KwAcKy's Konfessional |
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Nothing of interest; just mindless links to bikes Birmingham City Football Club and useless junk  
  
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15 June 2003
The Washington Post has a decent piece on the rise of the newspaper since the demise of the Hussein government. However (you knew there would be a "however"), it appears that the invaders don't like too much free speech. Quick to show the world how the US has introduced freedom of speech, quick to censor. American authorities say they are working on a directive that would ban hate speech and incitements to violence and create a system for registering publications to lend some order to the media landscape. . The NewYork Press warns of "Trailers of Mass Destruction" These are the fabled mobile weapons of mass destruction. They must exist, US Intelligence (I love that phrase) insists they've seen them. They've even published photographs. Not quite as clear as the usual pictures of Nessie or Aliens, but photos nonetheless. I can just see some patriotic souls petrol bombing their local trailer park. The UN has asked Israel to stop building it's segregation wall. How many UN resolutions has the state ignored or broken? I can't see them paying heed to the latest plea. 'By the end of July, 12,000 Palestinians in 15 villages could find themselves wedged between the wall and the Green Line .. a further 138,000 Palestinians in 16 localities could be surrounded on three sides by the wall ..' Israel claims that the wall is aimed at preventing the entry of Palestinians to Israel in a bid to stop suicide bombings inside the green line. However, Israel has altered the route of the wall so that it encroaches several illegal settlements in the West Bank, making it almost impossible on the ground for a contiguous, Palestinian state to be established. The green line was the borderline between the West Bank (which was under Jordanian rule) and Israel prior to the 1967 war. The UN official meanwhile stressed that the wall would clearly obstruct international community efforts aimed at reviving the peace process, since it is being built east of the green line and not on it, as Israel claims. “It could easily be seen as jeopardizing the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian state and thereby inhibiting the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said. [quotes taken from Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/).] It is a costly decision, with each kilometre of fencing estimated at $US1 million - now you know where that $10 billion has gone. Just to add some balance to the debate, here's the views of Professor Martin van Creveld, an Israeli military historian. Go and filch the final strip of my land, Ditch my youth in prison holes, Plunder my legacy, Burn my books, Feed your dogs on my fishes, Go and spread your net of terror Upon the roofs of my village, Enemy of man, I shall not compromise And to the end I shall fight, If you blow out all the candles in my eyes If you fill my anguish. Forge my coin, Uproot the smile from my children's faces, If you raise a thousand walls, And nail my eyes to humiliation, Enemy of man, I shall not compromise And to the end I shall fight." Samih Al-Qassem's poem "Report of a Bankrupt  |
