Brazil
said on Friday it is pressing Venezuela to determine whether Brazilian
gold miners crossed the border and massacred a village of about 80
indigenous people from a helicopter.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/01/us-venezuela-amazon-tribe-idUSBRE88001820120901
Friday 31 August 2012
Brazil Enacts Affirmative Action Law for Universities
The law, signed Wednesday by President
Dilma Rousseff, seeks to reverse the racial and income inequality that
has long characterized Brazil.
Factbox: Syria's Kurds part of wider ethnic group
Here
is a look at the Kurds, a mainly Sunni Muslim people with its own
language and culture, who live mostly in the mountainous region where
the borders of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria converge. Despite their long history, the Kurds have never achieved a permanent nation state.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-syria-crisis-kurds-facts-idUSBRE87U0KZ20120831
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-syria-crisis-kurds-facts-idUSBRE87U0KZ20120831
South Africa Miners Massacre - who's to blame?
Prosecutors charging 270 miners with the murder of 34 striking colleagues shot dead by police
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-safrica-mines-idUSBRE87U0MB20120831
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-safrica-mines-idUSBRE87U0MB20120831
Analysis: Syrian Kurds sense freedom, power struggle awaits
Some towns in northeastern Syria
are flying yellow, green and red Kurdish flags as long-oppressed Kurds
exploit an uneasy vacuum left by President Bashar al-Assad's retreating
forces.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-syria-crisis-kurds-idUSBRE87U0KV20120831
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-syria-crisis-kurds-idUSBRE87U0KV20120831
WTO - argentina beef blocked at US market
"Argentina has notified the WTO (World Trade Organization) Secretariat of a request for consultations with the United States on measures applied to the imports of Argentinean meat and other products of animal origin.
"Argentina claims that the restrictions, applied on sanitary grounds, don't have scientific justification," the WTO said.
Argentina is seen by many fellow Group of 20 nations as a chronic rule-breaker since it staged the world's biggest sovereign debt default in 2002. It remains locked out of global credit markets and relies on export revenue for hard currency.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/us-argentina-us-beef-idUSBRE87U0ZI20120831
Justiça determina abertura de ação penal contra militares por crimes na ditadura
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1146032-justica-determina-abertura-de-acao-penal-contra-militares-por-crimes-na-ditadura.shtml?skin=folhaonline&comment=5815260&reply=6468920&type=comment&done=http%3A%2F%2Fwww1.folha.uol.com.br%2Fpoder%2F1146032-justica
Thursday 30 August 2012
Germans' negligence and ineptitude exposed
This could explain why the German government did not go out of its way to prevent the attack, or stop it once it began.
Germany, Israel still conceal facts about massacre - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Wednesday 29 August 2012
Cyber warfare
Cyber spying expands in Iran after operation is blown: researchers
The scope of a cyber espionage campaign targeting Iran
and other parts of the Middle East has widened, even after security
experts blew the operation's cover last month, according to the research
firm that discovered the Mahdi Trojan.
Israeli security company
Seculert said that it has identified about 150 new Mahdi victims over
the past six weeks as the developers of the virus have changed the code
to evade detection from anti-virus programs. That has brought the total
number of infections found so far to nearly 1,000, the bulk of them in
Iran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/29/us-cybersecurity-middleeast-idUSBRE87S0EK20120829
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Monday 27 August 2012
Sunday 26 August 2012
the new Libya
The demolition of the large Sha'ab mosque happened in broad daylight on Saturday, drawing condemnation from government officials and Libyans across the country and abroad.
In Zlitan, witnesses said that an armed group, claiming to be Salafis, carried out the assault on the Sufi shrine, the tomb of Abdel Salam al-Asmar, a 15th-century Muslim scholar.
Libya minister quits over Sufi shrine attack - Africa 
- Al Jazeera English
Monday 20 August 2012
Sunday 19 August 2012
Thursday 16 August 2012
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Syrian Rebels Said to Be Holding Elite Fighters From Iran
American officials said they had
evidence that hostages taken by Syrian rebels were members of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, not pilgrims as described by the
government in Tehran.
At Islamic conference, Egypt's Morsi calls for regime change in Syria
Speaking at the Islamic Solidarity Conference in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Morsi said that it is time for regime change in Syria. He quoted the Prophet Mohammed who forbade war among Muslims and criticized those who allowed for the situation to deteriorate and for "blood to have been spilled during the holy month of Ramadan."At Islamic conference, Egypt's Morsi calls for regime change in Syria - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Honduras in the US war on drugs in Latin America.
Is the US lending financial support to a police force and army linked to a campaign of extra-judicial killings?
The US and Honduras - Fault Lines - Al Jazeera English
The US and Honduras - Fault Lines - Al Jazeera English
Alleged Nazi war criminal wins court battle
He was a 23-year-old warrant officer in the pro-Nazi Hungarian military at the time of Balazs' death, but says that he was not in Budapest when the attack took place.
"As a soldier I just had to carry out orders ... but none of those orders I was given had anything to do with rounding up Jews or torturing them or anything like that," Zentai told Australian television in 2008.
Alleged Nazi war criminal wins court battle - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English
Tuesday 14 August 2012
Egyptian president shown awarding medals to ex-generals
Egyptian President
Mohamed Mursi was on Tuesday shown awarding medals to Field Marshal
Hussein Tantawi and another senior general who he pushed into retirement
this week, a move that stamped his authority over the once ruling
military.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-egypt-president-generals-idUSBRE87D0MC20120814
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-egypt-president-generals-idUSBRE87D0MC20120814
Egypt's Mursi faces lawsuit over removal of power curbs
An Egyptian court is
to hear the first legal challenge to a decree issued by Islamist
President Mohamed Mursi that removed curbs on his powers imposed by the
army.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-egypt-mursi-challenge-idUSBRE87D0LU20120814
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-egypt-mursi-challenge-idUSBRE87D0LU20120814
how Orientalism changed the image of the Jew in Europe, for both Christians and Jews?
Les Juifs dans l’orientalisme
(The Jews in Orientalism), with an introduction and under
the direction of Laurence Sigal-Klagsbald.
Skira Flammarion: Musee d’art et d’histoire du Judaisme
(in French, 197 pages) 35.50 euros
Europe, the Orient, and the changing image of the Jews - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Monday 13 August 2012
Ahmadinejad in Mecca
Islamic body agrees to suspend Syria: OIC source
Foreign ministers at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) agreed on Monday to suspend Syria from the international body, an OIC source said, further isolating President Bashar al-Assad.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/13/us-syria-crisis-muslim-summit-idUSBRE87C0RK20120813
Sunday 12 August 2012
Kurds take control in Syria's northeast
Control of large parts of Syria's northeast is now in the hands of the Democratic Union Party, the main Kurdish party in the region.
About two million Kurds live in the area, making up 10 per cent of the population. There are also significant Kurdish populations in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq and more in Iran.
In Syria, the Kurds suffered discrimination and loss of culture under the ruling Baathist party since the 1960s. Many were granted citizenship only last year by President Bashar al-Assad, after the uprising started.
Kurds take control in Syria's northeast - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
About two million Kurds live in the area, making up 10 per cent of the population. There are also significant Kurdish populations in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq and more in Iran.
In Syria, the Kurds suffered discrimination and loss of culture under the ruling Baathist party since the 1960s. Many were granted citizenship only last year by President Bashar al-Assad, after the uprising started.
Kurds take control in Syria's northeast - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
Saturday 11 August 2012
Turkish forces end anti-PKK operation in Semdinli
Turkish armed
forces have ended an almost three-week operation against Kurdish
militants in the southeast region of Semdinli, bordering Iran and Iraq, and have killed "a large number" of fighters, the local governor said in a statement on Saturday.
Turkish jets have bombarded Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions around the mountainous region in one of most intense bouts of fighting in recent years in a decades-long conflict which has killed 40,000 people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/11/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE87A0AF20120811
Turkish jets have bombarded Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) positions around the mountainous region in one of most intense bouts of fighting in recent years in a decades-long conflict which has killed 40,000 people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/11/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE87A0AF20120811
Germans, Syrians and Israelis on Nazi criminals and spies
The abduction that never was
Everything published about the fate of Nazi criminals and activities of secret services – including the Mossad – should be taken with a grain of salt.
By Tom Segev
Nazi diplomat Franz Rademacher signed one of the most chilling
documents in the history of the Holocaust. In October of 1941,
Rademacher went to Belgrade, and upon his return to Berlin submitted an
expense account noting the purpose of his visit: “extermination of the
Jews of Belgrade.” Rademacher was in close contact with Adolf Eichmann.
At the start of the 1950s Rademacher was convicted in Germany for
complicity in murders of Serbs and sentenced to three years in prison;
the Israeli press covered the trial. He was released until the hearing
of his appeal − and disappeared; at one stage he settled in Damascus. In
1966 he was brought back to Germany and re-tried. The proceedings
continued for a number of years but stopped in 1973 when Rademacher
died.
This story offers an important moral, which goes beyond the history of
the Holocaust: Everything that has been published about the fate of Nazi
criminals and about the activities of secret services, anywhere in the
world − including the Mossad − should be taken with a very large grain
of salt. It is almost never possible to know what is true and what is
fiction.
In September 1967 two Israeli journalists who were very close to the
Mossad, Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat, published a book about Eli
Cohen, the Israeli spy who was active in Syria, and executed there in
1965. The story presented there is ostensibly based on an exchange of
messages between Cohen and his handlers. One day, according to Dan and
Ben Porat, Cohen discovered Rademacher’s address in Damascus and was
even a guest in his home; he reported this to his superiors and asked
for further instructions.
Cohen’s handlers in the Mossad ordered him to concentrate on his main
mission and not get entangled in hunting Nazis. According to Dan and Ben
Porat, Israel transmitted the information it received from Cohen about
Rademacher to West Germany; in turn, it demanded that Syria extradite
the Nazi and the Syrians did so.
Now veteran Israeli journalist Samuel Segev has published a revised
edition of his book on Eli Cohen, which was first published in 1986
(“Alone in Damascus: The Life and Death of Eli Cohen”; Keter, in
Hebrew). In it he writes: “In September 1966 German intelligence agents
abducted Rademacher from his home in Damascus, put him in the trunk of a
car with diplomatic license plates, drove him quickly to Lebanon and
from there flew him in a special plane to Germany.”
According to Segev, “There is no way of knowing how the German
intelligence agency learned of Rademacher’s new address, but many years
later one of Cohen’s handlers at the Mossad said in a private
conversation: ‘The shitty Germans screwed Eli for us.’”
All this is very baffling: Why would the Germans bother to abduct
Rademacher? And how was it exactly that the Germans “screwed Eli for
us,” considering that Cohen was executed in May 1965, a year and a half
prior to Rademacher’s supposed abduction?
As is usual in books about the Mossad − and frequently, also, in books
about the fate of Nazi criminals − this story appears without any
mention of a source.
About eight months ago, the German weekly Der Spiegel published a new
revelation about Rademacher, uncovered in U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency documents: Starting in 1962 he apparently worked for the German
overseas intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, known as the
BND. He lived in Damascus and from there he regularly dispatched
intelligence reports, for pay. The Americans knew about his presence
there as early as 1957. (In this context it should be noted that the
CIA files contain a lot of nonsense too, including a report from the
1950s to the effect that Eichmann was hiding in Jerusalem.)
And the Mossad? And Eli Cohen? The report in Der Spiegel does not match
what is written in Samuel Segev’s book. According to the German weekly,
Rademacher had already been arrested on suspicion of spying in July
1963 − that is, half a year before Eli Cohen submitted his report, which
Segev says he did the day after his meeting with Rademacher on December
2, 1964.
According to Der Spiegel, the Syrians held Rademacher in prison for
more than two years. Der Spiegel does not give details of the
circumstances of his return to Germany, but presumably, had Rademacher
been “abducted,” the publication would not have omitted such a detail.
The impression is that everyone has something to hide, perhaps out of
shame. Everyone is trying to deceive history. Including the Mossad. Its
archive is closed to research, including the files on Nazi war
criminals.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/the-makings-of-history/the-abduction-that-never-was.premium-1.457381#
Friday 10 August 2012
Thursday 9 August 2012
Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar
Group calling itself "People's Care for Rohingya" demands an end to violence against Southeast Asia's stateless people -
The United Nations says about 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar.
Pro-Rohingya protest staged in Indonesia - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English
The United Nations says about 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar.
Pro-Rohingya protest staged in Indonesia - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English
Egypt's nouveaux riches and the Palestinians
its all Israel and US fault... not convincing at all but nice title for an opinion
Egypt's nouveaux riches and the Palestinians - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Egypt's nouveaux riches and the Palestinians - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Greve dos Servidores Federais
Onda de greves se alastra e desafia governo Dilma
A greve dos servidores federais ganhou ontem a adesão de policiais rodoviários e ameaça se tornar a paralisação mais ampla do funcionalismo desde o começo do governo Lula (2003-2010), desafiando a gestão da presidente Dilma Rousseff.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/1134351-onda-de-greves-se-alastra-e-desafia-governo-dilma.shtmlExtradition of 3 Hamas militants to Egypt
Egyptian intelligence made a request to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, using senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar as an intermediary, to extradite members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ paramilitary wing, according to an al-Quds newspaper report on Thursday.
Egypt demands extradition of 3 Hamas militants over support for Sinai terrorists - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Wednesday 8 August 2012
on Brazilian Imperialism
Investment or Foreign Policy?
Brazil’s forays into Africa are similar to the ambitions of other rising powers, like Turkey, which has established its sway in the Arab world, and India’s promotion of its culture across Asia.
Shift from aid recipient to provider? Business in Africa?
Africa now accounts for about 55 percent of the disbursements by the
Brazilian Cooperation Agency, which oversees aid projects abroad,
according to Marco Farani, the agency’s director.
Brazil still trails other nations, notably China
and the United States, which have far more expansive aid programs and
trade in Africa. Elsewhere in Latin America, Venezuela and Cuba have
offered different ways of enhancing African ties.
Oderbrecht and Vale's Share:
Some of Brazil’s biggest inroads, predictably, are in
Portuguese-speaking countries like Angola, where the Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht ranks among the largest employers, and Mozambique, where the mining giant Vale has begun a $6 billion coal expansion project.
Racial democracy?
African students studying in Brazil have filed numerous complaints
describing slurs and aggression, complicating the myth of “racial
democracy” that once prevailed here, in which scholars contended that
Brazil had largely escaped the discrimination common in other societies.
African ties - an economic necessity or a historic debt?
Then economic necessity and a quest to build autonomy from the United
States laid the foundations in the 1970s for today’s diplomatic buildup
in Africa. Seeking to offset spending on oil imports, including cargoes
from Nigeria, military rulers set about opening new markets in Africa
for Brazilian companies. They found some success, notably in newly
independent Angola.
Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, built on those
inroads in trips to Africa from 2003 to 2010, referring to the “historic debt” Brazil had to Africa in its formation as nation.
Ex-chefe da Força Aérea depõe sobre morte do pai de Bachelet
O ex-chefe da Força Aérea do Chile e membro da junta militar liderada
por Augusto Pinochet, Fernando Matthei, depôs ao juiz Mario Carroza,
durante investigação sobre a morte do pai da ex-presidente Michelle
Bachelet. http://folha.com/no1134159
CJI escolhe diplomata brasileiro como presidente
O Comitê Jurídico Interamericano (CJI) elegeu como seu presidente o
ex-secretário-geral da Organização dos Estados Americanos (OEA) João
Clemente Baena Soares.
Baenas Soares, diplomata, é brasileiro e foi secretário-geral da OEA entre 1984 e 1994.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/1134152-cji-escolhe-diplomata-brasileiro-como-presidente.shtml
Presidente paraguaio diz que quer revisão de acordo de Itaipu
"A decisão do governo é clara: não estamos mais dispostos a ceder nossa
energia. Vejam que utilizo a palavra 'ceder'. Porque o que fazemos hoje é
ceder energia para o Brasil e a Argentina, não vender", disse Franco,
ao falar sobre a instauração de uma política de Estado para o setor
energético do país.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/1134217-presidente-paraguaio-diz-que-quer-revisao-de-acordo-de-itaipu.shtml
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/1134217-presidente-paraguaio-diz-que-quer-revisao-de-acordo-de-itaipu.shtml
Muslim rebels 735km east of Moscow
Muslim rebels say they are fighting for a separate Islamic state in the strip of provinces along Russia's southern border and sometimes target mainstream Muslim leaders, who have the backing of regional authorities and Moscow.
But their activities have been mostly contained to the Muslim republics of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia in the North Caucasus.
Tatarstan has been largely peaceful and is held out as a showcase of religious tolerance in Russia, which as a whole is predominantly Orthodox Christian.
Russian Muslim leaders attacked in Tatarstan - Europe - Al Jazeera English
Tuesday 7 August 2012
Syrians flee to Turkey
A Syrian brigadier-general was among more than 1,300 refugees who fled to Turkey to escape escalating violence in Syria overnight, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Another 11 military officers were also among the arrivals, bringing the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey to 47,500 people, the ministry said on Twitter.
More than 1,300 Syrians, including top army officers, flee to Turkey - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Monday 6 August 2012
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood blames Sinai attack on Mossad
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on its website on Monday that the attack on a police station in Sinai on Sunday in which 16 policemen were killed "can be attributed to Mossad" and was an attempt to thwart Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood blames Sinai attack on Mossad - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Global Jihad operatives in the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
The attack took place while the Egyptians were breaking the daily Ramadan fast. Two armed groups whose members are identified with Al-Qaida raided the post, a few kilometers from Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, in two off-road vehicles.
They fired RPG rockets and machine guns at the position, one of the Egyptian army's key posts on the border. There were an estimated 20 soldiers at the post at the time of the attack. It is believed the attackers killed approximately 15 soldiers and abducted the others.
Israel as a secondary goal:
Sinai attack proves Islamist terrorists are targeting Egyptians as well as Israelis - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
They fired RPG rockets and machine guns at the position, one of the Egyptian army's key posts on the border. There were an estimated 20 soldiers at the post at the time of the attack. It is believed the attackers killed approximately 15 soldiers and abducted the others.
Israel as a secondary goal:
Sunday's attack was unusual in its daring. It is clear that the group
that carried it out wanted first and foremost to cause mass casualties
among Egyptian soldiers, and apparently, to deter soldiers from serving
in the area. Striking Israel was apparently a secondary goal.
Sinai attack proves Islamist terrorists are targeting Egyptians as well as Israelis - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Barak: Attack on Israel-Sinai border is 'wake-up call' for Egypt government
Sunday's attack was the largest assault carried out in Sinai by global jihad operatives against both Egyptian and Israeli targets.
Barak: Attack on Israel-Sinai border is 'wake-up call' for Egypt government - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Armed militants attack Egyptian army outpost, try to infiltrate Israel border - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Sinai Global Jihad militants attacked Egyptian outpost, killed between 10 and 15, stole armored vehicles; no Israeli casualties reported; all Eshkol Regional Council residents now allowed to leave houses, expect for residents of Halutziot, Kerem Shalom.
Sunday 5 August 2012
Saturday 4 August 2012
Dilma & Brazil Truth Commission
Leader’s Torture in the ’70s Stirs Ghosts in Brazil
A Brazilian truth commission is gathering details on decades-old torture cases, including that of President Dilma Rousseff.
Friday 3 August 2012
China: 20 Sentenced in Terrorism Case
The defendants were sentenced to up to
15 years in prison for advocating violence and separatism in the western
region of Xinjiang, where the central government has clamped down on
dissent and restricted religious practices.
Iraq: Turkey Accused of Interference
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said that
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Kirkuk was “not appropriate”
and an “interference in the internal affairs of Iraq.”
Judaism trendy revival? or Judaism as perceived by (some) outsiders?
Judaism is enjoying an unexpected revival, says David Landau. But there are deep religious and political divisions, mostly centred on Israel
Jul 28th 2012 | from the print edition
Syria: Is there an alternative to chaos?
Even the Russians, as well as Western governments, must think Syria would be better off if the regime is decapitated before descending into sectarian chaos
Aug 4th 2012 | ALEPPO AND LONDON
| from the print edition
Thursday 2 August 2012
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