First here's a Canadian moment from one of the few independent thinkers in Canada Rick Mercer at the CBC(Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) ranting about how scientists in Canada (like their American counterparts) are being muzzled by the government on the issue of climate change and possibly other issues whenever the scientific facts run counter to the Neoconservative Ideology of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who aspires to be our own George W. Bush.
Canadian Climate Scientists Muzzled Again
Comedian Rick Mercer's Rant for February 26th, 2013.
Global Warning
President Obama is scheduled to visit Israel on March 20 and there are various issues which Obama should not be permitted to avoid or gloss over. Obama owes the American people and the West a clear explanation about the USA's support of Israel.
Does that support of Israel entail that President Obama is not permitted to express concerns over Israel's policies towards the Palestinians even when there are legitimate questions that ought to be raised about Israel's violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people.
Is Obama in effect supporting Israel's Apartheid system in which Palestinians are treated as second class citizens or as a people unworthy of basic human rights ???
For instance does Obama agree that Israelis have certain basic human rights and civil rights but that the Palestinians do not have similar rights???
And does President Obama see nothing wrong with Israel 's blockade of Gaza which is regarded by most nations as an unjust collective punishment on the people of Gaza and is characterized as being a Crime against humanity and in essence a form of ethnic cleansing if not the beginning of Genocide of the Palestinian people???
If Obama is willing to support Israel's policies towards the people of Gaza then Obama should be willing to go to Gaza and see the conditions in which the people live and then decide based on facts on the ground about Israeli policies rather than just spouting platitudes and echoing or parroting Israel's stance.
Far too often whenever someone criticizes Israel's policies towards the Palestinians for instance or America's unconditional support for Israel instead of this leading to a rational or reasonable debate the critics of Israeli policies are merely labeled anti-Semitic without dealing with the substantive issue up for consideration.
Democracy Now! Amy Goodman interviews Shulamit Aloni : Former Israel Minister - AntiSemitism and Holocaust Are Tools Against the facts
The Colorado Campaign To Stop $30 billion in Military aid to Israel at Free Thought Manifesto , March3, 2013
Why the campaign is necessary: As reflective and responsible citizens, we have a moral responsibility to provide a check on our government’s foreign relations, and we know that the US government has aided and abetted Israel’s lawlessness and criminal conduct. By providing$30 billion in military aid to Israel over a 10-year period, the US government makes Israel's war crimes against the Palestinian people inevitable. We cannot afford to stand by while so much evil is done with our tax money and in our name. Nor is it in our self-interest to remain at odds with other nations, all of whom are appalled by the contradiction between the ideals we claim to hold and the crimes we aid and abet.
John Kerry is arriving today in Saudi Arabia not to chastise or threaten the House of Saud to stop its human rights abuses but rather to pay homage to the House of Saud . Kerry and Obama no matter the truth about Saudi Arabia they will say that the Saudi government is on the road to reform and respect for human rights .
But the majority of people in Saudi Arabia have no rights as they are rounded up beaten, imprisoned , tortured for daring to criticize the government and its anti-democratic policies.
But what can we expect from President Obama and his administration since they too do not respect the rights of American citizens to protest s against the policies of the US government or against those who form the elites which are tied inextricably into the government.
We saw the real Obama when he helped to orchestrate the brutal crackdown on the Occupy Movement and his imprisoning of whistleblowers and insisting that he and his lackeys have the right to spy on all Americans and to assassinate anyone who Obama or others in the administration believe to be a possible threat in the future to America's national security.
Protests increasing in Saudi Arabia before US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives.
Ali al-Ahmed in considering the US's views and response on what is happening on the ground in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain etc. is becoming more and irrelevant given the dynamics and growth of the pr-reform pro-democracy uprisings in the Gulf region .
The issue then becomes what is to be the response of these regimes in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait etc. Given how the US government and its allies are censoring the news throughout the West any massive use of force resulting in large numbers of deaths will either not make it into Western media or will be twisted to blame Iran or other nations which the USA and the West fear.
As it is the American and Canadian people are convinced that the issue in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is to do with sectarian violence caused by Shiite extremists backed by the government of Iran and therefore the average citizens believes if these regimes use deadly force on a grand scale it is acceptable.
The Irony is that to many observers the Bahraini and Saudi uprisings are legitimate and their grievances should be attended to while in Syria the anti-government forces are made up of a large number of well armed Sunni Muslim extremists who appear to have no real plan for creating a new government beyond possibly the Taliban example and yet these radicals are supported by the West. The Western powers including the USA and Canada have no interest in creating stable democracies in which each citizen is guaranteed their rights and that their nation's sovereignty be respected.
One can find parallels to this divide and conquer and the creation of weak or failed states in the policies of the colonial powers who interfered with the Arab and Gulf Nations to suit their own purposes and agendas mainly consisting of controlling the natural resources to the benefit not of the Middle East but for the benefit of the Western Hemisphere.
'Saudi revolution gains momentum'
Published on 2 Mar 2013
A political analyst tells Press TV that that the wall of fear is coming down because of the continued protests in Saudi Arabia and we will see an increased protest movement in the country. The comments came after Saudi security forces arrested over 300 people in the central province of Qassim after hundreds of Saudis staged a protest sit-in to demand the release of political prisoners. The protest gathering was held outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in the town of Buraidah on Friday.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Ali al-Ahmed, Director of the IGA, to further discuss the issue.
#Bahrain: Thousands marched demanding Democracy
Published on 1 Mar 2013
The opposition blocs organized a mass rally today 1st of March 2013 with a very large participation of the Bahraini protesters, titled "Democracy is Our demand".
The protesters, who spread on a part of of Budaiya High Way west of Manama (from Karranah Roundabout to Jannusan Roundabout ), confirmed their demands in democracy and freedom. The protesters were from different ages and came from various areas of the country.
Bahraini human rights activists listen during a press conference of International organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) in the Bahraini capital Manama on 28 February 2013. At left is seen a poster asking for the release of Nabeel Rajab, an activist who is behind bars for organizing protests. (Photo: AFP - Mohammed al-Shaikh)
Bahrain jails activist for insulting policeman by Alakhbar .com,March 1, 2013
A Bahraini court on Thursday sentenced human rights defender Zainab al-Khawaja to three months in jail for “insulting a police officer,” one day after initially acquitting her of the charge, state media and activists said.
The court on Wednesday had originally dismissed that case, but handed the activist a one month sentence for taking part in an “illegal gathering,” and a two-month sentence over another charge.
But Bahrain’s public prosecution office filed an appeal after Khawaja spent the rest of the day protesting outside the government’s Qudaibiya Palace calling on authorities to release the body of a protester recently killed by security forces, an activist close to her said.
“She was sending a message that the people are not afraid to be sent to jail,” Yousif al-Muhafda, deputy head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Al-Akhbar.
Saudi Arabia arrests 176 demonstrators al-Akhbar.com, March 1, 2013
Saudi police arrested 176 people in the Gulf Arab kingdom's central Qassim province on Friday after a protest calling for fair treatment for security prisoners.
State news agency SPA said those detained, who included 15 women, had refused to disperse from a sit-in staged outside the investigation and prosecution bureau in the town of Buraida.
It was the latest in a string of small-scale demonstrations in Qassim and the capital Riyadh in the past two years demanding better treatment of prisoners held on security grounds.
Rights groups say thousands have been detained in the name of security in Saudi Arabia, many of them imprisoned without a fair hearing or held for long periods without trial. They say some were detained merely for demanding political change.
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