Wednesday Morning Headlines

Updated 10:55 am

Latest Headlines from the United States

Obama’s Transition Team Restricts Lobbyists’ Role
By HELENE COOPER and JEFF ZELENY, NYTimes

Key Points:

• "President-elect Barack Obama will bar lobbyists from helping to pay the costs of his transition to power or working for it in any area in which they have represented clients in the last year, his transition team said Tuesday."
• "But the new rules do seem to leave some wiggle room. Aides to Mr. Obama, who declared during the campaign that lobbyists would not “find a job in my White House,” said the guidelines allowed for lobbyists to work on the transition in areas where they have not done any lobbying."
• "Mr. Podesta said he expected the transition to employ some 450 people and have a budget of about $12 million. Of that amount, $5.2 million will be paid by the government, with the remaining $6.8 million coming from private sources, he said. Contributions will be limited to $5,000, he said, and the transition will not accept money from political action committees."
• "While aides to Mr. Obama say they are keenly aware that a lavish celebration might not be well received given the faltering economy, they indicate that the historic nature of Mr. Obama’s inauguration and the expectations of high turnout all but guarantee that the occasion, on Jan. 20, will be a huge one."

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AIG Execs Hold Another Luxury Retreat
Democracy Now!

And executives at the government-rescued insurance giant AIG have been caught holding another secretive gathering at a luxury resort. Using hidden cameras, local ABC News reporters filmed AIG execs poolside at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. AIG has admitted to asking the hotel to ensure there were no AIG signs and to instruct staff not to mention its presence. It’s at least the second known resort getaway for AIG brass since their government rescue. In September, company executives held a week-long, nearly half-a-million-dollar retreat at a luxury resort just days after receiving an initial $85 billion in taxpayer money. On Monday, the Bush administration said it would give AIG an additional $40 billion, bringing its taxpayer tab to $150 billion so far.

Source: Democracy Now!

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Latest Headlines from the Middle East

Nasrallah: Israeli hands that attack Lebanon will be severed
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

Key Points:

• "Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday accused Israel of operating multiple spy networks in Lebanon"
• "In his address, Nasrallah urged Arab nations to ban Israel's President Shimon Peres from an upcoming interfaith summit, sponsored by the United Nations, to be held in at the New York UN headquarters."

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Abbas says Israel has proposed Jerusalem concessions in the past
By DPA, Haaretz

Key Points:

• "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that during peace talks over the past year, Israel had proposed concessions to him regarding Jerusalem, but he rejected them because they were partial."
• "Israel has consistently insisted in recent months that the sides had not yet touched on the issue of Jerusalem, although it had agreed 'in principle' to include it in the negotiations."
• "Abbas strongly attacked the Islamic movement Hamas, at one point calling them 'traitors.'"
  
• "Tens of thousands of Fatah supporters flocked to the Ramallah compound, which contains Arafat's mausoleum and tomb, since the early hours of Tuesday, carrying yellow Fatah flags and portraits of their late leader."
  

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Media blackout? International journalists report being barred from entering, exiting Gaza
Bethleham/Gaza - Ma'an News Agency

Key Points:

• "Israel has limited food and fuel shipments into Gaza, and now appears to be preventing journalists from entering and even leaving the area."
• "Security officer for UNRWA Andrew Pollock said that there had indeed been some fluxuation in the number of journalists allowed in and out of Gaza"
• "Israeli journalists have been barred from Gaza for over two years."

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Biden told not to change Iran policy
PressTV

Key Points:

• "Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has warned the US vice president-elect against changing the Bush White House policies toward Iran."
• "Earlier on Thursday, Livni had said that dialogue with Tehran would be 'interpreted as weakness' for the Obama-Biden administration, urging the continuation of the Bush carrot-and-stick approach toward Iran."
• "Senator Obama, in his first post-election press conference on Friday, said 'Iran's development of a nuclear weapon' was unacceptable, calling for international efforts to mount pressure on the country."

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Latest Headlines from Latin America

Vladimir Putin receives Cuban foreign minister
Granma International

Key Points:

• "Putin expressed his pleasure at being able to host a representative of the Cuban people in Moscow."
• "The official visit by the Cuban diplomat comes a few days after the visit to Havana of Igor Sechin, Russian deputy prime minister, who had meetings with senior government authorities with a view to developing relations between the two countries."

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Bolivia asks US to extradite ex-president
By Dan Keane, AP

Key Points:

• "Bolivian officials said Tuesday they have formally asked the United States to extradite former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who ordered a military crackdown on 2003 riots in which at least 60 people died."
• "The 2,700-page request charging the exiled leader with "genocide" was delivered Monday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Consuelo Ponce told The Associated Press."
• "The ex-president's lawyers say the extradition attempt is no more than political harassment by leftist President Evo Morales."
• "Chances that the extradition will be granted are slim. U.S.-Bolivia relations have soured dramatically in recent months."

Read Full Article

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Tuesday Morning Headlines

IAEA finds uranium traces at Syrian site: diplomats
By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. investigators have found traces of uranium at a Syrian site Washington says was a secret nuclear reactor almost built before Israel bombed the target last year, diplomats said on Monday.

They said the minute uranium particles turned up in some environmental swipe samples U.N. inspectors took at the site in a visit last June. They said the finding was not enough to draw conclusions but raised concerns requiring further clarification.

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Fed approves American Express as bank holding company

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Board has approved an application by American Express Co to become a bank holding company, the central bank said on Monday.

The move will allow American Express to secure funds from deposits, which could be cheaper than borrowing in bond markets.

"In light of the unusual and exigent circumstances affecting the financial markets ... the Board has determined that emergency conditions exist that justify expeditious action on this proposal," the Fed said in a statement.

American Express follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley, which became bank holding companies after decades of having relied on debt markets for funding.

American Express' borrowing costs relative to a benchmark rate have risen dramatically this year as investors have become increasingly skittish about the company facing rising customer defaults.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE4A97Z920081110

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Listen to Hamas

By Haaretz Editorial

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the ousted prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, described "the territories of 1967" as the territory of the Palestinian state "at this time." He told Haaretz correspondent Amira Hass that the Hamas government had previously made it clear that it was willing to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians' national rights, as Haaretz reported Sunday.

Read More

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The following is a good read by Ali Abunimah, co-founder of Electronic Intifada that was published on November 5th. The article examines President-elect Obama's selection of Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff.

Obama picks pro-Israel hardliner for top post
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 5 November 2008

During the United States election campaign, racists and pro-Israel hardliners tried to make an issue out of President-elect Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. Such people might take comfort in another middle name, that of Obama's pick for White House Chief of Staff: Rahm Israel Emanuel.

Emanuel is Obama's first high-level appointment and it's one likely to disappoint those who hoped the president-elect would break with the George W. Bush Administration's pro-Israel policies. White House Chief of Staff is often considered the most powerful office in the executive branch, next to the president. Obama has offered Emanuel the position according to Democratic party sources cited by media including Reuters and The New York Times. While Emanuel is expected to accept the post, that had not been confirmed by Wednesday evening the day after the election.

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Starbucks 4Q profit drops 97 pct on closure costs
By Lauren Shepherd, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Fewer U.S. customers and venti-sized costs for closing poorly performing stores led to lower sales and profit in the fourth quarter at Starbucks Corp., the company said Monday.

The quarter's results came at the end of a transition year for the coffee retailer, in which former Chief Executive Howard Schultz took back the reins of the company to again fill the CEO and chairman posts.

Seattle-based Starbucks said profit in the quarter fell 97 percent to $5.4 million, or a penny a share, from $158.5 million, or 21 cents per share. The coffee retailer earned 10 cents per share when the costs from closing about 600 stores in the U.S. and 61 locations in Australia are excluded.

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From Democray Now!

Obama’s Afghan Plan Includes Iran, Taliban Talks

On foreign policy, the Washington Post is reporting the incoming Obama administration is planning what it calls a “more regional strategy” to the occupation of Afghanistan. The plan leaves open the possibility of holding talks with Iran and elements of the Taliban. Obama would also seek to renew what he’s called an aborted effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Obama has already vowed to increase the US troop deployment there.

Israel Blocks Gaza Fuel Deliveries

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government has re-imposed a cutoff of fuel shipments to the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s main power plant shut down last night, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without electricity. Areas across the Strip were plunged into darkness, and hospitals reported imminent shortages that could shut them down. Israel authorized a limited shipment earlier today. Israel has imposed several fuel blockades on Gaza, citing Palestinian rocket fire on nearby Israeli towns. Visiting Gaza, British Parliament member Nazir Ahmed said Israel should face international isolation for its siege of Gaza.

Nazir Ahmed: “It’s time that the international community said enough is enough, and if Israel is prepared to go down this route, then they must face isolation. This is unacceptable at a time when people of Gaza are already suffering. We have seen the result of bombing [of the plant last year], and those equipment has not been replaced even now. The capacity of this plant is down to one-third when it was supplying half of the Gazan electricity.”

As darkness fell across Gaza Monday, hundreds of children gathered for a candlelight vigil to protest the blockade. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called the move an act of collective punishment.

Ismail Haniyeh: “This is not a breach of truce. This is a programmed Israeli policy, and the Egyptian host of this truce should interfere for the sake of stopping the daily bloodshed of the Palestinian people.”

Haniyeh: Hamas Would Accept 1967 Borders

Israel’s fuel blockade comes just days after Haniyeh said Hamas would accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. A 1967-based solution would mean Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Israel continues to build settlements. Haniyeh made the comments at a meeting with European lawmakers who had sailed from Cyprus to protest Israel’s Gaza blockade.

Source: Democracy Now!

Monday Morning Headlines

U.S. Provides More Aid to Big Insurer

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, NYTimes

Key Points:

• "The revised bailout came as A.I.G. reported a loss Monday of $24.47 billion, or $9.05 a share in the third quarter, after a profit of $3.09 billion, or $1.19 a share, a year ago."
• "When the restructured deal is complete, taxpayers will have invested and lent a total of $150 billion to A.I.G., the most the government has ever directed to a single private enterprise. It is a stark reversal of the government’s assurance that its earlier moves had stemmed the bleeding at A.I.G.."
• "The new deal makes the government a long-term investor in A.I.G., something that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had said he hoped to avoid."
• "Finally, the government will invest another $22.5 billion in A.I.G. to help the company buy residential mortgage-backed securities that it also insured, and similarly place them into another entity off the company’s balance sheet. A.I.G. will put up $1 billion itself."

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US Admits to Killing 37 Afghans in Attack on Wedding

In Afghanistan, the US has admitted to killing thirty-seven civilians and wounding dozens more in a military attack last week. The victims were bombed as they attended a wedding party outside the city of Kandahar. The Pentagon says the US bombed the area after coming under fire from nearby militants. It was the Pentagon’s quickest admission of a mass killing of Afghan civilians to date. It took nearly two months before the US admitted killing up to ninety civilians in a similar attack in August.

Source: Democracy Now!

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Secret Order Lets U.S. Raid Al Qaeda in Many Countries

By ERIC SCHMITT and MARK MAZZETTI,NYTimes

Key Points:

• "[M]ilitary raids, typically carried out by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed in the spring of 2004 with the approval of President Bush"
• "Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the C.I.A., according to senior American officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of C.I.A.-directed operations."
• "The 2004 order was a step in the evolution of how the American government sought to kill or capture Qaeda terrorists around the world. It was issued after the Bush administration had already granted America’s intelligence agencies sweeping power to secretly detain and interrogate terrorism suspects in overseas prisons and to conduct warrantless eavesdropping on telephone and electronic communications."
• "The Pentagon has exercised its authority frequently, dispatching commandos to countries including Pakistan and Somalia. Details of a few of these strikes have previously been reported."
• "Administration officials said that Mr. Bush’s approval had paved the way for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to sign an order — separate from the 2004 order — that specifically directed the military to plan a series of operations, in cooperation with the C.I.A., on the Qaeda network and other militant groups linked to it in Pakistan."

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Israeli soldier beats Palestinian laborers with rock; three in hospital with multiple fractures
Ma'an News Agency

Read Full Article

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Olmert: To honor Rabin, Israel must cede land

Haaretz Newspaper

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Statement by Rahm Emanuel's father

The following was written up in the Jerusalem Post regarding soon-to-be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's father:

In an interview with Ma'ariv, Emanuel's father, Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, said he was convinced that his son's appointment would be good for Israel. "Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," he was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."

More information can be found on the following link:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/11/will-the-arab-w.html

Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish Dead at 67

By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer

Mahmoud Darwish, whose prose gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile, occupation and infighting, died on Saturday in Houston. He was 67.

The predominant Palestinian poet, whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages and won numerous international awards, died following open heart surgery at a Houston hospital, said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Born to a large Muslim family in historical Palestine — now modern-day Israel — he emerged as a Palestinian cultural icon eloquently describing his people's struggle for independence while also criticizing both the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian leadership. He gave voice to the Palestinian dreams of statehood, crafted their declaration of independence and helped forge a Palestinian national identity.

(read more)

Obama Flops Again?

After retracting what he said at the AIPAC conference back on June 6 regarding East Jerusalem, Obama once again says Jerusalem will not be the Palestinian capital:

Bethlehem – Ma'an - US democratic candidate Barak Obama said during a press conference on Wednesday in Sderot, a city in the south of Israel, that he does not support the idea of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Obama made it clear that Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and that he would not see the city divided. He added that this position needed to be fixed through negotiations with the Palestinians.

Recent years have seen Obama's position on Israel/Palestine shift dramatically towards the Israeli side. He previously stated that the issue of Jerusalem should be on the table of any peace negotiation, but after criticism of his 'naïve' stance, Obama dropped this position.

The press conference was held with Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who said, "Israel and the USA have a common understanding of what must happen in the region."

Earlier Obama met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, where he said that he would work hard to continue the peace process.

Obama stressed that if he takes office this fall he will not "start from zero" with the Palestinian peace process. Rather, he said, "we will continue peace process efforts." He also expressed the desire to show Palestinians that there was good reason to hope for a resolution.

Source: Ma'an News Agency: http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30771

New Settlements...what peace?

The Associated Press is reporting that Israel is planning to expand their settlements in the West Bank by building a new settlement post. How will peace be achieved if the power broker in the deal, Israel, continues to build new settlements and expand old ones? Will the U.S. stand firm in their demands for Israel to halt their expansion?

I doubt it.

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NYTimes op-ed columnist, Nicholas Kristof, has written an interesting article this morning regarding the future of US policy in Israel.

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Ali Abunimah, the co-founder of Electronic Intifada (EI), details Obama's visit to Israel/Palestine and the disproportionate time he spent with Israeli officials compared to Palestinian officials. It's a good read.

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Democracy Now! has published the following headline regarding Obama's visit to the Middle East:

Obama Avoids Gaza Strip on Mideast Trip

Senator Barack Obama has wrapped up his Mideast tour. On Wednesday, Obama held a series of meetings with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

Senator Barack Obama: “I’m here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States, my abiding commitment to Israel’s security and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a United States senator or as a president in bringing about a more lasting peace in the region.”

Obama also visited Ramallah for a low-key visit with Palestinian officials. He did not visit the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently intensified its blockade. In Gaza, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said Obama is offering no alternative to Bush administration policy in the region.

Sami Abu Zuhri: “These positions mean that there is no minimal hope to any change in the US foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict. And this means that we are in front of one American policy, and the Palestinian people should depend on their own and on the Arab and Muslim world in facing this opposing American policy, which both the Democratic and Republican parties are adopting."

Alan M. Dershowitz -- Another Absurd Comment

Many Florida Jews Express Doubts on Obama

NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/us/politics/22jewish.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1211468464-h6/RiOTLnGncbjfRaWiUoA

If you haven't already read this article please do. It's very telling how closed-minded people are in their perceptions of Middle Easterners. More importantly, it illuminates the very sad, sad notion of acceptance of comments made by certain individuals that are down right offensive towards people of a certain region:

Israelis fear Iran “could be the first suicide nation, a nation that would destroy itself to destroy the Jewish nation,” Mr. Dershowitz said.

According to Harvard law professor, former O.J. Simpson attorney, and author Alan Dershowitz, the Iranian regime will martyr itself to destroy Israel. I'm not going to waste my time discussing the baseless and illogical statement made by Dershowitz. Instead, I want to address the culture of accepting offensive and absurd comments directed toward an individual or a to group.

Many articles, blogs, and books have been published on the culture of fear that has dominated the U.S. for many years. Countless U.S. administrations have used fear as a tool to promote and legislate certain policies that are not in the best interest of our country. This fear instilled in us has given rise to a new phenomenon that is governing who we are: acceptance. Fear is used to promote negative stereotypes of any given "enemy" (i.e., Native Americans, African slaves, Japanese, communist, Arab and Muslim terrorist, etc). Once the fear is established, acceptance begins to overtake our reason and our humanity, thus marginalizing specific groups of people. "Islam is a religion of hate. It breeds terrorist. Arabs want to kill all Jews." These horrid statements told and retold from officials and the media begins to slowly sway the perceptions of people. You hear it in the news, you read about it in the op-eds, Hollywood begins to produce films and made-for-tv series about terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S., and tons of books are published glorifying these negative images.

After being exposed to these negative images from all angles, acceptance creeps in. You are reminded of your “fear” when coming across absurd and offensive comments directed towards a specific group of people. This fear leads to accepting statements or the nature of events as true. Dershowitz's statement is an example of fear turned into acceptance. The media attention on Iran in the last thirty years has not been a favorable one. Bush has labeled Iran as part of an axis of evil and some in the media have even compared Iran's president Ahmadinejad with Hitler (this blog does not endorse Ahmadinejad nor does it agree with his policies, but to compare him with Hitler- the architect of the holocaust- is illogical and absurd). It plays into the fear card that is constantly being used and reused against Iran. Therefore, it becomes acceptable (and sadly by some, believable) to hear statements that imply Iran's, as a nation, willingness to attain martyrdom by destroying the state of Israel.

I use the word acceptable to explain this phenomenon because of the consequences (or lack thereof) of publicly making offensive comments. Very few, if any, public apologies have been given when comments of these sorts about Middle Easterners are made. When offensive comments about African Americans and Jewish Americans are made, public apologies are quick to follow. This happens when offensive and absurd comments are unacceptable by the public. Yet, I want to remind the reader that even though such comments become unacceptable, it does not mean the negative stereotypes have ceded to exist.

This way of governing, vis-a-vis fear of specific groups is a cycle that needs to be broken. It does nothing but divide people and create an atmosphere of hate that is neither desirable nor productive. The next time an offensive and absurd statement is made about any specific group (American, Arab, Black, Iranian, Jewish, etc.), it is vital that we all take a step back and really listen and decipher to what is being said. It's time to stop accepting insidious statements and start making an effort not to reinforce negative stereotypes and marginalizing specific groups.