Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 23 (since 2010-09-08 20:40:43)

timhaughton

Website: http://www.dubitante.org

Showing comments 23 - 1
Page:

  • Iraq-- I'm sorry
  • Palestinians to submit bid for full UN membership on Sept. 23.
  • 'Leahy Law' seeks to hold all countries to the same standard, including Israel
    • timhaughton August 18, 2011 at 5:54 am

      Section 502B of the US Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that:

      “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”

      and section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act authorizes the supply of US military equipment and training only for lawful purposes of internal security, “legitimate self-defense,” or participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations or other operations consistent with the UN Charter.

  • Propaganda spotlight: The truth about the West Bank
    • timhaughton August 3, 2011 at 9:49 am

      If I was going to point to a specific moment, I would probably point you to the Treaty of Versailles, but even that wasn't successful in ridding the world of secret treaties.

      Today, secret treaties would be (for most examples I can think of) be illegal, in the sense that they are not admissible under article 102 of the UN charter.

      But at that time, a secret treaty was no different in its legal strength. c.f. The Sykes Picot Agreement.

      Most books on treaty law, or large volumes on International Law would provide you with that you need.

    • timhaughton August 3, 2011 at 3:58 am

      And of course, if we were to use the principle of estoppel, your argument is self defeating.

      The Balfour Delcaration was just a letter, from a minister, to a private British citizen, and carried precisely zero legal weight until it was incorporated into the mandate a few years later.

      And this happened AFTER the formation of the treaty promising Palestine for Arab independence.

    • timhaughton August 3, 2011 at 3:29 am

      "I will repeat. Secret agreements held by the British as mentioned in these videos hold no weight under international law."

      Secret treaties were binding under international law. They're not a great idea for other, mostly obvious reasons, but are legally binding, and they have been around from time immemorial.

      They fell out of favour a few years later.

    • timhaughton August 3, 2011 at 3:24 am

      Hi, I'd be very surprised if your were being censored just for citing international law.

      If you don't feel you can comment freely here (which again, I doubt), I will post on my website in a day or so and you can explain why I'm wrong there :)

    • timhaughton August 3, 2011 at 3:21 am with 1 replies

      Hi Brad, thanks for your comment. I'm not a propagandist, I have neither the talent nor the budget to produce a slick video like Mr Ayalon's. I'm more interested in the content and the techniques used.

  • Palestinians once weren't smart and inventive, Walzer says, but now they are
    • timhaughton June 1, 2011 at 10:59 am with 1 replies

      and the right of return doesn’t (yet) have sufficient international support

      Amusing, since it has near universal support, and has been shown to be vital for solving conflicts in which people are [displaced/ethnically cleansed] from their homes.

  • And this is just England
  • Slater: Hamas is pragmatic
    • timhaughton May 3, 2011 at 4:33 pm

      And Netanyahu regularly speaks about (and approves policy) for the theft of Palestine, in fact his party's constitution calls for the destruction of Palestine.

  • Finkelstein, Khalidi, Peter Weiss to talk Goldstone tonight
  • The three sacred words of US-Israeli rejectionism
    • timhaughton May 1, 2011 at 4:34 am

      Yes the current constitutions calls for the same thing, just in different language.

      Safeguarding the right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel as an eternal, inalienable right, working diligently to settle and develop all parts of the land of Israel, and extending national sovereignty to them.

      "The Land of Israel", or "Eretz Yisrael" in typical current usage refers to the area of the British Mandate of Palestine. So when it calls for the extension of Israeli sovereignty to, and the settlement of, all of Palestine, we're talking again about wiping Palestine off the map. And therefore being bordered by the Jordan River is implicit.

      Hamas hasn't updated its charter, but it has said that it is irrelevant to the Hamas of today. I'm not aware of their politburo ever referring to it since being elected. Although I will gladly accept correction on that if anyone knows different.

    • timhaughton April 30, 2011 at 7:45 am

      Nice spot Avi. Hard to believe that Bob Fisk writes for the same paper isn't it?

    • timhaughton April 30, 2011 at 7:41 am

      Thanks Bill, and no, I'm not *that* Tim Haughton. There's a team of us, he covers central and eastern Europe, I do the Middle East :)

  • 'Mathilde Redmatn' and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
    • timhaughton April 29, 2011 at 7:15 am

      Yes, they seem predictably intent on missing the key points:

      - No one in the corporate media bothered to check the story, if they had, they would have found the transliteration error.

      - Whether or not we use the term "humanitarian crisis", it doesn't affect the actual facts on the ground, just the terminology.

      Predictably "Camera" :)

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 10:41 am

      Assessing the presence or absence of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is akin to a doctor measuring a patients health by ticking a box which says "Is Dying".

      "Humanitarian crisis" has become a sound bite, the details are more important.

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 9:56 am

      What did the ICRC Jerusalem office tell you about Mathilde De Riedmatten?

      Very little, all I did was confirm her name and that she was head of ICRC operations in Gaza.

      I've asked ICRC for an official clarification of their position. Still waiting.

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 9:52 am

      Exactly, I'm sure it isn't a fabrication, just an indication of how unquestioning the corporate media are when it comes to official sources of information.

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 7:52 am with 1 replies

      One of the things which also aroused some interest for me, whilst trying to verify the story, I stumbled across Ms. De RiedMatten's Facebook Profile.

      It was originally, quite open, it listed her friends at the UN and her employer as the ICRC. It has, in the last couple of days seen something of a lockdown, so I suspect some flak has gone her way.

      But the thing which caught my eye was her profile picture:

      link to twitpic.com

      Now I could be entirely wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the photo before. I think it is a photo of a market stall in Gaza, and has been used, in the past as a way of saying "Look! The Gazans have food!" - hopefully someone will recognise the photo or tell me I'm talking nonsense, either is fine.

      Like I said, I could be reading too much into it, it just looked familiar. And if I'm right, it's odd that this would be her profile picture.

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 5:49 am with 3 replies

      There is no "Mathilde Redmatn" at the ICRC, but "Mathilde De Riedmatten" is the deputy head of the ICRC in Gaza.

      I haven't had confirmation of the interview or its content, but I'm sure that she will have spoken to the IDF Spokesperson.

    • timhaughton April 27, 2011 at 5:40 am with 2 replies

      I’m not too fond of that term, “War of the Narratives.” It implies that there are always two sides to the truth"

      I'm not fond of the term either, but it's a reality. Objectivity is something for philosophy students to debate, everyone has a point of view.

      I choose to base my view on the documentary record, as do many. The vast majority base their views on what they read in the corporate media, so when I use the term "war of narratives" I'm simply recognising that there are many different narratives in this conflict which compete for mind space, and the foundations of these narratives are not equal.

Showing comments 23 - 1
Page:

Comments are closed.