Habib Siddiqui

Evan Jones  is a retired political economist from the University of Sydney. He taught at Sydney University from 1973-2006. He has been writing on bank malpractice against small business and the family farmer for over a decade. His latest article on Zionism in Britain can be read by clicking here .

URI AVNERY  is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. I am a regular reader of his articles. His latest article - Israel's aborted strike on Iran - can be read by clicking here .

"There is much the ancient world can teach us. One of the key lessons is that mass migration – motivated by war, societal collapse, and/or extreme poverty – is capable of destroying even the most powerful of empires," says John Wight. He says, "The scenes of desperate humanity we are currently witnessing at the Channel port of Calais and in Macedonia are the product of a world underpinned by greed and might is right. It cannot last on this basis. What’s more, it doesn’t deserve to." You can read his views about the current migration crisis by clicking here .

As we all know expecting justice in a kangaroo court is simply stupid. Under General Sisi, the neo-Pharaoh of Egypt, the country's courts have become kangaroo courts. So, we are not surprised with the latest court verdict with respect to Al Jazeera journalists. The court sentenced the Canadian Mohammed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed on Saturday, reigniting international criticism over the long-running case and highlighting authorities' crackdown on journalists. I criticize strongly the court decision and demand that Sisi release them immediately. As noted by the Associated Press , evidence presented at the trial ventured into the absurd, including music videos and footage of animals, which defense lawyers and even the judge dismissed as irrelevant. Third party observers say no evidence proved the charges, and critics described the case as politically motivated. Besides the "false news" charge, Judge Hassan Farid said in his ruling ...

Professor Muhammad Sahimi of the USC, Los Angeles, is a serious researcher - not only in chemical engineering sciences but also on many matters relating to Iran where he was born. He is an author of many books and articles - scientific and non-scientific. I had the pleasure of working with him in the 1980s. Prof. Sahimi's articles on Iran has appeared in many newspapers and e-journals around the globe. Here below is his latest piece, which I share in full. ============ Since July 14 when the Vienna nuclear agreement between Iran and P5+1 – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany – was announced, its opponents have been waging an all-out war against it. In particular, the same pundits who lied to us to lead the United States to a catastrophic war in Iraq are doing the same again, this time against Iran. But, one opposition group is most interesting because it consists of some of the Iranian exiles living in th...

Saudi bombers and fighter planes have been bombing inside Yemen for last few months. As I have noted earlier, many unarmed civilians have died as a result of such air strikes conducted by Saudi pilots. The Saudi actions are viewed by many as criminal, deserving severe condemnation. The Saudi response, however, has been one of utter defiance - something that we have seen many times with the Israeli government in its orgy of violence directed against the Palestinians in Gaza. The Saudi government either denies that civilians have died from its heavy-handed approach to weaken Houthi control inside Yemen or that the casualties of air strikes were all part of a collateral damage. Israeli government has mastered that art of deception and defiance and now Saudis are seemingly repeating those mantras as if those nonchalant utterings could sanitize their crimes. No, they don't. Here below is the latest casualty figures from Yemen, as reported by ...

People in vulnerable territories are on the move again. In recent years, it started with the Rohingyas of Myanmar who have been rightfully described as the world's most persecuted people in our planet. Now add to that list, the Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, North Africans and sub-Saharan Africans, let alone the Hispanics from Central and South America. Most of the migrants coming to Europe are victims of wars raging in their home countries which have made it impossible for them to survive and raise a family. Consider, e.g., latest report of death of some 71 Syrians who suffocated to death in a truck while moving into Austria. They were trying to escape Bashar al-Asad's killing fields only to be killed by criminal traffickers. We have seen similar episodes with the Rohingya migrants whose mass graves were found in the jungles of Thailand and Malaysia. But many other migrants, esp. the Hispanics coming to the USA, are economic migrants. Justin Raymondo of the Antiwar.com has wr...

The greatest casualty during war is the truth. And that is what happened with the Abbottobad raid that killed OBL. In a 10,000 word  investigative report, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh has made startling revelations about the May 2, Abbottabad raid, which killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, claiming that the raid was planned by the Americans with full knowledge and cooperation of the Pakistan Army and ISI, then headed by General Kayani and General Pasha. Writing for the London Review of Books, Hersh claims, “The most blatant lie was that Pakistan’s two most senior military leaders – General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Army Staff, and General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Director General of the ISI – were never informed of the US mission.” “This spring I contacted Durrani and told him in detail what I had learned about the Laden’s presence in Abbottabad, and that after his killing the US betrayed promises with Kayani and Pasha and went back on the promise that the killi...

What are the neocons cooking these days? David Bromwich has written an article, which is worth reading: " The Neoconservatives, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Republicans Game the System." It has appeared in the antiwar.com. Here are some excerpts from the beginning paragraphs: “We’re going to push and push until some larger force makes us stop.” David Addington, the legal adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, made that declaration to Jack Goldsmith of the Office of Legal Counsel in the months after September 11, 2001. Goldsmith would later recall that Cheney and Addington were the first people he had ever met of a certain kind: “Cheney is not subtle, and he has never hidden the ball. The amazing thing is that he does what he says. Relentlessness is a quality I saw in him and Addington that I never saw before in my life.”   You can read the full text by clicking here .

“Honest war correspondents and photographers who try to cover wars effectively are about to become suspect spies if a new Pentagon manual, “Law of War,” is accepted by U.S. military commanders”, writes veteran war correspondent Don North. [Note: The manual does contain a disclaimer about its possible limits: “The views in this manual do not necessarily reflect the views of … the US government.” The manual was issued by the office of Stephen W. Preston, general counsel for the Pentagon and former chief attorney for the CIA. After six years overseeing the Obama administration’s legal policy with respect to lethal drone attacks as well as the raid that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the current war against the Islamic State, Preston resigned from the Pentagon in June following publication of the manual.] “Reporting on military operations can be very similar to collecting intelligence or even spying,” the manual says, calling on journalists to “act openly and wit...

Here is an article on nuclear deal on Iran by Akbar Ganji and Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories that got posted in the Huffington Post. They write, " What should have been an occasion of diplomatic rejoicing has turned into an ugly partisan struggle over whether or not the international agreement negotiated with Iran will or will not be approved by the United States Government. The extremely troublesome obstruction to the agreement is centered in the U.S. Congress where anti-Obama Republicans are teaming up with pro-Netanyahu Democrats to create uncertainty as to whether the arrangments negotiated with such persistence by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council together with Germany will be undermined by this unprecedented leverage being exerted by Israel on the internal governmental processes in America. It should be appreciated that the agreement has been unanimously endorsed by a positive vote of all 15 members ...

Ali Ibn Abi Talib (radiyallahu anhu) was the 4th caliph of the Muslim world. During his caliphate, his armor had gone missing. One day, while  walking through the market place, he recognized his armor in the possession of a Jewish person who lived in the territory. He went up to the Jew and said, “This is my armor.” The Jew retorted, “Bring witnesses to prove it. Alternatively file a law suit!” Ali (radiyallahu anhu) proceeded to the judge - Qazi (Qadi) Shuraih (also spelled as Shurayh) and laid a charge of theft against the Jew. Here is some information about the judge. Shuraih ibn al-Hârith ibn Qays ibn al-Jahm al-Kindî accepted Islam in Yemen during the lifetime of Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) though he never met him. During the reign of Abû Bakr al-Siddîq (radiyallahu anhu), he relocated to Kufah in Iraq . "Umar appointed him to be the judge of Kufah and he was very young at the time. Abû Nu`aym relates from Umm Dâwûd al-Wâbishiyyah tha...

Today while browsing the internet, I came across a very disturbing sermon, delivered nearly a year ago. Its web-link is provided here . Several times in the past, I have voiced my serious concern about the hate provocateurs in our world who are no less criminals or terrorists than others who commit crimes and need to  be treated as such. However, our powerful western leaders have not been fair in their treatment of this cancerous problem. In their knee-jerk paranoia they have been all agog about the problem coming from the world of Muslims, sometimes even violating the very legal precept 'innocent until proven otherwise', which has hitherto earned respect around the globe, by going after loners who were guilty at best of entertaining harmful intent but never acted on those impulses. Even the desire to migrate to ISIS/L controlled territories has been treated as a capital offense. But when it comes to Julius Streichers within the non-Muslim community they h...

The report below is from Jason Deitz who writes for Antiwar.com. Former IAEA Official: AP Doc on Iran a ‘Crude’ Forgery Likens Doc to 'Niger Letter' Ahead of 2003 US Invasion of Iraq by Jason Ditz, August 21, 2015 Print This   |   Share This The Associated Press track record on Iran is getting worse and worse. After Tuesday’s debacle with a   litany of false claims from George Jahn , the AP attempted to save face Wednesday by publishing a transcript of the agreement between Iran and the IAEA on which the allegations were based. Jahn’s claims and the document didn’t perfectly square in the first place , but the real blow here is that a former top IAEA official, Tariq Rauf, has pointed out a number of glaring errors in the document, labeling it a “crude” forgery attempting to derail the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran. Rauf, a   Canadian who serves as director   of the Arms Control program for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, of...

Rohingya people of Myanmar are the worst persecuted people in our planet. They are denied citizenship in the land in which they and their forefathers have lived since time immemorial. They are depicted as outsiders from nearby Bangladesh and are referred as the "Bengalis" to deny their rights inside the racist Myanmar. They can't vote in spite of having their own reps in all previous elections not only competing but also getting elected. Now one of five lawmakers from Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority who has sat in the country's national and regional parliaments since 2010 has been barred from contesting the upcoming Nov. 8 national election. The outrageous act by the racist Myanmar regime deserve our condemnation.  The report below is from the Asian Review.      Shwe Maung, speaking to the Nikkei Asian Review on Sunday, said he had received an official notice from the government's election commission that he was not eligible to run in the ...

Who benefits from war? In the last three decades, I have tried to find the answer to this perennial question. All my research work has pointed to the merchants of war, or those who are affiliated with the merchandizing of weapons that kill. War was at one time a matter of necessity much like life and death. Somewhere down in that equation greed crept in and became more important as a driving force than all other causes. So, emperors arose and empires were born. With the ascendancy of the merchant class since at least the time of Columbus and Vasco Da Gama, it gradually became a major player in empire making and breaking. Let’s fast forward to our time with nation states. Coming in the aftermath of the Second World War, the United Nations was founded 70 years ago in 1945 with the sole objective   of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war and bringing peace in our world. The other objectives are to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and wor...

It is not difficult to guess caustic impact of propaganda on a society that lives in a closed society. Myanmar has been a closed society since the military takeover more than half a century ago. Over the decades supremacy of the majority Burman race and hatred against each of the minority ethnic/ religious groups have been the main diet fed by the military regime. It was the old colonial strategy - divide and rule, which really worked in Burma. No one was immune from its toxic and deadly embrace, even the Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who is now viewed as a joke around the globe for her silence on genocidal activities directed against the persecuted Rohingya since 2012.   The Rohingyas of Myanmar are denied all rights. They have no citizenship in their homeland. They are treated as outsiders from Bangladesh and termed ‘Bengalis’ in spite of their objections. Under the pretext of verifying their citizenship, the Myanmar government has taken away their ID cards, and many are for...