Thursday, 22 July 2010

Junior partner?

David Cameron criticised over World War II history slip

“...beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it’s unbearable.”

Meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu (the other) week, President Obama could not have been more effusive. “I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu wants peace,” Obama said. “I believe he is ready to take risks for peace.”
A newly revealed tape of Netanyahu in 2001, being interviewed while he thinks the cameras are off, shows him in a radically different light. In it, Netanyahu dismisses American foreign policy as easy to maneuver, boasts of having derailed the Oslo accords with political trickery, and suggests that the only way to deal with the Palestinians is to “beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it’s unbearable” (all translations are mine).
According to Haaretz’s Gideon Levy, the video should be “Banned for viewing by children so as not to corrupt them, and distributed around the country and the world so that everyone will know who leads the government of Israel.”
Netanyahu is speaking to a small group of terror victims in the West Bank settlement of Ofra two years after stepping down as prime minister in 1999. He appears laid-back. After claiming that the only way to deal with the Palestinian Authority was a large-scale attack, Netanyahu was asked by one of the participants whether or not the United States would let such an attack come to fruition.
“I know what America is,” Netanyahu replied. “America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.” He then called former president Bill Clinton “radically pro-Palestinian,” and went on to belittle the Oslo peace accords as vulnerable to manipulation. Since the accords state that Israel would be allowed to hang on to pre-defined military zones in the West Bank, Netanyahu told his hosts that he could torpedo the accords by defining vast swaths of land as just that.
“They asked me before the election if I’d honor [the Oslo accords],” Netanyahu said. “I said I would, but … I’m going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the ’67 borders. How did we do it? Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I’m concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue.”
Smiling, Netanyahu then recalled how he forced former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher to agree to let Israel alone determine which parts of the West Bank were to be defined as military zones. “They didn’t want to give me that letter,” Netanyahu said, “so I didn’t give them the Hebron agreement [the agreement giving Hebron back to the Palestinians]. I cut the cabinet meeting short and said, ‘I’m not signing.’ Only when the letter came, during that meeting, to me and to Arafat, did I ratify the Hebron agreement. Why is this important? Because from that moment on, I de facto put an end to the Oslo accords.”...
Liel Lebovitz @'Tablet'

WTF???

Palestinian jailed for rape after claiming to be Jewish

Two words: Fugn despicable!

With This Rinse, Performance Improves

Censorship: Labor's hidden policy

A MUST READ
Labor's internet filtering policy isn't being discussed in the run-up to the election but its impact on Australia is significant.
Championed by Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, the $30million+ filter is being sold by Labor as an internet block for child pornography, bestiality and extreme pornography with 'wide ranging support from the Australian public' and 'only minimal opposition against'.
But after a new, lengthy investigation it transpires that virtually none of this is true. What Australia will get from this internet filter is a framework for censorship that doesn't stop "the worst of the worst" but will absolutely curtail discussion on politically incorrect topics like euthanasia, safe drug taking and graffiti while banning relatively-tame adult content...
Continue reading
Nick Ross @'ABC'

Then of course there is THIS wank!

London Opens Bike "Superhighways"

For all its merits, London isn't one of United Kingdom's best cities for cycling. A recent poll ranked it 17th. But Mayor Boris Johnson is trying to change that. This morning he announced the opening of two new "cycle superhighways" in the city. Each is five feet wide, has two lanes so as to accommodate traffic in both directions, and is painted bright blue to "represent freedom." One stretches 8.5 miles from the southern suburb of Merton to the city center. The other runs into town from Barking, in eastern London. Eventually, 12 of these commuter routes will radiate out from the center of London like spokes.
 
London's cyclists are mostly happy with the new routes, though there are already reports that cars and trucks are encroaching on them, or simply driving in them. But Johnson hopes that his comprehensive plan to support cycling which, along with the superhighways, includes a hew bike-sharing program and a new bike police unit, will spur a city-wide "cycling revolution."
Image: Cable Street cycle superhighway, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 19871340@N00's photostream
Andrew Price @'Good'

As someone who has never driven a car and used to cycle lots in London this is a great idea...
Melbourne already has a couple.

Kinetic Wall


Me want: ABC chairs

Those magnificent men in...

Calexico - Live in Nuremberg

Free Download of complete show

Gannon - The Speak 'n' Spellbinder

Nels Cline on Miles

Nels Cline
Guitarist Nels Cline is just electrifying to hear and watch when he is performing with Wilco. I had the pleasure of seeing him with the band at Coney Island last summer and it was nothing short of brilliant. Nels has the package: the chops, the sound, the cool guitars and the look. There is nothing he can’t do on his axe. And then there is his jazz/improv recordings with The Nels Cline Singers and other collaborations and guest appearances which are equally impressive. It is no secret that Nels has been influenced by Miles in many ways and on this podcast he goes into detail on exactly what he has taken away from the jazz master. - Joseph Vella
icon for podpress  Miles Davis Podcast: Nels Cline [12:23m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download
Nels recommends these recordings:
Miles Smiles
In A Silent Way
Bitches Brew
Live Evil
Get Up With It

The Miles Davis Podcast Series features a cast of world class musicians sharing their passion for the music of Miles Davis. A collaborative project of Legacy Recordings, Concord Music Group, Verve Records & Rhino, the series is produced by Vella Interactive.
Photo credit: Charles Harris

Way to go Mona!!!

♪♫ Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty