Most Americans still appear to be operating under the delusion that the "recession" will soon pass and that things will get back to "normal" very soon. Unfortunately, that is not anywhere close to the truth. What we are now witnessing are the early stages of the complete and total breakdown of the U.S. economic system. The U.S. government, state governments, local governments, businesses and American consumers have collectively piled up debt that is equivalent to approximately 360 percent of GDP. At no point during the Great Depression (or at any other time during our history) did we ever come close to such a figure. We have piled up the biggest mountain of debt that the world has ever seen, and now that gigantic debt bubble is beginning to pop. As this house of cards comes crashing down, the economic pain is going to become almost unimaginable.
Already, things are really, really, really bad out there. Unemployment is at shockingly high levels. Foreclosures and personal bankruptcies continue to set new all-time records. Businesses are being shut down at a staggering rate, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. government continues to pile up debt at blinding speed.
There is no use sugar-coating it.
The U.S. economy is collapsing.
The following are 40 bizarre statistics that reveal the truth about the collapse of the U.S. economy....
1 - According to one shocking new survey, 28% of U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.
2 - A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
3 - There are 9.2 million Americans that are unemployed but that are not receiving an unemployment insurance check.
4 - In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
5 - According to one analysis, the United States has lost 10.5 million jobs since 2007.
6 - China's trade surplus (much of it with the United States) climbed 140 percent in June compared to a year earlier.
7 - This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
8 - According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up significantly from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
9 - According to a recent poll conducted by Bloomberg, 71% of Americans say that it still feels like the economy is in a recession.
10 - Banks repossessed 269,962 U.S. homes during the second quarter of 2010, which was a new all-time record.
11 - Banks repossessed an average of 4,000 South Florida properties a month in the first half of 2010, up 83 percent from the first half of 2009.
12 - According to RealtyTrac, a total of 1.65 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the first half of 2010.
13 - The Mortgage Bankers Association recently announced that demand for loans to purchase U.S. homes has sunk to a 13-year low.
14 - Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
15 - 1.41 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009 - a 32 percent increase over 2008.
16 - Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers. Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers. By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.
17 - According to a new poll, six of 10 non-retirees believe that Social Security won't be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.
18 - 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
19 - According to one survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
20 - According to one recent survey, 24% of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
21 - The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined sharply to 52.9 in June. Most economists had expected that the figure for June would be somewhere around 62.
22 - Retail sales in the U.S. fell in June for a second month in a row.
23 - Vacancies and lease rates at U.S. shopping centers continued to get worse during the second quarter of 2010.
24 - Consumer credit in the United States has contracted during 15 of the past 16 months.
25 - During the first quarter of 2010, the total number of loans that are at least three months past due in the United States increased for the 16th consecutive quarter.
26 - Things are now so bad in California that in the region around the state capital, Sacramento, there is now one closed business for every six that are still open.
27 - The state of Illinois now ranks eighth in the world in possible bond-holder default. The state of California is ninth.
28 - More than 25 percent of Americans now have a credit score below 599, which means that they are a very bad credit risk.
29 - On Friday, U.S. regulators closed down three banks in Florida, two in South Carolina and one in Michigan, bringing to 96 the number of U.S. banks to be shut down so far in 2010.
30 - The FDIC's deposit insurance fund now has negative 20.7 billion dollars in it, which represents a slight improvement from the end of 2009.
31 - The U.S. federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion with three months still to go in the current budget year.
32 - According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.
33 - The M3 money supply plunged at a 9.6 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2010.
34 - According to a new poll of Americans between the ages of 44 and 75, 61% said that running out money was their biggest fear. The remaining 39% thought death was scarier.
35 - One study found that as of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
36 - The bottom 40 percent of all income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
37 - The number of Americans with incomes below the official poverty line rose by about 15% between 2000 and 2006, and by 2008 over 30 million U.S. workers were earning less than $10 per hour.
38 - According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
39 - For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
40 - A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey has found that just 23% of American voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed.
Source
Monday, August 2, 2010
Mike Rivero Is Leaving GCN
ANNOUNCEMENT
As of the end of August I will be leaving GCN to do my show over at Republic Broadcasting. My first day at Republic will be Monday August 23rd, followed by a week of doing both shows, with my last day at GCN Friday August 27th. The Saturday show is still up in the air at this time. My show will air earlier in the day on Republic, running from 2PM to 4PM Central Time. As usual, podcasts will be available.
UPDATE:
I have just been informed by the Alex Jones show that they are canceling my monthly interviews commencing this coming Tuesday. Imagine my shock and disappointment. No, really, just imagine it!
WRH
Alex Jones Banishes Mike Rivero
Jones and his handlers decide Michael Rivero must go. Not only from the Jones radio sideshow but from the GCN network as well. AJ waves his 'magic' zionist flag and makes things disappear.
Announcement from Mike ...
"I have just been informed by the Alex Jones show that they are canceling my monthly interviews commencing this coming Tuesday. Imagine my shock and disappointment. No, really, just imagine it!"
A little more info from Mike ...
WRH: "I have not made a big deal about the reasons for the move, but in a nutshell, GCN is a reflection of Alex Jones' views of the world, and more and more our points of view regarding Israel are diverging. I get a lot of email asking why I do not challenge Alex on his defense of Israel, or asking why every time I am on his show Alex feels obligated to have a pro-Israel representative on immediately afterwards to counter the points that I made.
I view the attack by Israel on a US flagged ship and Americans in international waters as an act of war and all who defend said attack as traitors to the USA. Alex holds a different view and I guess the breaking point was his rant in which he said that anyone who is a critic of Israel is a "weak-minded fool". That made it a personal attack, and I decided it was time to step out of Alex's shadow and go in a different direction."
Looks like a good thing to me. Keeping a good distance from AJ will be for the best in the long run. Maybe Mike will quit linking anything from the Jones world. Not to retaliate but just to be on the side of good taste.
I think most of us will have some disagreements with Rivero on certain issues, that's to be expected when folks are passionate about finding truth, but once again the bottom line is whether one has the courage to challenge Israel, their lobbyists and supporters in the media and both in and out of government Doing so can be dangerous to your health ... both economically and possibly otherwise.
-----
From a comment at WRH ...
READER: With all of the "anti-semitic" accusations being thrown around lately, it might be wise to try and define just what "semitism" really is so that we can be sure not to be "anti-semitic".
1) If "semitism" is stealing your neighbor's land, destroying his house and imprisoning and torturing his family, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
2) If "semitism" is committing terrible acts of violence and framing someone else for them, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
3) If "semitism" is compromising the USA government through blackmail and other threats, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
4) If "semitism" is imprisoning millions of improvised and brutalized people, cutting off all basic necessities for life, then yes, I am antisemitic.
5) If "semitism" is taking billions in aid from the USA and then murdering Americans with impunity, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
6) If "semitism" is ignoring all UN Resolutions critical of you and then using the same UN to raise trumped-up charges against an INNOCENT nation, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
7) If "semitism" is coercing the USA government and fooling the American people into attacking an INNOCENT nation, costing millions of innocent lives, including American soldiers, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
8) If "semitism" is attacking unarmed humanitarian ships in INTERNATIONAL waters, murdering at least nine people, including an American, shot FOUR times in the head, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
9) If "semitism" is thinking that you are a master and superior race that has to answer to NO one, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
10) If "semitism" is taking American tax dollars and then sptting in America's face, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
11) If "semitism" is suppressing any and all discussion of high crimes against humanity then yes, I am anti-semitic.
12) If "semitism" is constant lying and deception to achieve a goal that is illegal and immoral then yes, I am anti-semitic.
13) If "semitism" is arming yourself to the teeth, threatening other nations with attack AND attacking other nations because they are supposedly armed to the teeth and threatening you, then yes, I am anti-semitic.
14) If "semitism" is staging 911 with the help of traitorous Americansin high positions of power, murdering over 3,000 innocent Americans so that the USA will attack your "enemies" blamed for doing 911(and in the process blackmailing those same officials who helped you pull of 911!) then yes, I am anti-semitic.
15) If "semitism" is calling anyone critical of you or revealing of your actions "anti-semitic" then yes. I am anti-semitic.
Of course, these are not the real definitions of semitism, but "semitism" has become the cloak to shield crimes against humanity! But one thing is clear to me- those throwing this accusation around are the ones who are REALLY dragging REAL semtism though the mud! They are the real anti-semites!
Kenny's Sideshow
How surprising. Mike speaks entirely too much truth exposing Zionist crimes against humanity. If this doesn't begin to open people's eyes to Jones' intentions, I don't know what will. I wish Mike all the luck in the future. The further he can distance himself from Jones, the better.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Palestinian Detainees Abuse during Operation Cast Lead by Stephen Lendman
August 1, 2010
On July 6, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI) and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel released a report titled, "Exposed: The Treatment of Palestinian Detainees During Operation Cast Lead," detailing their horrific treatment.
Transferred to Israel for interrogation, detainees related grim details of their ordeal - grave human rights violations, showing Israel's "contempt for the rule of law."
Their "fundamental due process rights were trampled on and the rule of law brutally disregarded during and after the fighting," providing compelling evidence of collective punishment since Israel's 2005 "disengagement," followed by an embargo, a medieval siege, regular incursions, Cast Lead, and continued oppression of 1.5 million people - isolated, surrounded, attacked, brutalized, and slowly suffocated into submission, what hasn't happened and won't, but it doesn't deter Israel from trying, or America from providing weapons and funding its lawlessness.
Seizure and Detention in Gaza
Under Article 92 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners relating to family notification about an individual's seizure, the ICRC says it must be "as soon as (someone is) interned, or at the latest not more than one week after....arriv(ing) in a place of internment" or a temporary camp.
Israeli law also obligates authorities to comply with international law, its High Court recognizing notification as a basic detainee right, ruling that relatives must be informed within 24 hours:
"of his arrest and his place of detention so that they will be apprised of what befell their detained relative, and how they are able to offer him the assistance he requires to safeguard his liberty. This is a natural right derived from human dignity and general principles of justice, and accrues both to the detainee himself and to his relatives."
Israeli human rights organizations tried to locate detainees, several complaining to Israel's Chief Military Advocate General (CMAG) demanding full information.
CMAG stonewalled, saying only that the ICRC was informed of detentions, including required information of their names, where held and why.
The IDF's Supervision and Control Center (SCC), responsible for collecting and maintaining detainee information, declined to provide HaMoked, the Center for the Defense of the Individual, with the information it requested.
In response to its habeas petition for 15 detainees, SCC said that "As long as the fighting continues.....the IDF may detain more Palestinian residents," their names given to the SCC within 48 hours of their transfer to Israel - an interpretation violating international law requiring prompt notification. Failure to do so may subject detainees to human rights abuses, including torture, use as human shields and other forms of abuse and humiliation, precisely what the evidence below shows.
Using Protected Persons as "Human Shields"
Under detention in Gaza, they were exploited for military purposes, including as human shields, for 10 days or longer - a grave violation of international and Israeli law.
Fourth Geneva explicitly prohibits using protected persons for any military purpose, including as human shields or hostages. It also bans threats to harm family members to extract information about their relatives.
The Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is also explicit, its Article 8 defining war crimes as grave Fourth Geneva breaches, including taking protected persons hostage and/or compelling they help their captor militarily.
In addition, Israel's High Court banned using protected persons as hostages or human shields, ruling unequivocally that it's forbidden to exploit civilians for any military purpose, citing international humanitarian law. The Court emphasized that noncombatants mustn't be taken to military conflict areas, even if willing, understanding that "consent" would be forced and untrue.
Yet detainee testimonies confirmed the opposite - that they were compelled to serve militarily as the example below shows:
On January 4, 2009, Jabalia resident Abed Elkarim Mustafa Abu Salah said 20 soldiers burst into his home, damaged contents searching it, handcuffed him and his son, arrested them, then used them as human shields for 10 days in a combat area.
"During this whole period, my son and I were transported with the soldiers and in the night they would take us back to sleep in the house of Ismail Nabhan. Over this period, (we were) sent....into countless homes" to search and open doors and windows.
Declared an "unlawful combatant," Abu Salah was detained in Israel for four months, then released. Adalah complained to the CMAG on his behalf, demanding a investigation. On August 27, 2009, Israel's Military Police Criminal Investigations Division (CID) began one, Abu Salah and his son testifying on November 24. No decision was announced. If one comes, it will whitewash IDF responsibility.
Numerous other accounts reported similar mistreatment, one saying "IDF soldiers cuffed me and three of my brothers, and for three days had us walk ahead of them, and made sure we did so at gunpoint. They used us as human shields by ordering us to go into houses ahead of them."
At the time, an IDF spokesman denied it, saying:
"Regrettably, PACTI keeps rehashing allegations which have been heard - and dismissed by the High Court," even though true. Breaking the Silence Israeli soldiers confirmed it, one saying:
"The method used has a new name now - no longer 'neighbor procedure.' Now people are called 'Johnnie.' They're Palestinian civilians, and they're called Johnnies....To every house we close in on, we send the neighbor in, 'the Johnnie,' and if there are armed men inside, we start, like working the 'pressure cooker' in the West Bank."
He explained that "pressure cooker" meant using civilians to check if armed men were inside houses, "Johnnies" to smash walls for Israeli troops to storm through.
Amnesty International, other human rights groups, and the Goldstone Commission also found evidence of human shield use, confirming PACTI and Adalah, discrediting Israel's denial, its inexcusable cover-up.
Detention Conditions
One account, similar to others, was as follows:
"I was held inside the crater together with some 70 other civilians, most of whom I know from the neighborhood. During this period, I was not interrogated and to the best of my knowledge no one else was....either. On Wednesday (January 7, 2009), they put everyone on a truck, covered our eyes and we drove, with a tank in front of us, to an army post near the sea which was built after the Disengagement. The post was five kilometers from the place in which I was held. My son Hussein was left in the crater and I do not know what happened to him."
As protected persons, international and Israeli law demand humane treatment at all times. Fourth Geneva's Article 27 says: "They shall at all times be humanely treated."
Article 10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person."
Israel's High Court ruled that the nation's Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty obligates authorities to abide by ICCPR's Article 10. It's principles are also affirmed in Article 16(1) of the UN's Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and in Article 1 of the General Assembly's Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment."
Fourth Geneva requires that detention conditions must ensure detainee hygiene and health, including protection from weather conditions; that detention space must be adequately heated and lit; that sleeping quarters be spacious and well-ventilated, with suitable bedding and blankets; and that sufficient food and water be provided. These are universally accepted standards, ones Israeli systematically spurns, despite its own law stipulating that:
"Detainee(s) must be held under appropriate conditions that do not harm his Health and dignity." Article 9 of the Detentions Law and related regulations guarantees their bodily integrity, spirit and dignity, affording them sanitary conditions, a mattress, bed, food, light, ventilation, a daily walk, the right to communicate with visitors, to send letters, and other basic considerations."
Detention Regulation 22 differentiates between "regular" and "security" prisoners, latter ones denied or only partially afforded the above rights, in violation of international law making no distinction, without exception, obliging Israel to comply. Even detainees suspected of serious crimes are entitled to the same treatment as others with regard to their basic needs - an inviolable minimum threshold.
Prisoner accounts, however, related otherwise - that "from the moment of their arrest and detention, the detainees were held in disgraceful and inhuman conditions - from their detention in (Gaza) to their time in temporary military facilities for the purpose of absorption, and continuing in their cells in IPS detention centers in Israel."
Gaza Detention
Detainees, including children, were taken from their homes, held in large pits (two - three meters deep), unsheltered from the bitter cold for days, each pit holding 60 - 70 prisoners, their hands shackled and eyes covered. They couldn't even leave their pits to relieve themselves. The sanitary conditions were appalling, the amount of food, water, and blankets negligible.
Detainees complained of hunger, thirst and cold, adjacent to combat areas, endangering their lives. A PACTI/Adalah complaint to CMAG was unanswered.
Sameer Ali Muhammad Attar described his experience after being arrested on January 5, 2009 with his young son, saying:
"We arrived at the place where the tanks were posted, and at that moment (they) were firing shells on Beit Lahiya. (Israelis) dug out a crater with a dirt wall of some two meters. (We were) ordered to climb down the dirt walls and into the crater while shackled, and we were held there under the bare sky for two days (exposed) to the bitter cold, and only (on the second day given one blanket for two people). During the whole period we were shackled and we slept on the dirt."
Once or twice a day, they got food...."as for water, we would ask for it and sometimes they would bring us some, in delay. There were no toilets and they did not provide us with hygienic products like toilet paper. I was (with) 70 other civilians, most of whom I know from the neighborhood."
Other testimonies provided similar accounts, detailing horrific, abusive treatment.
Military Detention in Israel
Detainees were then taken to army facilities "Zikim" and "Sde Teiman," the latter for "unlawful combatants." In all cases, their human rights were denied. After being photographed and medically checked, they were held in cramped quarters, given inadequate food, thin mattresses and blankets, too little to protect against the bitter cold. They were shackled when given access to toilets. Some were placed in dark trailers with no showers, toilets, mattresses or blankets. Detainees related stories of violence and illegal interrogations.
Held as an "unlawful combatant," Muhammad Kisab was taken to Sde Teiman, put on a gravel floor with his father and two brothers, then moved to a trailer made of canvas with no mattresses or blankets. "The room was closed. It had one ventilation hole on the roof and it was completely dark. There was no toilet." Other detainees related similar accounts.
"The conditions (at) military facilities were far from meeting the minimum standards for the protection of the health and dignity of the detainees." Yet former High Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak ruled that even in emergencies, detention facilities must meet minimum international law criteria, Israeli authorities even defying their own Supreme Court.
Detainee Conditions in Interrogation and Detention Facilities
Detainees also endured abusive and humiliating conditions in Israel Prison Service (IPS) detention centers for interrogations. During breaks and when concluded, they were transferred to narrow, dark, foul smelling cells used for solitary confinement, given thin mattresses, little hygiene, and kept under 24-hour lighting that interrupted or prevented sleep.
Wa'el Atamneh had only a metal bed with no mattress or blanket for protection, nor a toilet, a privilege given once a day, and a shower after 10 days.
Imad Hamad said he was held in solitary confinement, interrogated 18 hours a day during his first three days, then transferred to Ketziot Prison under better conditions.
All detainees complained of abusive treatment in solitary confinement, cut off from attorneys and families, in cold, small, smelly cells, thin mattresses or none, deprived of sleep, showers and washing, and subjected to 24-hour lighting and grueling interrogations, at times including torture.
The psychological pressure was intense. Their bodies became weak. Sensory deprivation took its toll, caused by the inability to keep track of time and disconnect from normal human contact and social stimuli.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
Under customary humanitarian law, torture is prohibited at all times under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions. In all its forms, it's a war crime, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Israel's High Court banned it in its HCJ 5100/94 Public Committee against Torture in Israel v. Government of Israel, leaving a giant loophole in "ticking bombs" situations, giving authorities wide latitude to use it, PACTI and Adalah confirming various detainees affected.
"PACTI's experience over the years shows that from the moment detainees are deprived of their liberty until the end of their interrogation, they are exposed to acts which constitute torture and ill-treatment," including "punches, blows, kicks and slaps; shackling in painful positions....; verbal ill-treatment which includes threats to life, health and welfare of the interrogee and threats of injuring his or her family members; and curses and swearing towards the detainee, his family and his religion," and more.
Other abuses include physical and psychological torment, sleep deprivation for long periods, loud yelling in the ear, spitting in the face, withholding enough food and water, preventing access to toilets, and various other cruel and inhuman treatments.
IDF Violence against Detainees in Gaza
One detainee (anonymous for his safety) explains what happened after Israeli forces stormed his house, destroying everything in it:
"The next day, after having slept shackled on the second floor of our home, I heard the voices of my father and brothers....screaming from the blows they were taking from the soldiers. I started to yell that I want to (see) my mother. Then one of the soldiers took off his helmet and hit me on the head with it. I lost consciousness. I woke up later in the bathroom with three soldiers. One....took out his sexual organ and began to urinate on me while I was lying on the floor; meanwhile the two (others) laughed. I was completely soaked and there was a repulsive smell of urine. When the soldier who had urinated on me realized that I had woken up, he began to kick my upper body on the left side."
Other detainees described similar experiences, including some taken to border areas and "harshly physically assaulted," one saying "I prayed to god to arrive anywhere, even to die....just to stop this terrible suffering."
PACTI, Adalah, ACRI and HaMoked demanded these and other incidents be investigated. "To date, more than one and a half years (later), no answer has been received from the CMAG."
During grueling interrogations, detainees said they were shackled, blindfolded, humiliated, deprived of sleep, and beaten, some threatened by dogs, with death, or harm to family, one interrogator saying "we want your mother to suffer because of you."
Testimonies provided clear evidence of torture, soldiers and interrogators having immunity to commit it, PACTI saying:
"Israel's indifference to its moral and legal obligations to detainees is particularly objectionable in view of the fact (soldiers and interrogators ignored) the basic rights of the detainees and captives" under international law, violations committed against everyone seized.
Unlawful Combatants under Israel's Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (UCL)
Forty Cast Lead detainees were designated either "security" ones or "unlawful combatants (UCs)" a bogus category under international law. Yet all were indicted, 23 security prisoners sentenced to 12 - 84 months, the 17 UCs held as bargaining chips for future prisoner exchanges.
Israel defines UCs as "person(s) who (have) participated either directly or indirectly in hostilities against the State of Israel or is a member of a force perpetrating hostilities against the State of Israel, where the conditions prescribed in (Third Geneva's) Article 4 (regarding POW status) do not apply to him."
As a result, they're denied all rights, and "may be attacked in time of war or military operation because of their being 'combatants,' but who if captured are not entitled to the rights and protections to which combatants are entitled."
Although Israel's High Court rejected UC designation, it ruled imprisoning UCs constitutional, Israel's UCL permitting indefinite detentions, designees denied all rights, including to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.
At Ketziot Prison, they've been harshly treated in small windowless cells with no toilet or electricity, spending most of the day and night in total darkness.
According to the UN Committee Against Torture:
"All of the persons held were civilians and protected under (Fourth Geneva's) Article 4....The Mission does not accept the proposition that the (detained) men (are) unlawful combatants" to be denied international law protections. Doing so constitutes a crime of war and against humanity, Israeli specialties.
The Duty to Investigate Complaints
Under international humanitarian and human rights laws, Israel is required to conduct comprehensive, thorough, independent investigations, and prosecute persons guilty of detainee mistreatment and other types of abuse, including torture.
This obligation is anchored in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Under Fourth Geneva's Article 46:
"The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention," including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, inflicting suffering or injuries, denying the right to a fair trial, unlawfully transferring a protected person to the occupier's territory, or committing any act not justified by military necessity.
The scale and severity of Cast Lead violations demand a full investigation, including "a re-evaluation of the laws and rulings which allow for and authorize (such extreme) violation(s) of human rights and international humanitarian law." Yet Israel willfully and egregiously "violated its duty," defying its sworn obligation, another Israeli specialty along with obstruction, cover-up, and denial.
Over many years, PACTI and other human rights organizations have filed complaints of mistreatment and other forms of abuse, including torture, mainly to Israel's Attorney General. Yet accusations against General Security Service (GSS) employees "are systematically rejected," suggesting that "Israel's law enforcement system supports and permits....violent interrogation methods," including torture.
See this writer's August 2008 article, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/08/torture-as-official-is
raeli-policy.html
A Final Comment
Every violation above "is grave enough on its own, (but combined) constitute a complete debasement of the detainees' rights and of Israel's moral and legal obligations."
No wonder an earlier European Commission poll designated Israel the top threat to world peace, and an April 22, 2010 BBC one gave it a 19% approval rating, only Pakistan, North Korea and Iran scoring lower.
No wonder also that growing millions reject Israel's lawlessness, demanding full accountability, boycotts, divestment, sanctions, criminal prosecutions, and expulsion from the UN until it complies with international law, recognizes Palestinian self-determination, ends its illegal occupation, returns confiscated land, dismantles its Separation Wall, grants Israeli Arabs the same rights as Jews, and lets Palestinian refugees return home to their land or be paid just compensation if they choose. Committed grassroots pressure is crucial to achieving these goals - for justice, genuine peace, and an end to decades of Israeli hellishness.
Source
On July 6, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI) and Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel released a report titled, "Exposed: The Treatment of Palestinian Detainees During Operation Cast Lead," detailing their horrific treatment.
Transferred to Israel for interrogation, detainees related grim details of their ordeal - grave human rights violations, showing Israel's "contempt for the rule of law."
Their "fundamental due process rights were trampled on and the rule of law brutally disregarded during and after the fighting," providing compelling evidence of collective punishment since Israel's 2005 "disengagement," followed by an embargo, a medieval siege, regular incursions, Cast Lead, and continued oppression of 1.5 million people - isolated, surrounded, attacked, brutalized, and slowly suffocated into submission, what hasn't happened and won't, but it doesn't deter Israel from trying, or America from providing weapons and funding its lawlessness.
Seizure and Detention in Gaza
Under Article 92 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners relating to family notification about an individual's seizure, the ICRC says it must be "as soon as (someone is) interned, or at the latest not more than one week after....arriv(ing) in a place of internment" or a temporary camp.
Israeli law also obligates authorities to comply with international law, its High Court recognizing notification as a basic detainee right, ruling that relatives must be informed within 24 hours:
"of his arrest and his place of detention so that they will be apprised of what befell their detained relative, and how they are able to offer him the assistance he requires to safeguard his liberty. This is a natural right derived from human dignity and general principles of justice, and accrues both to the detainee himself and to his relatives."
Israeli human rights organizations tried to locate detainees, several complaining to Israel's Chief Military Advocate General (CMAG) demanding full information.
CMAG stonewalled, saying only that the ICRC was informed of detentions, including required information of their names, where held and why.
The IDF's Supervision and Control Center (SCC), responsible for collecting and maintaining detainee information, declined to provide HaMoked, the Center for the Defense of the Individual, with the information it requested.
In response to its habeas petition for 15 detainees, SCC said that "As long as the fighting continues.....the IDF may detain more Palestinian residents," their names given to the SCC within 48 hours of their transfer to Israel - an interpretation violating international law requiring prompt notification. Failure to do so may subject detainees to human rights abuses, including torture, use as human shields and other forms of abuse and humiliation, precisely what the evidence below shows.
Using Protected Persons as "Human Shields"
Under detention in Gaza, they were exploited for military purposes, including as human shields, for 10 days or longer - a grave violation of international and Israeli law.
Fourth Geneva explicitly prohibits using protected persons for any military purpose, including as human shields or hostages. It also bans threats to harm family members to extract information about their relatives.
The Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is also explicit, its Article 8 defining war crimes as grave Fourth Geneva breaches, including taking protected persons hostage and/or compelling they help their captor militarily.
In addition, Israel's High Court banned using protected persons as hostages or human shields, ruling unequivocally that it's forbidden to exploit civilians for any military purpose, citing international humanitarian law. The Court emphasized that noncombatants mustn't be taken to military conflict areas, even if willing, understanding that "consent" would be forced and untrue.
Yet detainee testimonies confirmed the opposite - that they were compelled to serve militarily as the example below shows:
On January 4, 2009, Jabalia resident Abed Elkarim Mustafa Abu Salah said 20 soldiers burst into his home, damaged contents searching it, handcuffed him and his son, arrested them, then used them as human shields for 10 days in a combat area.
"During this whole period, my son and I were transported with the soldiers and in the night they would take us back to sleep in the house of Ismail Nabhan. Over this period, (we were) sent....into countless homes" to search and open doors and windows.
Declared an "unlawful combatant," Abu Salah was detained in Israel for four months, then released. Adalah complained to the CMAG on his behalf, demanding a investigation. On August 27, 2009, Israel's Military Police Criminal Investigations Division (CID) began one, Abu Salah and his son testifying on November 24. No decision was announced. If one comes, it will whitewash IDF responsibility.
Numerous other accounts reported similar mistreatment, one saying "IDF soldiers cuffed me and three of my brothers, and for three days had us walk ahead of them, and made sure we did so at gunpoint. They used us as human shields by ordering us to go into houses ahead of them."
At the time, an IDF spokesman denied it, saying:
"Regrettably, PACTI keeps rehashing allegations which have been heard - and dismissed by the High Court," even though true. Breaking the Silence Israeli soldiers confirmed it, one saying:
"The method used has a new name now - no longer 'neighbor procedure.' Now people are called 'Johnnie.' They're Palestinian civilians, and they're called Johnnies....To every house we close in on, we send the neighbor in, 'the Johnnie,' and if there are armed men inside, we start, like working the 'pressure cooker' in the West Bank."
He explained that "pressure cooker" meant using civilians to check if armed men were inside houses, "Johnnies" to smash walls for Israeli troops to storm through.
Amnesty International, other human rights groups, and the Goldstone Commission also found evidence of human shield use, confirming PACTI and Adalah, discrediting Israel's denial, its inexcusable cover-up.
Detention Conditions
One account, similar to others, was as follows:
"I was held inside the crater together with some 70 other civilians, most of whom I know from the neighborhood. During this period, I was not interrogated and to the best of my knowledge no one else was....either. On Wednesday (January 7, 2009), they put everyone on a truck, covered our eyes and we drove, with a tank in front of us, to an army post near the sea which was built after the Disengagement. The post was five kilometers from the place in which I was held. My son Hussein was left in the crater and I do not know what happened to him."
As protected persons, international and Israeli law demand humane treatment at all times. Fourth Geneva's Article 27 says: "They shall at all times be humanely treated."
Article 10(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person."
Israel's High Court ruled that the nation's Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty obligates authorities to abide by ICCPR's Article 10. It's principles are also affirmed in Article 16(1) of the UN's Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and in Article 1 of the General Assembly's Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment."
Fourth Geneva requires that detention conditions must ensure detainee hygiene and health, including protection from weather conditions; that detention space must be adequately heated and lit; that sleeping quarters be spacious and well-ventilated, with suitable bedding and blankets; and that sufficient food and water be provided. These are universally accepted standards, ones Israeli systematically spurns, despite its own law stipulating that:
"Detainee(s) must be held under appropriate conditions that do not harm his Health and dignity." Article 9 of the Detentions Law and related regulations guarantees their bodily integrity, spirit and dignity, affording them sanitary conditions, a mattress, bed, food, light, ventilation, a daily walk, the right to communicate with visitors, to send letters, and other basic considerations."
Detention Regulation 22 differentiates between "regular" and "security" prisoners, latter ones denied or only partially afforded the above rights, in violation of international law making no distinction, without exception, obliging Israel to comply. Even detainees suspected of serious crimes are entitled to the same treatment as others with regard to their basic needs - an inviolable minimum threshold.
Prisoner accounts, however, related otherwise - that "from the moment of their arrest and detention, the detainees were held in disgraceful and inhuman conditions - from their detention in (Gaza) to their time in temporary military facilities for the purpose of absorption, and continuing in their cells in IPS detention centers in Israel."
Gaza Detention
Detainees, including children, were taken from their homes, held in large pits (two - three meters deep), unsheltered from the bitter cold for days, each pit holding 60 - 70 prisoners, their hands shackled and eyes covered. They couldn't even leave their pits to relieve themselves. The sanitary conditions were appalling, the amount of food, water, and blankets negligible.
Detainees complained of hunger, thirst and cold, adjacent to combat areas, endangering their lives. A PACTI/Adalah complaint to CMAG was unanswered.
Sameer Ali Muhammad Attar described his experience after being arrested on January 5, 2009 with his young son, saying:
"We arrived at the place where the tanks were posted, and at that moment (they) were firing shells on Beit Lahiya. (Israelis) dug out a crater with a dirt wall of some two meters. (We were) ordered to climb down the dirt walls and into the crater while shackled, and we were held there under the bare sky for two days (exposed) to the bitter cold, and only (on the second day given one blanket for two people). During the whole period we were shackled and we slept on the dirt."
Once or twice a day, they got food...."as for water, we would ask for it and sometimes they would bring us some, in delay. There were no toilets and they did not provide us with hygienic products like toilet paper. I was (with) 70 other civilians, most of whom I know from the neighborhood."
Other testimonies provided similar accounts, detailing horrific, abusive treatment.
Military Detention in Israel
Detainees were then taken to army facilities "Zikim" and "Sde Teiman," the latter for "unlawful combatants." In all cases, their human rights were denied. After being photographed and medically checked, they were held in cramped quarters, given inadequate food, thin mattresses and blankets, too little to protect against the bitter cold. They were shackled when given access to toilets. Some were placed in dark trailers with no showers, toilets, mattresses or blankets. Detainees related stories of violence and illegal interrogations.
Held as an "unlawful combatant," Muhammad Kisab was taken to Sde Teiman, put on a gravel floor with his father and two brothers, then moved to a trailer made of canvas with no mattresses or blankets. "The room was closed. It had one ventilation hole on the roof and it was completely dark. There was no toilet." Other detainees related similar accounts.
"The conditions (at) military facilities were far from meeting the minimum standards for the protection of the health and dignity of the detainees." Yet former High Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak ruled that even in emergencies, detention facilities must meet minimum international law criteria, Israeli authorities even defying their own Supreme Court.
Detainee Conditions in Interrogation and Detention Facilities
Detainees also endured abusive and humiliating conditions in Israel Prison Service (IPS) detention centers for interrogations. During breaks and when concluded, they were transferred to narrow, dark, foul smelling cells used for solitary confinement, given thin mattresses, little hygiene, and kept under 24-hour lighting that interrupted or prevented sleep.
Wa'el Atamneh had only a metal bed with no mattress or blanket for protection, nor a toilet, a privilege given once a day, and a shower after 10 days.
Imad Hamad said he was held in solitary confinement, interrogated 18 hours a day during his first three days, then transferred to Ketziot Prison under better conditions.
All detainees complained of abusive treatment in solitary confinement, cut off from attorneys and families, in cold, small, smelly cells, thin mattresses or none, deprived of sleep, showers and washing, and subjected to 24-hour lighting and grueling interrogations, at times including torture.
The psychological pressure was intense. Their bodies became weak. Sensory deprivation took its toll, caused by the inability to keep track of time and disconnect from normal human contact and social stimuli.
Torture and Ill-Treatment
Under customary humanitarian law, torture is prohibited at all times under all circumstances with no allowed exceptions. In all its forms, it's a war crime, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Israel's High Court banned it in its HCJ 5100/94 Public Committee against Torture in Israel v. Government of Israel, leaving a giant loophole in "ticking bombs" situations, giving authorities wide latitude to use it, PACTI and Adalah confirming various detainees affected.
"PACTI's experience over the years shows that from the moment detainees are deprived of their liberty until the end of their interrogation, they are exposed to acts which constitute torture and ill-treatment," including "punches, blows, kicks and slaps; shackling in painful positions....; verbal ill-treatment which includes threats to life, health and welfare of the interrogee and threats of injuring his or her family members; and curses and swearing towards the detainee, his family and his religion," and more.
Other abuses include physical and psychological torment, sleep deprivation for long periods, loud yelling in the ear, spitting in the face, withholding enough food and water, preventing access to toilets, and various other cruel and inhuman treatments.
IDF Violence against Detainees in Gaza
One detainee (anonymous for his safety) explains what happened after Israeli forces stormed his house, destroying everything in it:
"The next day, after having slept shackled on the second floor of our home, I heard the voices of my father and brothers....screaming from the blows they were taking from the soldiers. I started to yell that I want to (see) my mother. Then one of the soldiers took off his helmet and hit me on the head with it. I lost consciousness. I woke up later in the bathroom with three soldiers. One....took out his sexual organ and began to urinate on me while I was lying on the floor; meanwhile the two (others) laughed. I was completely soaked and there was a repulsive smell of urine. When the soldier who had urinated on me realized that I had woken up, he began to kick my upper body on the left side."
Other detainees described similar experiences, including some taken to border areas and "harshly physically assaulted," one saying "I prayed to god to arrive anywhere, even to die....just to stop this terrible suffering."
PACTI, Adalah, ACRI and HaMoked demanded these and other incidents be investigated. "To date, more than one and a half years (later), no answer has been received from the CMAG."
During grueling interrogations, detainees said they were shackled, blindfolded, humiliated, deprived of sleep, and beaten, some threatened by dogs, with death, or harm to family, one interrogator saying "we want your mother to suffer because of you."
Testimonies provided clear evidence of torture, soldiers and interrogators having immunity to commit it, PACTI saying:
"Israel's indifference to its moral and legal obligations to detainees is particularly objectionable in view of the fact (soldiers and interrogators ignored) the basic rights of the detainees and captives" under international law, violations committed against everyone seized.
Unlawful Combatants under Israel's Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (UCL)
Forty Cast Lead detainees were designated either "security" ones or "unlawful combatants (UCs)" a bogus category under international law. Yet all were indicted, 23 security prisoners sentenced to 12 - 84 months, the 17 UCs held as bargaining chips for future prisoner exchanges.
Israel defines UCs as "person(s) who (have) participated either directly or indirectly in hostilities against the State of Israel or is a member of a force perpetrating hostilities against the State of Israel, where the conditions prescribed in (Third Geneva's) Article 4 (regarding POW status) do not apply to him."
As a result, they're denied all rights, and "may be attacked in time of war or military operation because of their being 'combatants,' but who if captured are not entitled to the rights and protections to which combatants are entitled."
Although Israel's High Court rejected UC designation, it ruled imprisoning UCs constitutional, Israel's UCL permitting indefinite detentions, designees denied all rights, including to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.
At Ketziot Prison, they've been harshly treated in small windowless cells with no toilet or electricity, spending most of the day and night in total darkness.
According to the UN Committee Against Torture:
"All of the persons held were civilians and protected under (Fourth Geneva's) Article 4....The Mission does not accept the proposition that the (detained) men (are) unlawful combatants" to be denied international law protections. Doing so constitutes a crime of war and against humanity, Israeli specialties.
The Duty to Investigate Complaints
Under international humanitarian and human rights laws, Israel is required to conduct comprehensive, thorough, independent investigations, and prosecute persons guilty of detainee mistreatment and other types of abuse, including torture.
This obligation is anchored in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Under Fourth Geneva's Article 46:
"The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention," including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, inflicting suffering or injuries, denying the right to a fair trial, unlawfully transferring a protected person to the occupier's territory, or committing any act not justified by military necessity.
The scale and severity of Cast Lead violations demand a full investigation, including "a re-evaluation of the laws and rulings which allow for and authorize (such extreme) violation(s) of human rights and international humanitarian law." Yet Israel willfully and egregiously "violated its duty," defying its sworn obligation, another Israeli specialty along with obstruction, cover-up, and denial.
Over many years, PACTI and other human rights organizations have filed complaints of mistreatment and other forms of abuse, including torture, mainly to Israel's Attorney General. Yet accusations against General Security Service (GSS) employees "are systematically rejected," suggesting that "Israel's law enforcement system supports and permits....violent interrogation methods," including torture.
See this writer's August 2008 article, accessed through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/08/torture-as-official-is
raeli-policy.html
A Final Comment
Every violation above "is grave enough on its own, (but combined) constitute a complete debasement of the detainees' rights and of Israel's moral and legal obligations."
No wonder an earlier European Commission poll designated Israel the top threat to world peace, and an April 22, 2010 BBC one gave it a 19% approval rating, only Pakistan, North Korea and Iran scoring lower.
No wonder also that growing millions reject Israel's lawlessness, demanding full accountability, boycotts, divestment, sanctions, criminal prosecutions, and expulsion from the UN until it complies with international law, recognizes Palestinian self-determination, ends its illegal occupation, returns confiscated land, dismantles its Separation Wall, grants Israeli Arabs the same rights as Jews, and lets Palestinian refugees return home to their land or be paid just compensation if they choose. Committed grassroots pressure is crucial to achieving these goals - for justice, genuine peace, and an end to decades of Israeli hellishness.
Source
The Tragic Death of a Night Porter
…what possesses greater intrinsic value? Maintaining the mainstream version of the Holocaust at any cost, or the life of a single human being whose only offence was to engage in historical research in a quest for the truth?
LES MISERABLES
The Tragic Death of a Night Porter
IN MEMORIAM
By JPBellinger
On June 11, 2010, a badly decomposed body was discovered wedged in between the seat of a parked vehicle in a shopping center located in Karolinka, Opole, in Poland. The cadaver was decomposed beyond recognition, and DNA tests turned out to be inconclusive in establishing the identity of the victim. However, papers and documents discovered inside the vehicle led police to conclude that the deceased individual was Dariusz Ratajczak, a professor of history who formerly taught at the University of Opole. He was 48 years old at the time of his death. Family members confirmed the fact that the decedent was indeed Dariusz Ratajczak. After being questioned, a number of witnesses told the police that the car had only recently been parked there. In fact, just prior to his demise, Ratajczak had been planning a business trip to Holland, where he had been hired to work as a translator.
In fact, Dariusz Ratajczak’s troubles began with the publication of his booklet, “Dangerous Topics,” in March, 1999. The treatise was self-published and limited to only 320 copies, but gave credence to the old maxim that the ‘pen is mightier than the sword. Ratajczak’s essay provoked a firestorm of criticism among his contemporaries. In the month following the book’s publication, a rather surprised Ratajczak was summoned to the editorial offices of the Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading Polish newspaper, where he was sneeringly told, “We’ll trample you into the ground for the little book, and the little sub-chapter on the Holocaust.”
True to their word, the editor of the newspaper proceeded to do just that. The Gazeta Wyborcza instituted a smear campaign of harassment and intimidation calculated to ruin the man’s life and livelihood – and it succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. Ratajczak was charged under Poland’s ‘Holocaust denial’ law, which had been passed by the legislature as a result of pressure from the Jewish lobby. Even though the court eventually dismissed the charges against him, the smears, lies and libels emanating from the media continued to dog him with the fanatical persistence of an Inspecteur Javert. Instigated by the media assault, others joined the chorus to expel Ratajczak from his teaching position.
The director of the Auschwitz Museum referred to him as a “Nazi,” and the spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Poland, Michael Sobelman, publicly expressed his “surprise” that “such a man works at a Polish university.” Unsurprisingly, the Simon Wiesenthal Center joined in the chorus, accusing Ratajczak of being an ‘anti-Semite,’ to which the Professor responded rather phlegmatically:
At present, the charge of anti-Semitism has become a sort of exceptionally brutal weapon, which the “Establishment” uses ruthlessly against independent thinking men (for the greater fun of it, also against Jews, such as Dr. Israel Shahak.) Write, in accordance with truth, about the almost racist character of the state of Israel, and you will be an anti-Semite. Point to Simon Wiesenthal, his errors of the past, or rub Mr. Adam Michnik his Gazeta Wyborcza up the wrong way, and you will be an anti-Semite. Write a few words of truth about all those Wiesels, Kosinskis, or a few anti-Polish Australian liars of Jewish extraction, and you will be an anti-Semite, of course… And so on, on, on. Sheer paranoia, or – and here we are going back to the source – an important element of political correctness.
Perplexed by the ferocity and persistence of the attacks launched against him, Ratajczak commented–
“What hurts me most is that I found myself in a group of historians who have been muzzled. After all, please see: from 45 years to now the number of Jews murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau has dropped from six million to less than one million. It’s official data. Indeed, even if they had killed one man, that would be a tragedy. But how is it that some historians may legitimately question the numbers of the Holocaust, and others can not? How is it that some people can reduce the six million to less than a million and nothing bad is happening to them? How is it that some people are not allowed to examine this subject and even be wrong, while other historians are allowed all this?” [1]
Expelled from his teaching position at the University of Opole on charges of ‘denying the Holocaust,’ he was compelled to seek work as a menial laborer. Prior to dismissing him, Ratajczak suffered the indignity of being ordered by his superiors at the University to submit to psychiatric treatment for presuming to question any aspect of the holocaust. A colleague advised him that the only option available to him would be to move out of Opole and change his identity. The slander campaign became so unbearable that it alienated his spouse and destroyed his marriage, and the once celebrated professor was reduced to penury and destitution. Wherever he applied for work, prospective employers would receive telephone calls from ‘yellow’ journalists informing them that the applicant was a ‘holocaust denier,’ and that hiring him would be ‘bad for business.’ The hint alone sufficed to induce employers to subtly drop his application into the nearest wastebasket.
In the weeks preceding his death, Dariusz Ratajczak turned into a phantom of his former self, abandoned and shunned by family, friends, and former colleagues alike. The disturbing news of Ratajczak’s death shocked traditionalist and patriotic organizations in Poland, whose spokespersons lambasted Ratajczak’s detractors as people having the blood of an innocent man on their heads.
For them, Professor Ratajczak’s death prompts a serious moral dilemma: Is questioning the holocaust, or holocaust ‘denial’ of more intrinsic worth than the life of any human being?
In a moral sense, what possesses greater intrinsic value? Maintaining the mainstream version of the Holocaust at any cost, or the life of a single human being whose only offence was to engage in historical research in a quest for the truth? Disturbingly, there are those who would stop at nothing to silence any and all independent inquiries into the historical event known to historians as the Holocaust, a fact best illustrated by the response of those who supported the willful and malicious persecution of a man for exercising his God given right of intellectual freedom. Unfazed by the news of his death, Ratajczak’s detractors gloated over his demise, intractable in their cynical hatred for the man. One critic mockingly commented that he ‘lived off his wife and could not find a better job than a waiter and a night porter. He lied, and had mental health problems, and led a miserable life and had a miserable death.” As if lying, personal misfortune and mental health problems warrant a miserable death for anyone!
Moreover, the obvious point was deliberately overlooked: The man was once gainfully employed, and highly respected, and his ‘mental problems’ did not exist until the usual merchants of sleaze and smear sunk their hooks into him, but by resorting to this process of vilification, the victim is dehumanized and condemned, and the assassins are cheered and comforted.
The reader may catch a glimpse of Professor Ratajczak’s profound insights and spontaneous genius, as revealed during the course of an interview where he proffered an assessment of “politically correct” establishment historians:
It is they who, deliberately, convert history into a handmaid of current political interests of equally morally and intellectually cheap ruling elites. Finally, it is they who decide which fact or historical figure to make prominent, and about which to keep silent to the death. Of course, they do it from the angle of current political usefulness….
Everywhere half-truths, lies, propaganda. But it is not at all madness, but a method leading to the destruction of historical consciousness, to the cutting off from the truly Polish historical heritage, without which the nation cannot exist. A nation is, after all, past, present, and future generations. If we break the first element of the triad, the whole starts making no sense. And that is where the “creativity” of the politically correct correctors of history is leading.
If there is an uninvestigated historical fact, I investigate it, whether somebody likes it, or not. If there is a problem which requires at least reporting about, or expounding, I report about and expound it. Regardless of whether they accuse me, for instance, of breaking the law. Because of this, I am an easy target for attacks. Such is the lot of a man not caring about censorship (the communist one before, and the politically correct one today). Good God, I didn’t become a historian to write between lines. A historian has one basic role to perform. It is to reach the truth. In essence, truth is a historian’s only friend. A historian ought to know that truth has no hues; truth is always clear, and one.
Professor Ratajczak’s death was ruled a ‘suicide,’ but skeptical people, perhaps bearing in mind the recent arrest of a Mossad assassin operating in Poland, are asking how a person in an advanced staged of composition was able to drive to a public parking lot and park a car?
In the preface to his prescient treatise, “Dangerous Topics” Professor Ratajczak opined:
“Writing about Polish – Jewish relations is a risky activity. Especially for the Pole, who believes that these relations should be presented on the basis of truth. It’s easy then – paradoxically – to be exposed to charges of extreme nationalism, xenophobia and Anti-Semitism. The consequences are often sad: a social boycott (everyone has those friends they deserve), racial and publishing blacklisting. In the end-occupational death.”
Unfortunately, and certainly unforeseen by Professor Ratajczak, ‘occupational death’ transformed into physical extinction.
Prior to his unforgiveable transgression, Professor Ratajczak was feted as one of Poland’s most brilliant historians, and highly regarded by his students. He leaves behind a wife and two orphaned children. His funeral was held in secret, without notifying the public, and the results of a mandated autopsy are said to be forthcoming.
What may be said as his epitaph? Dariusz Ratajczak shall most likely be remembered as the victim of a cruel, relentless fate at the hands of cruel, relentless people who used his book, “Dangerous Themes, to drive the nail into his coffin. On the day Dariusz Ratajczak died, free speech in Poland died with him.
[1] Bibula pismo niezalezne, http://macgregor.salon24.pl/195441,dr-dariusz-Ratajczak jczak-nie-zyje
Source
LES MISERABLES
The Tragic Death of a Night Porter
IN MEMORIAM
By JPBellinger
On June 11, 2010, a badly decomposed body was discovered wedged in between the seat of a parked vehicle in a shopping center located in Karolinka, Opole, in Poland. The cadaver was decomposed beyond recognition, and DNA tests turned out to be inconclusive in establishing the identity of the victim. However, papers and documents discovered inside the vehicle led police to conclude that the deceased individual was Dariusz Ratajczak, a professor of history who formerly taught at the University of Opole. He was 48 years old at the time of his death. Family members confirmed the fact that the decedent was indeed Dariusz Ratajczak. After being questioned, a number of witnesses told the police that the car had only recently been parked there. In fact, just prior to his demise, Ratajczak had been planning a business trip to Holland, where he had been hired to work as a translator.
In fact, Dariusz Ratajczak’s troubles began with the publication of his booklet, “Dangerous Topics,” in March, 1999. The treatise was self-published and limited to only 320 copies, but gave credence to the old maxim that the ‘pen is mightier than the sword. Ratajczak’s essay provoked a firestorm of criticism among his contemporaries. In the month following the book’s publication, a rather surprised Ratajczak was summoned to the editorial offices of the Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading Polish newspaper, where he was sneeringly told, “We’ll trample you into the ground for the little book, and the little sub-chapter on the Holocaust.”
True to their word, the editor of the newspaper proceeded to do just that. The Gazeta Wyborcza instituted a smear campaign of harassment and intimidation calculated to ruin the man’s life and livelihood – and it succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. Ratajczak was charged under Poland’s ‘Holocaust denial’ law, which had been passed by the legislature as a result of pressure from the Jewish lobby. Even though the court eventually dismissed the charges against him, the smears, lies and libels emanating from the media continued to dog him with the fanatical persistence of an Inspecteur Javert. Instigated by the media assault, others joined the chorus to expel Ratajczak from his teaching position.
The director of the Auschwitz Museum referred to him as a “Nazi,” and the spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Poland, Michael Sobelman, publicly expressed his “surprise” that “such a man works at a Polish university.” Unsurprisingly, the Simon Wiesenthal Center joined in the chorus, accusing Ratajczak of being an ‘anti-Semite,’ to which the Professor responded rather phlegmatically:
At present, the charge of anti-Semitism has become a sort of exceptionally brutal weapon, which the “Establishment” uses ruthlessly against independent thinking men (for the greater fun of it, also against Jews, such as Dr. Israel Shahak.) Write, in accordance with truth, about the almost racist character of the state of Israel, and you will be an anti-Semite. Point to Simon Wiesenthal, his errors of the past, or rub Mr. Adam Michnik his Gazeta Wyborcza up the wrong way, and you will be an anti-Semite. Write a few words of truth about all those Wiesels, Kosinskis, or a few anti-Polish Australian liars of Jewish extraction, and you will be an anti-Semite, of course… And so on, on, on. Sheer paranoia, or – and here we are going back to the source – an important element of political correctness.
Perplexed by the ferocity and persistence of the attacks launched against him, Ratajczak commented–
“What hurts me most is that I found myself in a group of historians who have been muzzled. After all, please see: from 45 years to now the number of Jews murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau has dropped from six million to less than one million. It’s official data. Indeed, even if they had killed one man, that would be a tragedy. But how is it that some historians may legitimately question the numbers of the Holocaust, and others can not? How is it that some people can reduce the six million to less than a million and nothing bad is happening to them? How is it that some people are not allowed to examine this subject and even be wrong, while other historians are allowed all this?” [1]
Expelled from his teaching position at the University of Opole on charges of ‘denying the Holocaust,’ he was compelled to seek work as a menial laborer. Prior to dismissing him, Ratajczak suffered the indignity of being ordered by his superiors at the University to submit to psychiatric treatment for presuming to question any aspect of the holocaust. A colleague advised him that the only option available to him would be to move out of Opole and change his identity. The slander campaign became so unbearable that it alienated his spouse and destroyed his marriage, and the once celebrated professor was reduced to penury and destitution. Wherever he applied for work, prospective employers would receive telephone calls from ‘yellow’ journalists informing them that the applicant was a ‘holocaust denier,’ and that hiring him would be ‘bad for business.’ The hint alone sufficed to induce employers to subtly drop his application into the nearest wastebasket.
In the weeks preceding his death, Dariusz Ratajczak turned into a phantom of his former self, abandoned and shunned by family, friends, and former colleagues alike. The disturbing news of Ratajczak’s death shocked traditionalist and patriotic organizations in Poland, whose spokespersons lambasted Ratajczak’s detractors as people having the blood of an innocent man on their heads.
For them, Professor Ratajczak’s death prompts a serious moral dilemma: Is questioning the holocaust, or holocaust ‘denial’ of more intrinsic worth than the life of any human being?
In a moral sense, what possesses greater intrinsic value? Maintaining the mainstream version of the Holocaust at any cost, or the life of a single human being whose only offence was to engage in historical research in a quest for the truth? Disturbingly, there are those who would stop at nothing to silence any and all independent inquiries into the historical event known to historians as the Holocaust, a fact best illustrated by the response of those who supported the willful and malicious persecution of a man for exercising his God given right of intellectual freedom. Unfazed by the news of his death, Ratajczak’s detractors gloated over his demise, intractable in their cynical hatred for the man. One critic mockingly commented that he ‘lived off his wife and could not find a better job than a waiter and a night porter. He lied, and had mental health problems, and led a miserable life and had a miserable death.” As if lying, personal misfortune and mental health problems warrant a miserable death for anyone!
Moreover, the obvious point was deliberately overlooked: The man was once gainfully employed, and highly respected, and his ‘mental problems’ did not exist until the usual merchants of sleaze and smear sunk their hooks into him, but by resorting to this process of vilification, the victim is dehumanized and condemned, and the assassins are cheered and comforted.
The reader may catch a glimpse of Professor Ratajczak’s profound insights and spontaneous genius, as revealed during the course of an interview where he proffered an assessment of “politically correct” establishment historians:
It is they who, deliberately, convert history into a handmaid of current political interests of equally morally and intellectually cheap ruling elites. Finally, it is they who decide which fact or historical figure to make prominent, and about which to keep silent to the death. Of course, they do it from the angle of current political usefulness….
Everywhere half-truths, lies, propaganda. But it is not at all madness, but a method leading to the destruction of historical consciousness, to the cutting off from the truly Polish historical heritage, without which the nation cannot exist. A nation is, after all, past, present, and future generations. If we break the first element of the triad, the whole starts making no sense. And that is where the “creativity” of the politically correct correctors of history is leading.
If there is an uninvestigated historical fact, I investigate it, whether somebody likes it, or not. If there is a problem which requires at least reporting about, or expounding, I report about and expound it. Regardless of whether they accuse me, for instance, of breaking the law. Because of this, I am an easy target for attacks. Such is the lot of a man not caring about censorship (the communist one before, and the politically correct one today). Good God, I didn’t become a historian to write between lines. A historian has one basic role to perform. It is to reach the truth. In essence, truth is a historian’s only friend. A historian ought to know that truth has no hues; truth is always clear, and one.
Professor Ratajczak’s death was ruled a ‘suicide,’ but skeptical people, perhaps bearing in mind the recent arrest of a Mossad assassin operating in Poland, are asking how a person in an advanced staged of composition was able to drive to a public parking lot and park a car?
In the preface to his prescient treatise, “Dangerous Topics” Professor Ratajczak opined:
“Writing about Polish – Jewish relations is a risky activity. Especially for the Pole, who believes that these relations should be presented on the basis of truth. It’s easy then – paradoxically – to be exposed to charges of extreme nationalism, xenophobia and Anti-Semitism. The consequences are often sad: a social boycott (everyone has those friends they deserve), racial and publishing blacklisting. In the end-occupational death.”
Unfortunately, and certainly unforeseen by Professor Ratajczak, ‘occupational death’ transformed into physical extinction.
Prior to his unforgiveable transgression, Professor Ratajczak was feted as one of Poland’s most brilliant historians, and highly regarded by his students. He leaves behind a wife and two orphaned children. His funeral was held in secret, without notifying the public, and the results of a mandated autopsy are said to be forthcoming.
What may be said as his epitaph? Dariusz Ratajczak shall most likely be remembered as the victim of a cruel, relentless fate at the hands of cruel, relentless people who used his book, “Dangerous Themes, to drive the nail into his coffin. On the day Dariusz Ratajczak died, free speech in Poland died with him.
[1] Bibula pismo niezalezne, http://macgregor.salon24.pl/195441,dr-dariusz-Ratajczak jczak-nie-zyje
Source
China invests $40 bln in Iran oil, gas: minister
AFP – July 31, 2010
Iran's main economic partner China has invested around 40 billion dollars in the Islamic republic's oil and gas sector, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday.
Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi also said that Tehran's oil exports to China fell by 30 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared with the corresponding period last year.
"The volume (of Chinese investment) in upstream projects is 29 billion dollars," Noqrehkar Shirazi told Mehr news agency, adding that Beijing had signed contracts worth another 10 billion dollars in petrochemicals, refineries and oil and gas pipeline projects.
He said China has also put forward proposals to participate in building seven new refineries in Iran.
Iran, OPEC's second largest oil exporter, has a dilapidated refining sector, forcing it to import petroleum products such as gasoline to meet domestic needs.
Noqrehkar Shirazi said that Chinese imports of Iranian oil fell in the first half of the year.
"Although Iran is still among top 10 oil exporters to China, it is the only country which in the first six months of 2010 has seen its exports to China falling," he said.
"The volume of oil exports to China in the first six months of this year decreased to less than 9.02 million tonnes or 66.12 million barrels. This shows a 30 percent decrease" over the first half of 2009, he added.
Read More...
Iran's main economic partner China has invested around 40 billion dollars in the Islamic republic's oil and gas sector, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday.
Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi also said that Tehran's oil exports to China fell by 30 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared with the corresponding period last year.
"The volume (of Chinese investment) in upstream projects is 29 billion dollars," Noqrehkar Shirazi told Mehr news agency, adding that Beijing had signed contracts worth another 10 billion dollars in petrochemicals, refineries and oil and gas pipeline projects.
He said China has also put forward proposals to participate in building seven new refineries in Iran.
Iran, OPEC's second largest oil exporter, has a dilapidated refining sector, forcing it to import petroleum products such as gasoline to meet domestic needs.
Noqrehkar Shirazi said that Chinese imports of Iranian oil fell in the first half of the year.
"Although Iran is still among top 10 oil exporters to China, it is the only country which in the first six months of 2010 has seen its exports to China falling," he said.
"The volume of oil exports to China in the first six months of this year decreased to less than 9.02 million tonnes or 66.12 million barrels. This shows a 30 percent decrease" over the first half of 2009, he added.
Read More...
Canadian Jets Repel Russian Bombers
by Brian Lilley
OTTAWA - Canadian fighter jets scrambled to repel Russian bombers that made several attempts to probe Canadian airspace on Wednesday.
QMI Agency has learned that two CF-18s took off from CFB Bagotville to intercept two TU-95 long range bombers about 463 km east of Goose Bay, N.L.
Attempts by Russia to test Canadian airspace have been going on since 2007; military and intelligence analysts tell QMI Agency the frequency has been increasing since then, but one senior official described Wednesday's event as "not the usual s--t."
"The response as always was a rapid, effective deterrent," Defence Minister Peter MacKay told QMI Agency.
"They were in the buffer zone," said MacKay, stressing that although the planes did not enter Canada's sovereign airspace, the bombers did come inside the 300 nautical mile zone that Canada claims.
"They did not give us any advance notice," said MacKay, adding that NORAD fighter jets have intercepted between 12 and 18 Russian bombers per year since 2007. After the CF-18s made contact with the Russians the pilots shadowed them until the bombers turned northeast and headed out of Canadian airspace.
The TU-95 bomber, known as the Bear, is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and may have been loaded with warheads on this trip. One military analyst tells QMI Agency the Russians have been known to fly with nukes on board just to flex their muscle and prove to the world they are still a powerful country.
"We certainly weren't aware of what if any weapons were on board," said MacKay.
Canada is in a race with Russia and other Arctic nations to lay claim to the frozen territory that may hold untold treasures.
Geologists believe the Arctic shelf holds vast stores of oil, natural gas, diamonds, gold and minerals. A 2007 Russian intelligence report predicted that conflict with other Arctic nations is a distinct possibility, including military action "in a competition for resources." The United States, Norway, and Denmark (through Greenland) also lay claim to portions of the Arctic seabed based on their coastal waters.
China, which does not have an Arctic coast, has sent icebreakers and ships into the Arctic Ocean. A Chinese admiral said earlier this year since China has 20% of the world's population, they should have 20% of Arctic resources.
The incursion into Canadian airspace also comes as debate rages over whether Canada needs the next generation of fighter jets to replace the nearly 30-year-old CF 18s. The Harper government has committed to buying 65 F-35 stealth fighters at a cost of $9 billion. Critics have said such Cold War-type jets are no longer needed.
Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies tells QMI Agency the Canadian Air Force needs to upgrade its fleet now that Russia is upgrading its bombers.
"The mere fact that the Russians are building the next generation of bombers means that we need something or we need to accept that the Americans will do it for us," Huebert said.
"This is about a Russian military resurgence, the Russians asserting their authority in the north," military analyst Mercedes Stephenson told QMI Agency.
Stephenson says that after the Cold War ended the Russian military was in a shambles but the last few years have seen a lot of money poured into restoring past glories, particularly in the air force.
Asked if he was playing up this Russian incursion to boost support for the F-35 purchase, MacKay said no.
"Surely even the most cynical, partisan person would not suggest that we engineered the visit of a Russian bomber to boost support for our air force," said MacKay.
Previous Russian incursions into Canadian airspace
February 2009: Hours before U.S. President Barack Obama's big visit to Canada, two Russian bombers were intercepted just outside the Canadian Arctic.
Two Canadian CF-18s were dispatched to signal the Russian aircraft to turn back to its own airspace.
The Russians called Canada's reaction "a farce."
General Walter Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, said, at the time, sporadic incidences of Russian incursions had started in 2007 after many years of no activity.
August 2008: Canadian jets scrambled during a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Inuvik in the Arctic to intercept an aircraft nearing Canada's airspace.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Russians were unwilling to notify Canada of planned military flights nearing our airspace.
September 2007: Russians boasted that two of their Tu-95 bombers flew along the coasts of Alaska and Canada and returned via the North Pole during a 17-hour flight. They said their flight was accompanied by NATO planes.
Global Research
OTTAWA - Canadian fighter jets scrambled to repel Russian bombers that made several attempts to probe Canadian airspace on Wednesday.
QMI Agency has learned that two CF-18s took off from CFB Bagotville to intercept two TU-95 long range bombers about 463 km east of Goose Bay, N.L.
Attempts by Russia to test Canadian airspace have been going on since 2007; military and intelligence analysts tell QMI Agency the frequency has been increasing since then, but one senior official described Wednesday's event as "not the usual s--t."
"The response as always was a rapid, effective deterrent," Defence Minister Peter MacKay told QMI Agency.
"They were in the buffer zone," said MacKay, stressing that although the planes did not enter Canada's sovereign airspace, the bombers did come inside the 300 nautical mile zone that Canada claims.
"They did not give us any advance notice," said MacKay, adding that NORAD fighter jets have intercepted between 12 and 18 Russian bombers per year since 2007. After the CF-18s made contact with the Russians the pilots shadowed them until the bombers turned northeast and headed out of Canadian airspace.
The TU-95 bomber, known as the Bear, is capable of carrying nuclear weapons and may have been loaded with warheads on this trip. One military analyst tells QMI Agency the Russians have been known to fly with nukes on board just to flex their muscle and prove to the world they are still a powerful country.
"We certainly weren't aware of what if any weapons were on board," said MacKay.
Canada is in a race with Russia and other Arctic nations to lay claim to the frozen territory that may hold untold treasures.
Geologists believe the Arctic shelf holds vast stores of oil, natural gas, diamonds, gold and minerals. A 2007 Russian intelligence report predicted that conflict with other Arctic nations is a distinct possibility, including military action "in a competition for resources." The United States, Norway, and Denmark (through Greenland) also lay claim to portions of the Arctic seabed based on their coastal waters.
China, which does not have an Arctic coast, has sent icebreakers and ships into the Arctic Ocean. A Chinese admiral said earlier this year since China has 20% of the world's population, they should have 20% of Arctic resources.
The incursion into Canadian airspace also comes as debate rages over whether Canada needs the next generation of fighter jets to replace the nearly 30-year-old CF 18s. The Harper government has committed to buying 65 F-35 stealth fighters at a cost of $9 billion. Critics have said such Cold War-type jets are no longer needed.
Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary's Centre for Military and Strategic Studies tells QMI Agency the Canadian Air Force needs to upgrade its fleet now that Russia is upgrading its bombers.
"The mere fact that the Russians are building the next generation of bombers means that we need something or we need to accept that the Americans will do it for us," Huebert said.
"This is about a Russian military resurgence, the Russians asserting their authority in the north," military analyst Mercedes Stephenson told QMI Agency.
Stephenson says that after the Cold War ended the Russian military was in a shambles but the last few years have seen a lot of money poured into restoring past glories, particularly in the air force.
Asked if he was playing up this Russian incursion to boost support for the F-35 purchase, MacKay said no.
"Surely even the most cynical, partisan person would not suggest that we engineered the visit of a Russian bomber to boost support for our air force," said MacKay.
Previous Russian incursions into Canadian airspace
February 2009: Hours before U.S. President Barack Obama's big visit to Canada, two Russian bombers were intercepted just outside the Canadian Arctic.
Two Canadian CF-18s were dispatched to signal the Russian aircraft to turn back to its own airspace.
The Russians called Canada's reaction "a farce."
General Walter Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, said, at the time, sporadic incidences of Russian incursions had started in 2007 after many years of no activity.
August 2008: Canadian jets scrambled during a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Inuvik in the Arctic to intercept an aircraft nearing Canada's airspace.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Russians were unwilling to notify Canada of planned military flights nearing our airspace.
September 2007: Russians boasted that two of their Tu-95 bombers flew along the coasts of Alaska and Canada and returned via the North Pole during a 17-hour flight. They said their flight was accompanied by NATO planes.
Global Research
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)