US angered by Chinese navy; Chinese drop their pants

Is their some Chinese symbolism in dropping your pants? And is it reasonable for the Chinese to tell a US spy boat to take a hike in the South China Sea? Would the US tell a Chinese spy boat to leave if it were in the Gulf of Mexico?

clipped from www.theaustralian.news.com.au The tension on the high seas took an odd turn at one point when the Americans sprayed water at the Chinese boats and the crew responded by stripping to their underwear. "Because the vessels' intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself. "The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet (8m)," said the Pentagon statement.

Picture comparison between Nazi treatment of Jews, and Israeli treatment of Palestinians.

Thought provoking, but not sure I agree with all the comparisons. What do you think?

I saw the link in a comment on Digg: "Palestinian children shot directly in the head by IDF" - http://bit.ly/14wxh

which is in regards to this article in The Telegraph:

"Bullets in the brain, shrapnel in the spine: the terrible injuries suffered by children of Gaza"
Doctors at a hospital near Gaza are almost overwhelmed by the number of Palestinian children needing treatment for bullet wounds to their heads. - http://bit.ly/oSJ5

BUILDING WALLS & FENCES TO KEEP PEOPLE IN PRISONS

Hitler Israel now

CHECK POINTS NOT TO ALLOW PEOPLE BASIC FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT










ARRESTS & HARASSMENTS










\ DESTROYING HOMES & LIVELIHOODS





GIFTS (WITH LOVE) FROM THE CHILDREN OF PEACE-LOVING & CIVILIZED COUNTRIES














THE CLASSIC PROPAGANDA MACHINE - YOU WILL FIND THE PICTURE IN BLACK & WHITE IN ALL AMERICAN AND SOME OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES HISTORY BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS, LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS… THAT DEPICTS A YOUNG JEWISH BOY WITH HIS HANDS UP WHILE NAZI TROOPS POINT THEIR GUNS AT HIM AND HIS FAMILY IN ORDER TO EXPEL THEM FROM THEIR HOMES… (IT’S SUPPOSED TO MAKE YOU SYMPATHIZE WITH THE VICTIMS & TO SUPPORT THEIR CAUSE FOR JUSTICE & A HOMELAND)

THE ISRAELIS PRACTICE THE SAME TACTICS



clipped from www.normanfinkelstein.com

White Phosporus or White Christmas?

Peter Brookes
Address : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/cartoon/

Israel rams Gaza-bound medical aid boat

A boat delivering 3.5 tonnes of Cypriot medical aid to the Gaza Strip has been rammed by Israeli naval vessels in international waters, activists say.
Address : <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7805075.stm&gt;

I use to be very sympathetic to Israel. Now I hate it.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The 20m (66ft) Dignity was carrying 15 civilian passengers, including several doctors, journalists, a former US congresswoman and a member of the Cypriot parliament, says Free Gaza. The organisation sent out an urgent statement on Tuesday saying the vessel had been surrounded by at least six Israeli military ships. "They are firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage," said the statement. "We heard heavy gunfire in the background before all contact was lost with the Dignity." The Dignity's captain, Denis Healey, told reporters in Tyre they had been attacked "without any warning, any provocation, or anything". Free Gaza said the incident was "an act of terrorism", as well as a violation of international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Crowds turned out to greet the Dignity as it arrived in Tyre port.

Sydney chocolate factory melts

According to the headline in the SMH, a chocolate factory has melted.
Shouldn't they have built it out of something more heat resistant?

Fire melts Sydney chocolate factory - National - smh.com.au

Firemen inspect the chocolate factory in Marrickville.
Photo: Kate Geraghty

Robert Fisk comments on the Israeli attacks on gaza

Excellent article, of which the following snip is just one part of his commentary.

Robert Fisk is one of my favourite commentator son the Middle East.

Well worth reading if you are following this news topic.

Another bit I liked:
Is Hamas going to say: "Wow, this blitz is awesome – we'd better recognise the state of Israel, fall in line with the Palestinian Authority, lay down our weapons and pray we are taken prisoner and locked up indefinitely and support a new American 'peace process' in the Middle East!" ...

clipped from www.independent.co.uk General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli army's "research and assessment division" announced that "no country in the world would allow its citizens to be made the target of rocket attacks without taking vigorous steps to defend them". Quite so. But when the IRA were firing mortars over the border into Northern Ireland, when their guerrillas were crossing from the Republic to attack police stations and Protestants, did Britain unleash the RAF on the Irish Republic? Did the RAF bomb churches and tankers and police stations and zap 300 civilians to teach the Irish a lesson? No, it did not. Because the world would have seen it as criminal behaviour. We didn't want to lower ourselves to the IRA's level.

So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?

Excellent article in The Independent humourously showing the hypocrisy of ISraeli / US positioning on the attack on the Gaza strip.

For example:

...mostly the Israelis justify themselves with a disappointing lack of imagination, such as the line that they had to destroy an ambulance because Hamas cynically put their weapons inside ambulances. They should be more creative, and say Hamas were planning to aim the flashing blue light at Israeli epileptics in an attempt to make them go into a fit, get dizzy and wander off into Syria where they would be captured...

Mark Steel: So what have the Palestinians got to complain about? from The Independent