How did genocide denial become a doctrine of the internationalist left?

by News Sources 05.23.2012

George Monbiot writes: The term genocide conjures up attempts to kill an entire people: the German slaughter of the Jews or the Herero, the Turkish slaughter of the Armenians, the near-extermination of the Native Americans. But the identity of the crime does not depend on its scale or success: genocide means “acts committed with intent [...]

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America’s permanent state of war

by News Sources 05.23.2012

Peter Maass writes: The phrase “war on terror” is rarely heard these days. Our fight in Iraq ended last year with the pullout of the remaining troops. Combat forces are set to be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014, and their fade-away has been highlighted by the fact that more private contractors are getting killed in [...]

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Hizbollah appeals for calm after Syria kidnapping

by News Sources 05.23.2012

The Associated Press reports: The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hizbollah has appealed for calm after people blocked roads and burned tires in Beirut to protest the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese Shiites in neighboring Syria. Tuesday’s abductions in Syria’s northern Aleppo province threatened to ignite dangerous sectarian tensions and fueled fears that Lebanon is [...]

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Palestinian writer says Syrian detention facilities are ‘human slaughterhouses’

by News Sources 05.22.2012

The Associated Press reports: A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as “human slaughterhouses,” saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night. Salameh Kaileh, 56, was arrested April 24 on suspicion of printing leaflets calling [...]

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Video: Punishable by death

by News Sources 05.22.2012

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World not doing enough for Syria, says Turkey’s president

by News Sources 05.22.2012

AFP reports: The international community is not doing enough to help resolve the Syrian crisis, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday as he urged an orderly transition to democracy. “The international community as whole has so far performed poorly in providing an effective response to the crisis at hand,” Gul said in a public address [...]

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Drones, missiles and gunships: Welcome to the 2012 London Olympics

by News Sources 05.22.2012

Dave Zirin writes: As many as 48,000 security forces. 13,500 troops. Surface-to-air missiles stationed on top of residential apartment buildings. A sonic weapon that disperses crowds by creating “head-splitting pain.” Unmanned drones peering down from the skies. A safe zone, cordoned off by an 18-kilometre electrified fence, ringed with trained agents and 55 teams of [...]

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Video: U.S. moves toward delisting MEK as ‘terrorist’ group

by News Sources 05.22.2012

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Obama’s Afghanistan problem: Neither Karzai nor the Taliban like the ‘reconciliation’ script

by News Sources 05.22.2012

Tony Karon writes: President Barack Obama huddled with President Hamid Karzai in Chicago on Sunday, urging Afghanistan’s leader to accelerate negotiations with the Taliban over a political solution to the longest war in America’s history. But the prospect for Karzai negotiating successfully with the insurgents is clouded by a question raised by Josef Stalin, on [...]

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Video: Thousands of Israelis celebrate occupation of East Jerusalem

by News Sources 05.22.2012

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Syrian rebels cling to bullets and hope

by News Sources 05.22.2012

The Guardian reports: In the shadow of the monolith they call the Corner Mountain, Firas Abu Hamza was carefully counting his most prized possessions. He removed a dirty sock from his camouflage vest and spilled its contents, 13 old bullets, on to the fire-scorched concrete in front of him. “I’ll use them if I have [...]

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Video: Palestinians flee Syria for Jordan

by News Sources 05.22.2012

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Hellman and Kramer: How much does Washington spend on “defense”?

by TomDispatch 05.22.2012

As the country’s big wars on the Eurasian continent wind down, American war-making and war preparations fly ever more regularly under the radar.  There has, for instance, been much discussion about the Obama administration’s policy “pivot” to Asia — the only warlike act in the region so far has, however, been a little noted drone [...]

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Inside the NATO summit bubble

by News Sources 05.22.2012

Michael Hastings writes: On Sunday morning, I picked up my official NATO Summit press credentials, went through an extensive security check from my hotel (dogs, metal detectors, Secret Service, all in the The Hyatt Regency, where most of the NATO media is staying) and boarded a bus to McCormack Place, the massive conference center where [...]

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Lebanese have no appetite for another civil war

by News Sources 05.22.2012

Robert Fisk writes: There was gunfire at Sheikh Ahmed Abdul-Wahid’s funeral in northern Lebanon yesterday, a promise from the Lebanese army that they will investigate his killing – by a soldier – on Sunday, and a heap of appeals for calm from both the military and the government. But, and here’s the worrying factor, not [...]

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Afghanistan has poetry in its soul

by News Sources 05.22.2012

Reza Mohammadi writes: When the Taliban’s poetry book was published in the UK this month, many found it very strange indeed, but someone who understands the culture and lifestyle of Afghans knows how important poetry is to Afghans. On a visit to Jalalabad during the orange flower blossom celebration, I have felt the power of [...]

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Obama has made killing easy

by News Sources 05.21.2012

White House counterterror chief John Brennan and his team have implemented a new process through which they decide who they want to kill. In describing Brennan’s arrangement to the Associated Press, the officials provided the first detailed description of the military’s previous review process that set a schedule for killing or capturing terror leaders around [...]

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How America’s death penalty murders innocents

by News Sources 05.21.2012

David A Love writes: The US criminal justice system is a broken machine that wrongfully convicts innocent people, sentencing thousands of people to prison or to death for the crimes of others, as a new study reveals. The University of Michigan law school and Northwestern University have compiled a new National Registry of Exonerations – [...]

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Video: ‘No NATO, no war’

by News Sources 05.21.2012

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U.S. war veterans tossing medals back at NATO was a heroic act

by News Sources 05.21.2012

Bernard Harcourt writes: “No amount of medals, ribbons, or flags can cover the amount of human suffering caused by this war.” “I have only one word, and it is shame.” “This is for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.” “Mostly, I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all of you. I am sorry…” In the shadow of [...]

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NATO talks security and peace, Chicago has neither

by News Sources 05.21.2012

Gary Younge writes: On Friday morning in Brighton Park, a neighbourhood in southwest Chicago, around half a dozen Latina volunteers in luminous bibs patrolled the streets around Davis Elementary school. The school sits in the crossfire of three gangs; the Kings, the 2/6s and the SDs (Satan’s Disciples). The trees and walls nearby are peppered [...]

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In Yemen, as drones track targets, Twitter tracks drones

by News Sources 05.21.2012

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports: Though the hour was late, Yemen’s social media was still very much awake. A US drone’s missiles had just slammed into a convoy of vehicles in a remote part of Yemen, killing three alleged militants. The attack – like all other US drone strikes outside warzones – was supposed [...]

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Video: BP coverup, coverup

by News Sources 05.21.2012

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Lebanon boils after sheikh killing

by News Sources 05.21.2012

The Daily Star reports: Fears grew over the stability of north Lebanon Sunday after soldiers shot dead a prominent anti-Assad Muslim preacher and a companion at a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Akkar, triggering a wave of anger in several parts of the country. The gravity of the incident, which quickly led to the Army withdrawing [...]

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