[Peace-discuss] JFP 5/23: addendum

[C. G. Estabrook]

As Daniel Webster said, "Liberty and Onion, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable..."


On 5/23/11 6:46 PM, David Green wrote:
>
>
>     Government Official Who Makes Perfectly Valid, Well-Reasoned Point Against
>     Israel Forced To Resign
>
> May 20, 2011
>
> WASHINGTON—State Department diplomat Nelson Milstrand, who appeared on CNN 
> last week and offered an informed, thoughtful analysis implying that Israel 
> could perhaps exercise more restraint toward Palestinian moderates in disputed 
> territories, was asked to resign Tuesday. “The United States deeply regrets 
> any harm Mr. Milstrand’s careful, even-tempered, and factually accurate 
> remarks may have caused our democratic partner in the Middle East,” Secretary 
> of State Hillary Clinton said in an unequivocal condemnation of the veteran 
> foreign-service officer’s perfectly reasonable statements. “U.S. policy toward 
> Israel continues to be one of unconditional support and fawning sycophancy.” 
> Milstrand, 63, will reportedly appear at an AIPAC conference to offer a full 
> apology as soon as his trial concludes and his divorce is finalized.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Just Foreign Policy <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
> *To:* davegreen84 at yahoo.com
> *Sent:* Mon, May 23, 2011 5:28:19 PM
> *Subject:* JFP 5/23: Obama Challenges Israel; Afghanistan call-in day tomorrow
>
> *Just Foreign Policy News
> May 23, 2011
>
> Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#donate>
>
> Read This Edition of the Just Foreign Policy News on the Web 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=woUVikplnOFWWoNQy0qJXxHE1AUmN5mL>*<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=L46zr%2BEKEsi6ImMI0qEH6kX8Sn1CS2%2B8>
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1pm1LdK1wBf1KyNkLe9alRHE1AUmN5mL>[use 
> this link if you are having formatting issues with the email]
>
> *Go Straight to the News Summary in this Email 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#summary>
>
> Switch to the "Short Email" Version of the News 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wWifBGPQrmoo%2FbS7caYP9xHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> I) Actions and Featured Articles
>
> Pentagon Authorization Before Congress This Week*
> This week, the House is expected to debate and vote on the 2012 National 
> Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) - the bill authorizing spending for the 
> Pentagon. The House is expected to consider amendments to the NDAA that would 
> push towards ending the wars in Afghanistan and Libya, as well as to strip 
> McKeon's "permanent war" authorization language from the NDAA. Many groups 
> working to end the war in Afghanistan have set a *call-in day to Congress for 
> Tuesday*. We will send out an alert Tuesday morning; please make a note in 
> your calendar that you are going to call Congress tomorrow. We may have access 
> to a toll-free number; in any event, *the Congressional switchboard is 
> 202-225-3121*. McGovern and Lee are expected to introduce amendments against 
> the Afghanistan war; Conyers and Kucinich are likely to introduce measures 
> limiting or ending the war in Libya. Look for our alert Tuesday morning.
>
> *DC Union Station FlashMob: "Move Over AIPAC"*
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V7pU5aZmYbM 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=fh9kpSB1wtgVpCkbbiVfIxHE1AUmN5mL>
> *
> Why We Sail To Gaza*
> A year ago, solidarity activists tried to break the blockade of Gaza with an 
> international flotilla of ships. The flotilla and the Israeli attack brought 
> attention to the Israeli-U.S.-Egyptian siege of Gaza, dramatically increasing 
> political pressure on the three governments, leading to a partial easing of 
> the siege. Now an even larger flotilla, with the participation of more ships 
> and more activists from more countries -- including, crucially, the U.S. ship 
> Audacity of Hope -- is preparing to set sail in June.
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.truthout.org/why-we-must-sail-gaza/1305382992 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dL6sJ%2FSPf6%2BWDmoIx7x58BHE1AUmN5mL>
> *
> No "Hamas Exception" for Human Rights: A Reply to the American Jewish Committee*
> JFP replies to a challenge from the American Jewish Committee regarding the 
> Gaza blockade and the freedom flotilla.
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/no-hamas-exception-for-human-rights_b_864409.html 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mgVoLZ1oRIZJrYDz8dSxWBHE1AUmN5mL>
> *
> *Action: Help Just Foreign Policy Get to Gaza:*
> Donate to support our participation:
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate/audacityofhope 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=eUgV%2BRxVRevocx3EkAqQiBHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> **Action: Tell Hillary to Ensure Safe Passage for US Boat to Gaza*
> Using Twitter and/or Facebook, urge Hillary to protect the /Audacity of Hope/. 
> [If you don't use Twitter and/or Facebook, don't worry; more actions are coming.]
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/audacityofhope/urgehillary 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=I8MGPGEZvS9A0C5iGz9b9RHE1AUmN5mL>
> *
> William Beeman: Debunking the Top 7 Myths on Iran's Middle East Policies*
> Professor Beeman takes the Public Radio International program "Tehran Rising" 
> to task for promoting the notion that Iran is behind Bahrain's uprising and 
> other exaggerations of Iran's role in the region.
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://newamericamedia.org/2011/05/debunking-the-top-7-myths-on-irans-middle-east-policies.php 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2T5MurjCc258jiVQEu1G1hHE1AUmN5mL>
> *
> Help Support Our Advocacy for Peace and Diplomacy*
> The opponents of peace and diplomacy work every day. Help us be an effective 
> counterweight.
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=j76olyp%2Bq2nThYyxAESoGxHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> *II*) *Summary:*
> *U.S./Top News 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#May2311m3>* 
>
> 1) President Obama, speaking at AIPAC, defended his stance that talks over a 
> Palestinian state should be focused on Israel's pre-1967 borders, along with 
> negotiated land swaps, and challenged Israel to "make the hard choices" 
> necessary to bring about a stable peace, the New York Times reports. 
> Administration officials said it would be up to Obama, during an economic 
> summit next weekend, to try to talk his European counterparts out of endorsing 
> Palestinian statehood in a coming UN vote. Some French officials have already 
> indicated that they are leaning toward such an endorsement. "He basically 
> said, 'I can continue defending you to the hilt, but if you give me nothing to 
> work with, even America can't save you,' " said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli 
> peace negotiator.
>
> Republicans moved swiftly to criticize Obama's Middle East proposal. "The U.S. 
> ought not to be trying to push Israel into a deal that's not good for Israel," 
> Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said on "Fox News Sunday."
>
> 2) Palestinian officials said they would not resume peace negotiations unless 
> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts President Obama's 1967 
> border guidelines, JTA reports. "If Netanyahu agrees, we shall turn over a new 
> leaf. If he doesn't then there is no point talking about a peace process. 
> We're saying it loud and clear," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was quoted 
> as saying Sunday in Ynet.
>
> 3) As President Obama is embarking on a course that puts him at odds with 
> Netanyahu, the question is how much of a split the president is willing to 
> make not only with Netanyahu, but with his own Middle East adviser Dennis 
> Ross, the New York Times reports. While Netanyahu reacted sharply to the 
> president's proposal, the reality is that the course Obama outlined Thursday 
> was much more modest than what some of his advisers initially advocated, the 
> Times says. During the administration's debates over the past several months, 
> Ross made clear that he was opposed to having Obama push Israel by putting 
> forth a comprehensive American plan for a peace deal with the Palestinians, as 
> advocated by other advisers, including now-former envoy George Mitchell.
>
> 4) The IMF is facing growing pressure from emerging economic powers and 
> campaigners to appoint a non-European as the next IMF head, the Guardian 
> reports. Some IMF insiders agree with the developing countries, the Guardian 
> says.
>
> One former senior official said: "The big danger here is if the Europeans just 
> try to put their person in….Christine Lagarde [France's finance 
> minister]…would be a disaster… Christine Lagarde stands for protecting big 
> banks...she's the most pro-bank bailout of the lot… The Americans are going to 
> try and put in [White House adviser] David Lipton as number two. Lipton is Mr 
> Bank Bailout. He worked for Citigroup. If they put in Lagarde and Lipton, what 
> does that say? We are going with the total bank protection plan. That would be 
> a disaster."
>
> 5) The Obama administration appeared to ignore the expiration of the 60 day 
> limit of the War Powers Resolution with regard to the Libya war, the New York 
> Times reports. Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor who led the Justice 
> Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 2003 and 2004, portrayed it as a 
> significant constitutional moment. "There may be facts of which we are 
> unaware, but this appears to be the first time that any president has violated 
> the War Powers Resolution's requirement either to terminate the use of armed 
> forces within 60 days after the initiation of hostilities or get Congress's 
> support," Goldsmith said.
>
> A 1980 opinion by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded 
> that the 60-day limit was constitutional, the Times notes. Such opinions are 
> binding on the executive branch unless they are superseded by the Justice 
> Department or the president. The Justice Department did not respond to a 
> question about whether the 31-year-old memorandum remains in effect.
>
> 6) U.S.- and NATO-backed rebels who control much of eastern Libya are carrying 
> out what many view as a campaign of retaliation against those once aligned 
> with Gaddafi, according to relatives and rebel commanders and officials, the 
> Washington Post reports. Such targeting raises questions about the character 
> of the government taking shape in eastern Libya and whether it will follow 
> basic principles of democracy and human rights, the Post says. Moreover, such 
> acts could further deepen divisions in Libya's tribal society and diminish the 
> prospects of reconciliation necessary for stability.
> *
> Israel/Palestine 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#May2311m4>* 
>
> 7) There is a long, rich history of nonviolent Palestinian resistance dating 
> back well before 1948, writes Yousef Munayyer in Foreign Policy. But it has 
> not yet captured the attention of the West. Munayyer argues that if the West 
> wants Palestinians to use nonviolence, it has to speak up more when nonviolent 
> protests are suppressed with violence. A strategy of nonviolence only works if 
> the world is paying attention and rewarding nonviolence with meaningful 
> action, Munayyer writes.
>
> 8) A Massachusetts mom was directly impacted by Middle East protests when her 
> son was shot in the head at a protest against land confiscation in the 
> Palestinian village of al-Nabi Saleh, the Milford Daily News reports. 
> Christopher Whitman's mom says she is "not political," but says what she has 
> learned through her son's experiences makes her want people to know what is 
> happening. "All I'm looking for is for people to realize there is this part of 
> the world where there are a lot of human beings ... we need to keep safe 
> somehow," Robin Whitman said.
> *
> Saudi Arabia/Bahrain 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#May2311m5>* 
>
> 9) As President Obama pressed again for peace in the Middle East, AP reported 
> that the US is "quietly expanding defense ties on a vast scale'' with Saudi 
> Arabia, writes Derrick Jackson in the Boston Globe. The AP also reported on an 
> obscure project to create a special elite security force that would fall under 
> the US Central Command. The force would have up to 35,000 members "to protect 
> the kingdom's oil riches and future nuclear sites.'' But no official of the 
> Pentagon or State Department would go on the record to discuss the program. 
> The sheepishness of the Pentagon was mirrored by Obama's failure to mention 
> Saudi Arabia once in his speech Thursday.
>
> Saudi laws still discriminate against women, and women were recently banned 
> once more from municipal elections. The US is boosting aid to such regimes 
> even though it demands far less accountability than it is supposed to. Arms 
> transfers to the Gulf are supposed to be assessed on is whether that country 
> is protecting human rights, but State Department officials admitted to the GAO 
> "that they do not document these assessments."
>
> These arms deals, public and secret, up the ante on Obama to be far more 
> transparent about what our relationship is to a nation that is assisting the 
> Bahrain government in its crackdown on freedom protesters, Jackson writes.
>
> *Honduras 
> <http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/blank.html?bn=567&.intl=us&.lang=en-US#May2311m6>* 
>
> 10) Honduras' president Lobo and exiled former president Zelaya have signed a 
> reconciliation accord that provides for Zelaya to return to Honduras and 
> Honduras to return to the OAS, AP reports.
>
> The accord, facilitated by Colombian President Santos and Venezuelan President 
> Chavez, reiterates that the Honduran constitution has a legal process for 
> calling a national referendum on reforming fundamental laws. The accord also 
> calls for no persecution of Zelaya and his supporters, the ex-leader's safe 
> return to Honduras and a guarantee that Zelaya supporters be allowed to 
> participate in Honduras' politics and its 2014 elections as a political party. 
> Chavez promised to monitor the accord and ensure the deal's terms are respected.
>
> *Contents:
> U.S./Top News*
> 1) Obama Challenges Israel to Make Hard Choices Needed for Peace
> Helene Cooper, New York Times, May 22, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/world/middleeast/23aipac.html 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ru3smlOTRh0UZEBHj2j%2FzBHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Washington - President Obama struck back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
> of Israel in a speech to a pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday, defending his 
> stance that talks over a Palestinian state should be focused on Israel's 
> pre-1967 borders, along with negotiated land swaps, and challenging Israel to 
> "make the hard choices" necessary to bring about a stable peace.
>
> Mr. Obama, speaking before a conference of the influential American Israel 
> Public Affairs Committee, offered familiar assurances that the United States' 
> commitment to Israel's long-term security was "ironclad." But citing the 
> rising political upheaval near Israel's borders, he presented his peace plan 
> as the best chance Israel has to avoid growing isolation. "We cannot afford to 
> wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades, to 
> achieve peace," Mr. Obama said. The world, he said, "is moving too fast."
>
> Administration officials said it would be up to Mr. Obama, during an economic 
> summit in Paris next weekend, to try to talk his European counterparts out of 
> endorsing Palestinian statehood in a coming United Nations vote, a prospect 
> that would deeply embarrass Israel. Some French officials have already 
> indicated that they are leaning toward such an endorsement.
>
> "He basically said, 'I can continue defending you to the hilt, but if you give 
> me nothing to work with, even America can't save you,' " said Daniel Levy, a 
> former Israeli peace negotiator and a fellow at the New America Foundation, a 
> nonpartisan research group.
>
> The appearance by Mr. Obama on Sunday punctuated a tense week in which he and 
> Mr. Netanyahu made their separate cases about Palestinian statehood to 
> American audiences. Mr. Netanyahu will address the same group on Monday and 
> will speak before Congress on Tuesday at the invitation of Republican lawmakers.
> [...]
> Mr. Obama's decision to stick to his position, albeit with strong reassurances 
> about America's lasting bond with Israel, is a risky one politically. Mr. 
> Obama is just starting a re-election campaign, and Republicans are doing what 
> they can to present themselves to Jewish voters as more reliable protectors of 
> Israel than the Democrats.
>
> Republicans moved swiftly to criticize his Middle East proposal. "The U.S. 
> ought not to be trying to push Israel into a deal that's not good for Israel," 
> the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said on "Fox News 
> Sunday."
>
> Administration officials said Mr. Obama chose to confront Israel on the 
> stalled peace negotiations after his aides calculated that given the historic 
> upheaval under way in the Arab world, the United States and Israel would both 
> benefit from being seen as taking bold steps toward ending the impasse between 
> Israelis and Palestinians.
>
> As Mr. Obama himself pointed out, his theme in the speech last Thursday was 
> not extraordinary. American presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill 
> Clinton, have consistently instructed their foreign policy aides to pursue an 
> agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians using the 1967 borders, with 
> mutually agreed land swaps, as a basis for talks.
>
> Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, in fact, made such a proposal to 
> the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in 2008, as the two 
> sides rushed to complete a peace deal before Mr. Bush and Mr. Olmert left office.
>
> But the 1967 border issue has always been privately understood, not spoken 
> publicly, and certainly not publicly endorsed by a sitting American president.
>
> When Mr. Obama did so last Thursday, he unleashed a furious response from Mr. 
> Netanyahu. The prime minister's office put out a statement in advance of his 
> meeting with Mr. Obama the next day in which Mr. Netanyahu said he expected to 
> hear certain assurances from the president.
>
> "That was Bibi over the top," one administration official said Saturday, 
> referring to Mr. Netanyahu by his nickname. "That's not how you address the 
> president of the United States."
>
> Mr. Obama addressed his critics on Sunday, saying, "What I did on Thursday was 
> to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately."
> [...]
> But, he said, "let me reaffirm what '1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps' 
> means." His view, he said, is that "the parties themselves - Israelis and 
> Palestinians - will negotiate a border that is different than the one that 
> existed on June 4, 1967."
>
> "It is a well-known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a 
> generation," he continued. "It allows the parties themselves to account for 
> the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years."
>
> Mr. Netanyahu, in his critique of Mr. Obama's earlier remarks, had ignored the 
> "mutually agreed swaps" part of the president's proposal.
> [...]
> Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, commented on the speech by 
> telephone from the West Bank city of Jericho: "I am waiting to hear from Prime 
> Minister Netanyahu. Does he accept the doctrine of two states on the 1967 line 
> with agreed swaps or not? Before we hear that acceptance, we are just grinding 
> water."
>
> 2) Palestinians: Israel must accept 1967 border as basis for negotiations
> JTA, May 22, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/palestinians_israel_must_accept_1967_border_as_basis_for_negotiations_20110/ 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=t0cqhrIwlSYwPnGo5sm2uhHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Palestinian officials said they would not resume peace negotiations unless 
> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepts President Obama's 1967 
> border guidelines.
>
> "If Netanyahu agrees, we shall turn over a new leaf. If he doesn't then there 
> is no point talking about a peace process. We're saying it loud and clear," 
> Saeb Erekat was quoted as saying Sunday in Ynet.
>
> Erekat, a member of P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party central 
> committee and chief Palestinian negotiator, repeated similar statements to the 
> KUNA Kuwaiti news agency and others, some rebroadcast on Israel Radio. "Once 
> Netanyahu says that the negotiations will lead to a Palestinian state on the 
> 1967 borders, then everything will be set," Erekat said according to 
> Palestinian news agency WAFA.
>
> Erekat said that Israel showed it had rejected Obama's premise of negotiation 
> from the 1967 borders when it approved the construction of 1,500 housing units 
> in eastern Jerusalem a day before Netanyahu left for the United States.
>
> Obama and Netanyahu are both set to speak this week before the United States 
> pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. On May 19, in 
> a speech at the State Department on his Middle East policy, Obama called for 
> peace negotiations on the basis of the 1967 borders with mutually agreed upon 
> land swaps.
>
> 3) Obama's Peace Tack Contrasts With Key Aide, Friend of Israel
> Helene Cooper and Mark Landler, New York Times, May 21, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/world/middleeast/21ross.html 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1Myc4oajYaZRFFg6eIbSKhHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Washington - Five days ago, during a closed-door meeting with a group of 
> Middle East experts, administration officials, and journalists, King Abdullah 
> II of Jordan gave his assessment of how Arabs view the debate within the Obama 
> administration over how far to push Israel on concessions for peace with the 
> Palestinians.
>
> From the State Department, "we get good responses," the Jordanian king said, 
> according to several people who were in the room. And from the Pentagon, too. 
> "But not from the White House, and we know the reason why is because of Dennis 
> Ross" - President Obama's chief Middle East adviser.
>
> Mr. Ross, King Abdullah concluded, "is giving wrong advice to the White House."
>
> By almost all accounts, Dennis B. Ross - Middle East envoy to three 
> presidents, well-known architect of incremental and painstaking diplomacy in 
> the Middle East that eschews game-changing plays - is Israel's friend in the 
> Obama White House and one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in 
> town.
>
> His strategy sometimes contrasts sharply with that of a president who has bold 
> instincts and a willingness to elevate the plight of the Palestinians to a 
> status equal to that of the Israelis.
>
> But now, as the president is embarking on a course that, once again, puts him 
> at odds with Israel's conservative prime minister, the question is how much of 
> a split the president is willing to make not only with the Israeli leader, but 
> with his own hand-picked Middle East adviser.
>
> The White House would not say where Mr. Ross, 62, stood on the president's 
> announcement on Thursday that Israel's pre-1967 borders - adjusted to account 
> for Israeli security needs and Jewish settlements in the West Bank - should 
> form the basis for a negotiated settlement.
> [...]
> While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel reacted sharply to the 
> president's proposal, the reality is that the course Mr. Obama outlined 
> Thursday was much more modest than what some of his advisers initially advocated.
>
> During the administration's debates over the past several months, Mr. Ross 
> made clear that he was opposed to having Mr. Obama push Israel by putting 
> forth a comprehensive American plan for a peace deal with the Palestinians, 
> according to officials involved in the debate.
>
> George J. Mitchell, who was Mr. Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, 
> backed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, argued in favor of a 
> comprehensive American proposal that would include borders, security and the 
> fate of Jerusalem and refugees. But Mr. Ross balked, administration officials 
> said, arguing that it was unwise for the United States to look as if it were 
> publicly breaking with Israel.
>
> Mr. Netanyahu and Israel's backers in the United States view Mr. Ross as a key 
> to holding at bay what they see as pro-Palestinian sympathies expressed by Mr. 
> Mitchell; Mr. Obama's first national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones; 
> and even the president himself.
>
> "Starting with Mitchell and Jones, there was a preponderance of advisers who 
> were more in tune with the Palestinian narrative than the Israeli narrative," 
> said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a 
> friend of Mr. Ross. "Dennis balanced that."
> [...]
> In April, Mr. Mitchell, who, one Arab official said, often held up the specter 
> of Mr. Ross to the Palestinians as an example of whom they would end up with 
> if he left, sent Mr. Obama a letter of resignation. By some accounts, one 
> reason was his inability to see eye to eye with Mr. Ross.
>
> "Mitchell wanted something broader and more forward-leaning, and Dennis seems 
> to be taking a more traditional stance," said David J. Rothkopf, a former 
> Clinton administration official who has written about the National Security 
> Council.
>
> But, Mr. Rothkopf said, Mr. Obama must now take into account the emerging 
> realities in the Arab world, including a new populism brought by the 
> democratic movement that may make even governments that were not hostile to 
> Israel, like Egypt and Jordan, more insistent on pushing the case of the 
> Palestinians. "Experience can be helpful, but it can also be an impediment to 
> viewing things in a new way," he said.
>
> 4) IMF under growing pressure to appoint non-European head
> China and Brazil call for end to status quo in decision on who will succeed 
> Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF
> Graeme Wearden and Dominic Rushe, Guardian, Thursday 19 May 2011 18.18 BST 
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/19/imf-pressure-appoint-non-european-head 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Nl1RL1SHmK3cfc%2FXrQ3YbRHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> The International Monetary Fund is facing growing pressure from emerging 
> economic powers and campaigners to appoint a non-European as Dominique 
> Strauss-Kahn's successor, following the resignation of the imprisoned IMF 
> managing director.
>
> China and Brazil have demanded that the succession process be handled in a 
> fair and open way, and are calling for an end to the status quo under which a 
> European has led the IMF since its creation in 1945.
>
> The IMF has yet to reveal how Strauss-Kahn's replacement will be chosen but in 
> a letter to the G20 group of the world's largest economies Brazil's finance 
> minister, Guido Mantega, said: "If the Fund wants to maintain its legitimacy, 
> its managing director must be selected after broad consultation with the 
> member countries."
>
> A global group of anti-poverty campaigners said that the troubled state of the 
> global economy made it imperative to select the best possible candidate from a 
> worldwide pool. "It is time for the European and US governments to finally end 
> the sordid, tacit deal between the two regions that has maintained a de facto 
> northern leadership at both the Fund and the World Bank," said Bhumika 
> Muchhala of the Third World Network.
> [...]
> There are equally trenchant opinions among IMF insiders. One former senior 
> official said: "The big danger here is if the Europeans just try to put their 
> person in. For example, Christine Lagarde [France's finance minister]. That 
> would be a disaster. The Europeans have their heads in the sand again and if 
> they do it, there will be bad fallout."
>
> "Christine Lagarde stands for protecting big banks. I know people like what 
> she said to Jamie Dimon [chief executive of JP Morgan Chase] at Davos but 
> she's the most pro-bank bailout of the lot.
>
> "The Americans are going to try and put in [White House adviser] David Lipton 
> as number two. Lipton is Mr Bank Bailout. He worked for Citigroup. If they put 
> in Lagarde and Lipton, what does that say? We are going with the total bank 
> protection plan. That would be a disaster."
>
> Under the voting system used by the IMF, America and Europe have been able to 
> ensure that a European candidate runs the IMF while an American citizen takes 
> charge at the World Bank. The eurozone debt crisis, which has seen the IMF 
> contribute to the bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, has led many 
> emerging market countries to believe that the next head of the IMF should not 
> come from the EU.
> [...]
>
> 5) Deadline Passes for U.S. Forces in Libyan Conflict
> Charlie Savage and Thom Shanker, New York Times, May 20, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/21/world/africa/21libya.html 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=wQduLzqaGm0ZyxT8XrZDcxHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Washington - With NATO officials expressing increased confidence on Friday 
> that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's military position in Libya was weakening, the 
> Obama administration appeared to ignore a statute requiring hostilities to 
> cease after two months if Congress had not authorized them to continue.
>
> The War Powers Resolution of 1973 says that a president must terminate 
> military operations 60 days after notifying Congress that he had introduced 
> armed forces into actual or imminent hostilities. The Libyan operation reached 
> that deadline on Friday.
>
> But Pentagon and military officials said the United States' participation in 
> the Libyan mission was going forward unchanged. That includes the intermittent 
> use of armed Predator drones to fire missiles at Libyan government forces, as 
> happened on Thursday and Friday, they said.
> [...]
> Late on Friday, the White House released a letter from President Obama to 
> Congressional leaders defending the Libya operation. While he did not directly 
> ask for a resolution authorizing the action or concede that it was necessary, 
> he expressed support for the idea of a legislative endorsement.
> [...]
> While Congressional leaders have signaled little institutional interest in 
> enforcing the resolution, there are signs that a political controversy is 
> starting to pick up.
>
> On Wednesday, six Republican senators sent a letter to Mr. Obama noting the 
> imminent deadline "for you to terminate the use of the United States armed 
> forces in Libya." They asked "whether you intend to comply with the 
> requirements of the War Powers Resolution."
>
> On Thursday, Representative Howard P. McKeon of California, the Republican 
> chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a similar letter to Mr. 
> Obama stressing that the country was about to reach the War Powers Resolution 
> deadline, which he portrayed as a "critical juncture."
>
> And on Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union also wrote to Mr. Obama 
> expressing its "profound concern" that he was about to violate the War Powers 
> Resolution, and arguing that he had no legal authority to use military force 
> in Libya.
>
> Administration officials offered no theory for why continuing the air war in 
> Libya in the absence of Congressional authorization and beyond the deadline 
> would be lawful. Jack Goldsmith, a Harvard law professor who led the Justice 
> Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 2003 and 2004, portrayed it as a 
> significant constitutional moment.
>
> "There may be facts of which we are unaware, but this appears to be the first 
> time that any president has violated the War Powers Resolution's requirement 
> either to terminate the use of armed forces within 60 days after the 
> initiation of hostilities or get Congress's support," Mr. Goldsmith said.
> [...]
> Several parts of the resolution have been repeatedly challenged by presidents. 
> But a 1980 opinion by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel 
> concluded that the 60-day limit was constitutional. (The law allows presidents 
> to extend the deadline by 30 days if necessary to protect the safety of forces 
> as they withdraw, which does not appear to apply to an air campaign.)
>
> "The practical effect of the 60-day limit is to shift the burden to the 
> president to convince the Congress of the continuing need for the use of our 
> armed forces abroad," the 1980 memorandum says. "We cannot say that placing 
> that burden on the president unconstitutionally intrudes upon his executive 
> powers."
>
> Such opinions are binding on the executive branch unless they are superseded 
> by the Justice Department or the president. The Justice Department did not 
> respond to a question about whether the 31-year-old memorandum remains in effect.
> [...]
>
> 6) Libyan rebels accused of reprisal attacks
> Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, May 21
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/libyan-rebels-accused-of-reprisal-attacks/2011/05/20/AFaeAh8G_story.html 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zkdSz8lzFm72OAkSF%2FKQpRHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Benghazi, Libya - The men were armed and wore black ski masks. In broad 
> daylight, they grabbed Adil Ali el-Aghouri from in front of his house last 
> month, beat him, took him to a rebel military base and threw him in a prison cell.
>
> Ever since, his relatives say, Aghouri has been held without charge or access 
> to a lawyer. His only crime, they say, was to serve in the feared internal 
> security police under Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi; they insist that he 
> committed no atrocities.
>
> "He's in prison not because he broke any laws, but by the power of the gun," 
> said Aghouri's brother, Muhammad. "This is about revenge."
>
> With Libya essentially divided in half by conflict, the U.S.- and NATO-backed 
> rebels who control much of the east are carrying out what many view as a 
> campaign of retaliation against those once aligned with Gaddafi, according to 
> relatives and rebel commanders and officials. Such targeting raises questions 
> about the character of the government taking shape in eastern Libya and 
> whether it will follow basic principles of democracy and human rights. 
> Moreover, such acts could further deepen divisions in Libya's tribal society 
> and diminish the sort of reconciliation vital for stability in a post-Gaddafi era.
>
> Both Egypt and Tunisia, where authoritarian leaders were ousted by popular 
> uprisings, are striving to revise laws and struggling with how to deal with 
> the former members of their regimes. Human rights activists note that Libya's 
> rebels have had to organize a state, including a new judicial system, in just 
> three months during wartime.
>
> But critics fear the Libyan rebels are going down the same path as Gaddafi - 
> whose government is notorious for carrying out arbitrary arrests, torture and 
> executions without trial - months after launching an uprising based in large 
> part on their outrage over such injustices.
>
> Some critics, including top officials working with the rebel council that runs 
> eastern Libya, also point out that countless Libyans worked in Gaddafi's 
> government, many just for the paycheck. Those who committed serious crimes 
> have probably fled rebel areas by now, they argue.
>
> "There have been a lot of mistakes, even though the intentions are good," said 
> Jamal Benour, a judge who is in charge of justice issues for the rebel 
> transitional council. "We need to have a proper judicial process, to build 
> trust in law and order. Now, maybe we've lost part of the credibility of the 
> revolution. . . . Some might say that what Gaddafi did in his regime is 
> happening now under the revolution."
>
> Rebel commanders have created a wanted list and placed suspects under 
> round-the-clock surveillance. Secret militia units raid houses without court 
> warrants and often interrogate suspects for hours. Those released have to sign 
> a document stating their loyalty to the revolution.
>
> As many as 30 civilians are being held at various rebel military bases around 
> Benghazi without due process of law, said human rights activists, judges and 
> prosecutors. In recent weeks, at least seven former members of the internal 
> security police have turned up dead, their bodies riddled with bullets. 
> Although it is not known who killed them, many suspect that they died at the 
> hands of rebel-affiliated death squads.
>
> At a rebel military base in Benghazi, rebel fighters acknowledged that they 
> were rounding up and holding prisoners. They said it was necessary to target 
> and detain civilians because they believed that a "fifth column" of Gaddafi 
> loyalists was trying to retake power within the city, which has become the 
> rebels' de facto capital.
>
> "On the front lines, you can see Gaddafi's people. Here, you can't see the 
> ones in the fifth column," said Muftah Mahmoud, a rebel fighter in charge of 
> security at the base. "They stab you in the back."
>
> Mahmoud said detainees are held for three days and then handed over to 
> Benghazi's prosecutors for trial. But the city's chief prosecutor, Ali Wanis, 
> said in an interview that he had never received a single case. He described 
> the detentions as "secretive."
>
>
> When told of this, Mahmoud shrugged and acknowledged that "the main thing is 
> to keep these people in a secure place until the revolution is over."
>
> Unlike Gaddafi's regime, the rebels have given human rights groups, 
> nongovernmental organizations and family members access to the detainees and 
> in most cases appear to be treating them humanely.
>
> But at the same time, in the absence of the Gaddafi-era police and security 
> apparatus, volunteer militias are patrolling the streets, making arrests with 
> no formal legal authority. This, said Tom Malinowski, Washington director for 
> Human Rights Watch, "heightens the risk of vigilante justice and abuse at 
> point of capture."
>
> "Rule of law has to begin now, or bad habits may become entrenched and later 
> codified as a way of maintaining power," said Malinowski, who recently 
> interviewed detainees in Benghazi.
>
> So far, the rebel leadership has been unable to rein in the militias under one 
> authority. It also has not set clear rules governing who can be arrested and 
> what their rights are in detention.
> [...]
> *
> Israel/Palestine*
> 7) Palestine's Hidden History of Nonviolence
> You wouldn't know it from the media coverage, but peaceful protests are 
> nothing new for Palestinians. But if they are to succeed this time, the West 
> needs to start paying attention.
> Yousef Munayyer, Foreign Policy, May 18, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/18/palestines_hidden_history_of_nonviolence?page=0,1 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=JAD0UPe6EWzxObYqQ57VBxHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> [Munayyer is executive director of the Palestine Center.]
>
> Last weekend, as tens of thousands of unarmed refugees marched toward Israel 
> from all sides in a symbolic effort to reclaim their right of return, the 
> world suddenly discovered the power of Palestinian nonviolence. Much like the 
> "Freedom Flotilla," when nine activists were killed during an act of 
> nonviolent international disobedience almost a year ago, the deaths of unarmed 
> protesters at the hands of Israeli soldiers drew the world's attention to 
> Palestine and the refugee issue.
>
> The world shouldn't have been so surprised. The truth is that there is a long, 
> rich history of nonviolent Palestinian resistance dating back well before 
> 1948, when the state of Israel was established atop a depopulated Palestine. 
> It has just never captured the world's attention the way violent acts have.
> [...]
> As Jewish immigration into Palestine increased and the implementation of the 
> Balfour Declaration became more apparent, Palestinians who feared 
> marginalization (or worse) under a Jewish state continued to resist. In the 
> early 1930s, numerous protests and demonstrations against the Zionist agenda 
> were held, and the British mandatory government was swift to crack down. The 
> iconic image of Palestinian notable Musa Kazim al-Husseini being beaten down 
> during a protest in 1933 by mounted British soldiers comes to mind.
>
> It wasn't until nonviolent protests were met with severe repression that 
> Palestinian guerrilla movements began. After the 81-year-old Husseini died a 
> few months after being beaten, a young imam living in Haifa named Sheikh Izz 
> ad-Din al-Qassam (the namesake of Hamas's military wing) organized the first 
> militant operation against the British mandatory government. His death in 
> battle with British soldiers sparked the Arab rebellion that began in 1936 and 
> lasted until 1939.
>
> The first phases of this revolt began with nonviolent resistance in the form 
> of more strikes and protests, and the economy ground to a halt for six months 
> when Palestinian leaders called for a work stoppage. This was put down harshly 
> by the mandatory government, according to British historian Matthew Hughes, 
> including the bombing of more than 200 buildings in Jaffa on June 16, 1936. 
> The repression of both violent and nonviolent Palestinian dissent 
> significantly destroyed the capacity of Palestinian society, paving the way 
> for the depopulation of Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel 
> a decade later.
>
> During the Nakba, which is what Palestinians call the period of depopulation 
> from 1947 to 1949, nonviolent resistance became harder to see again, as armed 
> conflict and violence dominated headlines. But one anecdote, which hits close 
> to home, suggests that thinking about nonviolent resistance in the Palestinian 
> context requires broadening our conventional understanding of the concept.
>
> My hometown, Al-Lyd, (which is today called Lod), was besieged by Haganah 
> troops in mid-July 1948. As part of Operation Dani, Al-Lyd and the neighboring 
> town of Ramla were depopulated of tens of thousands of Palestinians. At the 
> time, the city was filled with at least 50,000 people, more than twice its 
> usual population, because it had swelled with refugees from nearby villages. 
> After the siege, my grandparents were among the 1,000 original inhabitants who 
> remained. They and many others refused to flee during the fighting and hid in 
> the city's churches and mosques. Unlike their neighbors, who were hiding in 
> the Dahmash mosque where scores of refugees were massacred by Haganah troops, 
> they managed to survive and walk out of their refuge into the destroyed ghost 
> town they called home.
>
> We tend to think of nonviolent resistance as an active rather than passive 
> concept. In reality, even though the majority of the native inhabitants were 
> depopulated during the Nakba, thousands of Palestinians practiced nonviolent 
> resistance by refusing to leave their homes when threatened. Today, through 
> its occupation, Israel continues to make life unbearable for Palestinians, but 
> millions resist the pressure by not leaving. This is particularly notable in 
> occupied Jerusalem, where Palestinians are being pushed out of the city. For 
> those who have never lived in a system of violence like the Israeli 
> occupation, it is hard to understand how simply not going anywhere constitutes 
> resistance, but when the objective of your oppressor is to get you to leave 
> your land, staying put is part of the daily struggle. In this sense, every 
> Palestinian living under the Israeli occupation is a nonviolent resister.
>
> The first and second intifadas were very different. In the first intifada of 
> the late 1980s, Palestinians employed various nonviolent tactics, from mass 
> demonstrations to strikes to protests. Even though the vast majority of the 
> activism was nonviolent, it is the mostly symbolic stone-throwing that many 
> remember. The Israeli response to the uprising was brutal. In the words of 
> Yitzhak Rabin, then the Israeli defense minister, the policy was "might, 
> power, and beatings" -- what became known as the "break the bones" strategy, 
> depicted in this gruesome video. Mass arrests also ensued, and according to 
> the NGO B'Tselem more than a thousand Palestinians civilians were killed from 
> 1987 to 1993. Thousands more were injured or crippled at the hands of Israeli 
> troops. Yet, only 12 of the 70,000 Israeli soldiers regularly posted in 
> occupied territories during the intifada died in the four-year uprising, 
> clearly demonstrating the restraint with which Palestinian dissent was carried 
> out.
>
> The second intifada, which began in 2000 after a decade of negotiations 
> yielded only more Israeli settlements, violence was used much more readily, 
> including armed attacks. Yet while the acts of violence by both sides were 
> more likely to feature in the headlines, many Palestinians were still 
> employing nonviolent means of resistance; protests and marches, many at nearly 
> daily funerals, were commonplace. It is during this period that the seeds of 
> present-day nonviolent resistance in Palestine were planted.
>
> Before we can think about whether nonviolent resistance is likely to factor 
> heavily in the next chapter of the Palestinian struggle, we must first 
> consider its aims. Nonviolent resistance, like armed resistance, is a tactic 
> or tool primarily used to draw attention to a cause. The difference between 
> the two is, of course, more important than the similarities. While armed 
> resistance is likely to draw more attention to a cause by grabbing headlines, 
> it's also likely to bring with it plenty of negative attention. Nonviolent 
> resistance is far less likely to make it into the international news, though 
> when it does get coverage, it's usually overwhelmingly positive. But a 
> strategy of nonviolence only works if the world is paying attention and 
> rewarding nonviolence with meaningful action.
>
> The atmosphere in the Middle East and North Africa today is electric. Thanks 
> to the scenes of peaceful protesters ousting dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, 
> belief in nonviolent people power is at an all-time high. But for Palestinians 
> to continue making the same decision, they have to believe they will succeed. 
> If nonviolent Palestinian protesters are crushed by force and their repression 
> is met with silence from the Western states that support Israel, many might 
> choose an alternate path. That's why the U.S. response to the Nakba Day 
> protests -- pointing the finger at Syria instead of criticizing Israel for 
> shooting unarmed demonstrators -- is so disappointing.
>
> If ever there were a moment for Palestinians to overwhelmingly embrace 
> nonviolence, that moment is now. The new media environment has created space 
> for peaceful Palestinian voices that would never have been heard in the past. 
> Many nonviolent protests continue to take place regularly: from the aid 
> flotillas and convoys, along with repeated demonstrations against buffer zones 
> in Gaza, to protests against the separation wall in Bilin, Nilin, Nabi Saleh, 
> and al-Walaja; to demonstrations against home eviction and demolition in 
> Jerusalem neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan; to regular marches in 
> refugee camps inside and outside of Palestine.
>
> But Western governments need to end their silence. By condemning Palestinian 
> violent resistance while failing to condemn Israel's repression of nonviolent 
> resistance, Israel's allies -- above all the United States -- are sending the 
> dangerous message to young Palestinians that no resistance to Israeli 
> occupation is ever acceptable. The fact that the nonviolent protest of the 
> Arab Spring has come to Palestine is not a threat. It's a historic opportunity 
> for the West to finally get it right.
>
> 8) Palestinian protest reaches Marlborough
> Julia Spitz, Milford [MA] Daily News, May 19, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x1357380064/Spitz-Palestinian-protest-reaches-Marlborough 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=5bOA3dyIhZkISZfm1NS0RRHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> As the Obama administration grapples with what protests in the Middle East 
> mean to America, a Marlborough mom has seen what they mean to her son. Not 
> that she wanted a glimpse of a piece of his detached scalp.
>
> "I did not need to see that," Robin Whitman said of the photo someone gave her 
> son after he was injured in al-Nabi Saleh, a small village near Ramallah in 
> the Palestinian West Bank where protests against land confiscation have been 
> held each Friday for more than a year.
>
> "Many people who were at the protest came to see how I was and even had a gift 
> given to me from the village ... which was the piece of my head (that) was 
> knocked off by the tear gas canister" shot by Israeli soldiers, Christopher 
> Whitman said in a posting on mondoweiss.net Friday. "It's frightening when 
> your child calls you from 8,000 miles away and says, 'I'm OK, but ... I got 
> shot in the head,' " Robin Whitman said this week.
>
> "At one point, the blood loss was so extreme the places in my body that were 
> farthest from my heart (fingers, knees) began tensing to a point of no 
> control," her son said of the injury. He was out of the hospital and able to 
> speak to a reporter Tuesday morning.
> The weekly protests have recently started to turn violent, he said in a 
> Democracy Now radio interview.
>
> "The village only has about 500 people, yet every week there's a massive 
> amount of injuries," he said. "The village has only about 500 people, yet 
> every week there are almost 30 injured. So, we're talking about 8 percent of 
> the village every week is injured engaging in nonviolent protest. We're mostly 
> talking about people that are under the age of 12 and over the age of 55 who 
> are just asking and protesting for their rights to not have their land taken 
> away to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied territories."
>
> "From what I understand, he's not an active protester," Robin Whitman said. 
> "They tend to have international students at the back of the crowd taking 
> pictures or videotaping. They are more observers. "There are probably 
> thousands of international students lending credence to the fact there are 
> atrocities happening to people there."
> [...]
> Christopher's parents visited him in February and learned a little about his 
> new world, said his mother. "You go past villages and think, 'I could never 
> live here,' and yet you hear children laughing and you think, 'Wow.' How long 
> will the innocence last? Not long enough.
>
> "The conflict isn't between people. It's between governments," she said.
>
> And although she says she is "not political," what she has learned through her 
> son's experiences makes her "want people to know what happens on the other 
> side of the world. "Every religion started there" in the Middle East. 
> "Everybody's got roots there.
> "It puts on a pretty face at Christmas and Easter," when tourists flock to the 
> holy cities, "but other times, people are being attacked.
>
> "All I'm looking for is for people to realize there is this part of the world 
> where there are a lot of human beings ... we need to keep safe somehow."*
>
> Saudi Arabia/Bahrain*
> 9) US Arms Sales At Odds With Words
> Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe, May 21, 2011
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/05/21/us_arms_sales_at_odds_with_words/ 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2BVzysXSSPRXPKaTF%2FL5dvUX8Sn1CS2%2B8>
>
> On the same day President Obama pressed again for peace in the Middle East, 
> the Associated Press reminded us that the United States cannot help itself 
> from flooding the region with the instruments of war, reporting that the 
> nation is "quietly expanding defense ties on a vast scale'' with Saudi Arabia.
>
> How vast? The part that has been highly publicized is the new $60 billion arms 
> sale made to the Saudis because of the ongoing threat of Iran. The deal sends 
> Saudi Arabia 84 new F-15s and upgrades to 70 F-15s. It also sends them about 
> 180 Apache, Black Hawk, and Little Bird helicopters, as well as anti-ship and 
> anti-radar missiles. In officially announcing the sale last fall, Andrew 
> Shapiro, the US assistant secretary of state for political affairs, said the 
> sales were part of "deepening our security relationship with a key partner 
> with whom we've enjoyed a solid security relationship for nearly 70 years.''
>
> But there are other emerging aspects of the security relationship the Obama 
> administration is not so candid about. The AP also reported on an obscure 
> project to create a special elite security force that would fall under the US 
> Central Command. The force would have up to 35,000 members "to protect the 
> kingdom's oil riches and future nuclear sites.'' It would be separate from 
> Saudi Arabia's military and its national guard and would involve tens of 
> billions of dollars in additional military contracts. But no official of the 
> Pentagon, the State Department, or the Saudi embassy would go on the record to 
> discuss the program.
>
> The sheepishness of the Pentagon was mirrored by Obama's failure to mention 
> Saudi Arabia once in his speech Thursday at the State Department. Obama urged 
> fresh Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, praised the revolutions in Tunisia and 
> Egypt, harshly denounced Libya and Syria, and cajoled Yemen and Bahrain to 
> loosen up on their people. Obama criticized in general the "corruption of 
> elites'' and pushed for women's rights in health, business, and politics. He 
> said, "the region will never reach its full potential when more than half of 
> its population is prevented from achieving their full potential.''
>
> Saudi Arabia is well-known for the elites who still continue to suppress 
> women's potential. Only 31 percent of women ages 25-54 are in the workplace, 
> compared to 96 percent of like-aged men, according to the International Labor 
> Organization. While modernization and international pressure have led to women 
> being more than half of the country's college students, they do not have equal 
> access to classes and facilities, according to Freedom House, the advocacy 
> group that has tracked levels of freedom since World War II. Despite scattered 
> appointments of female officials in government, business, and television news, 
> laws still discriminate against women, and women were recently banned once 
> more from municipal elections scheduled for later this year.
>
> The United States is boosting aid to such regimes even though it demands far 
> less accountability than it is supposed to. A Government Accountability Office 
> study last fall found that the State Department and the Defense Department 
> "did not consistently document how arms transfers to Gulf countries advanced 
> US foreign policy and national security goals.'' Among the policy criteria 
> that arms transfers are supposed to be assessed on is whether that country is 
> protecting human rights, but State Department officials admitted to the GAO 
> "that they do not document these assessments.'' The report concluded that the 
> gap in accountability meant "Congress may not have a clear understanding'' of 
> direct commercial sales of arms to the Gulf region.''
>
> Most experts assume that Obama remains mute on Saudi Arabia because it has the 
> largest oil production capacity in the world and its strategic importance 
> against Iran. But these arms deals, public and secret, up the ante on Obama to 
> be far more transparent about what our relationship is to a nation that is 
> assisting the Bahrain government in its crackdown on freedom protesters. Even 
> as Obama praised the people of North Africa who have risen up for human rights 
> "in the face of batons and sometimes bullets,'' he is sending yet more 
> bullets, planes, and missiles to nations that fall far too short on human rights.
>
> *Honduras*
> 10) Accord looks to heal Honduras' political wounds
> Freddy Cuevas, Associated Press, Mon May 23, 2:15 am ET
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be* 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13496588 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=l0VPrlR%2FGIWY8KkbWEcUwBHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Honduras' president hopes to heal the political wounds 
> from the June 2009 coup, having signed a reconciliation accord that lets 
> exiled leader Manuel Zelaya come home and emphasizes the right of Hondurans to 
> call for a public vote on possible constitutional revisions - the issue that 
> led to Zelaya's ouster.
>
> President Porfirio Lobo met with Zelaya on Sunday in Cartagena, Colombia, to 
> put their names on an agreement that is aimed at ending Honduras' political 
> crisis and paving the way for the country to rejoin the Organization of 
> American States. Both men smiled when they shook hands. Lobo called the 
> signing "a very important day for Honduras," saying the accord is "for the 
> millions of Hondurans who choose to live in peace and harmony."
>
> He also urged his countrymen to recognize that it will be good for the country 
> for Zelaya to come home. "Return to Honduras without any fear because you will 
> be treated with the respect due a former president," Lobo told Zelaya.
>
> Zelaya praised the accord, which was worked out by Presidents Hugo Chavez of 
> Venezuela and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia. "I am pleased to come to sign a 
> reconciliation agreement for the democracy of the Honduran people ... Do not 
> be afraid of democracy," Zelaya said.
>
> Zelaya was toppled by Honduras' military after he defied a Supreme Court order 
> to cancel a national referendum asking voters if Honduras should change its 
> constitution. Opponents charged that Zelaya was trying to get around a 
> constitutional provision limiting presidents to a single term. He denied that 
> was the aim.
>
> Now Lobo is backing the idea of Hondurans considering changes in the country's 
> governmental system, something Zelaya argued is needed to improve the lives of 
> the poor.
>
> The Cartagena Accord reiterates that the Honduran constitution has a legal 
> process for calling a national referendum on reforming fundamental laws. The 
> accord also calls for no persecution of Zelaya and his supporters, the 
> ex-leader's safe return to Honduras and a guarantee that Zelaya supporters be 
> allowed to participate in Honduras' politics and its 2014 elections as a 
> political party. It further provides for respect for human rights and an 
> investigation of possible rights violations.
> [...]
> Chavez, a strong supporter of Zelaya who was not able to be in Cartagena 
> because of a knee injury, promised to ensure the deal's terms are respected. 
> "We will be monitoring very closely that the agreement is fulfilled because we 
> know there will be forces inside and outside Honduras who are going to try to 
> boycott the accord," the Venezuelan leader said.
> [...]
> Zelaya, who has been living in exile in the Dominican Republic, said last week 
> that he plans to return to his homeland Saturday.
> [...]
> OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza issued a statement saying the accord 
> "opens the way to return Honduras to the hemispheric organization." He said 
> the deal would be presented to the OAS's permanent council Monday. Honduras' 
> return to the OAS is expected to be made official during the organization's 
> general assembly in El Salvador June 5-7.
>
> -
>
> Just Foreign Policy 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=P7bxIgq6c6urU3L6T5MYukX8Sn1CS2%2B8> 
> is a membership organization devoted to reforming US foreign policy so it 
> reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans. The archive of 
> the Just Foreign Policy News is here 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=0oxbkF5%2Fde22FMRSIu4GUBHE1AUmN5mL>: 
>
> *MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from 
> "salsa.democracyinaction.org" claiming to be*
> http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/blog/dailynews 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=X%2BLfv0xxaGgl%2BD%2Fec2QG2kX8Sn1CS2%2B8>
>
>
>
> ------------
>
> Click here to unsubscribe 
> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lxSyiDD3kKBfHHFvizmeHhHE1AUmN5mL>
>
> empowered by Salsa <http://www.salsalabs.com/?email>
> Web Bug from http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/TrackImage?key=1810316841
>
>
> This body part will be downloaded on demand.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20110523/673cb2d7/attachment-0001.html>