Clipmarks | masbury's 'israel' clips

Bush snubs Iran breakthrough opportunity

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:17:58 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Might have undermined McCain; Iranians read it as no interest from America in anything but regime change or attack

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Bush's final Iran blunder?

By announcing that the United States is no longer interested in opening a consular office in Iran, the George W Bush administration has forfeited a golden opportunity for a timely diplomatic breakthrough with Iran

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

also stated clearly and unambiguously Iran's willingness to consider a "freeze-for-freeze" option on its nuclear program

Iran's new signs of compromise have fallen on deaf ears in the US

Had Bush given a green light to a diplomatic presence in Iran, it would have undermined McCain's foreign policy objectives, benefiting Obama.

But, more than the election concerns, the role and influence of pro-Israel lobbyists deserves consideration

Bush's decision is yet another blunder that ranks with the negative reaction of the White House to an Iranian peace initiative in 2003.

The message that is being read

is that no matter how much interest Iran shows

Washington

still prioritizes

regime change or

outright attack on Iran

Tags: iran, bush

"24" Producer pulls endorsement of "Obsession"

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:24:36 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Remains committed to basic message, but believes "goal of co-existence and tolerance is not being served by films like Obsession"

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

‘24′ Producer Pulls Endorsement Of Anti-Muslim DVD ‘Obsession’»

A pro-Israel think tank, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, has already pulled out of the project. Now, Howard Gordon, the executive producer of the Fox show “24″ has announced that he is also withdrawing his endorsement of the film:

After being contacted by a number of people whose opinions I respect and after reviewing Obsession with their criticisms and concerns in mind, I have asked the film makers to remove my endorsement from the Obsession website and from any future promotional materials. While I remain committed to the film’s essential message — that the hate-mongering promoted by radical Islamism presents a real threat to western values of tolerance and pluralism — I also appreciate that the goal of co-existence and tolerance is not being served by films like Obsession.

Tags: obsession, islam

BBC: Israeli settlers terrorize Palestinians

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:50:41 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Prime Minister speaks of "an evil wind of extremism" threatening Israel's democracy - meaning Israeli settlers, not Palestinians. Illegal settlers attack both Palestinians in their homes and Israeli soldiers who defend the Palestinians.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Hundreds of settlers are engaged in violence against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, the senior Israeli commander in the West Bank has said.

About 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, among a population of about 2.5 million Palestinians.

The general said that in some cases Israeli soldiers who had intervened to stop settlers from attacking Palestinians had themselves been attacked by settlers.

Israeli political leaders have made comments along similar lines recently.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has spoken of an "evil wind of extremism" threatening Israel's democracy.

This was in reaction to a pipe bomb attack on a leading Israeli academic and critic of the occupation of Palestinian land by presumed hard-line right-wingers.

Mr Olmert has also described a mass attack by settlers on the West Bank village of Asira al-Qabiliya as a "pogrom".

All settlements are consider illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Tags: israel, palestinians, terrorism

What percent of US budget goes to foreign aid?

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:50:33 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Most Americans drastically over-estimate it. Despite laudable recent increases in US giving to poverty, US aid as a percent of personal income is second to last among wealthy nations; most of that doesn't go to the poorest countries. We give about 25 cents per American per [oops, sorry I wrote per year should be per day] day in foreign aid; with private giving, another dime. It's a lot, because there are a lot of us. But it's far behind the level of sacrifice made by people in most developed nations.

Clip Source: www.borgenproject.org

The Perception Problem
Americans drastically overestimate U.S. involvement in poverty reduction.

U.S. Second to Last Among Wealthy Nations

Source: OECD-DAC

Less than half of aid from the United States goes to
the poorest countries where people earn less than
$2 a day.
The largest recipients are strategic allies such as
Egypt, Israel, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Israel is the richest country to receive U.S.
assistance ($77 per Israeli compared to $3 per
person in poor countries).

(Center for Global Development)

Incredible Potential for Good

The U.S. was the largest single donor
in a global campaign that eradicated
smallpox from the world by 1977.
The U.S. provided funding for a
program to prevent river blindness in
West Africa. As a result of these
efforts, 18 million children now living
in the program's region are free from
the risk of river blindness.

(Center for Global Development)

Tags: foreign policy, economy

Olmert stuns world: Israel should pull out of West Bank

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:19:03 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: First time ever an Israeli leader advocates it.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Olmert Says Israel Should Pull Out of West Bank

In a remarkable development and transformation from his former Likud days, outgoing Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has given an interview to an Israeli newspaper in which he says Israel should pull out of the West Bank, and more broadly, rethink its strategic efense doctrine from one that is so heavily military-based.

In an unusually frank and soul-searching interview granted after he resigned to fight corruption charges — he remains interim prime minister until a new government is sworn in — Mr. Olmert discarded longstanding Israeli defense doctrine and called for radical new thinking in words that are sure to stir controversy as his expected successor, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, tries to build a coalition.

“What I am saying to you now has not been said by any Israeli leader before me,” Mr. Olmert told Yediot Aharonot newspaper

He said traditional Israeli defense strategists

seemed stuck in the

1948 Independence War

worthless.”

Tags: olmert, israel, palestinians

Russians: US, Israel to use Georgia for Iran attack

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:52:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Claim US and Israel exchanging massive military aid for right to use airfields for Iran bombing

Clip Source: www.payvand.com

US Plans to Use Georgia for Attacking Iran: Russia's NATO envoy

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Russia's envoy to NATO said that the US plans to use airfields in Georgia for a war on Iran.

Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said Russian intelligence had obtained information indicating that Washington had launched "active military preparations on Georgia's territory" for an air strike on Iran.

"The reason why Washington values (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili's regime so highly" is that he has given permission to the Pentagon to use its airfields, he said.

Other reports suggested that the Georgian airfields could also be used by Israel for an attack on Iran.

Israel had supplied Georgia with sophisticated Hermes 450 UAV spy drones, multiple rocket launchers and other military equipment that Georgia, as well as modernized Georgia's Soviet-made tanks that were used in the attack against South Ossetia.

Israeli instructors had also helped train Georgia troops.

Tags: iran, georgia, israel

Israel rushes West Bank construction

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:47:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: 1,000 new bldgs on Palestinian land, last year X2. Israel is not serious about peace. It is still stealing Palestinian land.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Meanwhile, the Israeli group Peace Now has issued a new report on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The group said construction had begun on more than 1,000 buildings in the West Bank since January, nearly double the number of building starts in the same period in 2007. More than half of the current construction was taking place in areas beyond the settlement blocs Israel has said it intends to keep in any peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Tags: israel

Rice Criticizes Israeli Checkpoints and Restrictions

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:42:42 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Oh ho ho, what have we here? Will she be struck by neoconservative lightning?

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Rice Criticizes Israeli Checkpoints and Travel Restrictions

On her final Middle East tour as Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice used the occasion to criticize Israeli checkpoints and restrictions on travel for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. When asked about them, she told reporters that “obviously there’s more that needs to be done.” At the start of her two-day tour, she praised the release of 198 Palestinian political prisoners on the eve of her visit. Rice is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today before flying back to Washington.

Tags: israel

Activists pierce Israeli blockade of Gaza

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 06:41:40 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "The activists' group was comprised of people between 22 and 81, included students, lawyers, doctors, journalists and an online poker player, organisers said.
Mostly American and British, they included Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who is now a Middle East envoy.
Many of the activists said they had received death threats before they set sail, leading some to drop out."

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

Boats reach Gaza despite blockade

Two vessels spent 30-hours journeying to the Gaza Strip from Cyprus [AFP]

Two vessels carrying 46 international human rights activists have reached the Gaza Strip, despite Israel's strict 14-month siege of the Palestinian territory.

The end of the mission to symbolically break the siege came after Israel backed down from an earlier warning to the 'Free Gaza' protest group not to breach the blockade.

Al Jazeera's Ashraf Amritti in Gaza said: "The arrival of these two boats is a very symbolic gesture for the Palestinian cause, to end the siege, end the occupation.

In fact, those phrases are written across the peace boats which carry flags from more than 70 nationalities."

The boats set sail on Friday on a 370km voyage from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus carrying activists from 17 countries, including Israel, with the aim of drawing attention to Israel's blockade of Gaza and its affect on the people there.

We deeply appreciate and salute the activists

Tags: gaza, israel

Patrick Buchanan: US views of Georgia "ring hollow"

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 02:07:25 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "For a decade, some of us have warned about the folly of getting into Russia’s space and getting into Russia’s face. The chickens of democratic imperialism have now come home to roost—in Tbilisi."

Clip Source: www.truthdig.com

American charges of Russian aggression ring hollow. Georgia started this fight—Russia finished it

Russia’s response was “disproportionate” and “brutal,” wailed Bush.

True. But did we not authorize Israel to bomb Lebanon for 35 days in response to a border skirmish

Was that not many times more “disproportionate”?

Russia has invaded a sovereign country, railed Bush

But did not the United States bomb Serbia for 78 days and invade to force it to surrender a province, Kosovo, to which Serbia had a far greater historical claim than Georgia had to Abkhazia or South Ossetia

When the Soviet Union broke into 15 nations, we celebrated. When Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo broke from Serbia, we rejoiced. Why, then, the indignation when two provinces, whose peoples are ethnically separate from Georgians and who fought for their independence, should succeed in breaking away?

Are secessions

laudable only when they advance the agenda of the neocons

whom viscerally detest Russia?

Tags: war, georgia, russia

Ex-General, favored mass killings, for Israeli P.M.

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:57:22 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Once told Israeli troops to kill 70 Palestinians a day, 10 from each brigade.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Ex-Israeli General Who Called for Mass Killing Palestinians Launches PM Bid

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, a leading cabinet member and former Israeli army commander who once called for the mass killing of Palestinians has launched his candidacy for prime minister. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz enters the race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert just days after reports emerged he once instructed Israeli troops to kill seventy Palestinians a day during the Second Intifada. In May 2001, Mofaz reportedly gave a briefing to senior West Bank army commanders and said he wanted ten slain Palestinians a day in each of the seven territorial brigade areas. On Tuesday, Mofaz emphasized he is running on a platform of “security.”

Tags: israel, palestinians

Israeli juggernaut takes more Palestinian land

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:08:18 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Israeli peace group objects: "not the interest of the Israeli people and the Israeli public to have new settlements while we are having negotiations with the Palestinians about having the two states.”

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Israel Proceeds with New Settlement Construction

In Israel, the Israeli government is refusing to abandon its latest plan for building a new settlement in the Occupied Territories. Twenty homes are slated to be built at the site, known as Maskiyot, near the West Bank’s eastern border with Jordan. Yariv Oppenheimer of the Israeli group Peace Now criticized the move.

Yariv Oppenheimer: “We strongly condemn this decision by the Defense Ministry to allow new settlements in the West Bank in the Jordan Valley. This is not the interest of the Israeli people and the Israeli public to have new settlements while we are having negotiations with the Palestinians about having the two states.”

Israel had previously vowed to stop settlement activity but then claimed its pledge only applied to building new settlements, not expanding existing ones. The latest plan violates even that claim.

Tags: israel, palestinians

Bush Admin may snuff General's report on Israel misconduct

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:08:22 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Top US official there issues report critical of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Will Bush "listen to the General on the ground" or quietly gag the best report they've got?

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

US Considers Quashing Report Critical of Israel

In other news, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports the Bush administration is debating whether to silence a forthcoming high-level report critical of Israel’s conduct in the Occupied Territories. The report is written by the top US official there, retired general James Jones. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Jones has written a “scathing” report criticizing both the Israeli government and the White House. Israeli officials who met with Jones said they expect the report to be “very harsh, and make Israel look very bad.” Jones is said to be particularly critical of Israel’s claim to have security interests to justify its large settlement blocs on Palestinian land. Top administration officials are said to be so upset by the report they are debating blocking its release.

Tags: israel, palestine

Obama: US should recognize Palestinians' "legitimate difficulties"

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:56:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Best interest of both Israel and Palestinians to do so

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

Sen. Barack Obama: “What I think can change is the ability of the United States government and a United States president to be actively engaged with the peace process and to be concerned and recognize the legitimate difficulties that the Palestinian people are experiencing right now. And recognize that it is not only in the interest of the Palestinian people that their situation improves, I believe it’s also in the interest of the Israeli people, because it is going to be very difficult for Israel ever to feel secure if you don’t have some sense of opportunity and prosperity and stability with its—its neighbors.”

Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi

Hanan Ashrawi: "It’s the credibility of the US, the interest of the US has been adversely all affected by the last three years of American policy that has wreaked havoc in the region. We need re-engagement, but we need positive re-engagement in ways that would curb Israeli violations and would help produce a just and genuine peace.”

Tags: israel, palestine

Iran Literacy Quiz: A Decent Respect for the Opinions of Mankind

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:36:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: See the answers to these and other questions, as well as supporting material at the link. Those without answers listed are true-false questions.

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Iran Conflict Literacy Quiz

1. Iran's leaders have declared their intention to acquire nuclear weapons.

2. Iran is training, arming, financing, and politically supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq

3. Iran's leaders have declared that the acquisition of nuclear weapons would be contrary to Islam

about what proportion of Iranians believe that it is "very important" that Iran master the nuclear fuel cycle?

a) 1%
b) 2%
c) 3%
d) 81%

what proportion of the Iranian population think that Iran should pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons?
a) 100%
b) 99%
c) 98%
d) 20%

8. Iran's leaders have pledged to destroy Israel.

9. In Iran's government system, the Leader with Supreme authority over the government, especially foreign and military affairs and the country's nuclear program, is
a) Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
b) President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad

10. In 1953, the democratic government of Iran was overthrown in a coup organized by the US Central Intelligence Agency

Tags: iran, foreign policy