Press TV reports: A senior Iranian official says Egyptian support for Israel makes Cairo accountable for any crime committed in the Gaza Strip. “Egypt has closed the Rafah crossing and tightened the siege (of Gaza),” said Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, at Tehran’s Friday prayers. Tel Aviv placed the Gaza Strip under a blockade after the democratically-elected Palestinian government of Hamas took control
by Arundhati Roy for Tom Dispatch We’ve forfeited the rights to our own tragedies. As the carnage in Mumbai raged on, day after horrible day, our 24-hour news channels informed us that we were watching “India’s 9/11.” And like actors in a Bollywood rip-off of an old Hollywood film, we’re expected to play our parts and say our lines, even though we know it’s all been said and done before.
The former head of the Pakistani ISI was interviewed by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria recently. He had interesting things to say. Here is the transcript of the interview: ZAKARIA: General Gul, you know that the United States has given four names to the United Nations of ISI officers whom it would like to place on an international terrorist list. You are one of those four names. What’s your reaction to that.
By Robert Dreyfuss for Information Clearing House What, exactly, does president-elect Barack Obama’s mild-mannered choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services, former senator Tom Daschle, have to do with neo-conservatives who want to bomb Iran? A familiar coalition of hawks, hardliners and neo-cons expects Obama’s proposed talks with Iran to fail – and they’re already proposing an escalating set of measures instead. Some are meant to occur
by Mohamed Khodr for Palestine Think Tank From America’s “Jewish Triangle” to Iraqi’s “Sunni Triangle: Government Job Notice: No Gentiles Need Apply “The Modern Age is the Jewish Age, and the twentieth century, in particular, is the Jewish Century.” –Yuri Slezkine, Professor of History at University of California, Berkeley, “The Jewish Century”; Princeton University Press (Russian Jewish immigrant to the U.S.) No, America, there is no Zionist Conspiracy running our
The Hindu reports: For the past week, newspaper readers across the world gazed at photographs of the dark young man who, sack slung over his shoulder, was caught on closed-circuit camera minutes before he opened fire at commuters at a busy Mumbai railway station. Based on interviews with key officers involved in the investigation and on the interrogation records of the terrorist, The Hindu has been able to assemble key parts
(thanks to alibi “a” for sending me this piece!) by Dinesh Narayanan for ibn live: In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, the question that everyone is asking is ‘Why’. India already claims it has evidence of Pakistani hand. On Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made a stern call to Pakistan and had asked them to send the head of its intelligence agency, the ISI, to India. However,
By Bappa Majumdar for Reuters India: India will increase security in the country and on its borders to a “war level” in the wake of the deadly attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 200 people, a government minister said on Sunday. “Our intelligence will be increased to a war level, we are asking the state governments to increase security to a war level,” Sriprakash Jaiswal, India’s minister for state for
Rediff India Abroad reports: Doctors shocked at hostages’s torture by Krishnakumar P and Vicky Nanjappa in Mumbai They said that just one look at the bodies of the dead hostages as well as terrorists showed it was a battle of attrition that was fought over three days at the Oberoi and the Taj hotels in Mumbai. Doctors working in a hospital where all the bodies, including that of the terrorists,
Press TV reports: Pakistan may pull out nearly 100,000 troops from its western borders with Afghanistan and will deploy them on the eastern border with India. Media reports quoted Pakistan’s defense ministry officials on Sunday that Islamabad had already stated the decision to the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The officials added that Pakistan’s priority on the so-called ‘war on terror’ would shift and it would to take care
This was to be expected: Pakistani websites are blaming Mossad for the Mumbai attacks. Russians have a small aphorism which makes fun of pathological Jew-haters which see “the Jews” as always responsible for everything: If there is no water in the faucet – then the Jews must have drunk itIf there is water in the faucet – then the Jews must have peed in it (it rhymes in Russian) Seriously,
(Thanks to Shashank for sending me the link to this article. VS) by Saikat Datta for Outlook India By mid-September, Indian agencies knew that the attack would come from the sea, by mid-November, they knew that the Taj hotel would be targeted… And yet… and yet… A blow by blow account of how the plan to attack Mumbai by sea was hatched and executed: In mid-September this year, the CIA
From the Times Online: The Indian authorities yesterday claimed to have proof that the Mumbai terrorists were receiving instructions from Pakistan and discussing tactics with their handlers during the three days of attacks in which they killed at least 195 people. The claims threaten further to embitter relations between the two nuclear powers. Tensions have been high since confirmation that the only captured gunman was a 21-year-old Pakistani. It has
According to Press TV Pakistan has reversed a decision to send its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief to India to help in Mumbai terror attacks investigation. No explanation was given in a short statement issued by the premier’s office in Islamabad for the change of plan, Press TV correspondent said Saturday. Earlier Prime Minister Yourself Raze surprised many by announcing that the ISI Chief General Ahmed Shura Pasha would be sent
After 48 hours sporadic combat is still taking place in Mumbai so it is way too early to try to analyze what happened. Still, there are some questions which come to my mind which I would like to share with you and, if you have any clues as to what the answers to these questions might be, I ask you to share them with me. My questions are: a) how
This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly http://weekly.ahram.org.eg Disappointment follows disappointment with each ‘new’ face, bemoans Eric Walberg, but there is a sort of silver lining Yes, we mustn’t expect too much. We all know it is the establishment that comes first in United States politics. Obama’s presidency could easily be sabotaged by the powers that put him there. But still. He would never have made it
by James Petras for Venezuela Analysis The pro-Chavez United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 72% of the governorships in the November 23, 2008 elections and 58% of the popular vote, dumbfounding the predictions of most of the pro-capitalist pollsters and the vast majority of the mass media who favored the opposition. PSUV candidates defeated incumbent opposition governors in three states (Guarico, Sucre, Aragua) and lost two states (Miranda and
Press TV reports that Iran’s Majlis (parliament) speaker says an Iraq-US security pact would have dire consequences for the Iraqi nation and regional states. Under the proposed security agreement, American troops will be able to legally stay in Iraq for three more years after a UN mandate allowing their military presence on Iraqi soil expires on December 31. The Iraqi parliament is scheduled to vote on the controversial treaty on
by Noam Chomsky for ZnetThe Election The word that immediately rolled off of every tongue after the presidential election was “historic.” And rightly so. A Black family in the White House is truly a momentous event. There were some surprises. One was that the election was not over after the Democratic convention. By usual indicators, the opposition party should have had a landslide victory during a severe economic crisis, after
