Western Asia ("Middle East")

Poll: Half of Israelis back bombing if needed to stop Iran nukes | CNN

Roughly half of Israelis support bombing Iran's nuclear facilities if international efforts fail to stop the Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons, according to a Hebrew University poll released Sunday.

Some 52 percent of Israelis say the country should bomb Iran's nuclear reactor, while 35 percent are against, the poll found. The margin of error in the poll of Israelis is 4.5 percentage points.

Palestinians are somewhat more evenly divided, with 43 percent saying a nuclear Iran would be good for the Arab world and 33 percent saying it would be bad, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, which conducted the poll along with Hebrew University. The margin of error for the Palestinian sample is 3 percentage points. Read more.

By Linda Milazzo

As angry uprisings take place in Iran over the questionable "re-election" of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As innocents are murdered at every corner of this planet - indeed at EVERY CORNER - when considering those at its furthest coordinates suffering the effects of global warming brought on by human greed -- there appears on this day a message of hope that can make us ALL smile.

Regardless of ideology, the common denominator I would hope true adults will agree on is that ALL children are OURS to protect. The clear right of passage to be an adult is the knowledge that our principal obligation is to protect and serve the world's children; that ALL children are precious and should be accorded their mutual rights to safety and joy.

All bets are off on the eve of the most crucial presidential election in the 30 years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Pepe Escobar argues the campaign of reformist - actually moderate conservative - Mir-Hossein Mousavi has evolved into a green revolution; the color of Islam and also the color of hope for a less confrontational, and more competent and pragmatic administration. Mousavi's campaign - roughly the Iranian equivalent of Obama's campaign in the US - has crossed all economic, ethnic and gender barriers, and was heavily supported by Iran's very young, tech-savvy population. He has the youth vote, the women's vote and the intelligentsia vote. But President Ahmadinejad, running for a second term, has the vote that counts the most: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's - not to mention the bulk of the rural, provincial vote. The stage is set for a second round between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.

US: support for Israel 'unshakable' | al Jazeera

The US envoy to the Middle East has reaffirmed Washington's "unshakable" support for Israel despite public differences over the continued building of Israeli settlements.

George Mitchell, who met Israeli leaders on Tuesday, sought to reassure them that "we are two allies, two friends, and our commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable".

"And I want you to know we come here to talk not as adversaries in disagreement but as friends in discussion," he told Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

"We recognise that the issues are complex and many. But we hope that we're going to work our way through them to achieve the objective that we share with you, and that is peace security and prosperity throughout the region."Read more.

By Christine E. Black

President Barak Obama said in his speech in Cairo Thursday, June 4, 2009, that his administration wants to repair relations with Muslim countries. I am troubled by how his lofty words appear disconnected with what’s actually happening now in the U.S. and some Muslim countries.

In some respects I am more disturbed when I listen to Obama than I was when listening to former President Bush. Bush and Cheney snarled accusations and threats while unleashing destruction in Iraq, at rendition sites around the world, and at Guantanamo. Obama, on the other hand, says to Muslim people, we are not the enemy, we bring a message of peace and goodwill while just this past week U.S. military bombs killed more than 140 people in Afghanistan in what the government said was an accident and the most those in power can say is that they “regret” it.

Incongruities between speech and action disturb me.

By Anis Shivani, Huffington Post

The very idea of a speech addressed to more than a billion diverse people, with different grievances against America, seems ludicrous. My advisers have been after me to do this, from before I was elected president, but I have finally decided that no speech can fail to be patronizing, condescending, beside the point. A speech billed as a major one suggests a gap in reality. Rhetoric is used to paper over that which cannot be accomplished within political constraints. I am not interested in cover-ups and further hypocrisy, but in changing the real dynamics between Muslims and America. This must be self-driven.

By Linda Milazzo

This evening at a Washington DC fundraiser, in a statement that can best be described as regressive American exceptionalism, former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich said of himself:

"I am not a citizen of the world. I think the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous!"

Witness the video below of Mr. Gingrich's pronouncement that defines in two simple sentences the elitism, racism and egotism that have destroyed his Republican Party:

By: John Caruso, A Tiny Revolution

I have an embarrassing admission: I may have been too harsh in my judgment of Barack Obama's speech in Cairo.  Maybe years of reading the words of politicians with a critical eye, always looking for the rotten core of hypocrisy and dissembling, have made me too reflexive in my rejection of the potential for real change; I was dead certain it would just be a shiny new coat of paint on the same decrepit house, and I suppose I saw exactly what I'd convinced myself I was going to see.  Perhaps I've just made too much of a habit of skepticism to let myself believe in the possibility for transformative honesty in our deeply-corrupted system.

By CODEPINK/Linda Milazzo

The women inspired peace group, CODEPINK, in alliance with Israeli feminist group, Coalition of Women For Peace, will host continued human rights protests from June 8th through June 14th at Erez Crossing checkpoint at the Gaza Border in Israel.

EREZ, ISRAEL -- More than three dozen Americans and Israelis rallied today at the border checkpoint here into Gaza, hoping to be let through into the war-torn area with playground building materials, food and other products to delivered to the Gazan people, after Israel authorities barred them from entering.

From Chris in Cairo

In response to US President Barrack Obama's visit to Cairo, Egypt on June 4, seven "international community activists" from the International Movement to Open the Rafah Border, and US anti-war
groups Code Pink and Raging Grannies began a day-long protest to end the Siege of Gaza. The group began their protest at 9 am at the US embassy in Cairo. They unfurled a banner in front of the embassy with the message, "End the Siege of Gaza." Code Pink co-founder, Medea Benjamin carried a letter from the Palestinian government, Hamas, to deliver to the embassy and to President Obama. The letter had been issued to Medea the day before coming from Gaza. The correspondence from Hamas stated their desire to negotiate with israel and the US with no preconditions. "It was a very dignified letter," said French demonstrator, Christian. The group was also asking President Obama to visit Gaza, Palestine on his Middle East tour. "If the president could see Gaza for himself, he would see the result of US tax dollars, that support the Israeli war crimes in Gaza ," shouted the demonstrators. "Obama, go to Gaza!" they continued.

By Adam Kokesh

President Obama delivered a speech yesterday at Cairo University that has already been noted around the world as unique for its candor. It has been translated into thirteen languages and stirred emotions throughout the Middle East. There were a number of issues that he raised that we do not hear about very often from politicians in Washington, let alone the President himself. Unfortunately, his policies are all too typical of the establishment.

By Helena Cobban, IPS

DAMASCUS, Jun 5 (IPS) - The head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, gave a qualified welcome here Thursday to the big speech that Pres. Barack Obama addressed to the Muslim world in Cairo.

"The speech was cleverly written in the way it addressed the Muslim world... and in the way it showed respect to the Muslim heritage," Meshaal told IPS in an exclusive interview. "But I think it's not enough. What's needed are deeds, actions on the ground, and a change of policies."

His remarks came just hours after the speech, in a wide-ranging interview in one of the Hamas leader’s offices here in the Syrian capital.

In the interview, Meshaal was friendly, quietly self-confident, and thoughtful. He was firm in describing his movement’s positions, including when he restated that he wants Hamas to be treated as "part of the solution and not part of the problem".

By David Swanson

President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo probably did a world of good. It was packed with truth telling and noble sentiments. But imagine how much more good would be done if all the best parts of it corresponded to reality.

If we treated people around the world with "respect," would we continue occupying their nations against their adamant desires? If we truly "seek no military bases" in Afghanistan, why are we building them on such massive scale? And why are we locking up hundreds of people there whom Obama hopes to keep outside the rule of law and never bring to trial (or at least he's fighting for that power in court and recently declared that he possessed it), people who will not all die any time soon?

Barack Obama, “A New Beginning”
Delivered at Cairo University

I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.

Palestinian National Authority
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Deputy Office
Fax: +972 8 2868971
Tel: +972 8 2822937

His Excellency President Barack Obama,
President of the United States of America.

June 3rd 2009

Dear Mr. President,

We welcome your visit to the Arab world and your administration’s initiative to bridge differences with the Arab-Muslim world.

One long-standing source of tension between the United States and this part of the world has been the failure to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict.

It is therefore unfortunate that you will not visit Gaza during your trip to the Middle East and that neither your Secretary of State nor George Mitchell have come to hear our point of view.

Last month, 60 Members of the House of Representatives, including 51 Democrats, voted against the war supplemental for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. But this week, when the House is expected to consider the agreement of a House-Senate conference on the war funding, the supplemental could well be defeated on the floor of the House - if most of the 51 anti-war Democrats stick to their no vote - which they might, if they hear from their constituents.

The key thing that's changed is the Treasury Department's insistence that the war supplemental include a $100 billion bailout for the International Monetary Fund - a bailout for European banks facing big losses in Eastern Europe, the international version of the Wall Street bailout.

By Micky Duxbury, The Monthly

Barbara Lubin was 22 years old in 1967 when she walked into the Philadelphia military induction center along with 250 young men—and was told to strip. A dedicated and unusually daring draft counselor, Lubin had dressed in drag and hidden her hair in preparation for infiltrating an entry point into the U.S. military. As she peeled off her clothing, leaflets opposing the Vietnam War spilled from her undergarments. Her memories of that success are still vivid: “The sergeants were so enraged that they marched me out with bayonets and arrested me, but not before I was able to pass out hundreds of leaflets.”

Navy Vet Honored, Foiled Israeli Attack
By Ray McGovern

What’s the difference between murder and massacre?

The answer is Terry Halbardier, whose bravery and ingenuity as a 23-year-old Navy seaman spelled the difference between the murder of 34 of the USS Liberty crew and the intended massacre of all 294.

The date was June 8, 1967; and for the families of the 34 murdered and for the Liberty’s survivors and their families, it is a “date which will live in infamy” — like the date of an earlier surprise attack on the U.S. Navy.

Relatives of 9/11 victims who filed a lawsuit seeking to pin blame on the Saudi royal family for financing attacks against the United States just acquired a significant new opponent: the Obama administration.

READ THE REST AT RAW STORY.

Pakistan rally against Swat assault | al Jazeera | Submitted by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

Hundreds of supporters of Pakistan's opposition Jamaat-i-Islami party have demonstrated in what is believed to be the first major protest against the military's offensive against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

The demonstration in the capital, Islamabad, on Sunday took place as the army fought bloody street-to-street battles in Mingora, the main city in the Swat valley.

"To this point there has been absolutely total political support for the ongoing operation in Swat valley," Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Islamabad, said.

"But now there is the first sign that there are sectors in society who are opposed to what is going on."

Public discontent

Many of the protesters were carrying banners carrying slogans condemning the role of the United States in Pakistan.

"This is a great point of contention for many Pakistanis, not just the supporters of the political party gathered here," Hanna said.

"The speakers are basing part of their criticism on their belief that Pakistan is doing ... the work of the United States in its so-called 'war on terror'." Read more.

Have We Already Lost Iran?
By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett | NYTimes | Submitted by Michael Munk | www.MichaelMunk.com

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S Iran policy has, in all likelihood, already failed. On its present course, the White House’s approach will not stop Tehran’s development of a nuclear fuel program — or, as Iran’s successful test of a medium-range, solid-fuel missile last week underscored, military capacities of other sorts. It will also not provide an alternative to continued antagonism between the United States and Iran — a posture that for 30 years has proved increasingly damaging to the interests of the United States and its allies in the Middle East.

This judgment may seem both premature and overly severe. We do not make it happily. We voted for Barack Obama in 2008, and we still want him to succeed in reversing the deterioration in America’s strategic position. But we also believe that successful diplomacy with Iran is essential to that end. Unless President Obama and his national security team take a fundamentally different approach to Tehran, they will not achieve a breakthrough. Read more.

Cheney: Support for Israel Feeds Terrorism
By Ray McGovern

If we hear in the coming days that former Vice President Dick Cheney has fired one of his speechwriters — or perhaps grounded Lynne or Liz — it will be clear why.

Oozing out of the sleazy speech he gave Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute was an inadvertent truth regarding the Israeli albatross hanging around the neck of U.S. policy in the Middle East.

I watched the speech, but had missed the gaffe until I went carefully through the written text before a radio interview Thursday evening. It amounts to a major faux pas, though I’ll give you odds that the usual-suspect pundits of the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) will not touch it, because it raises troubling questions about the close U.S. relationship with Israel.

by Dave Lindorff

In reversing himself and declaring that the US government will not release further photos in its possession of torture being practiced on captives held by the US military and the CIA, President Obama is sounding increasingly like the Bush/Cheney administration before him.

It may well be that, as Obama says, release of those photos could lead to anger in the Islamic world and perhaps to recruitment gains among groups like Al Qaeda that are attacking American troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, but this is only true because at the same time, the Obama administration is opposing taking any legal action against the people who authorized and promoted that torture.

Sometimes an opportunity for reform comes along that is "strategic" in that it changes the playing field for efforts to win other reforms in the future. The passage of the National Labor Relations Act - establishing the right of American workers to organize unions and bargain collectively - was a strategic reform. It increased the power of people previously excluded from power, and thereby reduced the power of corporate interests. But the right of workers in America to organize has been steadily eroded by unpunished abuses by anti-union employers. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is easy to justify on the basis of guaranteeing the basic human rights of working Americans. When the Employee Free Choice Act is signed into law, millions of private sector workers will have greater protection from having their rights violated. What difference would that make? Ask Steve Arney.

by Linda Milazzo

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, driving along a street in the West San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, I saw this man lying on the parkway of the road. 

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Peace Action Executive Director Kevin Martin writes:

If the U.S. wants to have a productive relationship for peace in the Middle East our President and the Congress must act comprehensively to engage countries like Iran in diplomacy. President Obama has made productive political overtures toward Iran. His historic Norooz message laid the ground work for real diplomacy to move our two countries forward in peace.

By Dave Lindorff

When I was a 17-year-old kid in my senior year of high school, I didn’t think much about Vietnam. It was 1967, the war was raging, but I didn’t personally know anyone who was over there, Tet hadn’t happened yet. If anything, the excitement of jungle warfare attracted my interest more than anything (I had a .22 cal rifle, and liked to go off in the woods and shoot at things, often, I’ll admit, imagining it was an armed enemy.)

But then I had to do a major project in my humanities program and I chose the Vietnam War. As I started researching this paper, which was supposed to be a multi-media presentation, I ran across a series of photos of civilian victims of American napalm bombing. These victims, often, were women and children—even babies.

By Dave Lindorff

We are witnessing one of the fastest betrayals of the Democratic Party base in modern memory, as President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate slither away from a crucial constituency, the labor movement, and from support of labor’s key legislative agenda item: passage of a bill, “The Employee Free Choice Act,” which would restore a measure of fairness to labor relations.

It's 1 PM in Washington. Do you know where your foreign policy is?

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are getting big praise around the world for their new Charm Offensive. As far as I'm concerned, the praise is justified. I heard our Secretary of State interviewed on the BBC a few weeks ago about our diplomatic outreach to Iran on Afghanistan. And the BBC was all, what makes you think Iran is going to help you on Afghanistan? And Hillary was all, you know, actually Iran helped us tremendously in Afghanistan after 2001. Our Ambassador in Afghanistan and the Iranian Ambassador were meeting practically every day. I just about fell off my chair. You'd have thought Hillary was applying for a job at the National Iranian American Council.

By Dave Lindorff

The actions of Obama's Chief Financial Adviser Larry Summers and his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in permitting the payment of $165 million in bonuses to AIG executives (Summers, according to the Wall Street Journal, actually pressed Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CT, to secretly remove a bar to the payment of such bonuses from the bailout bill) and storm of public outrage that has followed public disclosure of those payments, provides President Obama, whose administration is stumbling badly on many fronts, to turn things around and avoid political disaster.

He should promptly demand Geithner's and Summers' resignations, and should also fire the CEO of AIG, Edward Liddy (as 80% owner of AIG, the US has the power to do that anytime). It would also be a good idea at the same time to fire the CEOs of all the leading banks that are at this point surviving on government bailouts.