Yuri Sosinsky-Semikhat: European Jews get itchy feet

In recent years, the media are writing increasingly more about the deteriorating situation of the Jewish communities in Western Europe. Current concerns about the increasing anti-Semitism in various forms have led to an increase of relocation intents among European Jews. However, many politicians and public figures continue to express their determination to defend the economic, cultural and religious interests of the diaspora. Another question is whether it will be possible to preserve the influence of former Jewish communities in modern Europe. The largest Jewish community in Western Europe resides in France, with 483,000 people. Paris alone has dozens of synagogues, kosher restaurants and a number of cultural organizations of the adherents of Judaism. However, it has not always been the case. Only 30-40 years ago one could hardly find a single restaurant with Jewish cuisine in France. Today, Paris is home to approximately 350,000 Jews. Marseille 70,000, Lyon 25,000, Strasbourg 16,000, Toulouse 23,000, and Nice 20,000. The community organization is a well-developed structure that began to form in the era of Napoleon Bonaparte. The interests of the Jews are represented by Consistory religious institutions, as well as a number of public organizations and foundations. The largest of them is the United Jewish Community Foundation. In France over the past half century the community suffered a series of shocks associated with bursts of anti-semitism, caused both by events in the Middle East and internal factors. Many analysts link the growth of hostility towards Jews in the 1940-50s with Charles de Gaulle, who carried out an anti-Israeli policy.  

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: Libya, NATO's Worst Crime!

Lies, deceit, blackmail, bullying, murder, torture, concentration camps, destruction of property, looting, massacres, all these words pale into insignificance when we look at what NATO has done to Libya, and intends to do in Syria within a few days. The sickening evidence coming from Libya underlines what we are dealing with: It is very difficult to imagine that Cameron, Hague, Sarkozy, Juppe, Obama and Hilary Clinton are happy with their legacy in Libya. In fact, what they have done there would lead any normal human being into the depths of desperation. In a professional context, it would involve a dismissal, and in a military one, a court martial or a dishonorable discharge. NATO's "mission" in Libya was to impose a no-fly zone to protect innocent civilians. Quite how anyone could have been so naive as to believe that, after what NATO did in Iraq, defies logic. How anyone could have believed them after that is still a mystery! Unfortunately the international community once again gave NATO the benefit of doubt, and NATO performed another massacre, another example of arming terrorists, more killings, more violence, more destruction of property, more torture, more rapes, and another generation of children without a future. If God exists, and Satan rules, then Libya can, and must be NATO's last stand. Right must defeat wrong. Good must triumph over evil. The Demons must be slain, and NATO must lose its power.

The Telegraph: Afghanistan erupts over Koran burning.

Furious protesters firing gasoline bombs and slingshots have besieged the largest US-run military base in Afghanistan after reports that NATO troops had set fire to copies of the Koran. The enraged crowd shouted "Death to Americans" and "Death to infidels" at guards at Bagram airbase north of Kabul. The guards responded by firing rubber bullets on the crowd, said an AFP photographer, who was hit in the neck. US helicopters fired flares to try to break up as many as 2,000 demonstrators who massed outside several gates to the base. Hundreds of other people protested in the Afghan capital as security forces dispatched reinforcements in a bid to stop the demonstrations from spiraling out of control in the fiercely conservative Islamic country. General John Allen, the US commander in Afghanistan, apologized and ordered an investigation into a report that troops "improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans". "I offer my sincere apologies for any offense this may have caused, to the president of Afghanistan, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan," he said. General Allen's remarkably candid statement, apparently aimed at damage limitation after similar incidents led to violence and attacks on foreigners, was played on Afghan television. Allegations that NATO troops at Bagram had set fire to copies of the Muslim holy book were first reported by Afghans working at the base, a senior government official said.

theguardian: Dozens of Children die in Afghanistan cold

More than 40 people, most of them children, have frozen to death in what has been Afghanistan's coldest inter in years. The government has recorded 41 deaths from freezing in three provinces: Kabul, Ghor and Badakhshan, said health ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar. All but four of those deaths were children, he said. Twenty-four were in the capital, Kabul, mostly in camps for people who have fled the fighting elsewhere in the country. Kabul has been experiencing its worst cold snap and heaviest snowfall in 15 years, according to the national weather center. It said the weather was expected to improve by the end of the week. Heavy snowfall in Day Kundi province caused an avalanche late on Sunday in the Sang-i-Takht district that damaged dozens of homes and shops. The avalanche caused no injuries, said Nasrullah Sadiqizada, a member of parliament from the central province. The hardest hit have been people living in tents in a number of camps around the capital. The deaths in these camps, so close to the offices of international organizations overseeing billions of dollars in aid to the country, have shocked many in Kabul. The United Nations and US aid agency have started distributing extra blankets, tarpaulins and fuel to people living in 40 camps throughout the city, the US embassy said in a statement last week. Most of those in the camps have fled from Helmand and Kunduz provinces, though some are Afghans who have returned from years of living in Iran and Pakistan to find themselves homeless, the statement said.

The Excavator: Critics of Obama are Racists and Conspiracy Theorists

The President just got here, but in four years, will we still like him? In eight years, are we gonna still hype him? What if he says we've gotta go into Iran and kill a million people? Will we still be down with the man? You'd better wake up and smell the coffee. This is why the radio station don't toss me. Me, and I'm on the microphone, I stand with people like Alex Jones. This truth means I've never been about no fuckin' government. I do for myself, speak for myself, teach myself, reach for myself. Hip hop, you gotta do the same thing. Listen to me now, while I rap and sing. The New World Order just put on a black face. Obama has PR advantage over his Republican rivals because he is a black President. A Black President doesn't get criticized by the left because he is black. They think that a black president can't be an evil imperialist in the same way as a white president. I think that is one of the political codes in politically correct Washington. In American politics, ambitious black politicians use the race card as though it were magic. Being black in power is a good image boost, which is why Obama was handpicked to be President by the oligarchy during his time of trial and transition: When Obama bombs Persia, Obama's Zombies will say: How can Obama be evil when he is black? Black presidents don't start evil wars. Only white presidents do that, because the white man is the devil. When Obama bombs Persia, Obama's Zombies will say: How can Obama be evil when he's black? Black presidents don't start evil wars. Only white presidents do that, because the white man is the devil!

Stephen Lendman: Orwellian Drones "Eye in the Sky" Spying on Americans

Money power runs America. So do lobbies representing all corporate and other interests. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) represents dozens of influential companies. They include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Bell Helicopter Textron, Sikorsky Aircraft, Goodrich, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Booz Allen Hamilton, Hill & Knowlton, and many more promoting unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) drone technology. Against targeted countries, it's America's newest sport. From distant command centers, operators kill by remote control. They use computer keyboards and multiple monitors. UAVs stand ready round-the-clock for missions. Predator drones perform sanitized killing on the cheap compared to manned aircraft. Independent experts believe militants are hit about 2% of the time. All others are noncombatants, despite official disclaimers. In 1995, Predator drones were used for the first time in Bosnia. In 2001, the Global Hawk drone was used in Afghanistan. Throughout the Afghan and Iraq wars, the Pentagon used various type drones for combat and spying missions. In Libya, Obama authorized Predator drones, operated throughout the war. They are also used in Yemen, Somalia, and wherever Washington designates targets to kill. US citizen Anwar al-Aulaqi was assassinated this way. So can anyone anywhere on America's hit list, including domestically before too long.   

Nile Bowie: The Road To Tehran Goes Through Damascus.

Between the chaos and artillery fire unfolding in Homs and Damascus, the current siege against the Ba'athist State of Bashar al-Assad, parallels events of nearly a century ago. In efforts to maintain its protectorate, the French government employed the use of foreign soldiers to smother those seeking to abolish the French mandated, Federation Syrienne. While former Prime Minister Faris al-Khoury argued the case for Syrian independence before the UN in 1945, French planed bombed Damascus into submission. Today, the same government, in addition to the United States and its client regimes in Libya and Tunisia enthusiastically recognize the Syrian National Council as the legitimate leadership of Syria. Although recent polls funded by the Qatar Foundation claim 55% of Syrians support the Assad regime, the former colonial powers have made a mockery of the very democratic principles they tout. Irrespective to the views of the Syrian people, their fate has long been decided by forces operating beyond their borders. In a speech given to the Commonwealth Club of California in 2007, retired US Military General Wesley Clark speaks of a policy coup initiated by members of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Clark cites a confidential document handed down from the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2001, stipulating the entire restructuring of the Middle East and North Africa. Portentously, the document allegedly revealed campaigns to systematically destabilize the governments of Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. Under the familiar scenario of an authoritarian regime systematically suppressing peaceful dissent and purging large swaths of its population, the mechanisms of geopolitical stratagem have freely taken course.