INTERNATIONAL

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 22 2012 (IPS) – Brushing aside a warning by the Israeli government and rebuffing a campaign by pro-Israeli lobbying groups in the United States, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to visit Iran next week to participate in the summit meeting of the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), described as the world’s largest single political coalition. U.N. spokesperson Martin Nesirky …

  A NUN who has been superior at a Syrian monastery for the past 18 years has warned that media coverage of ongoing violence in that country has been “partial and untrue”. It is “a fake”, Mother Agnes Mariam said, which “hides atrocities committed in the name of liberty and democracy”. Superior of the Melkite Greek Catholic monastery of St …

  Al Jazeera's weekend coverage of the critical battle for Aleppo, Syria reveals a major obstacle for the United States-NATO Empire Project. Hardly anyone in Aleppo is signing up to fight with rebels. Syrian rebels get limited support in Aleppo, Al Jazeera, August 11 Reporter Anita McNaught: "[The rebels] know they have to win if the revolution is to succeed …

  Neither party is likely to back off before achieving their objectives in what appears to be a zero-sum game, but the Makkah summit will give both sides time to recalibrate their positions on the conflict By Marwan Kabalan  August 10, 2012 "Information Clearing House" —  Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz’s invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend …

Massacre of oppressed and impoverished Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims since last June by government backed gangs, including Buddhist monks, remains shameful indictment on all Muslim countries, especially rich ones, worldwide. Muslims proudly claim that they constitute around 1.6 billion of the total population worldwide. Thereare more than 55 Muslim countries with more than enough wealth, resources and manpower. Yet they were worthless …

European Union rejected Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s call last week to declare Hezbollah as a terrorist group   following   bombing in Bulgaria which killed five Israelis. Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said “there is no consensus for putting Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organizations.     Hezbollah was an organization comprising a party …