Never Again Says The UN, Yet Again by Suren Surendiran

by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
November 17, 2012

(November 17, 2012, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) I wrote in the UK Guardian on 30 May 2009, eleven days after the tragic end of the war titled ‘The ÚN has failed the Tamils’ where I referred to and identified many of the failings and weaknesses now being acknowledged after an internal inquiry within the UN, three and half years later. If I had known all of these then and during the war, it begs the question why an international body which was formed fundamentally to protect humanity didn’t know or did it know and failed to act?

Julian Assange Addresses UN On Human Rights: US Is Trying To Build A ‘Regime Of Secrecy’ + Transcript

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Updated: Sept. 27, 2012 added transcript

Image by chrisjohnbeckett via Flickr

Sep 26, 2012 by RTAmerica

On Wednesday night, Julian Assange, the creator of Wikileaks, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in an event called “Strengthening Human Rights” from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been trapped for several months. The event that was hosted by the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and gave Assange a platform to draw attention to his case and he emphasized the importance of revealing the truth. Here is that speech.

Israel may launch a pre-emptive military attack on Syria + The battle of Damascus has begun by Thierry Meyssan

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Image by Scalino / On The Road Again via Flickr

Jul 21, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews

The failed bid for UN approval of military intervention in Syria and the failed use of terrorist gangs now sees Israel preparing to mount a military operation. Israeli Minister of Military Affairs, Ehud Barak stated that if Syria attempts to transfer chemical weapons or munitions systems specifically SA2 missiles across to Lebanon to Hezbollah this would be crossing a red line and Israel would launch a pre-emptive military attack on Damascus. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has extended its Observer Mission inside Syria for an additional 30 days.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Glenn, author and journalist, Idaho about threats made from Israel to declare war on Syria.

World Refugee Day: “Crusaders” Collateral Damage by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
London, England
21 June 2012

Image by unicefiran via Flickr

“We travel like other people, but we return to nowhere …
We have a country of words.
Speak, speak so we may know the end of this travel.” (Mahmud Darwish, 1942-2008)

Wednesday, 20^th June was World Refugee Day.

This acknowledgement of the tragically displaced was declared an annual event on the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR.). Thus, in December 2000 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously designated June 20^th as annual World Refugee Day.

Syria: Duplicity, the UN and Diplomats’ Wives by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
London, England
26 April 2012

Image by unicefiran via Flickr

“Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They’ve got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone …” (Maya Angelou, 1928 – )

If destabilization, duplicity, insurgency and mass murder could surprise yet again, with blame of the victim adding to the “shock and awe”, after Libya, Syria would certainly be a case in point.

Where Are All the Bodies Buried? by Michael Parenti (2000)

by Michael Parenti
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Michael Parenti Blog
www.michaelparenti.org
www.thirdworldtraveler.com
Z magazine, June 2000
April 13, 2012

Image via Wikipedia

NATO commits acts of aggression

In March 1999, NATO forces launched an 11-week nonstop aerial attack upon Yugoslavia that violated the UN charter, NATO’s own charter, the U.S. Constitution, and the War Powers Act. Yugoslavia had invaded no UN or NATO member. The Congress had made no declaration of war. No matter. The “moral imperatives” and humanitarian concerns were heralded as being so overwhelming that legalities would have to be brushed aside. Here were mass atrocities perpetrated by the demonic Serbs and their fiendish leader, Slobodan Milosevic not seen since the Nazis rampaged across Europe; something had to be done-so we were told.

Syria Peace Plan: West Moves To Kill Off “Important First Step” To End Violence by Finian Cunningham + Afshin Rattansi: Annan’s plan needs to be instituted in U.S.

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
28 March 2012

No sooner had Kofi Annan, the special United Nations envoy to Syria, announced scoring “an important first step” towards implementing a peace plan in the war-torn country, the US and Western powers were scrambling to scupper the goalposts.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton led Western efforts to undermine the peace bid by appearing to abandon recently agreed terms for a ceasefire that would have included all parties in Syria.

Gareth Porter: UN is not doing a responsible job tracking civilian deaths in night raids by Special Ops + Army Officer’s Leaked Report Rips Afghan War Success Story

with Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Feb. 10, 2012

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

RussiaToday on Feb 10, 2012

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has accused NATO of killing eight children in an air strike on the country’s territory. The incident adds to the already strained relationship between Afghanistan and its Western allies.

Last week the United Nations released a report stating there had been a rise in civilian casualties in Afghanistan from 2,790 in 2010 to 3,021 in 2011. It noted that most deaths were caused by insurgents.

Rick Rozoff: Syria Crisis: UN Hijacked By U.S. And NATO

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
February 5, 2012

Russia Today
February 4, 2012

Global Tamil Forum Press Statement on LLRC by Suren Surendiran

by Suren Surendiran
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
http://www.tamilsforum.com
24 December 2011

Issued for immediate release

PRESS STATEMENT
24 December 2011

Global Tamil Forum on LLRC

Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the long delayed publication of the ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ (LLRC) report. Its findings only serve to emphasise the importance of establishing an international, independent accountability mechanism to investigate whether Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) breached any international law, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the last months of the war.

Noam Chomsky: The U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement is ‘part of a global program of world militarization’

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by Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
Waging Nonviolence
December 16, 2011

photo by Hakim
used with permission

The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers is an Afghan youth group committed to building non-violent, non-military and egalitarian ways of life for Afghanistan. Their can be found at Our Journey to Smile.

[Editor’s. note: This is a transcript of a conversation between members of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and Noam Chomsky, which took place on September 21, 2011. Each question was asked in Dari and translated by Hakim.]

Noam Chomsky: The United States and the United Nations + Q&A

Image by Chris Beckett via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

KutztownUniversityon Nov 29, 2011

Kutztown University’s Department of Philosophy hosted Dr. Noam Chomsky, world-renowned philosopher, political activist and linguist, as part of UNESCO World Philosophy Day on Nov. 21, 2011.

Dr. Chomsky’s lecture was titled “The United States and the United Nations” and was presented to a capacity audience at KU’s Schaeffer Auditorium.

Piracy, Lawlessness, Culture of Peace Denied by Felicity Arbuthnot

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
London, England
6 November 2011

“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” – “Etre seulement en vie ne suffit pas… chacun doit avoir du soleil, la liberté, et une petite fleur.” (Hans Christian Anderson, 1806-1875)

It has been another shoddy week for the “international community”, starting in its great representative body, the United Nations, at its flag-bedecked Plaza in New York, the city where Liberty’s Statue is dedicated to: “education, freedom and opportunity”, according to the monument’s website.

The destruction of Libya by William Blum

by William Blum
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.killinghope.org
Nov. 1, 2011

It doesn’t matter to them if it’s untrue. It’s a higher truth.

“We came, we saw, he died.”
— US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
giggling, as she spoke of the depraved murder of Moammar Gaddafi

Imagine Osama bin Laden or some other Islamic leader speaking of 9-11: “We came, we saw, 3,000 died … ha- ha.”

Clinton and her partners-in-crime in NATO can also have a good laugh at how they deceived the world. The destruction of Libya, the reduction of a modern welfare state to piles of rubble, to ghost towns, the murder of thousands …

U.N. Tally Excluded Most Afghan Civilian Deaths in Night Raids by Gareth Porter

by Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted at IPS
Oct. 25, 2011

WASHINGTON/KABUL, Oct 25, 2011 (IPS) – A July United Nations report asserting that only 30 civilians died in targeted raids in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2011 reflected only a very small fraction of night raids in which civilians were killed, according to officials of the independent Afghan commission which had co-produced the 2010 report on civilian casualties with the U.N. Mission.