Independent: Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot
In a country the size of Western Europe, a war rages that has lasted eight years and cost four million lives. Rival militias inflict appalling suffering on the civilian population, and what passes for political leadership is powerless to stop it. This is Congo, and the reason for the conflict - control of minerals essential to the electronic gadgetry on which the developed world depends - is what makes our blindness to the horror doubly shaming.
"a must read"
Friday, May 19, 2006
USA - OIL
Tom Paine: Oil Diplomacy
by Robert Dreyfuss
Nothing the Bush administration ever does is about oil. It didn’t invade Iraq because that country might have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It isn’t threatening Iran because Iran has a tenth of the world’s oil and one-sixth of its natural gas. And the United States isn’t cozying up to autocrats in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan because the Caspian Sea is a mini-Persian Gulf in the middle of Central Asia, either
by Robert Dreyfuss
Nothing the Bush administration ever does is about oil. It didn’t invade Iraq because that country might have more oil than Saudi Arabia. It isn’t threatening Iran because Iran has a tenth of the world’s oil and one-sixth of its natural gas. And the United States isn’t cozying up to autocrats in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan because the Caspian Sea is a mini-Persian Gulf in the middle of Central Asia, either
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ICH: The High Cost of Democratic Elections in Palestine
"In my village, starvation and for real," says the woman in halting English. The overseas connection makes her voice sound faint and almost ethereal. In front of me is a glass of cold lemonade. Across the table is a tin of homemade pastries.
The woman I am talking with lives in the village of Davreh, five kilometers outside Ramallah. "But it takes an hour to travel from here to Ramallah, because of the checkpoints," she explains.
This woman, (let's call her Dina, which is not her real name) should not be facing starvation. Until recently her family owned considerable land. Fertile land. Dina's mother raised and educated eleven children by farming this land.
"Our land is equal to our soul." Dina says. "It has been in our family for over one hundred and fifty years. My mother refused to sell even one meter of our land. She told us, take care of our land. Don't sell it, even if you have to beg for money. And they took it for free."
"They" is Israel.
"In my village, starvation and for real," says the woman in halting English. The overseas connection makes her voice sound faint and almost ethereal. In front of me is a glass of cold lemonade. Across the table is a tin of homemade pastries.
The woman I am talking with lives in the village of Davreh, five kilometers outside Ramallah. "But it takes an hour to travel from here to Ramallah, because of the checkpoints," she explains.
This woman, (let's call her Dina, which is not her real name) should not be facing starvation. Until recently her family owned considerable land. Fertile land. Dina's mother raised and educated eleven children by farming this land.
"Our land is equal to our soul." Dina says. "It has been in our family for over one hundred and fifty years. My mother refused to sell even one meter of our land. She told us, take care of our land. Don't sell it, even if you have to beg for money. And they took it for free."
"They" is Israel.
ISRAEL
Independent: 'Racist' marriage law upheld by Israel
Israel's High Court has narrowly upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses.
The judges voted by six to five not to cancel a four-year-old amendment to the Citizenship Law which outlaws "family unification" in Israel between Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel.
Israel's High Court has narrowly upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses.
The judges voted by six to five not to cancel a four-year-old amendment to the Citizenship Law which outlaws "family unification" in Israel between Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)