On February 18, 2010 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued its latest report on Iran’s nuclear program. The tone of the latest report, as well as its speculations and unfounded allegations, are in sharp contrast with those in the past issued under the former IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. The new Director General, Yukiya Amano, has set aside ElBaradei’s cautious approach and measured tone and uses blunt language. But, while the blunt language is not a problem, the fact is that, as the latest report indicates, the IAEA is being transformed from an objective international organization to a politicized one to be used by the United States and its allies to advance their agenda regarding Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Sullivan's blog
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 14:37
In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger goes back to Australia, where Rupert Murdoch launched his worldwide media empire, and describes how his and Murdoch's homeland has become a murdochracy - a country where important media, issues and perception are influenced if not dominated by Murdochism: "an inspiration to his choir on seven continents".
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 11:50
No one knows quite what to make of Colleen LaRose. But get ready to hear a lot more about "homegrown terrorism" -- and why we need more surveillance to stop it.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 11:48
The Empire will stop at nothing to find mechanisms and techniques to achieve its final objective, and we cannot disregard the possibility of a military conflict in the near future. If the US places Venezuela on the “terrorist list” this year, we could be on the verge of a regional war.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 11:40
The dramatic arrest of Abdulmalik Rigi, Iran's most wanted man, on February 23 continues to be shrouded in mystery. But with information and insights gleaned from security sources in Tehran, Asia Times Online can reveal some of the most intricate background details leading to this stunning arrest.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 10:43
An ongoing investigation by the Dubai Police force into the assassination of a high-level Hamas official in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January has drawn back the curtains of secrecy and deception to reveal yet again the contours of Israel’s massive and ever-expanding espionage operations in the United States.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 10:36
The boycott of Israeli academics and academic institutions has always made me a little uneasy. We all read books by Israeli academics that at their humanist best elucidate and inform, and at their racist worst reveal something about the Zionist zeitgeist. I read Ha’aretz, Ynet and the Jerusalem Post on a daily basis – and communicate pretty regularly with Israelis through email (the majority of whom admittedly, are anti-Zionists). Despite all this, I do support the academic boycott. The issue is very muddy, however.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sat, 2010-03-13 10:04
Historians looking back on November 2008 might record it as a time when normally astute commentators succumbed to a fantasy. In the same week that Barack Obama became America's first black president, some governments on the other side of the Atlantic tried to chime with the message of hope his public relations machine had honed to near-perfection. The highest echelons of Britain's ruling Labor party even tried to rekindle a modicum of the magic that many sensed when it came to power 11 long years earlier. Although Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had until then been cheerleaders for Israeli aggression, their ministers suddenly transformed themselves into champions of Palestinian rights.
Submitted by Sullivan on Fri, 2010-03-12 22:53
In a wide-ranging interview with the New Left Project, Nazareth-based journalist Jonathan Cook describes the increasingly repressive nature of Israeli society and the prospects for a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict
Submitted by Sullivan on Fri, 2010-03-12 22:26
The seventh Israeli radio broadcast an interview with Professor Martin Van-Crevel, a noted world specialist in low-intensity wars.
Submitted by Sullivan on Fri, 2010-03-12 22:18
Last week, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Director of Education Chris Spence announced in a statement that “‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ and its activities are not permitted to take place on school or Board property, or as part of any activity under the jurisdiction of the TDSB.” Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) considers this announcement a clear attempt to discourage rational discussion of the constellation of issues addressed by Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), and therefore considers it an unacceptable restriction on the academic freedom that should be enjoyed by the TDSB’s community.
Submitted by Sullivan on Fri, 2010-03-12 09:12
Reading Rifat Kassis's Opinion: Moment of truth (e.i. 4 March 2010) we are inspired to put a halt to the arguments that call for a selective boycott of Israel, and to defy those voices which warn us Palestinians (and many internationalists, for that matter) who criticise Israel for fear of being labelled 'anti-semites' (although we are Semites). We challenge politicians who call for yet another round of talks (proximity or otherwise) on the Palestine/Israel question. Shall we count how many of these talks have we had in the last 62 years?
Submitted by Sullivan on Thu, 2010-03-11 08:49
But there is still a long way to go.
Submitted by Sullivan on Thu, 2010-03-11 08:18
Philip Weiss, MondoWeiss, 8 March 2010
In weeks to come, I am going to insist on the importance of Shlomo Sand’s book, the Invention of the Jewish People. Caricatured in the U.S. as a tract on the Khazar theory of Jewish genetics, the book is in fact a liberal’s assault on the racial politics of identity in Israel and the diaspora, a work of brilliant synthetic scholarship about nationalism and identity construction and the roots of Zionism that will resonate in Jewish and Palestinian life for decades. (By the way, the other criticism of Sand, that he was recycling others’ discoveries about the migration of the Jewish religion through Europe, is horse feathers. Yesterday I heard Robert Wright talking religion on Krista Tippett’s great show, Speaking of Faith. The fact that he is popularizing scholars’ work is nothing against his ideas.)
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-10 23:33
US Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with Palestinian leaders on Wednesday as his bid to bolster new peace talks was marred by Israel's approval of settlement expansion in occupied east Jerusalem.
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-10 21:32
In a remarkable exposé of the Mossad operation in Dubai, The Times happens to refer to Meir Dagan’s (the Mossad chief) ‘philosophy’. “The tone of Dagan’s directorship is set by a photograph on the wall of his modest office in the Tel Aviv headquarters. It shows an old Jew standing on the edge of a trench. An SS officer is aiming his rifle at the old man’s head. ‘This old Jew was my grandfather’ Dagan tells visitors”. According to The Times, the picture reflects Dagan’s belief: “We should be strong, use our brain, and defend ourselves so that the Holocaust will never be repeated”
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-10 21:28
The BBC claims credit for bringing the 1985 Ethiopian famine to the world's attention in the first place. He provided on-the-spot coverage of a famine "of biblical proportions," and galvanized public opinion for a massive aid effort, including internationally televised concerts, led by Bob Geldof, with rock stars from around the world. Geldof raised $144 million in the Live Aid concert in 1985.
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-10 09:44
Adding to the harsh rhetoric coming out of the nation is recent days, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon today announced that the nation was giving the West another 4-8 weeks to attempt diplomacy with Iran, and that after that they would have to impose crippling sanctions on the nation.
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-10 09:37
According to a report out last week, there is huge off-balance-sheet debt guaranteed by Greece and the other PIIGS, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.
Submitted by Sullivan on Mon, 2010-03-08 08:53
Paul J. Balles says the US “has not only become the world's major power, it has become the world's sickest warrior state”. He calls on humanitarians to reject the double standards set by warmongers, on the clergy to stop preaching sanctimonious sermons and on teachers to teach a zero tolerance policy for self-righteous warriors.
Submitted by Sullivan on Mon, 2010-03-08 08:40
Palestinian Information Center, 7 March 2010
NAZARETH -- Israel turned down a request by Catherine Margaret Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union, to visit the Gaza Strip during her one week tour of the Middle East, Hebrew media reported.
Submitted by Sullivan on Mon, 2010-03-08 08:34
Stephen Sniegoski, WakeUpAmerica, Sunday, February 28, 2010 6:57 AM
While we are explicitly told by anti-war commentators such as Juan Cole that the only type of American Jews pushing for war on Iran are right-wing ones, it is apparent that Jewish liberals such as Richard Cohen are also in the pro-war camp. (See: http://tinyurl.com/JuanColeonIsraelLobby )
Now Cohen, just like a number of rightist neocons, does not directly call for an attack on Iran, but rather advocates a policy that certainly would lead in that direction. Specifically, he says that it is time for Obama to start acting “crazy” toward Iran because of the alleged failure of diplomacy. (Iran and the Crazy Factor, Washington Post, February 23, 2010)
Submitted by Sullivan on Mon, 2010-03-08 08:31
BARCELONA - Things are worsening for Israel from moral and legal perspectives. In fact, one year after the Goldstone Report on its ‘war crimes’ during its war on Gaza and amidst growing suspicions of its direct responsibility in the assassination of a Palestinian leader in Dubai, an international court has now concluded that Israel is violating international law with Europe’s complicity.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sun, 2010-03-07 11:00
Alan Hart highlights the double standard displayed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the Iraq Inquiry on 5 March, where he sought to justify the aggression against Iraq on the grounds of Iraq’s non-compliance with international law – something Israel has been doing for 62 years.
Submitted by Sullivan on Sun, 2010-03-07 10:47
After the almost unanimous no on the Icesave-law everyone wants to interpret the result to his liking. A Dutch reporter says: “Icelandic voters vented their fury on Saturday at the bankers and politicians who ruined their economy.” Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir says that this was expected, Finance Minister Steingrímur Sigfússon say a “surprising number of people said yes.” (Less than 2% said yes).
Submitted by Sullivan on Sun, 2010-03-07 10:43
One of the pitfalls of specialising in European politics, as I have for the past 15 years, is that certain assumptions become hardwired in your brain. For a long time, my critical faculties shut down when I heard senior EU representatives speak of the Middle East. I happily accepted the official narrative that they were striving for a just resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and that it would be foolish to park the so-called peace process in a “blood-soaked lay-by”, in the words of former EU commissioner Chris Patten.
Submitted by Sullivan on Fri, 2010-03-05 10:18
Fuad Al-Khafsh, a specialist in prisoners' affairs, has charged the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) with deliberately arresting Palestinian intellectuals and sci
Submitted by Sullivan on Thu, 2010-03-04 23:13
With publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, the hunt was on for the "missing link." Fame and fortune awaited the scientist who found the link proving Darwin right: that man evolved from a monkey.
Submitted by Sullivan on Thu, 2010-03-04 08:36
I’m too distracted to fall asleep. Everyone is quietly snoring. The sun rises ever so slowly and the wings of the plane rudely cut through the calmness of the clouds. It’s hard to believe that the intensity of the sun repeats itself with this beauty every day. That it’s not for this special day that led me to be on this flight, on my way to Barcelona. I guess my mind makes it negligible just to maintain every-day continuity. Can’t comprehend all of chaos theory at once.
Submitted by Sullivan on Wed, 2010-03-03 23:39
Aspartame producer Ajinomoto is launching a new initiative that will rebrand the sweetener as “AminoSweet.”