By Jonathan Cook

10 March, 2009
Countercurrents.org

Canada Park: As spring sets in early, Israelis have been pouring into one of the country’s most popular leisure spots. Visitors to Canada Park, a few kilometres north-west of Jerusalem, enjoy its spectacular panaromas, woodland paths, mountain-bike trails, caves and idyllic picnic areas.
A series of signs describe the historical significance of the landscape, as well as that of a handful of ancient buildings, in terms of their Biblical, Roman, Hellenic and Ottoman pasts. Few, if any, visitors take notice of the stone blocks that litter sections of the park.
But Eitan Bronstein, director of Zochrot (Remembering), is committed to educating Israelis and foreign visitors about the park’s hidden past – its Palestinian history.
“In fact, though you would never realise it, none of this park is even in Israel,” he told a group of 40 Italians on a guided tour this past weekend. “This is part of the West Bank captured by Israel during the 1967 war. But the presence of Palestinians here – and their expulsion – is entirely missing from the signs.”
Zochrot also seeks to remind Israelis of the Nakba, the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Its tours are not popular with most Israelis, suggesting, he says, how far they still are from understanding the territorial compromises needed to reach the kind of peace agreement with the Palestinians currently being promoted by the new US administration.
An impressive building a short way into the park, signposted as a Roman bathhouse, is all that is recognisably left of a Palestinian village once known as Imwas, itself built on the ruins of the biblical village of Emmaus.
There are traces of a cemetery, as well as scattered rubble from the village’s houses, a coffee shop, a church, two mosques and a school.
The 2,000 Palestinians living there, along with the 3,500 inhabitants of two other villages, Yalu and Beit Nuba, were expelled as the Israeli army captured this area of the West Bank from Jordan. Today, they and their descendants live as refugees, mostly in East Jerusalem and near Ramallah.
In place of the three villages, a park was created by an international Zionist organisation, the Jewish National Fund, paid for with $15 million in charitable donations from Canadian Jews.
The park entrance is only a minute’s drive from the busiest motorway in the country, linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Similar parks across Israel have been established on the ruins of other Palestinian villages but, in those cases, the destruction was a result of the war of 1948 that founded Israel. Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian, has referred to this massive erasure of Palestinian history as state-organised “memoricide”.
But Canada Park is far more sensitive for Israel because it lies outside the country’s internationally recognised borders. The Palestinian inhabitants’ expulsion, Mr Bronstein said, was a premeditated act of ethnic cleansing of villagers who put up no resistance.
“We have photographs of the Israeli army carrying out the expulsions,” he told the group of tourists, holding up a series of laminated cards.
Yosef Hochman, a professional photographer, captured scenes that included columns of fleeing Palestinians carrying possessions on their heads, army officers arguing with an elderly woman who refuses to leave her house and bulldozers moving in to destroy the villages.
According to Mr Bronstein, the wrecking spree can be explained by the Israeli army’s failure in the 1948 war to capture the area, which juts out into what is today Israel and was once known as the Latrun salient.
“In 1948, Israeli commanders regarded conquest of the salient as vital for widening the safe passage from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They were desperate to make amends in 1967 when they got a second chance.”
Uzi Narkiss, a leading general in the 1967 war, vowed that the Latrun salient would never be returned. Establishing Canada Park was Israel’s way of secretly annexing the territory, Zochrot says.
Since 2003, Mr Bronstein has been demanding that the Jewish National Fund post additional signs highlighting the park’s Palestinian history.
The Roman bathhouse, he notes, is visible only because the foundations were subsequently excavated. For centuries, the structure – a shrine to Obeida Ibn al Jarah, an Arab warrior who helped conquer Palestine in the seventh century – served as an important Palestinian holy place.
The Jewish National Fund and the Civil Administration, the military government in the West Bank, agreed to post two new signs, marking the centres of Imwas and Yalu, only after Zochrot petitioned the courts. The experiment in openness was shortlived, however. After a few days, black paint was used to conceal part of the sign at Imwas, and soon afterwards both signs disappeared.
“We were told that scrap-metal dealers were probably responsible for stealing the signs,” Mr Bronstein said. “That’s a little hard to believe, since the official signs close by are there to this day.”
Zochrot is considering widening its campaign by alerting Canadian donors to the fact that their money has been used – in contravention of international law – effectively to annex a section of the West Bank to Israel. Mr Bronstein believes many are unaware of the use their donations have been put to.
He is preparing to take the Jewish National Fund back to court to demand it replaces the missing signs and erects similar signs in parks inside Israel to commemorate the Palestinian villages razed by the army after the 1948 war.
According to Zochrot, 86 Palestinian villages lie buried underneath JNF parks. A further 400 destroyed villages had their lands passed on to exclusively Jewish communities. Zochrot’s several hundred activists regularly select a destroyed village, taking Palestinian refugees with them as they place a handmade sign detailing the village’s name in Arabic and Hebrew. Within days, the signs are removed.
But Mr Bronstein said he believes signs erected by official bodies may have a greater impact in opening Israeli minds.
“In a recent newspaper interview, a senior JNF official admitted that it would be hard to stop our campaign,” he said. “Slowly we believe Israelis can be made to appreciate that their state exists at the expense of another people. Only then are Israelis likely to be ready to think about making peace.”

By Ghali Hassan

19 February, 2009
Countercurrents.org

The establishment in 1948 of a Zionist state on Palestinian land is often seen as constituting the greatest danger to world peace. Yet, Western powers led by the U.S. continue to support and defend Israel’s militarism and war crimes in Palestine. What has changed is the nakedness of Israeli war crimes and Western endorsement of Israeli’s Zionfascism.

Imagine an open-air prison with 1.5 million defenceless Palestinian refugees was attacked from the air, the land and the sea by a powerful army using missiles, artillery shells, cluster bombs and white phosphorus delivered by U.S.-supplied F-16s war planes, Apache helicopter gunships and tanks. Just after Christmas 2008, the Israeli Zionfascist army embarked on a three-week deliberate and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza Concentration Camp in occupied Palestine. The extent of Israel’s premeditated aggression was a war crime for the world to see. The so-called “International Community” blamed the Palestinians for Israel’s aggression and endorsed Israel’s mass murder of innocent Palestinians as “self-defence”.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza has put the Palestinian toll at more than 1,350 killed. As always, most of the victims were innocent civilians – including 500 dead children, 130 women and 100 elderly people. At least 5,500 Palestinians (half of them children) were severely wounded, and the ongoing blockade of Gaza is making the task of treating the wounded very difficult.

The mass murder began as school children were switching classes and leaving schools to go home in the world’s most densely-populated Concentration Camp. Schools were destroyed with their students were inside. More than two hundred people were killed in the first few minutes of the attack. A total of 13 Israelis were killed, three of them were civilians, 10 of them soldiers, and four of the soldiers were killed by ‘friendly fire’.
Israeli soldiers – known for their cowardice –, used Palestinian civilians as human shields to protect them from the lightly-armed Palestinian Resistance. Amnesty International revealed that Israeli soldiers in Gaza often occupy Palestinian houses and keep the civilians as hostages in the first floor and on the roof, ensuring that the civilians will be killed first. The houses were later destroyed with their inhabitants were inside.

The deliberate destruction of vital Palestinian infrastructure is a war crime. Overall, thirty educational institutions, thirty-four health facilities – eight hospitals and twenty-six clinics – and ninety two mosques were damaged or destroyed in the Israeli attack. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced and made homeless. It was an unnecessary and deliberate war crime against a defenceless population. The Hamas-led democratically-elected government a one-sided ceasefire and was/is ready to continue on an agreed truce.

Today, much of Gaza is without food, water and electricity. In addition, as a result of the destruction of most of the Palestinian farmland during the Israeli attack, the people of Gaza are facing a food crisis. UN and Palestinian sources estimated that 60 per cent of agriculture industry has been completely wrecked by the Israeli attacks, which followed the two years genocidal blockade of Gaza – imposed after Hamas was democratically and fairly elected to represent the Palestinian people.

Despite the nakedness of Israel’s crimes, Western leaders are united in their support for Israel’s Zionfascism. The U.S. Congress, a club fro wealthy Zionists and pro-Israel lobbyists, voted overwhelmingly to support Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian children. The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representative voted to support and endorse Israel’s massacre of Palestinians with a vote of 100-0 and 430-5 respectively. During the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the U.S. shipped 3,000 tons of weapons to Israel. This is on top of the $ 3 billion American tax payers paid to Israel. Israel The U.S. Congress seemed undeterred by Israel’s use of banned weapons – white phosphorus and Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) bombs which generate micro-shrapnel that burns and destroys everything within a four-meter radius – indiscriminately and illegally – in violations of international law and U.S. law – in overcrowded areas of Gaza.

The European Union States praised Israel’s conduct of war crimes and provided clear endorsement for further bloodshed accusing the Palestinian of “overwhelming responsibility” for Israel’s aggression. Instead of condemning the aggressor, they blamed the victims. The hypocrisy of European leaders is that they failed to hold Israel accountable for violations of international human rights law. Shimon Peres, Israel’s fascist president was given 25 minutes at the Davos World economic Forum to justify the massacre of Palestinian children by telling a pack of lies. Israeli Zionfascist leaders were overwhelmed by Europeans “extraordinary support for the state of Israel and their concern about its security” as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed during the attack on Gaza.

It is important to note that European States silence on Israel’s abuses of Palestinian human rights and Israel’s Zionfascist occupation of Palestinian land make them complicit in Israeli war crimes. The Palestinian people in Gaza are in a large fortified Concentration Camp, and the Palestinians in the West Bank are confined to disconnected Nazi-like ghettos under the worst colonial-apartheid system of control. Furthermore, European states complicity in Israel’s collective punishment is the same criminal policy used by the Nazis in occupied Europe during the Second World War.

As Hasan Abu Nimah, the former Jordanian representative to the UN writes; “If [the European States] do not want Palestinians to resist, why do they not themselves confront the aggressor and force an end to the occupation, siege and dispossession?” Europeans’ inaction and endorsement of Israeli war crimes “are signs of a moral weakness and corruption unparalleled since Europeans stood by silently at stations and watched as their compatriots were loaded into Nazi trains”, added Abu Nimah.
The pretext that Israeli is “defending itself” from Palestinian rockets attack is a lie. Israel’s attack on Gaza has nothing to do with responding to Palestinians firing rockets. The rockets were the Palestinian only form of protest against Israel’s murderous occupation. In short, Israeli attacks against the Palestinians are asymmetric massacre carried-out by the world’s fourth-largest army.

According to Michael Mandel, a professor of Law at York University in Toronto, Canada, Israel case of “self-defence” is fraud. If Israel is concerns about “defending itself” against the Palestinians, it can do so peacefully by ending the occupation of Palestinian land and stop the daily murder of Palestinians. Israel’s attack – like all previous Israeli acts of aggression – is against any hope of peaceful settlement. It is worth noting that the German Nazis used the pretext of “self-defence” to justify pre-emptive violence and military occupation.

If the German Nazis accused of using “gas chambers” (still disputed accusation) to kill civilians, Israeli Zionfascist leaders used all kinds of banned weapons, including bombs that incinerate people alive. It is reported recently that the new U.S.-supplied weapon is being tested on the Palestinians in Gaza. It was a classic case of naked Zionfascism. As the atrocity in Gaza shows, Zionfascism become more naked in recent years. It follows in the footsteps of fascism: the obliteration of Palestinian identity and the annexation of Palestinian land.

With complete monopoly on violence, successive Israeli leaders from David Ben-Gurion to Ehud Olmert and everyone in between have always targeted civilians. “Our policy has been to attack civilians,” indiscriminately and deliberately, said one Israeli leader. ”The Palestinians must be hit and it must be very painful: we must cause them losses, victims, so that they feel the heavy price”, said former Israeli Prime Minister and war criminal Ariel Sharon in 2002. Sharon was merely defined Israeli policies in Palestine: a naked Zionfascism.

The Israeli Zionfascist army principle is: “if you continue killing Palestinian civilians for long enough, the world will accept it”. In 1978, Israeli Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur told the media: "Since 1948 until today, we have been fighting against a population that lives in villages and cities”. Commenting on Gur’s blunt statement, the Israeli military analyst Zeev Schiff wrote: “[T]he Israeli Army has always struck civilian populations, purposely and consciously ... the Army, he said, has never distinguished civilian [from military] targets... [but] purposely attacked civilian targets even when Israeli settlements had not been struck.” Furthermore, former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban wrote in response to Israeli terrorist attacks; “The picture that emerges is of an Israel wantonly inflicting every possible measure of death and anguish on civilian populations in a mood reminiscent of regimes [e.g. the Nazi regime] which neither Mr. [Menachem] Begin nor I would dare to mention by name.” (See: Edward S. Herman, The Real Terror Network: Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda. South End Press, 1982). The adoption of Nazi-like policies by Israeli leaders since the creation of Israel is designed to terrorise and instil fear among the general Palestinian population and intimidate the Palestinian Resistance.

Professor Richard Falk, a law scholar at Princeton University and the UN special rapporteur called for an independent inquiry into Israel's violation of international humanitarian law. Falk, a Jew, compared Israel's aggression against the besieged Palestinian in Gaza to "the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto" which included the starvation and murder of innocent civilians by the German Nazis. Falk added the “the UN Charter and international law does not give Israel the legal foundation for claiming self-defence” against defenceless people.

"My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians", Sir Gerald Kaufman (MP) told the British House of Commons Debate on Gaza. The use of the “Jewish holocaust” and the use of the “anti-Semitism” cliché by Zionists aimed at not only to cover-up Israeli war crimes but also at intimidating and silencing critiques of Israeli war crimes.
The exploitation of the “Jewish holocaust” guilt and the use of the “anti-Semitism” cliché by Zionists and supporters of Israeli war crimes are invoked in order to keep Zionfascism alive. Zionfascism flourishes in a political climate of violence and hatred. It sustains itself by promoting and encouraging Jewish “anti-Semitism”.

It is worth noting that, Israeli Zionfascist leaders are openly claiming to represent all Jews. In other words, everything that Israel does, it does it in the name of all Jews. In fact Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians are strongly supported and demanded by major Jewish organisations. Indeed, the recent mass murder of Palestinian in Gaza had overwhelming support from Israeli Jews, major Jewish organisations and Jews world-wide. In a letter to Ehud Olmert in 2007, the former Sephardic grand rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu stated openly; “there is absolutely no moral prohibition against indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launching”. Hence, if there is Jewish “anti-Semitism”, it is a reaction to Israeli war crimes in Palestine. The reality, there is no Jewish “anti-Semitism”; there is widespread and systematic anti-Arabs/anti-Muslims racism, Islamophobia.

To Israel’s pleasure, Islamophobia is now infecting most non-Islamic countries, including the U.S., Europe and Australia. Israeli Zionists have been promoting and “exploiting the wave of Islamophobia in the U.S. and Europe, to engage them in this war on the Palestinians, doing their part in suffocating, starving, and weakening the Palestinian people, as Israel caries its mission of destruction”, wrote the late Israeli scholar Tina Reinhart.

Meanwhile, Western media one-sided coverage and complicity allow Israeli Zionfascist leaders to commit and get away with all kinds of war crimes. As the atrocity unfolded, the BBC refused to broadcast a charity appeal for to raise emergency funds for the Palestinian people in Gaza is just a case in point of media bias. The BBC alleges that broadcasting the appeal could compromise its impartiality. According to the BBC, supporting Palestinian children is anti-Israel propaganda that the BBC is working hard to eliminate. No one can be accused of being biased against Israel murderous occupation and injustice. Israel is an occupying power practising genocidal policies in Palestine. The BBC is not impartial and the excuse does not withstand a moment’s of scrutiny.

The BBC is a Zionfascist propaganda organ promoting Western militarism and colonialism. The BBC has always distorted reality on the ground in Palestine and has covered-up Israeli atrocities. It is a pro-Israel Zionfascist propaganda mouthpiece. The BBC main aim is to protect Israeli-Western criminals and murderers against the interests of defenceless Palestinian victims. The BBC’s mantra is to portray Israel as a victim of “terrorism” despite overwhelming evidence which shows that Israel is the leading terrorist state. For the BBC, defenceless people are “militants” and resistance against murderous occupiers is “terrorism”.

It is important to remember that during the U.S.-NATO criminal attacks on Serbia, the BBC played a critical propaganda role to justifying and covering-up Western war crimes. Furthermore, the BBC complicity in the Iraq’s Genocide and the ongoing murderous Occupation remove any claim of “impartiality”. Why the BBC remain silent while Israeli Zionfascist leaders used Gaza as “test laboratory” for new weapons? Until the BBC begins to uncover Israeli war crimes in Palestine and put and end to its anti-Arabs/anti-Muslims imperialist propaganda, its claim of “impartiality” is fraud.

Finally, since Israeli Zionfascist leaders declared a unilateral “ceasefire”, more than a dozen innocent Palestinians have been murdered. Hamas is reportedly offering a year-long truce if Israel withdraws from Gaza and lifts its blockade. However, Israeli Zionfascist leaders are not interested in peace because peace could lead to peaceful settlement that Israeli leaders are not interested in. They preferred aggression and expansion to peace and security. They have engineered and used provocation in order to launch acts of aggression. Credit is due to the Palestinians for dealing with the equivalent of Nazi war criminals.

In fact, Israeli leaders have just made it clear that Israel is not going to live up to the ceasefire until Hamas returns a captured soldier, Gilad Shalit who was captured as POW. He could have been killed during the Israeli attack. Israeli leaders are now using him as a bargaining chip. His release is the latest Israeli pretext to reject peace. How about Israel releasing more than 10,000 Palestinian men, women and children who were kidnapped and taken hostages by Israel? They are subjected to daily torture and horrendous human rights abuses at the hands of Israeli agents and interrogation criminals. As always, Israel is not interested in peace. It prefers violence and occupation.

“Today, Israel could have security, normalization of relations, and integration into the region. But it very clearly prefers illegal expansion, conflict, and repeated exercise of violence, actions that are not only criminal, murderous and destructive but are also eroding its own long-term security”, writes the American linguist Noam Chomsky. Instead of confronting its murderous history, Israel continues on the path of aggression, murder, ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Today, Israel is the most extremist and racist society. It is ruled by one of the most corrupt and violent quasi-military political establishments. Its politics are Zionfascist politics, and its policies are colonial-apartheid policies.

Israel’s Zionfascism is the greatest threat to world peace and security. Its real aim has always been military domination and the obliteration of the Palestinian nation. It is time for people to stop acting like outsiders. The alternative is the global resistance campaign that includes boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to defeat Zionfascism in pursuit of peace and Palestinian independence.

Hitler Yesterday Israel Today

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS FROM WORLD WAR II ARE DOING TO THE PALESTINIANS EXACTLY WHAT WAS DONE TO THEM BY NAZI GERMANY …

BUILDING WALLS & FENCES TO KEEP PEOPLE IN PRISON

CHECK POINTS NOT TO ALLOW PEOPLE BASIC FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

ARRESTS & HARASSMENTS

DESTROYING HOMES & LIVELIHOODS

GIFTS (WITH LOVE) FROM THE CHILDREN OF PEACE-LOVING & CIVILIZED COUNTRIES

The Patriot-News | April 21, 2008

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has heard the comparisons between Barack Obama and his brothers. He does not disagree with those who say the senator from Illinois has the same ability to inspire people that President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy possessed.

"I see Barack having a similar kind of appeal," the senior Democratic senator from Massachusetts said. "He is challenging young and old alike to be a part of the solution to the problems."

Kennedy was in Harrisburg to deliver a brief motivational speech to Obama campaign volunteers as the race for the state's presidential primary entered the stretch run.

"This whole campaign is about rejecting the quick, easy, slick answer," Kennedy said. "H.L. Mencken once said, 'For every complex problem there is a simple, easy answer and it is wrong.' Barack Obama is spelling out the complex answers to complex problems. Americans are ready for that kind of answer."

By THOMAS B. LANGHORNE

Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel threw his support behind Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday.

Weinzapfel's written endorsement, issued hours before Obama was scheduled to take the stage at a rally at Roberts Stadium, called the Illinois senator a "special leader."

"I feel Sen. Obama brings integrity, a fresh perspective, good judgment, a wealth of experience and determined leadership to deal with the challenges our country faces," the Democratic mayor's statement said.

Weinzapfel said Obama understands the needs of working families and has the ability to inspire people and unite the nation "in a way that transcends the typical partisan politics of the past, and allows us to focus on our shared hopes and dreams for the future."

 

After fourteen long months, it's easy to forget this from time to time – to lose sight of the fierce urgency of this moment. It's easy to get caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics; the bickering that none of us are immune to, and that trivializes the profound issues – two wars, an economy in recession, a planet in peril. 

But that kind of politics is not why we're here. It's not why I'm here and it's not why you're here.   

... We're not here to talk about change for change's sake, but because our families, our communities, and our country desperately need it. We're here because we can't afford to keep doing what we've been doing for another four years. We can't afford to play the same Washington games with the same Washington players and expect a different result. Not this time. Not now.    

… We can be a party that says there's no problem with taking money from Washington lobbyists – from oil lobbyists and drug lobbyists and insurance lobbyists. We can pretend that they represent real Americans and look the other way when they use their money and influence to stop us from reforming health care or investing in renewable energy for yet another four years.

Or this time, we can recognize that you can't be the champion of working Americans if you're funded by the lobbyists who drown out their voices. We can do what we've done in this campaign, and say that we won't take a dime of their money. We can do what I did in Illinois, and in Washington, and bring both parties together to rein in their power so we can take our government back. It's our choice.

… In the end, this election is still our best chance to solve the problems we've been talking about for decades – as one nation; as one people. Fourteen months later, that is still what this election is about.

Brack Obama, Evans Ville, April 22nd 2008

For the first time since the historic 1960 primary election, the Democratic presidential nomination remains hotly contested as West Virginians prepare to vote. So this state's Democrats and independents may, once again, help decide U.S. history.
We hope they support the brilliant, inspiring, eloquent frontrunner in the race, Barack Obama.
Sen. Obama is a rare figure in U.S. politics - a deep thinker who rises above partisan sniping and makes statecraft seem noble. He raises hope that, after the disastrous Bush years mercifully come to an end, Americans can again be proud of their national leader.
Obama appeals to the innate decency in all groups of people, beyond party lines, without personal grandiosity. He fosters a desire to restore America's finest values of honor and fairness.
In endorsing Obama, Sen. Jay Rockefeller pointed out that the young Illinois lawyer had to work hard - "there was nothing sheltered about his life" - but he rose to national stature. Rockefeller said Obama was far-sighted enough to oppose President Bush's unwise plan to invade Iraq while most others, including rival Hillary Clinton, supported the invasion.
"The indisputable fact is, Barack Obama was right about Iraq when many of us were wrong," the West Virginia senator said. "It was a tough call and the single greatest national security question - and mistake - of our time. ... What matters most in the Oval Office is sound judgment and decisive action. It's about getting it right on crucial national security questions the first time, and every time."

Europe

"It's fortunate for Mrs. Clinton that the Europeans can't vote in the primaries. If the mania for the 2008 Democratic primary has gripped European readers, it's really all about Barack Obama.

Last month, for example, Mr. Obama was featured on the cover of the weekly French newsmagazine L’Express, with the headline, “Qui est Barack Obama?” (Who is Barack Obama?) The story described him as the Michael Jordan of politics, the prodigy from Chicago, and asked, "Is he the black J.F.K.?" He has also been on the cover of several other best-selling French newsmagazines... In France, said Mr. Herbert, Mr. Obama is seen as “being one of us, a foreigner. They don’t just see a black candidate; they see him as being able to identify with the outside world, as someone who understands how Europeans and the rest of the world view America, as being able to bridge that gap.”

Mr. Obama has also succeeded in seducing the Italians, according to Christopher P. Winner, the editor and publisher of The American, a monthly magazine based in Rome... “The Obama factor is something entirely different with the Italian media,” Mr. Winner said. “They’ve decided that he is the millennial version of J.F.K. Because of his global roots, he is an intrinsically more attractive figure."

New York Observer: "Obamamania! Europe Can't Get Enough"

Islamic World

Tamara Cofman Wittes, Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy of the Brookings Institution, blogs about her positive experiences at the 5th U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Qatar: "Quite honestly, though, I don’t think the relative love-fest at this year’s meeting is all ascribable either to regional shifts or to the conference organizers’ choice of speakers. The most powerful explanation for the change is evident in the overwhelming fact that all anyone at this conference really wants to talk about is Barack Obama. A friend from the Gulf tells me her young relative was so excited about the Democratic candidate that he tried to donate money over the Internet, as he’d heard so many young Americans were doing. Then he found out he had to be a U.S. citizen to do so. Another young woman, visiting from next-door Saudi Arabia, said that all her friends in Riyadh are “for Obama.” The symbolism of a major American presidential candidate with the middle name of Hussein, who went to elementary school in Indonesia, certainly speaks to Muslims abroad. But more important is just the prospect of a refreshing shift in the the breeze off the Potomac. More than the changes in the region, it seems to be anticipated changes in Washington that are drawing the eyes of my Arab counterparts and giving the conference its unusually forward-looking tone."

AFP also reports from the Forum: "Obama... won overwhelming support in a mock election by more than 200 American and Muslim delegates at the US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital. His Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and Republican candidates won only a handful of votes." The influential Egyptian Islamic television preacher Amr Khaled told AFP: "I would like to see Obama become president of America because he champions 'change and hope', which we Muslims need as much as the Americans do."

Asia

"A Japanese city called "Obama", hoping to boost its profile at home and abroad as a tourist attraction, cheered Barack Obama's victories in three more Democratic nominating contests on Tuesday... Seiji Fujiwara launched a group of campaigners to help Obama win the U.S. presidential election so that the city with the same name can share his fame... He said his group was preparing headbands, badges and T-shirts with Obama's portrait and a logo "We Love Obama" on them to campaign for Obama... The city mayor sent Obama a letter, lacquered chopsticks and the city's tourism brochures."

Russia

"After presenting the question to nearly 50 Russians, the answer is clear: 100% of our not-so-random sampling said Senator Barack Obama is their first choice. Huh? Up is down and down is up, at least if you believe conventional wisdom. Why would the Russians, stereotypically considered to be a racist and conservative nation, pick Senator Obama—the first viable black U.S. presidential candidate, and the one who many Americans agree breaks the traditional U.S. presidential mold on many levels?... The reasons are varied. Some of Russia Blog’s Russian friends have had great experiences in the U.S., and they genuinely believe that the first-term junior senator from Illinois is a leader who is capable of bringing positive change to America. They like Mr. Obama’s goal of withdrawing the troops from Iraq and agree with his health care and education policies. Other Russians are more concerned about Russia, and don’t like the anti-Putin rhetoric of Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton. (It is important to remember that Vladimir Putin still enjoys nearly 80 percent approval rating, and most Russians view themselves as enjoying more freedom and wealth today than ever before in their country’s thousand-year history.) John McCain’s “I looked into his eyes, and I saw K-G-B,” or Hillary Clinton’s “Putin has no soul” aren’t helpful and don’t play well with Russians who think seriously about the future of the U.S.-Russia relationship."

The world

A couple of websites have been set up independently to try and assess world opinion on the US elections. What if we all voted? has received 922 votes so far from people in 57 countries, resulting in 48% for Obama, 23% for Clinton, 9% for McCain and the balance for candidates who have dropped out (Ron Paul got an impressive 14%). Ron Paul's dedicated online campaigners meant he also did well on another site, Who Would the World Elect, which recieved over 38,000 international votes; out of the three main candidates Obama recieved 72% of the vote (Clinton 24%, McCain 4%). Al-Jazeera International has recieved about 10,000 votes so far on its website, with Obama in the lead with 76% of the votes cast for the main three candidates (Clinton 15%, McCain 9%).
The Global Vote Project has a similar vision, although it is going to be focusing on the main event - the Presidential elections - and not the primaries (BetaVote did this in 2004 with Kerry recieving 88%of nearly half a million votes).

All around the world an energetic and unprecedented movement is growing in support of Senator Obama's candidacy to be the 44th US President. Some examples of the worldwide movement include:

• In Trinidad, calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow sings that America could "regain worldwide respect with Obama’s vision", and in Jamaica reggae star Cocoa Tea adds "This is not about class nor color, race nor creed. It's about the changes, what the Americans need."
• In Egypt, a humanitarian worker has written letters to dozens of superdelegates urging them to back Obama.
• In China a dramatic Obama rally is being planned on the Great Wall.
• In Gaza, a Palestinian student has been making hundreds of campaign phone calls to the US over the internet, whenever he has electricity and is not under Israeli bombardment.
• In Kenya, Obama is so popular that a beer has been named after him!
• On the internet there over 40 international Obama fan groups on Facebook, many with more than 500 members, focused on Denmark, France, Indonesia, Tanzania and many other countries. There are also dozens of blogs and websites (see listings in the sidebar).

And wherever opinion polls have been conducted, comparing him with Clinton and McCain, Senator Obama is consistently the favourite candidate by a wide margin, for example:

• 74% in Japan
• 71% in Brazil
• 68% in Holland
• 64% in South Africa
• 61% in Britain
• 54% in Iraq
• 48% in Switzerland

Coinciding with the mini-super tuesday primaries, the Times newspaper ran an online poll on 3-4 March. Election correspondent Hannah Strange explained the premiss: "The US presidential elections have a global impact like no other. From African cotton-growers to Palestinian refugees, what happens in polling booths from Maine to California come November will affect the futures of all the world's citizens, in some cases more materially than the decisions of their own governments. Yet we have no vote." Currently the poll shows 69% for Obama, up from 65% on 4th March when the Times wrote: "Barack Obama is the global choice for the Democratic presidential nominee by a margin of almost two to one... The poll, running on Across the Pond, the Times US elections blog, had by lunchtime attracted more than 1750 voters over a period of 24 hours. These were evenly spread across Europe and United States, while the Middle East, Africa, Russia, China, Central Asia and Australia also saw heavy participation. Votes came from as far-flung countries as Mauritius, Bangladesh, South Africa and Japan, as well as arenas of US military involvement such as Iraq and Afghanistan. The only country with a significant tilt towards Mrs Clinton was Israel."

Images from chicagotribune.com

“"...at the dawn of the 21st century we also have a collective responsibility to recommit ourselves to the dream; to strengthen that safety net, put the rungs back on that ladder to the middle-class, and give every family the chance that so many of our parents and grandparents had. This responsibility is one that's been missing from Washington for far too long -- a responsibility I intend to take very seriously as President."”

— Barack Obama, Spartanburg, SC, June 15, 2007

Barack Obama's Plan

Support Working Families

Provide a "Making Work Pay Tax Cut" for America's Working Families: American people work longer and harder than those in any other wealthy nation in the world. But their hours are getting longer and their wages aren't getting any higher. In addition they are being squeezed by rising health care, education and energy costs. Rather than relieving the burden on working families, the current administration has provided tax cut after tax cut to the wealthiest Americans and enacted tax breaks for the most well-connected corporations. Barack Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they deserve. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. This refundable income tax credit will provide direct relief to American families who face the regressive payroll tax system. It will offset the payroll tax on the first $8,100 of their earnings while still preserving the important principle of a dedicated revenue source for Social Security. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. The tax credit will also provide relief to self-employed small business owners who struggle to pay both the employee and employer portion of the payroll tax. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit offsets some of this self-employment tax as well.

Provide a Living Wage: Barack Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. Before the Democrats took back Congress, the minimum wage had not changed in 10 years. Even though the minimum wage will rise to $7.25 an hour by 2009, the minimum wage's real purchasing power will still be below what it was in 1968. As president, Obama would further raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing -- things so many people take for granted.

Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit: In both the Illinois State Senate and the U.S. Senate, Obama has championed efforts to expand the EITC, which is one of the most successful anti-poverty programs to date. As president, Obama will reward work by increasing the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increasing the benefit available to parents who support their children through child support payments, and reducing the EITC marriage penalty which hurts low-income families. Under the Obama plan, full-time workers making minimum wage would get an EITC benefit up to $555, more than three times greater than the $175 benefit they get today. If the workers are responsibly supporting their children on child support, the Obama plan would give those workers a benefit of $1,110.

Expand Paid Sick Days: Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a quarter receive any paid sick days. Barack Obama will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.

Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): The FMLA covers only certain employees of employers with 50 or more employees. Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees. Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover more purposes as well, including allowing workers to take leave for elder care needs; allowing parents up to 24 hours of leave each year to participate in their children's academic activities at school; allowing leave to be taken for purposes of caring for individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and expanding FMLA to cover leave for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.

Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave: As president, Barack Obama will initiate a 50 state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers.

Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Barack Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children. Obama will include measures to maximize performance and effectiveness across grantees nationwide.

Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides too little relief to families that struggle to afford child care expenses. Barack Obama will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses.

Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination: Workers with family obligations often are discriminated against in the workplace. Barack Obama will commit the government to enforcing recently-enacted Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines on caregiver discrimination.

Expand Flexible Work Arrangements: Barack Obama will address this concern by creating a program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work schedules for productivity and establishing positive workplaces; helping businesses create flexible work opportunities; and increasing federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama will also make the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible work schedules and permitting employees to petition to request flexible arrangements.

For more information about Barack Obama's plan to help more Americans succeed in the workforce, please visit the Economic Policy page.

Strengthen Our Schools

Expand Early Childhood Education: Research shows that half of low-income children start school up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills and that these early achievement gaps continue throughout elementary school. Obama has been a champion of early childhood education since his years in the Illinois legislature, where he led the effort to create the Illinois Early Learning Council. Obama has introduced a comprehensive "Zero to Five" plan to provide critical supports to young children and their parents by investing $10 billion per year to create: Early Learning Challenge Grants to stimulate and help fund state "zero to five" efforts; quadruple the number of eligible children for Early Head Start and increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both; work to ensure all children have access to pre-school; provide affordable and high-quality child care that will promote child development and ease the burden on working families; and create a Presidential Early Learning Council to increase collaboration and program coordination across federal, state, and local levels.

Improve Public Schools: From the moment our children step into a classroom, the single most important factor in determining their achievement is their teacher. Barack Obama values teachers and the central role that they play in education. He will work to ensure competent, effective teachers in schools that are organized for success. Obama's K-12 plan will expand service scholarships to recruit and prepare teachers who commit to working in underserved districts. To support teachers, Obama will foster ongoing improvements in teacher education, provide mentoring for beginning teachers, create incentives for shared planning and learning time for teachers. To retain teachers, Obama will support career pathways that provide ongoing professional development and reward accomplished teachers for their expertise. This Career Ladder initiative will help eliminate teacher shortages in hard-to-staff areas and subjects, improve teacher retention rates, strengthen teacher preparation programs, improve professional development, and better utilize and reward accomplished teachers.

Reform and Fund No Child Left Behind: The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act is the right one - ensuring that all children can meet high standards - but the law has significant flaws that need to be addressed. He believes it was wrong to force teachers, principals and schools to accomplish the goals of No Child Left Behind without the necessary resources. We have failed to provide high-quality teachers in every classroom and failed to support and pay for those teachers. Obama understands that NCLB has demoralized our educators, broken its promise to our children and must be changed in a fundamental way. Obama will work with mayors and state leaders to ensure that NCLB reform addresses the need for a broader and better range of assessments and an accountability system that focuses on improving schools, rather than punishing them.

Make College More Affordable: Barack Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university. And by making the tax credit fully refundable, Obama's credit will help low-income families that need it the most. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit at the time that tuition is due, rather than a year or more later when tax returns are filed.

For more information on Barack Obama's education plan, please visit the Education Policy page

Help American Families Stay Healthy

Provide Universal Health Care and Lower Health Costs: Barack Obama is committed to signing universal health legislation by the end of his first term in office that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.

For more information on Barack Obama's health care plan, please visit the Health Care Policy page

Protect Homeownership

Create a Universal Mortgage Credit: Owning a home is the culmination of the American dream that so many Americans work so hard for. The tax code is supposed to encourage home ownership with a mortgage interest deduction, but it goes only to people who itemize their tax deductions. Like so much in our tax code, this tilts the scales toward the well-off. The current mortgage interest deduction excludes nearly two-thirds of Americans who do not itemize their taxes. Barack Obama will ensure that anyone with a mortgage, not just the well-off, can take advantage of this tax incentive for homeownership by creating a universal mortgage credit. This 10 percent credit will benefit an additional 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year. Non-itemizers will be eligible for this refundable credit, which will provide the average recipient with approximately $500 per year in tax savings. This tax credit will also help homeowners deal with the uncertain state of the housing market today.

Combat Mortgage Fraud and Subprime Loans: There is a growing epidemic of mortgage fraud crimes in which sophisticated scam artists cheat homeowners out of their mortgages. Some have estimated that more than 2 million homeowners with subprime mortgages are at risk of losing their homes. Barack Obama believes we must establish stiff penalties to deter fraud and protect consumers against abusive lending practices. Obama introduced the STOP FRAUD Act, which would increase funding for federal law enforcement programs, create new criminal penalties for mortgage professionals found guilty of fraud, and require industry insiders to report suspicious activity. In March 2007, Obama urged Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to bring together lenders, consumer advocates, federal regulators and housing agencies for a summit meeting on preserving home ownership. The bill also provides counseling to homeowners and tenants to avoid foreclosures. As president, Obama will continue to fight to ensure more Americans can achieve and protect the dream of home ownership.

Create Fund to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosures: In addition to taking important steps to prevent mortgage fraud from occurring in the future, Barack Obama will establish policies to help Americans currently facing foreclosure through no fault of their own. For instance, in communities where there are many foreclosures property values of innocent homeowners are often also negatively impacted, driving them toward foreclosure, too. Obama will create a fund to help people refinance their mortgages and provide comprehensive supports to innocent homeowners. The fund will also assist individuals who purchased homes that are simply too expensive for their income levels by helping to sell their homes. These steps will ensure that individuals who have to sell their homes will be able to quickly regain stable financial footing. The fund will be partially paid for by Obama's increased penalties on lenders who acted irresponsibly and committed fraud.

Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure: Today's subprime mortgage problem stems in large part from the lack of easy-to-understand information that borrowers receive from mortgage brokers. As president, Barack Obama will enact laws to ensure that all prospective homebuyers have access to accurate and complete information about their mortgage options. Obama will create a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score, which will provide potential borrowers with a simplified, standardized borrower metric (similar to APR) for home mortgages. The HOME score will allow individuals to easily compare various mortgage products and understand the full cost of the loan. The HOME score would also help borrowers understand their long-term obligations and would be required to include mandatory taxes and insurance.

Close Bankruptcy Loophole for Mortgage Companies: Barack Obama strongly opposed the 2005 bankruptcy bill, which is expected to have serious effects on low and middle-income borrowers of subprime mortgages. As president, Obama will work to eliminate the federal bankruptcy law's Chapter 13 provision that prevents bankruptcy courts from modifying an individual's mortgage payments. This forces individuals who seek bankruptcy protection to continue paying the full amount of their existing mortgage plans. This provision, which provides unique protection to the mortgage industry, places the interests of big lenders over than of low and middle-income Americans. Obama believes that the subprime mortgage industry, which has engaged in dangerous and sometimes unscrupulous business practices, should not be shielded by outdated federal law.

Strengthen Families at Home

Strengthen Fatherhood and Families: Since 1960, the number of American children without fathers in their lives has quadrupled, from 6 million to more than 24 million. Children without fathers in their lives are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. Barack Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, fund support services for fathers and their families, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. As president, Obama will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families.

Support Parents with Young Children: Barack Obama would expand the highly programs like the successful Nurse-Family Partnership to all low-income, first-time mothers. The Nurse-Family Partnership provides home visits by trained registered nurses to low-income expectant mothers and their families. The trained nurses use proven methods to help improve the mental and physical health of the family by providing counseling on substance abuse, creating and achieving personal goals, and effective methods of nurturing children. Proven benefits of these types of programs include improved women's prenatal health, a reduction in childhood injuries, fewer unintended pregnancies, increased father involvement and women's employment, reduced use of welfare and food stamps, and increased children's school readiness. Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis concluded that these programs produced an average of five dollars in savings for every dollar invested and produced more than $28,000 in net savings for every high-risk family enrolled in the program. The Obama plan would assist approximately 570,000 first-time mothers each year.

Strengthen Retirement Security

Create Automatic Workplace Pensions: Currently, 75 million working Americans ? roughly half the workforce ? lack employer-based retirement plans. Even when workers are given the option of joining employer-based plans, many do not take up the option because it requires considerable work to research plans and investment portfolios, and enroll in the plan. Barack Obama's retirement security plan will automatically enroll workers in a workplace pension plan. Under his plan, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan, will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account that is compatible to existing direct-deposit payroll systems. Employees may opt-out by signing a written waiver. Even after enrollment, employees will retain the right to change their savings levels, reallocate investment portfolios or end contributions to the account. Obama's plan will give options to the self-employed and new small businesses to access new easy-to-enroll savings plans and direct the IRS to deposit tax refunds into those savings plans for people who choose to save some of their refunds. Under the Obama plan when employees change jobs, their savings will be automatically rolled over into the new employer's system to ensure continued savings. Experts estimate that this program will increase the savings participation rate for low and middle-income workers from its current 15 percent level to around 80 percent.

Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families: Barack Obama will ensure savings incentives are fair to all workers by creating a generous savings match for low and middle-income Americans. Obama will expand the existing Savers Credit to match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and he will make the tax credit refundable. To help ensure that this proposal actually strengthens retirement investments, the savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts by using the account information listed on IRS tax filings. Coupled with the automatic workplace pension plan, this proposal will stimulate tens of millions of new Americans to invest for retirement. Over 80 percent of the savings incentives will go to new savers, and 75 percent of people eligible for the incentives who are expected to participate in the new program do not currently save.

  For the first time in 20 years, Mississippi will have a major role in selecting the Democratic nominee for president. And in such a competitive race, it's crucial that all of our supporters know where to go on Primary Day.

If you live in Mississippi, you can find your polling location now and make sure you're ready to vote for Barack this Tuesday, March 11th.

Polls open at 7:00 a.m., and any registered voter can cast their vote for Barack by requesting a Democratic ballot at their polling location. 

For more than a year, we've worked together and built a grassroots movement for change that's sweeping across the country. On Tuesday, the eyes of the nation will turn to Mississippi. This is your moment, your chance to be part of history.

Source: my.barackobama.com

By far, Obama represents the actual best candidate for the US presidency race. Mr Jhon MacCain is asking for a new war; inline with his ancestors and Mrs  Hilary Clinton will not have the required strength and will to make things change in the United States.

"Tonight, for the seventh long year, the American people heard a State of the Union that didn't reflect the America we see, and didn't address the challenges we face. But what it did do was give us an urgent reminder of why it's so important to turn the page on the failed politics and policies of the past, and change the status quo in Washington so we can finally start making progress for ordinary Americans."

Barack Obama, Response to the State of the Union

The status quo is what the actual American government wants to keep, and what Mrs Clinton doesn't seem to be able to change it, radically at least. And that's what all the American citizens need: they need a president that takes care of US and not the world, they need a president that looks after them, feel and see their needs. And we think, and we're persuaded that Mr Barack Obama is the best person in course now to find back the ideal United States of America.