in the Gaza Strip
from which launch their armaments short of in the middle of an empty paddock
where they will be exposed to the enemy. No one is buying the ‘human shield’
nonsense anymore. No one is buying the Israeli garbage about Hamas bombing
their own hospitals and schools. No one really believes that Hamas have forced
civilians to stay in their homes after the Israeli have warned that they’ll be
bombed. No one believes anymore the transparent Israeli lie that they are only
targeting Hamas and other militants. Israel’s lies about how they conduct war
have been exposed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So, what’s next? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Unfortunately, the Israelis haven’t achieved even their stated aims of
disarming Hamas and closing down all of the tunnels. And they certainly haven’t
got anywhere near their, until recently, unmentioned aim of destroying Hamas
completely, <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/feiglins-liberating-palestinians.html">transferring
the Palestinian people</a> out of the Gaza Strip and reoccupying it for
themselves with the eventual aim of annexing it into Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">At very best, the likely outcome will be either an extremely edgy and
prolonged ceasefire or a renewal of the bombing of the Gaza Strip followed by a
full-on invasion and occupation. In the event of a prolonged ceasefire, Israel
will likely provoke the Palestinians in much the same way as they did that
stared this round of violence; by randomly shooting civilians trying to work in
the fields close to the border. Once the Palestinians retaliate to the
shootings by launching rockets into Israel, Israel will then use this as an
excuse to launch their full-on offensive against the Gaza Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the end, either this time around or the next, the Israelis will eventually
attempt to gain the Gaza Strip for themselves using an irresistible force, and
the Palestinians will remain as difficult an object to move as they have
before. The only force that has any chance of dissuading the Israelis from
eventually taking the ultimate step to their goal is the power of public
opinion and a complete change in attitude from the US and their Western allies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-16142966500178518032014-08-04T14:35:00.001+09:302014-08-04T14:35:22.168+09:30ISRAELI HARD RIGHT EXPOSE ZIONISMS TRUE AIMS FOR GAZA<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I have for these last ten years on this blog been writing that the
ultimate goal of right-wing Zionism has always been the creation of a Greater
Israel that would ultimately incorporate the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the
Golan Heights and even south Lebanon up to the Litani River if they thought
they could get away with it. I have written over the years that it has never
been the intention of Israel to allow any form of Palestinian state to exist. Talks
about a ‘two state solution’ and ‘Palestinian sovereignty’ have only ever been
conducted by Israel in order to appease the West, particularly the US, in order
to ensure the continuing flow of aid and support to Israel. There has been an
endless parade of ‘talks’ about ‘peace’ over the years. They have included </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">the
Jarring Mission, the Rogers Plan, the Reagan Plan, the Oslo Accords, the Wye
River Memorandum, the Camp David Summit, the Taba Summit, the Elon Peace Plan,
the Nusseibeh-Ayalon Agreement, the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map to
Peace, the Madrid Conference, the Hebron Protocol, the Annapolis Conference,
the Beirut Summit, the Peace Valley Plan, etc., all of which have been going on
for years and none of which – not one – have amounted to anything, and all the
time while these talks and negotiations have been going on, Israel has slowly
and insidiously permeated its way onto lands that do not belong to them.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Some Israeli
Zionists now believe they are close to their goal if only they could get
Netanyahu to cross the point of no return in the Gaza Strip. One extreme
right-wing Zionist, Martin Sherman of the Israel Institute of Strategic Studies
Zionist think tank, has gone so far as to pen in one of Israel’s most nationalistic
papers, <i>The Jerusalem Post,</i> <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Why-Gaza-must-go-368862">an
article in which he suggests that “the only durable solution requires
dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab
population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region”</a>. This
should leave no doubt in anybody’s mind what Israel’s true intentions ultimately
are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">And Sherman is
not alone in coming out with what the Zionists really wish to achieve. Israeli
Foreign Minister <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/avigdor-lieberman-israel-will-eventually-need-to-reoccupy-gaza-overthrow-hamas.html">Avigdor
Lieberman has said that Israel</a> will need to overthrow Hamas and reoccupy
the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Economy Minister, Naftali Bennett, another extreme
right-wing Zionist, is <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.608266">calling
for the government to go forward to “victory” and to “demilitarise” the Gaza
Strip</a> which effectively means permanent occupation though he hasn’t quite gone
as far as suggesting transfer of Palestinians – at least not yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Netanyahu is
playing his cards close to his chest. Despite <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/israeli-polls-support-gaza-campaign-media">some
95% of Israelis have succumbed to the relentless propaganda and who now support
the war</a> against Hamas, and Obama conceding to Israeli requests for more
ammunition, Netanyahu is clearly not entirely convinced that America will
support an all-out push to finish off Hamas and is certainly not sure what the
world-wide repercussions would be if Israel were to reoccupy the Gaza Strip on
a permanent basis.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">They’re not there yet, and I hope they never will, but the intent is
there as it always has been. For now, though, only time will tell what Netanyahu’s
up to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-76290005996119944712014-08-02T17:56:00.001+09:302014-08-02T17:56:02.253+09:30NEOCON PROPAGANDA: ‘ISRAELIS TAKE PRISONERS BUT HAMAS KIDNAPS ISRAELI SOLDIERS’<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/08/01/truce-hamas-must-be-defeated/">Writing
in <i>Commentary </i>today</a>, Israeli apologist and neocon propagandist
Jonathan Tobin said: “…the Netanyahu government decided to accede to the
[ceasefire] proposal put forward by the United States and the United Nations.
But that decision has been rendered moot by the decision of Hamas to use the
cover of the cease-fire to launch a suicide attack on Israeli forces that
led to the possible kidnapping of a soldier.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Not mentioned by Tobin was <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.607185">the ‘kidnapping’
of almost 300 Palestinians</a> who had been taken by the Israelis during the
first days of their invasion of the Strip, and nor did Tobin mention that many
of them had been ‘interrogated’ by Shin Bet, the Israeli security service who <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2013/10/inside-shin-bet-20131020112634404283.html">are
notorious</a> for their use of ‘<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/after-palestinian-dies-in-shin-bet-hands-time-to-question-the-interrogators.premium-1.505533">enhanced
interrogation techniques’</a>, a Western euphemism for torture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tobin forgets that it is the Israelis that have invaded the Gaza Strip
and that the Gaza people have a right at all times to defend themselves against
any aggression and also have the right, as do the Israelis, to take prisoners of
war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tobin argues that, rather than a truce, Israel should go all out to
destroy Hamas and demilitarise the Gaza Strip. To ‘demilitarise’ the Gaza Strip
will involve a prolonged occupation and who knows what horrors Tobin has in
mind when he says ‘Hamas should be destroyed’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-31999570191935119882014-08-01T13:31:00.001+09:302014-08-01T13:31:59.668+09:30IS THE U.S. GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES AGAINST THE GAZAN PEOPLE?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The hypocrisy of the US knows no bounds. On the one hand they tell the
world they are demanding the Israelis put a halt to the carnage they are
wreaking in the Gaza Strip and, on the other hand are <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/us-restocks-israeli-ammo/story-e6frg6so-1227009234748">resupplying
the Israelis with the wherewithal to continue their carnage.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The US knows full well that the weapons and fuel they are supplying to
the Israelis is for the purpose of continuing to wage war against civilians.
They have no excuse. The US are fully aware that Israel are committing war
crimes yet the US continues to supply weapons which they know the Israelis are
more than likely to commit further war crimes with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Why are the nations of the world not condemning the US for their
complicity in Israeli war crimes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-10480262244357844862014-08-01T08:56:00.002+09:302014-08-01T09:13:31.313+09:30WARNINGS DO NOT ABSOLVE WAR CRIMES<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Israelis have been in the habit of calling some Palestinian
families to warn them that their homes are about to be bombed. Most of these
homes are owned by civilians, most of whom have no connection to Hamas or any
other political or militant organisation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Deliberately bombing civilians is a war crime but, by warning the
civilian occupiers that their homes are about to be destroyed, the Israelis
believe that it somehow absolves them of any crime. Furthermore, not only do
the Israelis think that it absolves them of crimes, but it also provides them
with an opportunity to then accuse Hamas of using civilians as ‘human shields’.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How would it be, one wonders, if an Hamas operative telephoned the
mayor of say Sderot and told him that the town hall was about to be bombed by
rockets but, due to the fact that they can’t guarantee the accuracy of the
rockets, it would be best if he evacuated the entire township within the next
ten minutes. And if the mayor then refuses to evacuate could he not then be
accused of using civilians as human shields?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708970.post-63366465808850483762014-07-31T13:09:00.000+09:302014-07-31T13:09:08.754+09:30HAS NETANYAHU GONE BEYOND THE POINT OF NO RETURN?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Whenever Israel has chosen to use aggression to intimidate its
neighbours in the West Bank, Lebanon or, as it is doing today, in the Gaza
Strip, it has always left itself wriggle room to back off when public opinion
and, more importantly, US and Western support seemed to be running against them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It has done this by progressively escalating their assaults on their
enemies by pretending to be the victim when their enemies retaliate. That way
they can always tell the world via their well-oiled global propaganda machine
that they are merely responding to attacks being made against them by
‘terrorists that hate Jews’. They claim that they only want peace and that
their assaults against the Palestinians are purely defensive and designed to
deter attacks against them. They tell the world that their assaults are
designed to eliminate or minimise civilian deaths and injuries and are aimed
only at military targets. They claim that, when civilians are killed and wounded,
it is because the place where they have been killed or wounded was being used
by ‘terrorists’ who have deliberately used the civilians in the area as ‘human
shields’ in order to avoid having their weapon placements being hit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">However, when one delves into the histories of Israeli’s various
conflicts with their Palestinian and Arab neighbours, a different reality
emerges. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Rather than retaliating against rocket attacks by Palestinian fighters,
as is claimed in this latest round of extreme violence, Palestinian fighters in
the Gaza Strip were actually responding to shooting attacks against unarmed
Palestinian civilians by the Israelis who have used snipers to kill at least
five innocent Palestinian civilians, including a 58-year-old mentally ill woman
who had wandered too close to the border fence with Israel. More than 60 other
Palestinian civilians have also been wounded by Israeli snipers as they worked
in the fields near the border. These attacks against Gazan civilians have been
for the express purpose of goading the Palestinian fighters into retaliating by
firing rockets into Israel which, in turn, then provides Israel with an excuse
to attack the Gaza Strip on the pretext of stopping the rockets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the past when Israel has launched major attacks against Hamas,
Israel has always used the same tactic whereby they attack and keep attacking until
at some point world public opinion causes the Israelis to agree to a ceasefire.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But this time around, the circumstances of the fighting have provided
Israel with an opportunity to press on with the fight as they see the
possibility of actually realising their dream of retaking the Gaza Strip with
the ultimate aim of pushing out the Palestinians and reoccupying it and eventually
annexing it to Israel. There have been a number of factors that have produced
these circumstances. Firstly, while Netanyahu has always been sensitive to
public opinion, his government today has a number of senior ministers and
officials in it who are even more right-wing than he is. They are the ‘don’t
care what the rest of the world thinks’ faction of the Israeli government who are
quite openly advocating a full invasion and occupation of the Gaza Strip and
the complete destruction of Hamas and their allies by either killing or
capturing all of them and/or forcing them to flee out of the Gaza Strip. This
would be the first step toward reoccupying the territory with Israeli civilians.
Secondly, Netanyahu’s aggressive stance this time around has </span><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28520227"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">very strong support among Israelis, 80% of
whom support</span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> his actions against the
Palestinians. Also working in Netanyahu’s favour is Hamas’s insistence that any
ceasefire will be accompanied by assurances that the Gaza Strip will have its
blockade against it lifted and that it will be able to trade freely with
Israel, Egypt and internationally via an internationally monitored seaport and
airport. Hamas is hoping that popular worldwide support for their demands will
persuade international leaders, especially in the US and Europe, to push Israel
for a ceasefire and an agreement that features Palestinian demands. Israel, on
the other hand, is looking for nothing less than the full destruction of Hamas
and has made it clear that they will not be acceding to Hamas’s conditions for
a ceasefire. Netanyahu will likely take full advantage of the unprecedented
support he has gained from the Israeli people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">During the course of this round of violence, Netanyahu has steadily
ramped up the assaults against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and
particularly on Gaza city itself and the surrounding neighbourhoods. The bombing
and shelling has become increasingly more indiscriminate with civilians being
deliberately targeted as they seek shelter in hospitals and schools after their
homes had been destroyed. Civilian infrastructure is also being increasingly
targeted as the recent destruction of the Gaza Strip’s only electric power
generating plant has demonstrated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As the destruction of the Gaza Strip gathers pace the Israeli
propaganda machine has been hard at it spinning the increasingly most
outrageous and obviously transparent lies that would be laughable if not for
the tragedy they are attempting to cover up or blame others for. The Israelis
have even accused Hamas of bombing their own hospitals and schools and killing
their own children and other civilians in spite of independent witnesses
confirming that the Israelis were responsible for the death and destruction of
these people and facilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Netanyahu has stated that the Israeli Defence Forces will not rest
until every tunnel has been destroyed and all of the rockets found and
destroyed. In making such a statement and knowing that an operation of that
magnitude will likely take some considerable time, he has clearly indicated
that Israel has no intention of leaving the Gaza Strip anytime soon – if,
indeed, ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Netanyahu is very much aware of the world’s reaction to the onslaught
that is taking place in the Gaza Strip. He has seen the massive pro-Palestine
demonstrations that have taken place around the world and has heard the pleas
from world leaders and the United Nations to end the slaughter but he continues
to ignore them. He gets encouragement from the fact that the US, while calling
for Israel to enter a ceasefire agreement, at the same time stocks up Israel’s
diminishing munitions supplies as well as continuing to supply Israel with the
jet and diesel fuel needed by the Israelis to continue their attacks on the
Gaza Strip and the Gazan people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Netanyahu thinks he’s on a roll this time around and, with the backing
of the majority of the Israeli people who have succumbed to the propaganda
behind him together with the support of the US, sees no reason to relent in his
aspirations to defeat Hamas and put the Gaza Strip under Israeli control. With
the destruction already wrought in the Gaza Strip coupled with domestic and US
support, Netanyahu may have convinced himself that he has gone beyond the point
of no return and may even believe that it is his manifest destiny to retake the
Gaza Strip and make it a part of Greater Israel once and for all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Damian Lataanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06886295381135372084noreply@blogger.com0