Apparently, Iranian engineers have successfully decoded America’s captured reconnaissance drone and now Tehran intends to build a copy. The Islamic Republic’s military captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaisance aircraft last December. Dick Chenney is not going to like this. According … Continue reading →
Continue readingTag: Middle East
Song of the Watermelon: On Israel and Apartheid
Message on a wall at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Last month, university students and activists around the world marked Israeli Apartheid Week, an annual series of lectures and protests designed to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians, and as usual, the condemnations were heavy and hyperbolic. Canadian
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Blast Furnace Canada Blog 2012-04-04 14:56:00
The decision this week by the ruling Conservatives to abolish the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development — also known by the shorthand “Rights and Democracy” — isn’t so much about cutbacks to so-called “unnecessary services” as it is a victory for a right wing regime that has
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Guest Post: On governing authorities
Dan Tan offers another guest post – this one responding to a bit of misplaced advice from Embassy with a helpful reminder as to how policy is formulated within the NDP: The foreign-affairs publication ‘Embassy’ recently published the following article: Advocates hope new Opposition leader shifts NDP position on Israel
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Massacre of the Afghan 17 and the Obama Cover-Up
After the cold-blooded murder of the 17 Afghan villagers in Kandahar province the US military and the ever-complicit Obama regime constructed an elaborate cover-up, exposing the Administration up to charges of conspiracy to suppress the essential facts, falsify data and obstruct justice: All are grounds for criminal prosecution and impeachment.
Continue readingwRanter.com: Why Thomas Mulcair gets it when it comes to Israel
Not surprisingly, Thomas Mulcair won the NDP leadership last month, replacing Saint Jack Layton as the man social democrats hope can rally left-of-centre voters to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Here’s hoping he’s successful, but as I argued in an earlier post, it seems unlikely that he will be, because
Continue readingArt Threat: Emotionally devastating documentary explores Israeli bombing of Gaza – Friday Film Pick: Tears of Gaza
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Israel’s latest bombing campaign of Gaza, while the Israeli military stubbornly insists the child-killing attacks are necessary to stop “terrorism”. Such bloody assaults on Gaza are unfortunately common, and those that took place over 2008-2009 may have been the most devastating.
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Meir Dagan: Iran ‘a very rational regime’
The increasingly strident calls for military action against Iran evokes the hyped-up threat rhetoric prior to the invasion of Iraq. As we now know, despite all the “expert” opinion, the alleged threat posed by Iraqi WMD turned out to be a crock. A chimera. Fear mongering about Iranian nukes is
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Nuclear Weapons, Iran, and War
With an all-too-familiar rhythm, the drums of war are sounding. The target? An authoritarian Middle Eastern regime set on acquiring exceptionally destructive weapons. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. This time around the country is Iran, and the weapons allegedly being developed are nuclear. The Israeli government (although
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: No more "nuclear ambiguity"
As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East about what Iran is up to with its nuclear program, a reasonable person cannot be in much doubt. With the large number of centrifuges it’s more than obvious that Iran wants a bomb. And there can only be one intended target
Continue readingCensorship @ Huffington Post re. Syria?
“[T]he turmoil in the Middle East this past year has morphed into a battleground for much larger interests – economic, political, financial – and the players see this as an existential fight; the final showdown, so to speak. The battle for narratives is the frontline of this war, and it
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Don’t Buy That New Atlas Just Yet
Somewhere down in the crawlspace is my highschool atlas from the 60’s. I have kept it as I have the four or five ‘updated’ atlases I picked up over the intervening years. It’s a lot of fun to go back and see maps of countries that are no more, empires
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Abolishing the Palestinian Authority an Urgent Prerequisite to Liberation
Even as I write this, the bulldozers have been busy throughout that one indivisible country known by the bifurcated term Israel/Palestine. Palestinian homes, community centres, livestock pens and other “structures” (as the Israel authorities dispassionately call them) have been demolished in the Old City, Silwan and various parts of “Area
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Pushing the Envelope on Palestinian Sovereignty
There has not been much movement of late on the Israeli-Palestinian front. This may partly be explained by the relative lack of violent activity by Palestinian groups. The conflict has dropped off the radar for most of the Israeli public, and the only constituency the government needs to worry about
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Jodi Rudoren’s tweets and the chill in the lobby
A Rachel Shabi article in the Guardian’s Comment is Free section titled False accusations of antisemitism desensitize us to the real thing discusses the absurd targeting of New York Times Jerusalem reporter Jodi Rudoren for tweets some Zionist types viewed as problematic. Rachel Shabi: Apparently, soon-to-be bureau chief Jodi Rudoren
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Thanks to an end-of-week conference it’s been a few days since I’ve done a general roundup on the NDP leadership race. And based on the pace of activity, it looks like we’re into the home stretch as candidates enter the last couple of weeks in which to sign up new
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is America Worried Israel Is Gonna Go Ape Shit On Iran?
Apparently the US Defence Secretary Leo Panetta is very worried that Israel will attack Iran come March. Those Israelis just can’t control themselves in the face of Iran’s intransigence over their – admittedly non-military – nuclear program. I mean, what if, you know, Iran decided down the road to make
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Occupy Boston: No War On Iran
On Saturday, February 4, The Action for Peace Working Group of Occupy Boston will co-sponsor a rally and march as part of an international day of action to demand NO WAR ON IRAN. The march, …Read More
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: Occupy Boston: No War On Iran
On Saturday, February 4, The Action for Peace Working Group of Occupy Boston will co-sponsor a rally and march as part of an international day of action to demand NO WAR ON IRAN. The march, …Read More
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Guilty verdicts in Kingston — a turning point in the war against women?
The struggle for equal rights never ends and must never end. Recent events in two parts of the world, seemingly disconnected but linked by the common element of who the targets are, are a reminder of this. Firstly, the guilty verdicts yesterday in Kingston in the so-called “honour killings” of
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