On November 22, 2023, we commemorated the passing of JFK. November 22, 1963, the assassination of JFK in Dallas, Texas. Sixty years ago. 

First published by GR ten years ago on November 15, 2013 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963). 

June 6, 2023 was the 55th Anniversary of the Passing of Robert F. Kennedy (June 5, 1968)

Today, January 15, 2024 is Martin Luther King Jr. King Day  

Their Legacy will live forever.

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In the last 50 years there have been two major threats to life on our planet. 

The first, the nuclear arms race and its near disaster of 1962, was narrowly averted by President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy, who then set a course for peace. 

The second, the ticking climate bomb on its short “business as usual” fuse, has no solution in sight. (PART II of this essay forthcoming)

In both cases unseen forces have blocked a survival response to incalculable danger. We will examine these forces and suggest a way forward, modeled partially on action taken by JFK to avert nuclear war.

 

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,

And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes

The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,

Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —

He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:

Environment is but his looking-glass. 

                                                      James Allen,1902

I. Introduction

Most people under 60 will not remember the harrowing Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world was brought to the brink of nuclear war.  With the US leading the long-range missile race, short-range Soviet missiles had been quietly installed in Cuba.  Tension ignited when a US reconnaissance pilot was shot down over Cuba and killed. Kennedy, opposed to a war with Cuba, feared that his generals would overthrow him and escalate the crisis to a nuclear war that they believed to be winnable.

In desperation Kennedy turned to urgent, secret negotiations with his Cold War enemy, Premier Nikita Khrushchev.  Disaster was narrowly averted through the vital historical meeting of October 27.[1]

Horrified by the event and under pressure from senior advisors to pursue a first-strike capability,[2] Kennedy made a decisive turn towards peace. He began urging the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and withdrawal from Viet Nam.

In June, 1963 he made an impassioned plea at the American University to make peace with the Soviets: “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal.”[3]

But he would not be long for this world, for he had bitterly alienated the hawks who placed “winning the Cold War” above the life of a President.

Image:  03 June 1961 Kennedy meets Khrushchev, Vienna.

JFK’s November, 1963 assassination unleashed nuclear roulette[4] to swagger and bluff its way into the eighties, obstructing his vision for peace while the planet hung in the balance.

Now, 50 years later, we again face a global precipice that cries out for decisive action.  A radical transition to green energy must begin immediately to avert an unstoppable slow-motion disaster.

Again hidden forces have been obstructing a response.  Since the Rio Summit in 1992, CO2 levels have spiked towards disaster while the media have remained fixated on pipeline and tanker routes.

Where is the human outcry for earth’s life-support?  Why have we failed to seize control of our survival?

Trappist monk Thomas Merton figured it out in the sixties.  He coined the term “the unspeakable” during the nuclear madness of the Cold War, to describe a vacuum that can be utterly void of compassion and responsibility.[5]

This systemic moral abyss covertly carries out  CIA assassinations and the overthrow of foreign governments while protecting senior officials from knowing too much, under the doctrine of “plausible deniability.”

In failing to acknowledge and confront the under-side of the state we have allowed the abyss to grow, as it did in Hitler’s Germany.

Following JFK’s murder came the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, neither of whom, we now know, were murdered by lone gunmen.

Each of these men looked into the void and confronted the unspeakable in the name of peace and justice. Each paid the final price.

To learn from history, and to be worthy of their sacrifices,  we need to “go there” too.

President John F. Kennedy

 “Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

Widespread suspicion that JFK was killed by elements within his own government, most particularly the CIA, has long been fostered by films such as Oliver Stone’s 1991 JFK.

In 2009, Stone reviewed the extraordinary book JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters:[6]  “It is the best account I have read of this tragedy and its significance. It is a book that deserves the attention of all Americans; it is one of those rare books that, by helping us understand our history, has the power to change it.”[7]

On January 11, 2013, Robert Kennedy Jr. told Charlie Rose in front of a large Dallas audience that his father, Robert F. Kennedy (brother to JFK), privately believed the Warren Commission was “a shoddy piece of craftsmanship,” and that “the evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman.”[8]

Kennedy said his father had “asked Justice Department investigators to informally look into allegations that the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had received aid from the Mafia, the CIA or other organizations.  He said the staff members found phone lists linking Jack Ruby, Oswald’s assassin, to organized crime figures with ties to the CIA, convincing the elder Kennedy that there was something to the allegations.”[9] Kennedy also praised the scholarship of JFK and the Unspeakable.

The Rose interview was taped but not broadcast by the media, which evidently does not “go there.”

One man who “went there” in the sixties was the young award-winning Dallas Deputy Sheriff, Roger Dean Craig, who was on duty when JFK was killed.  Craig, in a virtually unknown interview following several attempts on his life, spoke clearly about his orders that morning to watch but not offer security to the JFK motorcade. Though Kennedy had been promised the greatest police protection ever provided to a President, Craig reported surprisingly few Dallas police:  none riding beside the limousine, and none sitting on the trunk to shield him.[10] The rifle Craig and other officers examined in the Texas School Depository did not match the three spent cartridges. Craig’s clear testimony and the tragic story of his ensuing destruction is available online.[11]

A February 25, 2013 news story reports that Robert J. Groden, best-selling New York Times author and forensic photographic consultant to the 1978 House Select Committee on Assassinations, has been arrested or ticketed 81 times in Dallas for lecturing at the site of JFK’s assassination.  Each time he was legally exonerated.[12]  Groden, consultant to Oliver Stone’s film JFK, has written six  books disproving the lone gunman evidence, and produced the virtually unknown 1993 documentary, JFK: The Case for Conspiracy.[13]

A 2011 study tells of a witness who went into hiding for decades after testifying to the Warren Commission that she was on the Depository stairs and did not see Lee Harvey Oswald at the official time he was reported to have fled.  She later found that her testimony to the Commission had been revised.[14]

Much is being done to expose the real murder of JFK.  Now, at the 50th anniversary of his death, with 1,100 JFK assassination records still under wraps (in violation of the 1992 JFK Assassination Records Act), the Mary Ferrell Foundation and JFK Facts offer news and archives about the Kennedy assassination.[15]

 Dr. Martin Luther King

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” MLK, “Beyond Vietnam,” April 4, 1967 Speech, NYC

 American civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot on the second-floor balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.

Like Kennedy, King had launched a non-violent campaign against the Vietnam war, based on his horror of the unspeakable brutality the Vietnamese children suffered from napalm.

An August, 1963 FBI memo had described King as “the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.”[16] He was arrested 29 times and his home was bombed.

King’s alleged assassin, James Earl Ray, had long been denied a criminal trial in spite of repeated efforts by the Martin Luther King family. In 1999 the King family commissioned attorney William F. Pepper to pursue a civil wrongful death suit on behalf of Ray, who had died in1998. The case, which called 70 witnesses, was tried in Memphis Circuit Court before Judge James E. Swearengen.  After 30 days of hearing evidence that had never been presented in a court of law, the jury exonerated Ray in a victory for the King family. The 12-person jury instead found a murder conspiracy involving agents of the government of the United States, State of Tennessee, and the City of Memphis.[17]

Only one reporter — Wendell Stacy from Memphis ABC News — covered the trial in depth. He was fired and suffered attempts on his life.[18] The massive evidence and verdict for this trial were thus buried by the US media, stunting history and killing hope.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy

“I’m afraid there are guns between me and the White House.” Robert Kennedy, 1968

Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, RFK was shot three times while leaving the stage of the Ambassador Hotel ballroom in Los Angeles.  He had been celebrating his win of the California democratic primary election the day before.

Of the three alleged lone-gunman assassins, Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan’s role is the most doubtful.

Most eye witnesses reported long ago that Sirhan was facing Kennedy as he walked off-stage into the pantry.  However, the autopsy showed that the bullets entered Kennedy’s body from behind and to the right.[19]  Coroner Noguchi estimated that the lethal shot to the back of his neck was fired from no more than 1.5 inches, and left thick powder burns.[20] The final Coroner’s report described embedded “dark brown to black powder residues in the neck injury.[21]

Eye-witnesses have also long reported more shots than Sirhan’s 8-bullet pistol could hold.  John Pilger, twice Britain’s “Journalist of the Year”, was following Kennedy into the kitchen and reported shots after Sirhan was restrained, confirming, in a 2008 interview, “there was another assassin or another several assassins.”[22]

There was no camera footage of the shooting. However in 2004, the long-archived “Pruszynski Tape” was found in the California State Archives by American journalist Brad Johnson, a senior CNN news writer.[23] This audio recording was judged authentic by forensic analyst of magnetic recordings, Phillip van Praag, whose oscillogram showed 13 shots, including two double shots fired back to back.[24] Two sets of shots with different megahertz patterns were fired from opposite directions.[25]

In 2012 a key witness to the murder went public. Nina Rhodes-Hughes, a fund-raiser for RFK, walked 6-7 feet behind him as he left the stage.  She heard shots from in front of RFK, and then from her right.  She later learned that the FBI had changed her testimony to say that she had heard 8 shots, which she “never, never said…there were at least 12, maybe 14.” Her statements were reported by CNN, Huffington Post, and other major news outlets last year.[26] They exactly mirror accounts of several other witnesses.[27]

Concluding Remarks

Fifty years of research shows that three humane visions of global peace were thwarted by three covert assassinations.

In each case eyewitness accounts were written out of history. In each case the “lone gunman” fiction denied society a true understanding of the deep politics of history.[28]  In each case propaganda masked truth and undermined the public good.

Expanding Middle East War. Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran, the War on Energy, Strategic Waterways

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 15, 2024

The targeting of civilians and the killing of children in Gaza is modelled on numerous US-sponsored massacres of civilians (1945-2023) including the 2004 attack on Fallujah. (More than 30 million mainly civilian deaths in US-led wars in what is euphemistically called the “post War Era”).

Yemen Air Strikes by UK and US Set to ‘Inflame and Spread Conflict’

By Nicky Harley, January 15, 2024

Former UK international development minister Shahid Malik, who was responsible for aid efforts in Yemen, described the military action as “knee-jerk” and “counterproductive”. Mr Malik, the UK’s first Muslim minister, said a widespread bombing operation was unlikely to deter the Houthis.

Techno-Hell: ‘Natural’ Breastfeeding Condemned as ‘Ethically Problematic’

By Ben Bartee, January 14, 2024

Transhumanist ideology is hellbent on severing every physical and emotional tie that binds people — actual, biological, honest-to-God people — together and weaponizing human physiology for profit and social control.

The UAE Jails the Muslim Brotherhood, While the US Shields Them

By Steven Sahiounie, January 14, 2024

The MB holds the same core beliefs, and platform as AQ and ISIS. They all believe that Islam is the only true religion and that all Kings, monarchies, and dynasties are oppressive and run against Islam. They believe that the only constitution needed is the Koran and Islamic Law fulfills all the need for civil codes. 

Jordan Wants to Present Evidence, Pleadings to ICJ in Gaza Genocide Case Against Israel

lBy The New Arab, January 14, 2024

Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh told parliament this week that Amman would present evidence to the court in support of South Africa’s case. The first public hearing for the case took place at the court in The Hague on Thursday with a second taking place on Friday.

U.S. Officials Care More About Protecting Oil Tankers Than Palestinians

By Dr. Edward Hunt, January 14, 2024

With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States is leading a multinational military coalition to occupy the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab, where oil tankers and commercial vessels have come under attack by Houthi militants in Yemen. The U.S.-led military intervention has brought the United States into direct conflict with the Houthis, who insist that they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its military offensive in Gaza.

Israel in UN Court Over Genocide Charges. Manlio Dinucci

By Manlio Dinucci, January 14, 2024

There would be no role in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, which manages parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israel would thus get what it wants: the definitive cancellation of the State of Palestine, decided by the United Nations 77 years ago under the formula of the two states. Against this background, South Africa’s decision to bring Israel before the United Nations International Court of Justice on charges of genocide is of primary importance.

Study: Prenatal Exposure to Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine Causes Autism in Male Rats. COVID Vaccines Recommended for Pregnant Women Without Safety Data

By Megan Redshaw, January 14, 2024

Vaccinating pregnant women against any infectious disease is highly controversial, but nothing compares to U.S. regulatory agencies signing off on experimental COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women without tests to assess the effects this might have on their offspring.

With All Eyes on Gaza, Israeli Settlers Are Waging a Second Nakba in the West Bank

By Peter Oborne and Angelo Calianno, January 14, 2024

Since the 7 October attack, the settlers, who in recent years have received hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding, have carried out more than 200 attacks on Palestinians, according to B’Tselem and Yesh Din, two human rights groups documenting attacks in the West Bank.

On the Need to Study “Zionist Power” as Integral to the Globalist Push for “Centralized Control of Everything”

By Prof. Anthony J. Hall, January 13, 2024

The study of power is integral to the study of the war, economics, education, technological transformation, propaganda, religion, and cultural expression. Weaving in and out of the study of power is the topic of the rise and fall and resurgence of Zionist Power.

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A power blackout across the Gaza Strip is likely to put the lives of newborns and medical patients at risk, while Israel continues to strike all corners of the territory repeatedly as the war enters its 99th day.

“This situation is threatening the lives of many patients and newborns,” one doctor in Deir al-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Hospital told Qatar’s Al Jazeera.

“We’re trying to work with what we have but we will have to stop working completely because we don’t have any electricity.”

The territory is no stranger to Israeli-imposed telecommunications and power outages, which have occurred frequently as part of Tel Aviv’s siege and war on Gaza.

Doctors said that they were trying to treat patients and tend to newborn babies with what they have, with some babies already suffering from malnutrition.

The Palestinian Red Crescent posted that the disruption was increasing the challenges in “reaching the wounded and injured promptly”.

Israeli strikes across Gaza rained overnight and into Saturday morning, with dozens of casualties reported.

Witnesses reported Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the early morning on Saturday, with strikes and shelling hitting areas between Gaza’s southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, crowded with displaced people who have fled from the north.

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Featured image is from The New Arab

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The UK should have worked harder to ensure a peaceful solution in Yemen rather than opting for aggression against the Houthi rebels, a former UK government minister has told The National.

The US and UK military launched overnight air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Former UK international development minister Shahid Malik, who was responsible for aid efforts in Yemen, described the military action as “knee-jerk” and “counterproductive”.

Mr Malik, the UK’s first Muslim minister, said a widespread bombing operation was unlikely to deter the Houthis.

“I find it curious to be honest that we in the West have been desperate not to spread conflict throughout the region and inflame things further but the action taken overnight will effectively do exactly that despite us saying we are trying to prevent and oppose conflict,” he told The National.

“I do not think the military action has been fully thought through. It has been very knee-jerk and on the day Israel is defending its actions at the ICJ [International Court of Justice] just adds fuel to it.

“I think the action is counterproductive in the short term because of what is happening, even more for shipping, firms will be even more wary of going through the Red Sea now and the straits and it will increase insurance costs.”

While the strikes were intended to weaken the Houthis’ military capacity in the short term, it will have little effect on the group on the long term, and there will be “reprisals at their time and choosing”, he added.

“These people do not have a history of being predictable or logical,” Mr Malik said.

“In the short term, cargo ships are less likely than more to travel in that area because they will fear reprisals, their insurance will have gone up 10-fold.”

Yemen was the first country Mr Malik visited in 2007 in his role as international development minister.

He witnessed the nation’s plight first-hand when he signed a $5 billion aid deal and a 10-year development plan to help Yemen.

Despite its 20 years of conflict, he still hopes for peace and has faith Saudi Arabia can help broker it.

“The UK’s actions have not been fully thought through,” he said.

“The UK’s brand has been tarnished once more in the Middle East, I do not understand why it is going along with the US again and allowing itself to be accused of being the US’s poodle.

“Violence is a last solution; the violence seen overnight is a clear signal the UK’s diplomacy has failed. This is US action trying to safeguard their interests. This is not how you get peace.”

He added that the international community and the West could have done more.

“People do not just get radicalised – there are underlying causes of poverty and a sense of injustice and unfairness,” Mr Malik said.

“The areas where the Houthis are traditionally from are incredibly underdeveloped.

“The people of Yemen have already been suffering hardship and civil war for decades. The war has cost a lot of lives. This is a classic example where the Houthis cannot be military defeated, just like in Afghanistan. We need to sit down and have dialogue to get a sustainable peace.”

Mr Malik also expressed his hope for peace talks with Saudi Arabia.

“The Yemenis have been through an awful plight and so much of it was preventable. They were people who had so much hope for a bright future, but this has been affected by the inaction of the West,” he said.

“I still believe there is a great opportunity for peace.”

The US and the UK say the air strikes will help to protect freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, but there are fears the move could lead to further escalation in the region as the Gaza war rages on.

The Iran-backed rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, northern Yemen and parts of the Red Sea coast, said five of its members were killed in the strikes and vowed to retaliate.

Mr Malik fears the people of Yemen are going to continue to suffer as a result of the action.

“It is without doubt the most challenged and poorest country in the Middle East, there is high water scarcity, effectively it has been in civil war and has social issues and drug issues,” he said.

“The people I met were so lovely and honest and what is happening is utterly depressing, the international community needs to be doing more, they need to push the boat out.

“These people have already been through too much pain and suffering and it is going to continue for sometime.”

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Featured image: Former British Labour MP and international development minister Shahid Malik has criticised US and UK bombing of Houthi installations in Yemen. Photo: PA

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Britain and the United States pounded several targets in rebel-held Yemen overnight over a dramatic three-hour period, after weeks of disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels by Iran-backed Houthi forces.

The strikes saw over 100 missiles launched at more than 60 targets across 16 locations in Yemen, including an airbase, airports and a military camp, officials said.

A salvo of missiles was launched by fighter jets, warships and a submarine in a retaliatory move targeting Houthi infrastructure across Yemen, in what represents a massive escalation in the Middle East.

The wheels of the UK attack were set in motion on Thursday morning, with reports that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had held a COBRA meeting. At the same time, White House officials were briefing senior politicians on Capitol Hill on the strikes that were given the green-light by President Joe Biden earlier this week.

Meanwhile, four British fighter jets and a refuelling tanker lifted off from the Akrotiri air base in Cyprus and flew the 1,500 miles to join US coalition forces in carrying out the precision strikes across Yemen over a three-hour period.

As the jets soared towards Yemen, a cabinet meeting was held in London Thursday evening, while other key political figures – including Britain’s opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle – were also briefed.

The British jets struck first, blasting two different locations at around 11.30pm Thursday local time. Three hours later, the US missiles struck their targets.

Blaming the Houthis for ignoring ‘repeated warnings’, Sunak said in a statement the strikes were ‘necessary and proportionate’. Biden called the US and British strikes a ‘defensive action’, adding he ‘will not hesitate’ to order further military action.

At least five people were killed in the strikes, the Houthis said.

Here, MailOnline looks at what we know about the timeline of the strikes…

Britain and the United States pounded several targets in rebel-held Yemen overnight over a dramatic three-hour period. This graphic shows what the US-UK coalition used to carry out the strikes, and the timeline of the mission as according to official releases

Click here to read the full article on Daily Mail Online.

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Featured image: US and UK military forces have ‘successfully’ completed targeted strikes in Yemen used by Houthi to attack ships in the Red Sea (Source: Sky News)

Important article first publish on September 24, 2019

The 5G danger can’t be overstated. 

5G (5th Generation) is now being actively rolled out in many cities around the world. Simultaneously, as awareness over its horrific health and privacy impacts is rising, many places are issuing moratoriums on it or banning it, such as the entire nation of Belgium, the city of Vaud (Switzerland) and San Francisco (USA). Radiofrequency radiation (RF or RFR) and electromagnetic fields (EMF) are being increasingly recognized as new types of pollution – environmental pollution. Here are 13 reasons exposing the 5G danger, which could turn into an unmitigated health and privacy catastrophe if enough people don’t rise up to stop it.

1. 5G Danger: Hijacking Your Sweat Duct Antennae

The 5G network uses and broadcasts frequencies which affect our sweat ducts, which act as antennae. In other words, our largest organ, the skin, can be influenced and manipulated by 5G. As I reported in this the article 5G and IoT: Total Technological Control Grid Being Rolled Out Fast, scientist Dr. Ben-Ishai exposed the connection between 5G and our body’s sweat ducts in this video:

“[The 5G frequencies] will zap [us] with wavelengths that will interact with the geometrical structure of our skin … We found that sweat ducts work like helical antennas … the sweat duct was an integral part of the mechanism for the absorption of energy, electromagnetic, between 75-100 GHz, and that if you changed the character of the sweat duct, i.e. made it work, you could actually change that absorption at some point, and if you could do that you could trace how a person is under stress.“

2. 5G Danger: 5G Amplifies EMF Damage via VGCCs

Wireless radiation and EMF scientist Dr. Martin Pall has done groundbreaking research in explaining exactly how EMFs cause premature aging and injury to the human body, including damage to fertility, brains, hearts and even DNA! He pioneered research showing how EMFs activate the body’s VGCCs (Voltage-gated calcium channels) which causes them to release excess calcium ions into the cell. This then leads to nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide which react nearly instantaneously to form peroxynitrite and free radicals. Many studies like this show peroxynitrite damages DNA. Dr. Pall has stated unequivocally that the “5G rollout is absolutely insane.” 

3. 5G Danger: Pulsed Wave Far More Damaging than Continuous Wave Radiation

A significant and unique feature of Smart Meters is that they emit pulsed wave radiation not continuous wave radiation. In other words, they run in start-stop cycles of emitting a burst of EMF then going temporarily inactive. This happens an incredibly high amount of times per day; court documents with testimony from utility companies (like Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California) reveal that smart meters send pulsed waves between 9,600 and 190,000 times per day!

In this 2018 video, Dr. Pall states there are 13 studies which show that pulsed wave EMFs are more active (and dangerous) than continuous wave EMFs. You can read the evidence here.

4. 5G Danger: 5G Promotes Deep EMF Penetration

The main reason why cell or mobile phones are more dangerous for children than adults (apart from the fact that radiation absorption is cumulative over a lifetime) is due to EMF penetration.

 

Dr. Pall writes:

“The industry has also made claims that more conventional microwave frequency EMFs are limited in effect to the outer 1 cm of the body. We know that is not true, however because of the effects deep in the human brain, on the heart and on hormone systems. Perhaps the most important two studies demonstrating effects deep within the body are the studies of Professor Hässig and his colleagues in Switzerland on cataract formation in newborn calves. These two studies clearly show that when pregnant cows are grazing near mobile phone base stations (also called cell phone towers), the calves are born with very greatly increased incidences of cataracts.”

Hässig wrote in his 2009 study:

“Of 253 calves, 79 (32%) had various degrees of nuclear cataract, but only 9 (3.6%) calves had severe nuclear cataract. Results demonstrate a relation between the location of veals calves with nuclear cataracts in the first trimester of gestation and the strength of antennas. The number of antennas within 100 to 199 meters was associated with oxidative stress and there was an association between oxidative stress and the distance to the nearest MPBS (Mobile Phone Base Station).”

5. 5G Danger: 5G is a Weapons System Disguised as a Consumer Convenience

Mark Steele has been very outspoken against 5G and has now been widely interviewed, including by Project Camelot and also by Sacha Stone in his documentary 5G Apocalypse: The Extinction Event. Steele claims that although widespread reports state that 5G is operating in the 24-100 GHz range, it is actually sub-gigahertz (meaning under the GHz threshold, so still measured in MHz). He says 5G is a weapons system like long-range radar, phased array radar and directed energy (DEW was used in 9/11 and various fires like the Paradise fires). He claims that when you examine 5G hardware, it has a dielectric lens which is proof it is a weapons system. Autonomous vehicles can use 5G to shine in mirrors of other drivers (which is so strong and damaging it is equivalent to assault). Mark talks about how 5G is powerful enough to kill babies in wombs. He states:

“5G is a weapons system, nothing more, nothing less. It’s got nothing to do with telecommunications for humans. 5G is a machine to machine connection for autonomous vehicles.”

6. 5G Danger: LA Firefighters Develop Ailments After Being Too Close to Towers

In this video a 25 year veteran firefighter from Los Angeles compares cell towers to cigarettes. He calls for a stop to the cell/mobile phone base stations being built on or near fire stations. Firefighters are not the only ones suffering the effects; it was reported that hundreds of birds fell from the sky in the Netherlands during a 5G test.

7. 5G Danger: Same Frequencies as used for Crowd Dispersal

5G purportedly uses millimeter wave (MMW) frequencies, so called because the frequencies are so high (in the 24-100 GHz range). Since 1 GHz = 1 billion GHz, we are talking about frequencies with very very short wavelength (the distance between the peak of one wave and the next). The distances are so tiny they are measured in millimeters, hence the term millimeter wave. These are the exact same frequencies used by the military for their non-lethal weapons such as Active Denial Systems for crowd dispersal. These weapons have the capacity to cause tremendous injury. Dr. Paul Ben-Ishai said, “If you are unlucky enough to be standing there when it hits you, you will feel like your body is on fire.”

8. 5G Danger: Mutagenic (Causing DNA Damage) and Carcinogenic (Causing Cancer)?

The MMW frequencies of 5G cause mitochondrial DNA damage – which is then passed down generations. 5G is mutagenic. These mutations are inherited by the next generation! This has grave implications for genetic purity. How many people are thinking about this when they can’t stop looking at their screens? This website lists many studies showing the mitochondrial damage that occurs after exposure to EMF radiation.

With mutagenesis usually comes carcinogenesis. In other words, once something is powerful and dangerous enough to cause DNA damage, chances are high it will lead to cancer. Mark Steele says 5G is a class 1 carcinogen, although the WHO (World Health Organization) very conservatively classifies cell phone towers as a class 2b possible carcinogen. It’s important to note, however, that the WHO is an agency of the UN which was set up by the Rockefellers, an illustrious NWO Illuminati family who plan to use the UN as a vehicle to usher in a One World Government.

5G is being rushed out without the proper safety testing done, so we don’t have much data on how 5G specifically causes cancer, but there is an abundance of evidence showing how 2G, 3G and 4G EMFs are implicated in many kinds of cancer, including brain cancer. This website has a good collection of the many studies done.

9. 5G Danger: Phased Array Densification

5G requires significantly more transmitters or broadcasters than earlier generations. It is a plan of massive infrastructure creation, with stations, towers and bases planned to be put almost everywhere, including in the heart of residential neighborhoods. The effects of this kind of densification could be disastrous.

5G is powerful enough to 3D map the inside of your home and other buildings. Mark Steele specifically highlights the 868 MHz frequency, previously used for battlefield interrogations and which can travel with ease through bricks and concrete. He claims this frequency can single out specific people … interesting given all the electronic harassment and gang stalking which occurs against TIs (Targeted Individuals).

5G infrastructure will consist of small phased array antennas shooting out radiation at their targets like a bullet. The rays of microwaves they produce will be strong enough to pass through walls and human bodies. We will be blanketed with this 24/7/365, and what’s worse, the coverage area is slated to be broader than the current 4G, eventually encompassing every square inch of Earth.

10. 5G Danger: Killing All the Insects?

Insects, birds and children are the most vulnerable to 5G due to their body size. Claire Edwards is a former UN staff editor who brought the EMF/5G issue to their attention of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. She stated in an anti-5G rally speech in Stockholm:

“It’s interesting to note that in the last 20 years we have lost 80% of our insects. And if we get 5G, we’re going to lose 100% of our insects.  When the insects go, we go too.”

Both insects and 5G need antennas: insects use them, among other things, in their sense of smell, while 5G uses them to propagate waves. Not surprisingly, insects are sensitive to 5G EMF waves; this recent study showed that insects exposed to 5G radiation experienced an increase in their body temperature.

“Studies have shown that the frequencies used by 5G increase the body temperature of insects. This phenomenon was not observed with 4G or WiFi.”

Meanwhile the study Exposure of Insects to Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz concludes:

“Future wavelengths of the electromagnetic fields used for the wireless telecommunication systems will decrease and become comparable to the body size of insects and therefore, the absorption of RF-EMFs in insects is expected to increase.”

5G is planned to be an inescapable grid – with plans afoot to beam it down from space! This ties into the Space Fence agenda as I discussed in my article Space Fence: Connecting the Surveillance and Transhumanist Agendas. The organization International Appeal Stop 5G on Earth and in Space writes:

“At least five companies are proposing to provide 5G from space from a combined 20,000 satellites in low- and medium-Earth orbit that will blanket the Earth with powerful, focused, steerable beams. Each satellite will emit millimetre waves with an effective radiated power of up to 5 million watts from thousands of antennas arranged in a phased array.”

It is vital to understand the bigger picture of the grand conspiracy here. All these disruptive and hazardous technologies – 5G, wi-fi, wireless radiation, HAARP, ionospheric heating, geoengineering, GMOs, etc. – are going to be woven into one giant integrated system of surveillance, command and control. Just as one small example, geoengineering involves the spraying of chemtrails loaded with metal particulates – which 5G can use.

12. 5G Danger: Re-Radiation Inside the Body

Way back in 2002, RF researcher Arthur Firstenberg published an analysis of 5G long before the technology was approved. He explained how, due to 5G EM pulses being extremely short and delivered in bursts, they actually replicate inside the body – and end up creating tiny new 5G antennas internally. Firstenberg wrote:

“… when extremely short electromagnetic pulses enter the body, something else happens: the moving charges themselves become little antennas that re-radiate the electromagnetic field and send it deeper into the body …”

“These re-radiated waves are called Brillouin precursors … They become significant when either the power or the phase of the wave changes rapidly enough … This means that the reassurance we are being given – that these millimeter waves are too short to penetrate far into the body – is not true.”

This echoes a previous point made – that 5G penetration is a serious danger.

13. 5G Danger: Insurance Companies Refuse to Underwrite Big Wireless. What Do They Know?

Insurance companies (the most famous of which is Lloyds of London) have made headlines by refusing to insure Big Wireless (the telecommunication corporate conglomerate) against wi-fi and 5G-related illnesses and claims:

“Well, Lloyd’s November 2010 Risk Assessment Team’s Report gives us a solid clue: the report compares these wireless technologies with asbestos, in that the early research on asbestos was “inconclusive” and only later did it become obvious to anyone paying attention that asbestos causes cancer. Keep in mind that Lloyd’s Risk Assessment study of wi-fi was published over 8 [now 9 – Ed.] years ago. Even back then, however, their Risk Assessment Team was smart enough to realize that new evidence just might emerge showing that the various wi-fi frequencies do cause illness.”

Conclusion: 5G Grid Part of Larger Command, Control, Surveillance and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agenda

5G is qualitatively and quantitatively different to 4G. It is much more than just the next step up from 4G. 5G will not only beam tens to hundreds times more radiation than 4G, but the introduction of MMW technology means a whole new host of hazards. History repeats itself. Just like it took some time for real science to catch up with tobacco/cigarettes, and just like it took some time for real science to catch up with the monstrosity that are GMOs (now rebranded as BioEngineered Foods), so too will real science catch up with 5G. In the meantime, you can expect all sorts of junk science to be put forth to justify it, including misdirections and distractions like only focusing on the thermal effects of wireless (and ignoring the evidence of dangerous non-thermal effects).

Ultimately, 5G is part of the NWO agenda to set up a giant, inescapable command and control grid that eliminates all privacy and allows the manipulators to surveil every single person on the planet all the time. If there was ever a time for activists to step up in the name of freedom, truth, health, privacy and sovereignty, now is the time.

*****

Makia Freeman is the editor of alternative media / independent news site The Freedom Articles and senior researcher at ToolsForFreedom.com, writing on many aspects of truth and freedom, from exposing aspects of the worldwide conspiracy to suggesting solutions for how humanity can create a new system of peace and abundance. Makia is on Steemit and FB.

Sources:

*http://freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom.com/5g-iot-technological-control-grid/

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuVtGldYXK4

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBsUWbUB6PE

*https://www.emfacts.com/2018/08/martin-palls-book-on-5g-is-available-online/

*http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/PGERFDataOpt-outalternatives_11-1-11-3pm.pdf

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBsUWbUB6PE

*https://s3.amazonaws.com/nghl-ntge/pall-to-eu-on-5g-harm-march-2018.pdf

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19780007

*https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4712174/

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol3tAxnNccY

*https://everydayconcerned.net/2019/02/15/5g-is-a-weapons-system-nothing-more-nothing-less-technical-weapons-expert-mark-steele-issues-wake-up-call-to-all-uk-residents-on-5g-led-street-lights-rollout-in-gateshead/

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-x_xv6dg9E

*https://thetruthrevolution.net/hundreds-of-birds-fall-from-the-sky-during-5g-test-in-the-netherlands

*https://jnlwp.defense.gov/About/Frequently-Asked-Questions/Active-Denial-System-FAQs/

*https://mdsafetech.org/mitochondrial-effects/

*https://www.powerwatch.org.uk/health/braintumours.asp

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hayxz_GEha8 (stockholm)

*http://emrabc.ca/?p=15174

*https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22271-3

*http://freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom.com/space-fence-surveillance-transhumanism/

*https://www.5gspaceappeal.org/the-appeal

*https://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/5g-from-blankets-to-bullets/

*https://principia-scientific.org/lloyds-insurers-refuse-to-cover-5g-wi-fi-illnesses/

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

One would be hard-pressed to imagine a human activity more natural than a mother breastfeeding her infant, aside from, perhaps, eating, sleeping, and sex.

The pharmaceutical front group American Academy of Pediatrics, which touts the virtues of transing children just as soon as it can wrangle their doomed genitals into its vice grip, disagrees.

Via American Academy of Pediatrics

“Medical and public health organizations recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed for at least 6 months. This recommendation is based on evidence of health benefits for mothers and babies, as well as developmental benefits for babies.

A spate of recent work challenges the extent of these benefits, and ethical criticism of breastfeeding promotion as stigmatizing is also growing.

Building on this critical work, we are concerned about breastfeeding promotion that praises breastfeeding as the “natural” way to feed infants. This messaging plays into a powerful perspective that ‘natural’ approaches to health are better, a view examined in a recent report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics. Promoting breastfeeding as ‘natural’ may be ethically problematic, and, even more troublingly, it may bolster this belief that ‘natural’ approaches are presumptively healthier. This may ultimately challenge public health’s aims in other contexts, particularly childhood vaccination.”

Note the passive-aggressive placement of the term “natural” in quotation marks, so as to emphasize that breastfeeding being natural is a dubious or disputable claim — as if every female mammal on Earth for millions of years hasn’t breastfed its young, as if that’s not, in fact, one of the defining features of mammalism.

Once you’ve downloaded the technocratic paradigm blueprint from which this kind of tripe emerges, the aims of this propaganda come into clearer focuses. (Spoiler alert: it’s not about “gender equity” or whatever nonsense.)

As far as I can tell, there are two main biomedical and social control advantages to phasing out breastfeeding as a barbaric, filthy relic of the past, in the tradition of Brave New World:

• Mothers pass their adaptive immune systems to their babies through breastmilk. One might call this “nature’s pharmacy.” All of the antibodies that the mother has accumulated through her life on Earth are gifted to her baby, to the obvious benefit of the child’s needy and developing immune system.
• Breastfeeding enhances the mother-child bond, the first and arguably most important social bond that serves as the foundation for all others.

Each of these effects of breastfeeding enhances the baby’s physical and psychological health and fosters a functional society. Conversely, neither enhances pharmaceutical profits or the social control of the state.

Which means — as in the case of mothers protesting school boards a year ago or so over transing kids who were subsequently targeted by the DOJ — promoting breastfeeding is a vocation fit only for domestic terrorists. Will breastfeeding mothers one day find themselves on a DHS watchlist for the sin of feeding their babies?

Transhumanist ideology is hellbent on severing every physical and emotional tie that binds people — actual, biological, honest-to-God people — together and weaponizing human physiology for profit and social control.

The social engineers want us isolated, atomized, afraid, sick, and sad. Ultimately, they want us dead. Anti-humanism is at the heart of their ethics.

*

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This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Armageddon Prose.

Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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As Bret Weinstein informs Tucker of the alarming number of deaths resulting from the Covid vaccine, Pfizer makes a $43 Billion bet that ‘turbo cancers’ are going to explode around the world.

But why, and could the two possibly be connected?

*

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Featured image is from NaturalNews.com

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This important article by Edward Curtin was first published on October 26, 2015

This is a bold and profoundly important book, not only for the portrait of the evil spymaster Allen Dulles, but even more so for its examination of the legacy he spawned – the creation of a cabal hidden behind the public  face of  the United States  government  that  secretly  runs  the country  today  on behalf  of wealthy elites. 

The psychopathic Allen Dulles was the enforcer for this group, called “the power elite” by C. Wright Mills in the 1950s.  In recent years, especially since September 11, 2001, as its power has expanded, it has been given different names – the deep state, the national security state, deep politics,etc. – but that has not diminished its power one jot.  Like a patient who goes to a doctor seeking a label for vague yet disturbing symptoms, people may feel relief from the naming, but the disease continues until the root cause is eliminated.  Aye, there’s the rub!

Dulles is dead, but the structure he created lives on and flourishes under new operatives.Because of his intrepid examination of these forces, David Talbot can expect to be ignored and attacked by disinformation specialists  of various stripes,  who will  use specious reasoning,  lies,  and any small weaknesses in his style or sourcing to dismiss the essential truths of his well-documented and beautifully written thesis.   First  ignore,  and if  that  doesn’t  work,  then attack,  is  the modus operandi  of  these propagandists who populate the mainstream media,  the people Dulles had in his pocket and whom Talbot excoriates throughout the book.

When an author has the guts to accuse America’s longest-reigning CIA Director of “a reign of treason,” he can expect blowback from media and academic spokesmen of the deep-state.

Talbot is a gifted writer whose narrative style quickly engrosses the reader. Two chapters into The Devil’s Chessboard, one can’t help being nauseated by his account of Allen Dulles’s blood-chilling betrayal of large numbers of European Jews targeted by Hitler.  “Dulles,” Talbot writes, “was more in step with many Nazi leaders than he was with President Roosevelt.”

Together with his brother John Foster Dulles, who would become Secretary of State under Eisenhower,  Allen Dulles had long-standing business  ties to German industrial giants such as I G Farben (manufacturers of Zyklon B used in the gas chambers) and Krupp steel. 

Their law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell, “was at the center of an intricate network of banks,investment  firms,  and  industrial  conglomerates  that  rebuilt  Germany  after  World  War  I.”   Slow  to publicly break with Hitler and his allies, the Dulles brothers, especially Allen, reserved a place in his ear and a place at the table for his Nazi friends.  When he was recruited into the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1941 and slipped into neutral Switzerland in late 1942, he was there not so much to support Roosevelt’s  war efforts as to protect  the interests of his law firm’s German clients.   In doing so, he betrayed personal friends and anonymous Jews to Hitler’s killers in a heartless manner hard to fathom.

Whenever Dulles had a chance to publicize the plight of the Jews, he buried the reports.

For example,when a German cable reported that 120,000 Hungarian Jews, including children, were to be taken for work in the “labor services” – a euphemism for a trip to Auschwitz – “Dulles’s communiques to OSS headquarters  used the same banal  language as  the Nazis,  referring  blandly  to  the ‘conscription’  of Hungary’s Jews.”  While noting that academic researchers decades later remain hesitant to condemn Dulles for this, Talbot will have none of it.  It is for good reason that he entitles his book  The  Devil’s Chessboard.  He thinks Dulles was satanic.

In  addition to his chilling indifference to the slaughter of the Jews, Dulles worked overtime to undermine FDR’s adamant insistence that he would accept nothing less than an “unconditional surrender” and that Nazi war criminals would face justice.  Dulles worked his wiles at saving many Nazi war criminals and returning  them  to  power  in  post-war  West-Germany.   Among  them  was  Reinhard  Gehlen,  Hitler’s notorious chief of intelligence.  In a talk to the Council of Foreign Relations on December 3, 1945, as the first Nuremburg trial was underway, he told the meeting, “Most men of the caliber required to [run thenew Germany]  suffer  a  political  taint.

We have already found out that  you can’t  run the railroads without taking in some [Nazi] party members.”  Couching this in anti-Soviet rhetoric for an audience of like-minded power brokers, many of whom were no doubt as ant-Semitic as he was, Dulles made sure it happened.  He worked hard to save the neck of Himmler’s former chief of staff and commander of the security forces in Italy, SS general Karl Wolff.  Called the “Bureaucrat of Death,” this killer was one of many Dulles  saved  under  his  separate  peace pact,  Operation Sunrise,  a  traitorous circumvention of Roosevelt’s insistence on justice.  SS colonel Eugen Dollman was another.  In this operation, he worked closely with James Jesus Angleton, the future CIA head of counterintelligence who saw Dulles as his maestro.  Working together they helped many notorious Nazi war criminals escape to the United States,Latin America, and other countries via the “Nazi ratlines.”

In Part II of the book, Talbot buttresses these historical and well-sourced facts with a detour into Dulles’s personal life and relationships.  It is not a reassuring portrait.  We learn that his wife Clover and one of his  mistresses,  Mary Bancroft,  called him “the Shark.” (Bancroft was the best  friend of Ruth Paine’s mother-in-law; it was at Ruth Paine’s house that Marina and Lee Harvey Oswald lived at the time of JFK’s assassination. More on the Paine’s below.)

Bancroft refers to “those cold blue eyes of his” and his“peculiar mirthless laugh.”  Carl Jung, who treated both women, said Dulles was “quite a tough nut.”Talbot notes that there was “an impenetrable blankness that made him hard to read.”  This description approximates Jung’s take on Hitler that Talbot juxtaposes on the same page – that Hitler seemed like “a mask, like a robot, or a mask of a robot.”  Mary Bancroft recalled that the emotionally dead Dulles’s favorite word was “useful.”  People were only good to him if they were useful.  His daughter Joan told Talbot that her  father was “clearly not interested in us.”   A grinning Dulles once told Mary that his feigned bonhomie, his avuncular demeanor, and trusting attitude toward people were an act. He said, “I like to watch the little mice sniffing at the cheese just before they venture into the little trap. I like to see their expressions when it snaps shut, breaking their little necks.”

After  his  WW II  work assisting Nazis,  Dulles  turned his  attention to stirring the cauldron in  Eastern Europe.  This time he betrayed many thousands to Stalin’s thugs in a make-believe plot called Operation Splinter Factor that was meant to panic Stalin. It  achieved its goal and once again the victims were “useful”  to  him.

His  ideological  obsession in  countering the Soviet  Union in the Cold War knew no bounds. Talbot reports that private citizen Dulles funded espionage activities with treasure looted from Jewish families; that he set up, together with Frank Wisner and others, his own espionage unit deep within the State Department – the Office of Policy Coordination; that he was instrumental in the rise of Richard Nixon to political prominence.  Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s he was hard at work constructing the infrastructure of the CIA and a powerful secret government that would outlast him.

Once he finagled his way into the position of CIA Director under Eisenhower, “the CIA would become avast kingdom, the most powerful and least supervised agency in government …. More in keeping with an expanding empire than with a vibrant democracy.”

Talbot closely chronicles the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, the bullying Red hunter, and Dulles’s dirty battles with him.  Secret dossiers, sexual blackmail,every trick imaginable – these were the methods Dulles used in his winning battle with McCarthy.  This victory gave him cachet with Washington liberals, who celebrated Dulles’s CIA as a safe place for the liberal intelligentsia.  This was a fateful turn of events; “it established a dangerous precedent,” Talbot notes, for Dulles now had a freer hand to grow the CIA and expand its secret powers with liberal support against the “real” communist threat, not the hyped up sort McCarthy stood for.

“In truth,” he writes,  “the CIA became an effective killing machine under Dulles.”  Assassination had always been one of his favorite methods, and now it had found an institutional home.  Today its home is also in the Obama White House, a development well-documented, and a sign of Dulles’s expanded and enduring influence.

Talbot has two excellent sections on what Dulles felt were two of his greatest successes: the CIA led 1953coup in Iran and the 1954 coup in Guatemala, both of which ousted democratically elected leaders and installed  dictators  for  the  benefit  of  multinational  corporations’  foreign  investments.  Hundreds  of thousands of innocent people were eventually killed and tortured as a result, and we are dealing with the consequences today.

Throughout his narrative Talbot mentions many of Dulles’s protégés who will figure prominently in future events, including assassinations of American and foreign leaders: Howard Hunt, James Angleton, David Atlee Philips, Richard Helms, William Harvey, David Morales, to name but a few. As one reads through his excellent chronicle of the CIA’s coups, its MKULTRA mind control project, its cultural engineering that captivated artists and intellectuals, one can’t help feeling that Dulles’s machinations are leading to adefining culmination.

Enter Senator John F. Kennedy and an explosive speech he delivered on the Senate floor on July 2, 1957. Talbot correctly notes this speech’s significance when he writes, “Breaking from the Cold War orthodoxy that prevailed in the Democratic as well as Republican parties, JFK suggested that Soviet expansionism was not the only enemy of world freedom; so, too, were the forces of western imperialism that crushed the legitimate aspirations of people throughout the Third World.”

This speech set the stage for the CIA’s future war with Kennedy that ended in his assassination on November22, 1963. JFK was challenging the entire worldview of the Eisenhower / Dulles / Republican/ Democratic establishment. He had crossed the Rubicon.  Talbot updates it aptly:

“Even today, no nationally prominent leader in the United States today would dare question the imperialistic policies that have led our country into one military nightmare after another.”

If one could imagine a leader doing so, and that politician was then elected president, what would be his fate?  Talbot’s implication is sobering, and a reader can’t help thinking of those prominent leaders who dared to question   imperialist agenda –JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.  Former CIA analyst Raymond McGovern has suggested that American presidents since Kennedy are acutely aware of the message sent from the streets of Dallas.

In the last section of the book Talbot covers a lot of familiar territory regarding the Bay of Pigs, Dulles’s firing by Kennedy, and Kennedy’s assassination.  He accurately claims that the Bay of Pigs was a setup of Kennedy by Dulles that “was meant to fail” so as to force Kennedy to launch a full-scale invasion of Cuba.

“The  wily  CIA  chief  set  a  trap  for  Kennedy,  allowing  the  president  to  believe  that  his  ‘immaculate invasion’ could succeed, even though Dulles knew that only U.S. soldiers and planes could ensure that.”

What  he  doesn’t  mention,  but  would  buttress  his  argument  further,  is  that  classified  documents uncovered in 2000 revealed that the CIA had discovered that the Soviets had learned of the date of the invasion more than a week in advance, had informed Castro, but never told Kennedy. This treasonous with holding was not lost on Kennedy who knew that “Dulles had lied to his face in the Oval Office about the chances for the operation’s success.”   When JFK refused the bait and courageously avoided the trap Dulles had set for him – “to break his little neck” – Dulles and his followers were enraged.  “That little Kennedy … he thought he was a god,” Dulles let slip in 1965 on a stroll with the writer Willie Morris.

Talbot’s section on the attempted coup d’état against French President Charles de Gaulle is terrific. This CIA backed event, launched in the same month as the Bay of Pigs, was also clearly meant to embarrass Kennedy and to send the message that it was the CIA, not Kennedy, who was in charge.  The July 1962assassination  attempt  on  de  Gaulle  emphasized  the  message:  those  who  dare  to  recognize  the independence of Third World countries, as JFK had proposed in 1957 and de Gaulle was in the process of doing with Algeria, would be eliminated.

Talbot convincingly shows that although he was out as CIA Director, Dulles was still very much in power,avidly conferring and plotting with his CIA acolytes, his moles in the Kennedy administration, and hismilitary  allies  led  by  the Joint  Chief’s  chairman Lemnitzer,  who hated  Kennedy.

“Like  the Time-Life building in Manhattan, Dulles’s brick house on Q Street was a boiling center of anti-Kennedy opposition.The actively ‘retired’ spymaster maintained a busy appointments calendar, meeting not only with CIA old boys like Frank Wisner and Charles Cabell [the brother of the mayor of Dallas on the day Kennedy was murdered], but with a steady stream of top-rank, active- duty agency officials such as Angleton, Helms,Cord Meyer, and Desmond Fitzgerald.  More surprisingly, Dulles also conferred with mid-level officials and operational officers such as Howard Hunt, James Hunt (a key deputy of Angleton, and no relation toHoward), and Thomas Karamessines (Helm’s right-hand man).”

In October 1963 Dulles gave a speech ridiculing the Kennedy administration’s “yearning to be loved” by the rest of the world.  His best-selling book,  The Craft of Intelligence, also appeared that fall and was sycophantically praised by his media allies at The New York Times and Washington Post, papers that would give their seal of approval to the Warren Commission report that Dulles would control and which has been called the Dulles Commission.  Talbot correctly notes throughout the book that Dulles always had the backing of the powerful mainstream media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post,Time-Life, etc.  Their owners and executives were a key part of his network of friends and insiders who worked in tandem to support their mutual interests at home and abroad.

He has a revelatory section on Dulles’s retreat on the weekend of JFK’s assassination to the top-secret“Farm,” a CIA command facility, officially known as Camp Peary.  From Friday, November 22, the day of the assassination, through Sunday, the 24th, the day Ruby shot Oswald, Dulles hunkered down at this training center for assassins, as described by former CIA agents Philip Agee and Victor Marchetti. It was also a “black site” where extreme interrogation methods were used on suspected enemies. What he was doing there is unknown, though highly suspicious.

The weakest part of Talbot’s final  section, where he marshals plenty of circumstantial evidence that strongly suggests but doesn’t prove Dulles’s part in the assassination, is his analysis of Ruth and Michael Paine.  Talbot interviewed them in their retirement community and came away a bit starry-eyed.  Ruth Paine was the Dallas housewife who had befriended Marina Oswald and taken her – and Lee Harvey on weekends – to live with her.  She was the key witness for the Warren Commission.  It was at her home where incriminating evidence against Oswald was found.  The Paine’s connection to the CIA, Dulles’ network,  and other  CIA operations,  confirmed by excellent  researchers in great  detail,  escapes him,although he does note their connection to Mary Bancroft, Dulles’s former mistress.  Of the Paines he writes,  “In  their  immaculate  innocence,  the Paines  played  right  into  the hands  of  those who were manipulating Oswald.”  I’m afraid Talbot is the innocent here.  The Paines are very important figures in the assassination and seeing them clearly would add to his powerful thesis. Perhaps he was tired at this point in his pursuit of the satanic Dulles.

He does raise three interesting issues in his last hundred or so pages. (I  should note that  The Devil’sChessboard is a very long – 661 pages – and heavily documented book.)  They are: the aforementionedaccount of Dulles at “the Farm,” the connections to the attempted coup and assassination against deGaulle,  and the very real  possibility  of  CIA operative William Harvey being involved in the killing ofKennedy.  Otherwise, there is not much new about the assassination, though he does do an excellent jobof  marshalling  the  available  recent  research  on  the  subject  and  sprinkling  his  text  with  intriguingsuggestions.

One of the most interesting new details he offers is from a book by de Gaulle’s information minister Alain Peyrefitte, C’etait de Gaulle,  which was never translated into English.  In it the French president, just home from JFK’s funeral, confides to Peyrefitte that he knew that the CIA was behind the assassination.“What happened to Kennedy is what nearly happened to me.  His story is the same as mine …. The security forces were in cahoots with the extremists …. But you’ll see.  All of them together will observe the law of silence.  They will close ranks.  They’ll do everything to stifle any scandal.  They will throw Noah’s cloak over these shameful deeds.  In order not to lose face in front of the whole world.  In order to not risk unleashing riots in the United States.  In order to preserve the union and to avoid a new civilwar.  In order to not ask themselves questions.  They don’t want to know.  They don’t want to find out.They won’t allow themselves to find out.”

Thus the “unspeakable,” although an open secret, was born. But JFK’s assassination isn’t a mystery.  As Dr. Martin Schotz said twenty years ago, “Any citizen who is willing to look can see clearly who killed President Kennedy and why.”  The basic facts are long known that he was killed by a CIA led operation to eliminate him for his intention to end the Vietnam War, for his support of Third-World independence, for his  opposition to the military-corporate-industrial  complex,  and for  his  efforts to  end the Cold  War.Talbot knows all this.  He knows that JFK’s American University address of June 11, 1963 sealed his fate.He knows and says that Robert Kennedy was also killed as a result of a conspiracy, and he needed to be stopped before he became president and reopened the killing of his brother.  Talbot’s valiant effort to put  faces  on  the  conspirators  is  laudatory.  But  while  being  also  highly  suggestive,  it  may  not  be necessary.

The Devil’s Chessboard is a very important book. David Talbot has exposed the face of evil incarnate in Allen Dulles, the hit-man for the power elite.  He has documented the rise of the secret state that holds the ignorant in its grip today, is waging war around the globe, and spying on the American people.  He has warned us that evil often wears the mask of civility and high society.  Satan, he suggests, wears many masks, and he continues to move the pawns with a smile.

“Dead for nearly half a century,” he concludes,” Dulles’s shadow still darkens the land.”  And although he is  reticent to name today’s names who carry on his legacy,  and refers to them as “faceless security bureaucrats,” they do have faces, and names, as Allen Dulles did – so it’s  time to call them out and name them.  Otherwise we are playing Dulles’s mind-control games, and we will have to wait another fifty years to read a comparably excellent study showing future readers who Dulles’s clones are today.

Like  Arthur  Schlesinger,  Kennedy’s  craven  assistant,  who,  when  asked  to  watch  the  Zapruder  film’s infamous frame 313 kill shot, turned his head and walked away saying, “I can’t look and won’t look,” we will become accomplices by neglect in the ongoing hijacking of the country by the secret state.

David Talbot is a true patriot for giving us this extraordinary book.

Edward Curtin is Professor of Sociology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA

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Dr. Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, Attorney General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has referred 84 individuals with alleged ties with Muslim Brotherhood to stand trial at Abu Dhabi State Security Court, following a six-month investigation. 

The accused face charges of forming a secret organization for the purpose of committing acts of violence and terrorism in the UAE. In May 2023, Jordan handed over Khalaf Abdul Rahman Humaid al-Rumaithi, a wanted man with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, to the UAE.

The UN COP28 climate conference was hosted in the UAE last month, and The Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center, a group headed by an Emirati who lives in exile in Istanbul after being named on a terrorism list by the UAE, organized the a protest.

The MB holds the same core beliefs, and platform as AQ and ISIS. They all believe that Islam is the only true religion and that all Kings, monarchies, and dynasties are oppressive and run against Islam. They believe that the only constitution needed is the Koran and Islamic Law fulfills all the need for civil codes. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was the Caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and his group came to be called ISIS

The UAE, and Saudi Arabia, labeled the MB as a terrorist group in 2014, and also banned Jibhat al-Nusra and ISIS. Mohammed al-Julani is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the terrorist organization occupying Idlib, Syria and holding 3 million civilians as human shields. Julani began with Al Qaeda in Iraq, joined ISIS while associating with Baghdadi, and came to Syria to open an ISIS branch, but instead organized Jibhat al-Nusra in Syria, which became the predominate terrorist group fighting the Syrian government, and in 2014 al-Nusra and the US backed FSA has signed an agreement in Idlib.

Once JIbhat al-Nusra came to be labeled a terrorist group, they changed their name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in order to continue to receive US and UN aid.

Idlib is the last place in Syria controlled by terrorists. It is supplied by the UN and other charities with humanitarian supplies, which all pass through the hands of Julani. The US and the EU have protected HTS and their occupation of Idlib, and US mainstream media have visited Julani for interviews where he dressed in a suit and tie in an effort by the US to rebrand him as a leader worthy of western democratic support.

President Donald Trump wanted the MB labeled as a terrorist organization in the US. US Senator Ted Cruz brought two bills to the Congress to outlaw the MB, but failed to get the support of Democrats and Republicans. The MB is everywhere across the US, and their members are often clean-cut productive business persons and academics. Their college degrees and social networks make them among the movers and shakers of American society. In the Obama administration, many of the MB was placed in important positions in US government institutions and many remain there today. America has come to value diversity in the workplace and government, and this was the opportunity for the MB to get their foot in the door. Members of Congress have been lobbied by the MB and their operatives on issues and the narrative they push is that to be opposed to the MB in the US is to be anti-Islam, which is anti-American. 

The Muslim Brotherhood began in Egypt and caught hold in Tunisia, Syria and Saudi Arabia.  One Saudi became notorious for his hatred of the Saudi monarchy, Osama bin Laden, who was groomed by the CIA while in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet Union occupation army.

Bin Laden’s brand of Radical Islam was named Al Qaeda, but the Muslim Brotherhood shares the same core values and goals.  They all seek to dismantle governments everywhere, including the US, and replace them with Islamic law, and the Caliphate. 

The Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood began a bloody uprising in Hama in the 1980’s, intent on overthrowing the Hafez al Assad government, but was unsuccessful.  In March 2011, US President Barack Obama, and his Vice President Joe Biden, along with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, began a US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change utilizing the Muslim Brotherhood as the political and military backbone of the project.

The Syrian project has failed to achieve Obama’s goals, but was successful in destroying the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and creating the largest Syrian migration to Europe in history.

Clinton funneled the weapons confiscated in Libya directly to Turkey, who was allied with the US on the attack on the Syrian people. Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayip Erdogan is a follower of MB and his AK party is as well. The political wing of the Syrian opposition went to Istanbul, and the CIA set up their HQ in the south of Turkey under their program called Timber Sycamore, with the task of training, funding and weaponizing the terrorists that Obama and Sen. John McCain were calling the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) and who were followers of the MB.

While Obama sought to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the Syrian relationship with Hezbollah and Iran, the US-sponsored FSA sought to remove a secular government in Damascus and replace it with a MB-led government.

Obama had previously been successful in Egypt and Tunisia with the installation of MB leaders in both countries. Since then, both Egypt and Tunisia experienced public outcry and have removed the MB leaders. 

Today, just Turkey and Qatar continue to be state-sponsors of the MB. Saudi Arabia stopped their participation in the US-sponsored war on Syria. Saudi Arabia now focuses on the strategic interests of Saudi Arabia, rather than a blind obedience to the dictates coming from the Oval Office.

Turkey and Qatar continue to be hostile to Syria, with Turkish military occupying parts of Syria with both Turkish national army soldiers, and the mercenaries on the Turkish payroll who are following Radical Islam. Qatar continues to voice its opposition to recognizing the legitimate Syrian government in Damascus. Erdogan has said he wants to repair his relationship with Assad, but Damascus has said the military occupation must first cease before any further steps in reconciliation can be achieved.

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This article was originally published on Mideast Discourse.

Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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Jordan is looking to present evidence and pleadings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case filed by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide, a government spokesperson has said.

Official spokesman Mohannad Al-Mubaideen told Arabi 21 that Jordan “will submit the necessary legal investigations and pleadings as soon as the International Court of Justice decides to consider the genocide case”.

Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh told parliament this week that Amman would present evidence to the court in support of South Africa’s case. The first public hearing for the case took place at the court in The Hague on Thursday with a second taking place on Friday.

Jordan was the first Arab-majority country to back South Africa’s landmark filing, which accuses Israel of having breached the 1948 Genocide Convention.

The case was later backed by Egypt and several other countries.

The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine met in the Jordanian resort town of Aqaba on Wednesday.

At the tripartite summit, the three leaders “rejected” Israeli proposals to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, according to a statement from the Jordanian palace.

They also called for an immediate end to the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Israel launched its war on Gaza on 7 October, killing more than 23,000 people in the Palestinian territory so far, the vast majority being women and children.

In the three months since it unleashed its onslaught, it has also conducted indiscriminate bombings, arbitrary executions, and torture of detainees.

With its air and ground campaign showing little sign of easing, supporters of the Palestinian people have taken legal action against Israel to try to bring the onslaught to a halt.

Amid the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, US non-profit group Justice for All has called on the public to use a platform created by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that allows anyone to be able to submit a complaint to the court, with the option to attach a photo and video. 

The OTPLink platform appears to have been created by the ICC last year.

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Featured image: The International Court of Justice. Photo credit: ICJ

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One hundred days after Israel launched its assault on Gaza, bombs are still falling on the enclave, which has already seen 4 percent of its population killed, injured or missing.

Under these conditions, it’s impossible to catalogue everything that has been destroyed and damaged so far and still counting.

What we know with certainty is that the sheer magnitude of the destruction since 7 October is unprecedented when compared with any other Israeli war on Gaza.

“I don’t think that anyone in Gaza could ever imagine the amount of destruction that Israel has inflicted on Palestinians,” Yousef al-Jamal, a Palestinian journalist and author from Gaza who lived through those wars, told Middle East Eye. “Not in their wildest dreams.

“We’ve never seen such destruction, even during the Nakba,” he said, referring to the expulsion of Palestinians amid the creation of Israel in 1948. “This is something we never saw before.”

From schools to hospitals, universities to shopping malls, libraries to theatres, in 100 days the building blocks of a society still functioning under a 16-year siege have been wiped out.

One monitor says 70 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure is gone.

MEE has compiled a preliminary list of what has been destroyed and damaged:

Healthcare: Most Hospitals Not Functioning

One UN expert has described the attacks unleashed as an “unrelenting war” on the health system in Gaza.

“The healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has been completely obliterated,” Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN special rapporteur on the right to health and a practising medical doctor, said in December.

According to the World Health Organisation, the Israeli military has attacked 94 healthcare facilities and 79 ambulances since 7 October.

More than half of Gaza’s hospitals were no longer functioning as of 5 January. Thirteen remaining hospitals – nine in the south and four in the north – were partially operational, but facing shortages of basic supplies and fuel while trying to run far beyond their usual capacity.

As medical supplies, water and electricity have run out, doctors say they have been forced to work in unhygienic conditions and use everyday items in place of basic medical materials. Instead of antiseptic solution, there was washing-up liquid and vinegar.

Procedures have been carried out without anaesthetic, including some of the operations in which 1,000 children had one or both of their limbs amputated, Unicef has reported.

“The situation was medieval-like,” Ghassan Abu Sittah, a Palestinian-British surgeon who was volunteering in Gaza, told MEE.

The UN has reported that at least 326 medical professionals have been killed, with others arrested and detained, including Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, Dr Ahmed Kahlot and Dr Ahmed Muhanna, the directors of al-Shifa, Kamal Adwan and al-Awda hospitals.

Culture: Erasing Memories

An archive in Gaza City, which contained thousands of historical documents dating back 150 years, was bombed on 29 November, and is among several cultural institutions and archaeological sites destroyed and damaged.

The Central Archive contained plans for historical buildings and handwritten manuscripts by well-known figures. Yahya al-Sarraj, head of Gaza’s municipality, said the attack was “erasing a large part of our Palestinian memory”.

“This destruction was particularly hard for us because it holds the memory of Gaza City,” Sarraj told MEE.

Also destroyed during the same attack was the Rashad al-Shawwa Historical Cultural Center, which housed a library, lounges for cultural events, a printing press and the Great Theatre. Sarraj called it the gem of the city.

Israeli strikes demolished Gaza’s main library, which was a gathering place for events and held thousands of books, as well being a children’s library and a cultural centre where languages were taught.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, other arts and cultural sites to be hit include the Orthodox Cultural Centre, Al-Qarara Cultural Museum, the Rafah Museum, the headquarters of Our Sons for Development Association, the Gaza Center for Culture and Arts, the Milad Association, the Arab Social Cultural Centre and the Hakawi Theatre Association.

Most of the animals in the Gaza Zoo in Al Bisan Park, in Jabalia, were reportedly bombed or starved to death before zookeepers could reach them before a late November truce.

At the zoo in Rafah, dozens of hungry, displaced people now live in the zoo’s grounds, some in makeshift homes constructed from plastic sheets.

It’s not only present-day cultural sites that have been lost or repurposed through war. According to Forensic Architecture, Israeli forces have also “mostly destroyed” Al-Balakhiya port and the ancient Gaza harbour, regarded as one of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Gaza.

The site, in the area of Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, featured remnants, sometimes layered upon one another, dating as far back at the Iron Age, with elements from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.

Other historical sites destroyed by Israel, according to Euro-Med Monitor, include the 400-year-old Al Saqqa House, the Al Ghussein House and the Hammam al-Samra, all Ottoman-era structures in Gaza City.

In early November, the Spanish-based NGO Heritage for Peace put the total number of historic and archaeological sites destroyed or damaged at 104.

Worship: Silence Replaces Calls to Prayer

Dozens of mosques and churches, including some of the oldest places of worship in Gaza, have been completely or partially destroyed since 7 October.

The Grand Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in Gaza City, was reduced to rubble, which Hamas blamed on an Israeli bomb attack in early December, leaving only its 1,400-year-old minaret intact.

The mosque was first established in the seventh century on the ruins of a Byzantine-era church, which itself had been built on an ancient Roman temple.

Named after Caliph Umar ibn Al Khattab, who was then in power, the mosque has a history of destruction and rebirth, including being replaced by a Crusader cathedral, demolished by the Mongols and destroyed in an earthquake in the 13th century.

Residents say the destruction of the iconic landmark, reportedly along with the damage or destruction of over 200 mosques – 20 percent of all of Gaza’s mosques – has left an eerie silence across many parts of Gaza.

These include Ahmed Yasin Mosque and Al-Hasayna Mosque in Gaza City, Salim Abu Muslim Mosque in Beit Lahia and Khalid bin Al-Walid Mosque in Khan Younis.

“We no longer hear the call to prayer in our neighbourhood due to the complete destruction of the eastern area in the city, including the mosques,” Khaled Abu Jame, a 25-year-old resident of Khan Younis, told MEE this month.

Three historic churches have also sustained damage, among them the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City, the oldest still in use in Gaza, serving around 1,000 Christians in the enclave.

First established in 425 CE, the Greek Orthodox church was named after Saint Porphyrius, who was credited with bringing Christianity to the city and was buried in the northeast corner.

It had been converted to a mosque in the seventh century before Crusaders restored it as a church in the 12th century.

The church was damaged on 19 October when Israeli forces bombed the church compound, where 400 Palestinians of all faiths had sheltered, killing at least 18 people.

The Monastery of Saint Hilarion at the Tell Umm Amer archaeological site in the coastal town of al-Nuseirat has also sustained damage as a result of Israeli attacks, Euro-Med Monitor has reported.

The monastery was built more than 1,600 years ago by Saint Hilarion, who is considered to be the founder of monastic life in Palestine, according to the Palestinian delegation to Unesco.

Education: No Schooling in Gaza Now

More than 625,000 school-age children and nearly 23,000 teachers would have been learning and teaching in schools across Gaza before 7 October, the UN has said.

But there is no schooling in Gaza right now, with around 90 percent of all school buildings being used as shelters or having sustained damage.

In early January, the UN put the number of schools damaged at 342, including more than 100 that have been either seriously damaged or completely destroyed.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said, as of early November, that 3,117 students and 130 teachers and staff had been killed, among them student Al-Shaima Akram Saidam.

Saidam earned the highest marks in Palestine’s high school examinations last year, and planned to study English translation at university.

“Even during [Israeli] aggressions, I never stopped studying,” Saidam told Palestinian news outlets that filmed her family celebrating when exam results were announced in July.

Saidam and several members of her family were killed when Israeli air strikes hit al-Nuseirat refugee camp in October, days after the Islamic University of Gaza, where she would have studied, sustained major damage when it was bombed.

Al-Azhar University, also in Gaza City, and the North Gaza branch of Al-Quds Open University were also seriously damaged as a result of Israeli bombardment, the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said in November when it last released figures.

Mohammed al-Hajjar, an MEE photographer in Gaza who studied at Al-Azhar University for seven years, said it wasn’t just the university itself that was bombed.

“The streets surrounding it were bombed, and buildings inside the university campus were bombed,” he wrote.

More than 446 university students and staff have been killed, including the president of the Islamic University, Sufian Tayeh, a highly regarded applied mathematician and theoretical physicist who was serving as Unesco’s chair for physics, astronomy and space sciences in Palestine.

An Israeli air strike on Jabalia refugee camp killed Tayeh and his entire family on 2 December.

Nearly 90,000 higher education students have had their studies disrupted, according to the ministry.

Business Districts, Livelihoods Destroyed

Perhaps the most dramatic example of Gaza’s wrecked commercial sector is the destruction of Al-Rasheed Street, the coastal thoroughfare that ran from north to south, dotted with restaurants, cafes and street vendors.

Residents said the corniche, a key tourist site, was alive and busy at night when power cuts often shrouded the enclave, providing respite from the difficulties of daily life under siege.

Ahmed Dalo, a 27-year-old who was struggling to find a job after graduating from Al-Quds University, told MEE in 2017 that he spent four to six hours a day on Al-Rasheed.

“Here we spend time with friends, discuss different topics related to football games and European tournaments, movies, American and Indian cinema,” Dalo said.

In Rimal, Gaza City’s most upscale neighbourhood, tree-lined boulevards housed boutiques, ice-cream parlours and hair salons amid the buildings of universities, government offices and international organisations.

Much of the neighbourhood and the livelihoods it supported were destroyed, including the port of Gaza, the enclave’s only harbour, where fishing boats were docked.

Banks and currency exchanges along the buzzing Omar al-Mukhtar Street were hit by Israeli air strikes and then looted, MEE’s Mohammed al-Hajjar reported.

“I can vividly remember employees and crowds of customers gathering at its entrance,” Hajjar wrote of the National Islamic Bank, which was flattened on 8 October.

“Some would stand and smoke cigarettes while others would queue up to get their much-needed salaries. Now this bank, like several others, was completely gone.”

Along the same commercial stretch, Hajjar said, the Capital Mall, which opened in 2017, was damaged but was still standing, only to be looted. 

Around the corner, he said, Israeli forces shelled Panda Mall, his go-to place for groceries and household supplies. Family-run supermarkets and newsagents were also levelled by bombs and shelling. 

Footage has emerged of Israeli soldiers vandalising shops. Others were filmed setting fire to sweets sold by a vendor in Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighbourhood.

“When we carry out an attack, we turn on the light against this dark place,” a soldier says, as he lights a sweet and throws it onto a pile.

“We burn it until there is no memory left of this place.”

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Featured image: A bridal dress hangs in a shop window damaged by Israeli air strikes and shelling in Gaza City on 24 November 2023 (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

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While Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza, the United States is directing a major military operation in the Red Sea, where U.S. warships are maintaining a persistent presence to protect shipping lanes.

With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States is leading a multinational military coalition to occupy the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab, where oil tankers and commercial vessels have come under attack by Houthi militants in Yemen. The U.S.-led military intervention has brought the United States into direct conflict with the Houthis, who insist that they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its military offensive in Gaza.

“This is about the protection of one of the major commerce routes of the world in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab,” a senior official in the Biden administration said.

Strategic Waterways

For years, the U.S. military has played a central role in the Red Sea, a large waterway between northeastern Africa and the Arabian peninsula that facilitates regional commerce. In April 2022, the U.S. military oversaw the creation of Combined Task Force 153, a multinational naval partnership to patrol the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and Gulf of Aden.

“As everyone can appreciate, those waters are critical to the free flow of commerce throughout the region,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the regional U.S. naval commander, explained at the time.

The Red Sea is a vital shipping route, accounting for nearly 15 percent of all seaborne trade. It facilitates commerce between Europe and Asia, enabling commercial ships to save time by passing through the Middle East rather than taking a longer route around Africa.

The Red Sea is also a major transit route for the world’s oil and natural gas. Significant amounts of oil from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in the Persian Gulf are routed through the Red Sea to markets in Asia, Europe, and North America. Overall, the Red Sea accounts for 8 percent of global trade in liquefied natural gas and 12 percent of seaborne trade in oil.

“The Red Sea is a vital waterway,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said at a January 3 press briefing. “A significant amount of global trade flows through that Red Sea.”

Of particular concern to U.S. officials is the Bab al-Mandab, a strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. Only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, the strait forms a chokepoint that forces commercial vessels into tight shipping lanes. As of early 2023, an estimated 8.8 million barrels of oil passed through the Bab al-Mandab every day, making it one of the world’s most significant chokepoints.

“The Bab al-Mandab Strait is a strategic route for oil and natural gas shipments,” the U.S. Energy Information Agency notes.

Operation Prosperity Guardian

Now that the Houthis are attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the United States is establishing a larger military presence in the region with Operation Prosperity Guardian. Under this new initiative, the United States is working with its coalition partners to establish what U.S. officials call a “persistent presence” in the southern Red Sea, meaning that coalition warships and other military assets will remain actively spread out across the area in a kind of military occupation.

“Together, we now have the largest surface and air presence in the southern Red Sea in years,” Cooper said at a January 4 press briefing.

As part of the operation, warships from France, Great Britain, and the United States are positioned throughout the southern Red Sea. They have been reinforced by the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which is located in the Gulf of Aden.

Already, the U.S.-led military coalition has engaged in hostilities with the Houthis, including one incident on December 31 in which U.S. forces sank three Houthi small boats, killing 10 fighters.

“It’s up to the Houthis to halt the attacks,” Cooper insisted. “They’re the instigator and initiator.”

The United States and the Houthis

This is not the first time that the United States has come into conflict with the Houthis. For years, the United States supported Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen against the Houthis. Both the Obama and Trump administrations provided a Saudi-led military coalition with advanced weaponry and military advice, even as it repeatedly committed war crimes by striking civilian targets.

The Saudi-led military intervention sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leading to the deaths of more than 377,000 people. A temporary truce that began in April 2022 led to a reduction in hostilities, but the war has never ended, creating fears that it could reignite at any moment.

“Nobody should believe that the current state of affairs with relatively low levels of fighting is going to last,” Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) noted late last year.

Throughout Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the United States has been the main power behind the scenes, arming its allies while their military operations have caused tremendous harm to civilians. Officials in Washington have insisted that they have sought to minimize civilian casualties, but their priority has been to prevent the wars from disrupting commerce in nearby waterways, especially in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.

“There’s no question in my mind that this is very important, not only to the countries in the region but globally,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said last month, referring to the need to ensure freedom of navigation. “What the Houthis are doing affects commerce around the globe.”

U.S. Considerations

As several powerful companies have begun halting their operations in the Red Sea, some current and former U.S. officials have been calling for stronger military action, such as military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The United States previously took direct action against the Houthis in October 2016, when a U.S. warship fired cruise missiles against radar sites in Yemen.

Still, high-level officials have been careful about taking the war directly to the Houthis. So far, President Biden has decided against striking Houthi targets, even after being presented with military options.

A major concern in Washington is that any kind of escalation against the Houthis could reignite the war in Yemen, which has already left the Houthis with the upper hand. When former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel considered the prospect of a U.S. war in Yemen late last year, he questioned whether the people of the United States would support such a war.

“I would venture that if you ask 100 Americans, ‘who are the Houthis?’” Riedel said, “99 percent of them would say, ‘the whats, the whats?’”

Another major concern is that a U.S. war against the Houthis would create further complications for the United States and its allies. If the United States attacked the Houthis, then the Houthis might respond by bringing the war to areas beyond the Red Sea, such as Israel. Already, the Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel.

Officials in the Biden administration have been so concerned about the implications of going to war against the Houthis that they have not accused the Houthis of attacking the United States, even as the Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles in the direction of U.S. warships. Administration officials have claimed that they cannot conclude with certainty that the Houthis have deliberately targeted U.S. military forces.

Additional members of the current U.S.-led military coalition share similar concerns, with some even going so far as to refuse to disclose their participation in the U.S.-led military coalition. Whereas some are concerned about retaliation, others fear what people might think about their participation in a military operation that is indifferent to the suffering of the people of Gaza.

“Not all want to become public,” Kirby acknowledged.

Implications for Gaza

While officials in Washington weigh their options, they are doing little to address the core issue, which is Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. The Biden administration opposes a ceasefire, even as it repeatedly demands that the Houthis end their attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Essentially, the Biden administration is engaging in a form of imperial management, as its works to help Israel continue its military campaign in Gaza while limiting its effects on regional dynamics and global markets. Rather than backing a ceasefire, the Biden administration is hoping to minimize the repercussions of Israel’s offensive for the global economy and contain any movement toward a wider war.

What the Biden administration has shown, in short, is that it cares far more about protecting fossil fuels and the world’s most powerful businesses than it does about protecting the people of Gaza.

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Edward Hunt writes about war and empire. He has a PhD in American Studies from the College of William & Mary.

Featured image is from Shutterstock

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South Africa took Israel to the United Nations International Court of Justice over genocide charges.

The crime of genocide consists not only in the extermination of a population but in depriving it of its land, denying it the right to have its state, and destroying its social fabric, and historical roots.

This is exactly what Israel is doing with the Palestinians.

The war waged by Israel in Gaza is motivated as a defence against the Hamas attack (whose plan had been known to Israeli political and military leaders for over a year), and it aims to erase the Gaza Territory. Along with the West Bank territory, it is part of the State of Palestine recognized by the United Nations General Assembly, and it is a UN member although it does not yet have the right to vote. The Israeli war not only exterminates the civilian population but makes the territory of Gaza uninhabitable.

The Israeli right-wing openly declared its aim is for the Palestinians to be “resettled out of Gaza“, that is, permanently deported from their land. While continuing its support to Israel’s war, and setting fire to the Middle East in which it is losing its predominant position, the United States is in favour of maintaining a territory that is formally Palestinian but de facto devoid of any real sovereignty.

The plan presented by the Israeli Defence Minister corresponds to this vision. It envisages that Israel maintains military control of Gaza’s borders in an even further isolation. At the same time, a multinational task force (certainly made up of the USA, NATO and the EU) supervises “the reconstruction and economic development of the territory“. 

Palestinian residents, chosen by Israel and the international task force, would manage civil affairs in the Gaza “enclave”.

There would be no role in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, which manages parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israel would thus get what it wants: the definitive cancellation of the State of Palestine, decided by the United Nations 77 years ago under the formula of the two states. Against this background, South Africa’s decision to bring Israel before the United Nations International Court of Justice on charges of genocide is of primary importance.

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This article was originally published in Italian on Il Manifesto.

Manlio Dinucci, award winning author, geopolitical analyst and geographer, Pisa, Italy. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

Featured image: Families have been forced to moved repeatedly in Gaza. UN United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Vaccinating pregnant women against any infectious disease is highly controversial, but nothing compares to U.S. regulatory agencies signing off on experimental COVID-19 vaccines for pregnant women without tests to assess the effects this might have on their offspring.

A recent study is raising concerns about the potential neurodevelopmental implications of vaccinating pregnant women against COVID-19 after rats vaccinated with Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine developed “pronounced autism-like behaviors.”

In a paper published in Neurochemical Researcher, a group of researchers sought to examine the potential relationship between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, spike protein-mediated reactions, and neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically autism.

To do this, they analyzed the expression of WNT brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels, specific cytokines, mTOR expression, neuropathology, and autism-related neurobehavioral outcomes in rats vaccinated with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and compared the results with a group of rats given saline placebos.

The study found Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine “significantly altered” the expression of specific genes in both male and female rats that influence neurodevelopmental pathways—although male pups in the vaccinated group were far more affected than females.

In addition to autism-like behaviors, such as disinterested social interaction and repetitive behaviors, male pups from vaccinated mothers experienced impaired motor performance evidenced by reduced coordination and agility and a decrease in neuronal counts in critical regions of the brain—suggesting possible neurodegeneration or altered neurodevelopment.

Male Offspring Were Avoidant and Abnormally Afraid to Socialize 

Using sociability, social novelty, and motivation tests, researchers found that male pups exposed to Pfizer’s vaccine in the womb were abnormally afraid to socialize and actively avoided novel situations.

When assessing neuronal counts in the male groups, the vaccinated group showed “significantly decreased” neuronal counts in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus compared with the saline placebo male group.

The hippocampus has at least 27 different types of neurons that play an important role in memory and spatial navigation. Neurons are nerve cells that transmit messages throughout your body, allowing you to do everything from breathing and talking to eating, walking, and thinking.

Likewise, a unique type of neuron specific to the cerebellar cortex was “significantly lower” in the vaccinated group than in the saline placebo group.

In the female groups, no significant differences were observed in neuronal counts between the vaccinated and saline female groups.

Both males and females in the vaccinated group experienced significantly decreased BDNF levels. This affects neurogenesis—the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain—and is vital when an embryo develops but continues after birth.

”Longitudinal studies on the long-term impacts of COVID-19 vaccines, especially considering gender differences, are crucial to gauge vaccine safety and risks,” researchers concluded.

Spike Protein in COVID Vaccines May Cause Autism 

Unlike traditional vaccines, Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine does not contain antigens. It contains mRNA—a form of nucleic acid and the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that provides instructions to the body for producing antigens—spike proteins. It’s the mRNA that’s used to elicit an immune response.

Although we’ve been told Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is manufactured with harmless messenger RNA that instructs the cells to produce spike protein, the FDA’s product label shows it contains artificially modified RNA (modRNA). This key ingredient is not naturally occurring and poses a substantial risk to human health.

According to the study, concerns have been raised that spike protein and the immune response it induces could affect the central nervous system, leading to neuroinflammation and alterations in synaptic plasticity.

The spike protein is expressed on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virion and uses the ACE2 receptor to enter target cells. It may also cross the blood-brain barrier or indirectly induce neuroinflammation through peripheral immune signaling. This neuroinflammation releases proinflammatory cytokines linked to neurodegenerative disorders such as autism.

“These proposed changes might exert effects on brain development and have potential contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism,” the researchers wrote.

If prenatal exposure to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine can cause autism in the offspring of rats vaccinated during pregnancy, then it is highly plausible it can do the same with humans. As the researchers noted in their conclusion, a comprehensive understanding of the risks and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination is essential, especially during pregnancy.

COVID Vaccines Recommended for Pregnant Women Without Safety Data

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends pregnant women receive their initial primary series and subsequent booster doses even though adequate safety studies have not been performed in pregnant women or their offspring, and the shots are entirely experimental.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) healthcare provider factsheet for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine states:

“Available data on Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered to pregnant women are insufficient to inform vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy.”

According to the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease (NIAID), animal research plays a “key role in developing successful vaccines for humans.”

“Before promising vaccine candidates can be tested in humans, they must first be tested for safety and effectiveness in animals as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” the NIAID’s website states.

Yet, no studies were conducted to determine what effects COVID-19 vaccines may pose to a developing fetus or offspring born to vaccinated mothers before the shots were rolled out to pregnant women.

According to Dr. James Thorp, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, COVID-19 vaccines have not been proven safe for pregnant women, as evidenced by Pfizer’s 2021 cumulative analysis of post-authorization adverse events, which shows 1,223 deaths in the first ten weeks of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, an 81% miscarriage rate, a nearly sixfold increase in fetal death, a 7.9 times increase in neonatal death, and breastfeeding complications in 14.7% of newborns.

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Few cities in the world are as beautiful as Nablus, endearingly referred to as the “uncrowned queen” of Palestine.

Founded by the Emperor Vespasian, two years after he destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 70CE, this ancient Palestinian city of rolling hills and sandstone is filled with rich stories of antiquity.

In the evenings, as the sun begins to dip and shadows lengthen, it is easy to imagine legionnaires once walking these maze-like streets. The Roman canal still flows under the city, passing close to the amphitheatre.

For most of its history, Nablus, which lay on the trade route between Damascus, Jerusalem and Cairo, was a principal centre of trade and manufacture. The Palestinian stock exchange was based here.

Today, however, its fortunes have drastically changed.

Today, it’s a city under siege.

Surrounded on all sides by illegal Israeli settlements and military bases, the roads leading to and from Nablus conceal a scandal about which the international community has remained largely silent.

The road south to Ramallah runs through Huwwara, an occupied Palestinian village that for years, well before the 7 October attacks, was blighted by settler violence.

In February last year, settlers tore through this village, torching cars, setting farmland on fire and vandalising homes, in an act that was roundly condemned as a pogrom.

Since then, the situation for many Palestinians here hasn’t changed for the better.

For Palestinians attempting to journey in and out of Nablus, many have to take detours to avoid encounters with Israeli soldiers. More seriously, there’s the risk of running into armed Israeli settlers.

Since the 7 October attack, the settlers, who in recent years have received hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding, have carried out more than 200 attacks on Palestinians, according to B’Tselem and Yesh Din, two human rights groups documenting attacks in the West Bank.

In the same period, Israeli forces have killed more than 200 people, more than 25 percent of whom are children, according to the United Nations.

Source: MEE, OCHA

Since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993 with the goal of establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank has grown from about 260,000 to nearly 700,000, according to figures from the Israeli pressure group Peace Now.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, but successive Israeli governments have continued to expand them in violation of international law and the Oslo Accords.

Palestinians across the West Bank fear that the increase in settlements and outposts threaten not only the viability of their future state but also their livelihoods.

In November, the surge in settler attacks forced many Palestinians to cancel their olive harvest, traditionally a joyful time when families go out into the hills to pick the fruit from gnarled, ancient olive groves.

For years, the settlers have descended from their hilltop fortresses and come to destroy the prized olive trees, either burning or hacking them down or poisoning them with chemicals.

Amid the war on Gaza, many have become more brazen in their assaults. 

We learnt how farmers have been sprayed with machine-gun fire to force them off their land so the settlers could harvest the olive trees themselves.

Such attacks have proven to be a death knell for the rural economy, which has depended on agriculture for centuries. 

‘They want to scare us, humiliate us’

Families across the West Bank, already haunted by previous displacement, told Middle East Eye that they feared that such crimes, which Israel’s judicial system fails to investigate properly, could usher in another period of forcible dispossession.

In Balata, one of the most densely populated refugee camps in Palestine, many told MEE that following the 7 October attack they feared a repeat of the Nakba, or “catastrophe” as it is known in English, when, at the time of the establishment of Israel, more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes by Zionist forces, never to return.

The signs of the destruction caused by constant Israeli military raids are clear to see. 

Children stand next to a home destroyed during an Israel army raid in the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank (MEE/Angelo Calianno)

“Last night we were bombarded by an [Israeli] aircraft. Then the drones, snipers and bulldozers also came,” a Palestinian man, who requested anonymity, told MEE.

At the site of the raid, the winter rains and mud made the scene appear all the more apocalyptic.

Among the still smouldering ruins were the remains of a grenade and an unexploded rocket.

Another Palestinian man lamented what remained of his bedroom: a heap of rubble with the exterior walls riddled with bullets.

Nearby, a group of boys showed MEE what happened to their home. Israeli forces reportedly ransacked the property, leaving toys and clothes scattered everywhere.

“They hammered our wall in. They said they wanted to look for weapons inside, but there is nothing here,” one of the boys said.

“They smashed our appliances just to upset us. They also tore up children’s books and notebooks. That’s what they do. They want to scare us, humiliate us.”

At this point another man interjected: “They put us face to the wall with rifles pointed at our heads. They said: ‘Are you happy with what you did on 7 October? Have you seen Gaza now? You will be next’.”

Beaten for Not Licking His Boot

Several released Palestinians have recounted harrowing stories from when they were detained by Israeli soldiers in Balata. 

Anas, a 27-year-old, was kicked in the face during his most recent arrest and was ordered by one Israeli soldier to lick his boots after it was stained with his blood.

We spoke to his family since Anas was still recovering in hospital. They lashed out at Israel’s heavy-handed tactics across the West Bank.

Adhan, his younger brother, told MEE that, during the raid on their property, his sister, who was cradling a baby, was also hit and abused by Israeli soldiers.

“We yelled at the soldiers: ‘How can you hit a woman with a baby?’,” Adhan said.

“So they rounded up all of us men, took us to the street, handcuffed us and put us face down on the ground.

“They started beating us. My brother Anas was the hardest hit. They kicked him so many times in the face that he lost consciousness. Despite this, one soldier ordered him to lick the blood off his boot. But my brother was now unresponsive; he was unconscious. We called for an ambulance, but they blocked it, preventing any help from coming.”

All these abuses and humiliations, he said, took place in the presence of children, who were terrified and screaming as they watched on.

One of the children, Ahmad, struggled to hold back his tears as he recounted what happened.

“There were soldiers, they were beating the men hard,” he said, as he struggled to finish his sentence.

His mother intervened: “During those moments, they would say things to us women that I can’t repeat, horrible insults that hurt a lot. I am not comfortable telling these things publicly. However, I know that it is important for people to know. The world needs to know.”

Another man said: “The [Israeli] soldiers know very well what offends Muslim women. The insults they hurl at them are so horrible that no woman will ever repeat them, such is their shame.”

All Eyes Are on Gaza

Walking through the streets of Balata, nearly every TV set was tuned into channels broadcasting the latest news from Gaza.

Many Palestinians in the West Bank have shut their businesses in protest against Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza, where almost all of the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced after three months of war.

In recent weeks, Israel has come under mounting pressure from the global south to end its assault on Gaza, where the death toll has passed 23,000, with about 70 percent of those killed identified as women and children.

Several homes and roads have been destroyed in Israel army raids on the Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank (MEE/Angelo Calianno)

But with Israel repeatedly cracking down on acts of solidarity with Gaza, public displays of protest have been sparse.

The atmosphere at the Balata refugee quickly changed within the space of a few minutes, with armed young men thronging one of the main streets warning residents that Israel was planning another raid.

Dozens of people rushed to block the main entrance of the camp so as to slow down the entry of Israeli soldiers, using rocks, boulders, pieces of sheet metal and whatever else they could gather.

In this Israeli raid, at least one Palestinian man was killed.

Where Is the Palestinian Authority?

Balata, and other nearby areas of the West Bank, were traditionally Fatah strongholds, but after years of political deadlock and perceived inaction against Israel, the once-dominant party has seen its popularity decline to record lows.

The Hamas-linked Islamic Allegiance Block narrowly defeated the Fatah-affiliated Student Youth Movement in student council elections at An-Najah National University in Nablus last May.

Analysts say that such election results reflect growing anger against the Fatah leadership, led by 88-year-old Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

Many ordinary Palestinians have declared the organisation useless, compromised and out of touch, and sympathy with Hamas across the West Bank has surged since the 7 October attack.

During recent prisoner exchanges, Hamas flags appeared with increasing frequency. At nearly every protest or march, choruses praising the Palestinian movement could be heard.

“For Palestinians, politics is particularly important. Everyone here, in one way or another, does politics,” one man told MEE at the wake of a recently slain fighter.

“I am a member of Fatah; I was born with this party, and I will die with it. However, what Hamas did, for the first time, turned the tables. Many accuse Fatah of not having done much for the Palestinian cause in the past 25 years.

“Some party members have fostered their own interests by making deals with Israel, all on the backs of the Palestinian people. Hamas, on the other hand, has drawn the world’s attention to what is happening here. That is why you now often see Hamas flags, and hear chants to them, even by those who were not their supporters.”

Those people MEE talked to identified another problem: the PA has proved incapable or unwilling to resist the daily incursions by Israeli forces into Nablus, and has not attempted to protect Palestinian villagers from settler assaults in nearby villages.

With such a pattern repeated across the West Bank, many have begun to question the point of the PA if it cannot defend the Palestinians.

Settlers Taking ‘Advantage of the War’

Unlike urban areas of the West Bank, where Palestinians have strength in numbers to resist settler attacks, remote villages are often at the mercy of rampaging settlers supported by the Israeli army.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the South Hebron Hills.

In the village of Tuwani in Area C, land that falls under full Israeli military and civil control, the villagers are not allowed to possess weapons.

According to the United Nations, in 2023 there were, on average, three incidents of settler violence per day in the West Bank. Since 7 October that has more than doubled to seven per day on average, more than a third of them involving firearms.

Patriarch Hafez Hureini told MEE how armed settlers had imposed a reign of terror and were seizing livestock, wrecking water tanks, smashing solar panels, bulldozing outbuildings and destroying the olive groves.

“They bulldozed all our land with the olives and terraces, destroying everything. We dare not go even 20 metres to our land,” said Hureini.

“The settlers are taking advantage of the war [in Gaza] to seize the land. Now they rule everything round here. They block the entrances to our villages. They steal our possessions. They smash our solar panels and bulldoze agricultural buildings, trees and stone walls.”

About 545 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from at least 13 communities since 7 October in Area C in the occupied West Bank (MEE/Angelo Calianno)

His son Mohammed shows everyone that he can the video footage of settlers in military fatigues invading his property. When asked whether they were serving soldiers with the Israeli army, he said he wasn’t sure.

“We have no right to apply the law. We are not safe. Our lives are in real danger.”

He said the situation was worse in the most isolated villages, where people have already started to flee the violence.

The settlers are clear about their intentions. They tell the Palestinian villagers: “Go to the city. Go to Yatta [a city south of Hebron]. In 24 hours if we find you here we will kill you,” he added.

MEE previously reported that Israeli settlers distributed menacing leaflets and left bloodied dolls at schools, warning Palestinians to either leave or be killed.

Residents of one West Bank village said they were sent warning letters that read: “You wanted war – wait for the great Nakba.”

According to information from the West Bank Protection Consortium and the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, about 545 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from at least 13 communities in Area C since 7 October.

Bedouins Forced to Live in Caves

Upon reaching the village of Halaweh, a few kilometres from Hebron, several Bedouin families said their plight was being ignored as armed settlers and soldiers erased entire Bedouin villages in the West Bank.

“The [Israeli] soldiers have expropriated a lot of our land,” one Bedouin man told MEE.

“As you can see, there are no roads, no more pastures for our animals. This area is [now] used by the military for exercises. They [Israeli soldiers] come, they demolish the tents and buildings we put up. So, we [have now] dug holes in the earth, making caves out of them, and we live there.

“That way, at least they can’t demolish our homes.”

The violence has forced entire communities from their land, with nearly 1,000 Palestinians from at least 15 herding communities having to flee their homes.

A team of doctors bringing medicine to the most rural areas lamented the dire situation here and the Israeli government’s endorsements of the settler groups.

A doctor from the Palestinian Medical Relief Society distributes medicine at one of the caves near the village of Halaweh, where Bedouins are taking shelter (MEE/Angelo Calianno)

“We are moving around today, on Saturday, because it is Shabbat, the situation should be calmer because they [Israelis] are busy praying,” a doctor told MEE.

“Often, settlers shoot at us to prevent us from bringing aid and medical care to the villages. Sometimes the soldiers do that too. They close the roads with mobile checkpoints, so we must turn back, leaving many families without medical care,” he added.

Data from Yesh-Din has shown that between 2005 to 2022 at least 93 percent of all investigations into ideologically motivated crime in the West Bank were closed without an indictment.

MEE reached out to the Israeli army for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.

A ‘Ghost Town’

Nearby Hebron is one of the most populated cities in the West Bank, but tensions between Israeli settlers and Palestinian locals have soared since the 7 October attacks.

Some 32km from occupied East Jerusalem, Hebron was divided into two in 1997, with “H1” placed under the complete administrative and security control of the Palestinian Authority and “H2” administratively run by the PA but controlled by the Israeli military, which has the final say on who enters and exits the area.

The historic Old City of Hebron was once home to one of the most beautiful markets in the entire Middle East.

Today, it has the appearance of a ghost town.

Intensely monitored by Israeli forces and police, surveillance cameras are mounted every 90m in H2, the area administered by the PA.

Israeli soldiers and armed settlers now patrol the area in military uniforms, with the streets mostly empty of the area’s 35,000 Palestinian residents.

The situation has become so dire that many dare not venture out of their homes, with the restrictions making it difficult for Muslims to be able to pray in their own mosque, the Masjid-E-Khalil.

Israeli soldiers have built a gate with a metal detector manned by armed guards. When we arrive, they ask our religion; entry is only allowed at their discretion.

Fawaz is one of the few remaining vendors in the Old City. We ask him how he feels today seeing Hebron reduced to this state.

“You see it with your own eyes. Even though we put up protection, they keep throwing everything at us from the windows: stones, bottles, garbage, and sometimes even excrement. The situation had become intolerable. There are very few of us left who still have a store open,” he told MEE.

“Today, though, everything is less important than what is happening in Gaza. Everything that happens here is nothing compared to the massacre that our people are suffering in Gaza.”

The director of a social policy organisation in Nablus echoed this point. “We cannot shout about not being able to eat when people are being massacred in Gaza,” he said.

When the War Ends

For many Palestinians in the West Bank, there is a strong belief that, after the war in Gaza ends, the Israeli government will likely come after them next.

Israeli leaders and politicians, just like the settlers, have repeatedly warned of a “second Nakba” and their ambition to drive Palestinians from their ancestral homes.

Such rhetoric has become normalised, with a growing number of Israelis now calling for the “Gazafication” of the West Bank. Such a scenario would see Israel raze and occupy more Palestinian lands in Area C.

For many, the situation in the West Bank echoes the scheme laid out by Israel’s current finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

About seven years ago, when he was a young and largely unknown member of the knesset, Smotrich published a paper rejecting the two-state solution and proposing “full Israeli sovereignty to the heartland regions of Judea and Samaria” along with the establishment of “new cities and settlements deep inside the territory and bringing hundreds of thousands of additional settlements to live therein”.

Smotrich’s so-called “Decisive Plan” concluded that “victory by settlement will imprint the understanding upon the consciousness of the Arabs and the world that an Arab state will never arise in this land”.

At the time of publication of the “Decisive Plan”, Smotrich was easy to dismiss as an extremist. Today he serves as leader of the Religious Zionist party and as finance minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

As part of the coalition agreement, he also secured the post of head of civil administration across the West Bank. He now serves in a position to put his longstanding vision into practice. The civil administration that Smotrich runs gives him total control of almost every aspect of Palestinian lives.  

“Those who wish to forgo their national aspirations can stay here and live as individuals in the Jewish State,” the Decisive Plan states. They would not, however, have the right to vote. 

Meanwhile, those “who choose not to let go of their national ambitions” will “receive aid to emigrate”. Those who accept neither of these alternatives but choose to take up arms against Israel will be hunted down and killed as terrorists.

This vision explicitly rules out the idea of a Palestinian identity let alone a state, a position that also forms the core element of the stated policy of Netanyahu’s government.

While the International Court of Justice holds hearings on a case brought by South Africa alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide, many in the West Bank have accepted the judgement won’t end Israel’s 75-year occupation anytime soon.

“Things are scarier than ever,” one young woman told MEE.

For her, and countless others in the West Bank, the Palestinians will continue to be exhausted by death and despair as the world watches on.

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Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is outraged by Canada’s refusal to support South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel. Statements issued today by Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly state that Canada does not support the “premise” of South Africa’s fact-based and compelling case. Tellingly, they are unable to identify any arguments in South Africa’s case that they disagree with. As such, they refuse to address the substance of the case, and retreat to denial.

Let us be clear. South Africa is alleging, with compelling evidence, that Israel’s actions constitute genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, that Israel’s political and military leaders have expressed genocidal intent, and that provisional measures are necessary to stop Israel’s actions. Disagreeing with the “premise” of such allegations, while failing to disprove any of South Africa’s arguments, is a grave and shocking abdication of Canada’s responsibilities under the Genocide Convention.

No country is exempt from the prohibition on genocide. Canada should have put its full support behind South Africa’s application, which is one of the few remaining mechanisms to obtain a ceasefire and protect Palestinians from genocidal violence.

CJPME is also outraged by Canada’s failure to acknowledge the huge problem of anti-Palestinian racism. While Canada’s statement cites its opposition to Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Arab sentiment, it omits the biggest victims of this conflict: Palestinians, whether those in Gaza, or those facing racism and repression in the West.

We reiterate our appreciation for South Africa in bringing this critical case to the ICJ, and demonstrating what true global leadership looks like. The Trudeau government’s failure to support South Africa will no doubt be a historic embarrassment, with grave humanitarian consequences.

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Featured image: Slaughterhouse – by Mr. Fish

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The material loss Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have suffered in three months of Israeli bombing is unprecedented. Not only have they lost their homes, entire neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure, but residents say another “immeasurable damage that cannot be repaired” has been the erasure of Gaza’s history. 

Since the beginning of its war on Gaza on 7 October, the Israeli military has targeted and destroyed dozens of heritage sites, including historic churches and mosques, cultural museums, and archaeological structures that date back thousands of years.

Key religious sites have been a target for Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling across the different districts of Gaza. Many of those sites had been transformed into shelters for displaced Palestinians at the time of the attack, resulting in dozens of casualties.

On 18 October, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius was damaged by an Israeli air strike on the adjacent 141-year-old Ahli Baptist Hospital, the oldest hospital in the strip.

Two days later, it was directly targeted by a strike that killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens others among the families who were taking refuge in the church.

Randa Arteen, a Christian resident of Gaza, said the church was one of the few religious sites where she and her community would pray and spend religious holidays since Israel does not grant them permits to travel to Bethlehem through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing each year.

“The churches in the Gaza Strip are not many, but all of them are old and historic. So, if one church is destroyed, it is not actually one church, it is hundreds of years erased,” the 53-year-old woman told Middle East Eye.

“Unlike any other churches, we had a special spiritual connection with the Greek Orthodox Church in particular. It is a symbol of Palestinian Christians in Gaza, and even across Palestine as well.

Gaza City’s Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius was damaged in Israeli bombardment, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“We used to attend Christmas there and light up the tree along with the children every year. It is hard to believe that the few places available for Christians in Gaza are now destroyed.”

The almost 900-year-old church, one of the oldest in the world, was one of three churches that were damaged across the strip.

‘More Than Just a Mosque’

In addition to churches, at least 114 mosques have been destroyed and 200 others have been damaged in Gaza, including the 13th century Othman Bin Qashqar Mosque in al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, and the medieval Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in Gaza, located in the heart of the Old Town east of Gaza City and dating back to the seventh century.

Om Ahmed al-Saqqa, 64, who lives in al-Shujaiyya neighbourhood, a few kilometres away from the Omari Mosque, said that she has prayed in the mosque since she was a child, especially during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Currently displaced in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip after her house was severely damaged, Saqqa said she was more saddened by the destruction of the mosque than of her own home.

Israeli bombardment left Gaza’s Old Town in ruins, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“I was born and have lived all my life in this neighbourhood. When I was around six years old, and throughout all my childhood years, my father used to take me and my siblings every night during Ramadan to perform the Taraweeh prayers in this mosque. I had my childhood and adulthood memories there,” Saqqa told MEE.

“For us, Palestinians, it is more than just a mosque. It is our history and our present. When we talk about Gaza, we talk about the Omari Mosque. We believed that it would be impossible to harm such a place, not just because it was a holy site, but because of its rich history and importance for both Muslims and Christians around the world.”

The mosque, which was converted from a Byzantine church, is considered one of the oldest in the world.

Close to the Omari Mosque lies Hammam al-Samra (the Samra Bath), a prominent and rare surviving example of an Ottoman architectural site in Gaza.

On 30 December, Israeli strikes directly hit the site, destroying Turkish-style features that date back over 1,000 years. 

Saint Hilarion

In a report released by Heritage for Peace in November, documenting the impact of Israel’s war on Gaza’s cultural heritage, the organisation said at least 104 out of 195 architectural heritage sites that it counted in the coastal enclave were destroyed or damaged.

Since it is impossible to assess the damage on-site, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) experts say they have been remotely monitoring the situation “using satellite data and information transmitted to us by third parties, in coordination with its partners and UN agencies on the ground, and our office in Ramallah”.

“Unesco has initiated early October remote monitoring of the damage. As part of this remote monitoring, [we are] particularly concerned about the situation of the ruins of Saint Hilarion, inscribed on the National Tentative List of World Heritage in 2012. These are the remains of one of the region’s earliest Christian monasteries,” a Unesco spokesperson told MEE, requesting anonymity.

The ruins of Saint Hilarion are part of the Tell Umm Amer site, located in the al-Nussairat camp in the central Gaza Strip. The site has been severely damaged by the Israeli bombing campaign.

“The conflict in the Gaza Strip has caused a serious humanitarian crisis affecting all aspects of civilian life. As stated publicly on several occasions, Unesco is gravely concerned about this impact on education, culture and the protection of journalists – the pillars of its mandate,” he said.

“While humanitarian emergencies are a legitimate priority, the protection of cultural heritage in all its forms – as well as the protection of educational and media infrastructures – must also be ensured, in accordance with international law, which stipulates that cultural property is civilian infrastructure, and as such must neither be targeted nor used for military purposes.”

War on the Past, Present, and Future

Another notable casualty of air strikes in Gaza City was the Central Archive Building, which was destroyed on 29 November.

Run by the Municipality of Gaza, the building contained thousands of historical documents and national records about Gaza, dating back over 100 years.

In addition, at least three museums were destroyed or severely damaged, including the government-run Basha Palace Museum, which dates to the 13th century and was directly targeted.

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, al-Qarara Cultural Museum was damaged multiple times by Israeli air strikes on adjacent homes.

Mohammed Abulehia, who established the museum in 2016, says explosive barrels were dropped on the neighbourhood and in its vicinity, severely damaging the building and the collection.

“The museum contained a collection of over 5,000 assets, including antiquities and items that date back to the Canaanite period. I collected them and put immense efforts to establish the museum to protect and preserve the heritage of Gaza,” Abulehia told MEE.

“Israeli occupation forces dropped heavy bombs on a home very close to the museum. Due to the massive explosion and the air pressure, the museum was severely affected, and many items were destroyed or lost.”

Abulehia, who is not able to reach the museum to inspect the damage due to displacement, says he expects to return to find it completely or severely damaged.

A small section of the Basha Palace Museum, which dates to the 13th century, remains standing in Gaza (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“Following the first attack, I am sure that multiple other attacks have damaged the museum again. However, I cannot currently reach it since I have been displaced to Rafah.

The situation in Khan Younis and in the area where the museum in particular is located is very dangerous, he added.

“It has been under intense Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling for weeks. No one can reach it.”

Abulehia said the damage from the war has been immense, on all levels of Gaza’s society, both material and moral.

“It is like they are launching the attacks with an intention of destroying not only our present and future, but also our past.”

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Featured image: The oldest mosque in Gaza, the Omari Mosque, was severely damaged in Israeli bombardment, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

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The US, UK and other countries have responded to continued attacks by Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping with a series of strikes across Yemen, but it is not clear whether they will have much of an effect.

“Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping were a major problem and it was not going to go away on its own,” said Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, whose research focuses on Yemen and Iran.

“The challenge for the US is that they only face bad options in trying to deal with this.”

The US and UK on Thursday struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Sanaa and along the Red Sea coast, including missile and drone sites as well as radar and surveillance locations.

The military action came after the Houthis launched 27 strikes in recent months on ships in the Red Sea, a critical passageway for global shipping. The group, which is allied with Palestinian militant group Hamas, has claimed the ships it attacked were travelling to or connected with Israel.

This week alone, US forces shot down 18 Houthi missiles and drones aimed at commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea.

Washington has warned both the Houthis and Iran that such attacks would have consequences and President Joe Biden’s patience appears to have run out. 

In a statement issued following the strikes, Mr Biden said he would not “hesitate” to take further action if necessary.

But Mr Juneau is doubtful the strikes will deter the Houthis and the US is likely to find that ending the Red Sea attacks for good will be challenging.

The rebel group, which controls much of the western coast of Yemen, has spread its military capabilities throughout the territory it runs, he said.

The Houthis have “significant” weapons at their disposal, including shore-to-sea missiles, amphibious assault teams, drone boats, naval mines and a host of other weaponry.

They have vowed to respond to the strikes, which could drag the US further into a regional conflict it is desperate to avoid.

Washington must find the right balance between striking the Houthis hard enough that their capabilities are affected but not so hard as to draw them deeper into conflict.

“It’s not impossible that they could find that sweet spot of hitting the Houthis just enough to deter them from continuing and not enough that it triggers some kind of escalation,” Mr Juneau said. “But that’s difficult.”

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Featured image: The US and UK struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Sanaa and along the Red Sea coast, including missile and drone sites as well as radar and surveillance locations. US Central Command / X / Reuters

A defesa aérea ucraniana quase entrou em colapso. Os líderes ​​de Kiev já admitem o fracasso do país em continuar efetivamente a confrontar a Rússia no ar. Dada a utilização intensa de mísseis e drones pelos russos e a diminuição constante da ajuda ocidental, a Ucrânia esgotou os seus recursos e já não tem capacidade para se proteger dos ataques inimigos.

A situação do país foi admitida pelo porta-voz oficial da Força Aérea Ucraniana, Yury Ignat. Segundo ele, o arsenal de defesa aérea de Kiev está esgotado e já não existem condições adequadas para continuar a lutar por muito tempo, razão pela qual incita os países ocidentais a continuarem a enviar equipamento para a Ucrânia. Ignat acredita que as forças armadas russas aumentaram ainda mais a frequência e intensidade dos seus ataques aéreos, com a Ucrânia a precisar de reabastecer o seu arsenal para não ficar vulnerável às incursões de Moscou.

“Os intensos ataques aéreos russos obrigam-nos a utilizar uma quantidade correspondente de meios de defesa aérea (…) É por isso que precisamos de mais deles, à medida que a Rússia continua a aumentar as suas capacidades de ataque”, disse ele.

Ignat acrescentou que Kiev depende atualmente exclusivamente de sistemas de defesa aérea ocidentais e de antigos equipamentos soviéticos, uma vez que o país é incapaz de produzir armas em níveis adequados. Isto deve-se ao fato de os russos estarem a lançar ataques massivos de alta precisão contra alvos industriais ucranianos, procurando neutralizar a capacidade de Kiev de restaurar a produção de armas. Neste cenário, as forças neonazistas passam a depender de equipamentos estrangeiros ou de armas antigas e ineficientes da era soviética, tornando-se ainda mais fracas no conflito.

Para evitar uma derrota rápida, Kiev precisaria de receber muitas armas ocidentais para reconstruir imediatamente o seu arsenal de defesa aérea. O chanceler Dmitry Kuleba acredita que para isso é necessário receber mísseis para os sistemas Patriot, IRIS-T e NASAMS o mais rápido possível.

“Em primeiro lugar, esperamos que a reunião acelere decisões críticas sobre o fortalecimento adicional das capacidades de defesa aérea da Ucrânia, tanto em termos de sistemas modernos como de suas munições (…) [O fornecimento de mísseis para os sistemas Patriot, IRIS-T e NASAMS é um ] prioridade máxima que deve ser concluída hoje, não amanhã”, disse o ministro.

Esta falta de munições para a defesa aérea da Ucrânia não é novidade. Desde os primeiros meses de 2023, a mídia já mostrou que Kiev está lutando para continuar usando seus sistemas de defesa aérea, sendo que a falta de mísseis já se tornou um dos principais obstáculos para a Ucrânia no conflito. Em maio, os jornais ocidentais afirmaram mesmo que o esgotamento total das munições de defesa aérea ucranianas aconteceria numa questão de poucos dias – o que mostra como a situação pode ser ainda mais preocupante agora.

“[…] Autoridades disseram que a necessidade contínua de defesa contra ataques de mísseis e drones russos esgotou sistematicamente os estoques da Ucrânia – um alerta apoiado por documentos de inteligência dos EUA vazados online nesta primavera que sugeriam que Kiev poderia ficar sem munição para cinco defesas aéreas críticas. “De acordo com documentos revistos pelo Financial Times, os EUA avaliaram no final de fevereiro que a capacidade da Ucrânia de proteger as suas tropas nas linhas da frente seria completamente afetada até 23 de maio”, diz um artigo do Financial Times de maio de 2023.

Na altura, Kiev conseguiu obter ajuda adicional do Ocidente para continuar a lutar, mas a situação piorou muito desde então. Os russos intensificaram os seus ataques, atingindo também instalações onde muitas das armas ocidentais estavam armazenadas. Na prática, a estratégia de Moscou de manter um conflito de alta intensidade causou danos irreversíveis à estrutura das tropas inimigas, forçando Kiev a esgotar rapidamente o seu arsenal de defesa.

Contudo, existe agora um problema ainda maior para a Ucrânia. O Ocidente não parece capaz de continuar a gastar grandes quantias de dinheiro num apoio inútil a Kiev. A guerra em Israel mudou o foco da atenção das elites ocidentais. No mesmo sentido, Biden não conseguiu aprovar o seu plano de ajuda bilionário à Ucrânia e a UE teve um projeto semelhante vetado pela Hungria.

A dificuldade em aprovar novos pacotes de ajuda não tem hipótese de ser resolvida em breve. O assunto deverá ser discutido ao longo dos próximos meses, durante os quais Kiev continuará a necessitar de defesa aérea adequada, estando vulnerável aos ataques russos. Tudo isso deixa Kiev ainda mais perto da derrota, sem possibilidade de reversão do cenário militar.

Na verdade, é impossível vencer um conflito sem manter o controle do ar. O lado vencedor numa guerra contemporânea é aquele que é mais eficiente na proteção do seu território contra ataques aéreos e mais bem sucedido no lançamento de ataques com mísseis e drones. Neste caso, os russos têm uma vantagem absoluta, como admitem as próprias autoridades ucranianas.

Resta saber se a consciência do seu próprio fracasso será suficiente para fazer Kiev concordar em negociar a paz.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

Artigo em inglês : https://infobrics.org/post/40213/

Imagem : InfoBrics

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Lucas Leiroz, jornalista, pesquisador do Center for Geostrategic Studies, consultor geopolítico.

Você pode seguir Lucas Leiroz em: https://t.me/lucasleiroz e https://twitter.com/leiroz_lucas

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The study of how power is acquired and exercised is very old. This study is much older than the social sciences. The pursuit of power and the study of power are deeply intertwined. The questions are many. Who has power? How did they get it, maintain it, and augment it? How can one power cartel displace and replace the base of another conglomerate of power?

The study of power is integral to the study of the war, economics, education, technological transformation, propaganda, religion, and cultural expression. Weaving in and out of the study of power is the topic of the rise and fall and resurgence of Zionist Power.

The power of the cascades of peoples identified over times as Pharisees, Hebrews, Israelites, God’s Chosen People, Jews and Zionists forms a unique topic often connected to the study of power. In fact or in legend, Jesus Christ is one of those who was deeply engaged in the study and criticism of Zionist Power.

In periods when Zionist Power has become dominant, as is the case now, part of the dominance is usually expressed by governing authorities that put up walls of censorship and obfuscation meant to minimize research into the basis of Zionist Power. This research usually has strong economic components. The research tip, follow the money, is especially apt when it comes to the study of Zionist Power.

For Zionist Power to flourish, it must be made fairly invisible yet well equipped with coercive weaponry to impose severe punishments on those who do study the subject in spite of the often considerable dangers attached to this kind of research.

Those who do study the matter, such as the USA’s most exceptional industrialist of all times, Henry Ford, usually come to the conclusion that so much over-concentration of influence in such a small and self-serving minority has disastrous consequences for society at large.

Think of the disjoint we are seeing throughout the West as large numbers of citizens become appalled by the grotesque display of the most ruthless forms of genocide being pressed on civilian populations of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The citizen groups opposed to the US-Israeli embrace of genocide as an instrument of public policy have no well-embedded constitutional platforms on which to park their political principles in the existing structure of political parties in parliaments, legislatures and the US Congress. In the USA, for instance, all three front runners for presidential office in the looming November election, are owned lock-stock-and-barrel by the Israel Lobby.

This Lobby, including the ADL and AIPAC in the USA, are currently hard at work creating media propaganda at the behest of their patrons in the world’s pre-eminent Baby Slaughtering Country.

US President Biden’s hands are especially filthy with Palestinian blood. He deserves a heavy spotlight this year as one of the primary culprits being put on trial by International Court of Justice (ICJ) as it explores South Africa’s allegation that the UN’s Genocide Convention has been violated.

The British government might very well be found guilty of complicity in a genocide that both Conservative Leader Rishi Sunak and Labour Leader Keir Starmer have sanctioned and embraced with ghoulish enthusiasm.

Fake Fighting by Fake Opponents. Both Sunak and Starmer Take Their Orders from the Same Zionist Governors that Dominate Great Britain. These Zionist Governors Have Commanded Both Sunak and Starmer to Back the Genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza and the West Bank.

When it comes to anything to do with Zionist power, opposition parties refuse to oppose government parties because they all depend on the same complex of Zionist Power for campaign financing and positive coverage in the media.

In the present context Zionist Power includes shutting down democratic debate in legislatures, in Zionist-dominated media and, as shall be discussed below, in universities and colleges.

The document below is a critique of an academic essay presenting an interpretation of the malevolent alignments of power behind the manufactured COVID crisis. It also addresses the conflict between Russia and NATO’s proxy, Ukraine, as well as the genocidal assault by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people. This third conflict in the Middle East is rapidly expanding into a regional war.

Dr. Piers Robinson and Vanessa Beeley are the authors of the paper I criticize. (also published by Global Research]  Both of them have faced malicious recriminations for challenging wrongheaded interpretations that hold in place by the corrupt Zionist domination of the governments of Israel, the USA and UK. Both Robinson and Beeley, as am I, are part of a circle of researchers in and around The Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global War on Terror.

The introducing statement of this working Working Group includes vague language pointing to “institutional and social challenges that have constrained academic research.” The concern is that “institutional impediments” are already deeply embedded in universities and other sites of supposed knowledge production.

These impediments tend to deny “the relevance and scholarly quality” of the important work being done to counter the mass production of power-serving disinformation. This copious disinformation is regularly served up by unscrupulous and well-rewarded PR spin doctors to keep the public in the dark about what is really going on.

The result of the impediments against disseminating accurate information on the key issues of the day is the basis of the burgeoning police states we inhabit. The dystopias where we live are being governed by agencies of thought control like the weaponized internet search engines that censor much truth to highlight only power-serving interpretations. See this.

This war on free and open debate to test ideas based on merit rather than on the wealth of their backers is being currently played out in many universities. In Ivy League institutions, for instance, we are currently witnessing the firing of many academics whose scholarly work does not conform to the pro-Israel interpretations favoured by weak and corrupt administrators. At Harvard and Penn State and many other schools, the curriculum is being determined based on the donations of very rich Jewish donors who are using their fortunes to crush free speech and academic freedom.

This approach to deciding what happens in supposed institutions of higher learning will, in the long run, severely damage not only the schools that are discrediting themselves. The credibility of Israel and international Zionism itself is being undermined by the crudeness of Zionist billionaires accustomed to being and selling the prestige of science and academia.

The rich donors and those that collapse under the force of their threats are playing with fire in a case that puts genocide at the front and centre of Israel’s reputation, but not in the way that has developed from 1945 until recently. Heavily politicized Jewish professors like Deborah Lipstadt are bound to meet increasingly resolute opposition when they attempt to continue destroying the careers of what should have been colleagues in a shared field of academic research. The surviving opponents of the drive-by attacks by vacuous agents of Lipstaft-style thought policing, will probably rally to insist on a return to the vital process of historical revisionism.

The long and short of it is that my commentary below is an encouragement to my colleagues to throw off the shackles created by the intimidation and punishments pointed our way when we challenge the Zionist domination that is ruining the decency and viability of our societies. We must stand together with those throughout the world who are insisting that the Genocide Convention should be made to apply to a power block whose impunity for international crime spree must be brought to an end. Israel is not conducting self-defence. It is trying to complete the illegal occupation and genocide it initiated in 1948.

 

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This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Looking out at the World from Canada.

Dr. Anthony Hall is currently Professor of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. He has been a teacher in the Canadian university system since 1982. Dr. Hall, has recently finished a big two-volume publishing project at McGill-Queen’s University Press entitled “The Bowl with One Spoon”.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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Who Is Alfred Thayer Mahan?

Image is from the Public Domain

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was a famous American naval officer and historian who wrote the theory of American naval power at the beginning of the 20th century. He is the mentor of President Theodore Roosevelt. With his work titled “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History”, he predicted that the USA would turn to the seas for world domination and this geopolitical theory became the unchanging doctrine of the US state policy. 

The summary of his ideas is as follows:

“States must become rich in order to develop. This is achieved through the country’s exports. The transportation of excess goods produced and sold abroad to the world’s ports is provided by merchant fleets. Naval forces are needed to protect this transportation and to own overseas colonies. To support the Naval Forces, naval bases must be established in the country and overseas. States that establish and operate such a Naval Power system will gain power and hegemony around the world.” 

His other approach was:

“Navies must achieve decisive and overwhelming victories over existing enemy fleets, and nations must build huge, powerful navies to achieve such victories.”

The Birth of American Imperialism

The transition of Mahan’s teachings from theory to practice made him the leading guide of US naval build-up and expansionism. His greatest fortune was to persuade the then Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, a very powerful politician, in the field of navalism. In 1882, when Roosevelt was not even a secretary, he said the following about the future of the US Navy:

“It is an urgent need to have an effective navy… Only our incredible political shortsightedness can prevent us from achieving this goal…” 

Later, when he became President, Roosevelt expressed his ideas. He put it into practice and transformed the USA into an imperialist state through naval power by organizing state institutions within the Protestant capitalist doctrine. The USA, which discovered oil in 1858, went to sea as a requirement of its new geopolitics and never returned to land. This transformation played an important role in the arms race that led to World War I. 

35 years after Mahan’s death, Stimson, Secretary of War during the reign of President Franklin Roosevelt, glorified Mahan so much that he was able to say,

“Neptune, the God of the Oceans, Alfred Mahan is his prophet, and the only real church on earth is the American Navy.”

Mahan and Corbett Schools

During World War II, the United States could only apply Mahan’s decisive naval warfare principles in the Pacific theater. The decisive naval war in which large navies faced each other in the open sea areas envisaged by Mahan was only experienced in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and this war went down as the last great naval war in world naval history. The United States and other navies applied the principles of British strategist Sir Julian Corbett (1854-1922) in the years leading up to the Second World War on the Atlantic front and the subsequent Cold War. Corbett was against decisive and large-scale naval battles at sea. 

According to the theses stated in his book “Some Principles of Maritime Strategy”, the struggle at sea should support the struggle on land. In this context, it was very important to prevent maritime trade of the enemy or to protect friendly maritime trade. This situation was in full compliance with the strategy implemented by the USA in the Atlantic during the Second World War. In summary, while Mahan’s sea power theory created high-level geopolitical and geo-economic results, Corbett’s ideas created results at the operative level.

Mahan’s Trio[1]

According to Mahan, trade produces wealth that enhances maritime power. 

Just as the famous Prussian strategist Clausewitz (1780-1831) emphasizes the indispensability of the “triad” of people, government, and military power in order to become a strong state in his work “On the War”, Mahan also emphasizes national wealth, trade and military power. In this respect, sea power supports not only geopolitics but also geo-economy. Today, cultural and technological ecosystems can be added to Mahan’s trio. 

Mahan, both as a historian and a geopolitician, analyzed very well the processes of France, the Netherlands and England becoming maritime and ocean powers. 

He charted a course for the US state mechanism by making cause and effect analyses of France’s maritime mistakes as a continental power or England’s dominance of the seas as a small island state.

According to him, the main reason why France could not surpass England at sea, despite having a minister like Colbert at the time of Louis XIV, was that its military power and commercial power were worn down by unnecessary wars on land, focusing on excessive geopolitical objectives.

Although France was more advanced in technology than England in some areas at that time, it preferred expansion by land to expansion by sea, and as a result, it lost its colonies in the American continent and India to English Crown. However, Colbert had supported the increase in trade and naval power to enrich France and made important reforms in this field. 

The Netherlands fell into similar traps. She focused only on trade and economic wealth. Netherlands neglected that a strong navy was necessary for the continuity of the ecosystem of trade and economic wealth. England created a trading system that was backed and maintained by military force. 

The Mahan Trio and China

The famous trio of national wealth, commercial power and naval power, which Mahan sees as the key to becoming a global power, when transformed into today’s global conjuncture, highlights economic size, scope of supply chains and military power, especially the navy. 

Technological superiority, which is an integral part of this trio, is also related to economic size, commercial power and naval power. 

Today, China implements Mahan’s trio, which focuses not only on geopolitical but also on geoeconomic consequences, much more effectively than the United States. 

In other words, what China has achieved in the last 20 years is similar to the transformation processes of the USA into a global power at the beginning of the 20th century. 

In 1890, the USA surpassed England in production and trade for the first time and became the world’s largest economy. 

China surpassed the USA in foreign trade for the first time in 2010. 

As the USA began to grow, it first secured the south (Mexico) and north (Alaska-Canada) and then took control of the Pacific (Hawaii-Philippines) and South-Central America (Caribbean) region to ensure its geopolitical integrity. 

While China first tried to prevent Taiwan from becoming an American forward base, it tried to expand its maritime jurisdiction. It expanded its sovereignty in the South China Sea with the 9-point line. Because he knew very well that the bottom of the seas was much more valuable than the land. While China expanded its navy, she also expanded its area of interest and influence with interregional and intercontinental trade and supply chains. Today, there is Chinese investment or financing in 105 ports of 50 countries covering all oceans.

China Growing at the Sea

Despite Mahan’s prediction, the United States abandoned expanding its merchant fleet, the most important leg of its maritime power after the navy, in the second half of the 20th century. 

After the Cold War, it rapidly reduced the size of its navy. The US-flagged merchant fleet is extremely inadequate today with 200 ships. 

If a world war broke out tomorrow, the United States would have difficulty finding merchant fleets to support its overseas bases. 

There are still almost no warships to escort these fleets. 

Although the American navy is seen as the gendarmerie of the oceans today, the number of ships is very insufficient. 

The USA has 291 combat-ready ships. 

Only 232 of these ships are major combatant ships. The remaining 59 ships are auxiliary ships such as tankers. 

Only 72 combat ships out of the 232 combatant ships, on deployment in the world’s oceans and seas today. 

On the other hand, the Chinese Navy (PLAN) has over 750 warships, of which 239 are the major combatants. 

PLANS Xiamen (DDG-154) 20180420 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)

They operate the world’s largest merchant marine fleet with a total national flag tonnage of 294 million GT.

1600 containers (box cargo) are moving every minute in the world, and nearly half of them are either loaded or unloaded at Chinese ports. 

Nearly 50% of all ships built in the world are produced in China. 

The USA protects its own shipyards thanks to the Jones Act of 1920, but the number of shipyards to be protected is rapidly decreasing. 

In the words of the American Secretary of the Navy,

“China can produce a ship in one year that it takes the USA in 7 years.”

In the beginning of Cold War USA had 11 military shipyards. Today, there are no military shipyards, building warships left. Only around 7 civil shipyards build warships. This number is several dozen in China. The 154 existing civilian shipyards in the USA today can turn to warship production in case of war. In China, this number is 1200 shipyards. 

Another problem area for the USA is the problem of finding qualified sailors to man the warships. 

In addition, they have a serious shortage of personnel to work in shipyards. It will take 30 years for American shipyards to catch up with China.

Supply Chains

The most serious developments that make China stand out as both a trade and naval power have occurred in the last 25 years. 

While the BRI-Belt and Road initiative has been improving the supply chain both in Eurasia and in the world oceans since 2013; By making huge investments in the navy, for superiority over the USA, they took measures to protect trade and provide freedom of movement in sensitive sea areas, especially Taiwan and the Malacca Straits. 

From 2013, when it was announced, to 2022, the total imports and exports between China and BRI countries reached 19.1 trillion US dollars, with a growth of 6.4% every year. 

On the other hand, the total bilateral investments between China and BRI partner countries reached 380 billion US dollars. 

In short, today China strictly implements what Mahan said roughly 120 years ago, both within the geopolitical and geoeconomic frameworks. 

On the contrary, the USA is moving away.

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Ret Admiral Cem Gürdeniz, Writer, Geopolitical Expert, Theorist and creator of the Turkish Bluehomeland (Mavi Vatan) doctrine. He served as the Chief of Strategy Department and then the head of Plans and Policy Division in Turkish Naval Forces Headquarters. As his combat duties, he has served as the commander of Amphibious Ships Group and Mine Fleet between 2007 and 2009. He retired in 2012. He established Hamit Naci Blue Homeland Foundation in 2021. He has published numerous books on geopolitics, maritime strategy, maritime history and maritime culture. He is also a honorary member of ATASAM.  

Note

[1] Mahan as Geoeconomic Strategist, By Colonel Walter M. Hudson, U.S. Army (Retired), January 2024, USNI Proceedings, Vol. 150/1/1,451

Featured image: An MH-60S Seajawk helicopter flies past the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer Sterett. (MC1 Daniel Barker/U.S. Navy)

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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“Morality is the basis of things & truth the substance of morality.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Fascism and the violation of First Amendment Rights always starts with a bought-out corporate mainstream press, news media and Internet that doesn’t allow all the truth that’s fit to print to actually be told and brought to the public’s attention and conscious awareness. Corporate news empires commonly have editors, editorial boards and independently-wealthy private owners, invisible to the public’s eyes, who carefully screen from the general awareness and consciousness, whatever particularly skewed ideological bent dictates what truths or untruths will be told or not told. Uncomfortable geo-political news items, truths or perspectives that the powers-that-be don’t approve of, and don’t want to see shared with their readership, are routinely screened out by their designated gate-keepers, lookout’s and sentinel’s. 

Therefore, “all the truth that’s fit to print”, isn’t necessarily the ‘high bar’ standard set by the appointed gate-keepers of the corporate press, even if they claim to be, whether it be Google who controls the Internet or whomever are all the other main gatekeepers of public awareness of every political social, cultural, religious, persuasion in every country, worldwide.

What follows in almost every case of an already closed, or budding, fascist system of government, is that if the at first friendly’ censuring doesn’t duly work to muzzle the undeterred writer-journalist of whatever truth is making the powers-that-be increasingly more uncomfortable, there then eventually comes the anonymous warning phone calls at all hours or unsigned messages slipped under the door or left on the answering service, that warn the writer to stop and desist from pursuing whatever line of investigation is unwelcomed.

If that doesn’t work, there then comes the proverbial final knock on the door in the dead of night and the writer either totally stops their writing,or in some cases they’re conveniently ‘disappeared’. End of the story.

But a completely free and open press is the only means in the world that the individual freelance journalist, who genuinely seeks to speak-truth-to-power, has at their means to tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God” to the best of their ability, especially when they lack the necessary funds or wherewithal to otherwise do so on their own.

So, when this writer recently released his latest controversial article, “Jewish Lobby Behind War Mongering in Gaza & War Threat in Middle East”, on which he had diligently and extensively worked to expose what some of the main causes are that remain either hidden, or less openly and freely talked about concerning some of the less-well-known causes of the war in Gaza, the West Bank and Gaza Strip; it wasn’t long before it was initially picked up and published by an independent source, he was elated and proud that he had accomplished the goal he had set out to do.

But he quickly became crestfallen when he realized that no sooner had the article begun to circulate, worldwide, then, unexplainably, it had suddenly totally disappeared from the Internet, nowhere to be found. It had been de-listed by unknown parties who held the power to do so.

Several expectant readers searching for the article reported that, “Sadly, it appears you’ve just been victimized by parties unknown. But so-called ‘de-listing’ is just a more pleasant way to say to the victimized writer-human being, of whatever stature or status, that, “Sorry! You’ve just become another victim of censorship, and your basic human and civil rights woefully violated by some unknown ruthless, dictatorial power, without any recourse, whatsoever.” Some explained it away as “It’s just one of those Google things.”

Another frustrated would-be reader, said, “Check out who Jared Cohen is, and how he might figure into this blacklisting by Google.” A cursory check of who Cohen is soon proved as fascinating as it was enlightening.

Jared Cohen, Braintrust of Google and Man of Many Talents

After even a cursory perusal of Cohen’s awesome biography and professional vitae on the web, one comes away wondering how one individual could accomplish, in a  single lifetime what would seem the equivalent of five or even ten industrious, aggressive individuals.

Or, furthermore, how the scribbles of this lowly writer could even remotely begin to threaten someone like himself or his lofty Google brain trust; by going so far as to arbitrarily delist and censure/assassinate his work; when the stature, power and prestige of someone like himself and Google would otherwise seem to be to instead extend some sense of Noblesse oblige to those of a lesser status beneath them.

Jared Cohen is indeed a very interesting character. A graduate of Stanford University, with a MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford where he studied as Rhodes Scholar, who speaks fluent Swahili. His accolades run long.

He is a former: US Diplomat President of Global Affairs; Co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation; a Protégé of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; founder of Jigsaw, an incubator at the giant tech firm; a member of Gen Next; a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; Founder and CEO of Jigsaw, an independent unit of Google-focused on how to address global security challenges; an adjunct senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Affairs (CFR); an advisor to RAND, and; member of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and Anti-Slavery Collective; co-head of Office of Applied Innovation and President of Global Affairs, and a partner at Goldman Sachs.

Cohen is also the founder of Alphabet, Inc, that focuses on applying cutting-edge technology to whatever challenges Alphabet deems destabilizing to the Internet, including cyber-attacks, dis/misinformation; mainstream geo-political extremism and conspiracy theories. He also, as well, has served as closer advisors in the White House to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Upon leaving the White House, before his tenure began at Google, he spent time in Iran and Azerbaijan when the killing of Iranian scientists began.

Additionally, Cohen’s career includes being a best-selling author of five books that includes: Children of Jihad, and; One Hundred Days of Silence; America and the Rwanda Genocide. His writings also have appeared in innumerable venues, such as: Foreign Affairs; Foreign Policy; New York Times; Wall Street Journal, and; the Washington Post. He was named, as well, to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People;n Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, and: Vanity Fair’s New Establishment.

Well, this one remained breathless after this cursory check of the facts. The only still unanswered question this schmuck of a writer was left with at that point was, as one who only ever seeks to speak the simplest of self-evident truths to power, by comparison, besides being a piece of low-lying fruit, easy to pick off by whomever dislikes the simple self-evident truths to which he would call the public’s attention, is still the $64,000 dollar question: Why would unnamed parties even waste their time with him?

Why has the Almighty Google and/or Jared Cohen, or whomever the case may be, indeed been responsible for de-listing this writer’s latest article, “Jewish Lobby Behind War Mongering in Gaza & War Threat in Middle East?” Especially, when there exists so many bigger fish than he to fry? While already possessing so much power, what do they fear most? Losing control? Becoming impotent? Thinking more deeply?

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The writer Jerome Irwin is a Canadian-American writer who originally was a Criminology student working in one of America’s local police departments. For decades, Irwin has sought to call world attention to problems of environmental degradation and unsustainability caused by a host of environmental-ecological-spiritual issues that exist between the conflicting world philosophies of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

Irwin is the author of the book, “The Wild Gentle Ones; A Turtle Island Odyssey” (www.turtle-island-odyssey.com), a spiritual odyssey among the native peoples of North America that has led to numerous articles pertaining to: Ireland’s Fenian Movement; native peoples Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance Movement; AIPAC, Israel & the U.S. Congress anti-BDS Movement; the historic Battle for Palestine & Siege of Gaza, as well as; the many violations constantly being waged by industrial-corporate-military-propaganda interests against the World’s Collective Soul. The author and his wife are long-time residents on the North Shore of British Columbia.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: A US government propaganda poster from the 1940s (Source: Multipolarista)

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“2023 has been a challenge for Global Research, but we know 2024 will be no different. That’s why we need your support. Will you make a New Year donation to help us continue with our work?”

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This article was first published in October 2023.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s richest globalists, is now funding a new initiative to “combat global warming” and “save the planet.” Gates’ organization, Breakthrough Energy, has invested $6.6 million in the project led by a company called Kodama Systems, founded in 2021. The plan is to harvest no less than 70 million acres of forest, mostly in the western United States. After mass harvesting, the millions of trees will be buried in the ground so that no one can use them. This is because climate alarmists believe that “burying trees will reduce global warming” as it prevents them from releasing carbon dioxide into the air.

KODAMA SYSTEMS is sponsored by Bill Gates to fell and bury millions of tons of trees. Like other climate companies, Kodama has similarly simple logos and drawings describing their activities, as if they were cast from the same mold. Screenshot: Kodama Systems

Carbon dioxide in the air is needed for plants and trees to absorb carbon and use it to build their plant parts and grow. Oxygen is released through photosynthesis, which we humans breathe. Therefore, trees sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide during their lifetime. When they die and decompose or burn, the bound carbon dioxide is released. When trees are harvested at the end of their lifespan, when they are most valuable as timber or firewood, and are buried instead of being sold, the idea is that the carbon dioxide will be bound and kept separate from our planet’s atmosphere. Therefore, the project’s coordinators, known as the Carbon Lockdown Project, plan to store the “biomass in oxygen-free tree vaults” for a long time to come. The trees will be buried or submerged in water instead of being used for things like timber for housing or pulp, which will further increase the prices of timber, firewood, paper, and all wood-based products.

Timely Forest Fires

The logging is not a future idea; it has already begun. The American business magazine Forbes reports that Kodama Systems co-founder Merritt Jenkins is currently leading test logging in Stanislaus National Forest, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern California. The nature reserve covers nearly 900,000 acres and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 31% of U.S. forests are federally owned.

MERRITT JENKINS has every reason to look pleased as billionaires and authorities pour millions into his company. Jenkins is a co-founder of Kodama Systems and is seen here, holding a Corona-branded shovel (enlargement in inset), sitting in front of freshly cut trees in California that will soon be buried. Jenkins, who holds a master’s degree in robotics, is also a co-founder of Pattern Ag, a company that analyzes soil for farmers. Therefore, Jenkins is well aware of how decaying trees are crucial for creating future arable land, a vital natural process that his other company, Kodama, is now set to hinder. Jenkins is a vital part of a project known as the Carbon Lockdown Project. Many on social media have reacted with dismay to Kodama’s plans, and others wonder where the once outspoken environmental activists and “tree huggers” are now. Photo: X @forbes

Currently, Kodama is testing and improving a semi-autonomous harvesting unit, which is eight meters long and weighs 17 tons. The goal is to build fully autonomous timber harvesting machines that can work around the clock without human operators, from cutting down the trees to hauling them out of the forest. Kodama’s current test machine can operate at night but still requires human operators. With satellite connectivity and advanced lidar cameras (light detection and ranging), similar to those used in self-driving cars, the work can be directed and monitored remotely. Those who have seen the movie Avatar can roughly understand what it would look like.

Kodama is using forest fires as one of its main selling points, as they also offer to take care of fallen trees and undergrowth, as well as thinning the forest – the forest management that is no longer carried out as before. Kodama points out the threat to life and property as well as the health risks from wildfire smoke. Jimmy Voorhis, Director of Biomass Utilization and Policy at Kodama, tells Forbes that decision-makers are now listening to them, especially after this summer’s Canadian wildfires created hazardous air conditions in major cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

“The orange sky in San Francisco was a turning point. They’re listening to us now,” says a satisfied Voorhis.

U.S. authorities are now seeking to swiftly address the problem their own inactivity has created by hiring Kodama. The U.S. Forest Service aims to thin out 70 million acres of forests, mostly in California, over the next decade. Typically, after such forest thinning, logs of sellable size go to sawmills, while the rest is piled up and, together with undergrowth, is later burned under controlled conditions. Now, instead, Kodama will bury one billion tons of “biomass” in “tree vaults” designed to maintain dry and oxygen-free conditions to prevent the wood from decomposing or burning.

Kodama has already received $1 million in grants from California’s forestry fire agency and others, as well as purchase commitments for the carbon credits associated with the first 400 tons of trees that the Gates-sponsored company buries. Forbes writes that “on the open market, these credits should fetch $200 per ton”. Forbes likely chooses this price because climate alarmists have touted it as a soon-to-come minimum price needed to “save the planet.” Currently, emissions allowances cost less than half of this cost. So, the upfront payment for 400 tons of buried trees corresponds to $0.8 million in carbon credits. Real value in the form of timber and firewood is thus transformed into a fictitious value based on the lie of human-made global warming.

Free West Medias’ foreign desk has access to an internal presentation showing that the forces behind this idea plan to make money in several ways. It is led by Ning Zeng, a Chinese professor at the University of Maryland in the USA and the founder of the Carbon Lockdown Project (CLP). Ning is described as the “godfather of biomass burial.” The presentation, held for other insiders, is revealing as it provides insight into their thinking. Ning emphasizes, among other things, that 97 percent of the trees will be preserved after 100 years, indicating that they plan to store them for a long time and then potentially reuse them. It is important to note that trees stored in oxygen-free environments gain higher quality over time and can command a value of tens of euro per kilogram.

Ning particularly highlights that the cost of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be very low, $10-50 per ton. Companies that must pay for so-called carbon credits in the ongoing emissions trading – a multi-billion-dollar industry that globalists are now imposing on the world – can purchase this “service” from CLP.

The EU’s average auction price for emissions allowances in 2022 was 79 euros per ton of CO2, with a minimum price of about 58 euros per ton of CO2 and a maximum of 98 euros per ton of CO2. This can be compared to the 2021 average price of about 53 euros per ton of CO2, a 33 percent increase in just one year. There is no indication that this trend of rising prices will be broken; instead, it is likely to accelerate. This year, the average price seems to be well above 100 euros. The logging and burial of forests can, according to Ning Zeng’s internal cost estimation, already this year generate a profit of at least 100 to 1,000 percent. Finland’s government has already paid Zeng’s company $181 per ton, and the Swedish investment company Kinnevik recently bought 1,000 tons of carbon credits, equivalent to the weight of buried trees.

Aside from the profits from selling carbon credits, millions of tons of forests in the future will be able to be sold for tens of euro per kilogram, many times more than they are worth now, not factoring in inflation. This means both a value-preserving investment and pure profits counted in trillions rather than billions. There are, therefore, several largely hidden economic motives, as is often the case with globalists’ plans.

Natural Farming Is Eradicated

Carbon Lockdown Project states on its website that the “natural carbon cycle is in near balance,” but not in perfect balance. Therefore, the imperfect nature must be saved by the artificial solutions of globalists, as the natural cycle is not sufficient. Carbon Lockdown Project explains it with the words: “Even though photosynthesis is ‘free,’ forests must be managed sustainably,” something they claim to know best how to do. Carbon Lockdown Project then emphasizes the importance of tree planting and how they plan to “intervene” to save our planet:

The idea of Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) proposes management intervention through wood harvesting or the collection of wood residues, followed by storage in anaerobic underground or wet/dry/cold conditions to prevent decay.

A “TREE VAULT” will store tree trunks so that they cannot emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. To address the problem of forest land often having bedrock close to the surface, the idea is to build “tree vaults” resembling ancient burial mounds. The trees are buried in cells stacked on top of each other, each of which is then sealed with airtight materials. When the tree vault reaches its maximum possible height, everything is sealed with, for example, clay. Then, a layer of soil is placed over the “burial mound,” where Kodama suggests that solar farms can be built. Problems with soil erosion due to rain and wind are not discussed, nor is the fact that it will mar the landscape. As shown in the picture, not only forests and tree trunks will be buried, but also recycled wood and wooden houses after demolition. Image: Carbon Lockdown Project

Thus, it is evident that it involves logging and not just clearing fallen and decaying trees in the forest – as establishment fact-checkers claim after the project starts to receive attention and criticism. From the project’s other materials, it is also clear that the focus is on trees in their final phase – before they risk starting to release carbon dioxide – thus, the oldest and largest trees, precisely those most suitable for timber and most desired by sawmills and the construction industry. Instead of becoming timber for housing construction, for example, they will be buried. This will not only mean significantly higher timber prices but also soaring firewood prices. In many countries, including Eastern Europe, it is common for people – especially now that energy and heating costs have skyrocketed – to go into the forest and pick up fallen branches and old dried trees to use as firewood.

BLACK OAK is the name of oak that has been submerged in water for an extended period. The name comes from it being considerably darker than regular oak. These pieces come from the lock gate of the Swedish Göta Canal in Mem, which was built in 1832 and replaced in 2007, meaning they were submerged in water for 175 years. Wood stored in oxygen-free conditions becomes harder over time and, therefore, commands a higher price, regardless of provenance. If it is stored underground, in fresh or brackish water, it also avoids shipworms, which thrive in saltier environments. Companies like Kodama can, therefore, be expected to get much more money for the timber when it is excavated and sold. Photo: Nya Tider

Tree planting may sound like a positive thing until we see that the globalists are targeting open landscapes in general and agricultural land in particular. Only that part of the “war on carbon” to achieve Net Zero will force many farms to close, resulting in a further reduction in natural food production, cattle, and grains. In the Netherlands, the globalist-controlled government is trying to force 3,000 farms to close, and in Ireland, dairy farmers warn that 3,000 milk producers are on the verge of being wiped out due to new “climate requirements.” Moreover, the economic incentives for logging and burying trees will dictate the development. Forbes’ article reveals that there are extensive plans to steer farmers towards such “carbon farming,” which is paid for with carbon emissions allowances and is already more profitable than traditional farming. The aim is to get them to stop producing food and wood products. It is also mentioned that they want to introduce foreign “better carbon-absorbing” tree species for this purpose, such as bamboo. These can be genetically modified to withstand the cold at our latitudes.

Already, high energy prices have wiped out large parts of the chemical industry – mostly in the West – which produces artificial fertilizers that are necessary for nearly half of the world’s food production. In addition, the ongoing weak solar cycle, which began in December 2019, has created extreme weather that has destroyed crops worldwide. This fall, harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere, seems to be one of the worst ever in many countries (the numbers are not finalized yet). Global food security has never been so threatened, something even the Agenda-pushing UN has acknowledged.

KODOMA is the name of spirits that inhabit trees, according to Japanese folklore. The term is also used to designate a tree where a “kodama” is believed to reside, usually older trees. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sound produces a delayed echo effect in mountains and valleys, is sometimes attributed to this type of spirit. Kodama can also mean “echo” in Japanese. In contemporary Japan, Kodama are still feared as they are seen as demons capable of harming those who disturb them by cutting down the tree. Therefore, such trees are still marked with special shimenawa ropes made of hemp fibers (an inset shows one at the Yuki Shrine in Kyoto). The drawing depicts a Kodama (left) and is from the book “Gazu Hyakki Yagyō” (English: “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons”) by Toriyama Sekien. A peculiar choice of name, perhaps, for a company planning to cut down millions of older trees. Image: Toriyama Sekien, Photo: Chris Gladis

Food production worldwide needs to be significantly and rapidly strengthened, but instead, the opposite is happening. Globalists primarily want to abolish livestock farming and replace animal protein with plant-based and synthetic “meat” as well as insects. Dairy products are also supposed to be replaced in the same manner, with everything from soy-based “dairy products” to cockroach milk. However, they never explain how they intend to replace the more serious and enormous shortfall in grains.

In addition to agriculture being forced to step back, both in terms of food and timber production, it leads to something else that no one talks about. Decaying vegetation and trees create new nutrient-rich soils, which are the foundation of all cereal production. Leached soils as a result of industrialized agriculture, often driven by globalist multinational companies, are a significant problem today. By removing millions of trees from the natural cycle, the future’s arable land and food production are also being destroyed.

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Featured image: Bill Gates wants to bury trees – for Climate’s sake. Photo: carboncredits.com

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name.

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“The Israel-Gaza war is the most dangerous situation for journalists we have ever seen, and these figures show that clearly…The Israeli army has killed more journalists in 10 weeks than any other army or entity has in any single year. And with every journalist killed, the war becomes harder to document and to understand.”

– Sherif Mansour, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ’s) Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. [1]

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

Operation Cast Lead, launched in December of 2008, claimed lives in the range of between 1,166 and 1,324 Palestinians. It was considered “the most destructive Israeli assault since the Six Day War (of 1967.)”[2][3][4]

The Israel-Gaza war, in response to the October 7 attack by Palestine-Islamists in neighbouring Israel, has, as of this date killed over 23,000 Palestinians, two thirds of whom are women and children. [5]

And according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of January 12, 82 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead as a result of the war. The CPJ records indicate this is more journalist deaths than have died in any one country within one country ever! [6][7]

So this moment in time is a major, major event!

In the last days of 2023, South Africa asked the International Court of Justice for an urgent order declaring Israel to be in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.[8]

Several countries, including Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan, and the 57 member bloc making up the Organization of IsIamic Countries support South Africa’s Genocide call. The United States and Israel opposed it. Most of the countries in the West, including the European Union are silent on targeting Israel with genocide, even though most of these same countries supported genocide case at the ICJ of Russia. [9][10]

The events unfolding on the Palestinian population at the blood-soaked hands of Israel is evident for everyone to see. Will it continue to escalate through all the cries of NEVER AGAIN? This is the question looming for the loyal listeners of the Global Research News Hour.

In our first half hour, we hear from lawyer, journalist and activist Dimitri Lascaris. He has been following the situation in Gaza and was present on the ground in Lebanon in late October. He will assess the evidence the was will expand into a much greater regional war, and also describe the legal aspects of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.

In our second half hour, two individual Global Research writers, Paul and Calvin Larudee discuss their doubts about the ICJ on the grounds the decisions are more political than legal.

Finally, Robert Inlakesh, a journalist and film-maker with extended family in Gaza returns to the show to reveal the research he has done and bring us more information than what the mainstream Western press is inclined to reveal.

Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, a journalist and an activist. From 2004 to 2016 he was a member of Canada’s leading class action law firm Siskinds LLP. He now works pro-bono legal cases. In 2020, he ran for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada and placed second with  45.5% of the membership. 

Paul Larudee is a retired academic and current administrator of a nonprofit human rights and humanitarian aid organization.

Calvin Larudee, Paul’s grandson, is a high school student in Castro Valley, California. He provides international weekly news summaries and analysis at International Informants, to which subscribers are welcome.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

(Global Research News Hour Episode 417)

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The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM out of the University of Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .

Other stations airing the show:

CIXX 106.9 FM, broadcasting from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. It airs Sundays at 6am.

WZBC 90.3 FM in Newton Massachusetts is Boston College Radio and broadcasts to the greater Boston area. The Global Research News Hour airs during Truth and Justice Radio which starts Sunday at 6am.

Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in  Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 7pm.

CJMP 90.1 FM, Powell River Community Radio, airs the Global Research News Hour every Saturday at 8am. 

Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday afternoon from 3-4pm.

Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 9am pacific time.

Notes:

1. https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/
2. Yaakov Lappin (March 26, 2009), ‘IDF releases Cast Lead casualty numbers’, The Jerusalem Post; https://web.archive.org/web/20110511121653/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727552054&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
3. Khan Younis (January 22, 2009), ‘Rights Group Puts Gaza Death Toll At 1,284’, CBS News; https://web.archive.org/web/20090125220045/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/22/world/main4746224.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4746224
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20140306075708/http://www.map-uk.org/news/media-room/witness.aspx
5. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/01/israel-occupied-palestinian-territory-situation-100-days
6. https://cpj.org/2024/01/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/
7. https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/
8. https://www.newarab.com/news/who-representing-israel-s-africa-gaza-genocide-case
9. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/9/which-countries-back-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-at-icj
10. https://www.asia-pacificresearch.com/australia-must-support-south-africa-international-court-justice-case-against-israel/5631862

Os níveis de paranóia anti-russa estão a atingir níveis perigosos na Suécia. Recentemente, as autoridades do país pediram aos seus cidadãos que se preparassem para uma possível situação de conflito com a Rússia num futuro próximo. O caso mostra claramente como os governos ocidentais estão a agir de forma irracional nas suas decisões, ignorando a realidade e não conseguindo compreender adequadamente o cenário geopolítico europeu.

As declarações das autoridades suecas foram feitas durante a Conferência Nacional Folk och Forsvar, em Salen. O Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros sueco, Tobias Billstrom, afirmou na ocasião que a Rússia está a tornar-se a maior ameaça para a Suécia e para toda a Europa, acrescentando que o seu país deve estar preparado para enfrentar uma possível situação de conflito prolongado com Moscou.

“A Rússia constituirá uma séria ameaça à segurança da Suécia e da Europa num futuro próximo (…) [Portanto] Estocolmo deve ser realista e assumir – e estar preparada para – um confronto prolongado”, disse ele.

As palavras de Billstrom foram reforçadas pela posição do ministro da Defesa, Pal Jonson, que disse que a guerra poderia “chegar” aos suecos. Jonson afirmou que a Ucrânia funciona atualmente como uma espécie de “escudo para a Europa”, evitando que as hostilidades afetem outros países. Ele teme que, com um fracasso por parte de Kiev, a crise de segurança se agrave e mais países comecem a entrar em conflito direto com a Rússia.

Como é sabido, desde o início da operação especial russa, a Suécia violou a sua própria tradição de neutralidade e aderiu a uma política militar agressiva, tendo solicitado a adesão à OTAN. Embora o processo de aceitação da Suécia na aliança pareça longe de estar completo, o país já deu passos importantes na sua integração com os estados membros, participando numa série de exercícios e operações conjuntas.

O governo sueco autorizou recentemente o envio de 800 soldados para a Letônia, onde as tropas se juntarão à “Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states” – uma equipe internacional da OTAN liderada pelo Canadá que visa “melhorar” a segurança do Báltico no meio das atuais tensões. Na mesma linha, houve uma declaração do Primeiro-Ministro Ulf Kristersson no ano passado dizendo que a Suécia poderia ter armas nucleares da OTAN no seu território, o que representaria uma grave escalada na crise regional.

Tudo isso mostra como os suecos, embora ainda não sejam formalmente membros da OTAN, já estão envolvidos nos planos de guerra da aliança contra a Rússia. Tal como a Finlândia, que já conseguiu a sua adesão, a Suécia está decidida a trabalhar a favor dos interesses do bloco militar ocidental, contribuindo tanto quanto possível para os projetos da aliança. Os países escandinavos aderiram irracionalmente às narrativas infundadas dos principais meios de comunicação ocidentais, de modo que os tomadores de decisções suecos e finlandeses acreditam realmente que existe uma espécie de “perigo russo”.

Não há provas de que a Rússia planeje lançar ações militares contra qualquer país europeu. Moscou não tem quaisquer reivindicações territoriais na Europa e não vê qualquer necessidade de usar a força contra outros países do continente. A razão que levou a Rússia a intervir militarmente na Ucrânia é muito clara: houve um genocídio de russos étnicos em Donbass. Esta foi a única razão pela qual a Rússia, depois de falhar diplomaticamente, iniciou a sua operação especial e decidiu reintegrar alguns territórios na sua Federação. Atualmente não existe nenhuma situação semelhante à ucraniana em nenhum país europeu, pelo que Moscou obviamente não planeia “expandir” as suas acções militares.

No entanto, é necessário sublinhar como a paranóia anti-russa cria uma espécie de “profecia auto-realizável” à medida que os governos russofóbicos implementam medidas que colocam em risco a segurança regional, provocando reações por parte de Moscou. Por seu lado, os russos não têm interesse militar na Suécia, na Finlândia ou nos Bálticos, mas se estes países começarem a envolver-se em operações que ameacem o ambiente estratégico russo, então Moscou irá certamente retaliar da forma apropriada para manter as suas fronteiras seguras.

Por outras palavras, a Rússia não representa uma ameaça para a Europa, mas a Europa está perto de representar uma ameaça para a Rússia. Ao apelar aos seus soldados para que se preparem para o conflito, a Suécia está a envolver-se de uma forma perigosa que poderá ter consequências devastadoras. A partir do momento em que se sabe que um país estrangeiro se prepara para uma guerra com a Rússia, Moscou tem o direito de também colocar as suas tropas em prontidão para o combate. O resultado pode ser o início de um ciclo vicioso de tensões e atritos.

A Suécia deveria parar de acreditar nas mentiras ocidentais sobre a Rússia e concentrar-se nos seus problemas internos, em vez de tomar medidas militares anti-estratégicas. Estocolmo precisa de retomar a sua neutralidade e ficar fora dos planos de guerra da OTAN, respeitando a sua própria tradição diplomática.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

Artigo em inglês : Sweden prepares for ‘war’ due to its own Russophobic paranoia, infobrics.org, 1o de Janeiro de 2023.

Imagem : InfoBrics

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Lucas Leiroz, jornalista, pesquisador do Center for Geostrategic Studies, consultor geopolítico.

Você pode seguir Lucas Leiroz em: https://t.me/lucasleiroz e https://twitter.com/leiroz_lucas

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There are very few countries that have done as much damage to the Serbian people as the United States has. Despite never having been an enemy to the US, Washington DC simply doesn’t want to leave the small Southeast European country alone. What’s more, Belgrade was an American ally in both world wars, while Serbian people in America have given an invaluable contribution to its development, with globally renowned Serbian scientists like Nikola Tesla and Mihailo Pupin being among the most prominent names.

During WWII, the Serbian Chetnik resistance launched Operation Halyard (also known as Operation Air Bridge) and saved over 500 Allied pilots shot down by Nazi German forces and their Croatian, Bosnian Muslim and Albanian allies. Serbian civilians also took part in this effort, providing food and shelter at a time when they had very little and needed every resource available.

What’s more, Nazi Germany and its allies in former Yugoslavia were conducting an all-out genocide that killed nearly 1.5 million Serbs. Their “crime”? They were the “Untermenschen”, so they had to be eradicated, along with other “lesser peoples”, which included over half of Europe at the time. Croats, aided by Bosnian Muslims, were conducting the slaughter in western parts of former Yugoslavia that Germans gave them control of, while Albanians were doing the same in Kosovo and Metohia, a southern Serbian province that Nazi Germany also gave to them. And while this may seem like a long-forgotten history now, the truth is that it’s still an ongoing process. The only “difference” is that it’s now being conducted by the geopolitical descendant of the Axis powers – NATO. And it’s precisely Washington DC that has taken the role that was previously held by Berlin.

Interestingly (albeit not unexpectedly), their allies in former Yugoslavia are exactly the same and include Croatians, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians. For its part, the US has fully taken their side and did everything in its power to do as much damage as possible to the Serbian people, the same one who has been saving American pilots during WWII (as previously mentioned, often at its own detriment). In the last over 30 years, the US has directly contributed to the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Republic of Serbian Krajina, Republika Srpska, and Kosovo and Metohia by helping Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians to finish the job started in WWII. It can be argued they were the least successful in Republika Srpska, although the damage they’ve done is significant, as this Serbian state lost nearly 30% of its territory in Bosnia.

And yet, this isn’t enough for the US, which is determined to completely dismantle Republika Srpska. On January 9, Banja Luka saw the celebration of the Day of Republika Srpska, dedicated to St. Stephen. The event was met with frenzied warmongering in Sarajevo, which is frustrated by the fact that it was never able to defeat Republika Srpska, not even with the help of NATO during the 1990s. Thus, it did what it does best – cry for help from its US/NATO overlords. Washington DC responded by sending two F-16 fighter jets to fly over Bosnia and Herzegovina as a show of force. The goal was to threaten Serbian leaders, particularly Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska. Once in control of over 70% of Bosnia, Serbian territory was reduced to 49% due to US/NATO aggression, aided by the aforementioned local Croat and Muslim collaborators.

In addition, Republika Srpska was forced to officially stay part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although it kept all its state institutions, including the military. However, decades of US/NATO pressure effectively turned it into a semi-autonomous republic, as the occupation forces kept chipping away parts of its sovereignty. The other half of the country, officially known as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a de facto NATO protectorate, is largely dysfunctional due to constant bickering between Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Obviously, the Serbs don’t want to take part in this, but the US and NATO are determined to keep them trapped in this satellite of theirs, with plans to eventually dismantle Republika Srpska and force the entire country into NATO. What’s more, during the F-16 flyover, the US Embassy in Sarajevo effectively said so.

“This bilateral training is an example of advanced military-to-military cooperation that contributes to peace and security in the Western Balkans as well as demonstrates the US commitment to ensuring the territorial integrity of [Bosnia and Herzegovina] in the face of anti-Dayton and secessionist activity,” the statement said, adding: “The US has underscored that the Constitution [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] provides no right of secession, and it will act if anyone tries to change this basic element.”

This statement perfectly illustrates what sort of a bottomless pit of hypocrisy and double standards the US foreign policy is. This is the very definition of the so-called “rules-based world order“, a euphemism for US/NATO imperialist and supremacist policies that are provisionally using certain parts of the international law while ignoring the rest whenever this suits their interests. Namely, while insisting on the “territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Washington DC is simultaneously breaking international law by propping up the Albanian narco-terrorist entity occupying the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia. This includes the latest move to additionally arm the illegal entity in Pristina, with the US sending hundreds of “Javelin” ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) to Albanian narco-terrorist forces, now posing as a “military”.

On January 11, US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill (infamous for his close ties to the Al Qaeda-linked Albanian KLA terrorist organization) confirmed that the US Congress already approved the transfer of these weapons. Hill issued the statement right after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who said the move was a “great disappointment”, but that “Serbia, together with the United States, will work to ensure the continuation of strong Serbian-American relations”. Obviously, such attempts to appease the US bring no results, as evidenced by Washington DC’s determination to continue damaging Serbia’s basic national interests. What’s more, the Albanian narco-terrorist entity announced this isn’t the last weapons acquisition and that other NATO members, particularly the Neo-Ottomanist Turkey, would provide additional armaments.

Given the history of US/NATO destabilization in Serbia/former Yugoslavia, this is hardly surprising. Despite its futile attempts to keep good relations with the political West, Belgrade is faced with perpetually increasing pressure, this time on two fronts, as US/NATO occupation forces are still actively working against Serbian interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Kosovo and Metohia. The obvious goal is to further reduce Serbian ethnic space and make sure that the current state of semi-occupation is “upgraded” into a full-blown (neo)colonial status. The endgame is to ensure that Belgrade can never recover its full sovereignty and potentially become a geopolitical “nuisance” that could ally itself not only with Russia, but any other multipolar global power, particularly at a time when BRICS+ is making such tremendous strides.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from InfoBrics

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The post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were enabled by a historically unprecedented combination of budgetary procedures and financing methods.

Unlike all previous U.S. wars, the post-9/11 wars were funded without higher taxes or non-war budget cuts, and through a separate budget.

This set of circumstances – one that I have termed the “Ghost Budget” – enabled successive administrations to prosecute the wars with limited congressional oversight and minimal transparency and public debate. I adopted the name “Ghost Budget” because the term “ghost” appeared frequently in post-9/11 government reports in reference to funds allocated to people, places, or projects that turned out to be phantoms.

The Ghost Budget was the result of an interplay between changes in the U.S. budgetary process, a more assertive military establishment, and the conditions in global capital markets. It has had far-reaching implications for the conduct and course of the post-9/11 wars and for defense policy today.

Funding the Post-9/11 Wars

The “Ghost Budget” was the biggest budgetary anomaly in U.S. history. Prior to 9/11, U.S. wars were financed through a mixture of higher taxes and budget cuts, and funded mostly through the regular defense budget. One third of the costs of World War I and half the costs of World War II were met through higher taxes. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt described paying taxes as a “patriotic duty” as he raised taxes on business, imposed a “wealth tax,” raised inheritance taxes, and expanded the number of income taxpayers to roughly 80 percent of the workforce by 1945. Wars in Korea and Vietnam largely followed a similar pattern, with President Harry Truman pledging to make the country “pay as you go” for the Korean War. War funding was also a central issue in the Vietnam War, which ended when Congress refused to appropriate money for the South Vietnamese military.

The post-9/11 war funding pattern was completely different. For the first time since the American Revolutionary War, war costs were covered almost entirely by debt. There were no wartime tax increases or cuts in spending. Quite the reverse: far from demanding sacrifices, President George W. Bush slashed federal taxes in 2001 and again in 2003, just as the United States invaded Iraq. President Donald Trump reduced taxes further in 2017. Overall, federal taxes declined from 18.8 percent of GDP in 2001 to 16.2 percent by the start of 2020. In the same period, outstanding federal debt held by the public rose from $3.5 trillion to $20 trillion. War spending contributed at least $2.2 trillion to this increase.

Not only was the financing strategy unprecedented, but the budgetary mechanism used to approve the vast post-9/11 wartime spending also diverged radically from the past. In all previous conflicts, the United States paid for wars as part of its regular defense appropriations (the defense “base budget”), after the initial period (1-2 years) of supplemental “emergency” funding bills. By contrast, for the entire decade from FY 2001 to FY 2011, Congress paid for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as “emergencies,” devoid of serious legislative or executive oversight.

By statute, emergency spending is defined as “unanticipated…sudden…urgent…unforeseen…and temporary” and is typically reserved for one-off crises such as floods and hurricanes. Such emergency spending measures are exempt from regular procedural rules in Congress because the intent is to disburse money quickly in situations where delay would be harmful.

Congress continued to enact “emergency supplemental” funding even as the war effort expanded. The United States sent 130,000 military personnel into Iraq in 2003 (alongside troops from more than 30 countries). By 2009, there were 187,200 U.S. “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Afghanistan, supported by a similar number of military contractors, with nearly 500 U.S. military bases set up across Iraq, but the conflict was still being paid for as an “emergency.” In FY 2012, President Obama renamed the “Global War on Terror” as “Overseas Contingency Operations” (OCO) but the war continued to be funded using money that – although not designated as “emergency” – was explicitly exempted from regular spending limits on other government spending programs.

How We Got Here

There were three primary drivers of the Ghost Budget: unusual economic conditions, congressional budget dysfunction, and military assertiveness.

Economic Conditions: Unlike earlier wars, the post 9/11 conflicts took place in an era of free-flowing international capital markets. That provided the U.S. Treasury with access to a deep and global pool of capital, making it easy to borrow large amounts without negatively affecting the cost. It was also a period of historically low interest rates. Real interest rates (nominal rate minus inflation) on 10-year Treasury bonds fell from 3.4% at the start of 2001 to negative (-0.4%) by early 2021 — a 40-year low. Consequently, the Treasury was able to borrow trillions of dollars to pay for the wars, and simultaneously finance the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 without having any material effect on the amount of debt service being repaid through the annual budget. By FY 2017, total public debt had more than tripled, but debt service payments as a percentage of annual budget outlays had decreased to 6.6 percent, compared to 8.5 percent of federal budget outlays in FY 2002. In terms of cash outlays, this meant that the United States paid only slightly more in interest payments in FY 2017 than it had in FY 2002 ($268 billion versus $232 billion in 2018 dollars). Borrowing seemed virtually painless.

Budget Dysfunction: For several decades, the federal budget process has become increasingly dysfunctional. This breakdown may be traced to the post-Watergate budget reforms enacted in 1974, which shifted power away from the President and to the Congress. Most budget experts from both parties agree that the reforms made the budget process weaker, less predictable, less capable of reconciling competing demands, and more prone to fiscal crises. Prior to 1974, the federal government had never ceased operations for lack of funding. Since then, it has “shut down” 22 times, completely or partially. There have been only four years in which Congress passed its annual appropriations bills on time, and a series of near-defaults and other fiscal crises. In the absence of reliable budgets, Congress has enacted hundreds of short-term stopgap “continuing resolutions” to pay the bills. In this context, it was convenient for all the stakeholders to fund the wars as an“emergency” outside the regular process. The President was able to exclude war funding from his annual defense budget request to Congress, thus presenting an artificially low number for the federal budget deficit. This helped the Bush administration sustain the pretense that the wars would be short, while pursuing its political agenda of cutting taxes. Meanwhile, Congress was freed from the need to find politically painful spending cuts elsewhere to pay for the war, and the Pentagon was able to prosecute the wars without worrying about whether Congress would pass the defense appropriations bills on time.

Military Assertiveness: In 2001, the Pentagon was actively seeking to increase its budget after a decade of post-cold war budget cuts. The Afghanistan and Iraq conflict not only reversed the downward trend in military spending, but opened the floodgates to a spending bonanza due to the nature of emergency and OCO appropriations. Unlike the regular defense base budget, the wartime supplemental money was easier to secure, had few restrictions on how it could be spent, and avoided the lengthy internal Planning, Programming, Budgeting & Execution Process (PPBE) budget justification process. Consequently, the Defense Department was able to shift war funding into other categories to obtain items on its long-time “wish list” that were only tangentially (or not at all) related to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates termed this a “culture of endless money” inside the Pentagon.

By 2009, war spending accounted for almost one quarter of the total military budget; the Pentagon budget had grown to its highest level since the Second World War, and military spending had rebounded from 2.9% of GDP in FY 2001 to above 4% of GDP, where it remained through FY 2019. The OCO budget had evolved into a second defense budget that was largely untethered from the wars, and protected the military from congressional budget volatility.

Implications for Perpetual War

The Ghost Budget provided the ability to keep borrowing and spending in an almost unconstrained manner for more than two decades. The absence of new taxes insulated the public from the mounting cost of the wars and broke the expectation that wars would inevitably involve higher taxes. The OCO budget extended far beyond the immediate operational needs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, perpetuating military actions throughout the region. As Immanuel Kant predicted in Perpetual Peace (1795), the ability to keep borrowing and spending with minimal oversight allowed the United States to keep fighting indefinitely.

The Ghost Budget also weakened the main lever through which Congress maintains control of a war, namely its control of the purse. The combination of deferred spending, weak oversight, broadening definition of war costs, and readily available supplemental funding relaxed the pressure to maintain budget discipline over military spending. Congress held fewer hearings and presidents made fewer public speeches about the war compared to previous conflicts. And the ready availability of funds for new defense programs encouraged successive administrations to see the world through a “Pentagon lens,” which views military intervention as the default foreign policy option.

The legacy of the Ghost Budget is that money is no longer a serious deterrent to war. To date, 99% of US assistance to Ukraine has been funded by supplemental emergency funds – which means that this spending is in addition to the $840 billion regular defense budget. The Biden administration has asked Congress to approve another $106 billion in emergency funding for the Middle East, Ukraine, and other regions. Regardless of the merits of any particular endeavor, the use of Ghost Budgets makes it far easier to prolong the fighting at any cost.

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Professor Linda J. Bilmes (@LJBilmes) is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on budgeting and public administration in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

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I wish I could see a way that Gaza can escape genocide, but I can’t. The global mobilization of millions of people, including you and me, is inspirational, as is the stunning work by small independent journalists, upon whom we now rely for the truth, in contrast to the fiction peddled by the mainstream coddlers of racist mass murderers and their professional Zionist prevaricators tasked with persuading us all that black is white, filth is clean and countless child deaths by disease, starvation, thirst and exposure is self defense.

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Amid mounting calls for a comprehensive ceasefire in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, South Africa has invoked the Genocide Convention and lodged a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. 

The application, filed last month, delineates the atrocities perpetrated by Israel in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October operation by Hamas.

The application, while acknowledging and unequivocally condemning the actions of Palestinian armed groups on 7 October, emphasises that these acts cannot serve as justification for the crime of genocide. 

The South African document notes that the Genocide Convention states that all parties to the convention have a duty to prevent or punish the crime of genocide, and based on emerging evidence in Gaza, it is South Africa’s view that Israel has contravened the convention both by perpetrating genocide and by not acting to prevent genocide, nor punishing incitement to genocide. 

It argues that Israel’s acts and omissions are genocidal in nature, as it seeks to bring about the destruction of Palestinians as a national, racial or ethnic group. 

The application additionally points to the language of the Israeli leadership, which has demonstrated a genocidal intent to eradicate Palestinians. The case draws a distinction between the crime of genocide and other atrocities perpetrated by Israel, including intentional attacks against civilians, religious and educational buildings, historic monuments and hospitals, among others. 

It also differentiates between the crime of genocide and brutalities such as torture, starvation of civilians, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity, including breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines the duty to protect civilians in situations of armed conflict. 

While accepting that there is often a close correlation between these acts, the South African case argues that the acts of genocide are distinct, and must be contextualised in the framework of an ongoing occupation of Palestine over decades. 

As early as 30 October, the South African official statements began referring to genocide, which is indicative that preparing the case for genocide may have begun much earlier than December. 

Over 400 Israeli citizens have signed a petition in support of South Africa’s application to the ICJ, including Tel Aviv University professor Anat Matar and Israeli peace activist Jonathan Pollak.

Momentous Decision

The momentous decision by the South African government to pursue legal recourse against Israel through the ICJ came amid growing bilateral tensions, as South Africa vehemently condemned Israeli military aggression and drew firm analogies between Israeli policies and the crime of apartheid. South Africa believes it is necessary to pursue legal recourse at the highest level, and if the court finds in its favour, all state parties to the United Nations would be compelled to abide by the ruling. 

The director-general of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Zane Dangor, said the case would begin with a discussion of “provisional measures” on 11 January.

“We expect that the case will be a long-drawn process, but we have petitioned the court that while the substantive issues are being dealt with, we hold Israel to account to end the issues that we allege are genocidal, and that includes calling for an immediate ceasefire,” he told Middle East Eye.

“If the court rules in our favour, this will be binding on all state parties. We will be presenting our case on why we think, based on all the evidence, that the crime of genocide has been perpetrated, including special intent … We have seen a systemic approach to the attacks in Gaza and the mounting death toll in excess of 20,000 people, mainly non-combatants,” Dangor said.

“The crime of genocide does not require that millions of people should be killed,” he added. “What it requires is a demonstration that there is intent to destroy a group of people in whole or in part. We looked at the nature in which these crimes are unfolding, and we looked at the evidence emerging from various sources, including special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council. We will cite various sources that allege that the crime of genocide is being committed. While we will present the facts, our key focus will be on intent.” 

Intent of genocide has been considered the most difficult to prove in court, but South Africa believes it has a compelling argument, having collated public statements by key figures in Israel, including the president, prime minister and members of the war cabinet. The application additionally seeks to argue that Israel’s failure to punish members of civil society and journalists for incitement to genocide represents a duty that Israel has shirked as a state party to the convention. 

Almost in anticipation of an urgent ICJ ruling on the provisional measures, Israel recently began the withdrawal of five brigades from Gaza – an apparent shift in its military tactics to be more targeted than the carpet bombing that has flattened most of the Gaza Strip over the last three months. 

‘Criminally Complicit’

In its response to South Africa’s ICJ application, Israel said it would appear before the court to “dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel”. Government spokesperson Eylon Levy, armed with combative language, described South Africa as “fighting pro-bono for anti-Jewish racists” and of being “criminally complicit with Hamas’s campaign of genocide”.

It is expected that Israel’s defence will rest on the argument of the right to defend itself, antisemitism, and counter-claims of genocidal intent by Hamas, which would be much more difficult to prove.

In the meantime, Israel is gearing up for a global public relations response to the case by instructing its diplomatic missions to issue statements against South Africa’s claims, arguing that the Israeli military is operating in Gaza in accordance with international law. It is expected that Israel will seek to persuade the court to reject the request for an injunction. 

The US has come out, unsurprisingly, as a staunch ally of Israel, with White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby asserting:

“We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” 

This statement likely stems not only from the Biden administration’s absolute support for Israel, but also from a defensive perspective, as the court proceedings may lay bare the complicity of other states, including the US, to the genocide, by enabling Israel through rhetoric and the supply of arms. 

South Africa’s bold move, though coming from a moral high ground, may irk global powers such as the US, resulting in strained relations and potentially punitive consequences. This is not the first time the current South African administration has veered against American hegemony, having taken a non-aligned position vis-a-vis Ukraine and strengthening its relations with Russia. 

South Africa seems to be persistent in pushing the power boundaries and championing the Global South, calling the imperial and often supremacist states to order, invoking the very international laws they profess to embody and reinforcing multilateral institutions that have been paralysed by power plays. 

Strong Support

Europe appears divided on the matter, as most countries expressed support for Israel during its offensive in Gaza, while France recently stated that it would abide by the court’s decisions. 

Several countries and organisations have expressed strong support for South Africa’s legal move, including Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 

South Africa has amassed a formidable legal team led by John Dugard, professor emeritus of the University of the Witwatersrand. He has served as a UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Palestine and chaired two commissions of inquiry into Israel’s violations of international law. He is well versed on the proceedings of the ICJ, having previously served as an ad hoc judge. 

Other lawyers on the case include Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a specialist in constitutional law; Max du Plessis, who has advised on cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC); Adila Hassim, an expert on human rights and constitutional law; and Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who previously worked on the Bloody Sunday inquiry. 

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who was reportedly being considered to lead Israel’s team, has been removed. Instead Israel has appointed former Supreme Court president and Holocaust survivor, Aharon Barak as their judge ad hoc.

American human rights lawyer Francis Boyle, who argued and won Bosnia’s case for genocide, stated on Democracy Now that he is certain South Africa will win the case, given the meticulous application and the expectation that the legal team will present sound and validated evidence to the court. 

Should South Africa succeed in its application and the court find in its favour, it is expected that the provisional measure of a ceasefire will be incumbent on all parties, pending further measures that may include an independent investigation. In the long term, should the court find Israel guilty of genocide, the UN Security Council may be expected to pass a resolution to establish a tribunal similar to Yugoslavia or Rwanda. 

There has been a level of frustration with the slow progress of the ICC in addressing cases against Israeli actors. A favourable decision for South Africa at the ICJ may allow the ICC to act more swiftly. 

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Zeenat Adam is a former diplomat and an independent international relations strategist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Featured image: Funeral for Palestine TV journalist Mohammad Abu Hattab. Credit: X/@MuhammadSmiry

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South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi on Thursday used the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials to make the case to the International Court of Justice—and to the world—that Israel’s military is acting with clear genocidal intent in the Gaza Strip.

“Let the prime minister’s words speak for themselves,” said Ngcukaitobi, pointing to Netanyahu’s November remarks urging Israelis to “remember what Amalek has done to you. Netanyahu has repeatedly likened Gazans to the Amalekites, whom the Old Testament God orders King Saul to massacre.

Ngcukaitobi went on to cite the deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, who called on Israel’s military to “burn Gaza” to the ground—a statement he reiterated ahead of Thursday’s hearing at the United Nations’ highest court.

“There is an extraordinary feature in this case: that Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” said Ngcukaitobi. “And these statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.”

The South African attorney played video footage of Israeli soldiers dancing and chanting that there are “no uninvolved civilians” in Gaza—a precursor to the war crime of collective punishment.

Watch Ngcukaitobi’s full speech:

South Africa’s 84-page filing at the ICJ contains nine pages of statements from Israeli officials that, according to the South African legal team, signal “genocidal intent against the Palestinian people.”

Intent, as the U.N. has emphasized, is “the most difficult element to determine.”

“To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,” the U.N. explains in a summary of the Genocide Convention, which Israel stands accused of violating.

But Ngcukaitobi argued Thursday that Israeli officials’ explicit calls for the decimation of Gaza and its population leave no question that the Israeli government’s assault on the Palestinian enclave is genocidal.

“Many propagators of grave atrocities have protested that they were misunderstood, that they did not mean what they said, and that their own words were taken out of context,” Ngcukaitobi said, preempting a possible Israeli line of defense. “What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel.”

“We remind the court of the identity and authority of the genocidal inciters: the prime minister, the president, the minister of defense, the minister of national security, the minister of energy and infrastructure, members of the Knesset, senior army officials, and foot soldiers,” Ngcukaitobi continued. “The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible.”

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Ngcukaitobi’s presentation that

“decades of the U.S. insulating Israel from any accountability has led to this moment: Israeli leaders have thought they are so untouchable that they have openly declared the genocidal intent of their policies.”

“But South Africa is now using Israeli leaders’ own words to convict them at the ICJ,” Parsi added.

[From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.]

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Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

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As I expected, Washington is moving the conflict toward Iran.

Washington chose this moment to escalate in order to direct the news away from Israel’s trial in the International Court of Justice. Regardless, Washington’s neoconservatives intended escalation from the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war. See this.

It has been clear to me since 9/11 in 2001 that neoconservative dominance in Washington guaranteed we were on a road to escalation that would eventually reach Armageddon. The world is going to be victimized by the incapacity of the American political and intellectual classes to think clearly and honestly. We are approaching Armageddon because US foreign policy serves Israeli expansion, not peace.  

Washington has now launched air and naval attacks on Yemen.

Sadeh, Zubaydah, Abs, Bani, Sana, Hudaydah, and Taiz have been attacked by American forces, initiating yet another war without Congressional approval, a branch of the US government emptied of power. 

The New York Times, of course, blames the expansion of the conflict on the Houthis for interfering with shipping to Israel. 

With any luck, the fools in Washington will topple all of the US puppets in the US. Even Bahrainis are in the streets today protesting Bahrain’s participation in Washington’s attack on Yemeni territory.

The price of oil increased in response to the American attacks. 

Oil kingdoms, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, are beginning to feel rocky as a result of their alignment with Washington against the Houthis. The White House fool says it is the Houthis’ attacks that are reckless, not Washington’s.

The New York Times and the rest of the Western media have gone to work placing all blame on the Houthis. The Houthis have announced that as a result of the US/UK strikes on Yemen “all American and British interests have become legitimate targets.” You can see where this is going. See this.

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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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“Wait, wait, wait….. the UN voted for a ceasefire in the Red Sea (where the Yemenis harmed 0 humans)…. But has yet to pass a cease fire vote after 30,000+ have been killed (in Gaza)???” —Tony Montana @9mmScorpion/X

On Tuesday, the Houthis launched their largest attack on ships in the Red Sea to date. 21 missiles and drones –that were launched from positions on mainland Yemen– were shot-down by US and British warships patrolling the area. No casualties were reported.

According to a Houthi spokesman, the attack was retaliation for the killing of 10 Houthi militants who were strafed by US helicopter gunships while trying to board the Maersk Hangzhou on Sunday. The western media has omitted this critical fact from their reporting in order to conceal the provocation that triggered Tuesday’s attack on US and UK warships.

The Houthis say the Hangzhou refused to respond to radio calls inquiring whether the ship was bound for an Israeli port or not, which prompted their attempt to board the ship. That’s when all hell broke loose. (The Houthis require that commercial ships acknowledge whether they are linked to Israel or not. The Maersk Hangzhou failed to do so.) Here is a brief summary of Tuesday’s incident from a post at Sputnik International:

Yemeni Ansar Allah claimed responsibility for an attack on a US Navy ship in the Red Sea, after the US attacked Houthi forces, Houthi spokesperson Yahiah Sariah said in an official statement. What is also known: Navy forces, missile forces and unmanned aircraft of Yemen’s Houthis conducted a joint military operation using a large number of ballistic and ship-based missiles and drones, targeting a US Navy ship providing support to Israel; This operation was the first response to an attack on the Houthi naval forces by the US Navy 10 days ago; Ansar Allah troops will continue to prevent ships from sailing to Israel, both in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, until the aggression against the Gaza Strip ends.@SputnikInt

And here is a summary of the Houthis demands following the killing of 10 of their fighters by US forces last Sunday: (This was not reported in the western media)

⚡️BREAKING

The Houthis want the US to hand over the Americans who killed Yemenis in the Red Sea

The Yemeni Chief of Staff warns that if the United States does not hand over these Americans for trial, the consequences will be unprecedented for the United States. pic.twitter.com/BYdiU8JVZY

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) January 6, 2024

In short, the Houthis attack on Tuesday was a response to a US provocation that took place two days earlier.

Houthi leaders have repeatedly said they do not want a confrontation with the US but they have also said that they won’t back-down if they are attacked. Tuesday’s incident proves that they meant what they said and are prepared to sacrifice their lives to force Israel to lift its siege of Gaza and to allow food and medicine to reach the Palestinian people. By attacking and killing the 10 Houthi fighters on Sunday, the US has made itself a party to the genocide that is taking place in Gaza. Washington has effectively declared war on Yemen and cast its lot with a government that is committed to eradicating a civilian population of 2 million people.

The Biden administration has described their actions in the Red Sea as a defense of “freedom of navigation” and ‘open seas’. But this is merely an attempt to frame the issue in a manner that best suits the objectives of the perpetrators. To the vast majority of people around the world, the US is defending the horrific depredations of the Israeli state. Not surprisingly, the western media has tried to characterize the goings-on in Gaza as an attempt to “defeat Hamas”. Fortunately, few people have been taken in by the ruse. The fact is, there has never been a more vicious bloodletting in the last half century and people everywhere are appalled by the relentless, ethnically-fueled butchery conducted by callous thugs who celebrate their savagery on TikTok. Now, we are told that the same country that is sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel to kill women and children in their homes, should be revered as the ‘guarantor of regional security’ in the Red Sea. Naturally, many people see the administration’s behavior as hypocritical.

At present, foreign policy elites are focused almost exclusively on escalation. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned “there will be consequences” if the Houthis persisted with their attacks on commercial vessels implying that the Biden administration is now considering military action. Keep in mind, the US has already assembled a multinational maritime task force, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to patrol the Red Sea to ensure the safety of commercial ships passing through the vital waterway. But that makeshift coalition has failed to build confidence among a number of the world’s biggest carriers who refuse to transit the Red Sea until the hostilities end. That puts the onus on the Biden administration to find a workable solution that will end the attacks and restore Red Sea traffic to what it was prior to the crisis. Regrettably, all the evidence suggests that Biden and Co. have decided that the only way forward is to intensify the fighting by bombing military sites on the mainland. This is from an article at Bloomberg News:

According to more than a dozen people interviewed by Bloomberg including Yemen, shipping and defense and security experts, these options include:

Targeted Strikes

These would be focused on eliminating or degrading the Houthis’ ability to fire ballistic missiles at ships and shipping lanes by striking launch sites, radars, missile warehouses and other supporting infrastructure and logistics. Since mid-November, the Houthis have fired more than 100 drones and ballistic missiles in two dozen separate attacks, according to the Pentagon. More than 15 vessels have been targeted. US Braces for High-Stakes Decisions Over Houthi Sea Strikes, Bloomberg

And here’s more from an article by James Kraska at Lawfare:

Strikes into Yemen would be a new kind of naval war to counter the Houthis’ new method of exercising sea control from the land. The Houthi infrastructure on land that puts at risk commercial ships and warships exercising high seas freedoms should be eliminated. Further, Iran is apparently operating a radar spy ship in the Red Sea that is providing targeting guidance for Houthi missiles and drones. Iran’s ability to transmit targeting data must be neutralized. This means the only effective strategy is to strike the entire Houthi missile, drone, and piloted aircraft enterprise, including the Iranian ship and other offensive capabilities that are used by the Houthis to project power far from Yemeni shores. The Houthi radar and surface-to-air missile complexes that protect the offensive systems must also be disabled or destroyed. The law supports the destruction of the Houthis’ ability to launch attacks on U.S. warships..

…. Houthi attacks are not going to end until the Houthis no longer have the capability to wage war on international shipping. This conclusion reflects the judgment of Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, a Dubai-based security research group, who said, “Unless the [United States] bombs the Houthis’ missile launch sites, radars, airfields and boats, its efforts to combat the threat to shipping won’t be effective.” Attacks on U.S. Warships Justify Self-Defense Against Houthi Forces Ashore James Kraska, Lawfare

You can see where this is going. For the neocon-dominated Biden administration, escalation is the only way forward. But, as we’ve said from the beginning, the bombardment of Houthi missiles sites and military infrastructure will not stop the attacks on commercial traffic, it will merely trigger a call for ‘boots on the ground’. Once the bombing campaign fails, (as it will) US ground forces will be deployed to fight a bloody and protracted guerilla war on the Arabian peninsula. That is the disaster that is looming on the horizon for the US; a disaster that will further alienate (and infuriate) Washington’s dwindling allies in the Middle East and lead to America’s inevitable expulsion from the region.

A better strategy would be to open a channel for direct communication with the Houthis and begin the arduous process of negotiating a diplomatic settlement. That is the only way the crisis will be resolved. Take a look at this excerpt from an article at Foreign Affairs that underscores the importance of diplomacy:

Because the Houthi attacks could have serious consequences for global commerce, the United States is under substantial pressure to respond militarily. But instead of retaliatory strikes, the U.S. should favor a diplomatic approach….

Some politicians and analysts have argued that the best way to counter Houthi aggression is with military escalation designed to “restore deterrence.”…

But proponents of airstrikes against the Houthis cannot articulate what should happen afterward. It is hard to see how airstrikes would deter Houthi attacks now when they have failed to do so over the past decade. Airstrikes against Houthi targets might marginally erode the Houthis’ ability to launch missiles and drones, but it will be much harder to effectively target and eradicate the Houthis’ small, cheap manned and unmanned boats. …

An approach that combines diplomacy with deterrence is the least bad way for the United States to deal with this intractable problem in the near term….

To deal with the threat posed by the Houthis, ultimately the United States must push for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas—as well as to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general. Like it or not, the Houthis have linked their aggression to Israel’s operations in Gaza and have won domestic and regional support for doing so. Finding a sustainable, long-term approach to both conflicts will be critical to de-escalating tensions across the region and getting the Houthis to call off their attacks on commercial vessels. Such attacks would have limited utility in the absence of these conflicts.

These measures cannot fully address the threat that the Houthis pose to U.S. interests and to stability in the region more broadly. But they remain the best among bad options—and the United States has only bad options because of its failed approaches to Yemen over the past 20 years. Washington must not repeat its mistakes. Decades of experience have shown, by now, that military efforts to dislodge the Houthis are unlikely to be effective. Instead, they may merely further devastate the lives of the already struggling people of Yemen. Don’t Bomb the Houthis, Alexandra Stark, Foreign Affairs

It’s worth noting, that the Houthis do not need to defeat the US militarily to win the war in the Red Sea. They merely need disrupt traffic enough to negatively impact the global economy which they can do whether their cities have been razed to ground or not. This is not Afghanistan. Yemen represents a commercially vital shipping-lane that can be effectively shut down by well-armed guerillas who know how to exploit the vulnerabilities in the system. Brute force and superior firepower will not ‘carry the day’. Diplomacy and restraint are the way forward. Is anyone in Washington listening?

NOTE: As this article was going to press, the United States initiated airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. President Joe Biden has started a war on the Arabian peninsula without consulting Congress and without a formal declaration of war. This is from Bloomberg News:

The US and UK launched airstrikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, escalating a conflict with an Iranian proxy in response to a string of attacks that have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

… Heavy explosions were reported in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and the port city of Al Hudaydah…..

In a televised speech earlier Thursday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi vowed a “big” response to the US and its allies if they proceeded with military action against his group.

“We’ll confront the American aggression,” he said. “Any American attack won’t go unpunished.”…

The US had been debating whether to attack the Houthis for weeks. A key challenge had been finding a way to diminish the group’s ability to menace shipping, while avoiding further expansion of the conflict, according to a UK official familiar with the conversations. US and UK Strike Houthis Over Attacks on Shipping, Bloomberg

Final note: We must assume that the attack on Yemen was timed to coincide with South Africa’s genocide case against Israel which began earlier in the day.

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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). 

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“Another weighty bill plopping through Uncle Sam’s letter box.”

—Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, January 12, 2024

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Ukrainian drone manufacturers have ramped up production to the extent that the government budget is not sufficient to procure all of them.

Kyiv allocated 40 billion hryvnias ($1.14 billion) for investment in domestic drone production in 2023, a 10-fold increase over the previous year.

The number of state-contracted drone manufacturers rose to over 40 last year from less than a dozen a year before, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in July.

Over 200 Drone Manufacturers

By November, the number rose to 200, according to Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

“We need more drones at the frontline,” the minister said.

“Therefore, we are constantly thinking about what else we need to do in terms of innovation, taxes, increased funding, and attracting partners to produce even more drones for the defense forces.”

Lack of Funds 

Lack of sufficient state finances, however, has prevented full procurement, according to  Fedorov.

“As of today, the market has accelerated much faster than the amount of money to buy all the UAVs,” Reuters quoted the minister as saying on Ukrainian national television.

“Therefore we need to increase financing and open up markets further, so that prices fall thanks to competition and localisation of part (production) begins.” 

Expensive Drones

A price gap between the Ukrainian drones and cheaper Chinese drones such as the DJI is one of the main reasons behind the former’s low procurement.

“The cost of a new drone will initially be much higher because it lacks the advantages of mass production, which Chinese drones benefit from after years of research and development investments,” Ukraine’s Espreso TV quoted Commander of Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Borovyk as saying.

“This price comparison with Chinese drones serves as a benchmark for procurement. 

Government departments involved in buying drones face constraints; they can’t justify purchasing more expensive Ukrainian drones when cheaper Chinese ones are available. This would be considered a waste of public funds and potentially lead to legal issues.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine plans to procure at least one million drones in 2024, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on the first day of the year.

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A friend of mine who follows international developments closely recently observed that the United States and Israel have “own goaled” themselves to become widely perceived as together the two most evil governments on earth.

It is a judgement that is hard to disagree with regarding the Jewish state if one examines the abundant evidence that Israel is systematically committing war crimes against the largely unarmed Palestinian civilian population in an effort to bring about ethnic cleansing or even genocide in Gaza and on the West Bank.

The process would include removing the Palestinians physically and/or killing them if they resist, which is what is currently taking place.

Something like 10,000 dead Palestinian children attest to the brutality and inhumanity of the effort, together with nearly 400 doctors and nurses who were directly targeted plus more than 100 UN employees trying to bring aid to the civilians. What Israel is doing in monstrous, almost unimaginable. A number of senior Israeli officials have confirmed their government’s view, supported by public opinion, that a land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea swept clean of Arabs would be the most desirable outcome of current developments.

The United States is at the same time loathed alongside Israel because it is enabling the slaughter by the Israelis while simultaneously spewing the lies that it is somehow restraining or even making somehow more “humanitarian” Israel’s attack. Nothing could be farther from the truth as the White House recently worked hard to defang a major UN-led diplomatic effort that had global support to bring about a ceasefire that would enable emergency relief supplies to be introduced into the battered enclave. Instead, Israel now continues its daily bombardment of Gaza and controls entering supplies, slowing the process down while watching people die of famine and disease, not to mention from artillery shells and bombs. Oh, and the United States both funds the Israeli war effort and supplies the munitions that make it all possible. That makes Washington an accessory to the war crimes and to what most of the world considers to be a genocide being perpetrated openly and with malice.

In spite of all that, and the tons of evidence of atrocities of all kinds which even includes “friendly fire” killing of Jewish hostages, . 

Thursday saw the opening of the International Court of Justice hearings on evidence filed by South Africa demonstrating that Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians amounts to a genocide as defined by the 1948 “UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” which both Israel and the US have signed. On the day before it opened at the Hague, US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby preemptively stated that the charges were “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” State Department spokesman Matt Miller added that the United States is “not seeing any acts that constitute genocide” in Israel’s bombing and physical destruction of Gaza. Both comments are contrary to the fact that Israel is clearly creating at a minimum “conditions that don’t allow the survival of the population,” which is a definition of genocide. It all means that the United States will be fighting hard on behalf of its favorite son, doing whatever lying, coercing and cheating that it might take to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the crimes-against-humanity crew that he has surrounded himself with. As it is not a US interest to become a nation that condones the killing of tens of thousands of helpless civilians, one must ask the question

“Who owns you Joe and why are your top officials lying about what is taking place?”

As an American, what I find most offensive about the current state of play is that my country has been turned into a war criminal by a group of politicians and staff appointees controlled by a foreign government and its lobby whose ignorance is so profound that they should not be running a hot dog stand.

In particular, it is soul-destroying to hear the pathetic squealing coming out of a subservient White House every time Israel kills another hundred or so Palestinian children and women cowering in the ruins of a hospital, church or school. Each squeal in support of more “humane” or “restrained” warfare is followed by an assertion from Netanyahu to the effect that Israel’s war cabinet will make its own decisions about who it will kill and when.

One senior official Itamar Ben-Gvir even warned Biden that Israel is “no longer a star on the American flag.” Indeed, but it is not that Israel is ungrateful, as those two-thousand pound bunker buster bombs supplied by Biden can really do a number on them “terrorists.” The Biden Administration has now expedited two shipments of munitions to Israel worth about $253 million, relying on another lying rascal Antony Blinken of the State Department’s claim that the weapons were urgently needed for poor “victim” Israel to “defend itself, allowing circumvention of existing Congressional authority requiring legislative approval of arms sales. There is no step so low when pandering to Israel that the Biden Administration will not take it!

It is all as if Genocide Joe is in a hurry to get the job done on those pesky Palestinians so he can get back to the serious work of fooling the US electorate into voting for him a second time. He is now going around the country trying to sell the product that he is “saving democracy,” which he is claiming would be destroyed by Trump. As Trump is on an apparent revenge tour, Biden might actually be more right than he usually is, but one has to ask what is happening to American democracy with the current open borders and two wars being de facto fought simultaneously without any actual threat to the US having ever been involved and without the consent of the American people. Quite the contrary, opinion polls suggest the wars are very unpopular while Biden weasels his way to support the fighting while pretending that the US is not directly involved. Can one imagine voluntarily putting the survival of one’s nation in the hands of someone like Joe Biden?

Israel continues to play its own hand as the US has given it political cover to bomb and otherwise kill as it sees fit. Civilian deaths from bombing totaled 247 on one night alone in early January, but the Netanyahu government has just announced that it will be shifting from large scale troop movements in Gaza to more “directed” operations that will focus on Hamas concentrations, finding hostages, and destroying the tunnels that connect resistances points. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, described how the new phase of the campaign, hopefully to be completed by the end of the month, will involve fewer soldiers and airstrikes, though Israel has previously lied repeatedly about its actual intentions. Ironically, the US concern appears to be that the war is already expanding apart from Gaza. The violence by armed settlers directed against Palestinians on the West Bank is increasing and foreign targeting by Israel now includes the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, regular bombing missions directed against targets in Syria which recently killed a dozen senior Iranian officials near the Damascus airport, assassinations in Iraq, as well as the terror bombing in Tehran claimed by ISIS that killed 103. Both Israel and the US are known to have cooperative clandestine relationships with ISIS.

And there are several other issues that are worthy of mention. First, is how a steady stream of mostly Republican hawks have been making the pilgrimage to Israel to express their wholehearted support of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians. Most recently, former Vice President Mike Pence made the trip and was photographed near Israel’s border with Lebanon writing messages or possibly signing off on US made artillery shells that were about to be fired against Hezbollah. This pushing for direct US involvement in a impending war that should and could be avoided has had an impact in Washington, where clowns like Senator Lindsey Graham has called on the Biden administration to “…hit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map.” This pressure has prompted Biden to pledge to those in Congress calling for war and also to the Israelis that he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and do whatever it takes to stop it. As US intelligence has declared its judgement that Iran has no such weapons program, the alleged intelligence suggesting that Iran has a secret program will inevitably come from Israel and Netanyahu, so guess what? Israel will be working hard to produce fabricated evidence that will drag the US into a first strike against Iran, which will in turn hit back against US bases in Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq. It is all too reminiscent of the neocon-Israeli plot that dragged a clueless George W. Bush and Condi Rice into initiating the disastrous Iraq War in 2003.

And the other issue that absolutely no one chooses to talk about is the “secret” Israeli nuclear arsenal of 200-400 weapons together with delivery systems, which is definitely a potential game changer no matter what happens in Gaza and on the West Bank. Would Israel use the nukes? They sure would, especially if the war they are deliberately expanding should turn against them somehow. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was queried about how the rest of the world might respond to Israel using its nukes to effectively wipe out its Arab neighbors, he responded “That depends on who does it and how quickly it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force… We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”

The plan by America’s “best friend” and “closest ally” to nuke the world even has a name: “The Samson Option,” recalling how the Biblical strongman Samson brought down the temple where the Philistines were mocking him, killing thousands of them. So maybe Joe Biden should be thinking long and hard about how, and with whom, he is getting our country set up to go to war. Or just maybe it is already too late!

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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected]. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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The Israeli military implemented the “Hannibal Directive” during Hamas’ attack on 7 October, killing some of its own civilians and soldiers to prevent Hamas from taking them as captives back to Gaza, according to an investigation by Israel’s leading newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, which will be published in full on 12 January.

The Hebrew edition of the paper wrote on 11 January that

“one of the revelations revealed in the investigation is that at noon on October 7, the IDF [Israeli army] ordered all of its combat units in practice to use the ‘Hannibal Procedure’ although without clearly mentioning this explicitly by name.”

The order was to stop “at all costs any attempt by Hamas terrorists to return to Gaza, that is, despite the fear that some of them have abductees,” the paper wrote.

The Times of Israel described how the Hannibal procedure, or directive, “allows soldiers to use potentially massive amounts of force to prevent a soldier from falling into the hands of the enemy. This includes the possibility of endangering the life of the soldier in question in order to prevent his capture.”

A previous Haaretz investigation of the directive concluded that

“from the point of view of the army, a dead soldier is better than a captive soldier who himself suffers and forces the state to release thousands of captives in order to obtain his release.”

During the 7 October attack, Hamas and other Palestinians successfully took some 240 Israeli soldiers and civilians from the settlements (also known as kibbutzim) and military bases back to Gaza as captives. 

Hamas hoped to exchange them for the thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons.

Hamas used the Toyota pick-up trucks and motorcycles with which they entered Israel, as well as cars stolen from the settlements, to take Israeli captives back to Gaza. Some were also taken to Gaza on foot and even in carts pulled by tractors by other Palestinians who crossed into Israel after the Hamas fighters breached the border fence.

According to Yediot Ahronoth, about a thousand “terrorists and infiltrators” were killed in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip.

But the paper added it is not clear at this time how many of the Israeli abductees were killed due to the activation of the Hannibal directive: 

“In the week after the attack, soldiers of elite units checked about 70 vehicles that were left in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip. These are vehicles that did not reach Gaza, because on the way they were shot by a combat helicopter, an anti-tank missile or a tank, and at least in some cases everyone in the vehicle was killed.”

As journalist Dan Cohen reported, the Israeli military killed Efrat Katz, age 68, as she was being taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza on a cart pulled by a tractor on 7 October. Her daughter, Doron Katz-Asher, and two granddaughters, Raz, age 2, and Aviv, age 4, were also in the cart. 

Doron Katz-Asher later told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Israeli army opened fire on the tractor, injuring her two daughters and killing her mother, Efrat.

As previously reported by The Cradle, Israeli Air Force (reserve) Col. Nof Erez described Israel’s actions on 7 October as a “mass Hannibal” event in response to the use of Apache helicopters and tanks.

“What we saw here was a mass Hannibal. There were many openings in the fence, thousands of people in many different vehicles with hostages and without,” he told Haaretz.

The revelation that the Israeli military informally issued the Hannibal Directive raises questions about the deaths of many Israeli civilians who were initially presumed taken captive by Hamas on 7 October but whose bodies were later discovered near the Gaza border fence. 

For example, 80-year-old Carmela Dan and her 12-year-old autistic granddaughter Noya both vanished on the morning of 7 October. The family assumed both were taken captive by Hamas. But two weeks later, Israeli authorities announced their bodies “were found near the border fence,” Foreign Policy reported.

On 19 October, Carmela’s niece told NBC News,

“There was an operation by the Israeli army some days ago at this point to retrieve bodies, and we believe that it took them time to run what we know to be three DNA tests and to identify that it was both of them.”

In another widely reported case, an Israeli brigadier general, Barak Hiram, acknowledged to the New York Times that he gave an order on 7 October for a tank commander to open fire on a home in Kibbutz Be’eri to kill Hamas fighters, even though 14 Israeli captives were barricaded inside the home as well.

At roughly sundown, Hiram told the tank commander:

“The negotiations are over. Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties.”

The Hamas fighters and all but one of the captives were killed, including 12-year-old twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni. Their bodies were so severely damaged and burned that it took weeks to identify them.

In an interview with Channel 12 on 26 October, before Hiram had publicly acknowledged giving the order to fire on the home in Be’eri, the general alluded to his logic on 7 October. He stated,

“I am very afraid that if we return to Sorana [Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv] and try to hold all kinds of negotiations, we may fall into a trap that will tie our hands and not allow us to do what is required, which is to go in, manipulate, and kill them [Hamas] …”

In another case in Be’eri, an elderly couple, Mati and Amir Weiss, were allegedly killed by Hamas fighters who entered their home on the morning of 7 October. Mati sent a message to their son Yuval that the fighters had entered the house and that Amir had been shot.

Yuval, who was a member of the kibbutz security team, provided their location to commanders in the army, telling them Hamas fighters were inside the home.

To explain the elderly couple’s death, Haaretz writes, “Mati and Amir Weiss were attacked by terrorists who blew up one of the walls of their safe room and shot them.”

But the picture of the Weiss home published by Haaretz shows a massive hole in the wall of the home and significant damage to the roof, suggesting a tank shell or helicopter strike had hit it.

The Hannibal Directive was also evident on 7 October at the Nova music festival, where Hamas allegedly massacred 364 Israeli partygoers.

Though Israeli army ground units did not respond to the Hamas attack on 7 October for many hours, the Southern District Commander of the Israeli Police, Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen gave the order, code-named “Philistine Horseman,” at 6:42 am to dispatch Border Police units to various sites to confront the Hamas attack. 

These units included elite counter-terror units, known as Yamam, who were dispatched by helicopter, according to Israeli officials speaking with the New York Times.

These units apparently opened fire on partygoers as Hamas was taking people captive. 

Germany’s Bild reported the testimony of Maya P., who survived the festival. Bild writes, “The terrorists who set up the road blockades came disguised as police officers and soldiers.” 

“People ran into them hoping to be rescued, and then they were executed,” Maya said, crying.

Another survivor, Yuval Tahupi, stated to CNN, “A police lady told us most of the terrorists are dressing like soldiers, as cops, as security guards, so don’t trust anyone.”

Both Maya and Yuval could not imagine that Israeli forces had fired on them, so they assumed Hamas fighters must have been disguised as soldiers and police. 

Israeli attack helicopters also were deployed to the Nova site, opening fire on partygoers as well.

Haaretz reported that

“According to a police source, an investigation into the incident also revealed that an IDF combat helicopter that arrived at the scene from the Ramat David base fired at the terrorists and apparently also hit some of the revelers who were there.”

The BBC documented an apparent instance of the Hannibal Directive by helicopter fire. The British state broadcaster writes that car dash cam footage its journalists reviewed shows “a group of men appear. Only one is armed – they appear to be there to loot … Two people, a man and a woman, who were hiding in a car are discovered and led away.”

“The woman who was taken suddenly reappears two minutes later. She jumps and waves her arms in the air. She must think help is at hand – by this time, the Israeli Defence Forces had began [sic] their efforts to repel the incursion. But seconds later, she slumps to the floor as bullets bounce around her. We don’t know if she survived.”

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Featured image: Abandoned and damaged cars parked at the festival (12 October) (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Western media have not stopped reporting negative news about the performance of the Ukrainian military since the launch of its counteroffensive last summer, in which more than 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or injured. This time, The New York Times described the conditions in which Kiev’s troops operate, which have long suffered from a shortage of soldiers, making it extremely difficult to advance.

The outlet interviewed members of the 117th Separate Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine. One of them said, “Physically we are exhausted.” While they claimed that morale was high, they could not hide the deficiencies in their ranks.

“We are short of people,” said an intelligence commander of the 117th Brigade who uses the call sign, Banderas, supposedly after the actor Antonio Banderas, but this is likely a cover story, and he is instead probably named after Stepan Bandera, a World War II Ukrainian Nazi collaborator. “We have weapons but not enough men,” Banderas added.

Both officers and soldiers admitted to the American newspaper that “Russian attacks were so intense that operating near the frontline has never been so dangerous.”

“Soldiers said that since March they had suffered the additional devastating power of glide bombs, half-ton explosives unleashed from planes that smash through underground bunkers,” noted the newspaper.

“They would send them two by two by two, eight in an hour,” said a 27-year-old soldier of the 14th Chervona Kalyna National Guard Brigade, known as Kit. Like others interviewed, Kit identified himself by his call sign, according to military protocol. “It sounds like a jet coming down on you,” he said, “like hell’s gate.”

Kit told the New York Times that he believes the Kiev regime “should be doing more” to reinforce its arsenal of drones, a weapon that, according to him, Moscow uses effectively. He highlighted that, unlike Russia, Kiev still relies on civilian volunteers and donors for its drone program.

According to the newspaper, Russian forces use a type of “subterfuge” to play tapes of gunfire on drones and, in this way, make Ukrainian soldiers believe they are being attacked, leading them to abandon their bunkers and reveal their positions.

In addition, Ukrainian forces also deal with smoke grenades launched by Russian drones, which “causes a very strong pain in the eyes and a fire, like a piece of coal, in your throat, and you cannot breathe,” according to a Ukrainian soldier identified as Medic.

“The toll is heavy for all units along the front. Almost everyone has been wounded or survived a narrow escape in recent months,” soldiers said to the outlet.

The revelations made to the New York Times match recent reports from the front about the increasingly bleak picture for the Ukrainian military following the failure of last year’s counteroffensive, a new round of Russian missile and drone attacks, concerns that NATO may abandon Ukraine, and fears of the possibility of a Russian advance along the front.

Zelensky himself said that many of Ukrainians were no longer committed to the war. The exhaustion is felt by the soldiers, as revealed in the New York Times, but also by ordinary citizens and the West. Western political and military leaders recognise that there is no hope of regaining Ukraine’s lost territories, but Zelensky maintains the delusion to citizens that even Crimea could be captured.

The Russian and Ukrainian armies strive to stabilise the front and carry out strategic strikes, but this requires the appropriate capabilities. In this context, it is Russia showing its superiority in a war of attrition aimed at exhausting the morale and resources of Ukraine at a time when the country is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign support.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov told The Wall Street Journal in an article published on January 8, that Kiev has been using FPV drones instead of artillery because it does not have enough ammunition, with Ukrainian forces firing one or two shots for every five or six from the Russians.

The newspaper also completed an analysis of the strategic situation last week, showing that Russia’s military budget and weapons production capabilities have increased dramatically over the past two years. “Ukraine is also investing in domestic military production capabilities, but it is no match for a much larger Russian military-industrial complex running at full steam. Kiev could fall further behind as Western support dries up,” WSJ reported.

US and European officials have repeatedly warned that Ukraine’s military will fail against Russia without further cash injections from NATO allies, confirming Moscow’s characterisation of the Ukrainian crisis as a “proxy war” between Russia and the Western bloc. Whilst soldiers, society and Westerners are tired of fighting, Zelensky insists on continuing the futile war effort against Russia.

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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Joining forces: The International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine has enabled thousands of foreign volunteers to join the fight against the Russian invaders. Image: Mil.gov.ua / Wikimedia Commons

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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What a show.  As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was promoting a message of calm restraint and firm control in limiting the toxic fallout of Israel’s horrific campaign in Gaza, a decision was made by his government, the United Kingdom and a few other reticent collaborators to strike targets in Yemen, including the capital Sana’a. These were done, purportedly, as retribution for attacks on international commercial shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The wording in a White House media release mentions the operation’s purpose and the relevant participants.

“In response to continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, conducted joint strikes in accordance with the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense”.

US Air Forces Central Command further revealed that the “multinational action targeted radar systems, defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.”

The rationale by the Houthis is that they are targeting shipping with a direct or ancillary Israeli connection, hoping to niggle them over the barbarities taking place in Gaza. As the Israeli Defence Forces are getting away with, quite literally, bloody murder, the task has fallen to other forces to draw attention to that fact. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdusalam’s post was adamant that

“there was no threat to international navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas, and the targeting was and will continue to affect Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine.”

But that narrative has been less attractive to the supposedly law-minded types in Washington and London, always mindful that commerce trumps all. Preference has been given to such shibboleths as freedom of navigation, the interests of international shipping, all code for the protection of large shipping interests. No mention is made of the justification advanced by the Houthi rebels and the Palestinian plight, a topic currently featuring before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Another feature of the strikes is the absence of a Security Council resolution from the United Nations, technically the sole body in the international system able to authorise the use of force under the UN Charter. A White House statement on January 11 attributes authority to the strikes much the same way the administration of George W. Bush did in justifying the warrantless, and illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003. (Ditto those on his same, limited bandwidth, Tony Blair of the UK and John Howard of Australia.) On that occasion, the disappointment and frustrations of weapons inspectors and rebukes from the UN about the conduct of Saddam Hussein, became vulnerable to hideous manipulation by the warring parties.

On this occasion, a “broad consensus as expressed by 44 countries around the world on December 19, 2023” and “the statement by the UN Security Council on December 1, 2023, condemning Houthi attacks against merchant and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea” is meant to add ballast. Lip service is paid to the self-defence provisions of the UN Charter.

In a separate statement, Biden justified the attack on Houthi positions as necessary punishment for “unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.” He also made much of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, “a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.” No mention of the Israeli dimension here, at all.

In addition to the pregnant questions on the legality of such strikes in international law, the attacks, at least as far as US execution was concerned, was far from satisfactory to some members of Congress. Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashita Tlaib was irked that US lawmakers had not been consulted. “The American people are tired of endless war.” Californian Rep. Barbara Lee warned that,

“Violence only begets more violence. We need a ceasefire now to prevent deadly, costly, catastrophic escalation of violence in the region.”

A number of Republicans also registered their approval of the stance taken by another Californian Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, who expressed with certitude the view that Biden had “to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another middle eastern conflict.” Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah was in full agreement, as was West Virginia Republican Rep. Thomas Massie 

“Only Congress has the power to declare war,” Massie affirmed.

Unfortunately for these devotees of Article I of the US Constitution, which vests Congress approval powers for making war, the War Powers Act, passed by Congress in November 1973, merely requires the president to inform Congress within 48 hours of military action, and the termination of such action within 60 days of commencement in the absence of a formal declaration of war by Congress or authorisation of military conflict. These days, clipping the wings of the executive when it comes to engaging in conflict is nigh impossible.

There was even less of a debate about the legality or wisdom of the Yemen strikes in Australia.  Scandalously, and with a good deal of cowardice, the government preferred a deafening silence for hours in the aftermath of the operation. The only source confirming that personnel of the Australian Defence Forces were involved came from Biden, the commander-in-chief of another country. There had been no airing of the possibility of such involvement.  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had, in not sending a warship from the Royal Australian Navy to join Operation Prosperity Guardian, previously insisted that diplomacy might be a better course of action. Evidently, that man is up for turning at a moment’s notice.

In a brief statement made at 4.38 pm on of January 12 (there was no press conference in sight, no opportunity to inquire), Albanese declared with poor conviction that,

“Australia alongside other countries has supported the United States and the United Kingdom to conduct strikes to deal with this threat to global rules and commercial shipping.”

He had waited for the best part of a day to confirm it to the citizenry of his country. He had done so without consulting Parliament.

Striking the Houthis would seem, on virtually all counts, to be a signal failure. Benjamin H. Friedman of Defense Priorities sees error piled upon error:

“The strikes on the Houthis will not work. They are very unlikely to stop Houthi attacks on shipping. The strikes’ probable failure will invite escalation to more violent means that may also fail.”

The result: policymakers will be left “looking feckless and thus tempted to up the ante to more pointless war to solve a problem better left to diplomatic means.” Best forget any assuring notions of taking the sting out of the expanding hostilities. All roads to a widening war continue to lead to Israel.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Email: [email protected]

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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In the worlds of journalism and political activism, John Pilger stands out as one of the greatest and most courageous voices of our time. In a career that reaches as far back as the Vietnam War, John has been a persistent thorn in the side of corrupt political power and, in particular, the West’s belligerent and repressive Imperialism. He went to the places he reported on, often at great risk to himself. He defended the disenfranchised, the weak and the vulnerable against the rapacious colonialist power complexes that preyed upon the sectors of society that could not fight back. He was a champion of truth and many of us have stood on his shoulders to attempt to emulate his courage under fire. The world has lost a powerful force for justice and truth.

It was a deep understanding of how power operates in liberal democracies that marked John out. Unlike so many of his peers, John recognised the powerful constraints that acted upon journalists — the political and corporate pressures, the propensity to self-censor, the unwarranted deference to official sources — and he fought hard against these. At the same time, he was unique among journalists in terms of understanding the role and significance of propaganda. Usually dismissed by corporate/legacy media journalists as a feature of non-democratic ‘enemy’ states, John understood the extent to which propaganda is used in order to manipulate Western populations, especially in times of war.

And it was because of this informed approach to the craft of journalism that he became such an effective voice for marginalised and repressed people around the world, and those of us who have sought to challenge the belligerent and nefarious foreign policies pursued by the US and its allies.

Early in his career he joined the UK’s Daily Mirror, becoming chief foreign correspondent, at a time when the US war of aggression against the Vietnamese people was at its height. His first film, The Quiet Mutiny for ITV’s World in Action in 1970*,* documented the collapse in morale amongst US forces in Vietnam.

Four years later, Vietnam: Still America’s War revealed the ongoing US engagement in Vietnam and its consequences for civilian suffering. He also documented events in Cambodia in Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia, noting the culpability of Nixon and Kissinger in terms of laying the ground work for that disastrous phase in Cambodia’s history. When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, with the backing of the US, and unleashed a genocidal campaign that wiped out one third of the population, Pilger shined a spotlight on these crimes.

During the 1990s, when the liberal classes were celebrating the End of History and the West’s purported new found humanitarianism, John maintained his critical gaze. The documentary Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq documented the brutal consequences of the UN sanctions in place against Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. In this case, the US-led sanctions regime and the resulting deaths of half a million children was infamously justified by the then US Secretary of State Madeline Albright as a ‘price worth paying’. Senior UN officials Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck both resigned over these horrors whilst UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, by highlighting the basic lie underpinning the sanctions regime regarding alleged Iraqi production and possession of chemical and biological weapons, effectively foretold the deceptions that would subsequently be used in 2002/2003 to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq. John was there to help keep the record straight.

When the US invaded Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 event, John was quick to point out the injustice of such actions and the thinly disguised resource interests driving US policy. He also noted the plausibility that 9/11 itself was a case of LIHOP (let it happen on purpose). And when the US turned its guns on Iraq, stage two of their regime-change war plans, he helped convey the lies and hypocrisy. His 2010 documentary The War You Don’t See served as a masterful critique of wartime propaganda and how it works to obscure the scale of death and human misery.

David Miller worked with John on his film, which opens with the now famous horrific footage of a US Apache helicopter attack on Iraqi civilians. He was only able to use that footage because of the heroic efforts of Julian Assange and Wikileaks to get leaked classified material into the public domain. David was in touch with John regularly during the War on Terror, and John provided advice and volunteered four of his pieces to be what became the opening section of the book David edited in 2003 called Tell Me Lies.

Throughout, Pilger was attentive to understanding and giving a voice to the victims of power. For much of his career this meant providing a voice to people who would otherwise be drowned out by the propaganda emanating from Western power centres. He relayed the plight of the Aborigines in his Australian homeland in The Secret Country: the first Australians fight back (1984) and Utopia (2013), and documented the brutal expulsion of the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands by the British so as to enable the construction of the US military base in Diego Garcia.

John had been an early advocate of the Palestinians, producing the film Palestine is Still the Issue in 1977. Twenty-five years later in 2002, he made a companion film with the same name, a pointed reminder that the liberation of Palestine had still not been achieved. There is a scene in the film which John describes as follows. It is worth quoting at length for the strong parallels between then and what is now happening in Gaza.

In Ramallah, following an invasion of the West Bank by the late Ariel Sharon in 2002, I walked through streets of crushed cars and demolished houses, to the Palestinian Cultural Centre. Until that morning, Israeli soldiers had camped there. I was met by the centre’s director, the novelist, Liana Badr, whose original manuscripts lay scattered and torn across the floor. The hard-drive containing her fiction, and a library of plays and poetry had been taken by Israeli soldiers. Almost everything was smashed, and defiled.

Not a single book survived with all its pages; not a single master tape from one of the best collections of Palestinian cinema.

The soldiers had urinated and defecated on the floors, on desks, on embroideries and works of art. They had smeared faeces on children’s paintings and written — in shit — “Born to kill”. Liana Badr had tears in her eyes, but she was unbowed. She said, “We will make it right again.”

What enrages those who colonise and occupy, steal and oppress, vandalise and defile is the victims’ refusal to comply. And this is the tribute we all should pay the Palestinians. They refuse to comply. They go on. They wait — until they fight again. And they do so even when those governing them collaborate with their oppressors.

This passage prefigures, and perhaps in retrospect can be seen as more perceptive than it might then have been, in apprehending the full horror of Zionism. In Gaza, we have seen the systematic extermination of civilians and especially children, attacks on all elements of Palestinian society especially those that keep the society running, bakeries, doctors, journalists, fuel supplies, and of course there are multiple videos emerging of unimaginable abuses including triumphalist representations of humiliation of Palestinians and of naked Jewish supremacism.

As Western governments have become ever more authoritarian and prone to heavy-handed censorship of dissent on the home front, Pilger has stood by those courageous enough to speak out against war and corruption. He viscerally understood what it is to be maligned, persecuted and threatened by the privileged and powerful when it is their agendas you threaten with the truth. Naturally, John was an instinctive and strong supporter of Julian and Wikileaks — and his support never wavered, unlike many on the left who were gulled by propaganda lines about women’s rights, which turned out to fabrications of a sort familiar to astute observers of the CIA and other Western Intelligence agencies.

Indeed, John has become a cornerstone for the now longstanding battle to save Assange from the clutches of the US Security State. John understood that this battle, as well as a personal and very human one for Assange and his wife, Stella Assange, and family, represents the most important case in Western democracies regarding the battle between freedom of expression and nefarious, ill-intentioned, governments.

The British and US governments, soaked in the blood of the countless victims killed by their eternal belligerence, have already succeeded in making an example of Assange in order to create a chilling effect amongst journalists. Extradition and incarceration will seal that. But victory in this critical case will be a powerful blow against US-led imperialism abroad and authoritarianism on the home front. A huge amount is at stake, and that is why the Julian Assange case was such an important battle for John to champion.

John’s support for those pushing back against corrupt power was ubiquitous. When scientists from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) courageously spoke out about the manipulation of an alleged chemical weapons attack investigation in Syria, Pilger gave his support.

He also supported Professors Mark Crispin Miller, David Miller, Piers Robinson and Chris Simpson when they established the Organisation for Propaganda Studies in 2017, and he served on its advisory board. John was always ready to support progressive initiatives and to give sage advice on contemporary issues.

In 2018, he wrote to David about his work on the Novichok and anti-Russian propaganda which he referred to as ‘superb’:

‘I must say the events of the past few weeks have left my jaw permanently ajar. Doesn’t it say so much about media/education that [Theresa] May et al can be so confident that they can get away with their fabrications and manipulations? You rightly call them ‘spectacularly successful’. I’m glad you mentioned that millions of British citizens remain sceptical — as no doubt they are — yet the ‘filter bubble’ remains in control. For the first time in my life, I have to try hard not to be dispirited.’

In March 2019, David and Piers published co-authored work on the UK government funded propaganda project, called the Integrity Initiative, and, in response, the Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan denounced us as “working against democracy”. John was his usual supportive self, writing to us that ‘he’s attacking you … because you’ve been effective. You’ve revealed them. In its way, it’s a compliment. Let me know what happens.’ Later in 2019, he was supportive of the campaign to defend Chris Williamson in what John called ‘his struggle against the Kafkaesque nonsense about anti-semitism’.

In private, John was a quiet, kind and studious man with a lovely sense of humour, and the three of us are honoured to have known him. When Vanessa was going through a difficult phase in the BBC harassment campaign, he replied with the words:

You’ll get through this. My mother, a Latin teacher, used to say to me — in Latin — ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down’. She despaired when I could never remember it …! You threaten them — in the same way Julian threatens them. That’s to be proud of.

Another time Vanessa was discussing an article outlining the 75 years of regime change wars, clandestine operations, and CIA or MI6 meddling in Syria’s internal affairs since their independence from French mandate in 1946. John, as always, gave sage and constructive advice, and he included an excerpt from a 2014 article entitled — From Pol Pot to ISIS: “Anything that flies on everything that moves”

Like Ebola from West Africa, a bacteria called “perpetual war” has crossed the Atlantic. Lord Richards, until recently head of the British military, wants “boots on the ground” now. There is a vapid, almost sociopathic verboseness from Cameron, Obama and their “coalition of the willing” — notably Australia’s aggressively weird Tony Abbott — as they prescribe more violence delivered from 30,000 feet on places where the blood of previous adventures never dried. They have never seen bombing and they apparently love it so much they want it to overthrow their one potentially valuable ally, Syria. This is nothing new, as the following leaked UK-US intelligence file illustrates: 

“In order to facilitate the action of liberative [sic] forces … a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals [and] to proceed with internal disturbancesin Syria. CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main [sic] incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals … a necessary degree of fear … frontier and [staged] border clashes [will] provide a pretext for intervention … the CIA and SIS should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.”

That was written in 1957, though it could have been written yesterday. In the imperial world, nothing essentially changes. Last year, the former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas revealed that “two years before the Arab spring”, he was told in London that a war on Syria was planned. “I am going to tell you something,” he said in an interview with the French TV channel LPC, “I was in England two years before the violence in Syria on other business. I met top British officials, who confessed to me that they were preparing something in Syria … Britain was organising an invasion of rebels into Syria. They even asked me, although I was no longer Minister for Foreign Affairs, if I would like to participate … This operation goes way back. It was prepared, preconceived and planned.”

The only effective opponents of ISIS are accredited demons of the West — Syria, Iran, Hezbollah. The obstacle is Turkey, an “ally” and a member of NATO, which has conspired with the CIA, MI6 and the Gulf medievalists to channel support to the Syrian “rebels”,  including those now calling themselves ISIS. Supporting Turkey in its long-held ambition for regional dominance by overthrowing the Assad government beckons a major conventional war and the horrific dismemberment of the most ethnically diverse state in the Middle East.

John was a consummate journalist and human being. He was the epitome of effective reporting on the crimes of the ruling elite and their military adventurism. His writing style was unique — compassionate, informative and deeply researched — imbued with his own personal experiences. When the US/UK proxy war in Yemen struck in 2015, and the US-manufactured cluster bombs began to decimate the northern regions literally flaying the skin of children that were being targeted, we were reminded of another John Pilger quote:

If those who support aggressive war had seen a fraction of what I’ve seen, if they’d watched children fry to death from Napalm and bleed to death from a cluster bomb,they might not utter the claptrap they do.

John cared, it was that simple.

He also said ‘It’s only when journalists understand the role they play in this propaganda, it’s only when they realize they can’t be both independent, honest journalists and agents of power, that things will begin to change.’ We hope his legacy will be a new generation of journalists who will take this advice to heart. Thank you John for your lifetime contribution to our enlightenment. You will never be forgotten and you will be hugely missed both personally and professionally.

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Vanessa Beeley is an independent journalist and photographer who has worked extensively in the Middle East – on the ground in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Palestine, while also covering the conflict in Yemen since 2015. In 2017 Vanessa was a finalist for the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism which was won by the much-acclaimed Robert Parry that year. In 2019, Vanessa was among recipients of the Serena Shim Award for uncompromised integrity in journalism. Vanessa contributes regularly to UK Column News, RT, Press TV and many independent media outlets. You can find her work at her Substack and Patreon.

David Miller is an investigative researcher, broadcaster, and academic. He is the founder and co-director of the lobbying watchdog Spinwatch and editor of Powerbase.info. David is also Producer of a weekly show, Palestine Declassified, on PressTV, and he is a regular columnist at al Mayadeen English. David was unjustly sacked by Bristol University at the behest of the Zionist movement.

Dr. Piers Robinson is a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, convenor of the Working Group on Syria, Media and Propaganda, associated researcher with the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global ‘War on Terror’, member of Panda and BerlinGroup21. He researches and writes on propaganda, conflict and media and was Chair/Professor in Politics, Society ad Political Journalism, University of Sheffield, 2016-2019, Senior Lecturer in International Politics (University of Manchester 2010-2016) and Lecturer in Political Communication (University of Liverpool, 1999-2005).

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday night Israel “has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” rebuffing hard-right ministers’ calls to rebuild Israeli settlements in the territory and encourage Palestinian emigration.

The premier’s English-language video posted to social media came on the eve of the International Court of Justice in The Hague hearing a highly charged case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

“I want to make a few points absolutely clear,” Netanyahu said. “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”

“Our goal is to rid Gaza of Hamas terrorists and free our hostages. Once this is achieved, Gaza can be demilitarized and deradicalized, thereby creating a possibility for a better future for Israel and Palestinians alike.”

At the same time, a senior Likud member insisted Wednesday that Netanyahu had previously expressed support for the idea of the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza, but took it off the table in the face of pushback from the US.

“The prime minister told me two weeks ago in this room that it’s a good idea,” MK Danny Danon told The Times of Israel, seemingly confirming an earlier report that the prime minister had informed a Likud faction meeting that he was working to facilitate voluntary migration.

"I want to make a few points absolutely clear:
Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.
Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law. pic.twitter.com/amxFaMnS0P

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 10, 2024

Click here to read the full article on The Times of Israel.

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Featured image: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a message on Israel’s war with Hamas, January 10, 2024. (Video screenshot)

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Courtesy of OpenSecrets.org, I saw a chart on AIPAC contributions to U.S. senators that showed that all 100 senators have taken AIPAC money.

Leading the way are senate “giants” like Mitch McConnell (nearly two million dollars) and Chuck Schumer (roughly $1.7 million).

Talk about bipartisanship! I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the U.S. Senate is so strongly pro-Israel. It obviously has nothing to do with the power of AIPAC and all that money.

Bipartisanship and no divisiveness. Who says we have a dysfunctional and divided Congress? Nonsense!

Here’s how AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) describes itself on its own website:

The Largest Pro-Israel PAC in America

WE STAND with those who stand with Israel. The AIPAC PAC is a bipartisan, pro-Israel political action committee. It is the largest pro-Israel PAC in America and contributed more resources directly to candidates than any other PAC. 98% of AIPAC-backed candidates won their general election races in 2022.

That last sentence is a killer. AIPAC is reminding Members of Congress that if you want to be elected, or win reelection, you very much want AIPAC on your side. And if you don’t kowtow to their agenda, they will do everything in their power to defeat you.

Imagine if there was an American Palestine Public Affairs Committee, an APPAC, that contributed hundreds of thousands if not millions to every U.S. senator and that boasted of a 98% success rate in getting APPAC-anointed candidates elected or reelected. Do you think maybe the U.S. Senate would have a different position on Gaza and the West Bank?

Speaking of Gaza, I watched Chris Hedges interview Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian. Pappé put it simply and clearly: Israel is engaged in “incremental genocide” against the Palestinian people, a genocide in slow motion, a strategy of “displacement and replacement.” The “displacement” of the Palestinians is done by mass bombing, mass destruction, mass death, and (hopefully for the Israelis) mass migration, and the “replacement” will come when Jewish settlers take possession of Gaza (after a lot of munitions cleanup and infrastructure redevelopment, I suppose, probably paid for by the U.S. taxpayer).

There’s an Orwellian term for this. For mass death followed by forced expulsion, Israel is using the term “voluntary migration” (or “voluntary” emigration). But of course there is nothing “voluntary” about any of this.

If U.S. government officials appear clueless about what’s happening in Gaza, they’re not. They’re just bought and paid for.

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“When every country turned to protect its own private interest, the world public interest went down the drain, and with it the private interests of all.“  —Charles Kindleberger (1910-2003), American economic historian, (in his book “The World Depression 1929-1939”, 1973)

“The world is a dangerous place to live—not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” —Albert Einstein (1879-1955), (As quoted in the book by Josep Maria Corredor “Conversations avec Pablo Casals“, 1955)

“I think it is the beginning of a new Cold War… I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else.” —George F. Kennan (1904-2005), American diplomat and historian, (in The New York Times, May 2, 1998, about the U.S. expansion of NATO toward Russia.)

“While defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy—or of a collective death—wish for the world.“ —John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th U.S. President, 1961-1963, (in an important speech on Monday, June 10, 1963)

In 2024, most economies are expected to face economic headwinds. Indeed, that is why in many countries, especially in Europe and in North America, polls indicate that people’s main preoccupations are economic topics, such as the lingering inflation, high personal and public debts and the likelihood of a more or less severe economic recession.

An economic-social issue such as the influx of hordes of illegal immigrants will also be a source of concern, especially in Europe and in North America, especially if the rates of unemployment increase.

Similarly, the ongoing bombing wars in Ukraine and in Palestine, as well as the growing tensions between the United States and China and those between the U.S. and Iran, are foreign policy issues that could raise concerns.

Important Economies According to Their GDP vs. Smaller Rich Economies Per Capita

According to World Bank data, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States, at mid-year 2023, was $25,463 billion. This places the U.S. economy number one with 24.3 percent of the world economy.

The economy of the European Union (EU), a bloc of 27 countries, represents 21.7 percent of global GDP and is the second largest in the world. China’s economy follows in third place, with 15.0 percent of global GDP.

However, in terms of living standards (GDP per capita), small economies dominate the list, with Luxembourg ($127,580) in the lead, followed by Norway ($106,328), Ireland ($103,176) and Switzerland ($92,381).

An Overview and Expectations

The economic cycles of the major economies do not coincide perfectly, and vary somewhat depending on their economic structures and the economic policies followed by their governments.

The central question today is whether or not the coming economic year will be one in which major economies will be able to avoid a full-fledged economic recession.

The exuberance in the stock and bond markets seems to indicate that they are anticipating a gentle economic slowdown, driven by a marked decline in inflation and multiple cuts in interest rates to come.

The alternative situation to consider, contrary to the general optimism, could be that of a year characterized by a classic economic recession, more or less severe, a consequence of economic and financial imbalances accumulated in the past. It could be caused also by unexpected economic, financial and geopolitical shocks to come.

Currently, the general economic consensus is that the fight with higher interest rates that the main central banks are waging against inflation, (which was generated by large public deficits and by excessive monetary creation to counter the harmful economic effects of the 2020-2022 pandemic.), will succeed.

Thus, the central question boils down to whether the coming year will witness a very manageable mild economic slowdown or that many countries could rather have to go through a longer and more severe economic recession, with a minimum of two successive quarters of contracting GDP.

The American Economy

Even if the U.S. economy is presently the most resilient of all, being at a virtual full employment level, with an official 3.7 percent unemployment rate, and with a rising consumer confidence, there are nevertheless some cracks appearing.

For example, the Conference Board’s leading economic index is still declining and forecasting a mild economic recession in the United States in 2024. Also, even though U.S. employment still holds steady, job openings are declining. This could be an indication that business investment and production plans in some sectors are being adjusted downwards.

The reason why the U.S. economy is performing better than other economies, besides the contribution of its vibrant technology sector, is partly due to its heavily subsidized arms industry, which is one sector that is prosperous and in constant growth. It comprises more than 200,000 companies, the most prominent being Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX (Raytheon), General Dynamics and Boeing.

Those companies are important contributors to the industrial growth and economic prosperity of states such as Alabama, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and California.

The European and Canadian Economies

It is even possible that future economic data, to be released next March, will confirm that several European countries and Canada are already into a recession, with two quarters in a row of decline in domestic production.

An energy crisis stemming from the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is adding to the rise in interest rates in slowing down European economies, notably those of the 20 countries of the Eurozone. Presently, the German and Italian economies would seem to be the best candidates for a recession.

In Canada, the unemployment rate is still respectable at 5.8 percent. But job growth is anemic, with only100 new jobs created last December.

Additionally, largely due to an open-door immigration policy, the Canadian population is growing at a record rate, by far the most of all industrialized countries, while employment growth stagnates. This is translating into a decline in living standards, as measured by real GDP per capita.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has even published a study, in March 2023, in which it highlighted that Canada is lagging behind developed economies in terms of the standard of living of its population, which continues to decline. The standard of living in Canada has been deteriorating since 2014, under the effect of unbridled immigration and poor general productivity growth.

Geopolitical Risks

What could turn a mild economic recession into a more serious one would be an expansion of the ruinous and ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East, or new and wider hegemonic wars to come.

In such a case, as most governments face high debt levels (i.e. total public debts greater than their yearly total domestic product), such developments would be likely to reignite inflation and cause a further surge in interest rates in years to come.

It is rare for economic conditions and geopolitical risks to be linked so closely, but unfortunately, this is the type of world we live in today.

Conclusions

The economic conundrum in 2024 is whether the expected economic slowdown will be mild and not very disruptive to labor and stock markets, or rather, whether unforeseen financial events, such as the failure of a large financial institution, could precipitate a more serious and severe global economic recession.

The geopolitical ball is murkier because the U.S. government of Joe Biden does not seem anxious to end military conflicts, even though the President had initially promised, at the start of his administration, to rely more heavily on diplomacy to resolve international disputes.

Nevertheless, the year 2024 could be an important turning point, both economically and geopolitically.

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This article was originally published on the author’s blog site, Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay.

International economist Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay is the author of the book about morals “The code for Global Ethics, Ten Humanist Principles” of the book about geopolitics “The New American Empire“, and the recent book, in French, “La régression tranquille du Québec, 1980-2018“. He was Minister of Trade and Industry (1976-79) in the Lévesque government. He holds a Ph.D. in international finance from Stanford University. Please visit Dr Tremblay’s site or email to a friend here.

Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image source

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The Code for Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles

by Rodrigue Tremblay, Preface by Paul Kurtz

Publisher: ‎ Prometheus (April 27, 2010)

Hardcover: ‎ 300 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1616141727

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1616141721

Humanists have long contended that morality is a strictly human concern and should be independent of religious creeds and dogma. This principle was clearly articulated in the two Humanist Manifestos issued in the mid-twentieth century and in Humanist Manifesto 2000, which appeared at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Now this code for global ethics further elaborates ten humanist principles designed for a world community that is growing ever closer together. In the face of the obvious challenges to international stability-from nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation, economic turmoil, and reactionary and sometimes violent religious movements-a code based on the “natural dignity and inherent worth of all human beings” is needed more than ever. In separate chapters the author delves into the issues surrounding these ten humanist principles: preserving individual dignity and equality, respecting life and property, tolerance, sharing, preventing domination of others, eliminating superstition, conserving the natural environment, resolving differences cooperatively without resort to violence or war, political and economic democracy, and providing for universal education. This forward-looking, optimistic, and eminently reasonable discussion of humanist ideals makes an important contribution to laying the foundations for a just and peaceable global community.

Click here to purchase.

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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As more nations continue to find viable solutions to bypass the US dollar for other alternative currencies, the US government’s stranglehold on global finance and trade continues to decline. No one should be surprised at this point since Washington has been using its currency as a weapon of war including the economic sanctions it has imposed on various nations across the globe and its open threats for regime change and so on against those who are unwilling to obey Washington’s Old-World Order. So you can expect major challenges for Washington. Most of the world are currently working to end the reign of the US dollar which has been a reserve currency since 1944. The BRICS+ coalition and the idea for a new multipolar world order is already taking place, it’s inevitable.

An analysis from J.P. Morgan, ‘De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? sounded the alarm concerning the risk of the US dollar losing its reserve currency position. According to Alexander Wise, a member of Strategic Research team at J.P. Morgan, a geopolitical shift has taken place,

“However, its hegemony is in question, especially in light of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. The risk of de-dollarization, which is a periodically recurrent theme throughout post-war history, has returned into focus due to geopolitical and geostrategic shifts.”

It was well-known that US sanctions would backfire at some point in time:

In particular, the U.S. sanctions on Russia have made some countries wary about being too dependent on the greenback. In addition, against a backdrop of rising interest rates, a strong U.S. dollar is becoming more expensive for emerging nations, leading some to trade in other currencies. In July 2023, Bolivia became the latest South American country — after Brazil and Argentina — to pay for imports and exports using the Chinese renminbi

The report asks one important question, “What are the potential implications of de-dollarization, and what could this mean for global markets and trade?” How could the US dollar lose its world reserve status?

There are two scenarios that could erode the dollar’s status. The first includes adverse events that undermine the perceived safety and stability of the greenback — and the U.S.’s overall standing as the world’s leading economic, political and military power. For instance, increased polarization in the U.S. could jeopardize the perceived stability of its governance, which underpins its role as a global safe haven. 

The second factor involves positive developments outside the U.S. that boost the credibility of alternative currencies — economic and political reforms in China, for example. “A candidate reserve currency must be perceived as safe and stable, and must provide a source of liquidity that is sufficient to meet growing global demand,” Wise noted.

These scenarios will undermine the role of the US dollar geopolitically and that would weaken Washington’s position as a global player, “Fundamentally, de-dollarization would shift the balance of power among countries, and this could in turn reshape the global economy and markets.” So, who would it effect the most according to Wise? Obviously, the US consumer:

The impact would be most acutely felt in the U.S., where de-dollarization would likely lead to a broad depreciation and underperformance of U.S. financial assets versus the rest of the world. “For U.S. equities, outright and relative returns would be negatively impacted by divestment or reallocation away from U.S. markets and a severe loss in confidence. There would also likely be upward pressure on real yields due to the partial divestment of U.S. fixed income by investors, or the diversification or reduction of international reserve allocations”

De-dollarization would drastically impact U.S. growth as foreign investments would decline as inflationary pressures would dramatically increase the cost of imported goods and services including food, oil and gas that will create uncertainty among the US population.  Relatively speaking, the US would become an unstable environment for any foreign investment:

De-dollarization could reduce institutional, investor and corporate demand for the dollar over time, and in size could cause its value to fall. If there is a specific catalyst for the move, de-dollarization could also result in heightened exchange rate volatility, especially as over 60 currencies are pegged to the greenback 

Although the use of the dollar has declined, its share of global currencies in use remains slightly higher.  Meera Chandan, Co-Head of the Global FX Strategy research team at J.P. Morgan said, “Overall dollar usage has declined, but it remains within long-run ranges and its share remains elevated compared to other currencies.” She continued, “The dollar’s transactional dominance remains top-of-class despite secular declines in U.S. trade shares. On the other hand, de-dollarization is evident in FX reserves, where the dollar’s share has declined to a record low of 58%.”  The renminbi could replace the dollar, but it will take time according to Alexander Wise who said that “one might naturally expect the renminbi to assume a greater role in the global economy over time, but this transition would likely occur over the course of decades.”  Wise says that China must do several things for the renminbi to become an alternative currency and that includes “Relaxing capital controls, opening markets, implementing measures to promote market liquidity, bolstering the rule of law, reducing appropriation and regulatory risk, and promoting Chinese government bonds as an alternative safe asset — these could all cement China and the renminbi as a credible alternative to the U.S. and the dollar.”  The point is clear, for researchers at J.P. Morgan to ring the alarm on the inevitable demise of the US dollar is a sign of things to come.

BRICS+ and De-Dollarization Is Moving Forward 

According to Al Mayadeen news, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani implied that Iran “will work on the de-dollarization of trade and economic and financial transactions within the group of major emerging economies, revealing that some efforts in this direction are already underway.” Bagheri Kani said that

“We have planned many missions and joint work with other BRICS members within the framework of this organization,” he continued “one of the most important tasks is the de-dollarization of trade and economic transactions and financial cooperation.”

It was a newsworthy story that the US mainstream media decided to not report on,

“In August, the 15th top-level BRICS summit in Johannesburg extended invitations to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to join the bloc. Their full membership, except for Argentina, is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024.”

Argentina’s new Western puppet, Javier Milei had declined an invitation to join the BRICS coalition and “vowed to dollarize the Argentinian economy and has been compared to former US President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.”  Le Monde Diplomatique interviewed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and said that

the decision was “one of the clumsiest and stupidest things Milei has done against Argentina” and that “the new president in Buenos Aires has taken his country back to the 19th century and is turning it into a “vassal of the imperial unipolar world.” 

Maduro is hopeful that Venezuela “would be accepted as a permanent member of BRICS+ at the next summit in Russia in October 2024. Caracas expects to acquire full membership in BRICS proper “sooner rather than later.”

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that

“the establishment of new financial and banking platforms has opened a “new chapter” in banking relations between Iran and Russia, with the two countries agreeing to ditch the US dollar and instead trade in local currencies.” 

Iran and Russia will be using their own national currencies with new enhanced platforms including “non-SWIFT messaging systems and establishing bilateral brokerage relations.” Western sanctions are one of the main reasons that Iran and Russia decided to bypass US dollars which should not surprise anyone,

“Iran and Russia, both under draconian Western sanctions, have repeatedly criticized the US and its European allies for weaponizing the dollar as a tool to put pressure on other countries.” 

Keep in mind that sanctions are not the only reason to move away from the US dollar as Business Insider suggests

“3 reasons countries around the world want to break up with the dollar” claims that “While the macro-geopolitical environment is spurring countries to seek alternative currencies, there’s long been uneasiness over the dollar’s outsized dominance in global trade and finance.” 

The Global South including China and Russia have many reasons why they want to ditch the dollar, one of them being that the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has too much power over the rest of world’s economy. As for the position of the US dollar reserve currency status,

“This position has afforded the US what Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the president of France from 1974 to 1981, called an “exorbitant privilege” and that “one facet of this privilege is that the US might not run into a crisis if it is unable to pay its debt when the value of the dollar falls sharply because Washington could simply issue more money” which has a negative impact on their economies, “some countries, including India, have said that they are sick and tired of US monetary policies holding them hostage — going as far as to say that the US has been an irresponsible issuer of the world’s reserve currencies.” 

And one last reason for most of the world to ditch the dollar is when it gains, the world loses as imports become expensive, especially for emerging nations.

Business Insider mentioned India’s frustration with the US dollar as it attempted to use the rupee to pay for crude oil imports, but it has failed so far according to The Economic Times:

India’s push for rupee to be used to pay for import of crude oil has not found any takers as suppliers have expressed concern on repatriation of funds and high transactional costs, the oil ministry told a parliamentary standing committee. The default payment currency for all contracts for import of crude oil is US dollar as per the international trade practice. However, in a bid to internationalize the Indian currency, the Reserve Bank of India on July 11, 2022, allowed importers to pay with rupees and exporters be paid in rupee.

While there has been some success with non-oil trade with a select few countries, rupee continues to be shunned by oil exporters

Business Insider also reported on India’s failed de-dollarization efforts, ‘India wanted to ditch the US dollar and buy oil in rupees. No seller wanted to get involved’ said that “India’s push to internationalize the rupee has been seen as part of a wider drive among nations from China to Brazil to reduce their reliance on the dollar in international payments and investments” they also mention Indonesia’s moves to bypass the US dollar in efforts to expand the use of the rupiah.

Even in the Caribbean nation of Jamaica, people have taken notice that de-dollarization is a necessary step to break the chains of US dominance according to Deuane Taylor, a business analyst at Tax Administration Jamaica wrote an interesting article in LinkedIn ‘Jamaica and De-dollarization’ that explains why de-dollarization can improve Jamaica’s economy. On the positives of de-dollarization, he said that

“it can help reduce the risks associated with being too dependent on a single currency and may improve economic stability and sovereignty. On the other hand, we may see an increase in transaction costs and a reduction in the efficiency of international trade and finance.” 

Besides the fact that de-dollarization would increase the use of the Jamaican dollar that can “increase in the stability of the Jamaican economy by reducing our vulnerability to fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate. This stability can help Jamaican businesses better plan and forecast their costs and revenues.” The most beneficial aspect of de-dollarization will be the “reduction of the transaction costs with doing business” since exchange fees, for example, will be much more affordable for both businesses and customers.

Bottom line is that it won’t be easy to transition out of the US dollar. The world will need to ‘adapt’ to local or international currencies while balancing the health of their respective economies. As Taylor concluded to what needs to happen before Jamaica completely de-dollarizes its economy,

“Overall, the impact of de-dollarization on Jamaican businesses depends on various factors, such as the degree of reliance on the US dollar, the level of economic stability, and the level of preparedness of businesses to adapt to changes in currency usage.”

The BRICS coalition for a multipolar world will advance in the next couple of years. Saudi Arabia has just joined BRICS with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE also becoming new member. BRICS nations will lead the way to de-dollarization no matter what Washington and its European minions do to undermine the coalition with economic sanctions, threats, regime change and any other plans they have up their sleeves to continue their dominance of the world’s economic order. But, like the former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” and that punch is de dollarization,

The world knows that de-dollarization is a solution that will stop US imperialism and its economic order. Sputnik reported that “A third of UN member states have already opted for de-dollarization and decided to rely on national currencies to conduct payments, Sputnik’s analysis has found.” Roughly about 68 countries are on board to de-dollarize their economies:

According to the study, the most decisive calls to scrap the greenback and replace it with national currencies came from politicians whose countries are members of major regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and BRICS, which originally сomprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – but was expanded to include a host of other nations on January 1

The report also mentioned Kenya’s President, William Ruto, who has told local leaders to stop using dollars and use the pan-African payment system for transactions. 

“Sputnik’s investigation indicated that many countries have already realized the fact that the dollar poses a threat not only as a means of payment, but also as an instrument of savings, so the concept of de-dollarization should be considered more broadly.”

If that’s not bad enough for the US dollar regime, even their closest ally, Israel, is moving away from the US dollar in favor of the yuan according to Sputnik,

“Israel, for instance, earlier announced that it would reduce the dollar’s share in the country’s foreign exchange reserves in favor of the yuan” according to the report.

You know it’s bad when a country like Israel who is dependent on the US government for basically everything including fighting their wars in the Middle East is abandoning the US dollar.

Most of the world is already considering using other alternatives to the US dollar and they are taking the necessary steps to make a transition in a new multipolar world, but unfortunately, that will take some time since a world war is on the way to stop that transition. Maybe that’s why the US government is getting ready to launch a multi-front war in the first place. Remember when Libyan President, Muammar Gaddafi, had an idea to create a gold-backed African dinar to bypass the US dollar and the euro? Gaddafi was overthrown and murdered as Libya was being systematically destroyed.

Washington will do everything in their power to ensure that nothing can challenge the US dollar even if it means starting a world war, but that would only push countries further away from the toxic currency.

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Timothy Alexander Guzman writes on his own blog site, Silent Crow News, where this article was originally published. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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Sweden‘s civil defence minister has warned his country could soon face the prospect of war and urged citizens to join voluntary defence organisations in preparation for a potential armed conflict.

In a rousing speech that took note of his country’s hotly anticipated accession to NATO this year and ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, Carl-Oskar Bohlin called on ordinary citizens to ask themselves ‘who are you if war comes?’.

Speaking at Sweden’s annual ‘Folk och Försvar’ (Society and Defence) conference in Sälen this past weekend, the minister said:

‘It is human to want to view life as you wish it was, rather than as it actually is.

‘For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand. But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,’ Bohlin said.

Sweden has not been involved in an armed conflict since a brief war with neighbour Norway in 1814 as the latter sought to establish its own constitution and parliament. it stayed neutral during WW2.

‘There could be war in Sweden… The world is facing a security outlook with greater risks than at any time since the end of the Second World War,’ the civil defence minister continued.

Click here to read the full article on Daily Mail Online.

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“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” a South African lawyer told the top U.N. court.

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South African representatives argued before the International Court of Justice on Thursday that Israel is engaged in a genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, subjecting the enclave to “merciless” bombing with the clear intent to wipe out the Palestinian population.

“They have deplored anyone feeling sorry for the uninvolved Gazans, asserting repeatedly that there are no uninvolved, that there are no innocents in Gaza, that the killers of the women and the children should not be separated from the citizens of Gaza, and that the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves,” South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said during his presentation.

Thursday’s hearing also featured remarks from South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela, lawyer Adila Hassim, and international law professor John Dugard, each of whom laid out an aspect of South Africa’s case against the Israeli government.

Hassim argued that Israel’s “first genocidal act” is the “mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza,” pointing to the U.S.-armed military’s use of 2,000-pound bombs in southern Gaza—the region to which Israeli forces ordered Gazans to move earlier in the war.

“No one is spared. Not even newborns,” said Hassim, displaying photos of mass graves in the Gaza Strip. “U.N. chiefs have described it as a graveyard for children.”

Hassim made the case that Israel is guilty of violating articles 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d of the Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as harm inflicted “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.”

“Israel has deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” said Hassim. “Israel has forced—forced—the displacement of about 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to.”

South Africa’s presenters sought to demonstrate genocidal intent in part by directly quoting high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ngcukaitobi pointed to Netanyahu’s repeated invocation of biblical passages to paint Gazans as modern-day Amalekites.

The attorney also played footage of Israeli soldiers chanting that they will “wipe off the seed of Amalek” and that there are “no uninvolved civilians” in Gaza.

“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” said Ngcukaitobi. “These statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.”

South Africa’s legal team decided against sharing highly graphic videos and photos during its presentations, saying it did not want to turn the court’s proceedings “into a theatre for spectacle.”

“South Africa’s application in this court today is built on a foundation of clear legal rights, not images,” the legal team said Thursday.

South Africa is asking the ICJ to adopt “provisional measures” to halt Israel’s mass killing and displacement of Gazans, many of whom are starving and being stalked by disease.

Israel is set to offer its counter to South Africa’s case on Friday, which will mark the first time Israel has defended itself in person at the United Nations’ highest court.

In the days ahead of the ICJ’s public hearings, Israeli officials pressured governments around the world to publicly denounce South Africa’s case. The United States, Israel’s top ally and leading arms supplier, has dismissed South Africa’s arguments as “meritless.”

But a growing number of national governments are backing South Africa, including Brazil, Malaysia, Bolivia, and Pakistan. South Africa’s ICJ effort has also drawn massive support from grassroots organizations across the globe.

“Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide,” reads an open letter signed by more than 1,000 unions, popular movements, and other groups. “If a majority of the world’s nations call for a cease-fire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel—what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?”

[From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.]

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Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

Featured image: Public hearings in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on January 11, 2024. (Photo: Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Article by Holly Johnston and Sinan Mahmoud

The National News

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Does anybody believe that the ICJ will accuse Israel of committing genocide on Palestinian people, notably in Gaza, as accused by the government of South Africa?

Is there any lawyer, or team of lawyers in the world, that would dare to condemn Israel for crimes against humanity?

And even if there were courageous lawyers and judges to take on Israel for its horrendous and atrocious crimes, does anyone believe Israel – or the Zionists running Israel, the driving force behind the war; protected and supported by almost the entire Western world, or rather the governments of the Western world – would blink an eye and pay attention?

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VIDEO. ICJ Hearings in The Hague

Click Screen to View the ICJ Hearings, January 11, 2024

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They have an agenda – and this agenda is to be fulfilled, come hell or high water.

PM Netanyahu is the perfect “fall guy” for this job. He is inhuman. He has no morals, no ethics. He is ideal. That is why the US and the “system” – or call it the Matrix – pushed him into the PM position for the third time in November 2022.

Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has previously held the Office of Prime Minister (PM) from 1996 to 1999, and again from 2009 to 2021. He is the chairman of the ultra-conservative, neoliberal Likud party. Netanyahu is the longest tenured PM in the country’s history, having served for a total of over 16 years. He is also the first Prime Minister having been born in Israel after Israel’s establishment.

In November 2019, Netanyahu was officially charged with fraud, breach of trust and for receiving bribes. He would likely be in prison, if he would not have been shoved into his third PM position – compliments of the powerful Zionist lobby in the United States and the support of all those who are doing the Zionists bidding in the US and around the world. “Bibi” serves the Western elite’s interests better as Israel’s PM than as a prisoner.

Why?

Because Netanyahu is ideal – heartless in killing civilians, mostly women and children, eradicating one or more generations of Palestinians – to achieve the multiple-headed agenda, the creation of Greater Israel (see map).

The Zionist’s Greater Israel would become THE Power House of the Middle East, possibly of the world, exactly as predicted by the Talmud which may be called the Israeli equivalent to the Christian Bible.

The power of the Chosen People has no limits and must obey to no-one.

With Palestine gone, more than a trillion cubic feet (probably much more) of natural gas off-shore of Gaza would be absorbed by Israel. This is already the current plan.

Greater Israel would be the second or third largest power in terms of controlling hydrocarbon resources worldwide. And as we know, the world’s energy supply depends on about 85% of petrol and gas.

Who controls the energy, controls food supply. And who controls food, controls the people.

To expand Zionist-Israel’s power even further, the plan for Greater Israel is also to control the shipping lines – thereby controlling the European economy. What is already going on today — Yemeni Houthis pirating Israeli and US ships in the Red Sea and vessels of any other nation attempting to supply Israel, are attacked, and taken over by Houthi warriors in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

Aat least 18 European nations have already said they will avoid the Suez Canal for “security reasons”, meaning that the cost for them doing business with their Asian markets is going to skyrocket. And a key income for Arab-Egypt which owns the Suez Canal would be drastically reduced.

But there is an alternative. The so-called Ben-Gurion Canal that has been on the drawing board since the early 1970s, crossing from the Med Sea just outside of the current Gaza border, through Israel and the West Bank into the Red Sea, effectively rendering the Suez Canal obsolete. A massive reduction of shipping traffic might bring the Suez Canal into receivership, potentially ruining Egypt’s economy. Closing the Suez Canal may then become the logical next step.

In other worlds, Greater Israel would potentially also exercise command over the entire shipping routes for Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, Syria, from reaching their Asian market destinations. Of course, they could go around Africa, and a third to half of business might be lost, due to high costs and long shipping time.

Alternatively, everybody might use the “future” Ben Gurion Canal.

Does still anybody believe the ICJ would make one iota of difference for the pursuits of Greater Israel, even if Israel were to be accused of genocide and ordered to stop, and pay reparation to Palestine?

It would not stop Israel from pursuing her goal, nor would it stop the Western nations, notably the US, from continuing in supporting all the murderous actions of Israel – already expanding to the West Bank and into Southern Lebanon, soon stepping up to absorb all of Lebanon, as planned.

So, what is this South African initiative of attempting to legally try Israel for her crimes on humanity? A mere fig leaf for Western morals and ethics?

Maybe it is more.

Maybe it is an attempt to show to the world whether international law has still a role to play – or, if not, make the elite’s rules-based order official. For all to see. A wake-up call. One more of them for people and politicians to see that they are just puppets following a lawless small elite of dirty-rich people and foremost, of a corporate controlled worldwide mayhem.

South Africa’s initiative may have an agenda that does not meet the eye of the average politician, nor may it affect the immediate fate of Israel – but it may have repercussions way beyond the Middle East.

It may become a blunt demonstration to the Western civilization that our system is sick, so sick, recklessly lawless, with no common sense; that this matrix must be abandoned and rebuilt by a peoples-run society of the People for the People.

Is this just a dream?

Well, all revolutions, any paradigm shift of such magnitude, where light is to replace the supremacy of darkness has started and will start with a dream. A multifaceted dream. A dream that sparks a fire; a fire burning down the trash and creating fertile ground for new seeds to grow.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.  

Featured image: The International Court of Justice. Photo credit: ICJ

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I would like to share my opinions on the article entitled, “Canada’s Foreign Student Surge Prompts Changes and Anxiety” written by Vjosa Isai and published in the Canada letter on January 6, 2024.

Excerpt from the article

Recruiting foreign students who pay higher tuition fees — roughly five times as much as Canadians to obtain an undergraduate degree, according to the census agency — has always been attractive to the country’s institutions. It has also become increasingly important for the federal government, which is vying to hit a lofty goal of attracting 1.45 million immigrants between 2023 and 2025.

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In Canada, the surge of overseas students has fanned concerns about the readiness of university and college communities to adequately host them, and about efforts to ensure that their labor and their finances are not exploited. The immigration minister, Marc Miller, recently announced a handful of measures taking effect this month for foreign students.

For the first time since the early 2000s, the government has increased the savings threshold that foreign students must have to qualify for a study permit to about 20,600 Canadian dollars, up from 10,000 dollars. And it will continue, until at least April, to allow international students to work more than 20 hours per week, a policy it had previously walked back.

Without providing details, Mr. Miller’s ministry said it was also looking into ways that it could ensure colleges and universities, which are provincially regulated, accept only as many students as they can assist in finding housing.

“Ahead of September 2024, we are prepared to take necessary measures, including significantly limiting visas, to ensure that designated learning institutions provide adequate and sufficient student supports,” Mr. Miller said last month at a news conferencein which he announced the changes. He accused some institutions of operating the “diploma equivalent of puppy mills,” depriving those foreign students of a positive academic experience in the face of outsize hardships and a lack of intervention by provincial governments.

–Vjosa Isai, The New York Times, January 6, 2024

First, let me commend the editorial team and author of the article for raising awareness on the paradoxes of the influx of international students’ presence in Canada, their contributions, and a variety of struggles in their living, studying, and working experiences. I like the fact that the article shared the broader context of Canada’s recent immigration policy towards international students that influenced the recent surge. In fact, Canada’s major policy document is outlined in its International Education Strategy (2014-2018) and the recent one (2019-2024) where Canada states its ambitious intent to increase the number of international students and to utilize international education as one of the key drivers to foment national, economic, and social development. 

Despite the ambitious intent outlined in these key policy documents and Canada’s immigration policy, international students do not only contribute five to six times more in tuition fees than domestic students, but they also contribute $22 billion to the Canadian economy, according to Global Affairs Canada. 

The issues of labour exploitation due to precarious citizenship status (study permits/temporary status) should be examined in the longer trajectory of the Canadian project of nationhood. In other words, we should interrogate the ways in which Canada established its nation building project and the premises on which nationhood was predicated. When one does an extensive examination of this topic, there are histories that affect the present-day predicament of international students’ lived experiences of exploitation and precarity that are often not discussed thoroughly in national discussions.

One of such issues that is often not discussed thoroughly is Canadian universities and classrooms, as sites of ongoing racial-colonial and imperial encounters that promulgates multiple racisms/ systems of oppression, repressive institutional structures, subordination, and subjugation as well as indigenous land dispossession. Professor Sunera Thobani (2022) argues about the same issues raised in this article about precarious labour and citizenship status in one of her texts on ‘Coloniality and (in) Justice in the University: Counting for Nothing?’ Thobani (2022) debates that there have been multiple and consistent attempts to de-radicalize insurgent, critical scholarship but also to obscure histories that influence contemporary problems. 

Precarity is not only a matter of temporary resident status or an exploitation of labour. It is also an existential phenomenon whereby international students are socially constructed as “bodies of out of place” and while they are formally invited and integrated into Canadian society and institutions such as university through immigration policies, they continue to experience feelings of isolation, silencing, erasure of multiple histories, cultures and identities, social marginalization and labour exploitation because of the values that underpin Canadian state formation, national identity, and foreign policy coordination, domestically and internationally. I also think this article opens important avenues for international/ transnational dialogue about considerations for Canadian policy makers to engage in transformative public policy on international education. 

For international education to fulfill a sustainable development imperative, policy objectives and actions need to go beyond simply attracting an influx of international students because of Canada’s race in the global competition for international students and instead shift focus on making immigration policy more equitable. Already the Government of Canada has made an important stride in this area by removing limitation of working hours for international students through Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), but more can be done as the years, progress.

I am recommending lowering the threshold of proof of financial status for international students from low-income backgrounds and countries and Canada increasing financial aid for international students in the form of partial, full scholarship and student funding programs for a variety of programs of studies at different levels (undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D.).

I am also aware that the Government of Canada has invested heavily in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) programming especially at the university level where there are a number of high academic positions that are dedicated to centralized responsibilities but nevertheless problems of underrepresentation of racialized faculty and students persist as well as feelings of isolation and exclusion. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) needs to have a stronger anti-racism and anti-colonial focus for it to be more effective because equity, diversity inclusion (EDI) currently stands, this regime is a “containment zone” for broader transformational changes.

I also suggest greater collaboration between Canadian employers and Canadian academic institutions along with support from the Government of Canada to enforce stronger labour regulations that protect the rights of international students as student-migrant workers and alleviate labour exploitation in precarious industries such as the services sectors, which they are heavily concentrated in, according to institutional reports and academic journals on Canadian international education. 

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Tina Renier is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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American imperialism is almost as old as the United States itself and one of the first obvious symptoms of this was the infamous Monroe Doctrine. This controversial foreign policy framework was adopted two centuries ago and has since served as the blueprint of Washington DC’s aggression against the world. Under the guise of suppressing European colonialism, the US effectively proclaimed that the “New World” is solely its geopolitical backyard, plunging both Americas into centuries of imperialism, colonialism and oppression. Needless to say, this has had disastrous consequences for Latin America. Washington DC engaged in carving up new states whenever this was in its interest, resulting in the near-constant fragmentation of almost any potential adversary.

Mexico was the first of the Latin American nations to experience the full spectrum of the “blessings” that later became known (or rather infamous) as “freedom and democracy”. Through coercion, blackmail, covert undermining and direct aggression, America occupied the entirety of former northern Mexico, with these territories becoming what today is known as the southern/southwestern US. And while Washington DC’s direct expansionism largely ended with the occupation and annexation of these Mexican territories, its power projection south of the Rio Grande never stopped. The goal was to turn Mexico, once a major power in the Americas, into a failed state that could be destabilized at any given moment, all in order to prevent it from ever becoming a contender to unchecked US power.

One of the unintended (or perhaps intended) results of this was the constant flow of Latino migrants into America, serving as cheap labor for US business interests. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has been using these immigrants, both legal and illegal, for political purposes, aiming to change the demographics of entire counties and even states in order to secure power in these areas. Expectedly, this was always extremely unpopular with the Republicans, as well as the more conservative parts of American society. In recent years, it resulted in absolute chaos on the southern border, with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of largely undocumented migrants flooding Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent than the previous three.

The border crisis has only exacerbated President Joe Biden’s already atrocious reputation with the voters. However, even his unpopularity can hardly be measured with that of some GOP neocon warmongers such as the infamous Lindsey Graham. In March last year, the bellicose Republican senator from South Carolina threatened Mexico with military action after four US citizens were taken hostage (two of which were later killed) by members of the CDG (short for Gulf Cartel). Graham stated he would “go tough” on the cartels, blaming Mexico for the incident and threatening the US would launch a military intervention in the country.

“I would put Mexico on notice. If you continue to give safe haven to drug dealers, then you are an enemy of the United States,” he stated during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Waters, further adding: “I’m going to introduce legislation … to make certain Mexican drug cartels [are listed as] foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary to protect America from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico.”

Back in January 2023, Republicans Mike Waltz and Dan Crenshaw called for an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Mexican cartels for drug trafficking “that has caused destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.” Graham, along with 16 Republican cosponsors, supported the bill and criticized the Biden administration for the deteriorating situation at the southern border, claiming that “up to 100,000 people have died from fentanyl poisoning coming from Mexico and China, and this administration has done nothing about it.”

“I would tell the Mexican government if you don’t clean up your act, we’re going to clean it up for you,” he threatened.

Such threats certainly didn’t sit well with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who finally got the chance to get back at Washington DC. Namely, the troubled Biden administration is forced to beg for his help to “stem the tsunami of illegal immigrants entering the US”, as the reputable Zero Hedge put it recently. According to their report, in late December, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has repeatedly maintained that the “border is secure”, traveled to Mexico with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to beg for assistance in what officials called “preliminary” discussions with AMLO. However, this comes with a price.

AMLO laid out the following conditions:

• US approval for a plan to deploy $20 billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries
• Suspend the US blockade of Cuba
• Remove all sanctions against Venezuela
• Grant at least 10 million Hispanics living in the US the right to remain and work legally

The very fact that these demands have more to do with Latin America as a whole rather than Mexico alone shows that they are finally making a united stand against US imperialism. Washington DC would certainly refuse at any other time. However, with less than eleven months left until the 2024 presidential election, the troubled Biden administration needs to act fast. The southern border saw a record 300,000 migrants processed by CBP in December alone, meaning that the GOP stands to win a lot of points if the crisis isn’t averted or at least put under control.

“The two countries are expected to continue talks in Washington DC later this month. Mexico brings significant leverage to the negotiations,” three US and Mexican officials were quoted by NBC News, which also added: “López Obrador’s administration would prefer that President Joe Biden win re-election in November, given Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions during his time in office. But Biden is quickly running out of options to fix a problem that is driving down his poll numbers without increased support from Mexico.”

It can be argued that the belligerent thalassocracy’s attempts to revive the Monroe Doctrine are failing for the very first time in centuries, as 650 million Latin Americans are finally getting the chance to push back against it as part of an increasingly united front. And while the US might have scored a small victory by having Argentina pull out of its BRICS+ membership bid at the very last moment, the admission of new members on January 1 will certainly encourage Latin America to seek closer ties with either BRICS+ itsel for at least its individual founding members.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

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A member of the Israeli Knesset has doubled down on comments he made in November when he called to “burn Gaza now” and is now claiming there are “no innocents” in areas where the Israeli military ordered evacuations.

“I stand behind what I said. It is better to burn, to take down buildings, than that our soldiers should be harmed,” said MK Nissim Vaturi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

“I said to ‘burn Gaza.’ What does it mean to burn? To go in and rip them apart. There should be no thoughts, no considerations. The soldiers of the IDF should not think for one second and be hurt because we need to be humane,” Vaturi added.

Discussing the areas where the Israeli military ordered evacuations, Vaturi said,

“We evacuated them all – we succeeded in evacuating 1,900,000 in an organized fashion, and there are 100,0000 left. I don’t think that there are any innocents there now – not now, and not when I made my statement.”

Many Palestinian civilians stayed in northern Gaza and other areas following evacuation orders from the Israeli military for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that many of the so-called “safe zones” were still being bombed.

Vaturi’s comments come a day before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold its first hearing on South Africa’s genocide case that it has brought against Israel. The 84-page filing submitted by South Africa cites genocidal rhetoric from Israeli officials as evidence of Israel’s intent to commit genocide against Gaza’s Palestinian population.

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Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

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Eudravigilance – first teenager death of 2024 – Myocarditis

 

 

• EU-EC-10016565056, Jan.3, 2024, girl age 12-17 years
• “influenza like illness”
• “malaise”
• “myocarditis – fatal – results in death”

According to EudraVigilance, Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine has harmed 39,015 children in Europe ages 0 to 17, 70% of them were girls!

According to WHO VigiAccess – Over 180,000 pediatric adverse events have been reported with COVID-19 vaccines, 65% were girls.

Japanese authorities admit 1st teenage death from COVID-19 Vaccines – it’s a 14 year old girl who had 3rd Pfizer mRNA and died in her sleep 45 hours later.

Read this article from The Asahi Shimbun.

My take on this story: The paper by Nushida et al is well known and was published in July 2023.

Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur – 10 year old Bridget Ho had Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Feb. 4, 2022 and died on Nov. 26, 2023 from what appears to be cardiac arrest.

Malaysia, Johor Baru – Oct. 23, 2021 – 14 year old girl Noor Hayati Nabila Abdullah had 1st Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Oct. 3, 2021 and 5 days later she was found dead by her mother in their living room.

Taoyuan, TAIWAN – Feb. 9, 2023 – Taiwan Government compensates 1st victim of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a girl 5-11 who died after 2nd Pfizer mRNA dose and myocarditis.

AIPEI (Taiwan News) — The board overseeing the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s (MOHW) Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) made public the rulings on nine cases involving COVID-19 jabs on Sunday (Feb. 26).

Vietnam – 2nd child to die in Vietnam after Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccination was a grade 9 girl (age 14) from Hanoi (Nov. 2021).

• After Vietnam started vaccinating with Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccines on Nov. 23, 2021, within two weeks, 5 children were dead
• Child #1: 16 yo boy (Bac Giang, vaxxed Nov. 24, died Nov. 28, 2021) (click here)
• Child #2: 14 yo girl (Hanoi, vaxxed Nov. 27, died Nov. 28, 2021) (click here)

Vietnam (Jan. 17, 2022) – Grade 9 girl (age 14) died less than half an hour after she received her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Jan. 17, 2022 (received 1st dose on Dec. 3, 2021).

 

 

Thailand – 16 year old girl (daughter of Thanphit Sakunmat, from Lampang) died as a result of blood clots in lungs three days after taking 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Oct. 27, 2021.

 

 

Brazil – 16 year old Isabelli Borges Valentim, student at a private Christian school had 1st Pfizer mRNA on Aug. 25, 2021, developed blood clots and died 8 days later on Sep. 2, 2021 (click here) (click here).

 

Brazil – 18 year old model Valentina Boscardin developed clots and died suddenly after 2 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA jab, on Jan. 9, 2022 (click here).

 

 

Ararangua, Brazil – 13 year old Vanessa Martins Figueiredo had Pfizer vaccine on Nov. 9, 2021, symptoms started 5 days later with vomiting, paralysis, she died on Jan. 10, 2022 (click here) (click here).

 

Brazil – 16 year old Anite Vitoria Ribeiro Bentivoglio had 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine on Oct. 20, 2021, became ill, fatigue, vomiting, died Jan. 20, 2022 (click here).

 

 

Brazil – 5 year old girl Helena DeMarco Lavalle had 1st dose of Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine on Feb. 18, 2022 and died 8 days later in her sleep.

 

 

 

Germany (Hollfeld, Bavaria) – 15 year old Cheyenne Braun had 2nd Pfizer mRNA on Nov. 1, 2021, suffered a massive heart attack on Nov. 4, 2021 and died on Nov. 17, 2021.

 

 

Germany, Cuxhaven: A 12 year old girl died shortly after Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in Oct. 2021 (click here). 

The preliminary autopsy protocol suggested that the child’s death had occurred as a result of the vaccination.

Due to this temporal connection, the district health department commissioned the body to be autopsied, which was then carried out in the Hamburg University Hospital.

“We are faced with a particularly tragic case here”, said the head of the health department, Kai Dehne.

France – 16 year old Sofia Benharira, student at Lycee Valabre de Luynes-Gardanne, had 2nd Pfizer mRNA jab on Sep. 14, 2021, chest pain on Sep. 20 and died suddenly on Sep. 21, 2021 after 2 cardiac arrests & clots (click here).

France – 16 year old Melanie Macip died of cardiac arrest 5 days after her 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine she took on Aug. 2, 2021 (click here).

Italy (Rufanno) – 14 year old girl Majda El Azrak got her 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA on Aug. 17, 2021, was hospitalized & went into a coma on Aug. 19, and died on Sep. 13, 2021 (click here).

 

 

Italy – 16 year old girl Giulia Lucenti died less than 24 hours after 2nd Pfizer mRNA jab on Sep. 8, 2021 (click here).

My Take…

This crime is taking place on a global scale.

Who is protecting these young girls? No one.

It didn’t take long for the first 2024 child death from Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine to be announced, on Jan.3, 2024.

This substack article, written to honor the first child Pfizer mRNA death of 2024, is a reminder that children continue to be killed by these toxic, failed mRNA products.

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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.

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A key aspect of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit and press conference in Israel on Tuesday was to make a strong show of condemning South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, set to start at The Hague this week.

The US top diplomat blasted the case filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as “meritless” and described the whole initiative as “galling” – also saying that it will be a distraction while world powers need to be focused on achieving lasting peace in Gaza.

“The charge of genocide is meritless,” he said. But then in the same press conference he admitted that the “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high.”

The first hearing in the case will be held Thursday, focused on South Africa’s 84-page application to the ICJ , which describes Israel’s military campaign as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of the Palestinian population of Gaza.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby last week said initially, “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact, whatsoever.”

Israel has gone on a full-court diplomatic press pushing back against the case. There’s not much that the court can enforce in terms of action regardless, but a ruling against Israel would be a huge reputational black eye.

Starting last month, Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a blistering rebuke in response, rejecting the filing “with disgust” and called Pretoria’s accusations a “blood libel” – essentially saying the South African government’s charge is being fueled by antisemitism.

Israel had also blasted Pretoria for sympathizing with terrorists who massacred civilians:

“South Africa’s claim has no factual and judicial basis and is a despicable and cheap exploitation of the court,” the ministry says in a statement. “South Africa is collaborating with a terror group that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

The ministry blames Hamas for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by attempting “to carry out genocide” on October 7, when terrorists from the Strip killed some 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages after invading southern Israel.

“We call on the International Court of Justice and the international community to reject the baseless claims of South Africa out of hand,” the response statement said further.

Below: Israel is now tailoring its messaging in response to growing outrage and pressure…

Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza

IDF Spokesperson explains the steps that we’re taking to help international organizations distribute humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/0T71gRkUQi

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 9, 2024

But Global South countries in particular are likely to support the case. Russia and China too have been deeply critical of Israel’s large-scale bombardment of densely populated civilian areas of the Gaza Strip. The death toll has soared past 23,000 killed, according to Palestinian sources.

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Below is a note and review on the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) long-running ties with the PLO…

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has deep ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), stretching back to its former leader and South Africa’s first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela. The ANC aligned itself with the PLO and other revolutionary causes while Mandela was in prison; after his release, Mandela was a vocal supporter of the PLO and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990 that “we identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination.”

Decades later, that sentiment remains in the South African government, and for many ordinary South Africans who see their struggle against colonialism and apartheid in the Palestinians’ plight and decades-long struggle for self-determination. That’s particularly salient in an election year for South Africa as the ANC and its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, struggle to stay the dominant power there.

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Featured image: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Oct. 12, 2023. – Secretary Antony Blinken on X

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Prime Minister Albanese, “don’t wait 200 years to apologise for the brutality of a coloniser, be on the right side of history now, today.”

I am not in the habit of publishing or forwarding work by other writers, but in this case I am making an exception. This is not written by a journalist, but from a young, compassionate woman; a wife, a mother and a thorough human being who calls herself ‘ordinary’. I totally disagree. She is anything but ordinary. Every syllable, every word, every paragraph of her despairing cry for help should be read far and wide, in the hope that western politicians will heed her call and find their moral compass. Here it is, totally unedited.

– Jafar Ramini

***

Letter from Yasmin Petrucci:

Dear Senator Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,

The first thing that you should know about me is that I am an ordinary person. I am not a law maker or CEO of a multinational. I am merely a mother, wife, and taxpayer- one of millions in this country. I am also like hundreds of thousands of ordinary people across the globe who, at night, are unable to sleep. I am traumatised and haunted by the brutal images out of Gaza and the West Bank; a country I have never visited and have no blood ties to. First-hand accounts of the depravity and violence inflicted on a people with no means to escape, no weapons to fight back and no shelter to hide. Thousands of men, women and children starved, dehydrated, and braving the cold, the floods, and the unrelenting onslaught of a colonising power bombarding them from all sides in full view of the world and with the complete support of the US and some members of the Australian parliament. Their only crime is to be Palestinian.

Each morning I wake up to tell my husband that I have seen the most disturbing video to only lie awake that same night and see something even worse. Babies with half their bodies blown off, blood-soaked children shell shocked and trembling, fathers wading through waist deep flood waters carrying their dead children, men and young boys dehumanised, blindfolded and semi naked lined up near ditches and the screams of mothers as white phosphorous rained down on them and burned the flesh off their children. When will this end? How much more can we expect them to take? For how long can the Israelis’ act with such impunity? They have committed the most heinous war crimes this generation has seen, fully sanctioned by this government with insurmountable evidence and with full admission from their own officials. They have butchered, lied, and committed open acts of perfidy without consequence. They have massacred entire families at point blank and thrown Palestinians out of their own homes. They have decimated entire neighbourhoods and imprisoned and abused innocent children. Yet there has not been a single sanction. Not a slap on the wrist. Not even a raised eyebrow and a pursed lip. But what is most painful to know is that we support this attack by sending arms, aid and allowing shipping routes to use our ports. Tell me, would you support ISIS like this?

Last night, I saw a video that will be tattooed into my memory. If you are brave, a simple online search will help you find it. It is of a young boy, no more than five, lying on a gurney with a catheter attached. The doctor lifted his legs to show the flesh and skin that had burned away from his body all the way to the bone. He was still alive, and doctors have run out of anaesthetic. This level of suffering is unfathomable. How can we call ourselves a civilised society and yet turn a blind eye to the immeasurable pain innocent children are forced to endure? I will never be able to unsee this image. Nor will this generation of young people with access to social media, who for the first time in history, have a front row seat to genocide in all its ferocity. This generation will remember. They will also remember how we acted and how we reacted. What legacy are we to leave? One that creates more hate or one that is committed to humanity and abides by international law?

Like this boy in the video, my children are five. I see their faces when I see these images and I hold them tighter and closer. But if you don’t see the children of Gaza as humans, how can I trust that you will see my children as humans? How can I trust this government to see my brothers as humans if you don’t see the men of Gaza as humans? How can I believe you care about women’s rights when you don’t care if the women in Gaza are receiving caesareans without anaesthetic? Because of the stain of this government’s slow reaction to the terror and your unwillingness to condemn this ethnic cleansing, all I see when you appear on TV is the video of that child on the gurney. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, I only see that child when I hear you speak. That is the memory you have created in the minds of so many of us. I am sick to my stomach knowing that I voted for you in the last election, believing we shared the same values. We do not.

I implore you to take a stronger stance to prevent any further human suffering for the sake of humanity, morality, and common decency. Palestinians are humans like me, like my children, like my husband and my brothers. They deserve to be safe and free with a right to self-governance in the land that has homed them for generations. Don’t wait 200 years this time to apologise for the brutality of a coloniser, be on the right side of history now, today.

Thank you for your time.

Yasmin Petrucci

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The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times’s coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza showed a consistent bias against Palestinians, according to an Intercept analysis of major media coverage. 

The print media outlets, which play an influential role in shaping U.S. views of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, paid little attention to the unprecedented impact of Israel’s siege and bombing campaign on both children and journalists in the Gaza Strip. 

Major U.S. newspapers disproportionately emphasized Israeli deaths in the conflict; used emotive language to describe the killings of Israelis, but not Palestinians; and offered lopsided coverage of antisemitic acts in the U.S., while largely ignoring anti-Muslim racism in the wake of October 7. Pro-Palestinian activists have accused major publications of pro-Israel bias, with the New York Times seeing protests Opens in a new tab at its headquarters in Manhattan for its coverage of Gaza –– an accusation supported by our analysis.

The open-source analysis focuses on the first six weeks of the conflict, from the October 7 Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,139 IsraelisOpens in a new tab and foreign workers to November 24, the beginning of the weeklong “humanitarian truce” agreed to by both parties to facilitate hostage exchanges. During this period, 14,800 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children, were killed by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Today, the Palestinian death toll is over 22,000.

The Intercept collected more than 1,000 articles from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times about Israel’s war on Gaza and tallied up the usages of certain key terms and the context in which they were used. The tallies reveal a gross imbalance in the way Israelis and pro-Israel figures are covered versus Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices — with usages that favor Israeli narratives over Palestinian ones.

This anti-Palestinian bias in print media tracks with a similar survey of U.S. cable news that the authors conducted last month for The ColumnOpens in a new tab that found an even wider disparity.

The stakes for this routine devaluing of Palestinian lives couldn’t be higher: As the death toll in Gaza mountsOpens in a new tab, entire cities are leveled and rendered uninhabitable for years, and whole family lines are wiped out, the U.S. government has enormous influence as Israel’s primary patron and weapons supplier. The media’s presentation of the conflict means there are fewer political downsides to lockstep support for Israel. 

Coverage from the first six weeks of the war paints a bleak picture of the Palestinian side, according to the analysis, one that stands to make humanizing Palestinians — and therefore arousing U.S. sympathies — more difficult. 

To obtain this data, we searched for all articles that contained relevant words (such as “Palestinian,” “Gaza,” “Israeli,” etc.) on all three news websites. We then parsed through every sentence in each article and tallied the count of certain terms. For this analysis, we omitted all editorial pieces and letters to the editor. The basic data set is available hereOpens in a new tab, and a full data set can be obtained by emailing [email protected]Opens in a new tab.

Our survey of coverage has four key findings.

Disproportionate Coverage of Deaths

In the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, the words “Israeli” or “Israel” appear more than “Palestinian” or variations thereof, even as Palestinian deaths far outpaced Israeli deaths. For every two Palestinian deaths, Palestinians are mentioned once. For every Israeli death, Israelis are mentioned eight times — or a rate 16 times more per death that of Palestinians. 

Graphic: The Intercept

“Slaughter” of Israelis, Not Palestinians

Highly emotive terms for the killing of civilians like “slaughter,” “massacre,” and “horrific” were reserved almost exclusively for Israelis who were killed by Palestinians, rather than the other way around. (When the terms appeared in quotes rather than the editorial voice of the publication, they were omitted from the analysis.)

The term “slaughter” was used by editors and reporters to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 60 to 1, and “massacre” was used to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 125 to 2. “Horrific” was used to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 36 to 4. 

Graphic: The Intercept

One typical headline from the New York Times, in a mid-November story about the October 7 attack, reads, “They Ran Into a Bomb Shelter for Safety. Instead, They Were SlaughteredOpens in a new tab.” Compare this with the Times’s most sympathetic profile of Palestinian deaths in Gaza from November 18: “The War Turns Gaza Into a ‘Graveyard’ for ChildrenOpens in a new tab.” Here “graveyard” is a quote from the United Nations and the killing itself is in passive voice. In its own editorial voice, the Times story on deaths in Gaza uses no emotive terms comparable to the ones in its story about the October 7 attack. 

The Washington Post employed “massacreOpens in a new tab” several times in its reportingOpens in a new tab to describeOpens in a new tab October 7. “President Biden faces growing pressure from lawmakers in both parties to punish Iran after Hamas’s massacre,” one reportOpens in a new tab from the Post says. A November 13 storyOpens in a new tab from the paper about how Israel’s siege and bombing had killed 1 in 200 Palestinians does not use the word “massacre” or “slaughter” once. The Palestinian dead have simply been “killed” or “died” — often in the passive voice. 

Children and Journalists

Only two headlines out of over 1,100 news articles in the study mention the word “children” related to Gazan children. In a notable exception, the New York Times ran a late-November front-page storyOpens in a new tabon the historic pace of killings of Palestinian women and children, though the headline featured neither group. 

Despite Israel’s war on Gaza being perhaps the deadliest war for children — almost entirely Palestinian — in modern history, there is scant mention of the word “children” and related terms in the headlines of articles surveyed by The Intercept. 

Meanwhile, more than 6,000 children were reported killed by authorities in Gaza at the time of the truce, with the number topping 10,000 today.

Despite Israel’s war on Gaza being perhaps the deadliest war for children in modern history, there is scant mention of the word “children” in headlines.

While the war on Gaza has been one of the deadliest in modern history for journalistsOpens in a new tab — overwhelmingly Palestinians — the word “journalists” and its iterations such as “reporters” and “photojournalists” only appears in nine headlines out of over 1,100 articles studied. Roughly 48 Palestinian reportersOpens in a new tab had been killed by Israeli bombardment at the time of the truce; today, the death toll for Palestinian journalists has topped 100. Only 4 of the 9 articles that contained the words journalist/reporter were about Arab reporters.

The lack of coverage for the unprecedented killing of children and journalists, groups that typically elicit sympathy from Western media, is conspicuous. By way of comparison, more Palestinian children died in the first week of the Gaza bombing than during the first year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, yet the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times ranOpens in a new tab multipleOpens in a new tab personalOpens in a new tab, sympatheticOpens in a new tab storiesOpens in a new tabhighlightingOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab plightOpens in a new tab ofOpens in a new tab childrenOpens in a new tab during the first six weeks of the Ukraine war. 

The aforementioned front-page New York Times report and a Washington Post columnOpens in a new tab are rare exceptions to the dearth of coverage about Palestinian children.

As with children, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times focused on the risks to journalists in the Ukraine war, runningOpens in a new tab severalOpens in a new tab articlesOpens in a new tab detailingOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab hazardsOpens in a new tab ofOpens in a new tab reportingOpens in a new tab onOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab warOpens in a new tabin the first six weeks after Russia’s invasion. Six journalistsOpens in a new tab were killed in the early days of the Ukraine war, compared to 48 killed in the first six weeks of Israel’s Gaza bombardment.   

Asymmetry in how children are covered is qualitative as well as quantitative. On October 13, the Los Angeles Times ran an Associated Press report Opens in a new tab that said, “The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 1,799 people have been killed in the territory, including more than 580 under the age of 18 and 351 women. Hamas’s assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, including women, children and young music festivalgoers.” Notice that young Israelis are referred to as children while young Palestinians are described as people under 18. 

During discussions around the prisoner exchanges, this frequent refusal to refer to Palestinians as children was even more stark, with the New York Times referring in one case to “Israeli women and children” being exchanged for “Palestinian women and minors.” (Palestinian children are referred to as “children” later in the report, when summarizing a human rights groups’ findings.) 

A Washington Post reportOpens in a new tab from November 21 announcing the truce deal erased Palestinian women and children altogether: “President Biden said in a statement Tuesday night that a deal to release 50 women and children held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.” The brief did not mention Palestinian women and children at all.

Coverage of Hate in the U.S.

Similarly, when it comes to how the Gaza conflict translates to hate in the U.S., the major papers paid more attention to antisemitic attacks than to ones against Muslims. Overall, there was a disproportionate focus on racism toward Jewish people, versus racism targeting Muslims, Arabs, or those perceived as such. During the period of The Intercept’s study, The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times mentioned antisemitism more than Islamophobia (549 versus 79) — and this was before the “campus antisemitism” meta-controversy that was contrived by Republicans in CongressOpens in a new tab beginning the week of December 5.

Despite many high-profile instances of both antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism during the survey period, 87 percent of mentions of discrimination were about antisemitism, versus 13 percent mentions about Islamophobia, inclusive of related terms. 

When Major Newspapers Fail

Overall, Israel’s killings in Gaza are not given proportionate coverage in either scope or emotional weight as the deaths of Israelis on October 7. These killings are mostly presented as arbitrarily high, abstract figures. Nor are the killings described using emotive language like “massacre,” “slaughter,” or “horrific.” Hamas’s killings of Israeli civilians are consistently portrayed as part of the group’s strategy, whereas Palestinian civilian killings are covered almost as if they were a series of one-off mistakes, made thousands of times, despite numerousOpens in a new tab pointsOpens in a new tab of evidenceOpens in a new tab indicating Israel’s intent to harm civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The result is that the three major papers rarely gave Palestinians humanizing coverage. Despite this asymmetry, polls show shifting sympathy toward Palestinians and away from Israel among DemocratsOpens in a new tab, with massive generational splits driven, in part, by a stark difference in news sources. By and large, young people are being informedOpens in a new tab of the conflict from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, and older Americans are getting their news from print media and cable news. 

Biased coverage in major newspapers and mainstream television news is impacting general perceptions of the war and directing viewers toward a warped view of the conflict. This has led to pro-Israel punditsOpens in a new tabandOpens in a new tab politiciansOpens in a new tab blaming pro-Palestinian views on social media “misinformation.” 

Analysis of both print media and cable news, however, make it clear that, if any cohort of media consumers is getting a slanted picture, it’s those who get their news from established mass media in the U.S.   

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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As Secretary of State Antony Blinken jets across West Asia and North Africa holding talks with various government leaders, the threats by the United States, Britain and the State of Israel have accelerated against the people of Palestine and other neighboring territories.

It has never been clear what real objectives the State Department has in West Asia and North Africa other than supporting the State of Israel, undermining the Palestinian liberation struggle and securing western hegemony in these geopolitical regions.

A key component of U.S. foreign policy as it relates to Palestine is to minimize the level of solidarity with the oppressed people who have been occupied since 1948. Even after 75 years, Washington and Wall Street maintain the same position which views Tel Aviv as an outpost of imperialism in West Asia and North Africa.

More than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7 when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) began a bombing campaign which continues after three months. A ground invasion of more than two months has still not ended the resistance by Hamas and other organizations.

Across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, millions are rallying and demonstrating against what is largely perceived as a genocidal war by Israel. The U.S. is the largest contributor to the Zionist state and consequently the administration of President Joe Biden has been blamed for coordinating and enabling the mass slaughter of the Palestinians which also is being extended to Lebanon and Syria.

The Republic of South Africa has launched a legal claim against the State of Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging violations of the Genocide Convention. This lawsuit has already won the support of well over a thousand prominent individuals, civil society and mass organizations along with several governments in Africa, Asia and South America as well as regional groupings such as the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In response to the solidarity measures with the Palestinians taken by the resistance forces in Yemen, the White House has ordered the Pentagon to assemble a “coalition of the willing”, harkening back to the invasion of Iraq, to repel attacks on ships which are linked to Tel Aviv or conducting trade with the settler-colonial state. Despite the repeated claims by Biden and his White House that it is trying to avert a regional war, military and diplomatic activities by Washington are resulting in greater hostilities and instability throughout West Asia.

The Operation Protect Prosperity announced late last year by the now beleaguered Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is ostensibly designed to build a naval force to repel the solidarity actions of the Yemeni Ansar Allah resistance movement. Several imperialist states and their surrogates have given their approval to some form of an alliance aimed at reinforcing the supremacy of the West over the seas and oceans surrounding Africa and West Asia.

In response to ongoing attacks against those business and military interests supporting Israel, the White House stepped up its rhetoric on January 10. The New York Times reported that:

“[T]he Biden administration has said it will hold the Houthis (Ansar Allah) responsible for the attacks, a warning that suggested the government may be considering retaliatory strikes in Yemen. ‘We’re going to do everything we have to do to protect shipping in the Red Sea,’ the U.S. national security spokesman, John Kirby, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Like the secretary of state, Mr. Kirby did not describe what the White House was considering, saying instead that it would coordinate with allies and that ‘the United States does not seek conflict.’” 

Gaza Siege Has Prompted Expanded Military Clashes

However, what the White House does not acknowledge is that the source of the escalating war in the Arabian and Red Sea areas is the genocide taking place in Gaza. If there had been a ceasefire and serious discussions on the need for the creation of a viable Palestinian state, the burgeoning military resistance from the Ansar Allah would not have reached the present level.

Widespread opposition to the Biden administration’s policy towards Palestine and West Asia as a whole, has further devastated the electoral prospects for the president’s reelection. Since October 7, there have been unprecedented Palestine solidarity rallies, demonstrations and other forms of opposition to the White House within the U.S. and internationally.

Media outlets, both private and public, are pressured to walk in lock step with the White House, both Houses of Congress and Tel Aviv while thousands are dying in Gaza and other neighboring states. Targeted assassinations by the IDF and the Pentagon in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen indicates clearly that it is the imperialist states which are escalating the war on a regional level.

Yemen Remains Steadfast in Solidarity with Palestine

On January 10, the U.S. sponsored a resolution in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to halt the Yemeni attacks on vessels in efforts to impose a blockade against Israeli ports. The resolution passed with the abstentions of Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria. (See this)

However, the passage of such a resolution before the UNSC does not effectively alter any of the objective conditions facing the Palestinians in Gaza, the other occupied territories along with the most severely impacted regional states. Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah have been targeted by the IDF in the assassinations of some of its leadership.

In Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran, the threat of IDF and Pentagon strikes are constant while the propaganda in defense of Israel is being consistently streamed by western news agencies in order to prepare people in the imperialist states for an expanded and extended military conflagration. The resistance forces in Yemen are defying the existing threats by the U.S. and Israel by applying military and economic pressure on the world capitalist system.

In a report published by Al Mayadeen, a Yemeni military official Yahya Saree was quoted as saying:

“The spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) announced that the Navy, the Missile Force, and the Drone Air Force in the Yemeni Armed Forces, ‘executed a joint military operation involving a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones, targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity.’ According to the spokesperson, the operation also marked the ‘initial response’ of the Yemeni Armed Forces following the U.S. attack on Yemeni Forces, earlier, which resulted in the martyrdom of 10 members of the Yemeni Navy.” 

Therefore, the YAF are responding to the already escalating military situation in the region which is being carried out by Washington and Tel Aviv. Britain and the U.S. issued a joint statement on January 10 calling for a halt to the solidarity campaign being waged by the Yemen resistance.

Britain, the former colonial power in South Yemen, has maintained an interest in developments surrounding the Red Sea. The shipping lanes in this area are some of the most lucrative in the world as large-scale vessels transporting energy resources, military hardware and consumer goods rely on the Bab el-Mandeb straits to reach the Suez Canal.

Since the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. has become the undisputed dominant imperialist power in the West Asia, North Africa and Horn of Africa regions. Challenging the flow of trade in the Red Sea has prompted the suspension of several shipping firms from utilizing the waterways. Consequently, the costs for transporting cargo have sharply risen due to the threats of seizure by the Yemen resistance.

In the same Al Mayadeen article quoted above it notes:

“Saree stressed that ‘the Yemeni Armed Forces affirms that they will not hesitate to appropriately deal with all hostile threats under the legitimate right of defending our country, our people, and our nation.’ To conclude the press briefing, he reminded the world that the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue to stand with Palestine and ‘prevent Israeli ships or those headed to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arabian and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted.’”

Any aerial attacks by the U.S. and Britain would be met with retaliation by the YAF. The increased insecurity in the Red Sea area is bound to weaken the economic status of the State of Israel along with commercial interest dependent upon the Bab al-Mandeb straits.

Moreover, an expanded U.S. and British military engagement in the Red Sea and its contiguous states would only fuel greater opposition to the foreign policy of imperialism. Undoubtedly, the battle for the liberation of Palestine and the entire West Asia region is far from being resolved.

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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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In the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, with 16,077 sanctions on Russian individuals and entities currently in place, nearly six times the amount compared to before it recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states on February 22, 2022.

As Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the chart below, based on data aggregated by Castellum.AI, Putin’s invasion has pushed Russia past one of the United States’ biggest nemeses in Western Asia.

You will find more infographics at Statista.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Iran was by far the most-sanctioned state in history, with 3,616 active sanctions by the United States, the United Nations, the EU and countries like Australia, Canada, India and Israel. The relationship between the latter and the Islamic Republic has been especially fraught, with disputes surrounding Iran’s atomic arsenal and its general hostile stance towards Israel threatening to escalate regularly.

The majority of the sanctions imposed on Syria, which ranks third on Castellum.AI’s list, stem from the events surrounding the Syrian civil war starting in 2011. Following civil unrest in connection with the Arab Spring movement, clashes between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and an unlikely coalition of foreign and domestic actors often opposed on critical issues led to a humanitarian crisis and the internal and foreign displacement of more than half of Syria’s 22 million inhabitants over the years.

Leading the current round of sanctions against Russia are the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom with 3,551, 2,765, 2,225 and 1,749 restrictions, respectively.

The majority of those sanctions target individuals (11,462), while entities have 4,344 sanctions against them, vessels have 169 and aircraft 102. Not included in these figures are sectoral sanctions like general trade embargos on gas or oil.

On top of the sanctions put in place by nation-states and governing bodies, over 1,000 companies have in some capacity withdrawn from the Russian market, according to researchers at the Yale School of Management, among them industry heavyweights like Adidas, Google, Disney, Exxon or Volkswagen.

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