Ne News: Independent News

Ne News 18 February 2018 Firstly, apologies for a lack of Week in Review last week, but it is back this week. While the world is focusing on Pyeongchang for the Winter Olympics (there is some Winter Olympics-related news here), there has been other news that has flown under the radar in the media this week (both mainstream and alternative) that wasn't covered by Ne News this week. Moon's Chief of Staff Takes Centre Stage in Inter-Korean Detente In 1989, a then-22 year old student from South Korea sneaked into North Korea and was filmed advocating for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula, which was divided by the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1945, even though the people of Korea wanted independence after the defeat of the occupiers at the end of the Second World War. The person in question was Im Jong-seok , who at the time was a prominent student democracy activist and is now the Chief of Staff for South Korean Presi...

Sandy English World Socialist Web Site 14 February 2018 In a reactionary decision made earlier this week, the Duluth, Minnesota, school board decided to remove Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mocking b ird (1960), set in the Jim Crow south, and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), about the friendship between a white boy and an escaped slave in the antebellum South, from its schools’ curricula. The reason given was the frequent use of racial slurs. Michael Cary, director of curriculum and instruction for the district, told the media, “Conversations about race are an important topic, and we want to make sure we address those conversations in a way that works well for all of our students.” The decision was made by a group of “district leaders and leaders in Duluth’s secondary schools,” after complaints by parents and students. Apparently, teachers were not consulted and only heard the news last week. The books will remain in the Duluth Public Sch...

Ne News 16 February 2018 Native-born or an "illegal" immigrant. Left-wing liberal or right-wing conservative. Visitor to Alex Jones' Infowars or a visitor to World Socialist Web Site. Christian or Muslim. The mainstream media (and sadly, some in the alternative media) often plays to our differences, and humanity is lapping it up without questioning. But what we are not told that people have more in common with people outside their country than with the ruling elite in their own country. This means that people like Neil Erikson (from the United Patriot Front in Australia) have more in common with Muslims in Australia than with the elite in Australia (note that the far-right wing groups tend to look after the elite's interests rather than the interests of the people). In recent weeks, there have been talk of alleged "crimes" by Africans here in Melbourne, and that people are too scared of going out to restaurants because of African gangs. But while Sudan...

Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Global Research 14 February 2018 Speaking at his alma mater, the University of Texas, on February 1, Secretary of State  Tillerson suggested a potential military coup in Venezuela .   Tillerson then visited allied Latin American countries  urging regime change and more economic sanctions on Venezuela. Tillerson is considering banning the processing or sale of Venezuelan oil in the United States and is discouraging other countries from buying Venezuelan oil. Further, the US is laying the groundwork for war against Venezuela. In a series of tweets, Senator  Marco Rubio , the Republican from Florida, where many Venezuelan oligarchs live, called for a military coup in Venezuela. The world would support the Armed Forces in #Venezuela if they decide to protect the people & restore democracy by removing a dictator — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 9, 2018 How absurd — remove an elected president wit...

Hans Stehling Global Research 13 February 2018 Will this be the trigger, finally, for the active commencement of Operation Greater Israel that Netanyahu has been meticulously planning for the whole of his political career, and prior to his increasingly likely indictment on corruption charges as he is finally forced from office later this year? A last ditch attempt to implement the infamous Zionist ideological agenda for the ethnic cleansing of the whole of former Palestine and the military expansion into not only Lebanon but also Jordan, Syria and Iraq in order to confront his sworn enemy, Iran, and to implement his (revisionist) Zionist dream of Israel as hegemon of the Middle East? That would likely involve a full-scale attack on Lebanon; the targeted (criminal) political assassination of senior Hezbollah leaders and presumably the Israeli occupation of Beirut using US-supplied F-16 and F-35 strike aircraft, courtesy of Mr Trump, and (reluctantly) backed b...

Middle East Monitor 13 February 2018 2006-Present 07 February 2018:  Israel advances a plan to build a walkway though the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem to connect two settler residential compounds in the Palestinian At-Tur neighbourhood 07 February 2018:   During a Knesset report on the policy of refusing to return the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces to their families for burial, officials are urged to ‘throw it into the sea’, ‘we should not return bodies. We should demolish homes’, others say 05 February 2018:   A number of Israeli politicians, including coalition government members, call for ‘practical moves’ to be taken to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank while Donald Trump heads the White House 04 February 2018 :  Israel grants legal status to the unauthorised outpost of Havat Gilad in the occupied West Bank 05 February 2018:  The Israeli army is imposing ‘harsh travel res...

Bjørnar Moxnes The Bullet 12 February 2018 Norwegian parliamentarian Bjørnar Moxnes has officially nominated the BDS movement for Palestinian rights for a Nobel Peace Prize. He did so with the support of his party, the progressive Rødt (Red) Party, explaining why BDS “should be supported without reservation by all democratically-minded people and states.” The following is his statement on nominating the BDS Movement for Palestinian Rights for a Nobel Peace Prize. * As a member of the Norwegian parliament, I proudly use my authority as an elected official to nominate the  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions  (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights for the Nobel Peace Prize. Nominating the BDS movement for this recognition is perfectly in line with the principles I and my party hold very dear. Like the BDS movement, we are fully committed to stopping an ascendant, racist and right-wing politics sweeping too much of our world, and securing freedom, j...