Question to Gordon Brown

The Independent

What's a bigger danger - global warming or jihadi terrorism?

TOM CHURCH, by email

Both are massive dangers, and the truth is - while every other country in the world tends to make trade-offs and choose priorities - Britain is the only country simultaneously taking the lead in fighting all the great dangers the world faces: global warming, international terrorism, nuclear proliferation and world poverty. I am proud of that, and that will continue under my government.

As a Kiwi might say: yeah right.

Discouraging democracy, encouraging civil war

Indymedia Israel

On 17 June, a new government was sworn in by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Although this government, now headed by the Minister of Finance, Salam Fayyad, was nominated without the support or even advisement by the democratically elected Palestinian Legislative Council, it already enjoys the full support of Israel, the United States and the European Union. All of these entities now plan to end their boycott, imposed on the Palestinian people following the Hamas victory in the democratic national elections of January 2006.

In my name

1967 revisited

So it seems the question now is this : was Israeli expansion done for agricultural reasons or for religious reasons?
Isn't it amazing, though, how these kind of revelations can so easily be wept under the carpet. How many are aware of these revalations? Indeed, how many Israelis are aware of them?

Blogus, Bloga, Blogum

General Dayan said in his conversations with Mr. Tal that the kibbutz leaders who had urgently demanded that Israel take the Golan Heights had done so largely for the land.

''The kibbutzim there saw land that was good for agriculture,'' he said. ''And you must remember, this was a time in which agricultural land was considered the most important and valuable thing.''

Mr. Tal asked, ''So all the kibbutzim wanted was land?''

And General Dayan answered: ''I'm not saying that. Of course they wanted the Syrians to get out of their face. They suffered a lot because of the Syrians. Look, as I said before, they were sitting in the kibbutzim and they worked the land and had kids and lived there and wanted to live there. The Syrians across from them were soldiers who fired at them, and of course they didn't like it.

''But I can tell you with absolute confidence, the delegation that came to persuade Eshkol to take the heights was not thinking of these things. They were thinking about the heights' land. Listen, I'm a farmer, too. After all, I'm from Nahalal, not from Tel Aviv, and I know about it. I saw them, and I spoke to them. They didn't even try to hide their greed for that land.''