World View: Israel takes land, Palestine loses land; that's the way it works

So a bit more of Palestine has slidden down the plughole. A thousand more acres of Palestinian land stolen by the Israeli government - for "appropriation" is theft, is it not? - and the world has made the usual excuses. The Americans found it "counter-productive" to peace, which is probably a bit less forceful than its reaction would be if Mexico were to bite off a 1,000-acre chunk of Texas and decided to build homes there for its illegal immigrants in the US. But this is "Palestine" (inverted commas more necessary than ever) and Israel has been getting away with theft, albeit not on quite this scale - it is the biggest land heist in 30 years - ever since it signed up to the Oslo agreement in 1993.

The Rabin-Arafat handshake, the promises and handovers of territory and military withdrawals, and the determination to leave everything important (Jerusalem, refugees, the right of return) to the end, until everyone trusted each other so much that the whole thing would be a doddle - no wonder the world bestowed its financial generosity upon the pair. But this latest land-grab not only reduces "Palestine" but continues the circle of concrete around Jerusalem to cut Palestinians off from both the capital they are supposed to share with Israelis and from Bethlehem.

It was instructive to learn the Israeli-Jewish Etzion council regarded this larceny as punishment for the murder of three Israeli teenagers in June. "The goal of the murders of those three youths was to sow fear among us, to disrupt our daily lives and to call into doubt our right [sic] to the land," the Etzion council announced. "Our response is to strengthen settlement." This must be the first time that land in "Palestine" has been acquired not through excuses about security or land deeds - or on God's personal authority - but out of revenge.

And it raises an interesting precedent. If an innocent Israeli life - cruelly taken - is worth around 330 acres of land, then an innocent Palestinian life - equally cruelly taken - must surely equal the same. And if even half the 2,200 Palestinian dead of Gaza last month - and this is a conservative figure - were innocent, then the Palestinians presumably now have the right to take over 330,000 acres of Israeli land, in reality much more. But however "counter-productive" this might be, I'm sure America would not stand for it. Israel takes land, Palestinians lose land; that's the way it works. And thus it has been since 1948, and that is how it will continue.

Alibaba's IPO could well be the end of U.S. dominance in the world technology sector, a professor from a Britain's business school told Xinhua on Thursday.

"Alibaba's annual growth rate of more than 30 percent shows that the gap between the Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, and U.S. companies is getting ever closer," said Qing Wang, professor from Warwick Business School, one of the most prestigious and highly selective business schools in the world.

"The ability to understand customers intimately and continuously innovate should enable them to expand overseas with US dominance in the world technology sector gradually being broken," said professor Wang.

The strong performance and fast rise of the Chinese technology companies in the world was helped by an enormous and fast growing domestic market, she said. The competition in that domestic market among the Chinese companies, as well as with multinational corporations that have entered it, was extremely fierce and successful private companies like Alibaba had to be highly entrepreneurial and market-oriented, she added.

Professor Wang didn't see major risks for Alibaba after IPO, as this was not the first Chinese company who has done this and the earlier ones such as Tencent are doing well after their IPO.

But she warned that what Alibaba might need to watch out for is the short term orientation of the stock market, the expectation and pressure to deliver quick results, which may clash with his business philosophy.



© unknownThe destroyed Al Wafa hospital and surrounding buildings in Shejaiya, Gaza

"Nation of Cowards: What else can you fairly call a people who attack a population of refugees confined to a small space surrounded on every side by fences and machine-gun towers, a population with nowhere to run? No, that is not put strongly enough. Not just attack, but use the latest and most ferocious weapons from the American arsenal to slaughter more than 2100 people, including more than 500 children, destroying along the way a major portion of the housing, businesses, and institutions of a poor people."

The definition of a coward is not the traditional military one of a soldier who won't fight. No, that's far too simplistic and self-serving. The genuine meaning of the word, the meaning that warrants our full sense of revulsion and contempt, is someone who attacks someone far weaker than themselves. A large man who beats a woman or a child with his fists or a policeman who clubs a handcuffed prisoner - that is the accurate and meaningful definition of the word. And the people of Israel responsible for Operation Protective Edge are as sadly perfect examples of genuine cowards as you can find in the world.

Washington should respect the sovereignty of Syria in its attempts to deal with the Islamic state, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a phone call with his US counterpart, John Kerry.

Lavrov and Kerry talked on Sunday at the initiative of the US Secretary of State, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the conversation, the Russian FM stressed "the importance of coordinated action... by the international community aimed at countering the threat" coming from the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

However, he warned against "double standards" and "distortion of facts" during the battle against the terrorist group, which has declared a caliphate in the occupied territories of Syria and Iraq.

Lavrov underlined "the necessity for strict adherence to the UN Charter and international law as well as unconditional respect for Syrian sovereignty during the implementation of plans by the US-led coalition, which includes the use of force," the statement by the ministry said.

Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has resigned from the party, ahead of an internal disciplinary hearing. The disgraced MP had already been suspended for making improper sexual advances towards a vulnerable constituent.

The Portsmouth South MP, who was forced to publicly apologize at London's High Court last June, was suspended for an "inappropriate and unprofessional friendship" with a vulnerable single mother with mental health issues.

Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had previously called on Hancock to resign, saying he had "no future" in the party.

"We have received a letter confirming his resignation," a party spokesman said. "Obviously, there was due to be a disciplinary hearing imminently, so before that has happened he has resigned."

Hancock had initially denied the allegations, but as part of a High Court settlement earlier this year he apologized to the constituent.

"I understand that you felt degraded. I did not treat you with sufficient respect. I made you feel deeply uncomfortable and discriminated against and I crossed the line," said Hancock in his High Court statement.

After voting to fund military action against Islamic State, Congress just couldn't take anymore. The US House announced Thursday an early end to an already shortened fall session so lawmakers could do what they value most: campaign for reelection.

This week, the House and Senate both approved President Barack Obama's request to arm so-called "moderate" rebel groups in Syria as part of a plan to step up the US military campaign against Islamic State militants. That was about all Congress could muster.

Though the House was supposed to remain in Washington through the first week of October, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told representatives on Thursday that they are off the hook until after the early November congressional elections. The Senate followed suit after approving the war funding on Thursday.

The abbreviated fall session means Congress will have only been on the job in Washington for only about eight days from the end of July through the middle of November.

Let's do the math here: The 113th Congress is historically unproductive in the amount of legislative actions taken. This is, in part, why the body is perennially rated as unpopular. Earlier this month, Gallup found that Congress had a 14-percent approval rating, one of the lowest in the past 40 years.

[Quick note: I want to begin this SITREP with a correction to something which I mentioned in the last SITREP abouy General Bezler: even though his signature did appear to figure on the infamous statement of the four commanders declaring their loyalty to "General" Korsun, the information that he had been arrested is, according so sources qualified as "solid" by Colonel Cassad, not true. Since I have no reason to doubt Cassad's sources, I assume that this is true. I have no idea why/how Bezler's signature was found on this document, maybe it was a fake? Either way, Bezler even made a short video today making fun of Ukie not-so-special forces. In contrast, Korsun's arrest is apparently confirmed. Now let's turn to the SITREP proper - The Saker]

War?

The big event of the week was, I think, Poroshenko's speech to what I call the Imperial Senate (aka Joint Session of Congress). I have made the full transcript available here and here. I don't think that it is worth carefully parsing this text, so I will just mention the few elements which are absolutely obvious to me:

1) This text was written by a US Neocon. It even included such typical US-propaganda gimmicks as the "personal story" to give a human touch and moment carefully crafted to generate applause. So not only what the author of this rant American, but he/she was for sure a diehard Neocon.

2) This text was a lame attempt at copying Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, except that Poroshenko is no Churchill, Putin no Stalin and Novorussia no Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the message was clear: Russia represents a planetary threat to freedom, democracy, liberty, human rights, free speech, etc. In fact, according to Poroshenko the choice is not between two civilizations but between civilization and barbaric darkness.

3) The US deep state is by now clearly aware of the immense challenge presented to it by Putin's "Eurasian Sovereignist" Russia and the movement it leads (BRICS+SCO+etc.). The fact that it has to use such absolutely over the top rhetoric is a clear sign of fear and the Neocons are now freaking out. The danger for them is becoming very real (more about that below).

4) More than anything else, this speech proved to me that the only viable goal for Russia is regime change in Kiev. This is a message I will hammer in over and over again - regime change in Kiev is a vital, arguable existential, priority for Russia.

5) Far from being any kind of patriots or nationalists, the Ukie "nationalists" are subservient puppets of the West, willing to service AngloZionist interests with less shame then an old prostitute services her clients. For all the "Glory to the Ukraine, to the Heroes Glory!" slogans, the Ukies are the cheapest prostitutes on the planet with no self-respect whatsoever.

100,000 troops and 5,000 weapons involved in the exercises in the Eastern Military District.

Codenamed Vostok-2014, the exercises were heralded by NTV channel as 'the biggest since Soviet times'.

'About 100,000 servicemen, up to 1,500 tanks, 120 aircraft, 5,000 pieces of weaponry, military and special hardware, and 70 ships will take part,' said a Russian defence ministry spokesman.

Starting on Friday 19 September, they will continue until Thursday 25 September.

The absence of America's so-called "intelligence" regarding the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 over Ukraine in a 34 page Dutch Safety Board preliminary report raises serious questions about the credibility and legitimacy of both America's political agenda, and all agencies, organizations, and political parties currently behind it.

The report titled, "Preliminary Report: Crash involving Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 flight MH17″ (.pdf), cites a wide variety of evidence in its attempt to determine the cause of flight MH17′s crash and to prevent similar accidents or incidents from occurring again in the future. Among this evidence includes the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), the flight data recorder (FDR), analysis of recorded air traffic control (ATC) surveillance data and radio communication, analysis of the meteorological circumstances, forensic examination of the wreckage (if recovered and possible foreign objects if found), results of the pathological investigation, and analysis of the in-flight break up sequence.

Up to 40 radicalized US citizens who have fought alongside terrorists of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) have already returned to the United States and could pose a real terrorist threat, says Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.).

Of the hundred or so Americans who have traveled to the Middle East to join the Islamic State's ranks, some 40 have returned and are currently being surveilled by the FBI, Bishop said in a recent speech.

"It is not yet a threat to the homeland, but there is a concern that it could metastasize in such a way that it could become a threat," he warned.

The lawmaker also expressed concert that jihadist fighters could clandestinely enter the United States through the porous southern border.