Top 10 under-reported facts about a decade of war in Afghanistan

Top 10 under-reported facts about a decade of war in Afghanistan | rabble.ca
Excerpt regarding "Women's Rights"

The "women's rights" rationale has been exposed as a cynical sham. I'm not sure who really takes this fraud seriously anymore, but it's important to remember that this was presented early on through wall-to-wall media coverage as a key reason for occupying Afghanistan. Afghan women's rights boosted the careers of many western NGO spokespeople, but from the beginning the post-Taliban government installed by NATO was full of anti-women fundamentalists. Rapists continue to enjoy widespread impunity in Afghanistan; female suicide by self-immolation is higher than ever. Many outspoken women's activists have been murdered, either by the Taliban or by fundamentalists linked with the Afghan government. Others, like Malalai Joya, have been banished from elected positions.

You're not defending our freedoms

An Open Letter to the Troops: You’re Not Defending Our Freedoms: Information Clearing House: ICH
Stephen Harper, Conservatives and Liberals : you should take heed of this letter too. The situation in Afghanistan with Canadian troops is also pointless, is not defending our freedoms, and jeopardizes the safety of Canadians all over the world.

Pie throwing a terrorist act? Ridiculous!

Pie tossing is terrorism, MP says
Although I don't agree with much of what PETA says and does, I think anyone is an idiot for thinking that PETA is a terrorist organization (or that they should be investigated to determine if PETA is a terrorist organization under the definitions of the terrorist act). Stretching the terrorist act to include pie-throwing would be an abuse of the law. I think it should result in maybe overnight jail time with a conditional discharge (if anything) when it is done to a member of the government.

Peace in the Middle East - Not In Our Lifetime

I was reading this post on Far and Wide, and decided to leap into the fray with my take on the Israel/Palestine issue. I'm sure some will call me antisemitic for my comments, but I am not making any comments whatsoever about race, religion or ethnicity. My only comment is about human rights and an end to violence and the mind-set of the people involved that anyone can see who has studied the history of the situation. That said, read Far & Wide's post, then mine below.


This issue has been commented on for years by thousands of people from all perspectives. Anyone who criticizes the human-rights and international law abuses of the Israelis gets called antisemitic. But the fact remains that Israel does not care what the world thinks and will continue its current course of action (as proved by their actions - read on). Sure there are a lot of people in Israel who want to do the right thing regarding peace and the Palestinians. But there are not enough of these people. The right-wing extremists have a stranglehold on the government, so the government will continue to work towards ignoring the world and the plight of the Palestinians and continue their apartheid and genocide against the Palestinians.

Israel DOES endorse infinite hostility. If you look at what they have done and how they have acted regarding settlements in Palestine, treatment of Palestinians, and their disdain for international law, their hypocrisy regarding their nuclear arsenal, and their treatment of their neighbours (recently in Lebanon), you will see that they have no intention of making peace. They want nothing more than to completely erase the Palestinian people from Palestine and take over all the land and resources for themselves. They will continue to act like they want peace to keep the international community appeased, but they will not work towards it and will continue to blame the failure of the process on terrorists, the UN and the Arab community in general.

And remember, when Israel was a new growing nation, it used terrorism against Palestine (before an all-out war), (and then they cry foul when Palestinians use terrorism against them). Yes, terrorism is terrible and wrong. But STATE-supported terrorism (as practiced by the Israeli army and government for decades) against the Palestinian people is on a far larger scale with a much higher resulting body count.

The only way we will see peace between Israel and Palestine is if the US fully withdraws support from Israel in every way and forces Israel to make peace. And, this will not happen, so the violence will continue.