[From Juan Cole's blog today]:
``The other big casualty of the Israeli raid may well be the special relationship between Turkey and Israel, as the BBC says. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the raid as "state terrorism."
Thousands of demonstrators also gathered to chant against Israel in Baghdad, inspired by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Interior Minister Jawad Bulani, serving in the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said, "We want to send a message to the Palestinians to let them know they are not alone and that the Iraqis are with them . . . What is going on is a vicious crime. The international community must condemn it and take responsible action against them. This is the stand of all Iraqis, officially and publically."
Historians may look back on the Marmara raid as the moment a new order began emerging in the Middle East, grouping Turkey with Iran, Syria, Iraq and Palestine rather than with Washington and Tel Aviv.''
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Here is the Democracy Now coverage:
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/1/global_condemnation_of_israeli_armed_attack
Here is the Aljazeera live blog:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/05/31/live-coverage-aftermath-israels-flotilla-raid
I am putting these up, because I assume US media follows Israeli talking points, while the US official sources seek to water down the events and much larger official reactions. This seems typical. In fact, the non-coverage coverage is a story in itself of seeking to contain the public fallout. Don't cover the anti-war news, don't cover the state terror, don't look into the vast sweep of human rights abuse generated by the US, with its trusty side-kick.
Google's Top Story: ``Al, Tipper Gore separating after 40 years of marriage'' Now there's some news to run with. Google seems to be a gatekeeper rather than gateway with their news items.
I expected a lot of shit flying around, but not this much. We'll have to see how long this lasts or how deep it goes. I am not as optimistic as Cole. It will take a lot more. But you never know. Sometimes there is an event that you can look back and point to.
There are other reports that the smaller section of the flotilla held up for repairs left Crete. Maybe there is round two to keep this going.
Here is a quote from something Eric Beck posted:
``Although the claim that having laws of war is a good thing can still be accepted, it is necessary to be alert to the structural paradox they pose: for when they prohibit some things, they authorise others, and it is the border between the allowed and the forbidden that is the most intense legal battlefield.
International law can be thought of not as a static body of rules but rather as an endless series of conflicts over this border. The question is not which interpretation is right, but who has the power to force their interpretation.In this sense, international law does not merely legitimate violence but actually relies on it. ''
http://www.opendemocracy.net:80/article/legislative-attack
We all see the connection between what Israel practices on Palestine and the legalized US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? I am pretty sure the people of those countries see the connection. ``In this sense, international law does not merely legitimate violence but actually relies on it.'' (This is a pretty good article for those interested in the convergence of law, philosophy, and action.)
This fight over law, truth, and justice has distinct parallels in US minority and poor communities.
So what I am hoping for is for US minority communities to start identifying with global events to see themselves in the mirror. I watched Russell Means talk about this identification last week, but I can't find the link. (For those who forgot or don't know. Means was a native american radical back in the day. He was in the seige of Alcatraz Island in the middle of the SF bay and Wounded Knee).
There is a political agenda, and that is erode support for Obama and the Democrats and make them pay a political price for their hypocrisy---and complicity. This would be a perfect time to kick'm in shines.
CG