Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 20553 (since 2009-07-30 20:11:08)

Annie Robbins

Annie Robbins is Editor at Large for Mondoweiss, a mother, a human rights activist and a ceramic artist. She lives in the SF bay area. Follow her on Twitter @anniefofani

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  • Setting a dangerous precedent: 16-year-old Ali Shamlawi faces 25 counts of attempted murder for alleged stone throwing
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 2:23 pm with 1 replies

      this is a set up. i remember when they changed the law to make stone throwing charges from manslaughter to murder just months ago and all the accompanying 'rock throwing' crap in the press to go along with it. this is a sin what they are doing, that goes without saying. there was not one witness who saw anyone at this scene throwing rocks. i recall from the time, we reported it here. it was only that witness had seem kids throwing rocks there at other times.

  • Looking for 'a new devil,' Israeli leaders and supporters left scrambling after election of moderate Rouhani
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 11:02 am with 4 replies

      what a great article and a pleasure to read.

      Netanyahu also noted that the Iranian president wields no real power in Iran, a concept unmentioned throughout the Ahmadinejad era. "It's the same Iran," an Israeli government statement read.

      honestly i have not finished it yet but i just had to stop and say...i love the simplicity of logic, it's so uncomplicated, such an easy read, and excellent embeds and the ravid blockquote! ok, back tot he article. what a winner Nima, we're so lucky.

  • Religious zealots attack shepherd. Soldiers, playing 'messiah's donkey,' back zealots
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 9:49 am with 1 replies

      Israel can’t bring itself to call pricetag what it is: terrorism.

      how surprising!/not. the jpost 'investigation' link mentioned this:

      Last month Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and members of the IDF, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the State Attorney’s Office held a meeting to discuss the escalating violence.

      Participants at the meeting discussed harsher steps to deter such incidents, including legally defining “price-tag” incidents as acts of terror, according to sources.

      In the past, Weinstein had opposed such a legal definition, but according to sources, he is weighing shifting that opinion, given that the legal deterrents currently available to police have not been sufficient to halt these crimes.

      gee, after decades they're considering it! but, just not yet....

  • When a 'stockpile of homemade bombs' is ho-hum and ha-ha
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 9:57 am

      hedging to say anything definitive for fear of stirring up Islamophobia. The politicians and media here are steeped in political correctness and moral relativism

      really, because my impression was the media steered pretty clear of expanding on the brothers contacts with the cia. given the recent history of spying on muslims and efforts of entrapment (and some might even claim 'assistance' with encouragement, instruction, procurement of explosives) the press dropped the ball where segments of social media didn't.

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 12:25 am with 2 replies

      if you google 'html blockquote' there are multiple examples like this:
      link to www-sul.stanford.edu

      scroll to 'example' and try replicating. in the future please use comment policy thread for instruction, thanks.

  • Hiding in plain sight
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 11:57 am

      thanks for linking.

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 10:24 am

      that article is classic propaganda citizen, the writer claims to be a leftie and slashes the left using teminology of what 'we do' and then sets up all these boundaries surrounding what's appropriate and what isn't, according to him ..the implication being anyone outside his boundaries has a small mind. and we are supposed to fall for this because it's initially couched as 'self criticism'. pleease.

  • Exile and the prophetic: Atoning for the sins of empire
    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 2:47 pm with 2 replies

      The ships laden with German capital goods began to call at Haifa regularly and unfailingly, becoming an important — ultimately a decisive — factor in the building up of the country.

      citizen, Nahum Goldman's words imply german goods and infrastructure arriving in Israel "regularly and unfailingly" were primarily as a result of the reparations, but before the founding of the state german goods were flooding into the country as a result of the transfer agreement.

  • US and Israel are accused of manipulating Hague to acquit accused Serb and Croat leaders
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 12:45 pm

      Distinction without a difference.

      don't be disingenuous. if there was no difference why didn't you say:

      I see nowhere here any substantiation for phil's suspicion that "Israeli ideas of how to deal with conflict have swayed the U.S."

      ;)

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 12:36 pm with 2 replies

      keith, isn't it just as relevant to look at what precedence this sets in terms of what could be prosecuted in the future, as well as past events. israel may be blameless in yugoslavia but my understanding of the implications of rules changing in the tribunals is more about changing international law than it is about yugoslavia.

      even a year ago the rules were different. can you think of anything that happened over the last year (like around nov 29th) that might concern israel?

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 12:32 pm

      Pressured? You mean, he argued his position and said they should adopt it?

      They voted the other way.

      hops, according to "a senior court official" cited by nyt 1/2 the judges "are feeling very uncomfortable and prefer to turn to a different candidate,”

      this is not about the 2 judges out of 3 who adopted his ptv on the acquittal.

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 12:03 pm with 3 replies

      any substantiation of the accusation

      strawman, phil never accused israel was manipulating the hague.

    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 9:31 am

      Actually Annie, acquitting a guilty defendant does serve justice if there is insufficient evidence to meet the legal standard of guilt.

      with all due respect gil i really think you are missing my point. i already stated "convicting an innocent party doesn’t serve justice ".

      what's happening here is the 'legal standard of guilt' has been shifted. and it has been shifted at a time when the court has yet to decide cases against General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic president of the Serbian republic in Bosnia. to site the danish press linked by the nyt link to b.dk " it is now required that the commander must have had a direct intent crimes"....this is changing the goalposts in international law in this way:

      So far it has been up to the commander in the world to ensure that no crimes committed under their command, and if it does, that they are doing what they can to prosecute the guilty. It follows from international law - but maybe not anymore.

      ......

      Associate Professor Karsten Fledelius from Copenhagen University is an expert on the consequences of the civil war and share Harhoffs concern.

      "I agree that the recent decisions are seriously indemnify overall responsibility for subordinates' crimes. In some of the cases, the defendants free on mere technicalities - such as with the precision artillery shells supposed to hit. It bodes ill for the judicial settlement with General Mladic. Although we can place him at the sites of massacres committed, he was very careful to speak in the media that he was the human-General. The basis throughout the UN tribunal is to proceed to a degree, so we can end up in a situation where the Hague Tribunal would be hard pressed to know a Adolf Hitler guilty of war crimes committed by the German army during the Second World War. '

      and this is not about one judges complaint, back to the nyt:

      “I’d say about half the judges are feeling very uncomfortable and prefer to turn to a different candidate,” said a senior court official. The official said he did not believe that American officials had pressured Judge Meron to rule a certain way in any case, “But I believe he wants to cooperate with his government,” the official said. “He’s putting on a lot of pressure and imposing internal deadlines that do not exist.”

      The legal dispute that is the focus of Judge Harhoff’s letter and that has led to sharp language in dissents is the degree of responsibility that senior military leaders should bear for war crimes committed by their subordinates.

      Judge Meron was trying to get his fellow judges to apply the correct legal standard for conviction, not an arbitrary, guilt by association standard.

      i had the misfortune of being accused of a "desire to act as the ultimate gatekeeper of opinions" here the other evening, so feel free to disagree with me all you want. but i would appreciate you understanding my point, which i stated in my earlier comment to you (3:12) by quoting the nyt , the "tribunal…has pioneered new laws". the definition of what you call " the correct legal standard for conviction" is being changed, and along with it, international law. that should be of concern to all of us if it's altered in such a way as only subordinates will be held responsible for crimes committed and not commanding officers.

      so if you think Annie’s statement above, “‘justice served’ is not synonymous with acquitting defendants”, illustrates the problem. i strenuously beg to differ. btw, i noticed you didn't answer my question:

      do you think justice served is synonymous with acquitting defendants?

      because there are examples of 'justice served' that have led to convictions.

    • Annie Robbins June 16, 2013 at 3:21 am with 6 replies

      gil, The fact that he may be unwilling to allow automatic convictions of alleged war criminals may be evidence of courage on his part.

      i didn't read anything about even a suggestion of "automatic convictions" in the article. who's claiming or advocating that?

      Annie’s statement above, “‘justice served’ is not synonymous with acquitting defendants”, illustrates the problem.

      why? do you think justice served is synonymous with acquitting defendants?

      Does Annie mean that acquitting defendants does not serve justice, that accused defendants are necessarily guilty?

      acquitting a guilty defendants does not serve justice, obviously. and convicting an innocent party doesn't serve justice either. justice served means a fair trial. i am more concerned with the idea the tribunal...has pioneered new laws

      Obsidian said judges are always pressuring the lawyers to move the case

      you said Since when does the opinion of disgruntled prosecutors who have lost a case provide evidence of corruption by the presiding judge? Prosecutors (district attorneys, et al) think everyone they have ever charged with a crime is guilty and every judge or jury who has ruled against them is wrong or even

      nobody said anything about 'automatic convictions' and there was not a charge against meron that he was pressuring lawyers or prosecutors to move the case along as both you and obsidian implied. i don't support 'automatic' anything. let's review what's been said:

      The New York Times reports on a "mini-rebellion" of judges at the UN war crimes tribunal at the Hague over an Israeli-American "president" judge who is setting the bar impossibly high so as to acquit Serbian and Croat leaders

      and here's the nyt:

      the court’s president, an American, pressured other judges into approving the recent acquittals of top Serb and Croat commanders.

      pressuring other judges is not the same thing as pressuring lawyers before the bench. and contrary to your argument the charge is not that he "unwilling to allow automatic convictions" is was that he applied pressure to push thru acquittals.

      people should not rush war crimes trials. it take a lot of effort getting those people to trial, after years. there should be no rush to judgement. and judges should not be pressure to acquit anymore than they should be pressured to convict. justice served is not synonymous with acquitting defendants.

    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 3:56 pm

      Phil has made a ‘rush to judgment’.

      is 'rush to judgement' how you're paraphrasing " My suspicion"

      because suspicions are not the same as judgements. furthermore you initially claimed phil "ignores" using as evidence the judges caveat that we'll never know.

      inserting your opinion is not good enough, you have to claim your sorry excuse for' logic' is being ignored. it's not, it's just not compelling.

      besides, zionists have an established record of trying to water down international law to cover up their criminal behavior.

    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 2:58 pm with 4 replies

      phil didn't ignore anything.

      “We will probably never know.” and "judges are always pressuring the lawyers to move the case" is not any kind of evidence refuting phil suspicions.

      furthermore it is you who are ignoring/dismissing the words of the whistleblower, the danish judge:

      Judge Meron, a United States citizen who was formerly an Israeli diplomat, applied “tenacious pressure” on his fellow judges in such a way that it “makes you think he was determined to achieve an acquittal.”

      'justice served' is not synonymous with acquitting defendants.

  • Report from Yemen: 'I thought the United States was all about democracy and the rule of law. Instead, what you’re teaching us is the law of the jungle.'
    • Annie Robbins June 17, 2013 at 11:50 am

      . About 120 Guantanamo detainees have “graduated” from Saudi Arabia’s program, the core of which is to return “extremists” to “true Islam.” The program, for example, teaches participants they can only wage jihad with government approval — specifically the head or ruler of state — and not through a fatwa issued by an ideologue.

      hmm, there's no evidence a lot of these prisoners have ever waged jihad before anyway. and now they are released to another program in saudi arabia? release them!

  • Snowden/Greenwald show: left and right must overcome cultural differences for work ahead
  • Orthodox community may lose social services from Jewish organizations over anti-Zionist rally
    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 1:49 pm with 2 replies

      I would not connect our help to them to their policies — but I just very clearly believe that they should think carefully about the ramifications of such a rally here on these shores,” said Rabbi Shmuel Goldin

      what does this mean, I would not connect our help to them to their policies?

      i would not call red red, let's call it yellow and no one will notice!

  • Palestinian activist Abir Kopty: Oslo should go, the peace process serves Israeli interests
    • Annie Robbins June 14, 2013 at 1:23 pm

      hostage, thanks for your 10:07 pm comment. it clears things up for me.

      your next at 11:13. i am a little confused with your reference to " The people living under South African Apartheid had the good common sense to establish separate national liberation and human rights movements" as it pertains to the PA. yes, he PA has contained entities engaged in an on-going international armed conflict with Israel, but does that make the PA a "national liberation and human rights movement"?

      also, my comment you copied up top, it wasn't addressing Israeli Palestinians per se. but i see your point.

    • Annie Robbins June 14, 2013 at 1:00 pm

      harry, i completely agree US/Israel want to buy time. however, here's my point wrt "Abbas has agreed to suspend his applications to join the UN agencies, and not to formally join the ICC":

      "For a limited and specified period of time a new opportunity will be given to international efforts under way to break the deadlock in the peace process," the resolution read. It went on to say, "In the event Israel thwarts such efforts, we will again turn to international organizations."

      Both sources gave the timeframe of the suspension of the Palestinian Authority's efforts to secure member-state status in various UN agencies as around eight weeks starting on March 22, when U.S. President Barack Obama concluded his visit to the region, with a possible four-week extension.

      After the final deadline the Palestinians will assess the prospects of the U.S. efforts. The Israeli source noted that Kerry has said he would allocate three to six months to the process, suggesting that Abbas might agree to an additional extension.

      what kerry would allocate is not the same as what abbas/Fatah Central Committee agreed to in the resolution, according to both sources. 8 weeks plus a 4 week extension is a little less than 3 months from march 22. whatever abbas has committed himself to, wrt suspending applications to join the UN agencies, or formally joining the ICC, is over in less than a week.

    • Annie Robbins June 14, 2013 at 1:27 am with 5 replies

      and racist. notice he's not suggesting israel jews move to argentina.

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 7:44 pm with 14 replies

      Abbas has agreed to suspend his applications to join the UN agencies, and not to formally join the ICC

      for how how long harry? link to haaretz.com

      "Palestinians say they will resume unilateral moves if no breakthrough is reached in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."

      besides, palestinians don't need abbas to go to the UN. there's a difference between the PA and the PLO. one can dismantle the PA and the PLO will still represent the palestinian people at the UN. abbas didn't go to the UN representing the PA, but the PLO.

      this surrender by the PA is a sop to the Israelis who will build, build, build over the next six months and the extension requested by Israel’s lawyer [Kerry] thereafter. What a farce.

      i completely agree! palestinians should dump the PA for good.

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 7:38 pm

      each agreement has two sides

      when either side of an agreement facilitates israel expansion and control of the people and the territory then start thinking outside the box you're in.

      shud ask themselves if the situation for the Palestinians was better or worse before the implementation of the Oslo accords.

      why? why not ask themselves if the situation for the Palestinians was better or worse before the implementation of the state of israel? why limit palestinian aspirations to another timeframe when they were refugees? as if their choices were limited to 'israel in control this way' or 'israel in control that way'?

      how about a choice that looks like 'israel not being on control of palestinians lives, at all.'

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 4:45 pm

      Meanwhile, Israel National News (a right wing Jewish media outlet) was upset that Israel was even giving the Arabs the city of Nu’aimah

      you must be either very gullible or think we're fools. this is called 'moving the center'. as the ethnic cleansing state moves further to corral the oppressed residents like cattle their media highlights the wails of extremists who want them forcibly exiled or worse. then you juxtapose allison with the ethnic cleansing extremists (you who advocate palestinians move to south america!!!) and low and behold..what's in the middle? the ethnic cleansing state who's ever so generously building the reservation to corral palestinians under occupation.

      btw, the land for this 'city' is not israel's to 'give' away, nor is the surrounding land they plan on stealing.

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 4:33 pm with 10 replies

      have the PLO leadership go back to Tunis, collect all weapons from Palestinian security forces, revert to military rule in Judea, Samaria and Gaza Strip.

      that's our asherpat, never at a loss for creative solutions/NOT

  • The kids are back, and it's not alright
    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 5:08 pm

      you say nothing. #hypocrisy

      are you nuts, i specifically addressed her remarks to make my point:

      there is a difference between criticizing people who agree with a political construct (zionist) and critiquing an entire population of a country.

      i'm not being hypocritical, you're feigning dense.

      I was not referring to all Germans.

      oh really? so when you said "you people" you were only referencing GL and the neo nazis? gee hops, that clears things up.

      and i'd like to note, MLK's birmingham speech aside, i placed a caveat at the base of my comment it wasn't to be construed as agreement w/GL that beinart was 'the worst', because that was not my point.

      you seem incapable of even the pretense of making a decent argument lately.

    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 3:36 pm

      oh, thank you!

    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 9:30 am

      They are first generation Americans.

      they are? how do you know that? and what does 'Arab kids' having never seen an Israeli soldier have to do the hypocrisy of these kids pretense of societal anti semitism?

    • Annie Robbins June 15, 2013 at 9:23 am with 9 replies

      you people? you mean all germans? hops, there is a difference between criticizing people who agree with a political construct (zionist) and critiquing an entire population of a country.

      and i am not saying that because i agree w/GL about beirnart being 'the worst'.

    • Annie Robbins June 14, 2013 at 10:59 am with 2 replies

      hostage, you didn't close your quote. were you quoting howard grief?

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 6:50 pm

      i visited Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (linked in article) and they've made note of the post here. they added an update "Can't help but wonder how they'd feel about this. "and then link to a hamas summer camp. it begs the question how than can compare a society used for target practice by the 4th largest military power in the world link to mondoweiss.net

      and human shields by the 4th largest military power in the world

      link to mondoweiss.net

      not to mention children regularly jailed by an occupier who posts wanted signs for children around the village: link to mondoweiss.net

      to the american kids in these videos, many of whom are likely from privileged homes.

      and one of the commenters,in comparison to young jewish proud, says "And that these kids, braces, acne and all are authentic kids." well jvp-yjp never claimed to be children. there's young,and then there's too young. they are not too young to be playing and lighting candles in the photos, but this vendetta video is bizarre.

      hands down i wouldn't feel as uncomfortable if they were college age or 20/30 yr olds doing this. but most of these kids are way too young to be manipulated and brainwashed this way.

    • Annie Robbins June 13, 2013 at 5:13 pm with 1 replies

      anybody want to place bets on which one of these kids in the video will be the first mondoweiss contributor authoring a 'how i was brainwashed at club z' testimony?

      i bet it will be within 5 years.

    • Annie Robbins June 12, 2013 at 11:42 pm

      the sound track is very different, and the people in the jvp-yjp video don't share the same kind of energy you see and hear from some of the kids (not all, just some). there's a doom and gloom aspect about the children's video.

    • Annie Robbins June 12, 2013 at 3:25 pm with 4 replies

      the music is really weird too. very end of times music. i'm not getting the upshot of that. it was probably added later and not the kids doing but it's still weird.

  • Former Yale official accuses Yale 'unequivocally' of anti-Semitism
    • Annie Robbins June 12, 2013 at 7:55 pm

      as always my pleasure phil. ;)

      for the curious i found this video mining the youtube page of Rimon's Masha Merkulova ( link to youtube.com ) while i was snooping around for this post: link to mondoweiss.net

      it's got everything "blame and shame"..pay a price...muslim brotherhood..etc.."faculty run the risk of 'professional humiliation'"

    • Annie Robbins June 12, 2013 at 12:41 pm with 2 replies

      i thought i would add that personally i think the biggest red flag about this conference being held in israel by the foreign ministry is the focus "action plan-antisemitism on campus". iow, this should leave no doubt the "agenda" for US campuses (think UCberkeley and UCSC and all that crap involving the new 'antisemitism' office at the WH to deal w/it) is being directed out of israel by the israeli government.

    • Annie Robbins June 12, 2013 at 12:32 pm with 10 replies

      this is from the " blamed the closure on political correctness:" page:

      “It appears that Yale, unlike YIISA, is not willing to engage in a comprehensive examination of the current crisis facing living Jews, but instead is comfortable with reexamining the plight of Jews who perished at the hands of antisemites,” Small said. “The role of a true scholar and intellectual is to shed light where there is darkness, which is why we at YIISA are committed to critical engaged scholarship with a broader approach to the complex, and at times controversial context of contemporary global antisemitism.”

      he's not being completely honest. his likely intent with the center, and certainly the intent of this israel foreign ministry conference which is clear from the beginning of the video, is to adopt the european union definition of anti semitism which conflates it with anti zionism. so when he says "contemporary" anti semitism this is what he's talking about , the "new" anti semitism.

      and in that same 2011 link this is spelled out as such:

      Sociology Professor Jeffrey Alexander, a member of the YIISA faculty governance committee, said that Small’s use of the phrase “engaged scholarship” revealed YIISA’s focus on politics over scholarship. YIISA was “definitely” too political, in his view, which reduced its appeal to the broader Yale population, causing it to fail the review of its academic standards.

      “The reason [for YIISA’s lack of success] was that it was political, had a strong political orientation,” Alexander said. “[This orientation] was to defend the policies of the current conservative government [of Israel], and the whole post ‘67 tendency of Israel’s foreign policy, which is to occupy conquered territories, to continue the settlement movement.”

  • The MSM tries to distinguish between Manning and Snowden. Don't let them
    • Annie Robbins June 14, 2013 at 1:31 pm with 2 replies

      i recommend The NSA's Panopticon

      link to moonofalabama.org

      The Panopticon is a architectural concept for a prison where the guards can watch, unseen by the inmates, from a tower in the middle into all cells build in a circle around the tower. It leaves the inmates in a perceived state of permanent surveillance. The French philosopher Michel Foucault described the effect:

      Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers.

      The original Panopticon, like the digital version the NSA is building, takes away all feeling of privacy. Even when one is not watched, knowing that the possibility of being watched is always there, creates uncertainty and leads to self disciplining and self censorship. It is certainly a state the powers that be would like everyone, except themselves, to be in.

      (more at the link) i also highly recommend googling Panopticon by image.

  • Approaching 60, Norman Finkelstein reflects

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