From the first moment it was clear that the decisive test would come in the battle of the settlements.

It may seem that this is a marginal matter. If peace is to be achieved within two years, as Obama's people assure us, why worry about another few houses in the settlements that will be dismantled anyway? So there will be a few thousand settlers more to resettle. Big deal.

But the freezing of the settlements has an importance far beyond its practical effect. To return to the metaphor of the Palestinian lawyer: "We are negotiating the division of a pizza, and in the meantime, Israel is eating the pizza."

Our own little hillary, Maxine McKew has been at it again. On this week's Q&A, Miss rata-tat-tat had lots of words but little to say .... In one of the greatest cons perpetrated on the Australian electorate, Maxine was credited with having knocked-off old rattus in the last feral election .... truth is, of course, that even Hannibal Lecter could have blitzed the little fella; Maxine was just collecting the prize on behalf of the party .....

America celebrates Columbus Day, even though Columbus and American settlers killed, enslaved and pushed indigenous peoples off land they lived on. Tragically, indigenous peoples have been nearly wiped out of existence and pushed to the furthest margins of our culture that revels in amnesia. Main St., mainstream American culture does not expect Native Americans to celebrate Columbus, nor care nor know nor imagine if they do or not. Native Americans are not a demographic population Hallmark cares to account for.

THE Chaser funnyman Julian Morrow has urged the ABC not to give in to the ''short-term hysteria of media outrage'' because it risks damaging its independence and integrity.

Delivering the Andrew Olle Media Lecture last night, Morrow said he was not sorry for people offended by the ''make a realistic wish'' sketch that led to the comedy group's being taken off air for two weeks.

As civilised people across the world breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of former US president George W. Bush, top American intellectual Noam Chomsky warned against assuming or expecting significant changes in the basis of Washington's foreign policy under President Barack Obama.

During two lectures organised by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, Chomsky cited numerous examples of the driving doctrines behind US foreign policy since the end of World War II.

The British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, wrote to Jewish leader Lord Rothshild, to assure him that his government supported the ideal of providing a homeland for the Jews. The British hoped thereby to win more Jewish support for the Allies in the First World War. The "Balfour Declaration" became the basis for international support for the founding of the modern state of Israel. The letter was published a week later in The Times of London as reproduced here.

Foreign Office

November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild:

I have much pleasure in conveying to you. on behalf of His Majesty's
Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:

from Crikey

West Atlas spill the tip of the iceberg: WWF

Conservation director for the World Wildlife Fund Gilly Llewellyn writes:

The fire on the West Atlas oil rig platform is out and the first stage of plugging the leak is completed. But this is not the end of the story.

We need to find out what went wrong and further, improve the regulations that have allowed the untrammeled exploitation of one of the worlds last great marine wildernesses.

From Ms Albrechtsen

By North America correspondent Lisa Millar

The American General who led coalition forces in Iraq during the surge has been presented with an honorary Order of Australia.

The head of US Central command, David Petraeus, was appointed an honorary officer of the Order of Australia at a ceremony in Washington.

The four-star general was nominated for his leadership of coalition forces in Iraq for 18 months from January 2007.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has vowed to remove the "stigma" of corruption, a day after winning a new five-year term.

In his first remarks since being declared winner on Monday of August's fraud-marred poll, he also pledged to lead an inclusive government.

And he called on "Taliban brothers" who have been fighting an insurgency against him to "embrace their land".

The Taliban said in a statement it would continue its fight and called Mr Karzai "a puppet".

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from Crikey .....

WA cops get frisky

The Western Warrior writes:

Ah WA, you little police state, you.

New legislation, set to be introduced into state Parliament in next month, means police can now stop and search people and vehicles in designated areas without having to prove reasonable suspicion that a crime has taken place. Yes, that's right, WA Premier Colin Barnett has proposed laws with the express purpose of stopping, searching and interrogating folk for no reason at all.

Pointing an accusing finger at the US, the Palestinians yesterday said Washington's backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, buoyed by new-found support from the Obama administration, urged the Palestinians to "get a grip" and drop their settlement freeze precondition for restarting talks suspended since December.

from Crikey ....

Drugs expert shown the door for disagreeing with government

Greg Barns writes: