The Ballad Of Ho Chang : Animation

Ho Chang rests his rifle across a branch and focuses its sights on the American infantryman. Ho Chang is fourteen years old. He is a guerrilla fighter, a skilled assassin, a sniper. Concealed high in a tree — a tree that a short time ago he climbed in play — he reaches and methodically plucks a leaf from his line of fire. Killing is his single remaining pleasure.… ( warning contains graphic images )



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Length 10 Min's

Cross row stokes Christian anger

British Airways has asked a Christian member of staff to conceal her cross necklace because it contravenes the company's uniform policy. But has it added to a sense of unease among Christians?




Crosses may be a fixture around the necks of many Christians, and have even become a fashion accessory for A-list celebrities, but not everyone is happy to see them on display.

Heathrow check-in worker Nadia Eweida is on unpaid leave after refusing to cover up her cross necklace. "I believe that it is a very important issue on the matter of expressing Christianity and employees having their say in the way they express their faith," she said.....

.....David Cannings, chairman of Christians in Politics, which encourages people in public office to make their faith part of their work, said religious imagery was becoming marginalised.

"We think such ostentatious expressions of faith are starting to be pushed into the background in an attempt to treat people equally and I think there's a danger that faith will be pushed into the background at the same time.

"The debate is 'Is that what we want?' and I don't think we've answered the question.

"There's a danger we end up like in France where there's an absolute bar on any expression of faith in public society."

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When Evil Doing Comes Like Falling Rain

The first time it was reported that our friends were being butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of silence spread. When evil doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out 'stop!'




When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable, the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.

--Bertolt Brecht

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Shameful legacy

In the early 1950s, Mau Mau rebels murdered 32 people in an uprising against colonial rule in Kenya. Britain's response was brutal:



150,000 Kenyans were detained in camps where, survivors claim, prisoners were beaten, tortured, sexually abused and even murdered. Fifty years on, a handful of them are suing the British government. By Chris McGreal

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US law experts question timing of Qaeda treason charge

The first treason charge against an American since the World War II era has puzzled some law experts who suspect that political motives were behind the move less than a month before congressional elections.



Adam Gadahn, 28, was charged with treason Wednesday for appearing in Al-Qaeda propaganda videos, putting him in a small club of less than 40 people who have been prosecuted for betraying the United States.

Two other Americans who have faced justice in the "war on terror" since the September 11, 2001 attacks, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh and suspected Al-Qaeda operative Jose Padilla, were never charged with treason, which can carry the death penalty.

The Justice Department announcement of the federal grand jury indictment against Gadahn, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, came weeks before the November 7 election in which President George W. Bush's Republicans hope to keep control of Congress.

"There's a real effort in the (Bush) administration to keep fear alive in the country," said Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School professor.

"The timing of this case and the use of this charge seems to be a bit too coincidental with the election cycle," Turley said.

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Far from the cameras

Ha'aretz

When the abusive soldiers played with his cell phone, they unknowingly photographed themselves, and their pictures enabled the Military Police investigation unit to locate them. Muhassin's case is apparently the only one to be solved so far, out of eight complaints submitted last week to the Israel Defense Forces by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, against soldiers for harassing Palestinians at the checkpoints since the outbreak of the recent Lebanon War. This week, indictments were filed in the regional military court against Sergeant H. and Sergeant Y. Euphemisms were used to describe details of the crime: The accused, while serving as soldiers in the IDF, behaved in a manner unbefitting their rank and status in the army. The Lebanon War, which grabbed all the public's attention for about a month, turned the West Bank into a gray area, prone to the fallout of shame, chauvinism and aggressive vengefulness from the IDF's inability to defeat Hezbollah.

"They kept shouting at me: 'We've caught you, ya maniac, ya Hezbollah.' I don't know, maybe they thought I was a terrorist, they were hitting me all the time, I don't know, they went crazy, I don't understand it, they entered my house and now they're killing me, who will stop them from saying that I wanted to steal a weapon, we know the Jews, we know them well, they think that they can do anything, we live as in a prison, we want to live, we want to live in spite of everything, the Jews talk about peace, what peace, these people like blood, if someone checks their blood type he'll find war, these are people with war in their genes. Afterward they complain that there are terror attacks. Why? From the pressure we live under. If I can't bring bread or milk home, what should I do? There's no way, there's no way."

"Each time the cup fell I was beaten mercilessly, so I tried to stabilize it on my head. When I succeeded, the soldier said: 'Now quiet, quiet, don't move, keep quiet, you bastard.' He aimed his rifle and shot at the cup. The soldiers were rolling with laughter and they applauded. I saw the shot. The soldier was about four meters away. He apparently hit the mark, because the soldiers applauded. I thought it was the end of my life, it's indescribable, I couldn't believe I was still alive, if I were to meet that soldier today I would kill him, I don't care, let them kill me, you only die once."

Of course, the Jews as a people are not responsible for the violence of Israeli soldiers, but can someone who has been raised under Israeli occupation, ie. the occupation by a self-proclaimed jewish state, and tortured by Israeli soldiers, for making a sweeping generalisation of the sort?

On the other hand, we must all, as westerners, take responsiblity for the actions of our governments as well as those our governments support. The responsibility we have is to speak out and act against terror as practised by our governments and their allies. We think, just because it is far away, and we hardly see any of it on our TV screens, that it does not exist, or that it is minor as compared to attacks in our countries. Yet, Palestinians are abused every day by Israeli armed forces. These are acts of terror on innocent civilians by a colonising regime. To illustrate this last point, this from a Nobel Peace Prize, Shimon Peres:

Vice Premier Shimon Peres voiced Thursday his support for a continuation of the construction projects in the West Bank settlements. Israel cannot be punished twice, the vice premier said, referring to the ongoing Qassam threat to the country on the one hand, and the restrictions imposed on settlers on the other. The settlers' children cannot be stopped from building their homes, Peres added, saying that this issue is one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's major problems, a problem that preoccupied former Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Barak and Menachem Begin in the past.

Top UK General seeks Iraq withdrawal

The head of the British Army has said the presence of UK armed forces in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems". In an interview in the Daily Mail, Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, is quoted as saying the British should "get out some time soon".





He also said: "Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003, effectively kicked the door in." Sir Richard added that any initial tolerance "has largely turned to intolerance. That is a fact."

Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".

He said: "I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them." Sir Richard told the newspaper: "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear."

"As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time."

He added: "Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance."

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The Doomsday Code

Tony Robinson investigates the people with powerful political friends in the White House, who are trying to bring about the end of the world. Julia Bard reports.

Channel 4 Documentary - Runtime 100 Minutes - Here




Revelation, the last book in the New Testament, is filled with bizarre, violent and terrifying images. Its origins are unclear and its content is controversial. Some say it is the work of St John but many others believe he could not have been the author. But whoever wrote it, described apocalyptic visions of plagues, famines, wars, devils, wild beasts and rivers of blood. It is so strange and complex that scholars down the centuries have continually reinterpreted its message and meaning.

Today, though, a growing number of American evangelical Christians reckon they have cracked the code. These End Timers believe that every weird word of Revelation predicts real events. Like a Hollywood sci fi movie they say that any time now the world will end. And when it does, true believers in Christ will be whisked up to heaven in an event called The Rapture while non-believers are left behind on earth to face famine, war, terror and destruction as the forces of good and evil fight to the bitter end.

If this was confined to the personal beliefs of a few fundamentalists it would be of little significance but, says Tony Robinson, the leaders of the End Time movement are rich, well-connected and very powerful. Though the USA constitution enshrines the separation of church and state End Timers are frequent visitors to the White House. No one knows if George W Bush is an End Timer himself, but his policies are at one with those of the evangelical Right and his language is often apocalyptic, such as when he describes the 'war on terror' as 'the epic struggle of good and evil'.....

Worth watching if you have the time.

Way to go

From USA Today:

More than 600,000 Iraqis have died by violence since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, according to a study released today by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

The figure is based on surveys of households throughout most of the country. It vastly exceeds estimates cited by the Iraqi government, the United Nations, aid and anti-war groups, and President Bush.

From Juan Cole:

This study is going to have a hard ride. In part it is because many of us in the information business are not statistically literate enough to judge the sampling techniques. Many will tend to dismiss the findings as implausible without a full appreciation of how low the margin of error is this time. Second, it is a projection, and all projections are subject to possible error, and journalists, being hardnosed people, are wary of them.

The New York Times report has already made a serious error, saying that deaths in the Saddam period were covered up. The families interviewed knew whether their loved ones were disappearing in 2001 and 2002 and had no reason to cover it up if they were. The survey established the baseline with a contemporary questionnaire. It wasn't depending on Iraqi government statistics.

Another reason for the hard ride is that the Republican Party and a significant fraction of the business elite in this country is very invested in the Iraq War, and they will try to discredit the study. Can you imagine the profits being made by the military-industrial complex on all this? Do they really want the US public to know the truth about what the weapons they produce have done to Iraqis? When you see someone waxing cynical about the study, ask yourself: Does this person know what a chi square is? And, who does this person work for, really?

Then Anthony Cordesmann told AP that the timing and content of the study were political. But is he saying that 18,000 households from all over Iraq conspired to lie to Johns Hopkins University researchers for the purpose of defeating Republicans in US elections this November? Does that make any sense? And, if Cordesmann has evidence that the authors and editor set their timetable for completion and publication according to the US political calendar, he should provide it. If he cannot, he should retract.

Walls of incompetence

ErasmusPC

And now, the city walls have come to a very sad next step. Padua in the North of Italy, receives many new non EU immigrants. The average in Italy is 5%, the average in the wealthy industrial and economically booming cities in the North is 10%. and in Padua, it is growing with one percent each year. Cheaper neighbourhoods are full with newcomers. At the same time, there is a lot of new drugs related crime from these neighbourhoods. And in stead of regenerating the urban areas, starting social, economic and education plans, the (socialist) mayor looked and learned from Berlin, Belfast and Jerusalem.

He decided to build a wall, the Via Anelli Wall, that separates the wealthy neighbourhoods from the less wealthy ones. A whole area with 1,500 residents is being cut off. According to the mayor, this is the way to prevent ‘French situations’. As far as he is concerned, the wall will be much longer. And again, we need an artist to start a protest by painting murals. One passage was left open in the wall around what is called the ‘African ghetto’. It has barbed wire and it is continuously under surveillance by police officers. Much like the infamous Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin during the Cold War.

Follow the money

This article from April, 2002 certainly raises a few questions in light of the claimed nuclear test by North Korea...







'The US Government has announced that it will release $95m to North Korea as part of an agreement to replace the Stalinist country's own nuclear programme, which the US suspected was being misused.

Under the 1994 Agreed Framework an international consortium is building two proliferation-proof nuclear reactors and providing fuel oil for North Korea while the reactors are being built.

In releasing the funding, President George W Bush waived the Framework's requirement that North Korea allow inspectors to ensure it has not hidden away any weapons-grade plutonium from the original reactors.

President Bush argued that the decision was "vital to the national security interests of the United States". '

Of course the outcome of of all this wavering from the framework is to blame the very framework that you just wavered from ... or in simple terms ' blame Clinton'

The shifting of responsibility for everything and anything on to the ex president is becoming laughably predictable. It seems that there is no room for responsibility when November elections are just around the corner....

My source for the thought provoking reminder from 2002 is the excellent ICH

Oil, Smoke and Mirrors

Oil, Smoke and Mirrors is an independent 50 minute documentary on peak oil, 9/11 and the war on terror.



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How to make a ghetto

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Big powers huff and puff over North Korea

A storm of predictable condemnation rained down on the heads of North Korea's isolated regime in the wake of its first atomic weapons test today. The US, Japan, South Korea and others all described the move as a "provocation" that would be met with stern measures.
China, which may feel particularly affronted given its protective attitude towards Pyongyang over the years, called it a "brazen act".



But the strong words did not disguise the weakness of the international community's position now that North Korea has finally crossed the line and indisputably become what it has long claimed to be - a nuclear weapons state. In short, the big powers can huff and puff, but there is not a lot new in practical terms that they can do. This development was expected. They simply couldn't stop it.

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Incitement to hatred

Watching the news or reading the papers, you'd think that Muslims were Britain 's No 1 problem. Everyone, it seems, is frantically racing to offer magic cures for this chronic disease. Islam and Muslims are only ever invoked as objects of fear and horror: terrorism, forced marriage, honour killing and fanaticism.


Over the past few days, hostility to Muslims has dominated the media: from the saga of the Muslim policeman excused guard duty outside the Israeli embassy to the violent attacks on a Muslim-owned dairy in Windsor and Jack Straw's complaints about Muslim women who cover their faces. An ominous climate is being created.

Sinking in the Iraqi quagmire and lost in the Afghan labyrinth, Tony Blair turns on Muslims at home, demanding they clear up the mess he and his neocon allies have created. His communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, joins the rightwing French interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, in his war on multiculturalism. The hawkish John Reid launches his bid for the leadership of the Labour party by lecturing Muslim parents on how they should bring up their children. Image-obsessed David Cameron seeks to lure rightwing voters with a promise to "break Muslims ghettoes" and Straw seeks to revive his flagging fortunes by flexing his manly muscle at vulnerable female Muslim constituents.

Diplomatic talk about Islam "the great religion" aside, the truth is that Muslims have become, in the eyes of the media and political elite, a security threat and a convenient vehicle for exploitation and political opportunism. The aggressive racist discourse once confined to the BNP is now penetrating the mainstream. Instead of a serious effort to address the many problems Muslims face, attention is directed only at terrorism. While filling the air with talk of integration, citizenship, rights and obligations, the political elite and much of the media practise the logic of religious and ethnic categorisation, seeing nothing but race and religion. Muslims are not citizens; they are only Muslims. Their problems are not societal, but communitarian. It is they who must resolve them, while society stands guard.

Instead of facing up to their moral and political responsibility for combating ignorance, our politicians are doing the reverse. They are indulging in scaremongering, playing on the public's fears and exploiting people's lack of familiarity with the Muslim world. It is thus hardly surprising that 53% of Britons now see Islam as a problem.

With their politics of fear and demonisation, Britain and Europe seem to be on their way to substituting the Muslim problem for the Jewish problem. Muslims are now the object of the racist discourse that has in the past been targeted at Jews and black people. Under the impact of the horrors of the Holocaust, these prejudices have increasingly been forced into the shadows. The energy of hatred is today being reactivated against the Muslim "other" under the guise of combating terrorism and Islamo-fascism.

Hatred of the other has never been solely on racial grounds. It can also look to culture and religion for justification. The problem is that we are ill-equipped to confront this old-new phenomenon - we lack even the appropriate terminology to designate it. We could call it culturism, along the lines of racism. The two are intimately intertwined and equally dangerous and destructive.

Europe cannot afford to recreate the horrors of its not so distant past. It is time for those who believe in a tolerant Britain to come together in a broad coalition reflective of society's diversity. The political mercenaries and voices of hatred and bigotry cannot be allowed to dictate Britain's fate.

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Multicultural Britain

Why has the hijab or niqab suddenly become a problem in Britain? Why has the 'multicultural model' suddenly become a problem?
Are ghettos a new thing? Since when do orthodox jews mix with goys? More to the point, maybe, since when do aristocratic toffs or even the middle class mix with the working class? Class used to be the subject of a lot of strife. Has the class divide disappeared? I don't think so. Yet, the class divide is surely more of a social problem than what one chooses to wear or not. If women are forced to wear the hijab or niqab, then that is what we should be addressing, not those who choose to do so.
So, are more and more women choosing to wear hijabs or niqabs? I don't know, because I haven't visited Britain for over two years, and even then, I don't hang out in 'ghettos' because I am white,middle class. If it is the case, then maybe it is political, just as manipulation by xenophobic politicians and terrorist governments is political.
Ghettoisation is negative, in my opinion, but the solution isn't in assimilation, it's in integration. Integration isn't helped by images of neo-colonialist terror in muslim countries.
Most muslims in Europe don't live in religious ghettos, they live in social ghettos. There may be religious communities living apart from others within society even without social and economic issues, as I alluded to with respect to orthodox (or even liberal) jews. Whatever the dress code, be it a niqab or a beard and black hat, it shows a desire to seperate from others.
Furthermore, practising muslims may feel alienated from women and girls in mini skirts. The values of our society should be acceptance of people's choices not just those of one section of society. Some may claim Britain is a 'western' society, and so muslims must fit in and adopt western culture. The fact is, our colonial history has made us a multicultural society.
We can't go back on that legacy, and so we must accept, that muslim culture is part of British and European culture. Muslims didn't invade Europe. They came here because of our colonial history. We can't pretend it never happened and start over. We are still reaping the benefits of colonialism, and so we must accept, that we are not simply a 'western' nation, but a multicultural one.