"Against the background of Netanyahu’s approval of the construction of 1500 new settlements in east Jerusalem last December, European countries that are traditionally among Israel’s closest allies (Germany, the UK, France and Portugal) publicly expressed their displeasure with Israel’s blunt disregard for Peace Process efforts. In a similar vein, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton described the Israeli settlement policies as “extremely troubling”. And - only adding to this growing tension between Israel’s roughshod foreign policies and the EU’s pledges for two-state-diplomacy - Israeli foreign policy is rather unlikely to follow a more accommodating course following the outcome of the latest Israeli parliamentary elections at the end of January 2013."
— The infallibility of David? On anti-semitism and criticising Israeli foreign policy | openDemocracy
"
During the summer, Susiya residents pay nearly $10 per cubic meter of water – about five times what Israelis pay. Imraizig is the programme manager for ACF’s clean water initiative in Susiya, and he is working to help residents get water affordably by building a filling station closer to the village. However, he told us, settlers have contaminated Susiya’s existing wells, and his requests for construction permits to replace them have thus far been denied.
A view from Palestinian Susiya toward nearby Susiya Settlement. Villagers in Susiya face constant harassment from settler groups and threats of eviction from Israeli forces. Heather Kathryn Ross
Soldiers’ testimonies recorded by Breaking the Silence verify Imraizig’s claim. A lieutenant in Civil Administration, who chose to remain anonymous, told BTS: ‘Poisoning wells, that happens [in the South Hebron Hills] plenty. There was this story of settlers throwing dead chickens into the Palestinians’ well… There was nothing to do. We brought them water tanks,’ the soldier said. ‘Most of those wells aren’t legal and they should actually be destroyed, but wells are not destroyed mostly. For their benefit.’
"
— Breaking the silence: Israeli soldiers with a tale to tell — New Internationalist
"As Eric S. Margolis writes in The American Conservative in May, “(bin Laden) repeatedly asserted that the only way to drive the U.S. from the Muslim world and defeat its satraps was by drawing Americans into a series of small but expensive wars that would ultimately bankrupt them.” That Washington seemed bent on fulfilling bin Laden’s wishes was evident immediately after the 9/11 attacks. In his 2004 book “Imperial Hubris,” Michael Scheuer, a senior CIA analyst who had tracked Osama bin Laden since 1996, explains: “Bin Laden has been precise in telling America the reasons he is waging war on us. (He) is out to drastically alter U.S. and Western policies toward the Islamic world,” and largely achieved his goal."
— After 9/11, Was War the Only Option?
"Forts de ces ” réussites “, auxquelles on pourrait ajouter la ” guerre humanitaire ” de Somalie, la ” démocratisation ” par la force de l’Irak et quelques autres encore, les usual suspects - France, Grande-Bretagne et Etats-Unis - se sont lancés dans une nouvelle guerre pour les droits de l’homme en Libye. La précipitation dans laquelle la décision a été prise n’a soulevé que peu de questions, justifiée qu’elle était par l’imminence d’un massacre à Benghazi. Cette menace était-elle réelle ? Rien n’est moins sûr, car 1 000 soldats coupés de leurs bases arrière, soutenus par 30 chars sont une force bien réduite pour prendre le contrôle d’une ville insurgée de 800 000 habitants, étendue sur 30 kilomètres de long. La destruction de 5 chars aurait suffi à empêcher le carnage annoncé, selon l’Otan."
— Les nouveaux Lénines de l’humanitaire
"—SADDAM WISHED TO CONVEY AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO
PRESIDENT BUSH: IRAQ WANTS FRIENDSHIP, BUT DOES
THE USG? IRAQ SUFFERED 100,000’S OF CASUALTIES
AND IS NOW SO POOR THAT WAR ORPHAN PENSIONS WILL
SOON BE CUT; YET RICH KUWAIT WILL NOT EVEN ACCEPT
OPEC DISCIPLINE. IRAQ IS SICK OF WAR, BUT KUWAIT
HAS IGNORED DIPLOMACY. USG MANEUVERS WITH THE UAE
WILL ENCOURAGE THE UAE AND KUWAIT TO IGNORE
CONVENTIONAL DIPLOMACY. IF IRAQ IS PUBLICLY
HUMILIATED BY THE USG, IT WILL HAVE NO CHOICE
BUT TO “RESPOND,” HOWEVER ILLOGICAL AND SELF
DESTRUCTIVE THAT WOULD PROVE."
— Cable Viewer
"Americans like to believe in American exceptionalism, that the United States is a force for good around the world, not just another country pursuing its interests via geopolitical horse-trading. This is part of why there is such a visceral public backlash against WikiLeaks — because it lays bare U.S. diplomacy in all its blunt, unromantic reality."
— U.S. Diplomats Aren’t Stupid After All - By Joshua Kucera | Foreign Policy
"
L’administration Obama avait bien juré de faire appliquer à la lettre la loi fédérale d’accès à l’information (Freedom of Information Act), de rendre publique toute information d’intérêt public. Elle aura mis quatre mois à trahir sa parole, passée l’investiture de janvier 2009. Sécurité nationale, encore et toujours. WikiLeaks surgit alors et tourne à plein régime. La suite est connue mais pas finie. Et aucune démocratie, si grande soit-elle, ne peut plus espérer taire des pratiques qui bousculent sa réputation.
Trente ans après la divulgation des «Papiers du Pentagone» sur la guerre du Vietnam par le New York Times, les Etats-Unis se croyaient-ils à l’abri d’une nouvelle fuite d’envergure, en pleine mise en question de leur politique étrangère?
"
— WikiLeaks, l’impossible traque | Slate
"
Bady uses a close reading of an essay by Assange on State and Terrorist Conspiracies to argue that Assange sees modern governance as a conspiracy by those with power that goes against the interests and desires of the governed, and that Wikileaks exists in order to undermine the ability of governments to communicate secretly and diminish the power of authoritarian states.
In a statement dictated to his mother from his jail cell Assange said “we now know that Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others are instruments of US foreign policy”, referring to the way in which these large companies had decided not to provide service to Wikileaks.
"
— BBC News - A world after Wikileaks
