POLICE SHOOT STRIKERS AND KILL 34, THEN STATE CHARGES STRIKERS WITH MURDER!

Imagine that you a miner in a platinum mine in South Africa.  You engage in a labor dispute with the mining company that pays you bare existence wages.  You strike and hold a rally.  The police come.  They open fire with live bullets.  Thirty four strikers die at the hands of a rogue police.  Then a week later, the state prosecutor charges 270 of your fellow workers with murder!

This is what is happening in South Africa.

The decision to prosecute the striking miners for what the police did in shooting the protesters is outrageous.  I blame Jacob Zuma, head of the ANC and president of South Africa.

The miners are blameless in the killing of their comrades, shot down by the police in cold blood.

ELIMINATE SECURITY COUNCIL AND VETO POWER OF PERMANENT MEMBERS AT UNITED NATIONS

When the United Nations was created in 1945, the founders created a peculiar system whereby the Security Council had all the power regarding peace and security, and the General Assembly had very little.

Furthermore, each of the five permanent members—Russia, China, Great Britain, France, and the United States—has veto power over any resolution regarding peace, war or security which is brought to the Security Council.

The conflicts in both Libya and now Syria bring up the necessity to amend the structure at the U.N.  Disband the Security Council.  Put all power in the General Assembly.  No one country should have the power to veto or stymie the work of the world body.

GREEKS! RESIST THE IMPOSITION OF AUSTERITY!

I urge the citizenry of Greece—don't allow Angela Merkel or François Hollande to impose cruel and excessive cuts on your economy.  Merkel and Hollande are just like Republicans in the U.S.  They blindly and arrogantly insist on cuts that will cause Greece and the rest of Europe to go into steep economic depression, not just recession.

FREE PRE-TEEN GIRL IN PAKISTAN ACCUSED OF ACT DENIGRATING RELIGION

Free the pre-teen girl in Pakistan's tribal areas accused of burning sacred books.  There are many backward societies in the world that have never experienced an enlightenment.  This poor girl's hometown is one of them.

LET JULIAN ASSANGE REMAIN COOPED UP IN ECUADOREAN EMBASSY IN LONDON

I say, let Julian Assange stay in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.  His argument that Sweden may extradite him to the U.S. if he returns to Sweden to face sexual assault charges is transparently pretextual.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR FINGER-POINTING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The police in South Africa, in cahoots with the ANC, open fire with live ammunition against striking miners.  Some 34 are killed, and another 70 wounded.

Linda Polgreen reports in today's The New York Times that South Africa's police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, is defending and justifying the massacre.

This is an outrage.

Who ordered the police to fire real bullets at the strikers?  Was it Phiyega?  Was it Jacob Zuma, South Africa's president?

What ever happened to the principle that police should not use lethal force unless absolutely necessary?

Contrary to Jacob Zuma's self-serving statement, this is a time for finger-pointing.  My first  move, fire the police chief and ask federal prosecutors to begin an investigation of a horrific crime scene, even if it leads to Zuma and Phiyega. 

CONDEMN THE COURT IN MOSCOW FOR ITS TREATMENT OF PUSSY RIOT

What's up with the Russian court system?  A judge in Moscow sentences three members of Pussy Riot to two years in prison for singing a ribald hymn to the Mother of God, asking to drive Putin out.  Since when should the courts punish "disrespect" for organized religion?  Is Pussy Riot's real offense a complaint against the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church.

I am a retired lawyer.  I am ashamed of the court's decision.

ARREST JULIAN ASSANGE

Enough of this silliness with Julian Assange!  Three women in Sweden have accused him of sexual aggression, specifically in refusing to use condoms.

Julian Assange needs to show up in Stockholm and answer these accusations.  Perhaps the charges have no basis.  But a court needs to hear the evidence and decide, not Julian Assange.

Julian Assange can't put off answering serious sexual charges by claiming without evidence that Sweden will hand him over to U.S. authorities.

STOP ISRAELI MARCH TOWARDS BOMBING IRAN

There have been many articles recently about statements from Israeli leaders that they are getting close to mounting an attack against Iran.

Here's a blog posted by Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian.  Writes Sherwood:

"In the past few days, the Israeli public has been hit by a blizzard of speculative articles suggesting a military strike against Iran's nuclear sites is imminent."

The reckless talk by people like Netanyahu and Barak is out-and-out warmongering.  It seems that the Israeli government wants to pave the way towards a military attack.

Stop this talk of bombing Tehran.  Obama should condemn Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders for their push towards war.

U.S. GOVERNMENT SHOULD OFFER AID AND FOOD TO IRANIAN VICTIMS OF SEVERE EARTHQUAKES

Iran suffers another catastrophic earthquake.  Thousands of Iranians are without food or shelter.

Why can't the government of the United States publicly announce that it stands ready to help out?

I ask the same question for the Israeli government?

Iranian victims are people who are suffering—men, women, children, young babies, old persons.

Just because the governments of the U.S. and Israel have quarrels with the leaders of Iran should not prevent basic human sympathy and prompt offers of assistance.

WHEN WILL THE OLYMPICS END?

I say humbug to the Olympics.  The games are a slick way for members of the Olympics committees and "family" to rake in huge amounts of cash at the expense of gullible athletes striving for a token gold medallion.

Consider some of the sports featured:  beach volleyball, especially showing attractive young females in bikinis, equine dressage (dance steps for smart horses), water polo, pole vaulting, field hockey.  Now, would any crazed fan now watching these games ever tune in to them if not during the Olympics?  A resounding no!

Olympic members and family have convinced the world to watch because they market the events as national contests, involving patriotic pride and jingoistic fervor.  Stop the Olympics scam!

LET PUSSY RIOT GO FREE!

The young ladies comprising Pussy Riot jumped into the sanctuary at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and sang a "hymn" asking the Virgin Mary to drive Putin out.  They also sang about the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, saying that he was more interested in politics than justice and peace for all.

And for this, the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox clergy want the young ladies to be sentenced to seven years!

Stop this injustice.  Let Pussy Riot go.  Putin deserves punishment from the Virgin Mary for his assumption of absolute power.  And the Russian Orthodox Church deserves penalties from on high for corruption and its identification with those in power.

IRANIAN GOVERNMENT REITERATES ITS BACKING OF BASHAR AL ASSAD!

I wrote yesterday about the unfair and unjust effect of American economic sanctions against the people of Iran.  Sanctions are really warfare, but not with tanks and planes.  Instead, American sanctions are economic warfare against a whole people.

However, today, I read that Iranian leaders have reiterated their support of butcher Bashar al Assad, and claim that his war against the Syrian civilian population is really a war against terrorists.

I thought the Iranian leaders were smarter than repeating Assad's patently fictitious stories.  Syrian government helicopters, war planes and tanks bomb and shell Syrian towns, destroy homes, kill children as well as adults, and commit war crimes, seemingly without stop.

And Iran countenances and approves? 

If there was one move by which Iran could appear as a pariah to the civilized world community this is it.  I am sure those who declare themselves enemies of Iran are partying and rejoicing without end at this development.

STOP OBAMA'S SANCTIONS AGAINST IRANIAN PEOPLE

Stop economic sanctions against Iran and the Iranian people.  Sanctions are but another form of warfare, one nation against another.  Military warfare kills people by bombs and tanks.  Economic warfare kills people by reducing them to abject impoverishment.

The people who are hurt by Barack Obama's sanctions against Iran are the shopkeepers, the laborers, the teachers, the doctors, in a word, the whole civil population of Iran.

AUGUST 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIROSHIMA - GRANDSON OF HARRY TRUMAN TO PARTICIPATE IN MEMORIAL

Next Monday will be the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, resulting in the fiery deaths of 140,000.  The Guardian reports that a grandson of the American president who ordered the bombing is in Hiroshima to attend the memorial service.

Clifton Truman Daniel, 51, is the grandson of Harry Truman.

It is amazing that many, but not all, Americans believe the bombing was justified and the right thing to do. 

The bombing is a good example of an out-and-out war crime.  Harry Truman did not face trial because the U.S. was the victor.  It seems that only leaders of the vanquished are brought up on war crimes.

But I commend Clifton Truman Daniel for recognizing the awful suffering and fate of 140,000 souls who were incinerated on that day back in 1945.

STOP AMERICAN DRONE STRIKES IN PAKISTAN

Stop the American drone strikes in Pakistan.

I don't understand how Pres. Barack Obama can order these non-judicial killings.  Obama is at once the judge, jury and executioner.

How many men, women and children in rural Pakistani villages have been incinerated by American drones?  This is against international law—one country firing missiles across another's borders and killing the target country's people.

These drone strikes are making everyone hate the Americans.  Chris Woods in The Guardian reports that it is radicalizing ordinary Pakistanis.  Writes Woods:

"One of Islamabad's most senior diplomats is warning that CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas are weakening democracy and risk pushing people towards extremist groups.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the high commissioner to London and one of Pakistan's top ambassadors, also accuses the US of "talking in miles" when it comes to democracy but "moving in inches"."

PRES OBAMA, DON'T LET NETANYAHU MAKE A FOOL OF YOU

Why does it seem that the Obama administration kowtows to bellicose Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel?  Netanyahu threatens to bomb Iran, so Obama and his ministers obsequiously promise they will increase economic sanctions.  Who cares about the people of Iran, the ones who are severely and unjustly hurt economically by U.S. sanctions?  These American sanctions are really economic warfare waged against all Iranians.

Netanyahu in his threats against Iran wants to divert attention away from the real problem of Israeli persecution of the Palestinians.  No wonder the Palestinian economy is one tenth or less of the Israeli economy.  Netanyahu and his cobelievers in Israel's divine right to a greater Israel won't allow Palestinians to export their goods and services to the rest of the world, and they block construction materials from entering Gaza.

U.S. WAGES ILLEGAL ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST IRAN

The New York Times reports today on  U.S. imposing additional sanctions against Iran and its oil industry.  Mark Landler and Steven Lee Myers write:

"The new sets of measures, which target Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors as well as its shipping trade, intensify existing sanctions intended to choke off the revenue that Iran reaps from its two largest export industries. While they do not represent a quantum leap in pressure, they address a potential weakness in the continuing effort: Iran’s increasingly adroit maneuvering to circumvent sanctions by selling its oil through foreign banks or for alternative means of payment, like gold."

This is warfare being waged by the U.S. against Iran, and it is just as illegal as military warfare or bombing Tehran.


The people who suffer as the targets of such American economic warfare are the common people, not Iran's leadership.  It is the guy who loses his job in the oil industry, the storekeeper whose sales fall off sharply because no one has money to spend, the single mother whose state payments suddenly stop.

I call upon Pres. Barack Obama, stop this illegal waging war against the people of Iran.