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The most honest, most comprehensive, and most mobilizing news and analysis on the Middle East always comes from MER.
It is indispensable!"
- Robert Silverman Salamanca, Spain
Mr. Livingstone told BBC radio on Wednesday that the attacks would not have taken place if Western powers left Arab states free to decide their own fate after World War I.
"You've just had 80 years of western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the western need for oil...."
"And I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s... the Americans recruited and trained Osama Bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russians and drive them out of Afghanistan."
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It's the Policies Stupid!
MAYOR of LONDON and OTHERS BLAME
P.M. BLAIR and U.S.-BRITISH POLICIES
MER - MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 20 July:
Wouldn't it be oh so refreshing if the Mayor of Washington, or just about any public official willing to be a little candid and courageous, were to even mention wrongful U.S. policies over the years as at least partly responsible for 9/11 and so much more. Not much truth-telling from the politicians or the 'mainstream' corporate media on our side of the ocean, that's for sure.
Across the Atlantic though it is not just the Mayor of London who is speaking up. No less an important think-tank than Chatham House, and no less an important personality than the former British Ambassador to the United Nations, have been pointing the finger of blame at their Prime Minister as well as at decades of wrongful U.S. and British policies in dealing with the countries and peoples of the Middle East. The big bad political dam of ignorance and self-righteousness and false innocence is at least leaking.
Long-time MER readers will not find all this a total surprise. We've been 'preaching' for some time that what is happening today can in fact be traced back to what has happened ever since the end of World War I in the Middle East, to Western policies ever since the carve-up of the old Ottoman Empire. It was then, at the so-called 'Paris Peace Conference', that the Turkish Muslim Empire of old was ended by force of arms and the Arab peoples tricked once again by those who professed 'self-determination' (the 'freedom' slogan of that era) but were in fact determined to deny the Arabs their independence and any semblance of democracy. Indeed, though Condoleeza Rice admitted to 'six decades' of wrong policies in her speech behind the security walls of American University in Cairo last month; she refused any form of atonement, contritition, compensation or guilt; not to mention her country continues these same imperial, militant, and blood-letting policies today simply having redressed them all with new rhetorical slights of hand.
As the great historian David Fromkin has pointed out, that historic 'Paris Peace Conference' of 1918 was in reality 'The Peace To End All Peace'. And ever since there have been oh so many other duplicitous 'Peace Conferences' in Western capitals from Paris to London to Oslo to Geneva to Washington.
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It's time to thank the Mayor of London -- for this is not the first time he has spoken up thoughtfully and forcefully. And if he won't be stopped at the gates for 'not being with us' and thus 'supporting terrorism' one wishes Mr. Livingston would come visit Washington where his knowledge, sanity, and courage are desperately in short supply.
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Livingstone blames UK policy, defends Muslim cleric |
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Western "double standards" as well as decades of British and American interference in the oil-rich Middle East led to July 7 bombings, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said.
Mr. Livingstone told BBC radio on Wednesday that the attacks would not have taken place if Western powers left Arab states free to decide their own fate after World War I.
While denouncing the London attacks that left at least 56 killed, Mr. Livingstone said that Western countries have been interfering in the Middle East over fears of losing their fuel supplies.
"I think you've just had 80 years of western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the western need for oil. We've propped up unsavory governments, we've overthrown ones we didn't consider sympathetic.
"And I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s... the Americans recruited and trained Osama Bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russians and drive them out of Afghanistan.
"They didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that he might turn on his creators," he said.
The London Mayor also criticized the "double standards" by Western powers. "A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in Guantanamo Bay, and they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy," he said.
"Totally unrepresentative"
Mr. Livingstone also criticized news agencies that represent British Muslims in a "totally unrepresentative" manner.
He also defended a leading Muslim cleric whom he invited to speak at a conference in Manchester next month.
Some people have alleged that Sheikh Youssef al-Qardawi encouraged "suicide bombings" and manipulated the minds of the suspected London bombers.
"What Sheikh al-Qaradawi pointed out was, given that the Palestinians do not have jet fighters and do not have tanks, they only have their bodies to use. I do not think he is actually urging people to go out and become suicide bombers," Mr. Livingstone said.
"All information I have received is that [he has] condemned the London bombings unequivocally as wholly incompatible with Islam."
Sheikh Qaradawi, also a trustee of the Oxford University Center for Islamic Studies, had strongly denounced the attacks. “We were dumbfounded by the grave news of the London bombings which killed tens and wounded hundreds of innocent people who committed no crime,Ehe said after the bombings.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said that it is unacceptable that Israel goes on “indiscriminately destroying homes simply because a [Palestinian] bomber came from that area. I don't believe in an eye for an eye. I don't believe in that punishment.E/P>
Sheikh Qradawi also called for distinguishing between the Israeli occupation and the Jews themselves. “We do not fight Israelis because they are Jews, but because they took our land, killed our children and profaned our holy places,Ehe said. AlJazeera - 20 July
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The most honest, most comprehensive, and most mobilizing news and
analysis on the Middle East always comes from MER. It is indispensable!"
Robert Silverman - Salamanca, Spain
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July 2005
It's The Damn Policies Stupid!
(July 20, 2005)
Long-time MER readers will not find all this a total surprise. We've been 'preaching' for some time that what is happening today can in fact be traced back to what has happened ever since the end of World War I in the Middle East, to Western policies ever since the carve-up of the old Ottoman Empire. It was then, at the so-called 'Paris Peace Conference', that the Turkish Muslim Empire of old was ended by force of arms and the Arab peoples tricked once again by those who professed 'self-determination' (the 'freedom' slogan of that era) but were in fact determined to deny the Arabs their independence and any semblance of democracy.
American Terror and the Coming War With Iran
(July 19, 2005)
"In their ignorance and arrogance, the Bushists will almost certainly strike at Iran -- despite the fact that even Iranian dissidents support the effort to make their nation a nuclear power and would join the mullahs in retaliation. The result will be a
conflict far surpassing the horror and magnitude of the Iraq disaster."
George Bush's Twisted and Perverted World
(July 18, 2005)
So much for real democracy. Even in the supposed 'bastion of freedom', the United States of America, we are all now closer than ever to living in what has to be considered a complicated modern day police-states using pre-fascist techniques. That is what omni-present 'survelliance', unchecked Gulags, 'Patriot Acts', Supreme Court 'stop the vote counting' decisions, torture techniques, legalized 'censorship', CIA covert and black ops, and continual press manipulation are really all about.
A BIG WARNING - Too Little Too Late Too Bad
(July 18, 2005)
Unfortunately, tragically, those who oppose what the Israelis are doing are not only very weak, they are badly organized and led -- miserably and probably fatally in fact. This 'Warning' Statement 'to raise the alarm' published over the weekend by three Israelis is an example -- correct in the warnings and conclusions, badly written, even more badly presented, and without any serious strategy other than a kind of pathetic assertion to sign another petition that has no chance of any kind of having any impact...only further misleading people as to what is really involved and what the situation really requires.
(July 18, 2005)
(July 18, 2005)
Greg Szymanski Articles - 9/11 Conspiracy
(July 18, 2005)
Witchhunt against Ward Churchill
(July 17, 2005)
ISRAEL and SHARON'S LATEST AND GREATEST DECEPTION
(July 16, 2005)
There are very few print magazines that deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a serious and sophisticated way. One of these is a bi-monthly English magazine called Challenge; and this editorial from the current issue is of particular interest and importance at this particular time. All the more so with the Israelis so outrageously trying to cajole and extort still further billions from the U.S. -- a financial swindle on top of what really rises to the level of a major historical and political scam. It is indeed always challenging to really understand the actual, rather than the public relations, policies of Israel; and of the U.S. as well. More and more in fact.
Arafat's 'Stealth Assassination' Confirmed
(July 13, 2005)
Last November, long before any other credible expert news and analysis media, and even as the Israeli/U.S.-chosen Palestinian leaders were strenuously denying it, MER repeatedly published articles detailing the "STEALTH ASSASSINATION" of Yasser Arafat.
Washington Prepares More Attacks in the name of the 'New World Order'
(July 12, 2005)
Nothing like more 'terrorism', more appeals to no-nothing patriotism, and more 'defending the homeland' jingoism to rally the people around the flag, no matter what the long-term costs, no matter how much social polarization and opposition... Washington's current political/military and domestic/international time-table goes something like this: Get one or two right-wing appointees within a few months onto the Supreme Court, get the Israelis out of little imprisoned Gaza giving the false impression of 'progress' in the 'Middle East Peace Process', claim to be fast-track training Iraqi regime troops so the Iraqis can be blamed themselves for not 'stabilizing' their country and/or for the escalating civil war; and then be ready to strike one way or another whenever the timing and excuses are suitable against the remaining 'evils'... Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas.
Washington Firestorm over Rove, Court - Calculating Next 'New World Order' Strikes
(July 12, 2005)
"...and then be ready to strike one way or another, whenever the timing and excuses are suitable, against the remaining 'evils'... Iran, North Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas."
Recent MER Articles
(July 09, 2005)
Has Karl Rove Finally Screwed Himself?
(July 11, 2005)
If you read MER and BlogWashington.com you have known for some time that the Karl Rove/White House scandal would soon be exploding in Washington with potentially devastating political results. It's a modern-day Watergate-like cover-up saga so far missing a modern-day Deep Throat. But in the past few days this major story is beginning to emerge from journalistic hesitation and cowardice on the part of what we all now call the 'mainstream' and 'corporate' media. It was more than a week ago on 2 July that the following appeared at BlogWashington.com:
POPE FANS FLAMES OF CHRISTIAN - MUSLIM WAR
(July 10, 2005)
Add to these acts and statements of the Pope of Rome, certainly the most visible and powerful symbol of Christianity, the ever-increasing Evangelical 'Born Again' nature of American society these days on top of George W. Bush's public assertion of 'Crusade' both in word and deed, and you have a formula for escalating religious-inspired warfare for a long time to come. Things are now escalating further out of control into a real 'Clash of Civilizations'; though this certainly did not have to be.
The Apartheid Wall - A Year After the Historic ICJ ruling
(July 9, 2005)
Meanwhile the Israelis have continued racing ahead not only with 'The Wall' but also with their grand design to further build and consolidate the great majority of settlements they plan to keep and expand, while feinting 'withdrawal' from the small few they have always planned to give up as far too costly, isolated, and 'dispensable'.
It is all a receipe for much further conflict, bloodshed, and turmoil in the years ahead; just as it is this Jews Vs Arabs conflict in the 'Holy Land' which in the past has so poisoned the region and indeed now the world.
Britain had been warned says Robert Fisk
(July 8, 2005)
"If you bomb our cities," Osama bin Laden said in one of his recent video tapes, "we will bomb yours."
The Most Cowardly War in History
(July 8, 2005)
"The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our intelligence, and our future."
Egypt - "It's Like 1952"
(July 7, 2005)
"Egyptian society is boiling. We have seen this only one or two times in the past 80 years,"
Receiving MER - Free, Easy, Necessary
(July 7, 2005)
"Finally, I am beginning to understand, as I see so many parallels right here. I look forward to more valuable insights coming from your publication."
White House Threatened?
(July 6, 2005)
Is it really conceivable that in 2005 a legal investigation about who in government leaked the name of a secret CIA operative to the media could unravel the Bush Administration? There are so many differences from what happened to President Nixon in his second term. But even so legal proceedings have a kind of insolation from normal politics, none other than top Bush Adviser Karl Rove is being fingered as the man who did it, and supoenas are said to have now been issued for White House and Air Force One records involving Rove.
Front Nixon to Bush - 'Where Is The Press Now?' Asks Actor Robert Redford
(July 5, 2005)
He was the big star in the ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN Movie that made the Watergate scandal and 'Deep Throat' famous. Now he is saying quite loudly that President Bush is like President Nixon but that the press is not doing its crucial investigative job as it should. Redford chose American Independence Day, the 4th of July, to make his comments. And it was The Sunday Times two Sunday's ago now that published their tale of "Britain's Deep Throat":
Judith Miller and Karl Rove
(July 4, 2005)
"Miller...has a formidable track record of egregious violations of journalistic standards and best practices, and a habit of sending the public off on what turn out to be wild goose chases. Relying on a small circle of highly interested parties (often anonymous "sources"), she became the leading journalistic purveyor of the fallacy that Saddam Hussein had WMD and that he was tied to Al-Qaeda."
Iraq Quagmire Indeed! 42% support Impeaching Bush
(July 3, 2005)
"...more than two-in-five (42%) voters say that, if it is found that President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should hold him accountable through impeachment. While half (50%) of respondents do not hold this view, supporters of impeachment outweigh opponents in some parts of the country."
Karl Rove Fireworks Looming
(July 2, 2005)
It's been rumored for some time; but now that the long investigation is going to definitely and legally 'out' Karl Rove as 'the source' -- in this case according to federal statute an illegal act knowingly revealing the identity of an undercover CIA agent -- what is fast approaching is some fierce political and legal fireworks immediately after the 4th of July fireworks.
Recent MER Articles
(July 1, 2005)
From Germany To America
(July 1, 2005)
"What no one seemed to notice...was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider.... What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security."
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