Netanyahu demands peace for peace.
Israel PM calls for demilitarized Palestinian state (click here)
updated 4:43 p.m. EDT, Sun June 14, 2009
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel could accept a peace agreement with a "demilitarized Palestinian state" as its neighbor....
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
The editorial below clearly indicates Israel's Netanyahu is a brilliant strategic diplomat. What Abdel Monem is articulating could be called, "Gaming the Diplomacy." There is no reason to 'play one's hand' to the end ahead of deciding on the shape of the table. If Israel does not put all it's cards on the table, it doesn't know exactly what the possiblities are when the final agreement is reached. It is important the Palestinians do exactly the same thing. One of the huge hurdles of the Middle East process, eliminating the chronic religious based violence, is there is 'cultural' covert measures that play out AFTER agreements are reached. That has to end. What Israel's Netanyahu has done is brilliant. He is placing ALL the exponential factors exactly in transparency of the 'process.' It is 'best' for the outcome and will derive a 'true peace' rather than a 'settled upon agreement.' In other words, "Let the diplomatic games begin." This time. Let's 'get it right.'
The Arabs' blanket rejection of Netanyahu's speech is short-sighted (click title to entry - thank you)
By Abdel Monem Said Commentary by Tuesday, July 07, 2009
...The Netanyahu speech, in turn, triggered two general responses. Whereas the United States and the European Union welcomed the speech, the Arabs rejected it, with some Arab media insisting it had effectively sounded a death knell for the negotiating process....
...Having correctly gauged the global temperature, Netanyahu, chose not to openly buck the tide. Instead, he hit upon a formula that sounded conciliatory but, in fact, was calculated to dismantle any Arab-Western-global consensus, minimize Israeli losses and buy time.
Netanyahu's speech was designed to send out mixed signals....
...Such a strategic handling of the Netanyahu speech is far removed from blanket rejection, which serves only to hand Europe and Washington to Israel on a silver platter. Through such a rational strategy of engagement we can build momentum to support the Palestinian cause. Above all, we must remain on guard against behaving in the way Netanyahu is banking on.
Iran's Assembly of Experts has power to remove Ayatollah Khamenei (click here)
By Gareth Smyth
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
(Ahmadinejad's qualifications for President was being mayor of Tehran. Popular within a large city in Iran with significant number of votes. Do I see a 'rut' here? Yep.)
...By November 2005, just three months after Ahmadinejad took office, Rafsanjani used his sermon at Tehran Friday prayers to rebuke the president for damaging "national unity." This came two days after Khamenei had defended Ahmadinejad's government and called for it to be given more time.
"Our society has been divided into two poles and some are behaving aggressively," said Rafsanjani, who criticized "a current trying to remove and isolate invaluable individuals and efficient managers" and attacked the president for "vague pictures" in his proclaimed fight against corruption.
Rafsanjani soon joined Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist president, and Mehdi Karrubi, the former parliamentary speaker, in coordinating a "coalition of the concerned" against Ahmadinejad.
This group came together in alarm at the president's foreign policy pronouncements, which they felt imperilled Iran's position, and in concern at the harm inflicted by Ahmadinejad's reflationary economics....
...But a notion as malleable as "adequate capacity for leadership" could now work against Ayatollah Khamenei.
From the arguments over the conduct of the election used by Rafsanjani, as well as by reformist figures like defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Musavi, it is easy to see potential constitutional grounds for a challenge to Khamenei within the Assembly of Experts.
It would be a huge step for the clerics who make up the Assembly, and indeed a huge step for Iran.
Gareth Smyth, a former opinion editor of The Daily Star, was chief Iran correspondent of the Financial Times, 2003-7. This article was contributed to The Daily Star law page.
By Chibli Mallat
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
1. Violent deaths v. non-violent demonstrations. By end of the first week, between 20 and 40 people had been killed, and many more wounded. Responsibility for keeping order lies first and foremost with the government, headed by the president under the watch of the supreme leader (rahbar), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The deaths mark a grave failure of the system. Under Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution, corresponding to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent covenants, "public gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam."...
...2. Election results and arbitration. When people in large numbers descend onto the streets with the support of two major candidates to question election results, their concerns cannot be brushed aside. Iranians need to get to the bottom of what happened.
So far, the arguments are hazy and cancel each other out. Two theses stand opposed. The Leader has asked the Council of Guardians (CG) to carry out its constitutional mandate under Article 99 of the Constitution to investigate if the elections were valid. But in his speech last Friday, Khamenei said that a victory of 11 million votes could not have been rigged. In fact, both he and two presidential candidates doubted that the CG could change the results: Khamenei on the grounds that the winner's majority was so large, Musavi and Mehdi Karrubi, because of their lack of trust in the CG. Ironically, they were both right....
...3. The Iranian constitutional system. The outcome of the tenth presidential election suggests that central traits of the Iranian Constitution should be re-examined. For a republic where citizens choose their leader, the Iranian Constitution fails two major tests.
The first is the Council of Guardians itself, which regularly vetoes presidential candidates (Art.110.9). In the current elections, over 450 Iranians presented their candidacy, and the Council rejected all but four. This is unsustainable in any democracy and the practice should be removed from the Constitution....
Restoring the full rule of law to America: indemnify torture victims (click here)
By Owen Fiss
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
One 'thing' to remember. The USA just concluded eight years of incompetency in the Executive Branch with an endorsing Republican majority in the legislature for six of those years due to the 'cultural' issues beset to the Amercian electorate post September 11, 2001.
What does that mean?
It means, example Alito and Roberts and realize that the judicial system of the country has been 'contaminated' with incompetency and those that focus on 'wealth' and 'ideologies' that secure their so called wealth through assignments by the then Executive Branch. That 'contamination' will exist for some time and it seems as though when it comes to 'Constitutional Rights' and the issue of ? terrorists ? the judiciary is scared to move in favor of 'rights' verses 'containment.'
The only reason I refer to this 'formality' of discourse is that to rely on the USA Judiciary as an example to freedom and personal liberties as well as personal rights is not necessaroly the best reference to those subjects. Each review of any judicial proceeding from here on needs to be reviewed in the particulars of the Justice themselves. With a Supreme Court weighted to the 'right' as the current Robert's Court (You know the guy, the one that couldn't get the oath of office right.) is; one has to examine closely the Minority Opinion in heavy scrutiny of the Majority opinion. The same holds true for the lower courts. The judiciary has to be under scrutiny until it is relieved of the contamination of incompetency under Bush/Cheney.
The 'right' leaning of the American Judiciary post Bush is consistent in denying Civil Rights and granting Fiscal Exploitation of 'The American System of Living' which includes impeding Civil Rights to contain 'difference' and Civil Liberties that would provide 'fiscal management' of 'HUMAN RESOURCES.'
Such Civil Liberties have consistently been impeded to benefit 'fiscal' consideration in the area of Environmental Statues. This past year in the Robert's Courts, environmental statues were ruled AGAINST regardless of the 'spirit' that was intended by the American Legislature.
That said, it is up to the current Democratic Majority to focus on Legislative measures that return rights to Americans in the face of a hostile Supreme Court based in 'Right Wing Ideologies.' ESPECIALLY. In the face of the Global Economic Crisis. The Robert's Court will act in 'knee jerk' reactions as did Bernanke when he opened up a full $1 Trillion US from the Federal Reserve with the excuse, "I wanted to be sure they had all the instruments they needed for ANY recovery." Bernanke opened up 'advantage' to the very idiots that sunk the economy in the first place; The Robert's Court does the exact same thing. The Robert's Court which likes to send cases back to the lower courts (as a punitive measure) will consistently seek NOT 'legal' remedies, but, 'fiscal ideological' ones.
Hence, and therefore, the struggle to return the USA to its best luster does not end with the courts, but, with the legislature and the striving of the American people to return their country to its 'resolves.' Those resolves are solidly reflected in the persistent 'tone' of the NEW President Barak Obama who seeks to build 'Coalitions' of people seeking peace and NOT war.
...A special test of these promises is now pending before the Second Circuit which sits in New York. It involves Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was taken into custody by US officials at JFK airport in September 2002, and then transferred to Syria for interrogation under conditions of torture. At issue is the legality of the practice known as extraordinary rendition, the transportation of individuals suspected of terrorist activity to foreign countries for interrogation, sometimes torture. After a panel of three judges refused to reach the merits of Arar's claim, 12 judges of the Second Circuit, sitting en banc, reheard the case. They are expected to rule soon.
In this suit, Arar asked for monetary damages and a declaratory judgment that the law had been broken. On the first claim, the three-judge panel ruled that it did not have congressional authorization to give damages. Such a ruling seems odd in the extreme. It is not clear why Congress, a political body, must give the judiciary authorization before allowing damages for the violation of a constitutional right....
Here's how Europe can help in closing down Guantanamo (click here)
By Gilles De Kerchove Commentary by Tuesday, July 07, 2009
...We share Obama's assessment that "Guantanamo became a symbol that helped Al-Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause. Indeed, the existence of Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained." We in the European Union believe that it is our common interest with Washington to prevent radicalization and recruitment to terrorism throughout the world....
... More generally, we agree with Obama that "in the long run we ... cannot keep ... safe unless we enlist the power of our most fundamental values," and that "we uphold our most cherished values not only because doing so is right, but because it strengthens [us] and keeps us safe." The experience of European democracies confronted with a long-term terrorist threat shows that human rights and the rule of law are our strongest assets. That is why terrorists want to destroy them.
The closure of Guantanamo must be accompanied by a fundamental review of the underlying policies that gave rise to its existence. Obama's decisions to ban "enhanced interrogation" techniques and end secret detention are important steps in the right direction.
But more steps are needed....
With Al-Jazeera's American challenge comes responsibility (click here)
By Mohamed Elmenshawy Commentary by Monday, July 06, 2009
...As the president said, he seeks a fresh relationship, one "based upon mutual interest and mutual respect" and "upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition." The new Obama administration has taken the lead seeking to advance cooperation and understanding. In order to promote constructive dialogue along similar lines, Al-Jazeera must follow suit.
Al-Jazeera's coverage of the United States has yet to offer viewers a complete picture of American society. Since September 11, 2001, interest in America has risen noticeably in the Arab world. Few Arab media outlets, however, have satisfied this growing demand. Everyone reports on America the "superpower," but few report on America as the complex, diverse and democratic society that it is. Al-Jazeera's coverage of the United States and its policies has tended to reflect a limited understanding of the country's inner workings or its history. This has created a skewed image of America in the Arab world - one which must be adjusted....
...It might be useful, here, to recall the former Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin's positions regarding Israeli settlements, airports and land in the Sinai and then to recall that the Sinai was subsequently returned in full to Egypt. It is also useful to bear in mind that many Third World countries, upon reaching independence, started under conditions of less than full sovereignty which was eventually acquired as circumstances changed....
Anything short of a completely Lebanese Cabinet is not sovereign.
Riyadh urges independent Lebanese cabinet formation (click here)
By Elias Sakr Daily Star staff
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
..."Saudi officials called on Lebanese politicians not to abandon to foreign forces their right to form a government," a March 14 source said.
Commenting on media reports that implied the cabinet formation process was stalled until a Syrian-Saudi rapprochement could be reached, the source stressed that the formation course was "a strictly Lebanese domestic affair."...
