Thursday, August 27, 2015

Mnar Muhawesh On Nearly 8 Muslim Casualties in US-Led War on Terror

‘I was denied entry to my homeland’ – Arab-American student has passport...

US Congresswoman Asks For Halt On Military Aid To Israel


US congresswoman Betty McCollum has asked the State Department to investigate whether the unlawful killing Palestinians should deprive Israel of US military aid.
By IMEMC News | August 26, 2015                                                                                                        In a letter to the State Department officials last week, the Minnesota Representative said that the deaths of Nadim Nowarah and Mohamed Odeh, in May of 2014, demonstrated the “brutal system of occupation that devalues and dehumanizes Palestinian children.”

The two Palestinian youths, aged 16 and 17, were killed when Israeli troops assaulted a peaceful protest outside the West Bank city of Ramallah during the Nakba Day, an annual commemoration of Palestinian forceful displacement by Zionist in 1948.

“It is time for a strong and unequivocal statement of US commitment to the human rights of Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation,” McCollum wrote in the August 18 letter, which was released to the public on Monday, according to Days of Palestine.

McCollum urged State Department officials to determine whether the killing of the teens was in violation of the Leahy Act.

The Leahy Act is a US human rights law that prohibits the State and Defence departments from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

In a CCTV video posted by the Palestine division of Defence for Children International, a global NGO, appears to show one teen being shot as he walked by a gas station after the protest had subsided.

The second Palestinian teen appears to have been shot shortly afterwards.

Initially, the Israeli occupation army maintained that only nonlethal dispersal methods were used by troops during the Nakba Day demonstration.

An autopsy performed by Palestinian and Israeli pathologists in June, however, found that Nawara was almost certainly killed by live fire, most likely from an Israeli weapon.

Following the announcement of autopsy outcomes, an Israeli military investigation into the shooting, carried out following the autopsy, found that an Israeli border policeman had illegally used live ammunition during the protest.
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Monday, August 24, 2015

4 Quick Questions with Jessy Belt



Earlier this month, IARP welcomed new Deputy Director Jessica Belt. Ms. Belt, a graduate of the University of Minnesota and previous resident of Lebanon, is an Arabic speaker and has experience as a teacher, event organizer and networker across international lines. We asked her a few questions about her new role at IARP.

Q: How did you first get involved in IARP?
A: I came to know of IARP during my year of service with Americorps. I first volunteered to help with an end of the year mailing. Most people might wonder how a tedious evening of envelope stuffing led to further involvement in the organization. However, I was so genuinely impressed by the board members and staff I met and the array of services IARP provides, that I pursued further volunteer opportunities. After several more volunteer experiences and hosting a newly arrived Iraqi refugee family, I became further dedicated to reconciliation between our two countries. I spent the summer as an intern, after which time I left to live and work in Beirut, Lebanon.

Q: What are you looking forward to the most in your new role?
A: What I am looking forward to most is meeting all the different people involved in IARP. From the very beginning, I have been impressed by the small yet extremely dedicated IARP community and their commitment to creating an environment for dialogue, education, peace and understanding.

Q: What are you enjoying most so far?
A: As a past volunteer and intern, I am enjoying being more hands on and involved in all the different IARP programs. IARP is unique in its breadth of services for a small organization and its close partnership with an Iraqi NGO and Iraqi leadership. I am honored to play a more substantial role in the organization.

Q: Why IARP?
A: I am a firm believer that through meaningful conversations and understanding between peoples - face to face or through the arts - peace, mutual respect and friendship can be realized. Why IARP? Because they facilitate these interactions that are so vital in realizing reconciliation.

We have a lot of work to do! As violence in Iraq intensifies, now more than ever we have a need for Americans and Iraqis to build bridges of friendship and mutual respect. Through our programming, IARP works to amplify unheard voices to rise above mainstream media to dispel misconceptions of Iraqis and the greater Middle East. I look forward to partnering with you as we build bridges of friendship and grow our mission of reconciliation.

Please feel free to contact me at 763-710-0427, jessy@reconciliationproject.org, or visit me in our office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Thank you again for such a warm welcome to IARP!

Prayer of St. Francis by Sarah MacLachlan

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

US Has Been Planning To Wipe Out Russia Since 1945


Posted By pcr3 On August 18, 2015 @ 9:20 am In Articles & Columns
US Has Been Planning To Wipe Out Russia Since 1945
Paul Craig Roberts
An article on Sputnik by Ekaterina Blinova, http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150815/1025789574.html [1] , provides a history of US and British plans to destroy the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons in the early post-World War II years before the Soviets got the bomb and prior to President John F. Kennedy reining in the plans to use nuclear weapons against Soviet civilian populations. If truth be known, the Cold War was entirely a Washington creation.
The military/security complex, against which President Dwight Eisenhower warned the American people to no avail, has found that its profits cannot survive the end of the Cold War and has orchestrated its resumption. Washington has revived its plans for surprise nuclear attack on Russia and this time on China as well. These plans are known and have destroyed the trust among nuclear powers, leading to an even more dangerous situation than existed during Cold War I.
The American people are not politically competent, and they are easily brainwashed by Washington’s propaganda. It has only taken two years for Washington’s demonization of Russia to convince hapless Americans that Russia is the Number One Threat to the United States. This unbelievable hogwash is constantly broadcast by the presstitute media and is now
believed by a majority of the American Sheeple.
Armageddon will be the consequence.

Monday, August 17, 2015

What the Latest Currency ‘War’ is All About

An internationalized yuan established as a global reserve currency implies a "market-determined" exchange rate policy.
  by Pepe Escobar

When the US embarks on perennial quantitative easing, that’s OK. When the EU does QE as well, that’s OK. But when the Bank of China decides it’s in the best interest of the nation to let the yuan go down a bit instead of infinitely up, that’s Armageddon.

It took the Bank of China to devaluate the yuan on two consecutive days — moving within the 2 percent band that it’s allowed to — for the proverbial global financial banshees to go completely bonkers.

Forget the hysteria. The heart of the matter is that Beijing has stepped on the gas in a quite complex long game; to liberalize the yuan exchange rate; allow it to free float against the US dollar; and establish the yuan as a global reserve currency.                                                                   So this is essentially exchange rate policy liberalization — not a currency “war”, as the frenetic spin goes from Washington/Wall Street to Tokyo via London and Brussels.
 >Let’s check some expert reaction<

Friday, August 14, 2015

Hyannis Port and Squaw Island, August 1963

Hyannis Port and Squaw Island, August 1963
Date(s) of Materials:
August 1963: 14-30
Description:
Silent motion picture footage of President John F. Kennedy's family time at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and at his residence at Squaw Island, Massachusetts. Dates for some of the footage cannot be established. For most of the footage, dates likely fall between August 14, 1963, and August 30, 1963. President Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy, Jr., relax outside the Squaw Island residence with dogs. The family visits the residence of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., in Hyannis Port. The President greets Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., while Eunice Kennedy Shriver is present. Other activities include Caroline and others riding horses, Caroline and John, Jr., and others spending time at the beach, and President Kennedy cruising aboard the President's yacht "Honey Fitz" with his family, Under Secretary of the Navy Paul B. "Red" Fay, Anita Fay, and Sally Fay.                                                                                     >link historical footage<

Israeli lobby has destroyed political careers for criticism of Israel – ...

An Introduction to Pentagon Contracts

An Introduction to Pentagon Contracts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

EPA catching more heat for more toxic waste spilling in Southwest waters

These Companies Are Getting Rich While The Planet Burns

War-Hungry Conservatives Vow To Stop Obama’s Iran Deal

Rachel Corrie Family Still Searching for Justice 12 Yrs Later w/ Mnar Mu...

VIDEO: Chris Hedges, Cornel West on the Demonization of the Black Poor (from @Truthdig)

VIDEO: Chris Hedges, Cornel West on the Demonization of the Black Poor (from @Truthdig)

AIPAC taking all but 3 freshmen Congresspeople to Israel in effort to sabotage Iran deal

US Politics Ben Norton on August 3, 2015

The American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), the educational wing of hardline right-wing pro-Israel lobbying organization the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is taking all but three freshmen US House Representatives on a tour of Israel, in hopes of turning them against the Iran nuclear deal.

Over 50 US congresspeople will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel in August.

Two separate trips are being organized along partisan lines—one for Democrats, and another for Republicans.

The Democrat trip begins on August 3, and will be led by House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland).

The Republican trip begins on August 8, and will be led by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California).                                    >Complete Report<

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

US ex-intelligence chief on ISIS rise: It was 'a willful Washington decision'

Lieutenant General Michael Flynn. © Gary Cameron / Reuters                                                                                                                                                       US didn’t interfere with the rise of anti-government jihadist groups in Syria that finally degenerated into Islamic State, claims the former head of America’s Defense Intelligence Agency, backing a secret 2012 memo predicting their rise.
Trends
Islamic State

An interview with retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), given to Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan, confirms earlier suspicions that Washington was monitoring jihadist groups emerging as opposition in Syria.       >Complete report<

Sunday, August 9, 2015

A Vice Admiral and WWII Hero Condemns Nuclear Weapons 70 Years After Nagasaki and Hiroshima (from @Truthdig)

A Vice Admiral and WWII Hero Condemns Nuclear Weapons 70 Years After Nagasaki and Hiroshima (from @Truthdig)

The Iran deal is the Israel lobby’s Armageddon

By My Catbird Seat -
Aug 9, 2015                                                                                                                                       by Justin Raimondo

Antiwar.com
The Liberation of US Foreign Policy
The Iran deal is a turning point in US foreign policy, and its approval by Congress will represent a sea change in American politics: it will mark nothing less than a day of liberation which future generations might dub “VI Day” – victory over Israel day.                                               >Complete Report<

Friday, August 7, 2015

Jews in US capable of overriding Obama’s veto of Iran deal: Analyst

An American geopolitical commentator says “Jewish oligarchs” are so powerful in the United States that can override President Barack Obama’s veto of any congressional opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement.

In a phone interview with Press TV on Wednesday, Scott Rickard said Jewish oligarchs in the US “have dedicated tens of millions of dollars to the opposition of the Iran deal.”

He made the remarks when asked to comment about Obama’s warning to the leaders of American Jewish Community during a meeting in the White House on Tuesday.

The meeting was part of an effort by the Obama administration to gain support for the agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14.                                 >Complete Report<

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Hiroshima bombing: Marking the 70th anniversary

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima—the first time a nuclear weapon had ever been used for warfare. Just three days later, the U.S. dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki.  

More than 200,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Radiation from the bombings continued to claim lives in the decades that followed, causing birth defects and other health issues among their children.

Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima reminds us of the real consequences of war and the growing urgency to free the world of nuclear weapons.

To learn more about the bombings and ongoing efforts toward nuclear disarmament, see some of the resources below, including the powerful account from Hiroshima survivor Michiko Kodama.                       the powerful account from Hiroshima survivor Michiko Kodama.