27개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Israel's war against Hamas/Gaza. The 4th day:
While the..
"Ground War is on Horizon"
..according to the current "top story" by CNN - "An Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip appears to be just a matter of time" (Der Spiegel) - it seems as if the Palestinian "resistance" (Hamas, IJ, PRC..) await eagerly the coming (bloody) battles in the streets of Gaza City, Khan Younis, Beit Hanoun...
Well, just "enjoy" following messages from Gaza:
"We have many surprises for Israel! We are just waiting for the ground attack to teach them an unforgettable lesson."
"We Will Fight Till the Last breath"
"Im from Gaza near the border, and i have SMS for Barak and Olmert.... stupids if you think that we will fall or cry becuse of casulties, till the last child of our generations we will resiste you. we ready for being all in the heaven with Muhamad PBUH .... come on and we will give IDF our special dragon Kiss."
"Kill our children, kill our women, kill us all, but our march to freedom will not be stopped. Your occupation will be defated, no matter what yu do. We are waiting for your sissy army here, come one, come all."
If there's a ground invasion, Abu Obeida (spokesman for Hamas' military wing) promised worse: "If you enter Gaza,our children will collect your flesh which will be spread out through the streets.", according to Ma'ariv.
Related articles:
☞ Israeli Troops Ready for Ground Invasion (Der Spiegel)
☞ Hamas is hoping for an IDF ground operation (Haaretz)
☞ PRC spokesman urges IDF troops to 'fight like men' (Yedioth Ahronoth)
PS:
Still al-Jazeera TV has the best, most informative reports about the war in Gaza. You can find its live stream here:
http://www.livestation.com/channels
Israel's war against Hamas/Gaza. The 3rd day:
"Shock Treatment for Hamas"
Death, Tears and Rage in Gaza
First of all: The German (bourgeois) Welt.Online reported today in the late morning that Hamas political "leader" Khaled Mashaal has said that he is ready to sign a ceasefire agreement for Gaza that would involve Israel ending its attacks and its blockade of the territory (*).
But Israel/the IDF will be - very likely - not really impressed by his offer: Almost short while later the Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Brigadier-General Dan Harel said: "We are just at the beginning of the battle, this will not be hasty. The worst is not behind us – it is still ahead of us, and we should be prepared for this." and continued: "After this operation there will not be one Hamas building left standing in Gaza, and we plan to change the rules of the game."
At the same time Israel's war ("defence") minister E. Barak "promised": "We'll fight this war until the bitter end!"
Already yesterday GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant said that in attacking Hamas' regime in the Gaza Strip, the IDF will try to "send Gaza decades into the past".. while achieving "the maximum number of enemy casualties.."
Meanwhile, since the early afternoon, IAF reduced the number of airstrikes in Gaza while IDF ground forces complete preparations for possible incursion.
Following a small selection of reports of the recent developments:
By al-Jazeera:
☞ Israel in 'all-out war' with Hamas
☞ Hamas calls for third intifada
For more, detailed and daily informations please check out:
☞ Haaretz (IL)
☞ Yedioth Ahronoth (IL)
☞ PIC (Hamas propaganda..)
* A lot of "interesting" comments related to Mashaal's "offer" you can read here!
Gaza, Friday afternoon. Palestinian "resistance" fighters:
Palestinian "resistance" fighters - only 24 hours later:
While last Friday (12.26) in the morning Israel opened the border crossings to Gaza for about 100 trucks with humanitarian aid - fuel, food etc. - almost at the same time the Palestinian "resistance" organisations (IJ, PRC, incl. the "ruling" Hamas..) resumed their mortar and rocket attacks against targets in Israel and the Karni crossing. At the end of the day two Palestinian girls were killed - by "friendly fire" (i.e. rockets of the "restistance"..).
Meanwhile, at least since the end of the cease-fire (12.19), the "rulers" (Hamas) in Gaza and the other "resistance" organisations did everything to assure the Palestinians (and the rest of the world) that there will be no attack from Israel, despite almost daily rocket/mortar attacks against communities in Israel. Because: "Israel is weak..", "The Olmert gov't is complete powerless and impotent..", etc.
One example from last Thursday (12.25): "Barak won't dare attack," Abu Abir, the spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) told the Nazareth-based (Palestinian) newspaper Arb al-Dahel. "He and the Shin Bet (*) know what awaits them in Gaza. Should the IDF attack, Israel won't be able to sustain the Palestinian response even for a day."
And now?
Since almost 30 hours Gaza suffers constantly attacks by the IAF! Until now, according to al-Jazeera, nearly 300 people were killed and more than 700 injured..
* Israel Security Agency
About one week ago Taru Taylor (Professor of English at Semyung University, Jecheon, S.K.) contributed following remarkable article to Korea Times, but finally the bourgeois newspaper refused to publish it (*):
Imperial Korea?
South Korea has learned well from Japan, its onetime imperial master—how to be an imperialist. Witness the recent deal between the Republic of Korea and Madagascar, brokered by Daewoo Logistics, for a 99-year lease of 3.2 million acres, half of Madagascar’s arable land. “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” indeed! Except South Korea, too, is now a master.
One might have thought that the suffering endured under Japanese imperialism had taught Korea to sympathize with poor and oppressed peoples. That, in the person of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea pointed the way to equity between the white bourgeois and the colored proletarians and peasants of the world. As a Black American who has suffered from the tyranny of the white majority, I thought Koreans might prove soul mates. But Korean employers requiring photos to screen out Black applicants like me exploded that wishful thought.
Nevertheless I eagerly applauded the Seoul street protests last spring, apparently against American beef but really against Anglo-American imperialism and its chaebol and yangban flunkies. President Lee Myung-bak apologized to the people. I felt humble before the might of the ordinary Korean. They truly seemed the beacon of the true democracy necessarily anchored in the proletariat and the peasantry.
I sought historical perspective for the beef protests and found it in the “Tonghak” (“Eastern Learning”) of native Korea as opposed to the “Western Learning” of Europe. Its slogan: “Drive out the Japanese dwarfs and the Western barbarians, and praise righteousness.” Its author: Choe Cheu, a wandering peasant martyred in 1864. He inspired the Tonghak rebellion of 1894, which compelled the Korean aristocracy to bring in 1500 Chinese troops to suppress it. He inspired “Chondogyo” (“Society of the Heavenly Way”), the indigenous religion of Korea that had changed its name from Tonghak in 1905. The first signer of the March 1, 1919 Declaration of Independence from Japan was Son Pyong-hi, leader of Chondogyo, which provided 15 of the 33 signers.
Choe Cheu—author of Tonghak and of Chondogyo—is the true hero of Korea. His Tonghak philosophy and his Chondogyo religion seem the portals for discovering Korean identity. When, last summer, I described the beef protests as a 2008 Tonghak rebellion, I meant that Choe Cheu still lived as the archetype of modern Korea. Just as Luke Skywalker led the Rebellion against Lord Vader’s Empire, the specter of Choe Cheu haunted the “new world order” from the streets of Seoul.
But South Korea lately seems more like Park Chung-hee, the mastermind who modeled South Korea after Japan. He epitomizes the Korean bourgeoisie even as Choe Cheu epitomizes its proletariat and peasantry. In America, Thomas Jefferson had advocated agrarian democracy and limited government—states’ rights—as against monopoly capitalism as commandeered by the imperial government of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton won the debate, for first president George Washington sided with his Secretary of the Treasury against his Secretary of State.
Although not contemporaries like Jefferson and Hamilton, Choe Cheu and Park Chung-hee are the grand interlocutors of Korean destiny. Tonghak is one portal; imperialism is the other. The “Republic of Korea” and “Imperial Korea” are the terms of the debate between the agrarian hero and the capitalist dictator. The beef protests argue for Choe Cheu; for Tonghak; for Korea as Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight. But the Madagascar deal argues for Park Chung-hee; for Imperial Korea; for Korea as Anakin Skywalker nee Sith Lord Darth Vader.
“Imperialism,” of course, is a heavy word, perhaps the heaviest word of current political discourse. Before we proceed with the question of Imperial Korea we would do well to come to terms with it. For, as Confucius reminds us in Book 13 Chapter 3 of “The Analects,” semantics are the essence of sound government. Asked by Tzu-lu the first thing the governor must do, Confucius replies “rectification of names.” He explains: “If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.” So without further ado let’s rectify “imperialism” and thus put South Korea’s deal with Madagascar in perspective.
According to Merriam-Webster, “imperialism” is “the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas.” V.I. Lenin’s economic treatise, “Imperialism: the Final Stage of Capitalism” (1916), expands this definition. He first of all insists that imperialism is in essence economic, a mere function of finance capital. That imperialism is “monopoly capitalism” writ large. That imperialism is “parasitism” whereby the ruling class of the oppressor nation uses colonies to enrich itself at their expense. That imperialism has for its complement “opportunism,” that is, corruption of the elite bureaucrats of the proletariat by means of bribery. That imperialism creates privileged sections of the proletariat who thus detach themselves from the proletarian and peasant masses, what we would call tokenism.
Is there really any doubt, given the above rectification of “imperialism,” that South Korea is not now colonizing Madagascar? That it is not now Imperial Korea? That the bureaucrats of Madagascar who are making this deal aren’t Uncle Toms selling out their people just as Esau sold out his birthright to Jacob? Interestingly, Lenin cites Japan as an example of imperialism for its then recent annexation of Korea. History has come full vicious circle, for now Korea is exhibit A of imperialism for its annexation of Madagascar.
* T. Taylor's comment in IMC (12.24):
"The article ... entitled 'Imperial Korea?' was published and then unpublished by The Korea Times.
What I mean is, it was put up onto the website Thursday afternoon, then taken down a few minutes later. The executive managing editor of The Korea Times said to me Friday morning that it had been taken down because the issue of Madagascar and Korea had been discussed in The Financial Times already. He told me that my piece was not "original".
The only reason I knew about it having been published in the first place was that someone emailed me to compliment me on the 'Imperial Korea?' article Thursday at around 4 pm. I then read it online on The Korea Times website. There were even two very critical comments, by a different reader, on the article in the commentary section beneath it. I remember him saying that my argument would've been stronger if I had not brought in Lenin and Confucius, if I had just analyzed the situation in Madagascar on the ground with more facts and details.
The article ... was published by The Korea Times. Then, I say again, it was unpublished.
It would've been OK if I had been told weeks ago, when I first submitted the article, that it would not be published. I can live with rejection. I understand that it's a provocative piece. But to be told on two different occasions that it would be published, then to actually have it published, then to have it unpublished.... an outrage!
Censorship.
Indeed, Orwellian."
http://www.indymedia.org/fr/2008/12/918255.shtml
And - finally - here's my "comment":
What a surprise! The author is quoting Lenin's “Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism” and the bourgeois newspaper is refusing to publish the piece.. (^^)
Has the author ever heard about anti-communism in S.K. in general, and the "NSL" in particular??
During the last few days Jinbonet/NewsCham and MTU published articles written by the Internet Broadcasting for Migrants in Korea/IBMK (이주노동자 방송국).
IBMK's self-conception: "A borderless network among migrants and migrant workers in the world!" (more about it you can read here).
But what - TFH - is happening with them?
Since last October (at least) on their English section you can find two "top contributions", written/produced by IBMK, promoting (in my opinion) propaganda for the (clerical-fascist) Unification Church (통일교회, aka the Moon sect):
☞ Students welcomes Vice President of Purbanchal Univeristy..
☞ Video: Mass Wedding Ceremony (*)
Questions?
Don't ask me! You better ask IBMK!
* You really should "enjoy" it!! ^^ (That's just the ultimate distastefulness!! Disgusting!!)
JoongAng Ilbo has been - hitherto - characterized (by the left/progressive circles) as one of the three most reactionary newspapers in S. Korea (alongside Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo)!
But last Friday (12.19) it published following very interesting and what's more, really surprising editorial (Wikipedia: "An editorial is an article in a newspaper or magazine that expresses the opinion of the editor, editorial board, or publisher"):
Ending discrimination
Dec. 18 is International Migrants Day. In an age of globalization, when the labor force roams the world with far fewer restraints than before, each nation should protect the rights of migrant workers and their families.
Unfortunately, Korea is still a backward country when it comes to human rights as illustrated by the crackdown on illegal migrant workers announced just in time by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
More worrying, a survey of migrant workers at four detention centers in Korea reveals a spate of human rights violations, such as officials not identifying themselves properly or not fully explaining to workers why they have been detained, and women being denied use of the bathroom or reportedly getting sexually harassed.
It seems clear that officials are ignoring a basic international standard concerning the human rights of illegal migrant workers caught up in crackdowns.
But the number of foreigners staying inside the country has continued to grow and as of the end of October stands at 1.17 million people, including 210,000 who are here illegally. Some migrant workers have Korean spouses and now form an important segment of Korean society. Should they be treated like this?
Our society has clearly not yet matured enough to be called a multicultural society. In August last year, a United Nations subcommittee on the elimination of human rights discrimination reprimanded Korea following illegal crackdowns on migrant workers, unfair labor practices and domestic violence that foreign spouses and their children experience. The warning is an official confirmation from the international community that Korea discriminates against foreigners.
To rid this country of this dishonorable distinction, we have to break the practice of exclusivity and so-called pureblood values. We have to embrace people who look different from us and who speak other languages.
We support the city of Ansan in Gyeonggi, home to the largest foreign population here, for setting up regulations on human rights of non-Koreans and for stating that it will protect the rights of migrant workers.
Let’s hope that more provincial cities follow in Ansan’s footsteps. We can’t continue to condemn foreigners who are our neighbors in a world where they are denied basic human rights.
Discrimination has no place in this country anymore.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2898799
MTU published a Korean version of the text:
☞ "외국인 노동자 차별하고 따돌리는 인권 후진국"
In the beginning of the last century V.I. Lenin (*) characterized the parliament (of the bourgeois democracy) as a place for palaver (the German translation: "Schwatzbude").
But for the S. Korean parliament, the National Assambly (NA), Lenin's characterization reflects not the complete reality.. The NA is also a place for good fights (between the "ruling" forces and the parliamentary "opposition")! As you can admire here (last Thursday, representatives from GNP vs. DP/DLP rep's):
Here you'll see some more impressive pics about the event:
☞ Violence erupts in Korean National Assembly (Guardian/Photo Gallery)
For more informations/"backgrounds" (if you really want to know..^^) about the event:
☞ Assembly in FTA Conflict (Korea Times, 12.18)
☞ Melee ensues as FTA advances (JoongAng Ilbo, 12.19)
☞ National Assembly is still under siege (Korea Herald, 12.20)
☞ Democrats storm speaker’s office (JoongAng Ilbo, 12.20)
☞ Assembly speaker apologizes for GNP’s unilateral actions (Hankyoreh, 12.20)
* in:
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