"All I can say is that any man whose identity and self worth is shaped by cartoon characters and TV sitcoms bloody well gets what he deserves. "
"Palestine" Upgraded; Human Rights Downgraded!
Does anyone really believe the UN is concerned with Human Rights?!
Encouraging all US citizen to write to every member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the US House Foreign Relations Committee,[members of both committees listed on the internet] to demand a suspension of US aid to the Palestinian Authority. The Capitol switchboard number is: 202-224-3121. You can reach your representatives this way. The comment line for the White House is: 202-456-1111;1414.
U.N. General Assembly upgrades Palestine
NEW YORK (JTA) -- The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade Palestine to a non-member observer state.
UN VOTE RECOGNIZES STATE OF PALESTINE; US OBJECTS
(AP) UN vote recognizes state of Palestine; US objects
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS
The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians and an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.
The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the U.N. was approved by a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions, in the 193-member world body.
A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, hundreds crowded into the main square waved Palestinian flags and chanted "God is great." Others who had watched the vote on outdoor screens and television sets hugged, honked and set off fireworks before dancing in the streets.
Real independence, however, remains an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status.
The United States immediately criticized the historic vote. "Today's unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path peace," U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the vote "unfortunate" and "counterproductive."
The United States and Israel voted against recognition, joined by Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Panama.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the General Assembly shortly before the vote "defamatory and venomous," saying it was "full of mendacious propaganda" against Israel. Netanyahu called the vote meaningless.
Abbas had told the General Assembly that it was "being asked today to issue the birth certificate of Palestine." Abbas said the vote is the last chance to save the two-state solution.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Will on -
Well, of course the organization that ran child prostitution rings in the Congo, and has featured Sudan and IIRC Saudi on its Human Rights Committee, isn't interested in human rights.
Still, I don't think I'll write a representative. I used to. But what do they care what people like me think, now? I'm not ruling class, and there's no way enough will be annoyed at some UN action to vote out a representative.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Kerr on -
The US and also the Canadian gov't are on the wrong side of history here. If you're concerned about human rights, then Israel as I know from experience has an appalling record and makes even Hamas look like amateurs. If you steal someone's country and then lock up the survivors in a hell hole such as the Gaza Strip or steadily annex the West Bank can you really blame the Palestinians for supporting radicals? If the US would stop military support for Israel and enforce a nuclear-free Middle East (otherwise why shouldn't Iran have nukes, Israel has them and Netanyahu is quite similar to Ahmenijad) then things would be much less violent. If Israel didn't have American military support, they would have to negotiate. why does the US always support brutal military dictatorships in the name of 'frredom' (Nationalist China, South Vietnam, military juntas in South America, Saudi Arabia, and even Saddam in the 80's!)?
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Permalink Reply by Will on
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If by "much less violent" you mean "extermination of Jews in the region," I'd say you're dead on.
But of course Israel does negotiate. It gives land for peace. The land is then used as staging area for rocket attacks into Israeli neighborhoods.
The beautiful thing of it for Israel's enemies is that there's no way they can lose the PR war. If Israel attempts to stop rockets and war materiel from getting too close to its residential areas, the world professes outrage, and Hamas. If Israel retaliates for rocket attacks into its residential areas, the world professes outrage, and Jews die, and Hamas wins. If Israel does nothing, Jews die, and Hamas was.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Bauer on -
No kidding. Not in the mood for target practice?
JB
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Permalink Reply by Shane on -
Well, the rebuttal is easy enough. But, what do you do with someone who insists on ignoring not only history, but current events, and also the Real Politic of supporting the enemy of your enemy?
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Permalink Reply by Jack Bauer on
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Hope they don't vote.
Maybe he's a felon. Or Canadian. Or a Canadian felon.
JB
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Permalink Reply by Titus Techera on -
Or hundreds I've met in college. It might be that soon people who like Israel in colleges will be a minority surrounded by pretty hostile neighbors-
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Permalink Reply by Nick H on -
Dictatorships and all that, whatever. All of our friends have checkered pasts. As do we. Just ask the indians. The US was right to vote with Israel, Canada was not.
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Permalink Reply by Will Gentile on
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"why does the US always support brutal military dictatorships in the name of 'frredom'"
Israel is definitely not a brutal military dictatorship!
When you consider the recent changes in the Middle East, many, especially those Christians there, were fearful of what these changes portended; their fears seem to be coming true and they find their nation has run from the arms of a lion straight into the clutches of a bear. Our wonderful media, duped by the sense of its own omniscience in its insistence on calling it a "Spring," have only demonstrated how little they understand about history and culture. I recently heard of an Iranian asking, "Have they not learned from our revolution what actually awaits these nations?"
I agree we, Canadians and Americans, are on the wrong side of history (as you say), but not for the same reasons you posit.
Our world is without leaders; our economies are in shambles. Our media and entertainment elite (not exactly icons of moral sanity) are the source of our news. The BBC, which was just in the grips of inquiries into the perverted lifestyles of its executives, shapes the viewing pleasure of much of the world. It's the old adage, "If a Cretan tells you all Cretans are liars, can you believe him?" Few seem to make the connection that unhinged from biblical moorings, we run amok. That is what we are seeing. -
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Permalink Reply by Michael on -
Dear Robert,
I'm eager to hear more on your support of an openly fascist political organization whose very own political ancestors were in bed with the totalitarian regimes of the 30's and 40's and espouse an OFFICIALLY STATED goal of genocide.
Meanwhile I'll support the classically liberal democracy (Israel), who despite accusations of committing genocide seem remarkably terrible at actually doing such-lending credence to the notion held by the vast majority of Americans that, "hey, these Israeli people seem pretty decent".
What is truly indicative of the difference between the modern Israelis and the backwards palestinian Arabs is that the IDF went to extensive efforts to inform non-combatant palestinian Arabs they were in targeted areas, whereas the same can not be said of Hamas towards Israeli civilians.
Of course with the recent conflict 'ending' between the palestinian Arabs and Israel, I think now Israel has gone 8-0 vs the palestinian Arabs (and they don't seem 'genocided' (sic) yet.
As for a palestinian Arab state called 'Palestine', we can be guaranteed their idea of justice consists of dragging accused (but not convicted) 'criminals' behind motorcycles. But hey! They'll immediately ally themselves with Egypt's new Pharaoh! An act that betrays the likelihood that Hamas's leadership hasn't bothered to research Egypt's battlefield record from the past 100-200 years.
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