Friends, Obama, the world’s most powerful man, is now begging the Israelis for favours.

Yes, the Commander in Chief of the world’s most powerful army is so scared of what will happen in the November elections that he is trying to bribe Netanyahu to stop building illegal settlements for the next two months.

As a bribe, he is offering:

- In return for a two-month extension of the settlement moratorium, the US promised to veto any UN Security Council proposal on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the next year, and committed to not seek any further extensions of the freeze. The future of the settlements would be addressed only in a final agreement.

- The US would also allow Israel to keep a military presence in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, even after the creation of a Palestinian state; continue controlling the borders of the Palestinian territories to prevent smuggling; provide Israel with enhanced weapons systems, security guarantees and increase its billions of dollars in annual aid; and create a regional security pact against Iran.

(Sourced from MediaLens Oct 7. from an article written by Johnathan Cook)

This pathetic gesture shows clearly the dangerous relationship that exists between Israel and America with Israel as the dog and America as its tail.

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Photographer’s Note: Dakshinkali, ( Southern Kali ) near Kathmandu, is a sacred place of great natural beauty and where animals are brought for sacrifice. Twice a week, animals are killed in gruesome scenes difficult to watch. This is why I preferred more peaceful scenes such as this lady performing a ritual.

This wonderful photograph and the explanatory note highlights many of the contradictions in human existence.

In a place of beauty, there is barbarity and cruelty. There is religious ritual combined with the sacrifice of innocent animals. There is the purification of fire and the darkness of death and evil.

Wherever humans are, peace it seems, always has to coexist with its opposite.

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo151003.htm

Phosphorous on the skin keeps burning down to the bone!

Friends, the thought occurred to me yesterday that, for some time, the world has been involved in a cycle of endless war.

Now I know you will say that there have always been wars but I would counter by saying that there have been sporadic wars  with periods of peace in between. Some wars have resulted in there being a clear victor (the spread of the imperial Roman Empire for example), and some wars, like WW1, were fought to a stalemate with no one really winning.

But since WW2 finished, a war that weary people thought would herald peace, wars have been occurring virtually non-stop. Now why is this? Who is causing the problem?

Well, at the end of WW2, the U.S., which entered that war almost two years after it began, realized that it could become the pre-eminent military power in the world if it could somehow vanquish the Soviet Union (but not in a traditional war).  After all, as a result of WW2, it had military bases in Germany and Japan as well as many other places so it was off to a good start for its attempted imperialism.

So it embarked on a massive program to build up its armed forces and spent untold billions on rocket development and nuclear warheads and jet planes. As well, America further expanded its manufacturing industries to make the weapons of war which it began to sell around the world. It proved to be a lucrative investment because nations with arms are bound to use them eventually which guarantees that wars will escalate and the sale of arms burgeon.

Now, as you know, the Soviets, depleted by the war against Germany, eventually went bankrupt while trying to keep up with the U.S. Meanwhile the U.S., seeing a ‘red under each bed’, began to confront communism and so we had a war in Korea (1950-53). Korea ended up being split in two which was hardly a success for anyone. It is still a flash point even today.

Vietnam followed (1962-75) and the invincible American army suffered an humiliating defeat. This loss did not send America home to lick its wounds. Instead of learning a lesson that a standing army can’t defeat a determined guerrilla army, America further increased its standing army stupidly believing that eventually, ‘might will overcome all.‘

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Friends, if you ignore the background this is a very beautiful, peaceful photograph (thanks to Al Jazeera).

It shows a Palestinian farmer tending to his olive trees much as his ancestors have done for centuries. What a shame that so many humans turned their backs on the land and the simplicity of farming and the rural environment and chose instead to move to soulless cities some of which are fairly described as ugly concrete jungles where evil and crime proliferates. But that’s another issue for another time.

In the background of the photograph is one of the settlements built by Israel on Palestinian land in the West Bank, land illegally seized in the 1967 war and occupied by Israel ever since. And not only have the Israelis occupied the land but they have built hundreds of settlements and roads often destroying olive farms and/or Palestinian homes in the process.

As you would be aware, the U.S., which previously has allowed Israel to carry out its illegal settlement building (and genocide) without criticism or condemnation, is currently trying to put a peace together. But, surprise, surprise, an Israeli moratorium on settlement building (which saw many transgressions) has ceased now and the Settler Movement, with Israeli Government approval and assistance, is back in full swing .

Yes folks, the seizing of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem has accelerated as has the extending of existing settlements and the creation of new ones, which means that the land which Palestinians have control of keeps shrinking even while talks are underway about forming a Palestinian State. What a joke.

These talks are bullshit! Israel will not be happy until every Palestinian is gone from the West Bank and Gaza.

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Friends, long ago, while doing Psychology, I learned about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (shown above).

It was supposed to show how humans progress through various stages of development beginning with satisfying  basic physiological needs like the need for sex and food.

As each stage was reached and satisfied, in theory one progressed upwards towards self-actualization which was supposed to be the pinnacle of achievement of human existence. It must be said that even Maslow agreed that not every human got there.

Now, it is a nice, tidy, inoffensive scheme but does it relate to what happens in the real world in which we find ourselves today? For example, where in the hierarchy does the uniformed person who is satisfying his needs while planning the nuking of Iran sit? Where in the hierarchy does the person in the Knesset fit, the one who is satisfying his needs by planning how to take all the lands that belongs to the Palestinians and throwing them out into the desert?

Where in the triangle does the CEO of a corporation fit, the one who is planning on exploiting the poor people of a nation and taking their resources and giving them a pittance while the company makes mega-profits so that executives can receive million dollar salaries and generous perks and shareholders can make money for doing absolutely nothing?

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