June 29th - July 5th , 2009
Published every Monday
@ HIGH NOON, USA/EST (5PM/GMT)
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Military Coup in Honduras - President sent into exile in Costa Rica |
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Demonstrators hold up copies of Honduras' flag as they take part in a show of support for Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya |
Nicaraguan supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya show their support for his return waving Nicaraguan Sandinista flags and Honduran flags |
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Honduran soldiers block a street near exiled president's house.
 Some violent demonstrations during curfew imposed by new government. |
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Venezuelan President Chavez threatens to invade as Honduran army stages coup Venezuelan leader vows to 'act militarily' after leftist ally Manuel Zelaya is overthrown and exiled to Costa Rica Major Article. |
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Coup for who? |
Another Military Takeover |
Political Background |
Honduran President Zelaya, has the support of labor unions and the poor. During his three years in office, opposition to the president has mounted from the middle class and the wealthy business community who fear that he is planning to introduce President Hugo . Chávez’s brand of Venezuela socialist populism into the country, here. Socialist populism, in this case, means the superrich don't control all the nation's resources. |
President Chávez of Venezuela was quick to react to the events unfolding in Honduras. He said, “Behind these soldiers is the Honduran bourgeoisie, the rich who converted Honduras into a banana republic, a military and political base for the North American empire.” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, pledged to do everything possible to reverse the coup. |
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PRESIDENT HAD TRIED TO HAVE REFEREDNUM: The expulsion came on the day Mr. Zelaya had chosen for a referendum on whether to change the constitution to allow him to run for a second term in office. The president pressed ahead with the vote in defiance of the army and of Honduras' Supreme Court, which had declared the measure illegal. Who controls the Supreme Court? Are they more powerful than the Honduran president? President Zelaya sacked General Romeo Vasquez, the head of the armed forces, and also accepted the resignation of Edmundo Orellana, the defense minister. The heads of the army, marines and air force also resigned. Then a Supreme Court judge ordered his arrest and deportation. Here. Was this a good Supreme Court decision? Or like the U.S. Supreme Court decision of 2000 that stopped the counting of ballots in the Florida election and thus wrongly gave the election to George Bush? Could it possibly be legal ? Was it even a Supreme Court decision or just one judge? Latest News: Was it even a Supreme Court judge? |
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President Zelaya has joined PetroCaribe, a Venezuelan oil group, and also Alba, a trade pact made up of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica. Honduras also is in the free-trade agreement (CAFTA) with the U.S. Despite his center-right credentials, the former businessman moved Honduras away from its traditional ally the US, winning the support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders, Bolivian President Evo Morales and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. While our nation's leaders and media focus on disputed election results 12,000 miles away, it seems that U.S. supported oligarchs continue to dominate in our own backyard. The USA invaded Honduras at the beginning of the 20th century and eventually set up and supported a military dictatorship that has dominated Honduras since then. (A U.S. colonel actually commanding the Honduran Air Force for awhile). |
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U.S. President Obama, said he was "deeply concerned" by the president's arrest. The European Union was quick to call on the Honduran army to release him, here. UN General Assembly president slams Honduras coup, here.According to Heather Berkman, an analyst at Eurasia Group, Mr Zelaya "alienated the business and political elite during his tenure," here. |
| Vietnam War veteran and author of the book "Born on the Fourth of July" Ron Kovic (L) hugs another anti-war demonstrators in front of mock coffins during a protest to mark the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war in Hollywood on March 21, 2009. The end of the war beckons, but six years after the US-led invasion, Iraqis are still struggling with daily hardship and the fear of deadly, indiscriminate attack |  |
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 We shouldn't have any false images about what we've done and what we're leaving behind... if we ever do "leave it behind." |
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| Iraq secures cities for US exit,The Iraqi authorities are tightening security in preparation for next Tuesday's deadline for US soldiers to pull out of the country's cities, here. | ||
Iraq celebrates U.S. troops pullout under tight security measures, here. |
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| A spokesman for the Iraqi government declared that it would like U.S. combat forces to complete their withdrawal from the whole country by the end of 2010, as agreed. Article. |
U.S. and Iraqi troops on joint patrol. |
Some US soldiers likely to stay behind in Mosul? Other Locations? Article. But President Obama has pledged to keep the Iraq pullout on track, Article. |
The Iran government arrested nine Iranian employees of the British Embassy |
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| Iran’s leadership continued Sunday to cast blame for the internal battle over its presidential election onto foreign nations and journalists, while struggling to restore an elusive sense of normalcy to a nation left badly bruised and divided by weeks of conflict, here. |
Anti-Iraq War, anti-Western protest at at Tehran University, prior to election dispute. |
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| What are our real interests in Iran? | We may like to think the protests in Iran are in favor or U.S. policies. They are not. Our only interests appears to be finding another reason to tear down Iran. |
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| Iran president slams Obama Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says criticism of Tehran's crackdown on dissenters was 'abnormal and discourteous.' here.
If our police were attacked like this, what we we do? What would we have to say then? |
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"We are surprised at Mr. Obama," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in remarks to judiciary officials broadcast on state television. "Didn't he say that he was after change? Why did he interfere?" "They keep saying that they want to hold talks with Iran ... but is this the correct way? Definitely, they have made a mistake," Ahmadinejad said, here. |
There has been little coverage of pro- Ahmadinejad supporters. Most experts at the CIA and other intel agencies initially believed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won reelection solidly—and that if there was fraud, it was at the margins. one U.S. intel official insists: "The speed with which the Iranians announced the results, and the margin they gave Ahmadinejad, were signs there would be trouble. They weren't missed," here. |
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Iranian envoy: Suggests the CIA or maybe some other intelligence agency was involved in Neda's shooting, here. "Investigations show that a person shot at several people on Karegar street with a smuggled gun and one of the bullets hits Neda... in the back," several newspapers said, quoting a report by the hardline Fars news agency. Pro-Ahmadinejad newspaper Vatan Emrouz even accused BBC correspondent Jon Leyne, who was ordered expelled from Iran on Sunday, of "hiring a thug and paying him to kill someone for his documentary." here. |
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"Angel of Freedom!?" |
"Death to the Dictator!?" |
Innocent, non-involved bystander!? |
Within hours an Iranian exile in Europe had posted pictures shot on mobile phones online "This death of Neda is very suspicious," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said. "My question is, how is it that this Miss Neda is shot from behind, got shot in front of several cameras, and is shot in an area where no significant demonstration was behind held?" He suggested that the CIA or another intelligence service may have been responsible. "Well, if the CIA wants to kill some people and attribute that to the government elements, then choosing women is an appropriate choice |
According to friends and her family, the 26-year-old university student was not a protester but was stuck in traffic near the large demonstration when she was killed, here and here. One person claiming to be her fiancee says the same, here |
Though the video appeared to show that she had been shot in the chest, Ghadiri said that the bullet was found in her head and that it was not of a type used in Iran. "These are the methods that terrorists, the CIA and spy agencies employ," he said. "Naturally, they would like to see blood spilled in these demonstrations, so that they can use it against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is of the common methods that the CIA employs in various countries." |
There was slanted and unfair reporting by the Western media, he said, international news organizations have lavished coverage on demonstrations by supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi, . But those same news organizations have not shown "many, many demonstrations in favor of the winner," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who won by a landslide. Further, he said, members of the international news media have failed to report on people setting banks and buses afire or attacking other people. "The only things they show are the reactions of the police," he said. Ahmadinejad's overwhelming victory was no surprise, Ghadiri said, noting that a poll published in the United States three weeks before the June 12 elections showed Ahmadinejad with a commanding lead. "Why don't you show that?" he asked. |
Neda, wearing a baseball cap over a black scarf, a black shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, does not appear to be chanting and seems to be observing the demonstration, here. Unconfirmed reports that the family of shot Neda forced out of their apartment, here. According to neighbors, Iranian police did not return her body to the family and buried her without telling the family where. The government banned any mourning at local mosques. The paper said it couldn't reach the family to confirm those reports, here There are discrepancies in this story and in media coverage of all these events. Now is not the time to believe in Neverland...it's the time to ask tough questions. |
An Iranian doctor who tried to save a woman shot on the streets of Tehran during a protest over the country's election says she was slain by a member of the Basij militia, a voluntary paramilitary group. Although described as "an Iranian doctor," the man doesn't practice medicine but studies literature at Oxford university and voted in the Iranian elections in London, but then flew to Iran "on business." His evidence for claiming Nada was shot by Iranian paramilitaries -- who were dressed in civilian clothes -- comes from shouts of a mob he says heard. Hejazi said he initially thought the bullet was fired from a rooftop, but moments later, others on the street seized an armed Basij militia member who shouted to the crowd that he "didn't want to kill her." After taking pictures of his militia identity card, the crowd let the man go, Hejazi said, here. |
1. Was Neda shouting "Death to the Dictator," as the doctor-Oxford literature student said. 1A. In essence, was she a political activist supporting this cause or not? |
2. Is it true her parents were forced out of their home, as reported. 2A. Are these efforts to describe harsh government actions after her death true at all? |
3. Who shot her? So far we only hear claimed it was someone dressed in civilian clothes, grabbed by a mob then let go!? (Is this how mobs act?) 4. How did the video get to Europe? Who published it online? |
| Is this report true? |
| But another person claiming to be her boyfriend, Caspian Makan, a 37-year-old photojournalist who met her abroad, spoke of his girlfriend's determination to protest in the name of "freedom" as he spoke of his grief. "Neda had said that even if she lost her life and got a bullet in her heart, she would carry on," said Mr Makan, here. |
| Or are we being fed propaganda and rubbish? |
Wouldn't it be a war crime to lie about reasons to start a war, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands?
The largest anti-war demonstration in history. It seems Western powers have their own way to deal with demonstrations: don't give them media attention, don't consider them mainstream news (Photo from London, 2003, when the deliberately fabricated lies used to mislead nations into war were most heavily being spread by our 'free press.')
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Upcoming British Review of the Iraq War focuses on new info called: The White House Memo,. Bush proposed to Blair a number of possible ways in which they might be able to create an excuse to launch a war against Iraq. One of Bush´s proposals was "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colors [sic]. If Saddam fired on them," Bush argued, "he would be in breach" of UN resolutions details This was a month and a half before the full-on invasion of Iraq, the US military was already engaging in hugely escalated bombing runs over Iraq and redeploying troops, including to newly constructed bases in the Middle East, all in preparation for an invasion of Iraq That very same day the National Security Agency (NSA) launched a plan to bug the phones and e-mails of UN Security Council members
"U.N. Resolution 1441 gives us the authority to move without any second resolution," Bush said.(In fact: Not according to U.N. rules or U.S. law) Also, Bush added: "The war on terror includes people who are willing to train and to equip organizations such as al Qaeda. See, the strategic view of America changed after September the 11th. We must deal with threats before they hurt the American people again. And as I have said repeatedly, Saddam Hussein would like nothing more than to use a terrorist network to attack and to kill and leave no fingerprints behind. "Seeming to imply Saddam was possibly even linked to 9/11. A possible (non-existent) link that was repeated again and again. Note, during this time Bush & Blair claimed not to have decided on war, to be working hard to achieve peace, were seeking a United Nations solution but were worried about the imminent threat from Iraq to the American people...and anyone who loves freedom. (The claim and fear that Iraq possessed WMDs -- weapons of mass destruction -- and willing to train and to equip organizations such as al Qaeda., here) Note: later, in other interviews, efforts to link Iraq to 9/11 were more directly stated.
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Speaker of the House |
Contact the best or appropriate House or Senate Committee that deals with this issue. | Speaker of the Senate (Leader of the Senate) |
Is there an interested State legislator who can help? |
Is there a group working on this same issue that might be worth joining or supporting in some way? That might have helpful information, ideas or planned actions, public events, etc.? | |
Are there others who might offer solidarity or support? Who are they? Where are they? |
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Is there any legal action or legal direction action that can change things or have an influence? |
One person sending one email isn't going to change the world but, in fact, this is a necessary part, a start of working for change or influence in a democracy: Representatives, people, the media, have to know what you think; if they don't how could they possibly know or care? The most critical action and event is voting. The best success is electing better leaders. That must be part of any plan for real change. |
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