Justice for Palestine at Harvard Law:

The Middle East Law Students Association at HLS and HLS Justice for Palestine would like to thank everyone who attended Dr. Norman Finkelstein’s talk, “This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion,” on March 25, 2010, as well as our co-sponsoring organizations the National Lawyers Guild HLS Chapter, the Alliance for Justice in the Middle East at GSAS, and the Palestinian Caucus at HKS, for making the event such a success.

In case you were unable to attend, you can still view the talk here.:

http://www.law.harvard.edu/media/2010/03/25/jfp.mov

The video is in streaming QuickTime Format. QuickTime may be downloaded here.:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

By Bruce Ramsey, Seattle Times

A news story, Feb. 15:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The United States should break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver badly needed supplies by sea, a U.S. congressman told Gaza students.

The congressman was Brian Baird. Many of his colleagues go to Israel, few to Gaza — and none as often as he. The southwest Washington Democrat likes to see things for himself. He went to Iraq, and changed his opinion of U.S. strategy there.

Why Gaza? In an interview, Baird recalled a speech some years ago by Israel’s current premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). To Baird, the speech was “thinly disguised racism” — and he recoiled from it. When the crowd applauded, he and his wife walked out.

Then there was Rachel Corrie, who in 2003 was killed in Gaza while trying to block an Israeli bulldozer from wrecking a Gazan house. The Corrie family lives in Baird’s district.

Many of his friends “are very distressed” with his criticism of Israel, Baird said. “But if they would see what I have seen and could meet the people I have met, they would change their position.”

[Read the interview]

Allison Kilkenny, Unreported, 28 March 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops, according to military officials in Kabul.

“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat,” said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who became the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan last year. His comments came during a recent videoconference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties.

– via New York Times: “Tighter Rules Fail to Stem Deaths of Innocent Afghans at Checkpoints“

This is an amazing admission. Here is General Stanley McChrystal, the highest ranking US military official in Afghanistan, openly admitting that the US military has killed a whole lot of people, none of whom posed a threat.

[Read more]

Questions about IMF/World Bank Reform? Ask a TripleCrisis Economist
1 April 2010

The 2010 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will be held over the weekend of April 24-25 at the World Bank and IMF Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  As in previous years, a Civil Society Policy Forum, a program of policy dialogues for Civil Society Organizations, will be held from April 22-25, 2010. In the wake of the triple crises in finance, development and the environment, the Bretton Woods institutions face increasing pressure for reform.

In advance of the meetings, the unique collection of international economists at the Triple Crisis Blog, including GDAE’s Kevin Gallagher, Timothy A. Wise, and Lyuba Zarsky, will take your questions.  What arguments most need sound backing from economic analysts?  Which reform proposals are you unsure about?

Continue reading →

By José Pertierra

– español
Translation: Machetera

Only in Miami. Despite the seventy-three outstanding first-degree murder charges against him related to the mid-air explosion of a Cubana Airlines passenger jet, Luis Posada Carriles has not been extradited to Venezuela nor has he been indicted in the United States for these crimes.  He wanders unleashed and un-vaccinated along Calle Ocho in Miami, marching alongside Gloria Estefan in support of the so-called Ladies in White.

His support of the “ladies” ought not to surprise us.  There is an important link between Posada and these “ladies.”  The link is called Santiago Alvarez Fernández-Magriña.  It’s a well established fact, admitted even by the “ladies” themselves that their organization receives $1,500 a month from Rescate Jurídico [Legal Rescue] in Miami.  Posada and the “ladies” share the same godfather.

[Read the article]