By Sarah Mamula – Talk Radio News Service
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the individuals aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla raided by the Israeli military earlier this week were “hard core activists intent on violence.”
Speaking on a conference call hosted by the Israel Project Tuesday, Kemp argued that the IHH, the Turkish humanitarian group on board, is linked to Union of Hope, an Iranian and Hamas sponsored group that supports radicalism.
“The IHH is connected to Hamas and the Union of Hope,” Kemp said. “Hamas itself is sponsored, funded, equipped, directed by Iran and has strong connections to Hezbollah which is also is organized, directed and funded by Iran. Accepting the fact that both Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations there appears to be no doubt that the people involved in this operation were connected to terrorists.”
Kemp said that although the Israeli military could have explored other options, such as blocking the flotilla with Israeli war ships or disabling the humanitarian vessels, the effects of these alternatives could have resulted in more casualties.
In addition, Kemp emphasized that the nine deaths resulting from the raid were not due to a wrong approach by Israel.
“None of those deaths would have occurred had the people on that ship not attacked the Israeli soldiers,” Kemp said. “The Israeli’s intercepted a number of other ships with no similar violence.”
Added the British officer, “It’s wrong to put the blame of those deaths at the door of the Israelis. It is right to put the blame for those deaths at the door of the people who carried out the attacks on the Israeli soldiers.”

In an urgent round of system-wide action, the United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the Human Rights Council have all called for an “impartial” and “independent” investigation into the flotilla crisis which took place yesterday and left nine people dead as a result of Israeli military action.
The UN spokesperson, Marie Okabe, said earlier today that special envoys have been deployed to ensure the safe passage of further shipments of humanitarian aid, but a specific plan was not yet in place. The Security Council spent some 13 hours last night putting together a statement which “condemned” Israel’s defense forces for aggressive action and the deaths of pro-Palestinian activists.
The UN system-wide investigation is expected to be mired in problems since the Israeli government has made it very clear it would investigate the alleged crimes internally through its own judiciary process.
There is a great lack of confidence in Israel by the United Nations after the government’s failure to properly charge its military officials for crimes against humanity underscored in the Goldstone Report (issued last year), which claimed dozens of Israel military abuses on Palestinian civilians and United Nations schools in December 2008. In recent weeks, several members of the General Assembly also criticized Israel for not signing onto the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) when it is clear the country is in heavy possession of these deadly weapons.

TRNS discussed the current human rights abuse issue via telephone in Geneva with Claire Kaplun, Spokesperson of the United Nations Human Rights Council who added that a draft resolution was currently being circulated by council members and one would be fully adopted tomorrow. The Resolution is expected to call for immediate action from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and
the International Committee of the Red Cross to check on the health and status of the detained, as well as demand Israel to release all those in detention. The Council will also call for an independent international fact finding commission to investigate these crimes through the OHCHR.

“The Israeli investigation concluded that the Goldstone report should have more thoroughly blamed Hamas and now they are blaming the activists. I don’t think Israelis can handle their own internal independent investigation,” said Faith Er, Chief of the Jerusalem Bureau of TRT TURK state television via telephone this afternoon.
Er, a Turkish native, has been based in Jerusalem for several years and covered the Gaza incursions.
“It depends more on America’s actions than on what the UN does. Before Obama, we saw Bush behind Israel. This will be the first act of Obama. And he has to act now.”" he added.
Many skeptics have criticized the Obama Administration for “treading water” and waiting until after the midterm elections in November to take tough action against Israel.
Er said the Turkish government is trying to rebuild relationships in the East as it bridges the gap to join the West and the European Union. As Turkey continues to fix these relationships, Er noted that Iran and Syria are key to this latest policy of reproachment.
Many critics of Israel’s latest actions believe the relationship between Israel and Turkey will forever be broken, which many see as an advantage for Iran and Syria–who are building alliances against Israel. Turkey is viewed by many as a key peace negotiator in the region.
In the coming days, there will be much speculation on the UN’s ability to launch an immediate investigation as Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan continues to claim the Israeli military “murdered” Turkish activists while Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu defends the Israeli action. If the relationship is broken, Israel may be forbidden from using Turkish airspace, a damaging situation for a country needing to protect its borders from possible attacks from neighboring Arab countries and Iran.
“After 16 years of negotiations, there is no chance of a success in proximity talks,” added Reuven Pedatzur, from the Strategic Dialogue Center in Tel Aviv earlier today on French television. “This is a fiasco and Israel will not admit its mistake.”
The UN is also calling on Israel to fully remove the three year blockade on shipments into Gaza and wants a clear decision from Netenyahu on continuing the freeze on Jewish settlements, which is set to expire in September.

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service
Admiral Thad Allen, the National Incident Commander for the Deepwater BP oil response, said during a press briefing Tuesday that the failure of the ‘top kill’ method this past weekend has altered the response strategy’s focus from capping the ongoing spill to simply containing the oil.
Currently, the response team is starting a new procedure to cut the top of the well’s lower marine riser pipe and attach a cap to it that would then pump the leaking oil to a ship. During this period, Allen stated that a 20 percent increase in oil output could occur, making it a very risky procedure.
The method of containing the oil is a step to mitigate the crisis until a set of relief wells are constructed in August that could offer a permanent shut-off of the spill.
The Commander said that they were also looking to foreign governments for assistance and equipment needed to quell the disaster.
“We’re actually reaching out to folks like the Netherlands, Canada and Mexico as sources of supplies.”

TRNS Reporter Sofia Sanchez takes a close look at the logistics surrounding building a wall along the U.S./Mexico border. Sanchez interviews lawmakers, government officials and immigration experts in an attempt to probe whether or not there is a need for a wall, and what its net effects would be on the nation’s immigration situation. (6:21)

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Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page Thursday evening to lash out at the Obama administration for their response to the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast.
“If the President really was fully focused on this issue from day one, why did it take nine whole days before the administration asked the Department of Defense for help in deploying equipment needed for the extreme depth spill site?” Palin wrote. “The fundamental problem at the core of this crisis is a lack of responsibility.”
Palin’s criticism came shortly after the President spoke about the crisis during a press conference.
“I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down,” Obama said. “Those who think we were either slow on the response or lacked urgency, don’t know the facts.”
However, Palin argued that despite the President’s claim to be fully engaged, the administration failed to utilize legislation passed after the Exxon-Valdez disaster that gave the federal government ample power to respond to oil spills.
“You get the impression he is continually surprised by the inability of various centralized government agencies to get more involved and help solve problems,” Palin said. “His lack of executive experience might explain this.”
Palin served as Governor of Alaska for less than one term.

“We have reached a critical stage,” says Afghanistan’s former presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.
This evening at the Asia Society in New York, Dr. Abdullah, Afghanistan’s 2009 presidential candidate addressed a packed room eager to know the next steps needed to mitigate the desperate crisis in the war ridden country. Dr. Abdullah once served as the foreign minister of Afghanistan.
President Obama’s time clock in Afghanistan is another eighteen months. US General McKrystal has labeled parts of the country “a bleeding ulcer.”
“Nine years after US intervention, Afghanistan is in a state of existentialist crisis,” said Jamie Metzl, head of the Asia Society in New York.
“Dr. Abdullah has repeatedly said the things that need to be said and fought the battles that need to be fought in the name of good governance and building a name for Afghanistan,” added Metzl.
Joe Klein, the political editor of TIME magazine moderated the panel:
“Abdullah is seen as a man of honor, especially after the elections this past year.”
Klein asked Abdullah why Karzai does not seem to recognize the urgency of his country’s problems.
“In the course of time I learned that he (Karzai) did not believe in democracy,” said Abdullah. “People don’t have a say and are not participants. His (Karzai) is the idea of controlling the country… The situation in Afghanistan is at best a mixed picture. The people of the country have gone through many sufferings in the past three decades.”
Abdullah said at 50 years old, he has spent half his life hoping for the survival of his people. He said Afghanistan is burdened with both domestic and international troubles including “the mess that is there in regards to the attitude of the government, its failures and shortcomings to deliver to the Afghan people.”
But he is not without hope for Afghanistan. Despite the alleged fraud that took place during the recent 2009 elections (the current President, Hamid Karzai won under suspicious circumstances), Abdullah cited access to education, freedom of the media, fair electoral processes and a new parliament as essential recent gains in the country.
“If we do not get it right now the changes we have made in education and freedoms could be reversed.”
He added that the United States is spending more money than any other nation in Afghanistan and has more at stake with the most troops fighting in the country.
Abdullah underscored that the Taliban still benefits from the drug economy in Afghanistan. He also said the tribal groups are not being taken care of and suffer from a lack government services, and therefore cannot trust Karzai.
Many critics inside the country also believe Karzai is not doing enough and has not been able to restore the rights of the people. And although Karzai was presented with a major opportunity when he first came to power, now, Adbullah noted, the people are saying “we prefer the Taliban over your (Karzai’s) corrupt system.”
Dr. Abdullah underlined that with the draw down date of US troops leaving the region, there needs to be a new direction for Afghanistan towards a swift process of reconciliation.

By Justine Rellosa- Talk Radio News Service
Lamar McKay, the President and Chairman of BP America, was not yet ready to weigh in on the effectiveness of the oil giant’s recently implemented “top kill” method to stop the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast during his appearance before the House Natural Resources Committee Thursday.
“We do not know how long it will take for the operation to prove successful or otherwise … If necessary, we are also preparing a technique to clog the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) and stop the flow. It involves injecting fibrous material into the BOP,” McKay said.
McKay reassured the Committee that BP is taking responsibility for all costs and will exceed the liability cap in their response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
“We are taking our responsibilities as a responsible party very seriously. We have said that we are not going to use any caps of any sort. We’ve said we are going to reimburse the government … and we are not going to ask for reimbursement from the government for any claims.”

The world economy is slowly recovering from the global financial crisis but growth will remain fragile, says the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) in its new report on the economic prospects for 2010-2011. The report predicts a 2.9% growth in the US for 2010, and a drop back to 2.5% in 2011. “The good news is that the crisis in the world economy has abated and we see a continued recovery,” says Rob Vos, Director of Development Policy Analysis of DESA. “but at the same time it is weak and uneven.”
While the market for primary commodities has bounced back strongly, favoring “Developed” Asia (Japan, Korea, etc), other regions such as Latin America, Africa and Western Asia have seen no such growth.
With credit supplies and private consumption remaining low, Vos says that the current rebound in the world economy is heavily dependent on the fiscal and monetary stimulus plans. As most of these measures will be phased out by 2011, private sector growth in the coming year will have an important impact on the predicted rates.
Although stimulus packages played a key part helping the global economy bounce back, Vos believes that these measures, along with an overall decrease in tax revenues, are in part responsible for the current public debt crisis and widening budget deficits that are likely to be obstacles to substantial economic growth in the coming years. Vos also highlighted high unemployment rates and exchange rate volatility as continuing “crises” in part responsible the world financial markets mediocre growth prospects.

Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) discusses the new GOP launched website “America Speaking Out” and the massive Gulf Coast oil spill with the Talk Radio News Service. (9:00)

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By Miles Wolf Tamboli-Talk Radio News Service
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have developed a new website to enhance American input in Washington policy-making.
“The number one thing that I hear over, and over, and over again everywhere I go is, ‘why isn’t Washington listening to us?’,” said Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.) during a media event marking the launch of the website.
Entitled AmericaSpeakingOut.com, Republicans hope that the public will use the site to engage in dialogue and debate with each other, and present fresh ideas.
“America Speaking Out is about trying to enlist the voices and help of the American people, so we can begin by listening and turning around the equation … to produce an economy and an America that meets with the approval of the American people,” said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
“Out of this, the … Republican members hope to build a governing agenda,” said House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-In.).
Some have criticized the Republican Party recently with assertions that leaders are out of ideas and that the party is surviving off of arraigning the Democratic Party, a notion Pence was quick to respond to.
“This is not a political party in search of a keel or in search of principles. It’s not a listening tour. House Republicans know what we believe, and at AmericaSpeakingOut.com, we state those openly on the first page.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) continued; “We know what our principles are. What we’re asking the American people to do is to participate with us in terms of how … we apply those principles.”
Others have surmised that the effort is a political move, giving the Republicans a positive image before November’s midterm primary elections. Boehner stated that the future of the website depends on the next Congress, implying that the website may not remain active after the elections are over.