End support for Israel

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The U.S provides aid to dozens of unsavory regimes. From Teodoro Obiang's Equatorial Guinea to Islom Karimov's Uzbekistan America offers military, economic, and diplomatic assistance that brings shame upon our nation. With most of these regimes America's support purchases cheap oil, military bases, or alliances that would be difficult to do without. Realpolitik is not however, what drives America's ties with every unsavory regime. In the case of one nation, Israel, America's support is not only morally reprehensible, it is strategically stupid.

Israel is founded on the ideals of sectarianism. It is the only state in the world that has, as a matter of official government policy, the achievement of a specific demographic makeup through artificial means. In pursuing this goal Israel has committed grave human rights abuses both within and without its internationally recognized borders. From waging wars of aggression, kidnapping and assassinating political leaders, occupying other nations, cluster bombing residential areas, propagating apartheid, stealing land and colonizing Palestinian land, and killing civilians Israel has all the hallmarks of a rouge state.

These activities and policies have naturally sparked a great deal of resentment among the Arab world. The $3 billion of aid the U.S gives Israel each year not only supports a state which Nelson Mandela has compared to apartheid South Africa, it also polarizes Arab public opinion against the U.S. For both humanitarian and strategic reasons t he U.S needs to stop supporting Israel's government until that nation comes into compliance with basic international law and humanitarian norms.

Censorship

Public discourse is the foundation of democracy. Being able to have an open discussion with people of opposite opinions is one of the greatest aspects of American society. By participating in that discussion most bloggers recognize the importance of discussion with people of opposing viewpoints. However, some individuals are so unsure of their opinions that they are unable to even have a discussion and will delete comments that they disagree with.

Below is a list of such sites that censor opposing viewpoints. If anyone has any to add to the list or any that no longer censor other viewpoints then please leave a comment, I won't discriminate based on the political viewpoint of the site.

Allah's Pet Porker
Right Wing Jew
Potpourri
Our World As We See It

Tibet

China's savage response to Tibetan protesters demanding an end to Chinese occupation and what their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has termed a "cultural genocide" is not surprising on an intellectual level, but on an emotional level reports of Buddhist monks being savagely beaten by soldiers is deeply chilling. In such an imperfect world it it's easy to grow numb to human rights abuses, but the shock of what is being done to some of the most compassionate and peaceful people in the world never goes away.

In addition to repressing the Tibetan people Chinese officials have repeatedly profaned the Dalai Lama, just last week the leader of the Communist party in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, referred to the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in monk's robes, a devil with a human face but the heart of a beast," As a religious leader the Dalai Lama is on par with the Pope and as a moral leader he is second only to Gandhi in preeminence. Viscous slanders and personal attacks on His Holiness undermine any pretext of Chinese legitimacy on this issue. China has no moral right to rule Tibet and their case has no legal or historical precedents, it rests only on the sword.

The Chinese government of course has tried to discredit the Tibetan leadership by accusing the Dalai Lama of orchestrating violence, a claim which even the Chinese must realize is not true. Even when there have been acts of violence its not something which can be condemned by foreigners. It is the sovereign right of any occupied people to resist that occupation in whatever way they see fit. No one condemns the American Revolution or the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising even though they were carried out violently. Why should violence by Tibetans be viewed any differently? If violence against Chinese soldiers by Tibetans resisting the occupation of their country is condemnable then attacks by the Chinese government on peaceful Monks must be even more so.

The Tibetan people have suffered long enough with nothing but silence from the rest of the world. It is not easy to stand up to a powerful nation like China on an issue that is of such little strategic consequence, but it is the right thing to do and in hindsight it will be a source of pride, not shame. The West needs to offer at the very least symbolic measures in support of the Tibetan people. As the Speaker of the U.S House, Nancy Pelosi, has said "If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China and the Chinese in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out on human rights."