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Friday, January 5, 2018
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn | Environment | The Guardian
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn | Environment | The Guardian: Areas starved of oxygen in open ocean and by coasts have soared in recent decades, risking dire consequences for marine life and humanity
Roughly a quarter of the planet is slowly turning into a perpetual desert. | Grist
Roughly a quarter of the planet is slowly turning into a perpetual desert. | Grist: Between 20 and 30 percent of the world's land surface could soon face desertlike conditions.
As of today, no US airlines operate the mighty Boeing 747 | Ars Technica
As of today, no US airlines operate the mighty Boeing 747 | Ars Technica: But don't worry, British Airways, KLM, and Lufthansa will keep flying them—for now.
An anthropologist explains white privilege: what it is & does
An anthropologist explains white privilege: what it is & does: Summary: Anthropologist Maximilian Forte explains white privilege, one of the hot button issues of today's America. The concept has swept America. Where did it come from? Is it helping or hurting America? "Privilege: White, American, or Imperial?" By Maximilian C. Forte From Zero Anthropology, 7 January 2018. Reposted with his generous permission. To the extent that “white privilege”…
Schiff on New York Times report: The case that Trump obstructed justice just got stronger - The Washington Post
Schiff on New York Times report: The case that Trump obstructed justice just got stronger - The Washington Post: An interview with the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee about the blockbuster New York Times report.
The New York Times report contains a heap of legal trouble for Trump and Sessions - The Washington Post
The New York Times report contains a heap of legal trouble for Trump and Sessions - The Washington Post: There's arguably a whole lot of evidence of obstruction of justice.
It's Been an Open Secret All Along - The Atlantic
It's Been an Open Secret All Along - The Atlantic: The scandal of Michael Wolff’s new book isn’t its salacious details—it’s that everyone in Washington has known its key themes, and refused to act.
U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia Leading World to War With Iran, France Says
U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia Leading World to War With Iran, France Says: Seoul and Pyongyang are moving toward talks while Washington simply rages.
Is Trump making himself irrelevant on North Korea? - The Washington Post
Is Trump making himself irrelevant on North Korea? - The Washington Post: Seoul and Pyongyang are moving toward talks while Washington simply rages.
Guest Post by Uri Avnery: Why I am Angry
Uri Avnery
January 6, 2018
I AM angry with the Mizrahi elite. Very angry indeed.
Mizrah is the Hebrew word
for East. Eastern Jews are those who lived for many centuries in the
Islamic world. Western Jews are those who lived in Christian Europe.
The words are, of course,
misnomers. Russian Jews are "Westerners", Moroccan Jews are
"Easterners". A look at the map shows that Russia is far to the East of
Morocco. It would be more accurate to call them "Northerners" and
"Southerners". Too late, now.
Westerners are generally
called "Ashkenazim", from the old Hebrew term for Germany. Easterners
were usually called "Sephardim", from the old Hebrew term for Spain. But
only a small part of the Easterners are actually descended from the
flourishing Jewish community in medieval Spain.
IN TODAY'S Israel, the
antagonism between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim is growing stronger from year
to year, with vast political and social repercussions. It is no
exaggeration to see this as the determining phenomenon of current
Israeli society.
Before I continue, allow me to state (once again, I am afraid) my personal part in this.
My last few years in
Germany, before we fled, were spent in the shadow of the ascent of the
Swastika, the last half year already under Nazi rule. I came to hate
Germany and everything German. So when our ship reached the port of
Jaffa, I was enthusiastic. I was just ten years old, and the Jaffa of
1933 was in every respect the exact opposite of Germany – noisy, full of
exotic smells, human. I loved it.
As I learned later, most of
the early Zionist "pioneers" who arrived in Arab Jaffa hated it on
sight, because they identified themselves as Europeans. Among them was
the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl himself, who did not want to go to
Palestine in the first place. On his only visit here, he hated its
Oriental character. He vastly preferred Patagonia (in the Argentine).
Fifteen years later,
during Israel's war of independence, I was promoted to the lofty rank
of squad-leader and had the choice between new immigrant recruits from
Poland or Morocco. I chose the Moroccans and was rewarded by them with
my life: when I was lying wounded under fire, four of "my Moroccans"
risked their lives to get me out.
It was then that I got a
foretaste of things to come. Once, when we got a few precious hours of
leave, some of my soldiers refused to go. "The girls in Tel Aviv don't
go out with us," they complained, "for them we are blacks." Their skin
was just a little bit darker than ours.
I became very sensitive to
this problem, when everybody else still denied its very existence. In
1954, when I was already the editor-in-chief of a news-magazine, I
published a series of articles that caused a huge stir: "They
(expletive) the Blacks". Those Ashkenazim who did not hate me before,
started to hate me then.
Then came the riots of "Wadi
Salib", a neighborhood in Haifa, where a policeman shot a Mizrahi. My
paper was the only one in the country to defend the protesters.
A few years later the small
group of Mizrahim started an unruly protest movement, expropriating the
American term "Black Panthers". I helped them. Golda Meir famously
exclaimed: "They are not nice people".
Now, many years later, a new
generation has taken over. The Internal conflict dominates many aspects
of our life. The Mizrahim make up about half the Jewish population of
Israel, the Ashkenazim form the other half. The division has many
manifestations, but people don't like to talk about them openly.
For example, the great
majority of Likud voters are Mizrahim, though the party leadership is
predominantly Ashkenazi. The opposition Labor Party is almost completely
Ashkenazi, though they just elected a Mizrahi leader, in the vain hope
that this will help them to overcome the profound alienation of the
Mizrahim.
MY OPPOSITION to the
treatment of the Mizrahim was primarily a moral one. It sprang from the
desire for justice. It also sprang from my dream that all of us,
Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, would eventually be submerged in a common
Hebrew nation. But I must confess that there was another motive, too.
I have always believed – as I
believe now – that there is no future for Israel as a foreign island in
the Oriental sea. My hopes go much further than just peace. I hope for
Israel's becoming an integral part of the "Semitic region" (an
expression I invented long ago).
How? I have always
entertained a monumental hope: that the second or third generation of
Mizrahim will remember its heritage, the times when Jews were an
integral part of the Muslim world. Thus they would become the bridge
between the new Hebrew nation in Israel and its Palestinian neighbors,
and indeed the entire Muslim world.
Being despised by the
Ashkenazim as "Asiatic" and inferior, would it not have been natural for
the Mizrahim to reclaim their glorious heritage, when the Jews in Iraq,
Spain, Egypt and many other Muslim countries were fully integrated
partners in a flourishing civilization, at a time when Europeans were
mainly barbarians?
Jewish philosophers,
mathematicians, poets and medical doctors were partners of that
civilization, side by side with their Muslim counterparts. When the
persecution and expulsion of Jews and the inquisition were facts of life
in Europe, Jews (and Christians) enjoyed full rights in the Muslim
world. They were accorded the status of "Peoples of the Book" (the
Hebrew Bible) and fully equal, except for being exempted from army
service and paying a tax instead. Anti-Jewish incidents were rare.
When all the Jews were
expelled from Christian Spain, only a small minority immigrated to
Amsterdam, London and Hamburg. The vast majority went to Muslim
countries, from Morocco to Istanbul. Curiously enough, only a handful
settled in Palestine.
HOWEVER, WHEN masses of
Oriental Jews arrived in Israel, my hopes were dashed. Instead of
becoming the bridge between Israel and the Arab world, they became the
most ardent Arab-haters. The centuries of Muslim-Jewish culture were
erased, as if they had never existed.
Why? Being despised by the
"superior" Ashkenazim, the Mizrahim started to despise their own
culture. They tried to become Europeans, more anti-Arab, more
super-patriot, more right-wing.
(Though one Mizrahi friend once told me: We don’t want to be a bridge. A bridge is something people trample on.)
Yet no one can escape from
himself. Most Mizrahim in Israel speak with an Arab accent. They love
Arab music (presented as "Mediterranean" music), and have no love for
Mozart and Beethoven. Their features are different from European ones.
All the more reason to hate the Arabs.
The erasing of the
Eastern-Jewish culture is all-encompassing. Israeli children of Eastern
descent have no idea of the great writers and philosophers of their
heritage. They don't know that the Christian Crusaders who conquered the
Holy Land butchered Muslims and Jews alike, and that Jews defended
Jerusalem and Haifa shoulder to shoulder with their Muslim neighbors.
Rabbi Moses Maimonides – the
great Rambam – is well known, but only as an important rabbi, not as
the friend and personal physician of Saladin, the greatest of Muslim
heroes. The many other medieval Sephardic intellectuals are hardly known
at all. None of them appears on our paper money.
YET I am an optimist, in this respect also.
I believe that a new Mizrahi
intelligentsia will search for its roots. That with the rise of its
social status, social complexes will give way to a normal patriotism.
That a fourth or fifth generation will come forward and struggle not
only for equality, but also for peace and integration in the region.
As our Arab friends would say: Inshallah.
Child Poverty in the United States - The Globalist
Child Poverty in the United States - The Globalist: The U.S. relative child poverty rate is the worst of the G7 economies.
Google and the Birth of a Digital God? - The Globalist
Google and the Birth of a Digital God? - The Globalist: A question that not only science fiction lovers should ask is: What future do we want to live in?
The New York Times and the Looting of America - The Globalist
The New York Times and the Looting of America - The Globalist: Amidst a reactionary revolution without precedent, the Democrats and the mainstream media only exhibit cluelessness, if not complicity.
American Conservatives Are Contradicting Themselves on Iran - The Atlantic
American Conservatives Are Contradicting Themselves on Iran - The Atlantic: Where’s the habitual concern for unintended consequences?
Thursday, January 4, 2018
Russia's Afghanistan Strategy How Moscow Is Preparing to Go It Alone
Russia's Afghanistan Strategy
How Moscow Is Preparing to Go It Alone
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2018-01-02/russias-afghanistan-strategy?cid=int-fls&pgtype=hpg
Trump administration plan would widely expand drilling in U.S. continental waters - The Washington Post
Trump administration plan would widely expand drilling in U.S. continental waters - The Washington Post: The Trump administration unveiled a controversial proposal Thursday to permit drilling in most U.S. continental-shelf waters, including protected areas of the Arctic and the Atlantic, where oil and gas exploration is opposed by governors from New Jersey to Florida, nearly a dozen attorneys general, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers and the Defense Department. Under the proposal, only one […]
Michael Wolff: My Insane Year Inside Trump's White House | Hollywood Reporter
Michael Wolff: My Insane Year Inside Trump's White House | Hollywood Reporter: Author and columnist Michael Wolff was given extraordinary access to the Trump administration and now details the feuds, the fights and the alarming chaos he witnessed while reporting what turned into a new book.
Saudi Arabia and Iran's rivalry is key to the Middle East in 2018 | World news | The Guardian
Saudi Arabia and Iran's rivalry is key to the Middle East in 2018 | World news | The Guardian: Regional chaos is set to continue with no solution in sight to Yemen crisis and power struggle over shape of post-war Syria
Joan of Arc in a West Bank village - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com
Joan of Arc in a West Bank village - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com: They're appealing to the stock market's gains to get POTUS to back off from confronting China.
Inside the new trade arguments Trump is hearing - Axios
Inside the new trade arguments Trump is hearing - Axios: They're appealing to the stock market's gains to get POTUS to back off from confronting China.
Pakistan: Treating Terrorism Like Any Other Crime
Pakistan: Treating Terrorism Like Any Other Crime: A devastating attack in the country's restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region brought local authorities to the realization that the war on terrorism starts with good old-fashioned police work and a crackdown on corruption.
How Obama may have helped spark Iran's protests — in a good way - NY Daily News
How Obama may have helped spark Iran's protests — in a good way - NY Daily News: “The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime.
TODAYonline | How to think about US-China relations in 2018
TODAYonline | How to think about US-China relations in 2018: Relations between the United States and China will remain the major axis of the East Asian strategic equation in 2018. The adjustments underway between the US and China will preoccupy the region for decades to come. It is imperative that we think about US-China relations clearly and clinically.
India and Japan prepare joint mission to the moon
India and Japan prepare joint mission to the moon: Effort to counter rise of China underlies move to collaborate on space exploration
Trump’s Tweet Won’t Start a War, But It’s Still Terrifying
Trump’s Tweet Won’t Start a War, But It’s Still Terrifying: We’re about to see what happens when a powerful country loses credibility so rapidly it doesn’t know it’s gone.
China's high-speed rail tracks to hit 38,000 km by 2025 - Xinhua | English.news.cn
China's high-speed rail tracks to hit 38,000 km by 2025 - Xinhua | English.news.cn: Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage, Sabotage, and Revenge
Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage, Sabotage, and Revenge
Iran’s Cyber Threat: Espionage, Sabotage, and Revenge
http://carnegieendowment.org/2018/01/04/iran-s-cyber-threat-espionage-sabotage-and-revenge-pub-75134?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWVRFMU1EQTBabVJoTmpreSIsInQiOiJ3cEt0YkhvdVwvUDhQZkdcL3JaeG92MGdpY2VzRGt5czlhdVhYMjU5azU0cVA2NElJQUhBV1JwUE5BYktRWkxSckNETkF0ZkVwTVwveWFGaWtoakd6dnZXcmtHdVB0MUdOcllcLzZMT1NOam9CdDZqakpkVDdNd04yNFwvdWZTeHRZOVNcLyJ9
Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President
Donald Trump Didn’t Want to Be President
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html
The Science Linking Arctic Warming to This Crazy-Cold Winter - MIT Technology Review
The Science Linking Arctic Warming to This Crazy-Cold Winter - MIT Technology Review: It’s well known that the rapidly warming Arctic is melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, and accelerating sea-level rise.
Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
From AI-powered hacking to tampering with voting systems, here are some of the big risks on our radar screen.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609641/six-cyber-threats-to-really-worry-about-in-2018/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=5f0eb3a07b-weekly_roundup_2018-01-04_edit&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-5f0eb3a07b-153856085&goal=0_997ed6f472-5f0eb3a07b-153856085&mc_cid=5f0eb3a07b&mc_eid=e25735476a
Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
Six Cyber Threats to Really Worry About in 2018
From AI-powered hacking to tampering with voting systems, here are some of the big risks on our radar screen.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609636/best-online-classes-for-job-skills/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=5f0eb3a07b-weekly_roundup_2018-01-04_edit&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-5f0eb3a07b-153856085&goal=0_997ed6f472-5f0eb3a07b-153856085&mc_cid=5f0eb3a07b&mc_eid=e25735476a
Stratfor: Iran’s leaders face their greatest challenge
Stratfor: Iran’s leaders face their greatest challenge: Summary: Iran's Mullahs led it to a draw with Iraq, withstood four decades of sanctions, Israeli assassination of their nuclear scientists, and the collapse of oil prices after 2008. Now Stratfor describes the Mullahs' greatest challenge: their own people. "The Voices of Discontent in Iran Crank Up the Volume, to a Point" From Stratfor, 2…
apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/paul-manafort-sues-doj-mueller-and-rosenstein/2694/
apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/paul-manafort-sues-doj-mueller-and-rosenstein/2694/: Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Trump, filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the jurisdiction of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
Manafort Lawsuit Challenges Mueller’s Broad Authority as Special Counsel | National Law Journal
Manafort Lawsuit Challenges Mueller’s Broad Authority as Special Counsel | National Law Journal: Mr. Mueller’s investigation of Mr. Manafort has extended far beyond 'links andor coordination between the Russian government' the complaint in DC federal court alleges.
Mapping a World From Hell
Mapping a World From Hell
76 Countries Are Now Involved in Washington’s War on Terror
By Tom Engelhardt
He left Air Force Two behind and, unannounced, “shrouded in secrecy,” flew on an unmarked C-17 transport plane into Bagram Air Base, the largest American garrison in Afghanistan. All news of his visit was embargoed until an hour before he was to depart the country.
More than 16 years after an American invasion “liberated” Afghanistan, he was there to offer some good news to a U.S. troop contingent once again on the rise. Before a 40-foot American flag, addressing 500 American troops, Vice President Mike Pence praised them as “the world’s greatest force for good,” boasted that American air strikes had recently been “dramatically increased,” swore that their country was “here to stay,” and insisted that “victory is closer than ever before.” As an observer noted, however, the response of his audience was “subdued.” (“Several troops stood with their arms crossed or their hands folded behind their backs and listened, but did not applaud.”)
Think of this as but the latest episode in an upside down geopolitical fairy tale, a grim, rather than Grimm, story for our age that might begin: Once upon a time -- in October 2001, to be exact -- Washington launched its war on terror. There was then just one country targeted, the very one where, a little more than a decade earlier, the U.S. had ended a long proxy war against the Soviet Union during which it had financed, armed, or backed an extreme set of Islamic fundamentalist groups, including a rich young Saudi by the name of Osama bin Laden.
By 2001, in the wake of that war, which helped send the Soviet Union down the path to implosion, Afghanistan was largely (but not completely) ruled by the Taliban. Osama bin Laden was there, too, with a relatively modest crew of cohorts. By early 2002, he had fled to Pakistan, leaving many of his companions dead and his organization, al-Qaeda, in a state of disarray. The Taliban, defeated, were pleading to be allowed to put down their arms and go back to their villages, an abortive process that Anand Gopal vividly described in his book, No Good Men Among the Living.
It was, it seemed, all over but the cheering and, of course, the planning for yet greater exploits across the region. The top officials in the administration of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were geopolitical dreamers of the first order who couldn’t have had more expansive ideas about how to extend such success to -- as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld indicated only days after the 9/11 attacks -- terror or insurgent groups in more than 60 countries. It was a point President Bush would reemphasize nine months later in a triumphalist graduation speech at West Point. At that moment, the struggle they had quickly, if immodestly, dubbed the Global War on Terror was still a one-country affair. They were, however, already deep into preparations to extend it in ways more radical and devastating than they could ever have imagined with the invasion and occupation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the domination of the oil heartlands of the planet that they were sure would follow. (In a comment that caught the moment exactly, Newsweek quoted a British official "close to the Bush team" as saying, "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.")
So many years later, perhaps it won’t surprise you -- as it probably wouldn’t have surprised the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out in the streets of American cities and towns in early 2003 to oppose the invasion of Iraq -- that this was one of those stories to which the adage "be careful what you wish for" applies.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176369/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_seeing_our_wars_for_the_first_time/#more
76 Countries Are Now Involved in Washington’s War on Terror
By Tom Engelhardt
He left Air Force Two behind and, unannounced, “shrouded in secrecy,” flew on an unmarked C-17 transport plane into Bagram Air Base, the largest American garrison in Afghanistan. All news of his visit was embargoed until an hour before he was to depart the country.
More than 16 years after an American invasion “liberated” Afghanistan, he was there to offer some good news to a U.S. troop contingent once again on the rise. Before a 40-foot American flag, addressing 500 American troops, Vice President Mike Pence praised them as “the world’s greatest force for good,” boasted that American air strikes had recently been “dramatically increased,” swore that their country was “here to stay,” and insisted that “victory is closer than ever before.” As an observer noted, however, the response of his audience was “subdued.” (“Several troops stood with their arms crossed or their hands folded behind their backs and listened, but did not applaud.”)
Think of this as but the latest episode in an upside down geopolitical fairy tale, a grim, rather than Grimm, story for our age that might begin: Once upon a time -- in October 2001, to be exact -- Washington launched its war on terror. There was then just one country targeted, the very one where, a little more than a decade earlier, the U.S. had ended a long proxy war against the Soviet Union during which it had financed, armed, or backed an extreme set of Islamic fundamentalist groups, including a rich young Saudi by the name of Osama bin Laden.
By 2001, in the wake of that war, which helped send the Soviet Union down the path to implosion, Afghanistan was largely (but not completely) ruled by the Taliban. Osama bin Laden was there, too, with a relatively modest crew of cohorts. By early 2002, he had fled to Pakistan, leaving many of his companions dead and his organization, al-Qaeda, in a state of disarray. The Taliban, defeated, were pleading to be allowed to put down their arms and go back to their villages, an abortive process that Anand Gopal vividly described in his book, No Good Men Among the Living.
It was, it seemed, all over but the cheering and, of course, the planning for yet greater exploits across the region. The top officials in the administration of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were geopolitical dreamers of the first order who couldn’t have had more expansive ideas about how to extend such success to -- as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld indicated only days after the 9/11 attacks -- terror or insurgent groups in more than 60 countries. It was a point President Bush would reemphasize nine months later in a triumphalist graduation speech at West Point. At that moment, the struggle they had quickly, if immodestly, dubbed the Global War on Terror was still a one-country affair. They were, however, already deep into preparations to extend it in ways more radical and devastating than they could ever have imagined with the invasion and occupation of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and the domination of the oil heartlands of the planet that they were sure would follow. (In a comment that caught the moment exactly, Newsweek quoted a British official "close to the Bush team" as saying, "Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.")
So many years later, perhaps it won’t surprise you -- as it probably wouldn’t have surprised the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out in the streets of American cities and towns in early 2003 to oppose the invasion of Iraq -- that this was one of those stories to which the adage "be careful what you wish for" applies.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176369/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_seeing_our_wars_for_the_first_time/#more
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book | US news | The Guardian
Trump Tower meeting with Russians 'treasonous', Bannon says in explosive book | US news | The Guardian: Former White House strategist quoted in Fire and Fury, by Michael Wolff, as saying: ‘They’re going to crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV’
Fr. Warren's Week Reflection: The Presentation
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Will Conservatism End in Nihilism?
Will Conservatism End in Nihilism?
Disaster lies not in Trump, but in the conservative dream fulfilled.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/01/03/will-conservatism-end-in-nihilism/
Gimme Shelter: Forever War Part 1 | Nina Illingworth Dot Com
Gimme Shelter: Forever War Part 1 | Nina Illingworth Dot Com: After a holiday break, I'm back with a detailed and heavily-sourced look at what I think is the coming US "forever war" in the Middle East
America's endless, invisible wars
America's endless, invisible wars: Official site of The Week Magazine, offering commentary and analysis of the day's breaking news and current events as well as arts, entertainment, people and gossip, and political cartoons.
Trump shifts gears on Afghanistan
Trump shifts gears on Afghanistan
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/366832-trump-shifts-gears-on-afghanistanIran's Crisis is Deeper than the Price of Bread | Asharq AL-awsat
Iran's Crisis is Deeper than the Price of Bread | Asharq AL-awsat: Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities
Trump’s loony nuclear-button tweet adds to incoherence on North Korea - The Washington Post
Trump’s loony nuclear-button tweet adds to incoherence on North Korea - The Washington Post: What on earth is our policy toward Pyongyang?
New Trump book: Bannon’s ‘treasonous’ claim, Ivanka’s presidential ambitions and Melania’s first-lady concerns - The Washington Post
New Trump book: Bannon’s ‘treasonous’ claim, Ivanka’s presidential ambitions and Melania’s first-lady concerns - The Washington Post: Revealing insights and assertions, big and small, from Michael Wolff's “Fire and Fury”
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Geoengineering: Waging Weather Warfare On World Populations » Geoengineering: Waging Weather Warfare On World Populations | Geoengineering Watch
Geoengineering: Waging Weather Warfare On World Populations » Geoengineering: Waging Weather Warfare On World Populations | Geoengineering Watch: Exposing the climate geoengineering cover-up
Dan Simpson: Enemy of peace and goodwill | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dan Simpson: Enemy of peace and goodwill | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The White House faces tough challenges on the international stage this year.
2018 Is Coming Hard and Fast at Donald Trump | Opinion | OZY
2018 Is Coming Hard and Fast at Donald Trump | Opinion | OZY: The White House faces tough challenges on the international stage this year.
A Battle for the Future of Iran - The Atlantic
A Battle for the Future of Iran - The Atlantic: Change will not come easily, peacefully, or soon.
Donald Trump’s Year of Living Dangerously It’s worse than you think.
Donald Trump’s Year of Living Dangerously
It’s worse than you think.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/02/donald-trump-foreign-policy-analysis-dangerous-216202
5 Natural Supplements to Take After a Heart Attack-and To Prevent One | Dr. Sinatra
5 Natural Supplements to Take After a Heart Attack-and To Prevent One | Dr. Sinatra: Discover how L-carnitine, CoQ10, magnesium, D-ribose, and omega-3 benefits contribute to your recovery after a heart attack and to preventing a second one.
Epiphany House Blessing With Chalk 2018 | Interrupting the Silence
Epiphany House Blessing With Chalk 2018 | Interrupting the Silence: The Church has a custom of blessing homes (as well as proclaiming the date of Easter) on the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6) and the weeks following. Family and friends gather to ask God’s blessing on their homes and those who live in or visit the home. It is an invitation for Jesus to…
Epiphany Proclamation of Easter 2018 | Interrupting the Silence
Epiphany Proclamation of Easter 2018 | Interrupting the Silence: The ancient Church had a practice of announcing the dates of Easter as well as other feasts and fasts that do not have a fixed date. Since the Epiphany is a fixed date feast (January 6) and also the last major fixed date feast before we enter the Easter cycle which is characterized by moveable…
NYT Writes Epic Cover For Comey's FBI - Its Sole Source: "Officials Said"
NYT Writes Epic Cover For Comey's FBI - Its Sole Source: "Officials Said"
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/01/nyt-writes-epic-cover-for-comeys-fbi-its-sole-source-officials-said.html
The Oil and Gas Sector Is Changing — and So Is Geopolitics - The New York Times
The Oil and Gas Sector Is Changing — and So Is Geopolitics - The New York Times: In “Windfall,” Meghan O’Sullivan offers a tour of the world and how the rise of cheap gas and fracking are causing shifts in power.
Want to Be Happy? Think Like an Old Person - The New York Times
Want to Be Happy? Think Like an Old Person - The New York Times: In a series update, we catch up with a group of New Yorkers over age 90: warm, cranky, funny and three years older than when we first met them.
“As much death as you want”: UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell on “Slaughterbots” | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
“As much death as you want”: UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell on “Slaughterbots” | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Not many films advocating arms control will get hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. But not every film advocating arms control comes with a title such as “Slaughterbots.”
Dr. Ashrawi on the Likud party’s decision to annex the Occupied West Bank and grant sovereignty to the illegal settlements
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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 1, 2018
January 1, 2018
Dr.
Ashrawi on the Likud party’s decision to annex
the Occupied West Bank and grant sovereignty to
the illegal settlements
PLO
Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi
strongly condemned the unanimous decision by the
Likud party and concurrence by its right wing
coalition partners to annex the Occupied West
Bank and impose Israeli “sovereignty” on illegal
Jewish settlements in the wake of U.S. President
Donald Trump’s announcement to declare Jerusalem
Israel’s capital and relocate the American
embassy from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem:
“Israel has been emboldened by the US administration’s irresponsible and provocative policies and is therefore escalating its violations of international law and bringing about an official end to the failing peace process. This is the final demise of the two-state solution and previously signed agreements. The latest steps by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are adding fuel to the flames and further enhancing Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian people and their lands and rights. In this context, Israel’s announced intention to build one million settler units in the Occupied West Bank exposes the real nature of Israeli expansionism and unilateralism.
We have repeatedly sought the international community’s intervention and asked member states to translate their condemnations of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise into serious and concrete actions that would include punitive measures.
The total lack of accountability for Israel and the reluctance of the international system to employ sanctions against Israel have contributed to the persistence of Israeli lawlessness and war crimes.
We call on Arab and OIC representatives to urgently request an emergency UNSC meeting and propose a Chapter Seven Resolution to bring about the immediate cessation of Israel’s dangerous violations. We also urge the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene immediately and guarantee protection for the Palestinian people and accountability for Israel.
The Palestinian leadership has fulfilled all of its obligations as outlined in international law, previously signed agreements and terms of reference. However, in light of yesterday’s decision by the Likud party the Palestinian leadership will be re-evaluating its policies and options during the forthcoming Palestine Central Council meeting. Israel’s violation of all agreements and commitments has nullified Palestinian obligations and destroyed the chances of peace.”
“Israel has been emboldened by the US administration’s irresponsible and provocative policies and is therefore escalating its violations of international law and bringing about an official end to the failing peace process. This is the final demise of the two-state solution and previously signed agreements. The latest steps by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are adding fuel to the flames and further enhancing Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian people and their lands and rights. In this context, Israel’s announced intention to build one million settler units in the Occupied West Bank exposes the real nature of Israeli expansionism and unilateralism.
We have repeatedly sought the international community’s intervention and asked member states to translate their condemnations of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise into serious and concrete actions that would include punitive measures.
The total lack of accountability for Israel and the reluctance of the international system to employ sanctions against Israel have contributed to the persistence of Israeli lawlessness and war crimes.
We call on Arab and OIC representatives to urgently request an emergency UNSC meeting and propose a Chapter Seven Resolution to bring about the immediate cessation of Israel’s dangerous violations. We also urge the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene immediately and guarantee protection for the Palestinian people and accountability for Israel.
The Palestinian leadership has fulfilled all of its obligations as outlined in international law, previously signed agreements and terms of reference. However, in light of yesterday’s decision by the Likud party the Palestinian leadership will be re-evaluating its policies and options during the forthcoming Palestine Central Council meeting. Israel’s violation of all agreements and commitments has nullified Palestinian obligations and destroyed the chances of peace.”
Heroic Women Fighting for Freedom
Heroic Women Fighting for Freedom
by Khadija Khan • January 2, 2018 at 5:00 am
- Iranian women, like many others, are sick and tired of living in layers upon layers of imprisonment.
Iran's
leaders have promised to soften their misogynistic laws by not
imprisoning women who appear in public without their veils on. Instead,
the "offenders" would have to attend special "morality classes" by the
sharia police. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
Take
note, those of you who want to see real women freedom-fighters. Look
into the streets of Iran or listen to the chess champion Anna Muzychuk.
Iranian
women, by risking their lives, have unmasked the faces of those trying
to promote burqas and hijabs as supposed "symbols of liberation".
The
desperate attempt of Iranian people pouring out onto the streets
against the Islamist regime exposes the bitter life that Iran's
citizens, especially women, have been forced to live for nearly forty
years in the name of Islamic law, (sharia).
These
demonstrations have also shown the ugly face of Islamists who take
their own people hostage to quench their thirst for power -- by
repression, jail, torture, executions -- any way they can.
Iranian women, like many others, are sick and tired of living in layers upon layers of imprisonment.
Continue Reading Article
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11655/women-freedom-iran
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The Islamization of Britain in 2017
The Islamization of Britain in 2017
"I think we are heading towards disaster."
by Soeren Kern • January 1, 2018 at 5:00 am
- Reports of alleged links between Islamic charities and terrorism or extremism surged to a record high, according to the Charity Commission, a charity watchdog.
- Azad Ali, an Islamist who has said that he supports killing British soldiers, was named a director of Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend), a controversial Muslim pressure group which advises the British government. Ali said that the jihadist attack at Westminster on March 22, 2017 was not an act of terrorism.
- "Politicians tell us they are unafraid, but they are never the victims. How easy to be unafraid when one is protected from the line of fire. The people have no such protections." — Manchester-born singer Morrissey.
- The British government refused to say whether telling people about Christianity could be a hate crime. Lord Pearson of Rannoch said that when he raised a question on the issue in the House of Lords, the government failed to state clearly whether Christians can be prosecuted just for stating their beliefs.
On February 1
("world hijab day"), UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that women
should feel free to wear the hijab, a traditional Islamic headscarf,
stating: "What a woman wears is a woman's choice." Pictured above:
Theresa May (then Home Secretary) wears a headscarf while attending an
interfaith event at Al Madina Mosque in East London, in February 2015.
(Image source: Imams Online video screenshot)
The
Muslim population of Britain surpassed 4.1 million in 2017 to become
around 6.3% of the overall population of 64 million, according to a
recent study on the growth of the Muslim population in Europe. In real
terms, Britain has the third-largest Muslim population in the European
Union, after France, then Germany.
The rapid growth of Britain's Muslim population can be attributed to immigration, high birth rates and conversions to Islam.
Islam
and Islam-related issues, omnipresent in Britain during 2017, can be
categorized into several broad themes: 1) Islamic extremism and the
security implications of British jihadists; 2) The continuing spread of
Islamic Sharia law in Britain; 3) The sexual exploitation of British
children by Muslim gangs; 4) Muslim integration into British society;
and 5) The failures of British multiculturalism.
JANUARY 2017
Continue Reading Articlehttps://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11648/britain-islamization-2017
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