Month: July 2011

“The man who murdered President Hamid Karzai’s half brother spent years as an ally of the United States in the war against the Taliban”: Ahmed Wali Karzai’s Killer Had Been a Taliban Foe (Washington Post) Hiding explosives in his turban “at a funeral service for the assassinated brother of the Afghan president in southern Kandahar…

The assassination of the president’s powerful and controversial half-brother by his own bodyguard “is likely to shake the power bases of Kandahar and  it may risk undoing the region’s recent security gains”: What Ahmed Wali Karzai’s Assassination Could Mean for Afghanistan (Christian Science Monitor) In the majority Muslim country, “Just over 94 percent” of polled…

“Rights groups say the legislation” that forces Israeli individuals and organizations to do business with illegal settlements “stifles freedom of speech and compromises Israeli democracy”: Israeli Lawmakers Pass West Bank Settlement Boycott Law (BBC) Protesters attacked the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Chilean embassies as well; “security forces who were watching the protests only intervened when…

While Israel’s defenders quote out of context the Red Cross official who also said, “continued restrictions on the movement of people and difficulties in importing building materials hampered sustainable economic recovery and dashed any hope of leading a normal and dignified life” … Did the Red Cross Say There’s No Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza? (Christian…

As the violent repression in Hama resumes, the U.S. remains deferential to Israeli concerns that a democratic Syria would be a bigger problem for the militant apartheid state than the current dictatorship, the U.S. stops short of calling for Asad to step down: Syrian City Resists Deadly Army Offensive (Guardian) Amnesty Accuses Syria of Crimes…

Embarrassed by international disgust at the ban on Gaza flotilla boats leaving Greece and the capture of an American ship in the fleet, Israel accepts the face-saving offer from bankrupt Greece, increasingly dependent on the Jewish state, to allow Greece to take the aid to Gaza through an Israeli port: Israel to Allow Greece to…