soc.culture.usa
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Today's topics:
* Israel's Uber-Wardens Enforce Apartheid Hell - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/56fc7240e01bbdf9
* Israeli Ethnic Cleansing News Roundup - Apr 12, 2006 - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/ec7738dd433ff813
* Cuba Signs Contract to Purchase Russian Planes - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/35a7b6516306a366
* British MP Calls for Sanctions Against Israel - 3 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/37724ea584282821
* Iran shows backdrop of 'Peaceful Doves' as it Announces NUCLEAR BREAKTHROUGH.
..but I got a better picture! - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/c05483fded84e919
* Iran is in deep trouble, in my opinion ... Read this. - 2 messages, 2
authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7d656b885b3155ff
* Saddam's WMDs - the fog slowly clears - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7377fac381d05f51
* Should India and the rest of Far East Asia thank Japan for WWII? Re: Does
Japan deserve a security council seat? - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/940310531e17a57a
* This Land is Their Land, and We Are the Illegal Aliens - 1 messages, 1
author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6f24ab2b39ff1401
* Iran has A Nuke - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/958f1b76e584a34e
* NO, HE IS BUT PART OF A CANCEROUS GROWTH IN WASHINGTON Re: Rumsfeld: Still
Stubborn, Still Wrong on Iraq policy - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4e0026008a838c72
* CONGRATULATIONS, IRAN !!! - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/ad7ddbf0b7bcdd1a
* If Moses can devided the river, why can he find his way to the promise land -
1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/cf06912950880e6c
* Dos enemigos irreconciliables se enfrentaron hace cuatro siglos en una de
las batallas más importantes de la historia moderna. - 3 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/d470b18dfde4cf10
* The Mighty Cheney Has Struck Out - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6831ffb8e90b7180
* Para que Cuba entre de nuevo en la órbita de la democracia representativa,
habrá que desmantelar y liquidar el régimen que la sojuzga y degrada. - 1
messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/476999cb404c6613
* "We don't need no stinking visas!" - 2 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6e1cdf6f8f5e1751
* Something smells fishy about United flight 93... - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6d1da86e724fee51
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TOPIC: Israel's Uber-Wardens Enforce Apartheid Hell
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/56fc7240e01bbdf9
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Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 12:51 am
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Israel's Uber-Wardens Enforce Apartheid Hell
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Haaretz - 12 April 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/705215.html
The uber-wardens
By Amira Hass
Two weeks ago, on Election Day, at 8 A.M., drivers wishing to leave Tul Karm
from the eastern exit (toward Anabta) discovered that their permits were
invalid. A soldier at the checkpoint, who prevented the passage of the
drivers, apologized: Today, leaving the city by car is permitted only to
residents of the three neighboring villages - Shufa, Safrin and Beit Lid, he
explained to Machsom Watch activists. "And in general, this is not a
checkpoint (through which the permits are meant to allow passage - A.H.),
but a barricade. And here there are no permits; here there are procedures."
Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation are imprisoned in a thicket
of physical, corporeal barriers of all types and sizes (checkpoints,
roadblocks, blockades, fences, walls, steel gates, roads prohibited to
traffic, dirt embankments, concrete cubes) and by a frequently updated
assortment of bans and limitations. There are permanent bans, to which
various periodic bans are supplemented, such as the aforementioned ban on
travel to Anabta. Even without recurrent nighttime raids by the army to
arrest wanted men, even without the shelling that fails to stop the firing
of Qassam rockets, life is completely disrupted.
The disruption of life and the bans are not reported as "news," because they
are the routine. And this routine erodes any hope for a humane future.
Gazan natives are not permitted to be in the West Bank. Palestinians,
including residents of Jericho, are not permitted to be in the Jordan Valley
(except for those with official addresses there). It is prohibited to drive
in a private car through the Abu Dis checkpoint (which divides the northern
and southern parts of the West Bank). It is forbidden to enter Nablus by
car. It is forbidden for Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem to enter
West Bank cities (except for Ramallah). Citizens of Arab states married to
Palestinians are prohibited from entering the West Bank.
The soldier at the checkpoint or behind the Civil Administration counter is
the last, least important, link in the thicket of restrictions and
limitations. The soldiers do not question the orders and bans, but they
didn't invent them. They are low-ranking jailors, and behind them is a
faceless battery of bureaucrats who enact regulations, constantly tweaking
methods of imprisonment and proscription.
The Israeli uber-wardens seem to have special fondness for meddling in
Palestinian family life, and not only when one of the spouses is an Israeli
citizen. Their agents in the Civil Administration prevented, for instance,
entry into the West Bank (not Israel) to the Turkish wife of a Palestinian
resident; to an individual whose relative died ("because the relative was
not a first-degree relative"); to a woman whose father-in-law died (a
relation that is not considered first-degree); to a father whose son had
taken ill (with the excuse that other family members had entered the West
Bank on tourist visas, and, according to records, had not left the West Bank
when their visas expired).
Natives of Gaza who live in the West Bank are 70 kilometers away from their
parents and siblings in Gaza; some have not seen each other for
five-to-eight years, since they have not received transit permits through
Israel. Jordan Valley residents may have relatives living 10 kilometers away
who are not allowed to visit them.
Planners of the separation fence have shown not only a weakness for the
available lands of the Palestinians, but also a weakness for separating
families. If the fence route now being proposed is approved, approximately
570,000 dunams (140,000 acres) of Palestinian land (approximately 10 percent
of the area of the West Bank) are expected to be wedged between the
separation fence and the Green Line. In other words, they would be
essentially annexed to Israel. Residents of the villages imprisoned behind
the separation fence have relatives in nearby villages.
One father in Azoun Atma, for instance, relates that his daughter in
Saniria, a neighboring village that's a few-minute walk away, is not
receiving a permit to visit him. Youths whose families own orchards on the
other side of the separation fence are not receiving permits to enter via
the gates of the fence and help their elderly grandfathers work the land.
Weddings, funerals, olive harvests and mass family events are celebrated -
thanks to the initiatives of the Israeli uber-wardens - via telephone,
e-mail or videocam, for those who have it.
One can only wonder what the planners of these separations are hoping to
achieve by forbidding a grandson to help his grandparents to work their land
or a woman to live with her husband, and decreeing that entire villages lose
their lands, that is, their futures. They are backed up by almost
across-the-board support for any measure they take, ostensibly in the name
of security.
They continue to invent prohibitions because there is no one raising a voice
against it. And they are responsible for not only seriously disrupting the
lives of Palestinians, but also implanting the jailor mentality in thousands
of Israeli young people, soldiers, clerks and policemen - an intoxicating
mentality of those who treat those weaker than they with impunity.
*
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TOPIC: Israeli Ethnic Cleansing News Roundup - Apr 12, 2006
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/ec7738dd433ff813
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 12:51 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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Israeli Ethnic Cleansing News Roundup - Apr 12, 2006
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
excerpted from Abunimah News - 12 April 2006
* Gaza families terrorized by 300 artillery shells a day (Guard)
* Israel bombs Fatah youth office in occupied Gaza (AFP)
* As world sits on hands, Israel intensifies Gaza bombardment (AFP)
* Occupier blockade stops salaries for Palestinian teachers (AFP)
* Olmert may appoint avowed Arab-hater as police minister (Ha)
* Annan's UN limits ties to occupied Palestinians (Ha)
***
The Guardian - 12 April 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1751874,00.html
Gaza families watch in awe and fear as Israelis pour in 300 shells a day
By Conal Urquhart in Beit Lahiya, Gaza
The Israeli government said yesterday it would continue its bombardment of
northern Gaza with an estimated 300 shells a day despite international
criticism over the death of a young girl. Shaul Mofaz, the defence minister
who is touring Israel's borders with Gaza, said: "As long as it's not quiet
here [in Israel], it won't be quiet there [in Gaza]."
Israeli forces have been firing shells close to Palestinian communities to
stop militants from firing rockets at Israeli communities. The army
continued to bombard the outskirts of Beit Lahiya yesterday, but Palestinian
militants fired their homemade missiles from different residential areas,
which they believe are safe from Israeli reprisals.
Kim Howells, the Foreign Office minister, condemned the killing of the girl,
Hadeel Ghabeen, whose home in Beit Lahiya was hit by two shells on Monday,
and asked the Israeli government to exercise maximum restraint.
"Israel has the right to defend itself, but any actions in the occupied
territories must be proportionate and in accordance with international law.
Equally, we urge the Palestinian Authority to take steps to halt all attacks
launched at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip," he said.
Ghabeen, believed to be aged between four and 12, was the 15th Palestinian
to be killed in Gaza since Friday in shell and air attacks. Israel has been
firing about 300 shells a day at Gaza at an estimated cost of more than
#125,000 a day, according to the Israeli media.
Palestinian militants have fired about 50 missiles at Israel in the past
month without causing serious injury.
Yesterday the residents of Al Nader towers, the highest point in northern
Gaza, were nervously watching the one-sided artillery duel. Israeli
artillery announced itself with a low thud in the east followed by the
overhead whistle of a shell.
People hunched their shoulders for protection but then saw an eruption of
dust in the valley half a mile below and to the west, followed by a noise
like a thunder clap. The Israelis were targeting a field between Beit Lahiya
and the sewage works.
Those watching admired the accuracy of the Israeli gunners as shell after
shell landed within metres of the last.
As groups of young men watched the spectacle, women put out washing and
trucks arrived to sell cucumbers and tomatoes for 5 shekels (60p) a box. The
vegetables are normally sold for export via Israel for 78 shekels (#10), but
when the goods terminal is closed they have to be sold at a price that
Gazans can afford.
Then a sudden scream emerged from behind the towers and a Palestinian rocket
headed towards Israel. Its vapour trail disappeared in seconds and it did
not seem to make its destination. The streets quickly cleared. No one had
seen who fired it but no one was going to wait for an Israeli response. A
Red Cross vehicle waited nearby for permission from the Israelis to see what
damage they had caused.
Abdel Rahim Ghanaim, 48, runs a shop at the edge of what is considered the
safe part of Beit Lahiya. He and his extended family have spent the past two
weeks sleeping outside their home in the hope that will protect them from
Israeli shells. Mr Ghanaim said: "We are not sleeping and during the day
there is no business. No one is passing here so no one is buying."
Said Judah, director of the Beit Lahiya Hospital, said that apart from
Monday, when the young girl was killed and 12 members of her family injured,
he had received about five minor casualties a day. "It is not like the days
of the Israeli incursions but it is very damaging for people
psychologically."
***
Israel targets Fatah offices in Gaza
Agence France Presse
12 April 2006
GAZA CITY, April 12 2006-- The Israeli military carried out an air strike
overnight on offices of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement in
Gaza City, causing damage but no injuries, security sources said Wednesday.
The missile hit the building, which houses a branch of Fatah's youth wing,
in the early hours in the centre of Gaza City, the sources said.
The Israeli military has been carrying out regular air raids and shelling of
Gaza in a bid to put an end to rocket attacks in recent days.
Many of the attacks are carried out by militants loyal to Fatah, such as
followers of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which claimed in a statement to
have fired two rockets towards Israel from southern Gaza on Wednesday.
***
Israel vows to intensify Gaza bombardments
Agence France Presse
11 April 2006
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel would intensify its bombardments of
Gaza, as Palestinian premier Ismail Haniya accused Israel of trying to bring
the Palestinian people to their knees.
Sixteen Palestinians have been killed since Friday night by Israeli air
strikes and tank shelling designed to put a permanent halt to repeated
salvoes of makeshift missiles fired by hardline factions such as Islamic
Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
The latest victim was an eight-year-old girl who died on Monday when an
Israeli shell struck a house in the Beit Lahiya region of northern Gaza. A
seven-year-old boy was also killed in an air strike on Friday.
But Israeli ministers, while expressing regret over the deaths, made clear
Tuesday that there would be no easing off in the military activity.
"As long as calm does not prevail on the Israeli side, neither will it do so
on the Palestinian side," said the defence minister. "Our operations are
going to intensify."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni struck a similarly uncompromising line.
"The role of the Israeli army is to defend Israeli civilians, combat
terrorism and prevent rocket attacks," she told public radio. "As long as
Palestinians fire at residential areas, the army must reply."
But Haniya said the bombardments were clearly designed to shatter the will
of the Palestinian people.
"The bombardments in the north of the Gaza Strip and in (southern) Khan
Yunis ... are part of a political and economic siege of the Palestinian
people," said Haniya, whose Hamas movement came to power two weeks ago.
"This is an attempt to bring the Palestinian people to their knees and
strangle the government which was democratically elected," he added.
Both Jihad and Al-Aqsa insisted they would not be cowed into submission.
"We will continue firing rockets in response to the crimes and Israeli
aggressions, namely their assassinations and bombardments against the
Palestinian people," Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesman Abu Ahmed told AFP.
A spokesman for Jihad, the most hardline of all the Palestinian factions,
said the movement would "continue to respond to the Israeli aggression by
any means."
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas said that his office had been
in contact with the Israeli government over the bombardments.
"We are making these contacts to stop the Israeli escalation in Gaza," he
said without elaborating.
A senior military source said a fall in the number of rocket attacks had
already been detected and that their effectiveness had been diminished.
"At this stage our action has proved to be effective. There were two
incidents today when Qassam (rocket) launchers backtracked because of our
artillery. There are more rockets falling in Palestinian areas because they
need to hurry," he told AFP.
The officer said plans had been drawn up for a ground operation, but any
such move would require approval from government ministers.
"This isn't a fantasy. One of the reasons we planned this intermediate stage
was to avoid a ground operation. There are other means that should be used
before going in."
Israel withdrew all its ground troops from the Gaza Strip last September and
its bombardments of the territory have been either from the air or sea or by
tank shelling from across the border. Livni acknowledged that such tactics
could have tragic consequences.
The Gaza head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, John
Ging, expressed "great concern" over the situation after visiting UN-run
schools which he feared could end up in the firing line.
"There are very real concerns and we want this to be taken into account," he
said.
And a group of Israeli and Palestinian human rights organisations called for
the military to cancel its decision to reduce the "safety zone" for
artillery fire.
Physicians for Human Rights, B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in
Israel, the Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights and the Gaza Community Mental
Health Program said "massive artillery fire causes disproportionate harm to
the civilian population."
The joint statement said such attacks constitute a "blatant violation of the
Basic Rule of the laws of armed conflict, whereby civilians and civilian
objects must be distinguished from military objectives."
Meanwhile, 72 percent of respondents in a poll of Israeli Jews broadcast by
public television said they supported stepping up the bombardment campaign.
And 80 percent agreed with the government's position of not having any
contact with a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
***
Sums don't add up for unpaid Palestinian teachers
Agence France Presse
12 April 2006
BEITIN, West Bank, April 12 2006-- For maths teacher Mohammed Aziz, the loss
of his monthly government pay packet means that he will soon no longer be
able to afford the marathon daily school run in the West Bank.
Aziz's devotion to his job means he spends up to five hours each day making
an 80 kilometre (50 mile) journey to and from his home near the northern
city of Nablus to teach in the village of Beitun, near Ramallah.
But with the new Hamas-led Palestinian government unable to pay his 2,300
shekel (500 dollar) salary for March as a result of a burgeoning financial
crisis, Aziz will soon have to stay at home.
"My financial situation is getting worse and worse and I am doing all I can
to get to the school each day, but I can no longer afford the travel costs,"
he said.
The daily journey from Nablus to Ramallah should take only 45 minutes but
the multiple Israeli military checkpoints add around a couple hours to the
drive in public taxis which costs Aziz 40 shekels a day.
"Yesterday, I borrowed 300 shekels from my colleagues, not to provide for my
family, but so I could continue coming to work," said the father-of-three.
Even before decisions in the last week by both the European Union and United
States to freeze direct aid payments to the Hamas-led government, ministers
acknowledged that the coffers were empty.
Despite efforts to secure replacement funding from Arab countries, finance
minister Omar Abdelrazek told AFP this week that he was nowhere near making
up the shortfall caused by the EU and US moves and the loss of customs
duties which Israel used to collect on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
Around 140,000 residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are dependent on
government salaries and the loss of earnings is estimated to impact on
around a quarter of the overall population.
Like many of his fellow teachers at Beitin high school, Aziz shifted his
political allegiances in January's parliamentary election which saw Hamas
come to power.
A lifelong supporter of Fatah, the party of moderate Palestinian Authority
president Mahmud Abbas, Aziz decided to cast his vote for the Islamic
militant group which was fielding candidates for the first time.
"I voted for the Hamas candidate bacause I did not find any suitable
candidates from Fatah," he said.
During lunchbreak, teachers gathered in the headmaster's office where debate
swirled around the Hamas-led government and who was to blame for their
missing pay packets.
"Our wages have been cut to force Hamas to surrender its political
principles and we are ready to stand with Hamas," said headmaster Ali
Yussuf.
"We are aware that we are paying the price for choosing Hamas, but we also
know that we're not getting paid because of the international pressure on
the Hamas government to force it to recognize Israel."
Hussein Moali, an Arabic teacher, said he could no longer afford to buy even
basic foodstuffs for his family because the owner of his local supermarket
had stopped giving him credit.
"He fears that our salaries will be cut off permanently," said Moali.
But not everyone is willing to give Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel
or renounce the use of violence, a free pass.
Roida Barghuti, a history teacher, did not vote for Hamas and blames her
plight on the Islamists' hardline policies.
"Hamas is responsible for our situation because they are the government and
they are responsible for paying our salaries," Barghuti said.
***
Haaretz - 12 April 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/705207.html
Olmert: No problem with appointing Lieberman public security minister
By Mazal Mualem
Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert told Kadima leaders Tuesday that he
sees no problem with appointing Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman
public security minister, as long as there is no legal reason not do so.
Such an appointment could create a conflict between the police force and the
minister responsible for it.
Lieberman is under police investigation on suspicion of involvement in
illicit business dealings in Russia and corruption offenses related to
election campaign funding in 1998 and 1999. Lieberman has been investigated
several other times as well, and for years has waged a public campaign
against the Police Investigations Department.
Lieberman announced a few days ago that his party would not join the
government unless his party could control the Public Security Ministry.
Olmert said he sees Lieberman as someone who could make a significant
contribution to the ministry, adding that he would not give the job to
another Yisrael Beiteinu MK because the job requires ministerial experience,
which Lieberman has.
Meanwhile, Kadima told Labor negotiators Tuesday that no referendum would be
held ahead of a unilateral withdrawal, said chief Labor negotiator Prof.
David Libai.
Libai reported that negotiators had made progress on budget issues, saying,
"Without a doubt, there was progress that allows us to move already to
formulating the government guidelines in the next few days."
Kadima legal adviser Eitan Haberman began writing a draft of the government
guidelines Tuesday, which will apparently come up for an initial discussion
Wednesday at a meeting between the Kadima and Labor negotiation teams.
Nonetheless, Kadima negotiators said that even though their party accepts
that additional funds should be allocated for social issues, it is clear
that it will be impossible to fulfill all of Labor's budgetary demands,
which come to tens of billions of shekels. The Labor Party wants the minimum
wage increased by NIS 500 in the 2006 budget. Kadima said it would not be
able to agree to Labor's demand that minimum wage be raised to $1,000, since
such an increase would cause unemployment to go up by 4 percent to 5 percent
within a few years.
Olmert told the Kadima leaders Tuesday that he had instructed the party's
negotiation team to accelerate talks so he can form a government within the
allotted 28 days and will not have to request an extension. For this reason,
Kadima and Labor negotiators met twice Tuesday and will meet again
Wednesday. Olmert also asked the party officials not to be pressured by
media reports that he has chosen members of his cabinet, saying that he has
yet to make any decision on the matter.
Kadima also held talks with Shas on Tuesday, and negotiations will continue
over the intermediate days of Passover. Shas' primary demand is that cuts in
social welfare allotments for children be reversed. Shas officials have said
they will not compromise on this issue.
***
Haaretz - 12 April 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/705261.html
UN ends unrestricted political contacts with Palestinians
The United Nations said Tuesday it has ended its policy of unrestricted
political contacts with the Palestinians and will now assess every request
for political talks with the new Hamas-run government, which has refused to
recognize Israel and renounce violence.
World Bank officials said on Tuesday that it has also decided to "limit"
contact with the new Palestinian government until World Bank President Paul
Wolfowitz decides how to proceed.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said "working contacts" between the UN and
the new Palestinian government will continue to ensure that there is no
disruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and services to the
Palestinian people from a number of UN agencies.
"The issue of political contacts, above and beyond the humanitarian
assistance, will be dealt with as they arise... on a case by case basis," he
said.
The new UN policy follows bans on contacts with Hamas by Israel, the United
States and the European Union, which consider the militant Islamic group a
terrorist organization. Hamas' refusal to renounce its violent, anti-Israel
ideology after its victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January
has also led Israel and the West to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars
from the new government, which is now bankrupt.
Dujarric said there has been "a lot of confusion among UN officials on the
ground, as to what sort of contacts, at which level, they could have with
the Hamas government" and the new policy was meant "to bring some clarity."
"This is a position that has been evolving since the election of the Hamas
government," he said. "There's a different situation on the ground and the
way we interact with the actors on the ground is obviously different."
While Annan has called for the results of the Palestinian election to be
respected, Dujarric said he has also joined the United States, the EU and
Russia in demanding that Hamas recognize Israel, accept past
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements and renounce violence.
So far, Hamas has refused to accept the demands by the so-called Quartet,
which wants to get the Palestinians and Israelis back on the roadmap they
drafted which culminates in two states living side by side in peace.
"The secretary-general has been working the phones with his Quartet partners
to try to set up a Quartet meeting so the political decisions can also be
taken with the other Quartet partners," Dujarric said.
At a heated news conference, the UN spokesman refused to call the new UN
policy "a downgrading of UN political relations" and denied that the UN was
trying to punish the Palestinians. He also said he saw no contradiction
between Annan saying he respects Hamas' victory and the new policy on
political contacts.
Dujarric stressed that "working contacts" between UN agencies like the World
Health Organization and Palestinian health officials on issues like bird flu
and humanitarian aid would be kept up to ensure that the Palestinian people
are not punished.
He was asked how the new policy would affect the UN's top Mideast envoy,
Alvaro de Soto, who is also Annan's special representative.
"As a UN official, he is free to meet with whomever the secretary-general
asks him to meet, or gives him permission to meet," Dujarric said. "If Mr.
de Soto has questions, no doubt he will talk to officials here."
He said the new policy would also cover political contacts with Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate whose Fatah Party lost to Hamas in the
recent legislative elections.
World Bank faces dilemma on Hamas contacts
A push by the U.S. and its European allies to isolate the Hamas-led
government posed an awkward dilemma for the World Bank, which has been a
major distributor of aid and policy advisor to the Palestinian Authority.
World Bank officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the issue, said on Tuesday contact with the new Palestinian
government has been "limited" until World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz
decides how to proceed.
"As long as Hamas is branded by major donors as a terrorist-related
organization it'll be very difficult for the bank staff to proceed, and if
they would like to, they will also have to go to the board" of member
countries," one senior bank official said.
"There is no formal stop in grant disbursements, but they are not going out,
so it is a dilemma," the official added.
The bank has managed a multidonor trust fund for the Palestinians since 2004
that has been tied to economic reforms, in addition to grant funding for
development projects.
Most of the aid in the trust fund is from the European Union, which together
with the United States has cut off aid to the Hamas government until it
accept demands to recognize Israel, end violence and accept past peace
accords.
Since the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign state, it cannot apply
for membership of either the International Monetary Fund nor the World Bank
and is therefore not eligible for loans normally available to member
countries.
The bank has warned that the PA faces a "dire" economic situation and
without aid will not be able to pay wages to 140,000 state employees.
*
================================================================
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Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: Cuba Signs Contract to Purchase Russian Planes
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/35a7b6516306a366
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 12:51 am
From: NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Cuba Signs Contract to Purchase Russian Planes
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu
Cuba Signs Contract to Purchase Russian Planes
Havana, April 11 (RHC-Granma)--President Fidel Castro attended the
signing ceremony of a contract Monday in Havana whereby Cuba will
purchase from the Russian Federation five new aircraft: two types
IL-96-300 and three TU-204-100's.
Four of the modern aircraft will be used for passenger transportation
and one of the TU-204-100s for cargo.
Mr. Alexander Rubstov, director general of the Ilyushin Finance
Company, and Jose Heriberto Prieto, first vice president of the Cuban
Civil Aviation Institute signed the contract. Prieto assured that this
is a second step in the modernization of the Cuban air fleet.
He further noted that similar to the two recently delivered Russian
IL96-300 planes, these five aircraft will be put at the service of
solidarity with Latin America and other nations.
"Our aviation has always been ready to fulfill the missions of our
Communist Party, our Government and our Commander in Chief, to unite
the peoples, be it with doctors, teachers, athletes and trainers or
with tourists. Cuban wings have always carried with them a message of
solidarity and love and will continue to do so," the aviation official
emphasized.
Boris Alioshin, President of the Russian Federal Industrial Agency,
said it was a great honor to attend the signing ceremony, which he
described as "an example of friendship that opens new possibilities
for our industries."
The Cuban president talked extensively with the Russian delegation
about the technology of the modern aircraft, which use significantly
less fuel than the IL-62 M planes.
Andrei Dimitriev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cuba, and
Rogelio Acevedo, President of the Cuban Civil Aviation Institute were
also present at the ceremony.
*
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==============================================================================
TOPIC: British MP Calls for Sanctions Against Israel
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/37724ea584282821
==============================================================================
== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 5:51 pm
From: "Ariadne"
It's only Kaufman the Kapo.
== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 3:17 am
From: abelard
On 12 Apr 2006 17:51:57 -0700, "Ariadne" <ariadne.mac@gmail.com>
typed:
>It's only Kaufman the Kapo.
which is of course why you get all this....
British MP Calls for Sanctions Against Israel
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
excerpted from Abunimah News - Apr 11, 2006
Associated Press - 11 April 2006
British MP suggests sanctions against Israel for killings of UK citizens
LONDON-- A legislator on Tuesday said sanctions should be imposed against
Israel if it does not hand over those suspected of responsibility for
killing two British civilians.
before a mention of his name
regards
--
web site at www.abelard.org - news comment service, logic, economics
energy, education, politics, etc 1,552,396 document calls in year past
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
all that is necessary for [] walk quietly and carry
the triumph of evil is that [] a big stick.
good people do nothing [] trust actions not words
only when it's funny -- roger rabbit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:40 pm
From: Grassy Knollington
On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:51:57 -0700, Ariadne wrote:
> It's only Kaufman the Kapo.
thats very harsh criticism of someone making a valid point.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Iran shows backdrop of 'Peaceful Doves' as it Announces NUCLEAR
BREAKTHROUGH...but I got a better picture!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/c05483fded84e919
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 12:54 am
From: GW Chimpzilla's Eye-Rack Neocon Utopia
Topaz wrote:
> On 11 Apr 2006 14:39:59 -0700, AirRaid1500@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>>
>>"Iran has produced enough low-grade enriched uranium to power nuclear
>>plants, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced today. "I officially
>>announce that Iran has joined countries with nuclear technology," he
>>said."
>>
> Not having nukes didn't help Iraq. Clearly, having them would be a
> better plan.
Their first responsibility is to protect their nation. They're surrounded on two
sides by hostile forces. Makes a lot of sense.
>
> http://www.nationalvanguard.org http://www.natvan.com
> http://www.thebirdman.org http://www.RealNews247.com
--
There are only two kinds of Republicans: Millionaires and fools.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Iran is in deep trouble, in my opinion ... Read this.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7d656b885b3155ff
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 8:03 pm
From: N A H
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aduNTcpDuDd4
Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says (Update2)
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, defying United Nations Security Council
demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a
nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.
Iran will move to ``industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving
54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted
deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television
today.
``Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly
enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days,'' Stephen Rademaker,
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and
Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow.
Rademaker was reacting to a statement by Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who said yesterday the country had succeeded in enriching
uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges.
That announcement defies demands by the UN Security Council that Iran
shut down its nuclear program this month.
The U.S. fears Iran is pursuing a nuclear program to make weapons,
while Iran says it is intent on purely civilian purposes, to provide
energy. Saeedi said 54,000 centrifuges will be able to enrich uranium
to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawat nuclear power plant similar to the
one Russia is finishing in southern Iran, AP reported.
``It was a deeply disappointing announcement,'' Rademaker said of
Ahmadinejad's statement.
Weapons-Grade Uranium
Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could
also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take
a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a
nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use. The process
involves placing uranium hexafluoride gas in a series of rotating
drums or cylinders known as centrifuges that run at high speeds to
extract weapons grade uranium.
Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency
that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year,
Rademaker said.
``We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough
uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days,'' he said.
While the U.S. has concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Rademaker
said ``there certainly has been no decision on the part of my
government'' to use force if Iran refuses to obey the UN Security
Council demand that it shuts down its nuclear program.
Rademaker is in Moscow for a meeting of his counterparts from the
Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries. Russia chairs the G-8
this year.
China is concerned about Iran's decision to accelerate uranium
enrichment and wants the government in Tehran to heed international
criticism of the move, Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United
Nations said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Sebastian Alison in Moscow at Salison1@bloomberg.net
--
"No stronger retrograde force exists in the world."
- Winston Churchill on Islam
"Islam is now the number one enemy not only of Europe, but of the
entire free world.. it is an illusion to think that a moderate Islam
exists in Europe." - Filip Dewinter, leader of Belgium's most popular
political party.
"The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart .."
- Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
http://tinyurl.com/7rkw9
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:06 pm
From: "Möbius Pretzel"
N A H wrote:
> http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aduNTcpDuDd4
>
> Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says (Update2)
>From the people that brought you Saddam's WMDs!
LOL!
>
> April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, defying United Nations Security Council
> demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a
> nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.
>
> Iran will move to ``industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving
> 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted
> deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television
> today.
>
> ``Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly
> enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days,'' Stephen Rademaker,
> U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and
> Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow.
>
> Rademaker was reacting to a statement by Iranian President Mahmoud
> Ahmadinejad, who said yesterday the country had succeeded in enriching
> uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges.
> That announcement defies demands by the UN Security Council that Iran
> shut down its nuclear program this month.
>
> The U.S. fears Iran is pursuing a nuclear program to make weapons,
> while Iran says it is intent on purely civilian purposes, to provide
> energy. Saeedi said 54,000 centrifuges will be able to enrich uranium
> to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawat nuclear power plant similar to the
> one Russia is finishing in southern Iran, AP reported.
>
> ``It was a deeply disappointing announcement,'' Rademaker said of
> Ahmadinejad's statement.
>
> Weapons-Grade Uranium
>
> Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could
> also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take
> a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a
> nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use. The process
> involves placing uranium hexafluoride gas in a series of rotating
> drums or cylinders known as centrifuges that run at high speeds to
> extract weapons grade uranium.
>
> Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency
> that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year,
> Rademaker said.
>
> ``We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough
> uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days,'' he said.
>
> While the U.S. has concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Rademaker
> said ``there certainly has been no decision on the part of my
> government'' to use force if Iran refuses to obey the UN Security
> Council demand that it shuts down its nuclear program.
>
> Rademaker is in Moscow for a meeting of his counterparts from the
> Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries. Russia chairs the G-8
> this year.
>
> China is concerned about Iran's decision to accelerate uranium
> enrichment and wants the government in Tehran to heed international
> criticism of the move, Wang Guangya, China's ambassador to the United
> Nations said.
>
> To contact the reporter on this story:
> Sebastian Alison in Moscow at Salison1@bloomberg.net
>
> --
> "No stronger retrograde force exists in the world."
> - Winston Churchill on Islam
>
> "Islam is now the number one enemy not only of Europe, but of the
> entire free world.. it is an illusion to think that a moderate Islam
> exists in Europe." - Filip Dewinter, leader of Belgium's most popular
> political party.
>
> "The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart .."
> - Angela Merkel, German Chancellor
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7rkw9
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Saddam's WMDs - the fog slowly clears
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/7377fac381d05f51
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:08 pm
From: abelard
On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:40:57 +0100, "Harry The Horse"
<HarryAtTheStable@hotmail.com>
typed:
>Mel Rowing wrote:
>>
>> At the same time WMD were not by any means the sole reason for the
>> invasion of Iraq as some would have us believe.
>>
>They were what was used to persuade the British people, and more
>importantly, Parliament to go to war. The 'other reasons' are therefore
>irrelevant.
only to a donkey...
--
web site at www.abelard.org - news comment service, logic, economics
energy, education, politics, etc 1,552,396 document calls in year past
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
all that is necessary for [] walk quietly and carry
the triumph of evil is that [] a big stick.
good people do nothing [] trust actions not words
only when it's funny -- roger rabbit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Should India and the rest of Far East Asia thank Japan for WWII? Re:
Does Japan deserve a security council seat?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/940310531e17a57a
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:09 pm
From: "ltlee1"
Mabius wrote:
> lo yeeOn wrote:
> > In article <1144827842.866588.10380@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
> > Marcus Aurelius <aryamihir@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >If imperial china can occupy Tibet, E Turkestan etc. and still sit in
> > >the UNSC, then why does democratic Japan not deserve a seat on the UNSC
> > >along with India, Germany and Brazil?
> > >
> > >Adi Anant
> >
> > Indeed, if the ``imperial'' US ``can occupy'' Iraq, Afghanistan, . . .
> >
> > Do I hear news of bombs dropped on Tibet into to ``occupy'' it?
>
> 1.2 million Tibetans dead and 200,000 displaced from their homeland.
The 1.2 million figure was fabricated. Basically a figure created from
thin air to demonize China. Read from the following link if you wish.
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.politics.tibet/msg/7a4f588485d4e422?hl=en&
> And you claim that china is _not_ an empire?!
>
> What other perversions are you trying to peddle?
>
> > Since the US _is_ occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and still refuses to
> > transfer command of Korean troops back to the Koreans despite repeated
> > requests to do so by the Koreans and if the US still have bases in
> > Japan and the Korea peninsula after half a century, why shouldn't
> > every country sit on the UNSC, a body of privilege, since just about
> > any other country in the world is less aggressive and more peaceable
> > than the US? In particular, why shouldn't Pakistan, Argentina, and
> > Mexico also be admitted along with Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South
> > Africa?
>
> US' occupations are temporary. China's occupations are genocidal and
> become additions to its empire.
>
> Why do you think that the world is stupid, chinaman?
>
> > You left out my view about the UNSC being an undemocratic body within
> > a world body.
>
> Why do you talk of "democracy" when you are a diehard CCP supporter?!
>
> > I also do not share your view that Tibet under the Chinese rule means
> > China is imperial. There is a strong historical precedence for Tibet
> > to be part of China just as Taiwan is part of China, stronger than
> > Alaska, Hawaii, or Texas as parts of the US. There is also a lot of
> > questions as to how good a theocracy is for the people of Tibet (see,
> > e.g., Wikipedia on Tibet and its history).
>
> 1.2 million Tibetans dead because of the Han army's occupation and
> subjugation.
> How "bad" could the theocracy would have been?
Read my post which link is given above.
If you still want to talk about 1.2 Tibetans dead, this is your forum.
>
> China is a bullshit empire built up by the red army. If you want to
> fool people otherwise, then you are a stupid fool yourself.
>
> > In any case, China's membership in the UNSC is not currently under
> > debate. Japan's desire to be a member is! I simply stated my
> > opinion predicated upon the privileged body's continuing existence,
> > even though it is anti-democratic and hence undesirable:
>
> Then you should have asked "Does anybody deserve to be on the UNSC?".
> But that was not your question, was it? You specifically targeted Japan
> because of your prejudices.
>
> > Putting Japan in the UNSC will simply in the short run help the US
> > run its hegemonic agenda and in the long run give too much power to
> > an inherently unrepenting former aggressor nation which at the same
> > time represents disproportionately few of the world's total
> > population.
>
> There are other aggressor nations in this world than the USA - China
> being one of them. Radical islam being another ideology seeking
> aggressive takeovers of nations.
>
> You would have us weaken one aggressor (which ultimately retreats) and
> strengthen other aggressors (which will never retreat)?
>
> > lo yeeOn
> > ========
> > P.S., ``E.Turkestan, etc.'', what red herrings are these?
> >
>
> You don't know of the Turkic people subjugated by the Han empire?
> Pathetic, even for a ccp moron like you.
>
>
> Adi Anant
==============================================================================
TOPIC: This Land is Their Land, and We Are the Illegal Aliens
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6f24ab2b39ff1401
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:13 pm
From: "Joe Stiborik"
<gigo448@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:1144815004.993631.149070@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> Joe Stiborik wrote:
>> <gigo448@netscape.net> wrote in message
>> news:1144806972.655713.280840@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>> >
>> > RAY S. ELIZONDO wrote:
>> >> <gigo448@netscape.net> wrote in message
>> >> news:1144795156.195167.38760@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
>> >> > Hehh, If we let the Jews keep Israel, it's only fair
>> >> > that American Indians get thier land back from the
>> >> > US of A!
>> >> >
>> >> Have you visited one of the many Indian Casinos?
>> >
>> > NO, but I hear tell they are the envy of those in Las Vegas.
>> >
>>
>> With obsolutely no competition nearby, you bet!
>
> Nice theory, but I don't think supply and demand works quite that way!
> With customers going out of thier way just to get to them instead.
>
What exactly makes you say this? I know you have some facts.
>>
>> Maybe the Palestinians should try this...
>
> Hehh, don't you first gotta put them all on a reservation in the middle
> of the
> desert?
>
No.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Iran has A Nuke
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/958f1b76e584a34e
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 1:15 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
Walak fee Klab wa abook el Bandooq Mawjood. Ummak sharmoota from the day she was born. You mother had water melon in her Pussy the day she got married to convince your father she was a virgin.
SJ
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 1:16 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
You been stranded for thousand of years, you as been kicked out of every country you settled in. until you claimed the holohoax.
SJ
==============================================================================
TOPIC: NO, HE IS BUT PART OF A CANCEROUS GROWTH IN WASHINGTON Re: Rumsfeld:
Still Stubborn, Still Wrong on Iraq policy
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/4e0026008a838c72
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 1:15 am
From: acoustic@panix.com (lo yeeOn)
Long standing Washington hegemonic policy toward the world is in full
display, from the decade-long no-fly zones in Iraq to the present
``enduring bases'' in Iraq as well as Afghnistan designed to launch
strikes at Iran and other countries far away from us in Central Asia.
What AF chief Gen. T.M. Mosley said Tuesday as reported below tells us
that our design on Central Asia did not begin with 9/11/2001, rather
with the first Gulf War. And any talk of withdrawal would not include
personnel to run the ``enduring bases''. And the trajectory of our
violent hegemonic ambition has been crystalized and mapped out in the
PNAC. The PNAC (Project for the New American Century) was not the
genesis of American hegemony, but rather a plan to magnify it.
American hegemonists believe in making everyone else tremble in order
to exploit them and enslave them; so they terrorize the world. But in
doing so, it upsets the physics of the planet so much that we, the
American people, are no longer immune to our own destructive tendency.
Anyone in America who accepts anything less than full and complete
withdrawal of our troops from Iraq is contributing to the growing and
ultimate environmental disasters we will certainly face with our
elite's unending ``long war''. We know Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton,
Diane Feinstein, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and many Republican
senators are all conspiring to keep our bases there, not because of
9/11 (though they use it just as the Bush White House does) but
because of their long term strategic values, which are not your safety
or mine, but rather the revenues of Chevron, GE, Boeing, and Lockheed
Martin.
Finally, we should be aware of the fact that the hegemonists want to
rush their agenda. They know that time is not on their side. The
truth on the real story of 9/11 will sooner or later come out. It
will prove that the Bush White House was complicit in making 9/11 a
reality so that it and the rest of the war advocates could forever
exploit the tragedy to silence their opposition.
lo yeeOn
========
Earlier Tuesday, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff,
said that even as ground forces begin to leave, the Air Force will be
needed in Iraq to carry troops and supplies, to perform surveillance
and reconnaissance, and to strike targets.
"I think the Air Force will be there like we were for the no-fly zone
for a long time," Moseley told defense reporters. "I don't know yet
how many bases. We're looking at reducing the number of bases. We have
18 we are flying airplanes off of right now. I see that number coming
down. But I don't see the air and space component leaving soon."
As the fourth year of the Iraq war begins, nearly 21,000 Air Force
personnel are in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the bulk in Iraq.
Overall there are about 132,000 U.S. forces in Iraq. Military
officials have expressed hope they can reduce the number below 100,000
by year's end.
In other remarks, Moseley said it is inappropriate to comment on any
plans for military action against Iran. Asked if the Air Force could
destroy nuclear targets buried deep in the ground there, he said it
would depend on how deep the structure is and how it is built. The
military has a variety of munitions that can penetrate certain levels
of concrete, steel and sand, he said.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
=====
This War on Terrorism is Bogus
The 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure
its global domination
Michael Meacher
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday September 6, 2003
The Guardian
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1036688,00.html
Michael Meacher MP was environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003
Massive attention has now been given - and rightly so - to the reasons
why Britain went to war against Iraq. But far too little attention has
focused on why the US went to war, and that throws light on British
motives too.
The conventional explanation is that after the Twin Towers were hit,
retaliation against al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan was a natural first
step in launching a global war against terrorism. Then, because Saddam
Hussein was alleged by the US and UK governments to retain weapons of
mass destruction, the war could be extended to Iraq as well. However
this theory does not fit all the facts. The truth may be a great deal
murkier.
We now know that a blueprint for the creation of a global Pax
Americana was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice-president), Donald
Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), Jeb
Bush (George Bush's younger brother) and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief
of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences, was
written in September 2000 by the neoconservative think tank, Project
for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the
Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says "while
the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate
justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in
the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."
The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document attributed to
Wolfowitz and Libby which said the US must "discourage advanced
industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to
a larger regional or global role". It refers to key allies such as the
UK as "the most effective and efficient means of exercising American
global leadership". It describes peacekeeping missions as "demanding
American political leadership rather than that of the UN". It says
"even should Saddam pass from the scene", US bases in Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait will remain permanently... as "Iran may well prove as large a
threat to US interests as Iraq has". It spotlights China for "regime
change", saying "it is time to increase the presence of American
forces in SE Asia".
The document also calls for the creation of "US space forces" to
dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent
"enemies" using the internet against the US. It also hints that the US
may consider developing biological weapons "that can target specific
genotypes [and] may transform biological warfare from the realm of
terror to a politically useful tool".
Finally - written a year before 9/11 - it pinpoints North Korea, Syria
and Iran as dangerous regimes, and says their existence justifies the
creation of a "worldwide command and control system". This is a
blueprint for US world domination. But before it is dismissed as an
agenda for rightwing fantasists, it is clear it provides a much better
explanation of what actually happened before, during and after 9/11
than the global war on terrorism thesis. This can be seen in several
ways.
First, it is clear the US authorities did little or nothing to
pre-empt the events of 9/11. It is known that at least 11 countries
provided advance warning to the US of the 9/11 attacks. Two senior
Mossad experts were sent to Washington in August 2001 to alert the CIA
and FBI to a cell of 200 terrorists said to be preparing a big
operation (Daily Telegraph, September 16 2001). The list they provided
included the names of four of the 9/11 hijackers, none of whom was
arrested.
It had been known as early as 1996 that there were plans to hit
Washington targets with aeroplanes. Then in 1999 a US national
intelligence council report noted that "al-Qaida suicide bombers could
crash-land an aircraft packed with high explosives into the Pentagon,
the headquarters of the CIA, or the White House".
Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers obtained their visas in Saudi Arabia.
Michael Springman, the former head of the American visa bureau in
Jeddah, has stated that since 1987 the CIA had been illicitly issuing
visas to unqualified applicants from the Middle East and bringing them
to the US for training in terrorism for the Afghan war in
collaboration with Bin Laden (BBC, November 6 2001). It seems this
operation continued after the Afghan war for other purposes. It is
also reported that five of the hijackers received training at secure
US military installations in the 1990s (Newsweek, September 15 2001).
Instructive leads prior to 9/11 were not followed up. French Moroccan
flight student Zacarias Moussaoui (now thought to be the 20th
hijacker) was arrested in August 2001 after an instructor reported he
showed a suspicious interest in learning how to steer large
airliners. When US agents learned from French intelligence he had
radical Islamist ties, they sought a warrant to search his computer,
which contained clues to the September 11 mission (Times, November 3
2001). But they were turned down by the FBI. One agent wrote, a month
before 9/11, that Moussaoui might be planning to crash into the Twin
Towers (Newsweek, May 20 2002).
All of this makes it all the more astonishing - on the war on
terrorism perspective - that there was such slow reaction on September
11 itself. The first hijacking was suspected at not later than
8.20am, and the last hijacked aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania at
10.06am. Not a single fighter plane was scrambled to investigate from
the US Andrews airforce base, just 10 miles from Washington DC, until
after the third plane had hit the Pentagon at 9.38 am. Why not? There
were standard FAA intercept procedures for hijacked aircraft before
9/11. Between September 2000 and June 2001 the US military launched
fighter aircraft on 67 occasions to chase suspicious aircraft (AP,
August 13 2002). It is a US legal requirement that once an aircraft
has moved significantly off its flight plan, fighter planes are sent
up to investigate.
Was this inaction simply the result of key people disregarding, or
being ignorant of, the evidence? Or could US air security operations
have been deliberately stood down on September 11? If so, why, and on
whose authority? The former US federal crimes prosecutor, John Loftus,
has said: "The information provided by European intelligence services
prior to 9/11 was so extensive that it is no longer possible for
either the CIA or FBI to assert a defence of incompetence."
Nor is the US response after 9/11 any better. No serious attempt has
ever been made to catch Bin Laden. In late September and early October
2001, leaders of Pakistan's two Islamist parties negotiated Bin
Laden's extradition to Pakistan to stand trial for 9/11. However, a US
official said, significantly, that "casting our objectives too
narrowly" risked "a premature collapse of the international effort if
by some lucky chance Mr Bin Laden was captured". The US chairman of
the joint chiefs of staff, General Myers, went so far as to say that
"the goal has never been to get Bin Laden" (AP, April 5 2002). The
whistleblowing FBI agent Robert Wright told ABC News (December 19
2002) that FBI headquarters wanted no arrests. And in November 2001
the US airforce complained it had had al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in
its sights as many as 10 times over the previous six weeks, but had
been unable to attack because they did not receive permission quickly
enough (Time Magazine, May 13 2002). None of this assembled evidence,
all of which comes from sources already in the public domain, is
compatible with the idea of a real, determined war on terrorism.
The catalogue of evidence does, however, fall into place when set
against the PNAC blueprint. From this it seems that the so-called "war
on terrorism" is being used largely as bogus cover for achieving wider
US strategic geopolitical objectives. Indeed Tony Blair himself hinted
at this when he said to the Commons liaison committee: "To be truthful
about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to
have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened
on September 11" (Times, July 17 2002). Similarly Rumsfeld was so
determined to obtain a rationale for an attack on Iraq that on 10
separate occasions he asked the CIA to find evidence linking Iraq to
9/11; the CIA repeatedly came back empty-handed (Time Magazine, May 13
2002).
In fact, 9/11 offered an extremely convenient pretext to put the PNAC
plan into action. The evidence again is quite clear that plans for
military action against Afghanistan and Iraq were in hand well before
9/11. A report prepared for the US government from the Baker Institute
of Public Policy stated in April 2001 that "the US remains a prisoner
of its energy dilemma. Iraq remains a destabilising influence
to... the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle
East". Submitted to Vice-President Cheney's energy task group, the
report recommended that because this was an unacceptable risk to the
US, "military intervention" was necessary (Sunday Herald, October 6
2002).
Similar evidence exists in regard to Afghanistan. The BBC reported
(September 18 2001) that Niaz Niak, a former Pakistan foreign
secretary, was told by senior American officials at a meeting in
Berlin in mid-July 2001 that "military action against Afghanistan
would go ahead by the middle of October". Until July 2001 the US
government saw the Taliban regime as a source of stability in Central
Asia that would enable the construction of hydrocarbon pipelines from
the oil and gas fields in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the Indian Ocean. But, confronted
with the Taliban's refusal to accept US conditions, the US
representatives told them "either you accept our offer of a carpet of
gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs" (Inter Press Service,
November 15 2001).
Given this background, it is not surprising that some have seen the US
failure to avert the 9/11 attacks as creating an invaluable pretext
for attacking Afghanistan in a war that had clearly already been well
planned in advance. There is a possible precedent for this. The US
national archives reveal that President Roosevelt used exactly this
approach in relation to Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941. Some advance
warning of the attacks was received, but the information never reached
the US fleet. The ensuing national outrage persuaded a reluctant US
public to join the second world war. Similarly the PNAC blueprint of
September 2000 states that the process of transforming the US into
"tomorrow's dominant force" is likely to be a long one in the absence
of "some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl
Harbor". The 9/11 attacks allowed the US to press the "go" button for
a strategy in accordance with the PNAC agenda which it would otherwise
have been politically impossible to implement.
The overriding motivation for this political smokescreen is that the
US and the UK are beginning to run out of secure hydrocarbon energy
supplies. By 2010 the Muslim world will control as much as 60% of the
world's oil production and, even more importantly, 95% of remaining
global oil export capacity. As demand is increasing, so supply is
decreasing, continually since the 1960s.
This is leading to increasing dependence on foreign oil supplies for
both the US and the UK. The US, which in 1990 produced domestically
57% of its total energy demand, is predicted to produce only 39% of
its needs by 2010. A DTI minister has admitted that the UK could be
facing "severe" gas shortages by 2005. The UK government has confirmed
that 70% of our electricity will come from gas by 2020, and 90% of
that will be imported. In that context it should be noted that Iraq
has 110 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in addition to its oil.
A report from the commission on America's national interests in July
2000 noted that the most promising new source of world supplies was
the Caspian region, and this would relieve US dependence on Saudi
Arabia. To diversify supply routes from the Caspian, one pipeline
would run westward via Azerbaijan and Georgia to the Turkish port of
Ceyhan. Another would extend eastwards through Afghanistan and
Pakistan and terminate near the Indian border. This would rescue
Enron's beleaguered power plant at Dabhol on India's west coast, in
which Enron had sunk $3bn investment and whose economic survival was
dependent on access to cheap gas.
Nor has the UK been disinterested in this scramble for the remaining
world supplies of hydrocarbons, and this may partly explain British
participation in US military actions. Lord Browne, chief executive of
BP, warned Washington not to carve up Iraq for its own oil companies
in the aftermath of war (Guardian, October 30 2002). And when a
British foreign minister met Gadaffi in his desert tent in August
2002, it was said that "the UK does not want to lose out to other
European nations already jostling for advantage when it comes to
potentially lucrative oil contracts" with Libya (BBC Online, August 10
2002).
The conclusion of all this analysis must surely be that the "global
war on terrorism" has the hallmarks of a political myth propagated to
hegemony, built around securing by force command over the oil supplies
required to drive the whole project. Is collusion in this myth and
junior participation in this project really a proper aspiration for
British foreign policy? If there was ever need to justify a more
objective British stance, driven by our own independent goals, this
whole depressing saga surely provides all the evidence needed for a
radical change of course.
Michael Meacher MP was environment minister from May 1997 to June 2003
==============================================================================
TOPIC: CONGRATULATIONS, IRAN !!!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/ad7ddbf0b7bcdd1a
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:22 pm
From: "Aardman"
"Maipaikai" <maipaikai@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e1j6jo$o53$1@reader01.singnet.com.sg...
> ENRICHED URANIUM WILL MAKE YOUR COUNTRY SAFER AND STRONGER AND BRING
> PEACE
> TO THE MIDDLE EAST. AMERICA CANNOT INVADE AND PLUNDER YOUR OIL RESOURCES
> ANYMORE.
>
>
YES EVIL AMERICANS. STOP BUYING THE IRANIAN OIL. LET THEM PERFORM BELLY
DANCING TO EARN THE MONEY FOR THE URANIUM.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: If Moses can devided the river, why can he find his way to the promise
land
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/cf06912950880e6c
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Apr 13 2006 1:27 am
From: "Salah Jafar"
This Moses the Jooz calls Prophet, I think was no more than homosexual who was lost for almost forty fucking years. HE is a fraud just like the rest of jooz. If he can speak to God as they claim, if he can find water with his stupid stick, he can have food for his flock of Homosexuals, why he cannot find his way to Jordan and Palestine. Because he was an idiot and fraud.
SJ
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Dos enemigos irreconciliables se enfrentaron hace cuatro siglos en una
de las batallas más importantes de la historia moderna.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/d470b18dfde4cf10
==============================================================================
== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:27 pm
From: "Viejo Vizcacha"
Y tú admite que no tienes ni puta idea de historia, geografía,
física, biología, geometría, política, o religión.
VV
Ichi wrote:
> Vieja marrana ,admite la realidad eres una mierda maricona y te gusta serlo.
>
> "Viejo Vizcacha" <nats_uglyman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1144877409.491406.187250@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Más vale descender de puercos que de burros, como tú.
> VV
>
>
> Ichi wrote:
> > Y de que puerca desciendes tu ,viejo maricon?
> > "Viejo Vizcacha" <nats_uglyman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:1144359988.407203.95030@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > PM wrote:
> > > LEPANTO
> > > Por Hugo J. Byrne
> > >
> > > Dos enemigos irreconciliables se enfrentaron hace cuatro siglos en una
> > > de
> > > las batallas más importantes de la historia moderna. Muchos
> > > historiadores
> > > sostienen que los resultados de ese encuentro hicieron posible la
> > > supervivencia de las características más positivas de nuestra
> > > civilización
> > > occidental. En realidad puedo asegurar al amable lector que no sólo
> > > nuestra civilización, sino nuestra existencia física de hoy son los
> > > resultados directos de la victoria de occidente en ese conflicto.
> > > Nos referimos por supuesto a Lepanto. Y nó al popular "brandy" español,
> > > sino al golfo del Mar Mediterráneo, del que toma su nombre. Los dos
> > > enemigos implacables que describimos en el párrafo inicial, eran las
> > > fuerzas
> > > navales de la Europa Cristiana, encabezada por Venecia y la formidable
> > > armada Islámica de Turquía.
> > >
> > > Si nos aventuramos en las sendas del pasado, encontraremos que
> > > cuatrocientos
> > > años antes de Sadam Hussein, Irán, Al Quaeda, el Talibán, Hamas, el
> > > Yihad
> > > Islámico y todas las múltiples piñas terroristas musulmanas que hoy
> > > combatimos, existían los turcos otomanos, quienes fueron capaces de
> > > alzar
> > > las banderas del Islám conquistador, fanático y opresivo tan alto, que
> > > casi
> > > abruman a los que llamaban "infieles".
> > >
> > > Descendientes de obscuras tribus nomádicas de las estepas
> > > del
> > > Asia, los otomanos, abrazando fanáticamente la fe musulmana, empezaron a
> >
> >
> > Y aquí muestras el plumero, payaso ignorante. Todos los pueblos
> > descienden de obscuras tribus nomádicas, desde los judíos, los
> > watutsi, los germanos, los celtas, los aztecas, los mayas, los incas,
> > los persas, los chinos...
> >
> > No puedes con tu genio, y cada estupidez que encuentras en la red la
> > tienes que corspostear a medio mundo. ¡Qué payaso! Con perdón de los
> > payasos, claro.
> >
> > VV
== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:06 pm
From: "PM"
Guaracabuya / Artículo de Nestor Carbonell Cortina / "EL Precio de la
Libertad"
EL PRECIO DE LA LIBERTAD
Por Néstor Carbonell Cortina
Poco después de que la CIA confirmara que Fidel Castro padecía del
mal de Parkinson en una etapa bastante avanzada, funcionarios
norteamericanos anunciaron, con ominoso tono, que Cuba había sido incluida
en la lista de países en que se preveía inestabilidad en los próximos dos a
cinco años. El anuncio pareció reflejar una honda preocupación, como si la
inestabilidad fuese lo peor que pudiera suceder en la isla cautiva.
En situaciones normales, cuando reinan la libertad y el derecho,
la inestabilidad suele ser un fenómeno regresivo y pernicioso que debe
evitarse. Pero cuando impera, como en Cuba, el vil estrangulamiento de un
pueblo, lo que más debe preocupar no es la inestabilidad precursora de la
libertad, sino la estabilidad continuadora de la opresión. Es esa
estabilidad, mantenida con patente de impunidad durante casi medio siglo, la
que le ha permitido al régimen de Castro matar, robar, destruir y esclavizar
a sus anchas dentro de la isla, y agredir, espiar, subvertir y calumniar
fuera de ella, sin mayores consecuencias. Y es esa estabilidad la que
aspiran a preservar los usufructuarios del poder que fraguan la sucesión, y
los que piensan pactar con ellos para satisfacer ambiciones de mando o
afanes de lucro.
Para que Cuba entre de nuevo en la órbita de la democracia
representativa, habrá que desmantelar y liquidar el régimen que la sojuzga y
degrada. Y esto sólo se logrará desestabilizándolo previamente cuando el
pueblo pierda el miedo y aproveche cualquier fisura para imponer su
voluntad.
Eso fue lo que aconteció en la heroica Polonia - país que, gracias
al movimiento de resistencia cívica llamado Solidaridad y al apoyo del
extranjero, pudo quebrar y eventualmente eliminar el yugo comunista. Y eso
fue lo que, con mayor o menor grado de explosión popular, sucedió después en
los otros países de Europa Central y del Este, y en la propia Unión
Soviética. En ninguno de esos países el régimen totalitario abdicó el poder
espontáneamente. En algunos, como Rumania, se requirió de la violencia
armada, y en los demás, el furor de la ciudadanía, harta de vasallaje, tuvo
que encresparse en oleaje multitudinario para poder arrasar el inicuo
despotismo.
El Muro de Berlin no cayó por sí solo; fueron manos crispadas de
furia y dolor las que lo agrietaron y derribaron. Y si Georgia y Ucrania,
tras sus respectivas revoluciones postcomunistas rosa y anaranjada, figuran
hoy entre las democracias emergentes, fue porque sus líderes, imitando a los
polacos y a los checoslovacos, incitaron a sus pueblos a que hincaran en
tierra su irreductible dignidad.
Examinemos brevemente lo que aconteció en Polonia, que fue lo que
provocó la reacción en cadena que dió al traste con el bloque soviético y
les insufló valor y esperanza a todos los que añoraban la libertad. El 12
de diciembre de 1970, cuando el régimen comunista de Gomulka decretó un
aumento significativo en el precio de los combustibles y la comida, los
obreros de los astilleros de Gdansk se declararon en huelga y protestaron
valientemente. Tras la brutal represión del ejército, 28 obreros murieron,
1200 fueron heridos y 3000 arrestados, sin contar las bajas en otras
ciudades cercanas. Esta protesta obrera, repetida en 1976, culminó en otra
mucho mayor en Gdansk en 1980, sólo que ésta contó con el apoyo adicional de
los intelectuales anticomunistas y no se limitó a demandar mejores
condiciones de vida. Exigió también respeto a los derechos humanos,
apertura política y libertad.
De esta alianza surgió el movimiento de Solidaridad que lideró
Lech Walesa. No lograron en 1980 todo lo que ansiaban; solamente el derecho
a constituir sindicatos independientes. Pero aprovecharon esta coyuntura
para transformar a Solidaridad, en unos doce meses, en un movimiento de
resistencia cívica de carácter nacional que contó con diez millones de
afiliados. Esta enorme ofensiva de la sociedad civil dió lugar a la
imposición de la ley marcial en diciembre de 1981, y con ella vinieron las
persecuciones implacables, los arrestos masivos y los asesinatos alevosos.
Los tanques aplastaron a Solidaridad, pero no la destruyeron.
Persistió la lucha en la clandestinidad y continuaron las presiones,
internas y externas, hasta que el régimen de Jaruzelski, ahogado
económicamente, desmoralizado y sin la perspectiva o el deseo de una
intervención militar soviética, accedió finalmente en 1989 a celebrar unas
elecciones parcialmente libres. Éstas le dieron la mayoría parlamentaria a
los candidatos de Solidaridad e hicieron posible la designación del católico
anticomunista Tadeusz Mazowiecki como Primer Ministro de la nación -
preludio del triunfo presidencial de Walesa.
¿Cuál fue la postura de la Iglesia en Polonia y del Vaticano
durante este proceso? Antes del advenimiento de Su Santidad Juan Pablo II,
puede decirse que primó la "ostpolitik" de la tolerancia y el acomodo para
sobrevivir. Pero a partir del histórico peregrinaje del Papa a Polonia en
1979 (el primero de tres), todo cambió. El Pontífice galvanizó a sus
compatriotas con la prédica del "no conformismo." Sostuvo que la paz sólo
podía fundarse en el respeto a la dignidad del ser humano y en el derecho de
la nación a ejercer su libertad. Les infundió fe a los apáticos y los instó
a no tener miedo. Cuando los tanques trataron de liquidar a Solidaridad, la
Iglesia pasó de la contemporización a la protesta y de la inhibición a la
resistencia, ofreciéndoles refugio a los perseguidos, diseminando material
de propaganda, y alentando a todos los feligreses. Esto le costó la vida al
Padre Jerzy Popieluszke, mártir de la enhiesta cristiandad.
¿Y qué hizo la administración de Reagan? ¿Trató acaso de evitar
la desestabilización de Polonia? Todo lo contrario: la estimuló y apoyó.
Reagan y sus asesores consideraron que, para ganar la lucha contra el
comunismo internacional, no bastaba la política reactiva de contención;
había que tomar la iniciativa e intensificar las presiones para alcanzar la
ansiada meta de liberación. Con ese fin, el Presidente firmó en 1982 y 1983
tres directivas de seguridad nacional muy confidenciales, que autorizaron la
ejecución de medidas enderezadas a quebrar la economía de la Unión Soviética
y a subvertir su imperio mediante la ayuda clandestina a los grupos internos
que promovían la resistencia. Las prioridades fueron Polonia,
Checoslovaquia y Afganistán.
En lo que respeta a Polonia, los Estados Unidos le ofrecieron a
Solidaridad amplio apoyo financiero, logístico y de inteligencia para que
pudieran reconstituir sus fuerzas, abatidas y fragmentadas bajo la ley
marcial. La CIA pasó a ser, en gran medida, los ojos y oídos de
Solidaridad. Por vías diplomáticas y clandestinas, llegaron a Polonia
manuales de entrenamiento y fondos para fortalecer el "underground,"
técnicas de desinformación y guerra psicológica, imprentas, libros, y
equipos electrónicos de comunicación. Éstos les permitieron a los cofrades
de Lech Walesa, cuando la resistencia parecía agotada, interferir programas
radiales de la tiranía con el grito esperanzador de "¡Solidaridad Vive!"
He traído a colación estos antecedentes históricos, no porque crea
que el caso de Cuba sea igual al de Polonia o al de los otros países que
conformaron el bloque soviético. Las condiciones internas y externas son
distintas. Pero hay algunas enseñanzas que pudieran ser útiles de cara al
futuro de nuestra Patria.
Para efectuar el tránsito, con justicia y libertad, a un estado de
derecho en Cuba, no bastará con la muerte de Fidel Castro, ni con la
supuesta sucesión pragmática y conciliadora de su hermano - mito engañoso
que yo llamaría el espejismo del raulismo. Será esencial el
desmantelamiento del régimen y de su aparato totalitario. Esto quizás no se
logre de un golpe, por lo que habrá que aprovechar cualquier fisura, no para
negociar reformas cosméticas que legitimarían y prolongarían el continuismo,
sino para extender la resistencia más allá de la heroica pero limitada
oposición existente hoy en la isla.
Esa tenaz resistencia la mantuvieron los polacos, aun bajo la ley
marcial, hasta forzar el reconocimiento de Solidaridad como uno de varios
partidos políticos, y lograr la celebración de elecciones parciales con
suficientes garantías. Y esa misma resistencia la esgrimieron los
checoslovacos, siguiendo el camino allanado por los polacos. En la fase
final, los abanderados de la "revolución de terciopelo" movilizaron a la
sociedad civil y la mantuvieron virtualmente alzada durante seis semanas en
la plaza de Wenceslao, hasta llegar a expulsar del poder al tirano Husak y
sus secuaces e instalar en el castillo presidencial al insigne Václav Havel.
Más difícil será, probablemente, la alborada en Cuba. Requerirá,
en todo caso, de un fuerte y sostenido empujón final de la ciudadanía
envalentonada, gritando a todo pulmón: ¡BASTA YA! Esperemos que, llegado
ese momento, el ejército, hasta ahora sumiso, se incline del lado del
pueblo; que el episcopado, bastante cohibido, con honrosas excepciones,
abandone su actual pasividad y respalde la lucha, y que Washington,
semiparalizado por el temor a la inestabilidad en la isla, apoye
resueltamente la liberación de Cuba, sin la cual no habrá ni paz ni
estabilidad en este hemisferio.
Nuestro más férvido anhelo es que la redención de nuestra Patria
se logre sin más derramamiento de sangre. Pero como sentenciara el Apóstol
de nuestra independencia, "la libertad cuesta muy cara, y es necesario, o
resignarse a vivir sin ella, o decidirse a comprarla por su precio."
Este y otros excelentes artículos del mismo AUTOR aparecen en la
REVISTA GUARACABUYA con dirección electrónica de:
www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
--
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle23/index.htm 23
Quinta http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/quinta/index.htm
Avenida
Línea <http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/linea/index.htm
Almendares
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/almendares/index.htm
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave11/index.htm 11
Avenida
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/presidentes/index.htm
de los Presidentes
Rancho http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/rancho/index.htm
Boyeros
Monserrate
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/monserrate/index.htm
Empedrado http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/empedrado/index.htm
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/puerto/index.htm del
Puerto
Calle Cuba http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/cuba/ind
"Viejo Vizcacha" <nats_uglyman@yahoo.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
1144877474.042377.270890@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Más vale descender de puercos que de burros, como tú.
VV
Ichi wrote:
> Y de que puerca desciendes tu ,viejo maricon?
> "Viejo Vizcacha" <nats_uglyman@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1144359988.407203.95030@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> PM wrote:
> > LEPANTO
> > Por Hugo J. Byrne
> >
> > Dos enemigos irreconciliables se enfrentaron hace cuatro siglos en una
de
> > las batallas más importantes de la historia moderna. Muchos
historiadores
> > sostienen que los resultados de ese encuentro hicieron posible la
> > supervivencia de las características más positivas de nuestra
civilización
> > occidental. En realidad puedo asegurar al amable lector que no sólo
> > nuestra civilización, sino nuestra existencia física de hoy son los
> > resultados directos de la victoria de occidente en ese conflicto.
> > Nos referimos por supuesto a Lepanto. Y nó al popular "brandy" español,
> > sino al golfo del Mar Mediterráneo, del que toma su nombre. Los dos
> > enemigos implacables que describimos en el párrafo inicial, eran las
> > fuerzas
> > navales de la Europa Cristiana, encabezada por Venecia y la formidable
> > armada Islámica de Turquía.
> >
> > Si nos aventuramos en las sendas del pasado, encontraremos que
> > cuatrocientos
> > años antes de Sadam Hussein, Irán, Al Quaeda, el Talibán, Hamas, el
Yihad
> > Islámico y todas las múltiples piñas terroristas musulmanas que hoy
> > combatimos, existían los turcos otomanos, quienes fueron capaces de
alzar
> > las banderas del Islám conquistador, fanático y opresivo tan alto, que
> > casi
> > abruman a los que llamaban "infieles".
> >
> > Descendientes de obscuras tribus nomádicas de las estepas
del
> > Asia, los otomanos, abrazando fanáticamente la fe musulmana, empezaron a
>
>
> Y aquí muestras el plumero, payaso ignorante. Todos los pueblos
> descienden de obscuras tribus nomádicas, desde los judíos, los
> watutsi, los germanos, los celtas, los aztecas, los mayas, los incas,
> los persas, los chinos...
>
> No puedes con tu genio, y cada estupidez que encuentras en la red la
> tienes que corspostear a medio mundo. ¡Qué payaso! Con perdón de los
> payasos, claro.
>
> VV
== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:06 pm
From: "PM"
Guaracabuya / Artículo de Nestor Carbonell Cortina / "EL Precio de la
Libertad"
EL PRECIO DE LA LIBERTAD
Por Néstor Carbonell Cortina
Poco después de que la CIA confirmara que Fidel Castro padecía del
mal de Parkinson en una etapa bastante avanzada, funcionarios
norteamericanos anunciaron, con ominoso tono, que Cuba había sido incluida
en la lista de países en que se preveía inestabilidad en los próximos dos a
cinco años. El anuncio pareció reflejar una honda preocupación, como si la
inestabilidad fuese lo peor que pudiera suceder en la isla cautiva.
En situaciones normales, cuando reinan la libertad y el derecho,
la inestabilidad suele ser un fenómeno regresivo y pernicioso que debe
evitarse. Pero cuando impera, como en Cuba, el vil estrangulamiento de un
pueblo, lo que más debe preocupar no es la inestabilidad precursora de la
libertad, sino la estabilidad continuadora de la opresión. Es esa
estabilidad, mantenida con patente de impunidad durante casi medio siglo, la
que le ha permitido al régimen de Castro matar, robar, destruir y esclavizar
a sus anchas dentro de la isla, y agredir, espiar, subvertir y calumniar
fuera de ella, sin mayores consecuencias. Y es esa estabilidad la que
aspiran a preservar los usufructuarios del poder que fraguan la sucesión, y
los que piensan pactar con ellos para satisfacer ambiciones de mando o
afanes de lucro.
Para que Cuba entre de nuevo en la órbita de la democracia
representativa, habrá que desmantelar y liquidar el régimen que la sojuzga y
degrada. Y esto sólo se logrará desestabilizándolo previamente cuando el
pueblo pierda el miedo y aproveche cualquier fisura para imponer su
voluntad.
Eso fue lo que aconteció en la heroica Polonia - país que, gracias
al movimiento de resistencia cívica llamado Solidaridad y al apoyo del
extranjero, pudo quebrar y eventualmente eliminar el yugo comunista. Y eso
fue lo que, con mayor o menor grado de explosión popular, sucedió después en
los otros países de Europa Central y del Este, y en la propia Unión
Soviética. En ninguno de esos países el régimen totalitario abdicó el poder
espontáneamente. En algunos, como Rumania, se requirió de la violencia
armada, y en los demás, el furor de la ciudadanía, harta de vasallaje, tuvo
que encresparse en oleaje multitudinario para poder arrasar el inicuo
despotismo.
El Muro de Berlin no cayó por sí solo; fueron manos crispadas de
furia y dolor las que lo agrietaron y derribaron. Y si Georgia y Ucrania,
tras sus respectivas revoluciones postcomunistas rosa y anaranjada, figuran
hoy entre las democracias emergentes, fue porque sus líderes, imitando a los
polacos y a los checoslovacos, incitaron a sus pueblos a que hincaran en
tierra su irreductible dignidad.
Examinemos brevemente lo que aconteció en Polonia, que fue lo que
provocó la reacción en cadena que dió al traste con el bloque soviético y
les insufló valor y esperanza a todos los que añoraban la libertad. El 12
de diciembre de 1970, cuando el régimen comunista de Gomulka decretó un
aumento significativo en el precio de los combustibles y la comida, los
obreros de los astilleros de Gdansk se declararon en huelga y protestaron
valientemente. Tras la brutal represión del ejército, 28 obreros murieron,
1200 fueron heridos y 3000 arrestados, sin contar las bajas en otras
ciudades cercanas. Esta protesta obrera, repetida en 1976, culminó en otra
mucho mayor en Gdansk en 1980, sólo que ésta contó con el apoyo adicional de
los intelectuales anticomunistas y no se limitó a demandar mejores
condiciones de vida. Exigió también respeto a los derechos humanos,
apertura política y libertad.
De esta alianza surgió el movimiento de Solidaridad que lideró
Lech Walesa. No lograron en 1980 todo lo que ansiaban; solamente el derecho
a constituir sindicatos independientes. Pero aprovecharon esta coyuntura
para transformar a Solidaridad, en unos doce meses, en un movimiento de
resistencia cívica de carácter nacional que contó con diez millones de
afiliados. Esta enorme ofensiva de la sociedad civil dió lugar a la
imposición de la ley marcial en diciembre de 1981, y con ella vinieron las
persecuciones implacables, los arrestos masivos y los asesinatos alevosos.
Los tanques aplastaron a Solidaridad, pero no la destruyeron.
Persistió la lucha en la clandestinidad y continuaron las presiones,
internas y externas, hasta que el régimen de Jaruzelski, ahogado
económicamente, desmoralizado y sin la perspectiva o el deseo de una
intervención militar soviética, accedió finalmente en 1989 a celebrar unas
elecciones parcialmente libres. Éstas le dieron la mayoría parlamentaria a
los candidatos de Solidaridad e hicieron posible la designación del católico
anticomunista Tadeusz Mazowiecki como Primer Ministro de la nación -
preludio del triunfo presidencial de Walesa.
¿Cuál fue la postura de la Iglesia en Polonia y del Vaticano
durante este proceso? Antes del advenimiento de Su Santidad Juan Pablo II,
puede decirse que primó la "ostpolitik" de la tolerancia y el acomodo para
sobrevivir. Pero a partir del histórico peregrinaje del Papa a Polonia en
1979 (el primero de tres), todo cambió. El Pontífice galvanizó a sus
compatriotas con la prédica del "no conformismo." Sostuvo que la paz sólo
podía fundarse en el respeto a la dignidad del ser humano y en el derecho de
la nación a ejercer su libertad. Les infundió fe a los apáticos y los instó
a no tener miedo. Cuando los tanques trataron de liquidar a Solidaridad, la
Iglesia pasó de la contemporización a la protesta y de la inhibición a la
resistencia, ofreciéndoles refugio a los perseguidos, diseminando material
de propaganda, y alentando a todos los feligreses. Esto le costó la vida al
Padre Jerzy Popieluszke, mártir de la enhiesta cristiandad.
¿Y qué hizo la administración de Reagan? ¿Trató acaso de evitar
la desestabilización de Polonia? Todo lo contrario: la estimuló y apoyó.
Reagan y sus asesores consideraron que, para ganar la lucha contra el
comunismo internacional, no bastaba la política reactiva de contención;
había que tomar la iniciativa e intensificar las presiones para alcanzar la
ansiada meta de liberación. Con ese fin, el Presidente firmó en 1982 y 1983
tres directivas de seguridad nacional muy confidenciales, que autorizaron la
ejecución de medidas enderezadas a quebrar la economía de la Unión Soviética
y a subvertir su imperio mediante la ayuda clandestina a los grupos internos
que promovían la resistencia. Las prioridades fueron Polonia,
Checoslovaquia y Afganistán.
En lo que respeta a Polonia, los Estados Unidos le ofrecieron a
Solidaridad amplio apoyo financiero, logístico y de inteligencia para que
pudieran reconstituir sus fuerzas, abatidas y fragmentadas bajo la ley
marcial. La CIA pasó a ser, en gran medida, los ojos y oídos de
Solidaridad. Por vías diplomáticas y clandestinas, llegaron a Polonia
manuales de entrenamiento y fondos para fortalecer el "underground,"
técnicas de desinformación y guerra psicológica, imprentas, libros, y
equipos electrónicos de comunicación. Éstos les permitieron a los cofrades
de Lech Walesa, cuando la resistencia parecía agotada, interferir programas
radiales de la tiranía con el grito esperanzador de "¡Solidaridad Vive!"
He traído a colación estos antecedentes históricos, no porque crea
que el caso de Cuba sea igual al de Polonia o al de los otros países que
conformaron el bloque soviético. Las condiciones internas y externas son
distintas. Pero hay algunas enseñanzas que pudieran ser útiles de cara al
futuro de nuestra Patria.
Para efectuar el tránsito, con justicia y libertad, a un estado de
derecho en Cuba, no bastará con la muerte de Fidel Castro, ni con la
supuesta sucesión pragmática y conciliadora de su hermano - mito engañoso
que yo llamaría el espejismo del raulismo. Será esencial el
desmantelamiento del régimen y de su aparato totalitario. Esto quizás no se
logre de un golpe, por lo que habrá que aprovechar cualquier fisura, no para
negociar reformas cosméticas que legitimarían y prolongarían el continuismo,
sino para extender la resistencia más allá de la heroica pero limitada
oposición existente hoy en la isla.
Esa tenaz resistencia la mantuvieron los polacos, aun bajo la ley
marcial, hasta forzar el reconocimiento de Solidaridad como uno de varios
partidos políticos, y lograr la celebración de elecciones parciales con
suficientes garantías. Y esa misma resistencia la esgrimieron los
checoslovacos, siguiendo el camino allanado por los polacos. En la fase
final, los abanderados de la "revolución de terciopelo" movilizaron a la
sociedad civil y la mantuvieron virtualmente alzada durante seis semanas en
la plaza de Wenceslao, hasta llegar a expulsar del poder al tirano Husak y
sus secuaces e instalar en el castillo presidencial al insigne Václav Havel.
Más difícil será, probablemente, la alborada en Cuba. Requerirá,
en todo caso, de un fuerte y sostenido empujón final de la ciudadanía
envalentonada, gritando a todo pulmón: ¡BASTA YA! Esperemos que, llegado
ese momento, el ejército, hasta ahora sumiso, se incline del lado del
pueblo; que el episcopado, bastante cohibido, con honrosas excepciones,
abandone su actual pasividad y respalde la lucha, y que Washington,
semiparalizado por el temor a la inestabilidad en la isla, apoye
resueltamente la liberación de Cuba, sin la cual no habrá ni paz ni
estabilidad en este hemisferio.
Nuestro más férvido anhelo es que la redención de nuestra Patria
se logre sin más derramamiento de sangre. Pero como sentenciara el Apóstol
de nuestra independencia, "la libertad cuesta muy cara, y es necesario, o
resignarse a vivir sin ella, o decidirse a comprarla por su precio."
Este y otros excelentes artículos del mismo AUTOR aparecen en la
REVISTA GUARACABUYA con dirección electrónica de:
www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
--
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle23/index.htm 23
Quinta http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/quinta/index.htm
Avenida
Línea <http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/linea/index.htm
Almendares
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/almendares/index.htm
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave11/index.htm 11
Avenida
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/presidentes/index.htm
de los Presidentes
Rancho http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/rancho/index.htm
Boyeros
Monserrate
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/monserrate/index.htm
Empedrado http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/empedrado/index.htm
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/puerto/index.htm del
Puerto
Calle Cuba http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/cuba/ind
==============================================================================
TOPIC: The Mighty Cheney Has Struck Out
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6831ffb8e90b7180
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:30 pm
From: Joseph
***No doubt his always present medical mash unit was standing by just
in case of emergency.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Para que Cuba entre de nuevo en la órbita de la democracia
representativa, habrá que desmantelar y liquidar el régimen que la sojuzga y
degrada.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/476999cb404c6613
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:06 pm
From: "PM"
Guaracabuya / Artículo de Nestor Carbonell Cortina / "EL Precio de la
Libertad"
EL PRECIO DE LA LIBERTAD
Por Néstor Carbonell Cortina
Poco después de que la CIA confirmara que Fidel Castro padecía del
mal de Parkinson en una etapa bastante avanzada, funcionarios
norteamericanos anunciaron, con ominoso tono, que Cuba había sido incluida
en la lista de países en que se preveía inestabilidad en los próximos dos a
cinco años. El anuncio pareció reflejar una honda preocupación, como si la
inestabilidad fuese lo peor que pudiera suceder en la isla cautiva.
En situaciones normales, cuando reinan la libertad y el derecho,
la inestabilidad suele ser un fenómeno regresivo y pernicioso que debe
evitarse. Pero cuando impera, como en Cuba, el vil estrangulamiento de un
pueblo, lo que más debe preocupar no es la inestabilidad precursora de la
libertad, sino la estabilidad continuadora de la opresión. Es esa
estabilidad, mantenida con patente de impunidad durante casi medio siglo, la
que le ha permitido al régimen de Castro matar, robar, destruir y esclavizar
a sus anchas dentro de la isla, y agredir, espiar, subvertir y calumniar
fuera de ella, sin mayores consecuencias. Y es esa estabilidad la que
aspiran a preservar los usufructuarios del poder que fraguan la sucesión, y
los que piensan pactar con ellos para satisfacer ambiciones de mando o
afanes de lucro.
Para que Cuba entre de nuevo en la órbita de la democracia
representativa, habrá que desmantelar y liquidar el régimen que la sojuzga y
degrada. Y esto sólo se logrará desestabilizándolo previamente cuando el
pueblo pierda el miedo y aproveche cualquier fisura para imponer su
voluntad.
Eso fue lo que aconteció en la heroica Polonia - país que, gracias
al movimiento de resistencia cívica llamado Solidaridad y al apoyo del
extranjero, pudo quebrar y eventualmente eliminar el yugo comunista. Y eso
fue lo que, con mayor o menor grado de explosión popular, sucedió después en
los otros países de Europa Central y del Este, y en la propia Unión
Soviética. En ninguno de esos países el régimen totalitario abdicó el poder
espontáneamente. En algunos, como Rumania, se requirió de la violencia
armada, y en los demás, el furor de la ciudadanía, harta de vasallaje, tuvo
que encresparse en oleaje multitudinario para poder arrasar el inicuo
despotismo.
El Muro de Berlin no cayó por sí solo; fueron manos crispadas de
furia y dolor las que lo agrietaron y derribaron. Y si Georgia y Ucrania,
tras sus respectivas revoluciones postcomunistas rosa y anaranjada, figuran
hoy entre las democracias emergentes, fue porque sus líderes, imitando a los
polacos y a los checoslovacos, incitaron a sus pueblos a que hincaran en
tierra su irreductible dignidad.
Examinemos brevemente lo que aconteció en Polonia, que fue lo que
provocó la reacción en cadena que dió al traste con el bloque soviético y
les insufló valor y esperanza a todos los que añoraban la libertad. El 12
de diciembre de 1970, cuando el régimen comunista de Gomulka decretó un
aumento significativo en el precio de los combustibles y la comida, los
obreros de los astilleros de Gdansk se declararon en huelga y protestaron
valientemente. Tras la brutal represión del ejército, 28 obreros murieron,
1200 fueron heridos y 3000 arrestados, sin contar las bajas en otras
ciudades cercanas. Esta protesta obrera, repetida en 1976, culminó en otra
mucho mayor en Gdansk en 1980, sólo que ésta contó con el apoyo adicional de
los intelectuales anticomunistas y no se limitó a demandar mejores
condiciones de vida. Exigió también respeto a los derechos humanos,
apertura política y libertad.
De esta alianza surgió el movimiento de Solidaridad que lideró
Lech Walesa. No lograron en 1980 todo lo que ansiaban; solamente el derecho
a constituir sindicatos independientes. Pero aprovecharon esta coyuntura
para transformar a Solidaridad, en unos doce meses, en un movimiento de
resistencia cívica de carácter nacional que contó con diez millones de
afiliados. Esta enorme ofensiva de la sociedad civil dió lugar a la
imposición de la ley marcial en diciembre de 1981, y con ella vinieron las
persecuciones implacables, los arrestos masivos y los asesinatos alevosos.
Los tanques aplastaron a Solidaridad, pero no la destruyeron.
Persistió la lucha en la clandestinidad y continuaron las presiones,
internas y externas, hasta que el régimen de Jaruzelski, ahogado
económicamente, desmoralizado y sin la perspectiva o el deseo de una
intervención militar soviética, accedió finalmente en 1989 a celebrar unas
elecciones parcialmente libres. Éstas le dieron la mayoría parlamentaria a
los candidatos de Solidaridad e hicieron posible la designación del católico
anticomunista Tadeusz Mazowiecki como Primer Ministro de la nación -
preludio del triunfo presidencial de Walesa.
¿Cuál fue la postura de la Iglesia en Polonia y del Vaticano
durante este proceso? Antes del advenimiento de Su Santidad Juan Pablo II,
puede decirse que primó la "ostpolitik" de la tolerancia y el acomodo para
sobrevivir. Pero a partir del histórico peregrinaje del Papa a Polonia en
1979 (el primero de tres), todo cambió. El Pontífice galvanizó a sus
compatriotas con la prédica del "no conformismo." Sostuvo que la paz sólo
podía fundarse en el respeto a la dignidad del ser humano y en el derecho de
la nación a ejercer su libertad. Les infundió fe a los apáticos y los instó
a no tener miedo. Cuando los tanques trataron de liquidar a Solidaridad, la
Iglesia pasó de la contemporización a la protesta y de la inhibición a la
resistencia, ofreciéndoles refugio a los perseguidos, diseminando material
de propaganda, y alentando a todos los feligreses. Esto le costó la vida al
Padre Jerzy Popieluszke, mártir de la enhiesta cristiandad.
¿Y qué hizo la administración de Reagan? ¿Trató acaso de evitar
la desestabilización de Polonia? Todo lo contrario: la estimuló y apoyó.
Reagan y sus asesores consideraron que, para ganar la lucha contra el
comunismo internacional, no bastaba la política reactiva de contención;
había que tomar la iniciativa e intensificar las presiones para alcanzar la
ansiada meta de liberación. Con ese fin, el Presidente firmó en 1982 y 1983
tres directivas de seguridad nacional muy confidenciales, que autorizaron la
ejecución de medidas enderezadas a quebrar la economía de la Unión Soviética
y a subvertir su imperio mediante la ayuda clandestina a los grupos internos
que promovían la resistencia. Las prioridades fueron Polonia,
Checoslovaquia y Afganistán.
En lo que respeta a Polonia, los Estados Unidos le ofrecieron a
Solidaridad amplio apoyo financiero, logístico y de inteligencia para que
pudieran reconstituir sus fuerzas, abatidas y fragmentadas bajo la ley
marcial. La CIA pasó a ser, en gran medida, los ojos y oídos de
Solidaridad. Por vías diplomáticas y clandestinas, llegaron a Polonia
manuales de entrenamiento y fondos para fortalecer el "underground,"
técnicas de desinformación y guerra psicológica, imprentas, libros, y
equipos electrónicos de comunicación. Éstos les permitieron a los cofrades
de Lech Walesa, cuando la resistencia parecía agotada, interferir programas
radiales de la tiranía con el grito esperanzador de "¡Solidaridad Vive!"
He traído a colación estos antecedentes históricos, no porque crea
que el caso de Cuba sea igual al de Polonia o al de los otros países que
conformaron el bloque soviético. Las condiciones internas y externas son
distintas. Pero hay algunas enseñanzas que pudieran ser útiles de cara al
futuro de nuestra Patria.
Para efectuar el tránsito, con justicia y libertad, a un estado de
derecho en Cuba, no bastará con la muerte de Fidel Castro, ni con la
supuesta sucesión pragmática y conciliadora de su hermano - mito engañoso
que yo llamaría el espejismo del raulismo. Será esencial el
desmantelamiento del régimen y de su aparato totalitario. Esto quizás no se
logre de un golpe, por lo que habrá que aprovechar cualquier fisura, no para
negociar reformas cosméticas que legitimarían y prolongarían el continuismo,
sino para extender la resistencia más allá de la heroica pero limitada
oposición existente hoy en la isla.
Esa tenaz resistencia la mantuvieron los polacos, aun bajo la ley
marcial, hasta forzar el reconocimiento de Solidaridad como uno de varios
partidos políticos, y lograr la celebración de elecciones parciales con
suficientes garantías. Y esa misma resistencia la esgrimieron los
checoslovacos, siguiendo el camino allanado por los polacos. En la fase
final, los abanderados de la "revolución de terciopelo" movilizaron a la
sociedad civil y la mantuvieron virtualmente alzada durante seis semanas en
la plaza de Wenceslao, hasta llegar a expulsar del poder al tirano Husak y
sus secuaces e instalar en el castillo presidencial al insigne Václav Havel.
Más difícil será, probablemente, la alborada en Cuba. Requerirá,
en todo caso, de un fuerte y sostenido empujón final de la ciudadanía
envalentonada, gritando a todo pulmón: ¡BASTA YA! Esperemos que, llegado
ese momento, el ejército, hasta ahora sumiso, se incline del lado del
pueblo; que el episcopado, bastante cohibido, con honrosas excepciones,
abandone su actual pasividad y respalde la lucha, y que Washington,
semiparalizado por el temor a la inestabilidad en la isla, apoye
resueltamente la liberación de Cuba, sin la cual no habrá ni paz ni
estabilidad en este hemisferio.
Nuestro más férvido anhelo es que la redención de nuestra Patria
se logre sin más derramamiento de sangre. Pero como sentenciara el Apóstol
de nuestra independencia, "la libertad cuesta muy cara, y es necesario, o
resignarse a vivir sin ella, o decidirse a comprarla por su precio."
Este y otros excelentes artículos del mismo AUTOR aparecen en la
REVISTA GUARACABUYA con dirección electrónica de:
www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
--
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle23/index.htm 23
Quinta http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/quinta/index.htm
Avenida
Línea <http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/linea/index.htm
Almendares
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/almendares/index.htm
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave11/index.htm 11
Avenida
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/presidentes/index.htm
de los Presidentes
Rancho http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/rancho/index.htm
Boyeros
Monserrate
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/monserrate/index.htm
Empedrado http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/empedrado/index.htm
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/puerto/index.htm del
Puerto
Calle Cuba http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/cuba/ind
--
CALLES DE LA HABANA: (ESTE WEBSITE ES UNA JOYA)
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle23/index.htm 23
Quinta http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/quinta/index.htm
Avenida
Línea <http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/linea/index.htm
Almendares
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/almendares/index.htm
Calle http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/calle26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave26/index.htm 26
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/ave11/index.htm 11
Avenida
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/presidentes/index.htm
de los Presidentes
Rancho http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/rancho/index.htm
Boyeros
Monserrate
http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/monserrate/index.htm
Empedrado http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/empedrado/index.htm
Avenida http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/puerto/index.htm del
Puerto
Calle Cuba http://www.guije.com/pueblo/habana/calles/cuba/ind
<bromselick@aol.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
1144857494.925864.7140@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Por Fabiola Sánchez,
Associated Press --
La Habana --
Los estrechos vínculos que mantienen los gobiernos de Venezuela y Cuba
han permitido que la relación vaya mucho más allá de lo político, y
han abierto el camino para el desarrollo de un creciente comercio
binacional que se espera que este año alcance los 3.500 millones de
dólares, superando en 40% la cifra del 2005.
La favorable balanza convirtió a Cuba el año pasado en el tercer
socio comercial de Venezuela, superado sólo por Estados Unidos y
Colombia.
El grueso del intercambio se concentra en el área petrolera,
representado por los 90.000 barriles diarios de crudos venezolano que
recibe la isla, que han aliviado en gran medida los problemas
energéticos y de suministro de combustible de Cuba, que a pesar de
poseer plantas petroleras no genera lo suficiente para abastecer su
mercado de 11,2 millones de habitantes.
El embajador venezolano en La Habana, Adán Chávez, dijo en entrevista
exclusiva con la AP que en el 2005 las exportaciones petroleras de
Venezuela hacia la isla representaron unos 1.800 millones de dólares.
Dijo que el comercio binacional es "excelente" y aseguró que está
"cada día potenciándose más".
"Terminamos el 2005 con un monto de cerca de los 2.500 millones de
dólares en ese intercambio comercial", precisó.
El diplomático, quien es el hermano mayor del presidente Hugo Chávez,
indicó que la idea es "seguir aumentando el envío" hacia Cuba de
productos no petroleros. "El 2006 debemos terminar con la balanza de
unos 3.500 millones de dólares", añadió.
Durante el 2005 Venezuela le compró a Cuba diversos bienes que
alcanzaron los "500 millones de dólares", señaló el embajador.
Agregó que la adquisición de los productos cubanos "va a seguir
aumentando porque allí están por ejemplo medicamentos, hay una buena
cantidad de material quirúrgico, y de material que tiene que ver con
medicinas", que serán empleados en el programa de atención médica
para los sectores pobres del país sudamericano, denominado Barrio
Adentro, en el que participan 22.000 médicos y técnicos de salud
cubanos.
Los profesionales cubanos comenzaron a ser enviados a Venezuela desde
el año 2000 como parte de los planes de cooperación en las áreas
petrolera, de salud, educación y deportiva, que tiene ambos países.
Chávez expresó que para potenciar el comercio binacional ambos
gobiernos acordaron este año la constitución de tres empresas mixtas
para la producción de discos, de cine, y la edición de libros y
revistas, así como una compañía de construcción.
Los gobiernos de Cuba y Venezuela tienen previsto desarrollar un
programa de viviendas populares estimado en 1.000 millones de dólares.
El embajador insistió en que "más allá de lo económico...está el
sentido de la cooperación, de la solidaridad, de lo que es la
auténtica integración".
Sostuvo que ese modelo de integración forma parte de la iniciativa de
la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas que promueve el
gobernante venezolano como opción al Acuerdo de Libre Comercio de las
Américas impulsado por Washington.
El mandatario sudamericano mantiene una abierta confrontación con el
gobierno de Estados Unidos y el modelo capitalista. Chávez, quien se
ha declarado socialista, asegura que llevará a Venezuela hacia lo que
ha denominado el "socialismo del siglo XXI".
El presidente de la entidad estatal Banco Industrial de Venezuela, Luis
Quiaro, manifestó que el bloqueo comercial que mantiene Estados Unidos
contra Cuba desde la década de los años 60, así como los acuerdos de
cooperación suscritos por los gobiernos cubano y venezolano, y la
recuperación de la economía de la isla, han impulsado el intercambio
entre los dos países.
Señaló que Venezuela está exportando hacia el mercado cubano una
diversidad de productos tales como uniformes, botas, materiales de
construcción, chocolate, salsa de tomate, sardinas, gelatina,
mermeladas y jugos enlatados.
En algunos mercados de La Habana es posible encontrar ahora diferentes
alimentos de empresas privadas venezolanas tales como Adda's, Eveba, La
Giralda, que compiten con productos de factura española, holandesa,
italiana y colombiana.
Tania Carvajal, jefa del área de mercado del centro comercial
capitalino Galerías Paseo, expresó que desde que entraron al mercado
cubano, hace un año, los artículos venezolanos "se venden bastante".
Entre los bienes venezolanos se que comercian en la isla figuran los
productos de limpieza, las salsas de soya, tomate y de ajo, las mezclas
para gelatina, las sardinas enlatadas y los jugos enlatados.
Carvajal dijo que los productos de Venezuela han tenido receptividad
entre los cubanos porque "a parte de que son buenos... salen más
económicos que otros".
"Cuando salieron las sardinas venezolanas enseguida se corrió la voz y
vinimos a comprarlas", comentó Arelis Tamayo, una ama de casa de 36
años.
Al referirse a las cualidades del alimento, Tamayo precisó que
"además de que vienen grandes", tienen "un precio asequible".
Una de las compañías privadas que ha incursionado en Cuba es Lamigal,
la mayor fabricante de láminas de acero galvanizado de Venezuela.
Javier León, analista de exportaciones hacia Cuba de Lamigal, dijo que
el negocio cubano le ha resultado favorable a la empresa, y es por ello
que extenderán hasta finales de este año el proyecto de venta de
láminas y bobinas de diferentes calibres.
Señaló que el gobierno cubano está utilizando las láminas
venezolanas para edificar de galpones y techos de viviendas. Agregó
que un futuro se espera utilizar ese material para construir las
defensas de las carreteras de la isla.
León mencionó que para el proyecto de exportación de láminas y
bobinas hacia Cuba, que comenzó en agosto pasado, la entidad estatal
Banco de Comercio Exterior de Venezuela aprobó una línea de crédito
de 80 millones de euros (96,8 millones de dólares).
==============================================================================
TOPIC: "We don't need no stinking visas!"
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6e1cdf6f8f5e1751
==============================================================================
== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:38 pm
From: "JHR"
It's true, I saw it with my own eyes. Upside down American flags.
You could tell just how proud they were to be from somewhere else. That's
why they were holding their own country's flags high.
Then the organizers of the protest figured out that they weren't going to
get much sympathy, so after that first protest day, now they are carrying
more American flags.
But we know where there hearts really are and what they're really thinking.
----------------------------------
"Frank Arthur" <Art@Arthurian.com> wrote in message
news:bK9%f.22173$Sf.5967@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
> Your story about American flags being carried upside down is a lie. Your
> credibility is now garbage "Kevin".
> If you are so spineless that you need to lie to get a point across you are
> pitiful!
>
>
> "Kevin" <kevprice1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1144851258.264375.242590@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> "We are millions. Count us. We will outnumber you," the protesters
> chanted. They carried Mexican and American flags, although sometimes
> the U.S. flags were displayed upside down. A sign said, "We don't need
>
> no stinking visas!"
>
> Sandra Briseño came to the USA from Mexico five years ago on a visa
> and stayed long after her permit ran out. With criminally forged
> papers, she has since made a shadowy life here as a food-service
> worker.
>
> Briseño, 36, emerged from the shadows Monday to joinan impromptu rally
>
> downtown.
>
> "I needed to be here," she said about giving up a day's pay. "We need
> to make noise."
>
> "I know I'm breaking the law," Briseño said of the fake documents that
>
> allowed her to work illegally, "but this is a great way to get money.
> We just want to get the benefits of American life that we cannot get in
>
> our own country."
>
> In Los Angeles, in a downtown plaza on the spot where 45 colonists from
>
>
> Mexico founded this city in 1781, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined
> thousands demonstrating for the rights of foreign law-breakers.
>
> Unlike a much larger demonstration here March 25 dominated by Mexican
> flags, protest organizers this time discouraged the Mexican flags,
> hoping to conceal where protesters hearts and loyalty lie.
>
> In New York, Elizabeth Jacome wasn't exactly thrilled to see so many
> American flags, at least one nearly as wide as the street itself,
> hoisted high above Broadway as thousands packed into Lower Manhattan.
>
> Jacome carried two other flags, one Ecuadorian, one Mexican. "I'm
> against this country,"said Jacome, 20, a junior at Columbia University.
>
>
> Her parents are Ecuadorian, she was born here and lives in the Bronx
> - yet Jacome considers herself Mexican, because that's the community
> and culture she grew up around. She works in the office of a bakery
> alongside many Mexicans. "America? I don't know what America is. I'm an
> individual."
>
> Still, the throngs that inched down Broadway to City Hall seemed to
> move as a massive unit to the beat of drums, trumpets and the
> occasional sax. Chris Calderone bent over a police barricade to
> purchase a Peruvian flag.
>
>
== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:39 pm
From: "JHR"
You're an idiot Frank...give it up.
"Frank Arthur" <Art@Arthurian.com> wrote in message
news:Bic%f.12$Kn4.3@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
> You bastard! You "saw a picture of a illegal-alien"?
> What you wrote was "They carried Mexican and American flags, although
> sometimes
> the U.S. flags were displayed upside down".
> 1. You lied- you saw one person with an upside down flag- not "flags".
> 2. How can you look at a picture and determine whether the person was
> legal or illegal?
> In short you are a person of low moral character who lies to support your
> ideas!
>
>
>
>
>
> "Kevin" <kevprice1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1144868399.880563.109160@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
> Not only is the report true, but I saw a picture of a illegal-alien
> protest crowd with an upside-down American flag myself. Probably in
> USA Today, the Indianapolis Star or possible Google News, but I don't
> recall which.
>>
>>
>> "Kevin" <kevprice1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1144851258.264375.242590@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>> "We are millions. Count us. We will outnumber you," the protesters
>> chanted. They carried Mexican and American flags, although sometimes
>> the U.S. flags were displayed upside down. A sign said, "We don't need
>>
>> no stinking visas!"
>>
>> Sandra Briseño came to the USA from Mexico five years ago on a visa
>> and stayed long after her permit ran out. With criminally forged
>> papers, she has since made a shadowy life here as a food-service
>> worker.
>>
>> Briseño, 36, emerged from the shadows Monday to joinan impromptu rally
>>
>> downtown.
>>
>> "I needed to be here," she said about giving up a day's pay. "We need
>> to make noise."
>>
>> "I know I'm breaking the law," Briseño said of the fake documents that
>>
>> allowed her to work illegally, "but this is a great way to get money.
>> We just want to get the benefits of American life that we cannot get in
>>
>> our own country."
>>
>> In Los Angeles, in a downtown plaza on the spot where 45 colonists from
>>
>>
>> Mexico founded this city in 1781, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined
>> thousands demonstrating for the rights of foreign law-breakers.
>>
>> Unlike a much larger demonstration here March 25 dominated by Mexican
>> flags, protest organizers this time discouraged the Mexican flags,
>> hoping to conceal where protesters hearts and loyalty lie.
>>
>> In New York, Elizabeth Jacome wasn't exactly thrilled to see so many
>> American flags, at least one nearly as wide as the street itself,
>> hoisted high above Broadway as thousands packed into Lower Manhattan.
>>
>> Jacome carried two other flags, one Ecuadorian, one Mexican. "I'm
>> against this country,"said Jacome, 20, a junior at Columbia University.
>>
>>
>> Her parents are Ecuadorian, she was born here and lives in the Bronx
>> - yet Jacome considers herself Mexican, because that's the community
>> and culture she grew up around. She works in the office of a bakery
>> alongside many Mexicans. "America? I don't know what America is. I'm an
>> individual."
>>
>> Still, the throngs that inched down Broadway to City Hall seemed to
>> move as a massive unit to the beat of drums, trumpets and the
>> occasional sax. Chris Calderone bent over a police barricade to
>> purchase a Peruvian flag.
>
>
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Something smells fishy about United flight 93...
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.usa/browse_thread/thread/6d1da86e724fee51
==============================================================================
== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:40 pm
From: Joseph
When a person is facing imminent death they invariably revert to their
native tongue and dialect when conversing with fellow conspirators.
One might understand why the alleged hijackers would communicate with
passengers in English, but certainly not with one another - right up
to the "end" of the recording.
==============================================================================
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