Category Archives: Global Politics

Disowned and forgotten: Russian soldiers in Ukraine | Crisis in Ukraine | DW.DE | 29.08.2014

Lev Schlosberg, representative of the deputy assembly for the Pskow district in northwest Russia, was the first to speak openly about secret burials of soldiers from the Pskower parachute division.

“The community must know what’s really happening. To my great regret, the civil authorities as well as the defense ministry are not telling the truth,” Schlosberg told DW. “There is enough evidence that regular Russian troops – disguised as units of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk – are taking part in the fighting in Ukraine.”

Valentina Melnikova of the Union of the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia, an organization which works to exposes human rights violations committed by the Russian military, spoke of an exceptionally high numbers of troops.

“By my estimate, between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers are taking part in the fighting in Ukraine,” Melnikovasaid. “That is my estimate – only the defense minister knows the exact number. There are parachutists and infantry. We’re not taking about mercenaries or volunteers, but regular soldiers.”

via Disowned and forgotten: Russian soldiers in Ukraine | Crisis in Ukraine | DW.DE | 29.08.2014.

No class, no shame for stealing property – just because they can! Israel approves Jewish yeshiva in heart of East Jerusalem | Maan News Agency

Israel’s Jerusalem municipality has approved plans to build a Jewish religious school in the heart of occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian activists and Israeli media said.

The Ohr Somayach yeshiva will occupy a nine-story building in the middle of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Haaretz reported.

The plan was reportedly approved six months ago by Jerusalem’s Municipal Planning and Building Committee and given the go ahead on Wednesday.

A Ma’an reporter said the building will occupy 1,900 square meters and have three underground floors.

The religious school will be located between the al-Hayat Medical Center and the Nasif gas station.

Activist and Sheikh Jarrah resident Salih Diab told Ma’an that the building of a Jewish religious school, and the implementation of evacuation orders against Palestinian residents, will turn Sheikh Jarrah into a “Jewish neighborhood.”

The land was reportedly confiscated in the 1980s under Israel’s Absentee Property Law of 1950, which had been used as a tool to annex Palestinian land.

A 2013 report prepared by the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem said that the law has been used extensively in Jerusalem to confiscate property and land owned by West Bank Palestinians, who were technically considered “absentee” after Israel unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem.

via Israel approves Jewish yeshiva in heart of East Jerusalem | Maan News Agency.

Simple – Wannabe Caliph Erdogan is anti-educated professional females! Why are pro-AKP Twitter users targeting female journalists? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Zaman also for the first time wrote openly about the “rape and murder” threats female journalists Melis Alphan, Sirin Payzin, Selin Girit, Tugce Tatari, Banu Guven, Nuray Mert and Ece Temelkuran received during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Professor Yasemin Inceoglu at the Galatasaray University communication department told Al-Monitor, “All these journalists are professionals. The attacks against them are nothing but an open threat to silence those few critical minds in the media. I certainly don’t understand the silence of some other female journalists — playing the three monkeys, when their colleagues are subject of such a lynching campaign.”

Although there are campaigns in support of these female journalists, it is something else to stand up against a strong government and a crowd backed and encouraged by this government. “We did not file a lawsuit against those threats because of the sensitive environment back then,” Karan told Al-Monitor. “And I have no knowledge that our security enforcement did anything against it, even when these threats were made public.”

The government’s pressure cost both Zaman and Karan their jobs at the Haberturk daily newspaper, with Zaman now writing for Taraf and Karan for Cumhuriyet. Karan said, “I did not lose the job after one incident, but Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu literally lashed out at me in three separate live TV interviews. I remember well the one in December 2011 when I asked him — based on the information I was receiving from my sources inside Syria — about the Salafist groups that were spreading fear and [their activities] being no less of a threat than those of [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad. He said then that they know Syria street by street, quarter by quarter, while denying the Salafist threat and entirely blaming Assad. Today, we know the result.”

Karan told Al-Monitor that Davutoglu’s appointment as prime minister means nothing but the continuation of pressure on the media. “As long as journalists talk about what the government does in a positive light, there is no problem. Their policies are not supposed to be questioned. Therefore, media freedom is going to shrink even further, if this situation continues.”

via Why are pro-AKP Twitter users targeting female journalists? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Let There Be Peace – Donna Summer – YouTube

Let There Be Peace – Donna Summer – YouTube.

Let There Be Peace

Someone let communication out the door
Someone decided it’s worth fighting for
Why haven’t we learned by what we’ve done before?
Don’t you know history’s keeping score?
For every boy and every girl
Let there be love
All over the world
For everyone
Under the sun…
Let there be peace on earth
Let every voice be heard
Let there be peace on earth
Brother to brother
‘Til it’s felt around the world
There’s only one world in which we all must live
Heaven show us how to forgive
And on that marble wall which holds a million names
Generations of dreams gone down in flames
Isn’t, isn’t it a shame?
For every boy and every girl
Under the sun…
Let there be peace on earth
(Why don’t you try just a little harder?)
Let every voice be heard
(My brother)
Let there be peace on earth
(Oh, if we could just get it together)
‘Til it’s felt around the world
We’re running out of time
As our leaders roll the dice
The human spirit cries
It’s a precious, precious sacrifice
Let there be peace on earth
Let every voice be heard
Let there be peace on earth
‘Til it’s felt around the world 

Witness in Gaza: Daughter of Leveled Building’s Owner Tells Us Her Story · Global Voices

“They never gave any reason. The IDF is saying that there was a Hamas operations room in the building. That is a lie. There is a resident on the rooftop who is pro-Hamas, but the building did not host any Hamas Operations Room. In fact, most of the residents that lived in the building are from Fatah.

And even if we accepted their story that there was an apartment used by Hamas, why would they bomb and bring down the whole building? The IDF never brought down civilian buildings simply because it hosted Hamas members. We thought that the IDF only targeted specific targets rather than whole buildings. Whatever reason they made up or will make up would never justify destroying a building housing 44 families. They are now all homeless.”

via Witness in Gaza: Daughter of Leveled Building’s Owner Tells Us Her Story · Global Voices.

British jihadists ‘should be stripped of citizenship’, says David Davis | World | The Guardian

David Davis, the senior Conservative backbencher, has mocked the Home Office’s latest plans to tackle Islamist extremists in Britain and demanded far tougher penalties for people travelling abroad to fight with Islamic State (Isis).

In an article in the Mail on Sunday, he said British jihadists should be treated as traitors and that they should be stripped of their citizenship – even when this might be against international law.

via British jihadists ‘should be stripped of citizenship’, says David Davis | World | The Guardian.

Over 300 Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants Condemn Israel’s ‘Massacre of Palestinians in Gaza’ · Global Voices

As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine. We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and Western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world.

We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached a fever-pitch. In Israel, politicians and pundits in The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia.

Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these pages to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of more than 2,000 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children. Nothing can justify bombing UN shelters, homes, hospitals and universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water.

We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We call for an immediate end to the siege against and blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again” must mean NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!

via Over 300 Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants Condemn Israel’s ‘Massacre of Palestinians in Gaza’ · Global Voices.

AFA Jumps the Shark: ‘ALS Challenge Kills Babies’ | Hatewatch

AFA spokesperson Bryan Fischer has been leading the way. In recent weeks on his radio program, Fischer has:

Declared it will be “the end of America” if Congress does not impeach President Obama.

Denounced anyone who uses the word “racist,” then insisted that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are “racists.”

Sided with radical Islamists in Iraq in calling Obama a “devil worshiper.”

Suggested on Twitter that accepting homosexuality leads to people to commit acts of necrophilia.

Said that LGBT people are inherently disqualified from holding public office.

Written an article in which he wonders if Robin Williams will go to heaven and insults Williams’s mother’s belief system (she was a Christian Scientist, Fischer says, and that is “a counterfeit form of religion that is neither Christian nor scientific”)

via AFA Jumps the Shark: ‘ALS Challenge Kills Babies’ | Hatewatch.

Bibi and Hamas – working together to preserve each other? Did Bibi choose to preserve Hamas to avoid talks with Abbas? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Hasson:  The starting point in this claim is that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are like connected vessels, and it is impossible to separate them as part of the solution. Facing this, there are three approaches in Israeli politics on the conflict with the Palestinians: the faith-based approach of [Economy and Trade Minister Naftali] Bennett and his friends; the second approach, of the defense minister and maybe also the prime minister, is that the conflict with the Palestinians must be managed [instead of striving to resolve it]; and the third approach is that we must devise a solution to the conflict.

When I take a closer look at what is happening now, I can only conclude that the diplomatic approach that determined the manner and pace of our operational activity during Operation Protective Edge was the one that says that this conflict has no solution and must be managed instead, so we cannot push anything to the edge. In other words, we mustn’t push Hamas too far into a corner and improve Mahmoud Abbas’ standing, because if he gets stronger, we will eventually have to pay him back in diplomatic currency, a currency that we are not willing to lay out.

via Did Bibi choose to preserve Hamas to avoid talks with Abbas? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.