By MIKE WHITNEY - January 6, 2009

In a rare moment of honesty, the New York Times divulged the real motive behind the bombardment and invasion of Gaza. In [an] article...Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said, "We need to reach a situation in which we do not allow Hamas to govern. That is the most important thing. If the war ends in a draw, as expected, and Israel refrains from reoccupying Gaza, Hamas will gain diplomatic recognition...No matter what you call it, Hamas will obtain legitimacy.”

By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Jerusalem - The Palestinian Information Centre

Calling [Moshe] Feiglin a “Hitler” is not an exaggeration at all. The man stands for and advocates all the fascist ideas and ideals that made Hitler [and] Nazism evil. In fact, whatever differences there may be between people like Feiglin and the hated Nazi hierarchy have more to do with form rather than substance...Despite his manifestly Nazi-like ideology, Feiglin is by no means a “black sheep” within the Likud, an increasingly fascist party in light of the stridently-fascist views held by the bulk of its leaders and members.

By PATRICK COCKBURN - December 11, 2008

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed after eight months of rancorous negotiations, is categorical and unconditional. America’s bid to act as the world’s only super-power and to establish quasi-colonial control of Iraq...has ended in failure...Even Iran, which had furiously denounced the first drafts of the SOFA saying that they would establish a permanent US presence in Iraq, now says blithely that it will officially back the new security pact...This is a sure sign that Iran...sees the pact as marking the final end of the US occupation and as a launching pad for military assaults on neighbours such as Iran.

By PETER LEE - December 17, 2008

The "Made in Pakistan" label is by now pretty firmly affixed to the Mumbai outrage...The most significant development in the story, however, has been the determined efforts by the United States, grudgingly supported by India and enthusiastically echoed by Pakistan, to divert any attention from the possibility that state actors e.g. the notorious Inter Services Intelligence directorate or ISI and its supporters in the government and inside Pakistan's elites, were implicated in the attack.

By Khalid Amayreh - October 13, 2008

...Palestinians can’t really count on the west to forestall possible genocidal designs by Israel. Hence, alternatives must be sought to make sure that Israel is not allowed to transform her criminal urges into actions...In short, Israel must not be allowed to desensitize the conscience of the world as Germany did more than six decades ago...[T]he outcome would be catastrophic at all levels.

By Jonathan Cook - December 07, 2008

A far-right group know as the Jewish National Front...is preparing to march through one of the main Arab towns in northern Israel...The Front's main platform is the expulsion of all Palestinians from what it calls "Greater Israel", which also includes the West Bank and Gaza...The move has aroused furious opposition from local residents and the leadership of the Palestinian minority. Jamal Zahalka, an Arab member of the parliament...[said] "We will use our right of protest and defend Umm al-Fahm from these fascists and racists."

By FRANKLIN LAMB - November 18, 2008

"We, as Lebanese, are here to confirm that we cling to freeing every grain of our soil. We will not abandon the great national cause, which is the continuation of the liberation of our land. The resistance looks forward to hoisting the flags of victory again over the Kfarshuba hills, Shebaa Farms, Ghajar and Abbasieh where 80 percent of the land is still occupied".

--Sheik Nabil Qwork, Hezbollah leader addressing villagers at Abbasieh Village, 10/2008

By Paul Oestreicher - Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Seventy years ago this week the Nazis led a brutal attack on German Jews, their businesses and their synagogues, a prelude to the Holocaust. Paul Oestreicher remembers the night terror struck.

By Jonathan Cook - October 11, 2008

No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list - and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel's biggest taboo...Dr. Sand argues that the idea of a Jewish nation...is a myth invented little more than a century ago.

By Boris Kagarlitsky - November 11, 2008

...[F]ormer enemies are ready to express solidarity with each other. Unfortunately, it is too late...The situation will resemble an old Soviet joke. There will be no war, but there will be such a struggle for peace that everything will be razed to the ground.

[T]he Canadian government has commissioned a pair of unmanned subs to explore the geology of two underwater Arctic mountain ranges; the subs' mission will be to provide evidence supporting Canada's claim to huge swaths of potentially petroleum-rich seabed areas.

Everyone's Downstream II: Stop Playing Games With Our Lives
To be held November 22nd, 23rd at

The Edmonton Native Friendship Centre
11205 101 Street NW

This event is co-presented by OilSandsTruth.org [OST] with the Indigenous Environmental Network [IEN]

And on Friday November 21, 2008 at the University of Alberta:

By PATRICK COCKBURN - November 3, 2008

Over the past five years, America and its Iraqi allies have pointed triumphantly at a series of spurious milestones meant to mark turning points on the road to stability and security. But the ongoing stalemate over a new Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which the Iraqi government refuses to sign despite intense American pressure, marks a true turning point in the conflict: it is a clear sign that American political influence in Iraq is weaker than ever.

By COREY D.B. WALKER - October 21, 2008

What happens to a nation once its most privileged symbols have been thoroughly discredited? Where does a country turn to begin again?...After eight years of the Bush-Cheney regime, the United States confronts these questions in light of a deep and profound crisis of legitimacy. The current crisis is intimately shaped by the demands of 21st century American imperialism and is reflected in the (un)spoken language of white supremacy.

October 18, 2008 - Znet

As individual Jews come under increasing pressure to unite behind their 'leaders', Brian Klug puts the case for disunity..."Either tolerate having your Jewish identity taken from you - or take it back...Breaking ranks is an ancient Jewish custom."