Issawi threatens to resume hunger strike

Palestinian ex-detainee Samer Issawi has threatened to resume hunger strike in case Israeli authorities refused to release him.

Issawi is currently held in Gilboa prison after being recently rearrested during the Israeli military operation launched in the West Bank since mid-June along with 62 other ex-detainees who were released during Wafa al-Ahrar swap deal.

After his visit to the prison, Arab Knesset Member Basil Ghattas(NDA) confirmed that Issawi is determined to restore his freedom anew, recalling that he had engaged in a legendary hunger strike that lasted for 278 days in protest against his former illegal administrative detention.

Five more detainees declared their intention to join the strike in case they were not released, he added.

Meanwhile, Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies revealed that Palestinian ex-detainees who were re-arrested since June have threatened to step up their protests in case they were not released.

The center called, in a statement on Friday, on the Egyptian authorities, human rights institutions, and Palestinian negotiation delegation to practice pressures on the Israeli authorities to stop the trials of ex-detainees who were released during Wafa al-Ahrar swap deal.

The statement pointed out that 70 ex-detainees are currently held in Israeli jails in flagrant violation of the swap deal reached under Egyptian mediation.

The center confirmed that the ex-detainees were arrested although they did not break their release terms set by Israeli authorities.

Camp de Yarmouk -Dolly & ABO GABi

Book: The Popular Front and External Operations (English) – 1971

The following short book, “The Popular Front and External Operations,” was published in 1971 by Al-Hadaf, the Front’s theoretical journal. This book “deals with an important topic, the subject of ‘External Operations ,’ which have been adopted by the Popular Front as part of its strategy to pursue the enemy and defeat him everywhere. This activity has triggered controversy among those interested in the affairs of the Palestinian resistance.” It responds to criticism of this strategy and examines the PFLP’s approach to imperialist interests in the Arab world.

It is newly available for download online in English:

Download PDF (English)

AMBITION & HOPE [ENG]

GENERATION OF THE FUTURE [ENG]

BUILDING IN THE REFUGEE CAMP [ENG]

WOMEN'S SUFFERANCE AS REFUGEES

THE NEED OF WATER [ENG]

HOUSE OF STONES [ENG]

THE INNOCENCE OF CHILDREN [ENG]

SMILE MAKERS [ENG]

LOST DREAM

I HOPE [ENG]

LOST DREAM

SAHARAWI TEA

A WOMAN'S HARD WORK

THE IMPORTANCE OF MELFHA

VOICE WITHOUT ECHO [ENG]

SMILES UNDER THE RUBBLE [ENG]

شاهد رمز الصمود والتحدي المناضل عالي السعدوني يتعرض لضرب وتنكيل من طرف ق...

Family of prisoner Samer Issawi says he is in very poor health condition

The family of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, who ended last year his longest hunger strike in history after a deal with his jailers, said his health condition deteriorated very badly and appealed to human rights groups to visit him in jail.

Coordinator of Shirin Issawi campaign Badie Dweik said that the family of prisoner Issawi visited him last Sunday and said that his health condition was very difficult and getting worse.

Dweik added that the Israeli prison authority has been denying him any visit by his lawyer since June 23, 2014.

Prisoner Issawi, during his family's visit, called on the Palestinian Authority and the Egyptian authorities to put an end to the suffering of prisoners who were rejailed by Israel after their release as part of the prisoner swap deal of Gilad Shalit.

Sabra-Shatila Massacre:Commemorative Candlelight Vigil in Martyrs' Squar...

Samer al-Issawi in "Deteriorating Condition"¨

Palestinian detainee and iconic former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi is in deteriorating condition, his family said following a visit with him.

According to Ma'an News Agency, activist Badie Dweik said that al-Issawi was visited by his family at Jalbou prison, where they noticed he was feeble and with a pale face, that he seemed fatigued, and suffered a noticeable loss of weight.

Samer reportedly complained about pain in his kidneys and having difficulties in eating.

Mr. Dweik also said that Israeli authorities had prevented Issawi’s lawyer from visiting him since late June. 

Samer served 10 years in Israeli jails and became an internationally recognized icon for the prioners' movement after spending 9 months on hunger strike last year.

Samer was released, along with 1027 Palestinian prisoners, as a result of an Egypt-brokered deal between Hamas and the Israeli government for the return of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli sports columnist and a former Israeli soldier. 

In July of 2012, however, Samer was re-arrested for violating the terms of his release when he left Jerusalem into the West Bank.

Convicted for 8 months, to possibly include a reinstatement of the rest of his original 26 year sentence, al-Issawi began a hunger strike in August, 2012.

In April of last year, when a deal was finally reached where he was to serve 8 months for violating his bail, and then be released to Jerusalem, Samer announced the end of his strike. 

Samer's sister Shireen was arrested with their brothers Medhat and Shadi, in March. They were not charged, but Israel has refused to release any details about their arrest, in line with behavior typical of theAdministrative Detention policy. 

In January of 2013, brother Ahmad al-Issawi’s home was bulldozed. 

Former hunger striker in deteriorating condition

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian detainee and former hunger striker Samer al-Issawi is in deteriorating condition, his family said after visiting him, an activist said Monday. 

Badie Dweik said Issawi was visited by his family at Jalbou prison, where they noticed he was feeble, his face was pale, he seemed fatigued, and he suffered from noticeable weight loss.

Issawi complained about pain in his kidneys and difficulties in eating.

Dweik said Israeli authorities had prevented Issawi’s lawyer from visiting him since late June.

Running In The Rubble Of Gaza

Commenting Latest indyref polls give mixed message

1. Different polling methods tend to reach different segments of the population - phone polling more elderly, for example and internet polling younger voters - so I would consider those that rely on one single method more apprehensively than mixed polling methods and the latter seem to consistently show a very narrow lead for NO.

As a personal opinion I hope that YES wins. Scotland is a more progressive country than Great Britain as a whole and we need more progressive countries in the world. Plus smaller, leaner UK might itself not be so keen anymore to serve as the man-at-arms for USA's crusader knight in a tarnished armour.

2. As a Marxist I naturally don't oppose that description of The Sunday Torygraph, but it's ideological and journalistic deficiencies have nothing to do with the poll. The main problem with the poll is that the number of people interviewed should mean that it's less accurate - by 1 percent in either direction, I suppose - than some other polls we have seen in recent days.

3. "British values" can hardly be tied to the regional extent of the British state - or they are very odd kind of values.

Commenting Tragic secret of John Franklin may soon be raised from the deep :

The remains of about 70 crew members have been found. One group made it to the continent only to die in the so-called "Starvation Cove" - although there has been claims that a few men might have made it a little bit farther before dying. It was there in the Starvation Cove that the Inuit found among the dead men what were likely to be the log books of the ships, and gave the papers to their children to play with. A box described by the Inuit, but never found, is speculated to have contained Franklin's bones, as his grave has never been found, unlike some of the men who died before the expedition abandoned the ships and apparently scattered into groups which died separately. Tragically the current find and Inuit oral testimony seem to confirm that one ship was later released from ice, so the decision to abandon the ships seems, in retrospect, to have been a wrong one. On this ship, perhaps in 1850, the Inuit claimed to have found the body of a man who had just died. If I recall correctly, a stove was still supposedly warm.

Gazan children on living through destruction and conflict

Rebel Architecture - The architecture of violence

Commenting Shock poll: Scotland’s ‘Yes’ campaign pulls into lead. It’s 51% to 49%

The supporters of independence have positive reasons why they want independence, the supporters of union most of the time don't seem to be able to muster positive reasons without evoking threats. Positive messages tend to work better than threats.

I think the unionists should stop for a moment and think why they want to keep the union. Just because something has existed for 300 years doesn't mean that it should go on existing just on the basis of it's previous existence. But that's a very common unionist claim - and it reveals another weakness in their arguments.

The unionists want to preserve the union for the sake of the past, the supporters of independence want independence for the sake of the future. Again, supporters of independence have the positive message, unionists' message is that people should live in a museum, warming themselves with the embers of a great past instead of seeking a great future.

Eight years old Palestinian child been abused and arrested by Israeli so...

Commenting http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/the-other-neanderthal/375916/:

1. There is genetic evidence that the Denisovan girl in the Altai had dark hair, brown skin and eyes.

The article assumes that Denisovans migrated to islands of Southeast Asia and Melanesia; it's more likely that it was the hybrid descendants of the first wave of modern humans to reach mainland East and South Asia and Denisovans. Later waves of human emigration then diluted the Denisovan heritage on the mainland of Asia.

2. No, except the last part.

The likely scenario is rather simple: About 600 000 years ago the early Homo heidelbergensis population split into African and Eurasian branches. The former gave rise to Homo sapiens by 195 000 years ago.

The latter interbred with the older Homo erectus population of Eurasia and split into Neanderthal and Denisovan branches, with the former branch evolving enough to stand apart from heidebergensis by 230 000 years ago.

Eventually modern humans migrating out of Africa interbred with neanderthals in Middle East and the hybrid descendants of this first migration wave interbred with the Denisovans, probably in the mainland East Asia.

3. There is some evidence that the admixture can still cause infertility in modern humans and might have played a major role early on in diminishing the genetic heritage from these species, which would indicate that the species were at the edge of being able to successfully produce viable fertile descendants with modern humans.

This would be a strong support of considering all three of them as independent species, but of course they were all humans like all the other genus Homo species - and perhaps we should include the later Australopithecines as humans, as the line between them and early Homo has become increasingly blurry in studies in recent years and different Australopithecine species and early Homo species can be assumed, but so far not confirmed, to have also interbred and produce hybrid descendants which might have contributed to our own genetic inheritance...

4. Oldest Homo sapiens remains are 195 000 years old, from Omo river in Ethiopia. There's plenty of over 100 000 years old Homo sapiens finds from Africa.

Beyond our own Homo sapiens sapiens, only one Homo sapiens' sub-species has currently wide support, the Homo sapiens idaltu, known from three partial skulls from Herto also in Ethiopia, dated to 160 000 - 154 000 years ago.

Commenting http://rogueclassicism.com/2014/08/26/amphipolis-tomb-possibly-looted-in-antiquity-i-am-officially-confused/

I hazard a guess that the tomb was intended as a semi-public place and a shrine and not just a tomb, so the entrance beyond the sphinxes but probably not farther was intended to be open. Then, probably for political reasons, the site’s outer parts were dismantled and it was hidden in it’s entirety at some later point. But there seem to be some amount of respect involved, this was apparently no defilement.

I have little doubt it was intended as a royal tomb – those that followed Alexander the Great on the throne in Macedon would never have allowed any of his commanders to build such a grand tomb, as has been proposed. It would have been seen as a challenge to the royal authority.

In March there were claims of finding of new Argead royal tombs in Vergina – including Perdiccas II – and possibly the tomb of Cassander. These tombs are far more modest, as is typical of the royal tombs, and as this Amphipolis tomb was build no later than the rule of Cassander, it beggars belief that he would have allowed it to be build while building a much more smaller tomb for himself.

Beyond the very small possibility that this was not intended to be actual tomb but a shrine or cenotaph or that this was actually originally commissioned by Alexander for his father Philip II, I believe that this was intended to be the tomb for Alexander the Great, somebody else was or were buried there and later, either during dynastic change or Roman takeover, it became politically inconvenient and was deliberately hidden.

28 Palestinians tortured to death in August alone

There are now at least 28 Palestinians that have been tortured to death by the Syrian regime. Both Palestinian human rights organizations in Syria (Action Group for Palestinians in Syria & Palestinian League for Human Rights-Syria) have documented these deaths.

2465 Palestinians have died during the course of the Syrian war so far. Over 250 of them have died by torture. And this month alone, 28 Palestinians have been tormented to death, almost one every day. I have listed their names below. We have the photographs of 19 of these men. For the other casualties, we have only their names. Each had a story. And each perished in an agony unimaginable to most of us.

Commenting http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/jerusalem-vivendi/.premium-1.612515

As a Jewish state Israel is above all international laws and will never be punished in any way, no matter what it does, by the international community, so why should it be troubled? Just do the usual routine of shouting "Antisemitism", "Auschwitz", "Holocaust" few times and the "West" will accept any damage to historical buildings Israel will inflict - and it's not like the "West" would care what happens to mosques, historical or not, in the first place. Whether the destroyer is ISIS or Israel.

A little Palestinian girl talks about Israeli Attack on Gaza - August 2014

About Gaza - Simone Camilli - SUB ITA

Israeli soldiers celebrate shooting a Palestinian youth

An Appeal from Gaza

Israeli Army Is Using Palestinians As ‘Human Shields’

Video: impact of Israeli bombing of Gaza power plant

When Genocide isPermissible

OPS & BLOGS  >  Yochanan Gordon

AUGUST 1, 2014, 5:36 PM 

Judging by the numbers of casualties on both sides in this almost one-month old war one would be led to the conclusion that Israel has resorted to disproportionate means in fighting a far less- capable enemy. That is as far as what meets the eye. But, it’s now obvious that the US and the UN are completely out of touch with the nature of this foe and are therefore not qualified to dictate or enforce the rules of this war – because when it comes to terror there is much more than meets the eye.
I wasn’t aware of this, but it seems that the nature of warfare has undergone a major shift over the years. Where wars were usually waged to defeat the opposing side, today it seems – and judging by the number of foul calls it would indicate – that today’s wars are fought to a draw. I mean, whoever heard of a timeout in war? An NBA Basketball game allows six timeouts for each team during the course of a game, but last I checked this is a war! We are at war with an enemy whose charter calls for the annihilation of our people. Nothing, then, can be considered disproportionate when we are fighting for our very right to live.
The sad reality is that Israel gets it, but its hands are being tied by world leaders who over the past six years have insisted they are such good friends with the Jewish state, that they know more regarding its interests than even they do. But there’s going to have to come a time where Israel feels threatened enough where it has no other choice but to defy international warnings – because this is life or death.
Most of the reports coming from Gazan officials and leaders since the start of this operation have been either largely exaggerated or patently false. The truth is, it’s not their fault, falsehood and deceit is part of the very fabric of who they are and that will never change. Still however, despite their propensity to lie, when your enemy tells you that they are bent on your destruction you believe them. Similarly, when Khaled Meshal declares that no physical damage to Gaza will dampen their morale or weaken their resolve – they have to be believed. Our sage Gedalia the son of Achikam was given intelligence that Yishmael Ben Nesanyah was plotting to kill him. However, in his piety or rather naiveté Gedalia dismissed the report as a random act of gossip and paid no attention to it. To this day, the day following Rosh Hashana is commemorated as a fast day in the memory of Gedalia who was killed in cold blood on the second day of Rosh Hashana during the meal. They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same mistakes over and over. History is there to teach us lessons and the lesson here is that when your enemy swears to destroy you – you take him seriously.
Hamas has stated forthrightly that it idealizes death as much as Israel celebrates life. What other way then is there to deal with an enemy of this nature other than obliterate them completely?
News anchors such as those from CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera have not missed an opportunity to point out the majority of innocent civilians who have lost their lives as a result of this war. But anyone who lives with rocket launchers installed or terror tunnels burrowed in or around the vicinity of their home cannot be considered an innocent civilian. If you’ll counter, that Hamas has been seen abusing civilians who have attempted to leave their homes in response to Israeli warnings to leave – well then, your beginning to come to terms with the nature of this enemy which should automatically cause the rules of standard warfare to be suspended.
Everyone agrees that Israel has the right to defend itself as well as the right to exercise that right. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has declared it, Obama and Kerry have clearly stated that no one could be expected to sit idle as thousands of rockets rain down on the heads of its citizens, placing them in clear and present danger. It seems then that the only point of contention is regarding the measure of punishment meted out in this situation.
I will conclude with a question for all the humanitarians out there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly stated at the outset of this incursion that his objective is to restore a sustainable quiet for the citizens of Israel. We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?

https://archive.today/RPf3M#selection-374.0-374.1

Settlers attack Palestinian children for playing with bubbles in Hebron

Israeli sniper killing wounded civilian

Commenting: http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/jerusalem-babylon/1.604367

Let's be frank: ISRAEL will murder hundreds to thousands of Palestinians just because it can and all armed resistance factions in Gaza are taking part in the resistance to Israeli attacks. Hamas is not Gaza, Gaza is it's 1 800 000 people, almost half of which are under the age of 18. As long as Israeli Jews don't value the lives of the people in Gaza and Palestinians lives overall, Israel has no right to exist.

Patagonian monsters: Tibetans and Denisovans share genes

Patagonian monsters: Tibetans and Denisovans share genes: A recent paper by Emilia Huerta-Sánchez (2014) [1] has shown that Tibetans' adaptation to high altitude is due to a gene that they in...

#StopTheSlaughter Emergency Protest Israeli Embassy London 5th July 2014...

Israeli police beating Palestinian in Shuafat, Jerusalem, 3 July 2014

Commenting http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100278157/a-jug-of-wine-a-loaf-of-bread-and-thou-is-this-the-islamic-caliphate-isis-imagine/:

When the 20th century began, there were four political leaders calling themselves Caliph. Ottoman Caliph, surviving until 1924; the Zaidi Caliph, surviving until 1962; the Sokoto Caliph, surviving until today but mostly using the title of sultan after the fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in 1903, and the Caliph of the break-away Mahmudiya sect, surviving until today.

That was no historical aberration - a thousand years ago there was a Caliph in Baghdad, Cairo and Cordoba.

Caliph is "just" a title and the actual powers and ideology of a Caliph can be widely different. As a result modern Caliphate could be anything from ISIS' jihadist dream to British Commonwealth -alike or an Islamic EU or UN.

When Omar Khayyam lived, the Caliph in Baghdad was just a ceremonial ruler with little power, secular or religious. The real power in the Middle East was in the hands of the Seljuk sultan. The Caliphs, just like the Japanese emperors, were more often than not just figureheads.

Post by Eye On Palestine.

Commenting http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.601655:

And after Israel had murdered these two young men, a rocket was launched in response - which Israel's regime will whine about, like it would have no connection with the double murder - and apparently Israel's IDF is bragging in social media that Gaza will have a "tough night". 45 % of Gaza's 1.8 million inhabitants are children - think of that, because IDF won't.

Commenting https://news.vice.com/article/small-town-palestinians-are-fighting-the-israeli-occupation-with-their-cameras#:

The problem is that Western mainstream media almost totally refuses to use this material that is produced daily on the occupied areas. Instead they ignore it and just listen and repeat what Israel's IDF claims, because it's so much easier for their careers if they act as conduits of Israeli propaganda instead of as real journalists.

Commenting http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.600583:

The world is and should be indifferent to "Israel's plight" as long as it follows in it's current path of occupation and oppression.

The individual young missing settlers need to be given as much sympathy as any human being in these circumstances deserves, but so that Israel's regime can't treat that sympathy as a support for it's collective punishment and killing of Palestinians.

Israel has chosen to occupy E. Jerusalem, Gaza and West Bank for 47 years and flood E. Jerusalem and West Bank with 560 000 illegal settlers. To expect that no harm would come to occupiers on occupied territory is absurd and arrogant even from Israel.

Göbekli Tepe: Stone Age Sanctuaries in Southeastern Anatolia

Commenting: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/181871#.U6GDB7HS32V

There is no evidence whatsoever that the missing illegal settlers would have been kidnapped.

Foremost, they went missing in an area during direct Israeli occupation forces rule, where Israel's occupation forces had been having a military rehearsal on the same day just a few kilometers from where they have been claimed to be sighted last.

Israel has forbidden PA sec forces to take part in the search for the missing illegal settlers in the "Area C", which consists the area where they disappeared and half of the occupied West Bank. 

The disappearance of the illegal settlers is purely Israeli regime's fault and responsibility based on those facts and the fact that only a criminal regime puts huge numbers of it's own civilians in an occupied territory and only an immensely arrogant one demands and expects that they must be perfectly safe as it itself oppresses the local people.

Previous condemnation by UN Gen Sec was one of those automatic condemnations that are part of diplomacy. 

Commenting http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.fi/2014/06/new-dicoveries-at-ancient-settlement-in.html#.U5WwA8ljM6E:

This is the evil side of archaeology. The land belongs to individual Palestinians. No consent from them have been sought or given. The excavation has largely been made by illegal Israeli settlers, who have used it to destroy Palestinian property on the site and nearby, including burning olive trees belonging to local farmers.

The claims made based on the excavation are politically based and can't be taken by face value, as the illegal Israeli settlers announced before the excavation began what they sought. The leading Israeli archaeologist involved had to be at one point constrained by Israel's own occupation troops from destroying more property, including one ancient olive tree.

Pope Francis praying today at Israel's illegal Apartheid Wall in occupied Palestine's Betlehem:

Commenting http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.591989 :

When Israeli politicians - including cabinet ministers - regularly talk of "population transfers" of Israeli Arabs as part of any peace deal with Palestinians, any observer not blind out of "love" towards Israel knows what this law is about: It is a foundation stone for Israel's next project of Ethnic Cleansing.

"Jewish State" in this case means "only Jews in the State".

Comment to http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.591748:

It's the usual case. It's always easy to stand for human rights when your own people are being oppressed, much harder when it's the people you identify with being the oppressors. But humanity should learn to see all human beings as their own people.

Comment to http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117692/fascism-returns-ukraine

Rather one-sided.

Russia currently is on path to fascism. It has increasingly authoritarian government allied with big business that jointly control the economy - the standard Fascist model.

Ukraine's revolution wasn't all that pluralist - leftwingers have told how many other protesters didn't want them to be there and tried to run them away from the Maidan. Now Ukraine's communist party is shunned by the new regime.

And there are some real fascists, relatively small in number but vocal and influential in action, among the supporters of Ukraine's new regime and far-right party is part of the new regime.

The manipulation of US and European "powers" seems to have played a role in Ukraine's events, so it's not just Czar Vladimir meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs, and European opposition to to this must be seen in the context of US' blundering, elephant in a porcelain shop -style march through burning countries during this century.

Yankees with their typically short memory may have already forgotten Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and the consequences of those wars but the Europeans haven't. We don't want a repeat of the Middle East chaos you caused with your attack in Iraq to be replayed in eastern Europe. It will hurt us hell of a lot more than you.

Window Into Palestine: Free Amer Jubran

Window Into Palestine: Free Amer Jubran: Friends, A long time Palestinian activist and close family friend, Amer Jubran, has been detained in Jordan since Monday May 5th. Please re...

Speed Sisters - Documentary - Crowdfunding Campaign

15-year-old boy assaulted and detained in Hebron

Commenting http://www.leftfootforward.org/2014/05/ugly-truths-and-liberal-democrat-friends-of-palestine/

First, when shall we similar article about Zionist LibDems' web links? I can guarantee you that you that there would be a lot of hate speech to found when following them. But, as it is Zionist hate speech, it doesn't matter, right?

Do you demand that Zionist LibDems could not link to any mainstream Israeli newspaper, for example? Of course you don't, yet as a reader of their English versions I can say that more often than not you find pure racism towards Palestinians and denial of their current and historical suffering. Just turn to the column pages.

Of course, you will also find more enlightened opinions, which is the basis of my second argument: Media sites carry different kind of material. Even Murdoch's NY Post has both fanatic Greater Israel propaganda and what are basically racist, antisemitic writings.

Demanding that one can link only to sites that always observe political correctness means not linking to many sites, frankly.

Lastly, read this Israeli article about the settler murder of a 14 year old Palestinian child, which Israel's occupation forces didn't want to solve. It tells you everything you need to know what side to support: http://972mag.com/how-i-got-in...

Dr. Elina Paulin-Grothe talking about the new discovery in the Valley of...

Commenting http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/27/world/meast/mideast-abbas-holocaust/index.html

Genocide of Jews - and Roma and other minorities - by the Nazis was a horrible crime against humanity, but it's far from an isolated incident in recent history.

Few examples:

Up to 35 million people from Soviet Union died in WW II, up to 20 million died in Stalin's purges.

In China, the great Taiping rebellion 1850-64 led to death of up to 40 million people, several rebellions at the same time had death toll in multiple millions. No one knows how many died in the warlord period in early republic, but it was again many millions of people. War against Japan in 1937-45 killed at least 15 million, the last period of civil war until 1949 and it's aftermath killed at least 10 million people, then came Mao's atrocities.

In Congo the Belgian colonial government according to it's own later calculation killed 50 % of population, 10 million people. The civil war in 1960s led to death of up to 1.5 million people, the civil war and Rwandan attacks since 1997 have killed between 2-7 million people.

In Burundi and Rwanda civil wars and genocide have caused the death of up to 2 million people (but probably closer to 1.6-1.7 million) since they gained independence in 1962.

In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge killed between 800 000 - 2 200 000 people between 1975 and 1979; according to some estimates 50 % of them belonged to the Cham minority.

Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire during WW I led to deaths of 800 000 - 1 700 000 people; normal estimate is 1.2-1.5 million deaths.

Many of the examples above had to do with ethnicity, pigment or religion.

We tend to think that genocide is a 20th century "invention" as a deliberate action, instead of happening previously as an "accidental" result of uncontrolled massacres (Conquistadors etc), but genocide has been used quite often in the past.

It was a common item among other "tools" of empires - and even by politically unorganized groups.

The Mongols are an extreme example of the former, when it comes to the latter the traditional Inuit story how they overcame their predecessors, the Dorset, is one of genocide, although recent genetic studies show that some of the Dorset were assimilated into the ranks of the Inuit.

The Inuit traditional history is one of many very similar ones around the globe; just like in the one in Bible about how Hebrews took over Canaan it gives us a story of a "positive" genocide - even when modern evidence shows that this isn't the whole truth.

People around the world have favoured these stories of genocide over more complicated reality, where there have been also peaceful co-existence so that the heritage, genetic and cultural, of the defeated have also been passed to them.

This preference tells us something about the nature of humanity.

Commenting http://www.wired.com/2014/04/quantum-theory-flow-time/

The problem with physicists is that they often don't look beyond their models of what happens on the micro level. A universe is not a roll of film that could be watched in either direction, because after the universe forms objects on the macro level, these also have an influence.

A very simple universe made of elementary particles has no need for an "arrow of time", but in a more complex universe the arrow of time rises from the complexity itself.

You can't "wind back the time" in our universe. There's no basis in physics for the idea that the flow of time is just a roll of film and that all matter would behave as it did in the past. It would be bizarre if long dead stars whose atoms have been scattered around the galaxy would come back at the moment of their explosion as supernovas and would then start to become younger.

Stars don't behave like that. Complex objects don't behave like that.

Information about the past would also have to be preserved 100 % so that the flow of time could change even in a very simple universe without complexity.

Commenting http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/25/obama-downbeat-collapse-middle-east-peace-talks?commentpage=1:

According to John Kerry, this current round of sham peace talks was not about ending the occupation foremost, but about "the safety of Israel".

As long as the safety of the occupier (as the occupier itself and it's Best Friend Forever see it) are put before the freedom of the occupied nothing will come out of these peace talks.

Only when the needs of the occupied are put before the demands of the occupier and pressure is put on the occupier instead of the occupied will we see success.

Commenting http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.587365 :

Kerry set at the basis of his "peace plan" Israel's previous maximum demands, already impossible to accept for Palestinians, and then said nothing as Netanyahu&co went farther, from Israel getting most of East Jerusalem to Israel demanding whole of East Jerusalem, from Israel being able to occupy Jordan Valley for ten more years to Israel annexing Jordan Valley, from Israel being able to keep forces permanently with all borders of Palestine along with international and Palestinian presence to Israel having sole control. The "peace talks" were intended to fail, with Palestinians getting the blame.

Commenting http://www.theguardian.com/world/on-the-middle-east/2014/apr/23/israel-palestinian-territories?commentpage=1:

The long shadow what matters is not the death of one terrorist, but that the so-called "West" treats with deep deference his current heirs in Israel's regime, who are still operating based on his ideas and still have as their goal as purely Jewish state in all of Palestine, where none but Jews can live.

All of Britain's main political parties' leaders do ritualistic declarations of unconditional, unending support to Israel at a time when it has accelerated illegal settlement building and home demolitions to a level unprecented in recent decades.

This refusal to confront the racism and human rights abuses of Israel just because it declares itself to be a Jewish state is the long shadow that must be dispelled.

Commenting http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/20/israel-mordechai-vanunu-hero-edward-snowden?commentpage=2

What Israel did to Vanunu when they kidnapped him was to put him in solitary confinement. It's a form of torture and many people have gone insane in Israeli prisons, where people can be locked up for decades in solitary and where there is no accountability for the jailers.

Observe the case of the Australian emigrant Ben Zygier who was secretly imprisoned and died in prison, supposedly through by suicide although he was claimed to be under 24 hour surveillance in his cell, and the case of the still imprisoned another "Prisoner X", whose identity is still not known but who is claimed to be an Israeli Jew.

The "Western" deference towards Israel's regime and the idiotic charade about Israel's nuclear weapons - everybody knows it has them, but the "West" refuses to normally acknowledge them and USA's government openly celebrates each time it blocks IAEA from demanding access to Israel's nuclear weapons program - had made the "West", both states and establishment, reluctant to lift a finger to help Vanunu.

According to the Obama administration, path to a nuclear weapons free Middle East demands - and this is a quote - that IAEA isn't allowed to make visits and observe Israel's nuclear facilities.

Israel and nuclear weapons are an example of "Emperor without clothes" and the meek Western governments and establishment need to acknowledge what everyone knows, help Vanunu get out and get Israel's nuclear weapons programs in public light.

This is needed especially as Israel is known to have helped the nuclear weapons programs of Shah's Iran and Apartheid-era South Africa and could be currently or might in the future, help other regimes to acquire their own nuclear weapons.

Sauve une Vie - Camp Palestinien Al Yarmouk - حملة اغاثة فلسطينيومخيم ال...

April 15th, 2014: Western Sahara: Brutal crack down on a peaceful protest

From Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria:

Post by ‎طيرة حيفا - الطيرة نت‎.

Comment to http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/11/middle-east-the-peace-bubble-bursts?commentpage=1:

Palestinian leadership opposes "Israel is a Jewish state" demand because they fear it will be used to "justify" the ethnic cleansing of remaining Arabs from Israel. Something which Israel's foreign minister Lieberman brings up every second week, with US government refusing to condemn him.

Kerry's plan doesn't just call for Israeli "security strip" along the border with Jordan, it calls for Israel occupying whole Jordan Valley for 10 more years and afterwards controlling still all borders and air space of Palestine.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been without running water in East Jerusalem for over a month now, part of Israel's ethnic cleansing of the town, emboldened by Kerry proposing that Israel would get almost whole of East Jerusalem in his plan. The response from Israel's government and the Zionist administration of Jerusalem has been that they want the whole East Jerusalem - without the people.

The simple problem behind Kerry's plan is that it can be described with this sentence: "Palestinians give and Israel gets."

The more concessions Palestinians have made through the decades, the more is demanded from them by Israel and the USA.

During these peace talks Israel has used Kerry's plan just a starting point for their own demands, like the case of East Jerusalem, with Kerry wanting to give Israel everything but few outlaying neighbourhoods and Israel being emboldened by this and now demanding that Jerusalem can't even be mentioned in a peace agreement.

There's no pressure being put on Israel's government, instead an endless number of Western politicians making their way in a pilgrimage to Israel and Netanyahu, declaring their loyalty - "indestructible" in the words of David Cameron - to Israel and opposition to all boycotts and sanctions, with Ed Miliband the most recent.

In this political environment Israel's regime thinks that it can get everything without having to give up any piece of the occupied land. Status quo suits it fine.

That famous forgery by the Czar's secret police, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" has been taken as the truth by the Western politicians, whose fanatical philosemitism is actually a result of antisemitic belief that Jews (and Israel especially) do control the world and that to win elections in Western countries one has to avoid criticism of Israel and instead declare eternal support for it no matter what it does.

And because politicians think that Israel and the Jews do decide elections - this isn't true even in the United States, where Jewish populations are big enough basically in just two states to have any real effect on elections - this gives Israel real power over the Western countries.

The antisemitic belief about the power of the Jews that drives the Western politicians results in them avoiding all practical means of ending the occupation, with politician after another now declaring opposition to the BDS boycott movement, which has succeeded in putting finally some pressure on Israel and the foreign companies that take part and profit from the occupation.

Forgotten Bird of Paradise (full version) - undercover West Papua docume...

Comment to http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/07/syria-failure-intervene-terrible-consequences-blair:

The best thing Blair can do for the people of Syria is to keep his mouth shut.

Assad and his top cronies do need to go, the torture and the barrel bombs must stop, but as much of the current government structure and armed forces need to be kept intact and not bombed into oblivion, as the simple fact is that the most powerful rebel groups at this point are current and former al-Qaeda affiliates al-Nusra Front and ISIL/ISIS, which also holds territory in western Iraq. Attacking the regime would just help al-Qaeda.

The regime, as vile as it is, is with the fence sitting Kurdish YPD the main semi-secular forces in Syria. Instead of wanting to give Syria to al-Qaeda, the so-called "West" should come up with bribes big enough - Golan Heights come to mind - to replace the regime's leadership and reform it as a core for a secular interim government with the Kurds and willing rebel factions and then given all the possible help to defeat al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda, whose every member should thank every day on their knees Tony Blair for everything that his geopolitical errors have given to them.