Saturday, October 20, 2012
12-10-20 Gaza-bound ship Estelle intercepted by Israeli forces
Gaza-bound ship Estelle intercepted by Israeli forces
Israeli marines board the Estelle and direct it to port of Ashdod as 30 activists on board attempt to break Gaza blockade
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The Estelle set sail from Naples two weeks ago intending to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli forces have intercepted a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists seeking to breach the naval blockade on Gaza.
12-10-20 Dispatch from Tel-Aviv: Kikar HaBimah - most beautiful public space in Israel
Tel-Aviv, October 19 - the square is based on modern foundation, with a unique combination of Middle-Eastern and Japanes motives, particularly in the sunk garden, on the backdrop of 1960s apartment buildings. In the front of the Square, facing Rothschild Avenue, there are two blights (not shown in the photographs). The pretentious, rusty one would take a civil war to have removed...
The square is paved, and people sit on the floor in groups, just as seen in Barcelona. There were a lot more people in the square than shown in the pics, but Israelis are apprehensive about being photgraphed, and may react in a rather agressive manner, when they believe that they were photographed, even if they were not. Teen-age boy go skate boarding. Unique to Israel - a group of teen-age girls were showing off in gymnastic somersaults, including one girl in a stylish tutu/mini skirt.
The gardening is the centerpiece of the square. In the sunk garden groups of people sit and talk, some picnic. A group of 30 year olds were drinking wine in wine glasses! The classic-pop soft music, pumped from under the Japanese style wooden benches surrounding the garden was a bit much for me, but then again, I may be in the minority in such opinion. The design of the garden combines a Japanese look, particularly in the part that ends with a beautiful sandbox for kids to play in. The center appears more along the design of the Middle-Easter formal garden and a Bustan. The collection of plants near the sandbox appears like it could come for a beachfront house, not far from here, some 100 years ago. The garden appears manicured, but overall, my guess is that it is relatively low maintanence and low on watering needs.
The other extreme that comes to mind is probably the formal garden in the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Plants are placed there with no match at all to the sun or water conditions. Accordingly, the Getty garden has a full time curator, which constantly replaces the plants on display, as they die out... The Getty is not a public space either, and cynics say that the whole museum was built as a venue for private cocktail parties.
The design and atmosphere in Kikar HaBimah, which has been renovated a number of times over the years, stands in stark contrast with public spaces in Jerusalem, of the same vinage.
12-10-20 Hello World!
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Friday, October 19, 2012
12-10-20 The US is "slipping closer to a police state"... WRONG! it is already there - the case of Alexa O'Brien and NDAA
A letter to my family and friends about the NDAA and me.
Dear friends and family,
I am reassured to know that you have my back, and that you have done everything to prevent the US Government fromthreatening to detain me indefinitely without charge for my work as a journalist and citizen.
I am not one for cultivating an exaggerated sense of self-importance. I think it takes more character and courage to live in reality. Anybody who knows me personally, knows that if this can happen to me, it can and will happen to you or someone you know.
Since January 2011, I have covered the WikiLeaks release of US State Department Cables, JTF memoranda known as the 'GTMO files', and revolutions across Egypt, Bahrain, Iran, and Yemen, as well as the legal proceedings against Bradley Manning and the US investigation into WikiLeaks. I have interviewed a preeminent US foreign policy expert on the Cambodia cables, and published hours of interviews with former GTMO guards, detainees, defense lawyers, and human rights activists, as well as WikiLeaks media partners: Andy Worthington, a GTMO historian and author, and Atanas Tchobanov, the Balkanleaks' spokesman and co-editor of Bivol.bg.
Why do I do this work? Because it moves me deeply. Because I am compelled to learn and to understand. The positive results of some of my work also grants me a sense of common purpose in service to my fellow man/woman.
When the US Government said in Federal Court that they would not guarantee that I would not be indefinitely detained without charge under Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act FY2012 for articles I had written on the 'War on Terror', you set aside partisanship. You realized that what is as stake is more than an election. What was at stake is the safety of your friend, your daughter, a fellow citizen or journalist, as well as this nation and people across the globe. The NDAA, after all, was passed with bi-partisan support, and signed into law by President Obama.
Court: These people have real things they are saying. These are not speculative or hypotheticals. These are people who have actually written articles that we have here. [The Court then held up the articles written by O'Brien and marked as Court Ex. 3.] We are trying to figure out, are these articles going to subject Ms. O'Brien to risk under § 1021? . . . .Government: Again, I'm not authorized to make specific representations regarding specific people. I'm saying that 'associated forces' cannot extend to groups that are not armed groups at all.Court: So we don't know about the articles, it depends?Government: Maybe they are an armed group.
Judge Forrest wrote:
"O'Brien has written a series of articles already--some of which relate to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or "associated forces" no matter how defined. The Government was unwilling to state at the hearing that O'Brien would not be detained under § 1021 for her expressive conduct in regard to those articles. Moreover, O'Brien testified that she has withheld at least two articles from publication because of her concerns regarding the potential for her expressive conduct in those articles to render her a "covered person" under §1021 and thereby subject her to military detention."
Section 1021 of the NDAA FY2012 allows for the indefinite detention without charges or trial of anyone, including American citizens, who are deemed by the US Government to be terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. The institutions of civil society - the press and civic square - are now what our military terms an information environment in a global theater of war. The 'War on Terror', our military says, is fought with intelligence and information. And, the US Government has already detained journalists at Guantanamo Bay under the AUMF seeking to gain intelligence on media organizations. The President has already played a personal role in the imprisonment of a journalistcovering the US 'War on Terror' in Yemen.
When Government contractors falsely linked a group, which I helped found - whose only purpose is to support campaign finance reform in the United States - to Al Qaeda, you were outraged.
When I was sent messages by a Government contractor saying that I was now associated with Al Qaeda and so called 'cyber-terrorists', you spoke out.
When emails revealed that other private security contractors with ties to the US Government were "specifically asked to connect" the group that I helped found "to any Saudi or other fundamentalist Islamic movements," you took action.
When US Department of Homeland Security bulletins declared in error that a group that I helped found was linked to so called 'cyber-terrorists', you contacted your representative and presidential candidate and expressed that their support of Section 1021 of the NDAA FY2012 had the consequence of your lack of support for their candidacy.
I am especially grateful to those individuals, including a fellow journalist, who warned me privately that there were other unpublished US Government documents and that US Government agents were focusing their sights on me. They cautioned me to take special care. They understood the consequences for me.
Citizenship is a public office, but who among us can risk engaging in the body politic authentically, when we have families to provide for? Who can risk publishing about the workings of Government, our alliances, and wars when you might end up in my position?
No matter what your party affiliation, Section 1021 of the NDAA FY 2012 violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the US constitution, the principles that safeguard the independence of our republic and any real freedom or lasting security for our citizens and all peoples.
If this could happen to someone like me, it can and will happen to someone like you or someone you know. None of us can afford that risk. Do something now.
Best regards,
Alexa O'Brien
12-10-19 Gaza blockade
Chomsky in first visit to Gaza: End the blockade
The Jewish-American intellectual and staunch critic of Israel is in Gaza to attend a conference at Gaza's Islamic University over the weekend.
READ MORE:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/chomsky-in-first-visit-to-gaza-end-the-blockade.premium-1.470901
By
Ann Wright
Israeli Envoy calls "Estelle" a Provocation While 7 Parliamentarians Sail to Break the Blockade of Gaza
Israeli Envoy calls "Estelle" a Provocation While 7 Parliamentarians Sail to Break the Blockade of Gaza
Seven
parliamentarians from five European countries are on sailing on the sloop
"Estelle" to break the Israeli Blockade of Gaza. Among the 20+ passengers are
parliamentarians from Greece, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and a retired
parliamentarian from Canada. The "Estelle" is expected to reach Gaza by this
weekend.
READ MORE:
12-10-19 US body politic, left right and center, is getting ready for a civil war...
The latest:
Watching what's going on in America today is like reliving the years preceding the destructive Civil War of the 1860's in which the seething anger and great dissension between opposing factions finally reached a boiling point and erupted into extreme violence. It's as if that dissension that tore America apart became embedded in this nation's psyche and has now resurfaced in this society.
READ MORE:
12-10-19 Hello World!
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
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