Dylan whines to Maureen Orth who passes it on to Janet Maslin

And the press plays dumb.

Or Gawker and Vulture do.

They've taken some mild comments by New York Times book reviewer Janet Maslin and hyped them into 'blame the victim' and they really don't want you to know that not only was Maslin not blaming the victim, she was relaying what Vanity Fair's Maureen Orth told her.




Yes, we're back to the Tawdry Life of Mia Farrow, forgotten star of yesteryear who was real popular on the TV show Peyton Place about fifty years ago.  She followed that up with Rosemary's Baby and then never had another blockbuster.  She had a lot of flops.

In an attempt to appear relevant and to distract from her smear campaign against Naomi Campbell (why does Mia hate people of color?), Mia upstaged her daughter in Vanity Fair article.

Mia's war on ex-boyfriend Woody Allen has never ended for Mia.

So she decided to reveal that her son with Woody, now known as Ronan Farrow, could be her son with Frank Sinatra because even though she was divorced from Frank in the sixties, she kept sleeping with him -- through marriage, through relationships, you name it.

This little bit of gossip upstaged Dylan Farrow talking about her alleged assault in 1993 by Woody Allen.  Mia had begged Dylan to be part of the article.  Mia could get a cover, she insisted, if Dylan would talk to Maureen Orth for the Vanity Fair article.

A cover!!!!

Mia hadn't been on a cover since People magazine's 20th anniversary issue in 1994.

That was nearly 20 years ago and since then all she had really was playing a scowl on Third Watch and do the sort of trash-yourself-cinema that Joan Crawford did -- only Joan at least played the lead role in the bad horror films while Mia was a bit played who died early in the 2006 remake of The Omen.

So Dylan spoke in a vague manner and the article gets published but all anyone cares about is the revelation that Mia's claiming Ronan could be Frank Sinatra's son.

It makes for good gossip for many.

It's just Mia being tawdry and overplaying her hand.

In 1992, Mia and Woody Allen had already drifted apart and were basically going through the motions. They were set to make Manhattan Murder Mystery.  Mia went to Woody's place (they always had separate residences) and, while waiting for him, snooped around and discovered photos of her 19-year-old daughter Soon-Yi Previn.

Soon-Yi Previn.  The daughter of Mia Farrow and Andre Previn.

Mia exploded and raged.

At her own home, she'd confront Soon-Yi and physically attack her.

Then she'd ask her other children to tell Soon-Yi that Mommy Who Hits With Firsts still loves her, just can't stand to see her.  And cuts her out of a photo and replaces her face with newly adopted Tam's face.

That's rather extreme behavior -- especially when you consider that, as Mia's revealed, she was sleeping with Frank Sinatra before Woody was sleeping with Soon-Yi.


Mia had to move on.  The one million Woody gave her as a gift (which she fails to note in her book) wouldn't last forever and even though she was willing to make Manhattan Murder Mystery with him, he was done with her.

(In all her outrage, Mia wasn't about to give up a leading role in a film.)


Then came the custody battle followed by the allegation that he'd molested Dylan.

And the nation had to endure the tawdry spectacle.

That was 1992 and should have stayed there.

But Mia's got to kick start that failed career.  You can't look fifty at 69 without a little professional help and that costs money.

So here comes Vanity Fair -- both gullible and willing to shade the truth (Ava and C.I. say, "Honey, we'll go into that next week.  Oh, is there a story there.")

But Mia's stunt means no one cares about Dylan.

And that upsets Dylan.

Janet Maslin explained last week in a panel on film discussion (at the organization she funds and heads):

One odd thing about that Vanity Fair piece, that one that ran a few months ago, was that the big news in the piece was supposed to be ‘Dylan Farrow Speaks Out’ and what happened, just purely by chance, was that the news became, 'Ronan Farrow May Be Frank Sinatra’s Son.’ And Dylan Farrow, I happen to know this through a friend very close to the story, was very unhappy that this suddenly wasn’t about her. And I think that’s that part of why she decided to start calling attention to herself. 


Through a friend?

Maureen Orth.

Who'd heard from Mia and Dylan how disappointed Dylan was with the story.

Dylan was upset that she wasn't the takeaway.

That's why she then tried to get papers to run a letter from her.

They said no.  They included The New York Times.

Then Nicholas Kristof (Iraq War cheerleader, don't forget) took the letter and used his position as a columnist to publish it.

And the nation had to go through more tawdry drama from Mia.

Is there anyone trashier in the United States than Mia Farrow?

Probably not.

The whole thing's backfired on Mia.  Whereas in 1992, the nation embraced her, they're now wary of her because she's lied about the paternity of Ronan and because she's just so trashy.

It hasn't been good for Dylan either.  Be sure to check out Pathological Doubter's analysis of Dylan Farrow's 'open letter:'

Anyway, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Dylan has demanded that the reader, i.e.me, be the judge and jury in her case, so here it goes.

Dylan’s statements to the press have made me reassess the possibility of Allen’s innocence. The language Dylan uses, in my opinion, is the language of liars and manipulators. Her statements are teeming with disingenuous, inconsistent and hypocritical assertions. I will go through her statements to demonstrate. In other words, i did not find the witness to be credible.

And things are actually going to get worse.

Next week, we'll explain the lies and we'll also address how, if the molestation is true, you can pin the blame on Mia -- you can pin the blame for the abuse, you can pin the blame for it not being prosecuted.

Mia's not a great actress.  She needs a strong and sturdy script.

In the last months, she's forgotten that and chose to wing it.  As a result she, and her supporters, have made one false claim after another.

To be clear, we don't know what happened.

But we know Mia's lied repeatedly.  Over and over.

She's defrauded the court and the state of New York.

And she's told so many different lies in the last twenty years that she's not to be believed.

Does that mean the alleged assault didn't happen?

It means there's no proof of it and in this country you are innocent until proven guilty.

We think there's a very good chance Dylan's been led to believe something happened.

Whether it did or not.

With Mia, we just know she's a liar and we'll be taking that up next weekend.

--------

Headline corrected from Janet Malcolm to Janet Maslin on 3/3/21.  Thank you to JM for catching this error and e-mailing us about it.

Nouri's Vigilante Jobs Program

 




As Al-Monitor's Amal Sakr pointed out earlier this month, over 9.5 million Iraqis -- out of 34.7 million -- "are living below the poverty line." Iraq's chief thug and prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's on year eight, the end of his second term, and he's done so very little to help improve the Iraqi economy or create jobs.

That's all changing, however.

This week, Nouri introduced a new jobs program.

And if he can get people to carry around video camera or use their cell phones to film, he can create even more jobs by turning the whole thing into a television program.

He could make a programming bloc of it, pairing it with the forced confessions which already air on Iraqi TV.

The program could be called Who Wants To Be A Vigilante?

In a country marked by poverty, Nouri's grand idea?

Vigilante justice -- which is more justice than the country currently has, granted.

Al-Shorfa reports Nouri's attempting to turn the country into bounty hunters.  Kill a 'terrorist' and you'll get 20 million dinars (that sounds better in Iraqi currency, in US dollars it's $17,172.53) and 30 million dinars ($25,758.80) if they capture the 'terrorist' alive.


Anyone else bothered by this?

Apparently not.

White House hasn't said a word.

So if you are an Iraqi in Iraq and you have someone you dislike, grab your gun, find them and shoot.

All you have to do is claim the person was a 'terrorist.'

You might get a reward.

But certainly you won't get prison because Nouri's not doing 'Most Wanted.'  No, he's not providing a list of ten people for you to hunt down.

He's leaving it up to you to determine who is and who isn't a 'terrorist.'

And, hey, mistakes get made.

So you kill an innocent person or two.

Again, is anyone else bothered by this?

Vigilante justice in Iraq.

There are thousands of people on death row in Iraq right now -- at least 50 are foreign nationals from other countries.  There have been repeated cries for a moratorium.  These are ignored.

And Iraqis are encouraged to embrace and cheer on executions.

Into this environment, you want to turn the country into vigilantes?



At what point is the US government going to assist the Iraqi government with supporting rule of law?

Those of us who had to sit through those awful 2011 Congressional hearings where the State Dept offered one tight-lipped official after another -- who could never explain what the billions they were getting for Iraq were going to be spent on -- well know, the State Dept was going to work on so many issues.  Rule of law was one.  Women's rights was another.

They boasted loudly -- in generalities.

Well, as  Human Rights Watch recent report entitled (PDF format warning) "'NO ONE IS SAFE: Abuses of Women in Iraq's Criminal Justice System" proves, the State Dept clearly failed at attempts to improve the lives of women or the rule of law.

Fiscal Year 2012 is the most recent year USAID has posted numbers for.  In FY2012, USAID spent $13.5 million of US tax payer dollars -- spent them in Iraq on strenghtening what?

The rule of law and human rights.

The big ticket item for that year?  $148.4 million -- US tax payer money -- was spent in Iraq on "Democracy and Governance."

Talk about money wasted.  Sadly, it's not refundable.

The State Dept never gets asked about any of those problems.

It's hard to tell if the US press is just an enabler or a co-conspirator.





At any rate, it was just weeks ago that Nouri made the same appeal but without cash.

There was no embrace of it so now Nouri's tossing money and hoping that will put over the plan.

The plan, please note, that reveals what a total failure Nouri al-Maliki is.

With all the weapons provided by the US and other foreign governments, with all the 'intelligence' the US military is currently providing Nouri, with command of the Iraqi forces, the unconstitutional Tigris Operation Command, SWAT, the federal police and so much more, he still can't defeat the people he's defined as the 'enemy' (the ones others call Iraqis).


--------------------------------------------
Text is C.I. from the Feb. 21st "Iraq snapshot."   Illustrations are Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "I See Ba'athists,"  "These days, puppets pull the strings" and  "The Plan For Day 101."

Video of the week

Too many truths above for the White House.

U.S., EU, out of Ukraine! (Workers World)

Repost from Workers World:

U.S., EU, out of Ukraine!

By Editor on February 21, 2014

The following is a Workers World Party statement on the crisis in Ukraine.


U.S. and European Union imperialism have initiated an offensive against the Ukrainian government. It is part of their attempt to reconquer parts of the former Soviet Union and surround, weaken and destroy Russia.

The corporate media falsely present this conflict as one between the “democratic” West and a popular movement in Ukraine, on one side, and “autocratic” Russia and its supporters in the Ukrainian government on the other. This picture has no relation to the truth.

To overthrow and replace Ukraine’s current government, the Western imperialists are arming and relying on pro-fascist elements that are anti-Russian, xenophobic and anti-Semitic. The U.S./EU-provoked conflict threatens a civil war in Ukraine, or worse.

The corporate media are deceptively comparing the occupation of Maidan in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, to the Occupy Wall Street movement here. This can confuse some people about the character of the conflict in Ukraine. Far from fighting against the 1%, the Kiev occupiers are fighting for Wall Street and welcome the investment of Western capital in Ukraine.

The pro-Western Ukrainian nationalists are led by racist parties, like Svoboda and the Right Bloc, that are political allies of the National Front in France, the neo-Nazis in Germany and the most reactionary elements on the continent.

The people in the U.S. — especially the youth, workers and those facing oppression here — have nothing to gain from a Western victory over Ukraine and Russia. Regardless of the character of the Putin regime that now heads capitalist Russia, the worst outcome for the workers and the oppressed everywhere regarding the Ukraine struggle would be a victory for U.S. and/or European imperialism.

U.S. and European imperialist banks and corporate power aim to make Ukraine an open market for exports of goods and capital investments. The bosses want access to more low-wage labor so they can bring down wages even further and eliminate workers worldwide.

The EU had made an offer of inadequate loans to Ukraine with the following strings attached: that the EU gain open entry into the Ukrainian market; that the government impose austerity on the Ukrainian workers; and that Ukraine be incorporated into the NATO imperialist military alliance. It is the kind of offer that has brought misery to Portugal, Spain and Greece, without giving Ukraine real EU membership. Its rejection by the Yanukovich government in November opened the ongoing conflict.

Ever since world imperialism succeeded in overturning the socialist society in the former Soviet Union, the U.S. ruling class’s long-term goal has been to reduce all the Soviet republics, including Russia, to mere colonies. This goal leads Washington to try to surround Russia and brings it in conflict with strategic and economic Russian interests in Syria, Ukraine, Georgia, Iran and elsewhere.

In the infamous “F—- the EU!” intercepted phone call between U.S. diplomats — available all over the Internet — Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland spoke openly of how Washington was manipulating Ukrainian opposition politicians. Last December, after a visit to hand out pastries to the demonstrators in Maidan, Nuland bragged to a reactionary Ukrainian group in Washington that Washington had invested $5 billion in taking over Ukraine. The money was undoubtedly used for the 40,000 nongovernmental organizations the U.S. set up in that country before the 2004 “Orange Revolution.”

Should the U.S. and German maneuvers fail to capture all of Ukraine, the imperialists may, as they did in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, attempt to break it up and ignite civil war, a course far easier to start than to stop.
This Western assault on Ukraine is part of Washington’s campaign to reconquer all that was liberated from imperialism during the Soviet era, and is a continuation of the wars over Iraq, Libya, Syria and the ongoing offensive against the Bolivarian government in Venezuela.

“U.S. and EU imperialists, out of Ukraine!”

“Stop the U.S./EU-backed right-wing takeover!”

Articles copyright 1995-2014 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

How authorities swept away wartime sexual freedoms (Noel Halifax)

Repost from Great Britain's Socialist Worker:

How authorities swept away wartime sexual freedoms

After a period of sexual liberalism during the Second World War, the establishment cracked down, writes Noel Halifax

---

Scientist Alan Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon on 24 December last year. He had been convicted of gross indecency in 1952 after an affair with a 19 year old man.


Instead of going to prison he had agreed to be “chemically castrated” to “cure” him. He committed suicide in 1954.


This attack was part of a wider homophobic tide not only in Britain but in the US and across much of the West.


In Britain the charge was led by Sir Maxwell Fyfe, Tory home secretary from 1951 to 1953, and then by Sir John Nott-Bower, Metropolitan Police commissioner from 1953 to 1958. 


Fyfe stood out as a homophobe even by the standards of the time. His reaction to the Wolfenden Committee’s report in 1957 recommending limited legalisation of homosexuality was to say, “I am not going down in history as the man who made sodomy legal”.


Nott-Bower was even worse. He had come from policing the British Empire in India and swore with the help of the newly formed Special Branch to “rip the cover off all London’s filth spots”.


He was determined to “sweep all homosexuals out of government office”. So began “the great purge”. The state prosecuted more than 50,000 men during the 1950s and many more lost their jobs.


No open homosexual could hope to hold any public post or any respectable private one either. These were the days when gays who could afford it fled from the oppression to the more liberal and tolerant North Africa or Middle East.


This persecution was not unique to Britain.


Persecuted


Maxwell Fyfe had also been one of the leading judges setting up the new West Germany. Through the 1950s the ruling Christian Democrats prosecuted and persecuted gays using the same law, words, and in many cases the same judges as the Nazis had.


The experience in the US was even more extreme.


This was the age of senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. McCarthyism was a right wing attack on “pinkos” and “deviants” as well. It has been estimated that more people lost their jobs for being homosexuals than did for being Communists. 


The civil service was purged and everyone was expected to weed out “perverts”. The FBI organised special entrapment teams for the police.


The FBI also trained the British police on the techniques it used. Officers then raided clubs with a general attack on anyone deemed deviant or strange.


But why did the backlash happen?


Wartime diaries suggest it was a time of relative sexual freedom. In Britain and the US the gay scene blossomed as never before.


The authorities turned a blind eye. There were no moral panics about goings on in the blackout or the sexual experiments of conscripts tasting life outside of family and social control.


It was also a time when masses of women were drafted into industry, public canteens set up, nurseries established and many of the roles of the family were supplemented by the state.


After the war it was all put in reverse. The welfare state at its birth was never about people having the freedom of choice in their personal lives.


There was a conscious effort to reconstruct the nuclear family. The norm of a mother at home and a father at work was enforced in law and custom.


It was a dark time for Alan Turing and for many, many others who have never been given any pardon.

Payments © Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.     

HIGH-LEVEL BRUSSELS CONFERENCE EXPOSES HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE IN IRAQ

Press Release by office of Struan Stevenson,
President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq,
19th February 2014

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release - 19th February 2014

HIGH-LEVEL BRUSSELS CONFERENCE EXPOSES HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE IN IRAQ

A high-level conference involving some of the most prominent political and religious leaders in Iraq, was held in the European Parliament, Brussels, on Wednesday 19th February. Organised and chaired by Struan Stevenson, MEP, President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq, the conference focused on human rights in Iraq and featured speeches from Sheik Dr Rafe Al Refaei - Grand Mufti of Iraq, Saleem Abdullah Al-Jabori - Chair of the HR Committee in the Council of Representatives, Haidar Mulla - Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir - KRG Head of Department of Foreign Relations, Yonadam Kanna - Chair of the Labour and Social Affairs Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Kamel Zozo - Syriac Assyrian Chaldean Movement,  Elisabetta Zamparutti - 'Hands Off Cain' NGO,  Btrus Sliwa - Head of the KRG's Independent Human Rights Board, Dr Abdul- Razzaq Rahim al- Shemmeri- Spokesman for the Herak Delegation from Al Anbar Governorate, Dr Sabah Al-Mukhtar - President of the Arab Lawyers Union, UK, Dr Mohammad Taha Hamdoon, Spokesman of the Popular Movement in Iraq, Dr Moneir Hashm Al-Aobyde, Spokesman for the Movement of Baghdad and many others. The eminent speakers were welcomed by Dr. Charles Tannock MEP, Foreign Affairs Spokesman for the ECR Group.

Many Iraqi guests had travelled to Brussels to participate in the conference, which follows the publication of a highly critical report on Iraq by the European Parliament's Directorate-General for External Policies - entitled "Iraq's deadly spiral towards a civil war". A resolution condemning the on-going violence and abuse of human rights in Iraq is also under preparation in the European Parliament and will be debated in Strasbourg next Wednesday, 26th February. The draft resolution refers repeatedly to the damning report on the abuse of women in Iraq published recently by Human Rights Watch.

Speaking after the Conference, Struan Stevenson MEP said:     

"Last November, I was in Iraq. I met with many leading politicians, religious leaders and with courageous men and women who had led popular uprisings and protests in Al Anbar and 6 provinces of Iraq and in many Iraqi cities. The message from all of them was identical. They told me that lawlessness, terrorism, corruption and the systematic abuse of human rights are each a daily feature of life in Iraq. They told me that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is rapidly becoming another Saddam Hussein and that modern Iraq is a dust bowl of violence and bloodshed. More than 9,500 people died last year in bomb attacks and assassinations in an increasingly ugly insurgency that threatens to take the country back to the civil war that erupted from 2006-2008. Over 1000 have died already this year.

"It was these same people, people from different ethnic backgrounds, from different faiths and creeds, but who share a desire to see freedom, democracy, justice and peace restored to their country, who urged me to organise today’s conference, so that they could come to the European Parliament and reveal the truth about Iraq to the West. I am deeply grateful to them and thank them for the expense, effort and courage they have expended to come here today.

"They told us in graphic detail how Maliki is using the Iraqi military in a genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Sunni population of Ramadi and Fallujah, aided and abetted by a generous supply of missiles, rockets, drones and other weaponry from the US, which he uses to slaughter his own people, on the pretext that they are terrorists. The US has even decided to sell and rent Maliki Apache helicopters which he will use to massacre men, women and children in Al Anbar. It is an outrage.

"I am also appalled at the treatment of the 3000 refugees in Camp Liberty who are incarcerated in prison-like conditions and where the Iraqis are even restricting supplies of food and preventing emptying of sewage tanks, causing the camp to flood with polluted sewerage water and risking health. These defenceless people have been repeatedly attacked by Maliki's forces, including the horrific massacre of 52 of their colleagues in Camp Ashraf last September, when 7 hostages were seized, 6 of whom are women and nothing has been heard from them since. The limp-wristed response from the west has simply encouraged further atrocities of this kind.

"It is time the West woke up to the tragedy of Iraq. It was the US and the UK - George W. Bush and Tony Blair - who invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam, declaring: "Mission accomplished". They boasted that they had left behind "a functioning democracy", when in fact they left behind a basket case. It was the US who colluded with Iran to return Maliki to power after the last election, even although he had lost that election by 2 seats. Now, in breach of the Erbil Agreement, Maliki has retained control over the Defence, Intelligence and Interior Ministries in his own office and he has even created new, independent security 6 intelligence organisation that is answerable only to him, giving him despotic powers.

"There is still time for the West to reassert its authority and make amends for its disastrous intervention in Iraq. The UN, US and EU must tell Maliki that his whirlwind of bloodshed, violence, corruption and abuse will no longer be tolerated. Unless there are free and fair elections on 30^th April that can restore a semblance of democracy to Iraq and provide the beleaguered people of that country with a non-sectarian, secular government, committed to the restoration of the rule of law and respect for human rights, then the economic umbilical cord to the West must be severed."

In his address to the conference Dr Rafe Al Refaei - the Grand Mufti of Iraq, said: "Maliki is following a heinous policy of indiscriminate bombings of innocent people. The people of Al-Anbar did not start the war. We did everything to reach a peaceful settlement. Maliki forces attacked the peaceful rallies. They have bombarded the houses of innocent people. My own brother was killed last week in the bombardment and was not from al Qaeda or from Daesh.   When Maliki launched his so-called war against terrorists in the desert in Anbar province not a single combatant of al Qaeda was killed. The only people killed were innocent shepherds.  What is happening in Fallujah is genocide. 1000 civilians have been injured. Events in Iraq have taken a very dangerous turn. It could lead to a civil war in which all Iraqi people will lose. The European Parliament should deal with this matter. We've been handed on a golden platter to the Iranian govt."

Saleem Abdullah Al-Jabori - Chair of the HR Committee in the Council of Representatives said: "We called on the international community to come to our rescue, but we were faced with just talk and no action. Now Iraqi women's tears have dried up. We're sick of unfulfilled promises. But all of this has not put an end to bloodshed in Iraq. All of the violations are serious, all are important. They are issues of international governance and international law. We Iraqis are the ones who suffer. Investigators use torture to obtain confessions. We need to adopt legislation that will put a stop to violations of prisoners. A person can be detained for years on false accusations. But HR violations will not lead to the eradication of terrorism. Our committee has managed to get many women released from prison. Iraq is rich in diversity, but the killing still goes on. There are around 10 car bombs every day. The Iraqi media should be given more freedom to report the truth. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in al Anbar Province. A generation has lost all of its rights."

Haidar Mulla - Member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives said: "Mr Stevenson has increased the influence of the EU in Iraq and in particular, he has increased the importance of HR. We had hoped that Iraq would become a democracy after the fall of the previous regime. But our HR record is not something we should be proud of. Our task is difficult and complex. We have to pave the way for a culture that respects HR. Until now GoI did not implement article 19 on HR. This is not a gift to the people. It is their right.  Currently there is a ratio of one military personnel to 27 civilians and even so we cannot live peacefully. We have a political crisis and we have to deal with it politically."

Btrus Sliwa - Head of the Independent KRG Human Rights Board said: "The Ministry of HR was abolished in 2009 because it was being politically influenced. The government set up an independent board not linked to any political body. There is a high rate of domestic violence against women in parts of Kurdistan which we have legislated to stop. There are also now an estimated 200,000 IDPs in Kurdistan as well as over 200,000 refugees from Syria."

Dr Abdul-Razzaq Rahim Al Shemmeri - speaker for the Herak Delegation from the al-Anbar Governorate said: "This is my first time in the EU and I have come to bring the true voice of Anbar to the European Parliament. Why do you turn a blind eye to the Shia militias who slaughter our people? The Sunni movement entered the conflict through the demonstrations and sit-ins which started in 2012. But it was clear from the start that there was no political will to deal with the demonstrators in a peaceful way. Maliki's army invaded the places where the demonstrators were gathering. The crimes being committed there are similar to Bosnia, Herzegovina. Anti-terrorist forces were sent by the GoI in 2013 to arrest leaders of the so-called terrorist movement in Anbar under the pretext of fighting terrorism. Maliki resorted to threatening us, stating it was a rebellion under influence of foreign forces. He told his forces to finish us off before we finished him off!"

Dr Sabah al-Mukhtar - UN Permanent Representative, Arab lawyers Union, said: "Sending foreign troops to spread democracy turns the concept upside down. HR abuses occur in every country, but Iraq has a unique situation. Maliki abuses all of the human rights of all of the people, all of the time. Iraq is also bottom of the transparency international list of corrupt states, behind even Somalia and Sudan. Why did the Americans liberate Iraq and then hand it over to the mullahs in Iran?

Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir - KRG Head of Department of Foreign Relations, said: "HR is not a privilege. It is a basic right. We care about HR because as Kurds we have a long experience of suffering. Our democracy is in its infancy. No-one can claim they are perfect. Respect for HR is what we care about in Kurdistan. We have a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence. This has led to prosperity for the people and an economic boom. Diversity is the source of our strength. We have also provided shelter for IDPs and refugees. The KRG also focused on women and children to address issues that empower and protect them. Women must be part of society and properly protected in all walks of life. Unlike  the federal government in Baghdad, we have always welcomed UN HR reports. As Kurds we will not accept the status of 2nd class citizens. We'd like to see all of Iraq become like Kurdistan."

Kamel Zozo, representing the Syriac Assyrian Chaldean Movement said: "Iraq is a country for all of us. As Christians we've been there since the creation of Iraq. Now we are filled with bitterness and sadness when we see what has happened to the ethnic minorities. The system of government in Iraq is now a despotic one. Christians are doomed to extinction. This is the land of our fathers and forefathers and yet we are being driven from it. We must enact necessary laws to give us protection. Plans to change the demography of Nineveh and other regions are directly targeting the Christian community. We are being pushed into an unknown future.  Can I request that EP pays attention to the minorities in Iraq."

Elisabetta Zamparutti - Italian politician in the Radical Movement and Treasurer of "Hands off Cain" NGO, said:  "Executions began again after a suspension in August 2005.  Over 600 people have been executed since then, 117 last year alone. Iraq is now 3rd behind China and Iran for the number of executions it carries out. There are wooden gallows working overtime in the old intelligence HQ building in Baghdad, where Saddam was hanged. No records of these executions are kept. The justice system in Iraq is broken. Those executed are not represented properly. Evidence taken from secret informants cannot be challenged in court. We need to reflect on the situation in Iraq today."

Struan Stevenson MEP

President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq

East Timor and Indonesian Action Network projects images from the Oscar-nominated documentary THE ACT OF KILLING on World Bank headquarters

From ETAN:

Contact: John M. Miller +1-718-596-7668;

+1-917-690-4391; john@etan.org

East Timor and Indonesian Action Network projects images from the Oscar-nominated documentary THE ACT OF KILLING on World Bank headquarters

Human Rights group calls on World Bank to acknowledge role in the mass killing of one million Indonesians

February 20, 2014 – The Oscar-nominated documentary THE ACT OF KILLING was projected on the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. Thursday in an action by the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network.  The group is calling on the World Bank to acknowledge its role in the 1965 military coup in Indonesia that lead to the massacre of an estimated one million civilians. The World Bank helped prop up the corrupt government of Suharto, the general who lead the coup and ordered the mass killings. The Bank sent the Suharto regime $30 billion in development aid over the course of three decades despite knowing $10 billion had been looted by the government.

“THE ACT OF KILLING powerfully highlights the ongoing impunity within Indonesia for the 1965 mass murders,” said John M. Miller of the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network. “Tonight we highlight the World Bank's support for the Suharto regime, which knowingly backed his corrupt government while his post-coup body count climbed. We urge the World Bank to acknowledge its role in Suharto's many crimes and to apologize and provide reparations to the survivors. Institutions like the World Bank must also be held accountable for their financial assistance to the murderers and decades of support as they continued to violate human rights.”

“The World Bank gave $30 billion dollars to a dictator who killed an estimated one million of his own citizens,” said THE ACT OF KILLING filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer. “The murderers spent years profiting off of their heinous crimes with the World Bank and other global financial institutions footing the bill.”

The projection on the World Bank Thursday launched the I HONOR campaign to remember the victims of the mass killings. Supporters are tweeting photos of themselves with signs that read “I HONOR VICTIM #...” to humanize each of the estimated one million victims of the coup and pressure the World Bank, and other international entities, to publicly acknowledge their complicity in the murders.

THE ACT OF KILLING, currently Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary feature, has been recognized as one of the best films of 2014. The film has received over 60 awards including Best Documentary from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). While the mass killings of 1965 are an open secret in Indonesia, the government has never acknowledged or apologized for sponsoring the murders. THE ACT OF KILLING, which has been shown in thousands of private screenings and is available free online throughout Indonesia, is empowering victims’ families to demand reparations from the government for the first time.

About East Timor and Indonesian Action Network

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for Timor-Leste, West Papua and Indonesia. In 2012, the government of the Democratic Republic Timor-Leste awarded ETAN the Order of Timor (Ordem Timor) for its role in the liberation of the country. More information about ETAN can be found at: http://www.etan.org

About THE ACT OF KILLING

In THE ACT OF KILLING, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and executive produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, the filmmakers expose a corrupt regime that celebrates death squad leaders as heroes.

When the Indonesian government was overthrown in 1965, small-time gangster Anwar Congo and his friends went from selling movie tickets on the black market to leading death squads in the mass murder of over a million opponents of the new military dictatorship. Anwar boasts of killing hundreds with his own hands, but he's enjoyed impunity ever since, and has been celebrated by the Indonesian government as a national hero. When approached to make a film about their role in the genocide, Anwar and his friends eagerly comply—but their idea of being in a movie is not to provide reflective testimony. Instead, they re-create their real-life killings as they dance their way through musical sequences, twist arms in film noir gangster scenes, and gallop across prairies as Western cowboys. Through this filmmaking process, the moral reality of the act of killing begins to haunt Anwar and his friends with varying degrees of acknowledgment, justification and denial. More information about the film can be found at http://actofkilling.com/.

To be removed from this list click here

John M. Miller, National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
Mobile phone: +1-917-690-4391
Email: etan@etan.org Skype: john.m.miller
Twitter: @etan009  Website: www.etan.org

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"Sometimes the message is just wrong" -- most requested highlight of the week by readers of this site.

Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Fake Ass Jeans..." -- Barack as spokesmodel.


"Iraq snapshot" -- C.I. reports on the House Armed Services Committee hearing.




"3 Days To Kill," "Fantastic Four," "Bewitched and Straw Dogs" and "Gravity sweeps the BAFTA awards" -- Stan, Marcia and Trina go to the movies.


"Dressed up corn in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers an easy recipe.


"Again on Mia Farrow's tawdry scandal," "Wallace Shawn shares his thoughts" "Maslin gets attacked for sharing," and "More doubts on Dylan Farrow" -- the carny circus continues thanks to barker and freak show Mia.



"disgusting harry reid" -- Rebecca reviews Reid's past.


"The Education of Miss Dahli Bama" and "THIS JUST IN! BAMA MEETS LAMA!" -- it was like the opening of Hart to Hart.


"Lena Dunham is full of crap," "The Originals," "The Originals is a great show," "Fox's TV show "Gotham"," "Sister Megan Rice and Debra Messing," "is tim mcgraw breastfeeding?," "I Dream of Jeannie," "He loves TV" and "THIS JUST IN! THE TV ADDICT!," "Arrow's race problem" -- Betty, Stan, Marcia, Elaine, Rebecca, Ann, Cedric and Wally cover TV.

"I do not like liars" -- Ruth explains.

"Shame on Times Colonist" -- Kat critiques bad media.

"Like Milli Vanilli before him . . ." -- Betty finds the perfect comparison for Barack.

"Barack Wins The Terrible" -- Isaiah dips into the archives.

"Daniel of Orlando is an idiot" -- Betty ponders truth in advertising.

"The Bieb and his tiny bean pole" -- Mike on the unraveling.


"Net neutrality" and "The proposed merger" -- Ruth and Trina weigh in.



"No, Moqtada's supporters will not rush to Nouri," "The thug Nouri al-Maliki," "The non-coverage of Iraq on NPR," "Patrick Cockburn is an idiot" and "The tyrant Nouri" -- Mike, Ruth, Ann and Betty offer some Iraq coverage.




"Isaiah filling in for Ruth" -- Isaiah guests for Ruth.