Amnesty Film Shows Agony of US Detention Techniques by Terri Judd

This post has been somewhat delayed, sorry guys but it has been such a hectic week.

Forced on to the balls of his feet, bent double with his hands handcuffed behind his back, the near-naked man shook violently. From beneath the hood, muted moans were audible. It seemed obscene to stare at this apparently frail, vulnerable man, caught in a stress position reminiscent of the images of Iraqi prisoners being interrogated by US soldiers at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison. Yet this was not torture. It was art.

In an attempt to draw attention to human rights abuses, Amnesty International has filmed a dancer in the positions captives have been forced to adopt by US troops. The resulting film makes shocking viewing. During a break in filming, Jiva Parthipan, a Sri Lankan performance artist, appeared relieved as he rubbed his limbs, which were aching after just a couple of minutes in a position that suspects in President George Bush’s “war on terror” are expected to endure for hours.

The star of the Amnesty International film, which is being released online next month to highlight the agony of such interrogation techniques, said he found the experience painful, both physically and psychologically. In secret jails across the world, Amnesty insists, captives in the fight against terrorism are expected to maintain these poses. They are not considered torture, simply “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Alfred McCoy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued recently that the photographs from Abu Ghraib reflected standard CIA torture techniques of ” stress positions, sensory deprivation, and sexual humiliation”.

In August, President Bush issued an order decreeing that Article 3 of the Third Geneva Convention - which prohibits the humiliating or degrading treatment of prisoners of war - should apply to the CIA’s detention and interrogation programme. But Amnesty believes the order does not go far enough in specifying what constitutes degrading treatment.
It is calling for an end to all secret detentions, as well as for detainees to be given access to lawyers, medical care and monitors. It wants all allegations of enforced disappearance, torture and ill treatment levelled at the CIA to be investigated independently.

Barack Obama, Drawing the Big Crowds by Anne E. Kornblut

MILFORD, N.H., Sept. 3 -- As Sen. Barack Obama led a rowdy mob down the street here during a Labor Day parade, an organizer wearing a Mitt Romney pin stood on the sidewalk and stared in astonishment.
"It's going to be tough to beat that guy," he said, shaking his head, to another man with a Romney sign.
Or will it?

Obama (D-Ill.) has not picked up measurable steam in the national polls since he announced his candidacy more than six months ago. His most obvious strength has been seen in the money he has raised and in the jaw-dropping sizes of the crowds he draws -- a sign of what his campaign says is its solid ground organization.

With the unofficial start of the primary season this weekend, Obama sought to sharpen the distinctions between his campaign and that of

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), the Democratic front-runner, taking swipes at the Washington establishment and the "cynical math" that he implied other candidates are using to calculate a narrow victory rather than a broad consensus.

"There are those who tout their experience working the system in Washington -- but the problem is that the system in Washington isn't working for us, and hasn't for a long time," Obama said in a speech in Manchester before marching in the parade here and attending an ice cream social. "Think about it. We've been talking about the health-care crisis in this country for decades. Yet through Democratic and Republican administrations we've failed to act. And you know why -- because the drug and insurance industries have spent over a billion dollars on lobbying in the past 10 years alone to block reform."

If the Milford parade several hours later was a snapshot of how Obama is faring, it bodes well. He drew by far the loudest and most boisterous group of supporters, who became so enthusiastic about marching that they started down the road ahead of schedule -- and were then banished by organizers to the back of the parade line. (The second-largest group was an orderly bunch of Romney backers, followed by a loud cadre carrying signs for Sen. Christopher J. Dodd -- though Dodd's group included many members of his family.)
The Obama crowd, with drums and brass instruments, yelled out: "Obama-oh-eight. Be a part of something great!"

A Rich Man's World by Jeremy Seabrook

The most puzzling aspect of the official response to social evils in rich societies is its superficiality. “Remedies” proposed for under-age drinking are a characteristic expression of this: raise the drinking age, make drinking more expensive, prevent the sale of cheap drink in supermarkets and petrol stations. Similarly, in reaction to knife crime, gun crime and to teenagers terrorising the streets (a war on terror at home might be a useful initiative), government ministers say: “parents must take responsibility” or “stringent laws are already in place” to deal with these things. David Cameron, with rival vacuity, speaks of “making families and communities feel safe.”
There is, of course, a good reason for the silence over a more searching analysis of what is wrong with “our” society. For all social ills are supposed to be remedied by economic success. And the economy has “performed” extremely well for the past 15 years. It is inconceivable that consistent growth, continuous expansion, and an uninterrupted rise in disposable income are compatible with the levels of violence, addiction, fear and social ill-being that we see all around us.

The government is bound to deny any connection with the health of the economy and the sickness of society. That these may be intimately linked, not only at times of insufficiency and misery, but at times of prodigious wealth-creation and excess, is the taboo which prevents a more rigorous examination of that most lasting of relationships, the one between economy and society.
This is why the Thatcher legacy, largely unmolested by her New Labour successors, has been so malignant. The proponents of economic liberalisation speak as though deregulation brought with it no social or moral consequences. Deregulation, they claim, is a good in itself. Removing obstacles to growth and expansion must deliver the desired outcomes of affluence, contentment and social peace. Government intervention, red tape, rules and directives that inhibit enterprise are equated with a denial of freedom. These stern defenders of the real world actually live in a hermetic world of fantasy, in which “pure” economics of a kind unknown on the planet will magically waft whole populations into a realm of peace and plenty.

John Redwood’s even more maniacal vision of an ultra-competitive Britain is part of this effort by true liberals to unfetter the creativity of the people by turning us all into entrepreneurs in a world of universal business. This utopia is as bizarre and unreachable as anything ever devised by the vain dreamings of the left; but while the illusions of the left have long been discredited, the experiments of the social alchemists of the right are regarded with benign indulgence. Their most exaggerated thinking of the unthinkable is destined to become the orthodoxy of tomorrow.

The society of abundance requires a different kind of sensibility from that which served the old machinery of production: the deregulation of human wants, needs, demand and desire have been a necessary accompaniment of the profound economic changes we have experienced. Economic “success” in this context takes on another complexion. The removal of industrial disciplines also does away with restraint, self-control, limits on what we may and may not have in this world. It also uncovers some distinctly undesirable desires - instant rage and jealousy, an inability to tolerate being thwarted, a morbid desire for the unattainable.The economy does not exist in a separate sphere from society, morality, the wellbeing of the spirit and heart. But it has been allowed to encroach upon areas of human experience that should be shielded form its violent incursions. Only when we are prepared to acknowledge that, and to act upon our knowledge, will lives cease to be forfeited to its savage hunger for human sacrifice.

If you're interested in the complete article follow this link.

The German Terrorist Plot by Left I on the News

Today Left I on the News analysed the German Terrorist Plot.

Don't get me wrong - there are terrorists, and the people just arrested in Germany quite likely are the real thing, with real murder of innocent civilians in mind. But that doesn't justify false reporting and hyping, starting with this incredibly misleading headline: "Germany foils 'massive' attack on US citizens."

First of all, the headline implies at attack was practically in progress. The facts (as I'll come to in a minute) are hardly that. And the alleged targets were Frankfurt airport, hardly a place where an attack would be focussed on "U.S. citizens," and the US military base in Ramstein, which seems highly unlikely to be penetrated by people using a suicide car bomb.

But about those targets? German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung asserted that the threat had been "imminent". But the same article informs us that Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning told journalists that "there were no concrete targets," without which it seems rather unlikely that any attack was "imminent." And that business about Frankfurt airport? That's pure speculation by the German police, according to Hanning.

Unlike other recent terrorist scares, this group actually had amassed explosives, and was clearly hoping to do something, somewhere. But a "massive," "imminent" attack on "US citizens"? Hardly.

Update: An AP article sheds further light on that "imminent" attack:
As a token of the intense surveillance by German police, prosecutors said that during the investigation they were able to replace the dangerous peroxide in the containers with a harmless solution without the knowledge of the suspects.So that "attack" was not only not imminent, it would also have been a complete dud.

What I Bought

Yesterday I decided to make a little trip to Antwerp and sell some old crap books from when I was young and get myself some more interesting reading material.

Let's start my story from the beginning. I got to Antwerp after I discovered between my books, some really really embarrassing stuff. Anyone remember those Goosebumps novels? Well, apparently I had like about 15 of them.. They used to be cool, you know? Who am I kidding?! They NEVER were cool! Anyway, I sold them and they got me about €8,5. So I was in the shop and decided to "just take a look around". I ended up buying these books:

Pro Justitia by Renaat Landuyt €5

The Belgian Social-democratic law specialist/minister has some interesting views on the Belgian legal system.

10 Years of Political Campaigns by Wim Schamp €5

A Belgian political spin doctor describes his methods.

No Logo by Naomi Klein €7

Famous anti-globalist Naomi Klein's magnum opus. A must have if you're

interested in a progressive view/manifest on globalisation.

Multitude by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri €16

Although I don't expect to agree with Hardt and Negri's semi-Marxist views, it should provide an unknown view on a global state by two of today's most reknown political theorists

Because I was in town and the comics store was on my way I figured: "What the hell, let's get me some must have paperbacks." And what is bigger a gap in your comics collection or what is more Must Have than everything Alan Moore? The best thing for me to describe Alan Moore is to quote another site to do him justice.

"without a doubt, the name that would reside at the top many readers' and professionals' short list of THE BEST WRITERS IN COMICS, would be that of ALAN MOORE. Quite simply, Alan was the first modern writer to approach the medium of comics with the same intent and thoughtfulness that is expected of any successful novel, screenplay or theatrical production."

I'm planning to (eventually some day in time) get myself his entire bibliography. But for now I satisfied myself with the following:

V for Vendetta €21

The movie brought me into this whole Alan Moore frenzy I got going on. Apparently Moore disapprove's the movie (which to me was probably the best non-indie movie of last year) and I can't wait to find out why!

Watchmen €20

The only graphic novel that made it in Time Magazine's top 100 novels of all time. Enough said, isn't it?

I hope to provide you with a more in depth review of some books soon

Total Damage: €68,5

Call to Halt EU Trade with Israel by David Cronin

BRUSSELS - Trade between the European Union and Israel should be halted in protest at human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, a United Nations conference has heard.
Under a so-called association agreement, Israel currently enjoys free trade in industrial goods, and preferential treatment of farm produce entering the European Union. Luisa Morgantini, a vice-president of the European Parliament, said that her institution has called for this agreement to be suspended. So far, however, these calls have been rejected by EU governments and by the Union’s executive, the European Commission.
This is despite how article 2 of the agreement, which entered into force in 2000, commits both sides to respect human rights.
Morgantini was speaking at a UN conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Brussels (Aug. 30-31).
She argued that the EU has made “a lot of mistakes” in its handling of relations with the Middle East, particularly over the last year.
It was wrong, she said, for the Union to suspend direct aid to the Palestinian Authority in 2006, when the Islamist party Hamas swept to victory in parliamentary elections that the Union officially considered as fair and democratic.



Murray called on the Union to rethink the willingness it has shown to repair civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, destroyed by Israel.
The European Commission has estimated that 44 million euros (60 million dollars) worth of damage has been done by Israel to EU-funded projects in the Palestinian territories.
“The EU has picked up the tab for Israel,” he said. “The EU has paid for reconstruction and never asked for a penny back. It has allowed Israel to ignore its responsibilities under international law.”
Richard Kuper, London-based spokesman for European Jews for a Just Peace, alleged that Israel has carried out “grave breaches” of the Fourth Geneva Convention; agreed in 1949, it sets out the rights of people under foreign occupation.
He contended that Israel has been singled out for ’special treatment’ by both the EU and the U.S. Unlike other countries in the surrounding region, Israel has been allowed to develop nuclear weapons and has not been held to account for ignoring UN Security Council resolutions.


This was just an excerpt of the press release, if you’re interested in the whole article follow this link.