Tuesday, December 30, 2008

ISRAEL'S GAZA BLITZKRIEG
The Beginning of the End ?




News of the Day (latest update further down!)

Already 360 Palestinians killed and 1.700 wounded on the fourth day of Israel's attack on Gaza have incited anti-Israeli rallies around the world:

Manifestations in Beirut as well as Amman/Jordan where 25.000 rose in protest.

Egypt now opens its border to Gaza for the rescue of wounded Palestinians.

The Muslim majority of Indonesia's 220 million inhabitants opposes Israel's Gaza attack, says Professor Bahtiar Effendy from Islamic State University, Jakarta.



UPDATE (January 4, 2009):

Meanwhile, the figure of Palestinians killed has risen to more than 500. Many Palestinian families lost their homes while Israel's army joint their airforce and navy in the merciless bombardment when it passed the border to separate Gaza City from the rest of the Gaza strip. Voices from all over the world, including the UN Security Council, are demanding Israel to stop the bloodshed.




UPDATE (January 11, 2009):

Latest overall toll of casualties :
January 10 (day 15 of war) - 830 Palestinians killed - 3350 wounded.
January 11 (day 16 of war) - 888 Palestinians killed - 4080 wounded.
13 Israelis killed since war on Gaza began. [All data from Al-Jazeera International]


Israeli bombing of tunnels crossing the Gaza-Egypt border. Those tunnels are being used for smuggling of goods (including cattle !) and weapons:
300-600 tunnels
8-20 m deep
200-1.000 m long

Israel is accused of using white phosphorus in its bombs. Burning phosphorus is known to inflict serious wounds when coming in contact with the human body. A similar devastating effect could be achieved by napalm which the U.S. applied in Vietnam against, both, guerillas and civilists.

Indonesia: 50.000 protest against the war on Gaza.

While U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's presidency is approaching, Israel's president Olmert declares "Israeli military close to fulfilling their goals in Gaza".


As Israel is able to apply nuclear weapons, voices are getting louder that it might plan to use those weapons against Iran, best equipped enemy to the Jewish state. U.S. authorities lately denied a report saying they received a request from Jerusalem for additional weapons.



UPDATE (January 14-15, 2009):

Latest overall toll of casualties :
January 15 (day 20 of war) - 1078 Palestinians killed - more than 5.000 wounded.

Israel accused of shelling UN headquarters in Gaza City while UN general secretary Ban Ki-Moon is holding talks with the Israeli government. Israeli shell hits marked UN vehicle in Gaza.

Gaza's media building hit by Israeli shelling.
Red Crescent hospital in Gaza City hit by Israel.

Voices of the World: Enough is Enough ! يكفي

Qatar calls for emergency summit on Gaza truce.
Israel questions legality of UN emergency meeting.


Venezuela and Bolivia break diplomatic ties with Israel.
Iran is discussing war on Israel.

Oussama Bin Laden (January 14, 2009) is calling for a Holy War on Israel.
بن لادن يدعو للجهاد لوقف العدوان الإسرائيلي على غزة



NHK World TV, Tokyo, (January 14) is discussing the development that led to the current situation: After Hamas won the Palestinian general elections in 2006, differences with its moderate counterpart Fatah increased, thus, resulting in clashes between both groups in 2007. Since then, Gaza has been controlled by Hamas while the former Westbank territory is being ruled by Fatah. Rockets have been launched on Israel from the Gaza strip, steadily but on a low scale, until Israel decided a "bombing out" of Hamas activists from Gaza. A few rockets have even been launched from Lebanon by a small number of Hamas supporters while Lebanese Hizbollah activists were not involved at all.



UPDATE (January 19, 2009):

While Israeli troops are being withdrawn from Gaza, only hours before U.S. president Obama's inauguration, here's the provisional statistics of human casualties among the Palestinian population and of material damage made to their infrastructure.
The death toll of Palestinians cannot be finally determined at this moment as the rubbles of Palestinian homes are just going to be fully removed. The total assessment of human and material damage could therefore last some further days. By the way, about 100.000 Palestinians have been displaced by the war.
When it comes to the evaluation of Israeli losses in the 22 days lasting war: 13 Israelis are reported to be killed, including three civilians.


Israeli Atrocities Reported

The following images show the urban areas of Gaza that have been shelled by Israeli troops during the last days. Local witnesses in the Rafah area (Gaza's southern border to Egypt) told Al-Jazeera that most damage to houses, plantations and water irrigation devices has been done by Israeli troops while they withdrew from Gaza territory after fighting had ended.
A desperate father reported to Al-Jazeera that his family was ordered by megaphone to leave their home. When they did so, while carrying a white flag, his children were shot from a distance of about ten metres by an Israeli soldier who let their father alive. Images from destroyed homes show Israeli graffiti reading like: "We are the good guys. Yours are the bad ones."





Comment: The Beginning of the End ?

Even though the dead and the wounded are on the Palestinian side now, this attack might turn out to be the beginning of the end of the state of Israel. As foreign support, even from the U.S., is steadily dwindling, Israel might find itself isolated sooner or later while Palestinian rage is steadily rising as well. On the military side, well-equipped Islamic nations could get into trouble when it comes to maintain a half-hearted "neutrality" towards Israel while essential parts of their population are more and more fiercely opposing that neutrality and pressing their governments for immediate action. Not to mention Iran that seems to be the most decided and most dangerous enemy of Israel. Thus, a situation could emerge in a near future when sufficient military power against Israel comes together with a decreasing international support for that country which has been seen by its neighbours as the origin of conflict since the very moment it came into being. The day to come, even Israel's nuclear potential might lose its scaring power. [December 30, 2008]



UPDATE (March 26, 2009):

EPILOGUE

An Israeli airstrike in Sudan is reported by Al-Jazeera. The airstrike targeted a convoy that allegedly transported arms from its Sudanese shipping port, Port Sudan, to the Egyptian frontier with Gaza.
While U.S. Africa Command denied any participation in that military action, Israeli government sources launched a statement that confirmed, Israel would hit their enemies whereever it might be necessary. Up to now, the Sudanese government denied any knowledge of that incident on its territory.


At the same time the use of phosphorous in Israeli grenades during the latest Gaza incursion has become a subject of the public debate on Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Earlier reports by Al-Jazeera already showed evidence that Palestinian civilians and their property had been targeted willfully by Israeli forces during the Gaza offensive (look above).

On March 26, 2009 as well, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi-Arabia, Freeman, confirmed the existence of a strong influence of the pro-Israel lobby in his country under the Bush administration and denied the existance of any pro-Arab lobby. He pointed out that, according to president Obama, such kind of lobbyism should play no further role under the new administration. [Interview by Al-Jazeera]

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

RUSSIA - Gas Cut Off - Plays of Power



UPDATE for January 7, 2009, further down !

Europe - Gas Shortage Predicted

Natural gas supply to Europe could be endangered as Russia is decided to stop further gas supply to Ukraine by the beginning of January 2009. While Russia delivers a quarter of European gas, 80% flowing through the Ukraine, this should effect gas prices in Europe. A similar situation was observed in 2006 after Ukrainian consumers had been cut off from Russian gas supply for the same reason as now: increasing paying debts. In the aftermath of a global financial crisis that has just been softened by joint global efforts, the Ukrainian situation might be even worse than in 2006.
[Reports from China's Renmin Ribao online, December 20, and Al-Jazeera, December 23]

Russia - Plays of Power

بوتين يقول إن عصر الغاز الرخيص يوشك على الانتهإ

When Putin now declares that the extraction of cheap gas is reaching its end, this should be seen in the frame of a new alliance, just being forged between Russia and several oil and gas producing states. That alliance, comprising Iran and Venezuela as its most essential pillars, would then represent the most powerful counterweight to the traditional economic and military alliance between the U.S. and Western Europe. Already equipped with Russian weapons, both states migth soon find themselves united in their enmity against U.S influence under the supervision of Russia. As both countries are being supported either by influential Islamic groups within their own region (Iran) or by a local Latin American alliance (Venezuela), Putin's coup could therefore lead to a revival of Russia's power and glory, known from the days of the former Soviet Union.


روسيا تتهم جورجيا بارتكاب إبادة جماعية في أوسيتيا الجنوبية

When, at the same time, Russia accuses its neighbour and NATO candidate Georgia of practising genocide in South Ossetia, Putin is adding just another action intended to show the U.S. their limits.

UPDATE January 7, 2009:

Today, it became clear to the German government that the actual delivery stop of Russian gas to the Ukraine would effect the gas delivery to Western Europe as well. Even though German energy supply is buffered by huge amounts of stored gas volumes and other ways of delivery, both, the minister of economy Glos and federal chancellor Merkel are showing their concern about the actual situation that is simultaneously affected by a sudden period of very low temperatures in Germany. The situation of Germany's neighbour Poland is even more desolate.


It should be added that all important commercial energy agencies from Germany had observed the Moscow talks about the creation of an international union of gas supplying countries in December. Even though the recent development was already touchable at that time, those agencies gave no warning. Maybe, some German experts are still relying on "comrade" Gerhard Schröder, former German chancellor, close friend to former KGB agent Vladimir Putin and, now, important contact between German economy and Russia's state owned GAZPROM.



In fact, the first news of a delivery stop to Ukraine by the beginning of 2009 had already been launched at a press conference on December 18, 2008 as was reported by a Chinese source (i.e. network of the Chinese metal-processing industry) on the very next day.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Cuba / Venezuela - New Treaties Signed

Annotation: The following post on U.S. President Bush is as hot as this one !

Caracas / 1:50 CET live transmission by Cubavision

On the occasion of the eighth anniversary of cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela, different treaties on the implementation of further common projects are signed by members of both governments.



The Cuban president Raul Castro receives a distinguished decoration from Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela. Furthermore Raul is given a rapier reminding Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America from Spanish colonialism. Raul Castro in exchange gives away a photo, dating back from 1958 and kept by Raul as a reminder of the battles later to be fought in the frame of the Cuban revolution. It is showing Raul wearing the uniform of the Cuban guerilleros and in front of a monument dedicated to Simon Bolivar and that had already been decorated with the emblems of, both, Cuba and Venezuela.



In their individual speeches, the leaders of both countries are referring to General Simon Bolivar and General Sucre who were at the origin of Latin American nationalism.

Most important project for Cuba's economy:
Further crude oil from Venezuela will be provided for a new refinery that has recently been established with the help of Venezuela.
The actual volume of economic cooperation between both countries is comprising 3,6 billion $.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

U.S. President Bush - Last Pictures


On his final visit to Iraq, a journalist threw his shoes
at the president, simultaneously naming him a "dog".
(December 14, 2008)



Some days ago, Bush introduced his portrait, painted
in oil, with the words: "Welcome to my hanging." Not
quite like national "progenitor" Abraham.


Finally, George Bush exposed himself as a popstar,
seemingly trying to sing the DOW index further down.

Monday, December 08, 2008

GUANTANAMO - September 11 Tribunal
"Celebrities" Pleading Guilty

Five long-term detainees at Guantanamo Bay, among them Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, have pleaded guilty before the September 11 tribunal. None of them is showing any regrets at what had happened in 2001. They insist on being sentenced as soon as possible in order to die as martyrs.

غوانتاناموـ استئناف محاكمة 5 معتقلين بينهم خالد شيخ محمد في قضية هجمات 11 أيلول 2001

What happened on the same day:

Pakistan - Militant islamists torched armoured NATO vehicles.
Pakistan - Arrest by Pakistani forces of 15 alleged Mumbai terrorists.
Afghanistan - The Taliban claim control of 72% of Afghanistan while a study of the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) confirms an increasing presence of the Taliban in most regions of the country, including Kabul where new military checkpoints have been recently installed.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Mumbai Attack - 印度的恐怖分子是谁?

孟买的恐怖分子是谁?

目前在印度积极活动的恐怖组织达176个,比较激进和具有恐怖色彩的有以下4类:第一类是“锡克宗教委员会”、“卡利斯坦突击队”、“全印锡克学生联合会”和“锡克宗教委员会”等;第二类是印度教徒和伊斯兰教徒围绕克什米尔争端而成立的如“查谟和克什米尔解放阵线”等;第三是以少数民族为主体的极端组织,如“阿萨姆联合解放阵线”、“博多保安军”、“特里普拉民族解放阵线”和“全特里普拉猛虎军”等;第四类是反政府的极左组织,如“人民游击军”和“人民战争集团”等。

但是印度的外交部长说:孟买恐怖袭击事件与巴基斯坦恐怖分子有关。巴基斯坦的政府从来回答:全地区的恐怖分子是从阿富汗来得。


2008年9月28日:巴基斯坦


2008年7月6日:巴基斯坦




This morning, further hostages have been freed by special forces from occupied Trident Hotel in Mumbai. [NHK TV, Tokyo, November 28]

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

CUBA - China Breaking the Blockade
古巴—中国突破封锁


胡锦涛主席探望古共中央第一书记菲德尔·卡斯特罗。胡锦涛出席了金融市场和世界经济峰会、亚太经会组织会议并访问古巴。

November 18: Chinese leaders sign a trade deal with Cuba.

Chinese President Hu Jintao on a two-day official visit to Cuba. In the same aircraft that brought the Chinese president and China's trade minister Chen Deming, humanitarian cargo for the victims of recent hurricanes was delivered. [Radio Habana / People's Daily online]

There are two aspects making the visit of high-ranking Chinese leaders to Cuba a profitable enterprise for China :

1) The sentimental value of Hu Jintao and Fidel Castro deliberating on the good old days of a Cuban-Chinese friendship that is dating back to Mao Tsedong and Deng Xiaoping, and that is coming together with badly needed humanitarian aid. A sentimental value that pays in terms of an increasing prestige for China.

2) The economic value of a trade deal that enables China to exploit Cuban sugarcane and nickel, both commodities belonging to the few material values Cuba has to offer. An economic value that has to be seen before the background of an outdated U.S. embargo and at a time of "interregnum" when a new and more liberal U.S. president elect is forced to wait for his official inauguration and for the very first opportunity to do his job.

Nevertheless, this is a win-win situation for both, Cuba and China. One partner is gaining political and economic influence, while the other is being helped to survive the hardships of recent natural disasters and a (steadily crumbling) political discrimination. Its the U.S. that is losing this match !


Further information on an international community opposing the economic blockade of Cuba can be found in my blog post: Obama and Change that is Needed

UPDATE November 21: Report by U.S. intelligence agencies projecting U.S. decline and global unrest [Al-Jazeera]

Sunday, November 16, 2008

NORTH KOREA - A Zombie's Life 死人的活动

On October 11, 2008, North Korean TV published a set of ten images that should prove Kim Jong Il being alive. All images show the North Korean leader while visiting troops. It should be his first public appearance after August 14,2008. [Source 环球日报]


朝鲜中央电视台播放金正日视察朝鲜女子炮兵部队的照片
Kim Jong Il visiting a unit of female artillery soldiers on October 11, 2008. Could it be that the North Korean leader has received a severe burn ?


Since October 3, 2007, when the South Korean president met with his counterpart, we didn't receive any reliable image of Kim Jong Il at all.


Finally, on November 6, 2008, the North Korean "Worker's News" / 劳动新闻 published a report on Kim Jong Il visiting the military units 534 (above) and 2200 (below). [Source人民网/新华网]


We can therefore suppose that "Zombie" Kim Jong Il is still alive and might have recovered from a kind of "disease" that goes without any further comment.

When it comes to analyze North Korea's desolate situation with all its aspects, two points should be considered:
1. The days of the North Korean leadership are obviously counted, and whatever might happen to that country, it will happen very soon.
2. As it is difficult to imagine any essential change coming from the inside, Chinese and South Korean support will be needed to ensure the country's transformation into a modern state, fully accepted by the international community.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

GERMANY - On Chasing the Jews

Anniversary "Reichsprogromnacht" November 9/10, 1938
When in 1938 most German synagogues were torched and jews were chasen from their houses, separated from their families, their property being robbed or destroyed, this was nothing else but a first test for the organized liquidation of the jewish race under Nazi rule. Looking back to those days, it should be mentioned that ordinary German citizens did not really react upon the proceedings of that night. Daily life continued as if nothing had happened. New jobs were created for the common people as jews disappeared, and some seemed to get rich overnight.

In the days of my youth, we often heard from the elder generation that "only few" actually knew about the cruelties that happened to the jews. Of course, there were only a few people who got an insight of the concentration camps and were able to tell about it afterwards. Nevertheless, many others must have remarked the new laws that discriminated the jews, laws that had already been created in the years before. They must have seen burning synagogues and prayer rooms and must have heard the shoutings of hatred in their neighbourhood in the night of the progrome. They must have seen lots of people being driven through the streets of Berlin or Munich to the great railway stations from where they were sent to the concentration camps. It wasn't fear alone that held ordinary citizens back from protest but rather mere indifference towards the cruelties they didn't like to see, an indifference most Germans had to pay for during the following years of war.

Therefore, I dare predict that any discrimination within a modern society could lead to the same results again. As people are forgetful when it comes to learn from history, and because it is easy to stir up the animosity of ordinary people against any social group that has been elected as the "jew of the year", even the consequences of a social crisis could easily lead to that devastating mechanism. Unfortunately, there is a global economic crisis comprising Germany as well. Let's therefore remember a social law, called Hartz IV and that is depriving the long-term unemployed from exercising some of their constitutional rights, such making them potential victims of blackmail attempts by potential employers or by their spiteful middle-class neighbours who are trying to disguise a right-wing attitude yet being sensitive about their own reputation. That law alone, feared by the unemployed as well as by those who might loose their jobs, could be a nice pretext to trigger off a nasty hunt for the scapegoat, the so-called "lazy unemployed", while the real problem is situated somewhere else in the structure of society.

Of course, the victimization and annihilation of a social or ethnic group is not a German invention at all, but nowhere else had it been organized better on behalf of its national leadership. Additional laws, created to enforce a tighter grip on each citizen and based on the false pretext of a "fight against terrorism", are already available or being prepared. And we have become used to similar laws on other fields of daily life. Who then would find anything unusual in the private hunt of some self-righteous middle-class type for "terrorists" or other "suspicious elements" in his neighbourhood, in that time where snoopers and informers are easily to be found. A steadily decreasing level of education, already effecting German economy, and the undemocratic attitude of blockheaded remnants from the former East-German state party or state security (*) will then enhance a climate where everything might become possible.

As already indicated above, the middle-class of our society seems to be the decisive source of fascistic thinking, - that part of society, deeming itself superior to the working class and simultaneously knowing that its access to influence and public power is only restricted, due to its medium level of education. Scared by any economic or political change, this group of citizens is tending to counteract such changes and resort to extreme positions. As the left-wing orientated politicians are traditionally related to the despised working class, they prefer to rely on right-wing orientated groups and their leaders. Such, it is easy to understand that about 60% of the fascistic National Democratic Party's voters belong to that middle class.


The first concentration camp, established by Nazi leader Himmler, a typical middle-class type without any special abilities and who had been estimated by his father as a "useless weakling in a bad company". Throughout the years of Nazi rule, Himmler's father, a well-reputed highschool teacher, refused to speak in favour of his son (source: documentation on Himmler's father on a German national TV channel, some years ago).

(*) Annotation:
The activitiy of former East-German security types after the reunification is a specific German aspect when it comes to evaluate fascistic resources in the Federal Republic of Germany. Once the most important extension of a fascistic state and its true base of power, some former state security men and women, together with their uniformed counterparts of the former People's Police, have found ways to resume their used activity under the roof of powerful Western companies like Siemens, Telecom and parts of the armaments branch. Companies that suddenly longed for "professional advice" on works security, at the same time when thousands of employees were going to be dismissed because of a degrading economy. Thus, it became a question of survival again to guard one's words and to watch out who was listening. This new wave of "security enhancement" finally led to cases like that of Munich Airport where former state security men already were on the brink of taking over control. Now, the authorities became alarmed, and it was the former Bavarian prime minister Stoiber who ordered to replace all of the security companies involved. The German media had the facts.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

U.S.A. - Obama New President

5:00 CET
3:00 CET
3:00 Central European Time / 8:00 Eastern Standard Time:

I. The vote ratio in favor of Obama is now 174:49 after the Democrate's candidate winning over Pennsylvania and Ohio.

II. Democrates have just reached a majority in the Senate.

5:00 Central European Time:

Obama elected president of the United States. Vote ratio 297:139 (270 needed to become president).

=> Click to the images for a better resolution !

Monday, November 03, 2008

U.S. Election Countdown


The above image has been composed by Ulysses / Wolfgang Wiesner, the editor of BLUEPRINT magazine. It is intended to express the personal opinion of its author and may be distributed in the frame of the actual presidential election campaign. Click to this image for a higher resolution !

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Obama and Change that is Needed

Only six days before the presidential election, Senator Obama is still leading the race to the White House. If a beginning stabilization of the financial markets is making further progress, the urgent need for economic measures might not overshadow the public evaluation of both candidates any longer, such giving way to a less emotional debate. This could benefit Obama rather than McCain. As the Republican candidate McCain is expected to pursue the failed politics of the actual president Bush while his running mate Sarah Palin doesn't seem to be the best possible choice, his chances to win are not really going to increase. Nevertheless, Barak Obama, the magician of change, should be warned as there's a saying from Confucius: "Someone who is decided to make great changes happen, he should speak low and carry a big stick with him."


Change that is Badly Needed


Today: Cuban Foreign Minister (usually referred to as "canciller" or chancellor) Felipe Perez Roque addressed the United Nations' General Assembly. In his speech, Roque attacked the economic blockade that has been imposed and maintained for tenths of years by the United States. He described the results of such behaviour in a time of climate changes that caused devastating hurricanes and made Cuba's people suffer without sufficient help to be provided from the outside. Therefore, Roque compared U.S. politics towards Cuba with a genocide. He added that a rising number of states became in favour of Cuba's claim to be freed from an unjustified U.S. embargo, states that are, like Cuba itself, now subject to U.S. pressure.
The following pictures show the results of all annual votes against the maintenance of a U.S. blockade in the General Assembly of the United Nations from 1992 until 2008. The votes in favour ("a favor") of Cuba's initiative speak for themselves. [Cubavision TV]



UPDATE (October 30):
For more information refer to Periódico 26 / Cuba. According to RADIO HAVANA, the votes against the Cuban initiative are from the U.S., Israel and the Pacific island state of Palau. The original speech of F.P. Roque has been recorded by BLUEPRINT magazine.