no my friend, they are not anti israeli or pro somebody else, read the guardian properly and you will see how balanced they are. they go and dig the news and commentary from all sides and reflects the news from both sides, their reports are both fair and free. they are not pro or anti anybody.
Israel Hijacks Aid cargo, executes hostages - Pak journo, Talat Hussain taken hostage
- Thread starter QADRI
- Start date
no my friend, they are not anti israeli or pro somebody else, read the guardian properly and you will see how balanced they are. they go and dig the news and commentary from all sides and reflects the news from both sides, their reports are both fair and free. they are not pro or anti anybody.
Spring Onion
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this kind of support by US to terrorist state of Israel is going to backfire if not against Israelis but against US citizens most likely.Its unfortunate that handful of zionists have made American public as well as its govt hostage
SpArK
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Indian-origin aid worker on ship attacked by Israel
Indian-origin aid worker on ship attacked by Israel - Indians Abroad - World - The Times of India
LONDON: An Indian-origin British aid worker is on the ship that was part of the Gaza-bound flotilla attacked by Israel. His family, anxiously waiting for news about his whereabouts, says it was as though their worst nightmares were coming true.
Hours before the troops moved in on Monday, Ismail Adam Patel, an optician based in the Oadby area of Leicester, posted a video on YouTube describing how they were surrounded by Israeli navy forces.
He can be seen standing on deck with a lifejacket and saying: "At the moment, we can see three frigates and a helicopter is hovering overhead, despite the fact we are in international waters, some 100 miles from the shores of Israel. We call upon everybody in Britain to help us to raise the alarm and get our government to intervene."
Patel is one of 28 British citizens who boarded the flotilla in Cyprus Sunday. It was carrying humanitarian supplies to the Gaza strip.
He is also the chairman of pro-Palestinian organisation Friends of Al Aqsa, based in Leicester.
Patel's brother Shockat told the Leicester Mercury newspaper: "When we heard what had happened it was as though our worst nightmares were coming true.
"Before he left we hoped everything would go smoothly but there was always a risk it could go wrong."
Suleman Nagdi, spokesman for Leicestershire Federation of Muslim Organisations, said: "We are trying to do everything practically possible to help the family. My fear is those who are injured will be taken into custody. No contact has been made with Ismail since midnight last night, and watching the scenes on TV of the barbaric actions of the Israeli army only intensifies the concern for his welfare felt by his family."
Edward Garnier, MP from Harborough adjoining Leicester, added: "I have spoken to two foreign office ministers and have passed on his details. I know they are actively checking to see if he is hurt or not. I spoke to him before his trip and he sent me messages up until he got on the flotilla."
In London, pro-Palestinian campaigners staged a blockade near Whitehall shouting "Stop Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" and spoke of their fears about the fate of British citizens and others aboard the flotilla.
Hundreds of activists blocked Whitehall shouting "Free Palestine" and carried flags and banners with slogans such as "Stop Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" and "End the Criminal Siege of Gaza".
The convoy of six ships had about 600 volunteers on board and the activists were trying to defy a blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.
Indian-origin aid worker on ship attacked by Israel - Indians Abroad - World - The Times of India
LONDON: An Indian-origin British aid worker is on the ship that was part of the Gaza-bound flotilla attacked by Israel. His family, anxiously waiting for news about his whereabouts, says it was as though their worst nightmares were coming true.
Hours before the troops moved in on Monday, Ismail Adam Patel, an optician based in the Oadby area of Leicester, posted a video on YouTube describing how they were surrounded by Israeli navy forces.
He can be seen standing on deck with a lifejacket and saying: "At the moment, we can see three frigates and a helicopter is hovering overhead, despite the fact we are in international waters, some 100 miles from the shores of Israel. We call upon everybody in Britain to help us to raise the alarm and get our government to intervene."
Patel is one of 28 British citizens who boarded the flotilla in Cyprus Sunday. It was carrying humanitarian supplies to the Gaza strip.
He is also the chairman of pro-Palestinian organisation Friends of Al Aqsa, based in Leicester.
Patel's brother Shockat told the Leicester Mercury newspaper: "When we heard what had happened it was as though our worst nightmares were coming true.
"Before he left we hoped everything would go smoothly but there was always a risk it could go wrong."
Suleman Nagdi, spokesman for Leicestershire Federation of Muslim Organisations, said: "We are trying to do everything practically possible to help the family. My fear is those who are injured will be taken into custody. No contact has been made with Ismail since midnight last night, and watching the scenes on TV of the barbaric actions of the Israeli army only intensifies the concern for his welfare felt by his family."
Edward Garnier, MP from Harborough adjoining Leicester, added: "I have spoken to two foreign office ministers and have passed on his details. I know they are actively checking to see if he is hurt or not. I spoke to him before his trip and he sent me messages up until he got on the flotilla."
In London, pro-Palestinian campaigners staged a blockade near Whitehall shouting "Stop Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" and spoke of their fears about the fate of British citizens and others aboard the flotilla.
Hundreds of activists blocked Whitehall shouting "Free Palestine" and carried flags and banners with slogans such as "Stop Israel's War Crimes in Gaza" and "End the Criminal Siege of Gaza".
The convoy of six ships had about 600 volunteers on board and the activists were trying to defy a blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007.
SpArK
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Under fire for attacking aid flotilla, Israel drags India, Pak into row
Under fire for attacking aid flotilla, Israel drags India, Pak into row - Middle East - World - The Times of India
JERUSALEM: In an unusual step, Israel, which is facing global criticism for attacking an aid flotilla, has said violent incidents in countries like India and Pakistan in the past one month which claimed 500 lives have been "ignored" while it is being condemned for its "unmistakably defensive actions".
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "reminded" the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that in the past month alone 500 people were killed in various incidents in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and India, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
"While the international community remained silent and passive, and generally ignored the occurences, Israel is being condemned for unmistakably defensive actions," a Foreign Ministry statement quoted Lieberman as saying.
This is the first time that Israel has dragged India into a controversy. New Delhi has already condemned the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip saying there was no justification for indiscriminate use of force.
He is understood to have told Ban that the incident related to Gaza aid flotilla was about the "basic right of Israeli soldiers to defend themselves against an attack by a gang of thugs and terror supporters who had prepared clubs, metal crowbars and knives in advance of confrontation."
Lieberman expressed "regret" at the behaviour of the international community.
"All of Israel's proposals to the Turkish government to transfer the humanitarian aid in an orderly manner were rejected by flottila's organisers," Lieberman was quoted as saying.
He also accused activists participating in the mission of intentionally trying to breach Israel's sovereignty and creating "provocation that would cause bloodshed".
In an emergency session yesterday, the UN Security Council called for an investigation into Israel's deadly commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday, condemning the act that resulted in the loss of at least nine lives.
"... the Security Council resolution is unacceptable and contributes nothing to the promotion of peace and stability in the Middle East," Lieberman said.
Under fire for attacking aid flotilla, Israel drags India, Pak into row - Middle East - World - The Times of India
JERUSALEM: In an unusual step, Israel, which is facing global criticism for attacking an aid flotilla, has said violent incidents in countries like India and Pakistan in the past one month which claimed 500 lives have been "ignored" while it is being condemned for its "unmistakably defensive actions".
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "reminded" the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that in the past month alone 500 people were killed in various incidents in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and India, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
"While the international community remained silent and passive, and generally ignored the occurences, Israel is being condemned for unmistakably defensive actions," a Foreign Ministry statement quoted Lieberman as saying.
This is the first time that Israel has dragged India into a controversy. New Delhi has already condemned the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla to the Gaza Strip saying there was no justification for indiscriminate use of force.
He is understood to have told Ban that the incident related to Gaza aid flotilla was about the "basic right of Israeli soldiers to defend themselves against an attack by a gang of thugs and terror supporters who had prepared clubs, metal crowbars and knives in advance of confrontation."
Lieberman expressed "regret" at the behaviour of the international community.
"All of Israel's proposals to the Turkish government to transfer the humanitarian aid in an orderly manner were rejected by flottila's organisers," Lieberman was quoted as saying.
He also accused activists participating in the mission of intentionally trying to breach Israel's sovereignty and creating "provocation that would cause bloodshed".
In an emergency session yesterday, the UN Security Council called for an investigation into Israel's deadly commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday, condemning the act that resulted in the loss of at least nine lives.
"... the Security Council resolution is unacceptable and contributes nothing to the promotion of peace and stability in the Middle East," Lieberman said.
SpArK
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India not convinced by Israel's action
India not convinced by Israel's action - dnaindia.com
New Delhi: After India joined the international condemnation of the strong arm tactics of the Israeli stateagainst the storming of the humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the embargoed civilians of Gaza, the Israeli embassy on Tuesday went into damage control mode.
It sent out statements questioning the bonafides of some of the charitable groups involved in the campaign to take aid to the long suffering civilians of Gaza.
But despite Israeli’s attempts to justify its military action, few in India are willing to buy that line. In fact, the Indian government for the first time in many years came out with a strong statement against Israel. Demonstrations are also being organised in Delhi and other Indian cities to condemn the brutal action.
Israel now claims that the Turkish Insani Yardin Vakfi (IHH) or Humanitarian Relief Fund, a charitable outfit which among others have organised the flotilla has radical Islamic roots and is close to Hamas.
In recent years it has prominently supported Hamas (through the Union of Good). In addition, in the past the IHH provided logistical support and funding to global jihad networks,’’ the Israeli embassy said, fishingout past reports to justify Israeli action.
The embassy also quoted a 2006study by an American researcher Evan Kohlman, working in the Danish Institute for International Studies to provethat in the pastthe Turkish IHH had connections with al Qaeda and global jihad operatives.
Israel also claims that Turkish charity’s orientation is radical-Islamic and anti-Western, and it is close to the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas’ parent movement).
India not convinced by Israel's action - dnaindia.com
New Delhi: After India joined the international condemnation of the strong arm tactics of the Israeli stateagainst the storming of the humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the embargoed civilians of Gaza, the Israeli embassy on Tuesday went into damage control mode.
It sent out statements questioning the bonafides of some of the charitable groups involved in the campaign to take aid to the long suffering civilians of Gaza.
But despite Israeli’s attempts to justify its military action, few in India are willing to buy that line. In fact, the Indian government for the first time in many years came out with a strong statement against Israel. Demonstrations are also being organised in Delhi and other Indian cities to condemn the brutal action.
Israel now claims that the Turkish Insani Yardin Vakfi (IHH) or Humanitarian Relief Fund, a charitable outfit which among others have organised the flotilla has radical Islamic roots and is close to Hamas.
In recent years it has prominently supported Hamas (through the Union of Good). In addition, in the past the IHH provided logistical support and funding to global jihad networks,’’ the Israeli embassy said, fishingout past reports to justify Israeli action.
The embassy also quoted a 2006study by an American researcher Evan Kohlman, working in the Danish Institute for International Studies to provethat in the pastthe Turkish IHH had connections with al Qaeda and global jihad operatives.
Israel also claims that Turkish charity’s orientation is radical-Islamic and anti-Western, and it is close to the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas’ parent movement).
JonAsad
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SpArK
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A Zionist-Apartheid dirty deal
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Praful Bidwai
A Zionist-Apartheid dirty deal
As the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference concludes in New York, the western powers led by the United States are focussing on west Asia, because they want Iran to freeze its nuclear activities. But inevitably, attention is getting riveted on Israel, the region's sole nuclear weapons power.
Against this backdrop comes the sensational disclosure from the just-released book, The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to white-racist, apartheid South Africa in 1975, and the two states closely coordinated their military programmes and strategic approaches.
This expose is based on "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior South African and Israeli officials accessed by the author, US-based scholar Sasha Pulakow-Suransky. The minutes were recently declassified by the South African government, despite Israel's strong opposition. The disclosure will seriously embarrass Israel, whose intransigence against ending its illegal occupation of Palestine and halting settlements is increasingly isolating it internationally and in western public opinion.
The book says South Africa's defence minister P W Botha asked for nuclear warheads when he met Shimon Peres, Israel's defence minister and now its president, who agreed to supply them "in three sizes". They signed a wide-ranging agreement on bilateral military relations, with a clause stipulating that its "very existence" must remain secret. The military relations were crucial. Israel generously supplied South Africa arms when it faced international economic-military sanctions. South Africa is believed to have made at least six nuclear weapons, but destroyed them before apartheid ended.
The book drives one more stake into Israel's "nuclear ambiguity" policy of neither confirming nor denying nuclear weapons possession. Independent sources, including Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, confirm that Israel has 200 to 300 nuclear warheads. The book also demolishes Israel's claim that it's a "responsible" state which wouldn't use nuclear weapons even if it had them -- unlike Iran, which might well use them or transfer them to Hezbollah. But a nation which not only helped pariah apartheid South Africa overcome richly-deserved international sanctions, but also supplied it mass-destruction weapons, cannot be "responsible". South Africa's military wanted nuclear weapons as a deterrent and for potential attacks upon its neighbours -- just as Israel did, and still does.
No state in modern history has been more shamelessly racist, unequal, undemocratic, and inhuman than apartheid South Africa. If that was at minimum a rogue state, Zionist Israel is in the same league. Pulakow-Suransky shows that Israeli and South African officials held crucial talks in March 1975, at which the former "formally offered to sell South Africa" some nuclear-capable Jericho missiles. Present there was South African military chief RF Armstrong whose "top secret" memorandum detailed the missiles' benefits for South Africa -- but only if they were fitted with nuclear weapons.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israel was short of uranium, of which South Africa has large reserves. Israel also needed hard currency. It got both by selling conventional weapons, and by sharing nuclear know-how with South Africa and converting some of its yellowcake (mixed oxides of uranium) into weapons-grade plutonium. The IsraelSouth Africa alliance was close and strategic. In 1987, Israel adopted its own sanctions against South Africa but continued with existing arms contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The alliance was based less on military imperatives than on the two leaderships' shared belief that theirs were two relatively small nations guarding "their land" and "identity" in a hostile environment. Both wanted their privileged colonial settlers to continue in power. Their self-assigned role as regional bulwarks against Communism brought them western support --until global opinion turned against apartheid. Israel forgot Nazi sympathisers' role in putting apartheid's architects into power.
In a secret deal, South Africa lifted safeguards on 450 tonnes of yellowcake sold to Israel, in return for Israeli supplies of tritium, a nuclear weapons booster. Israel bailed out a South African politician whose bankruptcy would have scuppered the deal. These revelations expose Israel as an ultra-cynical nation culpable of nuclear proliferation.
Yet, South Africa isn't the only country with which Israel had shady nuclear dealings. Equally implicated from the 1950s onwards were Britain and France, which clandestinely supplied it nuclear materials, including heavy water.
Israel is different from other nuclear weapons-states (NWSs). Its nuclear weapons are undeclared -- unlike those of the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan (or of North Korea, which exploded a crude nuclear bomb in 2006 and another one last year). Israel, like India and Pakistan, hasn't signed the NPT.
However, although dubious, Israel's record of clandestine nuclear collaborations, shady deals and complicity in other countries' weapons pursuits mirrors that of the US, UK, USSR-Russia, China, India and Pakistan. They are all culpable.
India has had overt and clandestine nuclear dealings with the US, UK, Canada, the USSR, China, Russia, even Norway. India built its first bomb using CIRUS, a Canadian-designed reactor to which the US supplied heavy water. The 1974 explosion was called "peaceful", because India didn't want to be seen violating its professed commitment to nuclear disarmament or its "peaceful" use legal commitments to the US and Canada. It also lacked the stomach for more tests.
Pakistan has long collaborated with China clandestinely, which transferred nuclear weapons designs. Dr AQ Khan also pilfered centrifuge designs and suppliers' lists from the Netherlands. The Khan network's dealings with North Korea, Libya and Iran are legend. These needed the collusion of the Pakistani military which exclusively controls the nuclear weapons programme. The US turned a blind eye to Islamabad's nuclear preparations during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, which made Pakistan a "frontline" state. Poor, technologically primitive North Korea couldn't have made its bomb without a small Soviet-built reactor.
The point is, all NWSs are guilty of either deliberate proliferation or acting in violation of their dual-use technology commitments. Worse, they are the only nations to have used nuclear weapons and practised nuclear blackmail. So, they are totally hypocritical when they single out countries like Iran. Nuclear weapons are unacceptably dangerous in everybody's hands. Although all NWSs rationalise their nuclear arsenals via "deterrence", they have doctrines for actually using nuclear weapons against unarmed civilians. Even deterrence entails that they're in a state of readiness to use them.
The US and USSR came close to doing this during the Cold War. Even Israel contemplated doing so in 1973. Pakistan and India launched nuclear preparations during the 1999 Kargil conflict, and even more dangerously, in the 10 months-long standoff in 2001.
No government that is committed to exterminating millions of non-combatant civilians is "responsible". The current hype about "terrorist groups" acquiring nuclear material serves to legitimise the NWSs' possession of them and to fraudulently distinguish between "responsible" and "irresponsible" actors.
"Responsible NWSs" is a contradiction in terms. The greatest nuclear danger emanates from the NWSs, which seek security through nuclear terror. Non-state actors like Al Qaeda cannot build the elaborate and relatively sophisticated infrastructure that nuclear programmes need. They have even failed to clandestinely buy fissile material. Yet, so long as nuclear weapons exist and are regarded as a currency of power, both state and non-state actors will be tempted to acquire them. The only way of preventing them is to eliminate all nuclear weapons globally.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Praful Bidwai
A Zionist-Apartheid dirty deal
As the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference concludes in New York, the western powers led by the United States are focussing on west Asia, because they want Iran to freeze its nuclear activities. But inevitably, attention is getting riveted on Israel, the region's sole nuclear weapons power.
Against this backdrop comes the sensational disclosure from the just-released book, The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa, that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to white-racist, apartheid South Africa in 1975, and the two states closely coordinated their military programmes and strategic approaches.
This expose is based on "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior South African and Israeli officials accessed by the author, US-based scholar Sasha Pulakow-Suransky. The minutes were recently declassified by the South African government, despite Israel's strong opposition. The disclosure will seriously embarrass Israel, whose intransigence against ending its illegal occupation of Palestine and halting settlements is increasingly isolating it internationally and in western public opinion.
The book says South Africa's defence minister P W Botha asked for nuclear warheads when he met Shimon Peres, Israel's defence minister and now its president, who agreed to supply them "in three sizes". They signed a wide-ranging agreement on bilateral military relations, with a clause stipulating that its "very existence" must remain secret. The military relations were crucial. Israel generously supplied South Africa arms when it faced international economic-military sanctions. South Africa is believed to have made at least six nuclear weapons, but destroyed them before apartheid ended.
The book drives one more stake into Israel's "nuclear ambiguity" policy of neither confirming nor denying nuclear weapons possession. Independent sources, including Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, confirm that Israel has 200 to 300 nuclear warheads. The book also demolishes Israel's claim that it's a "responsible" state which wouldn't use nuclear weapons even if it had them -- unlike Iran, which might well use them or transfer them to Hezbollah. But a nation which not only helped pariah apartheid South Africa overcome richly-deserved international sanctions, but also supplied it mass-destruction weapons, cannot be "responsible". South Africa's military wanted nuclear weapons as a deterrent and for potential attacks upon its neighbours -- just as Israel did, and still does.
No state in modern history has been more shamelessly racist, unequal, undemocratic, and inhuman than apartheid South Africa. If that was at minimum a rogue state, Zionist Israel is in the same league. Pulakow-Suransky shows that Israeli and South African officials held crucial talks in March 1975, at which the former "formally offered to sell South Africa" some nuclear-capable Jericho missiles. Present there was South African military chief RF Armstrong whose "top secret" memorandum detailed the missiles' benefits for South Africa -- but only if they were fitted with nuclear weapons.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israel was short of uranium, of which South Africa has large reserves. Israel also needed hard currency. It got both by selling conventional weapons, and by sharing nuclear know-how with South Africa and converting some of its yellowcake (mixed oxides of uranium) into weapons-grade plutonium. The IsraelSouth Africa alliance was close and strategic. In 1987, Israel adopted its own sanctions against South Africa but continued with existing arms contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The alliance was based less on military imperatives than on the two leaderships' shared belief that theirs were two relatively small nations guarding "their land" and "identity" in a hostile environment. Both wanted their privileged colonial settlers to continue in power. Their self-assigned role as regional bulwarks against Communism brought them western support --until global opinion turned against apartheid. Israel forgot Nazi sympathisers' role in putting apartheid's architects into power.
In a secret deal, South Africa lifted safeguards on 450 tonnes of yellowcake sold to Israel, in return for Israeli supplies of tritium, a nuclear weapons booster. Israel bailed out a South African politician whose bankruptcy would have scuppered the deal. These revelations expose Israel as an ultra-cynical nation culpable of nuclear proliferation.
Yet, South Africa isn't the only country with which Israel had shady nuclear dealings. Equally implicated from the 1950s onwards were Britain and France, which clandestinely supplied it nuclear materials, including heavy water.
Israel is different from other nuclear weapons-states (NWSs). Its nuclear weapons are undeclared -- unlike those of the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan (or of North Korea, which exploded a crude nuclear bomb in 2006 and another one last year). Israel, like India and Pakistan, hasn't signed the NPT.
However, although dubious, Israel's record of clandestine nuclear collaborations, shady deals and complicity in other countries' weapons pursuits mirrors that of the US, UK, USSR-Russia, China, India and Pakistan. They are all culpable.
India has had overt and clandestine nuclear dealings with the US, UK, Canada, the USSR, China, Russia, even Norway. India built its first bomb using CIRUS, a Canadian-designed reactor to which the US supplied heavy water. The 1974 explosion was called "peaceful", because India didn't want to be seen violating its professed commitment to nuclear disarmament or its "peaceful" use legal commitments to the US and Canada. It also lacked the stomach for more tests.
Pakistan has long collaborated with China clandestinely, which transferred nuclear weapons designs. Dr AQ Khan also pilfered centrifuge designs and suppliers' lists from the Netherlands. The Khan network's dealings with North Korea, Libya and Iran are legend. These needed the collusion of the Pakistani military which exclusively controls the nuclear weapons programme. The US turned a blind eye to Islamabad's nuclear preparations during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, which made Pakistan a "frontline" state. Poor, technologically primitive North Korea couldn't have made its bomb without a small Soviet-built reactor.
The point is, all NWSs are guilty of either deliberate proliferation or acting in violation of their dual-use technology commitments. Worse, they are the only nations to have used nuclear weapons and practised nuclear blackmail. So, they are totally hypocritical when they single out countries like Iran. Nuclear weapons are unacceptably dangerous in everybody's hands. Although all NWSs rationalise their nuclear arsenals via "deterrence", they have doctrines for actually using nuclear weapons against unarmed civilians. Even deterrence entails that they're in a state of readiness to use them.
The US and USSR came close to doing this during the Cold War. Even Israel contemplated doing so in 1973. Pakistan and India launched nuclear preparations during the 1999 Kargil conflict, and even more dangerously, in the 10 months-long standoff in 2001.
No government that is committed to exterminating millions of non-combatant civilians is "responsible". The current hype about "terrorist groups" acquiring nuclear material serves to legitimise the NWSs' possession of them and to fraudulently distinguish between "responsible" and "irresponsible" actors.
"Responsible NWSs" is a contradiction in terms. The greatest nuclear danger emanates from the NWSs, which seek security through nuclear terror. Non-state actors like Al Qaeda cannot build the elaborate and relatively sophisticated infrastructure that nuclear programmes need. They have even failed to clandestinely buy fissile material. Yet, so long as nuclear weapons exist and are regarded as a currency of power, both state and non-state actors will be tempted to acquire them. The only way of preventing them is to eliminate all nuclear weapons globally.
Aslan
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Chomsky, Gaza and Israe
What is going on at the moment with Israel? You know when it's hit the mainstream when Auckland celeb photographer Norrie Montgomery steps beyond the A list script and voices his anger on facebook - "Israel is a rogue state and its getting worse..."
A couple of weeks back Israel hit the news big time when it barred Jewish American Professor Noam Chomsky from entering Palestinian Territory - The West Bank, having been invited to give a lecture at Bir Zeit University. The news of the eminent scholars detention at the Allenby Bridge and subsequently questioned for several hours by a guard whilst on a line to his superiors, travelled the main media hubs - Hindu Times, Bangkok Post, Jerusalem Post, BBC, CNN, as well as an op Ed in the New York Times and editorials in the Boston Globe and Chicago-Sun Tribune.
And this is an excerpt from the Editorial of one of Israel's main newspapers, Haaretz: "By stopping the illustrious American scholar Prof. Noam Chomsky at the Allenby Bridge and barring his entry into Israel and the Palestinian authority, the Government's outrageous treatment of those with the audacity to criticize its policies has reached new heights. Israel looks like a bully who has been insulted by a superior intellect and is now trying to fight it, arrest it, and expel it."
Chomsky, who spent a year in Israel in a kibbutz, and like his father is fluent in Hebrew, regards himself as a friend of Israel. Nonetheless the young guard, on the phone to higher officials told the 81 year old professor "Israel does not like what you say", to which the famous linguist asked him to try and find a country that does.
To paraphrase the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, is this the way in which a country that claims to be the one true democracy in the Middle East ought to behave? When Chomsky was asked if there was any other country that has barred him he replied, yes - Czechoslovakia in 1968 - i.e. under Soviet rule. The message being clear - this is precisely the sort of behaviour that you'd expect from a totalitarian regime.
And now up to 16 international protesters have been killed and over 60 wounded after an encounter by Israeli Defense force vessels with the free Gaza flotilla - attempting to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza. The flotilla included such crazies like 1976 Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators, and an elderly Holocaust survivor.
Of course the reason for the flotilla is because there is a humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territory - something the Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman completely denies ("There is no humanitarian crisis"). But Jewish journalist Amira Hass points out that there indeed is. The 360 square km prison of 1.5 million is, for example, stripped of pure water. Ninety per cent of the Coastal aquifer, Gaza's only water source, is unfit for human consumption. And as Hass points out, it's only thanks to UNRWA, international aid programmes, and the 'tunnel economy' that the population is not being starved.
To quote the Haaretz newspaper again - "One does not have to be an ardent supporter of Chomsky in order to agree with his view that Israel is behaving like South Africa in the 1960's, when it understood that it was an outcast, but thought it could solve the problem with the help of a better public relations campaign."
Provocative yet timely sentiments. And all the more profound in that they come from inside Israel.
Wallace's Blog: Chomsky, Gaza and Israel | Back Benches | Television New Zealand | Television | TV One, TV2, TVNZ 6, TVNZ 7
To people who are shamelessly supporting israeli actions please read the above article.
What is going on at the moment with Israel? You know when it's hit the mainstream when Auckland celeb photographer Norrie Montgomery steps beyond the A list script and voices his anger on facebook - "Israel is a rogue state and its getting worse..."
A couple of weeks back Israel hit the news big time when it barred Jewish American Professor Noam Chomsky from entering Palestinian Territory - The West Bank, having been invited to give a lecture at Bir Zeit University. The news of the eminent scholars detention at the Allenby Bridge and subsequently questioned for several hours by a guard whilst on a line to his superiors, travelled the main media hubs - Hindu Times, Bangkok Post, Jerusalem Post, BBC, CNN, as well as an op Ed in the New York Times and editorials in the Boston Globe and Chicago-Sun Tribune.
And this is an excerpt from the Editorial of one of Israel's main newspapers, Haaretz: "By stopping the illustrious American scholar Prof. Noam Chomsky at the Allenby Bridge and barring his entry into Israel and the Palestinian authority, the Government's outrageous treatment of those with the audacity to criticize its policies has reached new heights. Israel looks like a bully who has been insulted by a superior intellect and is now trying to fight it, arrest it, and expel it."
Chomsky, who spent a year in Israel in a kibbutz, and like his father is fluent in Hebrew, regards himself as a friend of Israel. Nonetheless the young guard, on the phone to higher officials told the 81 year old professor "Israel does not like what you say", to which the famous linguist asked him to try and find a country that does.
To paraphrase the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, is this the way in which a country that claims to be the one true democracy in the Middle East ought to behave? When Chomsky was asked if there was any other country that has barred him he replied, yes - Czechoslovakia in 1968 - i.e. under Soviet rule. The message being clear - this is precisely the sort of behaviour that you'd expect from a totalitarian regime.
And now up to 16 international protesters have been killed and over 60 wounded after an encounter by Israeli Defense force vessels with the free Gaza flotilla - attempting to get humanitarian supplies into Gaza. The flotilla included such crazies like 1976 Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators, and an elderly Holocaust survivor.
Of course the reason for the flotilla is because there is a humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Territory - something the Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman completely denies ("There is no humanitarian crisis"). But Jewish journalist Amira Hass points out that there indeed is. The 360 square km prison of 1.5 million is, for example, stripped of pure water. Ninety per cent of the Coastal aquifer, Gaza's only water source, is unfit for human consumption. And as Hass points out, it's only thanks to UNRWA, international aid programmes, and the 'tunnel economy' that the population is not being starved.
To quote the Haaretz newspaper again - "One does not have to be an ardent supporter of Chomsky in order to agree with his view that Israel is behaving like South Africa in the 1960's, when it understood that it was an outcast, but thought it could solve the problem with the help of a better public relations campaign."
Provocative yet timely sentiments. And all the more profound in that they come from inside Israel.
Wallace's Blog: Chomsky, Gaza and Israel | Back Benches | Television New Zealand | Television | TV One, TV2, TVNZ 6, TVNZ 7
To people who are shamelessly supporting israeli actions please read the above article.
under cover
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Why the condemnation for?? Allegation for soar Intelligence can be accepted. But the intent was to defend the sovereigneity of nation. So regrets on the loss of innocent lives but no regrets on the motive. Calling self-defence as terrorism is very lame. Israelis do not desire for 72 virgins for getting laid in heaven, for killing non-believers. All that they want is their country should be safe from overt / covert hostility. In essense self-defence cannot be equated with terrorism.
Criticism for showing solidarity with Arab world is altogether different thing. We need not show solidarity to appease our local population, unlike our neighbours. So we wont criticize Israel just for the sake of criticizing it.
Their (failed) intelligence of ship in disguise of humanitarian mission can be only questioned and/or condemned, but not their intent.
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oh, you have reached the peak of hypocracy. what else can i say.
SpArK
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Iran, Hamas seek global anti-Israel bloc
Iran, Hamas seek global anti-Israel bloc
An international front to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip should be formed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the Teheran Times reported.
“This criminal action revealed the real nature of the Zionists,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that now the approach of countries toward this outrageous action would be a “test for their honesty.”
According to the Teheran Times report Haniyeh said that Iran is the only nation that has always been on the side of the Palestinian nation. “We should try to revive the Palestinian nation’s violated rights and end the siege of Gaza,” he added.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki thanked Europe and the international community for the "harsh response" to Israel's "barbaric commando
operation," saying Iran identified with the "shahids" who were killed in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
In the days since the Navy's raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla on Monday, condemnations have been streaming in from Arab countries. Messages of carefully-couched rebuke have been coming from Israel's allies, many urging Israel to include an “international element” in any commission of inquiry into the incident, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
Iran, Hamas seek global anti-Israel bloc
An international front to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip should be formed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the Teheran Times reported.
“This criminal action revealed the real nature of the Zionists,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that now the approach of countries toward this outrageous action would be a “test for their honesty.”
According to the Teheran Times report Haniyeh said that Iran is the only nation that has always been on the side of the Palestinian nation. “We should try to revive the Palestinian nation’s violated rights and end the siege of Gaza,” he added.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki thanked Europe and the international community for the "harsh response" to Israel's "barbaric commando
operation," saying Iran identified with the "shahids" who were killed in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
In the days since the Navy's raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla on Monday, condemnations have been streaming in from Arab countries. Messages of carefully-couched rebuke have been coming from Israel's allies, many urging Israel to include an “international element” in any commission of inquiry into the incident, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.
SpArK
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Vande Mataram
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Actually, yes he is.
If they catch him alive, they won't kill him. They'll need to take him to court.
@Thank you agreeing that the Turkish PM is nuts. Apparently the Pakistanis here feel that they love him more than you guys do back in Turkey =)
Hey, Mr genius, you just slap you own face, so by according to you as "innocent till proven guilty" logic, then why the heck from the moment you jump in this thread, you started to defend Israel right the way without hesitation? Yes, this was a heated thread all the way, its on fire since you join in with your flame posts. Stop being a hypocrite, stop pretending to be a nice innocent guy once the mod pop up, you made me feel sick, never had i seen anyone as shameless as you period.
Mr.Genius,
you obviously don't understand English. (oh, sorry I forgot it's not your first language, old joke
)INNOCENT until proven GUILTY.
What YOU'RE doing is accusing Israel of being guilty, and calling them terrorists.
DEFENDING Israel isn't the same thing as ACCUSING it of something.
Don't just throw words at me. Know their meanings first.
What other proof do you need?
Terrorist killer supporter is also terrorist thus it make a terrorist. You shameless bharati blood sucking terrorist. May you rot in hell like rest of your clan.
No wonder bharatis are hate by subcontinent Muslim.
hahhahaha, really?
Since you bring that "all INDIANS are hated by Muslims in South Asia"
So the 150 Million Muslims in my country hate themselves too?
And they LOVE Pakistan don't they.
Also, just so you know. Your government would be considered a terrorist also, for supporting the actions of terrorists in India. Where 300 people (more than this 10 died)
*cough* remember 1 month after the Mumbai,
Zardari: "They were non state actors"
2 months later
Zardari: "Kasab is a Pakistani national, we simply can't find his identity papers"
Now we're talking about HYPOCRISY
@Just so you know, people here don't stop me at the airport for *random* security checks. So I don't know who u're calling terrorist.
Back to topic now.
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Aslan
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Actually, yes he is.
If they catch him alive, they won't kill him. They'll need to take him to court.
@Thank you agreeing that the Turkish PM is nuts. Apparently the Pakistanis here feel that they love him more than you guys do back in Turkey =)
Mr.Genius,
you obviously don't understand English.
INNOCENT until proven GUILTY.
What YOU'RE doing is accusing Israel of being guilty, and calling them terrorists.
DEFENDING Israel isn't the same thing as ACCUSING it of something.
Don't just throw words at me. Know their meanings first.
hahhahaha, really?
Since you bring that "all INDIANS are hated by Muslims in South Asia"
So the 150 Million Muslims in my country hate themselves too?
And they LOVE Pakistan don't they.
Also, just so you know. Your government would be considered a terrorist also, for supporting the actions of terrorists in India. Where 300 people (more than this 10 died)
*cough* remember 1 month after the Mumbai,
Zardari: "They were non state actors"
2 months later
Zardari: "Kasab is a Pakistani national, we simply can't find his identity papers"
Now we're talking about HYPOCRISY
@Just so you know, people here don't stop me at the airport for *random* security checks. So I don't know who u're calling terrorist.
Back to topic now.
Can you not stop trolling, for once.
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