Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Source: The Independent

(CHRIS COADY/ NB ILLUSTRATION)

Benjamin Netanyahu has responded to the US request with a big concrete slap

by Johann Hari
March 12, 2010

Could the Israeli government make it any more obvious they have no intention of sharing the Over-Promised Land with its other inhabitants?

This week the Obama administration – who give Israel $3bn a year, more than they dole out to any other nation on earth – made a meek and craven request for Israelis to simply have a pause in seizing even more land, and to sit down with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a big concrete slap: the announcement of 1,600 more homes to be built on occupied Palestinian land from which Arabs will be forcibly kept out. He has made it plain he will not loosen his grip by an inch, announcing: “Even if [Palestinian President] Abu Mazen comes along and says he’s ready to sign a peace deal on the spot, we will restore settlement construction to its previous levels.” No compromise. Never. Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from TomDispatch and the author

Source: TomDispatch

(Image from Progressive America Rising)

by Tom Engelhardt

Hubris?  We’re bigger than that!

We’ve now been at war with, or in, Iraq for almost 20 years, and intermittently at war in Afghanistan for 30 years.  Think of it as nearly half a century of experience, all bad.  And what is it that Washington seems to have concluded?  In Afghanistan, where one disaster after another has occurred, that we Americans can finally do more of the same, somewhat differently calibrated, and so much better.  In Iraq, where we had, it seemed, decided that enough was enough and we should simply depart, the calls from a familiar crew for us to stay are growing louder by the week.

The Iraqis, so the argument goes, need us.  After all, who would leave them alone, trusting them not to do what they’ve done best in recent years: cut one another’s throats? Read the full story

Reportaje desde Helmand, Afganistán. La gente de Marjah denuncia que hay doscientos civiles muertos y explica por qué prefieren a los talibanes

Fuente: Peace Reporter
Traducción: Gorka Larrabeiti, Rebelión

por Enrico Piovesana
26 de febrero, 2010

En una guerra siempre es difícil contar la verdad, lograr separar la realidad de los hechos en la propaganda de una y otra parte. El único modo para tratar de entender lo que está pasando verdaderamente estos días aquí en Helmand, en el sur de Afganistán, escenario de la mayor ofensiva militar desde que empezara esta guerra, es hablar con la población civil, con la gente de Marjah que consigue llegar hasta aquí, hasta Lashkargah para ponerse a salvo o traer a familiares heridos en los combates.

Muchos de ellos están ingresados en el hospital de Emergency, única estructura sanitaria de alta calidad (y gratuita) en esta polvorienta ciudad rural y en toda la provincia de Helmand, que se ha convertido en el epicentro del conflicto entre las fuerzas de ocupación extranjeras y la resistencia talibán. Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Source: The Guardian

(Image: Troy Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: EssG, Ericskiff Sirkullay)

by Mark Weisbrot
February 18, 2010

In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran “is moving toward a military dictatorship,” and continued the administration’s campaign for tougher sanctions against that country.

What could America’s top diplomat hope to accomplish with this kind of inflammatory rhetoric? It seems unlikely that the goal was to support human rights in Iran. Because of the United States’ history in Iran and in the region, it tends to give legitimacy to repression. The more that any opposition can be linked to the United States’ actions, words, or support, the harder time they will have.

Second, it is tough for anyone – especially in the region – to believe that the US is really concerned about human rights abuses. In addition to supporting Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinians in Gaza, Washington has been remarkably quiet as the most important opposition leaders in Egypt were arrested as part of the government’s preparations for October elections. Amnesty International stated that the arrestees were “prisoners of conscience, detained solely for their peaceful political activities”. Read the full story

Traducción del artículo en español abajo

Article published in Amauta with permission from TomDispatch and the author

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: Aaron Escobar ♦ (the spaniard)™, safety superhero)

Source: TomDispatch

by Tom Engelhardt
February 15, 2010

Let me put American life in the Age of Terror into some kind of context, and then tell me you’re not ready to get on the nearest plane heading anywhere, even toward Yemen.

In 2008, 14,180 Americans were murdered, according to the FBI.  In that year, there were 34,017 fatal vehicle crashes in the U.S. and, so the U.S. Fire Administration tells us, 3,320 deaths by fire.  More than 11,000 Americans died of the swine flu between April and mid-December 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; on average, a staggering 443,600 Americans die yearly of illnesses related to tobacco use, reports the American Cancer Society; 5,000 Americans die annually from food-borne diseases; an estimated 1,760 children died from abuse or neglect in 2007; and the next year, 560 Americans died of weather-related conditions, according to the National Weather Service, including 126 from tornadoes, 67 from rip tides, 58 from flash floods, 27 from lightning, 27 from avalanches, and 1 from a dust devil. Read the full story

Fuente: CounterPunch
Traducción: Germán Leyens, Rebelión

por William Blum
12 de febrero, 2010

“El propósito del terrorismo es provocar una sobrerreacción,” escribe Fareed Zakaria, un destacado experto estadounidense en política exterior, editor de la edición internacional de la revista Newsweek y columnista del Washington Post, refiriéndose al “atacante de la ropa interior”, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, y su fracasado intento de explotar un avión comercial de EE.UU. el día de Navidad. “Su verdadero objetivo no es matar a los cientos de personas atacadas directamente, sino sembrar el miedo en el resto de la población. El terrorismo es una táctica militar poco usual, ya que depende de la reacción de los espectadores. Si no nos aterroriza, el ataque no funcionó. Lamentablemente, éste funcionó muy bien.” (Newsweek, 18 de enero de 2010.) Read the full story

Article published in Amauta with permission from the author

Source: t r u t h o u t

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: davidking, Steffen Jakob)

by Barry Eisler
February 12, 2010

Last week, Dahlia Lithwick had a terrific piece in Slate in which she ponders America’s “Terrorism Derangement Syndrome [TDS].”

America does seem to be in the grip of morbid fear, doesn’t it? Khalid Shaikh Mohammed could irradiate Manhattan if he’s given a trial there … terrorists can melt the walls of supermax prisons … the Underwear Bomber is so diabolically clever he would laugh off traditional interrogation methods. With all this terror, you might even think … I don’t know, that terrorism is working pretty well.

Lithwick attributed some of the cause of TDS to Republican fear-mongering and to Democratic acquiescence in GOP scare tactics. I agree – but I think there’s something more fundamental going on, something that explains both the fear and the fear-mongering.

Something like … our own policies. Read the full story

Fuente: La Jornada

por Editorial (La Jornada)
9 de febrero, 2010

En respuesta a la decisión de Irán de emprender procesos de enriquecimiento de uranio a 20 por ciento, comunicada por Teherán al Agencia Internacional de Energía Atómica (AIEA), el gobierno de Francia, por boca de sus ministros de Defensa y Exteriores, Hervé Morin y Bernard Kouchner, anunció que intensificará, junto con Estados Unidos, las sanciones económicas contra la República Islámica. “El único camino que nos queda ahora es el de la presión”, dijo Kouchner, y exhortó a la comunidad internacional a “trabajar unida” contra el gobierno iraní. Read the full story

Fuente: Cubadebate

(Imagen: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adaptada de: The U.S. Army)

por Manuel E. Yepe
9 de febrero, 2010

Filológicamente, se denomina victoria pírrica a aquella que se logra a un costo tan grande que no alcanza a ser compensado por la ventaja adquirida en la batalla. Y creo que es eso exactamente a lo que está abocado Estados Unidos, por la ambición desmedida de una oligarquía desenfrenada que ha hecho de las guerras su modus operandi de dominación.

Según el Premio Nobel de Economía Joseph Stiglitz, la guerra de Irak costará a Estados Unidos entre tres y cinco billones de dólares ($3-5 trillion dollars). Pero los expertos norteamericanos en cuestiones de seguridad nacional dicen que la guerra de Irak ha incrementado la amenaza del terrorismo en vez de reducirla. Read the full story

Fuente: IPS

por William Fisher

NUEVA YORK, 5 feb (IPS) – Defensores de las libertades civiles y juristas reaccionaron este viernes a lo que describieron como “la ejecución deliberada de ciudadanos estadounidenses alejados de toda actividad hostil, si el Poder Ejecutivo determina en forma unilateral que se ajustan a una definición secreta de enemigo”.

La reacción respondió a una admisión del director de Inteligencia Nacional, Dennis Blair, que tomó por sorpresa a la comunidad de inteligencia y a sus críticos. Blair reconoció el miércoles en una audiencia del Congreso legislativo que Estados Unidos puede, con aprobación del Poder Ejecutivo, matar a ciudadanos estadounidenses sospechosos de terrorismo. Read the full story