The same report claimed that only 7.5 million of Afghanistan’s 17.5 million eligible voters had registered. Free and fair?

If Karzai’s warlord cronies have over-egged the firnee and their boy romps home with an incredible margin, Iran-style riots are almost inevitable. On the other hand, if he narrowly wins, it will be more difficult for the opposition forces to cry foul. Given that he achieved only 54 per cent in 2004, the ‘ideal’ result for Karzai would be a tight margin of victory but no runoff, so we’ll see how these figures change if and when the penny drops. Since Abdullah has already declared the election to be rigged, Karzai has retaliated by declaring that he has evidence that Abdullah engaged in fraud and Ghani has submitted evidence to show that both engaged in fraud (previous post) it would perhaps be pruduent to publicly examine these claims before declaring results and certainly before starting the next Karzai puppet show.

Meanwhile, an Aljazeera film report, broadcast on YouTube shows that rumours of Taliban inactivity during the deeply troubled Afghan election may have been wishful thinking on the part of the UN observers. Indeed, the relative calm from the fundamentally religious fanatics may have more to do with the month of Ramadan, when killing and amputating, especially during daylight hours, especially of other Muslims and women, is strictly prohibited, as any Talib scholar knows. The news clip shows Taliban fighters accusing hapless voters of ‘standing in line with the Jews.’ This pointless and immature anti-semitism should not surprise us but adds another horrid ingredient to the devil’s brew in this terrible conflict. If a central plank of the Taliban’s twisted ideology is to equate the US and occupying forces with ‘Jews’ and the Palestine question, this explains why the US cannot leave (and why AIPAC were so keen to get them in there in the first place). However, it has clearly escaped the attention of the men in black that ‘Jews’ aside,  Hamas themselves have been fighting Taliban/Al Quaeda in Gaza and Fatah is likewise fiercely secularist. Ideologically, the Taliban have more in common with fundamentalist Jewish settlers than they do with secular Palestinians, who have more in common with everyday Israelis than politicians on either side would have us believe.

Elections need a bedrock of governance, and Afghanistan is naturally federalist, to say the least. Given the overwhelming evidence of fraud, intimidation and corruption, it would make most sense to form an interim government of national unity charged with establishing  norms of representative governance, auditable finances, prioritising aid and (preferably) development to the benighted swathes of the population who cannot eat votes.  Easy to say – and actually, relatively easy to do, in principle. A constructive task of nation-building would give everyone hope and put some of the whackjobs on the back foot, whilst buying time for the occupying forces to think up a face-saving exit strategy. Legitimising a joke election will sustain a toxic status quo and will almost certainly lead to more instability and bloodshed, which would suit the Taliban just fine. What price democracy? About $250 million if we’re talking about the UNAMA budget to mismanage this farce.

John J Kelly

We certainly won the war on terror - everyone's terrified now

Having reached all ‘the goals of the war, and beyond’ Israeli President Olmert trumpeted a unilateral truce to commence at 00.00 am today, having been told to stop killing so many civilians by the US on Friday, ahead of Obama’s inauguration and with enough dead and wounded Palestinians to ensure election victory. The calculation is that Hamas, who were reluctant to accept the truce, will cause sufficient trouble to make it OK for Israel to resume the killing after Barack has had time to settle down, and that Israel will look magnanimous for stopping the murdering. Given that Israeli Defence Force troops will continue to occupy Gaza and the strip will remain blockaded, the two preconditions of Hamas ‘disengagement’, the ceasefire may not hold very long.  If, on the other hand, the objective was to win an election for the neocons, it has been an enormous success- opinion polls in Israel are overwhelmingly pro-war, and those in the US aren’t that far behind. Israel won the propaganda war, with Australian smoothie Mark Regev (please indict him) trilling out lie after lie with no regard for the intelligence of his audiences. Fox News made sure that the US didn’t see too much, while the prospects of losing dwindling advertising dollars kept CNN and co. in check. So this was a success too.

Israel’s propaganda machine is well-funded – virtually all the US media has been either indifferent or silent about the Gaza massacres – or comprehensively biased towards Israel, a tendency well-satirised by Jon Stuart on January 9. A far less entertaining but deeply educational exegesis of the US media bias can be seen on Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land. It’s worth watching, especially for the statement of the obvious: Gaza and the West Bank are Israeli occupied territories, yet the US media in particular, rarely mentions this somewhat relevant fact. If you’re feeling up to it, you can watch Biased Media Reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The relevant fact amongst many in this piece is that Palestinian deaths (before the latest Gaza bloodfest) outnumber Israelis by 8:1. 200,000 ‘settlers’ colonise Palestinian territory, in contravention of Article 4 of the Geneva Convention. This is ethnic cleansing, but the media has been annexed long ago. 

Indiscriminately shelling schools, hospitals and shooting civilians, especially children (human shields) has met with wild approval in Israel, so it’s Mission Accomplished all round. And just in case there are any hitches in the carefully planned Israeli democratic elections, Israel has banned Arab political parties from participating, (January 15)  adding accusations of apartheid to the UN calls for war crimes investigations – but the world scarcely noticed this act of blatant totalitarianism. Ironically, the three (3) Israeli civilians killed in this conflict were Bedouin construction workers – ‘Israeli’ Arabs. Israel lost ten soldiers – seven killed by their own forces – which means that Hamas didn’t claim a single victim in the ‘fierce’ street fighting which allegedly took place – itself a worrying contradiction, given that they were and are allegedly well-armed and trained by Iran. Since neither Egypt not Israel would allow observers in, the truth will remain under the rubble, but it’s also worth conjecturing as to why the highly ineffective Hamas rockets are of such poor, often home made quality if they again are supplied by Iran through immense tunnels.  

Informed sources aver that ‘phase 3′ of the ‘plan’ to ensure Israel’s security will take the form of an assault on the West Bank later this year in retaliation for  yet-unspecified acts of terrorism by Arab groups, ‘funded and armed by Iran’. This might explain the huge US weapons shipment reported last week, or, looking on the bright side, they may be destined for an assault on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities (despite the departing Head of US Intelligence’s report that it would be at least two years before Iran got anywhere near military grade nuclear weapons fuel, Israel claims they will be ready by the end of the year). 

Despite the heavy Zionist lobby in bomb-em Hilary Clinton’s department, Barack Obama might have the courage, good sense and statesmanship to put warmongering state terrorists on notice, as part of the urgent  process of rehabilitating America’s reputation. This turkey shoot marks the time when the civilised world ran out of sympathy for Israel. Nobody except ineffectual extremists  believe its existence is threatened, and nobody will allow it to use this tired excuse to enact acts of wanton murder and mayhem in Lebanon and Gaza with virtually no effective international sanctions.

Nobody believes the neocons either (except true believers and paid apparatchiks). For some reason we’ve sat back and allowed pinheads, state psychopaths, media monkeys and ‘intellectuals’ to tell us black is white. This happened in Germany and elsewhere and led to the last world war with all its attendant horrors. Israelis, of all people, should be mindful.

We are not all Hamas now. We never were. Neither were the ordinary people of Gaza, but probably the majority are now. Does this give Israel the right to wipe them out? Yes, according to the twisted logic of the Zionist extremists, even if they are defenceless women and children. If Hamas, PFLP, Hizbollah, Al Quaeda and all their various grisly provisional offshoots and splinter groups had any sense (which they generally haven’t) they would work hard to ensure that Israel was hung out to dry in the wind of international (dis) opprobrium – and preferably in the courts – rather than take more vicious potshots which will lead to more civilian massacres. But they won’t. They’ll do Israel’s bidding and we can look forward to a bloody summer, unless Obama show he is a man, not a politician. 

John J Kelly

Hopeless in Gaza, John Keane, 2002

Despite the early optimism of UK Foreign Minister, David Miliband, who greeted last night’s UN Security Council Resolution for an immediate ceasefire as ‘the world speaking with one voice,’ the problem was – it wasn’t. Although the vote was carried 14-0, the US, as predicted (Thus passim) abstained. Israel, which doesn’t care much for the UN anyway (Thus passim) resumed its bombing this morning with a vengeance, carrying out at least 50 air strikes into Gaza. Outrageously, Hamas also rejected the ceasefire resolution. According to the BBC: Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said: “even though we are the main actors on the ground in Gaza, we were not consulted about this resolution and they have not taken into account our vision and the interests of our people.” Run that one by me again, Ayman. What part of ‘immediate ceasefire to avoid humanitarian tragedy’ don’t you understand? The term ‘criminal sociopaths’ (Thus passim) springs to mind, this time appended by ‘idiot’.

Meanwhile, witnesses told the UN that about 30 Palestinians died earlier this week as Israeli forces shelled a house in Gaza City into which Israeli soldiers had previously moved more than 100 people, half of them children. According to the BBC, Israel said the allegations, reported by Allegra Pacheco of UNHCR, into the shelling of the house in the Zeitoun district were being investigated (but reject the claims). International Red Cross (ICRC) witnesses say they were denied ambulance access to the incident by Israeli soldiers. The UNHCR state )the obvious) that, if true, this incident is a war crime. The UNHCR have also accused Hamas of atrocities – using civilians as human shields – and repeated the calls for journalists, NGOs and independent observers to be allowed access. Israel has rejected this call, claiming that there are plenty of journalists in Gaza and citing the Orwellian reason that the closure of the crossings from Israel to Gaza makes it problematic to allow access. 

Since the current conflict began on 27 December, it is estimated that 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis have been killed (seven by ‘friendly fire.’) Over 250 civilian deaths have been of children and teenagers. When the Israelis implement ‘Phase 3′ of this action, sending in 7000 reservists on the ground, it is likely that deaths and injuries will at least double (history indicates the probability of more ‘friendly fire’ and random massacres when the trigger-happy territorials get pushed into combat. Given that Israel and Hamas have ignored the authority of the UN, and opinion polls in Israel and the US are reacting favourably to the massacre, this seems likely. Good morning, Vietnam.

John J Kelly

Media censorship has a habit of rebounding. For example, even friendly media would struggle to describe the actions of Hamas, (whom I’ve already described in several posts as a bunch of criminal sociopaths originally sponsored by Mossad), but who have been morally strengthened by what can only politely be described as Israel’s ill-advised use of disproportionate force. It is entirely likely that they have been firing rockets out of heavily-populated positions  - Gaza is one of the world’s most densely-populated areas, so it’s hard to see how they could avoid doing so. Thus, they must be aware that in doing so they put the lives of civilians at risk. However, this equally means that the invading Israeli forces must have knowledge that in bombing buildings (and UN compounds) they will kill inncocents. Moreover, as the aforementioned grainy YouTube clips (some dating back to 2007) show, they have sophisticated surveillance techniques which show in minute detail the exact position of Hamas armament and fighters. Knowingly Bombing civilians is a crime against International Law and an indisputable breach of the Geneva Convention. Both Hamas and Israel are guilty and both should be censured. (For that matter, so should Britain and the US, for crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that’s another sorry tale altogether).

I am equally certain that Hamas rockets might have done a lot more civilian damage over the past eight years, with a lot more international outrage, had the Southern Israel citizens not organised highly effective early warning systems and educated their children to flee to purpose-built shelters within a minute of hearing a siren. Whether or not the bombs don’t achieve their ‘goal’ of killing people, the effect of constant bombardment, even with toytown rockets, exacts a terrible toll on the hearts and minds of Israeli civilians, up to and including the biblical desire for revenge. Thus, Israel’s efficiency in defending its citizens has possibly and paradoxically contributed to the build-up to the present unequal contest. Allied to the sense of hopelessness in the face of muted international condemnation of Hamas (and Hizbollah), this may have led inexorably to a situation where the military hawks (vicious, opportunistic bullies but never the cleverest or most lateral thinkers) forced their ‘solution’ (bombing civilian populations) to the front of the agenda. 

The (deplorable) default position of the international liberal media is to don the keffiyeh and metaphorically chant Palestinian slogans, in a misplaced parody of 1968 and all that. On the other hand, the (majority) illiberal media, as represented by The Daily Mail and Telegraph in the UK, Fox News and most of the Murdoch gang in the US and elsewhere, are natural Neocon allies of Israel, especially in its current belligerent incarnation. By banning the media (in contravention of international law and in defiance of a ruling of the Israeli Parliament itself) Israel is laying itself open to the charge that it has all but abandoned any semblance of respect for natural human justice. In doing so, it puts itself on the same rogue state level as the criminal sociopaths from whom it so rightly feels the need to defend its citizens. 

Israel has now achieved its domestic objective: the forces of Netanyahu have prevailed and the country needs to dig in for a period of international ostracisation. The US and Britain will veto any Security Council Resolution condemning its actions, so it won’t face international sanctions. Hamas will be deposed and go underground (again), where its hard liners will resort to acts of covert terrorism which will kill many more innocent people. Likewise Hizbollah and other whacko Palestinian militants. The neighbours and relatives of the thousands killed, half-starved and displaced by the bombardments of Lebanon and Gaza will hate Israel even more and aid the terrorists (no change there). There is no other possible outcome at this stage than an increase in the likelihood of Terror – so thanks a lot from the rest of us. On the other hand, Israel will have its Right-Wing coalition and may well try and invade Iran. In which case, welcome to Armageddon (literally). 

Obama has his work cut out, though the composition of his advisors (Rham Emmanuel, Hilary Clinton and her Rubinesque cabal, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Soros et al) make it unlikely that much will change on the policy front. I’m not saying any more about this horrible mess, (even if I told you so) except that I am sorry for all the innocent people killed in the name of political expediency. It was ever thus.

John J Kelly

(Irish, friend of Jews everywhere but not fond of Israel, especially its Neanderthal politicians).

Moment, by John Keane, from the Inconvenience of History series (2003)

Forget about sending aid – the previous post has unfortunately been rendered redundant by the news that Israel has attacked Hamas-run security compounds in Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding others – including the almost-obligatory deaths of two small girls allegedly killed by Hamas – in the process. See Gaza attacks. Although rocket attacks have unquestionably increased over the past few weeks, and Israel warned of retaliation after the truce expired last week, this latest disproportionate outrage should be met with the strongest possible condemnation. But we know it won’t, especially by the governments of the US and its European client, the UK, both of whom have characteristically equivocated for fear of upsetting AIPAC and other power brokers. The EU reaction as ever, has been milky in the extreme.

Here’s one reason for the diplomatic cough. In an uncanny parallel with the funding of the USSR irritants, the Afghan Mujaheddin which morphed into the Taliban, Hamas was originally created and supported by Mossad, the Israeli ‘Intelligence’ service, to destabilise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Both Hamas and its grim cousin, Hezbollah, believe they ultimately stand to gain from a petulant and bloody escalation. This horrible (but democratically elected) Golem is unquestionably responsible for stirring up the witches’ brew of tension and hatred which ensures that the Middle East will remain in flames this year, but let’s even up the imbalance and call the whole felafel what it is: the Nazification of Israel by evil puppets of a discredited neocon oligarchy, supported by neo-liberal intellectual midgets. Or is that a trifle rude and undiplomatic?

If Israel begins the promised ground offensive, which Shimon Peres claimed as recently as last Thursday was not an objective, but is now a realistic proposition, then the rest of the free world should commence a complete boycott of Israel, and not cease until these belligerent idiots have been brought to the negotiating table. Hamas (Gaza) and Hezbollah (Lebanon) are terrorist organisations, to be sure, but continued US support for what can only be termed as state terrorism is the oxygen of this genocidal conflict. The word democracy should be bleeped whenever State Department officials pontificate on the news. “Middle East Peace Envoy” Tony Blair and his simian cronies should be forced to pay for and to attend the funerals of every victim. And I’m a reasonable, moderately Zionist sort of guy.

John J Kelly