Uncategorized

NOVANEWS Letters History lessons on the public debt The Guardian, Wednesday 3 March 2010 Article history We are economic historians concerned at the recent tone of the debate as to the scale and scope of British public sector debt (Report, 2 March). History shows, first, that British public debt is not high by the standards of the last 200 years. It is rather low in comparison to the second half of the 18th century, the first three-quarters of the 19th century, and most of the interwar and post-second world war era in the 20th century. It is also low in the context of the developed world; only Germany's and Canada's are lower among the larger industrialised powers. Second, the last 20 years has seen exponential escalation in the scale of each financial crisis: the savings and loan scan...

NOVANEWS In Memoriam: Bassem Abu Rahma It does not devalue the lives or the deaths of white or Western heroes to say that we live in a racist world that refuses to know the names of heroes like Bassem Abu Rahma, that our world honors heroes with the resources to get on a jet-plane, that it honors less heroes that can never afford a jet-plane. A year ago the Israeli army murdered Bassem Abu Rahma for defending his land in Bilin. Remember him. [Skip to 16:00 if pressed for time]. Mohammad Khatib: He loved everyone, and because of his sweetness and ability to make us laugh, everyone loved him. Bassem was everyone’s friend: the children talk about how he would play with them, scare them and then make them laugh. He would tend the garden in the playground and bring toys and books to the kinde...

NOVANEWS  Ethnic cleansing/Settlement/Destruction of Land and Property In photos: Palestinians examine demolished homes http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276700 Ya'alon No need ever to remove any settlements Israel should not have to remove any settlements in a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon has told The Jerusalem Post, adding that just as Arabs live in Israel, so, too, should Jews be able to live in a future Palestinian entity. http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=173302 Report: Illegal outposts received state funds Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Residents of Hayovel, an illegal settlement outpost whose homes are due to be razed, received NIS 77,000 per family from the Israeli government when they settled the site, acco...

NOVANEWS by Bob Higgins A Roundup of the Week’s Best Political Cartoons By Daniel Kurtzman About.com  About.com

NOVANEWS by Bob Higgins Secretive buildup of elite teams reflects view that time is short to degrade Afghanistan opposition * By Julian E. Barnes Los Angeles Times * The Pentagon has increased its use of the military’s most elite special operations teams in Afghanistan, more than doubling the number of the highly trained teams assigned to hunt down Taliban leaders, according to senior officials. The secretive buildup reflects the view of the Obama administration and senior military leaders that the U.S. has only a limited amount of time to degrade the capabilities of the Taliban. U.S. forces are in the midst of an overall increase that will add 30,000 troops this year and plan to begin reducing the force in mid-2011. Operations aimed at Taliban leaders have intensified as the military a...

NOVANEWS Obama DOJ Pulls Bone-headed NSA Prosecution  by Michael Leon President Obama: Progress for Whom? Thank you Glenn Greenwald. President Obama, you’re screwing up here. If we want a Republican protecting the national security state, we will vote for a Republican or some dingbat like Sarah Palin. Hard to believe, Mr. Obama, that you are this foolish or cowardly. By Glenn Greenwald The more I think and read about the Obama DOJ’s prosecution of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake, the more I think this might actually be one of the worst steps the Obama administration has taken yet, if not the single worst step — and that’s obviously saying a lot.   During the Bush years, in the wake of the NSA scandal, I used to write post after post about how warped and dangerous it was that the Bush DOJ...

NOVANEWS Morocco uses Torture to Silence Sahrawi Activists by Sherwood Ross  by Konstantina Isidoros Worldwide appeals have been launched in support of thirty-six Saharawi hunger strikers reaching their 29th day of protests. The wave of hunger strikes, which have spread across seven Moroccan jails, began on 18 March with the political prisoners of conscience now experiencing desperately critical symptoms of medical deterioration. International observers and local NGOs monitoring the hunger strikes in the Moroccan Occupied Territory of Western Sahara, are warning of the risk of an imminent humanitarian tragedy and an urgent need to intervene for the immediate release of the Saharawi prisoners. Fears about their critical medical conditions suggest they are nearing irreversible deteriorat...

NOVANEWS Israel Targets Haaretz Newspaper, Still Hunts Top Journalist  by Michael Leon NAZI Brutality, by Ben Shahn, U.S. Gov, (1943) - Released in the aftermath of the destruction of the Czech town of Lidice Journalist Uri Blau remains in hiding, hunted by the state of Israel. The liberal Haaretz newspaper staff has roused a siege-like mentality. And the Israeli public would have the blood of any Israeli citizen and human rights activist who blew the whistle on Israel’s crimes against humanity in its well-planned 2008 Gaza massacre. Or not, let the secret police head decide, and let whatever happens, happen. Writes an incensed Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy in “If it were up to the [Israeli] people, Anat Kamm would be executed“: “The head of the Shin Bet [Israel's secret police] threaten...

NOVANEWS Tuesday, 22 December 2009 Egyptian Regime Acts in Support of Israel and United States Mubarak and Egyptian Regime Attempt to Destroy Solidarity With Gaza The following is a message from the organisers of the Gaza Freedom March and Jewish Peace News. The regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, which has consistently worked with Israel and the United States to reimpose the rule of Fatah stooges over Gaza, including supporting Israel's attack on and invasion of Gaza earlier this year, is now seeking to destroy international solidarity action with Gaza. The regime of Mubarak receives the 2nd highest US military aid after Israel. It is a vicious, pro-US dictatorship, which unfortunately Palestinian leaders, including Arafat, turned to for help, despite the deal his predecessor Anwar Sadat ma...

NOVANEWS Palestine Solidarity Campaign Executive Scabs on the Boycott Movement Last September the Trades Union Conference passed policy in support of the Boycott of Israeli Goods. At least that is what PSC Executive argued had happened. In fact the TUC had voted for a policy of boycotting Israeli settlement goods not a boycott of Israel’s economy. A more radical Fire Brigades Union motion, which called on the TUC ‘to develop an effective Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign by working closely with the PSC’ was undermined by a statement from the TUC’s General Council which only supported a boycott of settlement goods ‘where trade union members should not put their own jobs at risk by refusing to deal with such products’. Statements from the General Council take precedence over suc...