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“I did not know Israel was capturing or recording my face. [But Israel has] been watching us for years from the sky with their drones. They have been watching us gardening and going to schools and kissing our wives. I feel like I have been watched for so long.”—Mosab Abu Toha, Palestinian poet

If you want a glimpse of the next stage of America’s transformation into a police state, look no further than how Israel—a long-time recipient of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid from the U.S.—uses its high-tech military tactics, surveillance and weaponry to advance its authoritarian agenda.

Military checkpoints. Wall-to-wall mass surveillance. Predictive policing. Aerial surveillance that tracks your movements wherever you go and whatever you do. AI-powered facial recognition and biometric programs carried out with the knowledge or consent of those targeted by it. Cyber-intelligence. Detention centers. Brutal interrogation tactics. Weaponized drones. Combat robots.

We’ve already seen many of these military tactics and technologies deployed on American soil and used against the populace, especially along the border regions, a testament to the heavy influence Israel’s military-industrial complex has had on U.S. policing.

Indeed, Israel has become one of the largest developers and exporters of military weapons and technologies of oppression worldwide.

Journalist Antony Loewenstein has warned that Pegasus, one of Israel’s most invasive pieces of spyware, which allows any government or military intelligence or police department to spy on someone’s phone and get all the information from that phone, has become a favorite tool of oppressive regimes around the world. The FBI and NYPD have also been recipients of the surveillance technology which promises to turn any “target’s smartphone into an intelligence gold mine.”

Yet it’s not just military weapons that Israel is exporting. They’re also helping to transform local police agencies into extensions of the military.

According to The Intercept, thousands of American law enforcement officers frequently travel for training to Israel, “one of the few countries where policing and militarism are even more deeply intertwined than they are here,” as part of an ongoing exchange program that largely flies under the radar of public scrutiny.

A 2018 investigative report concluded that imported military techniques by way of these exchange programs that allow police to study in Israel have changed American policing for the worse. “Upon their return, U.S. law enforcement delegates implement practices learned from Israel’s use of invasive surveillance, blatant racial profiling, and repressive force against dissent,” the report states. “Rather than promoting security for all, these programs facilitate an exchange of methods in state violence and control that endanger us all.”

“At the very least,” notes journalist Matthew Petti, “visits to Israel have helped American police justify more snooping on citizens and stricter secrecy. Critics also assert that Israeli training encourages excessive force.”

Petti documents how the NYPD set up a permanent liaison office in Israel in the wake of 9/11, eventually implementing “one of the first post-9/11 counterterrorism programs that explicitly followed the Israeli model. In 2002, the NYPD tasked a secret ‘Demographics Unit’ with spying on Muslim-American communities. Dedicated ‘mosque crawlers’ infiltrated local Muslim congregations and attempted to bait worshippers with talk of violent revolution.”

That was merely the start of American police forces being trained in martial law by foreign nations under the guise of national security theater. It has all been downhill from there.

As Alex Vitale, a sociology professor who has studied the rise of global policing, explains, “The focus of this training is on riot suppression, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism—all of which are essentially irrelevant or should be irrelevant to the vast majority of police departments. They shouldn’t be suppressing protest, they shouldn’t be engaging in counterinsurgency, and almost none of them face any real threat from terrorism.”

This ongoing transformation of the American homeland into a techno-battlefield tracks unnervingly with the dystopian cinematic visions of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, both of which are set 30 years from now, in the year 2054.

In Minority Report, police agencies harvest intelligence from widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, precognitive technology, and neighborhood and family snitch programs in order to capture would-be criminals before they can do any damage.

While Blomkamp’s Elysium acts as a vehicle to raise concerns about immigration, access to healthcare, worker’s rights, and socioeconomic stratification, what was most striking was its eerie depiction of how the government will employ technologies such as drones, tasers and biometric scanners to track, target and control the populace, especially dissidents.

With Israel in the driver’s seat and Minority Report and Elysium on the horizon, it’s not so far-fetched to imagine how the American police state will use these emerging technologies to lock down the populace, root out dissidents, and ostensibly establish an “open-air prison” with disconcerting similarities to Israel’s technological occupation of present-day Palestine.

For those who insist that such things are celluloid fantasies with no connection to the present, we offer the following as a warning of the totalitarian future at our doorsteps.

Israeli checkpoint outside the Palestinian city of Ramallah. August 2004 (From the Public Domain)

Facial Recognition

Fiction: One of the most jarring scenes in Elysium occurs towards the beginning of the film, when the protagonist Max Da Costa waits to board a bus on his way to work. While standing in line, Max is approached by two large robotic police officers, who quickly scan Max’s biometrics, cross-check his data against government files, and identify him as a former convict in need of close inspection. They demand to search his bag, a request which Max resists, insisting that there is nothing for them to see. The robotic cops respond by manhandling Max, throwing him to the ground, and breaking his arm with a police baton. After determining that Max poses no threat, they leave him on the ground and continue their patrol. Likewise, in Minority Report, police use holographic data screens, city-wide surveillance cameras, dimensional maps and database feeds to monitor the movements of its citizens and preemptively target suspects for interrogation and containment.

Fact: We now find ourselves in the unenviable position of being monitored, managed, corralled and controlled by technologies that answer to government and corporate rulers. This is exactly how Palestinian poet and New Yorker contributor Mosab Abu Toha found himself, within minutes of passing through an Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza with his wife and children in tow, asked to step out line, only to be blindfolded, handcuffed, interrogated, then imprisoned in an Israeli detention center for two days, beaten and further interrogated. Toha was finally released in what Israeli soldiers chalked up to a “mistake,” yet there was no mistaking the AI-powered facial recognition technology that was used to pull him out of line, identify him, and label him (erroneously) as a person of interest.

Drones

Fiction: In another Elysium scene, Max is hunted by four drones while attempting to elude the authorities. The drones, equipped with x-ray cameras, biometric readers, scanners and weapons, are able to scan whole neighborhoods, identify individuals from a distance—even through buildings, report their findings back to police handlers, pursue a suspect, and target them with tasers and an array of lethal weapons.

Fact: Drones, some deceptively small and yet powerful enough to capture the facial expressions of people hundreds of feet below them, have ushered in a new age of surveillance. Not even those indoors, in the privacy of their homes, will be safe from these aerial spies, which can be equipped with technology capable of peering through walls. In addition to their surveillance capabilities, drones can also be equipped with automatic weapons, grenade launchers, tear gas, and tasers.

Biometric Scanners and National IDs

Fiction: Throughout Elysium, citizens are identified, sorted and dealt with by way of various scanning devices that read their biometrics—irises, DNA, etc.—as well as their national ID numbers, imprinted by a laser into their skin. In this way, citizens are tracked, counted, and classified. Likewise, in Minority Report, tiny sensory-guided spider robots converge on a suspected would-be criminal, scan his biometric data and feed it into a central government database. The end result is that there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide to escape the government’s all-seeing eyes.

Fact: Given the vast troves of data that various world governments, including Israel and the U.S., is collecting on its citizens and non-citizens alike, we are not far from a future where there is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. In fact, between the facial recognition technology being handed out to law enforcement, license plate readers being installed on police cruisers, local police creating DNA databases by extracting DNA from non-criminals, including the victims of crimes, and police collecting more and more biometric data such as iris scans, we are approaching the end of anonymity. It won’t be long before police officers will be able to pull up a full biography on any given person instantaneously, including their family and medical history, bank accounts, and personal peccadilloes. It’s already moving in that direction in more authoritarian regimes.

Predictive Policing

Fiction: In Minority Report, John Anderton, Chief of the Department of Pre-Crime, finds himself identified as the next would-be criminal and targeted for preemptive measures by the very technology that he relies on for his predictive policing. Consequently, Anderton finds himself not only attempting to prove his innocence but forced to take drastic measures in order to avoid capture in a surveillance state that uses biometric data and sophisticated computer networks to track its citizens.

Fact: Precrime, which aims to prevent crimes before they happen, has justified the use of widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, precognitive technology, and snitch programs. As political science professor Anwar Mhajne documents, Israel has used all of these tools in its military engagements with Palestine: deploying AI surveillance and predictive policing systems in Palestinian territories; utilizing facial recognition technology to monitor and regulate the movement of Palestinians; subjecting Palestinians to facial recognition scans at checkpoints, with a color-coded mechanism to dictate who should be allowed to proceed, subjected to further questioning, or detained.

Making the Leap from Fiction to Reality

When Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931, he was convinced that there was “still plenty of time” before his dystopian vision became a nightmare reality. It wasn’t long, however, before he realized that his prophecies were coming true far sooner than he had imagined.

Israel’s military influence on the United States, its advances in technological weaponry, and its rigid demand for compliance are pushing us towards a world in chains.

Through its oppressive use of surveillance technology, Israel has erected the world’s first open-air prison, and in the process, has made itself a model for the United States.

What we cannot afford to overlook, however, is the extent to which the American Police State is taking its cues from Israel.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we may not be an occupied territory, but that does not make the electronic concentration camp being erected around us any less of a prison.

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This article was originally published on The Rutherford Institute.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].

Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

They are regular contributors to Global Research.

Featured image: West Bank checkpoint tower in 2007 (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

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After the jury came in with its verdict that Donald Trump was guilty of a scheme and coverup to illegally influence the 2016 election, the Biden campaign issued a statement saying that the judgment demonstrated that “no one is above the law,” not even a former President. The overwhelming truth is that the majority of criminal laws are not a deterrent to the serious violations of law committed by sitting presidents of the United States.

This includes the incumbent Joe Biden, especially with regard to foreign and military decisions.

At least five long-standing federal laws explicitly condition the shipment of weapons to foreign countries.  It is legally impermissible for the U.S. government to provide weapons to countries that violate human rights or use these weapons offensively. Day after day, Joe Biden has become a co-belligerent with Netanyahu’s genocidal war crimes and mass slaughter of innocent children, women and men. He has violated all five of these federal laws. (See my February 16, 2024 column: Biden & Blinken – Rule of Illegal Power Over Rule of Law).

As the military, diplomatic and political enabler of the Israeli government’s siege, with the unconditional shipment of weapons of mass destruction, along with civilian bombardment and starvation of defenseless Palestinians in Gaza, Biden is violating the UN Charter and other treaties that past Administrations have signed and that have been ratified by the U.S. Senate.  Biden and other presidents act like they are above these and other laws.

One president after another has spent monies not appropriated by Congress, has defied subpoenas issued by Congress, launched wars undeclared by Congress, sent deadly weapons to nations that obstruct the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid, and that do not protect civilian populations under foreign military rule. All violations of federal law.

Donald Trump in 2019 brazenly stated the lawlessness in one sentence: “ I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.” Trump got away with defying over 125 Congressional subpoenas, and with violating the criminal statute known as the Hatch Act by using the White House and other federal property to promote his re-election campaign. Then of course there was the January 6 insurrection, and the likely delay of his trial until after the election, if at all.

Joe Biden shuffles around unappropriated monies, continues to allow the violation of a 1992 federal law requiring the Pentagon to provide Congress with an audited military budget, and is constantly sending unlawful armed incursions into other weaker countries with impunity.

To make matters easier for presidents, there is the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel memo, from decades ago, that asserts there can be no criminal prosecution initiated against a sitting president.

As attorney Bruce Fein, who worked in the Office of Legal Counsel, has said repeatedly, this baseless opinion has no legal force and should be rescinded. (See, Letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, May 31, 2024).

The courts have shielded presidents from accountability for perpetuated crimes committed either by the White House or by the president’s administration.  For example, citizens have no “standing to sue,” to challenge in court a variety of Executive Branch abuses says the Supreme Court, not even members of Congress. As for presidential violations of the Constitution and federal laws by launching illegal wars or armed attacks abroad, the courts dismiss such cases, saying they raise “political questions” outside the jurisdiction of the courts.

Being allowed to get away with crimes is what constitutional law specialist Bruce Fein calls “a way of life at the White House.” Obstruction of justice or deliberate non-enforcement of seriously violated laws marks every presidency. Trump just boasted about what he inherited and intensified it.

Again, presidents operate in a system of considerable sovereign immunity, and law that either can’t or has not breached this shielded impunity. They really are above the criminal laws. Only the very difficult political penalty of impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by two-thirds of the Senate can only evict them from office, after which they are free to enjoy life, and receive huge lecture fees and large book advances.

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Wikipedia: The Failed Experiment to Democratize Knowledge. “Character Assassinations,” Censorship, an Instrument of Global Corporatism

By Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null, June 04, 2024

‘Character Assassination’ is a practice in which a deliberate and sustained effort is made to damage the reputation or credibility of an individual, social groups or institutions. For those whose reputations and positive public contributions have been terrorized and debased by Wikipedia, there is no recourse to restore their character, legal or otherwise.

“We designed mRNA to kill” – CIA Whistleblower?

By Peter Koenig, June 05, 2024

The COVID plandemic was a tool to convert the surviving humanity into a surveillance state – into a One World Order (OWO), following a One World Government (OWG), with digital, programmable money – so-called “Central Bank Digital Currency” (CBDC), with mandatory vaccination, to eliminate a large proportion of useless people (Schwab’s Israeli adviser Yuval Noah Harari), to free up resources for the elite.

Every Escalation Brings Washington Closer to Defeat in Ukraine. “Not Winning” Versus “Losing” a War

By Mike Whitney, June 05, 2024

There is a vast difference between “not winning” and “losing” a war. In the case of Ukraine, “not winning” means that President Zelensky and his handlers in Washington choose to pursue a negotiated settlement that would allow Russia to keep the territory it captured during the war while addressing Moscow’s modest security demands.

“The Indoctrinated Brain: How to Successfully Fend Off the Global Attack on Your Mental Freedom”

By Dr. Joseph Mercola, June 04, 2024

In his book, “The Indoctrinated Brain: How to Successfully Fend Off the Global Attack on Your Mental Freedom,” Dr. Michael Nehls explains how chronic stress and fearmongering have led to inhibited hippocampal neurogenesis and decreased mental resilience, which facilitates indoctrination.

The Normalization of Nuclear Weapons. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, June 04, 2024

There is now in the US a vast industry funded with $1.3 trillion developing “usable” nuclear weapons. All sorts of private contractors, scientific laboratories, the Pentagon are involved. In other words, the vast sum is widely spread resulting in a massive influential institutionalized interest that prevents nuclear disarmament.

Rebuilding Ukrainian Armed Forces: Commanders Complain “Fresh Recruits” Being Sent “to Simply Die”

By Ahmed Adel, June 04, 2024

A US report points to significant problems in rebuilding the Ukrainian Armed Forces, especially as front line commanders will lead poorly trained recruits, who will be called up under the new conscription law, “to just die.” The same report also indicates that Ukraine is now recruiting prisoners as manpower shortage is evidently having a crippling effect on the front lines.

Russia’s Victory Over Ukraine Is Drawing Near. Scott Ritter

By Scott Ritter, June 05, 2024

From a military perspective, Russia’s strategic goal has always been the ”demilitarization” of Ukraine. Initially, this could have been achieved by defeating the Ukrainian military on the field of battle. Indeed, Moscow was well on the path toward achieving this goal.

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).

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In this carefully researched article, Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null underscore the inadequacies of Wikipedia as a reliable source of information and knowledge. The free encyclopedia is created, edited and verified by an army of online volunteers whose credibility and integrity are unknowable, even questionable. 

The supposed separate entries for the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Global Research (globalresearch.ca) and its editor-in-chief, Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, have been merged into a single Wikipedia item, which consists of unwarranted smears, unfounded claims and disputable accusations. 

Such efforts by the largest reference website, consulted by billions of people worldwide, are supportive of the Establishment’s global agenda, which aims to discredit dissenting yet highly-knowledgeable and qualified scholars and activists (“character assassination”) and push their contributions and endeavors to the margins. This, in effect, denies their vision to share knowledge that “fully represents human diversity.” See Michel Chossudovsky’s biographical note here.

—Global Research, June 5, 2024

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What Is the Solution to “the Wikipedia Problem”?

Wikipedia is the largest and most read reference source in the world. Billions rely on it every day for unbiased facts and truthful information. Unfortunately, what they often get are slander and lies. This poses an existential threat to society, because lies and slander corrode the fabric of society and harm all of its citizens, no less than they harm the ones who are lied about and slandered.

If Wikipedia were a marginal website with little influence, it could be regarded as harmless, just as you might regard it as harmless to be bumped by a toddler on a tricycle traveling at a snail’s pace – but not if you were run down by a pizza delivery boy on an electric bicycle travelling at 30 mph. Because Wikipedia dwarfs every other reference source on the face of the earth not only in size but in influence, what is at stake is the very pollution of knowledge itself. What shall we do about it?

Should Wikipedia be censored to prevent it from publishing lies and slander? Absolutely not. There must be no pre-publication censorship in America, not even for lies and slander. On the other hand, neither should their be immunity from the consequences of deliberately publishing lies and slander, especially if it harms innocent people.

That is why we have libel laws.

If Encyclopedia Britannica or the New York Times or NBC or Netflix or any other media platform not only published lies about someone, but also refused to correct those lies when given the correct information, they would be faced with a libel suit – which they would almost certainly lose and be forced to pay millions of dollars in fines.

So how can Wikipedia get way with committing such brazen abuses of truth? How can Wikipedia deliberately lie about distinguished scientists, physicians and scholars – often ruining their careers – without facing multi-million-dollar libel suits?

Because, curiously, Wikipedia is immune from libel suits. Under Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, Wikipedia is classed as a “service provider,” not a “publisher.” Which means it is protected from liability for articles contributed by its “third-party” authors, whom the law naively presumes to be independent of control by Wikipedia ownership.

But that is a legal fiction.

Articles submitted to Wikipedia are edited and often totally rewritten by Wikipedia’s “editors” to reflect the biases and agendas of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, as well as the biases and agendas of the powerful corporations and government agencies with whom he colludes. Editors who fail to toe the Wikipedia line have their insubordinate toes chopped off, and are quickly gone. They know that they write and edit at Jimmy Wales’s pleasure. So Wikipedia should no more be allowed to disclaim responsibility for the words that appear on its website than the New York Times should be allowed to disclaim legal responsibility for the words that appear in its news columns.

At present, judges continue to entertain the fiction that Wikipedia is a “service provider.” This protects it from libel suits. But as more articles like this one appear, the courts may reconsider Wikipedia’s status and reclassify it, more correctly, from “service provider” to “publisher”; much the same way that courts, after 1970, reclassified husbands who forced their wives to have sexual intercourse — from “spouses” to “rapists.”

Although every state used to have a “marital exemption rule,” under which husbands were permitted to rape their wives under protection of law, marital rape, as of 1993, became illegal in all 50 states. Marital rapists now go to jail. Let us hope the courts undergo a similar change with regard to reclassifying Wikipedia, which has been raping the truth under protection of law ever since its founding in 2001.

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Efforts to gather and preserve the world’s knowledge into a single self-contained resource has been a human endeavor for over 2,000 years. The oldest surviving encyclopedia was compiled by the Roman statesman Pliny the Elder during the first century and covered topics about natural history, architecture, medicine and geography. By definition, and not dissimilar to modern conventional dictionaries, an authoritative encyclopedia is “researched and written by well-educated, well-informed content experts.”

Encyclopedia entries are “not written in order to convince, although one of its goals is indeed to convince its readers of its own veracity.” 

The factuality of a topic, in other words, is to be framed and understood within the culture, discipline, or science on its own grounds.  It is for this reason that people resort to encyclopedias for quick and concise referencing because of their reputation for objectivity and thoroughness.  However, the words quoted above are not found in a dictionary’s definition or in the Encyclopedia Britannica, which should be properly regarded as the world’s most reliable encyclopedia. Rather these quotes appear on Wikipedia’s entry under “Encyclopedia”. Yet despite its definition, the virtual Wikipedia open-source encyclopedia consistently fails to meet its own standard and very often violates it outright.

Wikipedia has achieved the top position for being the most viewed and referenced encyclopedia in the world. As of May 2024, the English Wikipedia contains over 6.8 million distinct entries and is increasing at a rate of 534 new entries daily due to its army of over 800,000 registered voluntary editors. While countless people around the world benefit from the breadth and scope of knowledge the encyclopedia provides, for almost two decades it has equally been the target of growing criticism for its biases and lack of objectivity on many subjects that have a direct impact on people’s health and well-being.

There are over 200,000 health and medical-related topics. Although the majority of medical entries do not draw controversy and provide relatively accurate and clear encyclopedic definitions for the biology and the etiology of diseases and medical conditions, there is a significant quantity of approximately 700 pages that directly concern Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies and natural health modalities, including Chiropractic, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), naturopathy, homeopathy, orthomolecular medicine, energy medicine, etc. This grouping of articles is separated off from the medical arts and sciences and intentionally marginalized under the heading of “pseudoscience” and quackery – highly prejudiced and derogatory terms that do not belong in a legitimate encyclopedia. These unconventional medical entries have also been hijacked by a movement promoting a radicalized ideology of scientific rationalism known as Skepticism. Wikipedia’s own definition of “Alternative Medicine” reveals in no uncertain terms its depreciatory impression about this worldwide and centuries-old collection of natural health practices:

“Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability or evidence of effectiveness. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of mainstream medicine and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural “energies”, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources.”

Unlike other medical pages, there is an apparent lack of reputable medical professionals successfully editing these pages. The majority are anonymous amateurs who consistently rely on Skeptic websites and publications as primary reference sources. Despite the volumes of peer-reviewed studies and articles cataloged in the National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine and other research databases confirming the efficacy of these non-conventional therapies, Skeptic editors rely solely upon those studies that may be used for censure and defamation. Since Skeptics now control and monitor these health subjects there is no opportunity for transparency and honest debate to correct gross errors are more often than not systematically shut down.

When looking for information about alternative health issues using legitimate, highly respected encyclopedias such as the Encyclopedia Britannica we find fair, balanced, and scholarly reviews based on reliable objective sources and professional expertise. Britannica and other comparable encyclopedias name the editors and their professional credentials in any given subject. There is no debasement. There are no attacks. At no point in these highly revered encyclopedias is there character assassination, ridicule, mocking, or disparagement of people supporting an alternative and complementary medical approach at variance with medical orthodoxy. The process for crafting a subject entry is transparent, and instructive. Therefore, due to the lack of subjective biases and prejudices, users benefit from the information provided by being given the liberty to make up their own mind about an entry’s veracity.

Now let’s compare that to an experience on Wikipedia which calls itself an encyclopedia, but fails even the most rudimentary challenges. Most of the editors are anonymous with no reliable curriculum vitae to see if they have expertise in the area they are editing. Their use of words such as “charlatan,” “quack,” “lunatic,” “fringe,” and “pseudoscientific” are not uncommon. There is zero transparency. One feels an oozing sense of condescension viewing the biographies of highly respected and professional people who criticize conventional medical newspeak. They are held in utter contempt, and their expertise is pre-judged as having no legitimate value. Worse, they are condemned as quacks, charlatans, opportunists in Wikipedia’s virtual reality of Stalinistic show trials—condemned without an opportunity to respond to the allegations. 

Everyone should be greatly concerned that Wikipedia’s articles about alternative medical modalities to prevent and treat disease have been expropriated by an army of compromised editors whose sole mission is to undermine the therapeutic credibility and scientific evidence of these therapies. Practically all of these non-orthodox medical entries are dominated by people who are intent on preserving the pro-pharmaceutical status quo. Anyone can spend a little time searching through Wikipedia articles about homeopathy, chiropractic, popular herbal supplements and vitamins, etc and quickly discover that favorable peer-reviewed research are unwelcome. If anyone doubts this and feels game, register as an editor and try to make a constructive truthful edit about the medical efficacy of any of these alternative treatments, supported by an irrefutable medical reference,  and it will be quickly removed within hours. Continue to make the same edit and you will eventually be banned.  

Let’s take an example. The National Health Federation (NHF) founded in 1955 is an international consumer, health freedom organization dedicated to protecting citizens’ rights to consume healthy foods over-the-counter access to dietary supplements and access to alternative medical therapies. In the past NHF has had a formative role in getting chiropractors legally licensed in the United States, the recognition of acupuncture as a viable treatment and the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act that enables Americans access to dietary supplements under the assurance of government quality controls and good manufacturing practices.  Moreover, the Federation is recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with UN observer status and has a seat on the FAO-WHO’s Codex Alimentarius Commission, which establishes international food standards and guidelines including the use of pesticides, food additives, preservative, contamination levels, etc. In fact, with membership now representing 22 nations, the NHF is the sole consumer advocacy organization on the Commission uncontaminated by any individual government and the private interests of large food manufacturers, agro-chemical companies such as Monsanto, the pharmaceutical giants and their lobbyists. In other words, NHF is a highly esteemed consumer protection organization with a 70-year history of protecting individual health freedoms.

In 2007, NHF board members conducted a small experiment to test Wikipedia’s neutrality. NHF had no entry in Wikipedia; therefore, an entry was created that was kept very neutral without noting any unreasonable or questionable claims. After a period of time, the entry was radically modified to portray the federation in a negative light. Positive references were replaced by anti-natural health references. All attempts by the organization to restore the page’s original entry were rejected. An outside attorney’s effort to correct NHF’s page were met with threatening cease and desist notices. 

NHF’s current Wikipedia entry describes the Federation as “an alliance of promoters and followers who engage in lobbying campaigns… uses the words ‘alternative’ and ‘freedom’ for its own purposes” and is “antagonistic to accepted scientific methods as well as to current consumer protection law.” However, these Wikipedia quotes are sourced back to a militant anti-alternative medicine organization, Quackwatch, which has a long history of harassing natural health practitioners and practically every modality of alternative medicine in order to further advance its drug-based and corporate food agenda. Consequently, the Federation had no other means to correct the false information and therefore resigned itself to the fate of lingering in Wikipedia prison for perpetuity.

There are numerous other examples of board certified physicians advocating for alternative medical therapies and professional health associations experiencing similar obstacles. So much so, it is now embedded into Wikipedia culture, which is now analogous to the firmly held beliefs in any dogmatic religious sect. It is no longer a question whether Wikipedia is redeemable; rather, on matters regarding medicine and health and controversial geopolitical and party-related domestic issues, the encyclopedia has transmuted into an Augean stable of misinformation and corporate and political nepotism. 

What type of person would attack medical doctors and individuals whose contributions to society have positively impacted the lives of so many people by non-orthodox means? Perhaps, psychologically under-developed ideological trolls. 

In an article published in Psychology Today entitled “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists,” Jennifer Golbeck Ph.D. writes, “Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response.” Similarly, in a study conducted by researchers at the School of Health Science and Psychology at Federation University in Mount Helen, trolls scored higher than average on two traits: psychopathy and cognitive empathy. The researchers suggested that even though trolls “exhibit one kind of empathy, coupling it with psychopathy ultimately makes them nasty.” They also found that trolls were likely to be high in sadism and were more likely to be male. 

Whether the pro-pharmaceutical editors are trolls, cyberbullies, or even professional medical ideologies such as the legion of doctors and professors in Skeptic organizations such as the Center for Inquiry, Evidence Based Medicine, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, the James Randi Educational Foundation and Quackwatch, there is no denying that the majority of anonymous editors on Wikipedia’s pages about alternative and complementary medicine, and natural health advocates are engaging in the character assassination. These organizations are adamant that research spent on investigating the efficacy of alternative medicine is a dangerous foe to their narrow definition of science. 

‘Character Assassination’ is a practice in which a deliberate and sustained effort is made to damage the reputation or credibility of an individual, social groups or institutions.

Martin Icks from the University of Amsterdam and Eric Shiraev at George Mason University introduced a classification of seven character assassination methods, which they defined as “anonymous lies’, ‘misquoting’, ‘silencing’, ‘acts of vandalism’, ‘name-calling’, ‘mental illness’ and ‘sexual deviance’. The authors identified Wikipedia as a common context for ‘anonymous lies’. Our investigations have shown that misquoting, silencing, name calling and online abuse or harassment are quite prevalent. 

For those whose reputations and positive public contributions have been terrorized and debased by Wikipedia, there is no recourse to restore their character, legal or otherwise. Over the years, voluminous complaints have been communicated and/or filed to the Foundation, including lawsuits, about the gross violations in Wikipedia’s editorial policies, misinformation and inflammatory and potentially libelous language. Sadly, such requests in the majority of cases go unheeded. 

As a last resort, what can be done is to refuse the Wikipedia Foundation’s fund drives and any solicitations to grant giving and donations. Our own past experience in filing lawsuits against the Foundation has been met with abuse both from Wikipedia’s legal network and privileged volunteer editors who are privately supported by the Foundation. The Foundation categorically has refused to assume responsibility or be held accountable for the abuse perpetrated by senior and administrative volunteer editors and groups promoting antagonistic ideologies against medical therapies and its leading proponents they happen to disagree with. The consequence has been that the scientific reputations and efficacy of these therapies, and the careers of those practicing them, are seriously undermined and damaged. Based upon the evidence it is our contention that the Foundation knowingly enables this activity to persist and is in fact ideologically aligned with an anti-natural health agenda that threatens the pharmaceutical industry. 

Frustrated Wikipedia editors, past and present, have acknowledged that Wikipedia’s culture of harassment and abuse on its Talk Pages is uncontrollable. In 2020, the Foundation drafted its Universal Code of Conduct to address this systemic problem of toxic behavior and announced it would begin to ban editors who are charged with abusive behavior towards other editors. However, over four years have passed and the Code has yet to be ratified by the Wikimedia Board and its enforcement is still pending. Unfortunately this new ruling, as admirable as it may be, ignores the volumes of misinformation and libelous language already found on the encyclopedia’s pages. Nor would the Code restore Wikipedia’s original standards of neutrality, nor will it address the dire state of negligence to codify verifiable guidelines to determine what is and is not accurate content. 

Skepticism’s assault against CAM therapies has become a counter-insurgent effort to delegitimize contemporary trends in medicine. In 2019, the World Health Organization reported, “traditional and complementary medicine is an important and often underestimated health resource with many applications, especially for the prevention and management of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and in meeting the health needs of ageing populations.” The number of American medical schools offering courses in complementary and alternative medicine has been increasing rapidly. The most prestigious American medical schools now have departments for CAM or include these subjects in their curriculum including acupuncture, hypnosis and herbal remedies according to a recent US News article. A joint 2024 NIH-Johns Hopkins paper reported that alternative health approaches increased to 38 percent in 2022, and 49 percent of Americans use complementary therapies for pain management.  Another government survey estimates that 62 percent of US adults use some form of alternative medicine annually. On the other hand, Wikipedia feels threatened by this trend as its editorial animosity continues to become more hostile.

Logos of 16 Wikimedia sister projects (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

It is crucial to consider the Wikimedia Foundation in the larger context of international corporate globalism and its imperialist agenda. As a nonprofit organization, the Foundation doesn’t act independently from many of the largest federal and international globalist entities, including private mega-corporations.  Its largest declared donors include Google, Microsoft, Intel, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Chevron, Merck, Oracle, and Bank of America. Despite giving a wink and nod to the Constitutional rights of free speech, it has equally acted in favor of censorship. Last year, the Foundation filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting the reversal of Texas and Florida bills that “prohibit web operators from banning users or removing speech and content based on the viewpoints and opinions of the users in question.” From its press release, the Foundation argues that such bills would “diminish the quality and usability of Wikipedia for billions of readers and users worldwide.” Of course, full open access to free speech on the encyclopedia would undermine any of the Foundation’s hidden agendas to advance certain ideologies or scientific narratives over and above others. 

The Foundation is also fully immersed in the missions and objectives of the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health. Wikipedia’s entry for the WHO is entirely free of any criticisms despite the numerous charges of incompetence and corruption that the organization has faced, such as the debacle in its handling of the 2008 swine flu scare. In October 2020, the Foundation entered a collaboration with the WHO to advance the latter’s narrative in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Wikimedia Foundation’s CEO and World Economic Forum young global leader, Katherine Maher, assured the encyclopedia’s commitment to “myth busting” medical information that challenged the WHO and individual government health policies that followed WHO guidelines. In response to the collaboration, the WHO’s Director-General Tedros, himself having faced many controversial accusations in the past, stated that the relationship will assure people have access “to reliable health information from WHO across multiple countries, languages and devices.” Likewise, Wikipedia’s fifteen-year relationship with the National Institutes of Health has protected the federal agency’s Wikipedia page free from warranted controversy. The same is true for many other international organizations, such the WEF, that promote a centralized globalist agenda controlled and orchestrated by an elitist class. 

Perhaps most frustrating is that despite the factual evidence that medical science supporting alternative medicine is not on Wikipedia’s side, it stubborning refuses to acknowledge it. This leaves us to only one assumption; that is, this is intentional and the Wikimedia Foundation has another agenda that transgresses its own ethical claims. Among the 37 million citations in the NIH’s PubMed database, 100s of 1000s of journal studies provide some degree of credibility to alternative medical and natural non-drug therapies. Billions of patient visits worldwide show that alternative and complementary medicine works on the patient level.  A government study estimates that 53 percent, over half of America’s 338,600 office-based American physicians recommend at least one complementary health approach to their patients. The most recommended therapies are massage (30%), chiropractic (27%), nutrient and herbal supplements (26%) and acupuncture (22%).

Fifty-three percent of American psychiatrists now recommend mind-body therapies such as meditation, yoga, and guided imagery. Yet, by extension, according Wikipedia’s Skeptic ideology, all of these doctors are regarded as quacks and charlatans.  This is not simply a mistake, it is horribly wrong by every moral standard. 

Americans have been in a steady declining state of health, life expectancy and psychological well-being for many years. The dire state of the nation’s health echoes the incessant rise in more and more drug prescriptions and surgical interventions. It is no longer questionable that these trends are deeply interconnected. Physicians only recommend natural medical interventions because their personal clinical experience has shown they are effective. So, what has Wikipedia actually contributed to the health crisis that may turn the tide?  Fundamentally nothing because it only pedals more of the same remedies causing the problems and disparagingly marginalizes remedies that may provide relief and increase patients well-being.  

It is past time the public says no more Wikipedia. No more anonymous trolls with psychological dysfunctions who intimidate accomplished medical professionals and alternative medical professions. And finally, no more handouts to the Wikimedia Foundation when it goes on its begging rounds to further feed its revenue stream, which was $180 million in 2023. 

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Richard Gale is the Executive Producer of the Progressive Radio Network and a former Senior Research Analyst in the biotechnology and genomic industries.

Dr. Gary Null is host of the nation’s longest running public radio program on alternative and nutritional health and a multi-award-winning documentary film director, including his recent Last Call to Tomorrow.

They are regular contributors to Global Research.

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Could Poland intervene in Ukraine? Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to consider the possibility. At May 28 press conference during his visit to Uzbekistan, he said:

“the Polish authorities say they are ready to send their contingents. We can hear Polish language, so there are many mercenaries from Poland.” He added: “if some contingents from European countries enter Ukraine together with the Poles, others will later leave whereas the Poles will never do. This is obvious, at least for me. I might be wrong but I doubt that.”

The Russian President described this scenario as an “escalation” and “yet another step towards a large conflict in Europe and globally.”

Putin’s impressions are somewhat echoed by the Polish authorities in Warsaw. In an interview published last week in the Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski claimed his country should not exclude the possibility of sending troops to neighboring Ukraine:

“We should not exclude any option. Let Putin be guessing as to what we will do.”

A spokesperson for Poland’s Defense Ministry, Janusz Sejmej, however, told Polish journalists that he had “no knowledge of that.”

Sikorski’s remark is in fact quite vague, just like French President Emmanuel Macron’s similar statements made earlier this year. Macron, while defending “strategic ambiguity”, has suggested “European troops” (“but not NATO”) “could” be deployed to Ukraine. It is the same kind of Schrödinger’s cat’s reasoning employed by analysts and US officials such as Jahara Matisek (Military Professor at the U.S. Naval War College), Alex Crowther (Retired US Colonel), and Philips P. O’Brien (Head of the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews), who have argued that “European forces would be acting outside the NATO framework and NATO territory”, and thus “any casualties would not trigger an Article 5 response and draw in the United States”. After all, they reason, “Russia’s opponent would not be NATO but a coalition of European countries seeking to balance against naked Russian imperialism”. In other words, it would be a coalition of NATO members which, however, is not NATO at all.

The problem, as I wrote earlier, is that NATO combat troops (or is it just troops from NATO state members?) have already been arriving in Ukraine in large numbers.

This has been confirmed by NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said that “several NATO allies have men and women in uniform at the embassies”, but claims they are merely “giving advice.” Stoltenberg also announced that NATO state members have air defense systems ready to be sent to the Eastern European country. He stressed that NATO members have the “right” to “help” Ukraine. This however does not make the Atlantic Alliance itself a party to the conflict as the reasoning – “strategic ambiguity” or not – is quite questionable.

Ukrainian-Polish quarrels aside, Warsaw has been a logistical hub for aid reaching its neighboring country since February 2022. Amid a trade dispute, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki famously said his country no longer had arms to send to Kyiv (in September 2023). However, the new Polish government seems to have placed Ukraine back at the center of its foreign policy.

As I wrote before, the two neighboring countries, already in May 2022, clearly took steps towards a future Ukrainian-Polish confederation, as seen with plans announced back then by  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for bilateral agreements pertaining to joint border and customs control, among other things. On May 3, Andrzej Duda (who serves as Poland’s President to this day) went so far as to state that he had hopes that one day “there will be no border” between the two countries. It remains to be seen whether such projects shall gain traction again.

Historically, Ukrainian-Polish relations are complex: the Western portion of Ukraine was in fact ruled by Poland on different occasions, including during the age of the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in a process that started after 1349. By 1569, most of “Ruthenia” (which largely corresponds to Western Ukraine) had become Polish territory. The pressures for so-called Polonization, which included forced conversions to Roman Catholicism, and the enserfment of the peasantry by Poland, alienated Cossacks and Christian Orthodox peasants.

In 1648, the Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky famously led a rebellion against the Polish King, founded the Cossack Hetmanate, and was hailed as a liberator. In 1654, with the  Pereyaslav treaty, this new Cossack state, considered a predecessor to Ukraine, pledged its loyalty to the Russian Tsar. This is not just ancient history – there is an ongoing historiographic debate with, as often happens, political repercussions: to this very day, Khmelnytsky is hailed by some as a Ukrainian national hero and a precursor of Ukrainian nationalism (because of his fight against Polish domination) – while others criticize him for his alliance with the Tsar.

More recently in History, Ukraine was once again ruled by Poland after the 1921 Riga peace treaty, and anti-Polish sentiments remain part of Ukrainian nationalism to this day. The way both nations politicize 20th century history has in fact often hampered their bilateral relations. During World War II, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), glorified as a “heroic” organization in post-Maidan Ukraine, cooperated with the Nazi German Waffen-SS and committed various war crimes against Poles (as well as Jews and others). Again, this is not just 20th century history, but has echoes today, as seen with Ukraine’s infamous far-right problem.

The so-called Eastern Flank is a strategic region for the Atlantic Alliance. NATO’s enlargement, both eastwards and northwards towards the Arctic, is certainly one of the key causes of today’s crisis since 2014. Poland has wished for a while to make a comeback to the stage of History and geopolitics, so to speak – even aspiring for regional leadership in Europe. It remains to be seen whether or not Polish aspirations materialize in the form of a tragic escalation that can only bring the world closer to global thermonuclear war.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Uriel Araujo is a researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is outraged to learn that Canada exported $30,641,495.83 in military goods and technology to Israel in 2023, according to Canada’s newly released annual report on military exports. This is the highest year on record and represents a 43% increase in the value of military exports over the previous year. This is also during a period in which Israel stands accused of genocide against Palestinians by international legal experts. CJPME notes that the $30.6M is a separate figure from the $28.5M in export permits approved by Canada following October 7, 2023, many of which may not have been utilized yet. CJPME reiterates its call for Canada to reverse this dangerous trend, and immediately impose a two-way arms embargo on Israel using the Special Economic Measures Act.

“Canada exported more weapons to Israel last year than in any other year on record. There is every reason to believe that many of these weapons were used in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of CJPME. “It’s time for Canada to end its complicity in genocide and impose effective sanctions to halt military trade with Israel,” Bueckert added.

 

Canada’s annual report shows that Israel continues to be the top non-US destination in terms of the number of utilized export permits for military goods and technology, with 348 permits utilized in 2023. Similar to previous years, the top categories of military goods were categorized as explosives or related components ($10,458,545) or related to military spacecraft ($13,059,723) and military aircraft ($4,368,437), while other important categories relate to vessels of war, ground vehicles, firearms and accessories. While the report claims that all military goods approved after October 7 were “non-lethal,” this is not a recognized technical distinction in the export regime, and this misleading argument obfuscates the role of components in larger lethal weapons systems. Canada did not deny any permits for military goods to Israel in 2023. Canada maintained trade prior to Oct 7 despite Israel’s ongoing commission of war crimes through the settlement of the West Bank and discriminatory practices against Palestinians that amount to the crime of apartheid.

CJPME also notes that the government has finally made initial disclosures of minimal information related to military exports to Israel, as requested by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee (FAAE), but only for those permits approved after October 7 2023. CJPME notes that these disclosures do not provide significant new information; nonetheless, they indicate that most exports were destined for “an Israeli company that is part of defence supply chains,” and describe most of the military exports vaguely as “circuit boards” related to aircraft, land vehicles, targeting systems, radar, and more. While seemingly benign, circuit boards can be used to facilitate serious violations of humanitarian and human rights laws, and their transfer to Israel still likely breaches Canada’s obligations as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty.

“The information disclosed so far is woefully incomplete, but it nonetheless underlines the risk that Canadian exports could very well be incorporated into weapons systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza. The Parliamentary committee must launch a full study into the Canada-Israel arms trade, so that we can find out exactly what weapons were sent to Israel, how they were used, and if Canada is violating international law,” added Bueckert.

CJPME continues to be concerned about significant loopholes in Canada’s export controls, including the potential for Canadian weapon components to be used in weapon systems and munitions delivered to Israel by the United States or other NATO allies. CJPME notes that the integrated nature of the NATO supply chain makes it impossible to verify compliance without a blanket two-way arms embargo and robust enforcement by Canadian agencies.

“On March 18, Parliament voted for an end to arms transfers to Israel. In exchange for amending the motion, the government promised the NDP that Global Affairs Canada would post a public notice to exporters to explain that no permits to Israel would be allowed. Months later, and Minister Joly still hasn’t posted the notice to exporters, and she continues to allow the transfer of military goods to Israel under existing permits. For all we know, Canadian arms could still be flowing to Israel amid a genocide. We cannot trust this government at face-value, nor can we put faith in Canada’s loophole-ridden export control system. This is why we need a two-way arms embargo,” concluded Bueckert.

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***

“In a world without laws, where might alone makes right, all of us will ultimately be the losers.” —Jonathan Cook

And this by Scott Ritter:

“In a war of attrition, grinding the enemy down is just the first part. Stretching what remains until it breaks is how you finish the job.”

Scott is, of course, referring to the US / NATO (Ukraine) war against Russia; the latter being close to finishing the job.

The same war-time allegation or strategy, is taking place now in our “civil” (not to confuse with civilized) world, where we, the People, are gradually extending our knowledge of crimes committed during the past hundred-plus years by a powerful clan of elites, coming to culmination in the past four years – is like stretching the enemy, the all-powerful elite, to the breaking point. This crucial moment is near – it is only a question of time, but irreversible.

Light is overcoming darkness.

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Many of us knew it all along, that the mRNA vaxxes are made to kill, are part of the depopulation agenda, compliments of the World Economic Forum (WEF), especially Klaus Schwab, who prides himself having authored the Great Reset, concluding in “You will own nothing but be happy”.

The UN Agenda 2030, which is supported by the UN Secretary General Mr. Antonio Guterres, a gutless character put in this position and prolonged in this position by the United Sates, sounds like the God-given salvation for humanity, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Until you look at them closer, and you will see the hidden message behind the SDGs. They are an announced death sentence for humanity.

As Cult rules dictate, their crimes need to be announced well in advance to materialize. So far so good. But no farther. That is it. The Light has started penetrating their darkness to their detriment.

Both these documents, the Great Reset and UN Agenda 2030, are congruent – they were supposed to work in tandem. That is what “they” thought they had in store for us, but it will not happen.

These two “visionary” documents are actually linked by an illegal agreement of June 2019 between the WEF’s Schwab and the UN’s Guterres. Who would have thought, that the United Nations becomes an instrument of those who fund and support the WEF, i.e. BlackRock, et. al.

The FEAR on which the entire crime was built – the cornerstone for peoples’ submission – is crumbling or has already crumbled and is being smashed to bits and pieces like a house of cards – that looked in 2020 like a pyramid to the sky; today it is a shambles.

The unhumans – oligarchs and billionaires and wannabe controllers of the world’s wealth, working out of Darkness— have not made their calculus with the all-overcoming LIGHT.

The strength of our thoughts – of our positive thinking and willpower – may help stretch this Light across the globe, into every corner of life. This power is unsurmountable, once the fangs of fear have gone, and our minds are filled with thoughts of harmony and Peace.

Forbidden News has divulged the “news” of an unknown CIA whistleblower – no names given – who tells us how the CIA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the WEF, and the Rockefeller Foundation, have invented the mRNA killer-technology.

The COVID plandemic was a tool to convert the surviving humanity into a surveillance state – into a One World Order (OWO), following a One World Government (OWG), with digital, programmable money – so-called “Central Bank Digital Currency” (CBDC), with mandatory vaccination, to eliminate a large proportion of useless people (Schwab’s Israeli adviser Yuval Noah Harari), to free up resources for the elite.

These deadly “vaxxes”, the Secret CIA agent says, were not developed in warp speed for a non-existent deadly virus, but were prepared at least ten years ahead of the plandemic to be used for depopulating the planet.

The “system” was well-thought out and prepared by long hand, with all the key players in cue to execute their role. It was to function like an octopus stretching its tentacles around the globe, and whenever one would be damaged, teared off by accident or by “mistake”, the remaining ones would continue their business of death and let the “broken” tentacle gradually grow back.

This is reminiscent of a frank Bill Gates statement in one of his by now famous stuttering interviews. This time, not stuttering, he said proudly something to the extent,

“Even if I’m gone, the system is so solid, it will continue on the same course that was prepared a long time ago”.

Of course, the system needs to fool the people, and fool them well – and for a long time – with the same-same messages, to fully indoctrinate the lies, an onslaught of plandemics, necessitating endless vaccination-mandates; transhumanism through chips-implants, full digitization of everything; all-destructive “climate change”, for which mankind’s excesses are responsible, like the needed destruction of agriculture as we know it, for food production, à la “eat bugs and insects or you may starve!” and ever newly appearing enemies – from which they, the kind elite, will save humanity by an OWO with an OWG.

The fooling is done by many means, including a fully bought, corrupt mainstream media, but primarily by a rather obscure UK-based company called Tavistock, whose front is a luxury real estate agency, but their real specialty is mind manipulation and social engineering – a science they developed to perfection since the early 1940s. Tavistock closely cooperates with DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), an agency attached to the Pentagon.

Climate Change – alright. Man-made.

It is called geo-engineering. Chemtrails based on and working with thousands of patented chemical and heavy metal combinations, influencing the stratosphere, our weather and climate – plus the falling particles will poison our breathable atmosphere, water, soil, eventually plants and animals, our food and our bodies.

The second generation of geo-engineering uses DEW technologies. Directed Energy Weapons consist of high-powered electromagnetic waves, for example, those that destroyed Lahaina in Maui, Hawaii. DEW-type energy is also able to cause earthquakes, as they are capable of penetrating deep under the earth’s surface and break tectonic plates.

See this 16-min video clip for more details:

People of the world are waking up.

The wannabe-controlling elite may fall into panic, as awoken people may mean justice for the evil done to the very people over years – what many might call a Nuremberg 2.0.

We are not there yet.

But, yes, justice should be done.

Equally important though – we, Humanity, must move away from this rotten, materialistic, enslaving system. No justice can correct it.

We MUST begin afresh – with a new spirit and with connected positive thoughts of Light that span the world.

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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.

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As Russia’s military operation in Ukraine enters its 28th month, the conflict can be said to have gone through several distinct phases, all but one (the opening gambit) of which prioritized attritional warfare as the principal guiding military philosophy.

For Western military observers, schooled as we are on what we deem the ‘modern’ military philosophies of maneuver warfare, the Russian approach to fighting appears primitive, a throwback to the trench warfare of conflicts past, where human life was a commodity readily traded in exchange for a few hundred meters of shell-pocked landscape.

Upon closer scrutiny, and with the benefit of 27 months of accumulated data, the Russian approach to warfare emerges as a progressive application of military art that considers the totality of the spectrum of warfare – small-unit tactics, weapons capability, intelligence, communications, logistics, the defense economy and, perhaps most importantly of all, political reality.

It is critical to keep in mind that while Russia may have entered the conflict facing a single adversary (Ukraine), within months it became clear that Moscow was confronting the cumulative military capability of the collective West, where NATO’s financial, material, logistical, command and control, and intelligence support was married to Ukrainian manpower resources to create a military capacity designed by intent to wear Russia down physically and mentally, to strategically defeat Russia by promoting the conditions for its economic and political collapse.

That Russia recognized this strategic intent on the part of its declared and undeclared adversaries early on is a testament to the patience and vision of its leadership. Outside military observers criticized Moscow’s inability to deliver a knockout blow against Ukraine early on, attributing this failure to poor leadership and even poorer military capacity on the part of a Russian military machine suddenly deemed incompetent. However, the reality was far different – Moscow was making the strategic transition from a peacetime military posture. It initially intended a brief conflict by compelling the Ukrainian government to the negotiation table (only to be thwarted by Ukraine’s Western partners, who chose to sacrifice Ukraine in the hope of strategically defeating Russia instead of opting for a peaceful resolution), to a posture capable of wearing down both Ukraine’s ability to resist and the collective West’s ability to sustain Kiev economically and politically.

From a military perspective, Russia’s strategic goal has always been the ”demilitarization” of Ukraine. Initially, this could have been achieved by defeating the Ukrainian military on the field of battle. Indeed, Moscow was well on the path toward achieving this goal, even after it pulled its forces back from around Kiev and the other Ukrainian territories it had occupied in the initial phases of the conflict. When Russia moved over to Phase Two, the objective was to complete the liberation of the Donbass region. The battles fought in May and June 2022 nearly brought the Ukrainian military to the breaking point – slow, grinding operations where Russia exploited its firepower superiority to inflict massive casualties on army with finite ability to sustain itself. Only the decision by the collective West to provide massive infusions of military resources – equipment, training, logistics, command and control, and intelligence – saved the Ukrainians. With NATO’s assistance, Kiev was able to rebuild its depleted military and go over on the counterattack, pushing Russian forces back in the vicinity of Kharkov and Kherson.

This military success proved to be the undoing of Ukraine and its Western allies. The impressive territorial gains achieved in the Kharkov and Kherson offensives that took place between late August and the middle of November 2022, proved to be a narcotic. While Russia adjusted to the new realities of an expanded conflict, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops, building strong defenses, and putting its defense industry on a wartime footing, the Ukrainians and their NATO advisers assumed that they would simply be able to repeat the successes of summer-fall 2022 through a grand summer counteroffensive in 2023.

This hope proved to be in vain.

It was at this juncture that the principles of attritional warfare began to be applied by the Russians in a more comprehensive form. While Ukraine and its NATO allies assembled a massive offensive strike capability which married the last of Ukraine’s trained manpower reserves with billions of dollars of Western equipment and training, Russia continued to engage in so-called ”meatgrinder” operations in and around the city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut). These battles produced massive casualties on both sides. Russia, however, was able not only to absorb these losses, but to continue to accrue strategic reserves. Ukraine, on the other hand, squandered tens of thousands of troops and billions of dollars of hard-to-replace military materiel which had been earmarked for the summer 2023 counteroffensive. As such, when the Ukrainians finally kicked off their counteroffensive, in early June 2023, they did so with forces insufficient to the task. Over the course of the next several months, extending into fall, the Ukrainian army ground itself down in the face of Russian defenses, which were optimized to defeat the attackers.

By the time the counteroffensive ground to a halt, in December 2023, Ukraine was a spent force militarily. Its armed forces had used up their reserves of manpower. NATO had depleted its stocks of available military materiel. And the West had become politically exhausted at the prospect of a never-ending conflict which seemed destined to result in an endless cycle of throwing good money after bad, all the while failing to bring about the strategic goal of defeating Russia.

Moscow, on the other hand, emerged from the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive in a good position. From a military perspective, the Russians had won the war of attrition with Ukraine and the collective West – basic military math had Ukraine consuming manpower and material resources at a far greater rate than they could be replenished, making Kiev grow physically weaker every day the conflict dragged on, while the Russians were able to accumulate manpower and material resources at a rate far greater than Ukraine was able to destroy, meaning Russia grew stronger every day the conflict continued.

Economically, Ukraine and its Western backers were exhausted. The blowback from the aggressive anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West had severely curtailed the industrial capacity of the European members of the NATO alliance to sustain the scope and scale of its military support to Ukraine, while domestic political realities in the US, amplified by the fact that it was engaged in a hotly contested presidential election cycle, paralyzed the American ability to sustain Ukraine financially. The military and economic exhaustion of Ukraine and the collective West severely impacted the ability of this coalition to politically sustain support for a war that had no discernable prospect of ending well.

While the conflict has not, by any stretch of the imagination, been without cost to Russia, the approach taken by the leadership, to create conditions on the battlefield designed to maximize enemy losses while minimizing their own, meant that Moscow entered 2024 in a much stronger position militarily, economically, and – perhaps most importantly – politically. War, it has been said, is an extension of politics by other means, and this is no exception to the age-old adage. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest electoral victory has provided the leadership in Moscow with a political mandate that strengthens Russia’s hand considerably, especially contrasted with the weakened posture of Ukraine.

It is within such a context that the Russian offensive north of Kharkov must be evaluated. From a military-political standpoint, the operation has a specific objective – to push Ukrainian forces back from the border with Russia so that Ukrainian artillery and rocket systems can no longer strike Russian territory. But there is a larger purpose for this offensive – to continue the process of grinding down the Ukrainian military, to complete the larger task of ”demilitarization” set by the Kremlin.

In this, Russia is succeeding. First and foremost, by attacking north of Kharkov, Moscow has compelled Kiev to commit not only the last of its mobile strategic reserves in response but, because these forces are inadequate in strength, to force Ukraine to strip away units on the eastern line of contact, in Kherson, Zaporozhye and Donbass, and to divert them to the Kharkov direction. The depletion of reserves is part and parcel of the overall Russian strategy of attrition. Moreover, as these forces displace to the Kharkov region, they are being interdicted by Russian air, missile, and drone strikes, further eroding their combat power. The result is that Ukraine is now defending a longer line of defense with even fewer forces than it started with.

One should not expect the Russian efforts to stop in the Kharkov direction. Reports indicate that Moscow is amassing significant forces opposite the Ukrainian city of Sumy. If Russia were to open a new direction of attack there, Ukraine would struggle to find forces sufficient to mount a viable defense. And at some point, one should expect additional reserves to make their appearance on other parts of the battlefield, maybe in Zaporozhye, or Donetsk, or Lugansk, where Ukrainian forces have been stretched to breaking point.

The goal of a war of attrition is to wear your enemy down to the point where continued resistance is impossible. This has been Moscow’s goal since April 2022. And it is the goal today. The Kharkov offensive is simply the current manifestation of the continuation of this strategy, and the clearest indication yet that the Russian endgame in Ukraine is drawing near.

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Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of ‘Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union.’ He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector. 

Featured image: A reconnaissance group serviceman of Russian Armed Forces Eastern Military District is seen in a vehicle moving on Kharkiv direction during the special military operation in Ukraine. ©  Sputnik / RIA Novosti

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With mind boggling audacity – insolence would perhaps be a more suitable word – the nations which have systematically practiced the extermination of other nations and cultures, and which even gave their odious practice its universally recognised name –  genocide – are now in the forefront of accusing others, consisting mainly of their historical victims, of what they themselves have engaged in all along, and largely with impunity.

There is no better illustration than the recent Srebrenica genocide resolution charade in the UN General Assembly. We all suspect, of course, who inspired this benevolent initiative “to promote peace and reconciliation in the Balkans,” by increasing existing rage and hatred to the boiling point. Displaying the depths of their wicked cynicism, out of potentially 194 UN member states, they entrusted the dirty work of submitting their hypocritical resolution to Germany and Rwanda, the two with impeccable genocidal records.

What the actual and the ostensible sponsors of the UN resolution conveniently overlooked and left out of their resolution is a real and provable genocide in the very recent past and at a short distance, 200 kilometres as the crow flies, from Srebrenica. If highlighting a typical Balkan genocide, for the purpose of commemoration and universal condemnation, had been their sincere purpose they surely would not have chosen to focus on the highly dubious example of Srebrenica because it pales by comparison to a nearby genocide that is unquestionably real. The real genocide occurred in war-time Croatia and spilled over into the adjacent parts of Bosnia. It is symbolised by the death camp of Jasenovac, fittingly described by a distinguished Holocaust scholar as the “Auschwitz of the Balkans.”

Notorious facts of this nature, however, are not allowed to obstruct the smooth promotion of The Agenda, which we strongly suspect in the minds of the Western elite is based on a sharp distinction, nicely elaborated by Josep Borrell, between the Garden and the Jungle. Even more to the point, where genocide is concerned, the distinction is between worthy and “unworthy” victims, as the late Prof. Edward Herman had insistently maintained.

Gravestones at the Potočari genocide memorial near Srebrenica (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Srebrenica may be the most brazenly contrived but, as we shall demonstrate shortly, it is not unique in the category of “genocides” maliciously fabricated in the slander factories of the collective West. Their singular purpose is to project the West’s own guilt onto others and to brutally malign those who refuse to march to its tune. It matters not to the West’s propaganda mavens that a slaughter of epic proportions, which it refuses to acknowledge and in which it is fully complicit, with a genocidal dimension grudgingly recognised even by the UN’s own court, was taking place concurrently as in the General Assembly of the United Nations the collective West was employing the full range of its intimidation and blackmail tools to elevate its fraudulent Srebrenica narrative to a pedestal of uniqueness. Nor does it matter to them that the genocide in Jasenovac during World War II dwarfs by many orders of magnitude anything that might have happened in Srebrenica, even if credit were given to the most wildly exaggerated accounts.

Can Srebrenica ever be held as a starker example of genocide than Jasenovac? Does Srebrenica even qualify as genocide and can it ever legitimately replace Jasenovac as its Balkan paradigm?

In the mind of the globalist political establishment, that appears to be possible. In their propagandistically reconfigured version of reality, Srebrenica, with its “8,000 men and boys,” indeed overshadows the massive slaughter of several hundreds of thousands in Jasenovac. It makes no difference that the slaughter in Croatia seventy years ago fully satisfies the criteria laid down in the Genocide Convention. Nor does it matter that unlike Srebrenica it was committed with amply documented intent to indiscriminately exterminate all Serbs, Jews, and Roma within reach, and to obliterate the ethnic and religious communities to which those victims, obviously of lesser worth, belonged.

It is to be deeply resented, in what passed for debate in the General Assembly, that a variety of arguments opposing the corrupt resolution were advanced, some solid and others quite lame, but that no one had the courage to publicly denounce the threadbare factual and legal rationale upon which the entire Srebrenica fiction rests. That did happen eventually, but not at the plenary session of the UN General Assembly. On the eve of the session, but outside of the Assembly’s hallowed halls, Srebrenica was superbly deconstructed by independent experts of such calibre as George Szamueli, Kit Klarenberg in a focused conversation with Nebojša Malić, and Balkan Conflict Research Team’s Laurie Meyer with published author Andy Wilcoxson. Regrettably, the ineffectual Serbian Government, which should have been the most keenly interested in unmasking the hoax, confined itself to cheap and undignified flag-wrapping histrionics aimed at their domestic audience. The Republic of Srpska, the other interested party on whose territory the alleged “genocide“ is supposed to have taken place, did not even bother to send a representative to the General Assembly to argue its position, which it had an unqualified right to do according to UN’s Procedural Rules.

Speaking of phoney genocides maliciously concocted by the propagandists of the collective West, two more recent examples spring to mind. They further illustrate the opportunistic cynicism with which human suffering, even on such vast scale, whether real or fictitious, is regarded.

The first is the alleged “genocide” in Xinjiang, supposedly targeting the Uyghur ethnic community there. Many will recall that a relatively short time ago it was the topic that dominated public discourse. The indictment of China, based on a matrix of unsubstantiated but aggressively propounded allegations, resounded throughout the collective West. The utter dishonesty and manifestly bogus nature of these charges and the preposterous nature of the “tribunal” set up in London to rubber stamp the preordained political “verdict” we had dealt with extensively at the time, when the Xinjiang frenzy was at its fever pitch (also here and here).

If three years later anyone is wondering where the Uyghur matter stands and more precisely where the bodies are, the answer is that the issue has been unceremoniously shelved. Ultimately, even the UN Special Rapporteur commissioned to study the Xinjiang allegations thrashed them as groundless. (Too bad that no one thought of appointing her to investigate Srebrenica!) In sum, those who originally raised the bogus issue have now moved on to other provocations which they believe will yield greater dividends. Consequently, the bodiless Xinjiang “genocide” has fizzled out, the Uyghur genocide crisis actors have been put on sabbatical, and the entire scenario is currently being revised in Hollywood.

Soon after Crimea’s reintegration with Russia in 2014, a Crimean Tatar genocide frenzy was instigated in the expectation that this particular minority group might prove suitable as a battering ram to disrupt the reintegration process and discredit Russia.

As was done with Xinjiang Uyghurs, academically sounding think tank dissertations (including a Council of Europe pamphlet) were composed by hired “scholars” and disseminated to bemoan the plight of the Crimean Tatars, highlighting their “persecution under Russian occupation,” with such trusted sources as Wikipedia, Radio Free Europe, and the Atlantic Council chiming in.

Eventually, the “Tatar genocide” campaign was overtaken by other events in the region and proved as ephemeral as the Xinjiang Uyghur project. Crimean Tatar genocide actors were also put on sabbatical like their Uyghur colleagues while their puppet masters are figuring out how and where to use them next.

Bosnian Muslims, who are still massively enthralled by what they naively assume is Western support for their cause, should take note of how their Uyghur and Tatar counterparts, who shared their illusions, have ultimately fared.

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Stephen Karganovic is president of “Srebrenica Historical Project,” an NGO registered in the Netherlands to investigate the factual matrix and background of events that took place in Srebrenica in July of 1995. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.  

Featured image: Arriving prisoners being robbed by Ustaše guards (From the Public Domain)

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Rethinking Srebrenica

By Stephen Karganovic

Rethinking Srebrenica examines the forensic evidence of the alleged Srebrenica “massacre” possessed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Even though the ICTY created more than 3,500 autopsy reports, many of these autopsy reports were based on bone fragments, which do not represent complete bodies. An examination of the matching femur bones found reveals that there were only about 1,900 complete bodies that were exhumed. Of these, some 1,500 autopsy reports indicated a cause of death consistent with battlefield casualties. Only about 400 autopsy reports indicated execution as a cause of death, as revealed by ligatures and blindfolds. This forensic evidence does not warrant the conclusion of a genocide having taken place.

Karganovic examines the events that took place in Srebrenica in July 1995 in a wholistic manner instead of restricting it to a three-day event. The ten chapters cover:

1) Srebrenica: A Critical Overview;

2) Demilitarization of the UN Safe Zone of Srebrenica;

3) Genocide or Blowback?;

4) General Presentation and Interpretation of Srebrenica Forensic Data (Pattern of Injury Breakdown);

5) An Analysis of the Srebrenica Forensic Reports Prepared by the ICTY Prosecution Experts;

6) An Analysis of Muslim Column Losses Attributable to Minefields, Combat Activity, and Other Causes;

7) The Genocide Issue: Was there a Demonstrable Intent to Exterminate All Muslims?;

8) ICTY Radio Intercept Evidence;

9) The Balance Sheet; and

10) Srebrenica: Uses of the Narrative.

• ASIN:‎ B0992RRJRK
• Publisher: ‎Unwritten History, Inc.; 2 edition (July 8 2021)
• Language: ‎English

Click here to purchase.

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There is a vast difference between “not winning” and “losing” a war.

In the case of Ukraine, “not winning” means that President Zelensky and his handlers in Washington choose to pursue a negotiated settlement that would allow Russia to keep the territory it captured during the war while addressing Moscow’s modest security demands. (Note—Ukraine must reject any intention of joining NATO)

On the other hand, “losing” the war means that the US and NATO continue on the same path they are today—pumping lethal weapons, trainers and long-range missiles systems into Ukraine—hoping that the Russian offensive is progressively weakened so Ukraine can prevail on the battlefield. This alternate path—which amounts to ‘wishful thinking’—is the path to “losing” the war.

Unlike the “not winning” the war scenario, “losing” the war will have a catastrophic effect on the United States and its future.

It would mean that Washington had been unable to prevent a Russian military incursion into Europe which is NATO’s primary raison d’etre. It would challenge the idea that the US is capable of acting as the guarantor of regional security which is the role the US has enjoyed since the end of WW2. The perception of a US defeat at the hands of Russia would unavoidably trigger a re-evaluation of current security relations leading to the dissolution of NATO and, very possibly, the EU as well. Simply put, losing the war would be a disaster. Here’s how Colonel Daniel Davis summed it up just last week:

“We can’t let Russia win.”

I’ve heard that throughout the entire 2-plus years of the war. But here’s what I’m saying: If you keep going down this path—ignoring all the realities we keep talking about—not only will Russia win, we’ll lose. And I assure you if you thought it was bad to ‘let Putin win’—which means having a negotiated settlement in which Putin ends up with territory he didn’t start the war with—…But if you say that—because I don’t want that to happen, I’m going to keep fighting—that implies you think you can win. But if you can’t win, then the likely outcome is that you lose even more, and that’s what’s really going to hurt our credibility because, imagine if the whole force of NATO was shown to be unable to stop Russia from winning? Now our credibility is damaged far worse than having a negotiated settlement Colonel Daniel Davis, You Tube

So, while “not winning” is not the perfect outcome, it is vastly superior to “losing” which would severely undermine the Alliance’s credibility, greatly erode Washington’s power in Europe, and force the US to rethink its plans for projecting power into Central Asia. (pivot to Asia) In short, a US defeat by Russia in Ukraine would be a serious body-blow to the “rules-based order” and the denouement of the American Century.

So, there’s a lot at stake for the United States. Unfortunately, there is no real debate in elite power circles about the best way forward. And, that’s because the decision has already been made, and that decision hews closely to the maximalist views articulated in an article at the Atlantic Council titled “NATO at 75: The Alliance’s future lies in Ukraine’s victory against Russia”

NATO will mark its seventy-fifth anniversary on April 4 as history’s most successful military alliance. However, its future as a credible deterrent to aggression now lies in the success or failure of Russia’s unjust and brutal invasion of Ukraine…..

Allied leaders have unambiguously bound NATO’s security to this war. NATO summits have repeatedly condemned the invasion and demanded that Russia “completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its forces and equipment from the territory of Ukraine.”

And the rhetoric has escalated. French President Emmanuel Macron recently described the war as “existential” for Europe. “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility would be reduced to zero,” Macron said…

If the upcoming Washington summit is to inspire continued confidence in NATO’s credibility, and thus its future, then t he Alliance must take action to place Ukraine onto a clear path to victory…

Allied leaders must unambiguously endorse Ukraine’s war objectives—that is, total territorial reconstitution back to the nation’s 1991 borders. Anything short of that is a disillusioning signal to Ukraine and encouragement to Putin to sustain his invasion. NATO at 75: The Alliance’s future lies in Ukraine’s victory against Russia, atlanticcouncil.org

Repeat: Allied leaders must unambiguously endorse Ukraine’s war objectives—that is, total territorial reconstitution back to the nation’s 1991 borders. Anything short of that is a disillusioning signal to Ukraine and encouragement to Putin to sustain his invasion.

As we said earlier, this maximalist view of NATO’s objectives is nothing more than wishful thinking. The anemic UAF is not going to drive the Russian Army out of Ukraine nor are they going to win the war. Even so, the views above are shared by the vast majority of foreign policy elites who have not adjusted their thinking so that it corresponds to Ukraine’s bloody battlefield losses. Here’s more from a Foreign Affairsop-ed:

The Biden administration and its European counterparts have failed to articulate their endgame for this war. Three years into the conflict, Western planning continues to be strategically backwards—aiding Kiev has become an end in itself, divorced from a coherent strategy for bringing the war to a close.

But the “theory of victory” presented by Zagorodnyuk and Cohen to replace the strategic malaise in which the west finds itself is, remarkably, even more dangerous and ill-conceived than the status quo. The authors call on the White House to come out in full-throated support of Kiev’s war aims: namely, ejecting all Russian forces from Ukraine’s 1991 borders including Crimea, subjecting Russian officials to war crimes tribunals, extracting reparations from Moscow, and providing Ukraine with “long-term security arrangements.” Put differently, the West must commit itself to nothing short of Russia’s total and unconditional battlefield defeat.

How is Ukraine, with its battered military, collapsing demography, and an economy entirely reliant on Western cash infusions, to accomplish this lofty task? By doing more of the same, but on a larger scale. The New Theory of Ukrainian Victory Is the Same as the Old, The American Conservative

The point we’re trying to make is that this type of delusional thinking is virtually universal among US foreign policy elites none of whom are prepared to accept the fundamental reality on the ground. As a result, there is no chance that the Biden administration will make a course-correction or make any attempt to prevent a direct clash between the two nuclear-armed adversaries, NATO and Russia.

So, how would a reasonable person approach the current conflict in Ukraine?

They’d look for a way to end it ASAP while inflicting as little damage as possible on the losing side. Here’s what Marymount Professor Mark Episkopos had to say in the same article above:

Western leaders are long overdue in articulating a coherent theory of victory—one that grapples with the trade-offs and limitations confronting Kiev and its backers rather than sweeping them aside in pursuit of maximalist battlefield objectives that are increasingly detached from realities on the ground. This does not mean resigning oneself to Ukraine’s unconditional surrender. Yet it will require policymakers to acknowledge that there is no viable pathway to Russia’s unconditional defeat and to shape their thinking around war termination accordingly. It is not too late to end the war on terms that guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty while advancing U.S. interests. The West still has substantial leverage on and off the battlefield, but the key to wielding this influence effectively is to finally abandon a zero-sum framing of victory that has prevented leaders from repairing to a more pragmatic, strategically nimble approach. The New Theory of Ukrainian Victory Is the Same as the Old, The American Conservative

Bottom line: A deal can be made that will minimize the overall damage to the United States and Ukraine, but it’s up to US diplomats and foreign policy elites to identify areas of common ground so an agreement can be reached that will avoid an even bigger catastrophe.

The problem with Professor Episkopos recommendation, is that it is an imminently reasonable suggestion which means it will be dismissed out-of-hand by the warhawks who set policy. Even now, US powerbrokers are certain that the war can be won if they just throw caution-to-the-wind and apply more raw, military force. That ought to do it. (they think)

This is the kind of flawed reasoning that drives the US war machine. Policy elites honestly believe that if they fully embrace a ridiculous platitude like “We can’t lose”, that somehow the reality of superior Russian firepower, manpower, logistical support and industrial capability will vanish into thin air and the “exceptional” nation will prevail once again. But that’s not going to happen.

Okay. So, what will happen?

For that, we turn to military analyst Will Schryver and a recent post on Twitter:

It… must be understood that the US/NATO could not assemble, equip, send, and sustain even a dozen competent combat brigades to engage the Russians in Ukraine.

Do you realize what would happen to 50k NATO combat troops — none of whom have EVER experienced high-intensity warfare — if they were suddenly thrust, with necessarily deficient leadership and coordination, into the Ukraine battlefield?

They would be mercilessly slaughtered. Bleeding the Beast, Will Schryver, Twitter

“Mercilessly slaughtered”? That doesn’t sound very hopeful.

Even so, France has already announced that it will send military trainers to Ukraine, and others will certainly follow. At the same time more lethal weaponry, particularly long-range missiles and F-16s are already en route and will likely be used sometime in the near future. But, will it matter? Will the provision of new weapons and combat troops turn the tide and prevent the collapse of the Ukrainian army? Here’s Schryver again:

Why should the Russians object if the US/NATO sends more of its scant stockpiles of short-range ballistic and longer-range cruise missiles? The success rates for ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles has been abysmal, and steadily decreases with the passage of time. They are strategically meaningless. And there is effectively zero replenishment capacity!

Why should the Russians object if the US/NATO sends a squadron — or even five — of antiquated F-16s to Ukraine. Yes, of course, they would be piloted by NATO “volunteers”, and they might even achieve a handful of overhyped and fleeting “successes” in the early going. But if they actually attempt to mount serious sorties over the Ukraine battlefield, old F-16s with inadequate logistics and sustainment are going to have a life span numbered in mere HOURS. Bleeding the Beast, Will Schryver, Twitter

Is Schryver right? Will these prospective long-range missile strikes on targets inside Russia merely be pinprick attacks that Putin will ignore while his troops continue to crush Ukrainian forces along the 800-mile Line of Contact? And should Putin welcome the introduction of US/NATO “ground troops” into Ukraine to face the Russian army? Will that actually bring the war to a swifter end? Here’s Schryver one more time:

At the rate this whole Ukraine debacle is going, essentially all European-based military power… is going to be attrited to “combat-ineffective” for at least a decade, and probably more. If I were the Russians, I would view that objective as the summum bonum (“The highest good”) to be achieved as a result of this war, and I would be loath to interrupt the Masters of Empire while in the process of handing it to me on a silver platter….

So, if I’m Gerasimov, I would say, “Bring ’em on! Bleeding the Beast, Will Schryver, Twitter

The furor over the use of NATO-provided long-range missiles (and deployment of F-16s and French trainers) only diverts attention from the inescapable fact that NATO is going to be defeated by the Russia Armed Forces if they enter the war. So, a wise man would pursue a negotiated settlement now before things get out of hand. But that is not what our leaders are doing, in fact, they are doing the exact opposite and escalating at every turn.

So, let’s examine the facts a bit more thoroughly. Check out this summary analysis by the pros at War on the Rocks:

When asked two weeks ago in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee whether the Army was “outranged” by any adversary, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said: “Yes … the ones in Europe, really Russia. We don’t like it, we don’t want it, but yes, technically [we are] outranged, outgunned on the ground.”

Given Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, this is sobering testimony. But is it accurate? Unfortunately, yes: Nearly two years of extensive wargaming and analysis shows that if Russia were to conduct a short-warning attack against the Baltic States, Moscow’s forces could roll to the outskirts of the Estonian capital of Tallinn and the Latvian capital of Riga in 36 to 60 hours. In such a scenario, the United States and its allies would not only be outranged and outgunned, but also outnumbered….

Outgunned? (The Russians) have much more advanced armor, weapons, and sensors, and in some areas — such as active protection systems to defend against anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) — are superior to their Western counterparts….

Beyond the disadvantages of being outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned, a slew of other issues compounds the problem. First, NATO allies and the U.S. military would be of limited immediate help offsetting these disadvantages.European allies followed the American lead by cutting armor and optimizing their remaining forces for “out-of-area” missions like Afghanistan. Thus, Great Britain is continuing with plans to withdraw its last troops from Germany, while Germany has reduced its army from a Cold War level of 10 heavy divisions to the equivalent of two.

But it’s not just the numbers here that matter. The United States and its partners have also steadily reduced the infrastructure necessary to support any kind of substantial deterrent or defensive effort in Europe. Today, there are no U.S. division or corps headquarters forward-based on the continent, nor any Army aviation, engineer, and associated logistics brigades….

Russia fields perhaps the most formidable array of surface-to-air missile (SAM) defenses in the world. Operating from locations within Russian territory, these SAMs far outrange existing defense-suppression weapons and present a credible threat to U.S. and allied airpower that would be costly and time-consuming to counter….

Today NATO is indeed outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned by Russia in Europe and beset by a number of compounding factors that make the situation worse….

A war with Russia would be fraught with escalatory potential from the moment the first shot was fired; and generations born outside the shadow of nuclear Armageddon would suddenly be reintroduced to fears thought long dead and buried. Outnumbered, Outranged, and Outgunned: How Russia Defeats NATO, War On The Rocks

What does this analysis show?

It shows that—despite the delusional fulminations of armchair generals on cable TV braying about inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia—it’s not going to happen. Russia has the edge in virtually every area of firepower, manpower, combat-readiness and material. They also have the industrial capability that is unmatched in the West. Here’s how Schryver summed it up:

There has been no meaningful increase in armaments production in the collective west, and there won’t be anytime soon. Europe has been effectively demilitarized, and the US is severely depleted and effectively deindustrialized….

Outside of the hopelessly propagandized populace of the so-called “western democracies”, no one in the world believes Russia looks “meek” at this point in time. Instead, they realize the Russians have completely defeated the empire’s plans and exposed its weakness….

The west has no advantage whatsoever. NATO is an empty shell…. I am utterly convinced a NATO expeditionary force in Ukraine would be massacred AT LEAST as comprehensively as the AFU has been, and quite likely MUCH WORSE, and MUCH MORE RAPIDLY…. Will Schryver, Twitter

There it is in black and white: The “deindustrialized” West is an empty shell that has no chance of prevailing in a combined-arms ground war with Russia. Even so, Washington is determined to proceed with its lunatic plan pushing the world closer to Armageddon while bringing ruin on the American people.

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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).  

Featured image is from TUR

A perseguição de dissidentes políticos nos EUA está a tornar-se comum. As pessoas que se opõem à política externa agressiva de Washington estão a ser vistas como inimigas e tratadas como criminosas, mesmo quando não há razão plausível para a incriminação. Recentemente, o analista militar Scott Ritter teve seu passaporte confiscado pelas autoridades norte-americanas sem qualquer motivo específico, mostrando os níveis avançados de tirania no país.

Ritter estava em um avião no aeroporto de Nova York. Seu plano era viajar para a Federação Russa, pois tinha um convite especial para participar do Fórum Econômico de São Petersburgo, que terá início nos próximos dias. Ritter já estava embarcando quando três policiais o removeram à força e apreenderam seus documentos. Questionados sobre o motivo desta ação, os policiais afirmaram que estavam a cumprir ordens do Departamento de Estado norte-americano e recusaram-se a esclarecer quaisquer detalhes sobre o caso.

“Eu estava embarcando no vôo. Três policiais me puxaram para o lado. Eles levaram meu passaporte. Quando questionados sobre o motivo, disseram “ordens do Departamento de Estado”. Não tinham mais informações para mim (…) Tiraram minhas malas do avião e depois me acompanharam para fora do aeroporto. Eles tomaram meu passaporte”, disse ele aos jornalistas.

Sem o passaporte, Ritter não pode sair do território dos EUA. Na prática, ele passará a viver sob um regime semelhante à prisão domiciliar, sendo não apenas monitorado pelas autoridades americanas, mas também impedido de sair do país. É curioso que isso tenha acontecido justamente durante uma viagem de Ritter à Rússia. Parece que Washington está a tentar deixar claro a todos os seus cidadãos que não haverá tolerância para com os cidadãos que mantenham qualquer forma de laços com Moscou.

Ritter é há muito tempo um dos críticos mais veementes do apoio militar à Ucrânia. Nas suas entrevistas e artigos, ele defende abertamente o fim do fornecimento de armas e uma política amigável entre os EUA e a Rússia. Ritter expôs repetidamente a verdade sobre o nazismo ucraniano e o conluio ocidental com o ultranacionalismo e o racismo. Além disso, seu principal trabalho como analista militar consiste em fornecer análises técnicas detalhadas que mostram a situação dos lados em conflito.

Embora os meios de comunicação ocidentais há muito que afirmem que Kiev está a “ganhar a guerra”, Ritter emergiu como uma voz dissidente provando o contrário, dizendo que o controle militar do conflito pertence à Federação Russa. Ele refutou narrativas falaciosas como a “vitória ucraniana em Kiev” ou a “contra-ofensiva de Kherson”. Usando uma análise militar técnica e imparcial, Ritter fundamentou cada um dos seus argumentos sobre a vitória da Rússia na guerra. Hoje, seu trabalho é reconhecido como um dos melhores entre os especialistas militares de todo o mundo, tendo muitas de suas previsões se concretizado.

Esta não é a primeira vez que Ritter sofre perseguições no seu próprio país. No passado, foi criticado, difamado e até detido pelas autoridades americanas devido à sua posição contra as iniciativas de guerra de Washington. Ritter criticou duramente a decisão americana de invadir o Iraque, afirmando que não havia armas de destruição em massa no país. Na época, ele era inspetor de armas da ONU e tinha informações privilegiadas sobre a real situação do Oriente Médio.

Atualmente, além de fornecer análises militares sobre a guerra na Ucrânia, Ritter também tem criticado fortemente a violência israelita na Faixa de Gaza, o que certamente gerou descontentamento entre os sionistas radicais na política interna americana. Além disso, tem trabalhado para refutar falácias e estereótipos sobre a Rússia e o povo russo, fazendo viagens frequentes à Rússia para mostrar a realidade local. Recentemente, Ritter esteve na Chechênia, Moscou e São Petersburgo e falou aos meios de comunicação ocidentais sobre como é hoje a vida real na Rússia, explicando que o país se encontra numa situação econômica favorável, sem sofrer qualquer efeito das sanções ocidentais.

Já está claro que a perseguição é o destino de qualquer dissidente americano. Quando os cidadãos dos EUA discordam das políticas do seu país, as autoridades atacam-os, prendem-os e difamam-os. Infelizmente, esta é a realidade do país que afirma ser o guardião global da democracia. No entanto, esta mentira está cada vez mais desacreditada. Apesar de todos os esforços de propaganda, já é claro para o mundo que os EUA já não são uma democracia.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

Artigo em inglês : Persecution against Scott Ritter shows US not democracy anymore, InfoBrics, 4 de Juno de 2024.

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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It’s damn near impossible to keep up with all the warmongering of the western empire these days.

In response to the frightening steps that NATO has been taking to allow western-supplied weapons to be used by Ukraine to strike Russian territory, Vladimir Putin warned last week that these escalations can lead to “serious consequences”. 

“This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” Putin said. “If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the US behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons? Hard to say. Do they want global conflict?”

We can get a more concrete idea of what Putin was talking about from the blatant threat Moscow formally made to the UK last month, saying that Ukraine using any British weapons to attack Russian territory could result in direct Russian attacks on British military targets in Ukraine “and beyond”, which would place Russia in a profoundly dangerous state of hot warfare with NATO forces.

Read on X

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg dismissed Putin’s warnings, saying,

“This is nothing new. It has … been the case for a long time that every time NATO allies are providing support to Ukraine, President Putin is trying to threaten us to not do that.”

This cavalier attitude toward nuclear brinkmanship that empire managers have been demonstrating lately was addressed on Monday by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who said the US is close to making a “fatal” miscalculation. 

“I would like to caution American officials against miscalculations which may have fatal consequences. For some unknown reason, they underestimate the seriousness of the rebuff they may receive,” Ryabkov reportedly said.

“I am urging these officials who seemingly are not bothered by anything, to take some time away from playing computer games, which is apparently what they are doing, given their light-hearted approach to serious issues, and take a closer look at what Putin said,” Ryabkov added.

Read on X

American officials appear to be doing the exact opposite of what the deputy foreign minister recommends, with White House spokesman John Kirby telling the press on Monday that the Biden administration is open to discussions about expanding the use of US-made weapons further into Russian territory.

Asked about President Zelensky’s complaint that US permissions to conduct limited strikes on Russian territory weren’t enough and comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggesting a greater range of Russian territory may soon be authorized, Kirby said it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Zelensky wants more, and that the US will keep talking to Ukraine about the possibility of US-backed strikes deeper into the Russian mainland.

“And so we’ll have those talks, we’ll have those conversations with the Ukrainians,” Kirby said. “Absolutely, we will. And whether it leads to any additional policy changes, I can’t say at this point, but we’re not going to turn our back on what Ukraine needs. And we’re going to continue to try to, again, evolve our support to them as the battlefield evolves as well.”

I wrote just the other day that Biden’s authorization for limited strikes on Russian territory with US weapons would immediately be followed by a push for even more escalations with strikes deeper into Russia, and here we are. Every time the warmongers get one escalation, they immediately start pushing for another. 

There is a limit to how many escalations Russia will tolerate before taking drastic action against NATO to re-establish deterrence credibility, and nobody really knows exactly where that limit is. They seem bound and determined to find it however, and when they do we may already be on an irreversible free fall toward nuclear armageddon.

Read on X

This all comes as the Dutch foreign minister publicly gives the green light for Ukraine to use F-16s to attack Russian territory. As Antiwar’s Kyle Anzalone notes of this news, F-16s are nuclear-capable warplanes.

It’s important to push back against brinkmanship with Russia well before we go over the brink into nuclear war, because obviously by then it’s too late for anyone to do anything — and indeed a full-scale nuclear war between NATO and the Russian Federation could mean that nobody will ever do anything ever again. Nuclear armageddon is the one foreign policy mistake that you can’t course-correct for after you make it, so it’s extremely urgent to course-correct long before we get to that point.

The biggest risk for nuclear war isn’t that either side will knowingly choose to enter into one, but that one will be set off by miscalculation, miscommunication or technical malfunction in the chaos and confusion of soaring tensions, as nearly happened numerous times during the last cold war. The higher tensions get, the more likely such an incident becomes, and the more hair-trigger everyone’s nuclear systems will be. 

It’s a lot like a standoff where people are pointing guns at each other, like the end scene of Reservoir Dogs. The more guns there are and the more tense the situation becomes, the more likely it is that someone will make a move that sets the whole thing off and gets everyone killed.

And that’s why it’s very disturbing that these tensions are being ramped up so casually by the empire with no resistance from anybody — not from western governments, not from the media, and not even from ordinary people in any meaningful numbers. 

These freaks are playing chicken with armageddon weapons, and nobody’s got a foot anywhere near the brake pedal. They’re not even looking at it. They’re not even thinking about it. 

At the very least we’ve got to find some way to get people thinking about this. This would be such a damn stupid way for humanity to annihilate itself.

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“Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War” 

by Michel Chossudovsky

Available to order from Global Research! 

ISBN Number: 978-0-9737147-5-3
Year: 2012
Pages: 102

PDF Edition:  $6.50 (sent directly to your email account!)

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Reviews

“This book is a ‘must’ resource – a richly documented and systematic diagnosis of the supremely pathological geo-strategic planning of US wars since ‘9-11’ against non-nuclear countries to seize their oil fields and resources under cover of ‘freedom and democracy’.”
–John McMurtry, Professor of Philosophy, Guelph University

“In a world where engineered, pre-emptive, or more fashionably “humanitarian” wars of aggression have become the norm, this challenging book may be our final wake-up call.”
-Denis Halliday, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations

Michel Chossudovsky exposes the insanity of our privatized war machine. Iran is being targeted with nuclear weapons as part of a war agenda built on distortions and lies for the purpose of private profit. The real aims are oil, financial hegemony and global control. The price could be nuclear holocaust. When weapons become the hottest export of the world’s only superpower, and diplomats work as salesmen for the defense industry, the whole world is recklessly endangered. If we must have a military, it belongs entirely in the public sector. No one should profit from mass death and destruction.
–Ellen Brown, author of ‘Web of Debt’ and president of the Public Banking Institute   

Ambos os países compartilham preocupações com segurança alimentar global e podem cooperar amplamente no setor agrário.

Na Federação Russa, começará em breve o 27^o Fórum Econômico de São Petersburgo, um dos eventos de negócios mais importantes do mundo contemporâneo. Entre 5 e 8 de junho, autoridades, empresários, especialistas e toda sorte de profissionais do mundo inteiro, principalmente de países emergentes, se reunirão na cidade histórica russa para discutir as novas circunstâncias econômicas mundiais e estabelecer projetos de cooperação e desenvolvimento.

Dado o contexto global, espera-se grande atuação dos países BRICS no Fórum. Ali será possível expor projetos que viabilizem a construção prática da Multipolaridade desde um ponto de vista econômico e financeiro. Aliás, a temática multipolar será o eixo central das discussões este ano, conforme estabelecido pela organização do evento. O surgimento de novos centros de desenvolvimento é o objetivo principal do Fórum, razão pela qual a participação dos atores dos BRICS é fundamental. 

Há tantas inciativas no âmbito dos BRICS para o Fórum que, de certa maneira, o evento pode ser visto como uma espécie de ensaio para a Cúpula dos BRICS, que acontecerá também na Rússia – mais especificamente, em Kazan, ainda este ano. Neste sentido, a participação de atores brasileiros no Fórum é vital para que os objetivos do evento sejam alcançados. 

Um dos principais laços que unem Brasil, Rússia e os demais países BRICS é a preocupação quanto à segurança alimentar. Como um país comprometido com a erradicação da fome e da pobreza, o Brasil vê a cooperação internacional no setor alimentar como uma parte fundamental de suas relações econômicas. A cooperação russo-brasileira neste setor encontra um alicerce importante no comércio de fertilizantes – item fundamental para a produção brasileira de grãos, que alimenta mais de um bilhão de pessoas com exportações todos os anos. 

Os fertilizantes russos são fundamentais para a estabilidade do agronegócio brasileiro. Não se trata apenas de uma questão econômica, mas verdadeiramente humanitária. O Brasil precisa de fertilizantes russos para exportar grãos que alimentarão pessoas ao redor do mundo. Ignorando as sanções ocidentais e o protecionismo, o Brasil está aberto à cooperação com a Federação Russa no setor de insumos agrícolas e vê no Fórum de São Petersburgo uma oportunidade de fazer negócios e ajudar o planeta. 

É previsto por especialistas que o Brasil continue dependente de fertilizantes estrangeiros pelo menos ao longo dos próximos cinco anos. Nessas circunstâncias, convém que os acordos na área sejam feitos com países que, assim como o Brasil, desejam uma reconfiguração do cenário geopolítico em prol da Multipolaridade, bem como que compartilhem a meta humanitária de garantir a segurança alimentar global. O Fórum de São Petersburgo será, enfim, uma oportunidade para Brasil e Rússia avançarem conversações nessa direção.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

Imagem em destaque: Captura de tela. Colheita de soja no Brasil.

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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

This GRTV video produced by James Corbett was first published in July 2016 prior to the Democratic Convention. It described the dangers underlying Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for the White House.

Leading lights of the so-called “progressive” movement including Chomsky and Bernie Sanders argued in the months prior to the election that it was the Left’s duty to vote for this neocon warmonger, committed to using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. 

“The nuclear option is on the table”, said Hillary.

Flash Forward to June 2024:

Nuclear war is still on the table under Joe Biden.

It is firmly endorsed by America’s European allies. 

“President Biden has authorized Ukraine to conduct limited attacks inside Russia with American-made weapons, US officials said. Some US allies have already gone further.

“France has tested a new air-launched nuclear missile and has allocated 13% of its military budget to upgrading its nuclear weapons. (Manlio Dinucci, June 2024)

The expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders is “very, very dangerous,” Caldicott said.

“There is no way a war between the United States and Russia could start and not go nuclear. … The United States and Russia have enormous stockpiles of these weapons. Together they have 94 percent of all the 16,300 nuclear weapons in the world.”

“We are in a very fallible, very dangerous situation operated by mere mortals,” she warned.

“The nuclear weapons, are sitting there, thousands of them. They are ready to be used.” (Helen Caldicott)

Video: Produced by James Corbett

 

This interview of Michel Chossudovsky with Caroline Mailloux of Lux Media was conducted on February 24, 2023

To leave a comment or to share the video (Twitter, Facebook, etc. click rumble on the lower right hand corner

 

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A Multibillion Dollar Bonanza

The Pfizer Full Year 2022 Financial Report does not provide details on the global marketing of the Pfizer’s Vaccine.

Below is an analysis of the Worldwide marketing of the Covid vaccine by Big Pharma, with Pfizer in the lead. From the outset in November 2020, the objective was to fully vaccinate (with several doses) every single person on the planet: a population of 8 billion people.

In numerous countries, pressured unduly by Big Pharma, corrupt national governments implemented policies of social enforcement and acceptance. Moreover, the devastating health impacts of the Covid-19 vaccine have been the object of systematic denial by the heath authorities as well as the media.

This whole process is “profit driven” in the billions, sustained by scientific fraud and disinformation.

Worldwide “Big Money” Vaxx Operation

Recorded September 21, 2022: 12.9 Million doses adminstered (mid December 2020- September 21, 2022)

Read the Complete Pfizer Confidential Report

 

III

GLOBAL CRIMINALITY

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In his book, “The Indoctrinated Brain: How to Successfully Fend Off the Global Attack on Your Mental Freedom,” Dr. Michael Nehls explains how chronic stress and fearmongering have led to inhibited hippocampal neurogenesis and decreased mental resilience, which facilitates indoctrination

Your neurology is being assailed in a variety of ways that can impair your cognition. The good news is, once you understand how this is done, you can take proactive steps to protect your neurological health and in so doing “inoculate” yourself against indoctrination at the same time

Two thinking systems exist: nonthinking (System 1) and critical thinking (System 2). Stress and poor mitochondrial health impair activation of System 2

Lifestyle factors like having a purpose, making sure you’re getting all essential micronutrients, especially vitamin D and iodine, social connections, exercise and sleep support hippocampal neurogenesis, which is essential for lifelong neurological health

Essential dietary factors for mitochondrial health and energy production include limiting linoleic acid intake, eating the right carbs in optimal amounts and limiting fats, and keeping your serotonin and estrogen levels low. Certain dietary supplements are also helpful

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The video above features an interview with Dr. Michael Nehls,^1,2 author of “The Indoctrinated Brain: How to Successfully Fend Off the Global Attack on Your Mental Freedom,” which describes, from a neuroscientific point of view, how certain brain changes make us more susceptible to indoctrination, and how many of the factors that cause those changes in the first place have been implemented worldwide over the past four years.

Media and global leaders have created a perfect vicious cycle, beginning with fearmongering, goal post switching and bad health advice that create chronic stress and key nutritional deficiencies, which drives chronically elevated levels of stress hormones, which causes chronically inhibited hippocampal neurogenesis, which results in chronically reduced mental resilience, which feeds chronic stress.

The result of this loop is a steady deterioration of autobiographical memory, which facilitates indoctrination.

As the title of his book makes clear, the whole world has been placed under a sort of indoctrination protocol — and a very successful one at that — which has led to many being seemingly unable to think for themselves anymore or to logically assess information.

Rates of depression and Alzheimer’s are also spiking around the world, and the age of onset for both are rapidly falling. Yet the causes behind the rises in mental and neurological problems are not being eliminated. On the contrary, the causes are being promoted further. “Can this just be coincidence?” Nehls asks in his book.

The Two Thinking Systems

As explained by Nehls, we have two types of thinking systems. System 1 is nonthinking and System 2 is thinking. To consciously change your behavior, you must first recognize that a change is necessary or at least would be beneficial, and this requires the willingness to invest mental energy into thinking. 

Our brains by default operate in System 1 most of the time. System 2 is only activated through conscious choice when you recognize that “Hey, I better stop and think this through.” However, if you don’t have the mental energy, activation of System 2 is unlikely, even if your very life might depend on it. As Nehls points out in his book, when you’re mentally exhausted, “it is almost impossible to find the best solution to a problem.”

If you don’t have the energy to think, then you remain stuck in System 1, which is a habitual state of not thinking and simply acting on autopilot. System 1 also makes us follow mass thought or mass movements, because there’s a perceived safety in the majority. Standing alone is risky and is basically inconceivable if you don’t have a logical basis or rationale for doing so in the first place.

So, the bad news is that your neurology is being assailed in a variety of ways that can impair your cognition. The good news is, once you understand how this is done, you can take proactive steps to protect your neurological health and in so doing “inoculate” yourself against indoctrination at the same time.

How Your Autobiographical Memory Works

Your autobiographical memory is what allows you to form a unique individuality. The four keys to autobiographical memory are: where something happened, when it happened, what happened, and how it felt. In the video clip above, Nehls reviews how the autobiographical memory works.

Of these four memory factors, the emotional association (how you felt) is paramount. If something is exciting or frightening, the memory of where, when and what are cemented into memory, and can easily be dredged back up simply by being reminded of the same feeling.

Short-term memory is stored in the frontal lobe of your brain. Nothing is recorded here, so no long-term memories are created. Autobiographical memories are stored in your hippocampi, located in the temporal lobes of your brain. While there are two, one on each side, most simply refer to these as a singular hippocampus.

Without your hippocampus, you’d be incapable of remembering anything for more than a few seconds. But even with fully functional hippocampus, you cannot store the memory of every moment of your life. Your hippocampus is constantly making choices about what to remember and what to forget, and the primary selection is based on the amount of emotional charge involved.

Fear is a proven means of making sure someone will remember something. The hippocampus stores the emotional responses to the time and place (when and where) that the emotionally charged event took place in the dentate gyrus, an area inside the hippocampi, while the details of the event and how you felt (what and how) are stored in the cornu ammonis, another area inside the hippocampi.

Your Mitochondrial Function Will Have Direct Impact on Your Ability to Activate System 2 Thinking

The reason you feel mentally exhausted at the end of a busy day is because your hippocampus has reached max capacity and doesn’t have the energy to handle any more information.

This is just one reason why it’s so crucial to optimize your mitochondrial health. Well-functioning mitochondria produce energy more efficiently, which directly translates into an increased ability to use your System 2 critical thinking skills. In a later section, I’ll review the most important factor for optimizing your mitochondrial energy production.

To be receptive for more information, your hippocampus must transfer the day’s impressions into permanent storage in the neocortex, and that occurs during deep sleep. Interestingly, the only pieces of your memory that get transferred into the neocortical “hard drive” for long-term storage is the emotionally charged “what” and “how” portions of the memory.

The “where” and “when” remains in the gyrus dentatus for life. If something happens to these index neurons (so called because they act like a register of memory fragments), then the matching “what” and “how” in the neocortex cannot be found. Now, here’s the important part.

Your gyrus dentatus can produce thousands of new neurons every day, for as long as you live. This ensures that you can build your autobiographical memory stores until the day you die.

If your ability to create new index neurons is impaired or inhibited, old index neurons must be used, and in doing so, old time and place fragments are overwritten. So, over time, you effectively end up with memory loss. As noted by Nehls, chronic long-term inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis results in Alzheimer’s.

Curiosity as a Gauge of Neurological and Mitochondrial Health

Additionally, since new index neurons are “hungry” for information, when you have fewer of them being generated, your sense of curiosity is also diminished. In essence, your curiosity can act as a gauge for your neurological health. I would argue that since mental energy is required to act on curiosity, it can also act as a gauge of your mitochondrial energy production.

In short, if you’re a critical thinker with a great sense of childlike curiosity, your mitochondrial energy production is likely high. If you’re too exhausted to think critically or creatively, your metabolism is likely low.

It’s important to understand that curiosity is essential for your ability to make choices in life. The more choices you make, the higher the likelihood that you will increase your experience of Joy. When you don’t have enough cellular energy, your curiosity decreases along with your ability to make choices. The strong recommendation to you is to do everything you can to increase your curiosity so you can experience the maximum amount of Joy in your life.

Real-World Example

Ashley Armstrong, cofounder of Angel Acres Egg Co. and the Nourish Cooperative, is a perfect example of this. In the video above, she discusses her journey in regaining the ability to create cellular energy and how it changed her life, as she did not have enough energy to properly think.

Your brain makes up approximately 2% of your bodyweight yet consumes 20% of the energy your body produces. This is why a surplus of cellular energy creation is necessary to have the ability to allow your brain to work optimally.

Ashley simply would not have had enough cellular energy to make the decisions she did unless she improved her health. Factors like excess linoleic acid, estrogen and endotoxins were depleting her cellular energy, which is crucial for making energy-intensive decisions.

Her transformation underscores the power of nurturing your health to gain the energy necessary for making significant life changes. Avoiding dietary pitfalls like seed oils played a key role in this journey, enabling her to tap into a newfound capacity for brave decisions — a testament to the profound impact of regaining cellular energy on her ability to navigate life’s choices.

It is my sincere desire and hope that you consider her journey to inspire and empower you to make similar choices in your own life and reclaim the Joy that you deserve. Imagine experiencing the nearly limitless Joy that Ashley has with her 1,000 chickens and four livestock guard dogs below.

What Supports and Destroys Autobiographical Index Neurons?

To ensure lifelong production of healthy new index neurons, the following factors need to be addressed. Conversely, a lack of any of these factors will undermine your production of hippocampal neurons.

Having a purpose in life — According to Nehls, the risk of developing hippocampal dementia, i.e., Alzheimer’s, exponentially increases if you do not have a sense of purpose.

Nutrition — For optimal hippocampal growth, none of the essential micronutrients can be deficient. That said, among the most important are iodine and vitamin D. According to Nehls, a vitamin D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL (100 to 150 nmol/L) is required for immunological and neurological health.

Social life — Loving, intimate relationships encourage the release of oxytocin, which is one of the most potent hippocampal growth factors currently known. Conversely, isolation and loneliness have a marked detrimental effect on hippocampal performance.

Another reason why companionship is so important is because it provides emotional experiences and conversations required for the survival of hippocampal neurons. Whatever neurons are produced will die off if there are no new experiences to record, and production will decline when lack of experiences is chronic.

Exercise — Exercise has been shown to be highly effective in stimulating hippocampal growth (neurogenesis). In his book, Nehls cites research showing that seniors who take a one-hour brisk walk every day can grow their hippocampus by 2% in a single year. For comparison, Alzheimer’s patients lose about 5% of their hippocampal volume per year once the disease process is underway.³

Sleep — Your hippocampus can only make new neurons during sleep, when it’s not busy collecting new experiences. Melatonin is also known to stimulate hippocampal neurogenesis, and this is likely why. According to Nehls, it takes about two weeks to restart neurogenesis after chronic sleep deprivation.

Time — Wanting or needing to do more than is feasible creates stress, and stress hormones not only inhibit neurogenesis but also drive neurodegeneration. That said, boredom (having too much time on your hands) is not good either, as the growth impulses for new neurons are missing. The ideal state, Nehls says in his book, is eustress — “positive stress caused by challenging yet doable tasks.”

The Global Assault on the Human Soul

In his book, Nehls wonders whether the indoctrination efforts of the past four years might be part of an even greater agenda. Quoting from his book, “The Indoctrinated Brain”:⁴

“In order for society to adopt the operating system of the technocrats, contradictions to its own history must no longer be perceptible. There must be no dissonance between one’s own experiences from earlier times and the new expectations, promises and demands of the technocrats or the everyday reality of a future AI-controlled existence …

To function properly, the [social operating system] SOS must be not only a part of the autobiographical memory but also the unrivaled foundation upon which all other autobiographical memory content is based …

Only by overwriting the old index neurons will discrepancies be prevented and will the reprogrammed people not be unsettled by more attractive alternative life plans …

The former self, consisting of all autobiographical memories and the associated feelings, hopes, and values, would then be erased and deliberately replaced by a technocratically constructed foundation of identity …”

How to Successfully Destroy Hippocampal Neurogenesis

Undermining hippocampal neurogenesis is the perfect strategy if you want to reprogram a population to accept the unacceptable and usher in an otherwise unwelcome world, Nehls notes. To do so with any degree of success requires a two-pronged attack:

1. New production of index neurons must be radically suppressed, while existing neurons must simultaneously be decimated through neurodegenerative measures.
2. Remaining index neurons used to access autobiographical memories must be successively overwritten with the technocratic narrative.

How the World Was Successfully Indoctrinated

As noted by Nehls, both attack strategies were implemented worldwide at the start of the COVID pandemic.

New index neurons are decimated by oxygen deprivation (think masks), vitamin D deficiency (recall the relentless “debunking” of vitamin D claims?), alcohol toxicity (just why were liquor stores kept open while everything else had to close?), and other toxins, including the COVID-19 spike protein, whether from the virus or the mRNA shots.

Meanwhile, existing neurons are decimated by the chronic release of stress hormones, such as what happens when you fear you might catch a virus and die every time you go to the grocery store or pass an unmasked person on the street.

The second part — overwriting autobiographical memories with a technocratic narrative — becomes easy when people are in a state of mental and emotional exhaustion. Why? Because when you force yourself to think when you’re mentally exhausted, you’re overwriting old neurons — the old memories that make up your identity.

Add anxiety and fear into the mix, and you have a perfect recipe for indoctrination as the old memories are not only being overwritten, but the anxiety-filled new narrative is also being efficiently stored in your long-term memory. As noted in Nehls’ book:⁵

“Fomenting anxiety, especially on the nightly news … is a highly effective means of forcing the hippocampus to activate System 2, even in a state of ego-depletion. Propagated content of the technocratic narrative is implanted in memory and, in the absence of new unused index neurons, access to earlier memories is simultaneously erased.”

Lockdowns, social distancing, masking, the closing of gyms, playgrounds, beaches and outdoor parks, the COVID shots, the ever-changing goal posts, the successive contradictory narratives, the fearmongering, and health-harming advice such as avoiding vitamin D all work toward the same outcomes.

First, they facilitate indoctrination by destroying and causing neurons involved in autobiographical memory to be overwritten. The result is people who, quite literally, cannot fully remember their own autobiographical past. It’s been overwritten with technocratic consensus statements, and when asked to engage in logical reasoning, they can’t.

They simply parrot the propaganda narratives because the very center of their individuality (their autobiographical memory) has been replaced by these narratives. What’s more, whey you question the narrative, they perceive it as a direct attack on them personally, as the narrative is who they now are. It’s become part of their personality.

The COVID measures also speed neurodegeneration and cognitive loss, resulting in dementia. And indeed, recent research shows memory and executive function in older adults dropped by 50% during the first year of the pandemic.⁶

How to Successfully Fend Off the Attack on Your Mental Freedom

The good news is, you can reverse the effects of these attacks on your neurology and regain your mental freedom. To reiterate, to protect your mental immune system and inoculate yourself against indoctrination, you need to:

• Find a purpose and go after it
• Pursue an active social life
• Optimize your sleep
• Make sure you’re getting all the essential micronutrients, especially iodine and vitamin D
• Get plenty of exercise
• Ditch unrealistic expectations and embrace challenging but doable tasks

Optimize Your Energy Production to Facilitate System 2 Thinking

To Nehls’ list, I would add the following advice:

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The documentary film “We’re All Plastic People Now” delves into how we have become the embodiment of the trash we created. Director Rory Fielding had four generations of his family’s blood tested for plastic-derived chemicals and found alarming results

Many of the chemicals used to make plastic are endocrine disruptors, which mimic, block or interfere with your natural hormones, causing problems in various physiological functions, such as growth, metabolism and reproduction

Some endocrine-disrupting chemicals are also considered estrogenic carcinogens, which mimic the effects of estrogen in the body, thus increasing your risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers

Vote with your pocketbook and get your national and local government involved to catalyze changes in plastic use. More tips below on how to reduce your microplastic exposure are included

*

A plastic straw, a bottle of water, a plastic bag from the grocery — these single-use plastics seem so innocuous that people barely give them a second thought before tossing them out. Unfortunately, the development of this throwaway culture has contributed to the mounting burden of plastic waste that threatens the environment, wildlife and our very own bodies.

Discarded plastics are made primarily from petrochemicals¹ and degrade into microscopic fragments called microplastics, which lurk everywhere, from the depths of our oceans to the food we eat and the air we breathe. It’s a sobering reality underscored by the Emmy Award-winning documentary featured above, “We’re All Plastic People Now.”

Plastic Pollution Has Become a Generational Burden

Produced and directed by Rory Fielding, “We’re All Plastic People Now” delves into how we have become the embodiment of the trash we created. It’s introduced by actor and ocean preservationist Ted Danson and featured at the 2024 Santa Fe Film Festival.²

While the film briefly illustrates the devastating impacts of microplastics on marine life, particularly sea turtles found with plastic-filled stomachs, it dives deeper into a more disturbing truth — humans are not separate from plastic pollution.

As David A. Davis, Ph.D., a researcher from the University of Miami who’s featured in the film, aptly puts it, “Water is life, so if the water is polluted and we have sentinel species like dolphins and sea turtles, if they’re also sick, we can anticipate that we’ll be sick, too.” 

Studies have detected microplastics in human tissues, including the brain,³ lungs,⁴ kidney, liver⁵ and heart,⁶ as well as in human blood⁷ and stool.⁸ Even babies are exposed to microplastics starting from their mothers’ placenta to the breast milk they rely on for nourishment.⁹

Dr. Antonio Ragusa, the study’s lead researcher on microplastics in the placenta and one of the featured experts in the documentary, bluntly referred to humans as “cyborgs” because our bodies are no longer purely biological but have become part plastic.

This assertion is further confirmed in the film as Fielding had four generations of his family’s blood tested for plastic-derived chemicals. Their blood samples were submitted to Rolf Halden, Ph.D., an environmental engineer from Arizona State University. According to Halden’s analysis, Fielding and his family carry over 80 different chemicals in their body. He further explains:

“What we detected in the blood of all these participants are precursors of plastics, plastic constituents themselves, as well as degradation products of consumer plastics. These chemicals are known to be carcinogens, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, obesogens and neurodegenerative agents.”

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Can Make Your Body ‘Go Awry’

Many of the chemicals used to make plastic are endocrine disruptors. As microplastics circulate in your body, they carry these chemicals and distribute them to your cells and tissues, where they can pose significant harm to your health. Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician and director of the Center for Investigation of Environmental Hazards at New York University, noted in the film:

“We live in a world where we’re still not as aware of endocrine-disrupting chemicals as we should be. We’re talking about our natural hormones, our molecules that orchestrate all sorts of signaling of basic bodily functions, maintaining a healthy temperature, good metabolism, salt, sugar and even sex.

When we’re talking about endocrine-disrupting chemicals, we’re talking about synthetic chemicals that hack those molecular signals and make things go awry in the human body.”

Some of the endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in microplastics include bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). By mimicking, blocking or interfering with your natural hormones, EDCs can disrupt the function of your endocrine system, which leads to problems in various physiological functions such as growth, metabolism and reproduction.¹⁰

Some EDCs are also considered estrogenic carcinogens. Also known as xenoestrogens, these chemicals can mimic the effects of estrogen in the body.¹¹ This results in abnormal stimulation of estrogen receptors, which then promotes cell proliferation and potentially contributes to the development and progression of estrogen-sensitive cancers, such as breast cancer¹² and endometrial cancer.¹³

Another form of EDC found in microplastics is PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances), a group of about 5,000 ubiquitous chemicals in consumer products and used in industrial, electronic, firefighting and medical applications. They’re also known as “forever chemicals,” as they do not degrade naturally, persist in the environment and accumulate in people and wildlife.¹⁴

In the featured documentary, John Hocevar, director of Greenpeace Oceans Campaign, states, “PFAS chemicals can give us cancer … and they can damage our immune systems. PFAS can also interfere with fetal development, and they can harm our hormonal and reproductive systems.”

Can Plastics End the Future of Humanity?

In the documentary, Shanna Swan, Ph.D., a professor from Mount Sinai Hospital, sheds light on her research on phthalates, which she believes is one of the major culprits behind the decline in sperm count in the last 50 years. She purports that exposure to these chemicals causes phthalate syndrome, a condition wherein the male reproductive organs and fertility are affected depending on their mother’s exposure to phthalates while they’re in the womb. She explains:

“What [phthalates] are doing is they’re lowering testosterone. Initially, male and female have the same genital ridge … Around early first trimester, there starts to be differentiation of the males and females. All that’s happening very fast in early pregnancy, and that needs testosterone to be there at the right time and the right amount …

If the testosterone doesn’t come on board at the right time and there isn’t enough of it … let’s just say we call those males incompletely masculinized. And in the females, if testosterone gets in there when it shouldn’t or more than should be there, then the female starts producing more male-like genitals.

So, what you’re seeing is a decreasing of sex differences. So, the male becomes less completely a male, the female less completely a female.”

Halden further emphasizes the potential implications of the trend of decreasing sperm counts and loss of fertility, cautioning that we could be “playing with the future of humanity.”

“Essentially, we are allowing chemicals like plastic chemicals into our family planning,”Halden adds. “They [plastic chemicals] decide whether there is life or not. We don’t want to give more voting rights to chemicals as we plan in the future.”

Dr. Ragusa echoes this sentiment, stating, “Plastic can be the future for big oil companies. But not for us, not for humanity. For humanity, plastic is the end of the future.” 

A Battle for Change in Southern Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

In an 85-mile stretch of land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is an area known as “Cancer Alley.” In the area there are over 150 plastic plants and chemical industries. The cancer rates in this area are 50 times higher than the national average.¹⁵

The pervasive presence of estrogenic carcinogens in the surroundings likely contribute to these numbers. Moreover, exposure to plasticizers is also associated with oxidative stress, inflammation and DNA damage,¹⁶ all of which are also mechanisms of carcinogenesis.

Sharon Lavigne, founder of Rise St. James in Louisiana, lives in the middle of Cancer Alley. She shared that their community used to have beautiful trees before 19 petrochemical plants were built to replace them, with 12 of them located near Sharon’s home.

“I lost my sister-in-law [to] cancer. I lost my neighbor on both sides of me [to] cancer. We had so many people dying, it made me wonder what was going on …” Sharon says. “I felt like if another industry would come in here, it would be a death sentence for St. James [Parish].”

Her personal experience spurred her on to fight against further industrial expansion in her community. The documentary features how their group’s efforts successfully prevented the construction of what would’ve been the world’s largest plastic plant in their hometown.

Profit From Plastic Is Prioritized Over Public Health

Despite the mounting evidence of the dangers caused by microplastics, the industry is still planning to expand plastic production. According to Christy Leavitt, the plastics campaign director of Oceana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ocean conservation:

“We’ve seen, over the last couple of decades, the amount of plastic production has increased rapidly, and so too has all of the plastic pollution … They’re looking towards a world where not only do we have the current amount of plastic that’s out there, but they want, in fact, triple the amount of that.”

She also revealed that recycling is no longer going to be enough to address the worsening plastic crisis. Halden elaborates on the economic challenges of recycling plastics, explaining that while the plastic industry’s narrative promotes recycling, it’s actually far more economical for them to produce virgin plastic.

The production of cheap plastic from fossil fuels is also being incentivized, causing companies to produce new ones instead of recycling. As for the logistic issues, Halden presented data from BeyondPlastics.org:¹⁷

“The things that we carry into recycling centers are only a small fraction of the overall plastic mass that we’re using. In past years, only about 9% of plastics actually arrived at recycling centers. Today, it’s only 5% of all the plastics that we make and consume.

But that’s not where the bad news ends because when the plastics arrive at the recycling center … they just put the plastic in a barge and ship it to a country that doesn’t have a solid waste disposal system. So, it ends up in the landfill, blows into the ocean and comes right back in our food.”

Moreover, NPR news correspondent Laura Sullivan, who also appears in the documentary, found internal documents revealing a stark contrast between the oil industry’s million-dollar promotion of plastic and recycling and its private doubts about the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of large-scale recycling initiatives.¹⁸

It’s Not Too Late to Address the Plastic Crisis

Toward the end of the documentary, the featured experts and environmental activists shared a similar sentiment — there is still hope for reducing plastic pollution and safeguarding the health of future generations.

According to Halden, it’s not the first time humanity has endangered our future with what we thought were innovative industrial advances, yet we’ve come up with solutions to mitigate the dangers before they completely destroy our planet. “Plastics is the next big challenge for us,” he declares positively.

Hocevar notes that the plastic problem has a very simple solution: We should just stop producing so much of it. One way to achieve this is by voting with your pocketbook. As Dr. Ragusa pointed out in the film, the major producers of plastics right now are big food and beverage manufacturers.

Refusing to buy their products can urge these companies to take accountability and change their plastic use. It will also go a long way toward reducing your own plastic waste. Leavitt highlighted the importance of getting the state and local government involved as well, “so that they’re actually requiring companies to change the way that single-use plastics are produced and used.”

Progesterone Can Help Lower Plastic Estrogen Toxicity

Plastics are xenoestrogens and much of their danger is related to their stimulation of estrogen receptors, so another effective strategy that can help counteract estrogen excess is to take trans mucosal progesterone (not oral or transdermal), which is a natural estrogen antagonist. Progesterone is one of only four hormones I believe many adults can benefit from. (The other three are thyroid hormone T3, DHEA and pregnenolone.)

I do not recommend transdermal progesterone, as your skin expresses high levels of 5-alpha reductase enzyme, which causes a significant portion of the progesterone you’re taking to be irreversibly converted primarily into allopregnanolone and cannot be converted back into progesterone.

As a general recommendation, I recommend taking 25 to 50 mg of bioidentical progesterone per a day, taken in the evening one hour before bed, as it can also promote sleep. For optimal bioavailability, progesterone needs to be mixed into natural vitamin E. The difference in bioavailability between taking progesterone orally without vitamin E and taking it with vitamin E is 45 minutes versus 48 hours.

Simply Progesterone by Health Natura is premixed with vitamin E and MCT oil. You can also make your own by dissolving pure USP progesterone powder into one capsule of a high-quality vitamin E, and then rub the mixture on your gums. Fifty milligrams of powdered progesterone is about 1/32 teaspoon.

Do not use synthetic vitamin E (alpha tocopherol acetate — the acetate indicates that it’s synthetic). Natural vitamin E will be labeled “d alpha tocopherol.” This is the pure D isomer, which is what your body can use.

There are also other vitamin E isomers, and you want the complete spectrum of tocopherols and tocotrienols, specifically the beta, gamma, and delta types, in the effective D isomer. As an example of an ideal vitamin E you can look at the label on our vitamin E in our store. You can use any brand that has a similar label.

If you are a menstruating woman, you should take the progesterone during the luteal phase or the last half of your cycle which can be determined by starting ten days after the first day of your period and stopping the progesterone when your period starts.

If you are a male or non-menstruating woman you can take the progesterone every day for 4-6 months and they cycle off for one week. The best time of day to take progesterone is 30 minutes before bed as it is has an anti-cortisol function and will increase GABA levels for a good night’s sleep.

Please note that when progesterone is used transmucosally on your gums as I advise, the FDA believes that somehow converts it into a drug and prohibits any company from advising that on its label. However, please understand that it is perfectly legal for any physician to recommend an off-label indication for a drug.

In this case progesterone is a natural hormone and not a drug and is very safe even at high doses. This is unlike synthetic progesterone called progestins that are used by drug companies, but frequently, and incorrectly referred to as progesterone, which are dangerous and should never be used by anyone.

What Else You Can Do to Lower Your Plastic Load

Plastic has become a huge part of our everyday life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. While it may seem hard to avoid, there are many ways you can reduce your plastic use to help protect the environment and your health. Here are some strategies to get you started:

Avoid water in plastic bottles — In the documentary, Halden referred to water bottles as a time bomb, as they expose you to microplastics with every sip. If you do need to buy bottled water, choose products in glass bottles, which can be reused as well.

Filter and boil tap water — With microplastics contaminating our waterways, it’s important to avoid drinking water straight from the tap. Make sure your home has a good water filtration system to filter out these particles. If you have hard tap water in your area, boil it before using it for drinking or cooking, as research shows boiling for five minutes helps remove up to 90% of microplastics in the water.¹⁹

Always opt for reusable alternatives — Avoid single-use plastic items like disposable straws, plastic bags and disposable plastic food and beverage packaging. Instead, choose reusable alternatives that are made from safer materials, such as glass, metal or paper.

Never microwave food in plastic containers — Heat causes the chemicals in plastic to leach into the food, so use glass or ceramic containers for microwaving.

Choose clothes made from natural fibers — Choose organic clothing and other textile products, such as those made from cotton, hemp, silk, wool or bamboo. Synthetic fabrics like polyester shed microfibers and xenoestrogens. If you do buy clothes made from synthetic fiber, wash them less frequently and use a microfiber filter in your washing machine to trap synthetic fiber and prevent them from entering the waterways.

Look for all-natural personal care products — Some makeup, skincare and body care products contain microbeads and plastic particles. Opt for all-natural, food-grade products to avoid risking your health.

Reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible — Even though it’s revealed in the documentary that recycling alone may not be enough to tackle our waste problem, you should still do your part in repurposing products whenever you can. This, along with urging companies and politicians to take action, can help mitigate the plastic crisis. Remember that every effort counts.

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Notes

¹ Applied Energy, 2023 September;1(345): 121307

² Rory Fielding Films, “We’re All Plastic People Now”

³ Part Fibre Toxicol., 2020; 17: 24

⁴ Heliyon, 2024 Jan 30; 10(2): e24355

⁵ ACS Omega, 2022 Sep 27; 7(38): 34136–34153

⁶ Biomedicines, 2023 Feb; 11(2): 264

⁷ Environ Int., 2022 May:163:107199

⁸ Toxics., 2022 Aug; 10(8): 414

⁹ Anim Reprod., 2023; 20(2): e20230037, Abstract

¹⁰ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

¹¹ Cancers 2022, 14(19): 4637

¹² Environ Sci Pollut Res Int., 2018 Aug; 25(24):23624-23630

¹³ Environ Health Perspect., 2020 Dec;128(12):127005

¹⁴ Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 Dec; 18(23): 12550

¹⁵ University Network for Human Rights, July 2019, Executive Summary

¹⁶ Cells, 2021 Sep 9;10(9):2367

¹⁷ Beyond Plastics, May 22, 2023

¹⁸ NPR, September 11, 2020

¹⁹ Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett., 2024, 11(3): 273–279 

Featured image: Leopard sharks swim past plastic debris in shallow water off southern California.  Ralph Pace, CC BY-ND

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There is now in the US a vast industry funded with $1.3 trillion developing “usable” nuclear weapons. All sorts of private contractors, scientific laboratories, the Pentagon are involved. In other words, the vast sum is widely spread resulting in a massive influential institutionalized interest that prevents nuclear disarmament.

Professor Chossudovsky points out that the politicians funding this doomsday exercise have no conception of the consequences of using nuclear weapons (some of which have been declared “peace weapons”) and that there is neglect of the risks introduced by artificial intelligence.

It is frightening that 80 years ago when the US had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, the US developed a war plan to commit genocide on the Soviet population using 200 nuclear bombs on 66 cities.

This, the senseless and immoral destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and present day reckless provocations, such as attacks on Russia’s early warning system and long range missiles for strikes deep into Russia given to Ukraine but operated by US/NATO, must make Russia expect the worst from the West.

The West has pushed Russia to the point where Putin has warned the West to back off or out come the nukes.

The worst crisis in human history is right now, and the Western peoples are unaware that every Western political leader with the exception of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban is leading them to destruction.

***

Michel Chossudovsky of GlobalResearch.ca joins us to discuss his recent article: “The Hiroshima Nagasaki ‘Dress Rehearsal’: Oppenheimer and the U.S. War Department’s Secret September 15, 1945 ‘Doomsday Blueprint’ to ‘Wipe the Soviet Union off the Map.’”

We talk about the original, genocidal plan of the US War Department for a genocidal nuclear slaughter of the Soviets, how that plan has continued to the present day, the existential threat of nuclear holocaust and the prospects for an anti-war movement that can actually stand up to the military-industrial complex.

 

Video: Michel Chossudovsky and the Corbett Report

 

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The Hiroshima Nagasaki “Dress Rehearsal”: Oppenheimer and the U.S. War Department’s Secret September 15, 1945 “Doomsday Blueprint” to “Wipe the Soviet Union off the Map”

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, May 12, 2024*

“Preemptive Nuclear War”: The Historic Battle for Peace and Democracy. A Third World War Threatens the Future of Humanity

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, June 01, 2024

 

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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.

Featured image is from teleSUR

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“Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War” 

by Michel Chossudovsky

Available to order from Global Research! 

ISBN Number: 978-0-9737147-5-3
Year: 2012
Pages: 102

PDF Edition:  $6.50 (sent directly to your email account!)

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Reviews

“This book is a ‘must’ resource – a richly documented and systematic diagnosis of the supremely pathological geo-strategic planning of US wars since ‘9-11’ against non-nuclear countries to seize their oil fields and resources under cover of ‘freedom and democracy’.”
–John McMurtry, Professor of Philosophy, Guelph University

“In a world where engineered, pre-emptive, or more fashionably “humanitarian” wars of aggression have become the norm, this challenging book may be our final wake-up call.”
-Denis Halliday, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations

Michel Chossudovsky exposes the insanity of our privatized war machine. Iran is being targeted with nuclear weapons as part of a war agenda built on distortions and lies for the purpose of private profit. The real aims are oil, financial hegemony and global control. The price could be nuclear holocaust. When weapons become the hottest export of the world’s only superpower, and diplomats work as salesmen for the defense industry, the whole world is recklessly endangered. If we must have a military, it belongs entirely in the public sector. No one should profit from mass death and destruction.
–Ellen Brown, author of ‘Web of Debt’ and president of the Public Banking Institute   

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***

The United States is unlikely to help South Korea build nuclear-powered submarines at the moment as it is burdened by AUKUS commitments to Australia, the Pentagon said on Saturday, as cited by Reuters. This is a major blow to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s efforts to globalise South Korea, which has come at the cost of prosperous relations with Russia.

Asked during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore how he would respond to a direct request from South Korea for help in obtaining nuclear submarines, Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, said it would be  “very, very difficult” for Washington to accommodate that “on top of what we do right now.”

“(AUKUS) is no small endeavour,” he said. “We just started down this path with Australia. (It’s) highly doubtful that we could take on another initiative of this type anytime in the near future.”

In 2021, the United States signed the AUKUS pact with the United Kingdom and Australia to share nuclear-powered submarine technology and sell at least three Virginia-class boats to Australia by the 2030s. The two-stage security pact seeks to neutralise China’s growing power in the Asia-Pacific region and will be the first time Washington has shared nuclear propulsion technology since it did so with the UK in the 1950s.

“We believe that AUKUS is, in fact, a good addition to regional security,” said Judith Collins, New Zealand’s Defence Minister, on May 30, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit. This demonstrates that the Anglo world is united in the efforts of AUKUS, even New Zealand, which, despite being a South Pacific country, has not yet joined the bloc.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said that he could imagine other countries’ involvement in the future but stressed that the focus, for now, was on the US-UK-Australia trio getting “runs on the board” of submarine projects, which are set to last decades.

In effect, Austin and Marles confirmed that AUKUS is an Asia-Pacific Anglo alliance that has no room for Asians, even for South Korea, a country that has followed the US in imposing sanctions on Russia and has provided weapons to Ukraine through indirect methods, as confirmed by the Washington Post in December 2023.

Yet, despite Washington evidently prioritising Anglo allies over Asian counterparts, including QUAD partners India and Japan, South Korea continues to deepen its security partnership with the US. The defence ministers of the US, South Korea, and Japan agreed on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2 to hold the inaugural Freedom Edge military exercises, which are expected to include naval, aerial, underwater and cyber exercises and to take place sometime in the summer.

According to a Pentagon press release, the three defence ministers “stressed the importance of the rules-based international order and reaffirmed their commitment to stand with Ukraine” whilst also affirming their “enduring commitment to strengthen trilateral security cooperation to deter nuclear and missile threats” posed by North Korea and the “dangerous and aggressive” Chinese “behaviour” in the South China Sea.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticised Washington’s joint drills with its Asian partners on May 20, highlighting that they were aggravating the delicate security situation in the Asia-Pacific region “to the point of its transition to a hot phase.”

Lavrov added that North Korea has “recently expressed its gravest concern over provocative actions by the United States and its allies in this region.”

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s “global pivotal state” strategy aims to transform South Korea from a middle power to a global influencer by broadening the country’s military, economic, and diplomatic outreach beyond the region. However, these efforts to broaden South Korea’s outreach have meant severing prosperous relations with Moscow to align with Washington – all this while the majority of the world is only deepening its ties with Russia.

In fact, Suk-yeol’s actions have meant that South Korea, along with Japan and Singapore, is the only non-Western country to have imposed sanctions on Moscow. Instead of globalising South Korea’s appeal, Suk-yeol’s has made his country a pariah state since the majority of the world has not imposed US-led sanctions.

Although Suk-yeol’s actions have strained ties with Moscow, there has been no tangible result besides trilateral exercises with the US and Japan, which are not at the strategic level or value of QUAD, let alone AUKUS. The most obvious signal that South Korea is seen as nothing more than a vassal for Washington is the confirmation that there will be no assistance in building nuclear-powered submarines, which also serves as an indication that the US will always prioritise its ties with the Anglo world.

*

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol with US President Joe Biden. (Source)

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***

A US report points to significant problems in rebuilding the Ukrainian Armed Forces, especially as front line commanders will lead poorly trained recruits, who will be called up under the new conscription law, “to just die.” The same report also indicates that Ukraine is now recruiting prisoners as manpower shortage is evidently having a crippling effect on the front lines.

“We had guys that didn’t even know how to disassemble and assemble a gun,” a deputy battalion commander with the call sign Schmidt told The Washington Post on June 2 when complaining that weeks were wasted on teaching new recruits basic skills, including shooting.

Schmidt also complained that commanders “are wasting a lot of time [on the front lines] with basic training [of] new infantry” and that fresh recruits were being sent to combat Russian forces “to simply die.”

According to The Washington Post,

“With Russia on the offensive, the persistent complaints are a reminder that a newly adopted mobilisation law intended to widen the pool of draft-eligible men is just one step in solving the military’s personnel problems.”

However, the situation is evidently desperate as prison inmates are now able to join the Ukrainian military “in exchange for a chance of parole,” a policy first adopted by Moscow but that Kiev and the West had initially propagated as a sign of the Russian military’s struggle. Rather, the Russian program, first headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, was to recruit for the Wagner private military group and an opportunity for prisoners to achieve redemption, whilst the Ukrainian program is obviously a desperate attempt to deal with crippling manpower shortages.

The new mobilisation law tightens military conscription conditions to replenish the Ukrainian Army, depleted by two years of conflict with Russian troops. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law in April, which reduces the enlistment age from 27 to 25, expands the powers of enlistment officers, and introduces penalties for deserters with massive fines and/or prison.

Ukrainian troops are significantly outnumbered and exhausted and are being overrun by Russian forces, and although it is impossible to reverse this situation, the Kiev regime insists on continuing the war, even if conscripts, including prisoners, are inexperienced and do not have the necessary training.

“There is competition between military commanders to hire (prisoners) since there is a lack of manpower, so they really want to have access to these people,” Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Maliuska told reporters visiting a prison in Kiev on May 30.

A 5th Brigade representative, using the call sign Vladyslav, told Reuters his brigade had recruited “around 90 people from the prison and was recruiting others.” Although Vladyslav said that those who joined his brigade would be “put into separate, prisoner-only units and that commanders would keep a close eye on them,” he admitted that “there was little scope for them to desert considering the amount of fire Russia could aim at a disorderly withdrawal.”

Maliuska also expressed concern on the issue of desertion, saying that prisoners will be shamed by the media, “if there is a single deserter or a single crime, that would be the type of thing in the media that would be bad PR for us.”

In fact, the manpower situation is so desperate that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) is forcing priests and parishes of various Christian denominations to urge the faithful to join the Ukrainian Army, a representative of the pro-Russian resistance in Kherson told Russian media.

“The SSU officials supervising churches and other religious organisations, after the publication of the new mobilisation law, forced the clergy of the denominations they supervise to convince parishioners to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The instructions were received in the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church, the Evangelical Faith Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” according to the representative.

“SSU officials constantly harass Ukrainian clergy to cooperate through the threat of forced mobilisation of the clergy themselves,” the representative said, adding that military commissars are on duty near Ukrainian churches to detain men of military age during religious services, including weddings and funerals.

Although many Ukrainians enthusiastically volunteered at the beginning of the war, the initial fervour waned as the reality of war was exposed and the acknowledgement of Russia’s inevitable victory set among ordinary citizens. These manpower shortages have sealed Ukraine’s fate, and not even a fresh supply of Western military aid can reverse the tide, let alone untrained men forced to fight on the front lines. It appears that in all of Ukraine, only the Kiev regime refuses to accept this reality, meaning that inexperienced and unmotivated conscripts will continue to “simply die.”

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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Global Research Wants to Hear From You!

***

As top-ranking officials and leaders of Western countries continue their schizophrenic “to be or not to be” charade of nearly simultaneous (fake) “calls for peace” and (real) escalation, the world is inching closer to a disastrous global conflict virtually every single day. One of the worst examples of such hypocrisy (or utter madness, if we were to be brutally honest) comes from French President Emmanuel Macron, who keeps trying to build the image of some sort of “peacemaker” while playing a dangerous game of escalating enmity with a country that has the capability of completely obliterating France with a single ICBM. His laughable “calls for an Olympic truce” most likely serve as an attempt to hide his true intentions of adding fuel to the fire in Ukraine. Namely, Macron is now working on a new initiative to get as many NATO troops as possible to participate in hostilities.

However, in order to avoid a direct Russian retaliation, the French President wants these NATO troops to be designated as so-called “military advisers” and “training personnel”.

Macron insists they would be deployed in Western Ukraine or at least far from the frontlines, “where they would be safe”. Obviously, nobody seems to have notified the French President that Moscow’s hypersonic missiles just had something to say about that.

And there’s no reason to believe that the Kremlin will change its stance on any unauthorized foreign personnel in Ukraine, particularly from NATO countries. And indeed, all of the so-called “advisers” or any covert operatives, be they American, British or any other, should be treated as dangerous terrorists. In effect, that’s what they are, especially considering the fact that their employers are resorting to actual terrorism that killed hundreds of Russian civilians.

However, even the mainstream propaganda machine admits that there’s widespread opposition to more NATO involvement in Ukraine. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reports that “Paris has been working for a while now with the Ukrainians on this”, but that the plan is yet to get the formal backing of NATO, as “a number of [member states] have voiced reluctance or even outright disapproval, fearing unnecessary confrontation with Russia and runaway escalation that would put Western troops directly in harm’s way”. According to the report,

“President Emmanuel Macron is expected to unveil France’s plan to send army trainers next Thursday when he hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Normandy along with other leaders, including US President Joe Biden, on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day, according to people familiar with the matter”.

The said sources stated that the initiative “could end up involving dozens or hundreds of troops”. Obviously, this is yet another laughable attempt to water down the scope of actual NATO involvement. The sheer number of foreign mercenaries and covert operatives in Ukraine disproves the claims of these anonymous sources. The Russian military has already neutralized thousands of them, while NATO itself is desperate to find ways to hide the losses among its personnel in Ukraine, which explains the massive surge in “sudden accidental deaths” of its soldiers since 2022. We should pay close attention to the most comical “freak accidents” imaginable in the coming weeks and months if Macron’s initiative comes to pass. This might soon include news about French, American, British and other NATO majors, colonels and even generals “mysteriously” and “inexplicably” dying.

All of a sudden, skiing in the Alps will become far deadlier, while falling out of helicopters, choking on croissants when having breakfast or suffocating when their throats swell from hot coffee will become common occurrences among NATO personnel. However, the Russophobic extremists will surely be thrilled to get the chance to fight the Russian military, which is why the Baltic states were among the first to support Macron’s idea. On the other hand, Moscow warns that the initiative is a mere formality, as its forces have been neutralizing foreign soldiers for quite some time. Russian special services have become quite adept in locating and eliminating NATO personnel in Ukraine, including by sending hypersonic missiles at their positions. The sheer speed of these weapons gives them only a few minutes to escape before they’re vaporized.

However, the Kiev regime is already bragging that foreign “advisers” are on their way. Last week, a senior member of the Rada (Parliament) Oleksiy Goncharenko said that the “first group of French military instructors are on their way to Ukraine”. Others, such as the Neo-Nazi junta’s top commander, the infamous General Oleksandr Syrsky, announced that “the paperwork facilitating the presence of French personnel in the country” has been completed. Once again, this is a mere formality, as NATO soldiers have long been present in Ukraine. However, while the foreign personnel currently stationed in the country are covert operatives or volunteers who officially joined the Kiev regime forces, having actual soldiers of NATO member states present and conducting operations against the Russian military is a completely different story.

The ways in which this could go wrong are innumerable. The Kremlin has repeatedly stated it will target any foreign personnel. This cannot be stressed enough and it’s quite clear what fate awaits anyone foolish enough to question Moscow’s resolve. When hundreds of caskets wrapped with French flags start coming back to France, how exactly will Macron explain this to his electorate?

The French President’s political opponents have been warning about his ego, which is the only logical explanation for such suicidal behavior. Russian military power should be more than enough to dissuade anyone from even thinking about war. However, as the political West keeps sinking into utter madness, common sense cannot be expected from its leaders. Macron claims to want an “Olympic truce”, but his behavior suggests there won’t be any Olympic games at all if he doesn’t back off.

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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: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets French President Emmanuel Macron during a state visit to France, 17 June 2019. (Source: President.gov.ua/CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Global Research Wants to Hear From You!

***

It’s absolutely shocking how common it is now to die in your sleep, with no explanation and no investigation.

I present 100 Cases of died suddenly while sleeping, this is just a sample of what is going on right now.

May 12, 2024 – DENTIST DEAD – 47 year old Dr. Stephen Hill of Allen Texas, died suddenly in his sleep on May 12, 2024. Dec. 26, 2020: His wife posted: “Just got vaccinated” May 12, 2024: “Sudden passing”

April 22, 2024 – UK – Elainena Hilton died suddenly on April 22, 2024.

Apr. 5, 2024 – AUSTRALIAN NURSE DEAD – 58 year old Australian nurse from Palm Beach, Colleen Hunter died suddenly in her sleep on April 5, 2024.

April 5, 2024 – UK – Kenny Newsome died unexpectedly in his sleep

Mar. 30, 2024 – Australia – Melbourne DJ Guy Uppiah died peacefully in his sleep

Mar. 30, 2024 – Fairfax, VA – 43 year old lawyer Christian Decker just had a new baby when he died suddenly in his sleep on March 30, 2024

Mar. 28, 2024 – Sean McLaughlin died in his sleep

Mar. 25, 2024 – Hallandale Beach, FL – 47 year old paramedic Heather Lynn Owns died suddenly in her sleepon March 25, 2024. May, 2021: “LOL…Guess I am one of the human lab rats that got vaccinated”.

Mar. 24, 2024 – Greensburg, PA – 36 year old Ashley Kertes died unexpectedly in her sleep on Mar. 24, 2023 shortly before 7:30am She worked as an administrator to the superintendent in Greensburg Salem School district, so she was COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated.

Mar. 22, 2024 – Scotland – 33 year old mom Fiona Gallacher thought she had a pregnant belly but it was Stage 4 bowel cancer. Diagnosed Jan. 8, 2024 she was given 6-12 months to live, but died on Mar. 22, 2024 in her sleep.

Mar. 21, 2024 – St. Mary, Jamaica – 27 year old Police Officer Shackael Ellis died in his sleep on March 21, 2024. “around 6am his mother went to awaken him…she found Shackael unresponsive.”

Mar. 15, 2024 – Melbourne, Australia – Jordan Argiriou was travelling for work when he died suddenly in his sleep on March 15, 2024.

Mar. 13, 2024 – Iowa City – 44 year old Chris Wiersema died in his sleep

Mar. 10, 2024 – UK – 38 year old Gary Cawley died in his sleep

Mar. 3, 2024 – Edmonton, AB – 42 year old Amber Carriere died suddenly in her sleep on Mar. 3, 2024. She leaves behind 3 kids.

Mar. 2024 – Henry Martin had a healthy distrust of authority and was vaccinated Sep.2021: “Get vaccinated dumbass” “Henry passed away early this morning in his sleep.”

Click here to read the full article on COVID Intel.

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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.  

Featured image is from COVID Intel

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Could US Have Used a “Kill Switch” to Assassinate President Raisi?

By Drago Bosnic, June 03, 2024

It can be argued that the Iranian President and his FM Abdollahian were instrumental in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, which is a crucial stepping stone toward the stabilization of the US-orchestrated volatile situation in the Middle East.

Syria on the Brink of Recovery as Qatar and Turkey Change Their Policies. Steven Sahounie

By Steven Sahiounie, June 04, 2024

The Emir of Qatar, Tamim al Thani, recently said that he supports the street protests in Idlib, Syria where people are protesting the dictatorial rule of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group. This marks a monumental change in policy for Qatar, and maybe the first step toward restoring diplomatic ties with Syria.

American Economic Warfare Continues to Suffocate the Cuban Economy

By Dr. Birsen Filip, June 04, 2024

Although the demonstrations were clearly motivated by the current economic crisis in Cuba, western mainstream media outlets were quick to falsely describe them as massive ‘anti-government’ protests. This was entirely predictable, as the mainstream press have entrenched themselves deep into the Western political establishment by consistently serving the imperialist, neo-colonial, neo-liberal, and globalist agendas. 

Are You Feeding Your Soul or the Enemy?

By Dr. Joseph Mercola, June 04, 2024

Reflecting on your thoughts and feelings helps you understand your own behaviors, desires and conflicts more deeply. This self-awareness can improve personal relationships and increase emotional intelligence, ultimately contributing to a more balanced and satisfying life, with ripple effects across society.

Kenya’s President Ruto Defies His Own Country’s Constitution and High Court to Invade Haiti on Behalf of the U.S.

By William Sakawa and Ann Garrison, June 04, 2024

I think the government feels so bold as to do something so clearly traitorous because Kenya has always been a colony. It has never really attained independence. Since the time of the handover in 1963, we have remained dependent on institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. So our government has always leaned West and eagerly executed Western agendas.

The Role of Thought Power in the Cause and Effect Dynamics of Global Crisis. Julian Rose

By Julian Rose, June 03, 2024

We need to be aware that multiple interconnected streams of invisible energy carry our thought waves from one end of the world to the other; contributing to the overall psychic health or sickness of all sentient life forms.

Unbecoming American: Tucker Carlson with Jeffrey Sachs

By Dr. T. P. Wilkinson, June 03, 2024

This interview was not unlike the Putin interview in one respect. Both Vladimir Putin and Jeffrey Sachs live in the world of diplomacy, civilized behaviour even among antagonists. Although of very different rank and station, Putin and Sachs demonstrate that there are limits to what one may say in public.

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Global Research Wants to Hear From You!

***

The modern world actively works against the ability to nurture your intuition and feed your soul, instead, as investigative journalist Corey Lynn puts it, feeding the enemy

This “enemy” thrives on the chaos, division and negativity perpetuated through social media platforms and elsewhere

It symbolizes the harmful outcomes of collective engagement in fear, misinformation and distraction, leading you away from personal growth and inner peace

It’s possible to break free from the mind control and corruption by making small, purposeful changes, such as daily meditation

There are concrete steps you can take to overcome fear, find joy in your life and feed your soul, many of which are detailed in my upcoming book, “The Power of Choice”

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Reflecting on your thoughts and feelings helps you understand your own behaviors, desires and conflicts more deeply. This self-awareness can improve personal relationships and increase emotional intelligence, ultimately contributing to a more balanced and satisfying life, with ripple effects across society.

Yet, the modern world actively works against the ability to nurture your intuition and feed your soul, instead, as investigative journalist Corey Lynn puts it, feeding the enemy.¹ The enemy in this case isn’t a person or group, but rather destructive forces or influences that you may unknowingly support or contribute to, in the context of social media and elsewhere.

This “enemy” thrives on the chaos, division and negativity perpetuated through social media platforms. It symbolizes the harmful outcomes of collective engagement in fear, misinformation and distraction, leading you away from personal growth and inner peace.

By participating in these destructive cycles, you inadvertently “feed the enemy” instead of nurturing your own soul. Fortunately, there are concrete steps you can take to overcome fear and find joy in your life, many of which are detailed in my upcoming book, “The Power of Choice.”

Is Your Mind Being Programmed?

“Mind conditioning and programming have always been the game,” according to Lynn.² Even common symbols and campaigns in your daily life may manipulate public perception and thought patterns, serving the interests of manipulative entities. Lynn uses the example of the letter X used as a form of symbolic conditioning by, for instance, Twitter. Lynn writes:³

“Remember when the red X went viral on Twitter [in 2018]? Everyone was saying, ‘put a red X next to your screen name if you have been shadow banned and censored to show everyone we are united against this.’ I saw thousands of people quickly add a red X next to their name, and I warned that it was a ploy.

At the time I wasn’t sure what it was all about, as it could have been an attempt to build a list of people against the narrative, and it likely had a multifaceted approach.

I just knew that following along would not be wise. I now believe that one of the goals was to get everyone to place the X for purposes of conditioning their minds to believe ‘X’ is a good, powerful, united symbol. Five years later, Twitter became X.

This may seem silly and insignificant, but when multiple campaigns are running simultaneously to program individuals, every little seed planted adds branches in the brain and forms beliefs. Then, when evidence is brought forth showing the trap, the brain refuses to accept it, and instead is stuck in the ‘united’ belief system, and hero worship ensues.”

Lynn suggests the repeated use of the letter X in different contexts is a form of mind conditioning. By associating the X with concepts of unity, power and future change, the public may be subtly programmed to align their beliefs and behaviors with these symbols without critically evaluating the implications.

Becoming Consumed With Identity Is a Method of Distraction

By participating in these campaigns, you spread the desired narrative or belief system that’s laid out by those orchestrating the campaigns, contributing to a larger agenda. It also keeps your attention focused on the high-profile campaign instead of its underlying manipulative tactics. Ultimately, it’s a method of distraction, keeping your mind occupied with superficial or misleading activities instead of nurturing your own critical thinking and spiritual growth.

One example Lynn gives is becoming consumed with various aspects of identity — such as sexual preference, appearance and personality types. This can lead to divisions and distractions that prevent you from engaging more deeply with your inner self. A focus on identity is an external one, in which you become preoccupied with defining yourself and others based on surface-level characteristics and labels.

This external focus diverts attention from more introspective, spiritual pursuits that could foster genuine self-understanding and connection to a higher purpose or spiritual entity. By pushing identity to the forefront, the enemy may be intentionally creating situations that lead to discord and prevent people from instead uniting or focusing on common goals. Lynn explains:⁴

“I once believed that the corrupt want to obliterate everyone’s identity, make everyone genderless and force them to use digital IDs, but I’m beginning to realize that ‘identity’ is exactly what they want everyone focused on.

When you get people hyper focused on their own identity and the identity of others, be it sexual preference, appearance, fashion style, personality types, and all of the other fun labels that go with it, people are ultimately trying to define themselves by external nonsense that gives them an ‘identity,’ rather than focusing on their inner spirit, their soul, and direct line to God. It’s one of the biggest and longest standing distractions.”

Living in Fear Creates Confusion and Paranoia

Fear further feeds the enemy by destabilizing individuals and creating a population that’s easier to manage and less likely to resist manipulation or challenge the status quo. “Bad actors have been stoking fear and paranoia for eons because it serves their agendas well. When you keep people in a constant high beta state it creates incoherence and confusion. Eventually, this builds into paranoia,” according to Lynn.⁵

When people suspect that threats are everywhere, they can become isolated and less willing to connect with others, weakening social bonds and leaving you more vulnerable to manipulation. Fear also disrupts your own intuition, which is a powerful tool for understanding and decision-making.

When intuition is sidelined, you may bypass thoughtful analysis for quick, fear-based reactions. This can lead to poor decisions and outcomes. “They want everyone in a constant state of survival so they become paralyzed,” Lynn says, continuing:⁶

“The saying ‘trust no one and question everything’ has become the foundation for cognitive dissonance. Trusting no one creates isolation, while questioning everything keeps one in a constant state of analysis as opposed to trusting in their own intuition. Intuition is the most powerful tool for humans, yet people are finding it difficult to even trust in themselves.

Soon, this paranoia emerges into a single belief that everyone is bad and no one is to be trusted. Everything seems plausible and grasping at every bit of information that comes out is quickly twisted to fit this belief. Intuition goes out the window, research is skipped over, and analysis comes from a place of paranoia and confusion.

… This is why expanding one’s intuition is so vital during these times. The mind can only process so much and clues are often hidden, but intuition can quite literally save one’s life. Faith, prayer, and knowing go hand-in-hand with intuition. Fear and ego cloud discernment.”

Sowing Division Gives the Enemy More Power

Once the stage has been set for programming, distractions and fear, it becomes easy to plant the seeds of division. Influencers, often without realizing it, play a significant role in spreading these divisive narratives.

Because influencers have large followings, their endorsement or mere discussion of a divisive topic can lend it credibility and increase its spread. Lynn suggests that these individuals may inadvertently become tools in the hands of those intent on sowing division.

Meanwhile, as you focus on who is right or wrong, who is an ally or an enemy, attention is diverted from more productive pursuits. Instead of using your resources and abilities to effect positive change or enhance your community, you may waste energy by getting caught up in the drama and conflict. This further distracts you from personal growth and community involvement. Lynn adds:⁷

“The corrupt players sit back and relish in the chaos, division, and confusion all being created among individuals and influencers pointing fingers at one another, while achieving their end goal. The reality is, the majority of influencers and individuals on social media are not part of a psyop (not including bots of course), but rather have differing opinions, lack of knowledge, were misguided, or simply didn’t have all of the information.

… Suddenly, everyone is sketchy, everyone is involved in an ‘operation,’ and accusations are flying. People become consumed with ‘who’s who’ rather than ‘who am I.’

For over eight years I have observed this targeted energy suck, and it has gotten us no closer to combatting agendas against humanity, it has only served as entertainment for those who prefer to get caught up in drama and let their anger out on social media because they haven’t found a more constructive outlet.

… Everyone feeds into this drama and it stokes more division, but more importantly — it causes everyone to focus on external distractions rather than internal momentum and using their gifts and skills to actually make an impact for themselves, their families and their communities. And THAT is the prime goal of the corrupt.”

The Choice to Feed Your Soul — Not the Enemy — Is Yours

It’s possible to break free from the mind control and corruption by making small, purposeful changes. In the video at the top of this article, BBC journalist Melissa Hogenboom explains how six weeks of meditation led to changes in her brain, as evidenced by a brain scan.⁸

By calming your mind and focusing your attention, meditation reduces the “noise” of incessant thoughts. This quieter mental state can make it easier to hear and trust your intuitive feelings, which are often subtle and may be easily overshadowed by “louder” thoughts.

Meditation also nurtures your mind’s intrinsic capabilities, making it more receptive and tuned to intuitive processes. It provides a supportive environment for intuition to flourish by fostering a calm, clear and connected state of being, while helping to focus your mind on more productive pursuits.

“I hope people are beginning to realize,” Lynn says, “if it’s out of your control, it is a distraction and a time and energy suck. If it’s within your control — how can you exert your time and energy unless you yourself are in a balanced state without reacting emotionally? That is the state where creation takes hold and it projects a powerful force that inspires and motivates.”⁹

My upcoming book, “The Power of Choice,” further explores the interconnectedness between health and spirituality. Many express a desire to improve their health and well-being but struggle to take action even when presented with clear strategies. What typically impedes their progress is a disconnection from Spirit, their authentic Self, which is where true Joy resides.

To learn how to support your own connection to your consciousness, including methods for cultivating self-trust, keep an eye out for “The Power of Choice.” I’ll be publishing summaries of the first 10 chapters soon. At the end of each chapter, I provide exercises to facilitate connecting with your internal guidance system. As Lynn notes, the choice of whether to feed the enemy or feed your soul is yours alone:¹⁰

“The constant churning of events and campaigns to distract and divide will continue to amp up. The wild thing is, it’s much like a swimming pool.

You can choose to jump in the deep end and tread water all day long utilizing every last ounce of energy, only to drown in despair. Or you can choose to step into the shallow end, maintain solid footing, and conserve your energy for areas in life where you can take action while living your life without fear and constant stress.

You can take a family adventure into the wild and camp for a week as the world around you continues to move as it may. You can choose to find joy in all the little things, focus on family and community, and live in a state of faith. You can choose to plant a garden, run for local office, or learn a new skill.

You can choose to spend your time building your intuition, going within, bringing yourself a sense of peace and stability while opening the doors for opportunity. You can choose to create and manifest the reality you want. You can choose love and watch the ripple effect take hold across the universe.”

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Notes

^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10} Corey’s Digs April 25, 2024

⁸ YouTube, BBC News October 1, 2023

⁹ Corey’s Digs March 27, 2024

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Declassified files detail the British government’s secret meetings with loyalist paramilitary group The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in 1974, and the political support afforded the organisation during its ongoing campaign of violence.

Meetings would occur both at the home of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), Stormont Castle, and a secluded government owned property known as Laneside. The latter address would also play host to government meetings with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the 1970’s.

Through the process of meetings, the UVF, who wished Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, were de-proscribed as a banned terrorist organisation on 23^rd May, along with Irish republican group, Sinn Féin. This meant that membership of the UVF alone was no longer a prosecutable offence. The order was brought forth by a newly formed Labour minority government, who ostensibly wished to see the UVF move into the political process and away from violence.

However, documents indicate that senior UVF members meeting with officials were also those suspected of participation in UVF bomb attacks in Dublin and Monaghan the same month, in which security forces are also alleged to have been involved. The bombings, which killed 34 civilians, represented the greatest loss of life in one single incident during the three decades of the conflict and commemorate the 50^th year since their passing on 17^th May.

The attacks were part of wider unionist agitations that year against the Sunningdale Agreement, which in December 1973 established a Northern Ireland Assembly and power-sharing Executive between Ulster unionists and Irish nationalists. The agreement also established a Council of Ireland, that allowed Dublin a degree of oversight of Northern Ireland’s affairs – something the UVF and most unionist groups opposed vehemently.

Sunningdale Agreement North South meeting 1974. [Source: Photo courtesy of Irish Labour Party]

The files reveal that when the government’s efforts to politicise the UVF hit obstacles related to their conflicting views over the Sunningdale Agreement, their focus instead turned to sowing discord amongst unionist political groups and loyalist paramilitaries.

Furthermore, recently declassified material demonstrates that through this relationship the UVF were to seek and gain benefits and conveniences from the government and security forces not typically afforded to political or paramilitary groups.

Bombs in Dublin and Monaghan

The files document that the UVF’s key representative throughout meetings with government officials was Ken Gibson, who in 1974 served as the UVF’s Chief of Staff. Another member of UVF Brigade Staff present at early meetings was William Mitchell, who also edited the UVF’s magazine, Combat.

During the 1990’s, investigative journalist Joe Tiernan conducted a series of interviews with Mitchell, who is understood to have disclosed his previous involvement in attacks and the UVF’s relationship with British military intelligence. Tiernan has asserted that both Gibson and Mitchell were part of a UVF unit responsible for bomb attacks in Dublin in December 1972 and January 1973, which killed three people and left 133 more injured.

Further maintained by Tiernan, is that this UVF squad were directed in the attacks by British intelligence officers operating out of the British Army HQ in Lisburn.

Tiernan has also upheld that on the morning of 17^th May 1974, Mitchell and an unnamed UVF commander stole a blue Ford Escort in Belfast, before delivering it to a car park on the northern outskirts of Dublin.

The car was then loaded with a bomb and driven into Dublin city centre, where Mitchell and his accomplice were identified in the Escort by a witness. The car would then be parked on Talbot Street, where at approximately 5:30pm, during rush hour, it would detonate without warning, killing 14 civilians.

Aftermath of Dublin bombings of May 1974 – Talbot Street. [Source: signhllkeet.live]

Two additional car bombs would also detonate near simultaneously on Dublin’s Parnell Street and South Leinster Street, killing 12 more civilians. A final bomb would explode 90 minutes later in the border town of Monaghan, killing seven people.

The UVF would only claim responsibility for the attacks in 1993, following an investigation by Yorkshire Television that same year, and in which Tiernan himself was a key researcher. This documentary traced and named a number of the UVF members alleged to have been involved in the operation, yet to date nobody has been charged for the atrocities.

Aftermath of Dublin bombings of May 1974 – Parnell Street. Source: Photo courtesy of Dublin City Libraries – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; obtained by Patrick O’Reilly]

An inquiry into the attacks by Irish judge Henry Barron, concluded in 2003 that they were a “reaction to the Sunningdale Agreement” and carried out by UVF members from Belfast, Portadown and Lurgan. He added that they were “likely” to have been “conceived and planned in Belfast,” where Gibson held the UVF’s most senior rank. Tiernan has also upheld that Mitchell played a key role in the operation’s planning, given his previous experience in bombing Dublin in the years prior.

Collusion

Former Special Patrol Group Officer from the police service of Northern Ireland – then known as The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) – John Weir, gave evidence to Barron’s inquiry. Weir has alleged that in the mid-1970’s he was part of a rogue gang of UVF members, RUC officers and soldiers from the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Based at Glenanne Farm in County Armagh, Weir claimed the gang were responsible for numerous sectarian attacks and murders throughout the 1970’s, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Their activities were apparently given tacit approval by senior RUC officers.

Weir and other sources have named Mid-Ulster UVF founder Billy Hanna, as the main organiser of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Through interviews with Hanna’s family, Tiernan has revealed that Hanna was regularly visited at his home by British intelligence officers. He alleges these officers were to give Hanna his orders, who, after consultation with UVF Brigade Staff HQ in Belfast, was to assemble his team for the operation.

Barron’s inquiry and Yorkshire Television’s investigation both also noted the relationship between UVF suspects and officers from the army’s Special Air Service (SAS) proxy group, 14 Intelligence Company, most notably, Robert Nairac. In addition to running UVF suspects as agents, Nairac is also alleged to have been involved in the supply of weapons and planning of attacks.

Former British intelligence officer Fred Holroyd, has explained that in 1974 “loyalist explosive capability was pretty limited” and predominantly utilised “beer kegs filled with explosives with a black powder fuse.”

The Dublin bombs, however, were a drastic departure from these methods, and utilised sophisticated timing devices to synchronise the detonations of the three car bombs. Forensics also noted that all the explosives used detonated completely, leaving no residue to trace.

Former British army bomb disposal expert Lt Col George Styles, has too raised this peculiarity, to which he stated:

“I had no high regard of their [UVF] skill in 1974, I don’t think they were at a level that would equate to the sort of techniques that were used here in Dublin.”

The UVF categorically denied involvement of British state security services.

Document from The National Archives, London – Ref: FCO 87/341. [Source: Photo courtesy of Patrick O’Reilly]

 

Only four days after the attacks, Gibson would meet deputy under-secretary Phillip Woodfield, in a meeting in which it was recorded that “the UVF remained firmly against violence.” The UVF would be officially de-proscribed the same week.

Whilst the UVF did not claim responsibility for the bombings in their immediate aftermath, there were some early media reports pointing toward the involvement of loyalist paramilitaries. Curiously, the documents record no mention or questioning of the UVF on these attacks by government officials in meetings.

“Political Feet”

On 9^th April, files record that Minister of State for Northern Ireland Stanley Orme, met at Stormont Castle with a UVF deputation which included Gibson and Mitchell. Also present was a member of the UVF’s “welfare section” Hugh Smyth, who held a seat in the Assembly as an independent.

The record noted that Orme expressed his belief in the importance of the UVF’s dialogue with the government in helping “working class protestants to find their own political feet.” He added that “at the next election there was no reason why the UVF might not have a number of members elected to the Assembly and indeed why they might not be a member of the Executive.”

Smyth explained that “they [the UVF] were against the Assembly because it had been imposed on them,” but that he recognised its “practical necessity” as “the only forum in which he could represent the views of his constituents.”

On 15th May, the Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) strike began, organised by unionists opposed to power-sharing and the Sunningdale Agreement’s Council of Ireland proposals. The strike caused widespread disruption to Northern Ireland’s economy, with electricity and fuel supplies amongst seriously affected sectors. Throughout the strike, loyalist paramilitaries, including the UVF, engaged in campaigns of intimidation and manned roadblocks to ensure workers were unable to work.

Ulster Workers’ Council barricade, Beersbridge Triangle, East Belfast – May 1974. [Source: Photo courtesy of Lawrence Skuse]

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees, said he would not negotiate with the UWC, but officials including Orme would continue to meet with Gibson, who was the UVF’s representative on the UWC coordinating committee.

At the end of the month, diplomat and Counsellor to the NIO, James Allan, recorded a meeting at Laneside, also attend by MI6 agent Michael Oatley and a UVF deputation.

Allan recorded that the UVF’s objective was to “reduce the influence of the UUUC [United Ulster Unionist Council],” a body that sought to unite unionists opposed to the Sunningdale Agreement. This was apparently due to the UVF’s belief that the UUUC were “using the strike for their own purposes,” and were “not representative of working-class opinion.”

Allan noted that it was “not clear whether they [UVF] would accept the continuance of the power-sharing Executive,” but that “they were definitely against the Sunningdale Council of Ireland proposals.”

At this juncture, Allan noted that the government’s relationship with the UVF had “become very strange,” as they were “desperately in need of advice” on securing “UVF participation in politics,” but also held a fundamentally conflicting political position to the government on Sunningdale.

Consequently, he concluded that “thought should be given as to how to profit” from the relationship, in a way that would give the government the “most direct entre to the UWC.” He added that “it may be that it can only be used for fuelling possible dissention between UUUC politicians and para-military organisations.”

Document from the National Archives, London – Ref: CJ 4/1147. [Source: Photo courtesy of Patrick O’Reilly]

The following day, pro-power-sharing Ulster Unionist Party politician Brian Faulkner, resigned as Chief Executive of the power-sharing executive. This was due to Rees’ refusal to meet UWC representatives, and Faulkner’s loss of support from unionist voters. Consequently, the power-sharing Executive and Assembly collapsed, at which point direct rule from London was resumed.

An Offer of Services

While government officials ostensibly wished to see the UVF politicise through de-proscription, there is indication that the UVF themselves may have had different ideas about their nearing legalisation and newfound relationship with the government.

Documents show that on 30^th April, Allan received a letter addressed to the Secretary of State from a UVF “adjutant” named William Johnston. In it, Johnston stated that:

“Brigade Staff hereby offer the services of the UVF and its associate Units to supplement the Civil and Military Authorities in their endeavours to combat terrorism and anarchy.”

In aim of “building better relations between ordinary people and the Security Forces, UVF observers could be attached to regular army and RUC patrols,” he added.

Document from the National Archives, London – Ref: CJ 4/1919. [Source: Photo courtesy of Patrick O’Reilly]

 

Johnston acknowledged that such a move could “be seen to be a collusion between the government and a supposed terrorist organisation,” but that UVF personnel “would at all times be subject to Government law and discipline.”

Interestingly, in the record of a meeting just two weeks later, Allan noted that a UVF deputation showed no knowledge that this communication had been issued.

Release of Detainees

Under de-proscription, UVF deputations would press government officials for the release of detainees stated to be “moderates” with “political abilities,” who were considered vital to their political efforts.

In a meeting record from 15^th May, Orme’s Private Secretary Mr Finlayson, noted Gibson’s concern of a “shortage of political spokesmen for the UVF,” and assertion that a number of imprisoned UVF members would be able to fulfil this role. Orme assured the deputation that the issue was under “urgent consideration” by the government.

Document from The National Archives London – ref: CJ 4/1919. [Source: Photo courtesy of Patrick O’Reilly]

Gibson stressed that “particularly important to them” was the release of Billy Davidson. Once released, Davidson would become Co-Chairman of the UVF’s short lived Volunteer Political Party, before becoming involved with the Northern Ireland Negotiated Independence Association in the late 1970’s. Hugh Smyth would also further his political career, leading the Progressive Unionist Party from 1979-2002.

However, documents also indicate that under de-proscription the UVF would request the release of detainees held on more serious charges, and who seemingly had no political inclination. A meeting record from 1^st August noted that a UVF deputation including Gibson, expressed a need “to get responsible (and strong) men released”, so “they could get their areas under control.”

One notable request for release on the provided list was for “Leonard Murphy,” which the document noted as “sentenced.” At the time, Murphy was serving a sentence for attempted prison breaks that occurred during his time detained awaiting trial for the murder of a protestant man named William Pavis in 1972. This murder was allegedly ordered by the UVF, who believed Pavis was selling guns to the IRA.

Murphy was eventually acquitted of the murder charge on grounds of contaminated evidence, despite being identified as Pavis’ killer by two witnesses.

Following his release from prison in May 1975, Murphy would go onto become leader of a UVF gang known as the Shankill Butchers. Under Murphy’s leadership and with his active involvement, the gang would murder seven catholic civilians over the course of the next year. Three of the six murders carried out by Murphy personally, would involve extreme violence, torture and throat slashings being inflicted upon innocent victims.

Murphy was rearrested in March 1976 and sentenced on firearms charges following his attempted murder of a catholic woman, but continued to advocate for, and direct further murders from prison.

Days after his release from prison in July 1982, Murphy would continue to kill. He claimed another three victims before being murdered by IRA gunmen in November, in a hit that was allegedly facilitated by a UVF tip-off.

“Low Level Protection”

Another feature of meetings were requests by the UVF that security force pressures on their organisation be curtailed, and even “personal protection” be offered to UVF leaders. In a meeting record from mid-May, a UVF deputation lamented that their members were “continuously harassed” by British parachute regiment, 3 Para. Smyth added that they were “particularly concerned about army searches early in the morning,” which meant “people were detained in their house until the searches finished,” often making them late for work.

The record noted that Orme said he would soon be visiting 3 Para to “investigate the matter,” and would be “discussing with the Security Forces the times at which searches were carried out.”

Another meeting record from the end of May, a UVF deputation led by Gibson was recorded by Allan to be “clearly worried that their position may be undermined by arrest of UVF leaders.” Allan resultantly noted that the government “should think very carefully before action is taken vis-a-vis UVF politicals,” and that he would be “grateful to have the opportunity to comment on possible arrest lists.”

In late 1974, a feud also began between the UVF and another loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). On 18^th March 1975, John McKeague of Red Hand Commando (a UVF affiliated proscribed paramilitary organisation) and loyalist activist Sam McClure are recorded as having visited Laneside, where they were met by deputy Under Secretary of State John Bourn.

Documents note that McKeague and McClure requested “low level protection” for themselves and two other loyalist paramilitary leaders, one of which was Gibson. They suggested that if they as “politically inclined leaders” were to be assassinated, a “blood bath” would ensue.

The author of the meeting record, noted as “BM Webster,” stated that it would be “unwise” to raise the issue with the RUC, who were against giving special protection to paramilitary leaders. He noted, however, that they “could put the matter to the army” but would “have to be careful” in how they approach the subject.

Re-proscription

In June of that year, the UVF would establish the Volunteer Political Party (VPP). Gibson as Chairman would go on to contest the West Belfast seat in the October 1974 general election, but would win only 6% of the total votes in this constituency.

The party was dissolved only a month later, with a VPP statement acknowledging that the “general public does not support the political involvement of the UVF.” Most VPP members would return to the UVF, who would issue a new policy document asserting “attack as the best means of defence.”

On 2^nd October 1975, the UVF would launch a series of gun and bomb attacks across Northern Ireland that left 12 dead. Documents record that in meetings between government officials the following day, it was accepted that the UVF were “wedded to violence” and “sufficiently offensive” as to warrant re-proscription. Rees would sign the order into effect the same day, making the UVF a banned organisation once again.

Many deadly UVF attacks that occurred throughout the conflict in Northern Ireland remain embroiled in controversy over security force collusion. The British government has previously refused to disclose important files it holds relating to many incidents, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, something emphasised in Barron’s 2003 inquiry. Consequently, civil action was taken against the British Ministry of Defence and NIO by victims and families at the High Court in Belfast in 2014.

Organisations such as Justice for the Forgotten, The Pat Finucane Centre and Paper Trail, amongst others, have campaigned in support of victims’ families throughout these processes, and continue to work in quest of the truth behind many attacks. A new inquiry into the activities of the Mid-Ulster UVF and their relationship with security forces during the 1970’s, named Operation Denton, is currently ongoing.

However, the British government’s Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill now looks to shut down avenues of legal recourse for survivors and victims’ families seeking justice.

Since 1^st May 2024, all Troubles-era cases not yet concluded have been transferred to a new body, and new cases will be prevented from being lodged in court. The bill, which has been opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland, also provides immunity from prosecution for those coming forward and giving evidence.

Questions remain on whether elements of the British intelligence community sought to subvert the Sunningdale Agreement by working with the UVF, and the degree to which government officials were aware of intelligence relating to alleged collusion. Nevertheless, the British government’s and UVF’s conflicting ulterior motives resulted in a confused political relationship, which failed in efforts to politicise militant loyalism or win over working-class unionist voters to power-sharing. The freedom of operation afforded the UVF by de-proscription also arguably facilitated its regrouping as a paramilitary organisation, and emboldened the group in its violent efforts to undermine government policy.

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Patrick O’Reilly is an independent journalist and researcher. Focusing on Western foreign policy and UK healthcare governance, he has previously written for Declassified UK, antiwar.com and The Bristol Cable. Patrick can be reached at [email protected]. 

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***

By any reckoning, this was the move of a fool.  A fool, it should be said, motivated by spite larded with caution.  Evidently playing safe, adopting what has been called a “Ming Vase strategy” (hold it with scrupulous care; avoid danger), the British Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer is already laying its own boobytraps to step onto.  This is some feat, given that Labour currently leads the incumbent Tories by such a margin it is projected to win a majority of 194 seats, giving them 422 in all.

With the election campaign still salad green, Starmer has made it clear that a number of the progressive faithful will no longer be expected to keep him company on his way into government – assuming he doesn’t cock matters up before July 4.  A cull is being made of the old Labour guard, and they are not going away quietly.

One is a former leader of the party, an unabashed progressive who has been hugging the left side of politics since he was a callow teenager.  Jeremy Corbyn, a member for London’s Islington North for over four decades and party leader for five years, is running as an independent.  In March, the National Executive Committee (NEC) voted by 22 to 12 to approve a motion proposed by Starmer insisting that it was “not in the best interests of the Labour Party for it to endorse Mr Corbyn as a Labour Party candidate at the next general election.”

The response from Corbyn was resoundingly biting.  The move was a “shameful attack on the party of democracy”, showing “contempt” for those who had voted for the party at the 2017 and 2019 elections. 

“If you start shutting down dissent and preventing people from speaking out, it’s not a sign of strength, it’s a sign of weakness.  A sign of strength is when you can absorb and listen to the other person’s arguments,” says Corbyn on the YouTube outlet, Double Down News.

Things were also further muddied by the near juvenile incompetence regarding the future of the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Dianne Abbott, a figure who has been an enduring feature of Labour politics for decades.  She was the first black woman to be elected to Parliament, reliably Left, admirably innumerate and always reliable in having a moment of indiscretion.  (She had been suspended over comments made in a letter to The Observer claiming that Jews, the Irish and Travellers suffered “prejudice” rather than the “racism” suffered by blacks.)  The question here was whether her readmission to the party would qualify her to run again or enable her to journey into a veteran politician’s sunset.

Here was a moment of genuine danger for Labour.  Confusion, always fatal for any party seeking government, ignited.  Was Abbott banned by her party from running at the next election because of her recently spotty record?  Some Labour functionaries thought not, but felt that the NEC should have the last say.  Whispers and rumours suggested the opposite.

Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC bored her readers senseless with a slew of anonymous sources that did little to clear things up.  “She was looking for a way to stand down with dignity when it was blown all up,” one source claimed.  Another is quoted as a “senior ally” of Starmer, suggesting that things had come to a pass.  “Everyone was aware of the symbolism.  We had to draw the line, it couldn’t just go on and on.”

A strategy is certainly afoot to stay, remove or frustrate candidates of a certain left leaning disposition who fail to fit Starmer’s ultra cautious strategy.  They are memory’s heavy burden, a reminder of the roistering, scuffling legacy of the party.  Distilled to its essence, it is a crude and clumsy effort to purge the Corbynistas.  As Katy Balls of The Spectator appropriately describes it, the Labour leader has been selecting “candidates they trust to have a low risk of scandal or rebellion”.

Economist Faiza Shaheen, for instance, has found herself blocked for taking issue with her party’s Middle East policy, though, as she put it, it entailed “14 tweets over 10 years, including me liking a colleague’s tweet saying she was running as a Green councillor, and a retweet containing a list of companies to boycott to support Palestine, both from 2014.”

In an article for The Guardian, Shaheen describes how she was “removed, via email, from being a Labour parliamentary candidate from Chingford and Woodford Green.”  She faced the dreaded NEC regarding her deselection.  “More than four years’ work thrown in the bin.  Any connection to my community brushed aside.”

Shaheen proceeds to make a fundamental, if obvious political point.  “The irony is that taking me off the ballot and replacing me with someone no one in my community knows will jeopardise Labour’s ability to win this seat and finally unseat the Tory grandee Iaian Duncan Smith.”

These instances may not be enough to derail the Labour train that is destined, at this point, of storming into the House of Commons and Number 10 with tearing effect.  But Starmer’s culling program is already taking the shine off the effort.  Abbott has a loyal following.  Those of Corbyn’s are the stuff of legend.  Riling, obstructing and barring such figures serves to cloud the message, impairing an electoral effort that may, ironically enough, see the Ming Vase slip out of Starmer’s desperate hands.

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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]

Featured image: UK Labour Party Logo [File photo]

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***

On March 17, 2024, a demonstration comprised of a few hundred people spontaneously broke out in Santiago de Cuba, along with a few smaller protests in some other Cuban cities.

This is not entirely surprising, as Cubans have been enduring one of their worst shortages of basic necessities, like food, medical supplies, and fuel, in recent months.

The fuel shortage has been particularly problematic, causing regular power outages, which makes it extremely difficult to work, and produce, transport, and distribute goods across the island. In fact, the severity of the current economic crisis has led the Cuban government to request assistance from the UN World Food Program for the first time, when it sought help in ‘providing milk to children under seven years of age’ on February 29, 2024.

Although the demonstrations were clearly motivated by the current economic crisis in Cuba, western mainstream media outlets were quick to falsely describe them as massive ‘anti-government’ protests. This was entirely predictable, as the mainstream press have entrenched themselves deep into the Western political establishment by consistently serving the imperialist, neo-colonial, neo-liberal, and globalist agendas. 

A number factors have contributed to the current economic crisis in Cuba, including a slow recovery of the tourism industry from COVID restrictions. This is significant, because this sector generates about $4 billion annually and represents an important source of foreign currency.

Another factor is the elimination of the dual currency, which has continuously resulted in high inflation. That said, it is ultimately the American financial and economic blockade that is by far the main issue holding back the economic growth and development of Cuba.

After being initially formalized by the Kennedy administration in 1962, it has turned out to be the longest and most cruel, coercive, inhumane, and shameful economic and financial blockade in human history. Since its imposition, successive American governments and various special interest groups in the US have hoped that the hardships associated with the blockade would eventually bring about social unrest and massive protests in Cuba, which, in turn, would result in the demise of the socialist government. Ideally, this regime change would install a pro-American puppet government or dictator. 

When Italy was hit very hard at the start of the corona pandemic, they were assisted by a brigade of Cuban doctors. Photo: Italian Development Cooperation Agency

The current economic crisis is just the latest in a series of significant hardships that Cubans have been forced to endure since the triumph of the Revolution, on account of repeated American attempts to engage in economic warfare against the island in order to destroy its socialist regime. Previously, Cubans were hit particularly hard by the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which produced what came to be known as the ‘special period’ from 1989 to 1995. During that time, the Cuban economy essentially collapsed and its citizens experienced significant shortages of basic supplies, including food and medicine. These hardships led the Cuban government to formerly request assistance in ending the blockade from the United Nations (UN) in 1991. Since then, the UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly passed a resolution criticizing the impact of the embargo and calling for it to be lifted on an annual basis. In the most recent vote, which was held on November 2^nd, 2023, 187 countries supported the non-binding resolution, with only ‘United States, Israel’ voting against it and the Ukraine abstaining. This was ‘the thirty-first time the United Nations voted to end the embargo.’

Image is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

According to Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, in 2022 alone, ‘the economic damage from the blockade amounted to $4.867 billion and has meant a dearth of goods, long lines, high prices and devalued salaries, causing suffering among Cuban families, including, sometimes, devastating blackouts.’ He further added that ‘children and pregnant women, are damaged by the choppy supply of medicines…people have difficulties acquiring insulin, antibiotics, pain killers and other medication.’ He accused the American government of ‘lying when it asserts that the blockade does not prevent access to medicines or medical equipment.’ 

In response to the latest vote at the UN General Assembly, the US representative stated that while the American government opposes the resolution, ‘the United States stands resolutely with the Cuban people and strongly supports their pursuit of a future with human rights and fundamental freedoms.’ He claimed that one of the main reasons for the US opposition to the resolution was because ‘approximately 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Cuba, more than at any point in Cuba’s recent history, and nearly 700 of those detentions are from the historic 11 July 2021 protests.’ However, that seems disingenuous, as more than 240 new sanctions were introduced during the Presidency of Donald Trump, whose term ended well before the so-called ‘historic 11 July 2021 protests.’ 

Among the damaging policies enacted during the Trump administration was the US Department of State webpage listing 180 ‘entities’ in Cuba with whom financial business would be immediately forbidden as of November 2017. Twelve months later, on November 14, 2018, 26 new entries were added to the list. Additionally, the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton on April 17, 2019 made it extremely difficult for foreign companies to invest in Cuba, as it allows for lawsuits against companies that benefit from co-operating with Cuban state-owned businesses. Then, on October 9, 2019, the Trump administration decided that ‘banking institutions subject to U.S. jurisdiction are not permitted to process “U-turn” transactions, i.e., funds transfers originating and terminating outside the United States, where neither the originator nor the beneficiary is a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction.’ In other words, the US does not allow transactions with Cuba even if the transfer is initiated by a non-Cuban bank and passes through the U.S. system (i.e., the U-turn) on the way to another non-Cuban bank. 

In 2020, the sanctions imposed by the Trump White House resulted in a total of 407 Western Union offices closing in Cuba, which basically halted remittances from family members in the US and other countries. Fincimex, an important entity of the Cuban financial system and the main partner of Western Union in Cuba, confirmed that the shuttering of so many Western Union offices in Cuba directly attacks ‘family remittances even when Washington spokespersons lie and try to make it look like the limitations are only on a specific entity.’ 

In January 2021, the Trump administration placed Cuba back on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, along with ‘the Taliban or the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.’ That means ‘no United States person may provide payment or financing terms for sales of agricultural commodities or products to Cuba or any person in Cuba, except in accordance with the following terms: (A) Payment of cash in advance. (B) Financing by third country financial institutions (excluding United States persons or Government of Cuba entities).’ Furthermore, any payments ‘involving a debit or credit to an account of a person located in Cuba or of the Government of Cuba maintained on the books of a United States depository institution’ is not allowed. A few weeks after Cuba was placed back on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, concerns about being targeted with fines, sanctions, and legal proceedings led to many banks and financial institutions cancelling or limiting their activities and services in the country, while a number of shipping and delivery companies suspended many of their shipments to the island. Many Cuban businessmen also had their bank accounts closed in the US, while ‘several payment and e-commerce platforms such as PayPal and Airbnb’ refused ‘to provide their services to these businessmen.’ Clearly, the strengthening of the embargo that took place during the Trump administration resulted in the cancellation of significant commercial operations and foreign investment projects in Cuba. 

The Trump administration also reimposed travel restrictions on educational and cultural exchanges, banned cruises, and curtailed direct flights from the US to Cuba. Moreover, it imposed sanctions on shipping firms and vessels transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba, placed strict limits on remittances from the US, and implemented restrictions on Cuba’s importation of life-saving medicines. Ultimately, the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act and the other sanctions enacted by the Trump administration not only penalized Cuba’s banking and financial systems, they impacted every sector of its economy. It is evident that such measures enacted to strengthen the economic blockade deliberately intended to suffocate the Cuban economy, severely punish ordinary Cubans, and create discontent and despair among Cubans, with the hopes of eventually leading to regime change. 

Unfortunately, the situation did not improve very much after Trump left the White House, as ‘the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba has remained the backbone of U.S. policy towards the island, and has been opportunistically intensified at unprecedented levels ’ for much of the Biden presidency. Even though Latin American leaders have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to change its harsh polices towards Cuba, none of the sanctions that were implemented or strengthened during the Trump presidency were eased or cancelled until very recently. Sadly, the changes made by the Biden administration proved to be very minor. For example, on May 28, it was announced that

‘The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (the “Regulations”) to further implement elements of the policy announced by the Administration on May 16, 2022, to increase support for the Cuban people. Among other things, these amendments increase support for internet freedom for the Cuban people and independent Cuban private sector entrepreneurs by expanding authorizations for internet-based services and a range of financial transactions.’

Additionally, the OFAC permitted ‘independent private sector entrepreneurs in Cuba…to maintain and use a U.S. bank account to conduct authorized or exempt transactions,’ while also authorizing ‘“U-turn” transactions to help the Cuban people, including independent private sector entrepreneurs, by facilitating remittances and payments for authorized transactions in the Cuban private sector.’ These recent changes only affect a small portion of the Cuban population, amounting to about ‘11,000 private businesses.’ Also of note, the U.S. removed Cuba from its list of countries ‘not cooperating fully’ on counterterrorism earlier this month, which also includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. However, it remains on the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Given their limited scope, these changes do little to alleviate impacts of the coercive measures that were implemented during the Trump administration to suffocate the Cuban economy, which continue to be extremely destructive to the daily lives of all Cubans.

During the Cold War Era, Washington consistently maintained that regime change was a prerequisite for lifting the economic embargo on Cuba. At that time, the fear of communism spreading throughout the Americas was prevalent in the US. This was evident when President Kennedy claimed that Fidel Castro’s ‘anti-American and pro-Communist messages are carried in books and newspapers shipped to every corner of the hemisphere – often concealed in diplomatic pouches – and handed out together with Soviet propaganda by the Cuban embassies.’ He also stated that ‘Presna Latina, Latin America’s largest news agency, controlled from Havana,’ attacks ‘the United States and the leaders of every Latin American democracy.’ According to President Kennedy,

‘Castro’s campaign has met with success in almost every country – in Brazil, where both Presidential candidates found it politically expedient to appeal to pro-Castro and anti-American elements in the electorate – in Mexico, where anti-American riots followed pressure on a pro-Castro spokesman – in Guatemala, where Castro-equipped revolutionaries are a real menace -in Uruguay, where a general strike was threatened if Castro was not supported at the San Jose Conference.’

In the 1980s, president Ronald Reagan stated that

‘The Soviet Union owns Cuba, lock, stock, and barrel. We blockade it, now it’s a grave logistical problem for them…. We blockade Cuba, which could not afford that blockade, and we say to them: ‘Get your troops out of Afghanistan and we give up the blockade.’

However, both the Democrats and Republicans have maintained and strengthened the economic blockade for decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union. One of the possible reasons for this is that they are seeking to placate certain political interest groups, including vindictive Cuban-Americans, ambitious anti-socialists, and anti-communist ideologues of the Cold War Era, who are afraid that the battle of ideas has not yet ended. If that is the case, then that means the demands of powerful interest groups outweigh Cuba’s right to exist and operate as a sovereign country in the eyes of the US.

Presently, Cold War Era rhetoric is rarely employed by American officials, who mainly pretend to care about liberal values and principles, as well as humanitarian conditions in Cuba. They often state that they use sanctions as tools ‘to advance democracy and promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba,’ even though the economic blockade itself is illiberal and inhumane, as it relies on illiberal and anti-democratic measures. These officials further claim that Cuba’s human rights record is the main obstacle to the full re-establishment of diplomatic and economic relations between the two nations. However, history and current world events serve as testaments to the hypocrisy of the American government’s position in this regard. The US has a long record of consistently violating or ignoring fundamental human rights and democratic principles when it serves to further its ideological and economic interests.

Image: Afghans stand in the sewage ditch outside Abbey Gate as they attempt to show documents to Marines processing evacuees on Aug. 25. Credit: Mirzahussain Sadid for Alive in Afghanistan

The 20^th and 21^st centuries are littered with numerous examples of the US government citing the violation of human rights and democratic principles as pretexts to justify interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign countries, often in the form of military interventions. There is a long list of governments who were overthrown or destabilized by the US, some on multiple occasions, for refusing to fully adhere to its dictates, including Guatemala (1953-1954, 1960), Indonesia (1957-1958, 1965, 1975), the Dominican Republic (1960-1966), Chile (1964-1973), Cambodia (1955-1973), Laos (1957-1973), the Congo (1960-1964), Greece (1964-1974), Bolivia (1964-1975), Zaire (1975-1978), Iraq (1990-1991, 2003), Afghanistan (1979-1992 and 2001-2021), Libya (2011), and Syria (2014-). Furthermore, history has shown that American governments have rarely hesitated to cooperate with and prop up despotic and corrupt regimes whenever it suited their interests. Specific examples include Pinochet in Chile, the Somoza regime in Nicaragua, Suharto in Indonesia, the Shah in Iran, and the repressive House of Saud in Saudi Arabia, just to name a few. These partial lists of military interventions and support for repressive regimes clearly demonstrate that the administration in Washington will not hesitate to violate human rights and democratic principles if it is in its interest to do so. With respect to accusations of Cuba violating human rights, Fidel Castro (2007) stated:

Cuba is very different from the United States. The United States exploits other nations, has appropriated a large part of the world’s natural resources and is making tens of millions of workers all over the world labour in the service of its caste of millionaires. Cuba doesn’t exploit other nations; Cuba hasn’t appropriated. And is not struggling to appropriate, the natural resources of other nations, Cuba isn’t trying to make the workers in other nations labour in its service…With our revolution, we are eradicating not only the exploitation of one nation by another but also the exploitation of one human being by another.

American propaganda aside, Cuba is actually widely-renowned for its commitment to peace, social justice, equality, and humanitarian aid. It has been very active in terms of providing foreign aid in spite of the US embargo, primarily in the form of sending highly-trained specialists to developing countries where such skills are needed, including teachers, doctors, and engineers. In fact, Cuba has been sending doctors to countries throughout Latin American and Africa, which are unable to meet the health care needs of their citizens, since its Socialist revolution in 1959. 

On the island itself, all Cubans are regarded as equals and are afforded protection from discrimination based on race, colour, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, opinions, social status, etc. Moreover, despite the severity and longevity of the embargo, the Cuban government has managed to a attain higher life expectancy, and lower rates of child mortality, child malnutrition, and poverty, compared to many other countries in Latin America. One of the main factors behind these successes is that Cuban Socialism has prioritized universal health care and free access to education for all of its citizens. In fact, Cuba’s socialist government accepts the right to work, the right to housing, free and equal access to education and professional training, cultural activities, and health care services as human rights. According to Cuban socialism, without such rights being guaranteed, one cannot attain many forms of freedom, including economic freedom, the freedom of self-determination and self-development, political freedom, as well as civil liberties. It could be argued that Cuba’s interpretation of human rights goes well beyond the reductive version defended by its American counterparts. 

Contrary to statements made by American officials, the US embargo not only violates the human rights of Cubans, it also goes against the United Nations Charter and international law.

The trade embargo directly violates articles 2, 3, 19, 22, 23, 25, and 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Additionally, the economic blockade has created ‘shortages, hardship and suffering for all Cuban people,’ violated their right to ‘self-determination,’ ‘generated significant losses in monetary terms and have also affected the rights of Cubans, especially the poorest.’ It has directly impeded the economic and technological development of the island, thereby lowering the living standards of all Cubans. The demonstrations consisting of a few hundred of people that transpired in many cities across Cuba in recent months were largely a reaction against the current shortages, which are ultimately outcomes of the longest economic embargo in history. However, despite enduring tremendous hardships, socialist Cuba remains a symbol of resistance to neo-colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and western hegemony for much of the world. 

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Birsen Filip holds a PhD in philosophy and master’s degrees in economics and philosophy. She has published numerous articles and chapters on a range of topics, including political philosophy, geo-politics, and the history of economic thought, with a focus on the Austrian School of Economics and the German Historical School of Economics. She is the author of The Early History of Economics in the United States: The Influence of the German Historical School of Economics on Teaching and Theory (Routledge, 2022).

She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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***

I spoke to William Sakawa, a producer and reporter with the Nairobi-based media outlet African Stream, about Kenyan President William Ruto’s agreement to invade Haiti for the US.

ANN GARRISON (AG): Why do you think the Kenyan government is willing to send 1000 Kenyan police to Haiti, another Black nation in the developing world?

WILLIAM SAKAWA (WS): I think the government feels so bold as to do something so clearly traitorous because Kenya has always been a colony. It has never really attained independence. Since the time of the handover in 1963, we have remained dependent on institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. So our government has always leaned West and eagerly executed Western agendas.

An example is the 1978 incident in which Kenya served as a launchpad for the Israeli operation in Uganda to go on the offensive against Idi Amin, in what was framed as an attempt to free Israeli hostages. Kenya was used for that.

At the same time, Israel was supporting apartheid in South Africa, and the majority of the African Union condemned that. Only a few countries like Kenya and Malawi maintained a semblance of relations with both Israel and South Africa. That was during the President Jomo Kenyatta era, from 1964 to 1978, then the President Daniel arap Moi era, from 1978 to 2002.

Mwai Kibaki became president from 2002 to 2013, then Uhuru Kenyatta from 2013 to 2022. When Ruto was elected nothing much changed. Corruption remained endemic, and I think this explains a lot, though you don’t see it highlighted in Western media, because Kenya is a Western ally. Same thing with Ukraine. I think this corruption creates a pressure point for Western nations. Our leaders store their ill-gotten wealth in the West, in property, tax havens, and so forth, and it could all be sanctioned and seized if they didn’t do what the West wants. The same is true of a lot of African leaders.

Also, our president now, William Ruto, is one of six guys who were sent to stand trial at the ICC for crimes committed during the political violence of 2007-2008, but his case was dismissed in 2016. His lawyer, Karim Khan, became the ICC prosecutor in 2021, and I think the convenience around all this is just too stark. It looks to me as though, in exchange for what was a good deal for him, Ruto agreed to serve the Western agenda and ultimately pledged 1000 Kenyan police to Haiti.

Kenya has not invested in the education of its people enough for them to understand or care about this deployment to Haiti. Most of them are disengaged and just trying to survive; they don’t participate in Kenyan foreign policy. The centuries of suffering of the Haitian people at the hands of their Western oppressors don’t register with them. There’s just a tiny but growing minority, including those of us at African Stream, who are concerned and outspoken about this.

AG: Sounds like the US, where most people are disengaged and unconcerned with this deployment as well.

WS: With our disengaged public, Kenya doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy based on principle. It’s much more transactional, and this deployment to Haiti is one more transaction with the West.

They’ve made a deal with Ruto and called it a Pan-African affair. And Ruto is of course eager to call it Pan-Africanism when it’s obviously the exact opposite.

I think the original intervention budget was nearly $250 million, and now it’s more. This is to pay for the deployment, but the majority of it is administrative cost , which will no doubt make it into the pockets of the elites, including William Ruto’s. How do you think Uhuru Kenyatta became a near billionaire? It wasn’t because he founded a hugely profitable business. 

AG: This week Haitian Americans demonstrated outside the Kenyan Embassy in the US chanting “Still a Slave” in reference to Ruto. Do the tiny minority who oppose the deployment visibly protest there in Kenya?

WS: Protest of foreign policy is not something that happens here, not only because the population is disengaged, but also because it’s not safe. Our constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, but that doesn’t mean it’s a reality, and Kenyan police are very brutal. I think that’s one reason they’ve been chosen for this deployment.

AG: I know the story of Dr. Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, who was kidnapped off the streets in Nairobi, held in captivity for 10 days, then unceremoniously dumped back on the streets.

WS: Yes, that’s an example of how Kenyan police operate beyond the law with impunity. 

AG: What about the High Court of Kenya, which ruled in January that the deployment to Haiti violated the Kenyan Constitution? Isn’t President Ruto violating the court’s ruling?

WS: Yes, but no one will do anything about that.

AG: So the apparatus of force will not uphold the law if the executive refuses to?

WS: That’s right. Like you, we have three branches of government—the executive, legislative, and judiciary—but in fact the executive holds most of the power.

AG: So Ruto is just blowing off your Constitution and High Court to deploy these troops to Haiti?

WS: Yes.

AG: While the US lauds Kenya as a tranquil bastion of liberal democracy.

WS: Exactly. And Kenya’s subservience is especially important to the West now that it’s being kicked out of the Sahel nations.

AG:  Hasn’t Kenyan politician Ekuru Aukot gone to court to demand that the ruling be respected? He’s told the press that the agreement between President Ruto and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry was invalid, and Ariel Henry isn’t even the prime minister anymore.

WS: Ekuru Aukot can go to court all he wants, and that will at least generate headlines, educate, and make his point, but ultimately Ruto will ignore the results and do what he wants. He and the US have made too great an investment in this to back down, and neither have a political constituency that will force them to.

Kenyan police will go to Haiti, and if the violence leads to some coming home in body bags, Ruto will describe them as heroes who died for a Pan-African cause.

AG: Isn’t there some complaint that Kenya has problems at home, particularly in its northern districts, that its police should address before going overseas? I believe that a reporter for your leading television outlet questioned Ruto about this at a press conference while he was here.

WS: That’s true, and there are problems in the northern district that Ekuru Aukot hails from, but in the end, again, Ruto and the US will both do what they want.

AG: Those Kenyan police will get paid a lot more serving in this US-led force in Haiti than they could get paid at home. Ths same has been true of African troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan or who now serve with AFRICOM or in various “peacekeeping” deployments, like those in Somalia, which include Kenyans, or like the Rwandan deployment to protect TotalEnergies’ interests in Mozambique. Isn’t this likely to create a self-interested constituency in support of the deployment, as it has in these other instances?

WS: That’s quite likely.

AG: Has African Stream been in touch with the resistance on the ground in Haiti?

WS: Yes, we interviewed grassroots organizers with MOLEGHAF , the National Movement for Liberty and Equality of Haitians for Fraternity, and we are staying in touch. The main thing we can do right now is to keep talking about this so that it doesn’t all take place in darkness. 

AG: William, thank you for speaking to Black Agenda Report.

WS: You’re welcome.

*

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William Sakawa is a producer and reporter for the Nairobi-based media outlet African Stream.

Ann Garrison is a Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at [email protected]. You can help support her work on Patreon. 

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***

The Emir of Qatar, Tamim al Thani, recently said that he supports the street protests in Idlib, Syria where people are protesting the dictatorial rule of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group.

This marks a monumental change in policy for Qatar, and maybe the first step toward restoring diplomatic ties with Syria.

Beginning in 2011, and the Obama administration’s US-NATO war on Syria for regime change, Qatar has been a close and loyal ally to the US, and was used as a financial backer of the various terrorist groups brought into Turkey, and trucked across the border to Idlib.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Mohammed bin Thani Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar, and foreign minister until 2013, gave an interview in which he admitted Qatar provided the money to bankroll the terrorists in Syria as they attacked the Syrian people and state. He made it clear that the cash delivered was sanctioned, and administered by the US in Turkey. Qatar was not working alone, but under a strictly controlled partnership with the US government.

In 2017, President Trump shut down the CIA operation Timber Sycamore which ran the failed project to overthrow the Syrian government.

Qatar is now turning their back on the terrorists who occupy Idlib. Mohamed al-Julani is the leader of HTS. He is Syrian, raised in Saudi Arabia, fought with Al Qaeda in Iraq against the US, aligned with ISIS founder Baghdadi, came to Syria from Iraq to develop Jibhat al-Nusra, the Al Qaeda branch in Syria.

Once Jibhat al-Nusra became an outlawed terrorist group, Julani switched the name to HTS in order to preserve his support from Washington, DC. Even though the US has a $10 million bounty on his head issued by the US Treasury Department, he is safe and secure in Idlib, where American journalists have visited him for interviews, in which he has sported a suit and tie, wishing to present himself as a western-leaning terrorist that the US can count on.

When the Syrian Arab Army and the Russian military would fire a bullet towards the terrorists in Idlib, the US would denounce it as an attack on innocent civilians. This kept Julani safe and secure, and in charge of humanitarian aid coming across the border from Turkey. The aid was from the UN and various international charities. While the 3 million people living in Idlib are not all terrorists, all the aid passes through the hands of Julani and his henchmen. If you bow down to Julani, you get your share of rations, but if you have complained, you are denied. Those who are cut off from the aid can buy their supplies from Julani at his Hamra Shopping Mall, which he built in Idlib, where he sells all the surplus aid sent to Idlib.

The civilians in Idlib have taken to the streets protesting the rule of HTS. Many people have been arrested by HTS, some tortured, and others killed. The people are demanding that Julani leave.

They are asking for freedom and a fair administration. The various aid agencies have complained that HTS will not allow any free programs for women, such as learning employable skills. Women there are not allowed to seek employment, except in places which are only female. HTS rules with a strict form of Islamic law, which they interpret to their benefit.

Saudi Arabia and Syria have established full normal relations, with an exchange of ambassadors. At the Arab League Summit in May in Bahrain, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed bin Salman (MBS) met personally with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They also met at the previous Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia.

MBS recently announced a humanitarian grant to the UN to repair 17 hospitals in Syria which had been damaged in the 7.8 earthquake which killed 10 thousand in Syria.

MBS also sent spare parts for the Syrian Air commercial planes, which had suffered under US sanctions and were prevented from maintaining their safety by Washington. Recently, the very first planes of Syrians began flying to Saudi Arabia for the first time in 12 years, to perform the Haj pilgrimage.

On May 30, the leader of Iraq said he hopes to announce a Turkey-Syria normalization soon. Turkey, like Qatar, had been supporting the various terrorist groups in Syria in cooperation with the US.

Turkey also has made a turn-around in their position, and has been looking for a way to exit Idlib and the other areas it occupies in Syria, in preparation of a re-set with Damascus.

The relationship between the US and Ankara has remained tense after the US partnered with the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF). Turkey considers the SDF as a branch of the PKK, the outlawed international terrorists group who has killed 30,000 people over three decades, while wanting to establish a Kurdish State.

The SDF are planning to have elections on June 11 in an effort to gain western support for a Kurdish State. Erdogan has stated Turkey will never allow this to happen.

If the SDF were to lay down their arms, they could repair their relationship with Damascus, and at the same time Turkey could then withdraw their occupation forces from Syria. With Turkey out of Syria, their normalization process could begin.

When the SDF have repaired their broken relationship with Damascus, and the Turkish threat no longer exists, then the US military can withdraw their 900 occupation force from Syria.

Recently, General Mazloum, the leader of the SDF, said that the problems between the Kurds and Damascus are internal problems, and cautioned against any foreign interference, especially from Turkey.

The situation is changing rapidly in Syria. The economy is collapsed, with the inflation rate over 100% in the last year due to crippling US sanctions. Because the US military is occupying the largest oil and gas field in Syria, this prevents the production of electricity for the national grid, and Syrian are living with three hours of electricity per day.

US sanctions prevent some of the most vital medicines from being imported, as western medical companies are fearful of running afoul of the US sanctions, and has produced a culture of over-compliance, which deprives Syrian citizens’ life-saving medicines and medical supplies.

The battlefields have been silent for years, and the silence grew into a status-quo, where the American and Turkish foreign policy prevented a resolution to the conflict that has destroyed lives and prompted the largest human migration in recent history as Syrians have sought work abroad.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar all played significant roles assigned to them by the US State Department under the Obama administration. There is a light at the end of the tunnel with the reversal of policies toward Syria, and Qatar and Turkey are set to play major roles in the recovery process in Syria. These reversals are also significant as they mark a change in the relationship between the US and several regional countries. This is part of the ‘New Middle East’ that Washington called for, but the role the US played has left them the loser.

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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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***

On a misty November morning 21 years ago, I was desperately trying to remain camouflaged. Concealed in the foliage of an orange grove in Israel’s rural Galilee, I hurriedly took photos of a drab concrete building not marked on any map.

Even the original road sign identifying the site as Facility 1391 had been removed after a local Haaretz newspaper investigation revealed it housed a secret prison.

I was the first foreign journalist to track down Facility 1391, most of it hidden within a heavily fortified complex built in the 1930s to suppress resistance to British rule in Palestine.

For decades, Israel had secretly held mostly Arab foreign nationals captive at the site, unknown to the Israeli courts, the Red Cross and human rights groups. Many were Lebanese citizens kidnapped during Israel’s 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. But there were also Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians and Iranians.

This site would soon be known as a “black site”, a term popularised by Washington’s invasion of Iraq that year. Drawing on techniques refined by Israel at Facility 1391, the US would, in the coming months and years, torture Iraqis and others at Abu Ghraib and Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo.

No one knew how many captives were held in Israel’s Facility 1391, how long they had been there or if there were more such prisons.

However, the first testimonies from inmates revealed horrifying conditions. For most of the time, they were kept in a state of sensory deprivation, made to wear blacked-out goggles, except for when being tortured. In one case that later came to court, a Lebanese captive had been sodomised with a baton by “Major George”, the facility’s torturer-in-chief.

Major George would go on to become head of Israeli police relations with the Palestinian population of Jerusalem.

Another Secret Prison

It was difficult not to recall Facility 1391 this month, as CNN published an investigation into a new Israeli secret prison, Sde Teiman.

This prison was set up months ago to process not foreign nationals but thousands of Palestinian men and boys, victims of Israel’s occupation, seized from the streets of Gaza and the West Bank since Hamas carried out a one-day attack on 7 October. Some 1,150 Israelis were killed and 250 were dragged back into Gaza as hostages.

As with Facility 1391, revelations of the horrors taking place at Israel’s new black site have garnered barely any attention from the western media establishment.

CNN, known for excising Israeli atrocities from its coverage on the orders of executives, should be applauded for finally doing what western media often falsely claims is its role: holding power to account.

Headlined “Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers”, the lengthy article details the degrading, brutal conditions Palestinians kidnapped from Gaza and the West Bank are being subjected to.

The number of Palestinians passing through the secretive detention camp, located in the Negev desert, is unknown. But satellite photos show the site is rapidly expanding, presumably to accommodate ever more “prisoners”.

Some Palestinians who have emerged, utterly broken from this incarceration system – where the world saw men and boys being paraded zip-tied, near-naked and blindfolded in Gaza’s streets and stadiums back in November and December – began telling of their experiences months ago.

Predictably, the western media largely ignored the testimonies.

Even when staff from Sde Teiman started coming forward weeks ago to divulge horror stories, western outlets collectively yawned – apart from CNN.

Pattern of Media Failure

This pattern of failure has been noted in the pages of Middle East Eye for months.

Image source

For example, the western media establishment has studiously averted their gaze from Israeli reports that a proportion of those killed on 7 October were not victims of Hamas but of the Israeli army’s notorious “Hannibal procedure”, a protocol to kill fellow Israelis rather than let them be taken captive.

Western journalists still mostly avoid highlighting the fact that Israel is actively starving the entire population of Gaza of food and water, an unquestionable crime against humanity. Instead, journalists echo their own governments by labelling this Israeli-induced famine a “humanitarian crisis”, as if it were an unfortunate natural disaster.

The media also obscures the fact that western powers, especially the US and UK, are directly assisting Israel in its mass starvation of Gaza’s population – both by denying funding to the UN’s main relief agency, Unrwa, and by refusing to put any significant pressure on Israel to allow in aid.

Echoing the Biden administration, the media still hesitates to call Israel’s actions in Gaza what they are, preferring an occasional mealy-mouthed assessment that Israel “may be at risk” of committing war crimes. None point to the bigger picture that all of these individual “possible” war crimes indisputably amount to genocide.

That obfuscation has become even harder to maintain with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) applying this week for arrest warrants for suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders.

Nonetheless, the media have stressed Israel’s and the Biden administration’s indignation at the court rather than the substance of its charges, including the allegation that Israel is exterminating Palestinians in Gaza through planned starvation.

The media avoids clarity on these topics because clarity would be inconvenient. Why? Because, as we shall see, the western media’s purpose is to create a narrative that serves western governments in pursuing their overarching foreign policy goals in the oil-rich Middle East, not ending the boundless suffering in Gaza or holding Israel to account for its crimes.

Used as Lab Rats

As a handful of whistleblowers revealed to CNN, Palestinians are incarcerated for weeks on end in Sde Teiman as they are tortured – both through formal interrogations and through the conditions they are held in.

They are forced to sit blindfolded outdoors on a thin mattress through the desert heat of the day and sleep in the cold of the desert night. Continuously cuffed, they are forced to remain motionless and silent. At night, dogs are set on them. Anyone who speaks or moves risks being savagely beaten till bones are broken.

Palestinian men were rounded up and stripped by Israeli forces in Gaza before being taken to an undisclosed location (Screengrab/X)

People’s hands and legs are tightly zip-tied for so long that, according to the report, some have needed limbs amputated.

As one Israeli whistleblower recounted to CNN, none of these abuses are about intelligence gathering. “They were done out of revenge,” he admitted. The inmates are punching bags for the Israeli soldiers and guards.

But this is about more than simple vengeance. Understanding what is happening at Sde Teiman provides a clearer picture of what is happening on a far bigger, even more industrial scale in Gaza.

Especially revealing are the conditions in a field hospital at the detention camp, housing Palestinians either maimed in Israel’s savage destruction of Gaza or injured by beatings from Israeli soldiers.

They are handcuffed to gurneys in row after row, blindfolded and naked apart from an adult nappy. They are not allowed to speak.

There they lie day after day, night after night, in a state of utter sensory deprivation, with nothing to distract from their wounds and pain. In the midst of this, Israeli medical interns can use their exposed, vulnerable flesh as a canvas for experimentation.

According to one whistleblower, the detention centre has quickly gained a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”.

There, they are allowed to use Palestinians as little more than lab rats and encouraged to carry out medical procedures they are not qualified to perform.

A whistleblower told CNN: “I was asked to learn how to do things on the patients, performing minor medical procedures that are totally outside my expertise.”

Such procedures were frequently done without anaesthesia. Unlike doctors in Gaza, Israeli doctors have ready access to painkillers. It is a choice not to use them.

Medical Staff Missing

With western media so readily colluding in the dehumanisation of Palestinians, it is important to remember who these “prisoners” are.

Israel wishes us to believe it is targeting Hamas and those it “arrests” – the widely accepted euphemism, used by CNN in this article, for those Israel takes hostage – are Palestinians suspected of ties to the militant group.

However, one of the most significant testimonies of abuse from Sde Teiman reported by CNN comes from Dr Mohammed al-Ran, the grey-haired head of surgery at Gaza’s now-destroyed Indonesian hospital.

He was “arrested” – kidnapped – by Israel in December and taken to Sde Teiman. There is no suggestion al-Ran was engaged in armed combat against invading Israeli troops or was associated with Hamas in any other way. He was seized, along with other medical staff, while working a three-day shift at another medical centre, the al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist Hospital.

He had been forced to flee the Indonesian hospital after it was bombed by Israel and staff there were severely beaten.

Untold numbers of medical personnel have been murdered or disappeared by Israel during its systematic attacks on Gaza’s hospitals. The destruction of the enclave’s health sector is another glaring crime against humanity the western media has carefully avoided identifying.

The contrast with the media’s unrelenting certainty about Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine a short time ago is stark indeed.

Human rights groups are desperately trying to track down these Palestinian hostages with habeas corpus writs, just as they earlier tried to find the foreign nationals held captive in Facility 1391. The Israeli courts have been wilfully obstructive.

In one test case, the Israeli human rights group HaMoked, which was central to identifying Facility 1391, has been petitioning Israel’s supreme court – whose judges include some living in illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank – to find a Palestinian X-ray technician missing since February.

He was seized by Israeli troops at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. The suspicion is that he is being held in Sde Teiman.

According to HaMoked, more than 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza are missing, presumed to be in Israeli detention, including 29 women.

Another surgeon, Dr Adnan al-Bursh, is known to be among more than two dozen Palestinians who have died in mysterious circumstances in Israeli captivity. He was most likely tortured to death or possibly killed in a failed medical procedure.

‘Unprecedented’ Abuses

In further proof that this wave of violence against prisoners is entirely unrelated to suspicions that they belong to Hamas or participated in the 7 October attack, details emerged over the weekend of relentless and savage abuses of the most prominent Palestinian prisoner held by Israel.

Marwan Barghouti, from the Palestinian National Liberation Movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – Hamas’s arch-opponents – has been locked up for the past 22 years. Sometimes referred to as the “Palestinian Mandela”, Barghouti is considered a potential future leader of the Palestinian people.

According to fellow inmates and human rights groups, Barghouti is barely recognisable after a series of beatings, one of which has left him struggling to see out of his right eye.

He is reported to be in constant pain from a suspected dislocated shoulder resulting from one assault, an injury that has not been treated.

According to his Israeli lawyer, he has been dragged across the floor handcuffed and naked in front of other inmates at Ayalon Prison.

Barghouti has lost significant weight due to the severe food restrictions imposed on all Palestinian prisoners since October and has been denied access to books, newspapers and television.

Tal Steiner of the Israeli human rights group the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel told the Guardian that Barghouti was being subjected to “unprecedented” abuses and that such torture had become “standard” for the 8,750 Palestinians known to have been jailed since October.

The government minister overseeing Israel’s prison service, Itamar Ben Gvir, belongs to the avowedly fascist party Jewish Power, whose ideological roots in Kahanism explicitly regard Palestinians as little more than vermin.

Bargaining Chips

The western media have focused endlessly on the suffering of the 100 or more Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, though it remains unmentioned that much of that suffering derives from Israel’s actions.

The hostages, like the Palestinians of Gaza, are under Israel’s rain of bombs. And like Palestinians, they face sustained food shortages caused by Israel’s aid blockade. The indiscriminate violence against Gaza affects both hostages and Palestinians alike.

But based on reports by CNN and Israeli media, it seems likely that many of the thousands of Palestinians kidnapped by Israel since October are facing a far crueller fate than the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Hamas is invested in keeping the Israeli hostages as safe as possible because they are valuable bargaining chips for getting the Israeli army out of Gaza and freeing Palestinians from torture sites like Sde Teiman.

Israel faces no such pressures. As the occupying power and Washington’s favourite client state, it can inflict any punishment it chooses on Palestinians with little repercussion.

That is another facet of the past seven months that the media refuse to acknowledge.

Destroying Aid

Meanwhile, western publics are smeared if they try to name Israel’s crimes as genocide or articulate how the genocide is unfolding. This echoes the suspicions of an overwhelming majority of judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) back in January and is implied by the ICC chief prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants this week.

The West’s recent, perverse and self-serving redefinition of antisemitism – a victory for pro-Israel lobby groups – equates Jew hatred with criticism of Israel more so than actually hating Jews.

Under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s new definition, it is antisemitic to draw a parallel between Israel’s actions and the genocide with which westerners are most familiar: the Holocaust.

Conveniently for Israel, western establishments can now disavow an all-too-obvious lesson of history and human psychology: the victims of abuse are quite capable of committing such abuses themselves.

CNN’s reconstruction of the field hospital at Sde Teiman shows dehumanised Palestinians – bound, blindfolded and naked – in rows of gurneys ready to be experimented on. Why would that not evoke, for western audiences, memories of Josef Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor who viewed concentration camp inmates as less than human, mere fodder for his experiments? 

What echoes should westerners feel watching Jewish extremists from Israel’s illegal settlements ambush aid trucks heading to Gaza, smash up the supplies desperately needed by a starving population, burn the trucks and beat the drivers – all while Israeli soldiers and police stand by, allowing the destruction to take place?

How might it be wrong – antisemitic, no less – to ponder whether a similar brutal, genocidal racism drove extremists in Germany in 1938 when they rampaged against Jews on Kristallnacht?

And what about those who have compared tiny Gaza to a concentration camp during Israel’s 17-year siege by land, air and water, with encaged Palestinians deprived of basic freedoms and the essentials of life? Or those who now call Gaza a death camp as Israel starves the population?

Are such assessments really evidence of Jew hatred? Or are they proof that these observers have understood well the lessons of history and the Holocaust? The systematic degrading and abuse of a people should always be viewed as a crime against our shared humanity.

The moral duty facing us all is to stop such atrocities, not to withhold judgement and mutely watch them play out to their logical conclusion. 

Torture Chambers

The current horrors Israel is inflicting on the inmates of Sde Teiman and, on an even bigger scale, on the Palestinians in the Gaza death camp, are about much more than simple vengeance for 7 October. 

Sde Teiman is the small torture chamber, mirroring the much bigger torture chamber of Gaza itself, where bombs and starvation are achieving precisely the same ends.

Until seven months ago, Israel’s goal was to keep the Palestinians a subjugated, enslaved, hopeless people, confined to a series of concentration camps in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They were expected to remain mute in their suffering and invisible to the outside world.

Over the long term, it was assumed that Palestinians would prefer to flee their immiseration in these permanently occupied, colonised lands. 

The slave revolt of 7 October – brutal and ugly as such revolts have been throughout history – was a devastating shock. Not just to an Israel wedded to its racist, hands-on colonial project of subjugating the Palestinian people. It was also a shock to the West’s wider colonial project, into which Israel is so tightly integrated. 

In Washington’s “rules-based order”, the only meaningful rule is that what Washington and its clients want, they get. The planet, its resources and peoples are viewed as little more than playthings by the world’s superpower-in-chief.

Revolts to this order – whether advanced by Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran – cannot be allowed to become a model. The “rules-based order” must be restored with a savagery necessary to teach the the colonised and enslaved their place. 

That was the message of Washington’s own black sites needed in its futile “war on terror” from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo – sites that drew on Israel’s experiences of “breaking” inmates at Facility 1391. 

The complicity of western establishments in Israel’s current genocide is not an anomaly. It does not derive from a misunderstanding or confusion. The western political and media class see the genocide in Gaza as clearly as the rest of us. But for them, it is justified, required even. The colonised and oppressed must be taught that resistance is futile.

Sde Teiman, like the Gaza death camp, is serving its purpose. It is there to break the human spirit. It is there to turn the Palestinians into willing collaborators in their own destruction as a people, in their own ethnic cleansing.

And a subliminal message is being directed at the western public at the same time: this could also be your fate if you do not join in cheerleading Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. 

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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) ultimately lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago, according to the election results. South Africa held election May 29, amid heightened accusations of deep-seated corruption, rising youth unemployment, energy crisis and other multiple obstacles negatively impacting on internal economic developments and growth in the country considered as an economic power in Africa.

The Southern African Development Community Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM) have described the election and voting held as “orderly, peaceful and free atmosphere” in South Africa. In a statement, former Zambian Vice President and SEOM Head, Enock Kavindele, said some 84 observers were deployed to all nine provinces and they engaged with stakeholders from all parts of society on the elections.

“The mission observed that the country was calm and peaceful in the pre-election, election-day, and the immediate post-election period. I must emphasize that there was a very conducive environment for the elections, where only a few isolated incidences of political violence were reported. It was the concern of stakeholders that the incidences prevented special voting and final election campaign events in the areas. Apart from these isolated incidences, observers deployed across the country witnessed peaceful, well-planned, and highly attended political rallies,” Enock Kavindele said.

Election Results

These are the latest verified results from South Africa’s national election, released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa. The electoral commission data showed the ANC had secured 42.6% of the vote. The main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, had 25.8%, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) 10.8% and the leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) stood at 9.6%.

The partial results may not be an accurate indication of the final outcome because counting from rural areas and townships where the ANC has historically had more support tends to take longer. Population density in the different voting districts can also be a variable.

Under the constitution, the new parliament must convene within 14 days of final results being declared. And parliament’s first act must be to elect the country’s president. It therefore means there will be up to two weeks of negotiations to form a government because the ruling party, after unacceptably losing its three-decade-old, has fallen short of an absolute parliamentary majority.

South Africa went to the polls on May 29, the results which has open a new dawn for its population estimated at 62 million. The country has passed through diverse difficulties and challenges at various stages of its democratic development since attaining political independence. Several analysts and researchers told this article author that South Africa, considered as an economic power in Africa, is suffering from stagnating economy.

Professor Sergiu Mișcoiu at the Faculty of European Studies, Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), where he serves as a Director of the Centre for International Cooperation and as Director of the Centre for African Studies, wrote post-election comment that

“The lost of majority by the ANC is an unprecedented turn in South African politics. But it should also be seen as a normal democratic development, as alternances in power are needed in a healthy democracy. Now, Jacob Zuma’s new populist party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party, eager to settle its accounts with the ANC, will most probably be in the strange position of ‘jolly joker’ for the formation of a coalition, either with the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), or with the… ANC, based this time on a new and disadvantageous deal with the formerly dominant party.”

Diverse Implications

There are explicit indications or signals across the board that the ANC may forge a quick coalition with former South African President Jacob Zuma’s party. A coalition deal with a like-minded rival particularly, Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party, having won enough support in national elections to help erase the long-held majority of the ruling African National Congress. The party, uMkhonto weSizwe, was launched about half a year ago, and the trends show it is emerging as one of South Africa’s biggest political.

“What we see unfolding  in South Africa is by all accounts a political development of massive importance, coming at  a critical time when the country is faced  with decay, chaos and failure. The elections came at a critical time when despair was running high. The outcome probably saved the country in the nick of time from facing the worst possible scenario one can think of. The massive and unequivocal popular rejection of ANC rule reflects mood and despair of a nation which simply had enough,” Professor Gerrit Olivier at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, and South Africa’s former Ambassador to the Russian Federation, told this author in an interview from Johannesburg.

Significantly, South Africa to embarked on a new  paradigm: shifting from majoritarianism to multiparty democracy. The ANC monopoly has  finally ended  in disgrace. Majoritarian autocracy made way for participatory democracy. After 30 years the ANC has lost its  erstwhile charisma, legitimacy and supremacy. Importantly, however was a peaceful transition. A rare phenomenon in Africa no doubt, although adding the caveat that sustainable stability would be hard to maintain in a deeply divided society like SA without a strong government, according to Professor Olivier.

In the discussion, Professor Olivier offered more analysis thus:

South Africans may be right to say ‘good riddance’. But it could also be a case of  ‘apres moi le deluge’ as a French royalty once remarked. It is, therefore, doubtful whether the  demise of the ANC misruled majoritarianism would lead to a new utopia instead of further decay and un-governmentalism. Uncertainty will no doubt prevail, the country could indeed be rendered more vulnerable and exploitable because of its deep divisions  and discrepancies. Therefore, a government that can effectively govern will be the sine qua non of a stable political future. The new politics of coalition-formation, horse trading and resulting decision-making paralysis (a la Ramaphosa), would no doubt  bring into play national, decay  and destabilization and should be avoided at all costs.

The country suffers from dearth of political leadership and  might well be facing a new phase of  painful political accommodation. This is our major dilemma. The ANC’s  legitimacy  was largely  based on red herrings like anti-apartheid-ism, race politics, the ‘struggle’, and colonialism, but now lost its erstwhile currency among the majority of voters and  a new narrative as how to get a better life for all, is what the Anti-ANC majority yearn for. This is a heightened challenge.

Future Uncertainty

Uncertainty still remains over the future of ANC. There ia also an apparent sources to campaign for its resuscitation but would definitely be brought to its initial years with massive support due to multiple factors. Corruption is number one, and that is  followed by deliberate failure to address internal problems. Complicating matters is the fact that the Ramaphosa’s administration is frequently globe-throttling on international stages for prestigous status while rising crime rate and majority of the population wallowing in abject poverty.

The ANC has won every election since 1994, when Nelson Mandela led the party to power following the end of the apartheid regime. Cyril Ramaphosa was responsible for ousting Zuma as South Africa’s leader in 2018, however, and there remains considerable animosity between the two (ANC and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) political heavyweights.

The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa.

South Africa has a mixed economy, and the most industrialized and technologically advanced in Africa. It is the second largest economy in Africa after Nigeria. It is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), BRICS and a number of other international organizations. With its neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini, South Africa is located in the southernmost part of Africa.

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Kester Kenn Klomegah, who worked previously with Inter Press Service (IPS), Weekly Blitz and InDepthNews, is now a regular contributor to Global Research. He researches Eurasia, Russia, Africa and BRICS. His focused interest areas include geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development questions relating to Africa. As a versatile researcher, he believes that everyone deserves equal access to quality and trustworthy media reports.

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Ukrainian crews maintaining US-supplied M1 Abrams tanks admitted there are several problems with using the armoured vehicles on the battlefield against Russian forces, CNN reported on May 29.

The Abrams’ poor performance shows that the Ukrainian military is not only suffering from a lack of weapons but even quality weapons once they arrive, a scenario that will ensure Kiev must negotiate peace with Moscow on extremely unfavourable terms.

According to the Ukrainian crews, the $10 million vehicles did not have sufficient armour against modern weapons such as drones and thus failed to adequately protect personnel operating the equipment from attack. CNN cited one insider as saying that tanks had become the “number one target” of Russian forces, adding that “without defence, the crew doesn’t survive at the battlefield.”

The insider’s colleague, using the callsign Joker, explained that the Abrams “armour is not sufficient for this moment. It doesn’t protect the crew. For real, today this is the war of drones. So now, when the tank rolls out, they always try to hit them.”

Ukrainian sources also said the tanks appeared to have technical problems, such as condensation affecting the electronic components. Serving soldiers noted that tanks were not suited for the war conditions, given that normally, air power and artillery, which Ukrainian forces lack, help clear the battlefield before tanks and troops advance.

The US has deployed 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, where they are used near the front line in the eastern direction. However, Ukraine’s order for the tanks was controversial, given that the vehicles involve complicated supply and maintenance chains.

It is recalled that on April 26, according to sources cited by the Associated Press, Ukraine had removed its US-supplied Abrams M1A1 tanks from combat against Russia due to swarms of Russian drones, which made it very difficult for tanks to operate without being detected or attacked.

Reemphasising the devastation Russian drones can cause, CNN lamented: “Much of the Ukrainian frontline is now dominated by the use of self-destructing attack drones, tiny and accurate devices that can swarm infantry and even cause significant damage to tanks. The advent of these so called First-Person Vision (FPV) drones, flown by soldiers wearing gaming goggles, has changed the nature of the war, limiting movement and introducing a new element of vulnerability to armored vehicles.”

The Ukrainian crew complained to the American outlet that the tanks were made for NATO-style warfare, in which air power and artillery prepare the battlefield before tanks and infantry advance. This is a problem for the Kiev regime since it lacks artillery, manpower, and air power.

“They would never do it,” Joker said of NATO soldiers undertaking the same advances the Ukrainian military makes without air support since Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s air force. Switching to English, Joker mimicked a NATO soldier: “‘Call the aviation, call the artillery,’” he said. “We have no aviation and artillery. We have only tank. And it’s the problem.”

The lack of weapons and the poor performance of weapons that have arrived from the West has created a situation that Western powers are afraid of – Kiev having to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms since the Russian military is methodically dismantling and disposing of Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) told Newsweek that Ukraine and its Western allies must swiftly act to allow troops to have weapons and training to fight Russia, or Kiev may be forced into a peace deal that is completely advantageous to Moscow.

“For too long, allies clung to magical thinking about Russia’s weakness and Ukraine’s ability to force the Kremlin into talks with battlefield success,” Alissa de Carbonnel, ICG deputy program director for Europe and Central Asia, told Newsweek in emailed comments.

“If Ukraine and its backers do not move fast to fix the problems, Kiev may have little choice but to strike a deal on Russia’s terms. Even if such a deal ended the fighting in the short term it would come at a “tremendous cost not just to Ukraine, but also to European security,” the ICG said. “If Ukraine and its supporters cannot both adapt and maintain their resolve, Kiev will almost surely continue to lose lives and territory, it will then eventually have little choice but to cut some sort of deal.”

Although much was made of the Abrams’ power before they arrived in Ukraine, they have been exposed as weak weapons when facing their Russian counterparts. Ukraine, despite the bravado from the West, was just a scrapyard for outdated weaponry and an excuse for Western military industries to rearm NATO countries. However, the repercussion is that Kiev does not have the strength to impose its will over Moscow in any peace negotiations.

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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 is from InfoBrics

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May 2024 will be remembered as one of the most turbulent months in recent times.

First we had the assassination attempt on Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico,

while just four days later Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian both died when their US-made Bell 212 went down near the city of Varzaqan in northwestern

Iran. Seven other high-ranking officials, including the governor-general of Tehran’s East Azerbaijan province Malek Rahmati, as well as the state representative in the region Mohammad Ali Ale-Hashem, were also killed in this highly controversial helicopter crash. Ever since the tragic incident, there’s been speculation about what exactly happened. This includes some rather disturbing reports and details that suggest this wasn’t a mere accident.

Iranian authorities are yet to confirm there was foul play, but the possibility certainly shouldn’t be excluded. The mainstream propaganda machine’s reaction to the assassination attempt on PM Fico and the death of President Raisi also raises serious concerns. Both the British Sky News and Financial Times published reports where they effectively tried to justify the terrorist who attempted to murder PM Fico, while the state-run BBC called the death of Raisi tragic, but still didn’t miss pointing out that he was supposedly “hardline”. These incidents are highly beneficial to the political West, which fuels speculation about the possibility of its involvement in both cases. Concerned with the possibility of escalation, Fico was always highly critical of NATO’s aggression on Russia, insisting that Slovakia doesn’t want to take part in it.

On the other hand, while Fico is seen as “dangerous” for the image of monolithic obedience within EU/NATO,

Raisi was considered a capable leader who was highly respected in the multipolar world.

It can be argued that the Iranian President and his FM Abdollahian were instrumental in normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, which is a crucial stepping stone toward the stabilization of the US-orchestrated volatile situation in the Middle East.

Tehran’s role in the region has become all the more important after it joined BRICS+, while improved relations with Riyadh could speed up the latter’s decision to join the world’s most important (truly) international organization. Obviously, the political West would do almost anything to prevent such a scenario. And the glee with which many in the US reacted to Raisi’s death suggests it might have.

The highly controversial details about the helicopter crash certainly haven’t helped dispel speculation about the possible foreign involvement. For instance, according to Turkey’s Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu, the Bell 212 helicopter that Raisi and Abdollahian flew in either didn’t have its emergency signal transmission system turned on or didn’t have one at all. It’s highly unusual that an aircraft transporting such top-ranking officials wouldn’t have a functioning system that could possibly prevent incidents like this, which further suggests that it could’ve been sabotaged. A malfunction is always a possibility and certainly shouldn’t be rejected entirely, but there are other peculiarities that suggest foul play. For instance, there was the highly unusual arrival of a USAF C-130 aircraft to the neighboring Azerbaijan.

This coincided with President Raisi’s departure from the border area where he met his Azeri counterpart,

President Ilham Aliyev. Military sources speculate that electronic warfare (EW) systems could’ve been used to crash the helicopter.

As Raisi was flown in a US-made Bell 212, which Iran acquired in large numbers back in the 1970s, this surely wouldn’t be a problem for Washington DC. Its services are quite familiar with the helicopter’s avionics, including the aforementioned emergency system. Bell 212’s reputation as a highly reliable aircraft is yet another unusual detail that suggests this wasn’t exactly accidental. On the other hand, the possibility of a kill switch should also be taken into account, as US export legislation doesn’t explicitly ban such devices, particularly when it comes to matters of defense and national security.

In fact, there are legal provisions for the installation of remote control devices in US-made weapons and military-grade equipment. What’s more, the possibility of remote control is one of the cornerstones of the F-35 program, which is why countries that buy the disastrous American jet effectively forgo their sovereignty. However, while getting the F-35 means the buyer legally accepted such terms, there’s a difference between that and having secret inbuilt systems that Washington DC can use against export customers in case of any “non-compliance”. Such systems are a serious (geo)political lever that the US can use to put pressure on its allies, vassals and satellite states. On the other hand, they can be used as a powerful weapon against the belligerent thalassocracy’s numerous adversaries.

There are many seemingly harmless systems that the US can use as a weapon when the “necessity arises”. For instance, GPS’s widespread usage by civilian entities doesn’t negate its original military purpose, as the Pentagon itself exercises control over the system. In conditions of poor visibility, pilots often rely not on the frontal radar, but precisely on GPS. For example, mountainous terrain requires special attention to altitude indicators, which can also come from satellites. Disruption of these systems, for example, by sending a broadband signal with a hidden command to a specific MAC address of a product (specifically its avionics in the case of an aircraft), can lead to a distortion of the displayed information. Obviously, in bad weather conditions, this can lead to irreparable consequences for the user(s).

In addition, various kill switches could also be activated through encrypted GPS signals. Any hidden components in the Iranian President’s helicopter could’ve been used to remotely disrupt the altimeter at a time when the aircraft was in a mountainous and extremely inaccessible area.

Bad weather and poor visibility would do the rest. Such inbuilt systems could also kill the engine or the fuel supply system, but that could be too obvious. By making it look like an accident due to a failure of one of the seemingly less important systems, the US could maintain its infamous “plausible deniability”, while still getting rid of the leader of a major adversary.

And this certainly wouldn’t be the first time a NATO country uses kill switches. For instance, France has a long history of backstabbing its customers for the sake of the US (during its aggression on Iraq) or the UK (during its colonialist war for the Falkland Islands). Multiple accounts of Paris installing kill switches on its aircraft and air-launched anti-ship missiles to prevent them from being used against NATO interests prove this. Either way, countries that want to remain sovereign should stay away from Western-made weapons and other systems to ensure these can’t be used against them when the belligerent power pole decides to attack (directly or indirectly).

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

Featured image: Raisi with Ilham Aliyev at the border with Azerbaijan, hours before his death (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)

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We are only just beginning to recognise the extraordinary power that exists within the field of our projected thoughts. The power to do good and the power to do harm.

We need to be aware that multiple interconnected streams of invisible energy carry our thought waves from one end of the world to the other; contributing to the overall psychic health or sickness of all sentient life forms.

The ‘thought manufacturers’ of the push for full spectrum dominance and central control within a New World Order/Great Reset, are fully aware of the power available to them through the organised projection of thought patterns.

However, by raising our levels of psychic awareness we can neutralise and ultimately overcome this covert – and increasingly overt – attack on our mental well-being.

The key recognition which accompanies holistic awareness reveals that within life’s manifestation, there is nothing that is not connected with everything else. 

Although that is initially a difficult fact to absorb, it is an irrefutable truth. 

Try to discover something that falls outside this paradigm – and you will surely be unsuccessful.

This is because, in universal terms, ‘creation’ involves a process of expanding diversification from a central causality event. As when one drops a stone in a pool of water the resulting ripples expand ever outwards.

We humans are a very recent part of this expanding life diversification process. Only around a million years old within a planetary evolution process of N billions of years.

The new kid on the block in terms of the evolution of the species and planetary flora and fauna, we therefore have much to learn about who we are and how we fit within the extraordinary kaleidoscope of life. 

It is for this reason that we tend to find ourselves flailing around in confusion in an era when a multiple number of crises seem to be overtaking planetary life pretty much simultaneously. 

Within a holistic/quantum assessment of what is ‘cause’ and what is ‘effect’ within times of crisis, it’s important to be aware that the state of health of man is reflected in the state of health of the planet (Gaia) and that state of health of the planet is reflected in the state of health of man. 

Everything is connected and unfailingly cuts both ways. 

For example, in Chaos Theory, it is surmised that a butterfly flapping its wings over Central Park in New York affects the weather in London. 

While this is deliberately at the extreme end of believability, the physics of interconnectedness shows it to be not simply a dreamy delusion.

Each of our actions – and that includes our thoughts – has repercussions. Repercussions on ourselves, others, the natural environment and the universe. 

Yet in our conversations we speak of things happening ‘in the outside world’ as though they are entirely separate and unrelated to us. 

But when we poison our planet’s soil, water and air with toxic chemicals, EMF radiation, chemtrails, wartime explosives and discarded and non-biologically renewable rubbish, our living earth (Gaia) responds just as we would. 

She succumbs to sickness, develops a fever and  – sweating and freezing – tries to expel the poisons blocking her arteries and restore health to her biological systems. 

Dr. Imoto, using special photographic techniques, showed how water crystals take on different designs when the person holding the water filled glass expresses different thoughts and emotions: crystalline beauty when positive and a rectangular dark blur when negative.

Everything is connected to everything and everything is responding in kind.

The same process occurs, for example, within homeopathic medicines. A highly diluted element of whatever the form of the sickness is being displayed by the patient, is ingested and triggers an immune system response that helps to counteract the spread of the sickness. 

It seems miraculous, but is entirely logical at the quantum level of existence. 

Humans are endowed with the ability to direct thought power. We have all, at one time or another, had the experience of sending someone in need ‘positive thoughts’, or having them sent to us. 

The energy transfer is on a very subtle level and in electrical terms may be no more than one watt. 

But the thought vibration carries a crystalline dynamic (using the Imoto water image) and is picked-up by similar energetic nerve cells in the receiver. If not unduly inhibited, it can help provoke a cure.

But at the opposite end of the same spectrum exists a darkly exploited version of the same principle. All such practices can be used either to help or to impede human development. From thought healing to witchcraft.

The psychic condition of humanity as a whole can be destabilised by the directed power of military designed ‘thought weapons’, especially when organised into patterns that agitate at the subconscious level. 

So while mass media propaganda and indoctrination exercises hammer us on the surface of life, we are also the recipients of unseen, unheard thought projectiles at a subliminal level.

Such techniques have now been weaponised to a degree unimaginable a few decades ago. But while AI and EMF frequencies are the tools of a digital cybernetic age, the principle of organic thought transfer remains the bottom line. The foundation which can be built upon either positively or negatively.

I don’t need to go into detail concerning the ubiquitous negative bombardment of the thought surveillance, mind programming and jamming secret service operatives currently attempting to block the rise of the higher mind, thoughts and actions of the best part of humanity.

There is a plethora of well-articulated information available about this vicious war on mankind’s true aspirations and natural richness of being.  

But I do caution my readers to be aware that these days, aside from your snooping mobile phone, your seemingly innocuous TV is reading your response emotions to the programme you are watching and directing such information back to the central control system to be used for whatever purposes are deemed fit.

My unequivocal advice: throw the TV if you have not already done so and do the same with your mobile phone. I dispensed with both more than 20 years ago and have never looked back.

We have this smallish time period left in which to change our way of seeing and doing things, so as to create a shield able to counter the deep state’s negative arsenal and to gain the power to rebuff all such satanic attacks on our deeper God-given qualities.

We are, of course, hit on many levels simultaneously. But it is at the heart, mind, soul level that the greatest damage is being perpetrated. So it is at the heart, mind and soul level that we must now build up our greatest strength and levels of impregnable resistance to the onslaught. 

Image source

Our ‘enemy’ does not have emotions as we know them. Psychopaths have no empathy for the human race, for humanity. That is why, for example, one sees cold-blooded murder on such a devastating scale being perpetrated in Gaza. 

Such criminals are already part-robotic. The Fourth Industrial Revolution/Great Reset intends the replacement of sentient mankind by a sterile ‘designer’ race. What they term ‘Doing better than God’: The Tranhsuman project. They want their own kind in full control of all life on earth and beyond.

When faced by demons, we have only one ‘get out of jail’ card. Our deep and enduring soul. That which connects right back to the supreme nucleus of our existence, of all existence. 

It is here that we store our most powerful weapon for fighting back against pure evil. It is from here that the vibrations come that turn muddy, dark waters crystalline and expansive. Here and the heart. 

It is from here that we direct our positive thoughts and envision the world we are going to get on and build. 

It is from here that the actions involved in removing the fake leaders from their dark thrones emanate. Vital actions, that are imperative for making the changes that must happen at the ground level in the here and now. 

Actions specifically directed to defeat the source of destruction being directed at all sentient life forms, not only humans.

No fake ‘New Age’ spiritual hiding away in a narcissistic lotus leaf of supposed self preservation.

Get this power house going – and we transform ourselves into unstoppable spiritual warriors. And that spells the end of the demonic dimension that has hijacked this planet for far too long.

This transformation is not so difficult. Many would already be there, but for having lost themselves under layer upon layer of deep state, government and corporate generated garbage.  

Fake religion, fake food, fake ‘warming’, fake ‘Green’, fake politics, fake media and fake sexuality, just for a start – and all for the diversion of our vital intention to be who we really are – and rise up in revolt. 

Nowhere in this continuum is there absolute dark – or even absolute light. At both ends of the spectrum is a seed of the opposite state.

It is this seed, that when awakened, has the capacity to set the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction.

It is by daily nurturing positive thoughts and actions that we will spur on the light into becoming the dominant dynamic of the universe.

Being in a place of darkness is never final, there is always close at hand a road that leads back to the infinite light. 

Now it is up to us to unite in preparation for a nobler life. In shared determination to achieve a long overdue victory for the true expression of our crystalline souls over the dark, chaotic distortions of our soulless oppressors. 

If you are not already determinedly moving down this road, start today and keep going until the job is done!

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Julian Rose is an organic farmer, writer, broadcaster and international activist. He is author of four books of which the latest ‘Overcoming the Robotic Mind’ is a clarion call to resist the despotic New World Order takeover of our lives. Do visit his website for further information www.julianrose.info  

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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From the very political point of view, the 19^th century in Latin America started in 1808 when the emancipation of the subordinated people against the foreign (Spanish & Portuguese) rule started (and finished in 1826) and was over with the beginning of the Great War in Europe in 1914.

The struggle for independence was extremely speeded up by the French military-political subjection of the Iberian Peninsula when both Spain and Portugal lost direct connections with their overseas colonies. Such a new geopolitical situation fostered domestic Latin American patriotic nationalism which demanded political independence, administrative sovereignty, and economic self-administration instead of the subordination and exploitation by colonial motherlands with their capitals in Madrid and Lisbon. 

These political, administrative, and economic requirements were met by the Portuguese royal court by accepting them and consequently leading the biggest Portuguese colony – Brazil toward the creation of political nationhood as an independent state (Kingdom in 1815, Empire in 1822, and Republic in 1889) on peaceful way but with a minimum of social change.

This characteristic was common for almost all ex-Iberian colonies in Latin America (Mezo/Central- and South America): political independence did not change a social framework and relations within society from Mexico to Cape Horn.

Differently to Portugal, Spain, on the other hand, adopted from the very beginning of the Latin American liberation movements the policy of military confrontation with the nationalists for the sake of eliminating all political, administrative, and economic demands of its Latin American colonies, in fact, by the brutal way.

Such policy, however, directly provoked the revolutions for independence across both Central America and South America. As a result, within the South American Spanish colonies, there were two revolutionary movements for independence against the administration in Madrid:

1) The southern revolution going from Buenos Aires toward Peru via Chile and led by San Martín’s Army of Argentinians and Bernardo O’Higgins’ Chileans (Battle of Maipu in Chile in 1818) attacking Lima – the capital of Peru; and

2) The northern revolution that was more seriously harassed by the Spanish army, was headed by Venezuelans Simon Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre (Battle of Boyacá in 1819 in New Granada/North Colombia) and back to Venezuela. Nevertheless, both movements met each other in Peru – at that time the fortress of Spanish colonial rule in America. 

In Central America, the Mexican revolution of independence was of its own nature: it started as a social uprising but then became a prolonged counter-revolution, and ultimately was finished as a successful power seizure by the conservative military commander Iturbide who became enthroned as Emperor Agustín I.  

The independence wars in Latin America (1808−1826) as a result brought independence for ex-colonies but this independence was essentially only of a political nature which, in fact, only transferred political-administrative authority from the colonial power to domestic landlords with minimal social and economic change within the society which structure left as it was during colonial time.

Nevertheless, the independence wars across the continent ended with great loss of both life and property. In addition, revolutionary and counter-revolutionary terror followed by insecurity resulted in a struggle between the owners of capital and the labor force that was very difficult to restore the pre-war economy. 

Very soon after the wars of liberation started a violent struggle between the political center and surrounding regions, ideas of free trade and protection, agriculturalists, mine-owners, and industrialists, supporters of cheap imports vs. proponents of national production and export. For instance, the violent struggle between liberals and conservatives lasted in Colombia for more than a century. Finally, the business vacuum in Latin America left by the Spanish colonial administration was soon covered by Western (British, US, French) merchants within the general trend of cheap import and primary export. All new Latin American nations were export economies founded on the exploitation of cheap land and labor for the production of raw materials for Western industries and the global market. National industries were left underdeveloped while common economic institutions were mine, ranch, and plantation. Latin America in 1913 experienced the biggest foreign investment from the UK (more than 50% out of the total) followed by the USA, France, and Germany. 

From the 1880s, massive immigration of both foreign capital and manpower occurred which fostered economic growth. For instance, in both Brazil and Argentina, the Italians were at the top of the immigration number followed by Portuguese immigrants to Brazil and Spanish to Argentina.   

Unfortunately, the national economic development of Latin America soon after gaining political independence was impossible due to the old-preserved social structure of the new political unities as an impoverished population from the villages did not provide substantial support for the local industry in the cities. The essence was that the old West European (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British) colonial system of production and social relations founded on it remained without serious changes. In practice, it meant that two existing social strata were sharply divided:

1) Privileged minority (of exploitation) who monopolized both civil offices and the land for production followed by

2) Hardly surviving peasants and industrial workers. 

Spanish regular and irregular forces fighting in the Somosierra Pass against a French invading army (From the Public Domain)

Economically speaking, in the 19^th century emerged a new power social-economic basement – hacienda, the great land estate (much bigger than a ranch) that was utilizing much more land compared to invested capital surviving by a cheap labor of both natures: servile and seasonal. On one hand, slavery, and the slave trade were soon abolished in all newly proclaimed independent states of Spanish Latin America (by the 1850s).

However, in Portuguese-speaking Brazil, slavery, on the other hand, lasted until 1888.

Nevertheless, as it was in the pre-colonial time, the Negros (African Blacks), Mulattos (White-Blacks), and Mestizos (White-Indians), were left at the bottom of the social structure.[1]

In fact, all of these three socioeconomic groups became peons (In Europe of the Middle Ages – serfs) – peasants allowing a small portion of land within the territory of a hacienda in return for hard labor work on the land. After the independence wars, the new political-administrative establishment in Latin America tended to reduce as it was impossible, at least by the law, racial discrimination based on social, economic, and ideological foundations which in practice did not work properly. The new political establishment intended to integrate native Indians into the newly established nations (based on the West European colonial division) by, in fact, forcing them to participate in post-colonial economic production. In practice, such policy presumed to divide the communal lands among individual owners (agrarian reform) which in theory has to benefit the native Indians. However, it became obvious in the practice that such agrarian reform just strengthened Indian white neighbors. 

As in many other similar cases, concerning Latin America, the wars of independence created local war leaders (caudillo) who introduced military-political structure above civilian institutions. However, caudillo was at the beginning just a military leader, he, as well as, soon occupied other social and political roles becoming, in fact, a national dictator, who represented economic and national interests. He, also, became a distributor of patronage (office and land) as being at the top of a patron-client structure.[2] Up to WWI, Latin America passed through a time of brutal policy of caudillismo, when, for instance, Santa Anna in Mexico, Rosas in Argentina, Páez in Venezuela, etc., have been governing their states as a private possession (extended hacienda) like the medieval rulers in Europe. 

Nevertheless, the practice of caudillismo was in some cases subject to constitutional challenge.

The number of presidents in many Latin American new nations was changed frequently as in the case, for example, Mexico, which had 30 presidents during the first half of the century of its independence. A Mexican president Benito Juárez was fighting the forces of privileged social strata united together with French imperialists who for a short period succeeded in installing their puppet Emperor Maximilian I, on the throne.[3] Benito Juárez by 1867 subordinated both the Roman Catholic Church and Mexican armed forces to the level of secular state. However, Mexican liberals, who provided their country with a higher level of political freedom, at the same time were not able to provide economic prosperity and higher living standards for the citizens. Within the framework of one decade, the liberals paid way for the long-time political authoritarian regime of Porfirio Díaz.[4] His presidency experienced enormous economic progress but, however, making the country dependent on foreign capital investment and left the majority of the citizens in terrible poverty. Such an economic situation provoked in 1910 Mexico’s second revolution.

In essence, within the whole territory of Latin America, economic growth directly assisted in undermining the political regimes that promoted it. There were two reasons for including Latin America into the global market around 1900:

1) A huge investment in agriculture and mines by West European countries and the USA, and

2) Massive West European emigration (primarily from Italy, Spain, and Portugal). There was a “pampas’ revolution” in Argentina which made the country a global producer of meat and grain. Some other Latin American countries, like Mexico, Brazil, and Chile, succeeded in modernizing and commercializing economic production. At the same time, they speeded the export of food and raw materials due to and via railways and docks.    

However, due to unbalanced economic dependence, there were too many risks and failures. For instance, the famous silver mine (and city) of Potosí during the Spanish colonial exploitation, declined in the 19^th century to be only a simple town in the Andes. There was a nitrate boom in production from 1880 to 1919 due to the Chilean territorial gains from Peru (province of Tarapaca) and Bolivia (province of Antofagasta) in the War of the Pacific from 1879 to 1883. Nonetheless, after WWI, the Chilean nitrates industry declined due to synthetic subsidies. In 1914, oil was discovered in Venezuela which in the interwar period (1918−1939) produced extremal differences between the wealthy and poor people. There were towns of Iquitos in Peru and Manaus in Brazil that for a short period promoted them into global prominence due to the rubber production. 

The First Chilean Navy Squadron engaged in the liberation of Peru and sailed as far as to Baja California raiding Spanish ships. (From the Public Domain)

All these economic events promoted a social-living change in society primarily having a direct impact on the speedy process of urbanization followed by the emergence of new social groups whose everyday life strictly depended on contemporary technology (concerning production) and trade (in essence in global terms). That was, in fact, a Latin American (urban) middle class that emerged not belonging either to landlords or peasants. 

Regarding political developments in Latin America in the 19^th century, the people of the continent have been in wars not only for their national liberation against Spanish and Portuguese colonial authorities but, as well as against each other for territorial gains.

Only Brazil was the exception that fragmentation did not swiftly follow emancipation/independence, which concerning Latin America led finally to the twenty independent states (political unities). Boundary disputes have been occasionally on the agenda causing some major wars between the Latin American republics.

That was, for instance, the case with the Mexican-USA War from 1846 to 1848 which resulted in the secession of Texas, which cost Mexico California and in sum 40% of the Mexican original state territory.

It was the 1864−1870 Paraguayan War, in which three Atlantic-facing states (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) defeated and ruined Paraguay – a country in which native Indians succeeded in preserving their ethnocultural identity.[5] This war was followed by the 1879−1883 War of the Pacific when Chile, Peru, and Bolivia joined the battle for the sake of controlling the important Atacama Desert rich in nitrite deposits. Finally, in 1883, Chilean military victory over Peru and Bolivia followed by the accession of lands from both of them, made Chile to be the major Pacific power. As rich natural nitrite deposits were annexed in both wars in the north, Chile enjoyed the next five decades with a real economic boom. 

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Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović is a former university professor in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Notes

[1] Concerning the question of population and immigration, Latin America inherited a colonial-style racial structure of their societies. Spanish American societies have been constructed of a great number of native Indians, and a lesser number of Mestizos, followed by a minority of the Whites. It happened that the Indian stronghold of such social structure was in Peru (independent from 1821), Mexico (independent from 1821), and Guatemala (independent from 1838), but less in Rio da la Plata (Argentina, independent from 1810) or Chile (independent from 1818).    

[2] Some of them, like Garcia Moreno, could be a fanatical theocrat. He, among other things, became famous as a person who was in 1873 dedicated Ecuador (independent from 1830) to the Sacred Heart, but in 1875 was murdered by the local liberals.    

[3] Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph (1832−1867) was under the name of Maximilian I Emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. He was the brother of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef and Archduke of Austria. Nevertheless, French Emperor Napoleon III was forced in 1867 to stop supporting Maximilian I as a result of political pressure from the USA. As a result, Emperor Maximilian I faced a popular uprising in Mexico led by Benito Juárez. Finally, the rebels won and Maximilian I was arrested and executed.   

[4] Porfirio Díaz (1830−1915) was a Mexican general and statesman, and President from 1877 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911. He was a leader of a military putsch in 1876 becoming elected President the next year. The result of his second presidency was a highly centralized government which was supported by the local Mestizos and landowners. Therefore, the power was transferred from native American Indians and peasants. The President promoted the development of country’s infrastructure and industry and was using foreign capital and technical experts to build mines, bridges, or railways through the country. However, the poor economic conditions of the Mexican working class in both industry and rural areas followed by the rising power of the democratic movement led by Francisco Madero (1873−1913) contributed to Díaz’s forced resignation and exile in 1911.  

[5] Paraguayan War (War of the Triple Alliance) in 1864−1870 was a military conflict resulting from geopolitical rivalries between Paraguay on the one hand and the other hand Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Francisco Solano López – President of Paraguay, was alarmed by the military intervention of Brazil in Uruguay. At the same time, he intended to enlarge Paraguay’s territory to get access to the Pacific Ocean as Paraguay was (and still is a land-locked country). Therefore, in 1864 Paraguay started hostilities against Brazil. He hoped that Argentina as traditionally hostile to Brazil would join Paraguay in the war. Still, it was formed anti-Paraguay the Triple Alliance composed of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay (at that time, a puppet state of Brazil). The pact was signed in May 1865 against Paraguay. However, during the conflict, Paraguayan’s well-trained military forces of around 600.000 soldiers did not match the task. One of the most destructive wars in the history of Latin America was over with President López’s death in March 1870. The results of the war were terrible for Paraguay as the country lost more than half of its pre-war population together with a considerable territory.   

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***

One strike, two strikes and they are out…

Meanwhile there are even respectable, Establishment scholars who appear to have overcome their indoctrination or institutional discipline to express views on the current campaign in the eternal war of the Anglo-American Empire although at variance—if not deviance—from the positions they have been known to hold in the past or those that continue to prevail among the ruling class, its prelates, acolytes and fanatical hordes.

Tucker Carlson has continued to sail full speed ahead in the same manner with which he confronted the Establishment’s re-enactment of the Reichstag fire (1933) in 2021 and exhibited the strongest circumstantial evidence that the farce staged on 6 January was quite obviously anything but what the Establishment has insisted it was to this day. Then he exposed millions of traditionally ignorant US Americans to the intelligence and immanent sanity of the Russian federal president, Vladimir Putin.

Just last week he released an extensive interview with Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University. Although Sachs is probably still invited to parties and other events of the New York and Washington season, this prior preacher of shock therapy in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union—of whose legal dissolution he was personally informed by US stooge Boris Yeltsin—has arrived, on his own it seems, at an independence he could scarcely have been accused of exhibiting for much of his career. That said, just because he has said things with which critical historically conscious people can even violently disagree does not mean that his basic intellectual integrity is fraudulent.

On the contrary, in the cult of individual personality that drives Western society there is also a compulsion to see every human as isomorphic with the verbal behaviour in which he or she engages. However since there is no immanent meaning in language—words—but only judged responses to verbal activity—it takes considerable energy and force to preserve dogmatic personalities of the kind with which we are routinely presented in mass media and wherever substantial power is exerted without corresponding challenge. What I mean is the judgement that anyone is inconsistent (as a liar or an idiot) relies on a more or less static and hence stereotypical or cliché-formed notion of the person whose behaviour is being judged. Hegel made this point more than two-hundred years ago in his journalistic essay “Who thinks abstractly?” (Wer denkt abstrakt?) It is not necessary to take vows of holy matrimony in order to have intimate and confidential relations—although as I child I did believe that children were mysteriously generated by the legal act.

The education of Jeffrey Sachs, although far from complete, induced him to repudiate his role in the destruction of the Soviet economy while sitting on a New York Times panel discussing China. He was heavily criticized for that as well as his unwillingness to categorically condemn the Chinese State—especially by Western standards. However the economist is still ready to believe that the UN Sustainability Goals are benevolent policies driven by the sincere pursuit of human welfare. It appears that he does not advertise his destructive role in post-Soviet Eurasia.

In speaking to Tucker Carlson he retained the positive version of his political-economic engagement. However he recounted an element of his epiphany when the very policy recommendations deemed a success in Poland (for reasons that are too extensive to explain here) were categorically rejected when it came to restoring Russia to the Western political-economic fold.

The refusal of his masters to approve recommendations he had successfully implemented in the CIA-infested Catholic republic east of the Oder was by his own admission a stage of his Kairos. Apparently oblivious to actual Polish politics he assumed—not unlike the worshippers of Ludwig Erhard in Germany—that wonders come from liberal economics in lieu of canonized saints or the deity itself. This failure does not invalidate the lesson he learned, namely that the masters’ were not about to let their servant treat the hereditary enemy of Anglo-American Empire (I find hegemony an insufferable euphemism) in any other manner than destructive.

Perhaps it should be said here that the very intelligence which elevated Jeffrey Sachs to the professorship and fellowship of Harvard University at such an early age was complemented by the spiritual-intellectual dependency sought in the loyal cadre. Repeatedly during the interview Professor Sachs refers to himself as naive or perhaps naive.

That naïveté is cultivated among the bright, once talent-spotters have recruited them for the Establishment. He called the “neo-cons” “true believers”—a term popularized by Erich Fromm—but seems unable to recognise that he too was a true believer, spoiled with rewards that confirmed his own merit but ultimately had little to do with his undeniable intellectual capacity.

Jeffrey Sachs, as a meanwhile marginalized if not banned regime critic, is important for two reasons. In the first place the credibility he enjoys because of his decades of devotion to the ruling cult lends some authority to the criticisms raised by those with little or no access to the apparatus of power. In the second place, Professor Sachs provides evidence of the permeability of a certain—albeit small—segment of the Establishment. His statements are evidence of the mendacity of his masters and ours. Although, unlike Tucker Carlson, Jeffrey Sachs is not willing to call his masters evil, he has at least reached the point of calling them insane. If we need proof that the evil 1% ought to be neutralized (to adopt a term favoured in those heights) there is at least testimony that the insanity requires us to act in our own defence.

This interview was not unlike the Putin interview in one respect. Both Vladimir Putin and Jeffrey Sachs live in the world of diplomacy, civilized behaviour even among antagonists. Although of very different rank and station, Putin and Sachs demonstrate that there are limits to what one may say in public. The conversation Tucker Carlson conducted permitted him to interpolate or extrapolate from the statements made by his interlocutor. Hence we cannot know how critical Professor Sachs really is or how much he really understands beyond the framework his precocious academic career constructed.

This is no where more evident than in the synthesis by which Professor Sachs asserts that none of the current crisis arose from spontaneous errors or miscalculations. On the contrary he argues very clearly that today’s brinkmanship derives at least from the policies (and culture) of Old Harrovian Henry Temple, 3d Viscount Palmerston and the Crimean War. The Old Etonian, David Cameron, who bowled Britain’s first innings against Russia until 2016 has continued that tradition in his assault as foreign secretary—recently on record as calling for direct assaults on Russia with British (and NATO) weaponry. In a discussion of his conclusions as chair of a committee appointed to investigate the origins of the so-called COVID-19 pandemic, Sachs traced the story back at least to 2008 and the ambiguity of US regime claims to research “biodefense”. He also asserted that the 1963 assassination of POTUS John F. Kennedy could no longer be explained credibly by the fantastic story recorded and certified by the late Chief Justice Earl Warren et al. Moreover he concurred with a view meanwhile widely held that the assassination was a coup d’etat at least organized by the US national security apparatus (e.g. CIA). In all these Candide-like remarks—with Pangloss implied—Jeffrey Sachs demonstrated that even the most well-rewarded prodigies can under certain circumstances be induced to question many if not all of the fundamental assumptions by which they were recruited.

Another admission—certainly rare among those of his rank and station—is that he actually values the lives of his family beyond the balance sheets and capital accounts with which political economy is obsessed. The idea that atomic war should be avoided because it kills the innocent (not necessarily the warriors) is foreign to any living Western politician or Establishment intellectual. As in the case of the settler-colonial regime in Palestine, the ideological standard is that mass killing of women and children “is worth it” (as the finally late Madeleine Albright proudly proclaimed for half a million dead Iraqi children). Sadism is an implicit prerequisite for high office and senior civil or military service. Corporations have departments dedicated to it. For Jeffrey Sachs the annihilation of his children and all the children like his was reason enough to oppose the insanity of the ruling oligarchy.

Nonetheless as thoroughly confessional and sincere as Professor Sachs was in his conversation with Tucker Carlson, there were numerous loose ends. Perhaps the loosest of those is the de-contextualization of George Kennan’s anti-Sovietism. While it is true that in later years Kennan criticized much of the Establishment policy toward the Soviet Union he never went so far as to violate the sanctity of Chatham House, so to speak. Candidly this true believer accurately asserted that without military force the US would not be able to retain control over some 60% of the world’s consumption with 4% of its population. He also predicted that the damage the West had done to the Soviet Union would require at least 20 years to repair. In other words those who had ultimately backed the Hitler Wehrmacht as a means of destroying the Soviet Union had succeeded in creating the living conditions claimed to be the fruits of socialism. When despite that devastation the Soviet Union recovered ahead of schedule, the war intensified.

By missing the essence of Kennan’s policy papers, Jeffrey Sachs fails to understand that the atomic weapons developed by the Manhattan Project— the largest single government research project at the time—were always intended for use against the Soviet Union, not against the German Reich or Japanese empire. Perhaps he never saw the de-classified Sandia oral history of US strategic policy. Yet Curtis LeMay was really no exception among the centurions. It was the Soviet Union that preserved what we in the West experienced to varying degrees as peace and prosperity, not the US. Even the story of the arms race taught in the West conceals this fact so as to blame the USSR for what was always unilateral, not mutually, assured destruction.

What was the fundamental change in 1989? Professor Sachs says it was the “neo-con” ascendency. However Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were already embedded in the Nixon administration. Richard Holbrooke and his slightly older roommate began their careers as Phoenix counter-insurgency managers in the Mekong Delta (VietnamI)—that is junior mass murderers for the CIA before the official “neo-con” tracts were published. The dramatis personae of American empire has been incestuously linked to Britannia’s (in fact the City of London) destiny ever since Cecil Rhodes and Lord Rothschild founded what would become the Royal Institute of International Affairs franchise and the Council on Foreign Relations. A century of continuous class war, for convenience launched in 1913 with such paragons of legislation as the Federal Reserve Act and the South African Native Lands Act, has been waged by the “banking” class, guided by its dogma of world population reduction. In 1989, the triumph of the 1.0% meant that the horrific labour (human) intensive industrialization process could finally be transcended.

The merger of eugenics and ecology, exemplified in the Club of Rome, prepared the ideological foundation for elimination of 20 – 40% of the world’s population, instead of merely 20% of selected target populations (China, Soviet Union, Central America, African states). The United Nations organisation—mainly the plethora of “specialized agencies” and the Anglo-American dominated Security Council and Secretariat—provided deniability for genocide in Korea, Indochina, Indonesia and the Congo or Haiti and of course Palestine. What seems unmentionable is the global enclosures program being implemented behind the facade of UN Sustainable Development Goals. The WHO—originally founded as a shell organization for the Rockefeller petrochemical pharmaceuticals cartel—has openly taken the point for biochemical herd culling/ eradication. The pejoratively denoted “Woke” ideology has emerged very much like Huxley and Orwell described—under the pretext of a vacuous and hypocritical morality, human kind are to be replaced by NCEs, i.e. numerically controlled entities. The abolition of biological sex, both in microsocial and macrosocial senses, accompanies the total commodification of “identity”. It only takes a cogent sense of consistency to see that when there are no essentially human qualities, then there can be no human rights.

Fictive wealth can be indefinitely maintained by the minuscule tribe of monsters with the elimination of sufficient numbers of human beings (20-40% or more). Injecting genetically-engineered toxins into a billion people at a time is entirely consistent with pushing Russia into what could be politely called an atomic exchange.

To the extent Russia and China oppose this nihilism it is because, unlike the West, they have actually been on the receiving end of previous culling campaigns (millions murdered by Western warrior-terrorists). However even there one can hear the grunts of members in the “big club”. Resistance to evil and insanity is far from uniform, especially among those committed to AI and contract pharmaceuticals manufacture.

Nikki Haley is meanwhile standing in for that character played by Slim Pickens in Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. As can be seen on the banks of the Hudson, Thames, Seine and Spree, between the River Jordan and the sea, the entire Western political class is compromised and or complicit in this accelerating democide.

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This article was originally published on Seek Truth from Facts Foundation.

Dr. T.P. Wilkinson writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is also the author of Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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***

It was much like witnessing a boy killing flies, with a slight afterthought of apology. The spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, did little to acquit himself, or the cause, as to why more Palestinian civilians had been indulgently killed in yet another Israeli air strike. “Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended … Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite.”

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The release commences with the usual garnish.  The strike, despite resulting in deaths in a camp of displaced Palestinians in Tal al-Sultan, was soberly designated and professionally targeted.  It was successful.  Two Hamas terrorists had been procedurally “eliminated” (in the social media release, the IDF proudly places the word upon the heads of Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar).  “The strike was based on precise intelligence,” Hagari tells us.  Those killed had, in turn, killed Israelis.  They were having a meeting.  “Their deaths saved lives.”

Away from the glove handling reflections of Hagari, the returns of the May 26 strike showed that Palestinian civilians were also seen as miscellaneous detritus, fundamentally dispensable.  The butchery is now a matter of record: 46 dead civilians, including 23 women, children and the elderly.  All on a sliver of territory fast becoming the most famous real estate of death on the planet.  It’s a particularly bloody ratio for killing two alleged terrorists.

In a statement on May 29 from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, various rapporteurs, including such figures as Francesca Albanese, responsible for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, to Ben Saul, charged with the task of promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, expressed their dismay.  “Harrowing images of destruction, displacement and death have emerged from Rafah, including infants torn apart and people burnt alive.”  Such reports indicated “that the strikes were indiscriminate and disproportionate, with people trapped inside burning plastic tents, leading to a horrific casualty toll.”

The Israelis have been told by a number of international bodies, entities, and sympathisers, with repeated urgency, that its current murderous efforts are simply not worth it.  The Rafah front presents further calamitous risks.  The toll, notably in striking camps of civilians displaced by prior bombings and military engagements, would be too great.  The reputational toll, likewise.  The slaughter that pads out and packs morgues; the bodies of women and children that seem to multiply with pestilential cruelty; the incidents of pure callousness dressed in a décor of euphemism: We target, and we target well; the rest is accidental or unavoidable.

The International Court of Justice, in yet another ruling on Israel’s campaign in Gaza, recently concluded that the military offensive in Rafah, along with “any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” be “immediately” halted.  It also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing and permit UN officials to enter Gaza and report back to the court within a month to verify compliance.

The ICJ also noted the concerns of UN officials about the risks arising from any military assault on Rafah, one that would put “hundreds of thousands of people … at imminent risk of death”.  Such risks had already “started to materialize and will intensify even further if the operation continues”.

Israel’s politicians and military personnel – at least those lacking candour – always hit upon the same formula in such instances.  It is one noted by such unflagging scribes as the late Robert Fisk: the justification of violence with seemingly sound process, decency with the stuffing of crime.  A trained pupil in such efforts is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  “Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake.”  When compared with his previous statements equating all Palestinians to actors behind a terrorist cause, one that would, in turn, give birth to a terrorist state, the element of mistake is less relevant than the desire to conclude the task at hand.

The next instalment of the performance involves the mandatory investigation that yields no culprits, no charges, and no prosecutions. 

“The details of the incident are still under investigation, which we are committed to conducting to the fullest extent,” gabbled Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi at a news conference, noting that the IDF “regrets any harm to non-combatants during the war.”

Such a method is also approved by Israel’s staunchest ally. 

“You cannot reach a conclusion about the results of these investigations in the middle of a conflict,” reasoned White House spokesman John Kirby. 

Why, it should be asked, bother?

The Israeli response to attacks on its citizens on October 7 last year, increasingly enfeebled by reality, long ago moved into the realm of farce.  But farce and advertising tend to be part of the same show, and the advertising about the ongoing campaign in Gaza by the Israeli forces continues to rattle the swill bucket.

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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]

Featured image: Major General Herzi Halevi, at left, with other members of the Israeli military at the Egypt–Israel border. (IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

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An Ottawa Police Service detective accused of discreditable conduct after probing the COVID-19 vaccination status of the mothers of deceased infants testified at her hearing that she was upholding her oath as an officer when conducting the investigations.

“My duty as a police officer is to preserve life and property, to preserve the peace. And if I see any one of those situations arising where I need to step in and preserve life, I will do something. And that’s what I did, in good faith, as a police officer,” Constable Helen Grus testified at the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) building in Stittsville on May 27.

Const. Grus, a detective with the OPS sexual assault and child abuse unit, is accused of discreditable conduct for conducting an “unauthorized project” between June 2020 and January 2022 by looking into the sudden deaths of nine infants. Const. Grus is alleged to have accessed Ottawa police files and then contacted the coroner’s office to learn the COVID-19 vaccination status of the parents, as she believed there could be an association between the two.

Image: Cons. Helen Grus (Source)

On Jan. 30, 2022, Const. Grus also allegedly contacted the father of a deceased infant to inquire into the COVID-19 vaccination status of its mother, without the knowledge of the lead detective. While Const. Grus was suspended without pay from the OPS on Feb. 4, 2022, she was ordered to return to work with restrictions during an Oct. 11, 2022, OPS internal hearing.

During her testimony on May 27, Const. Grus said she had been concerned after being informed of a “doubling if not tripling of baby deaths” that happened after the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. Const. Grus said two detectives had also told her of incidents where “fully alert and healthy babies” had suddenly died in their mothers’ arms.

“That concerned me. [In] 20-plus years of policing, I’ve never seen that phenomenon,” Const. Grus said.

According to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines has been found in human breast milk. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) also contains data that shows serious side effects and deaths in breastfed babies whose mothers recently received COVID-19 vaccinations.

Const. Grus also testified that when investigating the link between the COVID-19 vaccines and infant deaths, she was standing by Peel’s Principles, a set of ethical guidelines for policing by Sir Robert Peel back in 1829.

The fifth principle, which Const. Grus cited, states that police must “seek and preserve public favor not by catering to the public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.”

To Avoid Nuclear War, Putin Needs to be a Little Crazier

By Mike Whitney, June 03, 2024

After addressing the Constitutional issues surrounding Ukrainian President Zelensky’s decision to remain in office beyond his four-year term, Putin delivered a brief but disturbing statement on NATO’s plan to fire long-range weapons at targets inside Russia.

Watching Washington Foment Nuclear War

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, June 03, 2024

Are the peoples of the Western world so completely insouciant that they do not notice that their politicians are pushing them into direct conflict with Russia? It seems Hungarians are the only European people who have any sense.

“We have to deal with the anti-vaxxers” Says Keir Starker. Next UK PM? With the Endorsement of the WEF

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, June 02, 2024

Emergency legislation to combat the anti-vax campaign WILL COST LIVES. It will result in excess mortality. We recall that the COVID-19 vaccine was rolled-out in several phases in England and Wales starting on December 8, 2020.

Mapping the Parallels of US Conflict: From Vietnam to the War on China

By Megan Russell, June 02, 2024

A study of America’s “War on Terror” estimates approximately 4.5 million people have died from the reverberating effects of war, such as disease and economic hardship. That is the reality of war: it leaves a lasting legacy of death and devastation wherever it goes.

They Can’t Control the Gaza Narrative Because Too Much Has Been Seen

By Caitlin Johnstone, June 03, 2024

With Gaza, people saw this one coming and were calling it what it is from the moment it began, because there was already a widespread political understanding — at least on the left — that Israel is a murderous settler-colonialist project and that the Palestinians are a colonized people.

WHO’s Pandemic Treaty Is Dead – For Now

By Peter Koenig, June 03, 2024

Most of WHO’s private funding comes from Big Pharma, their “philanthropic” foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Big Tech and other interest groups. WHO Director General (DG) and his advisory team have already announced that a special WHA with focus on the Pandemic Treaty will take place by the end of 2024.

Jeffrey Sachs Blasts US Sanctions on Russia: “Just one absolutely naive idea after another.”

By Ahmed Adel, June 02, 2024

Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned professor of economics and bestselling author, recounted how he warned senior US officials that sanctions on Russia would fail. His statement comes as Daleep Singh, the US deputy national security adviser for international economics, said a large flow of Russian weapons is still powered by electronic components from companies in the United States and allied countries.

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As summertime approaches, one cannot help but notice the every increasing appearance of visible tattoos, mainly in forest green ink. Unlike tie-dye shirts, bell-bottoms, new hairstyles and other fads, tattoos represent a permanent form of mass mimicry or mimesis. Most people with tattoos give less than a compelling reason for this life-long commitment.

The skin is loaded with lymphocytes and one can only wonder does the ink or one of its chemical components stimulate these cells to become cancerous. After multiple individual case reports of lymphoma in tattoo enthusiasts, Nielsen et al has published this disturbing report from Lund, Sweden.

“The study population consisted of 11,905 individuals, and the response rate was 54% among cases (n = 1398) and 47% among controls (n = 4193). The tattoo prevalence was 21% among cases and 18% among controls. Tattooed individuals had a higher adjusted risk of overall lymphoma (IRR = 1.21; 95% CI 0.99–1.48). The risk of lymphoma was highest in individuals with less than two years between their first tattoo and the index year (IRR = 1.81; 95% CI 1.03–3.20). The risk decreased with intermediate exposure duration (three to ten years) but increased again in individuals who received their first tattoo ≥11 years before the index year (IRR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.94–1.50). We found no evidence of increasing risk with a larger area of total tattooed body surface. The risk associated with tattoo exposure seemed to be highest for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (IRR 1.30; 95% CI 0.99–1.71) and follicular lymphoma (IRR 1.29; 95% CI 0.92–1.82).”

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102649

For those who made the potentially unwise choice of a tattoo, these data suggest active surveillance for new persistent rashes, fever, night sweats, recurrent viral illness, or swollen lymph nodes as signs of incipient lymphoma.

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Featured image is from Flickr/Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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“For two years Biden was absolutely adamant that no US weapons could be used to strike Russia. Now he reverses the policy — aka, he lied. \

So where’s the pushback? Congress, media? What could be of greater consequence than lying the country into war with a nuclear superpower?” — Michael Tracey

Are the peoples of the Western world so completely insouciant that they do not notice that their politicians are pushing them into direct conflict with Russia? It seems Hungarians are the only European people who have any sense. See this.

The Kremlin could not issue any warnings more dire, and in response moronic Western politicians provoke harder.

Are they unable to comprehend that they are provoking a nuclear war, or is it their intention to provoke a nuclear war?

Biden, Blinken, and NATO have made another U-turn. The long range missiles that Ukraine could not use for attacks on Russian territory can now be used that way, but, for now, only on military targets. But the distinction between military and non-military targets is a distinction without meaning or substance. All modern wars are attacks on civilians and infrastructure.

The argument that resulted in removing restrictions on long range missiles is that in order to defend itself Ukraine needs to be able to use the weapons Washington provides to attack the military infrastructure that Russia uses to attack Ukraine.

Russia will simply attack the sites from which it is being attacked, so the long range missiles will contribute nothing to Ukraine’s defense.

Even worse: as the Kremlin knows the missiles have to be programmed with targeting information by US and NATO personnel,

Russia regards the countries responsible for the targeting as combatants and targets. We are on the verge of the final widening of the war.

As every previous no-no became a yes-yes, the Kremlin has to assume that the no-no prohibition on sending NATO troops will soon become a yes-yes. If realism prevails in the Kremlin, this forces Putin to abandon his limited military operation and to knock out Ukraine before it fills up with NATO soldiers.

From the beginning it was obvious to me that the limited military operation was a strategic blunder that would allow the West to become involved, with the consequence being the widening of the war. That is precisely what has happened. We have reached the point where Putin is telling the West to back off or out come the nukes.

But no one in the West hears.

Washington cares no more for Ukrainians than it cares for Palestinians.

The Ukraine conflict is a way for Washington to force Russia into a response that can be used to justify a US/NATO attack on Russia. What is to be served by this? It is a form of suicide for the West.

Where is a responsible Western leader to diffuse this dangerous situation? Why are there none?

Keeping Russian Donbas in Ukraine, where it should never have been put, is not worth the war that is being fomented.

.
As the long range missiles cannot improve Ukraine’s battlefield performance, their only purpose is to be used for provocations. Anyone looking at the situation who thinks more provocations are what is needed is insane.

It is mind-boggling to actually watch Western leaders foment a nuclear war.

There is no opposition from Congress. None from print and TV media. None from European governments except Hungary. Western peoples are too insouciant to understand that they are standing on the edge of annihilation.

“We Are Inches Away from Destruction” — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Some who find reality too upsetting take issue with my warnings of how close we are to a final war.

I have acquired a new accolade — “scaremonger.” But I am not the only aware person on earth. Dr. Postal at MIT understands the seriousness of the situation, as does Mike Whitney, Steven Starr, Gilbert Doctorow, Scott Ritter, and Viktor Orban. Even the restrained, unprovocative Putin now understands that Russia is confronted with war, not a limited military operation to liberate the Donbas Russians.

Image: Viktor Orbán, Photo by European People’s Party (CC BY 2.0)

Prime Minister Orban says that every week he sees more and more signs that the EU and NATO are preparing for military action. The Western governments, Orban has concluded, “want to defeat Russia, they want to achieve military success at any cost.” The cost will be life on the planet. Why is Ukraine’s NATO membership more important than the massive loss of life and perhaps the livability of life on the planet? See this.

It is extraordinary that the Western world will do nothing to stop Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians, but is prepared to destroy life on earth for the artificial borders of an artificial country called Ukraine, which is known historically as “the Ukraine,” that is, as a province of a larger country.

Oban tells the truth. He says “NATO is a strong defensive alliance created to protect its member states, not to intervene in another war.” Oban says he will do what he can to prevent Hungary from being drawn into the maelstrom. “This is not our war, and Hungarians should not suffer because of it.”

But Hungary along with any survivors and Mother Earth herself and all her creatures and plant life will suffer from the massive fires, radioactivity, perhaps a nuclear winter, total disruption of all global supply chains, and so forth. The countries that survive, if any, will be those well removed from the blast zones, wind patterns loaded with radioactivity, and self sufficient in food production. All economies dependent on global relationships will be destroyed.

The world as it is organized today cannot survive a major war. How will cities of millions of people be sustained when supply chains no longer exist? Without war Mexico City with its 20 millions is almost empty of water.

I can continue asking these kind of questions, to which there are no answers.

But it is pointless.

The problem is that except for Orban and Putin, every Western political leader is committed to war for no justifiable reason.

There is no reason for the pending war. Ukraine can exist as a neutral state. Washington can pull back its presence on Russia’s borders.

The American neoconservatives’ nonsensical demand for US hegemony can be abandoned. Whatever the consequences of accepting reality, they are better than nuclear war.

Why is it that no one in the Western world understands the threat to life?

What is the explanation for Biden now approaching the end of his fourth year in office HAVING NEVER MET WITH PUTIN IN AN EFFORT TO RESOLVE THE MOST DANGEROUS CRISIS IN HUMAN HISTORY?

The dumbshits governing us do not comprehend that today’s thermonuclear weapons can be a thousand times more powerful as the atomic bombs the US dropped on two Japanese civilian cities. The weapons today do not merely obliterate large cities, they obliterate large regions.

Steven Starr and other experts have expressed their concerns that a nuclear war could fill the atmosphere with dust and debris that would block the sun for years until it settled. In those years there may be a limited or non-existent growing season. Therefore, all life can be the casualty.

From a presentation by Dr. Theodore Postal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology:

The Russian nuclear Early Warning System (EWS) at Amir was damaged by an attack. The decision to attack the Russian EWS was made in Washington. The drones were guided to their targets using US aerial and satellite reconnaissance (they have to take multiple evasive actions in the course of their flights to evade Russian radar systems, and this can only be supplied via real-time targeting information provided by the US). The operators of the drones were likely mercenaries trained in the US or out-of-uniform US troops. Russia knows this and so it considers this a US attack on its nuclear Early Warning System.

The attack was reckless beyond comprehension. ANY such attacks against the EWS system used to protect Russia from a nuclear attack can justify, under Russian law, a nuclear retaliatory strike.

The US/NATO/Ukraine previously conducted multiple drone attacks on the Russian airbase at Engels, which is where Russia keeps its long-range strategic nuclear bombers. It appeared that at least in one of these attacks, a strategic nuclear bomber was damaged. Engels airbase is hundreds of miles inside of Russia and the drones could not have made it to the base without real-time targeting information supplied by US aerial and satellite reconnaissance.

Russian military planners must consider these attacks as a possible prelude to a nuclear first strike against Russia by the United States.

The US and NATO are also preparing to send F-16s to Ukraine. Russia has announced that they will consider these to be nuclear-capable weapon systems and treat them accordingly, including striking whatever bases these weapons are launched from — inside or outside of Ukraine (meaning in Poland and Romania).

Biden today authorized attacks inside Russia using US long-range weapons. France and Germany then followed the US, giving their approval to the use of Western-supplied weapons to attack targets inside Russia.

The situation in Ukraine is escalating to the point of being out of control. Yet Western mass media ignores these events and the general public remains blissfully unaware that their leaders continue to escalate the war in Ukraine to the point where it can become a nuclear war that will destroy all nations and peoples.

Gilbert Doctorow Explains That Russia’s “Dead Hand” Launch System Cannot be Deterred by a First Strike

Gilbert Doctorow reminds us that the Russians have a “dead hand” launch system. Even if every Russian command and control center is wiped out in a first strike against Russia, sufficient missiles launch to wipe out the US and Western Europe. In other words, there is no advantage in a US first strike on Russia.

Doctorow also reminds us that it only takes one fully loaded hypersonic non-interceptible Sarmat multiple warhead missile to level a country the size of the UK to the ground, and only several to erase the US from the map. It goes far beyond insanity for Europe and the US to cultivate their own suicide. The media keep all information from the public, which is unaware that its continued existence is in question.

Here is Scott Ritter on the likely consequences of attacks inside Russia:

Scott Ritter reminds us that the weapons used to strike inside Russia have to be programmed by the US/NATO countries that supply them. Ukraine is ancillary to the process. Russia understands this and has stated that Russia will attack the countries responsible.

Here is a summary of the Scott Ritter video provided by an expert who shares my concern that Washington is driving the world into nuclear war:

“Scott Ritter explains that any further attacks on Russian strategic sites or attacks on Russian territory using missiles or cruise missiles will result in Russia hitting back against all the NATO targets — inside and outside Ukraine — responsible for such attacks.

“This includes US aerial reconnaissance assets: US satellites, AWACS, and Reaper drones; it includes any NATO headquarters and air bases that were involved in the preparation, programming, targeting, and launching of the long-range missiles and drones used to hit Russian territory. This includes bases within France, the UK, Germany, and possibly the US.

“Ritter says that such attacks would result in the NATO nations struck by Russian retaliatory strikes invoking Article V of the NATO Charter, claiming they had been attacked by Russia.  Ritter says that if NATO member states take this action and unite in war against Russia, then Russia will launch a massive nuclear strike against all these nations.  I hope he is wrong.

“Given that the US, the UK, France, and Germany have all signed off on using long-range weapons against Russia, albeit in a ‘limited’ area of Russia, I think we are close to the scenario that Ritter suggests because the ‘limited’ area of Russia subject to attack will expand. A situation will arise where Putin is forced to hit back in a way that is decisive. The West will deny that the Russian strike is in retaliation for their own thinly disguised attacks on Russia — they will call the Russian strikes “unprovoked aggression” and an act of war.

“The US and NATO have been hiding behind the lie that it is Ukraine fighting Russia — not the West fighting Russia. When US, UK, French, and German weapons arrive in Ukraine, they become “Ukrainian weapons”, and thus Ukraine, not the West, is made responsible for whatever is done with them, whatever targets they hit.

“Russia no longer will accept the lie that only Ukraine, not the West, is at war with Russia. Even Putin has publicly stated that the high-tech, long-range weapons are US and NATO weapons, programmed, operated, guided, and launched by US/NATO troops. The targets are decided on by the US, not by Ukraine. The weapons have to use real-time guidance from US aerial and satellite reconnaissance, hence, Russia will destroy the satellites, drones, and AWACs providing the targeting information. All the components of the attacks on Russia will be targeted.

“Russia is not bluffing. Russia will not back down.”

It is extraordinary that the entire political leadership of the Western world is pushing the world into nuclear war. Why does the West seek its own destruction? What is to be gained?

During the 20th century Cold War in which I was intimately involved both as a trustee of the Committee on the Present Danger and as a member of a secret Presidential Committee with authority to investigate the CIA’s opposition to President Reagan’s effort to end the Cold War and normalize relations with the Soviet Union, I can say with confidence that even hard line anti-communists sought to reduce tensions instead of provoking war.

What I have witnessed in the 21st century is the most egregious cultivation of war by the US government in human history, and no one in the print or TV media tells us the consequences.

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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.

Featured image is from The Unz Review

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“Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War” 

by Michel Chossudovsky

Available to order from Global Research! 

ISBN Number: 978-0-9737147-5-3
Year: 2012
Pages: 102

PDF Edition:  $6.50 (sent directly to your email account!)

Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Reviews

“This book is a ‘must’ resource – a richly documented and systematic diagnosis of the supremely pathological geo-strategic planning of US wars since ‘9-11’ against non-nuclear countries to seize their oil fields and resources under cover of ‘freedom and democracy’.”
–John McMurtry, Professor of Philosophy, Guelph University

“In a world where engineered, pre-emptive, or more fashionably “humanitarian” wars of aggression have become the norm, this challenging book may be our final wake-up call.”
-Denis Halliday, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations

Michel Chossudovsky exposes the insanity of our privatized war machine. Iran is being targeted with nuclear weapons as part of a war agenda built on distortions and lies for the purpose of private profit. The real aims are oil, financial hegemony and global control. The price could be nuclear holocaust. When weapons become the hottest export of the world’s only superpower, and diplomats work as salesmen for the defense industry, the whole world is recklessly endangered. If we must have a military, it belongs entirely in the public sector. No one should profit from mass death and destruction.
–Ellen Brown, author of ‘Web of Debt’ and president of the Public Banking Institute   

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President Putin’s press conference on Wednesday in Uzbekistan might have been the most unusual and extraordinary event in his 24-year political career.

After addressing the Constitutional issues surrounding Ukrainian President Zelensky’s decision to remain in office beyond his four-year term, Putin delivered a brief but disturbing statement on NATO’s plan to fire long-range weapons at targets inside Russia.

Putin made it clear that Russia would respond to these attacks and that the countries that provided the weapons systems would be held responsible.

He also gave a very detailed description of how the systems work and how they require contractors from the country-of-origin be directly involved in their operation. What is so remarkable about Putin’s comments is not the fact that they bring the world closer to a direct confrontation between nuclear-armed adversaries, but that he had to remind political leaders in the West that Russia is not going to sit back and be their punching bag. Here’s part of what Putin said:

With regard to the strikes, frankly, I am not sure what the NATO Secretary General is talking about. When he was the Prime Minister of Norway, (we had good relations) and I am positive he was not suffering from dementia back then. If he is talking about potentially attacking Russia’s territory with long-range precision weapons, he, as a person who heads a military-political organisation, even though he is a civilian like me, should be aware of the fact that long-range precision weapons cannot be used without space-based reconnaissance. This is my first point.

My second point is that the final target selection and what is known as launch mission can only be made by highly skilled specialists who rely on this reconnaissance data, technical reconnaissance data. For some attack systems, such as Storm Shadow, these launch missions can be put in automatically, without the need to use Ukrainian military. Who does it? Those who manufacture and those who allegedly supply these attack systems to Ukraine do. This can and does happen without the participation of the Ukrainian military. Launching other systems, such as ATACMS, for example, also relies on space reconnaissance data, targets are identified and automatically communicated to the relevant crews that may not even realise what exactly they are putting in. A crew, maybe even a Ukrainian crew, then puts in the corresponding launch mission. However, the mission is put together by representatives of NATO countries, not the Ukrainian military. Putin Presser in Uzbekistan, Kremlin

Watch the video here

Let’s summarize:

1. The long-range precision weapons (missiles) are provided by NATO countries
2. The long-range precision weapons are manned by experts or contractors from the country of origin
3. The long-range precision weapons must be linked to space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO
4. The targets in Russia are also provided by space reconnaissance data provide by the US or NATO

The point that Putin is trying to make is that the long-range missiles are made by NATO, furnished by NATO, operated and launched by NATO contractors, whose targets are selected by NATO experts using space reconnaissance data provided by NATO.

In every respect, the prospective firing of long-range precision weapons at targets in Russia, is a NATO-US operation. Thus, there should be no confusion about who is responsible. NATO is responsible which means that NATO is effectively declaring war on Russia. Putin’s lengthy comments merely underscore this critical point. Here’s more from Putin:

So, these officials from NATO countries, especially the ones based in Europe, particularly in small European countries, should be fully aware of what is at stake. They should keep in mind that theirs are small and densely populated countries, which is a factor to reckon with before they start talking about striking deep into the Russian territory. It is a serious matter and, without a doubt, we are watching this very carefully. Putin Presser in Uzbekistan, Kremlin

Naturally, the western media has focused all its attention on the paragraph above, and for good reason; Putin is stating the obvious: ‘If you attack Russia, we will retaliate.’ That is the underlying message. Here are a few of Friday’s (hysterical) headlines:

• Vladimir Putin Threatens ‘All-Out War’ if Ukraine Uses Western Weapons to Hit Russia — as Volodymyr Zelensky Asks Allies for Their Permission, MSN.com
• Why is Putin again threatening a nuclear war?, The Interpreter
• Putin warns the West: Russia is ready for nuclear war, Reuters
• TYRANT’S THREAT: Vladimir Putin threatens all-out war if Ukraine uses Western weapons to hit Russia, The Sun
• (and the best of all)
  Time to Call Putin’s Bluff, CNN

Is that what this is all about; testing Putin to see if he’s bluffing?

If it is, it is a uniquely risky strategy. But there is a grain of truth to what they say. After all, Putin is warning that any attack on Russia will trigger an immediate and ferocious retaliatory strike. And he is advising the leaders of ‘small, densely populated NATO countries’ to consider how a nuclear attack by Russia might impact their prospects for the future. Would they really put their entire civilization at risk to find out whether Putin is bluffing or not? Here’s Putin again:

Look at what your Western colleagues are reporting. No one is talking about shelling Belgorod (in Russia) or other adjacent territories. The only thing they are talking about is Russia opening a new front and attacking Kharkov. Not a word. Why is that? They did it with their own hands. Well, let them reap the fruits of their ingenuity. The same thing can happen in case the long-range precision weapons which you asked about is used.

More broadly, this unending escalation can lead to serious consequences. If Europe were to face those serious consequences, what will the United States do, considering our strategic arms parity? It is hard to tell. Putin Presser in Uzbekistan, Kremlin

Putin seems genuinely mystified by the West’s behavior. Do US and NATO leaders really think they can attack Russia with long-range missiles and Russia won’t respond? Do they really think their ridiculous propaganda can impact the outcome of a clash between two nuclear-armed superpowers? What are they thinking or ARE they thinking? We don’t know. We seem to have entered ‘uncharted stupidity’ where desperation and ignorance converge to create a foreign policy that is utter madness. This is from an article at Tass News Service:

NATO countries that have approved strikes with their weapons on Russian territory should be aware that their equipment and specialists will be destroyed not only in Ukraine, but also at any point from where Russian territory is attacked, the Russian Security Council’s Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on his Telegram channel, noting that the participation of NATO specialists could be seen as a casus belli.

“All their military equipment and specialists fighting against us will be destroyed both on the territory of former Ukraine and on the territory of other countries, should strikes be carried out from there against Russian territory,” Medvedev warned.

He added that Moscow proceeded from the fact that all long-range weapons supplied to Ukraine were already “directly operated by servicemen from NATO countries”, which is tantamount to participation in the war against Russia and a reason to start combat operations. NATO weapons to be hit in any country from where Russia may be attacked — Medvedev, Tass

Source

There it is in black and white.

Where Putin chose to take the diplomatic approach, Medvedev opted for the hammer-blow.

‘If you attack Russia, we will bomb you back to the Stone Age.’

Not much wiggle-room there. But perhaps clarity is what’s needed for people who do not understand the potential consequences of their actions. In any event, no one in Washington or Brussels can say they weren’t warned.

We cannot exclude the possibility that Washington actually wants to expand the war despite the fact that cities across Eastern Europe could be incinerated in the process. It could be that beltway warhawks see a broader conflict as the only way to achieve their geopolitical ambitions.

Putin knows that this is a real possibility, just as he knows that there is a sizable constituency in Washington that support the use of nuclear weapons. This might explain why he is proceeding so cautiously, because he knows there are crazies within the US establishment who look forward to a clash with their old rival Russia so they can implement their pet-theories about “usable” nukes for tactical advantage. Here’s Putin:

The United States has a theory of a ‘preventive strike’…Now they are developing a system for a ‘disarming strike’. What does that mean? It means striking at control centres with modern high-tech weapons to destroy the opponent’s ability to counterattack.

Putin has devoted a considerable amount of time studying US Nuclear Doctrine, and it has him deeply concerned. After all, didn’t the Biden administration launch an unprecedented attack on “a key element of Russia’s nuclear umbrella” just last week?

Indeed, they did.

And hasn’t the US (via its Nuclear Posture Review) rebranded the offensive use of nuclear weapons as a justifiable act of defense?

It has.

And doesn’t this revision provide US warhawks with the institutional framework needed to launch a nuclear attack without fear of legal prosecution?

It does.

And haven’t these same warhawks developed their respective theories on “first-strike”, “preemption” and “disarming strike” in order to lay the groundwork for a first-strike nuclear attack on a geopolitical rival of Washington?

They have.

And doesn’t US Nuclear Doctrine state that nuclear weapons can be used “in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”

It does.

And does that definition include economic rivals like China?

Yes.

And is that a defense of a “first strike” nuclear weapon attack?

It is.

And does that mean that the United States no longer regards its nuclear arsenal as purely defensive but as an essential instrument for preserving the “rules-based order”?

Yes, it does.

And does Putin know that there are powerful actors in the political establishment and deep state who would like to see the taboo on nuclear weapons lifted so they can be used in more situations and with greater frequency?

He does.

And does he know that Washington regards Russia and China as the primary threats to US global hegemony and the “rules-based order”?

Yes.

And does he realize that if the US implements its first-strike policy Russia may not have the time to retaliate?

He does.

And does Putin realize that foreign policy analysts regard him as a restrained and reasonable man who may not pull the trigger or respond promptly when Russia faces a preemptive attack that will inflict the strategic defeat on Moscow the West seeks?

No, he doesn’t. He still thinks that possessing a large cache of nuclear weapons will deter US aggression. But a large cache of nuclear weapons is no deterrent when your opponent is convinced you won’t use them.

Sometimes being reasonable is not the best way to fend off an adversary. Sometimes you have to be a little crazy.

That’s a lesson Putin needs to learn. Fast.

*

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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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***

A 5/31/2024 article in CounterPunch returns to the question of the death toll of the genocide in Gaza, and the gross undercount of deaths by almost every agency imaginable, even the ones in Gaza itself. I suggest further elaboration.

200,000 was the number dead that Ralph Nader estimated at the beginning of March.

It has to be double that now.

How many thousands of pregnant women and their fetuses and newborn have died?

How many diabetics or others needing medication or special diets or treatment?

But even those without special conditions are dying because they can’t give up food and water.

We have reached the stage where the number of starving or dehydrated persons is so high that they have no defense against common diseases or mild injuries.

Why are they not reported?

Because there is no one to record them, of course.

The hospitals and clinics are largely a memory. Potable water is a luxury. I’m banned from X and FB, but I imagine you’ve seen the living and dying skeletons that I predicted months ago. I see them mainly on Telegram. The international agencies report that nearly all the population is food insecure, and a majority are malnourished. It’s a matter of time.

Israel would like to move faster. I’m not sure why they don’t. Perhaps they’re afraid that world reaction will graduate to more forceful measures, but I see no indication that this is the case. With the exception of Yemen and some non-state actors, no one seems willing to resort to physical force.

Members of the US Congress and figures in the Biden administration have even encouraged Israel to “finish the job”. Certainly, they have no moral qualms.

Are they worried that they will run out of Jews? Part of the purpose of killing off the Palestinians was to assure that Jews will be significantly more numerous in “greater Israel” (AKA Palestine). That clearly is not working. It is far more likely that more Jews have fled Israel than Palestinians have been reduced by genocide. In fact, even the effective Jewish inhabited area has been reduced in both the north and the south. 

Worse still, Israel grossly underestimated the capability of the Palestinian resistance and its partners, and overestimated its own. 

Hamas and its allies clearly understood and planned for Israel’s reaction, while Israel had little appreciation for their adversary. So much for the strategy of disproportionate force. Israel is unaccustomed to taking so many casualties, which are in any case unknown. No one believes the official count and resorting to foreign mercenaries.

Israel is also dissolving from within. Who’s buying Israeli anymore, except the dwindling community of true believers? What economy is left consists largely of shoveling American money into Israeli furnaces. Meanwhile, Israelis are fighting among themselves for desperate solutions to their intractable problems. The powerful international network of faithful sayanim will remain in place (who likes to give up power?) and will continue to manage the controls. But other Jews will object to being associated with such persons, weakening the support for, and the effectiveness of, the Zionist dream/nightmare. 

Israel is clearly losing, but the rate of its demise will depend on factors that are difficult to predict, and even harder to control. Nevertheless, if Israel survives this miscalculation in the short term, it will only do so as a smaller, more fanatical remnant of its former self.

*

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

Paul Larudee is a retired academic and current administrator of a nonprofit human rights and humanitarian aid organization. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Yazan al-Kafarna is one of the latest to die of hunger and malnutrition in Gaza since the start of the war on 7 October (Screengrab/X)

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***

A new administration takes charge in Taiwan.

How has the U.S. turned the island into a piece in its wargaming in the Asia Pacific?

Join CGTN’s Liu Xin to chronicle U.S. meddling in “Whispers of Power: U.S. Wargaming in Taiwan,” the second episode in the series unveiling the true story of China’s Taiwan region.

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***

A lot of mainstream-adjacent progressives act like Gaza is some radical deviation from normal US behavior, which is infantile nonsense.

The US inflicts similar horrors on the world all the time; the only major difference is

(A) this one’s being live-streamed and

(B) there was a pro-Palestine movement in place before it began.

With regard to (B), Gaza is really illustrating how much the US empire benefits from moving through its foreign military violence relatively quickly.

When it can move from propagandizing the population about Evil Dictatorship X to destroying the country in question to moving on to its next war in the span of a few short years, there’s not enough time for public awareness to grow of exactly how evil the empire is being. It was years before a mainstream consensus developed that the invasion of Iraq was wrong, and it will probably be decades before there’s mainstream consensus about the evil shit the empire did in Syria from 2011 onwards.

With Gaza, people saw this one coming and were calling it what it is from the moment it began, because there was already a widespread political understanding — at least on the left — that Israel is a murderous settler-colonialist project and that the Palestinians are a colonized people. This widespread understanding occurred because the Israel-Palestine debate has been raging for generations, so the collective has had enough time to really examine the facts and circulate its arguments through public consciousness. Those facts and arguments were there ready to be picked up and understood and used — even by young people who are new to the situation — after October 7.

So what’s really hurting the empire’s information interests today is the fact that there was widespread social consciousness about Palestine already in place before the Gaza assault began, combined with the consciousness-expanding effects of social media and the ease with which ordinary people can now circulate raw video footage. Which really goes to illustrate the fact that consciousness and dysfunction cannot coexist, whether you’re talking about humans as individuals or as a collective. If we can really see something and deeply understand it, it’s much harder for depravity to function.

The light of awareness makes it very difficult for an empire which is fueled by human blood to operate, which is why so much effort has been going into shutting off the lights. Shutting off the lights here looks like circulating lies and propaganda, killing Palestinian journalists in record numbers, blocking western journalists from entering Gaza, banning TikTok, stomping out student protests, and smearing everyone who tries to spread awareness of Gaza as an anti-semite.

In that sense we actually kind of are seeing a struggle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness here — not in the sense the Zionist ideologues mean it, but in the sense that there are people who are trying to spread the light of awareness coming into direct conflict with people who are trying to shut that light down.

And that’s how humanity will eventually move into health: by the light of awareness spreading throughout our collective consciousness to all the various ways our species is still dysfunctional. This spreading of awareness happens in ways that are as diverse as investigative journalism, teaching, research, tweeting, making videos, writing blogs, informing others in interpersonal conversations, and expanding your own personal consciousness with inner disciplines like meditation and self-inquiry.

We can each participate in this unfolding of human consciousness in our own way throughout our lives, and every contribution we make toward that end makes a difference. Anything you do to make the unseen seen and cast the light of awareness on areas of dysfunction helps move humanity into a higher level of functionality, whether you’re spreading awareness of dysfunction out there in the world, or in yourself by bringing more consciousness to your own inner processes.

We can each do many things every single day to help move humanity into the light, so that we may one day become a fully conscious species. We can each cultivate a practice of constantly looking for opportunities to expand consciousness in this way from moment to moment.

In 2024, Gaza is very, very fertile ground for such expansion.

*

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***

Update as of 2 June 2024

Today, 2 June 2024, the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA) ended without a vote on the Pandemic Treaty. WHO management, as well as their key country allies, realized that there were not enough votes for the two-thirds needed to ratify the treaty. In fact, that was already known before the begin of the WHA on 27 May 2024, but could only be confirmed today. 

So, this was a partial gain for the People of the world. But only partial because the modified International Health Regulations (IHR), needing only an absolute majority, were just barely approved before close of the 77th WHA.

In the course of the last half a year, especially the past couple of months, they were significantly watered down. Still, they include enough hooks on which a newly formulated Pandemic Treaty could be attached.

That is why this partial People’s gain can only be partially celebrated. It means, the World Health Organization (WHO) will now be working on Plan B, namely redrafting a Pandemic Treaty, to be most likely debated during the UN General Assembly in September 2024, possibly in behind-closed-door sessions, as is usual for the non-transparent machinations of the over 80% privately-funded WHO. 

Most of WHO’s private funding comes from Big Pharma, their “philanthropic” foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Big Tech and other interest groups.

WHO Director General (DG) and his advisory team have already announced that a special WHA with focus on the Pandemic Treaty will take place by the end of 2024.

Therefore, People, please do not rest and believe the danger is over. IT IS NOT by any means.

***

Last night (24 May 2024), in a high-level pre-World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting (17 May-1 June 2024), in Geneva, WHO management and key member country delegates decided to drop the Pandemic Treaty – for now. It would not stand a chance to pass a WHA vote in the coming week. Instead, they decided to discuss at the WHA what to do next.

See this by Le Monde and AFP.

Be aware, however, that this press report does not give you the true reasons for the end of the talks on the Pandemic Treaty / revised IHR agreements.

It seeks to soft-talk- or not mention at all the big issue of a potential health tyranny that these accords might mean for the world. Instead, they are saying that talks must go on, because the world needs a “safety net” for future pandemics.

Right. As if the world was not able until today to deal with diseases and other catastrophes independently by sovereign nations. And by dealing with such calamities on an autonomous sovereign basis, saving their economies from collapsing.

It is clear, during the past months many governments around the world especially in the Global South, but not exclusively, felt more than uneasy to accept what many called a WHO Health Dictatorship – in the form of a “One World Health” (OWH) like in “one fits all” similar to the One World Government, or One World Order (OWG / OWO) that the Globalists want to impose on the globe’s 8.1 billion people.

And by the way, never forget that the Globalists’ number One Priority will remain a massive, but massive reduction of the current 8.1 billion world population. This was a key reason for the fraudulent vax agenda – and would be driven even further under the new Pandemic Treaty and revised IHR.

Those who push and have been pushing for an OWG / OWO in the past and with increasing intensity since the onset of the UN Agenda 2030 and the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Great Reset, also want a One World Health.

This means that the Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, would have powers to decide on pandemic and preventive or curative measures to be taken above and beyond individual countries sovereignty.

More and more nations are realizing what that means for their health system and not last, for their economy, especially looking back at the unnecessary covid lockdowns and other economy and society destroying imposed measures – that caused bankruptcies left and right, but had no impact whatsoever on reducing covid – if ever there was a covid “pandemic”- or rather called “plandemic” – a highly disputed question.

What covid and its tyrannical “measures” did is shifting capital form the bottom and the center – small and medium-size businesses – to the top, to the multi-billionaires, primary financial institutions (Blackrock / Vanguard, Wall Street et al) and tech-companies, to the so-called Magnificent Seven (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla).

This trend has been going on especially with the rich and powerful having access to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for accelerating the capital shift. But business people and politicians also have noticed and become warry of the wanton destruction of their economies which made them more alert to anything coming from the WHO and the WEF.

What may have been the trigger for the big awakening is that the very WHO, whose Pandemic Treaty and sternly revised International Health Regulations (IHR), did not adhere to its own Constitutional rules, namely to send the final draft of these crucial papers 4 months ahead of the WHA to the 194 member countries, namely at the latest by 27 January 2024.

This did not happen and has not happened until today.

In the meantime, 49 US Republican Senators have written to President Biden, requesting not to sign the treaty / IHR; and 22 Attorney Generals from their respective US States have firmly stated, their States would not adhere to any of the rules imposed by these treaties.

That alone is a strong message, coming from the US and may have influenced other countries wavering between yes and no, to reject the WHO proposal.

See this and this. 

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What will happen next is mostly speculation. As pointed out before, the WHA will likely dedicate a good portion of next week to debate “what’s next”, so as not to lose the momentum. It is clear, they will not let go. It is engrained in the character of the Dark Cult that pretends reigning over the world.

The next step may be that they take the treaties / agreements to the UN General Assembly in September in New York, to elicit a broader discussion.

What will come remains to be seen.

What is important though – DO NOT SIT BACK, THINKING THAT IT IS ALL OVER. It is not over.

These people will not stop. We, the People, MUST get out from these organizations and start afresh, whatever form that may take. But no longer trusting our governments and their shiny institutions – WEF, WHO, UN, Finance, Pharma and especially the “Magnificent Seven”. Stay away from the latter altogether – we do not need an all-digitized, humanity-enslaving world – ever.

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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.  

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***

It clears up a lot of confusion when you understand that the US empire is not a national government which happens to run nonstop military operations, it’s a nonstop military operation that happens to run a national government.

The wars are not designed to serve the interests of the United States, the United States is designed to serve the interests of the wars. The US as a country is just a source of funding, personnel, resources and diplomatic cover for a nonstop campaign to dominate the planet with mass military violence and the threat thereof. 

This campaign is not waged to benefit the American people or their security, but to benefit the loose international alliance of plutocrats and unelected empire managers whose wealth and power are premised on the world order of continuous violence, exploitation and extraction which the campaign of global domination upholds. This campaign of global domination and its manifestations as a whole may be referred to as the US empire, which has very little in common with the US as an individual nation.

Until you understand this, nothing the US government or the US war machine does will make sense. You won’t understand why military operations are being waged which don’t seem to benefit the American people in any way, and which if anything actually harm the national security interests of the United States. You won’t understand why US foreign policy remains the same no matter who’s in office, regardless of party or platform. You won’t understand why the US and its allies do crazy things that otherwise make no sense for governments to do, like backing an increasingly unpopular genocide in Gaza, starting a cold war with China, or tempting nuclear armageddon with Russia.

And the answer is that these aggressions are not happening because they benefit the US as a nation, or even because they serve the political agendas of any elected officials. The nonstop violence is a means to a completely different end, and is almost an end in and of itself — benefiting war profiteers, shoring up geostrategic control, and expanding the sphere of the US empire’s particular brand of global capitalism.

There’s the nonstop worldwide military operation, and then there’s the theatrical set pieces of an official government slapped together in the foreground which we’re all meant to pretend has something to do with all the wars and militarism we are seeing. In reality the war machine just does what it’s going to do while the official elected suits in Washington put on these performances where they argue about abortion and Donald Trump to make it look like the US has a real government that’s making real decisions.

It was decided long ago that war is too important to be left to the will of the electorate, so now there’s this fake dummy political system that the American people are given to play with so they won’t meddle with the gears of the imperial machine. The local inhabitants of the hub of the globe-spanning empire are kept too propagandized, entertained, distracted, busy, poor, and sick to have a truth-based relationship with what’s being done in their name around the world, and if they do make some space in their life to become politically engaged they are herded into a kayfabe two-party system where both factions support war, militarism, imperialism, plutocracy and ecocidal capitalism but put immense amounts of energy into empty culture warring over issues that nobody with any real power cares about.

Trying to talk about this to people who are still plugged into the mainstream imperial worldview is like if Amazon had a children’s cartoon show called Andy Amazon & Friends, and the public believed the cartoon show was Amazon — they didn’t know anything about the sprawling trillionaire megacorporation that’s devouring the global economy. You’d try to talk about the gargantuan e-commerce company and they’d think you were talking about the cartoon, and object that what you’re saying doesn’t line up with what they know about the show and its characters. 

Once you see the corporation behind the cartoon, once you see the empire behind the performative puppet show of official politics, you see it everywhere. You see it in the movements of the imperial war machine. You see it in the news headlines. You see it in the phony justifications and narratives that are being spouted by the western political-media class. You see it in our education system. You see it throughout our vapid mainstream western culture of interminable diversion and capitalist indoctrination.

And you stop caring about the puppet show. You stop caring about presidential elections, about Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump, about the culture war wedge issue of the day and the latest hot topic that everyone’s saying you need to take a position on. It becomes as interesting to you as some Youtube video your kid has on in the background when you’re busy dealing with a home emergency.

And the behavior of the empire absolutely is an emergency. The escalations against Russia and China that these freaks are pushing have the world on a trajectory that’s going to get us all killed, and the horrors they are inflicting in Gaza and elsewhere are creating a nightmare on earth right here and now. The empire is only getting crazier and more violent as its planetary domination becomes more challenged, and until people can see it for what it really is, it’s going to be very hard to build up the necessary public opposition against it to use the power of our numbers to force them to stop.

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A vida nas novas regiões da Federação Russa está se tornando cada vez melhor. Com a consolidação da vitória militar russa, avança a normalização da sociedade, com cada vez mais comércio, desenvolvimento e paz social. Embora o conflito continue, os habitantes destes territórios vivem atualmente muito melhor do que no período pré-reintegração, quando eram absolutamente vulneráveis ​​às políticas racistas de Kiev.

Contudo, a opressão ucraniana ainda não acabou. Muitos residentes dos territórios libertados ainda enfrentam sérios problemas de segurança – não só por causa dos drones e mísseis fornecidos pela OTAN, mas também porque as suas famílias continuam sujeitas ao regime ucraniano. Mais do que isso, nos territórios recentemente libertados, há ações por parte dos serviços de inteligência ucranianos para coagir os cidadãos das regiões russas a cooperar com a ditadura neonazista, mesmo contra a sua própria vontade.

Recentemente, estive na República Popular de Donetsk e no Oblast de Zaporozhye durante uma turnê de imprensa organizada pelo grupo de mídia russo “Vashi Novosti”. Eu e muitos outros jornalistas de todo o mundo tivemos a oportunidade de ver a realidade no terreno, na principal central nuclear da Europa, bem como testemunhar a reconstrução da cidade de Mariupol – uma das cidades mais afetadas pelo conflito.

No entanto, a normalização da vida que temos visto nas Novas Regiões coexiste com um sério desafio: a pressão imposta pelo regime de Kiev para que alguns habitantes dos Novos Territórios cooperem com as autoridades neonazistas. No nosso trabalho no terreno, falamos com militares locais que nos disseram, anonimamente, que pelo menos 20% dos habitantes de cidades como Mariupol e Metilopol realizam algum tipo de espionagem a favor do regime de Kiev.

Ao contrário de regiões como as cidades de Donetsk e Lugansk, estas áreas foram libertadas pelos russos apenas após o início da operação militar especial. Durante os oito anos da Guerra do Donbass – quando Moscou ainda tentava resolver o conflito diplomaticamente – as regiões controladas pela Ucrânia foram sujeitas a todas as formas de opressão, ocupação e violência por parte dos neonazistas. Em Mariupol, por exemplo, a milícia “Azov” abriu o seu quartel-general na estação Azovstal, tendo assediado o povo russo local durante oito anos, até à sua neutralização pelas forças de Moscou.

O fato de estas novas cidades russas terem passado tanto tempo sob controle ucraniano contribuiu para gerar forte medo, pânico e trauma entre os residentes. Eles simplesmente têm medo de serem “punidos” e perseguidos caso sejam novamente capturados ou dominados pelo inimigo, e é por isso que muitas vezes cometem erros ao tentar evitar que o pior aconteça às suas famílias.

Durante o início da operação militar especial, devido à alta intensidade das hostilidades, ocorreram muitos deslocamentos internos na Ucrânia. Muitas famílias migraram para regiões mais seguras do país, principalmente nas cidades ocidentais. Isto também teve um efeito catastrófico para os moradores das Novas Regiões, pois tornou muitos deles reféns do medo de que algo acontecesse com seus entes queridos.

Por outras palavras, os residentes das Novas Regiões sabem que os seus familiares não estão seguros em territórios controlados pela Ucrânia. Além disso, tendo passado oito anos sob o regime de Kiev, muitos deles têm os seus dados e localização conhecidos pelas autoridades ucranianas, o que os torna possíveis vítimas de ataques. Assim, por medo, alguns cidadãos russos se desesperam e acabam cooperando com o inimigo.

É importante compreender que isto não significa que os colaboradores apoiem realmente Kiev. O apoio à Rússia e à operação militar especial parece quase unânime nas Novas Regiões. No entanto, alguns cidadãos estão a ser forçados a agir contra os seus próprios princípios e posições devido ao receio de que algo possa ser feito contra eles e os seus familiares. O trauma deixado pelo regime de Kiev durante oito anos de genocídio foi extremamente profundo e não será revertido tão facilmente.

A única forma de evitar este tipo de atitude é avançar militarmente e tomar controle de ainda mais territórios. O regime de Kiev já se revelou incapaz e sem vontade de resolver o conflito de qualquer forma diplomática, pelo que só a vitória militar pode ser eficiente para acabar de uma vez por todas com a ameaça às vidas dos cidadãos russos. Com o fim do regime e da Junta Neonazista, nenhum cidadão das Novas Regiões precisará mais temer – e consequentemente não será mais obrigado a cometer atos de traição contra Moscou.

Lucas Leiroz  de Almeida

 

Artigo em inglês : Fearing for their families, some residents of Russia’s New Regions spy for Ukraine, InfoBrics, 30 de Maio de 2024.

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

Quando chegou a notícia da queda do helicóptero de Ebrahim Raisi, o primeiro que veio à mente de todo mundo que tem um mínimo de pensamento crítico foi: “seria obra de Israel?”Essa é uma especulação absolutamente legítima. Contudo, os jornalistas e comentaristas que trabalham direta ou indiretamente para o aparato de propaganda imperialista a descartam categoricamente. O que não passa de pura hipocrisia. São eles mesmos que adoram fazer as mais idiotas especulações sobre tudo – quando convém aos seus patrões, é claro.

Quando houve a queda do helicóptero de Evgeny Prigozhin, por exemplo, a primeira especulação feita por esses propagandistas foi que o governo russo teria sido o responsável. Afinal, o ex-líder do Grupo Wagner havia se insurgido contra Vladimir Putin. Esse era o grande fato que sustentava a lógica dessa argumentação. Era um opositor de Putin, portanto o mais provável é que Putin teria ordenado sua eliminação. Mesmo que ele houvesse se reconciliado e recebido o perdão do presidente russo, mesmo que o helicóptero tenha caído perto da fronteira com a Ucrânia e que os russos tenham garantido que foi uma sabotagem ucraniana.

É possível que nunca se saiba a verdade. Porém, os propagandistas dos EUA tentaram transformar a especulação em comprovação com uma montagem ridícula: o The Wall Street Journal publicou, pouco depois do incidente, que membros do governo russo armaram o assassinato de Prigozhin. As fontes? Agentes de inteligência ocidentais. Ou seja, a CIA, o MI6 e suas filiais. Todo mundo sabe que eles têm um histórico infindável de informações falsas plantadas na imprensa contra os seus inimigos. Será que o WSJ publicaria uma reportagem acusando o governo israelense de derrubar o avião de um presidente iraniano cuja fonte é o FSB (sucessor da KGB)?

Muito pelo contrário. Os veículos de propaganda imperialistas, em sua maioria, sequer levantam a hipótese de envolvimento israelense para ridicularizá-la. Sabem que qualquer menção a Israel, ainda que fazendo chacota da ideia, plantaria uma dúvida naqueles que não pensaram nessa possibilidade.

Jeremy Bowen, da BBC, sugeriu que há a possibilidade de sabotagem relacionada com opositores internos, tanto de dentro como de fora do governo, “mas não temos provas para nada disso”. Mas essas probabilidades, segundo o que se desprende de seu comentário, são legítimas. O que não é razoável é o “instinto de culpar Israel”.

“Autoridades israelenses têm dito a jornalistas que não estão envolvidas nisso. É difícil enxergar como Israel se beneficia de algo que seria interpretado, na prática, como um ato provocativo de guerra”, apontou o editor de política internacional do canal britânico.

Vamos por partes. Primeiro, o fato de Israel negar envolvimento não significa nada. É apenas uma arma retórica de propaganda para os repórteres fingirem imparcialidade ouvindo “os dois lados”. “Fulano disse isso, enquanto sicrano disse aquilo”. Pronto, está feito o trabalho do jornalista. Não se precisa investigar nada!

Em segundo lugar, o comentarista admite ter dificuldades cognitivas em “enxergar como Israel se beneficia” da eliminação do chefe de Estado do seu maior inimigo. Na verdade, não é nada disso. Ele tem plena noção de como isso beneficia Israel, como beneficiaria qualquer país cujo líder inimigo é abatido. Só é um hipócrita que tenta livrar Israel das legítimas acusações.

Por fim, ele considera que Israel matar o presidente do Irã “seria interpretado, na prática, como um ato provocativo de guerra”. Será que ele também acha que Xi Jinping mandar matar Joe Biden não necessariamente seria uma provocaçãoaos EUA? É óbvio que se Israel derrubou o helicóptero de Raisi isso foi um ato de guerra! E que, portanto, o Irã teria absoluto direito de responder com uma guerra à guerra iniciada por Israel.

Israel realmente é o grande protegido do aparato de propaganda liderado pelos EUA chamado eufemisticamente de “imprensa internacional”. Em 23 de outubro do ano passado, o colunista da Folha de S.Paulo Joel Pinheiro da Fonseca descobriu a verdade absoluta sobre quem bombardeou o Hospital al-Ahli de Gaza, ocorrido poucos dias antes. Em um artigo vergonhosamente enganoso, citou as notícias que apontavam Israel como o responsável para refutá-las com a conclusão de que, contudo, “o consenso emergente é que o míssil não veio de Israel. Foi um foguete do grupo Jihad Islâmica que se partiu e caiu no estacionamento do hospital. Muito provavelmente foram menos de 500 mortes.”

De onde tirou isso? Ele não disse. Citou apenas a própria Folha e o New York Times, que resolveram adotar “cautela”. Ele não apresentou nenhuma fonte para sua afirmação, nem mesmo indicou se os dois jornais haviam se embasado em algum fato. Também, se houvesse apresentado a fonte dessa afirmação, ele teria revelado sua parcialidade total: foram Israel e EUA que acusaram a Jihad Islâmica de atacar o hospital. A dupla, responsável pelo genocídio em Gaza, é uma “fonte” menos confiável que a CIA quando foi usada pelo Wall Street Journal para acusar a Rússia de matar Prigozhin. E o artigo do colunista da Folha foi escrito com toda a pompa de quem está acima das “narrativas”, com a missão sagrada de desmentir que Israel era o culpado!

O colunista ocultou a fonte de sua “descoberta” porque sabia que, se a revelasse, seu artigo seria alvo de chacota e ninguém o teria levado a sério. Ele também ignorou – intencionalmente? – investigações da BBC, do Channel 4, da Al Jazeera e da Bellingcat, publicadas antes de seu artigo, que apontaram sérias inconsistências na versão israelense-americana e que afirmaram que ainda não era possível chegar a um resultado conclusivo sobre de onde veio o ataque.

Quatro meses depois, a agência de pesquisas Forensic Architecture publicou um estudo que também revela sérias inconsistências na versão israelense-americana comprada por Joel Pinheiro da Fonseca e afirma que “o que aconteceu no al-Ahli permanece inconclusivo”, acusando ainda o regime de Tel Aviv de ter “lançado uma agressiva campanha de desinformação” após o ocorrido.

O estudo conduzido pela Forensic Architecture – ligada à Universidade de Londres e liderada por Eyal Weizman, um pesquisador nascido em Israel – recorda ainda que a lógica culpa Israel: nos dez dias anteriores, a Organização Mundial da Saúde havia contabilizado 51 ataques israelenses à infraestrutura médica de Gaza; quatro dias antes Israel havia ordenado a evacuação de todos os hospitais do norte de Gaza, incluindo o al-Ahli; e três dias antes Israel havia atacado a ala de tratamento de câncer do mesmo hospital, possivelmente como um aviso de que um ataque maior ocorreria, como Israel costuma fazer.

Além disso, termina o estudo, os ataques de Israel a hospitais de Gaza seguem um “padrão consistente” com ataques aos arredores, alvejamento direto, cerco e ocupação. Esses apontamentos significam que tudo indica que o agressor direto ao hospital, com quase 500 mortos segundo o Ministério da Saúde de Gaza, tenha sido Israel, e nada indica que tenham sido os próprios palestinos. Logo, a afirmação de Joel Pinheiro da Fonseca de que “foi um foguete do grupo Jihad Islâmica que se partiu e caiu no estacionamento do hospital” não é respaldada por nenhuma investigação séria – e já existiam muitas que a refutavam. É, portanto, uma mentira. Uma fake news.

Mas uma reportagem do Estado de S.Paulo conseguiu superar as falsidades do colunista da Folha. Na verdade, é um despacho da AFP publicado no New York Times que o Estadão reproduziu no dia 16 de maio deste ano. A fake news é tão escandalosa que ela já vem no título: “Nacionalista e militante pró-Rússia dá 5 tiros no premiê da Eslováquia”

Dentro da matéria, não há nenhuma comprovação do que o título afirma. Apenas uma descrição no lide, de que o atirador é “um ultranacionalista e simpatizante do presidente russo, Vladimir Putin” e em outro trecho que diz que “ele é simpatizante do grupo paramilitar Slovenskí Branci, ligado ao Kremlin”.

Não há nenhuma ligação entre as informações da matéria. Na verdade, a única informação que poderia embasar o título é a última, mas ser simpatizante de um grupo eslovaco (supostamente) ligado ao Kremlin não o torna um “simpatizante do presidente russo”, como diz o lide, e tampouco um “militante pró-Rússia”, como afirma o título.

Até aqui, a reportagem publicada no Estadão é uma aberração que utiliza uma pequena informação no final do texto para deturpá-la e exagerá-la. Tecnicamente, seu título pode ser considerado uma mentira porque o texto não corrobora o que foi anunciado. É a ânsia de culpar a Rússia por um crime dos mais repulsivos.

Se fosse só isso, já seria uma delinquência por parte do Estadão. Mas é que todas as afirmações são manipuladas, não apenas o título. Juraj Cintula, o atirador, já expressou, é verdade, sentimentos pró-russos, como “descobriu” o jornalista húngaro Szabolcs Panyi, “escavando seus posts no Facebook”, conforme mencionou a reportagem publicada no Estadão. Mas isso faz muitos anos. Em 2022, quando a Rússia interveio militarmente na Ucrânia, Cintula passou a manifestar apoio a Kiev e às ideias neoliberais disseminadas pelos Estados Unidos, bem como a destilar pesadas críticas ao premiê Robert Fico, que suspendeu o envio de armas à Ucrânia e apoia a reaproximação com a Rússia. Cintula até participou de um protesto antigovernamental no dia 24 de abril em que os manifestantes levavam uma bandeira da União Europeia e gritavam “Longa vida à Ucrânia”, conforme um vídeo veiculado pelos meios de comunicação eslovacos.

De fato, a própria reportagem reconhece que Cintula é um crítico das políticas do governo, particularmente da posição de Fico sobre a imprensa. A imprensa eslovaca, como em qualquer país onde a classe dominante é vassala do imperialismo, tem uma linha editorial pró-OTAN, pró-União Europeia e pró-Ucrânia e tem feito muita pressão sobre o primeiro-ministro e seu governo para que ele deixe a neutralidade de lado e apoie integralmente a política da OTAN sobre a Ucrânia e a Rússia. Fico é rotulado como um líder “pró-Rússia”, ou seja, quase um fantoche de Putin, tanto pelos meios eslovacos como ocidentais.

O governo eslovaco tem acusado precisamente os grandes meios de comunicação de serem os principais responsáveis pelo atentado, uma vez que realizam uma campanha de “discurso de ódio” contra o primeiro-ministro e as boas relações com a Rússia. A reportagem veiculada pelo Estadão poderia facilmente ser inserida nessa campanha, além de ser uma das mais bizarras fake news internacionais dos últimos dias, porque ela inverte totalmente os fatos e a realidade.

Além disso, um atentado contra um chefe de Estado raramente é realizado por um “lobo solitário”, como querem pintar Cintula – ou como fazem com Lee Harvey Oswald, assassino de John F. Kennedy. Levando em conta as posições políticas e a prática governamental de Fico, de neutralidade e, portanto, contrária às ordens imperialistas, e que o atirador é um seguidor da política imperialista e opositor de Fico, e considerando a longa ficha corrida de atentados orquestrados pelos EUA e as potências europeias, é bem possível que estes estão por trás dessa tentativa de assassinato. Ao contrário do que diz o Estadão, Fico foi atacado por um “militante pró-OTAN” e anti-Rússia, e não pró-Rússia.

Mas vamos voltar ao caso Ebrahim Raisi. Seria obrigação de qualquer membro da imprensa questionar as condições em que o helicóptero se “acidentou”. Não veremos esses questionamentos nos grandes jornais, porque sua função não é colocar o dedo na ferida, mas ocultá-la.

Ninguém acha estranho que o percentual de chefes de Estado mortos em acidentes de helicóptero ou avião seja tão alto? O analista de políticas de segurança Michael Maloof levantou uma questão: havia três helicópteros juntos em uma caravana e um deles caiu, sem que houvesse sinal de emergência. E se foi devido à neblina, por que os outros dois não se acidentaram, apenas o helicóptero levando o presidente da república e o ministro das Relações Exteriores?

Pois parece que as aeronaves realmente odeiam chefes de Estado. Que azar do Raisi e do principal ministro do Irã, pobrezinhos!

Mas, para evitar a má sorte, um conselho para o próximo presidente persa: cuidado ao entrar em um helicóptero, principalmente se o seu país estiver em uma guerra fria com Israel, que já explodiu gasodutos no Irã, assassinou cientistas nucleares iranianos e há menos de dois meses bombardeou sua embaixada na Síria. Talvez, por problemas técnicos ou pelo mau tempo, possa ocorrer um acidente fatal.

Eduardo Vasco

First published by Global Research on October 2, 2023

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We commemorate Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann. 

“Those of us who do understand the nefariousness of the empire, and the ever-increasing danger it represents, must be clear that the effective defense of life on planet Earth, including that of the human species itself, inexorably demands the existence of an independent and democratic world forum for a genuine and effective defense of the rights of Mother Earth and of humanity.

That is why we insist, repeat and say time and again that the United Nations as it exists today is useless, inoperative, dysfunctional and an instrument of the empire. That is why it no longer enjoys any confidence or credibility whatsoever. 

Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann.  Managua, 28 February 2011

This article is dedicated to the memory of my mentor and lifelong friend Padre Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann.

In 2020, the National University of Nicaragua (UNAN) established the Centro de Desarrollo Miguel d’Escoto Brockman (CEDMEB).

Padre Miguel d’Escoto’s Legacy will Live Forever. 

First published October 2, 2023

 

Introduction 

The UN System has over the years become of an instrument of U.S. hegemony. In the words of Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann:

“We must wrest it from those who have usurped it so that we, the truly concerned for the future of the Earth, can inject new life, relevance and effectiveness into our world Organization.”  

Appointed by Washington, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has more than usurped our trust. He is the epitome of ambiguity and DoubleSpeak, particularly in relation to the dramatic social and economic crisis affecting the Global South. 

“Poverty is increasing and hunger is growing… the conclusion is clear, the world is failing developing countries.” said UNSG General Antonio Guterres in his opening presentation at the September 2023 G77 Conference Venue in Havana.

Global poverty has become part of a convenient political “narrative”. What has Guterres done to reverse the tide of global poverty? Nothing!

“Guterres got the UN job only because he is gullible and corruptible. He is drumming the drums of the ruling elite’s narrative – be it covid, climate or the energy crisis; or whatever else may hit the crisis-board. Fossil fuel causing climate change is a scientifically proven lie. No trillion dollars can undo it.” (Peter Koenig)

Guterres is not only an instrument of the White House, his 2030 UN Sustainable Development Project is being carried out in coordination with Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF), which represents the interests of the global financial establishment. Needless to say, Big Money calls the shots. 

 

The UN-WEF Partnership

A strategic partnership was signed in 2019 at a meeting held at UN headquarters between UN Secretary-General António Guterres and WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab “to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Signing of the WEF-UN Partnership 

 

The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Project is the WEF’s “Great Reset” by another name. 

This partnership is in blatant violation of the UN Charter. The UNSG is in conflict of interest. He has provided a Green Light to the implementation of the WEF’s Agenda on behalf of powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians, which essentially consists in impoverishing the entire planet. 

What should have been debated by the G77 in Havana in September 2023 is the nature of this insidious WEF-UN partnership. It’s a neoliberal agenda to the nth degree on behalf of “Big Money”, to the obvious detriment of the Global South. It is part and parcel of the WEF’s “Great Reset”:

“The UN-Forum partnership will focus on aligning financial systems and accelerating finance flows toward the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Collaboration will seek to build a shared understanding of sustainable investing, especially in small island developing States, least developed countries and landlocked developing countries, and identify and take forward solutions to increase SDG investments” (emphasis added)

To consult the text of the UN-WEF partnership click here

“Aligning Financial Systems” 

While Guterres refers rhetorically to the failed  “global systems and structures”, he is visibly involved in “aligning financial systems” to the detriment of heavily indebted developing countries, which are the victims of U.S. dollarization. 

While the IMF-World Bank Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) launched in the early 1980s prevails, the Neoliberal chessboard has become increasingly complex.

“Aligning financial systems” goes far beyond the imposition of “IMF economic medicine”, which historically has triggered mass poverty throughout the Global South.

While the dollar denominated external debt remains the instrument of economic subservience, “Aligning financial systems” is intent upon opening the door to privatization on a large scale affecting entire sectors and regions of both developing countries and the West. 

The large portfolio investment funds including BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard (coupled with Wall Street’s banking cartels) are the driving force. “Their holdings are colossal. BlackRock manages nearly $10 trillion in investments. Vanguard has $8 trillion, and State Street has $4 trillion” (NYT)

“BlackRock Owns the World”

The portfolio companies have strategic investments in all major regions of the World.

BlackRock operates Worldwide with 70 offices in 38 countries. 

“These oligarchs are accompanied by some super-giant financial institutions, like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and more which control an estimated 25 trillion dollars-equivalent in assets, giving them a leverage power of well-over a 100 trillion dollars, as compared to the world’s GDP of some 90 trillion dollars. In other words, they can manipulate, control and pressure every government on Mother Earth to do their bidding. (Peter Koenig)

Video: BlackRock, the Company that Owns the World

Below are three major BlackRock initiatives.

In the case of Ukraine, the levels of indebtedness are beyond description. The agreement with BlackRock is tantamount to the privatization of an entire country.  

BlackRock In Brazil’s Amazon Rain Forest

The amounts invested in the Amazon are colossal under the auspices of the three portfolio investment giants: “The 20 institutional investors plowed a combined $54.1 billion into nine mining conglomerates … “Of that amount, $14.8 billion came from just three U.S. firms — BlackRock, Capital Group [a US Financial Services Company] and Vanguard — with BlackRock alone pouring $6.2 billion into the mining companies.” (Mongabay) 

BlackRock In Kenya

“BlackRock Alternatives’ public-private finance vehicle, Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), has acquired a 31.25% stake in Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), the largest wind farm in Africa. The stake was purchased from Vestas, Finnfund, and the Investment Fund for Developing Countries for an undisclosed sum” (Kenya Wallstreet Journal)

 

Ukraine is Being Bought Up by BlackRock and JPMorgan

In recent developments, BlackRock together with JPMorgan “have  come to the rescue of Ukraine”, whose external dollar denominated debt is beyond description. (See Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, August 2023)  

The stated objective is “to attract billions of dollars in private investment to assist rebuilding projects in a war-torn country”. (FT, June 19, 2023) 

The Privatization of Ukraine was launched in November 2022 in liaison  with BlackRock’s  consulting company  McKinsey, a public relations firm which has largely been responsible for co-opting corrupt politicians and officials Worldwide not to mention scientists and intellectuals on behalf of powerful financial interests.

In late December 2022, president Zelensky and BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink agreed on an investment strategy.

.

The Hegemonic Triad:

UN-WEF-NATO

UN-NATO “Cooperation”

In parallel with the UN-WEF Partnership, the United Nations under Secretary General Guterres has developed a strategic relationship with NATO.

While it is described as a dialogue, NATO is increasingly embedded in the UN system, allegedly endorsing “peace support and crisis management”. The realities are otherwise: the UN is endorsing the US-NATO hegemonic agenda of Global Warfare:

“The complexity of today’s security challenges has required a broader dialogue between NATO and the UN. This has led to reinforced cooperation and liaison arrangements between the staff of the two organisations, as well as UN specialised agencies. (NATO, July 2023

 

 

The UN Secretary General’s “Public Relations Ploy”

Providing a “Human Face” to Global Capitalism 

 

UNSG Antonio Guterres has launched a stereotyped public relation’s ploy which is intent upon presenting the UN-WEF-NATO Agenda as a means to resolving the climate crisis, eliminating poverty as well as instating “World Peace”. it’s a lie. 

In 2021, in preparation of the 76th UN General Assembly, the UNSG appointed  “advocates” to endorse the Sustainable Development Goals

This is how public opinion and media coverage is manipulated at the UN General Assembly.

Censorship in applied. Independent analysts are not invited. 

I have high regard and admiration for the k-pop singers, but for UNSG Antonio Guterres to have invited them to present a carefully prepared script (on his behalf) to the UN 76th General Assembly was improper and unbefitting. 

 

 

Also in 2021, Valentina Munoz (La Chica Rosadita) of 19 years old was invited by Guterres to endorse the UN Agenda 2030 in an address to the UN General Assembly: 

Chilean left-wing activist Valentina Muñoz advises the United Nations on Agenda 2030: “This is no longer a negotiation. That’s why it’s called an agenda and not a wish list.” pic.twitter.com/8N4VFoFagj

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 24, 2023