Israel attacks aid ship, kills at least 10 civilians

by Glenn Greenwald, Salon

… It hardly seemed possible for Israel — after its brutal devastation of Gaza and its ongoing blockade — to engage in more heinous and repugnant crimes.  But by attacking a flotilla in international waters carrying humanitarian aid, and slaughtering at least 10 people, Israel has managed to do exactly that.  If Israel’s goal were to provoke as much disgust and contempt for it as possible, it’s hard to imagine how it could be doing a better job.

…  The one silver lining from these incidents is that the real face of Israel becomes increasingly revealed and undeniable.  Not even the most intense propaganda systems can prettify a lethal military attack on ships carrying civilians and humanitarian aid to people living in some of the most wretched and tragic conditions anywhere in the world.  It is crystal clear to anyone who looks what Israel has become, and the only question left is how will the rest of the world — beginning with their American patrons — will react. 

As Americans suffer extreme cuts in education for their own children and a further deterioration in basic economic security (including Social Security), will they continue to acquiesce to the transfer of billions of dollars every year to the Israelis, who — unlike Americans — enjoy full, universal health care coverage?  How is the revulsion justifiably provoked by this latest Israeli crime going to impact American efforts in the Muslim world (as but one of many examples to come, Al Jazeera reports that “Moqtada al-Sadr has called for a large anti-Israel rally across from the Green Zone in Baghdad”)?  How much longer will Americans be willing to pay the extreme prices for its endlessly entangled “alliance” with its prime Middle Eastern client state, whose capacity for criminal and inhumane acts appears limitless?  Glenn Greenwald

[read the full article, here]

PCC-772 Cheonan – Russian experts review results in South Korean ship sinking

A Russian investigation team began working with Korean experts going over their evidence that the Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo. China has already rejected the findings. Russia claims they will have a report ready in one week’s time by June 7th.

… The Russian team — including torpedo and submarine experts — arrived Monday and received a briefing on the Cheonan probe, conducted by a multinational group of investigators. They were scheduled to examine the wreckage and visit the site of the alleged attack before finishing their report June 7, said a Defence Ministry official on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

… The South Koreans shared the investigation’s findings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last weekend before a summit, but Beijing has yet to blame North Korea or support any potential U.N. action against its long-time ally. The Globe and Mail

Robert Fisk: Western leaders are too cowardly to help save lives

by Robert Fisk, The Independent

Has Israel lost it? Can the Gaza War of 2008-09 (1,300 dead) and the Lebanon War of 2006 (1,006 dead) and all the other wars and now yesterday’s killings mean that the world will no longer accept Israel’s rule?

 Don’t hold your breath.

Emily Henochowicz, U.S. Art Student, Shot in the Face With a Tear-Gas Gun by IDF Soldier at Protest

by Scott Creighton

“One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This is a picture of a U.S. citizen being carried to a hospital by a Palestinian and being cared for by another Palestinian after being shot in the face with a tear-gas canister by an IDF soldier. IDF soldiers have often shot demonstrators directly with the tear-gas canisters in the past.

‘Israel is a Lunatic State’ – Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack

German President Resigns Because He Admitted Global Free Market Wars are All About Trade

German President Horst Köhler resigned on Monday in response to controversy surrounding his remarks about Germany’s military mission in Afghanistan.

… In an interview with a German radio reporter who accompanied him on the trip, he seemed to justify his country’s military missions abroad with the need to protect economic interests.

“A country of our size, with its focus on exports and thus reliance on foreign trade, must be aware that … military deployments are necessary in an emergency to protect our interests — for example when it comes to trade routes, for example when it comes to preventing regional instabilities that could negatively influence our trade, jobs and incomes,” Köhler said.  SPIEGEL

Memorial Day Massacre: Israel Has Attacked Gaza Flotilla – Casualties and Fatalities Reported – BETWEEN 16 AND 20 DEAD, 30 TO 60 INJURED

It is being reported on German and Turkish News that between 10 and 19 are dead at this point… all members of Free Gaza

Obama is waiting for his Israeli Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel (son of an Irgun Terrorist) and his AIPAC aligned Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to tell him what to do. 

Obama's Crack Team Prepares "Objective" Investigation

If we had a real PRESIDENT… US Marines would be ON THE GROUND AT THAT ISRAELI PORT PROTECTING OUR CITIZENS RIGHT NOW. GET OFF YOUR ASS OBAMA! 

12:04 am Eastern – (I am taking a break. burned out) Russia has slammed what it calls Israel’s violation of international law

Understanding the Global Free Market Wars: The IMF and Iraq

Next Stage Of US Occupation – Economic Colonization of Iraq Led By The IMF

Half a Million Displaced Iraqis Face Grim Future In Squalid Squatter Camps  and it will get worse.

PCC-772 Cheonan: China and Russia Seem to Reject the Conclusions of the U.S.-Led “Objective” Investigation

by Scott Creighton

Last week the reports quoting ”anonymous senior officials” couldn’t have been more wrong; China did not end up endorsing the Hilary Clinton pro-war talking point that North Korea was responsible for sinking the Cheonan. Perhaps we should stop quoting the lies of our anonymous “senior officials” before we let them start another war for profit.

Last week, senior U.S. officials said after holding talks in Beijing that China is likely to gradually endorse the view that North Korea should be held accountable. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.  Fox News May 30 2010

China made it very clear that they would not support any nation who attacked and sank the PCC-772 Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 ROKS sailors.  Today it is being reported that after the weekend trilateral talks with Japan and South Korea, China is all-but rejecting the findings of the American led investigation that faulted North Korea for the attack based on what has been readily proved to be rather flimsy and probably fraudulent evidence.

Russia has also made it clear that they do not support those findings.  Neither country, China or Russia, seems to be willing to support submitting a resolution for sanctions to the United Nations blaming North Korea for the sinking of the Cheonan and at least in one case they point out that doing that before the Security Council would “bring more questions (about the incident) than answers”.  That says a lot.

One article goes so far as to suggest even the South Korean president, President Lee, may be taking a different stance on this issue, at least while he is with the Chinese and the Japanese delegations.

China’s premier said Sunday that tensions over the sinking of a South Korean warship urgently need to be diffused, but did not join other key nations in blaming longtime ally North Korea and gave no indication he would support U.N. sanctions.  MSNBC May 30th 2010

President Lee said South Korea will take appropriate steps to address the naval tragedy in close partnership with China and Japan. However, he stopped short of blaming North Korea. The Korea Times May 30 2010

China’s premier said Sunday that avoiding conflict between the Koreas over the sinking of a warship is most urgent, but did not express support for a bid by South Korea and Japan to condemn North Korea at the United Nations for allegedly carrying out the attack.  Fox News May 30 2010

“Even if this issue is introduced for a UN Security Council decision, it [the council] will be reserved,” another expert on Korea, Georgy Toloraya, said, adding that the issue would not involve international sanctions. “Introducing this issue to the UN Security Council for discussion will bring about more questions than answers,” Leshakov added. RIANOVOSTI May 27 2010

Though the situation is certainly far from being defused, with the looming threat of U.N. sanctions apparently now “off the table” due to the two Security Council veto holding nations rejecting Hilary Clinton’s “overwhelming” evidence, perhaps the U.S. instigated tensions on the Korean peninsula can start to subside. Hopefully we will see North and South Korea begin a speedy stand-down from their war posture before a silly incident provides War-Monger Clinton another opportunity to beat her familiar drums.

This is very good news for people all over the world, not just in Korea.  Though we are seeing some smattering of news reports on this issue here in the U.S., what we aren’t seeing, what we should be seeing, is an internal investigation into how the Secretary of State of the United States of America came away from her own observations of the “investigation” with such a convoluted conclusion that is being widely rejected world-wide.

What we should see is a real investigation into the sinking of the PCC-772 Cheonan in order to determine who was really responsible for the taking of 46 South Korean lives.

What we should see happen in this country is an investigation into Hilary Clinton’s involvement in the South Korean investigation and all of her subsequent war-mongering that has taken place afterwards.

How can any U.S. citizen feel comfortable knowing that such a loose cannon is running around the world, representing our nation, looking to provoke open war-fare with such little regard for human life and the truth in general in our name?

That is what should happen in the United States, but I am afraid it won’t. The Clintons own the Democratic Party and they rule it with a corrupt iron fist of biblical proportions.

As an American with a conscience, all I can say to the people of South and North Korea is the same thing I say to the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Honduras, Columbia, Mexico, Palestine, and Haiti… I’m sorry.

American Radical – The Trials of Norman Finkelstein

“A famous English aristocrat once said that if a person were to walk down the streets of London telling the truth to people he met, he would probably be killed before he went a couple hundred meters.” Noam Chomsky

Part 1

“This past week one of Israel’s main television networks broadcast the documentary AMERICAN RADICAL three times. An old Israeli friend wrote to ask whether it had been shown in the U.S. I had to smile.” Norman Finkelstein 

New war unlikely over sinking of S.Korean warship – Russian experts

RIANOVOSTI May 27, 2010

Russian experts do not expect the sinking of a South Korean warship to provoke a new war and say the investigation into the incident has not been provided with enough evidence.

Russia not to raise SKorean ship sinking incident in UN Security Council-FM

ITAR-TASS May 26, 2010 

Russia will not bring the South Korean corvette Cheonan sinking incident to the attention of the U.N. Security Council, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Nor will Russia support any attempt to raise this issue in the U.N. Security Council until it gets 100 percent proof that the ship was sunk by North Korea.

“We should receive the 100 percent proof of North Korea’s involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan corvette,” Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov said on Wednesday.

“Our specialists are studying the investigation materials,” he added.

US Signs, Then ‘Regrets’ Call for Nuclear Free Mideast – NPT Declaration Urges International Disarmament, But Mentions Israel

(Obama signed it, but he didn’t want to sign it, because it mentioned Israel’s nukes.)

by Jason Ditz, AntiWar

The Obama Administration’s somewhat bipolar position on nuclear disarmament was in full view today, as the administration publicly signed an NPT declaration calling for a nuclear-free Middle East, then publicly condemned the same deal.

Did an American Mine Sink South Korean Ship?

by Yoichi Shimatsu, from New American Media

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Myung-bak has claimed “overwhelming evidence” that a North Korean torpedo sank the corvette Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 sailors. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed that there’s “overwhelming evidence” in favor of the theory that North Korea sank the South Korean Navy warship Cheonan. But the articles of proof presented so far by military investigators to an official inquiry board have been scanty and inconsistent.

There’s yet another possibility, that a U.S. rising mine sank the Cheonan in a friendly-fire accident.

In the recent U.S.-China strategic talks in Shanghai and Beijing, the Chinese side dismissed the official scenario presented by the Americans and their South Korean allies as not credible. This conclusion was based on an independent technical assessment by the Chinese military, according to a Beijing-based military affairs consultant to the People Liberation Army.

Hardly any of the relevant facts that counter the official verdict have made headline news in either South Korea or its senior ally, the United States.

PCC-772 Cheonan: Photographic Evidence that “No. 1″ Written on Top of Rust

by Scott Creighton

The official lie about the sinking of the Cheonan is falling apart so the government is cracking down. “Prime Minister Chung Un-chan ordered the government to come up with a measure to stop the widespread rumors surrounding the Cheonan’s sinking.”  Joong Ang Daily, May 29, 2010

My first article is being attacked in the South Korean government supporting press and as a result of the continued pressure from the South Korean people, they are even changing the “official story” since they have to admit the first CHT-O2D torpedo drawing didn’t match the recovered evidence.

A reader has left a comment here linking to images of the “No. 1″ that was written on the torpedo. For many reasons, this is clearly forged evidence. But the reader who linked to a website with actual photographic evidence helps to prove beyond any doubt that someone wrote “No. 1″ on the torpedo part AFTER it was brought out of the water. 

(Thanks to all the readers who are diligently helping with this unofficial investigation. The people of South Korea are flooding this site with important comments and links and I thank each one of them.)

Below are official statements made about the forgery of the “No. 1″ writing on the torpedo remains as well as the photographic evidence that it was written on top of rust.