Sanctions even apply to contests for short stories; that's a bit absurd isn't it?

Did you know that people in Syria, Iran, North Korea and Sudan cannot enter Writer's Digest contests? Isn't that unfair and over the top?

Living well is not based upon ostracizing people due to where they live.

• Due to U.S. Government restrictions we are unable to accept entries from Syria, Iran, North Korea, or Sudan

Sanctions on Syria, Iran, North Korea and Sudan

One of the most egregious ironies is that Syria is continuing to be destroyed, citizens murdered in horrible ways, by the USA and its allies;  Saudi Arabia, Israel, UK and mercenaries that use terrorist tactics.

Iran is sanctioned (allegedly) due to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) often labelled the Iran nuclear agreement, which was agreed upon before the most recent presidential election. The agreement is multilateral and has the blessing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

Another is that North and South Korea are working out agreements, such as the joint participation in the Olympics, which will be held in South Korea.

The US states that it is not sanctioning Sudan, but instead the actions only pertain to the perpetrators of the war.

What do you think?

Open Media versus Fake News

Six steps towards a more open media

by James Deane

Six steps towards Open media 

1. We will pay more attention to the behaviour of people who do not want to be held to account.

2. We will refresh our understanding of just how critical and effective public interest media is in holding power to account and fostering functioning democracies.

3. We will look again at the relationship between open societies, especially a free media, and political stability.

4. Digital media could still deliver properly on its promise in delivering improved accountability and transparency.

5. The open government movement will move from a supply side set of solutions to a demand side one.

6. . . without rebuilding trust in our institutions, and trust in the information that people – especially young people - have access to, trust in democracy will be fundamentally challenged. Tackling the trust deficit will be central to any notion of success in the future.

Also visit Open Government Partnership if you are interested in media

Live: Anti-US outrage protests continue across occupied Palestinian terr...

Israeli occupation forces attacking children, students, reports and journalists and pretty much everyone

   Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust 1993 - John Henrik Clarke by Yaramayah Yasharahl on Scribd

Bolivian documentarian and actress discusses N. Korea and Syria situations. Very Good!

Wow, Ms Ortiz is beautiful, intelligent and most importantly, feels compassion.

Face to Face interviews Ms Ortiz about her documentary work on North Korea and Syria.

Gaza again under attack

#TheRebelPioneers 🇵🇸 ❌‏ @RebelPioneers 12h12 hours ago

#BreakingNewsGaza #GazaUnderAttack #Anonymous Log /: 11301701 Locations in Gaza being bombed by F-16s 3 casualties reported Not confirmed Source: Gaza resident Time: 12:13 eastern time
This media may contain sensitive material. Your media settings are configured to warn you when media may be sensitive.
3 replies46 retweets8 likes

#TheRebelPioneers 🇵🇸 ❌‏ @RebelPioneers

CONFIRMED #BreakingNewsGaza #GazaUnderAttack #Anonymous Log /: 11301702 Locations in Gaza being bombed by F-16s 3 casualties reported Source: Gaza resident Time: 12:13 eastern time

10:23 PM - 30 Nov 2017

Manipulating demographics used as a Colonial tactic in Palestine!

Israel cleansing al-Quds of Palestinian population:Rights activists Fri Nov 24, 2017 09:37AM. . .

 “Israel hopes to get rid of a third of Jerusalem’s Palestinian population through legislative moves alone" . . .

A picture taken on October 25, 2017 shows a general view of construction work in Ramat Shlomo, a settlement in East Jerusalem al-Quds. (By AFP)

. . . Human rights activists have warned that Tel Aviv is involved in an “ethnic cleansing” campaign against the generations-long Palestinian residents of Jerusalem al-Quds in order to get rid of their demographic dominance in the Israeli-occupied city."

Citing rights groups and researchers, The Middle East eye news and analysis portal reported on Thursday that Tel Aviv was gradually moving Palestinians out of Jerusalem al-Quds’ Israeli-majority areas by annexing the city’s settlements and turning Palestinian areas into “a no man’s land.”

The regime is advancing the so-called “Greater Jerusalem” aimed at “legalizing” the annexation of the settlements, which house around 150,000 Israelis, to appropriate the land on which it has built the structures. . . 

. . . Another bill will deny more than 100,000 Palestinians on the “wrong” side of the barrier rights in the city.

At the same time, it is employing harsh policies to force the Palestinians inside the wall to move out. Those include late-night arrests, home demolitions, and a denial of basic services. . .
PressTV

Share the Outrage! 

Look familiar?
The USA federal government arranged for American police training from Israeli Occupation Force.

Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land in the village of Tamun, near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on September 27, 2017. (Photo by AFP) 

Israeli troops arrest 25 Palestinian civilians across West Bank

Meanwhile, Israeli military forces have arrested more than two dozen Palestinians, including a minor, during separate overnight operations across the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said Israeli military vehicles rolled into the central West Bank city of Bethlehem, located 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem al-Quds, early on Wednesday, and arrested six people. Israeli forces raided a number of houses in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of Jerusalem al-Quds, and violently ransacked them before taking away four people. A 13-year-old teenager, identified as Ammar Jibrel, was among three others arrested in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron).

Israeli soldiers also stormed the central West Bank city of Ramallah, located 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Jerusalem al-Quds, and detained three Palestinians there.

Moreover, three Palestinians were detained in the Israeli-occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, another three in northeastern West Bank city of Tubas and three others in Qalqilya.

Israeli officials have prevented Swiss diplomats from visiting the besieged Gaza Strip, a day after Switzerland's envoy to the Palestinian Authority held meetings with senior members of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.

Palestinian Solidarity Day 27 November 2017

How will Hezbollah fight next war with Israel?

ICSPR SENT BRIEFING MEMORANDUM TO THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR CHILDREN
21 Nov. 2017

The memorandum confirmed that the suffering of Palestinian children over the long years of the Israeli occupation has not ended today, as the Israeli occupation forces continue to commit the most egregious crimes against Palestinian children wherever they exist and impose more sanctions on civilians including children.

Close to Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza

4 August 2014 (Photo: Mahmud Hams, AFP/Getty Images) 

The memorandum clarified that this event comes this year at a time when the policies and procedures of the Israeli occupation government and settlers are escalating on Palestinian civilians, including the field executions policy of children and the policies of arbitrary arrests of hundreds of children in the occupied Palestinian territories, where this policy violates all International and humanitarian laws.

In the same context, ICSPR calls upon the Special Representative to give maximum importance to the suffering of Palestinian children on the basis that international law and its stable principles are at the forefront of any position taken to ensure that Israel and its war forces are subjected and pressured to stop their systematic policies against children and release detainees as a quick unpostponable step under any justification, as well as to put pressure on Israel to stop the children killing policy in Palestine, the policy of demolishing the homes of their families, ending the siege on Gaza Strip and making sure not to repeat the scenes of killing children in Gaza Strip under flimsy pretexts, and for that, we believe that putting Israel on the blacklist of States violates the rights of children is the least thing to do, we also urge you to work alongside the international and Palestinian community to reduce impunity by providing adequate reports and information to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to urge them to move forward and open an international criminal investigation into the crimes of Israeli commanders and soldiers who commit crimes against children in Palestine.

Negev destroyed so many times including November 2017: A review from 2014

The Sun Will Rise - Israel demolishes homes in Negev Desert P.1 2014

The Sun Will Rise - Israel demolishes homes in Negev Desert (P.2) 2014

ICSPR: International community puts Israel on the “Black List”

ICSPR: International community puts Israel on the “Black List”
Press Release September 27, 2017

The International Commission to the Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) welcomes putting the Israeli occupation on the black list of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The black list includes all countries and entities accused of violating human rights around the world. On September 20, UN Secretary General issued the report in its eighth edition with blacklisting 29 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including the Israel.

Although the report mentioned and documented the acts of revenge conducted by Israel against people collaborating with the United Nations, it only documented a small part of the continuous violation against the Palestinian people and the civil right institutions working in the occupied territories

ICSPR welcomes this step and consider it as defending the principles that the international community agreed upon especially the Palestinian right to resist the occupation. ICSPR motivates the Palestinian diplomacy to invest in this report and build upon it through the following:

1- ICSPR sees that the Human Rights Council adaptation of this blacklist including the Israeli occupation state provides additional evidence on the falsity of Israeli allegations. This step should encourage the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to proceed in opening investigations about all the violations committed by the occupying Power.

2- ICSPR urges the Human Rights Council to work honestly and seriously to translate this list on the ground, especially in light of the significant deterioration of the human rights situation in the occupied territories due to the Israeli actions.

3- ICSPR urges the international community to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities to ensure respect for international human rights and international humanitarian law, protecting the Palestinian people and ending the Israeli violations committed against them.