Society's Child

B'Tselem ad urges Israeli soldiers to defy shooting orders, lest they commit war crimes

Yossi Gurvitz
Mondoweiss
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 20:26 UTC

B'Tselem ad soldiers don't shoot palestinians

B'Tselem, the respected Israeli human rights NGO, began a media campaign today urging Israel Defense Forces soldiers posted on the Gaza border to disobey "patently illegal" shoot-to-kill orders against unarmed protesters. Last week, the IDF gunned down 17 such protesters and wounded more than 700 of them. Another wounded protester later died of his wounds. Fresh protests are expected on Friday and the IDF already announced it will keep its Rules of Engagement (ROE) as they are.

The ad appeared on line today and is set to appear in major newspapers tomorrow. The text on B'Tselem's ad reads:

"Sorry Sir, I cannot shoot

Soldier, the order to use lethal force against civilians who do not pose mortal danger is patently illegal. Using lethal force is only allowed when an actual, immediate threat to human life exists, and when there is no other option.

The responsibility for issuing these unlawful orders rests first and foremost with the policy makers, including the prime minister, defense minister, and the chief of staff. Yet obeying patently illegal orders is a criminal offense and you are duty-bound to refuse complying with them."

"Huge caravan" of Central American refugees moving north towards U.S. border

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 31 Mar 2018 19:25 UTC

Over 1,500 Central Americans are on a crusade across Mexico in the hopes of being granted asylum at the U.S. border - a move which is set to pose an enormous challenge to the Trump administration's much campaigned about immigration policies, while reminding Trump's base that they still don't have the wall they elected him to build 14 months into his presidency.

"We want to become one, supporting us shoulder to shoulder and show that together we can break down borders," say the caravan's organizers.

Setting out six days ago and marching under the slogan "Migrantes en la lucha" ("Migrants in the Fight") during holy week, the caravan comprised mostly of Hondurans was organized roughly a month ago by the mysterious group Pueblo Sin Fronteras (People Without Borders) - which solicited donations via Facebook and encouraged volunteers to contact them.

Comment: Not if Trump can galvanize support for his stance on illegal immigration:

PWOB is a murky organization which has published the minimal details required for a 501-3(c). They apparently work under the umbrella of the Washington International Church. This is the PWOB's third attempt to organize a mass migration to the United States. How does an organization which claims a measly $25k total in donations for 2017 managing such a large multi-country project? The "kindness of strangers" cannot account for all of it.

Evidence before solidarity? German official blasts UK and allies for blaming Russia for Skripal poisoning

RT
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 14:25 UTC

The minister president of Germany's most populous state has lambasted the UK for prematurely pinning the blame for the Skripal poisoning case on Russia, writing that you need "sound evidence" before asking allies for solidarity.

Armin Laschet, the leader of North Rhine-Westphalia and a deputy chairman of Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), took to Twitter after the UK's Porton Down government laboratory announced on Tuesday that it could not link nerve agent samples it had collected to Russia.

"If you force almost all NATO countries to show solidarity, shouldn't you have sound evidence?" Laschet said. "You can think of Russia what you want, but I have learned a different way of dealing with states from studying international law."

Comment: Evidence was last on the list of qualifiers for Russia's vilification. UK is now first on the list for, well, lots of unpleasant things: deceitfulness, ineptness, defamation, untrustworthiness...

'The war isn't over': Protesters burn Union Jack in remembrance of Falklands War

RT
Tue, 03 Apr 2018 15:11 UTC

Protesters have taken to the streets of Buenos Aires to burn the UK flag and to make their voices heard, with a clear message 36 years on from the Falklands War: "The war is not over and we are not dead."

Nearly four decades since the British asserted their control over the Falkland Islands - known as Islas Malvinas in Argentina - protesters clashed with police outside the British embassy in Buenos Aires on Monday. One protester was filmed setting fire to an enormous Union Jack.

Falklands War veteran Norberto Covacevich said: "The war is not over and we are not dead, it is not the dead who fight, we are going to fight to the last, to the last drop of blood [we are going to fight] the pirates, long live the homeland."

Comment: The Falkland Islands are also important to both the UK and Argentina because of the adjacent undersea oil fields.

Army Radio pundit claims 'I'm embarrassed to be Israeli'

Tzvi Lev
Arutz Sheva
Sun, 01 Apr 2018 11:51 UTC

Popular Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) pundit Koby Meidan has come under fire for writing on Facebook that he is "embarrassed to be Israeli" after the IDF killed 17 Gazans, including 10 Hamas gunmen, during Friday's violent riot next to the Gaza-Israel border fence.

Meidan's words caused an outcry, with many journalists wondering why a pundit who expressed anti-IDF sentiments should work for an IDF radio station.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman called Meidan's words "shameful" and suggested that the broadcaster be fired over his remarks. "I am ashamed that we have a broadcaster like that on a military station. I hope the station commander will respond clearly and do what is needed," Liberman told 103FM.

"If he is ashamed, he should draw the appropriate conclusions and leave the station."

Comment: Notice the lack of remorse from the criticizers. None of them had outrage nor sympathy for the victims, nor empathy with the reaction by Mr. Meidan. It is a telling snapshot as to what kind of leadership and society has been incubated in Israel - and why any reasonable, normal approach to solving the Palestinian-Israel loggerhead will never work.

Ridiculous! City forces elderly homeowner to rip out garden and grow grass to which she is allergic - District judge agrees

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Fri, 30 Mar 2018 00:00 UTC

A couple in St. Peters, Missouri, learned the hard way that even though they are listed as the owners of their home, the city they live in still has the ability to dictate what is and is not on their property - even if they are allergic to it.

Carl and Janice Duffner purchased their house in 2002, and they opted to plant a flower garden because Janice, 69, is allergic to turf grass. Then in 2008, the city of St. Peters passed an ordinance stating that homeowners must plant at least 50 percent turf grass on their property.

The Duffners kept their garden and found themselves embroiled in a legal conflict when they were reported to the city in 2014. The City of St. Peters Board of Zoning Adjustment granted a variance that reduced the amount of turf grass required from 50 percent to 5 percent for the Duffners' property.

In response, the Duffners filed a lawsuit arguing that the 5 percent requirement was still not right, based on the fact that Mrs. Duffner is still allergic. After their case was repeatedly returned to the lower court, the Duffners filed a federal lawsuit in December 2016.

The lawsuit stated that the Duffners believed the city ordinance is "unnecessary for the advancement of any compelling or permissible state objective" and that it "imposes a permanent obligation on the owner to cultivate and maintain that unwanted physical presence on their property for no reason other than that the government commands it."

The assassination of Martin Luther King: 50 years later, truth at last

James Corbett
The Corbett Report
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 18:32 UTC

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

On April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered a passionate speech at Riverside Church in New York staking out his opposition to the war in Vietnam. One year later to the day, he was assassinated. Now, 50 years after that fateful day, the truth about the assassination of Dr. King can finally be told.

Transcript below:

Russia 2018 World Cup already at almost 1.7mn tickets sold

RT
Tue, 03 Apr 2018 17:38 UTC

With less than three months to go until the 2018 World Cup kicks off in Russia, a total of 1,698,049 tickets have been sold through the official FIFA website.

The second window of the second sales phase was closed on April 3, with 394,433 tickets being bought by fans planning to attend World Cup matches. During that period, tickets for all matches were available online on a 'first come, first served' basis - with the exception being the tournament final on July 15 and the group-stage clash between Argentina and Iceland, which will be staged in Moscow on June 16.

Reports of French troops entering parts of Northern Syria as US forces withdraw

Sputnik
Tue, 03 Apr 2018 16:36 UTC

French military personnel have been deployed to Syria and are now patrolling areas in northern parts of the country under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to reports by the Kurdistan 24 news agency, citing Rezan Gilo, the joint chief of defense of Syrian Kurdistan.

An unknown number of French troops reportedly entered the border town of Tell Abyad and the city of Manbij this afternoon after US troops withdrew.

Turkey has repeatedly threatened to attack the city of Manbij and other parts of northern Syria after its successful cross-border military operation in Afrin.

On March 29, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to send troops to the area to deter any Turkish aggression, according to daily newspaper Le Parisien.

Porton Down: Lab behind Skripal poison probe has dark history of secret government-run human testing

RT
Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:19 UTC

© Jim Gray / Getty Images
A group Committee of 100 supporters demonstrating against germ warfare at the Porton Down Germ Warfare Station, June 1963.

The Porton Down lab at the center of the Skripal poisoning case has a dark history of secret government-run human testing. The human trials were conducted as part of the UK's war preparation against the Soviet Union.

The military laboratory at Porton Down was the hub of Britain's biological weapons trials between 1939 and 1989. Ministry of Defence scientists conducted chemical experiments on at least 20,000 military personnel and more than 100 secret germ warfare tests on members of the public in preparation for a feared chemical attack from the Soviet Union.

This year, the lab was thrust back into the headlines when it was given the responsibility of determining the substance used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The lab's chief executive has since confirmed the team are unable to identify the "precise source" of the nerve agent, and the Foreign Office has denied claiming it was from Russia - despite Boris Johnson's assertions on just that point.

The government-run experiments on military personal seriously breached ethical standards, according to an official report released in 2006. It followed years of complaints from veterans claiming to have suffered lasting damage to their health as a result of the trials.

Comment: See also: Johnson and May hide behind complicit media as their lies dissolve

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Society's Child

B'Tselem ad urges Israeli soldiers to defy shooting orders, lest they commit war crimes

"Huge caravan" of Central American refugees moving north towards U.S. border

Evidence before solidarity? German official blasts UK and allies for blaming Russia for Skripal poisoning

'The war isn't over': Protesters burn Union Jack in remembrance of Falklands War

Army Radio pundit claims 'I'm embarrassed to be Israeli'

Ridiculous! City forces elderly homeowner to rip out garden and grow grass to which she is allergic - District judge agrees

The assassination of Martin Luther King: 50 years later, truth at last

Russia 2018 World Cup already at almost 1.7mn tickets sold

Reports of French troops entering parts of Northern Syria as US forces withdraw

Porton Down: Lab behind Skripal poison probe has dark history of secret government-run human testing

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