By FRANKLIN LAMB - January 8, 2009

In the minds of some of his colleagues, and a law student reporter at the Harvard Law Record, Professor Alan Dershowitz's unique views of Israel's obligations under international law are reflected in the "private legal memoranda" that he churns out from time to time in his moonlighting job as "Counsel to the Government of Israel". In this role...Harvard's Nutty Professor advises Israel "how to appear to be acting legally to the eyes of the American public".

The Quartet's complicity in Israeli war crimes.

5 January 2009

We are calling on the world to stop Israeli violence and not allow the continuation of the brutal occupation. We call on the world to Condemn and not become an accomplice in Israel`s crimes.

by Evelyn Pringle - Dissident Voice

For years, the research that showed SSRI antidepressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) were dangerous and practically useless was kept hidden, while the studies published and presented to potential prescribers painted a glowing picture of success. These days, a person would be hard pressed to find someone who does not have a family member or friend labeled mentally ill and taking drugs like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro and Celexa, or their chemical cousins Effexor, Cymbalta and Wellbutrin.

Protests are resonating on every continent.

"Those who are familiar intimately with Israeli people realise that they are completely uninformed (though not as bad as Canadians) about the roots of the conflict that dominates their lives..."

By Ramzy Baroud - Znet

...[W]hy should Israel devote a moment to the question of harming civilians or violating international law or any such seemingly irrelevant notions - as far as Israel is concerned - as long as their "Palestinian partners", the Arab League, or the international community continue to teeter between silence, complacency, rhetoric and inaction?

By Omar Barghouti - Znet

Over the last two days, various UN officials stated that the percentage of civilians among those Palestinians killed in the current Israeli war of aggression on Gaza is about "25%" and is "likely to increase." Assuming the best of intentions, stating such a painfully low figure reflects shabby research or scandalous incompetence. At worst, it reveals intentional deception and misinformation that can only benefit the already massive and well-oiled Israeli PR machine.

By Nir Rosen - Znet

Just as the traditional American cowboy film presented white Americans under siege, with Indians as the aggressors, which was the opposite of reality, so, too, have Palestinians become the aggressors and not the victims...Every day, more of Palestine is stolen, more Palestinians are killed. To call oneself an Israeli Zionist is to engage in the dispossession of entire people...The Palestinians would not have ever bombed cafes or used home-made missiles if they had tanks and airplanes. It is only in the current context that their actions are justified...

By Dan Freeman-Maloy - December 31, 2008

With the Palestinian death toll from Israel's latest air and naval assault on Gaza [passing] 350 and steadily climbing (an estimated 1500 more have been wounded), diplomats, advocates and journalists the world over appear prepared to continue facilitating the massacre.

The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.

By PATRICK BOND - December 26-28, 2008

...[N]eoliberalism may have another breath of life, with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation applied from above by Barak Obama or the IMF. Much stronger pressure is needed from below to resist. Until grassroots forces again gather their strength to mount an assault, national-scale challenges to global financial power are the only ways forward given adverse global-scale power relations.

By Justin Podur - December 30, 2008

Right now, Israel is still attacking sites all over Gaza and has killed more than three hundred civilians (with more deaths to follow). Their planning has been slow, deliberate, and open. The killers are celebrated and encouraged to continue. The countries of the West are falling over themselves to endorse the atrocities as retaliation, with an occasional word of concern that Israel be judicious in its murders...No one is talking about "Palestine's 9/11". Palestine doesn't get to have a 9/11.

The raw realities of Middle East politics spilled onto the streets in several cities across Canada on Sunday as pro-Palestinian protesters denounced the bloody Israeli attacks on Gaza...Israeli attacks on suspected Hamas strongholds in Gaza have triggered protests in more than a dozen countries.

By ROBERT WEISSMAN - Counterpunch

Here, presented in alphabetical order, are the 10 Worst Corporations of 2008: