Will The Israeli Settlers Resume Building Again?

http://mimbari.livejournal.com/

September 26-2010:

Will The Israeli Settlers Resume Building Again?

I say frankly YES. For the following reasons.

* HAMAS said on no uncertain terms that they will never meet face to face with the Israeli representatives, if the Settlement Building does not cease immediately, and permanently.

* HAMAS also feels that they've been down this road before, and Israel have not honored their part of the bargain anytime before. And this is just another charade by Israel to stall the Peace Process.

* FATAH'S Mahmoud Abbas hands are tied to the Arab-European & US donors to his authority. He may want to take a hard stand with Israel on all or most of these outstanding and unsolved issues, but he realizes that The West Bank Authority and survival depends on Western Financial Support.

So he has to appear to his people to be strong on the issues, until he is forced to back off when it fails to materialize.

Just like this current effort will be dashed with the resumption of settlement building on Palestinian lands.

Derryck.
NYC

THE FIVE US KILL TEAM OF SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN:

THE FIVE US KILL TEAM OF SOLDIERS IN AFGHANISTAN:

The five US soldiers that killed Afghans and collected their fingers as trophies are: Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield.

These Human Beasts should get Court Marshalled, and if found guilty, sentenced to death by Firing Squad.

Derryck-NYC.

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5 U.S. Soldiers Charged In Afghan Civilians' Deaths
by NPR Staff and Wires

June 17-2010.

The five US soldiers are: Andrew Holmes, Michael Wagnon, Jeremy Morlock and Adam Winfield.

Five Stryker Brigade soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord killed three civilians in separate shootings in Afghanistan's Kandahar province earlier this year, according to charging documents released by the Army.

The Army says all three victims were shot, and two of them were hit by thrown grenades. Two of the soldiers also are accused of assault, and another is charged with seeking to destroy evidence.

In all, five soldiers have been charged with premeditated murder in the killings. All are assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

The Army did not say what motives might have been involved.

The brigade, which made its first deployment to Afghanistan in July, has seen heavy fighting against Taliban insurgents and suffered 33 combat deaths. Two other soldiers have died of illness and another in a vehicular accident.

The three civilians killed near the Army's Forward Operating Base Ramrod in southern Afghanistan are identified as Gul Mudin, who died sometime in January; Marach Agha, killed on or about Feb. 22; and Mullah Adahdad, killed on or around May 2.

Officials at Lewis-McChord said Pvt. 1st Class Andrew Holmes, 19, of Boise, Idaho, Spc. Michael Wagnon II, 29, of Las Vegas, Nev., and Spc. Adam Winfield, 21, of Cape Coral, Fla., were charged Tuesday with one count each of premeditated murder.

Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, 25, of Billings, Mont., and Spc. Jeremy Morlock, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska, each were charged earlier this month with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault.

The charging sheets released Wednesday, with the names of the accusers and officers involved blanked out, say Morlock and Gibbs shot Agha and used fragmentary grenades and their rifles to kill Mudin and Adahdad.

Holmes is accused of throwing a grenade at and shooting Mudin, Winfield of doing the same to Adahdad, and Wagnon of shooting Agha.

The documents also allege that Morlock hit and kicked a person on May 5 and spat in a victim's face. Gibbs also is accused of hitting and kicking a person on that date. All identifying information is redacted, including names, gender, whether one or more victims were involved and whether they are civilians.

Wagnon is further accused of impeding a criminal investigation by asking another soldier to erase a computer hard drive that contained evidence of the crimes.

Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Tamara Parker said Gibbs was charged June 8 in Kuwait and is in transit to Lewis-McChord, a joint Army-Air Force base south of Tacoma. Morlock was charged June 4. He and the other three soldiers are being confined at the base, as Gibbs will be when he arrives. Parker said if the charges lead to courts-martial, the trials will likely be held there.

The next step for the soldiers will be Article 32 hearings, similar to a grand jury. Officers to lead those proceedings have not yet been appointed, and no dates for the hearings have been set, Parker said.

It could not be immediately determined whether defense lawyers have been appointed for all five men.

Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale, said it's too early to speculate what the defense might argue.

"In the past in cases arising out of combat environments, we've heard the 'fog of war' so-called defense — it's not really a defense at all. We've heard about stress," Fidell said.

The maximum penalty for a premeditated murder conviction is life in prison or the death penalty. Lewis-McChord spokesman Joseph Piek said decisions on whether to seek the death penalty normally are made after an Article 32 hearing.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127889345&ft=1&f=1001

Is Fidel Castro Still Relevant?

http://mimbari.livejournal.com/

September 16-2010:

Is Fidel Castro Still Relevant?


Ever since the overthrow of the Batista military dictatorship in Cuba, by Fidel Castro, Che Guvera and the Socialists, Cuba has come a long way.

The Bay Of Pigs fiasco which was organized and executed by CIA conscripts failed miserably. Then came the Cuban Missile Crisis, spurred by some Russian long range missiles which were setup on Cuban soil, and was seen by the US as a serious threat to it's immediate territory.

So president J. F. Kennedy urged Russia to dismantle and remove them from Cuban soil.

The stand off took some days to bear fruit, causing global concern and fear of a Nuclear Conflict between the USA and The then Soviet Union.

However, that was never to be, and the missiles were withdrawn, followed by a stringent boycott of all trade, travel, and movement of US citizens and Cuban nationals, based in the USA from visiting Cuba.

President Barack Obama's Rise To Power:

With the advent of president Barack Obama to the White House, some changes were implemented to allow Cuban nationals here to visit their relatives in Cuba. Money transfers to Cuba by relatives were also allowed.

Some may call these changes meagre, but they heralded a shift in Foreign Policy with Cuba anyway!

Is Fidel Castro Still relevant?

When Raul Castro (Fidel's brother), was allowed to assume the Prime Ministership of Cuba by Fidel, some hoped that some change in National and Foreign Policy was imminent. However, very few alterations were made in both areas, and business as usual seem to be the case.

Fidel Castro, the Revolutionary and Spiritual Leader of the Cuban people, in recent years seem to be aging rapidly, visibly ill and frail. But has regained his composure, and appears on Public Television as often as he can, to read his personal views on International Affairs to the Cuban people.

Is Cuba Ready To Make The Leap To A Free Market Economy?

Fidel Castro said recently that it was a Political Mistake to have introduced Socialism as the vanguard for National Development and Self Determination. (or words to that effect). This came as a surprise to the Global community, because he is the first Socialist leader who has publicly acknowledged that reality. Will this realization make room for the introduction of Private Enterprise (foreign and domestic), to develop? I hope so!

But however it is perceived and implemented, I presume that it will be very gradual, monitored by the Communist Party in power, and highly regulated too.

Derryck.
NYC.