02 Diplomacy – Page 14 – Public Intelligence Blog

FYI … Another excellent report by Patrick Seale.

by Patrick Seale

Agence Global 25 Dec 2012

Many Kurds have come to believe that the present prolonged turmoil in the Middle East — in Syria and Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in Iran and Turkey — is giving them their best chance of self-determination in modern times. They are determined to seize it. It could be that the map of the region is being redrawn before our eyes.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota: This is a no-brainer for anyone with intelligence and integrity. The artificial boundaries imposed by centuries of empire are collapsing, in part because they are unaffordable to maintain, in part because Epoch B has begun and the world is reverting to the pre-empire eras where indigenous peoples in close harmony with nature established natural boundaries over the course of centuries. The US Government, nominally led in foreign affairs by the Department of State, is ignorant and arrogant. It has the temerity to believe that it can a) know better and b) impose its ignorant arrogant will on others. Those days are over. What we should be doing is striving to offer all dictators an exit strategy as Ambassador Mark Palmer (our choice for Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy) has been recommending, getting serious about self-determination, and butting out of the internal affairs of others.

See Also:

Mark Palmer, Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025 (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005)

Philip Allott, The Health of Nations: Society and Law beyond the State (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

2012/12/232012/12/23

Gordon Duff: Honoring Chuck Hagel, Fed Up with Zionist Meddling in US Affairs

02 Diplomacy, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, 11 Society, 12 Water, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Peace Intelligence

Americans fed up with Israeli meddling in US domestic affairs

By Gordon Duff and Press TV
—
”Real or not, Netanyahu feels Israel has been abandoned by the US. Some Americans, I am certainly one of these, Hagel is one also as is Chairman of the JCOS, Martin Dempsey, see Israel as interfering in domestic affairs, American elections and an irresponsible “actor” in the Middle East.”
—
Senator Chuck Hagel (ret), a republican from Nebraska, is expected to be nominated by President Obama to the vital post of Secretary of Defense, taking the place of Leon Panetta.

Hagel is the only GOP senator to have stood up to the Israel/AIPAC lobby, the only senator to question sanctions against Iran and a rare and independent voice that is needed to bring Pentagon “adventurism” to an end.

However, Hagel is now under attack and stands accused of “anti-Semitism,” this time by infamous neocon Bill Kristol.

Read rest of post.

Continue reading “Gordon Duff: Honoring Chuck Hagel, Fed Up with Zionist Meddling in US Affairs”

2012/12/022012/12/03

Eagle: UK France May Pull Ambassadors from Israel Over Illegal Settlement Expansion — What Is USA Doing? NOTHING!

02 Diplomacy, 08 Wild Cards

Not being reported in US media…

UK, France may pull out envoys from Israel over settlement construction – reports

France and Britain are reportedly considering moves against Israel over Tel Aviv’s decision to expand settlement construction in occupied territories, diplomats told an Israeli newspaper. This may include recalling ambassadors for the first time.

This comes as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the construction of thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the area known as E1, between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem – a step widely seen as retaliation for recognition of Palestine as non-member state by the United Nations.

“This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat told Haaretz daily.

The three European diplomats who spoke to the paper indicated that London and Paris were coordinating their moves against Israel, and have discussed the extraordinary step of recalling their ambassadors for consultations. The action, whatever it may be, could be implemented in the next few days.

“London is furious about the E1 decision,” one of the diplomats said.

The UN General Assembly has voted to upgrade Palestinians’ diplomatic status to a “non-member observer state,” thus implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state. This comes despite strong opposition from the US and Israel.

Phi Beta Iota: We missed the statehood aspect the first time Eagle posted on this.

2012/12/012012/12/01

DefDog: Just In, List of Countries Voting Against Palestine

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Peace Intelligence

Abstained:

Albania, Andorra, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Estonia, Fiji, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malawi, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Korea, Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, United Kingdom, and Vanuatu.

Voted against the resolution:

Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Panama, and the United States.

2012/11/172012/11/17

Chuck Spinny: USA & Israel, Extrajudicial Killing

02 Diplomacy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, Officers Call

Obama's kill list policy compels US support for Israeli attacks on Gaza

The US was once part of the international consensus against extra-judicial assassinations. Now it is a leader in that tactic.

Glenn Greenwald. guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 November 2012 13.23 EST

Israel‘s escalating air attacks on Gaza follow the depressingly familiar pattern that shapes this conflict. Overwhelming Israeli force slaughters innocent Palestinians, including children, which is preceded (and followed) by far more limited rocket attacks into Israel which kill a much smaller number, rocket attacks which are triggered by various forms of Israeli provocations — all of which, most crucially, takes place in the context of Israel's 45-year-old brutal occupation of the Palestinians (and, despite a “withdrawal” of troops, that includes Gaza, over which Israel continues to exercise extensive dominion). The debates over these episodes then follow an equally familiar pattern, strictly adhering to a decades-old script that, by design at this point, goes nowhere.

Meanwhile, most US media outlets are petrified of straying too far from pro-Israel orthodoxies. Time's Middle East correspondent Rania Abouzeid noted this morning on Twitter the typical template: “Just read report in major US paper about Gaza/Israel that put Israeli dead in 1st sentence. Palestinian in 6th paragraph.” Or just consider the BBC's headline. Worse, this morning's New York Times editorial self-consciously drapes itself with pro-Israel caveats and completely ignores the extensive civilian deaths in Gaza before identifying this as one of the only flaws it could find with the lethal Israeli assault: “The action also threatens to divert attention from what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly described as Israel's biggest security threat: Iran's nuclear program.”

Continue reading “Chuck Spinny: USA & Israel, Extrajudicial Killing”

2012/11/122012/11/12

Chuck Spinney: Break Syria, Mali, Niger? Do We Really Want to Keep Making a Costly Mess?

02 Diplomacy, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society

NOVEMBER 12, 2012

An Era of Conflicts

The New Political Map of the Middle East

by PATRICK COCKBURN, Counterpunch

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/12/the-new-political-map-of-the-middle-east/

President Obama is lucky in his opponents, particularly when it comes to explaining why America’s influence is waning in the Middle East. The issue was hardly mentioned in the election, aside from a botched attempt by Mitt Romney to blame the administration for the death of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and for the burning of the US consulate in Benghazi.

Romney soon steered away from his initial posture of attacking Obama for “apologising for America” and failing to assert US power. He recognised that the one thing the US electorate does not want is another war in the Middle East. By beating the patriotic drum too hard, Romney risked voters remembering that it was the Republicans who, not so long ago, led them into failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On a more prosaic level, Romney may have sensed he would be vulnerable on topics he knew nothing about.

This near immunity from effective criticism during the campaign does not mean that Obama is not facing dangers across the region with which he has previously failed to grapple successfully.

Afghanistan is a good example. The “surge”, which preoccupied the White House when Obama first took office in 2009, led to an extra 33,000 soldiers being sent to Afghanistan, where they wholly failed to eliminate the Taliban. The remaining 112,000 Nato troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2014, bringing to an end one of the more disastrously unproductive wars in American history. The US and its allies are supposedly training up Afghan security forces to take their place, but so many American and British soldiers have been killed by Afghan soldiers and police that the transition is turning into a debacle.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Break Syria, Mali, Niger? Do We Really Want to Keep Making a Costly Mess?”

2012/09/252012/09/25

Penguin: Bandi Mbubi at TED – Demand a Fair Trade Cell Phone

02 Diplomacy, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Government, IO Deeds of War, Liberation Technology

Your mobile phone, computer and game console have a bloody past — tied to tantalum mining, which funds the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Drawing on his personal story, activist and refugee Bandi Mbubi gives a stirring call to action. (Filmed at TEDxExeter.) Bandi Mbubi would like to make sure that you are using a fair trade cell phone.

Bandi Mbubi grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, experiencing first hand the political unrest and oppression which have since worsened there. As a student activist, Bandi suffered persecution and fled the country, seeking political asylum in the U.K. But Mbubi has kept his home country on his radar, noting how the mining of tantalum — a mineral used in cell phones and computers — has fueled the ongoing war there in which 5 million have died.

While Mbubi sees the cell phone as an instrument of oppression for this reason, he knows that phones can also bring great freedom. And so he has formed CongoCalling.org, a campaign to inspire both the public and companies that make electronics to pay attention to how tantalum used in consumer electronics is mined and traded.

Mbubi is also the Director of the Manna Society, a center for the homeless in South London, and a Trustee of Church Action on Poverty.

TED Video (9:22)

Category: 02 Diplomacy

Chuck Spinney: Patrick Seale on The Kurds Seizing the Day