Robert Fisk – The army is built from both sides of Egypt’s divide – yet must now keep them apart

Posted on July 4, 2013 by kf1

The army’s in charge. Call it a coup, if you like. But the Egyptian military – or the infamous “Supreme Council of the Armed Forces” as we must again call it – is now running Egypt. By threat at first – then with armour on the streets of Cairo. Roads blocked. Barbed wire. Troops round the radio station. Mohamed Morsi – at the time still the  President – may have called it a ‘coup’ and claimed the old moral high ground (‘legitimacy’, democracy’, etc) but long before we saw the soldiers in the city, he was pleading with the generals ‘to return to barracks. Ridiculous;  the generals didn’t have to leave their barracks to put the fear of God (metaphorical or real) into his collapsing administration. Continue reading →

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Pakistan’s Filthy Rich Elections by TARIQ ALI

Posted on June 20, 2013 by kf1

The antics of mainstream politicians in Pakistan (or the whole of South Asia) no longer appear unique, just a more extreme version of some of their European and North American counterparts. The South Asians could, in fact, be regarded as pioneers, shamelessly and shamefully linking politics to big money long before the latest wave of globalization.   Even amongst their own supporters, very few see them as defenders of noble causes or servants of the public good and, increasingly, they themselves no longer feel the need to adopt fictive ideologies. The baser instincts— never-sated financial appetites, ambition, power, bribes paid and received etc—are now regarded as normal. Continue reading →

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The Business of Slaughter – Justice Served in Afghanistan? by TOM McNAMARA

Posted on June 7, 2013 by kf1

The New York Times recently reported that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales will plead guilty to the murder of 16 Afghan civilians. It is believed to be part of a plea bargain arrangement worked out between his lawyer and the US government. The Army had been seeking the death penalty, and it is understood that a plea of guilty will spare Sgt Bales his life.

The murder of 16 local Afghans is believed to be the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on a single U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War. At a pre-trial hearing, the prosecution stated that on the evening of March 10-11, 2012, Sgt. Bales went from house to house firing his weapon with intent to kill. Children were shot through the thighs or in the head. At one point during the massacre 11 bodies, mostly women and children, were “put in a pile and put on fire.” The prosecutor said that the carnage was so violent that when Sgt. Bales finally returned to base the blood of his victims had seeped all the way through his uniform and down to his underwear. Continue reading →

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The Onslaught in Burma Continues – by RAMZY BAROUD

Posted on June 7, 2013 by kf1

On April 21, the BBC obtained disturbing video footage shot in Burma. It confirmed extreme reports of what has been taking place in that country, even as it is being touted by the US and European governments as a success story pertaining to political reforms and democracy.

The BBC footage was difficult to watch even when faces of Muslim Rohingya victims were blurred. To say the least, the level of violence exhibited by their Arakan Buddhist attackers was frightening. “The Burmese police (stood) by as shops, homes and mosques are looted and burnt, and failing to intervene as Buddhist mobs, including monks, kill fleeing Muslims,” the BBC reported. A Rohingya man was set ablaze while still alive. The police watched. Continue reading →

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Let the Spin Begin – John Kerry’s Political Posturing on Palestine – ROBERT FANTINA

Posted on June 3, 2013 by kf1

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attempts to put his particular spin on resolving the generations-old crisis of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, he has travelled to the World Economic Forum. There he waved the possibility of $4 billion investments in the Palestinian economy, from a worldwide conglomerate of investors, over a period of three years. Of course, he hasn’t specified who these investors would be. It was reported that “… Kerry did not identify specific companies with plans to set up shop in the West Bank or how he hoped to remove obstacles to Palestinian commerce.”

The U.S. government in 2013 will give Israel over $3.15 billion, an increase over the billions it gave Israel last year. Yet the U.S. doesn’t ever seem to have any problem determining where that money comes from: the U.S. taxpayer has for decades been funding the apartheid state of Israel. Continue reading →

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Dunning–Kruger effect

Posted on May 24, 2013 by kf1

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than average. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their mistakes.[1]

Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University conclude, “the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others”.[2]

More

Could this be the silent epidemic with a high prevalence in Western Media outlets?

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Dirty Wars – Trailer

Posted on May 24, 2013 by kf1

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Was the London killing of a British soldier ‘terrorism’? – Guardian – 24 May.13

Posted on May 24, 2013 by kf1

Two men yesterday engaged in a horrific act of violence on the streets of London by using what appeared to be a meat cleaver to hack to death a British soldier. In the wake of claims that the assailants shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the killing, and a video showing one of the assailants citing Islam as well as a desire to avenge and stop continuous UK violence against Muslims, media outlets (including the Guardian) and British politicians instantly characterized the attack as “terrorism”.

That this was a barbaric and horrendous act goes without saying, but given the legal, military, cultural and political significance of the term “terrorism”, it is vital to ask: is that term really applicable to this act of violence? To begin with, in order for an act of violence to be “terrorism”, many argue that it must deliberately target civilians. That’s the most common means used by those who try to distinguish the violence engaged in by western nations from that used by the “terrorists”: sure, we kill civilians sometimes, but we don’t deliberately target them the way the “terrorists” do. Continue reading →

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Using Labels – The ‘Terror’ Act of Woolwich by BINOY KAMPMARK

Posted on May 23, 2013 by kf1

It is an object study. Two men in a car, which is driven into another man. The attacked individual is then hacked to death by a meat cleaver or kitchen implement in broad daylight. There may be several instruments used. There are religious chants – or at least the sort popular opinion might expect. The individuals then ask bystanders to take photos and shots. This is their day. It should be preserved for history. Police then arrive and shoot the two men, one of them critically. Eyewitnesses claim that one of the individuals was carrying a firearm (Time, May 22).

All of this has amounted to a “terror” attack. It took place in the south-east London area of Woolwich yesterday. Police were called to the scene of the incident on John Wilson Street at 2.20 p.m. But London has been witness to violent crimes before, as it will continue to be. The descriptions of this event have propelled an event of terrible violence into another category: one of terrorism. Yet hardly anything has actually been said to warrant the term. Then again, as Cicero claimed in his second oration against Verres, O tempora! O mores! Continue reading →

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Pakistani killed with a machete by white guy barely gets a mention – Guardian – 02 May.13

Posted on May 23, 2013 by kf1

Birmingham murder may have been racially motivated, say police

Detectives appeal for witnesses after Mohammed Saleem, 75, was stabbed to death as he returned home from local mosque

A 75-year-old man stabbed to death yards from his home may have been targeted in a racially motivated attack, according to police.

Mohammed Saleem, who used a walking stick, was stabbed three times in the back as he returned home from prayers at his local mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, on Monday night.

The blows were struck with such violence they penetrated to the front of his body. Continue reading →

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