Society's ChildS


Wine

Snowden finds new home in hospitable Russia

snowden
© Agence France-Presse/Frederick FlorinEdward Snowden
Edward Snowden has received a residence permit in Russia, which is valid for three years, starting on August 1, the former NSA contractor's lawyer announced.

"On the first of August he received a three-year residence permit," lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters.

He added that Snowden had not asked for political asylum.

"He will be able to travel freely within the country and go abroad. He'll be able to stay abroad for not longer than three months," Kucherena said.

Stormtrooper

Israel's military policy sparks dissent among troops

Palestinian man carries his belongings
© Reuters / Suhaib SalemA after returning to his destroyed house in Beit Hanoun town, which witnesses said was heavily hit by Israeli shelling and air strikes during the Israeli offensive, in the northern Gaza Strip August 5, 2014
Dissenting voices are being heard among the Israeli military, as the IDF withdraws its forces from Gaza. Over 1,800 Palestinians - the vast majority of them civilians - were killed in the almost month-long operation.

The week has brought what relentless rallies around the globe have been continuously demanding. On Tuesday, Israel declared that its mission in the Gaza Strip had been accomplished; Hamas tunnels and hideouts were destroyed and troops could finally withdraw. As of Wednesday, over 1,800 Palestinians had been killed - most of them civilians, including hundreds of women and children, according to the UN.

Though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised the Israel Defense Forces as a "moral" army, some within the military disagree.

Yehuda Shaul, co-founder of Breaking the Silence - an organization of veteran Israeli combatants - told RT's Paula Slier that many soldiers are questioning Israel's actions.

"There are a lot of soldiers who come back and say to themselves, 'What the hell are we doing here? Why are we using so much force? Why are we treating them this way?'" he said.

The UN said Wednesday that it "understands the legitimate security right to defend Israeli citizens from the threat of rocket attacks by Hamas." Three civilians in Israel were also killed, as well as 64 Israeli soldiers.

War Whore

4 Million Ukrainians in war zone on the verge of humanitarian crisis

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© RIA Novosti. Valery Melnikov People after Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Luhansk
Four million people are in the combat area in eastern Ukraine, and 200,000 of them are deprived of water, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said Tuesday at an emergency UN Security Council session on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

"About four million people are in the war zone [in Ukraine.] Over 200,000 of them are deprived of potable water. Sanitary and epidemiological situation is critical in Luhansk," Churkin said.

According to Russia's UN envoy, residential houses have no electricity or water supply, water is not decontaminated, landline and mobile communications are cut, refuse is not removed.

"Ukrainian nationals are leaving the country in masses," Churkin said and precised that since the start of the crisis almost 800,000 people have crossed the border with Russia and have stayed there. "The number of people who applied to the migration services to legalize their stay is up to 170,000."

Snakes in Suits

Columnist for Sydney Morning Herald forced to resign after writing pro-Palestinian article

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Mike Carlton
Columnist leaves after being told he would be suspended for abusing readers criticising his article on the Israel-Hamas conflict

Longstanding Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has resigned after being admonished by his editors for the way he responded to readers on the heated topic of the Gaza conflict.

On Tuesday evening, the editor-in-chief of the SMH and the Sun Herald, Darren Goodsir, posted a statement on the website apologising for Carlton's offensive language.

"I have become aware that Mike Carlton has corresponded with some Herald readers and letter writers using inappropriate and offensive language," Goodsir wrote.

"This behaviour is completely unacceptable. "I have asked Mike to apologise for these actions. Mike regrets his behaviour and will be contacting affected readers to apologise. "On behalf of the Herald, I too apologise for any offence caused. "In dealing with our readers, it is a basic principle that our staff, columnists and contributors should always behave with respect and courtesy."

Bacon

Good riddance! Russia to ban all US agricultural products, EU fruit & vegetable imports

Moscow plans to ban all US agricultural products, including poultry, as well as EU fruit and vegetable imports in response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, according to the country's agricultural watchdog.
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© Reuters / Mike Blake
All agricultural goods produced in the US and imported into Russia will be halted for one year, the assistant to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Aleksey Alekseyenko, told RIA Novosti.

The list of banned products will be published on Thursday, he added.

EU fruits and vegetables also fall under the ban, Alekseyenko added. A source told Itar-Tass that dairy products from the EU will be included on the list, as well.

HAL9000

Steven Salaita loses job at University of Illinois due to criticism of Zionism and Gaza slaughter

Steven Salaita
Steven Salaita
This is deeply disturbing. The lobby never sleeps. "Another Professor Punished for anti-Israel views." Steven Salaita, an English scholar who has done excellent work for us and is the author of Israel's Dead Soul, a critique of Zionism, has reportedly lost an appointment at the University of Illinois in American Indian studies because of his criticisms of Israel.

From Inside Higher Ed, reported by Scott Jaschik:
Salaita... was to have joined the American Indian studies program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this month. The appointment was made public, and Salaita resigned from his position as associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. But he was recently informed by Chancellor Phyllis Wise that the appointment would not go to the university's board, and that he did not have a job to come to in Illinois, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation....

Salaita did not respond to numerous calls and emails.

Ambulance

Spain to repatriate priest diagnosed with Ebola

Miguel Pajares, 75, a Spanish missionary priest working at a hospital in the West African country, will be taken to Spain by a military jet

Miguel Pajares
© EPAMiguel Pajares (R) talking to a patient in a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia
Spain has been preparing to accept Europe's first confirmed case of the Ebola virus.

A medically-equipped military jet has been sent to Liberia to repatriate Miguel Pajares, 75, a Spanish missionary priest working at a hospital in the West African country.

The priest was one of three missionaries to test positive for the virus at the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

Brother Pajares and his two fellow workers, Chantal Pascaline Mutwamene of Congo and Paciencia Melgar from Equatorial Guinea, belong to the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios, a Catholic humanitarian group that runs hospitals around the world, and had been helping to treat patients infected with the virus.

Bullseye

The degree of ignorance about poverty is stunning, far removed from reality

Three-quarters of conservative Americans say poor people have it easy
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© PressTVToo many rich Americans have removed themselves from society so much that they no longer care to understand the poor.
The degree of ignorance about poverty is stunning, even for people far removed from the realities of an average American lifestyle. Both oilman Charles Koch and Nicole Miller CEO Bud Konheim have suggested that we should compare ourselves to poor people in China and India, and then just shut up and be happy. The Cato Institute informs Americans that "The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work." And entrepreneur Marc Andreessen explains, rather incomprehensibly, that "Technology innovation disproportionately helps the poor more than it helps the rich, as the poor spend more of their income on products."

1. We Spend Relatively Little on Poverty Programs

The Economic Policy Institute stated, "The United States stands out as the country with the highest poverty rate and one of the lowest levels of social expenditure." It's a national disgrace that we allow just a few people to take more of the country's wealth than the millions of productive people who can't find living-wage jobs.

Just two men made more investment income in 2013 than the entire year's welfare budget (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), commonly referred to as 'welfare').

Light Saber

Human rights activist and international lawyer: U.S. police agencies use same brutal tactics that Israeli police use in Gaza

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© PressTV
Police violence in the US has been an "epidemic" throughout the country's history, with law enforcement officers using the same tactics on Americans that Israeli police use against Palestinians, an international lawyer says.

Each year in the United States, there are "thousands and thousands of cases of police brutality [and] these cases have been going on from time immemorial," Mustafa Ansari, who is also a human rights activist, told Press TV on Monday.

"The police officers and the district attorneys and judges and the criminal justice system are all in collusion to look the other way when there's instance of police brutality," Ansari said.

He noted that cases of police brutality only receive widespread attention when the evidence is irrefutable or if the incident gets caught on camera, like last month's death of Eric Garner by the hands of New York City police.


Comment: A very astute observation!

Telegenically Dead Palestinians and the Subversion of your Soul


Megaphone

Gaza Calling: All out on Saturday August 9 Day of Rage

children of Gaza
As we face the full might of Israel's military arsenal, funded and supplied by the United States and European Union, we call on civil society and people of conscience throughout the world to pressure governments to sanction Israel and implement a comprehensive arms embargo immediately.

Take to the streets on Saturday 9 August with a united demand for sanctions on Israel.

From Gaza under invasion, bombardment, and continuing siege, the horror is beyond words. Medical supplies are exhausted. The death toll has reached 1813 killed (398 children, 207 women, 74 elderly) and 9370 injured (2744 children, 1750 women, 343 elderly). Our hospitals, ambulances, and medical staff are all under attack while on duty. Doctors and paramedics are being killed while evacuating the dead. Our dead are not numbers and statistics to be recounted; they are loved ones, family and friends.

While we have to survive this onslaught, you certainly have the power to help end it the same way you helped overcome Apartheid and other crimes against humanity. Israel is only able to carry out this attack with the unwavering support of governments - this support must end.