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Barack Obama has bowed before the UN over Arizona
immigration law |
Nile Gardiner
There can be few sights more humiliating for the
American people than that of a US president kowtowing to
a foreign leader or to supranational institutions.
Continental Europeans are used to this sort of thing
after decades of dominance by unelected bureaucrats in
Brussels, and have grudgingly accepted over time the
gradual and undemocratic erosion of their freedoms. But
most Americans fiercely defend their national
sovereignty, and find the idea of giving international
organizations a say over their laws and lives completely
unacceptable.
The Obama administration however has submitted a report
to the UN Commissioner on Human Rights, South African
judge Navanethem Pillay, which makes direct reference to
a popular Arizona immigration law aimed at tackling
illegal immigration, which is fiercely opposed by the
White House, and is the subject of legal action by the
Justice Department. The report references
A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, (which) has generated
significant attention and debate at home and around the
world. The issue is being addressed in a court action
that argues that the federal government has the
authority to set and enforce immigration law. That
action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently
enjoined.
The highly controversial reference to the Arizona law
serves only one purpose – to gain UN and international
support for the Obama administration’s position in the
face of mounting opposition from Arizona legislators and
a majority of the American people. A recent Rasmussen
poll showed 61 percent of Americans backing
Arizona-style laws for their own states, and just 28
percent supporting a Justice Department challenge .
By doing so, Obama officials undoubtedly hope to stir up
international condemnation of the Arizona policy in
advance of the UN General Assembly meetings in
September, which they believe will increase pressure on
Arizona to back down. It is a highly cynical move that
speaks volumes about the Obama team’s willingness to
undercut American sovereignty and popular will on the
world stage.
This approach has rightly been strongly condemned by
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who described the Arizona
reference in the government report as “downright
offensive”, and called on it to be removed. The State
Department has just announced that it will stand by its
decision to include Arizona in its UN submission, with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly in favour of
it.
It is important to note that the Obama administration’s
report to the United Nations will go before the UN Human
Rights Council, which includes in its current membership
some of the world’s worst human rights abusers. The
likes of China, Cuba, Libya, Russia, and Saudi Arabia,
will have a right to pass judgment over the Arizona
immigration law, a humiliation for a great superpower
before some of the most brutal regimes on the face of
the earth.
Over the course of the last 19 months, Barack Obama has
bowed before Emperors and Kings, and apologized for his
country on numerous occasions, from Cairo to Strasbourg.
By deliberately placing the immigration policy of a US
state before the Human Rights Council, he is now bowing
before the United Nations, and undercutting the
sovereignty of his own nation. This is not leadership
but a surrender of US interests before a declining world
body that is a hotbed of anti-Americanism, and a bully
pulpit for many of the world’s most odious tyrants. It
is also yet another example of an imperial-style
presidency that is increasingly out of touch with the
American people and public opinion.
Source |
| Report: Israel Plans to Strike in
Syria |
|
by Elad Benari
The Alrai daily newspaper in Kuwait reported on Saturday
that Israel is planning to attack Hizbullah weapons
storage and production facilities in Syria. According to
unnamed Western sources who were quoted in the report,
the IDF has strengthened its troop presence in the Golan
Heights and Galilee panhandle. European sources told the
paper that Israel had sent unmanned aerial vehicles over
Syria and Lebanon, which they see as a sign that a
military operation in the area is in the works.
In September of 2007, Israel attacked and destroyed a
nuclear reactor in Syria. The site of the bombing was an
installation meant to produce plutonium, and was
partially funded by North Korea. The CIA had said that
Israel bombed the reactor before it attained its planned
capacity to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Syria did not respond to the 2007 Israeli attack.
However, Alrai also cited sources who said that this
time Syria would respond forcefully and quickly should
it be attacked by Israel. The paper reported that the
Syrian Army has deployed anti-aircraft missiles along
the Israeli border and in other key strategic areas in
the country, and is ready to respond to an attack.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army claimed on Friday that
Israel has begun to use hot air balloons above Lebanon’s
skies. The balloons, said the Lebanese army, are
equipped with camera and transmission capabilities.
Arab media reported that these hot air balloons had been
spotted on Thursday over Baalbek, the villages of Nahla
and Younin and the east Lebanon mountain ridge. The
Lebanese army said in a statement that Israel’s use of
these balloons is “a new violation of Lebanese
sovereignty.”
The reports regarding Syria and Lebanon come during a
relatively tense time. On August 3, Lebanese soldiers
opened fire on IDF soldiers while they were carrying out
routine maintenance near the Israeli border with
Lebanon. Lt.-Col. (res.) Dov Harari was killed during
the exchange of fire.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL),
who conducted an investigation into the incident, said
that the attack by the Lebanese soldiers was unprovoked
by the IDF. UNIFIL said that although Lebanon has
claimed that the Israeli soldiers had crossed the border
into Lebanese territory, evidence found that the IDF
troops had remained on the Israeli side of the
international “blue line” border set by the United
Nations.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Source |
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PA Minister Threatens War over Jerusalem |
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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Palestinian Authority religious affairs minster, a
week before peace talks in Washington, warned of war if
Jerusalem is not “returned” to “its owners. And we are
its owners."
With PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the audience, Mahmoud
Al-Habbash declared in his Friday sermon, "Jerusalem can
ignite a thousand and one wars,” according to a
translation supplied by Palestinian Media Watch.
Unless Jerusalem "becomes the capital of the Palestinian
people, there is no peace," he warned. "The term 'war'
will not be erased from the lexicon...as long as
Jerusalem is occupied.
“If Jerusalem is dishonored, if Jerusalem is disgraced,
if [Jerusalem] is lost, it may leave the door open to
all possibilities of struggle, all possibilities of war.
"Jerusalem is not just a city. Al-Aqsa is not just a
mosque. Jerusalem is the key to peace…. Unless Jerusalem
will be Palestinian, as it was throughout history, the
capital of the Palestinian state and the capital of the
Palestinian people, the place which is the object of
heartfelt longing and which all Muslims aspire to reach;
unless Jerusalem is like that way, there is no peace.
There is no peace without Jerusalem. There is no
stability without Jerusalem.”
U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to host
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Abbas this week,
has gradually changed his position on Jerusalem. During
his 2008 election campaign, he stated that the city is
the "undivided” capital of Israel, but he backtracked
the next day after Arab protests.
He explained that it was up to the PA and Israel to
decide the borders of the city and later stated that he
meant the city should not be divided by barbed wire, as
it was during the Jordanian occupation between 1948 and
1967.
In his “reaching out Muslims’ speech in Cairo in June
2008, President Obama said he foresees the United
Nations flag flying over the city.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
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