Turn on the megaphones

Although the following article concerns itself with civilian deaths in Afghanistan, I thought it is befitting the mass murder unfolding in Gaza.

Killing of 17 Afghan Civilians in US-led operation

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday condemned the reported killing of 17 civilians, including women and children, in a US-led coalition operation in eastern Afghanistan, the presidential palace said in a statement....

Unable to seek revenge independently, many Afghan men in southern and eastern Afghanistan have joined the Taliban ranks after losing members of their families in international military operations, according to Afghan officials.

At least 1,500 civilians were among the 4,000 people killed in the first eight months of 2008, according to United Nations officials in Afghanistan.

Just like Afghani men in many cases are joining the Taliban, not due to their firm believe in the Taliban's extreme Islamic dogma, but to enlist with the only force out there that is fighting the invaders that killed their loved ones, so will Hamas be strengthened by USrael's despicable attacks on Gaza's civilian population.

The way those fanatic Zionist assholes see it, the more civilians die in the onslaught the better, it means more enraged Palestinians, more olive groves and houses that can be annexed while whimpering about the raging Palestinians.

However, with all our focus on Gaza, it's also worth remembering that our troops, US and allied forces around the world are just as barbaric as the IDF's henchmen. Looking at the numbers quoted in the Uruknet article, 1500 civilians killed in 8 mths in Afghanistan, pretty much in the same fashion as their Muslim brothers in Palestine, leaves one in no doubt that our own governments, people we elected, are just as guilty as Livni or say, Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli Minister for Palestinian Deaths. One has to wonder if the Allies' strategic planning in Afghanistan isn't in line with Israel's strategy - antagonize the civilian population in order to create the conflict needed to justify ones presence.

So whilst I understand that people could do with a stiff drink in times like these, it should not be to help us forget our frustrations and to numb the anger, but to warm us up for the cold outside, where we will have to march till our feet start bleeding. Lets not succumb to the feeling of hopelessness and our insignificance. We are not powerless, quite the opposite, WE are the power, we are the people. Should enough of us make a stand, putting for a change our money where our mouths and keyboards are, marching hand in hand by the tens of millions against the system, show enough courage to engage in civil disobedience and withholding war taxes, we will make a difference. 10 million people giving $100 ea, and there is a billion dollars to fight this insanity. And when the money runs out in three months time, we do it all over again, until those fuckers learn that we are serious.

We, not Rudd or Obama, have to get the snowball rolling. Them two soggy face washers won’t, that much is clear from their telltale silence on the war crimes committed by our alleged ally. But how? I hear you ask. How can us plebs make a difference? Easy, all it takes is a conscience and a few spare minutes every so often.

Short from traveling to Palestine ourselves to oppose in Rachel Corrie’s spirit the atrocious crimes committed against nearly helpless people, we can do our bit from wherever we are, in multiple different ways. Donate to any organization that is dedicated to easing the Palestinian suffering, whilst at the same time boycotting any goods and services coming from Israel, or firms associated and in business with Israel.

Let’s not kid ourselves, we all bear in one way or another some responsibility for the misery that exists across the developing world. Our consumer choices play an intrinsic role in the lives of many desperate people. They remain faceless to us, and yet we influence their livelihoods every day we go shopping.

As we blindly spend our monies, it escapes us that by buying thoughtless we are squandering our enormous power. Not as one lone shopper who tries to make a difference, but collectively, as an ever growing number of people who are fed up with the way the system churns out victims.

There are ways you and me can convey our message of disgust to the Israeli government slash establishment. Changing our consumer habits, making sure that no hard earned cent of ours is making its way to this in large parts morally corrupt nation. Let your wallets and purses do the talking, speak out with your cheque books and credit cards.

If we want our voices to be heard, we must first stop whispering, turn on our megaphones. So, to start up, send your English-language article or letter to the editor of as many media outlets as fit in your e-mail composer's To: field.

Once you’ve send your letter to the editors, join the global Consumer BDS movement and Boycott, Divest and Sanction for Palestine.

Find out about which companies to boycott, such as the Arsenal Football Club and Johnson & Johnson. Next time you buy shampoo or baby products, read the label. Anything produced in Israel will have a barcode on it that starts with the three digits 729.

Read about which western brands and labels not to buy, like Maggi, Coca Cola or Nestle products. I know its hard, but it can be done. We all can do it. Write a letter to those firms Customer Care departments and let them know that you have stopped buying their products as they help to prop up or are in cahoots with the Israeli apartheid state.

Also, make sure you check out this list of products from illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. And most importantly, please give generously to

• The Plant an Olive Tree campaign
• The Free Gaza Movement

or any other worthwhile cause you identify. Should you be able to afford it, make it a regular donation, regardless of when a new ceasefire will be negotiated. Without ever having been there myself, the images available tell the story - the damage inflicted on Palestine's people and infrastructure is so severe, that aid of any kind will be needed for decades to come. The Palestinian suffering will eventually disappear again from the media radar, it always does, until the next shocking incident brings it all back into the headlines. But the suffering there is not temporary like our news cycles, or shall I say attention span, it is ever present and seemingly permanent. In order for us to really make a difference, we best make any efforts of ours a longer term commitment.

Write, march donate, sponsor, purchase, participate, just do something. Remember - people, united, can never be defeated.

Any old way, no more time to waste, the people in Gaza and Afghanistan are counting on us, desperately.

The George & Kevin Show

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin “Busy Beaver” Rudd is in Washington. He had a bit of a meeting with the US leader, George Bush Jr., and their mutual understanding was omnipresent. It came as no surprise then when both cowboys in their press conference seem to read from the same script. And true to his word, that his administration will be more “pro-active” in world politics, Kevin went straight for it:

Ahead of the NATO summit in Bucharest next week, Mr Rudd re-emphasised the need for the Europeans to play a bigger role in the more dangerous south of Afghanistan.

Let’s just get this straight. The Australian Prime Minister complains about the European troop commitment to the invasion / occupation of Afghanistan. I am not sure when it was the last time Kevin or his advisors had a glance at the troop numbers supplied by the 40 allied nations to ISAF, the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, but here are some pretty recent figures:

To put these numbers in perspective, of the 39 countries contributing to ISAF, 75% are European who combined provide some 23’000 of the total of 43’000 allied soldiers that make up ISAF, that is more than half the boots on the ground. Looking at the 8 countries who contribute more personnel & resources than Australia, 6 are European. So why this constant blame game?

What is the aim of insinuating that if it weren’t for the lack of courage by the European contingent, there would have been more progress in NATO’s Afghan adventure?

Although it was the US administration which initiated the whole sorry affair that the war in Afghanistan has become, with 23’000 European troops their involvement exceeds the US contribution in terms of man power by 50%.

But then again, Kevin’s remark was not designed to mock the troop numbers of our European allies, but more likely to suggest that the ones that were there are underperforming. Something along the lines of Europeans are cowardly hiding in the “quiet North West” while the Mericans, Canadians & Australians have to do all the fighting in the “dangerous South East”.

According to a CNN count, as of March 28, 2008 there have been 777 coalition deaths – listed in order of casualty numbers:

Whilst the casualty numbers seem to imply indeed that US troops are paying a higher price than many of their European allies, European countries have lost more than 200 of their soldiers in the invasion / occupation of Afghanistan, which is more than a quarter of all allied casualties. Australia had to bemoan luckily only 4 thereof.

This ISAF map shows where the respective nations have deployed their troops. Should, as repeatedly requested by US officials and now not surprisingly Kevin Rudd, Europeans take on a greater role in the south eastern end of Afghanistan and move their units into those hard fought for areas, who would fill the void in the north west? With the Germans, Spaniards, Dutch, French & Italians all moving south, would the Mericans and Canadians move north, in effect swapping jobs with the Europeans? Sounds like rotating NATO troops along the lines of “Come on guys, you do the killing for a while, we’re due for a holiday.”

More from Kevin on that issue:

"We need to sign up a common script both military and civil on how we actually prosecute and succeed in this conflict," he said.

If I read that correctly then they don’t have yet a common strategy on how to succeed in Afghanistan. And that after 6 years!!! My o my, where will this end.

But then again, with two such mighty good leaders in place, I am almost certain we will have world peace in no time at all. Check out their credentials:

In what was often a jovial press conference, Mr Bush pegged Mr Rudd as a straight-shooter who was a strategic thinker and basically a decent guy.

And he was quick to agree that he too was befitting of the moniker "Man of Steel", a term he first bestowed on John Howard for his resolve in the war against terror.

Mr Rudd returned the favour by making the President an honorary Queenslander...

Queenslanders must be absolutely stoked with having George Bush as a fellow citizen. The man on whose orders some 100’000 Iraqis had to die will be proudly wearing the Maroons jumper Kevin has given him.

The Blues better watch out, George doesn't like loosing. Before you know it he'll spike NSW onto the axis of evil.

Finally, after all these numbers, sports & politics, and just to wrap this up, here a link to a site that cracked me up when I read it today, Vlads Daily Gloat, the radical Russian with a weakness for anything US American.

The times they are a not changing

Hola amigos, wie gehts denn allderweil? It’s been a while so it’s time for another post it seems, and it might as well be about what is on everybody’s lips, the change in the Australian government. So here goes, bottoms up.

Hurray, the king is dead, long live the king.

Let us all rejoice for we are young and free of John Howard. No more Abbot, Andrews and Costello, no more Ruddock, just Rudd. And boy is he a fresh face or what?

Unlike Howard, Rudd plans to keep immigrants locked up in detention camps and is happy to have "seaworthy" refugee boats turned around before they reach Australian waters.

SIEV X all over. According to the SMH it’s a bit like this:

The measures bring Labor broadly into line with the coalition's policies.

"You would turn them back," Mr Rudd said of boats approaching Australia.

He said Labor believed in an orderly immigration system enforced by deterrence.

A Labor government would aim to deter asylum seekers by using the threat of detention and Australia's close ties with Indonesia.

Australia's close ties with Indonesia are indeed a threat. I am not sure about you, but to me that sounds like "we decide who will come to this country" in Mandarin. Following logic, in order for refugees to be deterred from trying to make it to Australian shores the conditions in the camps must be as unwelcoming as possible. Far more unwelcoming than a homeless shelter in Brisbane. Kevin Rudd as quoted in The Age:

He also declared himself passionate about tackling homelessness, after visiting three homeless shelters and spending several hours talking to residents there during the election campaign."I think we can do much, much better as a nation for people who don't have anywhere to stay or anywhere secure to stay," he said...

What a man. So hypocritically compassionate, so very Labor. If the human being who has nowhere save to stay is Australian, we can do so much more for her then provide shelter, if they are Non-Australian and got nowhere save to go, they can piss off. There is no other way says Kevin:

But, asked what was compassionate about turning back refugee boats or incarcerating asylum seekers on Christmas Island, Mr Rudd defended the immigration laws… "You've got to have an orderly migration system. The only way you have an orderly migration system is if you have an enforcement mechanism. What's the alternative? There isn't one," he said…

Lock'em up, the only way!!! Kids 'n all, in concentration camps with aggressive guard dogs waiting for a chance to bite. Reminds me of something else I've seen on 60 year old black and white footage taken in similar set ups. Kevin knows what I am talking about:

Citing the history of the refugee convention, forged after the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II in which millions of European Jews were murdered by the Nazi regime, Mr Rudd said: "This is deeply ingrained in my soul about what's important."

How do you reconcile the two statements? The plight of European Jews ingrained in his soul, but ready to lock up people for trying to flee to a secure country with a decent chance of survival.

Death by neglect. Just remember Kev, you now carry the license to kill. And the scary part is that he seems to have no qualms to use it. Following good old Labor tradition, he promised to snuggle up to the only country in the world openly threatening to use its nuclear arsenal, the mighty USA, but that’s probably because their flag looks a bit like ours and is sporting the ALP colours of red, blue and white.

Let me state unequivocally that America remains an overwhelming force for good in the world. Let me state equally unequivocally that America remains an overwhelming force for strategic stability in the region.

Not a word about how the USA has yet again invaded a foreign country and in no time killed upwards of 100'000 civilians and maimed many more. Not a syllable about how this big friend of ours is instigating military coups across the world, their "water-boarding is not torture" camps. Overwhelming force for good. My arse Kevin.

But then, what do I read, cheng beng in the middle of the new Prime Minister's ALP security policy:

...Australia’s participation in the war in Iraq represents the single greatest failure of national security policy since Vietnam...

How is that possible? The two greatest failures of our security policies were both times the result of following the overwhelming force for good into senseless wars, killing millions. My oh my, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, your hypocrisy stinks to the heavens mate. An apologist if I've ever seen one.

Any schmonz coming from George Bush is regurgitated and presented as Australia's best interest, see also his stance on Iran:

Iran is now casting a longer shadow over the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East. Iran’s influence in Iraq itself through the Shia majority adds to the overall picture of strategic destabilisation. And this emboldened Iran (a state which has long supported terrorist organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas) continues with its nuclear activities.

So then Kevin, are Australian troops on stand by to assist the US & Israel in any military actions taken against Iran? In which drawer is the pair of socks?