Gaza: scare tactics leading to new refugee crisis?

Disturbing reports from Khalid Amayre in Egyptian paper Al Ahram (in English, this time):

In its blitz on unprotected Gazans, Israel has introduced a new tactic which takes the form of a telephone call to Gazan families from the Israeli Shin Bet (domestic intelligence agency) warning that them that they must leave their homes or be bombed within 20 minutes. Predictably, the manifestly sadistic tactic has terrorised the entire population, many left wondering if a given call is genuine or a hoax.

Some families, convinced by such calls, have left their homes at two o'clock in the morning only to see them bombed directly by Israeli F-16 fighters. Others have abandoned their homes and seen them stand untouched. So fearful are they that they refuse to return in case bombings are merely delayed.

In 1948 they sent a band of rowdies to scare Palestinians out of their villages; the ones who left are still waiting to be allowed to return.

In Lebanon Israel justifies its mass killings by saying "we told them to get out". But where can they go from Gaza? Into Israel? Hollow laugh. Anyone taking that route gets shot.

Who is pushing whom into the sea?

Israel imposes the tactics of military rule on some Arab cities inside its borders

Here's another story with Hebrew-only confirmation: Israeli policemen chased children into their homes at gunpoint in the Israeli city of Umm Al Fahm. They conducted searches in these homes. Gunshots were heard - nothing explaining them. No warrants, no warning, no kidding.

Back to English sources, Amir Oren reports in Haaretz about the pummelling of Gaza - 12,000 bombs hit it in the past three weeks.

And more in English - Israel has locked the folks in Occupied Territories into check-point-surrounded ghettoes, and now keeps them in their homes until Saturday, and points guns at Palestinian children with Israeli citizenship.

Who is driving the policy? What are they trying to achieve with the point-guns-at-children tactic?

Constitutional Devolution

So, how do we feel about Bush's plans for labeling U.S. citizens as “enemy combatants” and their consequent loss of legal rights and protections...? There's a nice opinion piece in the ContraCosta Times today. Simply stated and on the money:

“FROM TIME TO TIME in our history, our leaders have allowed, even manipulated, a reasonable concern about a real threat to escalate into an excessive fear that dangerously undermined our liberties. The Red Scare of the McCarthy era was one example. Today, it is fear of terrorists.”

Aziz Huq, author of the soon to be released book, Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in Times of Terror (New Press, 2007) warns, we're all enemy combatants now:

“The power to label individuals as 'enemy combatant'—and detain them indefinitely—presents one of the most basic threats not only to elemental human liberties, but also to the democratic order. Why? Because a government that can simply banish its foes—and those it erroneously seizes—from public sight simply by labeling them as beyond the pale is not a government that labors under the rule of law.”

Even top military leaders oppose Bush's plan for special courts. And although an early draft of the plan, leaked to the courts last week, has been softened, the new plan still allows the Secretary of Defense “to add crimes at will to those under the military court's jurisdiction...[and] would be likely to put more individuals than previously expected before military juries.” CSM posted a good description of how the proposal would dramatically expand military court powers today.

Damn lamenting, liberty-loving liberals!

WATCH THE SPIN!

Our BLUE-HOT planet... Lovely portrait, huh? Looks professional. Except, it’s getting kind of hot here under the lights...

“Global warming isn’t real,” they say. “Just something the Left invented to help them get their way...!”

“They are suppressing information that confirms global warming,” the Left says. “Just look at who is financing the global warming denial squad...!”

Whom to believe? I ask these questions: If global warming is a lie, exactly how does the Left benefit by promoting its existence? And, if global warming is real, just how does the Right benefit by denying its truth?

It can be argued that the Right is happy when big energy is happy because, well, politicians on the Right are either in bed with big energy or they are big energy. And if there is no groundwork and infrastructure in place when we reach peak oil, basically, big energy can set all the prices, call all the shots, and buy the means of production for just about everything. Or so Marx might say. Assuming there still is production.

Let’s consider the Left. If the Left is fabricating the global warming phenomenon, they benefit...how? (Pause here and think hard.) The Right, i.e., G(lobal) W(arming) Bush, says the Left invented the “myth” of global warming to gain power by spreading panic. Moreover, if suddenly there is money to be made in alternative fuel research and development, we might just invent more efficient systems of resource management. ¡Quel outrage! Call the competition police!

Ross Gelbspan sums it up nicely:

“Apologists for the administration have justified its climate policies by citing politically conservative principles -- the withdrawal of onerous regulations, a belief in unencumbered free markets, and the appeal of corporate voluntarism. In fact, the Bush climate policies have nothing to do with political conservatism. Rather, they represent corruption disguised as conservatism.”

The science is in; global warming is real. And I have a hard time understanding how a money trail as thick and green as this one could be tripped over while true believers chase the spin that somehow global warming is a fabricated myth. Who would buy such Fuzzy Science?

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About the administration's Planetary Spin, tell us how you really feel... And do share your favorite links supporting the reality of global warming, exposing the financial supporters of global warming deniers, and documenting other efforts to thwart fuel efficiency.

Careful With That Fan

'Cause There's a Lot of Shit Going on Here

Last May Les Enragés' reporter-at-large Nigel Elliot caught this article from the Boston Globe, perhaps one of the most important yet under-reported stories in recent times. I responded with this post at Friendly Neighbour, and Sans-culotte weighed in with this.

The article expresses the fear that a new 'axis of evil' is forming, with the players including Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Mongolia, and a lot of countries whose names end in -stan. Please read the entire Globe article for details. I will highlight a few quotes;

"The purpose of this collaboration is to give form to a common policy of resisting what the governments in Beijing and Moscow have come to see as an aggressive, overbearing America."

"Acceptance of Iran by the organization at the very moment when the Islamic Republic is defying the International Atomic Energy Agency -- and when China and Russia are blocking US efforts to have the United Nations Security Council approve sanctions on Iran -- suggests a tectonic shift in geopolitics."

"Ironically, this is precisely what President Bush has pledged to prevent."

"But after five years of trial and error, it is clear that the Bush doctrine is having the opposite effect."

When a policy leads to the opposite of its intended effect, that is called incompetence. The immediate and inevitable reaction to this was, "Holy crap! - This is World War III waiting to happen." That from sans-culotte, btw, on a comment thread at Americablog. With Bush's monumental, I would even say historically unprecedented incompetence (With the possible exception of Gaius Caligula) leading to even the possibility of World War III, wouldn't you think that the Mainstream Media (MSM) would finally start, oh I don't know, DOING THEIR JOB? Don't hold your breath waiting for that.

In keeping with Les Enragés' long-established tradition of following up on stories we were pursuing even before we were Les Enragés, I offer this article from Xinhua news (Chinese), found by Hornet on the path less taken. It appears to indicate an increased level of co-operation between the principles mentioned in the Boston Globe article, and possibly a widening of scope as well. It might not be a bad idea to double the amount of canned tuna you have stashed under your bed.

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I made it! I am so honored and pleased.

Thanks for allowing me to join ya'll (Texas-speak). Wars and destruction have now even invaded my dreams. I woke up at 2 a.m. drenched in sweat, having just realized that Bushco is still in power...BTW, I was pleasantly surprised at the grilling Hillary gave Rummy yesterday. I had dismissed her as becoming Repuke-lite, and was glad to see some fire and passion back in her. I think we better get used to the idea that she will be the Dem candidate for Prez in '08, and once again, the "enemy" will win, via Diabold and just plain Hillary-hatred she seems to inspire in so many people. Early on, I had a lot of faith in her and was actually hopeful I would see her elected Prez, but then my dreams crumbled as I watched her become more & more *cough* centrist, trying to please everyone all the time. Time will tell. I hope I'm wrong. And today, under the beautiful blue Texas sky, wars in the Middle East rage on and people continue to get killed and maimed.

Friday Open Thread

Comment Away, Oh unruly ones!

Breaking: Venezuala Recalls Ambassador from Tel-Aviv

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Les Enragés Scoop Reuters

Link in Hebrew - Chavez seems to disagree with the whole idea of heading into Lebanon and bombing infrastructure and civilians. He announced the recall in a televised speech. I've found no corroboration beyond this Ynet report.

Also, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, threatened that if Israel strikes Beirut, he'll send missiles to Tel-Aviv. So far, he has lived up to everything he has said he would do. If he does direct his firepower towards, I hope the missile does not hit any civilians - Tel Aviv is full of (many, many) military installations. Civilians should just NOT be hurt in wars.

Especially pointless wars.

Update: plenty of corroboration now. Here's one item from Reuters... gratifyingly, posted after ours.
The Unruly Mob Scoops Reuters!

Let's hope that US and Israeli Generals read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'

China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday told Chinese nationals to leave Israel due to fighting on the Lebanese border, the government's main news agency reported. "The conflict between Lebanon and Israel is increasing, so Chinese citizens in Israel should get as far from the battle area as possible," the notice said, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Pushing, shoving, conniving towards an ineluctable need for war

RawStory features Sidney Blumenthal's disturbing assertion that the White House wants a 'four-front war'

The National Security Agency is providing signal intelligence to Israel to monitor whether Syria and Iran are supplying new armaments to Hezbollah as it fires hundreds of missiles into northern Israel, according to a national security official with direct knowledge of the operation. President Bush has approved the secret program.

According to this national security insider, "the neocon scenario extends far beyond that objective to pushing Israel into a 'cleansing war' with Syria and Iran," with the full admission that their current guidebook, written originally for the Israeli Likud Prime Minister to use inside Israel, is: "a 1996 neocon manifesto against the Middle East peace process [entitled] A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm"

A 20th C foreign nation's screed now dictates policy in 21st C America?

Blumenthal's tagline ought to send chills up the back of any reasonably intelligent average American: Secretly devising a scheme that might thrust Israel into a ring of fire cannot be construed as a blunder. It is a deliberate, calculated and methodical plot,because it begs the harrowing question of what happens to the 135,000 troops at the center of this "ring of fire" who are now its bull's eye.

Losing Relevance

Journalist and historian Tom Segev wonders in this English article whether IDF spokeswoman Miri Regev or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the more annoying, and decries the fact that Israel has adopted the moral values of Hezbollah: Whatever they are doing to the residents of northern Israel, we can also do to the citizens of Lebanon, and even more. Many Israelis tended to look at the Qana incident primarily as a media disaster and not as something that imposed on them any ethical responsibility.

Having identified the collapse of the U.S. as a leader in morality and justice, he recommends that Israel turn to Europe, which understands that even if the United States conquers Tehran, [Israel] will still have to live with the Palestinians. - while the U.S., driven by the NeoCons and their delusional map of the world, apparently does not.

How badly have we lost relevance as a world leader when even in Israel our foreign policy appears immoral and unpractical?

What Do You Get

If you Google the word, "asshole?"

Oh, and it wouldn't be fair to exclude this, my favourite Anti-Bush rock video of all time.

"He's too dumb to eat pretzels. Apparently smart enough to fix an election."