Winston who led Britain into 2 world wars with his famous ”victory” salute, was in a recent rigged newspaper poll voted Britain’s greatest Englishman.
Both soviet wartime documentatin and Rothschild archives have exposed Winston as a long term Zionist puppet, and serving illuminati interest before that of Britain.
He has been shown to be from documental research and Humint, (human intelligence)
To have been a Druid priest, a one time fringe spiritualist a secret jew and member of the golden dawn, and most damning of all, a 33rd degree mason, masonry is universally accepted as a racist anti Christian and an elitist anti ordinary people organisation.
This establishes his interest in the occult from day one, and he himself has said on record that he escaped capture in the Boer war, by his psychic ability to choose to knock on the one door that would give him shelter, his statement here is questionable from archive material research but let’s leave this for now.
His “V” salute is a recognized greeting of the horned god, the symbol of the Devil worshipping Illuminati, as demonstrated in “Skull and bones” initiates, cabbalists call this sign the “nail” the sign of Satan and the version of the “V” salute as shown in the Star Trek programmes by Spock, is the Rabbi’s greeting in the Hebrew tradition, the hand split down the centre represents the 2 fingers on each side of the “V” in deVil, as the initials DE and IL represent the fingers.
The thumb held in front symbolizes the subservience of the will to a greater power.
The thumb in history has represented the ego, the will power and the personal identity.
The initial “V” is the 22nd letter in the alphabet, a sacred number in Hebrew numerology, and corresponds in the tarot pack to the major arcana.
Winston changed sides in his political career four times, and his skills were on offer on several more occasions for the right price, including his 150,000 pounds to bring Britain into W.W.II for Rothschild’s bankers against Germany.
Archbishop Lang the Church of England expert on occult subjects, prior to W.W.II
was privy to Churchill’s putting together the “Black Team” those wartime astrologers,
dowsers and ritual magicians, under the stewardship of Louis de Whol.
Dennis Wheatley, Dion Fortune and Ian Fleming all claimed that Churchill had wartime dealings with Aleister Crowley, advertised as the world’s “wickedest man.” who incidentally claimed Winston Churchill was the most scariest man he ever met.
Churchill wanted occult advice on all wartime events, even insisting on mass fake astrological pamphlet drops, and other propaganda leaflets being dropped from British aircraft over Germany.
The master-spy, and general toe-rag sir Anthony Blunt has said on record Hitler was negotiating for peace right through the war, and sent his deputy Rudolph Hess to Britain to pursue an honourable peace which Churchill continually refused, following Rothschild advice for total destruction as shown in his needless firebombing of German dormitory cities, this can be seen as the typical
“Satanic Sacrifice” as recorded in the Old Testament as a “burnt offering “ and in the biblical burning of witches.
Sir Anthony Blunt put on record his distaste at Churchill’s support of the Soviet rape squads sent in to defile the women and children in the last days of the Third Reich, disrupting the eugenics tables and racial purity, this is Satanism at its worst.
Britain’s intelligence services had saturation coverage of the Third Reich up to and through W.W.II and told us the Germans were a threat to Russia, not Britain, so Churchill formed his own intelligence service called the S.O.E these were recruited from leftie rabble rousers and socialist sympathizers, and were told to; “set Europe ablaze” the purpose was to sacrifice Europe for Churchill’s ambitions, and to insure Germany would clamp down on them, which was exactly what happened.
It was suggested to me some years ago, that Churchill was blackmailed over a homosexual affair with his secretary into a pro-Zionist stance, in a similar fashion to what happened with the Prime minister Edward Heath with the “sailor rent boy” activities,
and the Tony Blair Lord Levy “Miranda” revelations”
Soviet spy Eugene Ivanov was just one who documented Churchill’s alcoholism and mental instability, now in G.R.U archives.
Britain in the thirties had a posture that assisted Germany in its anti-Russia stance, yet Churchill on his own, in pure Tony Blair fashion, turns the tables and decides Germany is the enemy and took us to war.
Hitler had a thing about the Anglo Saxon race, that is Germany, Britain and the U.S.A
and did not want war.
If we had listened to our intelligence services we would have let Russia and Germany fight it out, and we could have easily dealt with the weakened winner, and the Cold war would never have happened, but Churchill had Vernon Kell reputedly the world best intelligence chief retired off and murdered as would not go along with the Churchill plans.
Britain will now complete its dismantling of the United Kingdom, breaking England into 8 regional zones, and have every domestic decision made by the modern Hitler replacement in Europe.
Some Churchill memorabilia has come out for sale today aa London auction house, itsa pity the truth has yet to come out.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Bilderberg 2010: Why the protesters are your very best friends
The people who are being detained, searched and questioned are not playing some game. They are deadly serious, and they are worried to death
Ivan was alone on the roundabout. He had been left in charge of the banners while everyone else ate breakfast.
He slipped an empty bottle of red wine into a binliner and stretched. At his feet was a chalk-drawn pyramid showing the structure of society, the word "pueblo" at the bottom, and the tip pointing up the hill towards Bilderberg. It's a short pyramid today, maybe half a heavily-armed mile from Rockefeller down to Ivan.
Ivan's bed last night – is it had been the night before – was the scrub by the roadside. "It's not so cold in my bag," he said. "A lot of times I travel in the mountains – in the mountains, you can sleep anywhere."
A lone Catalonian in green trousers, he clutched a leaflet and stood in the Sitges sun as, up the hill, billionaires and finance ministers ate kiwifruit patisseries.
The shame, the awful poignancy of Bilderberg, is that, for much of the time, there are more delegates up the hill than there are protesters at the foot of it.
On that point, there's something I'd like you to do. I'd like you to extend a grateful thought, a prayer of thanks, an idle nod of acknowledgment – a something, an anything – towards Ivan and all the others who have come to Sitges to bear witness to Bilderberg 2010.
These people are on your side, they are fighting your corner. And if you don't think it's a corner that needs fighting, or if it's a corner you think is being fought by the people up the hill ... well, good luck to you.
I want you to know, though, that the people who are crawling around on pine needles with long lenses, trying to identify delegates (and doing pretty well, by the way), the people who are being detained, searched, questioned, then heading out again into the hills, the people who are sitting late into the night at the campsite bar, talking about distracted populations and central banks, are not lunatics.
They are your very best friends. They're not feeble-minded or playing some kind of game. They are deadly serious, and they are worried to death.
These people look at the state of the world and they pack a rucksack and sleep at the side of a roundabout.
The head of the IMF (and Bilderberger), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, looks at the world and declares: "Crisis is an opportunity." He sees the precarious global economy and floats the idea for "a new global currency issued by a global central bank".
Now, if you think that's a good idea – if you think yet more centralisation of debt (and interest payments), and more unelected financial control is a good thing – then good luck (what are you? The chairman of Barclays?)
We already have a world, says Daniel Estulin, the arch Bilderbotherer, "where unelected bodies like the IMF can tell sovereign nations like Greece what to do".
Estulin is here in Sitges, wearing the fanciest trousers I've seen in a long time. He says the Bilderberg endgame is "one world company ltd". And the board of directors is sitting half a mile away.
And they're being watched. I can't say from where – I don't know where the guerilla camerafolk are out crawling today. And I can't ring them, because they've turned their mobiles off and taken out the sim cards so they can't be triangulated by the signal.
They're out getting sunstroke on your behalf, on my behalf. I'll publish some of their photos, and some of their spottings, tomorrow.
Later today, a bunch of Spanish activists are providing paella for everyone in a mountain restaurant. Some of us won't make it. Some of us will be under arrest, or lying in a ditch holding our breath until the footsteps pass.
One last time: if you think what they're doing is ridiculous, you're wrong. It's the fact they're having to do it at all that's absurd.
This morning, a policeman screeched up beside me as I went for a stroll and told me to take the recording device out of my pocket. I did. It was a bit of driftwood from the beach. Yesterday, I had my car searched (and was detained for 50 minutes while the Mossos d'Esquadra checked and rechecked my passport).
They asked me what was in the boot. I dug them out a T-shirt. The patrolman radioed the station and read out the slogan on the shirt in heavily accented English: "I went to Bilderberg 2010 and all I got was this lousy new world order." His partner asked me why I was laughing. I couldn't really explain.
BIlderberg is an absurdity. The secrecy is absurd. The lack of a relationship between the event and the mainstream media is absurd. Ivan standing alone by his roundabout bed is absurd. The paranoia of the participants is more than absurd – it's pathetic.
This year, most of the delegates were whisked into the hotel through an underground entrance, dodging the lenses, like a bunch of James Bond baddies, like a dieter creeping downstairs at midnight to eat chocolate cake from the fridge.
But the good news is that not everyone has dodged the cameras (John Elkann, the heir to Fiat, was spotted by the German blog Schall und Rauch looking particularly dapper this year). And the even better news – the very best news – is that the press seems, finally, to have woken up to Bilderberg.
We have had camera crews from Spanish TV and Spanish newspapers both local and national (Javier from El Mundo is currently up a tree with a camera). French journalists, Portuguese documentary makers and al-Jazeera are picking up the story. Russia Today has sent a film crew.
We've had articles in the Independent and the Times, and on the Today programme on Radio 4. Daniel Estulin has been doing interview after interview. He's getting quotes from inside the meeting. The veil of secrecy is looking decidedly tatty. It might be time to bin it.
And yet the veil of ignorance is still holding up pretty well. As Ivan says, handing me a leaflet from the Anwok collective, "it is difficult to talk about the Bilderberg agenda if people don't even know about the group".
I know what he means – I've spoken to countless news agencies and outlets in the last few weeks, and the most common response, from journalists, editors and commissioners, is: "I'm sorry, the Bilderberg what?"
But seriously, if you work on the foreign desk of a major news corporation and you're at the "Bilderberg what?" level of political awareness, you need to think about getting a different job. Take a sabbatical. Take up carpentry, or read a book. It's like calling yourself a porn star and not knowing the reverse cowgirl. "The reverse what...?"
Get with the programme. Shimmy up a pine tree. Take a leaflet. Resign. You're not helping anyone.
Ivan was alone on the roundabout. He had been left in charge of the banners while everyone else ate breakfast.
He slipped an empty bottle of red wine into a binliner and stretched. At his feet was a chalk-drawn pyramid showing the structure of society, the word "pueblo" at the bottom, and the tip pointing up the hill towards Bilderberg. It's a short pyramid today, maybe half a heavily-armed mile from Rockefeller down to Ivan.
Ivan's bed last night – is it had been the night before – was the scrub by the roadside. "It's not so cold in my bag," he said. "A lot of times I travel in the mountains – in the mountains, you can sleep anywhere."
A lone Catalonian in green trousers, he clutched a leaflet and stood in the Sitges sun as, up the hill, billionaires and finance ministers ate kiwifruit patisseries.
The shame, the awful poignancy of Bilderberg, is that, for much of the time, there are more delegates up the hill than there are protesters at the foot of it.
On that point, there's something I'd like you to do. I'd like you to extend a grateful thought, a prayer of thanks, an idle nod of acknowledgment – a something, an anything – towards Ivan and all the others who have come to Sitges to bear witness to Bilderberg 2010.
These people are on your side, they are fighting your corner. And if you don't think it's a corner that needs fighting, or if it's a corner you think is being fought by the people up the hill ... well, good luck to you.
I want you to know, though, that the people who are crawling around on pine needles with long lenses, trying to identify delegates (and doing pretty well, by the way), the people who are being detained, searched, questioned, then heading out again into the hills, the people who are sitting late into the night at the campsite bar, talking about distracted populations and central banks, are not lunatics.
They are your very best friends. They're not feeble-minded or playing some kind of game. They are deadly serious, and they are worried to death.
These people look at the state of the world and they pack a rucksack and sleep at the side of a roundabout.
The head of the IMF (and Bilderberger), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, looks at the world and declares: "Crisis is an opportunity." He sees the precarious global economy and floats the idea for "a new global currency issued by a global central bank".
Now, if you think that's a good idea – if you think yet more centralisation of debt (and interest payments), and more unelected financial control is a good thing – then good luck (what are you? The chairman of Barclays?)
We already have a world, says Daniel Estulin, the arch Bilderbotherer, "where unelected bodies like the IMF can tell sovereign nations like Greece what to do".
Estulin is here in Sitges, wearing the fanciest trousers I've seen in a long time. He says the Bilderberg endgame is "one world company ltd". And the board of directors is sitting half a mile away.
And they're being watched. I can't say from where – I don't know where the guerilla camerafolk are out crawling today. And I can't ring them, because they've turned their mobiles off and taken out the sim cards so they can't be triangulated by the signal.
They're out getting sunstroke on your behalf, on my behalf. I'll publish some of their photos, and some of their spottings, tomorrow.
Later today, a bunch of Spanish activists are providing paella for everyone in a mountain restaurant. Some of us won't make it. Some of us will be under arrest, or lying in a ditch holding our breath until the footsteps pass.
One last time: if you think what they're doing is ridiculous, you're wrong. It's the fact they're having to do it at all that's absurd.
This morning, a policeman screeched up beside me as I went for a stroll and told me to take the recording device out of my pocket. I did. It was a bit of driftwood from the beach. Yesterday, I had my car searched (and was detained for 50 minutes while the Mossos d'Esquadra checked and rechecked my passport).
They asked me what was in the boot. I dug them out a T-shirt. The patrolman radioed the station and read out the slogan on the shirt in heavily accented English: "I went to Bilderberg 2010 and all I got was this lousy new world order." His partner asked me why I was laughing. I couldn't really explain.
BIlderberg is an absurdity. The secrecy is absurd. The lack of a relationship between the event and the mainstream media is absurd. Ivan standing alone by his roundabout bed is absurd. The paranoia of the participants is more than absurd – it's pathetic.
This year, most of the delegates were whisked into the hotel through an underground entrance, dodging the lenses, like a bunch of James Bond baddies, like a dieter creeping downstairs at midnight to eat chocolate cake from the fridge.
But the good news is that not everyone has dodged the cameras (John Elkann, the heir to Fiat, was spotted by the German blog Schall und Rauch looking particularly dapper this year). And the even better news – the very best news – is that the press seems, finally, to have woken up to Bilderberg.
We have had camera crews from Spanish TV and Spanish newspapers both local and national (Javier from El Mundo is currently up a tree with a camera). French journalists, Portuguese documentary makers and al-Jazeera are picking up the story. Russia Today has sent a film crew.
We've had articles in the Independent and the Times, and on the Today programme on Radio 4. Daniel Estulin has been doing interview after interview. He's getting quotes from inside the meeting. The veil of secrecy is looking decidedly tatty. It might be time to bin it.
And yet the veil of ignorance is still holding up pretty well. As Ivan says, handing me a leaflet from the Anwok collective, "it is difficult to talk about the Bilderberg agenda if people don't even know about the group".
I know what he means – I've spoken to countless news agencies and outlets in the last few weeks, and the most common response, from journalists, editors and commissioners, is: "I'm sorry, the Bilderberg what?"
But seriously, if you work on the foreign desk of a major news corporation and you're at the "Bilderberg what?" level of political awareness, you need to think about getting a different job. Take a sabbatical. Take up carpentry, or read a book. It's like calling yourself a porn star and not knowing the reverse cowgirl. "The reverse what...?"
Get with the programme. Shimmy up a pine tree. Take a leaflet. Resign. You're not helping anyone.
Bilderberg 2010: Between the sword and the wall
The Catalan police are refreshingly friendly. But if the time for action comes, whose side will they be on?
The enormous bald detective in beach shorts took the camera from my wife. "Let me see." He scrolled through the photographs, just taken, of me being detained at the campsite gates. He scrolled past, to see a photo of a limousine convoy, whooshing up the hill to Bilderberg. "I don't like this," he said, and waved a huge, disgruntled hand towards the conference hotel.
"Do you know how much this is costing?" asked Hannah. "Do you think the Spanish economy can afford all this?" Grimly, the enormous bald detective started deleting images of his comrades with his giant thumb. "Your opinion," he growled, "is right."
He handed the camera back to Hannah. "But you've deleted my best shots!" The detective whistled to his comrades, who were busy sniffing a jar of salted olives they had found in my car boot. He had them turn around, facing away from the camera. "Go head," he rumbled. "Take photographs."
What a difference a year makes. Last year in Vouliagmeni when I tried covering the 2009 Bilderberg meeting, I had Greek policemen yelling "No fotografia!" at me at every turn. I was arrested, tailed, harassed, rearrested, yelled at, bundled into squad cars, lied to, intimidated, wrestled with and hounded round Athens like I was John Dillinger.
This year, the police have been deployed in the same extraordinary numbers, but they are smiling, rolling their eyes at the rigmarole; the riot police are giving the thumbs-up to protesters and honking their horns as they come round the "awareness roundabout" at the foot of the hotel.
"The police have been laughing and chatting," says Daniel Turon, a Spanish psycho-sociologist, here in Sitges to psycho-sociologise Bilderberg. "One of them said he had read a book about Bilderberg; another said, 'Yes, we understand.'" The Catalan police, he says, "have a different sensibility" from what you may expect. "They are Catalan. Their minds are independent."
Their minds, perhaps, have been focused by recent pay disputes. Two days ago, the police were on strike in Barcelona: they are facing a pay cut next month, as part of Spain's "austerity measures" (what the IMF calls "fiscal consolidation") – and disgruntlement abounds.
Yesterday, the Spanish newspaper El Público quoted the Catalan police union's estimate, that "the mere deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra entails costs of €150,000 for each of the four days of the Bilderberg meeting". This union has lodged a formal complaint about the misuse of resources in guarding Bilderberg.
El Público shares the union's concern: "The members of the Bilderberg club have not been elected by the citizens [of this country] in a democratic process, but the costs of the meeting is being met by them."
Ageing Bilderberg sleuth, Jim Tucker, says the Bilderberg group always reimburses the host nation for costs incurred. But if that's the case, the police are simply an army for hire.
Turon is keen to humanise the officers facing him: "Look at the eyes of the police," he says. "Look at the person who is there. They want to be with us."
"Your position is hyper-naive," laughs his friend, one of the organisers of the Spanish protests, Dídac S.-Costa. "They are puppets. They are nothing. They are a distraction. They are the cashiers at the supermarket; we need to confront the supermarket itself. This is a systemic problem." Dídac is a sociologist.
"We need to use the tools of the system against it. We need a brave judge, a brave lawyer. We need another Garzón" (Baltasar Garzón is the Spanish judge who issued the extradition request for General Pinochet). "We need to use the legal weapons at our disposal; to find a way, as the Spanish say, between the sword and the wall."
Ivan Torres, from Maresme (whom we met yesterday, near his roundabout bed), found himself caught last night between the sword and the wall, up in the hills above the Hotel Dolce Sitges. He was out with Rafa Palacios, the founder of the Stop Secrets Movement, trying to stop some secrets. A spotter on the hotel roof saw them crawling along; minutes later a police helicopter arrived, and officers swarmed the hills to arrest them. The policemen looked at the cameras, looked at the footage, then handed it back undeleted.
Ivan and Rafa were brought before the comisario of the Sitges police. The comisario told them frankly what he thought of them. "We admire you," he said. "We are really sad because we don't want to have a confrontation here." And, like his giant bald underling from earlier, he gestured to the hotel. "I don't like these people. All I want is a smooth operation in Sitges. The people up there," said the comisario, "I really don't like."
Rafa says that on Thursday, as police and activists squared off for the first time and as Rafa took the megaphone, it was this same comisario who stood in front of the cordon. "You have a heart under your badge", cried Rafa, "you have a brain under your hat. You are the ones we will be drinking with after the football, not the ones up the hill!"
Rafa reached out his hands towards the cordon. People who witnessed his speech say this moment defined the subsequent dynamic between the protesters and the police. "You should be protecting us, not them!" Rafa implored. "We are the people. You are the people. You are one of us!"
Rafa says he spoke directly to the comisario when he said: "A time is coming when you may be asked to use violence against us. A time is coming when you will have to choose sides. You will have to decide." And Rafa says he saw tears in the eyes of the comisario.
"I think, my friend, that I touched his heart."
The enormous bald detective in beach shorts took the camera from my wife. "Let me see." He scrolled through the photographs, just taken, of me being detained at the campsite gates. He scrolled past, to see a photo of a limousine convoy, whooshing up the hill to Bilderberg. "I don't like this," he said, and waved a huge, disgruntled hand towards the conference hotel.
"Do you know how much this is costing?" asked Hannah. "Do you think the Spanish economy can afford all this?" Grimly, the enormous bald detective started deleting images of his comrades with his giant thumb. "Your opinion," he growled, "is right."
He handed the camera back to Hannah. "But you've deleted my best shots!" The detective whistled to his comrades, who were busy sniffing a jar of salted olives they had found in my car boot. He had them turn around, facing away from the camera. "Go head," he rumbled. "Take photographs."
What a difference a year makes. Last year in Vouliagmeni when I tried covering the 2009 Bilderberg meeting, I had Greek policemen yelling "No fotografia!" at me at every turn. I was arrested, tailed, harassed, rearrested, yelled at, bundled into squad cars, lied to, intimidated, wrestled with and hounded round Athens like I was John Dillinger.
This year, the police have been deployed in the same extraordinary numbers, but they are smiling, rolling their eyes at the rigmarole; the riot police are giving the thumbs-up to protesters and honking their horns as they come round the "awareness roundabout" at the foot of the hotel.
"The police have been laughing and chatting," says Daniel Turon, a Spanish psycho-sociologist, here in Sitges to psycho-sociologise Bilderberg. "One of them said he had read a book about Bilderberg; another said, 'Yes, we understand.'" The Catalan police, he says, "have a different sensibility" from what you may expect. "They are Catalan. Their minds are independent."
Their minds, perhaps, have been focused by recent pay disputes. Two days ago, the police were on strike in Barcelona: they are facing a pay cut next month, as part of Spain's "austerity measures" (what the IMF calls "fiscal consolidation") – and disgruntlement abounds.
Yesterday, the Spanish newspaper El Público quoted the Catalan police union's estimate, that "the mere deployment of the Mossos d'Esquadra entails costs of €150,000 for each of the four days of the Bilderberg meeting". This union has lodged a formal complaint about the misuse of resources in guarding Bilderberg.
El Público shares the union's concern: "The members of the Bilderberg club have not been elected by the citizens [of this country] in a democratic process, but the costs of the meeting is being met by them."
Ageing Bilderberg sleuth, Jim Tucker, says the Bilderberg group always reimburses the host nation for costs incurred. But if that's the case, the police are simply an army for hire.
Turon is keen to humanise the officers facing him: "Look at the eyes of the police," he says. "Look at the person who is there. They want to be with us."
"Your position is hyper-naive," laughs his friend, one of the organisers of the Spanish protests, Dídac S.-Costa. "They are puppets. They are nothing. They are a distraction. They are the cashiers at the supermarket; we need to confront the supermarket itself. This is a systemic problem." Dídac is a sociologist.
"We need to use the tools of the system against it. We need a brave judge, a brave lawyer. We need another Garzón" (Baltasar Garzón is the Spanish judge who issued the extradition request for General Pinochet). "We need to use the legal weapons at our disposal; to find a way, as the Spanish say, between the sword and the wall."
Ivan Torres, from Maresme (whom we met yesterday, near his roundabout bed), found himself caught last night between the sword and the wall, up in the hills above the Hotel Dolce Sitges. He was out with Rafa Palacios, the founder of the Stop Secrets Movement, trying to stop some secrets. A spotter on the hotel roof saw them crawling along; minutes later a police helicopter arrived, and officers swarmed the hills to arrest them. The policemen looked at the cameras, looked at the footage, then handed it back undeleted.
Ivan and Rafa were brought before the comisario of the Sitges police. The comisario told them frankly what he thought of them. "We admire you," he said. "We are really sad because we don't want to have a confrontation here." And, like his giant bald underling from earlier, he gestured to the hotel. "I don't like these people. All I want is a smooth operation in Sitges. The people up there," said the comisario, "I really don't like."
Rafa says that on Thursday, as police and activists squared off for the first time and as Rafa took the megaphone, it was this same comisario who stood in front of the cordon. "You have a heart under your badge", cried Rafa, "you have a brain under your hat. You are the ones we will be drinking with after the football, not the ones up the hill!"
Rafa reached out his hands towards the cordon. People who witnessed his speech say this moment defined the subsequent dynamic between the protesters and the police. "You should be protecting us, not them!" Rafa implored. "We are the people. You are the people. You are one of us!"
Rafa says he spoke directly to the comisario when he said: "A time is coming when you may be asked to use violence against us. A time is coming when you will have to choose sides. You will have to decide." And Rafa says he saw tears in the eyes of the comisario.
"I think, my friend, that I touched his heart."
Gaza flotilla: Sarah Colborne's account
The director of campaigns and operations at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara
On Sunday 30th we set off together. We had assembled all the boats in international waters. At 11pm that night, Israeli naval boats were detected on the radar and sighted and a decision was made to move further back into international waters, further from Israel.
We managed to get some broadcasts out that we were on a humanitarian mission, that the United Nations had called for ships to be sent with humanitarian aid to break the blockade on Gaza, that we were simply undertaking that goal. An emergency medical room was assembled and we were all told to put lifejackets on to prepare for any attack.
At 2am I went to sleep. At around 4.10am I woke up, went up to the deck where I could see outside and I saw boats, small dinghies but bristling with guns and Israeli military, speeding towards the ship. Helicopters then appeared. Gas and sound bombs were used and the reports from Sydney Morning Herald [a reporter from the newspaper was on Challenger, another boat in the flotilla] were that at 4.20am they reported gunshots, and the Challenger transmitted this information.
We then had the first passenger fatally injured. He was brought to the back of the open deck below. He was shot in the head. I saw him. He was obviously in a very bad way and he subsequently died. There were bullets flying all over the place when I was on the top deck and I took the decision to go downstairs.
It felt a bit surreal. I couldn't quite believe they were doing what they were doing. There was live ammunition flying around and I could hear the sounds of the bullets flying and the whirr of the helicopter blades as people were dropped down onto the roof. What I saw was guns being used by the Israelis on unarmed civilians.
We asked for the Israelis to stop the attacks. We were asking in English: "We are not resisting, please help the injured." Instead of helping the injured, the saloon remained surrounded by soldiers targeting individuals with laser sights. I could see the red of the laser sights sweeping over people's heads.
The captain announced live ammunition was being used, to stop resisting and to go downstairs. At 5.15am we started broadcasting over the Tannoy for help to evacuate the critically injured and for emergency medical assistance.
We made two attempts to get the message across in the written form as well as the many announcements over the Tannoy. We wrote a sign in Hebrew saying: "SOS! Need medical assistance. People are dying. Urgent."
It wasn't until 7am that the Israelis started allowing the first critically injured people off and they were delivered into Israeli hands. An attempt was made to send a medic with each of the critically injured people. Instead, the medics were cuffed and put on the deck.
I saw four dead bodies in the saloon laid out on the floor. All passengers were removed on to the deck. As we were moved out we were all cuffed with cable ties. All our phones and cameras were removed. We were made to sit or kneel in lines on the deck. The sun was quite strong and I was aware that people were starting to get dehydrated.
We were kidnapped, we were deprived of our liberty and our belongings. People were illegally held against their will, taken to Israel from international waters. In terms of treatment, in terms of our basic rights they were completely and totally violated.
We are hoping that the deaths, the horrific deaths, of the people will not be in vain. We are hoping that this will act as a wake-up call internationally, including our own government, that the siege on Gaza must end. It is illegal, inhumane and immoral. Israel has been used to acting with impunity. That situation has changed now.
We can't sit by and watch Israel violate international law every day. We want the British government to take action, ensure there are no future attacks on humanitarian aid convoys, to ensure there is a search carried out for those that remain missing, to ensure that those people who have been detained illegally will be released and most importantly to end the siege of Gaza.
Link to the Video
On Sunday 30th we set off together. We had assembled all the boats in international waters. At 11pm that night, Israeli naval boats were detected on the radar and sighted and a decision was made to move further back into international waters, further from Israel.
We managed to get some broadcasts out that we were on a humanitarian mission, that the United Nations had called for ships to be sent with humanitarian aid to break the blockade on Gaza, that we were simply undertaking that goal. An emergency medical room was assembled and we were all told to put lifejackets on to prepare for any attack.
At 2am I went to sleep. At around 4.10am I woke up, went up to the deck where I could see outside and I saw boats, small dinghies but bristling with guns and Israeli military, speeding towards the ship. Helicopters then appeared. Gas and sound bombs were used and the reports from Sydney Morning Herald [a reporter from the newspaper was on Challenger, another boat in the flotilla] were that at 4.20am they reported gunshots, and the Challenger transmitted this information.
We then had the first passenger fatally injured. He was brought to the back of the open deck below. He was shot in the head. I saw him. He was obviously in a very bad way and he subsequently died. There were bullets flying all over the place when I was on the top deck and I took the decision to go downstairs.
It felt a bit surreal. I couldn't quite believe they were doing what they were doing. There was live ammunition flying around and I could hear the sounds of the bullets flying and the whirr of the helicopter blades as people were dropped down onto the roof. What I saw was guns being used by the Israelis on unarmed civilians.
We asked for the Israelis to stop the attacks. We were asking in English: "We are not resisting, please help the injured." Instead of helping the injured, the saloon remained surrounded by soldiers targeting individuals with laser sights. I could see the red of the laser sights sweeping over people's heads.
The captain announced live ammunition was being used, to stop resisting and to go downstairs. At 5.15am we started broadcasting over the Tannoy for help to evacuate the critically injured and for emergency medical assistance.
We made two attempts to get the message across in the written form as well as the many announcements over the Tannoy. We wrote a sign in Hebrew saying: "SOS! Need medical assistance. People are dying. Urgent."
It wasn't until 7am that the Israelis started allowing the first critically injured people off and they were delivered into Israeli hands. An attempt was made to send a medic with each of the critically injured people. Instead, the medics were cuffed and put on the deck.
I saw four dead bodies in the saloon laid out on the floor. All passengers were removed on to the deck. As we were moved out we were all cuffed with cable ties. All our phones and cameras were removed. We were made to sit or kneel in lines on the deck. The sun was quite strong and I was aware that people were starting to get dehydrated.
We were kidnapped, we were deprived of our liberty and our belongings. People were illegally held against their will, taken to Israel from international waters. In terms of treatment, in terms of our basic rights they were completely and totally violated.
We are hoping that the deaths, the horrific deaths, of the people will not be in vain. We are hoping that this will act as a wake-up call internationally, including our own government, that the siege on Gaza must end. It is illegal, inhumane and immoral. Israel has been used to acting with impunity. That situation has changed now.
We can't sit by and watch Israel violate international law every day. We want the British government to take action, ensure there are no future attacks on humanitarian aid convoys, to ensure there is a search carried out for those that remain missing, to ensure that those people who have been detained illegally will be released and most importantly to end the siege of Gaza.
Link to the Video
Henning Mankell on Gaza flotilla attack: 'I think they went out to murder'
Swedish crime writer describes the 'horrifying moment' when he realised Israelis had chosen to attack the ships
The bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell today accused Israel of murder, piracy and kidnapping after describing how the aid ship he was travelling on was seized by Israeli forces this week.
Mankell, whose detective novels featuring the commissar Kurt Wallander have sold almost 30m copies worldwide, was aboard the Swedish ship Sofia, one of six ships in the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. The 25-strong crew, including Mankell, were all arrested and held in custody.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Berlin, Mankell, 62, described the "horrifying moment" when he realised the Israelis had chosen to attack the ships "deep in international waters".
"Our idea had been a non-violent, non-fighting back method. But we soon realised the Israelis had chosen the real, real ugly solution to attack in international water … It was only when I got on my flight home that I realised that people had died in the attack, when the stewardess told me on the plane," he said.
He called on the international community to step up its pressure on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and said he would like to see an investigation into whether Israel could be prosecuted for its alleged attack on the ships, believing it had set out to deliberately kill protesters. Nine Turkish citizens, one of whom had a US passport, were killed in the attack.
"I think the Israeli military went out to commit murder," Mankell said. "If they had wanted to stop us they could have attacked our rudder and propeller, instead they preferred to send masked commando soldiers to attack us. This was Israel's choice to do this.
"And it was the most stupid thing they could have done, because look around, Israel has never been so criticised in the world as of today, and if you ask me, this blockade will be over within the next six months."
Mankell described being woken in the early hours of Monday morning with the news that Israeli troops were attacking the main protest ship, the Mavi Marmara, and an hour later abseiled from helicopters on to the deck of the Sofia, which was around a kilometre behind.
"We saw these black rubber boats coming with masked commando soldiers … they climbed aboard. They were very aggressive … there was an older man in the crew, he was perhaps a little slow and they shot him in the arm with an electric gun which is very, very painful … they shot another man with rubber bullets."
The soldiers checked the boat and one soon returned saying they had found weapons, Mankell said.
"I have 24 witnesses to this, he showed me my razor, a one-time use razor, and a box cutter he'd found in the kitchen," Mankell said. He said all his possessions were taken. "They stole my camera, my telephone … even my socks."
Asked if he had been naive to take part, Mankell said: "If you're saying was I a 'useful idiot', no, I don't believe I was.
"We knew from the beginning that probably we would not get our stuff into Gaza but we could anyhow win … We could get the focus on the situation. Which we did, so of course we won." He added: "Some people have asked me how did we know that the items we were due to deliver would not just have been seized by Hamas. Of course, I can't guarantee that, but when the house is burning you have to get the water." The Sofia, he said, was carrying supplies of concrete and prefabricated buildings.
Mankell said he would take part in the campaign again. He said: "Of course – in a year's time there is a plan to return. And then there could be hundreds of boats. And what will the Israelis do then? Release a nuclear bomb to stop us?"
Mankell, who has been politically active from a young age and was once a merchant seaman, said he had been struck by the lack of other writers and intellectuals on the voyage and called on others to become involved.
One moment of relief in the ordeal, he said, had been when his interrogator recognised the author, who is one of the best-selling crime writers in Hebrew.
"He said: 'You're charged with entering Israel illegally.' I said: 'That's absurd, you brought me here.' Then he said he knew who I was and that he'd read all my books and liked them. I told him: 'Next time you're in Europe call me and we'll talk about all of this.' I gave him my number – well we'll see. I do believe dialogue is the best way."
Mankell, who is married to Eva Bergman, a theatre director and daughter of the late film director Ingmar Bergman, said his motivation for getting involved had been his need to take action.
"The Gaza Strip has been transformed into the biggest open prison in the world and it was obvious we had to do something. We thought maybe we should try to break that whole blockade and the only way to do it is with a convoy of ships. When I first heard about it I thought it's a good idea, I'd like to be on board. I believe so strongly in solidarity as an instrument to change the world, and I believe in dialogue, but it's the action that proves the word."
Mankell is on a tour to promote his final Wallander novel - Stranger in the Shadows, in the German edition; The Troubled Man in the UK edition - which the disgruntled police commissar, who is suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's, sets out to solve a Cold War era crime. He said he would watch the progress of the Irish campaign ship, the Rachel Corrie, which is heading to Gaza. "We can be sure they won't attack it by sending soldiers on board, and killing people, because that would be suicidal for Israel." he said. "Maybe this time they'll attack the rudder and the propeller, we'll see."
Henning Mankell speaks to Kate Connolly
The bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell today accused Israel of murder, piracy and kidnapping after describing how the aid ship he was travelling on was seized by Israeli forces this week.
Mankell, whose detective novels featuring the commissar Kurt Wallander have sold almost 30m copies worldwide, was aboard the Swedish ship Sofia, one of six ships in the flotilla carrying aid to Gaza. The 25-strong crew, including Mankell, were all arrested and held in custody.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian in Berlin, Mankell, 62, described the "horrifying moment" when he realised the Israelis had chosen to attack the ships "deep in international waters".
"Our idea had been a non-violent, non-fighting back method. But we soon realised the Israelis had chosen the real, real ugly solution to attack in international water … It was only when I got on my flight home that I realised that people had died in the attack, when the stewardess told me on the plane," he said.
He called on the international community to step up its pressure on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza and said he would like to see an investigation into whether Israel could be prosecuted for its alleged attack on the ships, believing it had set out to deliberately kill protesters. Nine Turkish citizens, one of whom had a US passport, were killed in the attack.
"I think the Israeli military went out to commit murder," Mankell said. "If they had wanted to stop us they could have attacked our rudder and propeller, instead they preferred to send masked commando soldiers to attack us. This was Israel's choice to do this.
"And it was the most stupid thing they could have done, because look around, Israel has never been so criticised in the world as of today, and if you ask me, this blockade will be over within the next six months."
Mankell described being woken in the early hours of Monday morning with the news that Israeli troops were attacking the main protest ship, the Mavi Marmara, and an hour later abseiled from helicopters on to the deck of the Sofia, which was around a kilometre behind.
"We saw these black rubber boats coming with masked commando soldiers … they climbed aboard. They were very aggressive … there was an older man in the crew, he was perhaps a little slow and they shot him in the arm with an electric gun which is very, very painful … they shot another man with rubber bullets."
The soldiers checked the boat and one soon returned saying they had found weapons, Mankell said.
"I have 24 witnesses to this, he showed me my razor, a one-time use razor, and a box cutter he'd found in the kitchen," Mankell said. He said all his possessions were taken. "They stole my camera, my telephone … even my socks."
Asked if he had been naive to take part, Mankell said: "If you're saying was I a 'useful idiot', no, I don't believe I was.
"We knew from the beginning that probably we would not get our stuff into Gaza but we could anyhow win … We could get the focus on the situation. Which we did, so of course we won." He added: "Some people have asked me how did we know that the items we were due to deliver would not just have been seized by Hamas. Of course, I can't guarantee that, but when the house is burning you have to get the water." The Sofia, he said, was carrying supplies of concrete and prefabricated buildings.
Mankell said he would take part in the campaign again. He said: "Of course – in a year's time there is a plan to return. And then there could be hundreds of boats. And what will the Israelis do then? Release a nuclear bomb to stop us?"
Mankell, who has been politically active from a young age and was once a merchant seaman, said he had been struck by the lack of other writers and intellectuals on the voyage and called on others to become involved.
One moment of relief in the ordeal, he said, had been when his interrogator recognised the author, who is one of the best-selling crime writers in Hebrew.
"He said: 'You're charged with entering Israel illegally.' I said: 'That's absurd, you brought me here.' Then he said he knew who I was and that he'd read all my books and liked them. I told him: 'Next time you're in Europe call me and we'll talk about all of this.' I gave him my number – well we'll see. I do believe dialogue is the best way."
Mankell, who is married to Eva Bergman, a theatre director and daughter of the late film director Ingmar Bergman, said his motivation for getting involved had been his need to take action.
"The Gaza Strip has been transformed into the biggest open prison in the world and it was obvious we had to do something. We thought maybe we should try to break that whole blockade and the only way to do it is with a convoy of ships. When I first heard about it I thought it's a good idea, I'd like to be on board. I believe so strongly in solidarity as an instrument to change the world, and I believe in dialogue, but it's the action that proves the word."
Mankell is on a tour to promote his final Wallander novel - Stranger in the Shadows, in the German edition; The Troubled Man in the UK edition - which the disgruntled police commissar, who is suffering from the onset of Alzheimer's, sets out to solve a Cold War era crime. He said he would watch the progress of the Irish campaign ship, the Rachel Corrie, which is heading to Gaza. "We can be sure they won't attack it by sending soldiers on board, and killing people, because that would be suicidal for Israel." he said. "Maybe this time they'll attack the rudder and the propeller, we'll see."
Henning Mankell speaks to Kate Connolly
Friday, June 04, 2010
sami yusuf.. Palestine forever palestine .. سامي يوسف يغني لفلسطين
Mother dont cry for me I am to win i must
God almighty is my witness and trust
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Children being killed for throwing stones in the sky
They say to their parents dont worry, God is on our side
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Mother dont worry when they come for us at night
Surely theyll be sorry when God puts them right
Tell me why theyre doing what was done to them
Dont they know that God is with the oppressed and needy
Perished were the nations that ruled through tyranny
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Children of Palestine are fighting for their lives
They say to their parents we know that Palestine is our right
They to say to their parents well fight for what is right
They say not to worry God is on our side
They say well die for Palestine
Palestine, Forever Palestine
God almighty is my witness and trust
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Children being killed for throwing stones in the sky
They say to their parents dont worry, God is on our side
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Mother dont worry when they come for us at night
Surely theyll be sorry when God puts them right
Tell me why theyre doing what was done to them
Dont they know that God is with the oppressed and needy
Perished were the nations that ruled through tyranny
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Children of Palestine are fighting for their lives
They say to their parents we know that Palestine is our right
They to say to their parents well fight for what is right
They say not to worry God is on our side
They say well die for Palestine
Palestine, Forever Palestine
Obama Berlin Speech: See Video, Full Speech Transcript
New World Order ???!!!
Before the largest crowd of his campaign, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.
"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," Obama said, speaking not far from where the Berlin Wall once divided the city.
"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand," he said.
Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics. His remarks inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and he borrowed rhetoric from his own appeals to campaign audiences in the likes of Berlin, N.H., when he addressed a crowd in one of the great cities of Europe.
"People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time," he said.
Watch video -- full speech transcript and photos are below:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
OBAMA SPEECH TRANSCRIPT:
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama (as prepared for delivery)
"A World that Stands as One"
July 24th, 2008
Berlin, Germany
Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.
I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.
I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.
At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.
That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.
Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.
This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.
The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.
And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.
The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.
But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!"
People of the world - look at Berlin!
Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.
Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.
Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.
People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.
Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.
The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.
In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.
In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.
Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.
That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.
We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.
So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.
That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew.
This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.
This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.
This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.
This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.
This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.
This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.
This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.
And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.
Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?
Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?
Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?
People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.
These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.
People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.
Filed by Katharine Zaleski
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