'Democratic' Israeli site targets International Solidarity Movement

"We set up this website specifically to combat the International Solidarity Movement on American college campuses, in our trade unions and churches."

Examples of their democratic zeal:

ISMer _ _ _ in house of former DFLP commander killed by IDF claims she is just picking up "civilian" casualties. Jaseiwicz, in Abu Rabo's house, works with the terrorists. Rabo's house no doubt held weapons cache with children inside as human shields. Abu Rabo was the deputy of Naif Hawatma, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Ewa Jasiewicz needs to be a target of IDF forces as well as she has shown she is in Gaza to work for Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups like DFLP. A picture of Ewa is below. If you know of her exact location, please email us at _ _ _ so we can target  and take her out once and for all.

As with any good subversive, _ _ _ changes her haircolor frequently...

Want to bring a permanent peace to the Middle East? Help the IDF find and target her to be eliminated permanently with and like her Hamas buddies. *** was previously a human shield for Iraqi insurgents. She is no peace activist, she is a Hamas enabler. She claims to be helping civilians, but all her "civilians" are in the homes of Hamas and other terrorist group operatives such as Abu-Rabo of the DFLP. She is aiding terrorists with homes that have weapons caches, not innocent Palestinians. It is people like her who will roil this conflict forever and once they are eliminated, only then can there potentially be a just peace for Arabs and Israelis alike.

and,

 _ _ _ HAS BEEN DEPORTED REPEATEDLY BY ISRAEL AND WAS DEPORTED NOT ONLY IN 2005 BUT JUST LAST MONTH AFTER ENTERING GAZA ILEGALLY WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA. HE WAS CAPTURED BY THE IDF NAVY AND DEPORTED ONLY TO SHOW UP AGAIN IN GAZA WITH THE ISM HAVING REENTERED JUST DAYS LATER WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA.

_ _ _ WAS AWARDED A MEDAL FROM HAMAS AND IS CURRENTLY DOING HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS IN GAZA. WE PROVIDE THIS PHOTO SO THE IDF CAN HOPEFULLY FIND HIM AND GET RID OF HIM PERMANENTLY. THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT BEHAVFED DISGRACEFULLY DURING THE ACHILLE LAURO AFFAIR AND ENABLED MACHMOUD ABBAS TO ESCAPE AFTER HIS CAPTURE BY THE US MILITARY> WE DOUBT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD BE OVERLY CONCERNED BY THIS RECIVIDVIST ANARCHIST FOR HAMAS AND THE ISM AND HOPE HE BECOMES A TARGET FOR PERMANENT REMOVAL...

~ http://stoptheism.com/ ~

'Imagine, U.S. to China in 2015: "Here’s the trillion we owe you. Buy yourself a beer with it." '

Debate over the present downturn mostly looks at cyclical issues and the best way through. Except this time really is different. Underlying structural forces are unresolved and current actions could make matters worse.

Eight structural factors give eight reasons to prepare for a crunch (with the last suggesting 2010):

First: We are off the map. The US Federal Reserve and Treasury, like their counterparts around the world, face unprecedented challenges:

   1. Ensure adequate supply of finances, by countering banks' de-leveraging through monetary policy;
   2. Maintain demand, by countering reduction in consumption through fiscal policy;
   3. Rebuild confidence by absorbing some of the debt problems emerging; and
   4. Coordinate with other nations, as there are strong inter-dependencies.

The unique nature of one strand can be illustrated by the growth in the monetary base recorded by the Federal Reserve. From 1918 to 2008, the curve proceeds on a predictable upward path, with the odd bump, until going ballistic in late 2008. That doesn't mean hyper inflation – the effect is produced by the Fed countering de-leveraging by banks. But it shows the biggest challenge for the Fed in its existence. To quote Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England: “Not since the beginning of the First World War has our banking system been so close to collapse.”

Although sophisticated techniques for economic management are being used, there is no indication that financial leaders have found maps to guide them. Paulson blames a global savings glut – too much money – whilst Bernanke will keep printing more until the economy comes right and Greenspan faults bankers' behaviour (if only Wall Street was far sighted, well informed and well behaved).

~ more... ~

'Tolstoy...branded Malthus as a "malicious mediocrity" '

From: Kropotkin was no crackpot - Stephen Jay Gould

But a third solution has been advocated by some thinkers who do wish to find a basis for morality in nature and evolution. Since few can detect much moral comfort in the gladiatorial interpretation, this third position must reformulate the way of nature. Darwin's words about the metaphorical character of struggle offer a promising starting point. One might argue that the gladiatorial examples have been over-sold and misrepresented as predominant. Perhaps cooperation and mutual aid are the more common results of struggle for existence. Perhaps communion rather than combat leads to greater reproductive success in most circumstances.

The most famous expression of this third solution may be found in Mutual Aid, published in 1902 by the Russian revolutionary anarchist Petr Kropotkin. (We must shed the old stereotype of anarchists as bearded bomb throwers furtively stalking about city streets at night. Kropotkin was a genial man, almost saintly according to some, who promoted a vision of small communities setting their own standards by consensus for the benefit of all, thereby eliminating the need for most functions of a central government.) Kropotkin, a Russian nobleman, lived in English exile for political reasons. He wrote Mutual Aid (in English) as a direct response to the essay of Huxley quoted above, “The Struggle for Existence in Human Society,” published in The Nineteenth Century, in February 1888. Kropotkin responded to Huxley with a series of articles, also printed in The Nineteenth Century and eventually collected together as the book Mutual Aid.

As the title suggests, Kropotkin argues, in his cardinal premise, that the struggle for existence usually leads to mutual aid rather than combat as the chief criterion of evolutionary success. Human society must therefore build upon our natural inclinations (not reverse them, as Huxley held) in formulating a moral order that will bring both peace and prosperity to our species. in a series of chapters, Kropotkin tries to illustrate continuity between natural selection for mutual aid among animals and the basis for success in increasingly progressive human social organization. His five sequential chapters address mutual aid among animals, among savages, among barbarians, in the medieval city, and amongst ourselves.

I confess that I have always viewed Kropotkin as daftly idiosyncratic, if undeniably well meaning. He is always so presented in standard courses on evolutionary biology – as one of those soft and woolly thinkers who let hope and sentimentality get in the way of analytic toughness and a willingness to accept nature as she is, warts and all. After all, he was a man of strange politics and unworkable ideals, wrenched from the context of his youth, a stranger in a strange land. Moreover, his portrayal of Darwin so matched his social ideals (mutual aid naturally given as a product of evolution without need for central authority) that one could only see personal hope rather than scientific accuracy in his accounts. Kropotkin has long been on my list of potential topics for an essay (if only because I wanted to read his book, and not merely mouth the textbook interpretation), but I never proceeded because I could find no larger context than the man himself. Kooky intellects are interesting as gossip, perhaps as psychology, but true idiosyncrasy provides the worst possible basis for generality.

But this situation changed for me in a flash when I read a very fine article in the latest issue of Isis (our leading professional journal in the history of science) by Daniel P. Todes: “Darwin's Malthusian Metaphor and Russian Evolutionary Thought, 1859-1917.” I learned that the parochiality had been mine in my ignorance of Russian evolutionary thought, not Kropotkin's in his isolation in England. (I can read Russian, but only painfully, and with a dictionary – which means, for all practical purposes, that I can't read the language.) I knew that Darwin had become a hero of the Russian intelligentsia and had influenced academic life in Russia perhaps more than in any other country. But virtually none of this Russian work has ever been translated or even discussed in English literature. The ideas of this school are unknown to us; we do not even recognize the names of the major protagonists. I knew Kropotkin because he had published in English and lived in England, but I never understood that he represented a standard, well-developed Russian critique of Darwin, based on interesting reasons and coherent national traditions. Todes's article does not make Kropotkin more correct, but it does place his writing into a general context that demands our respect and produces substantial enlightenment. Kropotkin was part of a mainstream flowing in an unfamiliar direction, not an isolated little arroyo.

This Russian school of Darwinian critics, Todes argues, based its major premise upon a firm rejection of Malthus's claim that competition, in the gladiatorial mode, must dominate in an ever more crowded world, where population, growing geometrically, inevitably outstrips a food supply that can only increase arithmetically. Tolstoy, speaking for a consensus of his compatriots, branded Malthus as a “malicious mediocrity.”

Petrocollapse and socioeconomic meltdown scenarios

"Aiding and abetting the progressive community since 1991"

A well-considered discussion of scenarios that may occur post Peak Oil.

Guests that are actively engaged in this issue, but from very different points of view, so a variety of scenarios, and visions of our future will be available for your consideration and discussion.

John Kellerman, Mark Lakeman http://www.cityrepair.org , Per Fagereng https://kboo.fm/user/737 , Tod Sloan, Jerry Erwin, Bruno Amicci, Deb Delman http://www.thepangaeaproject.org , Jan Lundberg http://culturechange.org , Jim Wrathall

~ via Culture Change ~

David Duke is being cloned in Montana

From Billings group wants to change image of white supremacists:

Kyle Anderson blends in with the crowd of businessmen and students sitting in a Billings coffee shop recently. His dark hair is cropped short. He wears a burgundy dress shirt and dark slacks.

The only thing that distinguishes him as a “Creator,” a member of a group advocating an all-white society, is the pin with a large “W” on his black silk tie. The W stands for white.

Presenting himself as professional is part of being a member of the elite white race, said the 19-year-old Anderson.

Anderson had jotted some notes for his interview with the Billings Gazette, his first encounter with the news media as a member of the Montana Creators Assembly. On one notebook page, with a few black-ink doodles around the edges, Anderson had written a reminder of how Creators are trying to change the image of the white supremacist.

“People used to think of a guy with a beer belly spitting out tobacco and missing a few teeth,” he said. “Now we think of people who are determined, energetic leaders, educated and idealistic, we're the best Creators. We're the elite.”

Creators believe “our race is our religion,” he said, and they view loyalty to the race as the greatest of honors, and racial treason as the worst of crimes.

“Much information is being kept from white people and we want to wake everyone up,” he said. “Without the facts, white people cannot make decisions about the world around them.”

Those facts, according to MCA literature, include Jewish- and Christian-controlled financial centers that work against the white race and crimes against white people that are not investigated as race crimes.

Although Anderson declined to give membership numbers, he insists MCA is growing. Other MCA members contacted by the Gazette declined to be identified, fearing job loss or other retaliation. One tenet of the Creativity Movement is to “show preferential treatment in business dealings to members of your own race” and not to have dealings with Jews or people of color.

One of the group's fliers was recently slipped under the doormat at the Billings Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. In half-inch tall, all capital letters, the flyer stated “White people awake! Save the white race!”

The church believes it was targeted because of its all-inclusive nature and its work locally on social justice issues, including a meeting it hosted to promote racial and cultural diversity in Billings.

Turkey: 'Unfortunately, the revolution of the mind is not as easy as it should be'

From Word ’Alevi’ stirrs public discussion:

The mentioned story was published a few years go by Turkey’s leading Can Publishing House and reached a wide audience. The story, written by Alevi-origin Şahinler, features the worries of an Alevi girl, who lost her virginity before, while preparing to marry an Alevi boy from the central Anatolian city of Sivas. Şahinler did not reply to questions from the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s.

One of the recent comments on the issue is striking. According to the comment, "Bridal Hair" part in the play is not the main reason for discussions about the play as it is supposed. But it is the part named "Yedi Ağlı Don," which was also written by Şahinler and is depicting religious orders.

The play will not be staged for some time
Discussions about the play divided the city’s theaters into two. "Fascist and heartbreaking" said theater’s art consultant Kenan Işık, while art director Orhan Alkaya said the play was nothing hurtful for Alevi citizens.

[ ... ]

Giving the example of the play "Savaş ve Kadın" (War and Woman), which he is directing, Alkaya said, "The play tells of the story of Yugoslavian civil war. I staged this play in order to show the results of politics carried out over identities. The most dangerous politics are those about ethnic discrimination."Alkaya said he has struggled against handicaps for freedom of expression in Turkey for many years. "Unfortunately, the revolution of the mind is not as easy as it should be."

Reproduction; social and sexual

Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) was a psychoanalyst who fused Freud with Marx, before going a bit batshit and claiming to have discovered a 'primordial cosmic energy' called 'orgone' that caused weather events, the colour of the sky, gravity and the formation of galaxies. And orgasms. Reich's earlier work was repopularised during the 1960s, primarily by Solidarity member Maurice Brinton's pamphlet 'The Irrational in Politics' (I'm using '60s' figuratively here in the colloquial sense for the period 1968-72, rather than literally. This pamphlet was published in 1970). Solidarity's introduction to the pamphlet describes its central thesis as follows:

    ...an attempt to analyse the various mechanisms whereby modern society manipulates its slaves into accepting their slavery and - at least in the short term - seems to succeed. It does not deal with 'police' and 'jails' as ordinarily conceived but with those internalised patterns of repression and coercion, and with those intellectual prisons in which the 'mass individual' is today entrapped (...) It looks at the family as the locus of reproduction of the dominant ideology, and at sexual repression as an important determinant of social conditioning, resulting in the mass production of individuals perpetually craving authority and leadership and forever afraid of walking on their own or of thinking for themselves.

Consequently Reich linked the predominant sexuality with the predominant social relations, and saw the mechanism for this linkage as being sexual repression; the behaviours promoted by traditional Judeo-Christian morality - monogamous marriage, kids disciplined for wanking etc. The prevailing material relations of society - in particular the family - were seen to produce certain ideas - in particular craving authority - which in turn reproduced authoritarian society in a dialectical interaction. This idea had an obvious resonance with libertarians, who saw a clear political implication; the Man doesn't want you to have fun, so fun is subversive in itself and you can fuck your way out of capitalist society. The most hilarious contemporary example of this comes from the lifestyle anarchist group CrimethInc, who in their article "washing... and brainwashing" list the first of "eight reasons why capitalists want to sell you deoderant" as:

Body smells are erotic and sexual. Capitalists don't like that because they are impotent and opposed to all manifestations of sensuality and sexuality. Sexually awakened people are potentially dangerous to capitalists and their rigid, asexual system.

While this is only the most ridiculous example, these sentiments are not restricted to lifestylist muppets, and crop up during many discussions with class struggle anarchists too, attracted by the libertarine slogan 'it is forbidden to forbid.' For example an article by the Anarchist Federation concludes that:

When people are really being sexually honest, some weird shit can start to happen. And that, in its own way, can be quite revolutionary.

There are two reasons this is problematic; the first is the speculative nature of Reich's theories in the first place, the second is the massive social changes that have taken place since 1960s which would render them of primarily historical interest even if the theories themselves were shown to be sound. However, for the purpose of this blog there is one thing we can take from Brinton; the thesis that prevailing sexuality and prevailing social relations are not independent phenomenon. Before leaving the 60s, we should consider the theories of Mariarosa Dalla Costa and Selma James, who addressed this question from the point of view of housewives.

~ more... ~

An anarchist perspective on the "violence" of the Oscar Grant riots

As anarchists who were involved in the demonstrations, we fully reject the notion that the vandalizing of private property could ever be weighed against the violence committed against not only Oscar Grant, but against youth of color every day by police and the prison system. This way of thinking, that gives property more value than people, is what allows the violence of the police to become dangerously normalized and unquestioned.

At the time of this writing, the police officer that executed Oscar Grant in cold blood still walks the streets without criminal charges, while some of those arrested during the demonstration are locked away in prison awaiting trial and will likely face harsh sentences. The violent system that so quickly punishes those who demonstrated while simultaneously protecting the murderer of Oscar Grant should be the target of our collective criticism and condemnation, not the angry youth who reacted to the shooting in the streets that night. While Bay Area journalists have presented themselves as being objective reporters of the aforementioned events, their reports and broadcasts repeatedly reveal their bias in favor of the police when recounting the evening of the demonstrations.

~ more... ~

Economic crisis: Anarchist solutions from Mexico

As the United States enters what may be an extremely prolonged economic crisis, the Mexican anarchist Gustavo Esteva recommends that we learn from how people have coped in his country, which has lived La Crisis for over two decades with no end in sight. He also points out that in both countries, politicians have reacted by throwing money at the problem – a non-solution if there ever was one.

One real solution has been El Barzón, a movement formed to defend debtors from the banks. Their tactics have ranged from counseling farmers on how to hold on to their property to forming roadblocks when the banks try to repossess their homes. They have even brought home the crisis to those responsible by tarring and feathering bankers.

Members of El Barzón have worked closely in solidarity with the Zapatista uprising in the state of Chiapas that began in 1994. Today, autonomous Zapatista communities are run by Councils of Good Government, where decisions at the village level are made through the consensus of all the community,and at the regional level by delegates that rotate yearly, selected by the village assembly. Two years ago, during the presidential elections, Zapatistas and their supporters across the country organized the “Other Campaign” - an anti-electoral movement that contrasted the empty promises for change offered by candidates both left and right with the need to develop community-based organizations run by principles of direct democracy, like that practiced by the Zapatistas. The most devoted supporters of the Other Campaign have been street vendors, sex workers, and other groups ignored by politicians.

~ more... ~

US funded intelligence center struggles in Khyber region

Located at the foot of a towering mountain range in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, the $3 million Khyber Border Coordination Center was billed as a first-of-its-kind experiment in intelligence sharing among Pakistani, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces when it opened here on a sunny day last spring.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony March 29, Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, then the top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, called the U.S.-funded center's opening "a giant step forward in cooperation, communication and coordination." The ceremony, which featured an Army band playing Dixieland, a lavish Afghan feast and upbeat declarations by generals, marked a seemingly historic moment for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have skirmished over their mutual border for more than 100 years.

But more than nine months later, U.S. officials at the Khyber Center say language barriers, border disputes between Pakistani and Afghan field officers, and longstanding mistrust among all three militaries have impeded progress.

"It's a very useful facility, but it's just going to take a while before they understand what cooperation entails," said Dan Villareal, a military contractor who has worked at the center since its inception.

~ more... ~

My Charlie Wilson War by Fatima Bhutto

Why is the University of Texas naming a chair of Pakistan Studies after the notorious U.S. congressman who helped destabilize that country? Fatima Bhutto—niece of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto—demands an answer.

Pakistan's new government, the only in the world headed by two former convicts—who have their fingers on the button of a nuclear-armed state, no less—is nothing if not a keen purveyor of irony.

There's currently an effort underway by the Pakistani diplomatic mission in Texas to raise funds for a chair of Pakistan Studies at the University of Texas in Austin. The chair, a dream of the Pakistani diplomatic community, is to be named after Charlie Wilson. For those who missed the movie, it's worth noting that of all the people to name a chair of Pakistani Studies after, Charlie Wilson is possibly the stupidest.

“Good-Time Charlie,” as Wilson was affectionately known by Afghan warlords and Texan socialites alike, has the dubious reputation of being the godfather of what would later be known as the Taliban in Afghanistan. (He was also buddies with Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza.) In the 1980s, Wilson led Congress into supporting the CIA covert operation aimed at funneling money and arms into Afghanistan through Pakistan's military and secret services, the ISI. That money, it should be said, did not go to Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet's communist invasion. No, it went to the mujahideen in the form of $17 million worth of anti-aircraft weapons, armaments, and other war toys. By the end of 1983, Wilson had managed to siphon $300 million of unused Pentagon cash to the Afghan mujahideen. Before they were the Taliban bad boys of the region, the mujahideen were one of Wilson's pet projects. And now, Pakistan has decided to honor him by naming a chair of studies after him.

~ more... ~

'The people are like the fish in the sea, they swim with the current'

 From a forum thread on Small Wars Council:

The British Approach to Counter-Insurgency: Myths, Realities, and Strategic Challenges, by I.A. Rigden (USAWC Strategy Research Project, 15 March, 2008):

Quote:

Modern British doctrine is founded on both myth and historical collective and regimental experience. Considered in the broader context of the total imperial experience a more comprehensive appreciation of counter-insurgency emerges. The realities of the British experience therefore become the premises for a counterinsurgency theory. What the study of the literature and experience suggest is a more general and inclusive list of realties that better define the basis for a comprehensive approach for the twenty-first century. It reveals at least 16 overarching premises that validate the current British principles and highlight areas not currently addressed in the AFM. Taken together these 16 premises constitute a British theory of counterinsurgency.

Most of what this paper has to offer is not news to many students, let alone practioners, of COIN. But it is a good read, clear and concise, and we speed readers can digest it in about half an hour without missing anything. If one does not have to time or inclination to read Galula, Trinquiere, et al., this paper might be a worthwhile semi-substitute.

Colonel Rigden's 16 Premises for COIN (abbreviated extracts):

1. The first premise is that insurgency is war. War is a political act that requires an active decision to initiate it and a clear declaration of intent.

2. The second premise is that every campaign is unique and the nature of the conflict must be understood. It takes time to fully understand the nature of the problem faced and to develop the lines of operation to deal with it.

3. The third first premise is envisioning the long-term post-conflict end-state. As Sir Basil Liddell Hart wrote: “The object of the counter-insurgency war is to attain a better peace – even if only from your point of view. Hence it is essential to conduct war with constant regard to the peace you desire.”

4. The fourth premise is that geography matters. World geography and the geography of a particular region is one of the most important factors when trying to understand the nature of the conflict and how to conduct a counter-insurgency. Geography does affect the mindset of the insurgent and the population.

5. The fifth premise is do not fight a war or campaign that you cannot win. There is a potential decision point in the planning or conduct of every war or campaign in which the astute leader may conclude that the costs of success or risks of failure far outweighs the benefits of any success.

6. The sixth premise is the requirement for a clear plan. This is one of Sir Robert Thompson's five principles and is based on his experience in helping to formulate the Briggs Plan.41 It is an essential factor for success. The plan must, however, be tailored to the peculiar and unique circumstances of the insurgency.

7. The seventh premise is that there is always a learning stage at the beginning of each campaign and that it is vitally important to learn from mistakes quickly. It takes time to understand the nature of each campaign and, in the process of doing so, it is inevitable that some mistakes will be made. [Note: I would not agree with the invocation of Boyd's OODA Loop here].

8. The eighth premise is that politics is the focal point. Politics and war are social phenomena. One key to countering insurgency is therefore to understand the context and nature of the social environment. It is essential to understand what the people's issues are and what can make them better.

9. The ninth premise is that hearts follow minds in counter-insurgency. In Hanoi in 1956, paraphrasing Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Minh stated that “The people are like the fish in the sea, they swim with the current.”
Making the people swim in the right direction, the legitimate authority's current, is the key to winning in counter-insurgency. It is essential to alter their minds to reject the insurgents and accept the justness and legitimacy of the counter-insurgent's cause and to concurrently win their hearts.

10. The tenth premise is that the requirement for a coordinated multi-agency government approach is paramount to success. This is true for governments externally intervening and for existing internal governments. The overall strategy and ensuing plans must be collaborative and involve multi-agencies and actors using all of the elements of national power of both the supported and supporting governments. In doing this the activities have to be coordinated and synchronized so that they work together and not against one another.

11. The eleventh premise is that it is essential to work within the rule of law. Rule of law is the visible symbol of moral justification. The aim must be to restore the civilian authority and police primacy if it does not already exist. Where it does not exist, the military must shoulder the burden until such time as the relevant civilian and police capabilities can be trained to fulfil their role.

12. The twelfth premise is that counter-insurgents must only use the appropriate force necessary for the situation faced. The appropriate use of force is the minimum amount of force required to achieve a particular legitimate objective. This can range from full scale warfighting against an insurgent base deep in the jungle to the single arrest of an insurgent in an urban area. The British military has relied heavily on flexible Rules of Engagement (ROE) to ensure that only the minimum force necessary is used for each situation. Force must be proportionate and justified and the intent to use force clearly understood.

13. The thirteenth premise is that campaigns must be appropriately resourced to be truly effective. Like all conflicts where fighting is likely, counter-insurgency campaigns are expensive in term of “blood and treasure.” It is, however, the “treasure” element of this equation that is often the most lacking in counter-insurgency campaigns. Such campaigns are often the most expensive to conduct and they generally take longer than conventional warfighting campaigns to conclude.

14. The fourteenth premise is that accurate and timely information and intelligence are essential to success. Insurgency and counter-insurgency both work in the same strategic environment and the currency is intelligence that can be used to act.

15. The fifteenth premise is that the use of indigenous forces is essential to building a an enduring peace for the country concerned. In all British campaigns local indigenous forces have played an important role. They have acted as the backbone of intelligence gathering, police forces and the local military.

16. The sixteenth premise is that every new campaign will face increasing constraints and less freedom in the conduct of operations. The world of the twenty-first century is very different from fifty years ago. The Malayan campaign and Kenya were fought largely out of the glare of the media whereas Iraq and Afghanistan have twenty-four hour news coverage. Conflicts in the nineteenth century were reported weeks later. If history is our guide, this will only become worse and is a significant factor when considering undertaking a counter-insurgency or conducting a counter-insurgency campaign.

UK Counter Insurgency Operations Doctrine 2007

From WikiLeaks:

29. Written Material and Rhetoric. Where an insurgency does produce material, or
provide speakers whose views are reported, these can be analysed. However this is
normally only appropriate when the insurgency is large and seeks a wider audience for its
views. Smaller, more clandestine groupings, generally avoid this option, but are then
probably less of a real threat to the established authorities. Furthermore such material if
produced can often be misleading and obscure. N17 the small terrorist organisation which
operated in Greece from 1973 to 1998 published many articles in the newspapers after
terrorist incidents attempting to justify their actions. Taken as a whole these publications
show that the organisation seems to have a small middle class/intellectual support, very
little appeal to any non committed group, and no particular programme to speak of. It has


Issue 2.0: Mar 07 A -2-6
[�] remained a small terrorist group outside the political arena, but yet an embarrassing left
wing thorn in the side of the government which had to spend valuable resources to counter
its terrorist activities.

30. The Implications of Analysis. While the roots of some insurgencies are more
difficult to identify - partly because of their own internal arrangements, most insurgencies
can be identified once their aims are reasonably clear and comprehensible. The process
of identifying the basis of an insurgency can also lead to the implications that normally
follow such analysis. These could be that:

a. Different aims put different demands on insurgents, - particularly with respect
to resources. If an insurgent's aim is not amenable to compromise then it normally
results in much stiffer opposition from the established authorities. In turn this
implies that insurgencies should go for greater support, more funding and a longer
term commitment to have any chance of success. Those whose aims are not the
collapse of the established authority, such as reformists and preservationist types of
insurgency, may be able to convince the authorities that concession is possible
without recourse to a protracted insurgency.

b. A clear analysis of an insurgency can also help to discover the roles of
outside or external parties to the insurgency. In the 1960s the tendency of the
United States to intervene in insurrections was in part the result of thinking to equate
insurgency with the revolutionary aspirations of egalitarian movements and the
connotation of external support from China or the USSR. Calculations about
intervention that gloss over the ultimate aims of an insurgency can be ill-informed
and costly.

31. To help such analysis Figure 1 describes in diagrammatic form how an insurgency
could develop. From this it may be possible to work out the aims, objectives and courses of
action for an insurgency.


[ ... ]

37. Ethnic Cleansing is an insidious form of terror which has been operated in various
forms over many centuries. Both in Europe and the Middle East there are many examples
of this type of activity throughout history when a majority of the surrounding population wish
to frighten and intimidate people into leaving their homes and territory and moving
elsewhere. In terms of creating human misery, ethnic cleansing is one of the most
loathsome of all forms of terrorism and is normally the basis for future unrest and potential
insurgency in the area. The roots of the Civil War in Greece and the growth of communism
in the region grew out of the deliberate shift of populations between Greece and Turkey in
the aftermath of the First World War. Furthermore the usual lack of any subsequent
administration to provide long term accommodation and work for the uprooted refugees
causes discontent and anger. Palestinian refugees fall into the same category as well as
refugees from Iraq and in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

'Intervention and Underdevelopment - Greece During the Cold War'

From Penn State Press:

"... this ground-breaking study by Jon Kofas... provides an insightful analysis of the American aid program that determined the political and economic configuration of postwar Greece. Kofa's analysis, however, is equally significant for United States history because it was on Greek soil that American counterinsurgency, pacification, and containment tactics were evolved, tested, and later applied elsewhere in the Third World.

Those who seek meaningful reappraisal rather than beguiling rationalization might well begin with this study, solidly grounded on all available sources. It presents a revisionist perspective regarding both the economic and the political development of Greece under American tutelage. The declared objective of the economic aid was to avoid restructuring of the Greek economy, and to preserve Greece as an exporter of raw materials and an importer of manufactured goods. Kofas asserts that an alternative program similar to that of the northern Balkan countries was feasible, and that failure to undertake such a program is vulnerable of today's Greek economy.

Likewise in the political realm, Kofas rejects the Washington dogma that Greece has to be in either the Soviet or the American camp, and therefore must be in the latter. Kofas proposes as a 'plausible alternative' a social-demographic regime that, in addition to socioeconomic reforms at home, could have pursued abroad a pro-Greek rather than a pro-Soviet or pro-American course.

The victory of the American-supported forces in Greece obscured this alternative vision for decades. Yet it was persistently propounded, in the face of discouraging odds, by a variety of centrist and leftist leaders. With the coming to office of Andreas Papandreou, this vision has become official policy in Athens. Furthermore, assorted versions of this alternative strategy are cropping up globally, which is the underlying reason why the Third World today is out of control. And also why superpower doctrines and projects not recognizing this indisputable and irreversible fact are experiencing difficulties as embarrassing as they are predictable. Hence the broad significance of this thoughtful and thought provoking study." From the Foreword by L.S. Stavrianos

Greek journalists' union: "The workers will have the last word - not the media bosses"

From On The Greek Riots:

First statement coming out of the newly-occupied building of the (reformist) Union of Journalists in Athens (ESIEA). In a similar manner to the earlier occupation of the general confederation of workers' bulding, people have now occupied the Journalists' union to denounce mainstream media lies.

The occupation's blog is here - the first statement follows.

The thousands of protesters that filled the streets in Greece on Friday January 9^th, proved that the fire of December wonʼt be put out, not by bullets and acid against activists, nor by the ideological terrorism spread by the media these last few days. Consequently, the Stateʼs only response to the youth and the workers was, once more, raw repression. Encouraged by the mediaʼs demands of zero tolerance, and by the orders of their bosses, the police were free to attack with chemicals, violence and arrests, against anyone who came their way.

When, as on January 9thoppression by the State turns even against the workers, journalists, photographers and lawyers who stand in the streets against the side of the murderers, it becomes even clearer that the rebellion during the past month has put forward an issue of dignity for everyone whose survival depends on wage labor. As a result, some of us, media workers and students, stand beside the rebels. We do it actively: we participate in their fight as workers, and we join their fight with our own everyday battle in our places of work. Our main goal is to prevent the bosses from imposing their views about the events, an example of which is that a photographer, Kostas Tsironis, was fired by the daily newspaper “Eleftheros Typos” (“Free press”) because he took a picture of a cop raising his handgun a day after the 15-year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was murdered.

We donʼt fool ourselves about what the media, a crucial ideology apparatus of the State, will do to force the people to leave the streets and go home; theyʼll do everything, and we know it all too well, because, of course, we work in the media. We also recognize that the big-time journalists are only able to promote the abolition of university asylum and the idea of two different kinds of demonstrators (the violent “koukouloforoi” vs. the “peaceful” ones), as long as we remain silent.

Our place is with the rebels. One more reason for this is because we experience everyday exploitation in our workplaces too. In the media industry, like everywhere else, we have to deal with the consequences of precarious, unsecured or unpaid labour, by-piece working, overtime labor, and all the other forms of bossesʼ whims. Lately, under the threat of a coming economic crisis, we also experience intensification of layoffs, and of the fear of them.

Like all workers, we experience the hypocrisy and the betrayal of the syndicates. The Journalistsʼ Union of Athens (ESIEA) is an institution that turns against the workersʼ calls for resistance against the bosses, due to the crucial need to overcome any internal divisions and job fragmentation, in order to create a united trade union in the press. In their attempt to split the media workers from all the other workers, ESIEA is, in reality, a bossesʼ union and a basic support mechanism for them, as was testified by their refusal to take part in the general strike on Wednesday, December 10^th 2008.

For all these reasons, as an initiative of wage workers, unpaid workers, recently-fired workers and students in the media, we have decided to occupy the ESIEA building, in order to voice all these things, in solidarity with a society in revolt:

Free information, against the ideological propaganda of our bosses in the media

Direct action, self-organized and democratic, by all media workers against the attacks waged against each and every one of us.

* Solidarity with militant worker Konstantina Kuneva

* Immediate release of everyone arrested during the rebellion

* We have no fear of getting fired; the bosses should fear our strikes

From the occupied building of ESIEA, 10 Jan, 2009

Compensation and immunity: Germany v. Italy at the ICJ

The recently undertaken case between Germany and Italy at the International Court of Justice at The Hague concerns claims by victims of violations of International Humanitarian Law for compensation for the alleged acts of German soldiers in the Italian town of Civitella during World War II. In recent years, Italian courts, including the Corte di Cassazione, have granted a number of applications directed against Germany, thereby infringing upon Germany's right to jurisdictional immunity (the landmark Ferrini decision has been translated and reprinted in 128 ILR 659 as has been commented on by Bianchi in 99 AJIL (2005) 242).

That such claims are possible appears clear from international treaty law: Art. 91 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (AP I) states that violations of provisions of the Geneva Conventions or the Additional Protocols lead to the liability of the "party to the conflict which violates the provisions of the Conventions or of this Protocol" - liable to pay compensation and that it "shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces."

Art. 3 of the Fourth Hague Convention (Laws and Customs of War on Land) (Hague IV) also requires that "[a] belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation It shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces."

Art. 3 Hague IV has become part of the law of the land of the Federal Republic of Germany by virtue of Art. 25 of Germany's Federal Constitution (the Grundgesetz) and both Hague IV and the AP I have been ratified by Germany. While Hague IV dates from 1907, the AP I only dates from 1977. Of course only Hague IV applies to World War II.

Only states as parties can bring such claims under AP I and Hague IV because these conventions do not provide for compensation claims by individual victims. The wording of Art. 3 Hague IV and Art. 91 AP I emphasizes the obligation of a party to provide compensation in case of a breach of an obligation under the treaty in question. Back then such obligations were meant to be between the states which are parties to an international treaty. Although a lot has changed between 1907 and 1977 with regard to the position of the individual under international law, the choice of the virtually identical wording in Hague IV and AP I indicates that the drafters of AP I did not want to create rights for the individual, despite the fact that by 1977 there existed already rights of individuals outside human rights treaties, for example in Art. 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations which dates back to 1963. Individuals therefore cannot sue directly under Art. 91 AP I or Art. 3 Hague IV – and states in general don't do so. The fact that these rules are rarely resorted to by states does not mean that there is customary international law to the contrary and that these rules have become the object of desuetudo. As a matter of fact, states which want to defend themselves against such claims have resorted to a kind of act of state doctrine, as Japan has done until recently, or relied on the principle of jurisdictional immunity. The latter is at stake here.

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Peace activists sail for Gaza in defiance of Israeli blockade

A small Greek-flagged vessel left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday afternoon for the war-battered Gaza Strip, with more than 30 pro-Palestinian activists, aid workers and medical supply on board.

Israeli authorities have warned that they would turn them back "by all means," according to Cypriot port officials.

But Huwaida Arraf, spokeswoman for the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement, said they would not be deterred by the threats.

Theodoros Dritsas, member of Greek parliament, told Xinhua through an interpreter that this is simply a peaceful humanitarian mission, which is not against any international law.

He called on the international community to press Israel for allowing humanitarian missions into the besieged Gaza Strip.

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UK: Recent libel cases give food for thought

As the Government prepares its consultation on UK libel law in 2009, the latest cases provide plenty of food for thought.

They continue to raise points relevant to Junior Minister Bridget Prentice's recently announced review of defamatory Internet publications and the cost of libel proceedings.

Take the case of Greek resident John Mardas, a former director of Apple Electronics, who knew The Beatles.

He is suing the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune in this country over a relatively small number of publications, claiming they portrayed him as a conman and charlatan. The articles were published last year, following the death of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru linked with the Fab Four in the 1960s.

One newspaper admitted there had been only 177 print-edition publications and 4 online hits in this country, and the other claimed it had 27 online hits but had not published the article here in hardcopy.

Previously, the Court of Appeal made clear in Jameel v Dow Jones that claimants suing for defamation after only limited publication risked having their claims stayed as an 'abuse of process.'

In Jameel, only five people had read the contentious online article and the court stopped the claim in its tracks because any damages and vindication would only be "minimal."

In Mardas' case, a High Court Master took a similar line, striking the claims out. But on appeal, Mr Justice Eady reinstated the claims and warned against engaging in a crude "numbers game."

He said the evidence about how many people had read the material online was currently incomplete, and even on the numbers currently available, it was arguable that a real and substantial tort (civil wrong) had been committed in this country.

The judge said: "It may well be that in due course international agreement will be reached as to the appropriate way of resolving claims arising out of Internet publication. That is plainly desirable. For the time being, however, courts are obliged to apply the law as it stands."

He did, however, indicate that "a few dozen" publications would be enough to found a libel claim – which suggests that less than a few dozen might yet be insufficient.

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European Parliament marks 10th anniversary of the Euro

From Highlights and opening of Strasbourg 12-15 January 2009 plenary session - MEPs to vote on resolution on Gaza:

Parliament is marking the 10th anniversary of the Euro with a special debate in the plenary session, followed by a seminar with political leaders and leading economic journalists. The euro was created in 1999 when 11 countries irrevocably locked the bilateral exchange rates of their currencies and equipped themselves with a single monetary and exchange rate policy managed by the European Central Bank created six months earlier. Greece joined them in 2001 and in 2002 euro banknotes and coins were introduced. There are now 16 Member States which have adopted the euro as their national currency.  At 10am on Tuesday 13 January, Parliament's President, Hans-Gert Pöttering, will open a formal sitting, including speeches by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Eurogroup Chair Jean-Claude Juncker and Economic and Monetary Affairs Commission Joaquín Almunia.

Greece and riots....When TV is a tool against people’s uprising

From the Tempel or Rebel blog:

Greek Radio Television Independent Authority circulated a recommendation to TV channels and radio stations proposing a “moderate” coverage of the events. This “code of contact” includes :

The avoidance of covering extreme violence (!!!, wondering who is defining that?)

The avoidance of substituting the role of the police or judicial authorities (!!! ha ha ha really media are doing that?)

The non-leaking of papers referring to judicial procedures (namely the pre-trial procedure on student's murdering).

Inside the rebellion in Greece

From the Real News Network:


also from the Real News Network:
History of the National Security State with Gore Vidal

'Spark in Athens, Fire in Toronto'

In December, Greek protesters occupied 700 high schools and 100 universities amid days of massive riots, after police shot and killed 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. His death fuelled anger at economic policies as the global financial crisis hit Greece, with demonstrators rallying against the privatization of education, barriers to immigration, police repression, and poverty. Their chants echo at solidarity protests across the world

In Toronto, U of T students joined others to raise banners outside the Greek Consulate. Dubbing their demonstration “Spark in Athens, Fire in Toronto,” two dozen protesters sought to connect the unrest in Greece to local issues. The rioting in Greece comes at a time when higher education is increasingly more difficult to access, and when graduates face soaring unemployment.

“We're also here because we believe in universal access to education. The University of Toronto's priorities are all wrong. Instead of spending millions to build an elite sports facility, they could put their dollars towards supporting marginalized students,” says Joeita Gupta, VP Internal for the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students. U of T has publicly lobbied for the deregulation of tuition fees..

Protesters also drew parallels between Canadian and Greek immigration policy.

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'Greece is a centerpiece of "counterinsurgency" doctrine'

Inside Account of Greek Uprising

Dollars and Sense
December 17, 2008

This is a letter forwarded to us from D&S collective member Amee Chew (sent to her from a friend of hers), with more details about the situation in Greece–lots of good inside info and links.

Friends,

I don't know if others have been following the daily news of what is unfolding in Greece. The press here has mostly reported events as another explosion of “riots” in response to a police killing, without context.

In fact, what is taking place in Greece is much larger than that. In its immediate context, the uprising of the last 10 days comes on the heels of a rising oppositional movement: recently, the Greeks managed to achieve a general strike with support from 80-90% of the working population against privatization of national industries and other neoliberal policies, and for doubling the minimum wage. A broad hunger strike among Greek prisoners, with mass solidarity from Greek society, has also compelled the government to agree to the release of about half the prison population (and the movement declared that this would not be enough).

The “spontaneous” anger of young people against police violence has beneath and alongside it long-standing movement structures that are allowing it not simply to “discharge” and dissipate, but to grow, strengthen itself and expand into new political areas. It is taking place in a population that is highly politicized and has a history of resistance to draw from.

But it's extraordinary to see the mass mobilization of very young people–high-school students between the ages of 11 and 17, taking to the streets, taking over their schools, developing a politics that addresses their lives directly. It's not just resistance to police repression now, but a wider discussion is taking place about education social organization–with students holding mass assemblies in their occupied schools, trying to decide what the meaning would be of an education that is part of the life they want for themselves, and not the life that is being prepared for them by the existing society.

(The flyer at the this link, from the website of the Coordination of Occupied Schools Alexandros Grigoropulos, says it well. The slogans translate as follows: across the top “The time has come for us to take the future into our hands.” On the left, is the image of a student sleeping over books with the caption “School, home, tutoring”. On the right are students filling the streets, marching behind a banner that says “These days belong to Alexi: cops, pigs, murderers!” and above it, the caption reads, “Struggle, rupture, revolution.” )

At this point, hundreds of schools, colleges and universities have been occupied and are being transformed into centers of organizing. They are running their own radio stations, some of which are private stations now under occupation. They are occupying public buildings; attacking police stations and government ministries.

Yesterday, students occupied the central state-run television station during its news broadcast of the Prime Minister's speech and stood with a banner saying, “Stop watching and go out into the streets!” Two smaller placards read, “Freedom for all those who have been arrested,” and “Immediate release for all the arrested.” (Video here.)

In a separate action, another group attacked the central Athens headquarters of the MAT, burning vehicles and a portion of the building. The MAT (Monades Apokatastasis Taxis “Units For Restoring Order”) are the “riot police“–a specifically political branch of the police force developed to suppress “civil unrest.” They were developed by police who received training in the US. (Greece has been a central recipient of US police training and technology for repression.) The dissolution of the MAT is one of the central demands that has come out of the assemblies of occupied schools and universities. (This also has a particular topical appropriateness: the MAT were first introduced by Konstantinos Karamanlis, father of the current Prime Minister and leader of the same right wing party Nea Dimokratia, in the years following the fall of the Greek junta. The leader of the junta would later write in his memoir that if the MAT had existed at that time, the junta might not have fallen.)

A video from this past weekend shows a battle with MAT police in the Exarchia neighborhood–the area in which the police murder took place that sparked the current uprising, and a center of left organizing–in which youths defending their neighborhood are using laser beams to blind the police and also to pinpoint them as targets so that they can maximize the effect of their crude firepower (molotov cocktails and stones) by focusing a barrage on one target at a time. (Video.)

At the center of the battle in Athens is the historic Polytechnion–the university famous for the events of November 17, 1973, when the junta attacked protesting students with tanks. As a result of that history, the police are constitutionally unable to enter the university, making it a protected enclave for political organizing and a tactical base of operations. Every evening now, after the protests and street battles, students and other active members of the movement gather for a general assembly. The Coordination of the General Assemblies and Occupations in Athens has given the movement both a political face and a structure of continuity for building, planning and deepening its political consciousness. (Website and
blog.)

The uprising in Greece has a particular relevance at this moment in history. If you read the military manuals and strategy papers of the US architects of empire, Greece is a centerpiece of “counterinsurgency” doctrine. In the immediate postwar period, the US and England fought an extended counterinsurgency war to suppress the left (communist and anarchist), which had become the most powerful political force in the country through the years of resistance to the German occupation. The strategy was to brutally repress the armed resistance (80,000 British troops and the arming of domestic fascists to kill, imprison, and torture left guerillas), while at the same time promoting elections and including a legitimate “socialist” opposition, which supported surrendering arms and using the parliamentary system.

This is the “handbook” which the US uses in its imperial wars of conquest and occupation. It's called “promoting Democracy.” Appropriate then, this declaration of the Greek uprising: “Their Democracy murders…” (here).

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[Since I haven't seen it yet appear in English, I'm pasting below the statement put out by the students who occupied the national TV yesterday. Translating as best I can:]

Our action is the result of an accumulated pressure which is robbing us of our lives, and not only an emotional explosion based on the murder of Alexis Grigoropulos by the police. We are one more collective, a piece of the revolt which is taking place.

Against pacification by the mass media, we are carrying out an intervention-interjection in the flow of the program of ERT [state television]. It's our view that the mass media systematically cultivates fear. Rather than informing, they misinform. They are presenting a multifaceted revolt as a blind release.

They are explaining the social explosion in penal rather than political terms. They are selectively concealing the actual facts. They are representing a revolt as another spectacle which we should simply follow until the next soap opera begins. The mass media is daily turned into a means of suppressing free and public thought.

Let's organize ourselves. No authority can offer solutions to our problems. We need to meet with other human beings. To turn our public places—the streets, the squares, the parks, the schools—into places of unmediated expression. To find ourselves face to face so that we can transform together our thought and actions.

Let's not be afraid. Let's turn off our televisions, go out of our houses, continue to lay claim to our life, to take it into our hands.

We condemn the police violence—immediate release of the arrested demonstrators. For human emancipation and freedom.

Kristine Reeves, housing chief who evicted old people, is sacked

A £52,000-a-year housing chief was sacked last night after an investigation by The Times found that she had shifted elderly people from their sheltered homes and moved into one with her boyfriend at a rent of £47 a week.

When confronted on the doorstep of her home, with its mobility handrail still intact, Kristine Reeves, 37, complained that the old person's cottage she had taken was too small for a double bed and was “really very cold. You couldn't swing a cat in it”.

Pensioners complained that they missed their bungalows and were lonely after being moved to other homes on the outskirts of Norwich.

City council officials decided that they should take the decommissioned sheltered housing for themselves without ever informing councillors and the Labour authority accused Ms Reeves of bringing it into “severe disrepute”. Ms Reeves, who bought a £190,000 house in Norwich with a different partner four years ago, was head of neighbourhood and strategic housing, and co-author of a report which recommended destroying the 25 elderly people's homes at Greyhound Opening in the city centre and replacing them with 200 flats and houses.

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