COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Selective indignation and the à la carte choosing of which laws to flaunt and which to ignore

Russian Annexation of Crimea, Israeli Annexation of Palestine


(By Juan Cole)
Russia’s annexation of Crimea on Tuesday is among the few significant territorial acquisitions since the end of World War II by one country from another, more or less by force. The only clear parallel I can think of in the post-War period is the Israeli annexation of the Palestinian territories in 1967.

Imperialism, or the expansion of territory by force, was common prior to WW II. The US, after all, annexed Hawaii in the 1890s, and did so through a conspiracy of some naval officers and colonial planters in the face of opposition from the Hawaiian royal family, most Hawaiians, and other concerned countries such as Meiji Japan. Axis sticky fingers in the 1930s and 1940s finally gave imperialism a bad name. After the end of World War II, the countries that formed the United Nations forbade in its charter the acquisition of territory by force.

Russia’s actions are illegal in international law. The Crimean assembly that voted to hold a referendum was not representative. The referendum on Sunday was held under conditions of Russian military occupation and cannot be certified as meeting international standards for elections. The statistics put out about turnout and outcome are suspicious. Still, the annexation is ambiguous. Crimea had been Russian territory since the late 18th century and was only attached to Ukraine by Khrushchev in the 1950s, at a time when Russia and Ukraine were part of the same country. Whatever the status of Sunday’s referendum, it seems likely that if Crimeans could vote fairly and freely, a majority would probably accede to Russia.

The major annexations in the post-War period have involved decolonization. Thus, India annexed Goa from the Portuguese empire in 1961, maintaining that it was Indian territory that Portugal had usurped. Morocco annexed the Spanish Sahara when Spain relinquished it.
These post-War annexations involved what was seen by the annexing country as a reclaiming of territory that had long belonged to it. The annexing country bestowed citizenship on the people of the territory (whether they wanted it or not).

Unlike these annexations is Israel’s taking of the West Bank and Gaza. These territories were not awarded to Israel in the 1947 UN General Assembly partition plan. Israel had no legal claim on them. They were taken in a war (1967) in which Israel fired the first shot and so could be seen as the aggressor. Israel did not offer the inhabitants of these territories citizenship in Israel (this is the key difference with episodes such as Western Sahara, which Israeli apologists instance, not to mention that the Moroccan crown had ruled that territory before European colonialism detached it).

Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farms from Syria, and has colonized the West Bank with an eye to incorporating it, or most of it, into Israel. It detached some of the West Bank and annexed it to its district of Jerusalem. Israeli arguments that the Palestinian territories didn’t clearly belong to any other state is disingenuous. The 1939 British White Paper promised Palestine independence as a country by 1949. The UN Charter does not allow territorial acquisition by force, period. These steps are more egregious than Russia’s incorporation of Crimea. No local populations in any of those areas would vote to accede to Israel. The Palestinians are being kept stateless and without rights by the Israelis.


Unlike with Mr. Putin, the US has not imposed sanctions on Israel for its territorial aggrandizement, and instead has de facto supported it to the hilt.

90 comments:

  1. The lands of the 1967 war under discussion were "disputed" lands. That's what the UNSC resolution says. Not "palestinian lands".

    The 1967 war also did not start with Israel firing the 1st shot. Egypt blocking the Straits of Tiran was a Casus vellum recognized around the world by honest people.

    The author? Has quite the reputation of playing loose and fast with facts. But we come to expect that here and in the "pro-palestine" camp. Notice how Juan doesn't talk about Israel offer to return land for peace and was rebuffed by the famous Khartoum resolution

    The Khartoum Resolution of September 1, 1967 was issued at the conclusion of 1967 Arab League summit convened in the wake of the Six-Day War, in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The summit lasted from August 29 to September 1 and was attended by eight Arab heads of state.[1] The resolution called for: a continued state of belligerency with Israel, ending the Arab oil boycott declared during the Six-Day War, an end to the North Yemen Civil War, and economic assistance for Egypt and Jordan. It is famous for containing (in the third paragraph) what became known as the "Three No's": "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it...

    The resolution is frequently presented as an example of Arab rejectionism. Efraim Halevy, Guy Ben-Porat, Steven R. David, Julius Stone, and Ian Bremmer all agree the Khartoum Resolution amounted to a rejection of Israel's right to exist with in ANY borders.


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    1. But Americans can sit in the luxury of 3000 miles of conquered lands and pass judgement on 30 square miles in the middle east.

      Enjoy your occupation.

      Delete
    2. What right do Americans have to occupy any lands in the Americas?

      Delete
    3. Maybe if the arabs of the middle east has accepted the UN resolution of 1948 they could have had a state..

      Oh wait, Arabs controlled the west bank and gaza from 1948 til 1967 and NEVER pushed to create a "palestine" small wonder their specious claims fall on deaf ears...

      Delete
  2. Total Immigrants to Israel - 3,108,678
    Immigrants from F.S.U.- 1,223,723

    Over a third of the migrants that have gone to to Israel were from Russia,

    Which illustrates that when Russians annexed Palestine, the US did not object enough to impose a single sanction.
    Obviously it is not annexation by Russians that the US objects to.

    It seems that hundreds of thousands of those 1.2 million Russian immigrants, they were not even Jewish....

    Charlie Rose had on former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy to talk about the Israeli elections, and at 12:30 he brings up what he calls a fundamental issue, one I’d never focused on, involving the citizenship of hundreds of thousands of Israelis. I thought he meant Palestinian Israelis. No:

    We have today a situation in Israel in which 100s of 1000s of Israelis do not have a personal status in the country. They are not recognized technically as Jews. They come from the Soviet Union or have been born to Soviet…

    When they want to marry, they have no way to marry and they have to go outside the country in order to marry.

    Their Jewish identity [is] not recognized by the state.

    These are very serious problems, because in the end this could be a major split inside Israeli society. Which I have said in the past…

    I think this is a greater threat to Israel than the Iranian nuclear threat.


    I see that Philip Reeves of NPR reported on this earlier this month:

    REEVES: The new arrivals qualified for citizenships under Israel’s Law of Return if they had or were married to someone with one Jewish grandparent. Rabbinical law, though, says that Jewishness passes through the maternal line.

    This defined more than 300,000 of the Russian-speaking immigrants as non-Jews.
    Galili says that was very tough for the new arrivals to accept.

    GALILI: And they come here and they have the non-Jewish mother and the Jewish father.
    And suddenly, this motherland who’s expecting them to come says, oh, I forgot to tell you, you are not Jewish here.


    Call me confused, but what an absurd community Israel is.

    Built in large part on the wreckage of an Arab and Muslim society, this society’s identity is always up for grabs,
    because it is based in large measure on international Jewish citizenship– and Zionists from the U.S., Europe and Israel all have different ideas about what that Jewishness means.

    And of course Palestinians don’t qualify any more than Christian Russians; but god knows that they were born there…
    My head is spinning



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    1. Of course this is a new and fake online persona by the famous in his own mind Jack aka the "rat" aka adolf aka Dr Hiss...

      Pathetic. I pity him.

      Delete
    2. Now the interesting story going on in the middle east is the situation in Syria where more palestinians have died in 36 months than in the entire 60 years of wars with Israel.

      Delete
    3. let me rephrase that, more palestinians have been MURDERED in syria in 36 months than all palestinians KILLED in warfare with Israel in 60 plus years.

      Delete

    4. . . . based in large measure on international Jewish citizenship– and Zionists from the U.S., Europe and Israel all have different ideas about what that Jewishness means.

      No wonder Abbas will not agree that Israel is a Jewish State. It is agreeing to an ambiguity.
      When even "Jews" do not agree on the definition of "Jewishness"!

      It is one thing to ask a Russian for their identity papers, they are used to that.
      But in Israel they want to check their pedigree papers, too.
      Just like the American Kennel Club.


      .

      Delete
    5. Currently there are Palestinians starving to death in Syria, and at last check? Not a single gazan has ever starved to death under Israel occupation or border control.

      In fact? In sept of last year alone? 5,549 trucks carrying 155,312 tons of goods were transferred from Israel into the Gaza Strop including:
      1519 truckloads of food, 1244 truckloads of construction materials, 64 truckloads of medical equipment, 258 truckloads of livestock.

      By sept 2013 the yearly total of goods was: 46,130 trucks carried 1,285,946 tons of goods.

      Delete
    6. Who cares about Syrians?

      There are no Palestinians, Golda Meir said so.

      There were no such thing as Palestinians.
      As quoted in Sunday Times (15 June 1969), also in The Washington Post (16 June 1969)

      The statement by Occupation illustrates just how confused people that identify themselves as 'Jewish' really are.

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      Delete

    8. Does Occupation now claim Golda Meir was lying?

      It would seem that his current position.

      Delete
    9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. The anti-Israelists want to turn the clock back to pre 1967 borders like time had not passed.

    But the reality is?

    The palestinians have been offered a state NUMEROUS times and turned it down.

    Sorry charlie, you snooze you lose.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We could have had a "thong-off" between fine Jewish asses, and beautiful Palestinian asses.

    ReplyDelete
  5. With, maybe, a little tittie tittilation somewhere along the way. :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. No titties on my watch, rufus.

      Maybe Deuce will oblige you.
      Just got back to the house, I see the boycott did not last long.

      Didn't figure it would, those two dimwits don't have any self-discipline.
      Couldn't stay on their own turf for 24 hours.

      Delete
    2. Ah, now, that last picture in your previous post showed a fair amount of tittilage, Rat.

      Delete

    3. No nipples, which is the tittie, the rest is breast.

      Delete
    4. Holy, Mackeral, I'm getting my butt kicked left, and right, today. :)

      Delete

    5. . . . from the U.S., Europe and Israel all have different ideas about what tittieness means.

      Same with regards as to what constitutes 'porn'

      There is just so much ambiguity as to the meaning of the words.

      And, as we all know, sloppy language leads to sloppy thinking.

      Delete

    6. I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so.

      But I know it when I see it
      , and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.

      —Justice Potter Stewart, concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio 378 U.S. 184 (1964),
      regarding possible obscenity in The Lovers.


      Delete

  6. Another indication that the US is better off with Obama being elected in '08, rather than John cCain.

    WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama ruled out US military involvement in Ukraine on Wednesday, emphasizing diplomacy in the US standoff with Russia over Crimea.

    "We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine," Obama told KNSD, San Diego's NBC affiliate, in an interview.

    "We need do not need to trigger an actual war with Russia,"
    he told KSDK, a St. Louis station owned by Gannett in a separate interview.

    Obama, who imposed sanctions on 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials on Monday, said the United States will push diplomatic efforts to bring pressure on Russia to loosen its grip on the Crimea region of southern Ukraine.

    "There is a better path, but I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge that for us to engage Russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for Ukraine either," Obama told KNSD.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Another indication that the US is better off with Obama being elected in '08, rather than John McCain.

      Delete

  7. (CNN) -- Hundreds of students remained barricaded in Taiwan's Legislature early Wednesday in protest of the ruling party's push for a trade pact with China, which demonstrators claim will hurt the island.

    The protesters, mostly university students, entered the main assembly hall inside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Tuesday night and blocked the entrances with chairs, according to images and accounts filed from the scene with CNN iReport.

    Police responded but had not dispersed the protesters, who also filled the streets around the Legislature in the center of Taipei.

    The students said they plan to occupy the Legislature until Friday's session, when the pact was to be deliberated.

    Taiwan's state news agency reported that 38 police officers were injured when more than 400 protesters took over the Legislature.

    Four protesters were arrested in two unsuccessful attempts to evict them, the news agency reported. Police said there were more than 2,000 protesters both inside and outside the building, with a equal number of officers on the scene.


    http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/19/world/asia/taiwan-student-protests/

    ReplyDelete
  8. From PBS

    View from Ukraine: Mistrust in government poses challenge to new Kiev leadership


    ... we called the aide-de-camp of the colonel commanding the Belbek military base, which is right near the capital, whom we interviewed in our piece on Friday. And this aide-de-camp said, as far as they know, they have received no orders yet, they’re just still hunkered down.

    However, the orders are not surprising from Kiev, in that the acting president said something like a week or 10 days ago they do not have forces to send down to Crimea to rescue Crimea or fight back for Crimea because they will not be able to defend the region where I am now, which is southeastern Ukraine right along the Russian border.

    JUDY WOODRUFF: And indeed you are — you have now moved into a different part of Ukraine. How different does it feel, Margaret, from Crimea?

    MARGARET WARNER: You know, really different, Judy, and I’m kind of surprised because I have read so much about the pro-Russia demonstrations. They’re actually had more violence here than they have ever had in Crimea, with a demonstrator — pro-Ukrainian common demonstrator killed just last Thursday in a sort of face-off between the two camps in Lenin Square three blocks from here.

    But the difference is that, in Crimea, which is 75 percent to 80 ethnic Russian, the pro-Russian fervor was really palpable. People walked around the streets with Russian flags in their lapels, wearing the sort of orange and black symbol of Russian strength and symbolism.

    And there was an election going on. Here, it is much more subtle. There is pro-Russian sentiment here. It clearly has been aroused. And in fact, I met with the governor today at some length, this billionaire businessman who has agreed to be the governor here, who says that, off camera, really, it’s generated by these 100 or 200 Russian specialists, he called them, who come in here, they have got the whole playbook, they know what to do.

    But they also can get 4,000 or 5,000 people out in a square to demonstrate in favor of closer tries or even union with Russia. So there is something going on here, but you do not have, for instance, Russia or Russian-linked military forces on every corner like the way you did in Crimea. So, as I said, it’s a more subtle story, but it’s one that Kiev is very worried about.

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    1. JUDY WOODRUFF: So are you picking up reaction, though, Margaret to Putin’s — the Russians taking Crimea?

      MARGARET WARNER: Well, yes, Judy.

      At a shopping center tonight, I would say the number one reaction was one of grief. You know, Crimea is a place that Ukrainians love to go to vacation, fabulous hiking, great beaches. And people told us they were actually very sad about this. One man said, “I’m feeling more Ukrainian now that part of my country has been taken away.”

      There was a gentleman who said he had lived in Belarussia and he thought it was marvelous the some Crimeans — some Ukrainians, that is, those in Crimea can go back to the mother country. So there’s a split.

      The thing that again Kiev has to be worried about is a couple of people we talked to said, you know, I don’t want to be part of Russia, I have relatives there. I don’t want really to live in Russia, but I’m not going to go out and fight for this Ukrainian governor either. Every single leader we have gone independent has been a crook. Let them go out and fight.

      And this is really the problem that the Kiev government faces, which is to make people feel they have a stake in Ukraine as an independent country.

      JUDY WOODRUFF: So, given that, what do you think the chances are that Eastern Ukraine could be the next flash point?

      MARGARET WARNER: There’s no doubt that the sort of Putin playbook has been followed here.

      For instance, Saturday, they have demonstrations in 11 different cities almost at the same time. Now, that is not an accident. And so there is some kind of operation going on here. We haven’t seen it ourselves because we have only been here less than 24 hours. We haven’t seen a demonstration yet.

      But what the Kiev government is worried about is that, as I said, they do tap into some pro-Russian sentiment here again, as in Crimea, people who say, well, we watch Russian television, we hear about how much better conditions are there, people get higher pensions and higher benefits and better wages. Whether or not that’s true or not remains to be seen.

      But I think that the central government in Kiev does have a legitimacy problem. They have not won all the hearts and minds of the people here in this part of Ukraine, and so, they have appointed, for instance, these wealthy oligarchs, billionaire businessmen, one of whom, Sergei Taruta, we met with at length today, who really have been brought in to try to sort of rally the troops and also restore order, bringing some of the management they have from business to what has been a very unmanageable situation here.

      JUDY WOODRUFF: Margaret Warner, continuing to do great reporting from Ukraine, thank you.

      Delete
  9. ... a pro-Russian militia took control of the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol.

    "We freed the prisoners inside this base. This is Russian territory. Moscow already accepted Crimea," said Vladimir Melnik, head of a local self-defence unit, shortly after the Russian flag was raised at the base.

    According to Melnik, several branches of the local militia co-ordinated in storming of the site during the morning. "We are peaceful people, but we are military people and if we receive orders to storm we will follow them," he said, adding that the civil defence units were under the command of the city administration.

    Andrey Kochebarov, a deputy leader of local Cossacks, said: "There was no fight, no resistance; the guys inside clearly understood what situation they are in. This is the naval base headquarters so if they gave up this one, they will give them all up."

    In the hours that followed, the Ukrainian troops, who had been inside the besieged base for three weeks, slowly trickled out with heads bowed. Morale is low and the soldiers say they are uncertain what the future holds.

    "We have no word from Kiev about what to do next," said Sergei, who has served as an officer in the Ukrainian army for 21 years and remained inside the building until the bitter end. "Of course, there was no resistance [when the building was stormed]. What are we meant to do, outnumbered and without weapons?"


    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/19/ukraine-plans-troop-withdrawal-from-crimea

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  10. Israel troops murder 15-year-old Palestinian in W Bank

    DEIR AL-ASAL AL-TAHTA : Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the southern West Bank on Wednesday, sources on both sides told AFP.

    A Palestinian security source named the victim as 15-year-old Yussef Sami Shawamreh and said he was shot dead near the barrier southwest of Hebron.

    Witnesses said the victim had been foraging for local plants when he was shot, but the army claimed he and two others had been vandalising the security fence.

    The security sources initially told AFP the shooting took place near the Al-Ramadin village, but witnesses said it happened in Deir al-Asal al-Tahta.


    ReplyDelete
  11. Jack HawkinsWed Mar 19, 11:50:00 PM EDT
    Just got back to the house, I see the boycott did not last long.


    Were you in prison again?

    Wow, you leave and go to jail, and come right back here...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Deuce is just another one note Nancy.

    Israel, Israel, Israel.

    He needs to dump the arabic girlfriend who has stolen his mind.

    It's a sad thing to watch, a body stealing a mind.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I don't want anyone to miss this that I posted at the end of the last thread.......the facts of the true costs of treatment of prostate cancer -

      AnonymousWed Mar 19, 07:23:00 PM EDT
      Wednesday's I interview with the doc.

      Today I asked about the cost.

      $40,000 for 8 weeks of external beam radiation prostate cancer treatment, including EVERYTHING, the doc's fees, the machine and tech fees from the Catholic Hospital. Since I pay Supplemental you can reduce that to $32,000, TOTAL.

      Jackratass was claiming I had filched $700,000 from the 'welfare' system.

      I am 67 years of age, have paid into the system all my life, and I happen to one of the still minority of men that have prostate cancer.

      $32,000.

      Jackrat was off more than 20X.

      Jackrat is as usual and expected FULL OF SHIT. Full of steamy loose smelly shit, that has infected what is loosely called a brain, but is really just a spiteful, slanderous, BS machine.

      That $40,000 by the way also covers all the followups.

      bob, whose thing has flipped out again

      Reply

      AnonymousWed Mar 19, 07:24:00 PM EDT
      Forgot to say 'out'.

      Bob

      Reply
      Replies

      AnonymousWed Mar 19, 07:26:00 PM EDT
      I do not know why it flips me over to only having the choice of anon, but I think it has something to do with having three email addresses now.

      Bob

      out out


      AnonymousWed Mar 19, 07:28:00 PM EDT
      I forgot to mention the doc's professional fee is $6,000, which is INCLUDED in the above figures.

      Bob

      out out out


      AnonymousWed Mar 19, 07:33:00 PM EDT
      A brain is actually a Consciousness reducing and focusing mechanism.

      See: Hinduism and it's echoes down the ages and on into our time in Transpersonal Psychology.

      In rat's case it works exceedingly well, all too well.

      Bob

      Had to get that in.

      out out out out I promise

      Delete

    2. You lie like a rug!

      Delete
  13. Doug, if you are out there, please start up a new blog. You and WiO and Quirk could work on it together maybe. I still hope.......

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Bob, 'Occupation is Apartheid' has a blog, it is up and running.

      Go click on his avatar icon, it will take you there.
      You do no need Doug to start on.
      You do not need Quirk to start one.

      'Occupation is Human Suffering' has already done it.

      What happened to the boycott?
      Why are you still here?

      Have you no self control, no self-discipline.

      Are you so weak that a day cannot go by with out your dose of 'JackRat'?


      Delete
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      Delete
  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. WASHINGTON -- As former Sen. Scott Brown barnstorms through New Hampshire in a likely prelude to another Senate run, he has dusted off a familiar playbook. Condemnation of Obamacare has been front and center of his pitch, much like it was in 2010 when he unexpectedly won a race to take over the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

    But times are different now. The law is no longer some theoretical set of reforms, but is being implemented with varying degrees of success and failure. And while it remains largely unpopular (virtually every Republican is making the same attacks as Brown), there are those who have already benefited, some of them Republicans.

    Brown found that out on Saturday, when he stopped by the home of Herb Richardson, a Republican state representative. Sitting in Richardson's home, Brown called Obamacare a "monstrosity" that members of Congress didn't even bother to read before they passed. At that point, according to the Coos County Democrat, Richardson chimed in to explain that the law had been a "financial lifesaver" for him and his wife. From the the piece (page 14):

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Richardson was injured on the job and was forced to live on his workers' comp payments for an extended period of time, which ultimately cost the couple their house on Williams Street. The couple had to pay $1,100 a month if they wanted to maintain their health insurance coverage under the federal COBRA law.

      Richardson said he only received some $2,000 a month in workers' comp. payments, however, leaving little for them to live on.

      "Thank God for Obamacare!" his wife exclaimed.

      Now, thanks to the subsidy for which they qualify, the Richardsons only pay $136 a month for health insurance that covers them both.

      Wait, What?

      Delete

  16. No bombs required.


    EU sees big gaps in nuclear talks but Iran "commitment" to deal

    (Reuters) - Positions between Iran and world powers diverge widely in some areas but Iranian negotiators seem "very committed" to reach an agreement on the country's disputed nuclear programme, a senior EU official said in an email seen by Reuters on Thursday.

    Russia, one of the six major powers seeking to persuade Iran to scale back its contested atomic activities to deny it any nuclear bomb breakout capability, separately said the two sides were "far apart" on the issue of uranium enrichment.

    The remarks underlined the uphill task confronting negotiators, who aim to hammer out a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over the nature and scope of Iran's nuclear activity in the next four months.

    The brief email from European Union official Helga Schmid to senior officials of EU member states was written after a meeting between Iran and the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia and Britain in Vienna on Tuesday and Wednesday.

    Schmid is the deputy of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is coordinating talks with Iran on behalf of the six nations. Tehran says its nuclear programme is peaceful but the West fears it may be aimed at developing the capability to make atomic bombs and wants it curtailed.

    In this week's talks, Iran and the powers locked horns over the future of a planned Iranian nuclear reactor with the potential to produce plutonium for bombs, and the United States warned that "hard work" would be needed to overcome differences when the sides reconvene on April 7.


    http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/iran-nuclear-eu-idINDEEA2J0AZ20140320

    ReplyDelete

  17. Bob's number two choice for NATO expansion, will not side with NATO on Russian territorial expansion.
    Will Farmer Bob change his recommendation?
    Will he admit that 'JackRat' was correct, all along, about India and its lack of suitability as an ally of the US?

    India’s silence on Crimea won’t help Russia or the West

    by Rajeev Sharma

    Speech is silver; silence golden.
    This seems to be the Indian mantra when it comes to talking about the Indian silence on the Russia versus the West in Crimea after Crimea's accession to Russia. More than 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the Crimea developments there is no formal Indian response on the subject.

    This is both surprising and shocking. But wait!

    The last word is yet to be written or spoken when it comes to a formal Indian reaction after Putin picked up the phone and chose to dial Singh.

    It looks like that the much-awaited Indian reaction on the latest developments in Crimea is not coming at all.
    The Indian silence over the Crimean/Ukrainian issue connotes that India wants to maintain an ambiguous position on this issue, as is conveyed by the official Indian response after the Putin-Singh telephonic conversation initiated at the behest of the Americans.

    This brings us to the vital question: what is India’s stand on Crimea after its accession to Russia?

    Putin has already lauded the efforts of China and India in the current political and diplomatic flashpoint in Crimea.

    This gives promising signals for a Russia-India-China bonhomie and a new world order.


    By choosing not to come up with a response, India has given out a discreet signal that it does not want to side with any particular side. In other words, India is not ready to take on the West in the ongoing Russia-West diplomatic spat and wants to play it safe.

    Why?

    Most probable reason is that the UPA government knows that it is in transition and that it is up to the next government to take a call on all major policy decisions, including foreign policy and the Crimea issue.

    However, insiders say that the Indian reticence does not mean that India is not supporting Russia in its time of crisis. On the contrary, the Indian silence is a tacit support for Russia.

    But is tacit support enough?

    Forget about the current lame-duck UPA government. India has to take a position on the Crimea developments.
    India cannot defer its decision till a new government takes over which won’t happen before May end.
    By then the Crimea issue would have been long decided. But diplomatic crises do not wait for internal political processes.

    The UPA government has to take a call on the issue and has to calibrate its stand.
    Given the fact that diplomacy is a work in progress, it would be highly unlikely that whatever decision the UPA government takes is reversed or substantially changed by the new government in New Delhi.


    Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/world/indias-silence-on-crimea-wont-help-russia-or-the-west-1442197.html?utm_source=ref_article

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Farmer Bob wants nations , rogue nuclear regimes, to be admitted to NATO, so as to commit the United States to their defense, while those same nations work to undermine the US position in the world.

      Why would Farmer Bob advocate to allow either of those two Russian proxies access to NATO

      Whose side is Farmer Bob on?

      Delete
    3. Why would he advocate US blood to be spent in defense of regimes that are proxies of Russia?

      There has been NO denuciation of Russian territorial expansion fro Israel, either!

      Their silence is telling.

      Delete
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  19. Replies
    1. There were no such thing as Palestinians. - Golda Meir
      As quoted in Sunday Times (15 June 1969), also in The Washington Post (16 June 1969)

      Was Golda lying?

      Delete

    2. Why would Golda Meir make such a false statement?

      Why does 'Occupation is Apartheid' continually reference a people that does not exist?
      Those Arabs in Israel, they are all 2nd class Israelis, not Palestinians, because if there never were Palestinians, so there cannot be any, now.

      That is if Golda was speaking the truth, if she and Israel were not lying about the history of the region.

      Delete

    3. If Golda and Israel were lying in 1969, then the entire foundation of their current state, it is built upon a lie.

      If she was not lying then, 'Occupation is Apartheid' is lying, today.

      One cannot have a cake, and eat it, too.

      Delete

    4. Then the Syrians are NOT starving Palestinians and Occupation acknowledges he is posting lies.

      Thanks for the admission.
      Your future posts will be seen in that light.

      Delete
    5. Jack HawkinsThu Mar 20, 11:07:00 AM EDT
      Then the Syrians are NOT starving Palestinians and Occupation acknowledges he is posting lies.


      Jack is arguing again with himself...

      Jacking off.... LOL


      Delete
    6. Got to love to watch Jack argue and win arguments with himself...

      it's crazy....

      Delete
    7. there will be no direct discussion with rat aka jack aka dr hiss aka paul weiss aka adolf aka who knows what.

      I will post my thoughts on the lies on my own blog where I am allowed to post a thread.

      Delete

    8. Good for you.

      It will be better for my interests if you never respond.

      Delete

    9. Do not defend your lies, that is a good idea.
      Just post 'em, then we'll knock 'em down, they'll stay down.

      Good deal.

      Delete
    10. Jack HawkinsThu Mar 20, 11:15:00 AM EDT
      Do not defend your lies, that is a good idea.
      Just post 'em, then we'll knock 'em down, they'll stay down.
      Good deal.


      Still arguing with yourself?

      Jacking off again!!!

      Delete
    11. Jack HawkinsThu Mar 20, 11:14:00 AM EDT
      Good for you.
      It will be better for my interests if you never respond.


      Sure, your distortions, sick & twisted fabrications of crimes of Israel are your attempt to hide your own guilt in warcrimes you committed. Just remember each one of those "kills" you have committed. Remember their faces. remember how you call Israelis that shoot attackers and those trying to break into international borders as murderers.

      Your "kills" were far less clean…

      Keep remembering the faces of the kids you offed...

      Delete
    12. The boy couldn't keep to his guns for two hours.

      Another failure in self control and discipline.

      What a joke he has become.
      Cannot even stay on his own program.

      Delete
    13. My "program" is on track, i didn't say I would not insult you, or make jokes about you and your criminal nature.

      I will not discuss directly with you the lies you post about Jews, Israel, Zionism here.

      Now go back to playing with yourself. Jackoff.

      Delete
  20. I think the Republicans have just about hit their "high-water mark" for this election cycle. In "Sports Parlance" this is called "Peaking Too Soon."

    Keep in mind, fully one half of the people being helped by Obamacare voted Republican in the last election.

    Those of an age and income demographic that they are paying more as a result of Obamacare (a pretty small group) very likely are committed Republican voters, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Every spring of the election year, the Republicans are going to 'sweep' the Democrats from power, by November they are fighting to retain their own seats.

      It is a continuing cycle.

      The song remains the same.

      Just ask President McCain, or President Romney.
      Ask Senate Majority Leader McConnell.

      Oh, wait, none of those names go with those political offices, darn.

      Delete


  21. ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A Mexican drug cartel has teamed up with local drug syndicates to smuggle drugs to neighboring Malaysia via the so-called southern backdoor, Zamboanga’s acting chief of police, Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro, said Tuesday.

    Casimiro said the ties between the Mexican drug cartel, which he did not identify, and the so-called East Asia drug syndicate, which sends shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride to Malaysia via this city, was uncovered following the arrest of a former Western Mindanao policeman in Metro Manila several days ago.

    All indications point to Pon Mohamad Mansul as the conduit between the drug syndicates, Casimiro said, adding Mansul was probably responsible also for the shipments of large amounts of shabu to Malaysia through this city. Mansul was arrested in Las Piñas.

    A series of drug busts here started last November, when some P100-million worth of shabu was intercepted at the Zamboanga International Airport. The two suspects who were arrested, both Tawi-Tawi residents, were to have proceeded to Malaysia using the Tawi-Tawi sea route.

    On March 6, authorities made a sixth seizure with the interception of some P5 million worth of shabu inside the airport, which was sent from Metro Manila via a courier.

    “Drug trafficking is really big money and with the coming in of cartels from as far as Mexico, we’re seeing kilos and kilos of drugs being intercepted at the Zamboanga International Airport going to Tawi-Tawi,” Casimiro said.

    http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/587224/mexican-drug-cartel-operating-in-mindanao-says-zamboanga-police-chief

    ReplyDelete

  22. Poppy Production Latest Development in Honduras

    Honduran officials reported that they had discovered and destroyed a high-tech greenhouse growing opium poppies and marijuana on a mountain in west Honduras, Inter Press Service reported.

    The greenhouse was found in the municipality of La Iguala, 400km from capital city Tegucigalpa and 1,600 meters above sea level. The location is only reachable by horseback or all-terrain vehicle, and becomes inaccessible during the rainy season.

    The raid discovered 1,800 opium poppy plants and 800 cannabis plants. The structure itself was reportedly 100 meters long and 40 meters wide, air-conditioned, with a large generator, a modern irrigation system and other high-tech equipment.

    Two people were arrested in the raid, a Honduran laborer and a Colombian who managed the farm and had been previously arrested and released, reported La Prensa.

    Carlos Mejia, a deputy superintendent of the National Police who headed the operation, told IPS, "We suspect there are many more plantations in these enormous western mountains, so we are combing the entire region."
    ...
    Since a 2009 coup, the presence of foreign organized crime has increased markedly and, according to the US State Department's latest estimate, 75 percent of cocaine leaving South America by plane transits through the Central American nation.

    Part of this criminal expansion has involved the growth of drug processing, with several cocaine labs discovered in Honduras since 2011, but the arrival of opium poppy cultivation is a major new development suggesting criminal operations are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are confident of being able to operate with impunity.

    While foreign criminal organizations have played a large role in driving this evolution -- the cocaine processing plant discovered in 2011 allegedly belonged to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel -- there are growing indications that homegrown organized crime groups are also building strength and moving up the drug trafficking value chain.

    If local criminal groups do successfully increase their role in drug production, it raises the possibility that Honduras could soon generate its own transnational criminal operations and become major players in the international drug trade.

    ReplyDelete
  23. The number of Americans saying, "Now is a good time to find a quality job" is slowly improving (up about 100% from this time two years ago.)

    Gallup

    ReplyDelete
  24. The number of Americans saying, "Jack Hawkins is a shit head" is way ahead of two years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Two years ago the number of Americans saying, "Jack Hawkins is a shit head" was 75%. Today it is 95%.

      Delete

    2. Let's see that link

      Delete
    3. If you google "Jack Hawkins is a shit head" google returns: About 110,000 results (0.47 seconds)

      Delete
  25. Replies
    1. The number of members of "Dead Beat Dads of America" saying "Jack Hawkins is a hero and one of us" reached 100% this year.

      Delete

    2. Let's see that link

      Delete
    3. At the DBDofA conferene, Jack Hawkins was heard to brag, "Back when I knocked Mariateen up, I was so stupid I didn't know what a condom was for, ya can't blame me!".

      Delete


  26. Israel actively supports El Qaeda in Syria, causes massive refugee challenges for UN in Jordon and Turkey.
    Israel is working diligently to destabilize the entire region using airstrikes and covert arms shipments to radical Islamic terrorists.

    Implementation of the The Yinon Plan is in progress.

    But Israel has quietly offered state-of-the-art medical treatment to more than 700 Syrians in the past 13 months, at a cost of about $20 million, according to documents obtained by the Jerusalem Post.

    Israel and Syria are officially at war, and the rooms at Ziv Hospital where most of the Syrian patients are treated are guarded by members of the IDF (right), Israel's army.

    Ziv Hospital staff say many of the men treated are rebel fighters. When I ask Yousef if he’s with the Free Syrian Army, he denies it, but one nurse says he has privately confided this fact to hospital staff.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the conference, Jack Hawkins cited

      ****Laws regarding persons younger than 14:
      Article 216: “He who has sexual access with persons of either sex, utilizing his genital organs or other parts of his body, or introducing any object in the genitals, mouth or anus of the victim, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment from three to ten years in the following cases: 1) When violence or intimidation is used; 2) When the assaulted person is deprived of reason or of sense or when due to physical or mental sickness or for any other cause she cannot resist; 3) When the victim is arrested or imprisoned and entrusted to the guilty party to supervise her or take her from one place to another; and 4) With a person of either sex that is not 14 years old, even though none of the circumstances expressed previously apply.”***

      and said "She'd just turned 14 and I claimed she was sane as I was."

      Delete
    2. Jack also said "I know I'm one sick fuck, but I am a professional asshole, and proud of it, and after all it was only Panama."

      Delete
    3. Let's see the link for that

      Delete
    4. Jack Hawkins also won at the DBDofA Convention the coveted "Dime Award".

      The recipient gets a fine wooden oak plaque with an American Dime artfully embedded in the front under which is the DBDofA slogan "I didn't give a dime for upkeep of my kid".


      It hangs to this day in what passes for Jack's 'living room'.

      Laws regarding persons younger than 14:
      Article 216: “He who has sexual access with persons of either sex, utilizing his genital organs or other parts of his body, or introducing any object in the genitals, mouth or anus of the victim, shall be sanctioned with imprisonment from three to ten years in the following cases: 1) When violence or intimidation is used; 2) When the assaulted person is deprived of reason or of sense or when due to physical or mental sickness or for any other cause she cannot resist; 3) When the victim is arrested or imprisoned and entrusted to the guilty party to supervise her or take her from one place to another; and 4) With a person of either sex that is not 14 years old, even though none of the circumstances expressed previously apply.”

      Here you are, Jack -

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_North_America#Panama




      Delete

  27. Iran meeting nuclear commitments


    VIENNA, March 20 (Reuters) - Iran is meeting its commitments under a landmark nuclear pact with world powers but has yet to complete a facility it will need to fulfil the six-month deal, a U.N. agency report showed on Thursday.

    http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/iran-nuclear-iaea-idINL6N0MH4R920140320

    ReplyDelete