On July 22, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion on the following question posed to it by Serbia:
"Is the unilateral declaration of independence by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo in accordance with international law?"
By a 10-4 majority, the court ruled that, because "general international law contains no applicable prohibition of declarations of independence", Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008, coordinated with and supported by the American and most EU governments and subsequently recognized by 69 countries, "did not violate general international law." The clear implication is that no declarations of independence violate international law and that all are therefore "legal".
Might the Palestinian people also find reason to celebrate, cause for encouragement or grounds for hope in this opinion?
(full article by John V. Whitbeck)
Israel warns Palestinians about mobilizing international support against the occupation
"Issued by the Foreign Ministry, the document warns against Palestinian efforts to draw the attention of various UN agencies to Israel's practices and human rights violations in the occupied territories and inside Israel itself."
That's what happens when you get in the way of Israel's 
new program to self "brand" as the only democracy in the Middle East which has the right to defend itself!
At every turn another public relations horror story from EXCUSES INCORPORATED. (that's my special branding name for them!)
Perhaps Israel's first order of business should be to try to save itself, from itself.
From Greg Felton
Israel can’t win a war against itself
"If the sign of a healthy, living organism is its ability to develop and mature in harmony with its surroundings, then Israel must be declared dead, or at least terminally moribund. Its politicians, generals and armies of hasbarats regurgitate the same tired boilerplate to justify Israel’s strangulation of Palestine, and are still obsessed with sabotaging discussion of the Holocaust® and the dispossession of Palestinians in 1947–1948 that led to the creation of the zionist entity."
Fortunately, the new brand smells the same as the old brand and almost no one is buying it. Meanwhile, support to address, break and ultimately end the siege of Gaza builds momentum and public awareness rises in tandem.
Boats reach Gaza despite blockade
Libyan aid boat stays on course for Gaza
Thanks to Corinne for the following heads up...
Canadian Boat to GAZA
Get on the Boat Fundraiser: Help launch a CANADIAN boat to Gaza!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
6:30 PM - 11:00 PM
Jubilee Queen Dinner Boat at Marina Quay West
(Between Bathurst & Spadina)
539 Queens Quay W., Toronto, CANADA
Join us for a SUNSET CRUISE on Lake Ontario featuring:
MIDDLE EASTERN BUFFET DINNER
GREAT ARABIC MUSIC
DEBKE DANCING UNDER THE STARS
LIVE AUCTIONS...and much, much more!
Boarding: 6:30pm - Returning: 11:00pm
Tickets range from: $75 - $1000 *All proceeds fund a Canadian boat to Gaza
FOR TICKETS/RESERVATIONS:
Call SANDRA: 416-716-4010
or Email: toronto@canadaboatgaza.org
******************************************
thanks to Brian in North Bay...
"Thought this might be of interest to you and your readers at YYC."
With only a month to go before the Viva Palestina Global Lifeline To Gaza sets off from London, individuals and teams from across the world are busy fundraising and preparing for their journey to the besieged region of Gaza.
They will depart London on September 18th and travel through Europe and the Middle East, arriving in Gaza in early October.
They will meet up with 2 other convoys that will depart from Doha and from Morocco, and together, will form the largest convoy to date to enter Gaza with aid.
Last Saturday night in Tipperary, Ireland, 
legendary singer Shane McGowan from the world famous group "The Pogues" turned up at a fundraiser and treated the packed audience to 8 songs.
Shane had the crowd dancing non stop as he sang a few Pogues classics and a few Thin Lizzy covers.
Shane was supporting the gallant efforts of the "Tipp2Gaza" team who are joining the convoy.
Speaking on the night, Shane said:
"It is an honour to support not only Joe and Jim who are taking part, but to support the Palestinians at this critical time."
Israeli theater actors refuse to perform at new West Bank cultural center
"I would be glad to perform in settlements in several shows that have messages I'd like to deliver in many communities. But settlers and settlements are not something that entertains me, and I don't want to entertain them."
In New Zealand, a major fundraising effort is under way by the amazing "Kia Ora Gaza" group. Led by team captain Roger Fowler, a group of 6 people will travel to London and drive 3 vehicles loaded with aid to Gaza. Speaking to the press, Roger outlined their objectives for taking part. "Kia Ora Gaza is on a peaceful humanitarian mission. We are fund-raising to deliver aid to people in Gaza. They are suffering under an Israeli siege which has been condemned by the United Nations, International Red Cross and most other world bodies." As part of their fundraising efforts, KLARC, one of New Zealand's best graphic artists, who also sketched Kia Ora Gaza's famous truck logo, has signed his original print and has donated it to the team for auction.
Already there has been considerable interest and bidding, and will no doubt reach a high price before the auction closes. For more information, check out their web site at www.kiaoragaza.net
Many of these items are banned from entering Gaza, and it is vital that these get through to the stricken region. Travelling on his 3rd convoy to Gaza, Tom Baker, the team leader from the "Slough To Gaza" group said, "Having travelled on 2 previous Viva Palestina convoys, I have seen 1st hand the conditions that the Palestinians in Gaza have to live through on a daily basis. To me it is way beyond belief that the world has allowed the population in Gaza to remain locked up for nearly 4 years now.
The time has now come to say enough is enough, and by going back to Gaza once more, I hope to play my part in not only breaking the siege, but ending the siege once and for all." Viva Palestina is a registered charity founded by George Galloway following the attacks on Gaza 18 months ago.
George has led 3 convoys of aid into Gaza, the most recent one in January of this year. To date, over 1,000 people in 450 vehicles loaded with aid have successfully broken the siege on Gaza, and delivered millions of pounds worth of aid. There are still many ways in which people can help out on this convoy, by fundraising for aid, donating aid, contacting local and national media, distributing fliers, or helping out local volunteers from your area.
For further information, please visit our web site at www.vivapalestina.org.
...and from John in Manitoba, who reminds us...
Monday, 30 August 2010
If Kosovo, why not Palestine?
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Iftar with Ru'ay
I had been a loss and quite frustrated with conventional activism for a while, - how to make a difference, help the situation in the West Bank or Gaza, other than to spread knowledge of the truth of the situation, and it seemed inevitable that something needed to be directly done for the people caught up in the situation there...
My thoughts were..."you can protest, you can write letters to politicians, letters to the editor, post on blogs, make documentaries, and spread the word verbally, but better still, you can make a tremendous difference in a child's/families life there...right now".
It seemed like a quiet and dignified way to protest, and make an immediate productive contribution to the cause.
The Palestinian Child Sponsorship Program was on the side bar (and still is) here at YaYa Canada when I first discovered this site, over five years ago. And I am, and always will be, beholden to Corinne for that. Participating has made an incredible impact on my life. Somethings are truly priceless.
The past few years, the greatest sense of elation, joy, humility (and in some ways spiritual re-awakening AKA redemption) for me personally, has been through the sponsorship of this little girl in Gaza, Palestine, Ru'ay. Her mother, Sonia, is an absolute heroine to me. She is the centre of the universe to her family of seven offspring, and finds the time for them all, despite meeting the demands of Ru'ays needs, and life, such that is, in Gaza...I learn so much from this woman and my life has never been the same since.
Ru'ay suffered from encephalitis as an infant and it has left her handicapped and restricted to a wheel chair.
Currently, all the children posted on the PCSP site are sponsored, but there are more coming. There are also expenses for the NGOs in Palestine that make the distribution of correspondence and money happen (often at their own peril).
I can attest personally that 100% of donations go to the child and am in constant contact with Sonia and Ru'ay, so know this. Office expenses etc. for the foundation are covered by extra fundraisers and contributions. All personnel are volunteers.
Ramadan culminates with the feast of Eid ul Fitr. If you are interested in bringing a little joy to a family in Gaza/the West Bank or in sponsoring a child, please visit their site to make a donation or an inquiry. They are recognized by Canada Helps. It is a great boost of morale to them that they have not been forgotten and are thought of outside the confines of their imprisonment.
Otherwise, if you are in the Montreal area on Sunday September 5th and would like to attend the Iftar fundraiser for the PCSP, contact info and RSVP is listed below:
The contact below, Audy, is an extraordinary woman! You''ll savour her words! And you just might meet this cheeky blogger there.
Date: Sunday Sep. 05, 2010 at 7pm
Ticket: $ 13
Address: DDO Civic Centre,
12001 boul. De Salaberry,
Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Qc.,
H9B 2A7 – Tel: 514-684-1010
For more information, you can call
Kholoud (Audy)
Tel: (514) 744-0749
Cell: (514) 561-8566
Thank you,
Looking forward to see you all
Kindly confirm.
child@cpfq.org
Iftar (Arabic: إفطار), refers to the evening meal when Muslims break their fast during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan and is often done as a community, with people gathering to break their fast together. Iftar is done right after Maghrib (sunset) time. Many Muslims believe that feeding someone iftar as a form of charity is very rewarding and that it was practiced by Muhammad. (from Wikipedia)
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Mr McGuinty Thank-you for Finding My G20 Spot!
It is not a topic or study of behaviour you will ever find in a Masters and Johnson report. But it's there. Evolved from isolated cases of discontent into a mass phenomena.
The G20 Spot.
Courtesy of Mr. McGuinty.
Unfortunately it doesn't equate with pleasure (even though I did fancy a ciggy for the first time in years, after the fact) - the spot in question arouses disgust, disappointment, a bit of fear for the future, but mainly anger.
It's interesting to me that a few months down the road, a number of very conservative individuals I spoke with when the news was first breaking, expressed initial discontent with the protesters, and are now questioning the police action and the premise of "THE FENCE".
What gives with this change of heart?
There hasn't been overkill in the media. There has been a number of tidbits in the news relating to regular individuals having their rights trampled for NOTHING!
Well as normal, I have to ask...are we being set up? If suggestive ideas are being fed to the masses - enough to sway rather conservative individuals, it makes me wonder if there is actually a ground swell of sensibility emerging OR, is there some sort of media pied piper instilling ideas. If so, by whom and to what end?
Possibly enough people had time to digest the concept that there is a large "people control" machine. "Wot? Here in Canada, you say? Pity!" "We have always taken our right of free speech and the concept we live in a "democracy" for granted. But is it true any longer?" "Arrests are no longer based on crimes, but seem subjective to the individual cop's (lack) of discretion"
This is what I am hearing.
Perhaps when the protesters singing Oh Canada, who were charged by the riot squad in full gear, went viral, many individuals have had time to rethink the situation.
G20 police shot rubber bullets, woman says
And then of course there is Bubbles the Cop...if this doesn't fully explain the current status of "to serve and protect", nothing does.
"You touch me with that bubble you're going into custody,"
In a viral Internet video ...
"
Toronto's 'Officer Bubbles' gains web notoriety
Can you imagine the ramifications if this cop had shown up to tell me about the Christian cutting the grass next door, a few weeks back? I suspect there would be no blog entry this evening...or for many to come.
Did anyone smell rubber burning at McGuinty's session?
Cabinet rushed secret G20 change, documents show
"A controversial G20 policing measure rubber-stamped by Premier Dalton McGuinty's cabinet was one of at least 116 orders-in-council signed in a flurry of end-of-session moves last month, the Star has learned.
A more typical cabinet meeting would have 30 to 40 orders-in-council on the agenda, and sometimes as few as 20. Perhaps the most notorious item of business was cabinet's designation of areas within the G20 security zone around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre as a "public work" under the 1939 Public Works Protection Act.
Ministers made the temporary change at the request of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, who sought clarification for officers if they had to stop anyone inside the restricted area where world leaders were meeting June 26-27. The Star first revealed the unusual modification on June 25, three days before it was to have been officially revoked and eight days before it was published in the Ontario Gazette.
In the wake of that story, there was an erroneous impression that police had been given the power to arrest people who refused to provide identification or submit to a search within five metres of the zone's outer perimeter. But Blair, McGuinty and Community Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci, who defended the "extraordinary" powers throughout the G20, did not set the record straight until two days after the summit had ended."
If they can confuse the facts and drag it on long enough those dumb tax payers will forget about it. They will all need resuscitating after they get their new hydro bills and insurance premiums and adjustments to the HST take effect. It's called being punch drunk! And broke and worried about money. What a clever distraction for every day use!
But we can count on ethics to save the day! Oh....darn.
Dueling G20 probes may hinder each other
What frightens me most about the cops stepping beyond their realm of authority and interpreting the law on an individual basis to suit their own egos, (thank you very much Officer Bubbles) is that we may soon be subjected to militant mind washing, which has already been attempted in the UK.
ASA Adjudication on The Association of Chief Police Officers
http://asa.org.uk/Complaints-and-ASA-action/Adjudications/2010/8/The-Association-of-Chief-Police-Officers/TF_ADJ_48887.aspx
Lonely? Pay in cash? Keep your curtains drawn? You could be a terrorist
But they have EXAGGERATED before in an ad...(then this did occur across the pond, so what are the chances of being misled so blatantly out here in the colonies? Ha!)
Advertising watchdog bans 'misleading' police ad
"A Home Office campaign stating that police can now be expected to spend 80% of their time on the beat has been banned by the advertising watchdog. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the advert did not make clear time spent "on the beat" included duties other than foot patrols.
It said that as well as having a misleading definition of "on the beat", the advert failed to make it clear which officers it referred to. The pledge does not apply to all 140,000 police officers in England and Wales, only to 13,500 neighbourhood constables and 16,000 community support officers in neighbourhood policing teams. "
The following article by Denis Ranacourt is a must read and extremely insightful analysis of the G20.
"Police violence at G20-Toronto, like the economic violence engineered by G20 itself, are windows into Canada’s loss of sovereignty as it continues to integrate the US military economy and military culture at breakneck speed. Loss of economic and security sovereignty and the associated planned plundering (so-called austerity) must be attended by loss of democracy and civil rights."
G20-Toronto and lost sovereignty
This article in the Star today, caught my eye.
Anatomy of the G20: the story from both sides of the fence
Supposedly written from both sides of the fence (no pun subtly intended) it does touch on the malaise many innocent bystanders and peaceful protesters were caught up in that fateful weekend. Interestingly enough, there are also some insights into the police psyche surrounding their intentions during the G20.
Social justice activist Anna Willats, head marshal of the parade, led a circle of protesters in a pep talk. “This is a peaceful march,” she said. “This is one we want to take to the end.”
The route would be subject to ongoing negotiations with police. The 31-year-old activist said she and another police liaison arrived at the park around 2 p.m. and immediately sought out an officer in charge. She was eventually pointed toward a couple of staff sergeants, including 55 Division’s Grant Burningham and Shaun Narine, an experienced crowd control officer who had helped manage last summer’s Tamil protest on the Gardiner Expressway.
By about 4 p.m., more than 1,000 people marched west on Carlton St., with police on bicycles. As the mass forged westward, Withers spotted Burningham in the crowd and ran up to him. Could the march continue west of Yonge St.? Yes, he replied.
But soon after, the staff sergeant became visibly agitated. The protest was moving too fast. “Slow, slow!” he shouted at two police vans leading the march. “Crawl, crawl. Use your vans as a natural barricade to slow them down.”
Burningham spoke brusquely into his cellphone and could be heard saying: “It’s posturing at this point. Until they break off, we’re not going to deploy anything.”
It's that last sentence that gets me. They were expecting a group to splinter and cause mayhem so they could deploy. hmmmmmmm.
Me thinks the persons contributing this article have a weenie case of G20 spot, but are keeping it clean for their corporate masters. It peeps out on occasion and has all the comfort of a heel blister in a pair of new shoes. Poor girls.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Marketing the War with Iran
An excellent, well researched and insightful discussion of the media spin and manipulation of public opinion to develop an "acceptable" pretext for war with Iran, from Corinne and Bee Sting...
(image shamelessly pinched from boingboing.net)
from Corinne
I normally don't pay much attention to war analysis before the fact - it seems obvious that both Israel and the U.S. want to turn Iran into a puppet state like Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's just a matter of creating the right pretext - but I found the following excerpt to be a telling indication of the craftiness of the U.S. media in manufacturing public support for yet another war:
"... polling data for 2010 show that a majority of Americans have already been manipulated into supporting war against Iran – in large part because more than two-thirds of those polled have gotten the impression that Iran already has nuclear weapons."
The Real Aim of Israel’s Bomb Iran Campaign
On the Corbett Report: Paul Craig Roberts talks about the coming war on Iran
http://www.youtube.com/corbettreport#p/a/u/0/L8GzaAyEmSw
He's not saying anything we didn't already figure out for ourselves, but it's interesting to hear it from a former Reagan adviser.
(If YouTube says you have to subscribe to see the video, just close the browser and try again. Sometimes the Corbett Report is hard to load because of heavy traffic, but it eventually clears up.)
Interesting that the main pretext in working toward a coup in RAK is that it is shipping nuclear components to Iran, while the Wiki entry deliberately points out that its Saqr Port is "the closest port in the UAE to Bandar Abbas in Iran, however there is no shipping from Saqr port to Bandar Abbas."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_al-Khaimah#Transport
Forgot to mention the obvious - that the whole campaign is to further box in Iran by gaining access to a strategic location in which to set up a US/UK/Israeli military base.
Looks like daddy had good reason to exile his son the Sheik from RAK 7 years ago. He's another guy with millions to burn (of undisclosed source, although it's easy to guess) on a west-approved regime change in an abritrarily judged "rogue state". Are they looking for a fight with the whole UAE, or will the UAE sacrifice a toe to keep the body on good terms with the west?
from Bee Sting
Once again the Brits are responsible :-) - They divided the Gulf into minuscules states (tribes basically) making sure that the oil resources are split - easier to control, especially with the local rivalry. Some more of the divide and conquer policy.
The RAK succession coup in 2003:
Succession In The Gulf
...and the effort to get back:
RAK: a rentier coup in a rentier state
The reason for RAK to either going to war with, or be nice to Iran:
Facts about the Three Occupied UAE Islands
The Tunbs and Abu Musa Dispute
The Canadian connection: The Canadian Border Sces Agency:
Iran acquiring nuclear materials in Canada
A “Red Flag” Flies Over Ras Al-Khaimah
Beyond the fact that the number of RAK and Dubai citizens are Shia + many originally from Iran, keeping close ties with the country and preferring to remain neutral as they did during the Iraq-Iran war [Abu dahbi sided with Iraq and one of its oil platforms was hit by Iran]. They won't be able to sit down on the fence this time, but I am sure that business will remain albeit differently. Too many ties and too dangerous to go one way all the way.
The coup is Israel & co.'s plan B (or C). The UAE is already on side:
Iran warns UAE against Israeli plots
Iran feels sanctions heat at UAE ports
UAE cbank dismisses Iran idea of dirham oil trade
Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran
Irael is already training Iranian dissidents and Kurds in Iraq under the benevolent US eye. Israel's attitude is let's stir the ME pot a little more and irrespective of the consequences. Hey! It might even help by distracting the short attention spanned mainstream media.
Israel linked to exiled sheikh's bid for 'coup' in Gulf emirate of RAK
The provincial lawyer who is helping plot an emirate coup
Ras al-Khaimah's links to al-Qaida, not Iran, is the real issue
Ras al-Khaimah coup: The main players
How Peter Cathcart's Uxbridge offices became the base for a coup
from Corinne
A number of happenings seem to be converging toward what Castro has predicted - that there will be attacks on Iran and North Korea that will devastate whole populations. (All relevant news links are listed below my comments.)
For starters, I have never doubted that Rafik Hariri's assassination was the work of Israeli/US/UK "intelligence" in a failed attempt to weaken Lebanon, whose water is coveted by Israel and whose strategic location is coveted as a base of operations against Iran. As usual, Israel got a little more than it bargained for when it recently provoked yet another skirmish on the Lebanese border, and (in a fit of pique?) has since fired on a Lebanese fishing boat. At the same time they are attempting to create chaos through accusations that members of Hezbollah assassinated Hariri, just as Hezbollah is about to announce evidence that Israel did it.
The headline: Lebanon has "a right to defend itself" must come as a shock to Israelis who thought they owned the copyright on that particular catch phrase.
There is also little doubt that the US/NATO ultimately wants a strong bulwark against Russia and China, and is attempting to create pretexts of any sort that will justify an assault on North Korea, and especially on Iran. If you circle the two regions on the map you will see clearly that they are coming at China and the two southern projections of Russia through both the Middle East and the Far East.
I suspect the ultimate goal for one world government is to break those two massive countries down into manageable pieces, and as Castro suggests, to reduce their populations.
The recent capture of a fishing boat off NKorea's coast is no coincidence. It is probably strongly suspected of containing spies and/or other threats.
Nor surprisingly, the media are more intent on gossiping about the possible implications for Cuba's internal affairs of Castro's public appearance rather than on reacting to the urgent content of Castro's uncharacteristically short, pointed speech.
RELEVANT NEWS LINKS:
What's behind Castro's speech?
Cuba's former President, Fidel Castro, has continued his return to the public eye with a speech to the country's parliament.
Fidel had asked for this special session of the assembly so that he could discuss his repeated warnings that the United States, along with Israel, has plans to attack Iran and target North Korea.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10905596
Big U.S. carrier joining Yellow Sea drill soon
Ignoring China’s protests about large-scale military maneuvers near its shores, U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises in the Yellow Sea in the next few months will include a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Pentagon said.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2924290
North Korea seizes South Korean fishing boat
It was not immediately clear whether the 41-ton Daeseung 55 was suspected of illegal fishing.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ifRsulXraXQ3kuqZVLRhSncD-Wkw
Iran: Lebanon has a right to defend itself against Israel's hostility
Israel did "not have the right to invade this region, the region is Lebanon's shared border."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/iran-lebanon-has-a-right-to-defend-itself-against-israel-s-hostility-1.306760
IDF confirms firing at a Lebanon fishing boat
Statement comes less than a week after an IDF officer was killed in the most serious cross border incident since Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-confirms-firing-at-a-lebanon-fishing-boat-1.306671
Hezbollah: We have evidence linking Israel to Hariri assassination
Speaking to Ma'an on Sunday, Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mousawi said that the group's leader would reveal "thunderous news" in a press conference scheduled for Monday, presenting what he called "comprehensive, revealing conclusive information" linking Israel to Hariri's 2005 assassination.
... Assad said that in the past the court had blamed Syria, a claim later proven to have been baseless, but nearly destroyed Lebanon and the entire region, and now the same scenario is being repeated against Hezbollah.
According to a Lebanese judicial source, the tribunal will be issuing at least two rounds of the indictments [against Hezbollah] starting from September and around the end of this year.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hezbollah-we-have-evidence-linking-israel-to-hariri-assassination-1.306715
