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political commentary on international conflict from a (somewhat) rational perspective.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'United Nations'
More Human Rights Abusers Terrified of any Precedent
China will oppose discussing the Goldstone report at the United Nations Security Council, Chinese members of parliament told a delegation of visiting Israeli officials in Beijing on Wednesday. (full article…) ...
Goldstone on Lieberman
“What peace process are they talking about? There isn’t one. The Israeli foreign minister doesn’t want one at all.” (full article…) ...
Richard Goldstone: My Mission – and Motivation
I sincerely believed that because of my own record and the terms of the mission’s mandate we would receive the cooperation of the Israeli government. Its refusal to cooperate was a grave error. My plea for cooperation was repeated before and du...
Israeli Aggression, By Remote Control
A U.N. investigation into explosions in south Lebanon indicated on Sunday that Israel had planted spy devices on Lebanese land in what a senior U.N. official said would be a violation of a ceasefire agreement. The UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon...
Glenn Greenwald on American Hypocrisy
One of the taboo topics in the American media is how the U.S. Government routinely violates the principles we espouse for, and try to impose on, the rest of the world. We systematically torture Muslims and then cover it up and protect our torturers ...
Don’t Worry, We Never Doubted It
American officials say Washington will likely exercise its veto power if report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza is brought to a Security Council vote. (full article…)...
I Forgive All But Japan, Norway and Belgium – What Gives?
The abstaining countries included: Bosnia, Burkina-Faso, Cameron, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Belgium, South Korea, Slovenia and Uruguay. (full article…)...
Zionists are Scared
The political echelon in Jerusalem has decided to use the explosion that occurred at the Hezbollah member’s house in Tyre this week to divert international attention from the Gaza war report to be debated in the UN starting Wednesday. Israel is...
Zionist Integrity
“We are facing very large challenges. The first is renewing peace talks; they should be renewed without any preconditions,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Likud faction meeting on Monday. (full article…) He added, “...
Zionist Blackmail
One element of the blackmail, which reportedly has been exercised by the Israelis on the Palestinian Authority in order to persuade them not to go forward with consideration of the Goldstone report in Geneva, was a denial of the granting of a license...
I Wonder
How does Obama’s suppression of Israeli war crimes in the Goldstone Report factor into his silly prize? ...
We Need More Swedens
Stockholm’s foreign minister urges UN human rights council to discuss report probing Gaza war despite expressed reservations as to its credibility (full article…) ...
Calls Obeying U.S. Masters “Mistake”
A member of President Mahmoud Abbas’ inner circle says the Palestinian leadership made a mistake by suspending action on a Gaza war crimes report . (full article…) This entire episode makes we wonder if the U.S. is opening a way for Moham...
U.S. Pressure & the Lousy Palestinian Authority
In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said ...
And Israelis Have Fired Rockets At Palestine For 42 Years
It was misleading for the commission to examine only the 13 months from June 2008 to July 2009, she said. Palestinians in Gaza had fired rockets into Israel for eight years. (full article…)...
Culture of Impunity
“A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long,” Goldstone, a former UN war crimes prosecutor, told the UN Human Rights Council. “The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible war crimes against humanity has...
More “Change”
Barack Obama has talked down the importance of sealing a global deal on climate change before the end of the year, world leaders said yesterday. (full article…) ...
Cheapening the Holocaust
No less demagogic was his attack on the Iranian regime. They shoot demonstrators there, he protested vehemently. As if they don’t do that in our Bil’in and Na’alin. Then came the kicker: Operation Cast Lead was a pinpoint attack. I...
Stephen Walt on the Goldstone Report
Nonetheless, it was disappointing that the Obama administration felt it had to denounce the report within days of its release, despite Goldstone’s impeccable credentials (former member of South Africa’s Constitutional Court and chief pros...
“Singled Out”
Arab states in the United Nations nuclear assembly on Friday won narrow approval of a resolution urging Israel to put all its atomic sites under the world body’s inspection and join the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel deplored the measure for...
(US-Backed) Yemeni War Crimes Getting Little Attention
In the most recent fighting, the army carried out three air raids and blew up houses in Saada city – under government control – on Friday. About 87 people died on Wednesday in an air raid at a makeshift camp for displaced persons in Harf ...
Poor Coverage By The Economist
The Economist’s reporting on the Middle East has been declining for the past year, but since when is the newspaper in the practice of apologizing for Israel? This came as quite a shock after years of what I considered to be fairly well-balanced...
Unbalanced, One-Sided & Basically Unacceptable
We have long expressed our very serious concern with the mandate that was given (to Goldstone’s team) by the Human Rights Council prior to our joining the Council, which we viewed as unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable. (full artic...
Routine Condemntaion – For Routine Atrocities
“The mandate of the Goldstone Commission was one-sided from the outset. The initiative to establish the commission came from the UN Human Rights Council which is known for its routine condemnation of Israel.” (full article…)...
Joke of the Day
“Any comparison of Israel’s fight on terror with recent conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. immediately shows that Israel holds itself to the highest ethical standard.” (full article…)...
The Gaza Massacre
“It wasn’t easy [for him],” Nicole Goldstone said. “My father did not expect to see and hear what he saw and heard.” (full article…)...
This From an Israeli “Dove”
President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes during its military offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip earlier this year, “makes a mockery of history.” (full articleR...
I Agree With Israel (Perhaps For Different Reasons)
Israel called the Goldstone Commission Report “nauseating” on Tuesday … (more…)...
Every Crime Recorded
The report, the bulk of which focused on the Israeli violations, said that during the war, Israeli forces engaged in a deliberate policy of collective punishment in furtherance of “an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza po...
Israeli War Crimes and the United Nations
The United Nations’ investigation into Israel’s recent massacre in Gaza has now concluded. In general I think the release of their 500+ page report is an important step forward in the process of holding Israel accountable for its horrendo...
