H'tota assault; Journo violates basic media ethics-Govt

2016-12-11

Government Information Department Director General Ranga Kalansooriya said that the journalist, who was allegedly assaulted during an incident in Hambantota, had violated basic ethical practices when covering sensitive conflict situations. 

Issuing a statement said, he said that the government has initiated an inquiry into the alleged assault on a journalist during the protest at Hambantota Port on Saturday.

 "It is expected that the journalists adhere to the highest standards of ethical practices when covering these types of conflict situations," Mr Kalansooriya said. 

The statement also said the navy had pointed out that the physical presence of its commander at the scene was mandatory requirement of the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. -

Sri Lankan navy commander assaults journalists covering Hambantota protest

11 Dec  2016

Sri Lanka's navy commander, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne assaulted a journalist on Saturday, who had been reporting on protests at Hambantota Port. 

Wearing civilian attire, Mr Wijegunaratne marches up to the journalist before launching a strike aimed at the cameraman. 

See video at 1.45: 

See coverage in the Sunday Times here. 

MILLIONS WASTED ON LANKA’S GHOST CONSULATE IN LA

The million dollar question: Was Gotabhaya’s son involved or not?

11/12/2016

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) has started a probe on how a Sri Lanka Consul General’s office in Los Angeles received Government funds running into millions of rupees when it was not staffed for more than two years. The probe comes on a directive from Police Chief Pujith Jayasundera to FCID Chief Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara. This follows a written complaint to the Police Chief from Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Earlier, speaking on the votes of the Foreign Ministry during the Committee Stage of the budget, Mr. Samaraweera alleged that the office in question had been used by the son of the former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mr. Rajapaksa strongly denied the accusation. However, the Foreign Minister’s written complaint makes no mention of the former Defence Secretary’s son.

FCID detectives have questioned several senior officials in the Foreign Ministry. Foreign Secretary Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, FCID sources said, had in a statement stated that a Sri Lanka Consul General’s Office had functioned from 2012 to 2015. He has said that a house was taken on lease as the residence of the Consul General in 2013 at a monthly rental of US$ 8300. He has said that two Army soldiers, who had earlier served in the Presidential Guard, had been posted to the residence and their emoluments paid in foreign exchange.

Mr. Weerakoon has added that he is now Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs having served a stint in 2011 as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Ambassador to the United States. He has said that Dr. Hector Weerasinghe had served as Sri Lanka Consul General. When he ended his tenure, Malraj de Silva, a former Army officer, it was claimed, succeeded him. However, it was his understanding that Mr. de Silva had not accepted the appointment, Mr Weerakoon has pointed out.

Aparekha Liyanagamage Ratnapala, Director of Overseas Administration at the Foreign Ministry, had told detectives in a statement that the working of Consulate offices came within his purview. It was on a written request by the then Consul General Weerasinghe for an official residence that permission was granted to obtain a house on lease. In July 2013, Dr. Weerasinghe had finished his duties. From that period until March 11, 2015 the rent for the residence, telephone charges, gas bills, satellite television bills, water bills and other expenses had been met by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when G. L. Peiris was Minister.

He has said that Malraj de Silva had not officially accepted an appointment. There was documentation to confirm this, he has said. Kaludeva Aravinda Priyadarshi de Silva, the Chief Auditor, has also made a statement. In addition, Galhenage Arunakeerthi Senaratne, Chief Internal Auditor in the Foreign Ministry, has confirmed that so far Rs. 23 million has been paid for the upkeep of the Consul General’s office in Los Angeles. A further US$ 10 million has been placed as a deposit together with Rs. 6 million.

FCID detectives said they may obtain the help of US investigative agencies to question those linked to transactions in Los Angeles. What an utter waste of foreign exchange by the then Foreign Ministry!
SundayTimes.lk

SriLankan Airlines: Honeymooning Pilot Upsets Fellow Passengers In Flight

December 11, 2016 

A newly married co-pilot of SriLankan Airlines travelling with his wife on flight UL 303 Singapore / Colombo on the 8th December 2016, has upset many fellow Business Class travelling passengers by waltzing in an out of the cockpit for both takeoff and also the landing during the flight.

A disgruntled passenger Rohan Eric Samuel an Engineer by profession, interpreting the co-pilot’s behavior in flight as a violation of the airline’s ‘Sterile Cockpit Policy’ set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, has formally sent in a written complaint to the Director General of Civil Aviation Authority Sri Lanka.

Another passenger who travelled on the same flight and who requested anonymity said “Passengers travelling on the national carrier have been nervous since a Captain on Mihin Lanka (which was run by the national carrier then) was found fast asleep in the cockpit after his copilot had stepped out to go to the toilet. After a many attempts to gain re-entry into the cockpit, the co-pilot had to use the cockpit override entry system to gain access. Even then the captain was still found to be fast asleep at the controls. Similarly passengers get very nervous when civilians enter the cockpit during flight. In this case how would we know this couple was staff travelling in civvies? ”

Colombo Telegraph reliably learns that the two passengers who were permitted the luxury of experiencing a takeoff and landing in the flight deck were a newly wedded First Officer and his bride who were travelling as passengers and occupying seats 3 H and 3 K in Business Class.

Passenger Rohan Eric Samuel had inquired from the operating Cabin Crew as to who these passengers were. “Nothing to worry Sir!” swiftly came the Flight Stewardess’ response. “They are Flight Officers travelling in civilian clothing” she said.

All airlines governed by ICAO were forced to implement and follow a strict ‘Sterile Cockpit Policy’ restricting the entry of non-operating crew into the cockpit, after the famous 9/11 terrorist attacks reshaped airline travel.

However SriLankan Airlines does have a facility extended to its staff where in the event flights are full, they are permitted to travel in the cockpit only whilst travelling on staff rebated tickets and that too only with the Captain’s consent.

Meanwhile most airlines practice a similar policy but permit staff to travel in the cockpit only in the event of a family emergency.

A member of the Airline Pilots Guild when contacted by Colombo Telegraph said “ This policy was initially approved by the Director General Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka and the Head of Flight Operations of SriLankan Airlines authorizes all requests prior to it been conveyed to the operating Captain. Nevertheless it is only at the sole discretion of the operating captain that any staff member would be accommodated to finally travel in cockpit.

However in this instance it is still to be established if the First Officer had obtained prior authorization to travel in the flight deck.

A member of the Flight Attendants Union when contacted said, “Sometimes when pilots travel as passengers in civvies think they own the airline. If he was accommodated in the cabin then there is no reason why he should be waltzing in and out of the cockpit In Flight. The aircraft operated on this flight was a Airbus 320 and all movement in and out of the cockpit is very visible to other passengers in the Business Class cabin. It seems like this Co – Pilot was simply trying to muscle his way around in flight and show off to his new bride, since he himself is a pilot with the national carrier.

Meanwhile a frequent traveler on SriLankan Airlines speaking to Colombo Telegraph said “I have sat in the cockpit as a passenger on many occasions for both takeoff and landing. That is no big deal. I always check who the operating captain is whenever my family and friends travel. If the captain is known to me, I even get them to sit in the Flight Deck. SriLankan Airlines is also one of the few airlines in the world where you could smoke a cigarette in the cockpit in flight. That is if the Captain is also a smoker and is personally known to you”.

Read More

Israeli leadership’s sex crime problem

A protest against violence against women in Tel Aviv, March 2014.Yotam RonenActiveStills

David Sheen-9 December 2016

The Israeli army officially inaugurated its new chief rabbi at the beginning of this month – but not before he issued a sworn statement apologizing for past religious rulings that have been roundly criticized as sexist.

Israeli leadership.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

More than 100 killed in church collapse in Nigeria -journalist, resident

By Tife Owolabi | UYO, NIGERIA- Mon Dec 12, 2016

At least 100 people were killed by the collapse of a church in southeastern Nigeria, a resident and photojournalist who visited a morgue said on Sunday, but officials put the death toll at just 27.

"At Uyo teaching hospital where I am now I could see over a hundred corpses, many are heaped on top off each other on the floor," said photojournalist Ini Samuel. "Eye witnesses also said yesterday corpses were packed in four each bag."

Gary Ubong, a resident, said the church's roof had collapsed on worshippers while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials.

"I saw more than 100 dead bodies brought out on loaders," said Ubong, who said he had rushed to the scene after the accident. "I also went to two hospitals and saw heaps of dead bodies difficult to count."

State police spokeswoman Cordelia Nwawe said 27 had been killed and 30 injured when the Reigners Bible church in Akwa Ibom state capital Uyo collapsed during a service on Saturday.

Etete Peters, Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo teaching hospital, said 21 bodies had been delivered to his clinic and two of the injured admitted for treatment had died.

"Victims are in private hospitals and mortuaries scattered all over Uyo metropolis. We can't really tell how many people have died so far," he said. "We do not have space as people are still being brought in."

State police commissioner Murtala Mani "debunked speculations that as many as 60 or 120 worshipers died in the incident," state news agency NAN said. The state emergency agency NEMA said in a statement that six people had been killed and 115 injured.

Another Uyo resident, Akpan Eminem, said he had been told by hospital staff that 79 people had died in the accident.

State governor Udom Emmanuel, who escaped unhurt from the church service, ordered the arrest of the building contractor, state news agency NAN said.

Buildings collapses are frequent in the West African nation and often blamed by officials on lack of construction permits and the use of cheap materials amid widespread corruption.

Critics say Nigerian authorities tend to understate the death toll at such accidents or suicide bombings by the Boko Haram jihadist group in the north of the country.

Following a gas plant blast in southern Nigeria a year ago the presidency said "tens of people" had been killed while witnesses counted more than 100 bodies. Police had then just confirmed eight dead.

(Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, Ulf Laessing, Tife Owolabi, Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh; Editing by Ros Russell)

Girls’ trial in Morocco sparks debate on decriminalisation of homosexuality

Two girls were arrested for kissing, outraging those in favor of respecting individual freedoms and gay identity

Demonstrations in favour of aggressors who beat two gay men in streets of Beni Mellal, Morocco (AFP)

Ilhem Rachidi-Sunday 11 December 2016

CASABLANCA, Morocco - Two girls seen kissing on a rooftop will go before a judge on Friday in Marrakech. Reported by a relative and arrested on 27 October, Sanae and Hajar, 16 and 17 years of age, are being prosecuted for homosexuality and face six months to three years in prison, according to article 489 of the Criminal Code, which provides that "anyone committing an indecent or unnatural act with an individual of the same sex" shall be punished.

"They were incarcerated for almost a week and released in November, just before the commencement of the trial, even though they are minors," said Omar Arbib, from the Marrakech branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH).

Hajar spent time in prison, under harsh conditions and surrounded by adults who knew of her alleged sexual orientation, according to the collective Akaliyat, which campaigns for the rights of sexual and religious minorities, and is seeking recognition as an official association.

According to Arbib, the two girls deny being gay and their families say they had never noticed any ‘signs of homosexuality’.

According to one of their lawyers, AMDH activist Moulay Rachid El Ghorfi, the case is "empty" and fails to present any physical or other evidence. Beyond the case, he calls for the respect of individual freedoms and advocates that article 489 be repealed.

This is the first time, according to Arbib, that a case of female homosexuality has been brought to court. ‘We demand the annulment of the case and that article 489 of the Criminal Code be repealed’, he said.

85,000 signatures collected

Collectives ASWAT and Akaliyat have begun collecting signatures to free the two girls, with 85,000 so far, which may be a significant number considering the sensitive topic amid Morocco's conservative culture. In spite of the arrests getting media play, there are few voices actually demanding that homosexuality be decriminalised.

Among them are MALI (Alternate Movement for Individual Freedoms) and AMDH. Thanks to social media, stories involving homosexuality are receiving more coverage and more people are coming out as gay in Morocco. According to decriminalization advocates, the article 489 contradicts the Constitution enacted in 2011 and also international agreements signed by Morocco.

"This fight for the decriminalisation of homosexality and in favor of sexual liberty in general is a long uphill struggle that has just started," said Ibtissam Betty Lachgar, co-founder of MALI.

‘Your laws will never stop our love’: poster of MALI

Last March, the decriminalisation of homosexuality made the front pages when two gay men were beaten up in Beni Mellal. They were incarcerated after being beaten and dragged naked through the streets by people who were then supported by the population of Beni Mellal when they were put on trial.

The two ay men received suspended sentences, a relative victory.

Not a priority

No political parties called for decriminalising homosexuality. Only the UC (Constitutional Union party) released a statement about the beating case, and it was only critical of the home invasion involved, mentioning nothing about the beating of two men because of their sexual orientation. 

For the LGBT activists, the silence is especially disappointing from Morocco's the left-wing party, which claims to be defender of human rights.

Driss Lachgar, general secretary of the USFP (Socialist Union of Popular Forces), said the fight to make homosexuality legal is not a priority for party leaders. He said during a recent conference, shortly after the Beni Mellal case, that "this is not one of the party’s priorities, for talking about freedom is not that narrow".

"Political parties remain timid when it comes to decisions about these sensitive topics. For instance, the collective MALI, a universalist and secular movement, is viewed as being ‘Westernised’. Even though human rights and women's rights are universal, aren’t they?" said Ibtissam Betty Lachgar.

She added: "The fight against obscurantism, religious extremism and patriarchy is an emergency in a country like Morocco. We cannot lose ground, and MALI is doing a good job because human rights cannot wait, neither can victims of freedom-destroying laws and backward mentalities."

In Casablanca, 23 cases

There is no official number of how many alleged homosexual people have been arrested throughout the country. But between last March and July, there were 23 cases in Casablanca alone, according to human rights associations. "Arrests, police questionings and imprisonment are far from being non-violent and are being carried out under harsh conditions," Lachgar said.

The LGBT community counts many victims of harassment and verbal or physical abuse. Within an ultra-conservative society, where religion rules, social status means everything and being gay is a crime, often the aggressors feel it is their role to maintain moral standards within the culture.

Victims seldom press charges because they may be the ones who end up in the prisoner's dock. Last year in Fes, a man who "looked homosexual" was beaten by people in the streets. Video footage of him being beaten shocked Morocco. The MALI association says the state itself is  homophobic and justifies the aggressive behaviours.

‘The situation for the LGBT community is horrifying’, said Ismael Bakkar, a MALI activist. "There’re two types of homophobia: the public's opinion and the state’s. In order to live as safely as they can, many gays are staying off radar. Everyday, they have to hide who they are."

Ahmed* rarely emerges his parents’ house, since he has been cornered and beaten by the people of his neighbourhood, once leaving him with a broken arm. "I was on my way home one night when I noticed that young guys from my neighbourhood were waiting for me," he said. "They called me an atheist and homosexual, they said that I didn’t believe in God, they insulted me and started to push me. I remained silent, I wanted them to stop screaming, I didn’t want the shouts to be heard by my family. They pushed me again and again, up until they broke my arm."

Rise of Islamism

"No gay person can live freely in Morocco," Ahmed said. "However, I sort of get by and live my life in spite of those issues."

Still, amid his difficulties, Ahmed is convinced that the article 489 will be repealed. "Until 2007 we hadn’t talked about it. Now there’s a debate. That’s already a little victory. Media, associations, even political parties are mentioning it, even discreetly. This will all change eventually."

Arbib deems the political and social climate unfavourable for the rise of individual freedoms. It has worsened, he said, especially amid the rise of Islamism. Bekkar shares the viewpoint: "I have no hope on the matter, especially today, with this backward government returning for a second term."

Indeed, in the conservative spheres, individual freedoms are not a priority. Minister of Justice and Liberties Mustapha Ramid, from the Justice and Development Party that recently again won legislative elections, said on national radio that "those people should get surgery to fully live their sexuality".

Some, even from conservative movements, see things differently. Abdelwahab El Rafiqi, a former Salafist prisoner turned journalist, better known under the name of Abu Hafs, is among the rare ones calling for the article 489 to be repealed and for individual freedoms to be respected.

"The state is allowed to regulate the public space according to traditions, culture and the society itself. But it is not allowed to attack people’s privacy, their religion nor their sexual orientation. I am not surprised. True, the law prohibits homosexuality, but why would the state create such a fuss about it. The state should drop the charges against those two girls," he said.

*Name has been changed

This story originally ran on MEE's French website and translated by Nassima Demiche

Response to The Critics Of Demonetisation In India

Any slackening of demonetization measure will only satisfy the  business men and the black money holders who are well spread throughout the country in various measures and remain powerful due to their black money power.

by N.S.Venkataraman   -Dec 10, 2016

   

( December 10, 2016, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) 1. What critics say ?
Only 10% of people have black money but 100% people are inconvenienced by demonetization.

Clarification :

It is not true that only 10% of people  have black money. The  black money is well spread amongst people in the upper and middle income group in various forms all over India. Every fellow who takes bribe is a black money holder. Every person who evades tax is a black money holder. Many people in the upper and middle income group are known to  take bribe money or pay bribe money or evade tax or conceal real income to reduce tax. Black money among such people also need to be brought out.

2. What critics say ?

The government has not planned properly

Clarification:

Government has planned quite well and Mr. Modi announced  that people have to bear for fifty days and it is a fifty day plan.

Several times,  it has been explained that new currency printing exercise can start in a big way only after announcing demonetization to maintain secrecy.

New currency is being released every day and  the suffering of the people are reducing day by day. This is clearly evident now.

Release of new currency  notes  would be completed in fifty days to a reasonably comfort level, when the sufferings of people will go away and in the process bring relief to see gradual success of movement towards less and less corruption.

It may be noted that there is no need to print around Rs.14.2 lakh crore of new currency notes , which was the amount withdrawn by demonetization.

With the black money gone and more people getting into digital mode of payment, currency requirement will be less  atleast by 20%.

3. What critics say

Estimation of black money and fake currency  in circulation wrong

Clarification :

This was an estimate and nobody knows clearly. Neither the government nor the critics. This will be clearly known only after fifty days.

4.  What critics say

Most of the black money is not in the form of cash but real estate and gold. Why Mr. Modi is targeting cash only?

Clarification:

Eliminating corruption in India has to be done in stages. When black money is curtailed and with  the available black money with people becoming less and less , the value of real estate which is mostly done by black money would automatically come down.Black money holders will lose heavily. This is already  happening.

Please await the implementation of measures to put down the benami land holdings. Spectacular results can be felt before long

5. What critics say

Poor people and wage earners are suffering.

Clarification :

It is true that poor people have temporarily suffered in the initial thirty days.

But, it is gratifying that many of them feel that there is need to initiate drastic steps to put down corruption and black money and they want demonetization to succeed. Poor people realise that they are the worst hit due to the widespread corruption in India. Those who interact with poor people know this.

Some politicians predicted that there would be riots on 1st December, the pay day. Even the learned judge who is supposed to know better made similar statement.  Nothing of this sort has happened. When opposition parties called for nationwide bandh, it was a flop, reflecting the mood of the people including the deprived class.

Media is creating panic atmosphere, instead of explaining to the people about the issues in a responsible way. One cannot ignore the fact that considerable segment of Indian media is under the control of politicians and business men.

Appeal to the critics

People  have been asking for firm steps to root out corruption for the last several decades. Possibly, all wanted  that corruption should  be eliminated in a painless manner.

The demonetization exercise is the least painful way of removing black money and putting down corruption firmly. Demonetisation inevitably lead to greater digital  mode, which will do a lot of good to the cause of less corrupt India  in the course of time.

If we lose this opportunity now to remove black money, the country will not be able to do it  in the foreseeable future.

There is nothing wrong in one being a critic. But why not be a constructive critic?

So far, none of the critics who want black money to be removed but disagree with the demonetization measure, have suggested any better alternative plans.

Any slackening of demonetization measure will only satisfy the  business men and the black money holders who are well spread throughout the country in various measures and remain powerful due to their black money power.

There is already an unholy trio of small section of bank staff, business men and  chartered accountants, who have managed to take out  millions of rupees of new currency notes to hoard them ,by using their evil genius.  Anti corruption crusaders should help the government by pointing out such unholy trio. Let the critics become anti corruption activists and help the cause.

‘Butcher of Qana’ was a Nobel Peace laureate!

THE 1996 LEBANON MASSACRE OF REFUGEES IN UN CAMP . . .

by Selvam Canagaratna-December 10, 2016, 6:28 pm

"You may call for peace as loudly as you wish, but where there is no brotherhood there can in the end be no peace."

– Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949.

Shimon Peres, a former Prime Minister of Israel and also Head of State, died recently at the age of 93.

World media was quick with fulsome praise, hailing him as a ‘Peacemaker!’ But when Robert Fisk, famed Middle East correspondent of The Independent, UK, heard of his demise, he confessed (in his piece in CounterPunch magazine): "I thought of blood and fire and slaughter."

A veteran journalist who has reported since 1976 throughout the Middle East, here’s Fisk’s recall of Israel’s 1996 massacre of refugees in a UN camp in Lebanon as personally witnessed by him in real-time:

"I saw the results: babies torn apart, shrieking refugees, smouldering bodies. It was a place called Qana and most of the 106 bodies – half of them children – now lie beneath the UN camp where they were torn to pieces by Israeli shells in 1996. I had been on a UN aid convoy just outside the south Lebanese village. Those shells swished right over our heads and into the refugees packed below us. It lasted for 17 minutes.

"Shimon Peres, standing for election as Israel’s Prime Minister – a post he inherited when his predecessor Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated – decided to increase his military credentials before polling day by assaulting Lebanon. The joint Nobel Peace Prize holder (Peres) used as an excuse the firing of Katyusha rockets over the Lebanese border by the Hezbollah. In fact, their rockets were retaliation for the killing of a small Lebanese boy by a booby-trap bomb they suspected had been left by an Israeli patrol. It mattered not.

A few days later, Israeli troops inside Lebanon came under attack close to Qana and retaliated by opening fire into the village. Their first shells hit a cemetery used by Hezbollah; the rest flew directly into the UN Fijian army camp where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. Peres announced that "we did not know that several hundred people were concentrated in that camp. It came to us as a bitter surprise."

"It was a lie. The Israelis had occupied Qana for years after their 1982 invasion, they had video film of the camp, they were even flying a drone over the camp during the 1996 massacre – a fact they denied until a UN soldier gave me his video of the drone, frames from which we published in The Independent. The UN had repeatedly told Israel that the camp was packed with refugees.

"This was Peres’s contribution to Lebanese peace. He lost the election and probably never thought much more about Qana. But I never forgot it.

"When I reached the UN gates, blood was pouring through them in torrents. I could smell it. It washed over our shoes and stuck to them like glue. There were legs and arms, babies without heads, old men’s heads without bodies. A man’s body was hanging in two pieces in a burning tree. What was left of him was on fire.

"On the steps of the barracks, a girl sat holding a man with grey hair, her arm round his shoulder, rocking the corpse back and forth in her arms. His eyes were staring at her. She was keening and weeping and crying, over and over: "My father, my father." If she is still alive – and there was to be another Qana massacre in the years to come, this time from the Israeli air force – I doubt if the word ‘peacemaker’ will be crossing her lips.

"There was a UN inquiry which stated in its bland way that it did not believe the slaughter was an accident. The UN report was accused of being anti-Semitic. Much later, a brave Israeli magazine published an interview with the artillery soldiers who fired at Qana. An officer had referred to the villagers as "just a bunch of Arabs" (‘arabushim’ in Hebrew). "A few Arabushim die, there is no harm in that," he was quoted as saying. Peres’s Chief of Staff was almost equally carefree: "I don’t know any other rules of the game, either for the [Israeli] army or for civilians…"

"Peres called his Lebanese invasion Operation Grapes of Wrath, which – if it wasn’t inspired by John Steinbeck – must have come from the Book of Deuteronomy. "The sword without and terror within," it says in Chapter 32, "shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of grey hairs." Could there be a better description of those 17 minutes at Qana?

"Yes, of course, Peres changed in later years. They claimed that Ariel Sharon – whose soldiers watched the massacre at Sabra and Chatila camps in 1982 by their Lebanese Christian allies – was also a ‘peacemaker’ when he died. At least he didn’t receive the Nobel Prize.

"Peres later became an advocate of a ‘two-state solution’, even as the Jewish colonies on Palestinian land – which he once so fervently supported – continued to grow.

"Now we must call him a ‘peacemaker’. And count, if you can, how often the word ‘is used in the Peres obituaries over the next few days. Then count how many times the word Qana appears."

Ben Norton, a staff writer at Salon, while noting that most media reports showered the late Peres with adulation as ‘a man of peace’, observed that "few media reports acknowledged that there was considerable blood on the hands of this man of peace – Palestinian and Lebanese blood, to be more precise."

The Times of Israel encapsulated the late Peres’ contradictory legacy somewhat better with the headline Peres, a man of peace, made Israel a military powerhouse. The New York Times likewise noted that Peres ‘Built Up Israel’s Defense and Sought Peace’. And CNN described him as ‘Israel’s warrior for peace’, as did Secretary of State John Kerry.

Noted Norton: "These kinds of Orwellian descriptions are common in media reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even when Israeli politicians carry out brutal wars and oversee atrocities, it is always ‘in the name of peace’. Conversely, when Palestinians resist Israeli military occupation and land theft, their response is generally depicted as ‘violent aggression’.

"Peres, who participated in the war that established Israel by violently expelling and displacing the majority of the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948, later tried to erase this history. The ostensible man of peace told the Israeli newspaper Maariv in 2013 that before Israel was created, ‘There was nothing here’.

"The New York Times stressed in the opening paragraph of its obituary that Peres ‘did more than anyone to build up his country’s formidable military might.’ This is the kind of belligerent so-called peacemaking that is often rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Peres, the Nobel laureate, played a key role in obtaining nuclear weapons for Israel. Top-secret government minutes from 1975 meetings show that Peres, who was then Defense Minister, offered to sell nuclear weapons to the apartheid regime in South Africa. Joining Peres as Nobel Peace laureates are accused war criminal Henry Kissinger – whose policies caused millions of deaths – and current US President Barack Obama – who dropped more than 23,000 bombs on six Muslim-majority countries in 2015. They epitomize what scholar Michael Parenti has sardonically called the ‘Nobel Peace Prize for War’!

Norton recalled what Fisk wrote then on the 1996 attrocity: ". . . so cavalier, so ferocious, that not a Lebanese will forgive this massacre."

Key GOP senators join call for bipartisan Russia election probe, even as their leaders remain mum

Republicans Senators John McCain (Arizona) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) have been highly critical of Donald Trump’s comments about Russia. On Sunday, they joined Democrats in demanding a wide-ranging probe of Russia’s election influence. (Michael Reynolds/EPA)

By Elise Viebeck and Karoun Demirjian December 11 at 1:57 PM

Two Senate Republicans joined demands for a bipartisan probe into Russia’s suspected election interference allegedly designed to bolster Donald J. Trump as questions continue to mount about the president-elect’s expected decision to nominate a secretary of state candidate with close ties to Russia.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) — the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — joined calls by incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Armed Services ranking member Jack Reed (D-R.I.)  for a thorough, bipartisan investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. elections. Their statement came two days after The Washington Post reported the CIA’s private conclusion that Russia’s activities were intended to tip the scales to help Trump.

President-elect Donald Trump as well as Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Dec. 11 reacted to the CIA’s assessment that Russia intervened to help Trump win the election.(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

CIA officials told senators it is now “quite clear” that electing Donald Trump was Russia’s goal. In an interview on Fox News Sunday on Dec. 11, President-elect Trump denied the CIA's assessment. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Key GOP senators join call for bipartisan Russia election probe.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Democrats to Investigate Trump’s Campaign Ties to Putin

With growing signs that Russia meddled in the U.S. election, lawmakers want to expose any coordination between Trump and the Kremlin during the campaign.

BY JOHN HUDSON, ELIAS GROLL, DAN DE LUCE-DECEMBER 10, 2016

Senior U.S. Democrats demanded an investigation Saturday into whether the Russian government directly meddled in last month’s American elections to help President-elect Donald Trump — a charge that could influence the upcoming Electoral College vote.

The calls for a probe, spurred by incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, followed explosive new reports of a U.S. intelligence assessment that concluded hackers served as middlemen for Moscow to boost Trump’s chances over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. If true, the intelligence undercuts the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency, especially as he seeks warming relations with Russia.

A House Intelligence Committee member told Foreign Policy that congressional Democrats who want to declassify the intelligence assessment also will push to investigate whether Moscow directly coordinated with the Trump campaign during the election.

The accusation that the Russian government was directly interacting with Trump was first leveled by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid during the height of the presidential campaign. In October, Reid harangued FBI Director James Comey for not disclosing details of alleged coordination he said was in the FBI’s possession. “The public has a right to know this information,” he wrote.

U.S. officials on Saturday said there was no evidence so far that indicated coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, or that Moscow’s meddling included manipulating of ballot counting or voting machines.

Still, a Democratic leadership aide said Senate Democrats would “absolutely” be seeking more information on pre-election coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

First reported Friday by the Washington Post, the secret intelligence assessment would contradict previous official U.S. statements that Russia sought to merely undermine confidence in the U.S. election process. Intelligence agencies have since reportedly identified people linked to the Russian government who are believed to have supplied WikiLeaks with emails hacked from Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, and the Democratic National Committee. Notably, many emails hacked from Republican organizations were not released to the public.

Trump quickly refuted the reported assessment of Russia intervening on his behalf, and suggested the intelligence community he would soon lead as president was not trustworthy.

“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the Trump transition team said in a terse statement.

Trump’s mocking of the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment threatened to spoil relations with the very threat analysts any president must rely on for updates regarding national security.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, scolded Trump for “impugn[ing] the tens of thousands of Americans who are at work every day of the year, many in great physical danger, to protect us.”

A former senior intelligence official told FP that Trump’s broadside, while ill-advised, was unlikely to dramatically jeopardize the president-elect’s relationship with the nation’s spies.

“The CIA, unfortunately, is used to being caught in the middle of fights among politicians and will soldier on professionally,” said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We don’t yet know exactly what the CIA report said and with what level of confidence, but the Trump team should have taken more time to examine the issue before firing back — and all Americans should want someone to get to the bottom of whatever the Russians were up to.”

Though the uproar over the CIA’s assessment largely drew statements of disapproval from Democrats, some Republicans also expressed concern.
“I’m not challenging the outcome of the electio
n, but very concerned about Russian interference/actions at home & throughout the world,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday on Twitter.

The new reports could — although are unlikely to — affect the outcome of the Electoral College vote on Dec. 19, and stoked momentum for a group of anti-Trump electors who are trying to convince fellow delegates to throw the election to the House of Representatives.

Chris Suprun, a Texas delegate, told FP he has been feverishly working the phones to convince electors committed to Trump to switch their votes when the college meets to cast their ballots and formalize the Republican’s presidency.

“Donald Trump fails the basic test of fitness for office,” said Suprun, who represents a state that Trump won. “My job is get electors not see themselves as rubber stamps for the Kremlin. …The founders gave us the tools to make sure that we don’t make a bad decision.”

Suprun would not say how many electors he believes will switch their votes but said the reported Russian interference has sparked a wave of calls from his fellow delegates. Suprun and his allies need 37 electors committed to Trump to change their votes and throw the election to the House.

There, the Republican majority would likely ensure Trump’s victory but could still, in theory, keep him from prevent taking office. In turn, that would spark a constitutional crisis, and Suprun said his attempts to convince electors to switch their votes have resulted in death threats against him and his family.

In October, the New York Times reported that the FBI did not find any conclusive or direct evidence linking Trump to the Russian government. At the time, Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson refused to provide any details of what the Senate Democratic leader demanded the FBI investigate.

Notably, the FBI has refused to publicly endorse the CIA’s assessment on the election. The intelligence community rarely splits on high-level assessments. But debate and even disagreement among the agencies is encouraged — precisely to avoid another disastrous “slam-dunk” pronouncement like the one in 2002 that led the U.S. into the Iraq War.

As director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2013, now-retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn frequently served as a main voice of dissent in the intelligence community, and occasionally publicly disputed assessments. At the time, he described DIA intelligence as highly reliable and “a little more aggressive,” given military officials were far closer to ground-level conflict information than were other intelligence analysts in Washington and at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

Flynn is now preparing to become Trump’s national security advisor — and could very well retain his skepticism of CIA analysis in favor of intelligence that is gleaned closer to the source.

The new controversy over Russia comes as Trump appeared close to nominating ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. A person close to the Trump transition team confirmed to FP that Tillerson is the likely pick and that former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton would serve as his deputy secretary of state.

Though seen as a successful head of the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, Tillerson does not have any previous government or diplomatic experience. He does have close business ties to Russia — a fact Democrats would likely seize upon during confirmation hearings.

Throughout the campaign, Trump praised Putin as a “stronger leader” than Obama, and promoted the idea of working with Russia to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Additionally, Flynn appeared many times on the Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT.