NASA Scientist -- Australia threatens life on Earth! - International Environment

Professor James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute, has written an open letter to the future president, Barack O’Give-us-a-Break, in which he states that Australia’s HUGE coal exports and absurd carbon caps “guarantee destruction of much of the life on the planet” – tell it to the Coal Mining Lobby and their financial backers, you uninformed bozo!

It’s astonishing that a respected scientist in this age hasn’t yet realised that western politicians are PUPPETS to the Corporations -- writing letters to puppets is about as effective as pissing on a forest fire!

Obama is POWERLESS; the sooner people wake up to that fact the sooner EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES can be pursued. Here’s a taste of Mr ‘Hope and Change’ in action; in the face of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Obama refuses to comment, however, he has no problem making profuse comments on the economy, the Mumbai terrorist attacks and Russia’s response to Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia! Your employers will require you to improve your presentations and lying ‘skills,’ Barack, you no-account, slave boy!

Regarding colonial Australia and its complete servility to Transnational Mining Corporations, Prof Hansen may have a point. Few Aussies are aware that Rudd’s policies are actually a threat to all life on earth. Now let’s extrapolate; Rudd was recently ordered to publicly support Israel’s criminal offensive in Gaza, he utilised the same feeble American line that “Israel has a right to defend itself (against attack!”) Well, so do the Palestinians and the rest of the world!

Based on that ‘justification’ Israel has committed countless war crimes and other crimes against humanity; however, we must not forget that killing hundreds of civilians, including numerous children, is a justifiable act of 'self-defence!'

We now come to threat assessment and appropriate response. According to expert American opinion Rudd is currently the greatest threat to the survival of life on planet earth! How much greater then the response in order to ensure the safety of our entire world?

Applying American and Israeli defence logic to Rudd, it would be incumbent on every able-bodied, responsible person to put a bullet in Kevin Rudd’s head – the planet would thereby be saved!

This is what occurs when the people allow Corporate interests to hijack their democracies. The only characteristics required to lead Western nations these days are narcissism and unflinching compliance to commercial interests! It is clear from the above illustration that PUPPET leaders lack even the most rudimentary skills of reason and logic.

Well might we say God save the Queen, because nothing will save, Kevin Rudd!

See:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/06/1231004021036.html

Professor Hansen’s letter available here:

The UN human rights chief warned a special session of the Human Rights Council on Friday that human rights violations in Gaza and some reported incidents there might warrant prosecutions for war crimes.

"The vicious cycle of provocation and retribution must be brought to an end," Navi Pillay told the council, which was holding a special session on human rights violations in the Palestinian territory.

"Accountability must be ensured for violations of international law," she said, calling for "credible, independent and transparent investigations" as a first step.

"I remind this council that violations of international humanitarian law may constitute war crimes for which individual criminal responsibility may be invoked," she added.

But the council meeting ended without agreement on a resolution after failure to agree on the term of a condemnation of human rights abuses since the Israeli intervention in Gaza.

The session is expected to decide on Monday whether or not to adopt a draft resolution tabled by Cuba, Egypt and Pakistan.

The text seeks the 47-member council's condemnation of the Israeli offensive and of the "grave human rights situation" in Gaza.

The draft resolution tabled late Friday underlined the civilian toll, especially in Gaza, and called for "the immediate cessation of Israeli military attacks" as well as an "end to the launching of crude rockets against Israeli civilians" in a concession to the European Union.

It also demanded that Israel "stop the targeting of civilians and medical facilities and staff" and that border crossings be reopened.

However the council remains deeply split and there was doubt whether an agreed text could emerge by Monday night. Some western countries see the draft as one-sided and said the resolution should condemn human rights violations by both sides and not simply call for a ceasefire.

Pillay called for an independent investigation of the violence, stressing that Israel and Palestinian militants had an obligation under international humanitarian law to care for the wounded, and to protect ambulances, hospitals, health workers, schools, civilians as well as their homes.

The High Commissioner underscored calls for a ceasefire, warning that rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israel and "retaliatory" air strikes by Israel forces were "unacceptable."

"The situation is intolerable," she said, warning that the overall conditions for civilians "constitute egregious violations of human rights."

But Pillay went further, enumerating more evidence of violations of international humanitarian law from the UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, after civilians and relief workers were killed or wounded during Israeli attacks.

The meeting comes on the heels of the UN Security Council's near unanimous approval on Thursday of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unimpeded provision throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance.

However, Hamas later rejected that resolution, and Israel followed by rejecting a ceasefire.

© 2009 AFP

Israel is facing growing demands from senior UN officials and human rights groups for an international war crimes investigation in Gaza over allegations such as the "reckless and indiscriminate" shelling of residential areas and use of Palestinian families as human shields by soldiers.

With the death toll from the 17-day Israeli assault on Gaza climbing above 900, pressure is increasing for an independent inquiry into specific incidents, such as the shelling of a UN school turned refugee centre where about 40 people died, as well as the question of whether the military tactics used by Israel systematically breached humanitarian law.

The UN's senior human rights body approved a resolution yesterday condemning the Israeli offensive for "massive violations of human rights". A senior UN source said the body's humanitarian agencies were compiling evidence of war crimes and passing it on to the "highest levels" to be used as seen fit.

Some human rights activists allege that the Israeli leadership gave an order to keep military casualties low no matter what cost to civilians. That strategy has directly contributed to one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults on the Palestinian territories, they say.

John Ging, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza, said: "It's about accountability [over] the issue of the appropriateness of the force used, the proportionality of the force used and the whole issue of duty of care of civilians.

"We don't want to join any chorus of passing judgment but there should be an investigation of any and every incident where there are concerns there might have been violations in international law."

The Israeli military are accused of:

• Using powerful shells in civilian areas which the army knew would cause large numbers of innocent casualties;

• Using banned weapons such as phosphorus bombs;

• Holding Palestinian families as human shields;

• Attacking medical facilities, including the killing of 12 ambulance men in marked vehicles;

• Killing large numbers of police who had no military role.

Israeli military actions prompted an unusual public rebuke from the International Red Cross after the army moved a Palestinian family into a building and shelled it, killing 30. The surviving children clung to the bodies of their dead mothers for four days while the army blocked rescuers from reaching the wounded.

Human Rights Watch has called on the UN security council to set up a commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes.

Two leading Israeli human rights organisations have separately written to the country's attorney general demanding he investigate the allegations.

But critics remain sceptical that any such inquiry will take place, given that Israel has previously blocked similar attempts with the backing of the US.

Amnesty International says hitting residential streets with shells that send blast and shrapnel over a wide area constitutes "prima facie evidence of war crimes".

"There has been reckless and disproportionate and in some cases indiscriminate use of force," said Donatella Rovera, an Amnesty investigator in Israel. "There has been the use of weaponry that shouldn't be used in densely populated areas because it's known that it will cause civilian fatalities and casualties.

"They have extremely sophisticated missiles that can be guided to a moving car and they choose to use other weapons or decide to drop a bomb on a house knowing that there were women and children inside. These are very, very clear breaches of international law."

Israel's most prominent human rights organisation, B'Tselem, has written to the attorney general in Jerusalem, Meni Mazuz, asking him to investigate suspected crimes including how the military selects its targets and the killing of scores of policemen at a passing out parade.

"Many of the targets seem not to have been legitimate military targets as specified by international humanitarian law," said Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem.

Rovera has also collected evidence that the Israeli army holds Palestinian families prisoner in their own homes as human shields. "It's standard practice for Israeli soldiers to go into a house, lock up the family in a room on the ground floor and use the rest of the house as a military base, as a sniper's position. That is the absolute textbook case of human shields.

"It has been practised by the Israeli army for many years and they are doing it again in Gaza now," she said.

While there are growing calls for an international investigation, the form it would take is less clear. The UN's human rights council has the authority to investigate allegations of war crimes but Israel has blocked its previous attempts to do so. The UN security council could order an investigation, and even set up a war crimes tribunal, but that is likely to be vetoed by the US and probably Britain.

The international criminal court has no jurisdiction because Israel is not a signatory. The UN security council could refer the matter to the court but is unlikely to.

Benjamin Rutland, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said an international investigation of the army's actions was not justified. "We have international lawyers at every level of the command whose job it is to authorise targeting decisions, rules of engagement ... We don't think we have breached international law in any of these instances," he said.

© 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited

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