Daylight Savings Time -- KC

Just an idea of how much sense Daylight Savings Times means.  See, it was started, we are told, so farmers would have an extra hour of sunlight to work in.  Now, the recent activity in Japan actually sped up the earth, so you can draw your own conclusions from that.  The point is, unlike Moses, we can not make the earth stand still for an hour, so the sun is still visible for the same number of hours each day.  What it actually means is some authority say "Ok, everybody, wake up one hour earlier until I say so, and we do."

Well, here is a photo I took from inside my window at the landscape on the first day of daylight savings time.  It is Kansas City, Missouri, looking towards the state of Kansas.  If you look very closely, you may see the micro-organisms coming in to evolve as such activity is illegal in Kansas.

Israel, Nazis, Gaza, and Dehumanization

One of you sent this off to a radio station and raised several very good issues with it.  I am posting it in order to share it with a wider audience (since I'm pretty sure that this guy Mike is unlikely to give it wider circulation).  One of the more interesting aspects of this entire discussion, and it is not given much attention, is how "people" are ignored.  Once you can label people who hold a certain belief, or indeed are of a different extraction, some groupthink term such as "terrorists," "rebels," "Nazis," and "Communists," you no longer need to deal with the fact that people are involved.  This was very much in force during Vietnam when would hear announcements that 45,000 "Communists" were killed.  Or Viet Cong.  Now, we use the term "terrorists" to describe anyone who thinks differently than we do, and forget about our official definition of the term. 

I personally get tired of how people throw terms around until they are meaningless.  Genocide is another such term.  We can find a legal definition of the term:

a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG). Article 2 of this convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

This does not constitution the sort of actions we ascribe to certain leaders of certain countries to justify invasion (which we call "intervention").

Anyway, here is the letter:

*   I'm sorry Xxxxx, but you and Justice Goldstone are dancing all around the outrageous war against Gaza with 1400 people killed.  Not only that, but decades of brutal terrible treatment by Israel of Palestinians and theft of their land.

    How can these notoriously infamous crimes be discussed so blandly?

    To me it's like looking back at the Warsaw Ghetto and trying to find a reasonable middle ground between the 'two sides' of Nazis and Jews.

  ********************************

  I know that's extreme and insulting to the unconditionally supported government of Israel, but I am sick and tired of coddling a country, Israel, that uses such excessive force and has world wide condemnation.

o

Alan Watts, the un-rutted Sausalito houseboat philosopher once in our midst opined that Nazis got the 'chosen race' idea from the Jews. I suppose behind every tribe or nation lurks a sense of having been specially singled out and chosen. I'm sure Joseph Campbell would say so. Campbell was accused of anti-Semitism at least partly because he felt Jews hadn't been able to let go of their 'we're special' tribally inspired mythology, as other more cosmopolitan or 'evolved' groups had done.  It seems strange that Hegel's prediction

 that Judaism would vanish through natural evolution didn't come true. Religions don't disappear, become outmoded or become superseded by more 'advanced' versions.  Jesus opened 'the nations' to Jewish salvation, some would say,

 but Judaism itself wasn't about to be absorbed into a universalization of itself.  I would argue that ZIonism is a retrenchment of that more original tribal religious separateness.

 

  I would love to hear a discussion of 'Zionism' on Forum.  Is there something believed to give Israel the right to accumulate land from Palestinians?   Bible or Torah promises?  Is this part of Zionism or not?  Or are there 'wings' of Zionism, right and left?

 

  Many younger US Jews reject Zionism as an outmoded and warlike form of neo-colonialism, determined to get land away from Palestinians and others by force if necessary.

 

  Is there a 'good' Zionism and a 'bad' Zionism?  How does AIPAC and the ADL, as well as the Israel Lobby in D.C.  factor into Zionism's influence on US policy?  Does any Congressperson dare criticize Israel since a charge of anti-Semitism is political death? 

 
  Who is it that decides that criticism of Israel is 'anti-Semitic', as we have seen with Justice Goldstone and Jimmy Carter, both of whom are self-confessed strong supporters of Israel.   It's still not clear to me what ubiquitous force rears up to defend Israel again and again from even the smallest critical questions. Is it widespread in our mass media, as averred by many?

    There's a strong whiff of '1984' about all of this, a miasma of 'never dare question Israel' that is very un-American in nature.  Examining what Israel does to Palestinians isn't generally open to discussion, and certain people, like John Pilger, are not welcome on US media. 

    Justice Goldstone briefly alluded to some of the horrors of the Gaza invasion, but seemed to downplay it, perhaps in the interest of keeping things unemotional and objective.

   His voice, cultured, urbane and sophisticated, reminiscent of the English actor Ian McKellen's,  seemed above such is tasteful subjects, as perhaps a judge's voice should sound, I don't know.

 

  But the whole idea of the US  vetoing any and all UN resolutions against Israel is inexcusable.  If I am wrong about that statement I would love to hear a program devoted to exploring the reality of our unwavering commitment to Israel.  Is there any other country in the world, including ourselves, to which we give such unflinching loyalty?  I realize reasons are always given, the resolutions are 'unfairly' targeting Israel, and what about the 'other side', those Palestinian terrorists with weapons of very little destruction?

      Michael, I have nothing but praise for your abilities as an interviewer and scholar, writer and professor, thank you for your excellent work. 

    You let a little of the volcano of political magma about Israel escape today. But we need a lot more 'hot truth' to flow out around us before we can regain our integrity and health as a nation.  But a sincere thanks is in order.

    Maybe some day we can meet over coffee.  I'd love to hear your personal take on a lot of this stuff.  As I've said before, we're both Ph.D's, and like to explore the dimensions and parameters of a discussion.  My main concern is that our media is not very open when Israel comes into  focus.  Having John Pilger on Forum would be a nice additional dimension don't you think?

 

Or if you don't think so, perhaps you could tell me why sometime.  But enough, please have a wonderful sunny day in SF!

 

And as they say ( I'm told) in South Africa,

 

  Alles van die beste!

 

 

Gaddafi and History

There is little point in my continuing to point out the fact surrounding the situation in Libya as everyone seems pretty set on this issue.  I had decided just to take a long vacation from the entire bit, but somehow I can across this which is quite accurate (and a bit frightening).   I'm sure many of you remember six British paratroopers just recently returned by the "rebels".  I guess they just happened to jump out over the place.   Some have told me he would be gone by now, escaped somewhere else.  He is still there and is not going away. Finally, to rephrase what someone said, you can see what great healthcare he provides.  A man with just six weeks to live in a Scottish hospital is still alive now 18 months later. I have no idea what happened to the illustrations, but I decided not to edit and simply leave the article stand.  The illustrations really are not needed anyway. *******************************************

Petroleum and Empire in North Africa. NATO Invasion of Libya Underway Muamar Gaddafi Accused of Genocide by Keith Harmon Snow Global Research, March 2, 2011 allthingspass.com Email this article to a friend Print this article 3diggsdigg 1465Share Are events unfolding in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt more about petro-terrorism or about freedom and democracy? How much oil is there in North Africa? Who is in control of that oil? What is the relationship between the West and Muamar Gaddafi? Is he really the terrorist we've all been led to believe he is? Who is the Libyan "opposition" and who are the "rebels" we read about? Presented with this story are petroleum industry concessions maps **  for North Africa that people might want to ponder in between the Western propaganda on Libya. Amidst the full-court press of propaganda presented by the western media and State Department disinformation apparatus we find that Muamar Gaddafi is even accused of committing genocide against his own people. Are there double standards at work? An original photograph; backside text reads: Al Haji Amin (centre) is introducing military senior officers to his brother Col. Gaddafi, Chairman of the Revolutionary Command of Arab republic of Libya, shortly on arrival at Gulu Airfield [norther Uganda] to perform the official handing over of aircrafts to Uganda Airforce, March 3, 1974. From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli On September 1, 1969 the pro-western regime that had ruled in Libya was overthrown by Colonel Muamar Gaddafi and his officers. At the time, Libya was home to the largest US Air Base (Wheelus Air Base) in North Africa. Agreements between the USA and Libya signed in 1951 and 1954 granted the USAF the use of Wheelus Air Base and its El Watia gunnery range for gunnery and bombing training and for transport and bombing stopovers until 1971. During the Cold War the base was pivotal to expanding US military power under  the Strategic Air Command, and an essential base for fighter and reconnaissance missions. The Pentagon also used the base -- and the remote Libyan desert -- for missile launch testing: the launch area was located 15 miles east of Tripoli. Considered a 'little America on the shores of the Mediteranean', the base housed some 4600 US military personnel until its evacuation in 1970. With the discovery of oil in Libya in 1959, a very poor desert country became a very rich little western protectorate. US and European companies had huge stakes in the extremely lucrative petroleum and banking sectors, but these were soon nationalized by Gaddafi. Thus Libya overnight joined the list of US 'enemy' or 'rogue' states that sought autonomy and self-determination outside the expanding sphere of western Empire. Further cementing western hatred of the new regime, Libya played a leading role of the 1973 oil embargo against the US and maintained cooperative relations with the Soviet Union. Gaddafi also reportedly channeled early oil wealth into national free health care and education. Many of the concessions in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt involve state-owned oil companies. The US/European/Israeli nexus seeks to dislodge state-ownership -- to whatever extent it actually exists -- and dislodge any Chinese workers or companies involved in the oil exploitation, and replace these with western companies and western agents.  [1] ALGERIA & TUNISIA OIL SECTOR MAPS  (Note the HUNT OIL Concession in the lower right, in NIGER: HUNT OIL is out of Texas.) At one time Gaddafi played around with Idi Amin, but his ties to other despots -- such as Tony Blair and George H. W. Bush -- are far more notable, though far less advertised. Remember that Gaddafi has served the prerogatives of imperialism for years, even while being presented as the world's premier terrorist. The CIA has long wanted to eliminate and replace Muamar Gaddafi. President Reagan bombed Tripoli, killing Gaddafi's infant daughter: the United States bombing of Libya (code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon) comprised the joint USAF, Navy, and Marines air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986. The US CIA brought down the Lockerbie Pan Am 103 flight over Scotland in 1988 and blamed this on Gaddafi.  In recent years Gaddafi has played along with the western fiction of Al-Queda, though it seems likely that some of the true mercenaries in Libya today are 'Al-Queda' terrorists trained by the United States to serve US interests in places like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and now Libya. However, the CIA has always had their sites on Gaddafi.  Libyan currency 2009 Note the double standard in how the western press presents the accusations of Gaddafi using mercenaries, as if it is something unique to Gaddafi and Libya, and not something we ever do.  National front for the Salvation of Libya In almost all western media accounts, the so-called "opposition" in Libya includes the unspecified, unnamed, unidentified "rebels" of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (NFSL). These are not innocent 'pro-democracy' protestors who began with a 'peaceful sit-in' as reported by the New York Times and uncritically repeated everywhere else. Reportage of atrocities in Darfur, Sudan (2003-2011) and Rwanda (1990-1994) was always blamed on the governments (Omar Bashir in Khartoum and Juvenal Habyarimana in Kigali) with no context to the foreign backed insurgency and intervention occurring, which in both cases involved the US, UK and Israel. Similarly, in Libya today, there is no context or history to the FNSL 'rebels': they are categorically presented as the good guys, no matter that they seem to have appeared out of thin air. No one explains who these people are who are cited by the New York Times or CNN or Democracy Now as sources. Street scene in Tripoli, September 2009. The FNSL was part of the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition held in London in 2005, and British resources are being used to support the FNSL and other 'opposition' in Libya. The FNSL was actually formed in October 1981 in Sudan under Colonel Jaafar Nimieri-- the US puppet dictator who was openly known to be a Central Intelligence Agency operative, and who ruled Sudan ruthlessly from 1977 to 1985. The FNSL held its national congress in the USA in July 2007. Reports of 'atrocities' and civilian deaths are being channeled into the western press from operations in Washington DC, and the opposition FNSL is reportedly organizing resistance and military attacks from both inside and outside Libya. Italy and France are also said to be backing these opposition groups, as the Italian and French oil companies AGIP and ELF and others seek to chop off and eat their pieces of the predatory pie. The US, Britain and Israel seek to insure control of the petroleum sector in advance of competitor corporations from other European countries. National Endowment for (non) Democracy In 1983, the Pentagon, USAID, US State Department, and the CIA were all involved in the creation and implementation of 'Project Democracy' -- National Security Decision Directive 77 (NSDD 77) -- and this led to the creation of the National Endowment for Democracy. After that, many of the tactics used in covert interventions were shifted away from the CIA and onto the NED, whose involvement with covert operations and foreign interventions are nonetheless well-established. A 'soft' intervention CIA front, the National Endowment for Democracy has been deeply involved in Libya along with the CIA fronted Freedom House (under their Blue Umbrella program and others). These entities have backed 'opposition', supported propaganda campaigns and so-called 'pro-democracy' movements, and are known to be involved with backing armed insurgents and interventions. NED works its overt intelligence sector magic through four organizations under its (own) umbrella: National democratic Institute; International republican Institute, Center for Private Enterprise, and the AFL-CIO's American Center for International Labor Solidarity.  NED is closely aligned with US foreign policy interests and achieves its mission through the revolving doors between US Government and the NED Board of Directors.  Some of these NED directors include: former US Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger (Nixon) and Madeleine Albright (Clinton), former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci (Reagan), former National Security Council ChairZbigniew Brzezinski (Carter), former NATO Supreme Allied Command in Europe, General Wesley K. Clark (Clinton), and the current head of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz (George W. Bush). Freedom House is supportive of NED programs but has been around since its creation by Elanor Roosevelt and they have been very active against Libya. Freedom House is funded by, amongst others, UNILEVER Corporation, USAID, and the US Information Agency (USIA). Freedom House, in alliance with USIA, has provided covert and overt "Radio Free' disinformation programs all over the world since at least 1952: e.g. Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia.  Past and present Freedom House trustees include: former CIA director R. James Woosley; former national security adviser (at the time of the US invasion of Congo-Zaire) Anthony Lake; Harvard professor Samuel Huntington; UNILEVER executive Ned Bandler; CIA insider Andrew Young; former Joseph Mobutu confidant and national security insider Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick; former NED director and International Crisis Group trustee Zbigniew Brzezinski; USAID intelligence operative J. Brian Atwood (USAID administrator who oversaw the US-backed genocide against millions of Hutu refugees in Zaire, 1996-1998) and many more. Freedom House is also very likely affiliated with the phantom US Office of Strategic Information (OSI), formed after September 11, 2001. OSI is said to have been reorganized, with all its original functions reassigned to the Office of Global Communications, Information Awareness Office (IAO), and the newly reactivated Counter-Disinformation/Misinformation Team (Counter-Information Team). However, then Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld issued statements affirming that the OSI's operations would continue. Rogue State Painted with Blatant Propaganda In the ABC LITELINE report FNSL Leader Speaks from Washington we find the Washington monument in the background for an interview with an Arab agent being used by the western propaganda system as a credible source -- but with zero explanations of who he is or why his claims might be false.  FNSL operative Irahim Sahad speaks freely, making any claim he likes, and nothing he says is challenged or counter-balanced. Sahad suggests that the UN Security Council MUST be convened to stop the genocide being committed by Gaddafi against his own people. Ibrahim Sahad's bias is unveiled by such statements as "The UN Security Council was convened when just one man was killed in Lebabon -- so it should be convened to address the most brutal use of live ammunition, heavy arms and mercenaries." The claim employs a double-standard, saying in short that Lebanese lives are worth more than Libyan, which is not at all the case, and that the United Nations takes serious one man's life in Lebanon, so they should take far more serious the monumental loss of life [claimed] in Libya. Here are some of the media's rallying cries making headlines everywhere the English language is used:  * Gaddafi killing his own people!   * West worried that Gaddafi may use Nerve Gas! * Heavy Weaponry Used Against Civilians! * Heavy Arms Used in Libyan Crackdown! * Gaddafi Committing Crimes Against Humanity! The death tolls in Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo -- by US/NATO/ISRAELI forces -- far surpass anything that might have occurred in Libya. Meanwhile, most 'news' on Libya is based on false accusations and false assertions -- such as the THREAT of nerve gas being used.  The 'international community' repeatedly enforced or renewed sanctions against Libya in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2004, it was established that Washington and London were grossly exaggerating claims of Gaddafi's development of nuclear and chemical weapons. In Afghanistan the US is using weapons of mass destruction and has been since the invasion of 2001: these include phosgene and uranium weapons. A deeper issue might be the loss of certain nuclear weapons, as claimed by sources in London, which reportedly went missing from US/NATO stocks. Claims are that these weapons made their way into teh hands of British arms dealer John Bredenkamp, a long time crony of the Robert Mugabe gang in Zimbabwe, and that they may have been sold to Libya, Yemen or North Korea. [2]  LIBYA [2a]  LIBYA Map SIRTE BASIN Muamar Gaddafi Sides with Empire   "[T]he fundamental problem and issue before the people in the region is that the US rulers seek imperial control and imposition of semi-colonial country-selling regimes; the more autocratic and brutal, the better from the point of the US imperialism that is unrelenting history," reports Ralph Schoenman, in  'US Imperialism Against Democratic ME'. "Every time the population is given the opportunity to shape its own destiny, to seek its national independence, to seek its own control over its own resources, to seeks its own sovereignty and determination of its own future, that is incompatible with the US imperialism.  When Barack Obama was accepted by the US people as the new president, Gaddafi praised Obama and described Obama's  White House housesit as "a victory against racism" and he urged the first Black U.S. president "to lead his country boldly and with integrity." "The Black people's struggle has made tremendous advances against racism in America," Gaddafi said. "It was God who created color. Today President Obama, son of a Kenyan father, a true son of Africa, has made it in the United States of America." At a speech he gave in his private tent in Tripoli in September 2008, Gaddafi rambled and muddled and zipped his all-over-the-place speech up as quick as he began. Is he a desert mystic? Did he write the infamous "Green Book" or was it ghost-written? Is his rambling speech emblematic of his propensity to try to please, to do what he likes, to be careful not to say the wrong thing, while being unable to remain silent when the hypocrisies of the west are (or were) thrown up in his face? Pentagon Invasion Already Underway  The US will use any propaganda necessary to whip up American fervor over Gaddafi and justify Pentagon or MI6 or NATO operations. US and British warships sit off the coast of Libya -- and they don't sit there idly. The imposition of a 'no-fly' zone means that US/NATO planes can do as they like, with the understanding that what we are really talking about are possible bombing and fighter sorties against Libya. US troops have already moved ashore in Libya, joining the 'opposition ' and 'rebel' forces in 'rebel' controlled territories. The US, France and Britain have already set up Bases in Libya.  The recent report noted that British and US special forces entered Libyan port cities of Benghazi and Toburk on February 23 and 24.US covert operatives have been on the ground for weeks, in not much longer, whether they have entered by sea (SEALS) or by way of Niger, where the US has openly published information about its covert operations. (See, for example, the travelology reports by former U.S. Special Forces now 'journalist' Robert Kaplan in America's African Rifles a Pentagon massaged and approved propaganda feature in the pro-war Atlantic Monthly). Any opportunity to attack, destabilize, invade will be exploited by the Pentagon. Of course, as this is written the US media is preparing the ground for the English news consuming masses to see the Pentagon invasion as a "humanitarian" mission in Libya. There is nothing humanitarian about the Pentagon, and there has never been. [3]  Egypt The Desert Mystic Libya is a country of approximately 6 million people, having a huge geographical area but low population density. Claims that Gaddafi has uplifted his people over the course of his 40 year dictatorship are false. Poverty is high throughout the country, and in Tripoli there are the obvious signs of capitalism: overcrowding, traffic, environmental pollution and destruction of nature. However, Gaddafi's "Green Book" -- if in fact it was written by him -- is worth reading. Had it been written by most anyone else who is opposed to the expansion of western empire with all its horrors, it would be more widely appreciated. Gaddafi has funded Pan-African organizations and individuals, some of whom have very noble missions and serve to challenge the downtrodden, while he has also funded some armed factions involved in unjust wars or destabilizations. Gaddafi has funded Louis Farrakan and the Nation of Islam. He has funded Jean Pierre Bemba and the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the rebellion also backed by Yoweri Museveni, responsible for a very definitive genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo.   Human Rights Watch has reported that international arms dealer Victor Bout illegally shipped weapons into Congo-Zaire, picking them up in Libya and delivering them to Rwandan Hutu forces. However, Human Rights Watch is deeply compromised when it comes to reporting and not reporting the facts -- or selectively reporting them -- on Central Africa. If Gaddafi did supply or facilitate the provision of arms to Hutu insurgents in Congo, it may be one of the more reasonable actions he took: e.g. the Forces for the Democratic Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) are forever misaligned by the Pentagon and its propaganda minions precisely because they fought against the illegal invasion of Rwanda by Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni. Meanwhile, it is Rwanda, Uganda and their foreign multinational corporate allies that are responsible for the preponderance of killing in Central Africa (not the FDLR).  According to Amnesty International, another selective human rights organ serving western interests, Gaddafi also reportedly armed Sudanese in Darfur -- long before the current conflict began in 2003 -- to fight against western backed interventions in Chad and Sudan.    Gaddafi reportedly owns land in Zimbabwe and may flee there or to other countries where repressive control is maintained in service to western interests.  Muamar Gaddafi is/was the most recent chairman of the African Union, another elite organization designed to serve western exploitation -- or run by a cabal of thieves, at the very least, who all have the goods on each other, and so none will ever challenge the way things are -- while the people, the masses of Africa, everywhere suffer.  The African Union (AU) signed on with Washington for the devastating neo-liberal trade and tarifs agreement known euphemistically as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AU special report on genocide in Rwanda was a complete whitewash serving US/UK interests and protecting dictators Paul Kagame and Yoweri Museveni. The AU has also been slammed by African leaders for inaction and silence in various developments on the continent.  Former AU chairman have included some of Africa's most criminal dictators, such as Dennis Sassou Nguesso, who has reigned with absolute military brutality in the Republic of Congo for some 20 years (with a gap from 1992-1997). Gabon's present ruler Albert-Bernard Bongo is the son-in-law of Dennis Sassou-Nguesso, and both have been sustained with millions of Elf petrol dollars (see, e.g., keith harmon snow: The Crimes of Bongo). Sassou-Nguesso's elite Cobra militia were also trained by French advisers and, like Colonel Joseph Mobutu, Sassou-Nguesso relied on Israeli security and intelligence for protection. The AU's alliance with NATO began long ago, and it saw expanded joint military operations in Sudan, where the AU served as NATO's "African face" for US/UK and Israeli military interventions in the war for Darfur. For example, forces fighting for the NATO interests, commanded and commandeered under an AU banner, came from Paul Kagame's Rwanda Defense Forces (formerly called Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army) responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo and, then, Darfur. Rather than condemning western military expansion and different forms of AFRICOM or CIA-backed terrorism, for example, the AU backs the western war of annihilation in Somalia, involving Ugandan troops trained by US Special forces, and the Pentagon's expansion in Ethiopia, and support for dictator Meles Zenawi there. Ethiopia is the site of an ongoing genocide against the Annuak, Omo and Orono people -- and no one has reported the atrocities in the blood drenched oil-rich Ogaden basin there. What say the AU?  In AFRICA: Global NATO Seeks to Recruit 50 New Military Partners, journalist Rick Rozoff reports: "A recent article in Kenya's Africa Review cited sources in the African Union (AU) disclosing that the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] is preparing to sign a military partnership treaty with the 53-nation AU." Rozoff explains that this is a likely maneuver against the spread of Chinese interests in the continent. According to Black Commentator editor Glen Ford, who traveled to Tripoli in 2008, Gaddafi on the Outs, the man who ruled this not-so-little North African dictatorship is about finished.  [5]  SUDAN (Darfur is the giant block 12 concession on the left side.) And Now, The Gaddafi Genocide Claims made by Libyan 'opposition' and reported in the western press that Gaddafi is committing genocide against his own people represent the height of western arrogance and hypocrisy. At this very moment the wars being prosecuted by the USA and its allies, including Japan, Europe, Israel, South Africa, Canada and Australia, far dwarf the 'atrocities' committed in Libya. While we have no credible reporting about who is killing, who is opposition, how many dead, etc., out of Libya, we have credible report after credible report establishing that the US and its allies have perpetrated massacres, tortures, and other atrocities, in the millions of people, in Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan - for a short list. The claim of genocide here, akin to the one-sided charges against former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, or against Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, are one more clear example of the Politics of Genocide delineated in great detail by this writer and others. Reports in western media -- provided, again, by the FNSL and other western intelligence, covert operations or psychological operations flak organizations -- are filled with harsh language and characterizations not seen in reporting on or by western military campaigns. For example, in many western reports we can find, such as Gruesome Footage Proves Libya Using Heavy Arms makes claims that "newspapers obtained shocking footage of corpses with bodies blasted off and several torsos in Libyan hospitals."   So there are several torsos. That is not quite genocide. Where are the images? If such images of death and destruction do appear it will be in sharp contrast to the complete whiteout on dead bodies in the Pentagon's other theaters of war, in the eastern Congo or Somalia, or in Afghanistan.  Images of dead bodies can be produced and published but these are easily stripped of context. How do western audiences and propaganda consumers know that these are authentic and not recycled images of protests from Yemen or Bahrain dumped into the western press (with their willing acknowledgment) by Britain's MI-6, as has been alleged? Al-Jezeera shows its true western colors by not reporting much of anything, and that certainly not critical of western manipulation or involvement.  We saw the tactic of collecting dead bodies and skeletons used in Rwanda by the Pentagon-s agents of teh Rwandan Patriotic Front, and in Darfur and South Sudan, where journalist Nicholas Kristof produced some dead shriveled bodies from some desert somewhere and claimed these were from the New York Times'  Secret Genocide Archives. The atrocities were committed, we are told, by President Omar al-Bashir and the government of Sudan.  However, there is never any mention of US military involvement, mercenaries (Pacific Architects and Engineers, Dyncorp, others) on the ground in Sudan. Dead men tell no tales, or dead women: these dead bodies are as likely dead from US or Israeli backed 'rebels' -- the Justice and Equality Movement or Sudan Liberation Army backed by the US, NATO, Israel and our puppet dictator in Uganda. Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni greets the entourage of foreign mercenaries Tony Buckingham and others as part of the Heritage Oil & Gas / Sandline International meetings to secure oil concessions in the bloody Semliki basin bordering eastern Congo and northern Uganda: both sites of legitimate genocides.  The double-standards and outright lies can be seen quickly, if one knows there are deeper truths, by examining propaganda produced by the International Crisis Group, or such propaganda tracts as Smith College English teacher Eric Reeves' A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments  in the Darfur Genocide  -- where there is not one reference to Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni and his Pentagon assisted backing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in South Sudan, and Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), in Darfur, in all of the 386 pages. Western mercenaries that have been deeply involved, and remain so, in some of the world's bloodiest conflicts, in coup d'etats, in massacres and other atrocities, include British mercenary Tony Buckingham -- whose mercenary past is legendary -- founder of Heritage Oil & Gas, a petroleum company linked by Buckingham to mercenary firms Branch Energy and Sandline International. Buckingham was also a partner in the infamous Executive Outcomes, with former British SAS soldier-of-misfortune Tim Spicer -- the recipient of massive Pentagon contracts in Iraq. Heritage director General Sir Michael Wilkes retired from the British Army in 1995 and is a former Middle East adviser to the British government and a member of the Army Board. Wilkes commanded Britain's Special Air Services (SAS) regiment and was director of Special Forces. Heritage Oil has exploited opportunities in Mali, Uganda, Republic of Congo, Oman and Iraq. Heritage Oil & Gas map of operations in Iraq. In short, almost everything in the western press on the crises in Libya is slanted by some faction, or interest, or it is tainted by western arrogance, or by anti-imperialist ideology (of 'solidarity'), even in the case of the alternative media. There is very little accurate reporting of any kind (but some good work linked or cited herein). This report is just another incomplete picture of an incomplete puzzle -- but it seeks to penetrate through and expose the ongoing western media campaign for what it is: a psychological operation against the masses of earth's people who have not and do not benefit from the nasty policies and actions implemented to serve a very small and elite group of people.  People wishing to support the legitimate grievances and actions for freedom and truth in Libya should challenge the western terrorist apparatus out of Washington, DC, Tel Aviv, Brussels, London and Ottawa.    Prayers for the true innocent civilians in Libya, and across the region.  keith harmon snow traveled to Tripoli, Libya in 2009 and stayed about 3 days while attending the "2009 International Conference of the Green Book supporters" as a member of the US Delegation invited by former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney (D-GA).** Maps are from a petroleum industry map of all Africa produced in 1996: much has changed since then, only for the worse, in terms of oil and gas expansions. Keith Harmon Snow is a frequent contributor to Global Research.  Global Research Articles by Keith Harmon Snow

Pete Seeger Still Gowing Strong!

Subject: Folk music legend Pete Seeger endorses boycott of Israel

Reply-To: campaign@icahdusa.org

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Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel & The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Pete Seeger endorses the boycott of Israel (pictured with ICAHD's Jeff Halper) Folk music legend Pete Seeger endorses boycott of Israel FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Folk music legend Pete Seeger has come out in support of the growing Palestinian movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel as a program for justice for Palestinians and a route to peace in the Middle East. Seeger, 92, participated in last November's online virtual rally "With Earth and Each Other," sponsored by the Arava Institute, an Israeli environmental organization, and by the Friends of the Arava Institute. The Arava Institute counts among its close partners and major funders the Jewish National Fund, responsible since 1901 for securing land in Palestine for the use of Jews only while dispossessing Palestinians. Although groups in the worldwide BDS movement had requested that he quit the event, Seeger felt that he could make a strong statement for peace and justice during the event. During a January meeting at his Beacon, NY, home with representatives from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Adalah-NY, Pete Seeger explained, "I appeared on that virtual rally because for many years I've felt that people should talk with people they disagree with. But it ended up looking like I supported the Jewish National Fund. I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn't realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can." Jeff Halper, the Coordinator of ICAHD, added, "Pete did extensive research on this. He read historical and current material and spoke to neighbors, friends, and three rabbis before making his decision to support the boycott movement against Israel." Seeger has for some time given some of the royalties from his famous Bible-based song from the 1960s, "Turn, Turn, Turn," to ICAHD for their work in rebuilding demolished homes and exposing Israel's practice of pushing Palestinians in Israel off their land in favor of the development of Jewish villages and cities. The November virtual rally "With Earth and Each Other" was billed as an apolitical effort to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to work for the environment. Dave Lippman from Adalah-NY noted, "Arava's online event obfuscated basic facts about Israel's occupation and systematic seizure of land and water from Palestinians. Arava's partner and funder, the JNF, is notorious for planting forests to hide Palestinian villages demolished by Israel in order to seize land. Arava was revealed as a sterling practitioner of Israeli government efforts to 'Rebrand Israel' through greenwashing and the arts." Currently, the JNF is supporting an Israeli government effort to demolish the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib in order to plant trees from the JNF that were paid for by the international evangelical group GOD-TV. The Friends of the Arava Institute's new board chair recently published an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post that only cautiously questions some activities of the JNF, an organization whose very raison-d'etre is to take over land for Jews at the expense of the Palestinian Arab population. Pete Seeger's long-time colleague Theodore Bikel, an Israeli-American known for his life-long involvement with Israeli culture, recently supported the Israeli artists who have refused to perform in a new concert hall in Ariel, a large illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Seeger joins a growing roster of international performers who have declined to whitewash, greenwash, or in any way enable Israel's colonial project, including Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Roger Waters, Devendra Banhart, and the Pixies.

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Gaddafi -- They *WILL* not understand.

I am quite amazed at the systematic misunderstanding of Gaddfi as displayed in our media.  I doubt seriously if anyone there even wants to understand him.

In fact, he is the one world leader that we *WILL* not understand.  If rather reminds me of the maxim, I think H.G. Wells used it first, that "There are none so blind as those who WILL not see."  I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

The most important thing to accept is that he is a phenomenon left over from the 20th Century, probably one of the last.  He is a revolutionary.  He is like Lenin, not Stalin; like Che Guevara, not Fidel Castro, and so on.  We could have made a good deal with Fidel back then, but chose not to.  Che left him because of the deal he made with the Russians.  He overthrew a monarchy managed by the Italian colonialists and liberated his country.  He never abandoned the rank of Colonel -- titles for for the selfish.

Most of the people in his country now never experienced life under a colonial power.  Many never experienced life before the huge oil revenues, so even they do not get it.

He certainly is not this clown who fled Tunisia after deposing Bourgehba and gutting his Code of Personal Status, a set of laws that gave great liberties and rights to the people.  He is not Mubarak -- the closest you can get is Gamal Nasser. 

The point I am making is that when he says he will fight to the "Last drop of his blood," he means it quite literally.  He will not go gently into that good night.  Even some media commentators have pointed this out in the last few hours.

Many, if not most, if not all, of those fleeing the country are Tunisians, Egyptians, and other foreign nationals.  They made a much better living in Libya under him.  Note also that some of those holding up Arabic signs can not be Arabs or literate as some of those signs are upside down.  Now, I can not read Arabic script, but I can tell up from down.

Yes, he drove many U.S. Presidents mad.  I had often thought he was on hashish when being interviewed, and finally, Fareed Zak***** of GPS on CNN confirmed that he had the same impression.  Another who interviewed him was Barbara Walters who asked him if it bothered him that many people thought he was insane.  It was the first time I had seen him laugh out loud with a twinkle of delight in his eyes.  He then said it did because it meant they did not understand him.  Well, they didn't.

There was a great deal of anger at him for encouraging terrorism, but his response was that he did support the IRA.  He believed in their goals.  [The Irish have been occupied by England for over 400 years, after all.]

There have been claims that he is in league with Islamic extremists.  That is nuts.  They hate him even more than the "West" does.  He has no use for them, either.  Never did.

Well, anyway, that is the problem.  He is a true revolutionary whether you like it or not and will remain one.  His children are different -- they will deal with you, but not him.  He is ready and willing to die and take as many enemies of the revolution with him as possible and there is nothing that will change that.

That's it.    

Speech to the UN

This is a summaru of Gaddafi's Speech to the UN in 2009:

MUAMMAR AL-QADHAFI, Leader of the Revolution of Libya, speaking also on behalf of the African Union, said he hoped this gathering would be a historic one.  He also congratulated United States President Barack Obama on his first address to the General Assembly.  This year’s debate was being held in the midst of many challenges and the world should unite and defeat these challenges, which included climate change, the economic crisis and the food crisis.

He said many Member States were not present when the United Nations was created by three countries years ago.  They created the Charter but the Preamble was different from the provisions and articles.  No one objected to the Preamble, but he rejected everything that came after.  The Preamble of the United Nations Charter said nations were equal, whether large or small.  The veto power bestowed upon the five permanent members of the Security Council was, therefore, against the Charter, and he neither accepted nor recognized it.

Continuing, he said the Charter’s Preamble stated that military force should not be used unless there was a common interest.  But 65 wars, with millions of victims, had broken out since the creation of the United Nations.  Moreover, the Preamble said if there was aggression against any country, the United Nations together would check such actions.  Despite that, countries which held the veto used aggressive force against “the people”, even as the Charter said no nation had the right to intervene in the internal affairs of another.

He went on to express concern that right now, calls for reforming the Organization focused only on increasing the number of Member States.  That would only make things worse.  For instance, adding more Security Council seats would “give rise to more super-Powers, crush the small people and create more poverty”.  Such an impractical move would also generate more competition among countries.  In any case, the Council should act according to the rules of the United Nations.  The solution was to close the admission of new Member States and provide equality among those already belonging to the Organization, he said.

Currently, the Assembly was like a decor without any substance.  “You just make a speech and then you disappear...that’s who you are right now,” he said.  Setting that right would mean that the Security Council could serve as a tool for implementing resolutions adopted by the Assembly.  The Council should represent the interests of all countries, through individual seats or seats held by unions that represented each region of the world.  There were equal votes in the Assembly and there should be equal votes next door in the Security Council, he declared, adding that ultimately, for a united and peaceful world, serious Organizational reform was needed.

Keeping his focus squarely on Security Council dynamics, he said that the 15-member body practised “security feudalism” for those who had a protected seat.  “It should be called the terror council”, he said, underscoring that terrorism could exist in many forms.  The super-Powers had complicated interests and used the United Nations for their own purposes.  Indeed, the Security Council did not provide the world with security, but gave it “terror and sanctions”.  He was not committed to adhere to the Council’s resolutions, which were used to commit war crimes and genocides.  He reiterated that the Council did not provide security and the world did not have to obey the rules or orders it decreed, especially as it was currently constituted.

Regarding Africa, the African Union deserved a permanent seat in the Security Council for the suffering it had endured for many years.  This had nothing to do with reform, he said, declaring that Africa deserved compensation, amounting to some $77.7 trillion for the resources and wealth that had been stolen in the past.  Colonization should be criminalized and people should be compensated for the suffering endured during the reign of colonial power.

Africans were proud and happy that a son of Africa was now governing the United States of America and it was a great thing -- it was a glimmer of light in the dark of the past eight years, he said.

However, he noted the money spent by the United States and the city to secure United Nations Headquarters during the annual Assembly.  While thanking the United States for its efforts in hosting the Organization for the past 50 years, he said the United Nations should hold its annual debate in another hemisphere for the next 50 years.  He complained about the trouble some diplomats and their staff had in securing visas from the United States Government.