William Bowles.info

Amir, ten years old, abducted by Israeli soldiers from his bed
Nora Barrows-Friedman writing from Hebron, occupied West Bank
March 8, 2010 – Amir al-Mohtaseb smiled tenderly when I asked him to tell me his favorite color. Sitting in his family’s living room last Thursday afternoon, 4 March, in the Old City of Hebron, the ten-year-old boy with freckles and long eyelashes softly replied, “green.” He then went on to describe in painful detail his arrest and detention — and the jailing of his 12-year-old brother Hasan by Israeli occupation soldiers on Sunday, 28 February. Hours after our interview, at 2am, Israeli soldiers would break into the house, snatch Amir from his bed, threaten his parents with death by gunfire if they tried to protect him, and take him downstairs under the stairwell. They would beat him so badly that he would bleed internally into his abdomen, necessitating overnight hospitalization. In complete shock and distress, Amir would not open his mouth to speak for another day and a half…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63993

Palestinian Revolutionaries on International Women’s Day
By Sukant Chandan
March 8, 2010 – The Palestinian people’s oppression continues primarily due to the financial, diplomatic and military support that the Zionist state receives from the USA, and secondly the acquiescence of pro-Western states in the region. After the fall of the Zionists state’s long lost brother – the Apartheid state of South Africa – the Palestinian struggle remains perhaps the leading and most potent anti-imperialist struggle in the world. Unsurprisingly therefore Palestinian women are a central example of what role women can play in the struggle to free themselves, their families, communities and their nation against imperialism and Zionism…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63999

First Iceland, Then the World
Michael Collins
March 8, 2010 – Who cleans up the mess when ignorant, greedy bankers rack up massive debt then go broke? The people of Iceland made a strong statement Saturday. The sins of big bankers and government regulators shouldn’t fall on the citizens. By a 93% to 2% margin, they voted down a proposal requiring them to cover bad debt incurred by one of the nation’s oldest and largest banks. Covering the debt would have cost Iceland’s 317,000 citizens around $17,000 each. Iceland’s national referendum was the first opportunity for the people of any nation to vote directly on who pays when the financial elite fail…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63997

Life in the Gazan “Buffer Zone”
Pam Rasmussen
March 8, 2010 – When I wrote last, I was still in Cairo, beginning to lose hope. However, shortly after, a friend at the UN Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) was miraculously able to get me into Gaza through Israel’s Erez Crossing. In a shockingly quick two days, I was in! Among my first activities was this protest… The Israelis call it the “buffer zone.” Gazan NGOs often call it the “hot zone.” But to the Palestinians who live near this wide swath of land alongside the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, it is fertile land where their children played and they made a decent living by raising wheat and olives. That is, until Israel declared the land off limits to Palestinians…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63996

Quiet revolution that is freezing Palestinians out of Jerusalem
Rory McCarthy
March 8, 2010 – In the brochure handed out by the mayor’s office in Jerusalem last week, there were pretty sketches illustrating a development that would turn a poor, crowded area into a park, with streams, restaurants and hotels. It talked of reviving the area’s “ancient glory” and returning the site to “an island of green” just outside the walls of the Old City. True, some houses would have to be demolished but they had been built illegally and anyway the plan was a “win-win” for both the residents and the city, said the mayor, Nir Barkat. Except that Jerusalem is not any city: it is at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and planning projects like this are political and potentially volatile. The area under the spotlight is Bustan, part of Silwan in east Jerusalem, home to Palestinians and, increasingly, to well-funded, heavily guarded Jewish settlers. Most of the world, including Britain, does not recognise Israeli sovereignty in the east of the city, the part it captured in 1967, occupied and then annexed…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63995

A Campaign Promise Dies: Obama and Military Commissions
Jason Leopold
March 8, 2010 – The crowd at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, gathered to hear their candidate outline his grand strategy for a new way forward and Barack Obama delivered. “I will reject a legal framework that does not work,” Obama said, his words slightly drowned out by the loud applause that erupted. “There has been only one conviction at Guantanamo. It was for a guilty plea on material support for terrorism. The sentence was nine months. There has not been one conviction of a terrorist act. I have faith in America’s courts, and I have faith in our [Judge Advocate Generals].” “As president, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions,” he continued… That was three long years ago, when the world was led to believe that Hope and Change was more than just a campaign slogan. But the cracks in the façade began to surface just a month after the presidential election on November 4, 2008…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63994

Obama’s National Cybersecurity Initiative Puts NSA in the Driver’s Seat
Tom Burghardt
March 8, 2010 – On March 2, the Obama administration issued a sanitized version of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), releasing portions that discussed intrusion detection systems on federal networks. The announcement was made by former Microsoft executive Howard A. Schmidt, appointed cybersecurity coordinator by President Obama in December. The partial unveiling came during the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, an annual industry conference for security professionals…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63992

Israel’s Apartheid
Murray Dobbin
March 8, 2010 – For the first two weeks of March, Palestine’s supporters around the world focus public attention on Israel’s continued brutal occupation of the West Bank and its even more vicious siege of Gaza. They do so through Israeli Apartheid Week and this is the sixth year the public education campaign has taken place. One of the principal signs of its success has been the ferocious counter-campaign by supporters of Israel. Like so much of the history of Israel’s powerful propaganda machine, the facts about Israeli separation of Jews and Arabs — also known as apartheid — are beside the point. The response to criticism of Israel has always been one of self-righteous indignation and outrage, accompanied by charges of anti-Semitism…

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=63998

Iraq snapshot – March 8, 2010
The Common Ills
Monday, March 8, 2010. Chaos and violence continue, counting the votes continues, the US military continues to attempt to punish a soldier for the ‘crime’ of rapping, and more … Omar Chatriwala (Voices From Iraq, Al Jazeera) offers video of Iraqis sharing their thoughts on the elections and we’ll note the following: Iraqi Man: I have been here since five o’clock in the morning. I have not been able to find my name on the list. I’ve come back a few times but still can’t find my name. Yes, my vote counts. Many voters have left without casting their vote. Why is my voice not heard? Iraqi Woman: We look forward to seeing more freedoms and democracy in Iraq and we hope the right man is put in the right place I supported and voted for the Iraq bloc led by Iyad Allawi. He’s a secular politician and is serving the country. Religious blocs are no longer popular in Iraq. Iyad Allawi is a popular politician who loves his country. Iraqi Boy (under ten years old): I hope that the previous government will not come back. I look forward to a new one. I look for a change. I want stability and security.

Read the full article: http://www.uruknet.de/?p=64001