Mohammed Ibrahim Megdad, openDemocracy, 9 April 2009

A viable Palestinian economy is impossible without disengagement from the Israeli economy, thoroughgoing reform of the Palestinian Authority, not to mention lifting the siege.

In some regards, the current crisis of the Palestinian economy is as old as the Occupation itself. In 1967 Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in addition to the Golan Heights and Sinai Desert. Immediately after that war, Israel formed an economic body made up of the Bank of Israel and the Census Committee. The main goal of such a body was to bind the Palestinian economy to that of Israel, thereby subsuming it. This inherently subordinate relationship, with Palestinians denied the rights of free trade and unrestricted production, has rendered the Palestinian economy almost completely ineffective. AGRISCO, for example, is an Israeli company which has a monopoly on all agricultural exports: the Palestinians were forced to work through this company, otherwise their products would go nowhere. The clothing industry has always been subcontracted by Israeli producers and traders. In this way, Israel has sought to separate the Palestinian economy not only from its Arab surroundings but also from the outside world.

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First Bush then Obama and their NATO allies have been killing twice as many civilian women and children than civilian men in America’s Afghan war

By Marc W. Herold, RAWA, 12 April 2009

“Omission is the most powerful form of lie” – George Orwell

“During a war, news should be given out for instruction rather than information” – Joseph Goebbels

On March 31, 2009, Jon Stewart in his “Daily Show” announced Commander-in-Chief Obama’s mission of “Redefinition Accomplished” was in full swing.(1) A new Orwellian vocabulary more soothing and politically correct has been invented and marketed to the American citizenry by Obama. But as Peter Baker of the New York Times noted, “for all the shifting words, Mr. Obama has left the bulk of Bush’s national security infrastructure intact so far.”(2) In the real world, average Afghans and Pashtuns in the Pakistani border areas experience this continuing brutality daily as I shall now document, but Americans are largely oblivious remaining enthralled in the puffery of “Yes, We Can” and “Change We Can Believe In.” The phrase “civilian casualties” is non-existent in Obama’s vocabulary as a search of Google reveals. Dead Afghan and Pashtun civilians have simply been redefined as non-existent.

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Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its practices.
By James Quinn, telegraph.co.uk, 11 April 2009

The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website.

Florida-based Mr Morgan began a blog entitled “Facts about Goldman Sachs” – the web address for which is goldmansachs666.com – just a few weeks ago.

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Eric S. Margolis, Khaleej Times, 13 April 2009

A furious debate has raged in the Pentagon over the future and mission of US military forces ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Pentagon has been deeply divided over whether the US military should be configured to fight conventional wars against Russia and China, or be transformed into an agile force to combat Third World guerillas?

Last week, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates finally put an end to this debate. Gate’s newly announced defence budget makes clear that America’s military future lies in what the Pentagon calls, ‘expeditionary warfare’ or ‘counter-insurgency operations.’ These, it is clear, will take place mostly in the Muslim world.

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