Resisting 60 years of apartheid
As shown on Ch4 and repeated several times on More4, available at IndyBay on the web and many other places, now on Google Video (not great video quality) Robert’s stand-up act examines the history of the last 100 years or so but putting oil center-stage. Brilliant!
Watch the video here.
Haven’t we been saying this over and over again? Jeffrey Sachs blames the US for the Middle East conflict.
The leading American economist Jeffrey Sachs criticized the U.S. and Israel for the collapse of the Palestinian government and the current unrest in Gaza in an opinion article he published in The Jordan Times over the weekend.
U.S. and Israeli policies supporting one faction, Fatah, while deeply isolating the other, Hamas, have been in contradiction to the democratic process in the region that both nations ardently promote, said Sachs. While President Bush encouraged Palestinian democracy, he openly favored Fatah in the elections of January 2006. When Hamas won, the US and Israel immediately cut off funds to the newly elected government, including even Israel’s transfer of Palestine’s own customs revenues, which Israel collects as the occupying authority in control of the borders, said Sachs. Such policies set the course for a violent upset in the occupied territories.
Continue reading ‘Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. failed Palestine once again’
By Tim Butcher, Middle East Correspondent
Dear Mr Blair,
The last two international peace envoys to the Middle East - Alvaro de Soto who represented the United Nations and James Wolfensohn who represented the UN plus others - shared one thing in common.
They both quit, driven crazy by the job.
In the spirit of finding a way for you to avoid the same fate, I write with what I hope are helpful suggestions about your new post-Premiership role as Middle East envoy.
First, you are going to have to change. As a prime minister who came to power through media spin and who was never shy to appear in front of camera, you are going to have to learn to embrace silence.
The issues are too complex and the egos of the regional leaders, Arab and Israeli, Muslim, Christian and Jewish, too delicate for you to feed half-digested gobbets of news each day to the world’s media.
You will have to learn that in the Middle East patience not profile is a blessing.
Continue reading ‘Open letter to Tony Blair on the Middle East’
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Visit their website for more information.
A Big Thank You To All Starbucks Customers
Written by Howard Schultz
Tuesday, 11 July 2006
Dear Starbucks Customer,
First and foremost I want to thank you for making Starbucks the $6.4 billion global company it is today, with more than 90,000 employees, 9,700 stores, and 33 million weekly customers. Every latte and macchiato you drink at Starbucks is a contribution to the close alliance between the United States and Israel, in fact it is - as I was assured when being honoured with the “Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award†- key to Israel’s long-term PR sccess.