Qaddafi Op-Ed New York Times (Leader and Sage): Israel and Palatine as One

THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which ended with this weekend’s cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but also to deny the religious extremists in the region who feed on the conflict an excuse to advance their own causes.

But everywhere one looks, among the speeches and the desperate diplomacy, there is no real way forward. A just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is possible, but it lies in the history of the people of this conflicted land, and not in the tired rhetoric of partition and two-state solutions.

Although it’s hard to realize after the horrors we’ve just witnessed, the state of war between the Jews and Palestinians has not always existed. In fact, many of the divisions between Jews and Palestinians are recent ones. The very name “Palestine” was commonly used to describe the whole area, even by the Jews who lived there, until 1948, when the name “Israel” came into use.

Jews and Muslims are cousins descended from Abraham. Throughout the centuries both faced cruel persecution and often found refuge with one another. Arabs sheltered Jews and protected them after maltreatment at the hands of the Romans and their expulsion from Spain in the Middle Ages.

Why Western meddling in “Deathistan” needs to end

Once again, Western bombs are falling on the sand-blown weapons testing range that is north Africa, the Middle East and the landscape of the old Great Game. The area stretching roughly from Morocco to Afghanistan west to east, and Syria to the Persian Gulf north to south — let’s call this region Deathistan — long has been contested. But in the last century, the region has been treated as a plaything by Western capitals.

The United States and United Kingdom, which boast of enlightenment, cause harm when they please in the Deathistan region. Less than a generation ago it amused the United States to encourage Saddam Hussein to slaughter Iranians; then conditions changed, so the United States started killing in Iraq. Right now the United States and NATO are taking lives in Libya and Afghanistan. In these places, U.S. and other Western armed forces in the main behave with high ethics. But their missions are to slay and destroy, and here’s the bottom line: Western meddling in north Africa, the Arab world and the Great Game territories has not worked.

6 Reported Killed in Oman Protests - governmetn ablaze

The wave of protest has now spread to Oman. On Sunday, up to six people were reportedly killed when government forces fired on protesters demanding political reform. Protesters set government buildings ablaze and launched a sit-in demonstration in the city of Sohar. Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ruled Oman since 1970.

Domino Theory, Tunisia Style

It takes 29 days to topple a 23-year old regime. At least that’s the mathematics Tunisia taught the rest of us on January 14th.

It seemed to come out of nowhere. Tunisia was a stable, relatively prosperous, moderate Muslim state in North Africa. Its GDP per capita was the highest in the region and it had one of the lowest poverty rates in Africa. Its main trade partners were France, Italy and Germany. It had been a secular state since its independence from France in 1956, and the majority of the Islamic population was considered moderate [1]. Even those of us in the U.S. who keep up with international news would probably have described Tunisia’s state as stable and in today’s world, sustainable. But in defiance of the statistics, trouble was brewing. Despite the fact that Tunisia’s unemployment levels were low in comparison to some of its destitute neighbors, Tunisians had been feeling the economic squeeze much like the rest of the world. Unemployment was rising, as were food prices. The government’s corruption, which had been tolerated by the public in the name of relative prosperity and freedom, suddenly came into focus.

Noam Chomsky: “This Is The Most Remarkable Regional Uprising That I Can Remember”

The Greening of Al Qaeda?

Decoding Osama's Latest Message

By GAMAL NKRUMAH

The world, or the Western media to be precise, is all in a tizzy, obsessed over stark warnings issued by the United States and Britain concerning the increased terrorist threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its leader the Saudi national Osama Bin Laden. The claim, substantiated by omniscient Western intelligence -- spooks who we know never err -- is that Bin Laden recently exhorted Islamist militants to launch attacks on targets in Europe.

But what did Bin Laden exhort in his latest missive? "If governments spent on relief only one per cent of what is spent on war, they would change the face of the world of poor people," Bin Laden said in a poignant message to the Muslims of the world. "What governments spend on relief work is secondary to what they spend on war."

Sounds eerily like the Dalai Lama. "People with hearts should move quickly to stave off disaster," he pontificated papally with Christlike compassion.

In sharp contrast with the Western media blackout, Bin Laden's speech has attracted both attention and admiration in the Muslim world. Bin-Laden's main thrust in his latest offering is that transparency is needed above all in the international politics of climate change. Up to a point, Bin Laden has a far more subtle intelligence than that of his detractors, many of his critics in the Arab world grudgingly concede.