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06/04/08 Thought he was different? Think again: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/070302-aipac_policy_fo/ |
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06/04/08 "‘Not you! You!!!’: World hypocrisy over Tibet and Palestine” by Uri Avnery “There is no doubt that the Tibetan people are entitled to rule their own country, to nurture their unique culture, to promote their religious institutions and to prevent foreign settlers from submerging them. |
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06/04/08 FOL reader shares concern: Israeli invasion of Gaza within weeks: “The Israeli occupation government is planning a large scale incursion into the Gaza Strip in coordination with the PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmed Jibril, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, asserted. Jibril speaking to Quds Press quoted western sources as saying that Israeli occupation forces would invade the Gaza Strip within the coming few weeks and would assassinate senior political and military leaders of Hamas. He added that Abbas would be allowed to condemn the incursion.” |
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06/04/08 “Can Lebanon's politicians possibly be as obtuse as they seem?”
“In most other countries, the remarks attributed to Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday would have constituted a bizarre exercise in needlessly emphasizing the obvious: Before he can initiate a new round of dialogue among Lebanon's government and opposition camps, Berri said, he needs all the would-be participants to accept the idea. This is Lebanon, though, so the speaker's comments were not prattle designed to fill the space between one sentence and the next. Instead, he was explaining why his plan might not go anywhere because at least some of the people who need to talk are refusing to do so. Worse, yet, they are not even making a secret of it: Repeatedly in the past few days, some members of both sides have indicated that dialogue is a bad thing, and/or that they will only enter into it if their rivals concede some of the most important points ahead of time. When 12-year-olds behave this way, their parents can roll their eyes and laugh if off as part of growing up. When the petulance is that of individuals who hold an entire country's fate in their hands, however, the natural reaction is much more complicated. It includes disbelief that anyone in such an important public position, at such a delicate period of Lebanon's long-troubled history, would utter something so unhelpful. There is also rage at the fact that the Lebanese system allows such people to acquire power and influence out of all proportion to their abilities and accomplishments. There is resignation, too, because one knows that even at the best of times, the tribal realities of Lebanese politics make some of its most repugnant practitioners virtually impermeable to what should be the consequences of flaws large and legion. Then there are the questions, and none of the answers are very attractive. Does one explain to supposedly grown men that compromise is the intended result of dialogue, not a prerequisite? Or does one conclude that in fact they already know this to be true but are in fact attempting to sabotage any attempt at escaping the current impasse? If the latter is the case, how does one envision the next steps? How can such irretrievably stubborn politicians be made to understand that however gargantuan their egos, they are meaningless compared to the lives and livelihoods of more than 4 million people? Can a thinking person who cares about the future of this country look on the prospect of losing another entire year to political stalemate with anything but disgust? Nabih Berri has been around for a very long time, and his credentials as a survivor - in every sense of the term - are legendary. He knows all the tricks in the book because he wrote several of its chapters. But even he must be scratching his head at the invincible stupidity of his fellow politicos, including some of his allies in the opposition. And he has plenty of company: Mediators from several countries and international organizations have also tried their hand at brokering an end to Lebanon's latest bout of self-destruction, and all have failed. They too must be wondering what it is about the Lebanese political elite that makes its members wholly insensate to the damage being inflicted on the country, its economy and its people.” |
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10/04/08 The Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK urges Londoners to get involved with the upcoming London mayoral elections. Find out more about what is at stake: visit MPACUK and remember to vote. |
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10/04/08 BMI shares: “The upcoming London Mayoral elections are, without a doubt, the most significant elections for Londoners, and particularly Muslims, in recent years. Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson are neck and neck in the polls and Londoners are facing a crucial choice that will determine what direction we want to see London going in the next 4 years.
The choice is between an open-minded Mayor [Ken Livingstone] with a proven track record of successfully running London and engaging with all communities, and an intolerant Islamophobe [Boris Johnson] who has a history of repeatedly insulting black and Muslim communities, saying "To any non-Muslim reader of the Koran, Islamophobia…seems a natural reaction...”. It is not surprising, then, that the racist British National Party has chosen to support him and has called on their supporters to give him their second-preference votes.
Given that there is only 1% between the 2 candidates, your vote really can make a huge difference – particularly if all of London ’s 700,000+ Muslims make sure their voices are counted.
BMI has come together with individuals and organisations from across the Muslim community to launch a blog to raise awareness of the crucial importance of these elections – to see the blog, go to www.muslimsforken.blogspot.com
The blog is about urging all Muslim Londoners to make sure their voices are heard on May 1st. The elections will determine who will take decisions affecting the daily lives of every Londoner, from policing and education to road safety and gun crime. But equally importantly, they will determine whether London will continue to be a leading model for co-operation and respect between different communities.” |
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13/04/08 FOL reader shares “Basra Battles: Barely Half the Story” By Ramzy Baroud: “News analysts concluded that the strength of the 'criminal gangs' was underestimated, thus someone had to be blamed.” http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=13686 |
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13/04/08 Recommended reading by Ben White of The Guardian--“The other evangelicals” : “To be an American evangelical has become synonymous with pro-Israel politics, but alternative voices are gaining prominence. . . . there is now an increasingly confident and eloquent alternative emerging from evangelicals who are challenging the Christian Zionists with a biblical vision of justice for both Israelis and Palestinians. Despite lacking the resources of their self-confident, flag-waving co-religionists, incremental and discernible progress is being made.” |
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17/04/08 FOL member shares “The Myth of U.S. Cultural, Religious, Political, and Social Superiority Manifest Destiny - 21st Century Style”, by Kristina M. Gronquist: “This ‘remaking Iraq’ project isn't genuinely guided by the true lofty goal of implementing democracy. Instead, its focus is synchronizing Middle Eastern social and cultural values with Western capitalist values, because that will better facilitate a global world order that revolves around the U.S. economic interests of elites. Fast food joints on every corner, hotel chains, and big box stores offering lousy wages and products may be the American dream, but they are many a Muslim's nightmare.” |
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17/04/08 FOL reader shares excellent article: Shame on Arab petrodollars By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem
“Is Arab oil more precious than Arab blood? This is a question that many Palestinians are asking these days in light of the oil-rich Arab states’ reluctance to help the Palestinians withstand the most ferocious onslaught ever being waged by Zionism against the Palestinian people’s very existence. . . . Perhaps the real problem has more to do with their inability and less with their willingness and inclination. But this is no excuse at all. In fact, it is an excuse that is more obscene than a sin, because then surrendering the national will to a foreign master borders on national and religious apostasy.” |
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17/04/08 Recommended Reading: “Hizbullah's guns are a symptom, not a cause, of what ails Lebanon” Lebanon Daily Star Editorial: “No such doubts obtain, though, when it comes to explaining why Hizbullah came into existence: That process was the direct result of Israeli aggression. Today the party serves a far wider variety of social, political and economic purposes, but it was born of a refusal to acquiesce in Israel's continual abuse and bullying of this country. The history matters more than anything else because solving a problem requires an understanding of cause and effect - and because the historical behavior that created the situation has not changed”. |
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20/04/08 Cat’s Dream recommends the following reads in the on-going battle to decide just how many Iraqis and how many people stuck in Iraq at the wrong time and how many people invading and occupying Iraq have been killed since the US-led invasion of 2003. Were they civilian, military, militia, militia supporters, innocent bystanders? Were they killed by their own kind or by the ubiquitous “other”? Were they killed in the run up to the invasion or after the invasion? Were the mass graves filled by pre-or post-invasion monsters?
In the end there is one simple answer in the numbers game: too many. It is the manipulation of numbers that is the most telling, not the numbers themselves. And until we deal honestly with the underlying issue of why, then there will continue to be far too many bodies to count.
Iraq: the Human Cost |
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20/04/08 American Hegemony Is Not Guaranteed by Paul Craig Roberts former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal “The moral hypocrisy of US politicians is unrivaled. McCain says that if he were president he would not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because China has killed and injured 100 Tibetans who protested Tibet’s occupation by China. Meanwhile the Iraqi toll of the American occupation is one million dead and four million displaced. That comes to 20% of the Iraqi population. At what point does the US occupation of Iraq graduate from a war crime to genocide? . . . Why does the US assume that only it can initiate aggression, boycotts, freezes on financial assets of other countries and bans on foreign banks from participation in the international banking system? If the rest of the world were to tire of American aggression or to develop a moral conscience, it would be easy to organize a boycott of America and to ban US banks from participating in the international banking system. Such a boycott would be especially effective at the present time with the balance sheets of US banks impaired by subprime derivatives and the US government dependent on foreign loans in order to finance its day-to-day activities. Sooner or later it will occur to other countries that putting up with America is a habit that they don’t need to continue.” |
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20/04/08 FOL reader comments “brilliant!” Collective Punishment Breeds Collective Rage by Seth Freedman: “But beyond the extremists there exists a majority of Palestinians who couldn't give a damn about the ethnicity of those oppressing them, they just care about the oppression itself.” |
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20/04/08 FOL reader comments: “What an immature way to handle a difference of opinion! Isn’t the whole idea of a UN meeting meant to be talking out a conflict? How can they address the issues with their hands over their ears??” UN walkout over Gaza 'Nazi' remarks “The US, Britain, France and other members have walked out of a closed meeting of the UN Security Council after Libya compared the situation in Gaza to Nazi concentration camps in World War II. Diplomats said France's UN ambassador walked out, followed by his Western colleagues, after the Libyan envoy made the remarks during a debate on Gaza.” |
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Why is Lebanon special to you? Must Lebanon live in conflict? Where do we go from here? Is there a particular news story that has moved you, irritated you, made you scream or made you cheer? Email Friends of Lebanon and we'll share your thoughts. This section will offer a variety of opinions. This is a forum for public discussion and should not be confused with the stated goals of the Friends of Lebanon organisation (please refer to our section About Us). Although we may refer to other websites, we can not take any responsibility for external sites. |