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Indiana's split personality weighs it down in loss at Wisconsin
Tyler Tachman
12/09/2021 8:10 am in
For the last 23 years, this has been happening in one fashion or another. Indiana on the road at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, finding some way, any way to choke up the game. In 2016, they lost by three in overtime. Last season, they fell in double-overtime. The Hoosiers' last win on the road at Wisconsin was in 1998. Entering Wednesday night, they'd lost their last 18 games in Badger territory.
Wednesday night was the next chapter in what has become an appalling cycle. And this one was as disappointing as the 18 to come before it, not only because it was a loss, but because of the fashion in which it happened. A once 22-point first-half lead turned into an utter collapse. This game was a chance for Indiana to indicate that it was different than seasons before, a chance to ignite even more momentum into what it'd built up to this point. Instead, it was a 64-59 loss, one that will certainly sting as the season continues.
"It's like we were in quicksand in the second half," Indiana head coach Mike Woodson.
This isn't a loss that will end Indiana's season by any means. But it does continue to reveal a concerning trend. Two halves revealed two distinctly different Indiana teams. If Indiana wants to have success down the road, it will have to figure out its split personality.
On Wednesday, Indiana's first 20 minutes were arguably its best of the season and everything was in unison.
Offensively, the Hoosiers didn't have to rely on Trayce Jackson-Davis, but were rather a sum of multiple parts. Xavier Johnson commanded the offense with seven points, five rebounds and six assists. Miller Kopp had seven points. Race Thompson had eight. Parker Stewart had nine. In total, the Hoosiers shot 54 percent from the field and 62 percent from three. Defensively, Indiana was as impressive, holding Wisconsin to 31 percent from the field and 10 percent from three.
"We got stops, we got the ball moving," Woodson said of the first half.
But then came a disastrous second half. Johnson was putrid 1-of-10 from the field and seemingly lost his ability to command the game. It wasn't just that Kopp and Stewart went silent, combining for zero second half points, but also that they seemed timid to let it fly, only attempting four shots. And maybe most importantly, Jackson-Davis was a non-factor. In the second half, he attempted just four shots and grabbed just two rebounds. Indiana didn't look to get him touches anywhere near the frequency that was needed.
"I got to find ways to get Race and Trayce more shots down low," Woodson said. "We missed some chippy's, but he didn't get enough shots."
Defensively, Indiana got caught in multiple switches where a guard was matched up with a big man in the paint. Wisconsin wasn't spectacularly efficient at 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from three, but they pulled in five offensive rebounds, which they turned into seven points.
The outcome was still up for grabs late in the game. And here is where good teams are separated from great teams. The ability to make plays, do the little things down the stretch. On Wednesday, it was clear which team was which. In the second half, Indiana went 3-of-9 from the free-throw line. Wisconsin went 11-of-13.
"You do the same things that got you the lead," Woodson said. "You got to play the same way. That's got to register and it didn't in the second half. That's on me."
This game was reflective of a cycle that Indiana has become familiar with over the last month. There are flashes of exceptional basketball, but also stretches that are as dreadful. Indiana played great in the first half against Eastern Michigan, but wasn't able to sustain that intensity in the second half. Same with St. John's. Then it flipped. Poor first half against Marshall, Syracuse and Nebraska, but a well-oiled second frame. Each game, there was something that held them back: turnovers, bad free-throw shooting, foul trouble.
Because of the caliber of opponent, Indiana was able to get out of those games relatively unscathed. St. John's was a resume-building win, but the Hoosiers had to clutch on to the lead at the end. Syracuse was the first to really expose Indiana's inability to sustain production. As the Big Ten season barrels on, though, Indiana largely won't be afforded the ability to escape with wins by playing only 20 minutes of fundamental basketball.
It remains that this is a team still trying to learn how to win. This offseason was filled with moving parts: a new head coach, a mostly new support staff, two freshmen, four transfers. As a whole, they've only been on the court together for about seven months. But this excuse may be worn out soon. Indiana will likely get swallowed up in the challenging Big Ten schedule if it doesn't speed up its consistent cohesion as a unit.
"When you start building a team everybody's learning each other and we're doing it on the fly," Woodson said. "Yeah, we're doing it in practice and all, but when it's time to jump it up for real, everything counts."
What was maybe most concerning about the second half was the lack of inspiration. Indiana looked helpless on both ends of the floor. It brought flashbacks to recent seasons, where the Hoosiers were simply outdueled in every aspect of the game with little indication that things would change.
Again, this is not time to panic for Indiana. But a concerning thread is emerging should it not be fixed. Now is the time for Indiana to address its split personality. Now is the time for them to decide who they really are.
Five takeaways from Indiana's loss at Wisconsin
Film Session: Wisconsin


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Rx Partnership's prescription mailing program helps low income and uninsured Virginians safely get medications
By Sandra J. Pennecke
Amy Yarcich, Rx Partnership's executive director (Courtesy / HANDOUT)
A new program is making one aspect of COVID-complicated life a little easier for low-income, uninsured Virginians who rely on prescription medications to live a healthier life.
Rx Partnership, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization, has launched a prescription mailing program that eliminates patients' need to pick them up in person.
Instead, partner clinics (free clinics and community health centers) throughout Virginia can now send prescriptions directly to patients' homes.
Amy Yarcich, Rx Partnership's executive director, said in a news release that mail delivery was part of the organization's long-term strategic plan.
"While the last four months have been extremely challenging for everyone, it has been particularly devastating for low-income and uninsured Virginians who already struggle to get their much-needed medications," Yarcich said. "Launching mail delivery now was essential."
Yarcich said the program was supposed to run for three months, ending on July 31, but with its success and the current need, it has been extended through the end of 2020.
Rx Partnership was established in 2003 to coordinate the donation of bulk brand medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers to clinics with licensed pharmacies.
Yarcich said the mail delivery program does not impact local pharmacies because the prescriptions would not have been filled in the community.
"The free clinics and community health centers we work with are getting free medications from manufacturers and Rx Partnership, in order to support the low-income uninsured patients who cannot afford to pay retail prices for medication," Yarcich said.
The organization has helped more than 75,000 patients obtain 800,000 prescription medications valued at more than $215 million since it was founded.
Designed and launched in 30 days, the program helps to reduce exposure to the coronavirus for patients, clinic staff and volunteers.
Recipients, many of whom suffer from chronic conditions, receive a 90-day supply of medication with no additional fee.
And while the U.S. Postal Service has been making news of its own lately, Yarcich said its performance for her program has been outstanding.
"Since the program began in April, medications have only taken one to two days to reach a patient …," she said. "Our clinic partners have been able to track packages online, helping patients anticipate delivery times."
Currently, 31 clinics in Virginia, including the Chesapeake Care Clinic, use Rx Partnership's services.
Dourina Petersen, executive director of Chesapeake Care Clinic, said the health and safety of patients is more important now than ever due to COVID-19.
"The mail delivery program has removed a large barrier for many of our patients accessing their medications, especially those with pre-existing health conditions and lack of transportation," Petersen said. "I am hopeful we will be able to continue this valuable program after the pandemic."
Sandra J. Pennecke, 757-222-5356, sandra.pennecke@insidebiz.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A family of five escaped their car just before it was swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a water main break in Bladensburg, Maryland, early Tuesday morning.
The family of five -- parents with an infant, a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy -- had to scramble to get out in time.
"There was water and then we had to get of of the car and then... the car got in the hole," the brave 7-year-old said after the experience.
When he asked if he was brave, he said yes. "The water was cold," he said.
Their neighbor, Luz Martinez, said of the family, "They were running to leave. Thank God they didn't put their seat belts on. It helped them get out of the car."
Martinez, whose home was flooded by the water main break, said the family was inside the car when the sinkhole opened up on Edmonston Road, sending water gushing down the street.
Only the car's right, rear section was visible from the hole, which was filled with gurgling water. From the back, just the right tail light and a bit of the license plate were visible. Another vehicle nearby was also falling toward the sinkhole, its nose having dipped down into the water.
Martinez said the water in her own home is up to her knees in the basement. Other homes on the street were also flooded.
As a mixture of rain and snow continued to fall, residents ran back and forth from one home trying to save their belongings, which were stuffed into large black trash bags. One woman, wearing shorts, appeared to be hurrying through the icy slush without shoes.
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) crews needed about four hours to repair the 12-inch, 90-year-old pipe. Repairs were completed about 1 p.m. Tuesday, and both cars have been removed from the scene.
The 77 customers affected by the break have had water service restored.
As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Edmonston Road remained closed between Decatur Street and Chesapeake Road while crews worked to repair the street.


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2009 Yamaha RS VENTURE GT Snowmobile Service Manual. The procedures in this manual are organized in a sequential, step-by-step format. The information has been compiled to provide the mechanic with an easy to read, handy reference that contains comprehensive explanation of all disassenbly, repair, assembly and inspection operations.


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You are browsing the Blog for Symon Purte of Preston
Preston Charters, Continued
April 7, 2020 in Anniversary, Manuscript Studies, Uncategorized
Charters 6 & 9
Preston Charter 7 Seal.
Following our 2 previous blogposts on a group of single-sheet charters in Latin on vellum from Preston in Suffolk, England, now in a private collection, we advance with further reports about them.
Those first 2 blogposts, Full Court Preston and Preston Take 2, focused upon 2 of the group. They considered Charters '1' and '2' (as we first called them), or Charters 7 and 5 in the present owner's numbering system entered upon the dorse of each document. Those blogposts provided detailed photographs and descriptions of the documents, transcriptions and translations of their texts, and observations about their characteristics and contexts.
Here we focus upon Charters 6 and 9. (Remember, Charter 8 is lost or mislaid.)
First we survey the Preston group, which comprises a series with modern numbering from 5 to 13. Then we consider these two documents, one by one.
Church at Preston St Mary. Photograph by Andrew Hill via Wikimedia Creative Commons
The owner purchased the group in a bag, in the 1980s in London, probably — according to his recollection — in the Portobello Road, a renowned location of markets and shops of many kinds, including used goods, curiousities, and antiquities. The group has his consecutive series of modern Arabic numbers, running from 5 to 13. The individual number stands in black ink at the top left corner of the dorse (or back) of each document.
Of that original group of 9, only 8 documents survive in the group, preserved within a notebook for the English charter materials in the collection. Charter 8 went missing or mislaid after a class some years ago — considerably before the group came into our view. Consequently, we know only of Charters 5–7 and 9–13, until Charter 8 might return to view.
Our survey of the group progresses in pairs, more-or-less chronologically. The first 3 documents (Charters 5, 6, and 7) are undated, so that an assessment of their probable dating depends upon stylistic features of the script, orthographic features, and other evidence both internal and contextual. The others (Charters 9–13) carry their dates, to the regnal year and sometimes to the very day.
The pair under consideration here has one of each, respectively undated and dated.
Tags: Anglicana Formata, Gwyndon de Mortuomar, History of Documents, King Edward II, Medieval Seals, Norwich, Portobello Road, Preston, Preston Saint Mary, Richard of Otelye, Seal Tags, Symon Purte of Preston


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Marketing and University Communication / Identity Tools / Logo & Use
Proper Use of University Logo
Who Should Use Them
All University offices, organizations, units and approved affiliated organizations (e.g., Alumni Association) should use the institutional trade names, and primary identity marks for promotional and identification purposes. Questions about these uses and the proper display of University marks should be directed to the Office of Marketing and University Communication. Commercial uses of the marks, typically involving the sale of items bearing the University trade name, trademarks, service marks or logos, are subject to fees and royalties.
When to Use Them
Use of a primary identity mark is appropriate on all pieces and pages intended to publicize or provide information about the University, its programs or specific events to the general public.
Use of a primary mark is required when the communication and marketing relates to a core function of the University and will be received by an external audience, such as prospective students, alumni, parents, audience members, donors and legislators; or when the materials and messages are institutional in origin and intended for current students or their families.
Where to Use Them
When required, the primary identity mark should appear in a place of ownership. In many cases, that will be the cover, title page, bottom right-hand corner, top of page or bottom of page. It need not be interpreted as a position of graphic dominance on the panel or page, however. (On a brochure, for instance, the bottom of the back panel might suffice.) Although usage depends on the piece and its intended audience, there is an expectation that the University name or mark will be prominent, especially in external communication and marketing related to a core function of the University. The mark should be of sufficient size to be clearly visible and legible in relation to other items.
In general, the primary identity marks should not be stylized, embellished, redrawn, overwritten, animated or modified in any way except to be enlarged or reduced proportionally. Limited exceptions should be requested through the Office of Marketing and University Communication. (For example, adding a heart to a Phoenix on Valentine's Day.)
The primary identity marks are always acceptable as black-and-white. Phoenix Green is the preferred color choice. If a mark is to be used on a field of any other color, the mark should appear reversed, in white. Outlining, shading or exaggerated drop shadows are not encouraged. There should be no lines, shadowing, type or images intruding.
Applications to Avoid
Do not flip, rotate, stretch, skew or otherwise distort.
Do not incorporate into another logo or overlap type or images.
Do not apply bevel, emboss, exaggerated drop shadows, glows, etc.
Wordmark should not be incorporated into any text treatment.
Do not use custom-made, hand-drawn or digitally altered depictions.
Use of previous marks is not authorized for identity purposes.
Safe Zones
There must be an appropriate margin around the primary identity marks. A good minimum space would be the equivalent of the width of the "G" at the start of the words Green Bay in the two-line wordmark — and there should be no extraneous lines, shadowing, type or images intruding. A mark need not be large to be effective, but it should have ample space around it for legibility and visual integrity.
To preserve the legibility and recognition of the primary identity marks, the wordmark's "Green Bay" should be no smaller than one inch wide.


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You are here: Home » Weekly Report » The Fred Report - Weekly July 6, 2010
The Fred Report - Weekly July 6, 2010
The FRED Report - Financial Research, Education & Data
Trading Week Starting July 6, 2010
Download PDF Version here
Summary of Market View
This is set to be an interesting week. We expect a choppy, but ultimately up week in stocks and think a tradable low has arrived. We look for the SPY to challenge, and possibly exceed, the 113 area as the rebound plays itself out.
The TLT looks to have made a peak and we look for a move back below 100 to confirm this.
The FXE has challenged the 126 area where we would have a reversal in effect. This could be exceeded this week. Recall that the reason for the market turmoil we have seen over the last two months was weakness in the Euro. As part of this, the DXY could test 82.
Oil, and the commodities complex, may have bottomed. Gold, on the other hand, looks to have registered a short-term peak.
We have reached an interesting juncture in the stock market, as the set-ups we have been looking for to mark a tradable low are present. Monthly indicators, in particular the monthly FPO (see the research piece in this month's Monthly Report out later today) have declined, and we have divergences on daily and weekly indicators. So, we expect a rally starting this week.
We call reader's attention to sentiment. See the Monthly for our sentiment charts, which have improved. In addition, anecdotal sentiment (which is defined as what we hear from investors and advisors) is about as bad as it can be. The press is uniformly negative. While all of these people may be right, the contrarian in us suggests that something should happen to shake up the bears.
We would like to see some choppiness, backing and filling, before a strong up move takes hold, rather than simply rallying. Some basing-type up and down trading with a strong close to the week would be ideal, and that is what we expect.
We note that broader indexes, and the transports, continue to outperform, a bullish sign.
Fixed Income Review
We note that the TLT moved towards the 103.00 area we have been looking for and then sold off sharply (High was 102.66 on July 1). A close below 100 would tend to confirm a false breakout, and could lead to a decline in bonds, and a rise in rates, into the fall. We note that 100 was tested on July 2, so far successfully, but we believe that area will be broken. We continue to advocate taking some money out of treasuries and putting it into high grade corporate bonds. While the LQD has broken out above the 107.50 area it has lagged the TLT on the way up. This suggests that (a) either the TLT is a false breakout and the LQD will fall less as it declines, or (b) the TLT is NOT a false breakout, in which case the LQD and corporate rates will play catch up. Either way, the LQD looks more attractive to us.
A note on the HYG seems appropriate. Over the last few months we have commented that the HYG is acting more as a proxy for risk than an interest rate play. HYG has followed stocks both up and down. However, recently HYG has been outperforming the SPY, and has not made new lows with the major stock indexes. This suggests that there are less credit problems, even if the economy is slowing. This is a positive suggesting that the economy may be stronger than it looks. We would look actively at this, as high yield may finally warrant a second look. See the Monthly for these charts.
Commodity Review
The commodities markets have been out of synch of late, with a big move up in Gold and the other commodities lagging. Now, it looks like this could be reversing. Gold looks to have made a short-term peak, as we have been expecting. Natural Gas looks like a base and Oil could be bottoming as well. Should the USO move back above 35, a move towards 40 could occur.
The DBC is hovering just below 22 and a move above 22 would target the 28 area. We continue to be commodity bulls.
The International markets have hit an interesting juncture, as the dollar looks to have peaked, and the Euro may have bottomed. Should this have occurred, we should see Europe gain strength. We noted in last week's Midweek report that Germany and France were outperforming the US, and this could continue. Commodity related markets like Canada (EWC) and Australia (EWA) should also start to do better. Australia and Germany also have better yields than the US, making these somewhat attractive. The Canadian Dollar (FXC) and Aussie dollar (FXA) also look poised to advance. Falling gold might hurt Canada short-term, but we believe that to be a temporary condition. We would look at the EWC should the GLD make a successful test of the 115 area.
Weekly Chart of Interest
We show below charts of two ETFs that are interesting for those looking at equities that are off the beaten path. EWS which is an ETF tracking Singapore is outperforming the US. We mentioned the EWM, which is an ETF tracking Malaysia, in last week's midweek report and it continues to outperform as well. Both of these are interesting ideas from a technical standpoint.


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The Nephrology and Chronic Kidney Disease department at Revere Health in Vernal provides specialized medical care to patients with diseases and ailments specific to the kidney. Our nephrologists treat each patient according to their individual needs and goals. We aim to educate our patients on treatment and lifestyle options, and our Vernal physicians and staff stay up to date on the latest in chronic kidney diseases and treatments related to the kidney and other organs. From dialysis to surgical care, we have the resources and talent to help improve our patients' quality of life.


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Was listening to the show on the way home from work today when I heard an announcement for a Women's grant. Just wondering what the website for that was. Hoping to check it out.
Hi! Give a listen to some of BiG ToP a great little band from Vancouver.


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Mathematics: Books
Resources and tools for the students and faculty of the UNO Mathematics Department
Journals/Articles
Math Databases
Subscription Journals
Handouts and Videos
Poisson Point Processes by Roy L. Streit
Call Number: QA274.42 .S77 2010
Classical Methods in Ordinary Differential Equations by Stuart P. Hastings; J. Bryce McLeod
Call Number: QA379 .H377 2012
The Simple Genetic Algorithm by Michael D. Vose
Call Number: QA402.5 .V68 1999
Doing Statistical Mediation and Moderation by Paul E. Jose
Call Number: QA278.2 .J67 2013
How to Find Books on Mathematics
To find books and e-books on Mathematics you can search the Library Catalog by keyword, author, title, or subject. If you don't find what you're looking for the first time, don't give up! Search again using alternate words, different spellings, or a shortened version of your search term.
Alternately, you can browse for what you need on the bookshelves on the 3nd floor of the library, aisle 3, looking for books whose call numbers begin with QA.
Important books in this subject area are:
The Hutchinson pocket dictionary of maths
Available through ebrary, 2005
Mathematics dictionary, 5th edition
QA5 .J33 1992B in Reference
CRC concise encyclopedia of mathematics
QA5 .W45 2003 in Reference
The universal book of mathematics: from Abracadabra to Zeno's paradoxes
Available through Netlibrary, 2004
Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Mathematics handbook for science and engineering, 4th edition
QA41 .R34 1999 (book shelves)
Handbook of mathematics, 5th edition
Available through Springer ebooks, 2007
The oxford handbook of philosophy of mathematics and logic
Available through Ebrary and Netlibrary, 2005
Mathematical handbook of formulas and tables
Available through Ebrary
If you're attempting to access an e-book in one of UNO's databases from off-campus, when you click on a database name, you'll be taken to a screen that looks like this. Follow the directions to log-in. If you don't know your PIN or have never set up a PIN, click "Email My PIN" and a PIN will be emailed your UNO email account.
If you can't find the book you're looking for, try our Interlibrary Loan service! Request the book through our iLLiad system and we'll get the book from another library for you for free.
Next: Journals/Articles >>
Last Updated: Oct 26, 2021 12:51 PM
URL: https://libguides.uno.edu/math
Subjects: Mathematics, Sciences


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News / National / Russian Federation commiserates with 'Ulysses' victims
Russian Federation commiserates with 'Ulysses' victims
Published November 20, 2020, 8:41 PM
by Roy Mabasa
The government of the Russian Federation on Friday sent its sympathy to the Philippines and the Filipino people following the massive devastation brought by Typhoon Ulysses (Vamco) that left more than 70 people dead and scores of others injured.
In a tweet, the Russian embassy in Manila said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has extended his condolences to the Philippines over the "devastating consequences" of Ulysses.
"I would like to convey my heartfelt sympathy to the families of the victims as well as the wishes of speedy recovery for the injured," the Russian embassy quoted Lavrov as saying.
Ulysses was the fifth storm to hit the Philippines over the past three weeks. It made landfall in several towns across Quezon province on the evening of November 11 with maximum sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour.
Heavy downpours and severe flooding were experienced across Luzon, damaging more than 65,000 houses. In Metro Manila, floodwaters of up to 4.5 feet left many parts of the capital submerged, impacting over 50,000 people. Widespread power shortages and infrastructural damage have also been reported.
COVID vaccinees who refuse to be injected warned
Herrera says economic Cha-cha could end forced Pinoy labor migration
["national","news"]
Alleged 'Salisi Gang' member nabbed for stealing luxury bags containing P600K cash in Makati
Vargas bats for house-to-house vaccination of senior citizens
BI nabs Korean attempted murder suspect
Allow Pinoy healthcare workers to be hired abroad – solon
News, Offbeat, World


Dear writer you are spoton with this writeup, i have attende seminars and meetings where we were taught all these points you've stated but the challenge is doing them. Am a evry creative person and easily get bored with routines i enjoy being flexible and love spontaneity but still i want to be able to set goals and achieve them at least 85%. Some days ago i went to my diary and check the goals i set for this year to my suprise i have not achieved as little as 20%. How can i set goals and follow thwm through at the same time enjoy doing it?
productive my days ends up, compare to days that i dont. Adding up these HABITS to my daily routine, will definitely move me towards achieving my dreams. Once again THX.


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Church & State, Conflict and conflict resolution, Politics, Social Justice, Uncategorized
It's time to sit down. Talk slowly — with long pauses. We can even grab a coffee and tip our hats to fourth and fifth-century Christian theologians, who tried to restrain would-be warriors even as they abandoned strict pacifism.
Their wisdom is apropos in light of recent events: President Donald Trump ordered a hit on an Iranian leader responsible for American deaths and managing his nation's proxy wars; the slain leader's government vowed vengeance and then, it seems, directed its military to aim badly when firing rockets at Iraqi bases housing US military personnel. The world sighed in relief – until news struck of a crashed Ukrainian airline in Tehran, which Iran's Revolutionary Guard mistook for a cruise missile and shot down. All 176 passengers died. Many Iranians are protesting.
Such deadly twists show why those theologians deliberated and why their present-day heirs still refine their theories.
Pacifism — defined by Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat as "an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare," including self-defense — was Christianity's reflexive stance when it was an outlaw religion in its first centuries: We worship a Prince of Peace who told us to turn the other cheek; ergo, we don't kill human beings. Ever. But the Roman Emperors introduced knotty nuance once they blessed the faith and invited Christians into high government positions. Believers were now obliged to guard citizens in an era of marauding Goths and Visigoths, culminating in Alaric's sack of Rome in 410. The theologians' dilemma: What's the duty of a state official when faced with sociopathic tyrants? Such bullies thank their enemies for the olive branches and then brandish them as whips. Think of Nero, Genghis Kahn, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Slobodan Milosevic, and Charles Taylor (the former Liberian president and convicted war criminal). Think of Ted Bundy with an army.
Milan's bishop, Ambrose (337-392 CE), borrowed Cicero's "Just War" approach, which mandates a just cause, a formal declaration, and just conduct. His more famous pupil, Augustine (354-480), agreed in his classic, City of God, which also carved a notch for conscientious objectors. He contrasted God's eternal, peaceful city with the temporal and ill-fated City of Man. The two cities now mingle, with Christ's wayfaring pilgrims duty-bound to both. Subsequent thinkers molded the theory into what might better be called "modified pacifism:" A war must be waged for a just cause, with the right intention, as a last resort, by a lawful authority, and with a reasonable chance of success. It must be selective in its weaponry, adhere to international conventions, and avoid deliberate civilian assaults.
A pacifist heart beats within modern Just War thinkers (that unfortunate label has stuck). Blood-letting makes their skin crawl. Didn't Jesus order Peter to drop his sword? Given pacifism's historic precedence, doesn't any theology permitting violence – however well-intended – bear the overwhelming burden of proof? Remember war's dark allure: the adrenaline-laced saber rattling, the feel of raw dominance, the malevolent pleasure of revenge. Even conscientious leaders might hijack the theology as they fall prey to war's pernicious glamour: All wars become just (remember Catholic neoconservative lobbying at the Vatican in 2003; they justified the US invasion of Iraq). That's why Pope Leo XIII called war a "scourge" and Pope Paul VI pleaded to the United Nations: "Never again war, war never again!" The US National Conference of Bishops wrote in 1983: "Catholic teaching begins in every case with a presumption against war and for peaceful settlement of disputes," with force permitted in "exceptional cases, determined by the moral principles of the just war tradition." John Paul II replied to the neoconservatives in a speech before the Vatican diplomatic corps: "War is not always inevitable. It is always a defeat for humanity. International law, honest dialogue, solidarity between States, the noble exercise of diplomacy: these are methods worthy of individuals and nations in resolving their differences."
But what about those Mafia-don leaders? The ghosts of the Rwandan genocide want to know. Maybe they even resent pacifism's platitudes and finger-wagging deflections: "We didn't negotiate enough … we're just as guilty … We're for peace; you're for war …"
Really? Does total non-violence invariably lead to genuine, holistic peace? Remember the hopeless diplomacy of Cyrus Vance and David Owen in their efforts to end the Bosnian War. The Serbs only negotiated after NATO bombings.
Strict pacifism's weaknesses gleam when we review a bygone era that ran on different assumptions: The fascist threat rendered the political Left less dovish in the 1930s. Reinhold Niebuhr, a social democrat and arguably America's greatest twentieth-century theologian, debated in 1932 with his brother, Richard, on the pages of The Christian Century. Japan had attacked China late the previous year. Reinhold said war is sometimes necessary while Richard suggested the U.S. should pray, repent, remain inactive, and plunge into "an American self-analysis." Our inaction would be "of those who do not judge their neighbors because they cannot fool themselves into a sense of superior righteousness."
A question: How would our doleful self-analysis have helped up to 200,000 Nanjing civilians in 1937, victims of the Imperial Army's orgiastic rampage? Does our guilt for past sins excuse present-day neglect?
More weaknesses reared in 1936, when the Nazis re-militarized the Rhineland. The British and French remembered the Great War's slaughter and did nothing. Hitler, who ordered his troops to retreat if attacked, took heart: The allies were soft. He bullied them into ceding Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland at the Munich conference of 1938, after which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proclaimed "peace in our time" to the applause of his countrymen (we forget the applause). Hitler invaded Poland the next year.
Incredibly, British pacifists still wagged their fingers in 1942 while the air raid sirens howled. George Orwell — again, a socialist — said pacifism served the pro-fascist cause: "If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other." That's why the Nazis encouraged allied pacifists while rounding them up in the Fatherland. "Lying on one's back" in attempts to halt German troops betrays "ignorance of the way in which things actually happen."
Perhaps Orwell wasn't totally fair, but D.S. Savage, General Secretary of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, reeled in near-drunken moral equivalency: "War demands totalitarian organization of society. Germany organized itself on that basis prior to embarking on war. Britain now finds herself compelled to take the same measures after involvement in war. Germans call it National Socialism. We call it democracy. The result is the same."
No wonder why Orwell accused Savage of "intellectual cowardice."
He was kinder to Mohandas Gandhi in 1949. The Indian leader's Satyagraha philosophy was "a sort-of non-violent warfare, a way of defeating the enemy without hurting him and without feeling an arousing hatred." He commended Gandhi's rejection of "the sterile and dishonest line" that all sides are equally evil, and even credits him for intellectual consistency in his calls for sacrifice. But "it is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard of again." The British raj would arrest Gandhi with great publicity; Stalin would have had him shot and his family laboring in Gulag mines, with Pravda somberly rejoicing over its fictional statistics on escalating pig-iron output. No one would have known his fate and, in a land crowded with NKVD moles, no one would have asked.
It seems pacifists are not immune to their own clichés and false equivalencies, as Savage showed. The phrase, "war is not the answer," makes for a great bumper sticker, but doesn't help leaders losing sleep over heart-wrenching choices.
Still, we must remember: The Just War theory isn't intended to justify war. It's meant to halt the guns before they fire and, when that fails, silence them as soon as possible. Its genuine advocates see war's growing dangers in an era of quasi-macho, nationalistic leaders lusting for cluster bombs. The theologians cry: "Coffee break!" and urge us veer off the path leading to weeping mothers, collateral damage, and the deaths of 176 innocent airline passengers.
The gap between traditional pacifists and modified pacifists is closing. The two groups now have more affinities than differences. And that's good.
Just war, peace, Shalom, War
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text:
Gaius Valerius Proculus war ein im 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr. lebender Angehöriger der römischen Armee.

Inschriften
Durch eine Inschrift auf einem Grabstein, der in Salona gefunden wurde, sind einzelne Stationen seiner Laufbahn bekannt. Proculus diente zunächst als Reiter (eques) in einer Kohorte, deren Name nur unvollständig erhalten ist. Danach wechselte er zur Cohors I Belgarum und wurde in dieser Einheit zweimal befördert, zunächst zum Vexillarius und im Anschluss zum Kommandeur (Decurio) einer Turma der Kohorte.

Proculus ließ den Grabstein noch zu seinen Lebzeiten für sich, seine Frau Apuleia Sabina und seine Nachfahren errichten.

In einer weiteren Inschrift, die in Tilurium (Trilj) gefunden wurde, ist ein Valerius Proculus als Kommandeur einer Turma der Cohors I Belgarum aufgeführt. Ivan Matijević hält es für wahrscheinlich, dass Valerius Proculus mit Gaius Valerius Proculus identisch ist.

Datierungen
Bei der EDCS werden beide Inschriften auf den Zeitraum zwischen 101 und 150 n. Chr. datiert. Ivan Matijević gibt für die erste Inschrift einen Zeitraum zwischen 120 und 140 und für die zweite einen Zeitraum zwischen 120 und 130 an.

Erste Kohorte
Der Name der ersten Kohorte, in der Proculus diente, ist nur unvollständig erhalten und wird unterschiedlich ergänzt. Die Lesung der EDCS ist eques coh(ortis) I [U]lp(iae). John Spaul ordnet Proculus der Cohors I Alpinorum equitata zu. Laut Ivan Matijević haben drei weitere Historiker, die sich mit der Inschrift befasst haben, an der beschädigten Stelle Cohors I Alpinorum gelesen; er selbst hält es jedoch aus verschiedenen Gründen für wahrscheinlich, dass in der Inschrift die Cohors III Alpinorum aufgeführt ist.

Einzelnachweise

Militärperson (Römische Kaiserzeit)
Römer
Mann
Geboren im 1. Jahrhundert
Gestorben im 2. Jahrhundert

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The legal minds in Egypt are too mired in the nuances and letter-of-the-law they insist on observing to realize that they are being out-smarted by a canny adversarial mind that learns swiftly on the job. No one expected too much of Mohammed Morsi other than as a flabby-minded front for the Muslim Brotherhood, but now it's difficult to determine who is leading whom...?
On the other hand, one can only wonder whether the president's decree that has placed him, his party and their joint intentions above the law would have been put out there to contest the peoples' will had he been able to anticipate the outcry and defiance it would bring to the fore. Most Egyptians seemed prepared to settle for what they got in the election that brought the Brotherhood and the Salafists to power, that they could tough it out and hope for the best.
Now, it seems the best they can tough out is too tough for them to grin and bear it. While hopes were pinned on a gradual evolution that would bring more freedoms and respect to the fore, along with an enhanced economy with the usual investors abroad reassured that deposing Hosni Mubarak didn't spell the end of investment security, the status quo seems to have returned with the vengeance of the recently elected to become as hostile to democracy as possible.
The regime that was forced to surrender to mass protests initiated by poor economic conditions, unemployment and despair in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria has been replaced by a duly elected regime that is emulating and even surpassing the one it took over from. But not to worry, since President Morsi has been swift to reassure his critics that the decrees he has promulgated are a requirement to protect the "revolution".
After all, the most important thing in the minds of the liberals, the leftists, the minorities, was to democratize the nation. And so, it was quite necessary to provide the 100-member panel constructed mostly of Islamists with the security they require to draft the new constitution without fear of being once again assailed by the courts.
Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court thought it was playing hardball when it stated it planned to proceed with its intention to rule on whether to dissolve the assembly writing up the new constitution, but in so doing they gave away the game. The Islamists so busy over the past months constructing that shiny new constitution for Egypt have sped up their game, going all out to present a fait accompli before Sunday.
And their determination to enshrine Sharia law in the most populous of Arab countries will proceed on their accelerated schedule; game over. Muslim clerics may gain oversight over legislation, bringing restrictions to bear on freedom of speech, women's rights and other liberties that the original protesters had agitated to achieve. The more things change the more mired they are in sameness.
The assembly has put their collective nose to the grindstone for completion of the 230-article draft in an amazing time warp. And they've had the freedom to do so unobstructed by protests from those liberal, secular and Christian members who had a minority presence on the panel, since in their great wisdom they chose to withdraw in protest of the Islamists' hijacking of the process.
As though Egypt hasn't enough problems. The country's highest appeal courts went on strike in protest of the presidential decree. Judges insist they will not return to work until the president rescinds those decrees. "This is the highest form of protest", said Nasser Amin, head of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, refusing to believe that Morsi's bid for the buck to stop with him will become law.
So the courts are temporarily in high dudgeon, virtually moribund, and so is the economy, while crime runs its course fairly unimpeded in a one-size-fits-all frame of reference; if the president of the country can take the law into his own hands, why not every petty criminal roaming the streets if the mood takes them, when the time to strike seems right?
President Morsi is promising a nationwide referendum "very soon", to ratify the draft, to bring it into law through due process. Absent the Supreme Constitutional Court input. End run on an end run.
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians celebrate in the West Bank city of Ramallah on November 29, 2012 after the General Assembly voted to recognise Palestine as a non-member state.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will meet as soon as early next week with the Canadian diplomats the federal government is recalling from Israel, the West Bank and the UN.
In an interview with the National Post, Mr. Baird said he will meet with those representatives in Ottawa for a frank discussion on Canada's next move after Thursday's UN vote that implicitly recognized a Palestinian state.
Despite widespread speculation, Mr. Baird said Canada is not considering breaking off relations with the Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority and deferred questions about Canadian aid to International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino.
When asked about the future of Canada's financial support to the UN itself, Mr. Baird said Ottawa is "not making any threats in that regard." He pointed out, though, that when UNESCO approved a Palestinian bid for full membership, the U.S. cut millions in funding to the UN.
"I was clear then that the UN better not pass the hat around and expect that Canada make up for those types of reductions," Mr. Baird said.
Echoing the Obama administration, Mr. Baird said his "key" concern is the prospect of the Palestinian Authority seeking access to the International Criminal Court, where it could move to try Israel for war crimes.
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty ImagesJohn Baird, Canada's Foreign Minister, speaks to the United Nations General Assembly before the body votes on a resolution to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority to a nonmember observer state November 29, 2012 at UN headquarters in New York.
"That's why I want to sit down and consult with our representative to Ramallah and our UN ambassadors to get a sense of what the road ahead could look like," he said.
The Palestinians have said privately they will not head to the International Criminal court, but they rejected American and British requests to make an explicit promise in their bid language.
"They had an opportunity to assuage fears on that, and they declined to do so," he said.
Mr. Baird said he also wants to speak with Ottawa's representative in Ramallah about recently reported threats by the Palestinian Liberation Organization that Canada will suffer consequences for its vote against the UN bid.
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians celebrate in the West Bank city of Ramallah on November 29, 2012 after the General Assembly voted to recognise Palestine as a non-member state.
ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinians celebrate in the West Bank city of Ramallah on November 29, 2012 after the General Assembly voted to recognise Palestine as a non-member state.
ADL: European nations acted "without courage" and "capitulat[ed] to Arab intimidation" during PA's bid for upgraded UN status.
European nations have acted "without courage" and have "capitulat[ed] to Arab intimidation and pressure" by voting in favor of, or abstaining from, the Palestinian Authority's bid at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to be granted an upgraded status of "non-member" observer state, announced the Anti-Defamation League, upon hearing the results of the vote.
"After the Palestinians rejected the U.K. request for assurances that they would return to negotiations without pre-conditions and not complicate those negotiations even further by pursuing Israelis at the International Criminal Court, all of Europe should have stood with Israel and the United States and said, 'No. Negotiations are the only way to statehood,'" concluded Foxman.
The League praised the United States and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for her strong statement on the U.N. floor and for her efforts to encourage other countries to follow the U.S. lead in rejecting the Palestinian Authority resolution, which was approved by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions.
"Today's grand announcements will soon fade and the Palestinian people will wake up tomorrow to find little of their lives has changed, save (that) the prospects of a durable peace have receded," Rice said.
"This resolution does not establish that Palestine is a state," she said, echoing an earlier speech made by Israeli ambassador to the UN, Ron Proser. "Today's vote should not be misconstrued by any as constituting eligibility for UN membership."
Rice affirmed that "only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and the Israelis achieve the peace that both deserve."
Palestinian society remains divided politically and geographically between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The economic weaknesses remain of course, as do all the difficulties of living under an Israeli occupation, which stretches back to the Six-Day War in 1967. And of course there is the chronic problem of the moribund peace process with Israel.
For all those reasons the decision of the UN in New York to upgrade the status of the Palestinians by an overwhelming majority could be seen as largely symbolic. But the point is that in the Middle East, symbolism matters.
If it did, then they would be able in theory to pursue Israel for its settlement policies on the West Bank - widely seen as a clear breach of international law.
Israel rejects that legal interpretation - but it may not be anxious to see the issue tested in court.
Even if the Palestinians didn't decide to exercise that option immediately, the threat that they might do so at a moment of their choosing would be a powerful diplomatic tool.
Israeli officials say all of this is already pushing back any prospects of peace talks. Palestinians I've spoken to argue that process was already so moribund that it was simple common sense for them to pursue an alternative path.
In the build-up to the vote in New York, Israel worked hard to derail the Palestinian strategy - or at least to try to ensure the backing of a network of powerful allies.
But that strategy failed - France voted for the Palestinians, and both Germany and the UK abstained.
There is a natural tendency at such moments to look forward and try to work out what events in New York might mean for the future of the two-state solution and relations between Israelis and Palestinians in general.
But it's worth looking at last night's vote in New York as a snapshot of where international sentiment lies right now on an issue which has bedevilled global diplomacy for decades.
The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would have boosted the standing of the Palestinian militant organisation in the eyes of the Arab world.
It's not yet certain how Israel will respond to its diplomatic defeat. It may delay any reprisals until it's clear when and in what circumstances the Palestinians would make their move on the issue of the International Criminal Court.
A first indication of Israeli anger, though, came less than 24 hours after the vote was taken at the UN.
A senior Israeli official confirmed that the government is approving the construction of 3,000 new homes in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and speeding up the processing of 1,000 existing planning permissions.
The Palestinians may well have been expecting this - or something like it - but it's a reminder that the gulf between the two on the settlement issue remains huge - and that events in New York and this reaction to them will do nothing to solve it.
It's also worth re-iterating that a shift in status at the UN to the same status as that enjoyed by the Vatican won't fix a single road or feed a single child here in the West Bank or in Gaza.
But symbolism really does matter.
And on that subject, here's a final point to consider.
We have grown used to referring to this dispute as one between Israel - the proper noun denoting a nation state - and the Palestinians - the use of a collective noun describing a people rather than a defined political entity.
Does the UN's upgrade mean that the use of the title Palestine for that entity now enters the daily lexicon of diplomacy and journalism? And if it doesn't, when does it ?
Something for them to ponder over in the foreign ministries and editorial conference chambers of the world in the coming days.
Israel, seeking to defend itself from continued assaults against its people from its unfriendly border communities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, responding with artillery fire from rocket launching sites, is accused of genocidal intent.
Gaza's rulers, Hamas, along with other jihadist militias like Islamic Jihad deliberately use Palestinian civilians within Gaza as pawns, as human shields, deploying their munitions from within crowded civilian enclaves with the purpose of accusing Israel of human-rights violations when it protects its own population by attempting to still the rocket fire from Gaza, when Palestinian Gazans become victims.
And the world stands in horror of the duplicitous Jewish state which is accused of committing disproportionate response to hundreds of rockets launched against its towns, villages and cities.
The grievance narrative of the victims, the falsified video footage that display the aggression of the Jews and the piteous condition of the beleaguered Palestinians squeezes the tender hearts of the international community, happy to once again condemn those Jews for victimizing helpless Palestinians.
The very same mindset of blessed martyrdom and the achievement of honourable mention in the pursuit of Islamist justice compels radical Muslim groups fighting alongside other rebel units in Syria to commit atrocities against Syrian civilians.
Although Israel has nothing whatever to do with the conflicts that take place in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Arab and Muslim world, the presence of the Jewish nation in their midst is cited as a provocation and the cause of tribal and sectarian violence among Arab countries.
Within Syria the rebel groups are increasingly infiltrated by groups of Islamist extremists and foreign fighters. Who see nothing wrong and everything right with suicide bombings. Such as the two explosions that have latterly killed 34 civilians in Damascus, in a mostly religious minority enclave.
At a time of day when people are lining up to look for employment, ensuring groups of people in a concentrated area. When the initial blast sent people into a panic, shattering nearby infrastructure, people soon returned with the intention of aiding the wounded and counting the dead.
And that is precisely when a second explosion was set to go off, killing and wounding those who had returned to the scene of the disaster. One witness verified there were no troops around the district. Civilians were deliberately and with malice aforethought, targeted.
"Is this the freedom which they want?" asked a young teacher, of the rebel action. Little wonder Syrian Christians and Kurds view the rebel agenda with suspicion and cling to the hope that the regime will survive, in the hope they will be protected from the Islamist depravity of slaughter for the sake of killing, and all in the name of the Islamist creed of jihad and martyrdom for the greater glory of Islam.
"Over the last year the climate of repression in the United Arab Emirates has worsened dramatically and over 60 members of the Al-Islah movement, a non-violent opposition movement, have been detained.
"Some have even had their citizenship revoked. That is a dangerous precedent.
"As the environment in the UAE has worsened, our access to the country and the willingness of the government to engage in substantive debate has declined dramatically."
Well, yes. It's more or less the accepted social contract reflective of the neighbourhood. As in, for example: "wot's gnu?" And there's the left, right on cue, helpful enablers to those whose 'peaceful' revolt is certain to stoke violent reaction to the potential of an overtake by Islamists; the choice given around the Middle East; exchange your friendly secularist dictator for an unfriendly theocracy.
Human Rights Watch deplores the newly-introduced cyber-crime law enacted by the United Arab Emirates which, alas, "effectively closes off the country's only remaining forum for free speech", making it illegal to "criticize senior officials, argue for political reform, or organize unlicensed demonstrations". Furthermore, anyone charged under the new law could be penalized to the tune of up to $270,000, along with imprisonment.
Altogether a compelling argument to mind their ps and qs. In essence, a reflection in part of the newly-released and very contested edicts released in Egypt by that country's new President, Mohammed Morsi, he of the Muslim Brotherhood. And here's the irony; the president of the UAE Sheik Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and other government officials are not much swayed by the protests of the HRW, nor by the European Parliament which has similarly expressed concern.
The concern of the UAE is wholly focused toward the incipient threat to their political and governing longevity. Where, within their precincts, a federation of seven emirates, they are facing a growing threat emanating from opposition groups representative of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Al-Islah who have been agitating for regime change.
"From the UAE's point of view, the tensions that are sweeping the region is another reason this new cyber law has been put into place", explained Theodore Karasik, director of research for the Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai. The UAE's rulers are becoming increasingly upset over the threat they perceive from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt and Tunisia along with Libya, and with Syria and Jordan now threatened, have fallen into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood; unsurprisingly the UAE has no wish to be next in line. The Arab Spring which was to have liberated the states where it raised its banner for freedom has transmogrified into the Islamist Springboard, a condition that has no appeal for the UAE.
Alas, Canada has succeeded yet again in offending. In its appearance at the United Nations Canada has turned from being an acquiescent, accommodating, co-operative member-state, complacently agreeable to the fact that among its coeval states there exist those whose human rights abuses are so domineeringly egregious as to be difficult to overlook, but with a concentrated determination, can be, and have been.
The new Canada on the international stage, under the Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has chosen a different path, and that fork in the road finally taken has caused great consternation, not only within the United Nations and among its member democracy-states, but even at home where the opposition political parties fondly recall a more timid, entirely less aggressive approach to human rights defence.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is so incensed at Canada's intolerable effrontery at once again leading the demeaning charge of accusing the Republic of dreadful human rights abuses, it has turned its diplomatic face of contempt and accusation against Canada, in its stead. Canada, Iran charges, is "racist" and "self-centred"; obviously, incurably so.
Canada, said Iran's ambassador scathingly, has "a long list of human rights violations" committed against "immigrants, Muslims, aboriginals and Afro-Canadian women". The country is guilty of "abusing human rights mechanisms to advance its self-centred political interests", the most obvious manifestation of which, therefore is the continued annual and unforgivable assault on Iran's reputation within the United Nations.
"In fact, if any country had to get a resolution, [Canada] would have deserved it more than others because of their unsparing support of a regime [Israel] that has frequently committed genocide in the Palestinian Occupied Territories", fumed Mohammad Khazaee in a statement to the UN General Assembly Plenary. How does one 'frequently commit genocide'?
Israel, among the 42 co-sponsors of the resolution passed by the UN humanitarian affairs committee condemning Iranian abuses, represents an outrageous irony, since within the UN, in incendiary slanderous motions led by countries like Iran, Syria and Cuba, Israel is held to be the world's most notorious human-rights abuser.
At issue, needless to say, is Iran's use of torture and the death penalty, its execution of minors, its restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly, its violence against women, and the arrest of leading opposition figures. Its persecution of Baha'i, its use of violent force in putting down popular protest gatherings of Iranians prepared to endanger themselves through public protest.
"We won't stand still in the face of these egregious actions. We will continue to express serious concern about the ongoing and pervasive human rights violations in Iran, including the persecution of religious minorities. Canada is a vigorous defender of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law around the world, and we will continue to urge Iran to uphold its international obligations, to allow for freedom of religion and to respect the fundamental rights of its people."
Rick Roth, Foreign Affairs spokesman.
"They can get pieces of paper from the UN but they are not going to move peace forward, they are not going to make a Palestinian statehood more real.
"They boycott Israel. They refuse to talk to us. Who do they plan to make peace with?"
Who to make peace with? None in particular. Perhaps the PA and Mahmoud Abbas, operating an illegal government, one which hangs on despite a lack of legal authority through the polls which voted a majority share of responsibility to Hamas, and with which group Fatah has a severe, irreconcilable falling-out, has no idea how next to proceed, but by fumbling ahead.
He may not have a legal mandate to rule the West Bank through elections that are promised but never held for fear of yet another popular vote that will this time boot Fatah out of the running and acclaim Hamas triumphant in the political home of Fatah, but he has sought legal standing in the United Nations, and there, where a gross collective misunderstanding of the most elemental principles of human rights reign supreme, that standing was conferred.
Not nationhood, but nascent nationhood affirmed. Nationhood without subterfuge could have been achieved but since it was never authentically striven for through the creation and management of all the infrastructures and structures of a meaningful and working national institution of government with all its responsibilities effectively in place and pursued, Palestinians have satisfied themselves with the pale imitation.
Why make peace with Israel when there is no will nor wish to do so? The straitjacket of an invincible hatred has achieved a status difficult to dissolve through mere face-to-face negotiations. The potent imagery of an enemy whose ardent pursuit of military punishment for impoverished, victimized refugees who have never risen above international beggar status is one that more than adequately fills the national aspiration.
The impassioned plea with which PA President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the General Assembly used imagery and words that belied authenticity and reality, an invention of the mindset of a people incapable of working toward an amicable conclusion to too many long years of strife and turmoil. This is Fatah, remember, which saw birth as the Palestine Liberation Organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
And if they were unable to destroy Israel itself because of its collective will to endure, they did their utmost with ferocious determination to slaughter as many Israelis as possible. That torch was handed on to Hamas, with Fatah taking a diplomatic bow from perpetuating conspicuous violence, resorting instead to the violence of incendiary slander aimed toward a most appreciative audience, both at large and within the United Nations.
Observe: "Palestine comes today to the General Assembly because it believes in peace and because its people, as proven in past days, are in desperate need of it," he said, insisting that recognizing "Palestine" as a non-member observer state is "the last chance to save the two-state solution."
"We have heard and you too have heard specifically over the past months the incessant flood of Israeli threats in response to our peaceful, political and diplomatic endeavor for Palestine to acquire non-member observer state in the United Nations," said Abbas. "And, you have surely witnessed how some of these threats have been carried out in a barbaric and horrific manner just days ago in the Gaza Strip.
"We have not heard one word from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process. On the contrary, our people have witnessed, and continue to witness, an unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade, settlement activities and ethnic cleansing, particularly in occupied east Jerusalem, and mass arrests, attacks by settlers and other practices by which this Israeli occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and entrenches hatred and incitement."
This is a masterfully outstanding example of inverse reasoning, beloved of those who succeed in mastering the art of slanderous propaganda, portraying themselves as innocent victims of a malignant power intent on using any horrific means possible to obliterate a rival challenger for ownership of a territory that will empower the winner to emerge triumphant in its final possession.
The vote to accommodate the desire of the Palestinian Authority was overwhelmingly in favour. A paltry few moral-minded UN members voted against, with yet another relative handful abstaining and a few absenting themselves with deliberate aforethought. Canada, stating its position as favouring a two-state solution requiring the Palestinian Authority to return to the bargaining table and talks with Israel was blunt about its "no" vote.
"That will not be accomplished, in reality, unless and until the Palestinian Authority returns to the negotiating table and is able to get a comprehensive peace agreement with Israel. And we will not support any other shortcuts, or any other ways of trying to arrive at that solution without such a peace agreement."
But symbolism can be a powerful aphrodisiac. The Palestinian Authority has already signalled its preparedness to join other United Nations committees, such as a reactivated UN Anti-Apartheid Committee, and another for membership in the Forum against Racism and Discrimination, and in all likelihood ask permission to lodge a case against Israel at the International Criminal Court, which with UN nationhood recognition it may do.
Israel, slurred and labelled as anti-Apartheid provides powerful, colonialist, imperialist imagery that the non-aligned-countries bloc find most appealing, and prepared to accept in their generalized loathing of the Jewish State. Israel in fact is meant to be a Jewish state. It favours and prides itself as a Jewish state. Not too different from the states that surround it in the Middle East which give citizenship to their own and none other, unlike Israel.
The truth of the matter is, Israel has no partner for peace. It has a neighbour that has demonstrated, time and again, that it is not averse to expressing its racial hatred of Jews, and its contempt for a religion other than Islam. That neighbour looks too for a Final Solution. One that would permanently remove Israel from the map of the Middle East and return it in its entirety to the Arab/Muslim world.
It is a desire that has a wide acceptance in that neighbourhood. Which, for over sixty years has engaged in its utmost endeavours to engineer that final scenario. Despite which, their distorted logic, which has wide appeal outside the Middle East as well, is that Israel is the aggressor, the racist, the Apartheid state, the genocidal agent in the area, the nation that must be destroyed to bring peace.
And, with Israel absent from the scene, the Arab countries would finally find the peace they claim has been absent since the intolerable engineering of an earlier incarnation of the United Nations still reeling from the effects of the Second World War, and not yet overtaken by the zeitgeist of exalted victimhood status turned judge and executioner, under the rubric of universal peace and goodwill.
Egypt's president will need to seek the opinion of the National Defence Council in addition to getting the approval of parliament to declare war, according to an article approved on Thursday by an assembly drafting the new constitution.
The old constitution in the era of Hosni Mubarak, a former air force commander, had only required the approval of parliament. The new article, will give the defence council, which includes top officers and civilians, a formal say in such a decision.
Mursi is Egypt's first president who does not hail from top military ranks.
Egypt's Constituent Assembly also decided on Thursday to keep "principles of shariah" or Islamic law as the main source of legislation, leaving the article's language unchanged from the previous constitution.
The issue was the subject of a long dispute between hardline Salafi Islamists and liberals in the assembly which will vote on each of 234 articles in the draft constitution before it is sent to President Mohamed Mursi for approval. After that, Mursi must put it to a popular referendum.
The body writing Egypt's new constitution began a session to vote on a final draft on Thursday, a move President Mohamed Mursi's allies in the Muslim Brotherhood hope will help end a crisis prompted by a decree expanding his powers.
The constitutional panel is voting on the constitution article by article.
Mursi is expected to call for national unity in a public address at 7.00 p.m. (1700 GMT) to ease the crisis, which has set off a week of protests and threatens to derail early signs of economic recovery from two years of turmoil.
Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in countrywide protests ignited by the decree Mursi issued last Thursday, which gave him sweeping powers and placed him beyond legal challenge, deepening the divide between the newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.
Setting the stage for more confrontation, the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies have called for pro-Mursi protests on Saturday in Tahrir Square, where a sit-in by the president's opponents entered a seventh day on Thursday.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that backed Mursi for president in June elections, hopes to end the crisis by replacing the controversial decree with an entirely new constitution to be approved by popular referendum.
"May God bless us on this day," Hossam el-Gheriyani, the speaker of the constituent assembly, told members at the start of the session to vote on each of the 234 articles in the draft, which will go to Mursi for approval and then to a plebiscite.
It is a gamble based on the Islamists' belief that they can mobilize voters to win the referendum. They have won all elections held since Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year.
But critics say the bid to finish the constitution quickly could make matters worse.
The constitution is one of the main reasons Mursi and his Islamist backers are at loggerheads with opponents who are boycotting the 100-member constitutional assembly. They say the Islamists have hijacked it to impose their vision of the future.
The assembly's legitimacy has been called into question by a series of court cases demanding its dissolution. Its standing has also been hit by the withdrawal of members including church representatives and liberals.
The Brotherhood argues that approval of the constitution in a referendum would bury all arguments about both the legality of the assembly and the text it has written in the last six months.
Once the assembly approves the draft it will go to Mursi for ratification, a step expected at the weekend. He must then call the referendum within 15 days.
Once the constitution is approved in a referendum, legislative powers will pass straight from Mursi to the upper house of parliament, in line with an article in the new constitution, assembly members said.
"This is an exit. After the referendum, all previous constitutional decrees, including March 2011's decree and the current one that created all this political fuss, will fall automatically after 15 days," Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan told Reuters.
Egypt has been without an elected legislature since the Islamist-dominated lower house was dissolved in June. New parliamentary elections cannot happen until the constitution is passed.
The constitution is supposed to be the cornerstone of a new, democratic Egypt following Mubarak's three decades of autocratic rule. Mursi had extended its Dec. 12 deadline by two months, but the assembly speaker said the extra time was not needed.
The constitution will determine the powers of the president and parliament and define the roles of the judiciary and a military establishment that had been at the heart of power for decades until Mubarak's downfall. It will also set out the role of Islamic law, or sharia.
"The secular forces and the church and the judges are not happy with the constitution, the journalists are not happy, so I think this will increase tensions in the country," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.
"I don't know how the referendum can be organized if the judges are upset," he added.
Egyptian elections are overseen by the judiciary.
Leading opposition figure and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa slammed the move to accelerate the constitution. He walked out of the assembly earlier this month. "This is nonsensical and one of the steps that shouldn't be taken, given the background of anger and resentment to the current constitutional assembly," he told Reuters.
The decree issued by Mursi has set him further at odds with opponents and worsened already tetchy relations with the judges, many of whom saw it as a threat to their independence. Two of Egypt's courts declared a strike on Wednesday.
Mursi was unrepentant in the interview published overnight.
"I think you have seen the most recent opinion surveys. I think more than 80, around 90 percent of the people in Egypt are - according to these opinion measures - they are with what I have done. It's not against the people, It's with the people, coincides with the benefits," he said.
Among other steps, the decree shielded from judicial review all decisions taken by Mursi until the election of a new parliament.
His opponents say it exposed the autocratic impulses of a man who was once jailed by Mubarak. Western governments expressed concern, and Human Rights Watch said it had given the leader more power than the military establishment he replaced.
A constitution must be in place before a new parliament can be elected. In the Time interview, Mursi disputed his opponents' assertions that he had become a new pharaoh.
"The reason why I went to prison is that I was defending the judiciary and Egyptian judges. I know perfectly what it means to have separation between the three powers, executive power, legislative power and the judiciary," he said.
"The president represents the executive power, and the president is elected by the people. And I'm keen that the people would have complete freedom of elections, and I'm keen on exchange of power through free elections," he said.
After the surprising failure of the Church of England's legislative assembly to ratify plans to allow women bishops, senior clerics worry England's state church could face government intervention.
A stained glass window depicts the resurrection of Jesus, holding the flag of St George, attended by women to his right at Rochester Cathedral in Rochester, southeast England, November 21. The Archbishop of Canterbury accused his Church of England of being wilfully blind to the attitudes of modern British society on November 21 after it voted 'no' to women bishops, a triumph for its traditionalist minority.
Bitter divisions over the issue of gay marriage have long been considered the greatest potential threat to the unity of the Church of England, officially the country's state church and one with a role in lawmaking.
That warning by the Secretary General of the Church's General Synod, went on to say that the church must begin consecrating women bishops and endorsing them in 2015, when the synod has another opportunity to vote, or risk England's Parliament taking the issue out of its hands, reported The Times newspaper.
If Parliament took over the issue, it would mark the first such intervention in the affairs of a divided church since 1874, when an act introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury forbade certain practices undertaken at the time by Anglo-Catholic ritualists.
Though even the talk of an intervention is historic, "Parliament is not going to legislate unless there is agreement within the church. And it would be most reluctant to do so," says Mr. Morris. It raises the question of the church-state relationship, but Morris says that although the idea of separating church and state has come up in the past, it's an unlikely option.
"It's also a useful cover for dealing with other religions because you don't have to set up a sort of ministry of cults like you do in France. It's a proxy for that kind of arrangement," he says.
Another MP critical of the synod outcome agrees that the government would be "most reluctant" to override the church's decision.
"My feeling is that there will be, instead, renewed pressure from every source, and certainly behind the scenes," said the Labor MP, David Winnick, who likened the failure to allow for women bishops to the denial of voting rights to women 100 years ago.
Prime Minister David Cameron has expressed his "sadness" that the proposals were rejected but has, for now, appeared to rule out intervention. Parliament had to "respect the individual institutions and the way they work," he said, although this may change.
Bishops and clergy both backed the proposals, but the move fell just four votes short of the required two-thirds majority among the synod's more conservative lay members.
Chris Bryant, a Labor MP and former Anglican vicar, told the BBC that the House of Commons should perhaps introduce a parliamentary bill that was "straightforward and clear," but which would still have to go to the synod.
"Maybe there should be no more bishops coming into the House of Lords until women bishops can join. It's bizarre that they can't legislate for themselves and yet they legislate for the rest of the country," he says.
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138 countries vote in favor of accepting 'Palestine' as non-member observer state. Ayalon: This is a historic defeat for Palestinians.
As expected, the United Nations passed a resolution on Thursday evening recognizing Palestine as a non-member observer state.
138 countries voted in favor of the resolution, nine countries voted against it, and 41 countries abstained.
Shortly before the vote, Palestinian Authority (PA) Head Mahmoud Abbas addressed the United Nations Thursday, in his bid to gain recognition for the PA as a non-member observer state. This status has only been accorded to the Vatican until now.
As he took the stage, Abbas launched his usual attack on Israel, accusing the Jewish State of attacking PA Arabs and carrying out ethnic cleansing.
As usual, Abbas did not condemn the rocket fire by Gaza terrorists on southern Israel.
"Palestine comes today to the General Assembly because it believes in peace and because its people, as proven in past days, are in desperate need of it," he said, insisting that recognizing "Palestine" as a non-member observer state is "the last chance to save the two-state solution."
Abbas claimed that "We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is Israel; rather we came to affirm the legitimacy of the state that must now achieve its independence, and that is Palestine. We did not come here to add further complications to the peace process, which Israel's policies have thrown into the intensive care unit; rather we came to launch a final serious attempt to achieve peace. Our endeavor is not aimed at terminating what remains of the negotiations process, which has lost its objective and credibility, but rather aimed at trying to breathe new life into the negotiations and at setting a solid foundation for it based on the terms of reference of the relevant international resolutions in order for the negotiations to succeed.
"We will accept no less than the independence of the state of Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital, on all the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967, to live in peace and security alongside the state of Israel, and a solution for the refugee issue on the basis of resolution 194, as per the operative part of the Arab Peace Initiative," he stressed.
"Every voice supporting our endeavor today," said the PA Chairman, "is a most valuable voice of courage, and every state that grants support today to Palestine's request for non-member observer state status is affirming its principled and moral support for freedom and the rights of peoples and international law and peace.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Thursday that "this is a day of historic defeat for Palestinians," and called Abbas a "diplomatic terrorist."
The UN General Assembly vote on the status of the Palestinians is the "last chance to save the two-state solution" with Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said.
The assembly is to vote on upgrading the Palestinian status from observer entity to non-member observer state.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, said the bid "doesn't advance peace - it pushes it backwards".
The vote has strong EU and Arab support but is opposed by Israel and the US.
"Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel," Mr Abbas told the assembly.
Mr Prosor said "the only way to reach peace is through agreements" between the parties, not at the UN.
France, Spain and Norway are among those urging the General Assembly to raise the Palestinians' UN status. Germany is set to abstain.
While the move is seen as a symbolic milestone in Palestinian ambitions for statehood, a "Yes" vote would also have a practical diplomatic effect, says the BBC's Barbara Plett, at the UN.
It would allow the Palestinians to participate in debates at the UN and improve their chances of joining UN agencies and bodies like the ICC.
Reuters An image from amateur camera phone video shows a sheet-covered body lying on a road near an ambulance in the gated private community of St George's Hill in Weybridge, Surrey on Nov. 10, 2012.
A Russian businessman helping Swiss prosecutors uncover a powerful fraud syndicate has died in unexplained circumstances near his mansion in Britain, in a chilling twist to a Russian mafia scandal that has strained Moscow's ties with the West.
Alexander Perepilichny, 44, sought refuge in Britain three years ago and had been helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme by providing evidence against corrupt officials, his colleagues and media reports said.
He has also provided evidence against those linked to the 2009 death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a case that caused an international outcry and prompted the United States to push for a bill cracking down on Russian corruption.
Perepilichny, a Russian citizen, collapsed and died not far from his home on an upmarket, heavily protected estate in the county of Surrey, south of London, on November 10.
He is now the fourth person linked to the Magnitsky case to have died in strange circumstances.
Locals at the estate – dubbed as Britain's Beverly Hills and ringed by neatly trimmed golf courses and security check points – told Reuters that Perepilichny's body, clad in running gear, was found after dark at the top of a hill.
AFP/Getty ImagesThe 2009 death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky caused an international outcry.
A shaky mobile phone video clip shot by Liam Walsh, a 24-year-old local chef, showed a motionless body of what he said was Perepilichny stretched out on the side of a deserted lane lit by the light of a lone lamp-post.
"He wasn't breathing. We had to get him on the back and start doing CPR (first aid). He was probably dead for a while," Walsh told Reuters as unmarked security cars patrolled the immaculately maintained estate.
Far beyond Russia's borders, Magnitsky's death has become a symbol of corruption in Russia and the abuse of those who challenge the authorities there.
This month the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to "name and shame" Russian rights violators as part of a broader trade bill, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations.
William Browder, a former employer of Magnitsky and a prominent London-based investor, said Perepilichny had come forward in 2010 with evidence involving the Magnitsky case that subsequently helped Swiss prosecutors open their investigation.
"Alexander Perepilichny approached us in 2010 as a whistleblower with evidence about the complicity of a number of Russian government officials in the theft of $230 million which Sergei Magnitsky had uncovered," said Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management.
Browder, whose grandfather was the general secretary of the American Communist Party, was one of the biggest Western investors in Russia but was barred from Russia in late 2005 and most of his staff left the country as Hermitage found itself coming under increasing official pressure.
Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud, charges that colleagues say were fabricated by police investigators he had accused of stealing $230 million from the state through fraudulent tax refunds. The Kremlin's own human rights council has said Magnitsky was probably beaten to death.
News of Perepilichny's death initially appeared on Wednesday in a report in Britain's Independent newspaper, which is backed by Alexander Lebedev, a Russian billionaire who has spoken out publicly against the Kremlin.
British media said Perepilichny appeared to be in good health before he collapsed in the evening outside St George's Hill, one of Britain's most exclusive estates, where he was renting a house for 12,500 pounds ($20,000) a month.
St George's Hill is home to many big names in the financial and celebrity circles, its long list of one-time tenants including Elton John and Ringo Starr.
Leaked secret diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassy in Moscow once described Russia as a "virtual mafia state", and London has long been the chosen destination for Russians seeking refuge from trouble at home.
But concerns have been growing in recent years that Britain might be turning into a playground for Russian mobsters as gangland violence seems to be spilling over Russian borders.
In April, a former Russian banker was shot near London's Canary Wharf financial district, sending a chill through the immigrant community. In 2006, former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died after drinking tea poisoned with polonium-210.
Asked about Perepilichny's case, Swiss prosecutors said it started its criminal investigation in March 2011 following a complaint made by London law firm Brown Rudnick filed on behalf of Hermitage Capital Management.
"Concerning the death of Mr Perepilichny and its consequences on the criminal proceedings, we'd like to stress that our strength resides in our ability to minimize the influence of such a regretful event on our investigation," the Swiss Office of the Attorney General said in a statement.
Perepilichny was also a witness against Russia's notorious Klyuyev Group, a murky network of officials and underworld figures implicated in tax fraud who used European bank accounts to buy luxury property in Dubai and Montenegro, The Independent reported.
"Perepilichny was the guy who brought all the evidence they needed to open the investigation," a source told The Independent. "He brought with him records of shell companies, Credit Suisse accounts, property transactions. The whole lot."
Thursday night, Nov. 29, the UN General Assembly grants Palestine non-member observer status within 1967 borders by a majority vote. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried dismissing this upgrade as meaningless – awarding its initiator Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) nothing more than a small town sheriff's badge. But the fact remains that this status and those borders are on the books, no matter which Palestinian government is in power, Abbas's Fatah which rules the West Bank from Ramallah or the extremist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And Israel now has a new headache, especially if the Palestinian entity seeks membership of the International War Crimes Court in The Hague.
For now, the Palestinians are treading carefully. They say they won't apply as yet. However, by having Yasser Arafat's remains exhumed in a grand military ceremony, for samples to be tested for poison in Paris and Moscow, they have set a road sign pointing to The Hague.
The Palestinians have long suspected Israel of poisoning the food given Arafat after he was confined in his Ramallah headquarters under siege in 2002. A special team of IDF officers examined every item of food and drink provided him.
1. The Palestinians have an incurable tendency to overlay their diplomacy with acts of terror. Arafat himself kept up a ferocious terrorist campaign against Israel while engaged in one round after another of "peace negotiations." And just last week, Hamas engineered a bus bombing in Tel Aviv, recalling the bad old days of Arafat's reign and injuring more than 30 people. The blast provided the background noise for Hamas's acceptance in Cairo on Nov. 21 of a ceasefire, which halted their missile offensive and Israel's eight-day operation in Gaza.
2. Compared with the aggressive Hamas, PA Chairman Abbas, at 77, is increasingly regarded as a spent force in the Palestinian and Arab arenas. His Fatah party and the Palestinian Authority are worn out by infighting and becoming increasingly irrelevant – except as a ball for batting among Israeli politicians. Abbas is using the Arafat case and his UN initiative to show he still has muscle – if not legitimacy.
Elected president seven years ago, his term ran out, according to the Palestinian constitution, in 2009.
The same goes for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which was elected in 2006 in a vote that gave Hamas a majority. Since then, Abu Mazen has suspended the Council's work. There is frequent talk in Ramallah of new elections but nothing comes of it, partly for fear of giving the rival Hamas another chance to gobble up the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip.
So the Palestinian president and prime minister holding court in the seat of government in Ramallah lack legal authority for ruling the West Bank or representing the Palestinian people to the outside world. They are only kept in power by seven battalions of special forces financed by the US. Their corrupt administration runs day to day affairs only with the help of donations from Western and Arab governments and Israeli economic aid. Without regular Israeli cash infusions in recent months, Abu Mazen's regime would not have covered the payroll for the members of his bloated administration and security services.
All Abbas and his Fatah have to show for the many billions which world powers showered on them over the years to make the dream of a sustainable Palestinian state come true is a failed Palestinian entity ruled by a corrupt bureaucracy, with no standing in the Arab arena.
It is to this entity that the UN General Assembly, which itself is losing relevance as a player in international affairs, has voted to extended a measure of legitimacy on the world stage.
The Palestinian UN Ambassador may now get a bigger office at UN Center in New York with a view of the East River. But in Ramallah, after the well-orchestrated celebrations in honor of Abu Mazen are over, nothing will change. The toxicology tests on Arafat's remains are awaited there in the hope of some drama. But the real hub of Palestinian affairs has moved from Ramallah to Gaza City.
On December 8, treading in the footsteps of the Emir of Qatar and Arab foreign ministers, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan pays his first visit to Gaza.
He will be accompanied by the deposed Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. So far, he has not persuaded Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh to welcome Mahmoud Abbas as a token of Palestinian unity.
The disunity is such that when Abbas' foreign minister Riyad Malki tried to enter the Gaza Strip with a party of Arab foreign ministers in the course of ceasefire talks, he was stopped at the Rafah crossing by Hamas security guards who denied his standing.
None of the Arab ministers interceded on his behalf. They just left him at the gate.
Erdogan will therefore not make Abbas's company a precondition for his own Gaza visit. For him its importance lies in his being the second Muslim visitor to Gaza after the ruler of Qatar's arrival on Oct. 23.
Most of all, it signifies his recognition of Hamas at the expense of Fatah in Ramallah as part of the burgeoning Sunni Muslim Middle East axis, which is strongly though silently endorsed by the US and Israel.
No Arab leader or foreign minister has been seen in Ramallah for some time. However, in his declining years, Abbas has left UN endorsement of Palestinian nonmember observer status ready on the shelf to be collected at some future date by Hamas – should those extremists qualify for a place in the new US-backed Sunni Middle East grouping in formation by Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
At some future point, the dormant Middle East Quartet may wake up and revive its stipulation for Hamas to give up terrorism and its ambition to eradicate Israel – the key points of its "resistance" posture – in order to buy international acceptance.


text:
By Tony Bradley, PCWorld |
Practical IT insight from Tony Bradley
India's $35 PC is the Future of Computing
The government of India has unveiled a prototype of a touchscreen, tablet computer which it expects to sell for $35 initially. As more companies migrate server applications and data storage to the cloud, a simple, Web-enabled platform such as this will replace the bloated desktop and laptop hardware architectures in use today.
The Indian prototype is impressive--especially at a $35 price point. The device runs on a variation of Linux. It has no internal storage, but it is capable of storing data on a memory card. It has a built in word processor, video conferencing capabilities, and--most importantly for a cloud-based workforce--a Web browser. Oh--it can also run on solar power.
At $35, the Indian tablet is virtually disposable--far exceeding the $100 laptop developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and used in the non-profit One Laptop One Child program. In fact, in many ways the $35 tablet also makes the $500 iPad seem significantly over-priced.
India is courting manufacturers to find a partner to mass-produce the cheap tablet PC and hopes that the economy of scale will allow it to push the price down to $10--a tablet PC for the cost of a couple Starbucks drinks. It is intended for use by students or low-income families, and could be rolled out at some educational institutions as early as next year.
Not much has been revealed about the actual hardware specs of the Indian tablet. We don't yet know what processor it uses, or how much RAM is in the tablet. We don't know what resolution the display is capable of, or the exact size of the screen--although it appears to be a tad smaller than an iPad in pictures.
The iPad has been a tremendous success--selling over three million of the tablets in only 80 days. Despite its consumer media consumption origins, the iPad has also been embraced by corporations and is widely used as a portable computing platform for business professionals.
Businesses that have adopted the iPad, though, might be very interested in a touchscreen, Web-enabled tablet that can enable mobile workers to access cloud-based applications and data for less than 10 percent of the cost of the iPad.
In a cloud-based infrastructure, the device used to connect to and access information does not need the bells and whistles common on desktops and laptops. The tablet becomes a commodity, consuming less power, and delivering significant cost savings.
What businesses need is a simple, cheap device that uses a secure cloud connection to keep data where it belongs and keep workers up and working without the down time of expensive, failure-prone hardware.
You can follow Tony on his Facebook page , or contact him by email at tony_bradley@pcworld.com . He also tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW .