HIGHLIGHTS

To all our American readers… Happy Memorial Day!

Phoenix                                1. Plutocrats of the World Unite!

Beirut                                   2. “There’s a Firestorm Coming” (by Robert Fisk)

Phoenix                                3. “Best Democracy Money Can Buy” (by Greg Palast)

Haifa                                    4. How Israel Persecutes Its Own Academics

Afghanistan                         5. How to Lose Old Friends and Make New EnemiesMay 27, 2002

Long Time No Hear: "I’m Okay.  Wish the World Were..."

1. Plutocrats of the World Unite!

...Against the People

PHOENIX, May 26 - First, to so many of you who have been writing to TiM wondering if the TiM editor were okay, and why you haven’t heard from us for so long… don’t worry.  Everything is fine.  Thank you for your concern.  I'm okay.  Wish the world were…

So why haven’t you heard from us for over a month now? 

Because we had nothing new to say.  Truly.  Everything that’s been making the global geopolitical headlines these days we have commented on before… the U.S. government’s foreknowledge of the 911 threat; the deliberate falls alarms being issued by Washington that are supposed to keep the American public on edge and grateful for the government “protection” (at our expense); Russia’s joining NATO; Israel’s continued state terrorism and our government’s support of it while waging “war on terrorism;” the farce of a Milosevic trial at the Hague; the State Department’s official sanctioning of the Belgrade government as the New World Order’s latest “certified whore,” etc.

We’ve said it all.  And we've said it in advance of the current events becoming headline news.  So that’s why you haven’t heard from us.  This writer doesn’t believe in writing just for the sake of doing it.  Not unless he has something unique to say.  Just as the TiM motto reads on our home page (www.truthinmedia.org): 

We LISTEN to the...  UNSAID

We READ the...  UNWRITTEN

We UNCOVER...  CONCEALED

And then... (click on notes) 

We WRITE...

Now, with that as a preamble, there are a couple of editorial observations we wish to share with you on this Memorial Day weekend in the U.S.

First, a very simple and PEACEFUL ending to both America’s “war on terrorism,” and to our continued involvement in the never-ending Middle Eastern wars, is staring us in the face.  If the Bush administration were really an American government acting in OUR country’s best interests, it could end the senseless fight with one-two geopolitical punches:

Punch One… an uppercut to Israel.  Dump this treacherous “ally;” the only “ally” that has ever attacked us, killing 34 American soldiers and injuring 172 others (USS Liberty, 1967); the only “ally” that has sapped the U.S. Treasure to the tune of nearly one hundred billion dollars, while using our money and arms to wage state terrorism against its Arab neighbors; the only “ally” that has brazenly spied on us, and then had the audacity to demand a pardon for its spy (Jonathan Pollard); the only “ally” that continues to spy on us (see Fox TV News series on Israeli “students”, Dec. 2001 - Ashcroft: Tough on American Liberties, Soft on Israeli Spies, Mar. 2002).

Punch Two… a plexus to Arab oil.  Reduce our dependence on Arab oil.  Which ultimately means also cease cozying up to the embarrassing totalitarian regimes that have allowed acts of terrorism against Americans to be committed on their soil (see partial list of bombings in the Middle East).  The warming up of the Russo-American relations is a welcome step in that direction, as Russia is a major global energy supplier and an OPEC competitor (see Russia vs. OPEC, Sep. 2000).  But given that at present we import 70% of our oil from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait vs. next to nothing from Russia; and that Russia accounts for 10% of the global oil output versus OPEC’s 40%; it will take a long time before such a policy change gets traction. But “a thousand mile journey begins with the first step,” as Confucius noted.

The Punch One would remove a major cause of anti-Americanism around the world, especially in Muslim countries.  The Punch Two would take the (economic) punch out of the countries that hate us.  The only way for America to win the “war on terrorism” in the long run is to disengage from Israel AND from the Middle East oil - both the root causes of anti-American terrorism.

That’s no great wisdom.  That’s just common sense.

What are the chances of common sense prevailing in Washington’s foreign policy?  The same as that of true American patriotism… slim to none.  As long as the Bush administration is acting as a proxy of both the Israeli lobby and of the multinational oil companies, the American people will be the victims of both and the designated targets for international terrorism. 

As we said in “Collateral Damage Strikes Home,” written the morning of Sep. 11, “innocent civilians who perished today... (as) 'just collateral damage'…  are now paying for aggressions and crimes against humanity that our government has committed.”

Regrettably, this is likely to go on as our government continues to stoke the fires of terrorism (see Item 2 of this TiM Bulletin - Robert Fisk’s latest column).  And not just our government.  With Russia’s president adopting the motto, “if you can’t beat them, join them,” there is now virtually no major opposition to the NWO’s global drive for total power.  So add another recruit to main NWO motto that we identified years ago, during the Bosnian war: “Perpetual commerce through perpetual war.” (Chronicles, Aug. 1998).

It is clear, therefore, that the plutocrats of the world are uniting against the people of the world.  The New World Order (NWO) is consolidating its power and tightening the noose around the Global Citizen’s neck and wallet.

Once upon a time, “workers of the world unite!” was the rallying cry of the communist proletariat.  Now, “plutocrats of the world unite!” is evidently becoming the new poster slogan of the post-communist form of totalitarianism - the NWO globalism.  Instead of the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” we now have a “dictatorship of the boardroom.”

Nothing new in that, either.  Here’s an excerpt from this writer’s conversation with Gen. Ratko Mladic that took place in Bosnia in May 1996 (see TiM Bulletin 96-05, May 1996):

“Is the U.S. a democracy?” Gen. Mladic asked at one point during our conversation.

“Most Americans think it is,” I replied.

“And what do you think?” he persisted.

“I think it’s a plutocracy.”

He nodded affirmatively.

“Do you know what a plutocracy is?” I asked.

He nodded again, looking rather grim.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that that the only way humanity may be able to throw off the yoke of the plutocratic NWO globalism is through some cataclysmic events, as Robert Fisk also warns in his piece, “There’s a Firestorm Coming.” 

But as long as their stomachs are full and brains empty, rather than the other way around, we don’t see any revolutions being carried out by the western masses, however spiritually and morally enslaved the sheeple may become.  As the international terrorism has shown, however, there are plenty of other desperate people who are willing to die for a cause rather than live a miserable life.  So the sheeple had better watch out.  Which is, of course, music to the global NWO enforcers' ears who feed on fear and insecurity.

So the vicious circle of violence will continue.  “Our” Evil Empire will prove to be no better than “their” Axis of Evil.  Both pit the “governments against the people” while pretending to be “for the people.”  Both are forms of totalitarianism.  Either way, people get screwed by the ruling oligarchs.  The only winners in Bush's "war on terror," being fought with U.S. taxpayers' money, are Israel and the American "death merchants."  The American people are certainly among the losers.

And now you know why this writer said at the outset… “I'm okay. Wish the world were…”

Happy Memorial Day!  At least no one can take away our happy memories.

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2. There's a Firestorm Coming, Stoked by Bush

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 25 - Robert Fisk is a veteran war correspondent who has reported from the Middle East for the London-based Independent and other British media for several decades.  In his latest column filed May 25 from Lebanon, Fisk says, “more and more, indeed, Mr. Bush's rhetoric sounds like the crazed videotapes of Mr. bin Laden. And still he tries to lie about the motives for the crimes against humanity of 11 September.”  Fisk adds, “if you read the words of President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and the ridiculous national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, over the past three days, you'll find they've issued more threats against Americans than Mr. bin Laden.”

Here are some other excerpts from it:

There's a Firestorm Coming, Stoked by Bush

by Robert Fisk

More and more, President Bush's rhetoric sounds like the crazed videotapes of Osama bin Laden

So now Osama bin Laden is Hitler. And Saddam Hussein is Hitler. And George Bush is fighting the Nazis. Not since Menachem Begin fantasised to President Reagan that he felt he was attacking Hitler in Berlin - his Israeli army was actually besieging Beirut, killing thousands of civilians, "Hitler" being the pathetic Arafat - have we had to listen to claptrap like this. But the fact that we Europeans had to do so in the Bundestag on Thursday - and, for the most part, in respectful silence - was extraordinary.

I'm reminded of the Israeli columnist who, tired of the wearying invocation of the Second World War to justify yet more Israeli brutality, began an article with the words: "Mr Prime Minister, Hitler is dead." Must we, forever, live under the shadow of a war that was fought and won before most of us were born? Do we have to live forever with living, diminutive politicians playing Churchill (Thatcher and, of course, Blair) or Roosevelt? "He's a dictator who gassed his own people," Mr Bush reminded us for the two thousandth time, omitting as always to mention that the Kurds whom Saddam viciously gassed were fighting for Iran and that the United States, at the time, was on Saddam's side.

But there is a much more serious side to this. Mr Bush is hoping to corner the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, into a new policy of threatening Iran. He wants the Russians to lean on the northern bit of the "axis of evil", the infantile phrase which he still trots out to the masses. More and more, indeed, Mr Bush's rhetoric sounds like the crazed videotapes of Mr bin Laden. And still he tries to lie about the motives for the crimes against humanity of 11 September.

Yet again, in the Bundestag, he insisted that the West's enemies hated "justice and democracy", even though most of America's Muslim enemies wouldn't know what democracy was.

In the United States, the Bush administration is busy terrorising Americans. There will be nuclear attacks, bombs in high-rise apartment blocks, on the Brooklyn bridge, men with exploding belts - note how carefully the ruthless Palestinian war against Israeli colonisation of the West Bank is being strapped to America's ever weirder "war on terror" - and yet more aircraft suiciders. If you read the words of President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and the ridiculous national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, over the past three days, you'll find they've issued more threats against Americans than Mr bin Laden.

But let's get back to the point. The growing evidence that Israel's policies are America's policies in the Middle East - or, more accurately, vice versa - is now being played out for real in statements from Congress and on American television.

First, we have the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee announcing that Hizbollah - the Lebanese guerrilla force that drove Israel's demoralised army out of Lebanon in the year 2000 - is planning attacks in the US. After that, we had an American television network "revealing" that Hizbollah, Hamas and al- Qa'ida - Mr bin Laden's organisation - have held a secret meeting in Lebanon to plot attacks on the US.

American journalists insist on quoting "sources" but there was, of course, no sourcing for this balderdash, which is now repeated ad nauseam in the American media.

Then take the "Syrian Accountability Act" that was introduced into the US Senate by Israel's friends on18 April. This includes the falsity uttered earlier by Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, that Iranian Revolutionary Guards "operate freely" on the southern Lebanese border. Now there haven't been Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon - let alone the south of the country - for 18 years. So why is this lie repeated yet again?

Iran is under threat. Lebanon is under threat. Syria is under threat - its "terrorism" status has been heightened by the State Department - and so is Iraq. But Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister held personally responsible by Israel's own enquiry for the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 1,700 Palestinians in Beirut in 1982, is - according to Mr Bush - "a man of peace".

How much further can this go? A long way, I fear.

The anti-American feeling throughout the Middle East is palpable. Arab newspaper editorials don't come near to expressing public opinion. In Damascus, Majida Tabbaa has become famous as the lady who threw the US Consul Roberto Powers out of her husband's downtown restaurant on 7 April . "I went over to him," she said, "and told him, 'Mr Roberto, tell your George Bush that all of you are not welcome - please get out'." Across the Arab world, boycotts of American goods have begun in earnest.

How much longer can this go on? […]

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To find out Fisk’s answer to his own rhetorical question, you can read his full column by clicking here.

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3. “Best Democracy Money Can Buy” (by Greg Palast)

PHOENIX, May 26 - Three months ago, we brought you the piece “Evils of Globalism: Perception Multiplied by Reality” (Feb. 6, 2002).  We quoted in it excerpts from a new book by Greg Palast, “Best Democracy Money Can Buy.”  The book is now out.  You can find out about how you can buy it, and/or sign up for his columns in the London Observer by clicking here.

Palast, an American who divides his time between New York and London, is an investigative reporter for London's Sunday paper, The Observer, and the BBC TV Newsnight.  His book was published by Pluto Press (www.plutobooks.com).

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4. How Israel Persecutes Its Own Academics for Speaking the Truth

Respected Jewish Professor at Haifa U. Threatened with Expulsion for Exposing Israel's "Ethnic Cleansing"

PHOENIX, May 26 - We are told by the New World Order media that Israel's is a free and democratic society.  Really?  Check out this story...

What the Sharon government and its troops did in the West Bank during the month of April made it perfectly clear for all the world to see that, in fact, Israel should be shunned by civilized societies as a criminal and racist state. By continuing to support such an "ally," our (American) government has also chosen to stand on the side of barbaric behavior and terror while supposedly waging a "war on terrorism." As a result, Americans who cherish real freedom and democracy hang their heads in shame, as many of our (TiM) readers' letters have shown (see the TiM Readers Forum I and TiM Readers Forum II).

But just as the Soviet Union and America have had their own "dissidents" and "conscientious objectors," there is also a new breed of courageous "revisionists" springing up in Israel.  Dr. Ilan Pappe, an Oxford-educated professor of history is one of them.  Check out what he has to say about Israel's "ethnic cleansing," not just now, but also all the way back to its inception in 1948.  And then read about how telling the truth may get Prof. Pappe expelled from the Haifa University where he teaches.  Then be the judge yourself as to how "free" and "democratic" Israel is.

Here are some excerpts from an article that he contributed to Al-Ahram Weekly, an Egyptian magazine:

Demons of the Nakbah

As a Jewish child, born in Haifa in the early 1950s, I did not encounter the term Nakbah (catastrophe), nor was I aware of its significance. Only in my high- school days did the term make its first appearance. There were three Israeli Palestinian pupils in my class, and we all participated in joint and guided tours around Haifa and in its vicinity. In those days, there was still evidence of Arab Haifa in the Old City: beautiful buildings, remnants of a covered market later destroyed by the Israelis in 1948, mosques and churches. [...] 

The media and other cultural institutions were also recruited to discourage discussion of the Nakbah (Arab word for "ethnic cleansing") and its relevance to the peace process, and it was in this atmosphere that I became involved in the Tantura Affair. This erupted after an MA student at my university, Haifa, exposed an hitherto unknown massacre, one of the largest yet known, carried out during the 1948 War by Israeli forces in the Palestinian village of Tantura. This student was taken to court in December 2000 accused of defamation, and later, in November 2001, he was expelled from the university for daring to add yet further evidence of Israel's responsibly for the Palestinian catastrophe. The court system, it transpired, thus willingly joined the denial process.

This year, as I look back over the attempts that I have made, together with those of others, to introduce the Nakbah onto the Israeli public agenda, what emerges is a very mixed picture. I can now detect cracks in the wall of denial and repression that surrounds the Nakbah in Israel, coming about as a result of the debate on the "new history" in Israel and the new political agenda of the Palestinians in Israel. The new atmosphere has also been helped by a clarification of the Palestinian position on the refugees issue towards the end of the Oslo Peace Process. As a result, now, in mid-2002, it is, after more than 50 years of repression, more difficult in Israel to deny the expulsion and destruction of the Palestinians in 1948. However, this relative success has also brought with it two negative reactions, formulated after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. [...]

The first reaction has been from the Israeli political establishment, with the Sharon government, through its minister of education, beginning the systematic removal of any textbook or school syllabus that refers to the Nakbah, even marginally. Similar instructions have been given to the public broadcasting authorities. The second reaction has been even more disturbing and has encompassed wider sections of the public. Although a very considerable number of Israeli politicians, journalists and academics have ceased to deny what happened in 1948, they have nonetheless also been willing to justify it publicly, not only in retrospect but also as a prescription for the future. The idea of "transfer" has entered Israeli political discourse openly for the first time, gaining legitimacy as the best means of dealing with the Palestinian "problem". [...]

A circle has thus been closed. When Israel took over almost 80 per cent of Palestine in 1948, it did so through settlement and ethnic cleansing of the original Palestinian population. The country now has a prime minister who enjoys wide public support, and who wants to determine by force the future of the remaining 20 per cent. He has, as did all his predecessors, from Labour and Likud alike, resorted to settlement as the best means for doing this, adding the destruction of independent Palestinian infrastructure. [...]

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A NOTE FROM the Al-Ahram Weekly EDITOR:

As Dr. Ilan Pappe notes in his article, written for Al-Ahram Weekly on the occasion of the anniversary of the Nakbah, an MA student at Haifa University in Israel was expelled from the university in November 2001 for exposing a hitherto- unknown Israeli massacre carried out against the Palestinian residents of the village of Tantura during the 1948 War.

Now it is Dr Pappe's turn to be expelled, as the Israeli authorities crack down on freedom of speech, threatening academic freedom within the country's universities.

In a letter circulated last week, Pappe writes that the Dean of the Humanities Department of Haifa University has demanded his expulsion from the university as a result of the strong stand he took in support of the student and of academic freedom.

"Judging by the way things have been done in the past," Pappe writes, "the verdict has already been decided ... A fair trial does not exist, and hence I do not even intend to appeal against this McCarthite charade."

Dr Pappe, who holds a doctorate in history from Oxford University and is one of Haifa University's best-known and most-respected historians, appeals in his letter to the international academic community "not to prevent my expulsion, since Israeli academia has decided to support the government and help silence any criticism."

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To read Dr. Pappe's full article, click here. 

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Israeli Troops Kill a Woman and Her 12-year Old Daughter 

5. How to Lose Old Friends and Make New EnemiesMay 27, 2002

American Troops Kill a 100-Year Old Afghan Elder, Wound Several Other Civilians, Arrest 50, Cause Death of 3-year Old, Enraging Local Villagers

PHOENIX, May 27 - In the Middle East, the Israeli troops basically used two Palestinian civilians for live target practice, killing a woman and her 12-year old daughter for coming too close to a fence (click here to read a New York Times story about it).

In Afghanistan, the U.S. troops staged a raid on May 23 in which they killed a 100-year old man, wounded several other civilians, and  indirectly caused a death of a three-year old girl who fell into a well while fleeing the assault and was killed.  Now the outraged Afghan villagers are comparing the Americans to the Soviets, and are threatening mass revenge.

That's Ariel Sharon's and George Bush's glorious "war on terrorism."  That's the New World Order at work. Their idea of fighting terrorism seems to be terrorizing civilians in other countries. 

Of course, these civilian casualties are no "accidents," although they may be consequences of ineptness. It's all been done before.. by other un-American leaders.  George Bush Sr. is responsible for deaths of many civilians in Iraq. Bill Clinton did it in Bosnia, Serbia, Sudan and in Iraq.  And now our Pretzel Prez is champing at the bit to get his piece of the flesh again in Iraq.

Here's an excerpt from today's New York Times about the Afghan raid: 

A Raid Enrages Afghan Villagers

By CARLOTTA GALL

BANDI TEMUR, Afghanistan, May 26 — An airborne assault on this village by United States-led troops three nights ago has raised anti-American fury among villagers, who say soldiers shot several people, killed the headman of the village and caused a 3-year-old girl to flee and fall to her death down a well.

About 50 men were arrested and taken away in helicopters, they said.

The anger and shock were evident today in the village. Women and children wailed as two journalists visited with local district officials. The grandfather of the dead girl lunged at the visitors, tearing at his clothes and throwing himself on the ground in distress.

"They took my sons and they took my money. Only my wife and I are left in the house. We are crying all day," the man, Abdul Ali, 60, said. "It was dark, the little girl didn't know where she was running," he said of his granddaughter.

As with two other recent raids aimed at suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda hideouts in southern Afghanistan, this one apparently failed to net any senior figures.

But Capt. Steven O'Connor, a spokesman at Bagram Air Base, said the detainees were still being interrogated and the military did not yet know exactly who the men were.

The raid has caused Afghans here to compare the tactics of the American-led coalition to brutal raids by the Soviet Army in the 1980's.

"They are thinking of when the Russians came and killed a lot of people, and they are thinking that the Americans and British will also repeat that," said General Akram, the regional police chief in Kandahar.

Military officials said the raid on Friday was based on intelligence that the village was a sanctuary for senior Taliban and Al Qaeda figures.  Captain O'Connor said one person was killed, two were injured and 50 arrested. He added that coalition troops were fired upon first.

General Akram and Gul Agha Shirzai, the governor of Kandahar, the regional capital of southern Afghanistan, became alarmed when angry villagers arrived in the city on Saturday to complain about the raid. They threatened to bring thousands of people from their tribe, the Sakzai, to stone the police station and governor's house, blaming the governor for inviting in American troops who were now killing people, General Akram said. [...]

For the full New York Times story, click here.

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For some past TiM articles on Middle East, check out… TiM Middle East Bulletins.

…or go directly to… U.S. Prestige: Bushwhacked and Disempowelled (by American Poodles),  Futility of Violence: “Tempt Not a Desperate Man” (Shakespeare),  Israel’s Hi-Tech Goes Bye Tech (Jan 2002), “Before Apologizing, Sharon Had Virtually Declared War on U.S.,” (2001),  Clash of Greens (2001),  Spies Galore, Enemy Within, Foxes at the Gate,  "Israel Stabs America in the Back; Rothschilds' Land on Syrian ... ,  "Ayatollah Klintonmeini" Morphs into "Sultan of Little Rock",   "Klinton's Amerika: Israel's Tomahawk",  "NWO's Control of Israel's Economy" - by Barry Chamish,   Wrong Allies Accused by Hoagland - Djurdjevic's letter to WP

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Also check out these 911-related articles... "Bush League All-Stars," “Enronizing Pretzelitis:” New Alzheimer Strain Strikes Potus Potatus Primus,  Censorship Comes to America,  Grotesque and Pathetic War,  Clash of Greens,  End of Folly, Not of World,  Collateral Damage Hits Home.  

Plus... Stitching Together the New World Order Flag

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Also, check out... Djurdjevic's CHRONICLES magazine columns: "ON THE BRINK OF MADNESS",  "A BEAR IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING",  "WALL STREET BOOM, MAIN STREET DOOM",  "PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL COMMERCE",  "WIPING OUT THE MIDDLE CLASS",  "WALL STREET'S FINANCIAL TERRORISM"

Or Djurdjevic's WASHINGTON TIMES columns:  "Christianity Under Siege," "Silence Over Persecuted Christians", "Chinese Dragon Wagging Macedonian Tail,"  "An Ugly Double Standard in Kosovo Conflict?", "NATO's Bullyboys", "Kosovo: Why Are We Involved?", and "Ginning Up Another Crisis"

Or Djurdjevic's NEW DAWN (Australia) magazine columns: "Macedonia: Another Farcical American Oil War,"  "Anti-Christian Crusades,"  "Blood for Oil, Drugs for Arms", "Washington's Crisis Factory,"  and "New Iron Curtain Over Europe"